Monday, October 8, 2012

Zipped Up and Ready to Go

Well, today was my last day before surgery! I have to be to the Huntsman at SIX IN THE MORNING. Holy cow, who do these doctors think they are? At least I won't have to wait around all morning for it. Surgery is at 7:30.

I went for my last run for a couple months this morning. It was a balmy 30 degrees! It was really nice to get out one last time for a while. Sterling has been so awesome and has been running with me every day for a week or two.
Me and my best friend Try
I also got to go to lunch with my family. We ate at Corner Bakery. Then I had to finish up a ton of homework since I am still in online classes. I got it all finished though! Phew, such a relief.

Then I got to have FHE with one of my bestest friends Brooke. Her and her husband came to see our new house. It was fun to catch up.

So.....this is what the doctors are going to lift up my hospital gown and find:
The zipper will go over my current scar, and the dotted lines will go up to my sternum. The two notes say "Don't forget to take pictures!" and "Please don't let me have a colostomy bag!"  
hahaha, I wonder if they will think I am funny or if they will be annoyed because they have to clean it off. I will take a picture of my actually stomach tomorrow, but I didn't want the marker to smear in my sleep. In case you don't know, they are going to be doing a full hysterectomy, removing 2-3 spots on my liver and possibly a spot near my colon. The surgery is scheduled for 7:30am and will last anywhere from 4-6 hours. Well, they told me 4 but I'm sure it will be longer than that.

I am definitely dreading it A LOT more than last time since I know more what to expect this time. It is a lot harder going in knowing how miserable it is! But I also know better what to bring and I am more determined to get out of there fast! I have made it a goal to walk a mile every day, even if it takes me all day to do it. A mile is 12 laps around the hallway so I could go 2 laps every 6 hours.

Wish me luck! Think about me! They are cutting me open all the way to my sternum!!! Yucky :( :(

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Puppies, friends, chickens, soccer....

On September 28th, Sterling's birthday we visited the Utah County Animal Shelter. We found this super cute blue heeler puppy and took him outside to play with us. He was so much fun and so soft and he loved playing tug-of-war with me :) I would have loved to get him, but he is going to grow up to be too big for us right now. But he was sure fun to play with!

Now for the REAL puppy.......
This is probably our future puppy!!!!!!!!!!! He is only 2 weeks old in this picture and you can't take them away from their mommies until they are at least 6 weeks. Which will be perfect timing for me to be all recovered from surgery (*fingers crossed*). This litter has four puppies and when they are ready we get first pick. This was our favorite so far, but it could change in 4 more weeks!

These guys are the same type of puppy as the one we will get but they are about 3 months old.

I CANT WAIT TO GET A PUPPY!!!! He's gonna love me soooo much and follow me around and go running with me and snuggle me all day long :) Yay! I have the coolest mom ever that she wants to get him for me. It seems like EVERY single time I get on Facebook I have another friend announcing they are pregnant. Everyone in the world is having kids and all I'm having is a hysterectomy. It sucks. But a puppy will make me sooooo happy :) Yay!!!

I also got the opportunity to play with my friend Cesia! She's so cool and fun and she has chickens!! Chickens are pretty cool and really soft to pet. See how pretty hers are?!

We went to lunch and played with her chickens and then we did the cutest best craft ever!
Look at these amazing pieces of art. Seriously, aren't these incredible? And so perfect. It was really fun and now I have cute Halloween decorations.

On Friday, October 5th I had the amazing opportunity to be part of the UVU soccer team's pink game. Since October is breast cancer awareness month, each team at UVU has a "pink" game where they fund-raise money for a cause or person in the community that needs it. They were so thoughtful as to include me and another awesome girl who has leukemia. I am so lucky to have such an amazing support group. It really makes me feel so loved to have so many people thinking about me. Thank you to the UVU soccer team, you guys really made my night, it was so fun to watch you WIN!!
I got a signed poster and soccer ball from the team and an awesome pink shirt that says "Stronger: Pink for a purpose"
I want people to know how much your support means to me. I don't know how people can make it through cancer treatments without outside help financially and emotionally. Every single donation and every note, comment or email has helped me. Especially as I prepare for surgery again it has been so nice to have people lifting me up. Thank you!

