New Soccer Uniform

It's funny that I can wear some of the boy's t shirts and soccer uniform included. I think we're having some size issues here though. When I saw his new uniform I just had to try it on. I thought they looked HUGE for kid's medium. What do you think?

Fishing....

is becoming more bearable now that the boys can do so much more on their own. That's not to play down all the work that Chris still does with them; there's plenty of untangling and setting up that happens. What lucky boys I have. And of course Vy caught the first and only fish. Big brother tried really hard not to be jealous and did a great job of being a good sport.

These pictures are unedited. I love the dark ones. So cool.

Thyroglossal Duct Cyst, Sistrunk Procedure, Personal Experience

This is what I looked like a couple days after surgery.

And the following picture was taken on 11/12/09 at the request of this post's followers

The top line was the incision to remove the cyst. The bottom line is a dimple caused by the drain that was put in right there.

First Day of School 2009 (for Toki)

So here's the big day. Last year it was Toki that looked beat up. This year it was me. What a first day of school impression we make. Any guesses who's it gonna be next year? These little fellows were so excited to be in the same class together again. Two years of preschool and kindergarten, not to mention the same soccer team the last couple of years....I hope they don't get sick of each other.

Fetal Position

And this is what you might look like when tending to 3 super active, lovable, frustrating boys and a wife who can be as equally difficult and has had a thyroglossal duct cyst removed. Is that a knife I see? Needless to say it has been a rough week for someone else besides myself. He did eat like a King thanks to the Relief Society. What a huge help those dinners were.

And so here is the picture that freaked me out. During a week at Jackson Hole back in July I noticed this lump in my neck when scrolling through my digital camera. I looked in the mirror and sure enough there it was. That would explain the discomfort in swallowing that I had been having that week. I played it off as fatigue and a continuation of symptoms after chocking on a chip the weekend before. It never occurred to me that something might be growing inside me. The second I saw it my stomach dropped. Scary thoughts came into my mind and I couldn't talk to anyone about it. I finally got the gumption to tell Chris and I felt better afterwards for a little while.

That Monday I saw a random family practitioner I'd never met before. After 20 seconds of seeing me he said, "sorry can't help you. This is for an ear, nose, and throat doctor. The receptionist will help you get connected with one." Gee thanks? That was helpful. Can I have my copay back? I was a bit disappointed with that meeting but later would be thankful because they led me to one of the best doctors in this field and if you are in need of an amazing Ear, Nose and throat doctor/plastic surgeon whose specialties include cancer of those areas, I'll be more than happy to give you the name of one that comes highly recommended and who did not paralyze my face or vocal chords in surgery. Side note.....don't talk to people before surgery who are eager to tell you about their neighbor who had neck surgery and lost the ability to blink or move one side of their face.....who does that?

The initial diagnosis was this thyroglossal duct cyst. It is rarely a malignant tumor. I had three doctors guess it was that from the CT and MRI that was done. Even the MRI tech. said it was cystic in nature. But regardless, I was fretting the entire time until I met with my surgeon yesterday and received the results of the biopsy. It confirmed that in fact it was a cyst and just that. Mine however, had grown into the vocal chords and my doctor who originally said that it didn't need to be removed right away or ever if I choose, said he was glad we took it out. And left it at that. The entire duct was removed. It was attached to the base of my tongue, which would explain the pain/discomfort that I feel involving my tongue, to my thyroid at the base of my neck. The part of the hyoid bone that the cyst was attached to was removed and more muscle and tissue had to be manipulated to get back into my voice box in order to get the rest of the cyst out. Most people do not have a thyroglossal duct since it usually disappears at birth. For some, like in my case, it does not disappear and poses this congenital risk.

What to Expect After Surgery (Sistrunk Procedure, removal of thyroglossal duct cyst)

And for those who have done an internet search for this type of cyst and surgery and found hardly any personal experiences on what to expect, which is what I found, I write this section for.

I stayed over night at the hospital. For many it is same day surgery. But since mine was a little more extensive and had a drain, I was admitted.

When the doc. says 1-2 week recovery and adds nothing to that, he probably just doesn't want you to worry more than necessary.

