Dirty Little Secret

I have a dirty little secret. I like to read smut. No, not those Harlequin romance novels, but "entertainment" magazines. It makes time go by more quickly while I am on a cardio machine at the Y. I gasp and roll my eyes at the various bizarre habits and outfits of the popular people.

I picked up this Us Weekly because I wanted to hear about their In Vitro story and after I read it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. According to the trashy mag, they turned to in vitro not due to any sort of infertility problem, but because they couldn't stay in the same place long enough to get pregnant. Huh? So this brings me to my dilemma. It's not as if they couldn't afford to do it that way, so money really wasn't a factor. They weren't taking resources away from the people who really want to have kids and can't. Then why am I so perturbed about this?

I do have some opinions about this couple in general, I mean EW! She said she would never sleep with a married man and yet, her first biological kid was conceived before he signed his divorce papers. Not to mention her random adopting of kids every year. I am all for adoption, but give the kid time to adjust to their new lifestyle before you start making him/her fight for her place in the family. She just seems to be maladjusted. Not to mention him, hello? You were married, you don't start chasing after your leading ladies, just because you married someone younger than who wasn't ready to start a family yet.

But I digress. What do you think about the super rich using In Vitro and other fertility treatments when they don't get what they want fast enough? Will this lead to selective breeding, ie now we want a brown hair brown-eyed girl, so only implant embryos whose genetic code guarantees that. Or is it just me? Discuss...please!

Oh, I will most likely return to normal programming next time. Unless I read something weird about the Obamas in the new People. And don't tell me you can't believe everything you read. It seems like in Hollywood, where there's smoke there is most definitely some sort of weird fire.

We have Dates!

We have some dates ironed out. We go to Texas Children's for her last official chemo injection on the 8th. Then she has a CT scan on the 19th and she gets her port out the next day. She has to get there really early for the CT and have an empty stomach and then the next day too.

Fiona went to the dentist for the first time yesterday. Two summers ago I was feeling guilty because she hadn't been to the dentist yet at the ripe old age of 4. Then it turned out, I wasn't feeling guilty about that, I was feeling guilty about her cough and wanting to get into the doctor. So, we put the dentist on the back burner. She wasn't a big fan of the x-rays. They had to really coerce her into them. Then she was really nervous about the polishing, but realized it more tickled than anything.

THEN! I took her for her first professional haircut ever. I mean professional because the only time her hair had been trimmed was when it was falling out. But her ends were looking awful and I just had to have it done. So, I took her to the kids haircut place. She was delighted that she could play Legos Star Wars on XBox while getting her trim. I have to say, her hair looks much better and is softer.

Oh and Moe has a needle guided biopsy on Thursday and hopefully they can rule out cancer and make us all feel better.

Too Busy and Nothing to Say

That's mostly true. I have been really busy this week. It's lame, I expect y'all to post daily so I can read what you are up too, but I am too busy to. It's been a rough week. Moe has had a lump for several months and wasn't able to go see the doctor. Since she got down here and has lost over 25lbs, the lump has grown a bit, so I had her see my doctor. Well, because that's what we do at this house, we prefer to be a bit over reactive, which has been a remarkably good thing. People she had told about it sort of pooh-poohed it, saying things like, well you are so young, you can't possibly have breast cancer. But, all you have to do is Google 18 year old with breast cancer and plenty of sites pop up. So far, she's had an ultrasound and they think it's a fibroid tumor, but she has to have an ultra sound guided biopsy in order to definitively rule out cancer. But, we feel better after getting the initial ultrasound. Oh and she bought Guitar Hero for the Wii and that has been helping to distract her. Hubby even got into the swing of things, but I haven't tried it yet. I like to try things a couple of time before I entertain an audience and with the girls home for summer, my audience has been fairly constant.

Fiona has lost another tooth, so she will probably be singing, All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. She has a huge gap where they used to be and will probably have no problem with crooked teeth in the upper part of her mouth.

Buttercup does need glasses and we were able to take part in a Walmart special where she got two glasses, one of them has the transitions lens (which look a lot better than what I saw in high school). I thought she would like to have that, considering how bright it gets outside.

