playing catchup

These past six months have been absolutely crazy! In January, after my run, my ankle started to bother me. I went to a physical therapist and started some light treatment to hopefully heal it. Nope, it got worse. I went to a podiatrist and started with a wrap cast to help it, but no, I ended up in a walking boot for a few months. Meanwhile, I had stopped running and going light in my classes. I even took off 3 weeks. I finally decided to call a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon. He talked to me about doing a procedure called ACP. Basically they take out your blood, spin it, and reinject your plasma into the injury and it helps to heal it. I was in so much pain and at my wits end and decided to go ahead with the surgery. I had to be put out and on crutches for 2 days then I just had to take off a week. Recovery really wasn't bad. It has been about 5 weeks and I feel so much better. I wouldn't say my ankle is at 100% but I would say it is at 90-95%. Amazing! It must be the year of medical expenses for me between my ankle and my forehead!
In February it was Owens 4th birthday. I threw him a really cute Lego party. He loved it. Here are some pictures of that

 

April was when I had my ankle surgery. In May was Lee and Calvin's birthdays. We threw Lee a big bash for his 30th birthday. We had one at our house and another bbq up at his parents house. Both were a lot of fun! Unfortunately, the week of Calvin's 2nd birthday I was horrifically sick. Seriously, I was down the entire week. It must have been some sort of food poisoning. I was planning on doing a party for him but I just couldn't. Lee bought Calvin a little cake at the store and they sang happy birthday to him. Later that weekend when I was better we went over to my parents for dinner and had a little family party for him there.

Cancer

 Such a great title, let's just skip all the formalities and get straight to the point. A few months ago I noticed a little scar on my forehead. Tiny. But it wasn't there before. I hadn't been injured or anything so I knew there was no reason I should have a scar. It was just slightly discolored and when I tried to show people, nobody else saw it. Rewind to a few years ago, I had a tiny scab on my chest by my collarbone that wouldn't heal. I had it checked out by some random dermatologist who confirmed skin cancer and cut it out. Bada bing bada boom, wham bam thank you ma'am. He freaking tore apart my chest and left me with about a 3 inch disgusting scar. Here it is the day it was cut. My scar is horrible.

  So back to present day, when I saw it, I got that gut feeling that it was the same thing. It probably took me a month to tell lee about it and another month to even call the dermatologist. A new one I might add. Anyways, when I went to the dermatologist she didn't even think it was cancer. I tried to be hopeful and forget about it but I knew what it was. About a week later they called and confirmed what I knew. Basal cell skin cancer but they referred me to a MOHs surgeon to remove it. I literally freaked out when I saw what MOHs surgery was. They cut a crater out of your skin and test it and your left with a hole anywhere from quarter size to your entire face. It's disgusting. Google it, seriously, now. So I was freaking out on the phone with the dermatologist receptionist and she suggested I have a plastic surgeon close it so there would be less scarring. I called them and set up my appointment to have a consultation. Mind you I was still freaking out on the phone with the nurse. Literally. I was bawling. When I had my consultation my blood pressure was through the roof. And when the dr came in I was already in tears. It sounds vain but the other scar is so big and hideous and I didn't want it on my face! He was incredible! Vey laid back and confident and spent a lot of time talking to me and calming me down. He explained what he was probably going to do depending on the size of the hole. I could not have asked for a better doctor. I feel so grateful for the care and concern he showed me. He also showed me many pictures of before and after and literally, I didn't see 1 scar. If I ever have to do this again, I highly recommend a plastic surgeon. Anyways, the surgery was set for 2 days later. I went into the MOHs dermatologist surgeon and he cut it out before I even knew what he was doing. He was also very personable and friendly. He kept me talking and calm and did it so quick I literally was shocked when he said he was done. When I showed him the other scar and explained why I was so scared and nervous, he offered to laser it for free. He said it would help to minimize it and he wanted to do it for free to help me out. After that was all cut out and bandaged up I headed to the hospital for the closure by the plastic surgeon. I put on the gown and went back to wait for my turn. In the waiting room, there was 6 other beds with other patients waiting for surgeries as well. My doctor came in and talked to me again for a little bit to help calm my fears. He also asked what I wanted to listen to. I was like um, I am going to be asleep and your the one cutting me and fixing it so whatever you want. The anesthesiologist also came in and then the nurse. She showed me her nose and said that in October she had the same surgery and they had to remove half her nose and she had dr. Cook (my plastic surgeon) close it and I literally could not see a scar. It was amazing. So they wheeled me back and when they opened the doors, rock and roll music was blaring. It was kinda hilarious and actually helped calm me more. I don't know why. Anyways, the dr was jamming to Aerosmith and within 20 seconds I was asleep.

  When I woke up I couldn't open my eyes. I just remember crying and saying I wanted my husband. I also felt extremely nauseous. I remember them wheeling me to the recovery room and hearing lee but I just wanted the lights off and to sleep. It hurt my eyes so bad to open them. I kept trying but man it hurt. I finally felt well enough to go home so we left at about 6 pm. My cut was on my left forehead almost right in the middle. My stitches look like an upside down cross.

  I really haven't had a lot of pain. They gave me some loratab but I really haven't needed it. I took it the day after but I don't know if I really needed it then either. On Saturday I woke up to extreme swelling in my eye and cheek. I looked weird and it felt sensitive. On Sunday the same with a little less swelling. It was normal though and today it is gone. I went back to the plastic surgeon today and he double checked it. He also gave me Botox because it paralyzes the muscles and prevents scar tissue from building. He told me in 6 weeks I probably won't even be able to see the scar. I feel extremely grateful for both the doctors. They were both amazing and calmed my fears and spent a lot of time with me. I am overwhelmed at how calm and at peace I feel about it. Thanks to my doctors. I asked to see the pictures from the surgery because I wanted to see how big the hole was and it was about the size of a nickel, maybe a little bigger. So smaller than I was expecting. If I had to do this all over again or if anyone I knew had to do this, I would go the exact same route I did. I loved both my doctors and can't express how thankful I am that they can do these kinds of things. I am thankful I was able to get the cancer out and that I could have a plastic surgeon fix it. He said it would look perfect when it was done. Here I am on Sunday night so 3 days after the surgery. I will post more pictures as it heals.

