Time For A Celebration!

Time For A Celebration! We have celebrated my 1 Year anniversary after having had my 2 handed lap assisted Sigmoidectomy with full mobilization of the splenic flexure (AKA Sigmoid Colon removed). Which turned out not to laparoscopic...lol and then I had an Anastomotic leak and infection. Yes, I am pretty much the patient that gives a doctor nightmares...lol.

 

These are made with Better Batter's Yellow Cake mix and just some icing I made with corn free powdered sugar & soy milk. YUM!

For those that know my story you can stop here at the cupcakes, grab one and enjoy! They are gluten free, corn free and dairy free too!! (with the exception of the chocolate heart on top). If you don't know my story read on below to learn more.
Hugs,
Moe

For those that don't know me, Jan 23, 2014 was a year since I had my surgery, a foot of sigmoid colon removed, I had done well got out in 3 1/2 days, then spiked a fever on day number 6 and ended up back in the hospital for 9 days due to a leak at my anastimosis. My recovery lasted from January until about the end of March before I could do much of anything at all (surgeon told me first of summer I would be up and running). I think I did well and had a GREAT surgeon and infectious disease doctor so that helped a ton! Having the Lord on my side was a major factor too :) So things have been going well in the year since surgery, I will tell folks that I still have weird sensations down by my large incision, sometimes it feels hot, cold, wet etc (even though it is not), I figure it's nerves healing, I have been told it can take more than a year for that to straighten out. I still feel slightly bruised when leaning into things, such as being short and having to reach into the bottom of the washing machine to get clothes out, once in a while I have a sort of stitch pain (like when you run too fast for too long you get that stitch in your side) on the left side behind my ribs, I think that is from the splenic flexure that I had done. Surgeon told me that they really moved stuff around in there...lol...YEAH! I could sure tell that. I guess after they cut out your bad colon, they have to carefully move it down and re-route it sometimes so that there is enough length to reattach you. YES!! I would have the surgery done again EVEN with everything I went though!! I will say the surgery was almost more emotionally hard than physically hard (even with the leak and infection). After the years of suffering, life is good! I've not had any of those weirdo slight fever/chills illnesses I would get every 6 weeks or so, in a full year. I would pick the same doctors too! Search out a GREAT colorectal surgeon, not a general surgeon and not a gastric surgeon, but a colorectal one if you need this type of surgery. It is so key to have a surgeon that has done many of these and is competent. 
Hugs,
Moe

Top 5 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2013...Looking back

This really surprised me on a few of the choices. The most popular blog post was My Favorite Gluten Free Recipes from 2012. This was a listing of all my favorite recipes from 2012.

So here are the top 5 most popular blog posts from 2013.
#1 My Favorite Gluten Free Recipes from 2012.
#2 http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/2013/02/we-had-seen-apologia-educational.html (link got weird on me, this was the Homeschool Science Book Review...still thinking that this science book is AWESOME in 2014!
#3 I Can __________ In 2013! I think I need to read this one again myself!
#4 TeenCoder C# Series Computer Programming This was a really cool blog post and we still love playing with this program.
#5 Are You Good Mom?

Numbers 4 and 5 tied with the exact same number of readers.

I really want to take time now to thank each and every one of you that takes time out of your busy life to check out my blog. Thank you for all your prayers and for hanging with me when I was having my 2 hand assisted Sigmoidectomy (Sigmoid Colon removed) and then when I had my Anastomotic Leak and infection. I know it was the Lord and you all got me through that time in my life. James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Praise the Lord!

You then all stuck with me through my Mayo Clinic visits and you all saw how the Lord worked through all that. You also were with me when I passed out goodie bags to my doctors, nurses & CNA/Techs that took care of me. That was such a blessing for me to be able to do and I pray that it blessed all those that received the treats.

The Lord used this entire ordeal for His glory and honor. And I am so thankful that I was able to share my testimony with my surgeon and had opportunities to share the love of Jesus Christ with others in the medical field. 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase."

What a year and what a blessed time came of it!

Homeschooling Math When You Have A Major Illness

I had written this post way back in March and never posted it. So here goes, I hope that it encourages another homeschooling mom that is struggling.

Now lets do some homeschool math here peeps.
Illness + surgery + anastomotic leak + infection [people asking if the child is behind in school to the 10th power] I can't figure out how to do Exponents on my keyboard. = X

 Here is how you solve for X.

