Henry and Cici's Halloween Memory Lane

This year is not shaping up to be the best of Halloweens. Last night Henry started running a fever and then... wait for it... started throwing up. Because of course. And also, this is the SECOND Halloween the kid had spent throwing up. I am not sure the holiday agrees with him.

Add in the fact that Boo spent the night in the hospital for a mutant allergic reaction to a medication AND The fact that they say it may FREAKING SNOW and I will have to admit Halloween 2014 may not end up as my favorite.  Still, Henry has an adorable homemade costume and we are going out to trick or treat!  At least for a house or two.

But, let's not dwell on tonight.  Let's look at the collage I made of Halloween's gone by.

 Seriously, with these two.  The love is strong. 

Happy Halloween!!  Come by tomorrow to see a picture of Henry in this' year's adorable costume!
 

Well That's Weird... (FYI:Odd Medical Information Ahead. Read at Own Risk)

It feels like it has been awhile since I did any serious over sharing here on Bio Girl. I thought after my hysterectomy the days of medical over sharing may be behind us.  But turns out, my body is such a mess that even without a uterus I can find ways to give way too much detail about my (lack of) female reproductive parts.  You ready to hear my newest issue?  Read ahead only if you find medical problems interesting.

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Seriously... only people who aren't squeamish about girl issues keep reading.

Okay, ready?

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This Sunday I randomly started having heavy bleeding like a period.  Which... would not be super odd if I still had a uterus.  BUT I DO NOT. I also do not have any ovaries or a cervix, so... WTF. 

As you may imagine, I was rather bothered by this turn of events.  I was also bothered by the fact that along with the new bleeding came pain/nausea that was very similar to what I dealt with from my endometriosis.  It was a Sunday (my birthday!) so I called the on call doc and she said that she would send me to the ER, but that ER docs are REALLY not able to handle freaks of nature like myself.  She said if I could wait until the next morning it would be much better to be seen at their office.

So... Happy Birthday to me.

Monday morning I went in to see my doc and he said I have something called Tissue Granulation. Once I got home I promptly googled this and, well, you cannot UNSEE things you have seen, so I suggest you NOT do that.  Basically what it is is when scar tissue begins to randomly grow new connective tissue full of blood vessels on top of itself.  This basically makes a large open wound on top of your scar.  And my scar that is doing this is the one that closed off where my cervix used to be.

SO FUN, RIGHT?!


So, he treated it and says it should begin to heal.  I think he re-cauterized it, which is the SECOND time I have had to have that done.  ( I spared telling you about the first, which was a few weeks after my surgery, but at some point things MUST be talked about on the blog.)  I am now also on estrogen.  For the last eight months I have not been on any hormones, but he said it was time and hopefully would help keep this from happening again.

So... That's happening.  It's still painful and I am not at all happy about it.  I also find it amusing (in a bad) way that I am once again a freak of nature who's body continually tries to regrow body parts.  If you are keeping count, I have randomly grown endometriosis, a second layer of gum tissue (TWICE!  Surgery in December to remove it AGAIN), my tonsils (or new tissue where my tonsils used to be), and now, apparently, a new fake cervix.

I should be kept in a lab.

Tooth!!

Someone lost his first tooth...

Is it just me or does he seem a little young for that?!?!   The one right beside it is also loose and I expect it go follow suit in the next couple of weeks.  FUN TIMES.  The Tooth Fairy needs to build up a secret stash of cash....


Also, it was "Dress for Sucess" day at school. 

I can't even...

Birthday Weekend

So yesterday was my birthday and I turned 35, which sounds so much older than I feel.  But, when I really think about it, I am married, have a kid in elementary school, own a home, pay my bills on time, and am usually in bed by 10pm.  I think I am right on track for my mid 30's.

This weekend we celebrated with Matt and Blair coming to town for their annual fall Keeneland trip, which was awesome!  I love that they get to be here for my birthday! Besides Keeneland we filled the weekend with a Bourbon Distillery Ghost Tour, Cici's last soccer game, and lots and lots of eating. Obviously.

The group at Keeneland.

Candice and Lucas

Boo and Chris

Keeneland!  (PACKED!)

Nick and I.  Can you all see how blue Nick's eyes are in the picture?  No filter, they are just apparently made of ice.

Matt and Blair

We always manage to catch the headless horseman on our October meet. 

We also got to see Cici's last soccer game on Saturday.  It's funny how quick and easy a sports season seems when it's not your child!  How athletic does she look here??

