Catch Up Time

Well, I have been so busy I haven't had time to post on here. We finally had our rating scale on the Infant/Toddler classroom and the results were (drum roll, please) 6.31 out of 7! The state average is 4.56.

We have stayed pretty busy this summer. I'm still working out doing BodyPump 4 days a week and abs 2 days a week with 30 minutes on the bike. I'm also doing 2 days at PT. My knee is still swelling so hopefully that will subside soon. I see the surgeon on the 19th, but I saw him briefly on wednesday. He said it looked good, so that is a good thing. I am trying to get my knee as strong as I can before my vacation.

Speaking of vacations, I get to go in 27 days! I am soooo excited~ I fly into Vegas and will spend the day there. Pauline and I plan to meet my friend Luke for dinner, then head to LA. We will be in LA for a few days, then will head to Barstow ehere she lives for the remainder of my trip. We have a lot of fun thigns planned and I am just soo excited about the few days she and I get alone, no kids, no husbands, just us! This would be a first in 12 years!

On the 19th I start my Mat 080 class. Hopefully I will do better this year than the last few times I tried to pass this class. I have a teacher I have had before and he is pretty good. Hopefully things will sink in this time!

Hunting season starts on the 7th of September this year. I will be in California that week so I will get to go hunting sometime when I get back. I will probably get to go to Camp Butner down east in December but plan to do hunting locally as much as I can. Yesterday Phillip and I went to look at some new property he got permission to hunt. he saw an animal moving on the trail above us, so he went to see what it was. We look at the trail in front of us (about 125 yards) and a huge bear stood up. Phillip starting clapping his hands loudly and the bear turned and ran. Then next thing we knew a cubs shot up a tree. Phillip turned to me and said"this hike is over." I turned and all but ran down the trail. he kept telling me to slow down so the bear didn't chase us, but I was booking down the trail. Other than that, the property looks promising. Lots of deer signs.

I had a great birthday. The kids made me lots of neat birthday cards and banners. My staff got me some fun things like gift cards for a pedi and my hair done. Phillip gave me a gift card to JC Penney and a green Nintendo DS. I was sooooo excited! I had two friends take me on 2 different days to Papas and Beer for lunch and I got several gift cards to restaurants I eat at. I was a very nice day.

School will start back in 2 weeks. I know I am looking forward to having some quiet at the daycare! We've had 12 school age kids all summer so its been loud and crazy!

Well, we have a family reunion tomorrow and some work to do around the house, nothing exciting. I am hoping to take the kids school shopping and to see the new Harry Potter movie next week. We might even go to the Biltmore House to see the new gardens one day ( we have yearly passes). We went hiking there last Saturday and it was really nice. They are getting ready to change the gardens so I'd like to see that.

It's always something... excitement on a Monday

Who says Mondays are mundane? Not my Mondays. Yesterday, I was in the baby room, when I heard Kyle say, "mom, there are cops outside with guns!" Anyone who knows Kyle, knows that there was a great possibility that there was no truth in that statement. I opened the door and was about to tell him how inappropriate it was to talk about guns and cops like that when there were little kids around and I was shocked to see a sheriffs deputy in a green jumpsuit looking for his badge. He informed me there was going to be a raid on the house next door and I needed to get the kids away from the doors and windows. So, I had 22 kids, 2 teachers and me in a very small classroom. We were there for 30 minutes until they came back to tell us the house was secure. During this time I had to watch for parents still dropping their kids off and hurry them in the building. VERY STRESSFUL. We were told to stay in the building, so we did. THe cops were there all day off and on. Then to today we found out the man and woman there were arrested for meth trafficking (400 grams) and the guys bond is 1.5 million and her bond is 500,000. THey had a baby too, so that is really sad. We were told detectives would be coming so we may find out more from them. Apparently this guy had been under investigation for months and the raid was planned 6 weeks ago! It was a federal investigation as well.
So, that was my Monday. Tuesday wasnt too bad, we were short staffed, which was unexpected and put us in a bind, but what do you do?

We are still waiting for the raters to come back, my guess is tomorrow, cause I am in that classroom for the first hour. UGH I am so not ready for that.

I'm the Workout queen!

This has been a busy busy week. I started taking workout classes at the gym. I've wanted to do it in the past but didn;t want to do it alone. A girl that works for me happens to also have a membership to the same gym I do. Yeah! There are two gyms we can use. One is on our side of town and the other is across the street from my PT. THe one across from PT has the majority of the classes so we spend 4 days there. We started off with Abs class, then BodyCombat class on Tuesday. Abs was 15 minutes and not too bad (until the next day when I couldn't laugh without hurting), then we had BodyComabt after that for an hour. It is a mix of martial arts, so alot of kicking and punching. The only thing is they go really fast and its hard to keep up. Wednesday we went to take BodyPumo, but the class was full and no one told us you had to set up weights, so we just did the eliptical and bike for an hour. Thursday was another Abs class, then BodyStep. Ok, this was probably the most uncoordinated I have ever felt in my life. Our instructor was this 95 lb cheerleader who kept refering to us as "team". Once I got a hang of the combination , they would move on to a new one! Then I was trying to watch their feet to figure out what to do with mine, and fell off my step. Did I mention there were 2 men in their 60's. They were rocking it out and I was walking in circles ! My friend and I looked like we were idiots int he back of the class. I guess it will take a few classes to catch on to that one.