Vegas Rock N Roll

Kinda late, but here are the pics from my 4th half marathon. I went to Las Vegas with a bunch of girls I teach in Lehi. Pretty much every backed out except Abby who decided to run the full! I think I will be sticking with halfs though! It was a lot of fun since it was a rock n roll event however it was WAY too crowded. I believe I read somewhere that 44000 people were running it. We ran in legs and they let us go every 10 minutes. My biggest issue was that I spent the entire race weaving in between people and I ended up getting HUGE blisters on my feet. In fact, I thought of my toe nails was going to fall off! It hurt so bad I could barely walk. My friend that ran it found out later that the pacers were about 10-20 minutes slower simply from the crowds and it was my slowest race yet. She also calculated that she ran an extra half mile simply from the weaving! Believe me when I say it was OVER CROWDED! I did love the atmosphere and the fun of them closing the strip so we could run it at night. I am not sure if I would do that race again, but I do want to do another half as soon as my foot heals up! Here are the pics from the race. I decided to not post all million pics of the fun things we did and just posted the before and after race pictures. We did go to Mystere which is a show by Circue du Soleil and it was an interesting show. I am amazed at the human body and all the amazing things it can do! This first picture is me and Abby at the expo the day before picking up our packets and bib numbers! It is official!Here is me and Abby at the hotel before we left to go run.The other girls came and cheered me on at the end then came and met me in the Mandalay Bay where they started snapping pictures. Nice. Hot, sweaty and not ready for pictures. Then they were like "pose". So in my fuzzy late headed, 13 mile run head I threw up a peace sign. I am pretty gangsta like that!Me and my MEDAL! It glows in the dark even! How cool is that!After Abby finished we wrapped up in our tinfoil blankets and took another victory shot. I don't think anyone really truly grasps the severity of my foot pain. I honestly thought that my toenail was popping up. Every time I took a step it made a clicking feel and I had to limp. I immediately sat down, ripped off my shoes and started inspecting. I couldn't even put my shoe back on after so thankfully Abby had brought some sandals and I limped to the car in those. In case you are wondering, the toenail stayed! Finally, here is the picture of all the girls that came. It was a fun little girls weekend getaway! I had a blast!
One more new post so keep going...

Jacobs family catchup

4 months! Wow, 4 months since my last post. I don't even know what happened. I tell myself I will keep up, but I am amazed at how hard it is with 2 kids to do much of anything! Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas was a blast! Owen every day says how thankful he is that Santa brought him his shark ship, car garage and legos. He prays for those legos every single night! haha. His 4th birthday is coming up and I can't even believe he is that old. It seems like just yesterday he was born! We are going to throw him a little Lego's party with a few of his friends so that should be fun. Calvin is just adorable and growing like crazy! He is definitely a Daddy's boy!! Oh man, he does not like me or any women for that matter but he still is adorable and does the most hilarious things every day. He is literally obsessed with Owen and does whatever Owen does. We will be at the store and Owen will walk by something and hit it and Calvin will turn around and hit it exactly where he hit it and continue to follow him step by step. We were at home and I asked Owen to turn off the TV and Owen did then Calvin ran up, turned it on, then turned it off so he could do it exactly like Owen. It is so cute. I just love my two little boys so much! They are the world to me!
We had some family pictures taken of us in the fall. The kids were kinda cranky but I still think they turned out cute! I know every parent thinks this, but I think my kids are the cutest!We also had thanksgiving at my parents and everyone came so we got a pic group picture of our entire family!
So part of the reason of lack of posts is that my camera broke at Halloween and I think it's not fun unless you have a picture or two. I found our old broken camera and took a few pics of our Christmas tree so that is about it for the last 4 months of our life! Time to suck it up and buy a new one I guess! Anyways, here is Christmas morning for us. Santa layed out Owens car garage and Calvins "choo-choo". These aren't the best pictures of the boys but it gives you an idea of how big they are getting. They were way to interested in playing and didn't want to smile for the camera.
As far as Lee and I, well Lee is enjoying his job at Big D working at camp williams literally 5 minutes away! So nice! And I love teaching my aerobics classes. I do think I tore either a muscle or tendon in my ankle and need to go to the Dr to get it looked at soon. It is getting unbearable and I have had to tone it down and cut way back so I don't kill myself. I ran my 4th half marathon in Vegas in December! The Rock N Roll half, it was fun but way too crowded. I also had my 28th birthday. That's right, I am only 28. I don't know why everyone thinks I am in my mid thirties!! Do I really look that old?! ugh! Anyways, we went to Airborne for my birthday and it was a blast! They have tons of trampolines and a trampoline dodgeball area and a place to jump into foam pits. It was a blast! I felt like I was 12 again! We all dressed like gym nerds and played and had fun! I just get so sick of my January birthday always being cold and at someones house and eating. I wanted to actually DO something and have fun! If you don't know me very well, I don't enjoy just sitting around and watching TV or movies, I like to be active and moving.
Owens birthday is coming up so we are planning for that and Lee and Calvins birthdays are coming up in May. Lee will be the big 30! and Calvin will be 2! That is about it for us right now, I am sure I will try to post soon again and at least get Owens birthday on here.