13 Days of Fun Before the 13th (continued)

I was really tired as I was posting last time, so I had to quit. I am FINALLY off all the "hard" stuff (Morphine, Percocet, Valium . . . and sorta Vicodan - I still take that at night time!) Anyway, I suppose I left off on day 11:

April 10:

Day 11 started out pretty boring. We cleaned, and cleaned and cleaned. Number one because I knew I would be out of commission for a while and I didn't want everything to go to sh*&. Also, because I have allergies and I really didn't want to have swollen eyes and be sneezing in addition to all the other pain I would be in. So we cleaned and it was a success. All the laundry was done (my mom would still have to do a few loads before I healed) and the dust was cleaned up (Matt would still have to do some dusting before I was healed). But it was as complete as it could be at the time.

That night we went to a benefit trivia night. The proceeds went to a charity that is very near and dear to my heart especially because of what I went through on May 7, 2004. (P.S. Read at your own risk . . . also, if you read that, please read more of that blog. I plan to get it going again once I am feeling better about my current situation).

Anyway the cause for the trivia night was for The Angel Band Project. Please read here to learn more about the Butz's story. Buy their CD if you have the means. The proceeds will all go to here. As I said, I plan to start back my other site again soon, so all this information will be posted there too. But honestly this is a silent crime . . . NOBODY talks about it! Please support rape victims. If you are in the St. Louis area, I also like to donate to the Women's Resource Center. I cannot tell you how much they have meant to me over the years!

Ok, so back to trivia night. We had a GREAT time! Our table consisted of my mom, dad, Sarah and Tim Peniston, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Darell and Matt and me. We actually did quite well coming in 4th place (Thanks to Uncle D who is a music master!) Here are some pictures from the night:

Uncle D, Aunt Li and ME!



Mom, Dad and Me:


Sarah, Tim, Matt and Me:



Tim decided to build a tower:



And Dad decided to wave his cell phone to the music during intermission:


We also met up with some old friends from CJA:
(Amy, Me, Karen and Sarah):


It was a great night for a great cause!

April 11:

Day 12 - I told Matt that I wanted a Steak 'n Shake date. You know, like in high school?? He will never eat in there with me so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity. We woke up and went to 11:00 mass and then headed straight to Steak 'n Shake. He took me to the original one which I had never been to despite the fact that it is right by our house. It was nice. We had a normal conversation and of course I was talking to all the little kids next to me (for those who don't know, I LOVE children!) Anyway, there was a little boy named Camden and he had a 7 year old sister named Jade. I was smiling at them and talking to them a bit, then our food came so the conversation ended. Matt and I finished eating and suddenly I cracked! I mean CRACKED. I just stared at Matt in the face and said, "Oh my GOD! I cannot believe they are going to cut off my boob in two days! It will just be GONE!" The tears came and wouldn't stop. Matt found me a clean napkin and I cleaned myself off. I heard in the background little Jade saying, "Mommy, why is she crying?" Poor Jade! I hope she can stay so innocent . . . sadly I know that can't happen. Anyway, after I cleaned up with the napkin, I looked at Matt and asked how I looked. He just smiled at me and said, "You look beautiful sweetie, but maybe you should wear my aviators home." (I know, I married well!) He took me home and told me I don't need make-up and had me take it all off. Then we were off for "Family Day." (Mom and Dad have us over every Sunday for dinner, we call it Family Day.

And then I got to see the "other" love of my life . . . my handsome and perfect nephew Will! We played in his grandma's pond for a while and got to spend some good quality time together. I love Will so much! I CAN'T wait to have my own! Here are some pictures of us playing with the pond and looking at the fish.









Is that enough pictures of Will? Didn't think so . . .

Look at those beautiful BLUE eyes (sorry, couldn't quite correct the redeye in the right one):


And this is what his Grandpa Ray calls his "Tough Guy Face":


Oh man does that boy make me smile!

Oh yea, and clearly I am a terrible mother, because I forgot to include a picture of me with MY baby! Here's my little furchild, Sunny:



(I know, he looks just THRILLED to pose for a picture with his mama . . . you should see him when I brush him though . . .)