Last night we did BodyPump. This is my favorite by far! It is a weight class, so easy to catch on to. It is an hour long and the instructor was really good about giving my other options to things I couldn;t do since I can kneel and when I tried to do a lunge my knee popped. This class is offered 3 or 4 different times, so I think we are going to try to do that one more than the others.

I want to attempt spinning. Everyone we have talked to really likes spinning and says its fun and a great workout. The only class I could take would be at 830 on Saturday morning. Of course next Saturday is the 4th so no classes, so it will be 2 weeks before I can try that one.

Today I am heading to Greenville to pick up my camera which is finally fixed. I am so excited. I feel like I haven't taken many pictures lately. I hate using Phillip's work camera and the daycare camera I try not to use since I need to leave it down there for them to use.

Yesterday I got to spend time with Joel, Candace and Sammy. Candace and I took Sammy to see Mamaw. He is getting so big! He's alot of fun and so hilarious.

Friday the rater showed up to do the rating scale for the infant/toddler room. Unfortunately one child was sick and another was not in that classroom so she had to reschedule. We hope she comes enxt week so we can just get it over with . This rating scale can help me go from a 4 star to a 5 star, but I am ok with just maintaining my 4 star rating as well.

Crazy two weeks

I haven't updated in a while, which was brought to my attention by 2 wonderful family members.

So, the last two weeks have been ridiculously stressful because I had one staff member on vacation and we are preparing for the toddler room to go through the rating scale. On top of all this my school age teacher had car problems which caused her to be out a few days. Then, we lost a few children, and almost lost 2 more, but instead of losing those two I decided to do something I didn't want to do and took a 6 month old baby. Of course during this ordeal I have worked all day everyday and haven't been able to elevate my knee like I should. The swelling is back up. At this point the doctor says it is ok to swell as long as it doesn't get stiff and cause me pain or difficulty moving. Yesterday I had my re-eval and they gave me an e-stim to keep at home which is what they use to help my muscles contract and rebuild their strength. It can also be used for pain management. I have to do this 2x a day for 20 minutes.

Things will calm down since all staff will be back on Monday. I have decided to have someone handle lunch and breaks so I am free from 930 on to get paperwork/office work. etc done.

Tomorrow we are hopefully going to Lake Lure after church for the day. It will be nice to do something after 2 weeks of stress. I need to take the kids back to the Biltmore House (we have annual passes) to do some stuff. They really enjoyed it there.

I am going to be heading to California to see Pauline in September. I get to stay 10 days this year instead of just a week. I am really excited... only 75 days away! I enjoy going out there every year, although it is really hard to be away from Phillip and the kids.

I finally found someone who goes to the same gym as me to go to classes! (Same girl that works for me doing lunch, breaks and subbing) We tried to go to an Abs class this past week, but the instructor got caught in traffic so they cancelled the class. We are planning to try BodyStep class on Monday. I really want to try to go to these classes and lose some weight. I'm just worried whether or not I will be able to survive or not. It should be interesting to say the least.


:)

Biltmore House trip

We celebrated our anniversary today since it's aholiday and our anniversary falls on Thursday. We took the kids on their first trip to the Biltmore Estate. They LOVED it. We walked all over the house which took us about 2 hours, then had a snack before heading to the gardens. It sprinkled a little, but it was a light rain, so no problems. The roses were blooming but we had missed the tulips (my favorites). We upgraded to yearly passes so I can come anytime and see the festival of flowers next year :)

We walked to the Bass Pond (LONG walk) and the waterfall. We then walkedthrough the Italian garden with the Koi ponds and there were lots of tadpoles. THe kidssaw lots of lizards too. After the gardens we headed to the Winery. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff for the kids there, so we headed over to the RiverBend Farm to the petting area. There was butter churning, blue grass, potters, woodworking, blacksmith and old fashioned games. The kids really enjoyed it. We were pretty tired and hungry after 7 and a half hours of walking and exploring. We headed to Papas and Beer for dinner then home to watch a movie.

It was a very nice day and memorable anniversary.

