skiDOOSH!

Well...we've been back for a few weeks now so I think it's time to write a little somethin' about Hawaii!! As many of you know, Justin's dad flew him and I and the 4 kids out to his home to Kauai, HI from August 9th-17th for some serious relaxation and education. The flight from Dulles to Denver was only 3 hours, but that left a 7 hour flight from Denver to Lihue...ugh! Instead of posting every tiny thing that happened though I'm just going to do some highlights and then post some pictures :o) First day we went to the beach of Poipu and the coffee company that is on the island. The next few days we spend going to see the overlooks at Waimea Canyon, Opaekaa Falls, and Kilauea Point lighthouse and bird sanctuary. We also went to Lydgate Park beach and to go see some lava caves- one dry and one wet. We could go inside the dry one and take some pictures, but the wet one was full of water and some weird algae stuff so we could only see the outside of it. Justin and I also got to go to a luau one night together and spend some alone time while the kids stayed home with Siegfried and Glenda. The trip back to the continental US wasn't all too bad on the way back because we had two 5 hour flights (Lihue to LA and LA to Dulles). All in all the trip was heaven on earth, and I only wish that we could go back there again very very soon!!! Here are some pictures from the trip!!

No, those weren't just the sounds of the fireworks I got to hear last Friday night, but also the sounds of Justin's basement construction I got to help him with this past weekend. I've been meaning to update all week but didn't have time to do it until tonight...so here we go. I hope you're all ready!!

First things first. I traveled down to Justin's house last Friday morning to spend the 4th of July with him, his kids, and his mom since Mom and Dad were going to be with KT and Tom for the holiday. I got there right after he woke up, and we spent most of the rainy day running errands to Home Depot and BBQs Galore, but I did get a chance to take some pictures of the kids outside in the great lighting!! They are wonderful subjects, and each one of them took their turns "cheesing" away for me. I didn't want to put all the photos in my blog because it would make it huge, but I do have some in my photos section if you want to take a look at all of them. Here is one I took of Carson (age 4) with his new safety googles...

Dad's helper

After we all finally loaded into the car we were able to make it to the fireworks...with about 2 hours to spare! We got a great parking spot at this commuter lot near 270, which happens to get a great view of the MoCo fairground fireworks without all the hassle of actually being there! The kids unloaded out of the car after it stopped raining while Justin, his Mom, and I stayed in the car and just talked. I was able to capture some awesome firework photos with my camera. I've never been able to do them this well so I was VERY excited that they turned out. 

BA DA BOOM!!

The 5th brought another very exciting day for us. Susan, Justin's mom, bought us tickets to go see The Lion King at the Kennedy Center in DC so, Justin, the kids and I loaded up in the MDX and were amazed by the show we got to see! The performers were incredible, and the costumes were very well done. I wondered if I would be able to fully embrace the show with real people instead of cartoon characters, but it was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have gotten photos of the costumes but here's a link to show just one example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.infusionradio.com/images/stories/lionking-web1.jpg (This is of leaping antelope and Rafiki)

After the show we all came back and had our "July 4th picnic" a day late; full of grilling and chatter.

Cook-out chatter

That evening we were able to just sit around and unwind, while also having some laughs at Carson pretending to be pregnant (see below). That night, however, Justin and I stayed up until around 3:30am building speaker boxes and placing them on the walls. I had the idea to draw faces on them to make J laugh, and also the workers who would be putting the drywall up over top of them!! The first one was the "mad one" then the "surprised" and "funny one" just kind of fell into place after that. The next morning Justin got up early and did all his wiring, which, to me, looks like a professional did it! I was so very impressed with his work and his ability to understand electronics in a way that I never will!! All in all it was such a busy, busy, yet so very fun filled weekend with the Streufert gang!


FEW MORE PHOTOS (referenced in the blog):
The box "family" which is kinda hard to see and "pregnant" Carson:

"Box family"

Cheese!!

I know it's been awhile since I updated, but I was just stopping by to say that a full report will be written up for your viewing pleasure tomorrow. Not a lot has been happening this week on account that I've been off work (STILL!) due to my open wound, and not been doing a whole lot. This weekend has been chock full of stuff though, so, yeah...more on that soon!! :o) TTYL!!

I'm feeling okay now. I went to go see my surgeon on Monday about my infection. While we were there (Justin, my Mom, and I) she essentially opened the wound again with procedures I did not watch (I was numbed with lidocaine first) and proceeded to start me on a new method for extracting the infection-ness. Basically I have a "wick" that leads into my body and pulls out the gross stuff and then soaks it into a gauze covering the open wound. It's already feeling better and she said it will be okay to seal again soon and the infection will be all gone!! I can even raise my arm again! ;o)

Also, the best news? I'm all clear of the cancer!!!! There wasn't anymore melanoma in the re-excision on my back and all 5 of the lymph nodes she biopsied came back clean!! So, yay! No more surgeries and I don't have to have any radiation or anything like that. Needless to say the mood in Frederick is lighter than air and we're all so very excited!!

Okay, can I have just a normal day this week...please?!? Yesterday began very well as you can see from my last update. I had some pain issues that I just dealt with by taking my correct medications. Well it gets to be later on in the afternoon when Mom decides we're both going to put bathing suits on and she's going to help me shampoo my hair and condition it in the shower. Of course we're both rolling with laughter because only my mom would come up with an idea as dumb as that!