April 12:

DUM DUM DUM . . . DAY 13!

April 12th happened to be opening day at Busch Stadium. Long before we even knew this was all going to happen, Matt's sister, Elizabeth and her husband Jason gave us a wonderful Christmas gift of tickets to opening day! It was the first Opening Day game I had ever been to! Jason promised me some pictures (since our camera broke) so I plan on updating this soon with opening day pics, but for now just know it was a great send off to my right breast. It was a lovely day and we had a lot of fun!

Todays Wonderfuls:

Quite honestly, these 13 days really were wonderful. I realized how many people really care about me and love me. I also realized how supportive my husband is and that he really meant that vow he (we) took when we got married - In Sickness and in Health. But I will elaborate more on this in my next post because as much as these 13 days meant, I have been WAY overwhelmed with what happened after the procedure. More to come I promise . . .

Oh,and if you are reading this, can you please just send me a little hello or hi in the comments section. I mean, I am doing this mostly for myself, but I'd like to know if anyone else is looking at this. Thanks! Love you!

13 Days of Fun Before the 13th

March 31st:

Today is the day I sprung it on matt that we are doing this and that today is day one.  It was a gorgeous day!  So I had marinated some chicken and bought everything we needed for BBQ.  Well as it turned out, Matt didn't get home till after 8:00.  So the BBQ did not happen as planned, but we still had some delicious baked chicken with creamy mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli:



Girl Scout Cookies are out, so I made Matt a special dessert:





April 1

For day 2, we went out to dinner at Sybergs:



We shared a yummy Sybergs Salad:



Some Beers:



And delicious food:



Then we saw this which gave us a little chuckle:



A little background on the above picture. Matt bought the same shirt in a gold color at a thrift shop for 35 cents. One day Kevin Pfeiler showed up in the same shirt. We asked him if he got it in the thrift shop. He said, no, he helped clean out a stream and so they gave him that shirt. So of course, much to Matt's dimay and embarrassmant, I had to ask this guy if he helped clean up a stream. He looked at at me and said, "No, actually I just bought this at a thrift shop for 35 cents." Haha, gotta love it!

So after dinner, we went to play mini golf. I don't think we have played mini golf since we first started dating. We had a great time:





April 2

Ahhh, day 3 . . . Day 3 had so much potential. We planned on having a crazy club Schulte Night. Instead it turned into us sitting on the couch listening to some music and having some drinks, but not actually getting up to dance to the music. Oh well, we were tired from the work week. We still had fun haning out with each other and we had a nice Good Friday "Dinner" of cheese, bread and fruits and veggies. Early to bed that night for sure!

April 3

Day 4 started out with brunch with Staci and Jason (and the baby). We went to Duff's in the Central West End. We had a lovely brunch and great conversation. It was the first time I had actually seen the baby showing so it was fun seeing Staci as a cute little preggo!







Later that night we met Matt and Kayce out in DeSoto for some fun at Tina's. Matt had his first taste of "Hot Monkey Sex" (a yummy banana chocolate shot). We always have fun with Matt and Kayce, here are a few pics of the night:





April 4

Day 5 was Easter Sunday. For Easter this year, we went out to Uncle Thos's house again. It was a gorgeous day! We were able to ride the 4 wheelers, walk along the lake, fly kites and just run around the yard. It was quite a nice Easter. The poor "Lamb of God" was a little damaged in the commute however (notice the lack of eye and the fallen off ear):



Nathaniel wanted to ride the 4 wheeler, but is just a bit young. Don't worry I gave him a little ride (at about 3mph) around the field eventually:





Katie and I have a new Easter tradition where she takes me for a fast ride all over the place (read through creeks and everything!). We always come back a bit muddy, but it is fun:



Dad taught the kids how to fly a kite:



Dad and Me:



Cousin Robby and Me:



Mom and her Girls:



April 5

Day 6

Day 6 was a little more low key, but probably the most important day. Ever since I found out that the mastectomy was inevitible, I called Fr. Dave (the priest that preformed our marriage ceremony). He agreed to give me the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. It was a beautiful ceremony. Fr. Dave talked, had my dad do a reading and then anointed me. He talked to Matt and me about how this is where the whole "sickness and health" vow comes in . . . we really didn't think it would be so soon . . . but we meant it when we said it so here we are. He gave me and my family blessings and it gave us all some peace of mind.