I have 2 more weeks of recovery left. I did pretty good with my knee at the Biltmore House. Unfortunately my knee brace broke this morning, so I have to get a new one tomorrow at PT. That brace is 5 years old, so it is probably time for a new one. PT is going well. I should be release June 10th from PT.

I'm off to watch a new show called Obsessed about OCD. Should be interesting since I can relate :)

More knee adventures

Yesterday I had a PT appointment and my therapist said my knee was way too swollen. She asked me if I had any numbness and I told her my foot had been numb off and on. Apparently this means either fluid is being moved to my foot or I have nerve damage (the fact that that foot's shoes have been tighter leads me to the fluid theory). She told me that she thought I would need to have my knee asperated. This involves a needle. UGH! She had the PA look at my knee (same PA that has been dealing with me the whole time) and he said definately needed to be aperated. So, after an hour wait, he gave me a shot of lidacaine (OUCH) and then sprayed this freezing spray on. He then SHOVED the needle in and drew out 66cc's of fluid. (ALOT) They are testing it to make sure there's no problem. He said there is a chance I could swell up again. If I do, they may have to go back in and see what the problem is. I was over 3 cm larger on the right knee that the left. THis apparently is not good. Now my knee looks and feels much better. They have me wrapped tight in an ace bandage to help keep the swelling down. So far so good. My CPM machine goes back today or tomorrow so I won't be doing that any more.

I've been getting out and running errands and so far I have done well. I still have to elevate and ice quite a bit and exercises 4x a day. I can't be on my feet for more than 45 min to an hour or the swelling starts. I am off work until June 8th, so I have some time to get completely recovered.

:)

On the mend

I am home and on the mend! The surgery was not a major as they thought it would have to be. When Dr. Motley got into my knee, he cut a ligament and my knee cap moved over! He did not have to break the knee or anything else. It was a simple Arthroscopic Debriedment with a lateral

release. This means a much quicker recovery, but I will probably still stay out of work for the full month. It will give me time to work on the strength in my knee and catch Kyle up (if possible) in his school work. I am hoping to get my tattoos during my time out as well. I have a huge stack of books I wanted to get through as well as a ton of movies I have purchased but not watched. In general I have a ton of things I would love to get under control and caught up on during this short break I have. Phillip is home with me all next week, then he goes back to work. I haven't been cleared to drive or to go back to work, but I have been taken down to one crutch. Wednesday (the 13th) is my one week appointment when I will see the PA during PT. They should give me a lesser list of limitations. I am hoping to be released to go to the gym. I want to get on the eliptical as soon as I am able and then start taking classes at the gym. (not a comfortable thing for me).

I have been doing pretty good about doing 8 hours a day in the CPM machine and PT exercisesx 4 times a day. Phillip has to move my knee cap 4 ways, for 1 minute each, 4 times each, 4 times a day. It hurts ALOT, but has to be done. If I don;t have continuous movement in my knee the "stuff" between my knee and the bone will "cement" together and result in an emergency surgery to release it. It will in effect cement my knee in place and I will not be able to move it. So far my ROM (range of motion) has been excellent. It was 100 the first PT day and 120 the next day. My ROM on the machine is 125 right now. I think 130 is the goal.
Today two of the dogs got washed and 30 bags of soil got put in the newest flower bed / retaining wall. We didn't do much because I certainly didn't feel like walking around a whole lot today. Tomorrow we have to go to Sam's to buy groceries and I am getting my Mother's Days pedicure (I love pedicures). Will visit Mamaw of course, then will have to rest alot after that.

:)

Lots of Updates, Be Prepared!

Lots of things are going on here at the McRae house. My knee surgery is back on for May 5th. No time as of yet. I have to see the surgeon that took my tumor out, so he can clear me for the surgery and then I will get a pre-op appointment date.

Well, I had hired a girl for the school age teacher job, but she hurt her back the weekend before her observation.( I require people I am interested in hiring observe and interact in the classroom before I will hire them) She went through with the observation and I offered her a job. She seemed like sh would be a good teacher. I wanted her to start immediately, but she wanted to wait a week in order to rest her back. She was supposed to start today, but she had to have an MRI on her back and then said she was going to just stay home and rest. I called the next applicant and scheduled an interview. I am not even attempting having this girl at the day care with those kind of back issues. I also hired another substitute (we worked together at another daycare). So hopefully everything will be covered and I can recooperate for 5 weeks without having to worry about the daycare.

Phillip is sick. I think it's a head cold thing. He's been home all day in bed, which is completely not like him. He's feeling a little better, but this just kind of took him by surprise.

We are hoping to take a quick trip to the beach this coming weekend. After this week I will be stuck on crutches, so it will be a nice vacation before a lot of hard PT work. We are hoping to go to Wilmington NC.

