The One Where I Really Do Have Cancer

So things have been really crazy and hectic around here, and I don't think they are going to slow down any time soon. As soon as we got here we went to the base clinic and scheduled an appointment for me. The doctor referred me to an endocrinologist at Creighton University Hospital. The did another ultrasound and then a biopsy. They came back again as papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. Nothing could have prepared me for that, I guess I was just trying to hold out hope that the Turkish doctors I saw were wrong. But they weren't so now we're just trying to move forward and get all the surgery and treatment done. I was then referred to a great head and neck surgeon and Bergan Mercy Hospital in Omaha. He said that I have the most common and highest recovery rate type of cancer. Since I'm young and have no family history of thyroid cancer I have great chance at a full recovery, so a surgery was scheduled. On April 25th, I will have my thyroid removed, then 4-6 weeks after that I will do radioactive iodine treatments and then I'll have to take a pill for the rest of my life. Luckily I'll only be in the hospital for 1 night and the iodine treatments are only pills that I have to take. I am nervous but I'm also optimistic. I'm hoping that the sooner we get all this done, I won't have to worry about it again.  Now the doctor did say that he will take out only as much as he needs to and there is a chance that it could come back in a few years, but again I'm being optimistic. I am really grateful that I was able to be seen so quickly and the insurance company for expediting the approvals.

Even with all that going on, we really love it here. Our house is much smaller than our house in Turkey but we still like it and we are thinking about buying a house in the next few years. Even if we stay in this house for a few years I'll be happy. I am burnt out on moving. We've moved 6 times in 7 years so I just need a little break.  And our household goods will be here in a week! We are all so excited to have our beds back. This gives me two weeks to unpack before surgery and I'll be happy for the distraction. I'm also sure that Steven will go crazy again and unpack like a maniac. I think our last move he had everything unpacked in a couple of days, that leaves me with the task of finding everything a place in the house which I really don't mind. The worst part is having to wash all the linens, clothes, and kitchen stuff.

I have theory in my mind that once everything is unpacked and placed life will slow down some. I'm hoping I'm right because Lilly's birthday is tomorrow and I have no idea how she is going to be 6 years old?!?! She's getting so big and smart. She is reading a lot, especially in the car. It really trips us up when she reads billboards and store fronts, we're just not used to this. She is way too smart for her own good. Last night we were telling the girls that they had to go to sleep because we had to get up at 5am to take Steven to the airport- he's picking up our car from Illinois and driving it back here. Lilly, without skipping a beat, says,'At least we don't have to wake up at 1 in the morning.' I almost choked. It's just crazy.
Hopefully life will slow down soon because I'm just plain tired. But if you pray, could you just say a little prayer for me. I'm holding out on faith and optimism to get through this crazy journey.  But I do know will get through this a little tougher and stronger.


-K

Reading Time

Lilly's biggest school dream was to learn how to read. Here we are half way through kindergarten and she is learning new words everyday. As part of her homework during the first semester was to read these short, one sentence per page stories. She has accumulated quite a few of them so far so I've been trying to encourage her to read them during the day instead of taking one of the shelf to look at the pictures. I also thought they would be great for her to read at night before she goes to bed. Most nights, after she gets tucked in, we left her read for up to 30 minutes with a small light. She loves it and we love the fact she doesn't come to our room every 5 minutes instead.
This morning I was trying to find as many as I could so that she could take them upstairs, she decided she wanted to read one. Ruby jumped at the oppurtunity to listen to a story. These two spent awhile sitting together and reading. And not yelling, fighting, whining, or crying either! It was bliss :)

I swear I took this photo this morning, but it was so rainy and cloudy that it looked like it was the evening!

-K

December in a Nutshell

December has been a crazy month. The month started off with a biopsy. And that biopsy came back suspicious so to say my nerves and psyche are rattled would be a severe understatement. I also got that news on Ruby's 2nd birthday just made everything worse. I have been trying my darnedest to be calm and not to ruin the girls' birthdays or holidays. Keep your mind off things like this is a feat though. Mood swings don't help either. But we've done our best and the girls and Steven have been amazing patient and caring with me. I have truly been blessed with the best kids and husband in the world.

