Emma's Birthday

My baby girl Emma turned two today. What a day. She spent half of the day in her "dancing dress" twirling and spinning to Brandenburg Concertos 2,4 and 6 in the living room. (didn't get a picture) She wanted hot dogs or macaroni and cheese for lunch, but we settled on chicken nuggets. She was patient, though, waiting for her cousins to come before she could open her presents. What a girl! What a day!

The Prognosis

We're all pretty tired here in the Lester household. But we're happy and extremely grateful for such great friend, neighbors, and family who have taken such good care of us as Nate recovers much more slowly than he would like to. (Although it's right on track with what the Dr. said!)
So, we have the pathology report. (Confession: it came last week, but I just haven't got around to the blog thing here) The report indicated that Nate has a rare intestinal disorder known as primary pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis. Translation: pockets of gas in the mucosa or intestinal walls. This appears identical to cancer when it begins to ulcerate, so it is clear why the Dr. felt an urgency to remedy the situation. There are complications that can occur with this disorder, and the suggested remedy is to do just as they did with Nate and remove the offending section. It will not recurr, and after recovery, Nate will be as good as new. We're happy! No Cancer! YEAH!!!!!

Recovery

Thank You! The collective prayers and faith of so many family and friends has buoyed us. We have been strengthened and we have seen miracles as Nate has undergone this ordeal. I remain grateful and humbled at the outpouring of love and support.
Surgery went very well. There were no complications, and the surgeon removed about a 10"section of the colon at the splenic flexure. We are still waiting for pathology reports, but are confident that things will turn out well. Nate is (of course) in pain and annoyed at the NG tube and the catheter (who wouldn't be?). The focus now is to manage the pain and get him moving as quickly as possible. If you know Nate well, you know that all he needs to hear is how high to jump and he will jump higher. His desire to be well, combined with his determination, competitive spirit, and faith will help him heal quickly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Tender Mercies

I had every intention of posting on the blog tonight. I was going to write about our exciting, busy lives, being a soccer mom/coach, and a flag football dad/coach, and making fresh salsa from the tomatoes and peppers that we have grown in our garden. You know, the idyllic country life that we love. But tonight warrants a shout of thanksgiving and a prayer for help.

Nate, having a family history of intestinal polyps, and having a sister-in-law with her stomach removed this summer, and an aunt who recently discovered more of the same, felt impressed to have a colonoscopy done. To me, it was a wellness issue, way to be preventative! Nate's not a big "go to the doctor" kind of person, so I was happy that he was taking charge of his health. Friday, the procedure seemed to take a little longer than I expected, but I still felt no concern. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked when the surgeon came in and told us that he had a cluster of "ugly" polyps that were too attached to the mucosal lining to be able to cut them out without risking perforation of the colon. He suggested that Nate have surgery to remove that portion of his colon pretty soon. 8-10 inches.
"How soon, Doc?"
"How about you come back on Sunday and we will prepare you for surgery Monday?"
UM, excuse me while I cry for a minute.
"You'll be in the hospital for 5 to 7 days, and then there will be a two to three week recovery period after that."
The last couple of days have been a blur of quick decisions and generous gestures from family, friends and neighbors. The support has been amazing. From prayer, meals, child care, and helping us keep Nate's practice running, the love is overwhelming, touching, and incredible to me.
We went to sacrament meeting this morning with Craig and Chris, and left a little early so that we could be at the hospital by the appointed time. Although we felt a little anxious about the unknown, we felt that we had made the right decision to continue with the procedure in our little town with the surgeon here.
The first procedure they did was a scan to make sure that there was no cancer spread to other parts of the body. Because of the advanced stage of the polyps, the doctor is pretty sure that we will find cancerous cells in the biopsies he took from the polyps in the colon. His hope was that it has not spread. When he came back with the news that everything looked clear, we felt incredibly relieved. (although we did discover he has a very large kidney stone that will have to be taken care of after this ordeal: that explains the back pain)
This will not be fun for Nate, who has had next to no solid food to eat since Thursday, when he preped for the initial procedure. Right now he is at the hospital being "cleansed" again. That is difficult. Surgery is tomorrow afternoon. We would appreciate your prayers.
About the tender mercies.
"If you would have waited until next year to have a colonoscopy, we would have been discussing how to live out your last days."
Nate felt impressed to have this procedure done.
It will save his life.
I will live mine in gratitude.
I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Seattle