Check back Monday to see my surprise for the surgeons on Tuesday :)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Race T-shirts and Lost & Found

Everybody! So sorry to the same day registrants that didn't get t-shirts. All the seasoned race people told us only to order like 10 extra so that's all we did :) But we did finally get all the shirts ordered for the people that registered same day!

My mom has them and they will be available for pick-up at 2104 E. Fort Union Blvd. from 8:30 am to noon on Friday Oct. 5. PLEASE pick them up, they are super cute and we don't want to be stuck with them, especially because you already paid for it.

UTAH COUNTY: For those of you in Utah County, you can pick them up after Friday night at my new house in Cedar Hills and I will also come to Utah Valley University sometime....


We really want everybody to have their shirts, they are super cute and we ordered shirts for everybody that paid.

If for some reason none of these pick-up times work for you, message me and we will see if we can work something out.

Also, we found a pair of women's sunglasses. If they are yours, message me so I can get them back to you!




Monday, October 1, 2012

Race Recap

Phew I have been BUSY. So busy. We were packing all week, moved into my in-laws on Wednesday, Sterling's birthday on Friday (I forgot to get pics, sad), and the race on Saturday.

I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everybody who was so incredibly supportive and generous. I cannot believe the amount of people that showed up to the race, the amount of people that donated and the amount of people that stepped in to help the race be a success. I am so so humbled, I cannot even begin to express the gratitude I have for everyone. It is ridiculous the number of people that helped in one way or another. I wish I could name every single person but it would be in the tens of thousands and I would leave people out. I have hundreds of thank you notes to write and I just want to tell you, if you don't get a thank you note, please don't be offended! I tried so hard to keep track of everybody that I need to send one to and I know I am going to leave out a ton of people :( I wish I could personally thank each and every person but it is impossible.
The race was so much fun Saturday!! I had the funnest time ever and I ran pretty fast! It was almost the fastest 3 miles I have run since having surgery. I couldn't have done it without everyone cheering me the whole way and my two favorite guys right next to me. Thanks Dad and Ster for running next to me the whole time :)
We had 463 total registrants and 83 people that registered the morning of. Sorry for those that had to wait in line and almost didn't or didn't get registered in time!! We didn't expect so many many people and the police made us start the race because we couldn't have the road blocked off that long. Also, to those people that didn't get their shirt yet, they will be ready on Friday. You can contact me, Trudy Zufelt or Wendy Hone to get those (email me to get the contact info).

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. I got so many compliments, so I think everyone enjoyed it. I have to thank all the companies and people that sponsored the race too. We had so many companies that were incredible generous that I just want to give them all a shout out: Creamies (yum), Daniels Chocolate (also yum), Dan's for the donuts, Utah Truffles for all the chocolates, Clear Channel for the radio ads, Staker Parson, Hair Restoration Center of Utah, Cardinal Mortgage Services, McDonalds for all the cookies, Destinations, Geneva Rock, Morgan Asphalt, Road ID, Intermountain Concrete Specialties, Granite Construction, Jessie Oberg Photography, Chocolate Chic, Hart's Gas Stations, the guy who painted the beautiful deer/elk pictures, everyone in my extended family, Massage Envy, Park City ski resort, and so so many more that donated to the silent auction that I can't think of right now but totally deserve to be named. We could not have done this race without our sponsors, putting on a race is expensive! Who knew.

To view the results go to http://runnercard.com/runner/data/1825/4310/Result/2012_Fallen_in_Chocolate_5K.htm
If you were an age group winner and did not get your prize please contact me!

And now for the fun part, pictures!!
My teammates are so cute!!! 

 
Love you Grandpa :)
I had so many people I didn't know that came to support me and wanted pictures with me. It was so cool
My former roommates! Awesome friends
My good friends from Jr. High and High School
Awesomest teammates ever
I already miss our old ward and it's only been 5 days since we moved :( I love you guys!
These people put in so much time, effort and money to make this day a success
UVU wrestlers are the coolest. 
Thank you to John McAtee and Taylor Jay Photographer for providing these pictures. They are both on Facebook and there are hundreds more if you want to check them out.

Again, I am so sorry if I left someone out or didn't get to talk to some people at the race. I got to see so many people and talk to so many of you, but I know there were people that came that I didn't get a chance to visit with. Thank you so so much everybody!