Now when did Ruby think it was okay to turn 2 and then the next day Sadie turned 4 to boot. I have no idea where the time has gone? It seems like just yesterday we moved here with a 3,2, and 2 month old. Now we are about to leave and have an almost 6, 4, and 2 year old. The girls had a lovely and quiet birthdays at home. We got Ruby a battery powered quad that she loved. She put on her helmet and was riding it all around the living room. It had rained for a few days straight so there was no way that we were going to let her outside with the thing. She had a blast anyways. Lilly and Sadie picked out a Lalaloopsy doll for her too and she has loved the crap out of the thing since it came out of the box. She named it Cutie Pie and dragged it everywhere for at least a week and a half. She also got some pretty horses from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby. She was so excited for her cake and candles to blow out that she blew the candles out the second it was placed in front of her. So, we had to light them again and she got to blow them out twice :)

Sadie's birthday was very chill. Daddy had to work so we played Disney video games all day. She is definitely the gamer out of the three of them. Her favorite thing to do is just to sit with Daddy and 'help'/watch him play video games. Whenever I had to go out into the city for doctor's appointments he would stay home with Sadie and Ruby and they would just sit around and 'play' video games together. So if you think the child had a boring birthday and had no fun at all, you're sorely mistaken. She had a blast and when I told her it was time for a break, she pouted and got all whiny. Instead of having cake 2 nights in a row, she opted for some birthday ice cream sundaes and then have cake the next night. She got a Nintendo DS for her birthday, a Disney Princess game, and a Hello Kitty carry case for it. She also got a pink camera from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby! She was in heaven. She had a blast playing with everything. So much so that she killed the batteries on both the DS and camera in less than a day!

Yiayia and Papou sent gift cards so the girls could 'do their own shopping', which they love! They even get to swipe the cards like credit/debit cards. Ruby picked out another Lalaloopsy doll. She carried the box around all by herself until we got home and she needed me to open it for her. She promptly named her Cutie Pie and went off to show her other Cutie Pie the new Cutie Pie. Lilly and Sadie desperately tried to change Ruby's mind on the name. The really didn't like her giving the doll the same name as her other doll. Sadie found a Disney Princess game. It's like those electronic poker games but with Princesses, for kids, and in pink. She loves it. I told you, the girl loves video games. They were both so happy to 'pay' for their own things. They just keep growing too fast.

Then came Steven's trip to Landstuhl. He was there for a week for a sleep study and sleep testing. He doesn't sleep very well and on top of it had been on night shift for over 9 months and finely a few weeks ago got back onto to day shift. But it didn't last long. When he returned home from Germany, he was informed that starting in January he would be back onto nights until we PCS is February. PCS means permanent change of station, also known as moving to another base. Anyways, he had to wear a monitor on his wrist for a week that was very similar looking to a watch. The doctor checked the readings it was getting and was not too pleased because he hadn't actually slept much. He doesn't sleep very well to begin with but the boy can't sleep at all when I'm not with him. Sweet man I have. Well the day of his overnight study she told him that if he didn't sleep than he would have to stay for another 10 days and wear the monitor again. Way to put the pressure on. If that happened he would have missed Christmas with us and would still be up there right now. Thankfully he slept, despite several vivid dreams in which he didn't sleep, and got wonderfully normal results. Had any abnormalities shown up, we risked Steven being medically discharged and out of a job. Praise the Lord, the guy is fine. When it rains in our house, it pours, huh?!

Despite everything, we had a great Christmas. It was awesome to be able to spend time together. We decided that next year we will go all out with home cooked, from scratch food for Thanksgiving, but Christmas we are just going simple and maybe even take out. We wanted to spend time with the girls and not standing around in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes. The girls got some great gifts this year. Lilly got a vanity, Sadie got her coveted cleaning cart, and Ruby got a pirate ship play set/ride on from Santa. The biggest disappointment, Lilly and Sadie's Huffy scooters. Steven was so excited to get them for them and when we took them out of the box to assemble, the back wheels for both scooters were not there. The boxes were sealed shut and we had just opened them and the wheels were no where to be found. I'm hoping the company will just mail us some. I have to give them call but with the time difference it's a little hard to find the right time. The girls got some awesome presents from Memaw, Papop, and Shelby. Lilly got a battery powered horse and a basketball. Sadie got a full doll house that she was ecstatic about. And Ruby got a Baby Alive. The girl loves her some baby dolls. What she doesn't know that we will be donating all other baby dolls except for her Baby Alive and Lalaloopsy dolls. We've had to hide them for now because she will line them all up and try to take every. single. doll. everywhere with her. They also got some more gift cards from Yiayia and Papou so that when we get to Nebraska in February they can buy some new toys to tie them over until our household goods get there.