Hubby took a few days off, we were thinking about heading to Corpus Christi or South Padre for some playing in the ocean, but Hurricane Dolly took care of that for us. So, he just got to hang out and do nothing, which is pretty much his favorite downtime past time. Just find him a RedBox and some Dr. Pepper and he is good to go.

And We're Back

I had to call the doctor today to ask about Fiona's results. I hate doing that. I am so not the squeaky wheel. Unfortunately the silent wheel, especially in the medical world, rarely gets rewarded. We were always the room that got ignored when the social worker, volunteer, etc would make their rounds. Fiona and I were sort of an island to ourselves and that isn't always the best thing. Anyway, so our doctor had to call the lab, get it faxed to them and then fax it to Fiona's oncologist. I suppose we could've driven all of the way down to Texas Children's on Friday and gotten the results right away, but ugh...It's not worth stepping into the time stopping vortex that is the Children's Cancer Center.
Anyway, after waiting for the doctor to call and talk about results, we finally heard back. Fiona's labs are back to normal, normal being relative. My Mom, Fiona and I all have Gilbert's Syndrome, which doesn't sound like much (pronounce it the way the French probably do, Gil-bear's). But it makes for higher liver enzymes for no particular reason. Once again, the family genetic lotto comes knocking at my door. So, her enzymes are back to where they were before and she is back to her nightly medicine. I have to say she really enjoyed being able to eat whenever the fancy struck her. That's a good thing the week after steroids.
Now, I have to call the surgeon and schedule her port being removed. She's understandably nervous about that, she didn't feel very good getting it put in. Of course, back then, she had had a biopsy in her chest and that was awful. She was still stuck in bed and I had to help her out to go potty and every time I did, I would inadvertently squeeze her chest and make her cry. A month later she was getting her port put in and I have the saddest picture of that. When I can hunt it down, I will tell you about the different ways they managed to get blood out of (and into her).

Poke Buddies

Princess Fiona and I took a trip down to the local lab today. She needed to get her liver panel drawn and I have been packing around a lab slip myself. I figured we could get poked together, maybe give her a bit of courage to see Mom poked.

We wrapped her arm in numbing cream and some press-n-seal. I got my arm poked and then it was her turn. It was so sad, she started to tear up, I told her she had to stop it before she made me cry. When she got poked she didn't feel a thing, which is something I find very encouraging. She wants to get her port out next month, after her last treatment, but she will still being getting monthly blood draws and I didn't want to deal with hysteria every time we were going in. This seemed to be even less painful because she didn't have to deal with a nurse pulling on her port.

Then I had to drive home, switch children and then drive Buttercup back down to the same office building for an eye exam. She mentioned that she was having a hard time seeing things. And she was right, she needs glasses. Ah, another four eyes. It seems to run in my family. At least glasses have come a long way since the 80's. She did not appreciate the dilation! She is still dilated and is fighting off a headache. Poor girl.

I hope we hear from the doctor soon, we all needed to know how our little girl's liver is functioning. Oh, next month can't come soon enough.

Livin' The Dream

If you have to be sick, come be sick at our house. We are bizarrely adept at making bad situations better. I sent Moe and Buttercup off to watch Kit Kittridge today. Fiona hasn't been feeling her best and Buttercup needs to get out and run off some energy. While they were gone, Fiona was saying that she would like to play the Star Wars game, but lay down at the same time. BAM! I live to serve..

I pulled out the couch in the Wii room and she was all set up.

This was her view. She was having a great time, which makes her happy and she was laying down, which makes her parents happy. I think I might send this pictures to my 9 year old nephew and tell him he can stay in the Wii room if he can get his parents to let all of them visit. I think I will offer to change the bedding. I don't know if the joy of the Wii will be offset by the pink and purple decor!

