To Do Lists

Instead of blogging the last week, I've been racking up a list of surgeries on my "to do" list. Oh, I wish I were kidding.

Actually, I'm being slightly melodramatic because none of them are certain yet. Up first is a preventative mastectomy after meeting with a genetics counselor last Thursday. I was going to write a whole post on that meeting, but decided it's too complicated and slightly depressing to do. Suffice it to say that Vanderbilt finds me very interesting . . . it's tough to determine what my risk is for breast as well as other cancers . . . they're using my case at one of their peer panels. We're also redoing my genetic testing for the THIRD time as they try to figure out why in the heck I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the first place. What they discover could have a significant impact on the other females in our immediate and extended family. Oh, and then there's that preventative mastectomy they want me to strongly consider.

Up next is an MRI on December 30 to see if I have a torn meniscus in my knee, which would require surgery to repair. Here's hoping it's just some crazy random swelling/stiffness that has been around for 6 weeks but is now going to disappear.

My personal favorite is the chronic tonsilitis that they think is contributing to the infected lymph node in my neck. This has now happened 3 times in the last 6 months, and while it sounds simple, it is incredibly painful because of all the nerve endings involving teeth and ears in your neck. In a last ditch effort to get rid of it before thinking about having my tonsils removed, I am taking 875mg of Augmentin twice a day for the next 14 days (don't google side effects because they're not pretty).  My throat is so sore it hurts to talk, which actually might be a good thing when it comes to my husband and children.

In the meantime, we've been having some Christmas fun. Did you know last Saturday was national hot chocolate day? That's because it wasn't, but I missed it on Friday and decided to declare Saturday as the Lewis Hot Chocolate Day. Can you believe Rory doesn't like hot chocolate? She enjoyed the whipped cream and marshmallows on top anyway.

We had adult church parties to attend Saturday and Sunday nights, so the kids (from our family and two others) all stayed together. I was initially a little worried about this plan (our kids were the youngest) of 8 kids ages 16 down to 7, but it turned out to be a fabulous time for them, and we're very blessed to have these families in our lives. It's kind of a new stage for us - leaving our kids with their peers with only teenagers as supervisors, but these are kids that I absolutely trust. Camden and Rory are lucky to have such good role models . . . although the following prayer was posted via Twitter this same night: "Dear Lord, please help us not break anything." Pretty sure this prayer was relevant to the 3 hour Nerf gun war that happened.

Rory went on a little Christmas outing last weekend with 4 of her friends from school. The mama who arranged the viewing of Frozen, supper, and Christmas lights is a hero. Rory came home giggling and didn't stop until we sent her to bed. The hosting mama also confirmed our suspicions that Rory is trying to give every public restroom in Nashville a try.

Yesterday was Polar Express Day at school for Rory, so she and her doll wore matching p.j.'s to school. The night before she said, "I think we might even be watching a movie at school tomorrow!" Why, yes, Rory, that would be the point of Polar Express Day!

The kids both have Christmas parties at school tomorrow morning and then their 3 week Christmas break begins. Let me repeat that: THREE WEEKS.

I'm going to spend the rest of my day taking it easy as I concentrate on feeling better as well as feeling grateful that the sickness I experience today is simply a bad case of tonsillitis and not chemo or cancer related. Not everyone is as lucky as I am right now, and I never want to forget how blessed I am this year.