Next week I'm headed to Germany for another biopsy and a consult with the Endocrinologist there. Hopefully the test will be easy and pain free and I get the results before I leave. I am having some anxiety over it all, not only for the test and implications but traveling internationally by myself. Traveling is kind of difficult for me, especially when there is more than one language barrier to get past. I know I'll get through it and I'll be fine but I have a hard time coping with change that I can't control. If you know me you know I'm a huge control freak. But say a prayer for me anyways. I can always use an extra prayer.

In better news, all of our PCS paperwork is submitted and we are now waiting on dates of plane tickets and a set of orders so we can pack out. We still have to clear our car and beyanname. A beyanname is a form with all of the furniture and electronics we brought into the country in our household goods shipment. It's because there is a huge black market here, the beyanname is the Turkish governments way of trying to contain and control it. Luckily we had a great guy do ours and he only put a handful of things on it so it'll be no problem to clear it. Hopefully it won't be as difficult to clear the car as it was to get the car. Either way it'll work itself out. The biggest thing we really have to worry about is what to separate into the suitcase pile, the unaccompanied baggage pile, donate pile, toss pile, and household goods shipment. I'm really not too worried about the housing inspection. Every time we've moved out of base housing we've had to pay something and since the exchange rate is in our favor here and it will come straight out of Steven's paycheck, so we don't need to worry about making a payment, I'm really not stressed about it. It feels like everything is finally coming together and in  2 short months we'll be in our own house in Nebraska. Hopefully 2012 is a much better year for us.

Here's hoping that everyone has a happy and healthy 2012!

-K

Who is this big girl and where did Lilly go?

Lilly lost her very first tooth this past Monday! She was so excited for it to finally fall out and would ask if Steven or I would give it a tug to help it out. Monday night she asked me again to check and tug on it so I tried again. I knew it was ready to pop out so when I tugged on it came right out, but just after it came out Lilly started whining about how it hurt. Steven and I started laughing because we knew it was already out. A few seconds later her eyes bugged out and she stuttered, "You got it out? My tooth came out!!!" All we could do was laugh. We were all so excited for her.

That night we went to the Christmas tree lighting on base where all the elementary school kids sang some Christmas songs. It was really nice. And I just have to mention this part. If you know me you know I love Boondock Saints and so does Steven. One of our favorite parts is when the detective asks Agent Smecker what the "symbology" of the evidence is. Then Agent Smecker says "I think you mean symbolism. What is the symbolism?" We always crack up at that. Well someone said a few words at the tree lighting ceremony talked about the symbology of the what the Christmas tree meant for everyone on base. Steven and I couldn't help but crack up.

Back to Lilly. After the ceremony we were walking to the car and Lilly was talking about what she was going to get with the money from the tooth fairy and she finally decided on a horse. We asked her how much she thought she was going to get and she said 1 coin. Unfortunately we had to tell her that was not enough. The tooth fairy ended up giving her $2 and she was thrilled! After a walk around the BX and explaining how all the things there cost a lot more.

She was such a good sport about and maturely decided to save it. We tried to find her a nice, decorative box to save her money in, but we had no luck. Hopefully we find something good soon because I think she is going to loose the other bottom, middle tooth sooner rather than later. Her big tooth broke through the gums yesterday and she is just as thrilled about it as she was when the baby tooth fell out.
And she has been growing like crazy. It is really nuts. She has never grown this much this fast. In August while we were at my parents' house we did some school shopping for Lilly. We always try to buy the girls clothes that are a little big so there is some room to grow. We bought size 5 clothes for her and a size 10 in shoes. Everything we bought was big for her. In the past month she has gone into a size 6x and almost an 11 in shoes. We bought some corduroy pants for her in a size 6 and when we got home and tried them on the fit perfectly, like a glove. We returned them the next day for the 6x ones. This was the first time we bought clothes for one of the girls and thought it would be big but we were completely wrong. She just keeps getting bigger and bigger. She's starting to read and help out more. It is crazy to us how big she's getting, I just wish it didn't happen so fast. She impresses us more and more everyday. At her Thanksgiving Feast at school, she tried everything. She sat at her table and ate while the parents sat at bigger tables. The whole time she was giving us the 'thumbs up' after she tried her food. She isn't picky when it comes to eating, so she more than willingly tries new foods and usually loves them. She also did a 5 Little Turkeys song and did great. She also made a Thanksgiving decoration that we can hang every year.