On Monday I am heading up my homeschool support group's annual used book sale. We will have 43 tables of sellers and several people selling other items such as Creative Memories, Mary Kay, handmade purses, etc. It's going to keep me pretty busy and preoccupied, so I don't think about the surgery and get freaked out....lol

My camera is messed up again (reason for no new pics)and the Ritz camera where my warranty is through is closing, so not taking repairs in any more. I now have to go to the store in Greenville SC in order to get my camera fixed. I haven't had the time to do that yet. Hopefully I can do it after my surgery depending on how my knee is doing. I will be in an immobilizing brace and on crutches for a while until they release me. How long it will be depends on how well I recover and how the PT goes.

I've been spending alot of time on Facebook lately. I have found alot of old friends. I just recently found a bunch of friends from Germany and of course from high school as well. it's been alot of fun looking at pictures. I even found a few of the people I was in kindergarten with !We are all looking through pictures and posting them . I didn't realize how many pictures of me are out there! It's been great. The picture in the beginning of the blog is of me in Switzerland when I was 11.

Tentative Surgery Date

I have a date! We finally have enough substitutes hired to cover me while I go out for surgery. I hired a girl yesterday to cover the school age room and do some work in the preschool room. Hopefully she will be better than the past few employees we have had to deal with. She is very promising, has a great attitude and interacts well with the kids. She was pretty impressive at her interview and during her 2 hour observation in both classrooms.
The date is May 5th. It is a Tuesday and the day after my Homeschool groups book sale, of which I am over seeing, so it works out well. It also gives me 2 weeks to train the new girl and get everything in order. I have an employee going on vacation for two weeks in June, so I need to be back by then or at least able to work half days.

If anything changes (which, with my luck usually does) I will post it ASAP :)

Easter Trip to Florida 2009

WE'RE BACK!

We had a good trip with awesome weather. We spent a day at the beach, had breakfast and Easter service at Grandma's church, went to the dog park, visited my aunt (dad's half sister) in Lakeland. It was a short but busy visit. We ate at a really cool restaurant in Lakeland. It was a Mongolian grill where you put your own stirfry together. You put raw meat, vegetables and spices and sauce in bowls, give it to the cooks and they grill it in front of you. Very cool. The kids loved it. We went for a short walk and enjoyed ice cream at Cold Stone. Monday we were able to stop in Moultrie GA to have lunch with Amy Ward who I worked with and lived with at the Children's Home. it was great to see her. She hasn;t changed a bit and is still the sweet loving person she has always been.

I took Tuesday off and enjoyed a relaxing day to get back to reality. We've had very few kids at the daycare due to Spring break, I probably could have taken off the entire week!

Easter Trip to Florida

This trip has already started out rough. I was stuck at the daycare until 4pm, we still had a few things to pack and had to make 2 stops before actually getting on the road. We officially got on the road around 5pm. We are still in South Carolina. We stopped in T.R. for headphones at Wal-mart, then stopped for dinner in Seneca. It's alost 9pm. Not looking good. I'm hoping it gets better, but it is definately hard to drive late at night, especially when you've worked all day. Phillip had the day off, but he cleaned the house and ran errands, so he did work too.
So, at this point, we are still looking for the interstate to head toward Atlanta. We both wanted to drive straight through, but there may be a hotel in our future........

Rough Week,,,, ALREADY!

This has been a crazy week and it's only Tuesday!
After my surgery, my school age teacher gave her two week notice. This Friday was to be her last day. She was sick 2 days last week and called me last minute to say she was sick. She worked yesterday,but was asking my Lead Teacher if the old school age teacher (who still substitutes for us) wanted her job back. She kept asking if we had substitutes to call in ,etc.
She is scheduled for 8am today. At 7 am i got a text message saying her nerves couldn't handle to school age room any more and couldn't work out her notice. I told her she was putting me in a bind because I have to transport early in the day. She said she was sorry but couldn't come back. UNBELIEVABLE! She doesn't even work in the school age room until 3pm. She is in a classroom with 2 kids from 8 am until 1pm (they both loeave early.) Then she gives a break, takes a break and cleans. I even offered to let her go home at 3pm and not work with the school age kids.
It is really aggrevating because I told her from the beginning I don't like to hire people with no child care experience. She begged and cried for the job and I gave her a chance. I have bent over backward to help her, move her to another classroom and help her with her school work (child care class). So, this time around, I am hiring some one with experience, even if I have to wait for a few weeks to find them. I have a few substitutes that will help us get through. We are a little down on kids, especially in the toddler room, so we have not needed 3 teachers all day.

We had snow this morning as well. We got a pretty good amount, but it didn;t stick to the roads. Sadly, no 2 hour delay, no closed schools, no early release. Sadness.

On the up side, I've had 4 calls for the school age job. Only one had experience. I have an interview at 330pm. I had a girl fill out an application yesterday, but we only can offer her a substitute position because she has no experience. Working as a sub she will gain experience and we can hire her later as a teacher.