I however would add that it feels like someone has slugged you in the neck several times and warn you to be on top of your pain medications. I had no idea what to expect and have practically no experience with pain meds. including for the post delivery of my babies. I didn't think to ask for pain meds and the nurse who attended me did not have any experience with patients like myself and didn't offer me any or educate me on the different choices I had. In the wee hours of the morning I finally asked for some Tylenol. And stupid us didn't realize I was going to choke on it. Hello, duh? My neck and throat were swollen and constricted. But I wasn't in my right mind to have thought I would have problems swallowing things and he left me to choke on these large pills. I finally worked them down but not before doing some damage. I began bleeding for the next few hours, my neck swelled up even more which caused me to not be able to talk anymore, and it was hard to breath. So I highly recommend that you discuss pain meds. with your attending nurse. Something liquid or able to be administered by I.V. at regular intervals for the next couple days.

Luckily the extreme pain only lasts for a day or two and it goes down dramatically after that and I stopped taking pain meds. after only a day in a half.

I had to sleep sitting up for a few nights. My salivary glands were in overdrive and I would choke if I was leaning back. It was really hard to swallow and for much of the time I was spitting everything out. After a few days I could sleep in more of a reclined position.

It still hurts to swallow, laugh, cough, sneeze, and yawn. Icing helps. Ibuprofen helps.

I feel dizzy. It's slowly going away.

The first couple days my sense of smell was also in overdrive. Everyone smelled and it could not be helped.

I noticed someone did a search on eating after a sistrunk procedure.
As far as what to eat.....rice in broth, soft foods such as mandarin oranges, anything soft and chopped up, as long as you're on pain meds. you can probably eat quite a bit. After getting off of those in a couple of days just stay away from chips, popcorn, hard candies, pretty much anything you wouldn't give a toddler and poses a choking risk. Which may happen anyways....at least for me I was choking quite a bit even on water.

So you may expect a painful first couple of days and a few very difficult nights, then quite a bit of easing up after that. Every day gets better. It's been a week for me and today is nothing like that first night. Still have a week to go I think.

Let me know if that helped or if you have any questions. I like to be helpful even if it means sharing gross things.

This August

has been the mildest August I can ever remember. The heat has been tolerable and the temperatures have been down right cold at times. There were a few days that reminded me of Fall and the feeling that school is just around the corner.

This little guy (Vy) will be starting Kindergarten this year. It's an exciting time. Just remembering a detail of his past...he always had to have his binkey to fall asleep (before turning 1). Most nights he seemed uncomfortable those first few minutes of falling asleep that I would have to fan him. If I stopped he would whine. This turned into a back rub, tummy rub, and now we've just settled for a foot massage. So while his brothers are left to fend for themselves, most nights he gets a foot rub as he falls asleep. Lucky duck.

The boys love hearing stories about themselves when they were babies. Ears tune in, all eyes on me, I can go on and on about things that they did or things that happened and they eat it all up. Last night Toki and I talked about when he was a baby and the things he would do that floored me. At 2 months old I showed him how to get a turtle toy to play music and he would purposely make it play music. He was super alert. At 4-5 months he could say dog and point at one. Sometime before Vy was born I wondered if he could sing the ABC song and asked him to sing it to me. And he did. Don't know for how long he had known. At 12 months I'd say "blink your eyes" and he would, "tug your ear" and he would, etc. etc. He had all sorts of tricks and they all cracked me up like it you said "kon nichi wa" he would bow or if you said "bansai" he would raise his arms. He was such a kick.

Then there's the "baby." He was/is by far the most pleasant baby ever. If he's tired he'll go and take a nap on his own. He's full of love and I call him pure sugar. A real sweetheart.

Having kids can be tough but they liven our lives so much.

My legs feel like Jello

We attempted to hike Lone Peak last weekend. But the weather would not cooperate. We were hoping the rain would come and go early enough for us to finish the over night hike and get us home when we needed to be but instead the temperature kept dropping and we got hail and we could even see snow at higher elevations. As soon as it stopped raining we packed up and headed down. Regardless it was a good time and hope we can get out for another hike before it gets too cold.

Just watched this.


My kids really enjoyed watching it as well.