Barnacle Baby

Ah, I jokingly refer to Princess Fiona this way. When Buttercup was born, she was just as interested in Dad and Grandpa as she was Mom. When Fiona emerged, her focus was entirely on me. At first, having wished for a child that was more cuddly to me, I delighted in the mama love. That quickly faded when the responsibilities of feeding her overwhelmed me. We are talking 45 minutes every hour and a half. That's all she wanted to do. I couldn't entirely blame her, she was 10 and a half pounds at birth (Hubby and I blame the TPN the doctors fed me with for 6 weeks of my pregnancy). Anyway, as she grew, so did her ability to move and follow me around. We have videos where I would sit down to film her and just get video of her little diapered fanny backing into me to sit in my lap.
So now, during times of distress for her, you can find her following me around. I was in our Wii room (did I mention we have an actual room for it? We put it in our formal dining room, minus the dining room table, of course) and she sat down next to me on our little couch, between me and Moe playing Star Wars. Then I wandered into the Study to read, while sitting on my rocking chair. When I came out of my book, a few minutes later, I realized Fiona was in my lap. She found me in my bedroom later, watching a TV program. I have gotten so used to it that I don't automatically notice her on me!
We talk about how she's my baby and we discuss the age I have to stop calling her a baby and cuddling her. She's basically extended the timetable to until she doesn't fit in my lap any more. As she is supposed to be shorter than her big sister and shorter than me, I don't know if she will ever be too big to be my baby. I told her that's just fine, since I can't have any more kids, I will need her to be the baby as long as she wants to. For now, I am just happy to have this...

We were Safe!

At least I thought we were. Today was a chemo day and we spent a good portion of the day in downtown Houston. Things weren't too bad and I got home in time to relieve Moe of babysitting duty. After we had been home for a few minutes, I got a call from the doctor who saw Fiona today. She said her liver enzymes are elevated. Her protocol, at this point, dictates that she not have to take most of her medicine this week. She still gets to take her beloved steroids and had her injection.
We are just so close to the end and now to have a new worry....She hasn't had that many delays during her treatment, which has been great. Hubby has been worried about these sorts of things. I try not to let my thoughts wander down unproductive paths. I like to worry about things when we come across them.
The doctor said it wasn't uncommon and that we would take a blood test next Friday, from our regular doctor, and figure out where to go from there. I imagine that stopping the nasty drugs for a week will probably do the trick. Right now, I am going to keep my eye on that lovely Tink calender.
Oh! Her last chemo day will be August 8th and she should stop everything the Friday after that. We are also going to try and get her portacath removed before school starts. We jokingly called that Fiona's birthday present to Dad, so that he doesn't have to worry about things getting bumped while she's at school.

HMOS, Referrals and General Irritation

I never could understand why people bagged on HMOs and managed care in general. We have been in one since we got married and have had a LOT of medical problems. I remember one time when a friend told me that she was worried about going into labor because they paid a percentage of their hospital bills and she would have to pay an extra $600 for an epidural and $2,000 for a c-section. I would have a hard time paying for the epidural and terrified of a c-section...she did end up having a c-section. Ugh! We paid $310 for Buttercup. It started out with only 16 visits normal coverage, but I ended up having over 27 doctor's visits and two unscheduled hospital stays, as well as numerous home health care nurse visits. Once we got out of Fiona's more awful times in chemo, we only pay $30 a month for the doctor and about $25 a month for the 5 prescriptions we normally get. That's not too bad.
Anyway, after school got out this year, Buttercup told me she thought she needed glasses. I told her I would add it to my list of appointments this summer (establishing with a dentist down here, similar to my fear of snakes, the dentist, not establishing with one). I started with the easy one and talked to the same eye doctor I saw earlier this year. The receptionist asked if we had a PPO or an HMO, I said HMO, really we have an EPO and I am not sure entirely what the difference is. We don't need a referral for the eye doctor's appointment they allow every 24 months, but the receptionist said we needed one. I ended up needing one earlier this year when they added some sort of special test to my visit. So, I called the girl's doctor and asked for one. They started the process and then called back and asked that Buttercup be seen before she gives the referral, as she had only seen her before for a flu shot. Her appointment is next Friday. Fiona has her day long appointment tomorrow and will most likely not feel her best for the next week. I can't go to the Y with Moe and so we have to take turns watching the girls while the other one works out. She works by 4 every day and wants to be home from the Y by 3 in order to be able to shower, etc. So, we have the appointment next Friday, which takes up one day and now I had to add another... on top of whatever Fiona throws at me. They said we could make it for just a "look-see" but I told them if we are coming down and spending the time and money, etc, I want the full physical. Who knows what excuse they would make to need to see her for a physical if we just went in for a look-see this time.
So, I guess just the entire process makes me want to kick something...not a good thing for my testy feet. I am truly grateful for the health insurance we have had the entire time we have been married. I am so glad paying for Fiona's treatment wasn't something we had to worry about when she was diagnosed. I just wish there were a few less hoops we had to jump through in order to maintain their checklists. Phew, I think I feel a little bit better now.