So I changed and she changed and we met back in the bathroom still giggling to ourselves. Well it turns out we were able to shampoo and condition my hair with me just sitting in the tub and leaning back into the water instead of us both having to get into the shower; go mom and her bright ideas! So we finish and Mom helps me do my hair all pretty and fixes my bandages only to discover that once I'm done doing my hair, the right side armpit part of my sundress is wet and then I notice my bandage is leaking. I proceed to "ew ew ew ew ew!" my way back into the bathroom and remove the wet one and then put a dry one on that's thicker. Then I change my shirt and settle in to read my book, Eclipse (for those that care!), when after about 30 or so minutes I can see that there is a large wet spot at the front of my right armpit and the back of the armpit of my shirt. I called Mom again to help me this time because whatever this foul smelling liquid was it was draining too fast for me to try and take care of it by myself. So we got a handkerchief to stop the flow, took my temperature (101 degree F), and decided this is probably an infection--let's go to the ER.

We got there and didn't have to wait too long to be seen, only about 45 miutes from arrival to being put in a bed. Then Jean came in...ugh, Jean the Mean nurse is what she should be called, and she basically scolded me for not taking any tylenol for my fever before we left the house. Sorry lady, I was more concerned with the liquid stuff coming out of my body!!! Well, then she proceeded to stick me with an IV needle (no lidocaine first like they had at Hopkins) and foraged around for 5 vials of blood to get a blood culture study. She also needed to prod the infection site to get a sample of that. Next the Dr. came in and I thought he was going to make me pass out with the amount of poking, prodding, squeezing, pinching, pulling, and sampling he was doing. I was screaming bloody murder trying to hold mom's hands but I haven't ever experienced pain like I did last night with those two individuals in that "room." Finally they got what they needed; hooked up my IV; and started me on some drugs. First was the basic sodium chloride, next was an IV antibiotic, a painkiller, and ativan! Well, they should have given me the damn ativan first. I was smooth sailing after that puppy!! They took me for a CT scan of my chest after that and then took 4 more vials of blood from my left arm (these are all things i was told becuase i barely remember them).

After being there for several hours they concluded that I had a type of cellulitis, and no, it has nothing to do with cellulite!! Essentially these little bacteria can cause fluid bubbles to form towards the infection site, and since my infection site was near the surface of my skin, my fluid bubble popped and therefore continued to seep out of my incision. Gross, I know, it wasn't easy having to see it and it was even on MY body!!

They released me with some antibiotics and told me to continue with my pain meds just like before, and they said everything should be good from here on out! ::crosses fingers:: Here's hopin!

So Mom and I decided last night that we'd try to ween me off my pain pill and just do 2 Advils every 4th hour instead of percocet every 4th hour(12:00am 2 advil, 4:00am percocet, 8:00am 2 advil) Well, that didn't last long because I am in LARGE amounts of pain here and I've decided that it is not quite time for me to be done that wonderful medicine yet!

White Pills

Well I decided to try and evade my nap just a little bit longer so I could type up a blaaaaag entry for everyone wit my status and such. Well Monday was, yeah, Monday. We all know how Monday went. Tuesday? I think I missed Tuesday somewhere between the blurs of saltine crackers and oxycodone.Wednesday, however, was a day that I wished I could have missed. Not only did I hurt 10x more under each of my arms, but I was dizzy and throwing up from my medicines that were supposed to be helping me. Ya see, you're supposed to take them with food but the stupid pills would have NONE of that!! Needless to say my Wednesday sucked. Justin and I did however manage to get my bandages off under my arms and replace them with new ones. Holy cow, it looks like Muhammad Ali went 15 rounds with each side of me! I am so bruised and all yellow from that sterilization stuff they use! It was pretty gross.

Now today was pretty nice. I kept on a light eating schedule of toast/Ritz/waffle with my meds so I haven't been sick or dizzy. My right arm is still killin me the most, but lefty doesn't hurt so bad at all! Mom and I did just change my bandage on my back though...7 inch long vertical scar down my back!! How 7 inches long = 2 cm I have no idea!! I'm not pissed or angry, just a little surprised by it all.

Oh, oh, oh, I even went out in public today to weigh-in at Weight Watchers!! I've lost 4 lbs since last Thursday (imagine that)!!!! ROFL!!

Well I'm sure most of you received my email not too long ago, or Justin filled you in on the happenings of today. Today I had surgery on my back and on my sentinel lymph nodes under my arms. The day was long, but most of it flew by pretty quickly for me since I was asleep and don't remember any of it!! :o)

The first thing I did was check in and get changed in the back rooms of the outpatient center. They gave me the OH SO ATTRACTIVE outfit that you see below, plus my first ever IV (eek!!- I hated it!)

I'm too sexy... ;o)

The ultrasound tech was very nice and it was so interesting to watch her work. My body under the skin looks like waves and I got to see my axillary artery on the screen and also what a lymph node looks like on tv! Normally they don't do ultrasounds for this procedure but I agreed to be a potential subject of a research study for melanoma treatment at Hopkins. I wouldn't be the only subject, but if I qualify than my information could be selected at random for them to study. It was of no cost to me or anything; the only difference was that I needed to do an ultrasound first before any other exams.

So after my fun trip in ultrasound we traveled to the actual hospital (as opposed to the outpatient clinic) for my nuclear medicine study. Here you will see a picture of where the lymphoscintigraphy study took place:

Shady? I think so!

Spect

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