Illness = preparing our child/children ahead of time by teaching them to work on their own.
Surgery = having GREAT doctors like my wonderful GI doc that saw me in the hospital in 2011 and my WONDERFUL and AWESOME Colorectal Surgeon that knew just the right time to get that bad boy out of me. I had time plan school around the surgery, we skipped Christmas break so that school did not have to be done during my surgery and hospital stay.
Anastomotic leak = fever, chills, pain & a visit to the ER & then my surgeon calling us at 6:55am to say that I needed to pack a bag and get to the hospital by 4pm that day. to start IV antibotics.
Infection = always a possible complication, but I figured it would never happen HAHAHA!!!
School = people asking if we are behind in school (to the 10th power.)
X = Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

 

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

A Journey Through Learning Review

We have been given the opportunity to review A Journey Through Learning lapbooks. A Journey Through Learning is a company that was founded by two homeschooling moms Paula & Nancy, how cool is that? 2 ladies who know exactly what we do on a daily basis with our children!! Who better to create a curriculum for us.

Our son is 7th grade but still enjoys doing some of the lower grade fun stuff. This is our first experience with lapbooks, I had seen them online over the years, but I was so focused on book work in the first few years that I overlooked lapbooking, "You can't learn from arts and crafts" I thought! Well our 7th grader took to lapbooking like a fish to water!

Stack of library books that became a part of the leraning process.

Click on the link Knights, Castles and Middle Ages lapbook, the lapbooks are available in the following formats:
Instant Download- $13.00
CD- $14.00
Printed- $21.00
We were asked to pick one of the following lapbooks.
Letters, Numbers and Shapes (ages 3-5)
The Earth (grades 1-4)
Knights and Castles (grades 2-7)
Astronomy and Space (grades 2-7)

Section 1, with drawings and cut outs.

We were given the instant download version to review. That worked really well for us even with very slow and basic DSL Internet service. I printed out the lapbook for the Knights and Castles; my son just went to town on it! He got some library books to read up more on the subject. He has been cutting and pasting like crazy. He watched the how to videos from A Journey Through Learning and picked right up on how to make the lapbook without my assistance.

Middle section of the lapbook.

We had all the supplies on hand already for the lapbook. If you have younger children you will need to work with them on this, I would say most 3rd graders could read the materials on their own, 5th grade on up could do the lapbook on their own with you checking up on them. I highly recommend watching the how to videos that I mentioned above, they were very helpful and explained things in very easy to understand terms.

Last section of the lapbook.

For the review our son picked Knights and Castles Lapbook with Study Guide which covered the Middle Ages. We liked the fact that the materials were from a Christian perspective.

What our son liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) It covered the Fall of Rome, Middle Ages, this was all new to me.
2) Love learning about the castles, I learned that they are not very fun to live in.
3) Knights and armor
4) Loved doing crafts that counted as school work.
5) Liked how there were places to draw pictures.
6) This was so much fun!

What our son did not like about the lapbook:

1) NOTHING

What this Homeschool Mamma liked about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) This was so much fun!
2) Easy for "On your own work."
3) Easy instructions.
4) Not too many supplies needed.
5) Did I say "FUN?"
6) BONUS!!! No outside materials needed for research, if you wanted to go more in depth there are book suggestions included. Otherwise you can just use what A Journey Through Learning provides for you.

What this Homeschool Mamma did not like about A Journey Through Learning lapbook:

1) NOTHING! It was totally awesome and even hubby thought it was a cool way to learn.

I am finding that lapbooking is great for those homeschooling days, weeks or months when a homeschooling mom has health issues. I've gone through a Sigmoid Colon removal surgery, had an anastomotic leak, and then an infection from the leak, which has made for an interesting end of the school year to say the least! lol. A Journy Through Learning lapbooks would be a great learning tool for those times that homeschooling is difficult on mom. My son worked on handwriting, cutting, reading, spelling, and history, all while I rested quietly as I recovered.

Come see what others reviewers have to say about A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks.
For those of you that have NEVER done lapbooking, it's so cool and I think we are hooked on it. Looking back now, I wish that we had done lapbooks from the very beginning, but ya know, you can't go back. So we are going forward and he is looking at what else he can lapbook. So all is not lost, but you know how our mommy homeschool brains work, it was sort of a sad moment thinking about how those fun little homeschool learning moments are fleeting. Enjoy your children and relax with the textbooks for awhile and try a lapbook out.