The 3rd of July

So, hubby decided to take the 3rd off to give him a four day weekend. We don't like to be out in big crowds, so we thought the 3rd would be a great day to get out and see stuff. We haven't been to the ocean since we moved here. While I like the ocean, in theory, coming from Oregon, it's a neat place to go, but not something you actually use. I mean, I have seen people surfing in it, but we usually refer to them as crazy.
I visited my brother when he was stationed in Biloxi and the Gulf of Mexico there is like stagnant bath water. It was almost as warm as the outside air and it did not move.
I had never come across ocean like in Hawaii and after that, it was pretty hard to make good ocean comparisons to just about anywhere else I had frequented.
We drove down to Galveston around noon, hubby needed his morning nap first. We had no particular idea where to go, but we wanted to scope out Schlitterbahn Galveston and that led us next door to the Moody Gardens. I was kind of interested in the Aquarium, but Moe had just been to the Newport Oregon one with her outdoor ed kids, so I didn't want her to pay to do it all over again. We asked one of the people working there what she would do. She said, the Rainforest pyramid and the 4-D movie. So, off we went.

It started out really cool, until I started reading signs that said it was a free roaming animal area, which Fiona said made us feel like this....
Mostly because they had passed several cages with HUGE snakes in them. I say they had passed because there is no way I was checking out snakes. Apparently they were so large, they freaked out Hubby, who has been in a state of higher alert since we moved to Texas.
The free roaming animals were more of the macaw (parrot) and sloth variety, at which point I felt a bit more comforted. Until we came across a sign next to a raised water feature that said, Fish in this exhibit are carnivorous, so don't put your hands in the water!!! EWW! Although, I did get to see what a piranha looked like.

The girls enjoyed the birds and the fish and we finally did get to see a sloth, like a big hairy bath mat up in a tree. We also got to see some unusually colored squirrels from South America that came over to our side of the cage when Moe started making kissing noises at them. The air in the pyramid was such, that I was getting a feeling for the humidity that has been threatened to be on it's way. Ah, to live in a tropical rainforest. When we were done, we made our way to the 4-D movie which was entitled Planet Earth. We were splashed quite a bit, as the movie was about the oceans. But the really weird part came when we were observing all of these water snakes (have you figured out yet how much I HATE snakes?) when part of the seat back popped out for a scare. I managed to miss most of it, thank heavens, because I was leaned over towards hubby because I was so cold from the air blowing and water throwing. Fiona, on the other hand, really got it and did NOT appreciate it. She was really good natured about the whole thing and even posed for a picture.

Then we went to find the ocean. What we found was a lot better than what I had expected (mainly a continuation of the beach in Mississippi). We had brought towels, but only Hubby brought his swimsuit. C'mon, it's been a few years since I have been in an ocean that is actually habitable.

We made our way back in to Houston and had dinner at a great Mexican restaurant and leisurely made our way home, missing all of the traffic because they were now headed out of town and we were headed back in!

Let's Hear it For Moe!

Yesterday she hopped on the scale and realized in the 4 weeks that she has been here, she has lost 18lbs! And in her words, she wasn't even trying. She has been going to the Y with me and working out and eating my yummy dinners and the weight has started to melt off. She told me before coming down here, that she didn't feel comfortable about her weight and wanted to do something about it. She was so energized by the results that she wanted to actually watched what she ate, ramp up the workouts and see what happens then. Being the nice big sister that I am, I volunteered to help her out and keep her company in watching what she eats. She's excited to see what happens and I am so glad I get to help her.