We are still working out whether to go to Florida or not. I am pretty sure I can cover the center, but the cost of gas is the problem. We will be driving the truck, which is diesel, which obviously costs more. I love going to the beach with the kids, but we will see what works out.

Jonelle, our amusing child

Jonelle has kept us laughing this week. Yesterday she asked me who Jesus' mom was. I told her Mary was. She said, "oh so God and Mary are married?" I said, "not exactly". She said "they got a divorce?" I said, "NO!" so then she thinks a minute and says, "so God just magically put Jesus in Mary's tummy, then he divorced her. " I left it at that. really didn't want to explain the virgin birth to a 9 year old.

Today we went to bookfair and she got The Time Traveler's Journal. Its a huge book about different time periods. She comes and tells me, "Dragons were real once cause there's no way knights made up those fantastic beasts to just impress the ladies!"

She is hilarious. She really thinks outside the box and is so funny to listen to.

First Weekend Home

I am so glad to be home, and because I want to get back to normal I over did it Friday and today. I didn't do a ton of stuff, but I did some cleaning and kept forgetting I couldn't lift or bend. My incisions are killing me now. It's hard to sit or lay in a comfortable position. Standing is really the only way to not hurt.

Phillip was a homeschool teacher this weekend. I am not smarter than a 5th grader when it come to math. Kyle's behind in math largely due to me not being able to explain it to him. Phillip has worked with Kyle most of today on his work and is getting him caught up.

During the discussion of the tumor surgery and knee surgery, my knee surgeon may the comment about my knee surgery being "elective". This has us concerned because we would be responsible for 20% of the surgery which could be quite a large amount. I will have to call on Monday to find out how they plan to file it with the insurance. If they file it as elective, then I will probably not have the surgery until next year. I'm hoping they don't file it that way, but we will see.

This weekend we haven't sone much because I had to rest quite a bit this morning. We did bills, bought groceries and that's pretty much it. Exciting, I know. Tomorrow we have to semi-gloss the daycare walls and some other work that has been put off since my surgery. We had our annual cleaning day on Friday. We close the daycare one Friday a year and clean the daycare from top to bottom.

My goals this week are to figure out if I can have surgery or not and if so, when. This way I can schedule the rest of my life....lol. Everything is on hold because of the surgery. I have alot of other things to figure out as well. We had a substitute become unreliable and our school age teacher gave her 2 week notice. This means I have to find additional back up teachers and hire a new school age teacher. So, once again I have to get the daycare to be completely covered AGAIN before I can have surgery. We have cancelled our Easter Florida trip, but if I don't have surgery, we will be able to go. I'm really frustrated with the amount of things I have to get back under control.

Well, I am going to watch some TV and go to bed early. My incisions are hurting and I may have to take something tonight for it. Been trying not to, but I may give in tonight.

In the hospital

Well, I feel that I was completely unprepared for this surgery. I had no clue that things were going to happen that have happened. First of all, imagine my shock when I woke up with a tube in my nose, down my throat! The surgery was done laproscopically, which was supposed to mean a quicker recovery. Phillip and I were told I would be in the hospital overnight, possilbe 2 days. Well, This is day 4. I was told this morning I could go home Thursday or Friday. UGH. I can't sleep without Phillip so I am pretty much awake all night. I maybe sleep 2 hours off and on. I may take a short 1 hour nap during the day.
Today they took the tube out. I had a BM this morning and the tube came out around 11 am. Unfortunately I am still on a liquid diet, which means jellos, juice, tea and bullion. Woo Hoo.
The other bad thing is the gas pains. I seem to have gas bubbles trap in one area near one of the incisions which are incredibly painful. I;'m talking labor painful. So, they have given me Morphine, which doesn't make the gas bubble go away but it manages the pain.
I should get real food tomorrow. I had bullion, unsweetened tea with sugar packets, jello and grape juice. I ate the jello....lol. Phillip is bringing me sweet tea when he comes later tonight.
I have a list of foods I am dying to eat. Mostly chicken....lol..
Pathology came back on the tumor and it was fine. Everything looks good and they say I am progressing well. I had no idea I would be in the hospital this long though. I thought 3 to 4 days if he had to cut me, 1-2 days with Laproscopic. So, now I am looking at 6 days to a week! I just want to eat.

Phillip is bringing the kids to see tonight. I didn't want them (or anyone) to see me with that stupid tube in my nose. Only a select few have enjoyed that view....lol.....

Well I may take a short nap and try to get a popsicle.