REST, REST & MORE REST

I've been gone for a bit, resting. It's amazing just how tired you can be after having a colon resection or the medical term Hand-assisted laparoscopic sigmoidectomy. Only mine was not exactly laparoscopic, I've got a nice sized scar that is healing well and 2 scope holes.

My son now wants to be a Colorectal Surgeon. LOL...had we known that sooner, we might have saved more for college...LOL. He has learned so much through this and taught himself a lot. He has been looking stuff up on the Internet, in books and reading through my medical records. He found that our health care provider has a way to read records online, so he even looked up the summary of my surgery. He was going crazy looking up the different medical terms, then telling me what they did to me in surgery. Thank the Lord that this all went on AFTER surgery, cuz I would have freaked if it had been told me to BEFORE surgery. There are just some things left better unsaid ya know?

March is  National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, So Get Your Butt In Here!

In honor of this being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I have put a really cool video on my blog  Tim Hawkins-Colonoscopy song it's very entertaining! lol.

I shall be going back to resting, as the doctor told me I would be like a newborn baby, I would come home from the surgery and eat, sleep and poop......lol. That is pretty much what I have been doing. If I try to do too much I end up feeling like I'm going to pass out, I nap for awhile and end up feeling better. Saturday was 2 months since my surgery and it is still hard to think about how tired I am. I feel really well, but the fatigue is no fun at all.

If all had gone fine, I would be up and running this past Saturday: two months post op. I was suppose to be in the hospital 4-6 days and my wonderful surgeon was pretty sure that I would come home with a temporary colostomy or appliance, not a 'bag' that is not politically correct, it's called an appliance. But praise the Lord he was able to put me back together. I did so well after the surgery that I got to go home in 4 days.

So with my Anastomotic Leak, I shall spare you the details as to what that is, you can Google that if you would like  :O)  I ended up spending an additional 9 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and then came home on the IV antibiotics.  

I've finally gotten rid of the guilty feeling I had from just laying around, puttering around the house and needing to nap on and off throughout the day..."Yes, I know exactly what you told me doctor, but I did not want to believe you!! It's those other people that you operate on that need all that extra rest, not me!" Boy was I wrong! And my family can see if I rest I feel better.

Saturday I took my last pain pill (I hope!), long car rides seem to really make it all flare up again and I still feel like someone has kicked me on my left side by my ribs. I have no idea what they did in there but it kills me sometimes if I bend, stretch, breathe too deeply etc. I should be up and going by the start of summer. I am hoping to soon be able to stop rotating between the 3 pairs of sweatpants that I own, nothing else fits. Well I have squeezed myself into a skirt for church, but thankfully I only have to stuff myself in to that for a short time each week. I've never been thin, but I must laugh at myself when I close the refrigerator door on my stomach or smack my stomach on a kitchen chair, as an adoptive mom I can only guess this is what it's like to have a preggo belly? I can finally reach the kitchen sink faucet handles, had to press my stomach into the kitchen sink to reach them and that really hurt, so I did not do dishes for a time.

 I've had some wonderful opportunities to share the love of Christ with many in the medical community. I was able to give out 2 Gospels of John books and several Bible tracts in different languages to the doctors that took AWESOME care of me! I have to giggle about the infectious disease control doctor (he brightened my days with his sense of humor, he is a very charming older gentlemen), he commented in his notes that we homeschool and that my son is up to date on his vaccines...LOL. That was funny to read, I wonder, if we utilized the public school system if that would be documented? LOL.

Would I have the surgery all over again, even with the complications? YES!  I am totally serious in saying this. Everyone I talked to that has had the surgery, had some sort of a complication, so I am not alone. Intestines DO NOT LIKE TO BE MESSED WITH! And I feel better, well I am sore and post-surgical stuff like that, but I don't feel that draggy sickness that I had before. Which the surgeon described perfectly in saying that I felt like I was run down from the flu all the time. A chronic smoldering infection will do that to you.

Thanks for hanging with me through the bumps in life.
Hugs,
Moe
Click here to learn more What you should know about diverticulitis.