A Little Miracle

For whatever reason I can eat real food now without having disastrous bathroom consequences! I was able to down pizza last night, and I had a small steak, potato, salad, and roll this evening, with normal stuff on everything.

I see it as God making it possible for me to a eat a real meal or two before surgery, because Lord knows I was missing my food!!! Thank you, God, I appreciate it so much!

11 pounds down

I'm losing weight, but not by my own will. Thank you, gallbladder, for giving my body no choice but to whittle my diet down to fruit, veggies, and fish for nine days... oh, and cream of wheat, chicken broth, and a box and half of Zesta saltines, lest my digestive system turn on me!

Unexplained nausea started two Saturdays ago. The following Tuesday evening, The Pain began. Not horrible pain by any means, but I knew what was going on, because it happened three years ago. GRR. We took a trip to the ER, I was given Percocet and Zofran, and shooed away "Come back if it gets worse! WE'LL call YOU *today* to schedule an ultrasound".

Two days went by, lots of phone tagging ensued (me calling "You're it!", but nobody chasing me, a very one-sided and unproductive game). Four days later, I had my ultrasound. Monday, I was told "well... everything looks normal". YEAH RIGHT. Tuesday, I saw my PCP ("Yep, it's you're gallbladder") and yesterday, I met my surgeon, who said "Would you like a HIDA scan or surgery?" Give me surgery, oh please oh please!!!

TMI: While I was tossed around from doctor to doctor for the last week, my pain and nausea have maintained, and my toilet contents have been everything BUT normal. Every color, every consistency, quick and slow, painful and not.... I've probably had it. Things are closest to normal if I completely leave out fat. I used less than a tablespoon of olive oil on my baked salmon last night... bad idea. I went through nearly a whole roll of toilet paper. YIPES!

My cholecystectomy is scheduled for Sept. 1, next Tuesday. It's not a wonderful time to be out of commission for a few days, but it's the best time until Thanksgiving. I'll miss two of my classes on my first week of school; Stephen's week is super busy with work stuff already, and we'll miss out on getting together with the Knittels over Labor Day weekend. On the upside, my mom will be here for a couple days and I won't have classes again for a week!

Goodbye Nebraska City, Hello _________.

Stephen received news a couple Mondays ago that his store will be closing at the beginning of October. While we understood this was a possibility, it was not exactly foreseen, so we were shocked. Though the news was difficult to hear, we are confident and optimistic about the change ahead for Stephen; he has been assured that he will have a position with the company, just in another store. For now, we sit back and see what opportunities arise for him. If you have any more questions about his store closing, feel free to shoot us a message on Facebook or through email.

In other news, we are both in school this semester. Verizon is paying for Stephen to work on his PRSM (Professional Retail Sales & Management) certification through Bellevue University. If he chooses, he can go beyond certification and get his bachelor's degree, which Verizon will also pay for. Pretty cool! He starts a new class every six weeks. I have decided to go into medical coding and billing, and am currently registered as a full-time student through the community college here in Omaha. I have three classes (13.5 credit hours) this semester: Medical Terminology (not an online class, Aunt Peggy!), Introduction to Medical Law and Ethics, and Introduction to Health Management.

Little Picture Post-- From Way Back to Now

I haven't posted pictures for awhile so I figured I'd do that as well as fill in some holes. I admit, I've failed as our family photographer for the last several months, but memories were made nonetheless.

In March, I met my little nephew Memphis Gene (son of my step-sister, Emily!). A big cutie pie!

My friend Rachel, at her baby shower in April. Her little guy, Tanner Lathan, was born June 3 and looks just like her!

At the end of May, we camped out with Kim and Chris.

June was filled with lots of visits to Shadow Lake for fishing!

July, at an Omaha Royals game.

The end of July, eating at The Cheesecake Factory for the very first time with an old and a new friend.

There you have it. A succinct, but pathetically incomplete pictorial synopsis of the last six months. :-P