Eat Your Veggies

I was recently making pot pies with the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Gavin was watching me closely.

Gavin: "Hey, Mom, what are those colored things?"

Me: "What colored things?"

Gavin: "Those ones right there, you just dumped them out of that bag."

Me: "You mean the mixed vegetables?"

Gavin: "Those are vegetables? I didn't know vegetables came in orange!"

This is how I know I'm a terrible mother. Apparently, my 5 year old has never seen a carrot before.

Where's Grandma?

Lucy's newly-invented word of the day:

Gramoflage

When Grandma is hiding out somewhere, reading her book, trying to quietly blend into the background, she is not camoflaged, she's gramoflaged.

But Lucy and Gavin can always seem to find her anyway.

I'm so grateful she's here. Not just to take care of me -- also to give the kids someone ELSE to sit on since at the moment they can't sit on me.

My Early Thanksgiving Gratitude List

I have so many things to be grateful for right now.

• I'm grateful that the enormous, football-sized tumor they removed from my belly yesterday was TOTALLY BENIGN. No cancer, not even any "pre-cancer." So I got to keep my other ovary and uterus and stave off menopause a little longer. Yay!
• I'm grateful to live in a society with advanced medicine. I'm particuarly grateful for anesthesia at the moment. Keep that morphine coming.
• I'm grateful for a husband who hasn't left my side since I got out of the OR. He spent all afternoon yesterday feeding me ice chips and keeping me distracted. He even slept here at the hospital last night. That's way above and beyond the call of duty. I love that man.
• I'm grateful for an awesome family. Mom got herself a plane ticket as soon as I told her about the surgery, and she's home spoiling my happy kids right now. Dave and Kara are here too. Austin and Dave gave me a beautiful blessing the night before my surgery and Kara zoned my feet. And Anna and James gave me lots of sweet hugs and kisses. Howard, Sharon, and Sheridan fasted for me from Utah and I definitely felt the love even from far away.
• I'm grateful for wonderful friends. Everyone has really rallied for us. We've had enough dinner offers to last us through Christmas, and lots of people willing to take our kids for as long as we are willing to give them up. I feel so loved and supported.
• I'm grateful to have two weeks free to be able to recover. I have a lovely stack of books next to my bed at home. Can't wait to just sit and vege and read.

I'm looking forward to wearing my favorite skinny clothes again. It's a little ironic that now I have a bikini body but with a lovely six-inch incision down the center of my belly I probably won't be wearing any bikinis anyway.

Thanks for all the support, thoughts, prayers, and book recommendations!

Ugh.

So . . . I thought I was just gaining a little weight from spending too much time sitting at my desk.

Nope.

I went to the specialist in Burlington today and confirmed that I have a nice big tumor growing on my ovary. Massive, actually. 21 centimeters. My belly is about the size of a person who is 5 months pregnant. No wonder my clothes don't fit!

Next Thursday, November 18th, I'm having surgery to have the whole mess removed. We're hopeful that it's just a weird benign growth, but the doctor is acting aggressively just in case it's something else. My mom's mom died of ovarian cancer so I am considered at risk, despite my age and the fact that I have no symptoms at all other than an enlarging waistline. We'll know for sure after the surgery.

In the meantime, we're doing pretty well. I'm determined not to freak out about all of this unless I'm given a good reason to. (And I'll let you know either way.) Mom is on her way out for a couple of weeks to help while I recover. But I would gladly take your prayers. And some suggestions for some good books to read while I'm laid up in bed!