Well, it's been awhile....

Yes, it's been awhile.

First off - in case you didn't know - I'm pregnant. Right now I'm about 21+ weeks.

Secondly, I've been dealing with some scary health things that have added a lot of stress to our family's life. I've tried to laugh about it as much as possible - but there are some days when the pain and exhaustion gets me down.

If you haven't been following my strange saga, this is what I posted to my LLL group for informational purposes about a month ago:

I haven’t been posting much these past two months as I’ve been dealing with the strangest thing that I thought I’d share with all of you. I have an auxiliary nipple (looks more like a dark scar, really) under my arm in the Tail of Spence (edge of mammory glands). When I was 2 months pregnant I began to leak a little bit of milk for several days under my arm. That little leak stopped but bacteria must have seeped in and I ended up with a massive infection under my arm – identical to late pregnancy/post pregnancy mastitis in the actual breast. I’ve had two ultrasounds of the mass and it is an orange sized hard mass of infected tissue. My OB tried the traditional antibiotics for mastitis (Dicloxacillin) but that didn’t help. My surgeon tried to lance and drain the infection, but that didn’t work either. If anyone has had mastitis, you know the pain that is felt. I had an OB appointment today and I feel like an anomaly in the world of ‘armpit lumps’ – I definitely have something not everyone has seen nor heard of. I have my 4th appointment with my surgeon next week where she will tell me if she will have to surgically cut it out or not. I am now using a heating pad under my arm all the time to try and ease the pain and, hopefully, reduce the size of the lump. The pain is either like a searing burn or a throbbing pain that radiates from my armpit down my arm and through my breast. What worried me the most was that if I do get the surgery, will I still be able to breastfeed? The answer is yes. They will only be removing the tissue and glands by the Tail of Spence. All of this has been fairly scary as this sort of thing is in the ‘unknown’ category. If you look up ‘early pregnancy mastitis’, you’ll find a lot of information about the bovine community, but not humans. I wanted to share this as before the last two months, I had no idea one could get mastitis during pregnancy, this early, nor under the arm.

Life has left me exhausted. The pain wakes me often at night and after 4 years of quasi-co-sleeping, I’m finding Doodle wakes me more than lets me sleep – his knees and elbows are sharp these days! So when evening comes around I’m just thankful my husband is home from work and I’m able to sit a bit and have him clean the dishes and play with the boys.

And this is an update after my post-operation appointment yesterday:

I am going to make this as short as possible. Today I went for my first post-op appointment with my surgeon/oncologist. What she has come to the conclusion is that I have a massive infection in my sweat glands called ‘hidradenitis’. There is a paragraph long report on the findings with some really big words but the sentence that stood out was ‘The histopathologic findings are most consistent with granulamatous lobular mastitis, a condition that usually appears on average 2 years after pregnancy, in parous women ranging between 17 and 42 years of age’. Well, that’s me.



My surgeon said they found lots of ‘bugs’ in the tissue they removed. She said it was a pretty disgusting lump of stuff that she pulled out. It was a solid mass of infected yuck. I told her ‘that’s fantastic!’ and she said that’s not what she expected to hear. I told her ‘a disgusting lump of stuff’ is better than hearing the big ‘C’ word. So what normally happens once they find this type of infection is two different and super powerful antibiotics would be prescribed for this to be taken at the same time, but as I’m pregnant, that’s not going to happen. So I’m on a ‘mild’ antibiotic right now and I have another appointment next week. She extracted a lot more infected fluid from the area today with the biggest (girth) needle I’ve seen in a long time and seemed to think she’ll be doing the same next week. But she said I will be fighting this for a while and I’m to watch for more fevers over 100 degrees, redness, and pus. (I’ve had low grade fevers since this all began in January). She said my exhaustion has to do with my body trying to combat the infection. It seems as though the infection might also be starting on the other side, but we’re not sure at this time – we just have to keep an eye on it. So in the meantime, I’m to get as much rest as possible and take care of myself. Thank goodness the weather is a bit nicer and the boys can run themselves ragged outside in the backyard while I catch a few rays on my pale winter skin!


So that's what has been going on with me...

Through all that that we've tried to keep going and have a normal life. Doodle turned 5 years old and that was just amazing to think about. Snorter now has about 8 words and will be receiving speech therapy 1 day a week at our home soon.

I couldn't resist this one of Snorter's tush when he sleeps!


Doodle on his new Razor 360 - fun!!!


Me....tired and worn out but having a Batman of a time at Doodle's 5th birthday party!

