Spelling with finesse!

Tonight Kaden was able to participate in the District Spelling Bee at the high school. There were probably about twenty kids there, mostly fourth and fifth graders with two third graders. It was a short lived spelling bee, half the kids were eliminated on the word "ballot", which was their first word. Luckily, Kade got to his second word, "finesse", unluckily he thought there was only one 's' in "finesse" and was eliminated. He finished in 7th place and we, of course, are very proud. He was awarded a medal and a $20.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Congratulations Kade!

One funny thing -- so we are thinking that it is pretty nice for us to show up at this thing on a beautiful Friday night and so I wasn't too concerned with appearances so much. I did make Kade change out of his "Warning: Emits dangerous gases" t-shirt, but wasn't too concerned with much else. So we get there and while not everyone was dressed up, there were a number of boys in shirts, slacks and ties and a few girls wearing dresses, and what is my son wearing? A pair of shorts with his "Welcome to Coolsville, Population: Me" shirt! I thought it was pretty funny and after all, he is pretty cool!

On another winning note, Kellie won $1,000 in groceries from a radio contest at Broulims last night. Because I helped her and stood in her place while she was at work, she shared the pot with me and gave me $300 in gift certificates too! What a lovely sister she is. We also both ended up with a ham and a few lottery tickets and we had a lot of fun too. Now Kellie is a local celebrity and has to sign autographs every time she goes to Broulims! Check it out at www.kupi99.com!

Still Alive and Loving May!

For those who didn't already know, I survived a parathyroidectomy and have been functioning on 3 of 4 parathyroids for the past week and feel just fine. The surgery went well, both my calcium and parathyroid hormone levels are now at normal levels and I am sure to have a cool scar at the base of my neck to tell great stories with!

Tonight Kade had a game at Civitan park in Idaho Falls, and I just had to comment about how amazing the weather was and how much I enjoyed it. Watching him play baseball makes me realize just how much he is growing up, it is incredible. These boys are turning into men right before our eyes and I can't believe how fast it is going.

After the game we went and got smoothies and a loaf of bread to feed the ducks at the Greenbelt, it was such a beautiful night, it is days like these that literally feed my soul. There is something about spring that makes me feel like I can survive again, after the forever long winter everything comes back to life and it seems that it is just in the nick of time for me. So all of the signs of spring/summer make me so happy! Flowering trees, full canals and ditches, the green grass, we even saw baby geese at the river tonight, all of these things make me so happy! (I know, I am impressed by simple things.)

I am thankful for the beautiful world God gave us and it was fun to just hang out with the kids tonight and enjoy it with them.

Dang Parathyroid!

Well, so about a month ago we had a routine blood draw for Greg's health insurance through the county. When I got my results back, my calcium serum level was high, and after discussing the results with my doctor, he advised me to come back in a month and have it rechecked.

So I went back, and the next results were even higher going from 11.8 to 12.6, (10.6 is the high end of normal). So the day after the 2nd high result, they tested my parathyroid levels and they were "sky high" as well (254, high end of normal being 65). At that point I was referred to a ear, nose and throat specialist, whom I met today for the first time.

I found out that most likely there is an adenoma (tumor, most likely benign) on my parathyroid and that they will localize which one it is (you have four) and remove it in surgery. This is the best case scenario, meaning it shouldn't have a major effect on me afterwards and surgery shouldn't be too bad.

The other possibility is that all four of my parathyroids are enlarged (can't remember the medical term for this condition) and that they would have to remove more. The catch on this one is that they would leave a portion in that would continue to function hopefully normally. But they save the part that is removed and if your calcium levels drop too low, they can reinsert a portion into your arm to help out. Isn't the body just crazy? I asked him how you "save" it, maybe a doggie bag you receive after surgery? But they freeze it and hang onto it for some time limit that is unbeknownst to me.

He did mention that there would be an extremely remote possibility of the tumor being cancerous, but we both agreed not to think about that for now.

So, I am still on for surgery for Monday, and for added entertainment I get to have a neck MRI tomorrow and possibly some test on Friday where they shoot you up with radioactive dye to figure out which parathyroid gland is the dud. And Greg and I were planning on going to Utah Saturday to get away. Always busy!

I hope I have provided those of you with a limited or non-existant knowledge of the parathyroid with a better education about the whole process. It sure has enlightened me, I never even knew I had a dang parathyroid, much less that it could cause all of these issues!

New Blogger

Well, I finally figured out how to add a cute background to this thing, so I decided that maybe I would give this blogging thing a try. I don't know if what I have to say will be interesting to anyone, but I like reading other people's blogs so here goes. Now I just need to start taking a lot more pictures!

Here's a little rundown on my current life situation:

I have been married for 13 years now to a great guy and have a son, Kade, and a daughter, Courtney. We have lived on a small farm in Rigby for almost all of our married life and I absolutely love it. It is nice, quiet, and great for summer barbecues (I love summer barbecues). I have to say, I am very happy with my life at this point!

I recently (Spring 2008) graduated from BYU Idaho with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and am currently attending Idaho State University in hopes of attaining my Masters of Business Administration. Yes, it all sounds great, but I am so burnt out on school it's not even funny. This summer, my goal is to pass the CPA exam - we shall see, it didn't seem so scary when it wasn't staring me in the face like it is now. Unfortunately, this means CPA review classes every Saturday of the Summer from May 16 thru August 8. I will survive! Right???

I also have four fabulous sisters who are so much fun to be with and am blessed to have amazing parents as well.

Overall, I am so very thankful for all of the blessings I have been given and couldn't ask for more.

(Now I will be thankful for a nice, comfortable bed to go crawl into (after I go put a new load of laundry in the washer of course) it is 11:20 p.m. afterall. Goodnight!)