At the end of the game everyone got a medal for their hard work this season.  When the coach gave Cici her medal he said "If we had a team captain, I would say it was this girl, because she always knows what to do and is always telling everyone else what the SHOULD be doing!"  HAHAHAHAHA.  Just like her Mama

Group shot at the soccer game

Saturday night we went on the ghost tour at Buffalo Trace distillery.  The tour was great but the ghost portion was lacking. I think it was just our tour guide, who said he only does the ghost tour around once a month.  Still, it was a very cool tour and we all enjoyed it.  Especially the end where they gave us bourbon!

Candice and Blair, ready to start the tour

Matt and Chris

Everything looks creepier in the dark

Chris and Nicole listening to ghost stories

In the warehouse

Our tour guide give out samples

Fun stuff

The entire group on the tour!

And a final shot of the weekend of me (BIRTHDAY GIRL!) out to dinner after the distillery.   It's actually funny that even with all these pictures I feel like we didn't take many this weekend.  We were too busy just enjoying being together.  I am so lucky to have such wonderful family to help me celebrate every year!
 

Only a Year Too Late

I got a call yesterday afternoon from a mail order pharmacy saying they wanted to confirm my delivery.  I would have just hung up, assuming it was some phishing scheme, but the name of the pharmacy was the one I used for our infertility and endometriosis treatments.  I decided to stay on the phone and hear her out.

"Hello Mrs. C, we would like to confirm your delivery of Lupron scheduled for next week!"

"Um... I most definently did not order any Lupron."

"Really?  We have it in our system to automaically deliver it to you and that it's a monthly delivery.  You got your order last month, right?"

"Last month?  I think you are confused. I haven't been on any medications from you all for a very long time."

"Oh...yes, I see last time we delivered to you was in 2013.  Would you like the medication now?"

"Um. No."

"Would you like me to cancel your future orders?"

"I think that would be best..."

At first I was really confused.  How on earth are they calling me offering me Lupron?  All I could think of was the infertility treatments I used it for, and the last time that happened was in 2010.  Or, am million years ago.  But after I hung up it came to me.  The event that was so annoying that I had apparently blocked it out of my mind entirely.

They were calling about my Lupron order to help fight my horrible, awful, make it difficult to function as a human being, endometriosis issues at the end of 2013.  You remember the one (or I will remind you), after having a laproscopic surgery to remove my endometriosis in September I was still feeling basically awful so I made the hard decision to go back on Lupron in October. 

Then in November I wrote another post about how I STILL didn't have my medication.   That I had been calling the pharmacy every few days, waiting on hold forever, finally getting  a person who assured me it was REALLY going to be worked out this time (!!) only to never year from them again.  It went on like that for six weeks, but in November I apparently believed it was worked out. 

And THEN in January I posted about how they pharmacy and insurance company were at war over paying for my injections, and how it was an absoulute disaster.  They had preapproved the shots only to deny them and were charging me over a thousand dollars for the two I had taken so far. This resulted in me getting off schedule with my injections while we waited out the beurocratic nightmare and basically completely screwed up my body to the point of no return.

Literally. The point of no return.  One month later I posted that I had decided to have a hysterectomy.  In January my doctor had given me a shot they had in the office while we continued to wait out the pharmacy/insurance issue, but it was two weeks late and I really never was able to get back into sync.  So I stopped calling the insurance and pharmacy requesting my meds.  They were suppose to call me back any day (ANY DAY!) to schedule my next delivery...just as soon as they had this worked out, and I figured I would tell them whenever they finally called ME that I no longer needed the meds.

I had surgery.  In March.  In the middle of a semester at a very busy time in my life.  I put everything on hold and had a major freaking surgery because the insurance and pharmacy could not find a way to get me the medications I needed to keep my chronic illness under control. 

And then I never heard a thing from them. I assumed they could see in my records I had a hysterectomy I guess.  But that was giving them way too much credit.  Because in fact, without my nearly daily phone call pushing them to work this out, they took their time.  And now, ONE FREAKING YEAR LATER,  I got the call... my pharmacy would like to shcedule delivery for my medications.

Yeah.  You are WAY too late CVS Caremark pharmacy.  And after I hung up and then realized why you were calling, I wanted to call back, just to tell them how awful they are.  How much time and energy, stress an pain they caused in my life.  But I decided I wasn't sitting on hold with them ever again.  So I am writing this last post, then letting it go.

Eight Years

Eight years ago today...

 Every year I post these pictures

And on some level I realize you all may not really care to see them again and again

But with as much as I love weddings

This one will always and forever be my favorite

  Happy 8th Anniversary to us.

