All Clear

It's been a few days since we talked about the C word. News hasn't been so great, so I haven't wanted to blog about it. It turns out that the second shadowing found on the MRI was another tumor. Not the news we wanted to hear. This meant that now, we are dealing with more drastic surgery. It also increased the risk that the cancer has spread to other organs. Usually the doctor's don't do any fact finding scans prior to surgery, because it doesn't really chance the course of treatment at this point. What it would do would change my mom's peace of mind, which is totally worth it. I am so glad that my mom has such awesome doctors who agreed and even helped her get her insurance to cover it all.

It was a long weekend waiting for the tests to be done. Finally, Monday came and it was time to perform tests that would show us whether the cancer had spread to three of the four places it would spread from breast cancer. They tested brain, lungs and liver. It was a tense day, waiting and waiting for the results to come back. I finally got a call from my mom at around 4:15pm, brain is clear! While I was excited to hear that, but the brain is the last place the cancer would go, so I was still anxious to hear about the lung and liver. Finally, a simple text at 4:50pm, all clear. All clear. Two little words that made my life so much better. The cancer hasn't spread to lungs, liver or brain.

Like I mentioned before, there are four places the breast cancer would spread. The other and most likely location? Bone. Due to the contrast that must be used for the bone scan possibly interfering with the contrast used for the surgery, they can't do the bone scan yet. So, we are still a little worried about that. But, the good news is that mom's oncologist said he could look at the bones a little bit in the rest of the scans that were performed, and they tentatively looked okay too. What a blessing!

So, although today is surgery day, which no one ever wants, we are excited. We are excited that this should be the last day we ever have to worry about this cancer. This bad dream ends today. Prayers are welcome and always needed, but today we are going nip this entire thing in the butt.

Love you momma!

Progressive Dinner Sundate

Today, Ryan and I had our first Progressive Dinner Sundate. It was super fun! We started off our Sunday by heading to the local PGA Superstore.  We ended up getting two golf push carts. Although we belong to the country club, it still costs $15 a person for us each time we want to rent a golf cart for a round. This means that our $260 investment will pay off in just 9 rounds. Not a bad deal.  I got a slate grey one and Ryan's is red.

After shopping at the PGA store, we decided to go tooling around at the Frisco IKEA. I love that place. It is so neat to look at all the cheapo furniture that is actually pretty nice looking. But, my favorite part of going to IKEA, besides the people watching, would have to be eating at the IKEA cafeteria. This is where we started our progressive dinner. We ordered the best dang Swedish Meatballs ever! I love that they come with the ligonberry sauce. So damn good!

Next on the progressive dinner list? Cheesecake Factory.  I told Ryan that I wanted to go somewhere with really good dessert. He hit the nail on the head. We had an excellent entree -- Chicken Madiera -- which was enough food for three people. We split it, thank God, as it was two chicken breasts, topped with cheese, mushrooms and madiera sauce, asparagus spears and two potatoes worth of mashed potatoes. It was good as you can see below.

 

We of course had cheesecake as well. Vanilla bean.  It was creamy and good.  All in all it was a good day that helped me to get my mind off of mom's upcoming test results. More about that tomorrow...

One Year Blogspot Anniversary

One year ago today I started this blog.
Since then, I have been pretty good about keeping up with it.
Here is to another year on Blogspot!

Hopefully It's EasC

So, like I was blogging about before, my mom has breast cancer. It started with simply a mammogram which revealed a small tumor like mass. My mom was then referred for a ultrasound and films which showed that it seemed to be breast cancer. A biopsy was done and it was confirmed. A small, less than 2 centimeter, tumor. It is stage I and growth rate 2. This was fairly good news. This meant that even though she would have to have surgery that it should be a one and done, meaning they could just do the lumpectomy and a little bit of radiation and nothing else.

Just as a precautionary measure, they always do an MRI before surgery to make sure they have every opportunity to catch all cancer like masses. So, the doctor called my mom to let her know that there was a slight shadowing on the breast without the tumor. This means that tomorrow, she will have to go and do the whole process over again for the other side. Ultrasound and possible biopsy. We are just praying for the one and done. Praying that she doesn't have the gene that makes it part of heredity. That they don't have to do a double mastectomy and chemo.

She is a strong women who I have always admired. She is always there for me no matter what I do or have done. She is who I want to be and who I hope I am becoming. She is my momma.

It's like I told her what's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does. I love you mom!

The Hopefully Not So Big C

So, yesterday Ryan and I went to my parent's house to celebrate Father's Day. Unfortunately, we were greeted at the door with news that no one ever wants to hear. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, thankfully she didn't do the whole sitting us down to tell us something serious thing, which was good. She simply, and succinctly said, "I just want you two to know that I have breast cancer, but it is no big deal."

According to her doctors, it is just in one small location, no bigger than a fingertip sized mass. They think it will be easily removed and should be a one and done situation with no reoccurrence. She will have to have radiation therapy, but hopefully no chemotherapy. We are still waiting to hear the full results from the biopsy, but all signs point to her hopefully being okay.

If she isn't worried, and the doctor's aren't worried, I guess I shouldn't worry either. Hmmm...

I did joke around with her about it, because that is what we do in our family. I told her it sure was pretty low to come out with this news on Father's Day and make it all about her. I told her that mothers have their own day and she should wait until then if she wants to announce something like this. The whole family is in good spirits about it, and we'll just be praying for her for the next few weeks.

New Wheels

So, unfortunately Ryan's car was totalled about 2 weeks ago while he was in Austin. As he and his friend Mike were driving home from the country club after playing a round of golf, they were rear-ended by one of the club's young lifeguards. She said that she sneezed, which is what caused her to hit him, but Ryan knows he saw her texting and driving. Anyway, her family luckily had insurance and didn't fight paying, so just last week, we got a check from the total.