The boys had a wonderful Christmas. Overwhelming. But wonderful. Christmas Eve was at Grandma & Grandpa Close By's house with their cousins. Doodle was able to make it through dinner before he just 'had' to put on a costume. He's been Batman lately. Though his idea of Batman is a little crazy. He wore his Buzz Lightyear headcovering and antlers as bat ears. He has a fantastic imagination!


Snorter just looked cute as he was - from the beginning of the evening to the end.


This was one of the first photos on Christmas Day.


Snorter got a car playset from Grandma and Grandpa Far Away.


Doodle got a pirate ship from Grandma and Grandpa Far Away.


Snorter loves his big brother!

Thoughts on our Political Cesspool

I suppose I wouldn't be a very good American if I didn't pay attention to the political hub-bub surrounding me on a daily basis. I have two thoughts on all this chaos.

Number One:
Children are NOT a billboard for your politcal beliefs. Do NOT have your children wear shirts, hats, etc. endorsing the political candidate you, as an educated adult, are voting for.

Number Two:
Unless you run a political business, a place a business is NOT a place to advertise who you are voting for. I just visited a website with very cute clothing for children and there was a lot of political bashing on their blog. Just as I despise mud slinging by candidates, I oppose the same in places of business.

Sometimes all you need is a piece of black fabric, a hat, some gloves, and your kitchen broom to make a little boy happy. :)

From Our Patch to Yours...

Going to the pumpkin patch is always my favorite activity during the fall. The day always begins with the great anticipation of 'will we find the best pumpkins this year?' But most of all, the day is a simple, traditional trip out to Joan's Farm in Livermore, CA.

When we get there, we take photographs in the mini patch first - a vast landscape of miniature pumpkins, just right for little hands to hold.


Then we're off to play. This year Doodle was brave again (after a two year hiatus) and rode Trigger, a pony. We looked at all the fun things; the vintage western town, the real teepee, the train made out of an oil drum and plywood, and the huge fort maze. Snorter was fascinated by all the big, round, orange things every where he looked. He kept running around in circles and trying to pick up different pumpkins!

We picked out four perfect plumply, dumply pumpkins to bring home. Upon leaving Joan's Farm, we made our annual stop at Chevy's, where, although we were tired from pumpkin picking, we managed to eat everything we ordered!

On a dreary Saturday morning...

This past Saturday morning I took the boys down to the local fire station for Alameda Fire Department. To say Doodle was treated like a prince is an understatement. We were given a one hour private tour of everything with the Firestation.







My son was able to hold axes and hoses, ring bells, and wear gloves. He was allowed into all the trucks and even the ambulance. He was able to touch the IV's and see where all the emergency items were stored. He held different sizes of hose nozzles and found out how heavy they really are! He was given a tour of the station itself, from the emergency command center to the kitchen and the video viewing room. We were told that was where they watched informational videos, but we only saw a football game on the TV. We learned that OSHA does not allow poles to slide down because having a big hole in the second story floor isn't that safe. We had such a good time and were treated so wonderfully, I recommend this field trip to anyone looking for something local and free to do. (We did call ahead to make sure we could come in.)

Early Fall Musing

As school gets back under way, I am always struck by parents all of a sudden moving in 'fast forward.' Last week I was with several women from San Francisco who all were concerned as to what after school activities their children would attend. Everything from Lacrosse (for a 1st grader!) to the standard music and soccer programs. One woman, almost guiltily, admitted that she and her children did next to nothing all summer and would probably be moving into fall the same way. I didn't think much of all this until two days ago when I picked the boys up from school and as I laughed and told the boys we had to 'hurry home to relax!', my daycare provider stopped me and said this was one of the reasons she has always liked me. Evidently my philosopy of raising children coincides with hers. In a nutshell, that would be: Let children be children.

I pick up the boys from daycare by 12:30 each day on my way home from work. We come into the house, drop our things and proceed to enjoy our home. We might hang out in the playroom (once known as the 'dining room') or go to the backyard. Then I'll make myself lunch and watch the boys play. Snorter takes his nap soon thereafter and Doodle and I proceed to veg out. Watch a movie, play with toys, or do something creative. Last week I taped a huge piece of butcher paper to the table and it has been our evolving table-cloth for the past 5 days. Each day there are more stickers and drawings on it. Yesterday, Doodle watched The Wizard of Oz for the first time and is now a confirmed fan of what he calls 'The Show About the Little Girl and Toto.' I don't have the heart to explain to him that Judy Garland wasn't so little when she made that movie. Today Doodle created 3 gorgeous paintings on his easel. I've decided at least one of them will be coming to work with me to hang by my desk.

I sit here this afternoon and am happy I'm not having to race my children to different activities around the island. Although I am thinking of signing him up for a Saturday morning class of either Soccer or music, I am thrilled I get the week-day afternoons just to ourselves.