 I cannot begin to imagine walking through this life anywhere but by your side.
 

A Few Pictures for This Week's #MicroblogMondays Post

In this week's edition of Micro Blog Monday I figured I would dump a few pictures I took on my phone this weekend. Enjoy!

Henry got his hair cut.  I don't have before or after pictures (it basically looks the same as always) but I did capture this in the waiting room

The boy knows how to get comfortable. (FYI, while the magazine looks upside down, in fact the back cover was just printed wrong.)

And, without any real connection to the first two pictures in the post, I also took this random picture of the sweet cousins.  When I ask them to smile for a picture, I get this...way to look natural, kiddos

Happy Monday!
 

Following Up on the Flash Mob of Love

It's a crazy busy sorta day.  I am running to pick up my car from the shop... again.  Third time's a charm, right? 

Seriously.  It has been in the shop three times in three weeks.  Plus Nick's was in the shop once.  It has not been enjoyable.  And deep down we know we both need new cars, but the joy of no car payment is so great, we are just hoping to hold out a little bit longer.  Especially since each fix has cost $100 or less.  I mean, hard to take on two car payments when you can fix your paid off car for a couple hundreds.

That is... if it stays fixed.

Anyway, our cars are annoying.  Moving on.  I wanted to thank everyone who took the time read about my sweet friend Janel and make donations to the flash mob of love.  It was touching to see names I knew show up on the donation list, and see where you shared her page on your own facebook pages.  We raised over $14000 on the single day and are up over $23,000 for the month.  I cannot tell you how much the money is needed and appreciated.  Janel had surgery yesterday and learned she will have a long hard fight ahead of her.  She is up for the challenge, but every little bit of help we can offer is needed. 

So thank you.  Not much of a blog post, but I didn't want to leave you hanging over the weekend with the same post when you desirved to know how much good was done through this event.  If you would like to continue to follow along and support Janel, you can like the facebook page MelaNoMore and keep up with her progress.  Prayers, love and support are always apprecaited.

 

A Love Flash Mob: Helping the Jernigans

My sweet friend Janel has been battling Melanoma for 3 years.  Janel and I built a friendship years ago through our infertility connection, and have stayed close over the past five years as we watch our boys grow.  She is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever been lucky enough to know.  While fighting her own difficult fight she continually stayed in contact with me over mine.  Sending love and support through cards, emails, text messages.  Just continually letting me know I am loved.  I am supported.  I am thought of often and held in her heart.

Janel is loved and supported and thought of often too.  Our little community of infertility bloggers has attempted to rally around her as she fights again and again with the beast of cancer. She is loved extravagantly by her husband and kindergartener son.  She is loved by her community.  She has everything to fight for and will continue to warrior on.

But as most of us know, these battles are not easy.  And they are not cheap.  Today you have the chance to lighten that load for my dear friend.

We can't take the cancer away.  We can help her family pay the bills that continue to mount as new cancers and new effects of chemotherapy make themselves known.  And as a community we can reach out and ask our friend and family to consider doing the same.

Our hope is to set the debt account to zero so she and her family can begin the next fight to recover from these surgeries and strengthen her immune system to fight off cancer's next punch.  We cannot do it alone, so we are asking for your help.  Every little bit counts, and adds up to make huge changes in the life of this amazing family.

Today’s the day to show her that LOVE wins. Shine light today. Be a part of the extraordinary.

Our goal is $20,000 by the end of today…one donation at a time. 

Maximum donation $25. 

Every donation is important. Every amount will help shine light. The link: www.youcaring.com/melaNOmore.

You can see Janel tell her own story in this video:

And read about her ongoing fight on the facebook page dedicated to keeping her friends and family updated.

And once again, the link to donate:  www.youcaring.com/melaNOmore.

Father Daughter Weekend

picture from the 4th of July because I wasn't smart enough to make him take a picture with me on our actual weekend together.

This weekend was my annual Father/Daughter birthday weekend with my dad.  Three  years ago he said that there wasn't a single thing he could think of to ask for his birthday besides time together, so he made the official birthday request for me and each of my sisters to individually come spend a weekend with him at the farm.  No husbands or babies, just me and dad.  (And mom... but he limits the amount she is allowed to talk, by regularly reminding her that this is HIS birthday weekend :) )  Dad's birthday was actually in June, so it took me a while to be able to settle on a weekend for our time together, but finally an open weekend came and so I packed my bags, made a pie (BIRTHDAY!) and headed to the farm.