And on top of that Ruby and Sadie are turning 2 and 4 in a week. Pretty soon they won't look like babies or toddlers anymore. More on those two another day. It's time to pick Lilly up from school :) Oh and Daddy, aka The Sucker because he's a sucker when it comes to the girls, picked up a hot pink Hello Kitty Christmas tree for them even though he told them last year there was absolutely no way we are buying a pink Christmas tree ;) Ha! He cracks me up! And pay no attention to our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Since we'll have Christmas in the good 'ole USA next year we'll have the big beautiful Christmas tree we've always wanted :)

K

What's New with Us?

Yup. She went on the potty. So proud but so sad. And no, I am not trying to potty train her yet. We're just trying to get her interested.
And do you see her shirt? It says "Ruby's Fruit Juice Stand". I found it at the Carter's store and got all giddy. There are never clothes, toys, key chains, or anything with the girls' names on them unless we had someone put it there. I like it better that way. Hopefully when they're all in school there won't be a handful of Ruby's in the class.
I'm exhausted and surrounded by whiny, tired children, so when they go to sleep I'll try and update more before I fall asleep. I feel as tired now as when we had newborns. Ugh! I swear I'm not ignoring anyone, just sleep deprived and overworked, ha!

-K

Where has the last 5 years gone?

On Monday we celebrated Lilly’s 5th Birthday! I can still remember 5 years ago, when Steven’s family visited us in England for Mom’s birthday and Lilly’s impending  birth, like it was yesterday. She went from a 7lb 3oz. bundle of joy to a 35lb ball of fire in what seems like overnight.

 Here she is today-

She is the smartest,  sweetest, strongest 5 year old I know. She is already reading and writing, but sometimes gets really frustrated because she wants to read novels, she doesn’t want to go slow and sound out each word. She can add and subtract, she can ride her bike to school (with Daddy) in 7 minutes, and she now has her own room.  She is simply amazing!

Since her birthday was on a Monday, meaning she had to go to school, we shopped, baked, and decorated while she was at school. She was so excited to get home to see what kind of surprises were waiting for her.
That afternoon we had a LOT of rain, thunder, and lightning. Thank the LORD for the US Air Force  because they could really care less about thunder when they’ve heard fighter jets, bombers, and cargo planes taking off their entire lives. It’s kinda sad when I jump and grab Steven when thunder cracks and the girls don’t even notice the thunder, ha! Needless to say, Steven thoroughly enjoyed my squirms while the kids played.

The first present she opened was some clothes from Sadie. I knew I wanted to take some pictures before we got into anymore presents and cupcakes, so she changed into her new outfit and pictures we took.
Then we went and started watching her favorite movie – Transformers. We got maybe 30 minutes into the movie when she couldn’t contain her excitement anymore, so she opened her presents. She got toys from Ruby, and a gift card from Mommy and Daddy.  All she wanted was a “card” so she could buy something all by herself- so we happily obliged.

So then it was off to the BX, in the rain and thunder. Luckily it was about done when we left. We walked around the whole  store several times. She would pick something and then change her mind, pick something and change her mind, and pick something  and change her mind again. She finally settled on Zhu Zhu hamster, a pretty purple pillow for her bedroom, and a Crayola story coloring thing. When we got home, it was time for dinner. Then cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Lilly! I still can’t believe you’re 5!
♥krissy

Baby Girl got her Ears Pierced!

We have always tried to get the girls' ears pierced as young as we could. I remember getting mine pierced and I didn't want them to. And the big girls love having their ears pierced and have been asking when Ruby could get hers done. Sadie is so excited for Ruby to get bigger so they can play together that having Ruby's ears done was one step closer to them all getting to play together.
I saw a woman with her baby girl at the hospital one day and her daughters' ears were pierced so I had to ask if it was done here in Turkey. Steven and I were afraid we would have to wait until we took our COT (continuous overseas tour) leave to get them done. But this woman told us her daughter's were done here at a place just outside of the gate. She told us they had to be six months old and we had to bring her birth certificate with us. Well as soon as we got her passport back we got her birth certificate back we attempted to get them done. No such luck, they were closed. So we went home to try again another day.
We got a phone call from the passport office here and they needed her birth certificate in order to get her new social security card. They spelled our last name wrong on the card. Yes, I know it is ridiculously hard to spell TODD. My gate pass was expired and we had to get her ears done before we turned in her birth certificate again, so Steven took her by himself. He said it was a very clean place and only one guy was there so one ear was done at a time. She did pretty well. He said she was only mad at him for about 15 minutes and then she was fine. She looks so cute and the big girls were super thrilled! Ruby hasn't been playing with, at least not until we clean them, and they have been healing very nicely.
-K