Awhile back, Adrienne (Darren's wife:sister-in-law) invited me to go with her to Seattle. They had lived there for a couple of years, and she still has some good friends there. So, we made arrangements, and the two of us took off for a girls weekend. It was SOOO FUN! Her friend, Shalene, was a perfect hostess, and she showed us around the area. The weather was absolutely perfect! We went to the Puget Sound, got manicures and pedicures, spent some time shopping in the city, at Pike's Place, and, of course, Target. I LOVE Seattle! The water, the mountains, the trees. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I wished that I lived closer so that I could've taken home a $5.00 boquet of flowers!

LOVED THEM

Seattle, What's with the Pigs?

Mt. Rainier: Next time (yes, we are going back) we're going to do some hiking here.

We had a wonderful time, even though I had to leave Amelia, who had thrown up the night before I left, and, as Nate found out when he took her to the Dr. on Friday, had strep. Then Emma got the runs, and the boys had soccer games in the middle of it all. And, since I wasn't here to tell him not to, Nate thought he would see if he could move our bed (It's huge). Well, he couldn't, and he threw his hip out of place, and he's still not quite right yet. Since the girls were sick, Kathy, our neighbor and friend, took the boys to church on Sunday. They told her that "Our mom is never going to Seattle again."

Well, everyone survived, and perhaps the sweetest part of being gone is coming home because when I got home there was a cake made just for me with the message "Welcome Home, MOM" and a heart and a flower.

(picture coming soon)

And then, the next morning, Clay said"I have something for you." He went downstairs, retrieved his bell, and sang me a song that he had made up for me. It went something like this,"I really missed you mom, I'm so glad that you're home, I really missed you mom, We're so happy to have you back" All to the ringing of the bell. It was soo sweet.

And Sam, in his grown up way, gave me a hug and told me how happy he was to have me home, and then proceeded to tell me about the very exciting football game they had watched, giving me a precise play by play:)

The first thing that Amelia noticed that morning were my painted fingernails. She said, "You have color on your fingers? It's pretty." She was just tickled about it. So, that day we painted her little toes and fingers, and then painted Emma's toes too. It was fun..Amelia sat there so grown up like, and so thrilled to have "color on her fingers" too.

Maybe next time I'll take the family!

Big Sister

Amy & Kristie

1976

Happy Birthday Sis!

Labor Day

We stayed around town this Labor Day Weekend. We had a good deal of fun about it too.

On Saturday, Nate woke up with a bee in his bonnet, and went looking for a trampoline. Well, he found one and four hours later we had it put together, but not before we went to the annual fish catch. Kids gather around this huge pool that they stock with fish, and then they get in and try to catch the fish with bags or their bare hands.

Clay got in and chased the largest fish around the pool. Kids were leaving left and right with fish they had caught, or a "helper" had caught for them. But Clay was still chasing this fish around. Imagine our surprise when he stooped down in the water and came up with a HUGE fish in his arms.

The delight on his face was priceless. What he was wearing was worth a thousand laughs, too.

Sam got to go with the next group of kids. He was a trooper, and even had one in his hands a couple of times. The first one just got away. The second one, well, it "slipped" out into the arms of another child.(see photo: Sam's the one with the baseball cap.) He was a great sport, though, and enjoyed the chase. He came out soaking wet.

On Monday we threw out 824 (give or take a few) toothbrushes at the local parade. That's always fun. And then the Rodeo. Happy Labor Day!