We spent the majority of the weekend watching lots of movies, then discussing them in detail, which is one of my dad's favorite things.  And mine too, actually, but with the place I am in life right now it seems that the majority of movies come and go and I never seem to see any of them.  That is, until this annual birthday weekend comes around.  I have started looking forward to it all year, keeping a running list of movies I want to see in google docs so when we come together I can pull out my list and start running down the contenders.  This weekend we watched:

The Good Lie

Draft Day

The Edge of Tomorrow

Blade Runner

Million Dollar Arm

The Host

 All great in their own way.  The Edge of Tomorrow and Million Dollar Arm were my top two, and I would highly recommend both of them. The Host is really only for a true fan of the book, but Dad and I had both read it and enjoyed watching the movie and discussing the differences.  Draft Day was surprisingly enjoyable, especially for football fans.  Blade Runner was required viewing once I told Dad I had never seen it, and I enjoyed watching it, then debating our thoughts on it, which included trips to Wikipedia and confirmation that Harrision Ford is in fact a replicant (SHOCKING REVELATION 25 years post movie release!)  The Good Lie was excellent, but hurt my heart a little, and made me realize how clueless I was to the world around me in 2000.  There were parts that felt rushed, but the story of the Lost Boys was unquestionably moving and worth watching. 

But our weekend is about more than movies.  Spending two nights with my parents give us time to really talk, to truly discuss the ins and outs of what is happening in our lives.  I am lucky to live near my parents and to see them regularly, but there is something different about having this concentrated alone time with them. Time where I am not wife and Mama, I am just daughter.  I can talk in detail about my work and my life without interuption.  I can ask about thier work and life without needing to have part of my mind wondering what Henry may be doing in another room.  Truly, dad's birthday weekend had become a gift to us both.  A weekend to slow down and really just be together.

It is one of my favorite weekends of the year.  And I am so thankful he came up with the request.  Sometimes it is hard to get scheduled, and leading up to it I always fret over my boys being home without me, but in the end I know I will never regret taking this time to be with my parents.  It really is special. 

 

Let's Talk About Outlander! (I Know, I am Late to this Party..)

So I bet you all assumed I would be blogging about the new Outlander series on Starz, what with my undying love for the books which has resulted in countless (seven) blog posts on the subject. Then week after week went by with the show on, and I said nothing.  I feel as if I have let you all down. I mean, you have been dying to hear my thoughts, right?!

I have been watching, it's just been a little delayed.  But now I am completely caught up, finishing up the last episode from the first half of season one earlier this week, and I am ready to TALK about it!

I was really worried about this show.  I had said for years that I thought HBO should make it a series, but once I heard Starz was actually doing it I got a little panicked that they were going to screw up something I love.  I worried they would focus extremely heavily on the romance and not really do justice to the epic story that unfolds in these books.

I didn't need to worry.  Starz has done an AMAZING job bringing the first book to life.  I sit and watch it and am constantly impressed with how well everything is done, how true they are staying to the story, how amazingly well they cast...EVERYTHING! Everything is amazing! 
 
I thought this post would be longer, but I feel as if I have wrapped up a lot of my thoughts with "Everything is amazing".  I am just going to throw random comments out there along with more pictures:

I love the casting of Jamie and Clair.  It took me a minute since they both look a little different than I pictured in my head, but they own these characters.  I love the casting of Dougal and Geillis.   I think they are absolutely perfect.  I adore Rupert and Angus.  I was really happy to see Roger!

I am in love with the Scotland.  I loved it while reading the book, but seeing it on screen makes it even more clear how beautiful it is.  I want to go to there.  I love how they are taking the time to really build the conflict between Scottland and England.  They do not just expect you to know or take it as fact, they are showing you the unrest that was present during the time period.

I love that the same actor plays Frank and Jack.  HOW EVIL IS HE??  Oh my god, he is just AWFUL!  And yet as Frank I like him!  And feel sorry for him!  Poor Frank... lost his wife... and then BLLLLACK JAAACK.... HORROR!

 I am not sure how they are going to wrap up the rest of book one in the second half of the season.  For those of you who have read this book, there is A LOT LEFT.  Like, MAJOR THINGS.  Things that feel like way more than half the season.   And whhhhy must we wait six months for the second half of the season?  How is it they even still call that season one?  I don't understand what makes a season. 

I think that's it.  In sum, I am really really (REALLY) happy with Outlander.  I love it deep down in my soul, and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.  As with all other Outlander posts, I really would love if you comment and let me know what you think!  OUTLANDER FANS UNITE!

 *All pictures pulled from Google Images,.