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the surgery to remove the carcinoid tumor from my stomach. The game plan is to try to do it laproscopically with an endoscopy (camera) to find it and remove it. If the tumor is in a spot where he can't get to it then he will have to actually cut. Either way, I will be at the hospital overnight. The amount of days is dependent on the way surgery goes. The recovery time is 2 weeks. I am able to reschedule surgery for my knee in 2 weeks as well.
I am scheduled to be at St. Joe's at 830am and surgery is at 1030 am. Phillip will be with me (of course).

I appreciate everyone's prayers.. I will definately need them :)

Update on surgery status, Candace's birthday

Well, fun stuff first. Today (March 14th) is Candace's 21st birthday. Of course that means free lunch at Asianna. THe five of us, Rainna and Sammy and Candace all went, Joel opted for a nap :)

Sammy enjoyed dipping his chicken in any thing he could find. He also enjoyed a lemon. Unfortunately no one came to sing to candace (much to her delight) because they forgot about us (we did ask). HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDACE!!!

So, to update the surgery situation, I went through with the knee pre-op appointment, but halfway through my registration at ParkRidge I got calls from both my knee doctor and the tumor-removing doctor. I was told to cancel the knee surgery and do the tumor surgery first. So, on Monday I have a CT scan and I will schedule surgery. I am hoping to get it done in the next week and am praying for a very very short recovery time so I can do the knee quickly. I really don;t want to be recovering through the summer. I want to be able to walk during the nice weather months and enjoy it, not having to be stuck inside recovering. The pain in my knee is worsening and due to my stomach pain (i have h-pylori and gastritis) I can't take Ibuprofen anymore. Right now I am taking no pain meds. They've given me Xanax to deal with the stress and my anxiety before the surgeries, etc. I'm on 3 meds for the H-Pylori and 2 peptos 3x a day. I feel like an old person with all this medication!

So, basically, I should have a date for the tumor surgery, but I will not know how quick I can reschedule the knee surgery until I have the tumor surgery. He was unsure how much cutting he would have to do (he's really unsure if he will even be able to find it!) As soon as I have something to update, I will add it on here.

More Drama about the surgery

Today I got more results from the GI scope. Apparently I have a tumor (carcinoid) in my duodenum. THis has to be removed and my regular doctor wants it done before my knee surgery. HOWEVER, I have read up on this and it doens't seem life threatening from what I have read. I meet with the surgeon tomorrow at 11 and I will know more. I am hoping he will let me have my knee surgery as usual on Tuesday and then have the tumor removed a few weeks later. I have a CT scan on Friday as well. TOmorrow I will know what to expect as far as recovery and what he thinks about the knee surgery situation. I really don't see what one has to do with the other, but you never know. I will update again when I have more info.

Kyle's tournament game, Remodel update, Last week before surgery

This past Saturday was Kyle's basketball tournament game. They didn't win, but they all played well. He got a trophy and he was pretty proud of that.

The remodel on the daycare didn't get any work on it this weekend. I think we were both so overworked, we just enjoyed being lazy. Of course being lazy included working in the yard, doing laundry and lceaning the house, but we weren't at the daycare at all, so that was a nice break.

Next week is the last week before my surgery. I have a ton of stuff to get done before then. I HAVE to have the toddler room set up and ready (furniture is arriving mid-week), have all my paperwork in order, everything turned in, anything I will need for a few weeks bought, etc. I am assuming I will not be mobile for at least three weeks (as in mobile on my own) but with the possibility of 8 -10 weeks.

Friday I will have a surgery date and hopefully a hospital release date. Phillip will be home with me until the end of March.

Surgery Schedule and SNOW DAYS!!!

Last night we got lots of snow! No school today or tomorrow! It was really bad out on Hendersonville Rd, near where Joel and Candace live. My doctor and PT are out that way and the parking lots were sheets of ice and the roads were horrible! I went to PT today and made my surgery appointment while I was there. On March 13th I will see my doctor to do medical history and them to the hospital for a visit to the anaestesiologist. Then March 17th (St.Patrick's Day) will be my surgery. I won't know the time until March 13th. I have the center covered (staff wise) and hopefully we will be able to open the toddler room that week as well.

I will continue PT until surgery so I can get my knee strong enough to recover quickly. We have the daycare covered so I can be out up to three months (there is NO WAY I could deal with that)but I am hoping for only 3 weeks. We'll see what happens :)

Sorry So Long, Lots of Updates

Lots to update on:

First, We have decided to remodel the daycare in order to care for 1 year olds. In order to do this we had to decrease the size of the preschool room and make a third room in the center. We will still be able to have 30 children, but we will only have 6 toddlers (1-2 years), 10 preschool (3-5 years ) and 14 school age (5-12 years). We are moving right along on the remodel. We have a sanitation inspection next week and then my consultant has to measure and verify my numbers. She will then issue my new license to be able to accept 1 years old. Phillip has done an amazing job putting up the walls and getting things done and looking great :)

Next, I had my GI scope. I do not have an active ulcer, but I do have gastritis and they took a biopsy of something in my duodenum. I should have those results on the 4th of March. I am now able to schedule my surgery, which I will most likely schedule soon.