Afterward Matt and I had a simple dinner at the Bean House and reflected on everything Fr. Dave spoke to us about. It was a nice and peaceful evening.

April 6

Day 7 happened to be a night where LOST was on. Thanks to Bridget, we have become obsesses with LOST. And since this is the final season, we couldn't miss an episode. So instead of doing something out of the ordinary and skipping LOST, we decided to incoproate our LOST watching into our special night. So I bought us some champagne and we drank it out oof our wedding toasting flutes.



I also got us some Ted Drewes for dessert:







April 7

On day 6, since it was a Wednesday, we ended up going to Cunetto's. We forgot our camera, but if you look back at the pictures from when we went to Cunetto's for my birthday, they would look about the same. So you get the idea. It was delish as usual!

April 8

On Day 7 we went over to Anna and Matt's house to visit Braden. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold a baby for a while after my surgery, so I wanted to hold as many of them as possible. So we went over there and ordered some pizza. While I was eating, Matt took Braden and actually used the boppy for its real purpose:



After I was finished eating, I was a baby hog. No one seemed to mind:





April 9

On Day 10, my old co-workers decided to throw me a happy hour at the Schlafly Tap Room. We had a lot of people show up but unfortunatly I forgot to take pictures until all but one person left, but here is a pictre of Nick and me:



And Nick was kind enough to take one of Matt and Me:



April 10
(Work in progress still . . . I'm napping)

Explaination for the 13 Days of Fun Before the 13th

I have mentioned before that this blog is to look at the good things in my life in spite of all the challenges I have been facing. I have yet to mention what these "challenges" are but I figure now is as good a time as ever to bring up one . . . the on challenge that put me over the edge. I have had several health problems over the past year but it all culminated in October. I found a large lump in my right breast. It was so large that I really thought it must just be dense tissue. After visiting the OBGYN, he suggested I get an ultrasound. We decided to remove the lump and have it biopsied. I have had several fibradenomas in my life so I wasn't worried about anything at all. The surgeon removed the lump in early November. He said it was the size of a lemon (I told you it was large!) We still were not too worried thinking that it was probably just another fibradenoma.

When the pathology came back, it turned out to be a phyllodes tumor and it was malignent. A bit of shock and a LOT of denial set in at that moment. My doctor told us not to worry too much at this point in time. A Phyllodes tumor is very rare in that it does not respond at all to Chemothreapy or Radiation. That may seem like a bad thing, but the good thing about it is that it DOES respond VERY well to surgery. My surgeon was confident that if he went back in and was able to cut out a wide (1/2") excision of tissue around the tumor, we would never have to think about it again. We scheduled the surgery for early December. When we went in to find out the results, the doctor informed us, that since the tumor was so close to the skin, he was unable to get the margins he wanted to get. So we scheduled an MRI in early March to see if there was any tumor left and decide what our next steps would be.

Christmas came and went, our birthdays came and went and finally it was time for the MRI. Unfortunately the MRI "lit up." So I was given two choices.

1) Watch and wait to see if the tumor comes back (it could come back in the breast or the lungs)
2) Have a mastectomy.

Neither option seemed like a good choice for me. I wanted a number 3. There was no number 3. To most, this seems like an obvious choice, but when it it you in the position to make this choice, it is not so cut and dry. I took 2 weeks to pray, think and pray some more. Finally I decided to get the mastectomy. We scheduled it for April 13th. I cried and cried and cried at the thought of losing my breast. Then I snapped out of it and told Matt that if I am going to have to do this we are going to do at least one little fun thing everyday before the 13. That day was March 31 . . . thus began the 13 days of fun before the 13th.