Ryan picked out a shiny, new to him, VW Passat.  It is a 2006, fully loaded, V6, black on black car.  He absolutely loves it. It has satellite in dash, a 6 disc CD changer, automatic sunroof and more.  Plus, the best part is that his Montero had 170,000+ miles and this new car has only 53,000.  For all of the driving he is going to be doing over the next year or two, the lower mileage car is certainly a blessing!

We bought the car, but we don't pick it up until Thursday.  Ryan and I can't wait for it to be truly ours. The car in the picture below isn't our actual car, but it looks just like it. Yay!

New Member Golf Outing

Yesterday Ryan and I played in the new member golf outing at Brookhaven. We played in a foursome with two other men, Blake and Adam.  They were both great golfers and about the same level of play as Ryan, so I know he had a great time. I had fun too, although I wasn't a great help to the team. We played the outing as a scramble, so I was happy just to have had two drives that were playable for the team. We ended up scoring somewhere in the middle of about 10-12 teams. We may not have come in first, but for me it felt great to not come in last.

After the round, we sat down to fresh grilled hamburgers and brats, homemade potato salad and cole slaw, chips, cookies and a keg of beer. It was a bit hard to find a shady spot, but we did find one and enjoyed a wonderful meal with Blake and Adam. 

All in all, a great day!

Recipe: Homemade Georgia Peach Bread

Tonight, after getting back home after four days away, I just had to get back into my kitchen to bake.  This bread sounded perfect to make as Ryan and I had just picked up some fresh peaches which were on sale at our local grocery store. If you like fresh peaches, you'll want to give this recipe a try!

Georgia Peach Bread

• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Shortening
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 Cups Peaches
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/8 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp. Honey

Blend the sugar and shortening until it is a smooth consistency. Once it is, blend in the egg. Chop up the peaches into square centimeter size chunks and add half of them to the wet mixture. Reserve the other half of the peaches. Stir gently to coat the peach pieces with the wet mixture. Add the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Blend well. Add vanilla extract and honey. Blend again, just until the vanilla and honey are integrated into the mix. Add the reserved peaches and stir gently to coat the peaches with the wet mixture. Grease and flour one 9x5 loaf pan. Pour the mixture into your pan. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes or so, depending on your oven. (I put foil over the bread pan at about the 40 minutes mark, because I don't like my bread too dark.) Let cool and enjoy!

Busy Four Days!

This past four days have been super busy! On Thursday, I spent the morning at work, but headed over to the hospital in the afternoon to visit my Grandpa. Late Wednesday night, he took a spill at the house and hit his head on the table.  Then, he was saying that he couldn't walk. Spending time with him is amazing, even if it was at the hospital, as I almost never get to see him. He is a truly amazing man who deserves every good thing in life, although he hardly ever gets any of it. The great news is that he is fine. The doctor just said he needed to get more exercise so his muscles aren't as weak.  He will be using a walker for awhile, but I am sure he will be better soon and that he won't even need it anymore. Did I mention he is about to turn 83?  He is truly amazing!!

On Friday, I had scheduled to take the day off work so that I could spend some time with my parents while Ryan was out of town at a boys golf weekend in Austin. I really am close with my parents, so Friday was awesome! My Dad and I had some really great quality time as we waited about 20 minutes at line to grab lunch at the new In and Out Burger in Allen.  My parents had never had In and Out, so I just had to go and get them some. Double Doubles for the win! We just hung out for a bit that afternoon while I helped my mom with some stuff for her upcoming book release. Then, we went to a family favorite for dinner, Noodle Wave!  We go there all the time. It is so good! We got home just in time to catch the final half of the Mavs game.  Go Mavs! Watching Mavs games is something my father and I love to do.  I love spending time watching basketball with him.

I spend the night with my parents and on Saturday we really just hung out. A lot of lounging around, messing around on the computer and watching TV. That is until I had to get ready to go run in the 2011 Firefly Run benefiting Children's Medical Center. It was so hot out, but that didn't keep me away from the run.  My goal was to break 39 minutes, as that was my previous 5K race time. Pathetic, I know, but I am totally not a runner. I was doing pretty well, until I realized around what I thought was mile two that I was about half a mile off on my Nike app.  I ran the first mile in 9 minutes 40 seconds, which was great. I knew that I was going to slow down on miles two and three, not by choice, but because it was so damn hot out! After I figured out my app was 1/2 a mile off, I pretty much was spent.  This meant that I ran the 5k in 44 minutes, around 14 minutes per mile. Not bad, but definitely not good.  The other problem was that there were over 3,000 people and it was really easy to cheat on your time as there were two u-turns in the race. Anyway, I was proud of myself for a) going to this race alone, b) running in the heat and c)finishing.  Needless to say, I don't think running is really my thing, but it was for a great cause, so it was all worth it.

After getting home late after the race, I slept in until around 9:30am today. After getting up, me and my parents got around and headed to Brio for lunch. It is a little Italian Bistro in Allen. I had never been, but my parents like it, so they wanted me to go with them. After eating there, I know why they love it. I had the best fruit crepes ever! I will definitely have to make a return trip! After we ate, we headed out to go and look at houses.  Ryan and I will be looking to move about a year from now, so I wanted to go to a few open houses to get an idea of some of the neighborhoods we might like to live in.  We saw one house I absolutely loved! I wish we were ready to buy, that would have been my house. I guess Ryan would have had to have seen it too, but I am sure he would have agreed. After house hunting, I went back to my parent's house to spend a couple more hours with them before I had to head home.

All in all I really missed Ryan this weekend, but I had a great time with my parents. It was just like the good ole' days!