What I've been Reading

I've really enjoyed this book. funny, true, refreshing, engaging

I really liked this one as well. Both books have main characters that I really like.......strong, passionate, interesting, genuine. Both books have very cool approaches to telling a story. The first book is set during the civil rights movement, the narration switching off between 3 ladies with transitions that make me want to keep reading (needless to say the boys have had a lot of free time ;0). The second book is about a religious sister who is torn between her religious goals and a lover. Yum yum.

Some books I didn't enjoy as much include Austenland by Shannon Hale (2 thumbs down). I thought it had to do with the fact that I've never read any of Jane Austen's books. So I tried reading Sense and Sensibility. Blah. I'll have to try watching the movie instead. I moved on to another book I don't even remember the title but it was Blah as well and I was feeling so disapointed with my book choices until the above two.

I'm on a waiting list for the Time Travelers Wife and Pride and Prejudice. Can't wait.

Any other suggestions?

Just a Thought

Usually I do fine but occasionally I get into an unthankful mood and complain and gripe about my life. Lame I know. Because I am so lucky in so many ways.

Chris works out of town I'm guessing between 10-25 weeks out of the year. I have no idea how many exactly. I don't keep track and don't realize those weeks add up to a lot. I just take them as they come, bite the bullet, and do what I have to do. Often when he goes, it is for several weeks at a time, coming home on the weekends. We barely have enough time to do the things that we have to on the weekend which means I still don't get to have my own time.

Things that I would like to do get placed on the back burner. I miss activities left and right because no one is really around to watch my kids so I can attend. I get jeolous that my degree is going to pots while his is flourishing. He gets to associate with adults and have intelletual conversations or adult conversation while I might not socialize with another adult for days/weeks. My activities for the day may include a choice between cleaning toilets or pulling weeds. I can handle only so many park days, play dates, and running around before it gets old.

I have to be frugal about the type of activities we do and often have to do things that don't cost a thing which can get old quickly. I feel really bound sometimes.

I've heard plenty of moms say they'd go crazy if they didn't get to do this or that. There has to be an outlet and it helps to be a better mother. yadayadayada.

well I haven't had one in a while and I'm feeling a little LOCA. ;0). Which means crazy in Spanish.

Random Stuff

These are some of the treats we picked from our garden.



The Empire State Building

A few times a year the kids beg to do a yard sale. Since the neighbors were having one today, I threw some stuff outside, so did the boys, and they were occupied all morning.

Is it just my boys or are they super busy. Mine are constantly doing something. What ever happened to zoning out and chilling.

I love this picture. I bagged up a bunch of their toys that they would dump on the floor and not play with. Then I put them in storage. It sort of has back fired because now I have them using my ziplock bags, emptying out my linen closets, emptying out stuff to use the boxes to make stuff. No matter what I do they find a way to make the house look like a tornado has gone through it. Oh well, I'm not the one who cleans it anyways. Well not all of it. I have them pick up so that I can vacuum.

It's nice to not be the only reader around here and delegate some of the bedtime routine out.

The other day

family from Idaho came over to visit. Vy was quick to start claiming his attention from whomever would give it to him. We all laughed when he said to Abby "I can rip the net in half with my teeth." Seriously where in the world does he come up with these things?

Then there was this little guy, Lolo. What did he do? He hid behind this curtain and wouldn't come out. I went up to him and told him I'd walk with him. But no, he just wanted to watch from afar. We'd catch him looking at us and quickly would hide. Eventually he fell asleep on the hard wood floors and Chris took him to bed.

Out of my siblings I was the only one that didn't attend preschool. I'm suspecting I probably refused to go. In fact I remember my first day of kindergarden. I was sooooo terrified. Eventually I realized I had no choice feeling pressure from my mom. I hesitantly went in everyday for a while.

Toki and Vy were so excited to start school and adjusted quickly. We've been prepping this little guy now for months and he is not happy about it. He just flat out doesnt' want to go. He met his teacher today. He was hiding behind the couch, smiling all the while. Eventually he came out to look at her sea shell collection. He wouldn't touch any of them unlike his brothers did. I'm suspecting he's going to cry, freak out, and beg me to stay with him on his first day of school and perhaps for a while thereafter.