The girls have been having a tournament the last 2 weeks. We have been driving to Cherokee 3x a week. We have the championship game tomorrow morning against Cherokee. They are our toughest competition. THey have beat us 2x and we beat them once. Hopefully we will play a good game tomorrow. The last game we played against them was horrible.

Pauline and Cody have been in town this past week. Pawpaw Kuykendall passed away early Tuesday morning. She got into town on Friday night. She will be flying out tomorrow at 6am. We enjoyed watching Cody most of Sunday and Monday and then had dinner. Cody got to spend time at the daycare and he had a blast. The kids at the daycare know him from the pictures of him on my cell phone. They were pretty excited to actually meet him...lol.

Next week will be full of inspections and fence people and floor people coming. We are hoping to start enrolling next week and open in the next week or two. I have to start preparing to be out for surgery as well.

Knee Update.... More......

So, I was supposed to have a surgery date, but there has been a problem. I took Phillip with me to my doctor's appointment, where he informed my OS about my ulcer (who would have thought he needed to know about that?) Apparently the high level of pain medss could do serious damage to my ulcer and lets just say the end results would not be good.
He asked me to see my regular doctor for a clearance letter stating that my ulcer is not active. I went today and to my dismay she ordered a scope. I can't be put to sleep for this, but I can be heavily medicated. I have to actually swallow this tube for the scope. UGH, not looking forward to that. I don't have the scope date yet, but I should be able to have it next week. I have to take Prevacid to heal the ulcer (if it's there still). If there is no errosion, I can get a clearance. If not I have to take the Prevacid until it is clear. So, no surgery until the ulcer thing is clear. Hopefully that won't take too long.
On the other side, we are losing an employee as of the 23rd. She is going to another job, so there is no problems there are we plan to use her as much as we can as a substitute. Unfortunately this makes it difficult to schedule surgery since we are short staffed at this time. An ad will go out on Tuesday (the 17th) so hopefully we will get some good applicants quickly.

DAYCARE NEWS:
We are adding a new classroom. Due to the market demands, we are finding that there is a demand for 1 year olds, not so much for 3-5 year olds. We are dividing up the center into 3 spaces, a school age space, 3-5 year old space and 1-2 year old space. We already have children lined up for this room and the 3-5 year old room is already full, as is the school age. This would fill the daycare and put us in a much more secure position. At this time we are supposrting ourselves, but we have been losing kids due to parents being laid off, etc. On the other hand, there are parents having to go back to work that need care. Please pray that this transition is a smooth one, as there are many factors we have to deal with. We have to build new walls, add new plumbing and electrical, as well as purchase new equipment for the younger room. There are many state requirements such as inspections and ratings that we have to complete. We are blessed with seasoned staff, so I have an excellent support system there and I won't be the only one doing all the work, as it has been in the past.

SO, that has been our busy week.
TOmorrow the girls have a game. If they win this game and Cherokee wins their game we will be tied for 1st for the tournament. This means we have to play a tie breaking game on Sunday afternoon. This game dteremines when we play in the tournament. Cherokee is our toughest competition and they have some aggressive players. (one girl literally shoves girls to the ground and grabs them too)Hopefully we will be able to win on Saturday and Sunday.

More news later :):):)

Surgery decision, basketball, painting

Well, first off, I have decided to have the surgery. I will make the appointment at my appointment on February 11th. I have done plenty of research so I know what to expect, what I need to have before and after the surgery, what I need to have done due to my immobilization. I have quite a list.

So, I will keep you all posted when the date it. It will have to be after Feb. 24th due to staff time off at the center. I am also trying to plan around the basketball tournaments as well.

We started painting the livingroom this weekend. Since the walls are so big it will take us alot longer. We got the biggest wall done yesterday between basketball games. (there were three). It's amazing how a little bit of paint can make a room look so much better!

The girl's played a great game, winning 24- 8 at Clyde.

Kyle has 2 games, one a 4pm and one a 6pm. Only 5 kids showed up, just enough. The first game they got killed, 24 to 6 I think. The second game was the best game they ever played. The funny part was this was a team we played in the past, with a full team. My friend (whose son is also on Kyle's team) walked by the other team while they were talking. The coach told the team "We've played this team beofre and we beat them, so this will be an easy game". Well, let me tell you, we were neck and neck the entire game. were never more than 2 or 4 points apart. For a while we were ahead! At the head we were tied and they came ahead by 4 points, but we got 2 more, so they only beat use by one basket. The kids were really happy with themselves because they may have lost, but they gave a team with 14 players a run for theirmoney with a team of 5 that was playing their 2nd game of the night!

Well, this isn't a busy week so far, but things can change. Nothing exciting planned. I have a homeschool support meeting and the usual basketball practices. We have a new kid starting at the daycare as well, so that is good.

I'm off to finish getting things ready for homeschool next week and finish laundry :)

Big Decision

Today I had my recheck appointment with my doctor. Good news, my fracture is basically healed. You can still see a small part of it, but he says not enough to be concerned with. Then we had to discuss the other issue, my knee cap. I have three choices: Live with the pain, which will eventually get worse, have a surgery involving screws or get a 2nd opinion.

I cannot live with the pain. I do not want to have to slow my life down because my knee hurts. I also don;t want to end up in a wheel chair because I over extend my knee and it goes out on me.

The surgery is a major one. It is called a Tibial Tubicle Transfer or a Fulkerson Osteotomy. They have to take part of the bone out and move my knee cIp back in place. If you look at the pictures above my doctor drew on my knee. The dark line is what my knee does. The light line is what it should do. There is a Q angle every one has that relates to how your knee cap tracks. Most women's is 12-16, mine is 40.

The downside to this surgery is: 35% complication rate including amputation. He has had great success with the surgery. He has had 2 patients that have had complications and they were due to a car accidents (so unrelated to the surgery) and the other due to a 17 year old going back to play football before being released to.

I would have to be in the hospital for 3 days with drainage tubes, antibiotics, etc. 8 weeks of crutches and a brace immobilizing my leg (no bending of the knee) it would take 9 months before I could run (not that I really do that now) or strenuous activity involving my knee.

The other option is to get a 2nd opinion. Well, I have my aunt Kay getting info from the doctor she works for, I have done ALOT of online research. The doctor I see is one of the top surgeons in orthopaedic surgery in the country. He really doesn't want to jump to do the surgery due to the high complication rate.

So, I have an appointment on February 11 at 2:45pm. I will need to have a decision by then. Right now I am leaning toward the surgery. Now is the best time for me to do it. I don't have anything coming up that I will miss. I am taking the semester off because I had a feeling I would be having surgery. My trip to California isn;t until August, so thats not an issue. I probably would miss the Vera Bradley sale, that will make me sad.

There are still so many pros and cons I have to weigh. I have read so many different things in regards to this surgery. But, all in all, I think this is the only way I am going to be able to get my knee back to some symbalance of normal.

So, please keep me in your prayers are I have quite a decision to make. As you all know I am quite the worrier, so pray that I will "Be Anxious for nothing".

January Snow!!!!

WE GOT SNOW!!!!!

Yup, we had another snow day! Last week we were closed on Wednesday, but today we got alot more than we had. We still have a winter storm warning, but we haven't gotten any more snow. More than likely we will be back at school tomorrow. :(

The kids enjoyed what we had though. They went sledding down the driveway and the front yard. Well, Kyle and Aly did, Jonelle stayed in cause she's like me....we don;t do cold.

Of course it is early in the snow season. i am sure we will get more before winter ends...we've seen hail in May, anything is possible.

Our Weekend: January 17 2009

This weekend was non-stop busy, busy, busy! The girls had a game first thing Saturday morning, as usual. They did great and won, 19-2. They had pictures an hour later, so we were running around all morning.

At 2pm I had a "surprise" housewarming for my brother and sister in law........don't ask. Had a good time visiting with Sammy, who is quite taken with Papa.

Kyle had basketball pictures too, but I missed them, and Phillip took him. His game was later in the evening. His team is quite interesting. This has been a rough year. The first coach we had got kicked out due to coming to practices drunk.....I kid you not. Then we have several boys on the team with really bad attitudes. Last night at the game one kid got spoken to directly several times by one ref. He just rolled his eyes. THen the kids brothers were playing behind one of the goals and the ref told them to move to the sides 4 times. The parents just laughed. It was ridiculous. So, it is really no fun to go to Kyle's games due to these few kids. The coach tries hard, but he was kind of thrown into this, so needless to say, it;s been a mess....lol.

Tomorrow Pauline is going to try out for Survivor!!!! Please pray that she gets on. This has been a dream of hers to do. She keeps talking about her and I going on Amazing Race, which would be a comedy show in itself with me involved, so I am really hoping she is able to get on Survivor and do what she loves!!!!!

We have a winter weather advisory for tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday until 7pm. They are calling for lots of snow, at least 1-3 inches and of course, more for higher elevations. Tomorrow is not a school day for the kids, but is a daycare day (unless it snows, then I will close too). The kids already missed one day due to snow, so hopefully they won't miss many more because it cuts into their Spring Break. I hope we get enough snow to do something in. They got sleds last year when it snowed quite a bit, but it really hasn;t been enough to sled good in.

I hope every one had a great weekend and have a great week!!!!