I wish I could travel back in time...

It would be a hoot to see the kids as babies again.

Or experience the first time we walked into the elementary school knowing it would be our second home for the next 12 years.

Or walking up to Ben on that party boat and asking him to dance.

But weighing on my mind today would be to go back 4 years ago.

Right after the genetic counselor came to speak at her ovarian cancer support group.

I tried then, but she was hesitant.

There were so many other things she wanted to do.

She couldn't make time to get the test done.

Today I took the test. Or at least had the blood draw, it took 30 seconds.

Let's back it up a bit.

Many of you have been wondering where I have been for the last few weeks.

Besides driving the boys to California and working on the yearbook for the elementary school; I have been at doctor appointments.

Sit down and dry up, nothing that serious is going on. I hope not anyway.

The bloating and other symptoms of ovarian cancer were getting to me. I had my regular physical. The doctor knew my mom died from ovarian cancer and sent me for a pelvic ultrasound.

There is NO screening test for ovarian cancer so I knew I would start getting these ultrasounds on a regular basis.

I had my appointment on Wednesday, February 25th. The tech looked and measured, measured and looked. It seemed to me she spent a lot longer on the left ovary than the right and I was convinced she had found something.

At one point I remember saying, "What's that?"
She said, "your uterus."
I said, "I hope there isn't a baby in there, ha ha ha."

You know they can't tell you anything, so I didn't expect any news from this appointment.

Monday morning (March 2nd) I get a call from the doctor. "Your uterus is really big and shaped like Mr. Potato Head," she says. "It is probably just fibroids, but go see a gynecologist and he can advise you further."

My first available appointment is March 16th.

For the next two weeks I googled "Fibroid" and determined my abdominal girth is because I have the world's largest fibroid on record. The largest one so far was 20 pounds, mine has to be at least 25. With every beer and brownie it grows and by the time I have my appointment I am sure I am the proud momma of a 45 pound fibroid. I have also concluded that my butt looks so big because my 45 pound fibroid has pushed my other organs to the rear, literally.

The nurse weighs me in, I refrain from sharing my 45 pound fibroid theory.

I meet the doctor, he does the exam, and concludes I have Adenomyosis. Adenomyosis is a condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus (endometrium) also grows within the muscular walls of the uterus. This is most likely to happen late in your childbearing years and after you've had children. It is different than endometriosis.

My uterus is GINORMOUS, at least 45 pounds (ok, maybe not 45 pounds but that is my story and I am sticking to it.). It is actually quite big, shaped like a gourd and should explain most of the bloating, etc.

So what do you do about it. Hmm, take birth control pills that will probably not do anything (doctor's exact words) OR do nothing OR have a hysterectomy.

Well let's explore the hysterectomy option. I am not near menopause, would need some type of estrogen replacement, heard that maybe you can get cancer from that. Could I get a tummy tuck with that?

Let's explore not having hysterectomy. Really tired of feeling like this, could end up with ovarian cancer anyway like my mom.

I have no idea what do to. I mention to the doctor my fear of ovarian cancer and if I knew Mom's was hereditary this whole decision would be a no-brainer.

The next thing I know I am on the phone making an appointment with a genetic counselor. And not just any genetic counselor, the same one I met with my mom 4 years ago.

Remember 4 years ago when she was too busy or didn't have time to get that blood drawn? If I could go back in time, I would have dragged her there or dragged the lab tech to her.

They could have gotten me in last week, but I drove the kids to California, so this morning at 8:30 I met with him.

He looked at my family history. Here is a brief look; mom had 3 sisters, one with uterine (?) cancer, one with bladder cancer, one without cancer. Her mom had three sisters, one with early onset breast cancer, another with breast cancer and one with kidney or bladder cancer.

To me it looks pretty frightening. There is a lot of cancer going around and I want to know how much I should be worrying.

He agreed that the best person to test would have been mom. If she had it we would know it was hereditary. If I am tested and do not have it, it could still be hereditary but I may not have the gene, but my sister could. Or my cousin or my aunt.

So I am going to be a little mad at my mom for not taking the 30 seconds to get the blood draw. I haven't been mad at her for a long time and I think it was selfish of her not to do this test so we could know what else she passed on, besides her love of volunteering and lack of cooking skills.

In the end, after the hour long counseling portion of the appointment, I decided to get the blood draw. If the insurance approves the testing our portion will still be significant but I feel like I have to know, one way or another.

I should know by Friday if the insurance will cover the test. If they do, I could know results within two weeks.

If it is positive, like I said, no-brainer hysterectomy. If is it negative, bigger decision. Friends and family who have had one say, no big deal do it. Those who haven't say, try to stick it out until menopause.

The cure for andenomyosis is a hysterectomy or menopause.

So, that is the long story of where I have been, and I guess of where I am going.

Yes, I will keep everyone posted. And yes, I know you are concerned about the outcome of the test.

But what I want to know is...

how much do you think my uterus weighs?

I just want comments with guesses and then if I decide to get the hysterectomy maybe I can get the doctor to weigh it for me and have a winner posted on the blog. Hmm, what would be a good prize for that?

You really have to have a sense of humor about these things.

Here is another tidbit of info, when the doctor did the exam he actually said, "Wow, that is a big uterus." He is a professional and he thinks it is big too. Apparently the uterus should end around the pelvic bone, mine goes to almost the belly button.

Have fun guessing the size. And no, I will not be posting pictures of my abdominal girth.

Excuse me, Are you related to Matthew McConaughey?

Dear Sir,

Let me first apologize. You can not believe how embarrassed I am that you caught me staring at you...repeatedly.

I am very sorry, I could not tear my eyes away and focus on anything else, like say, umm, perhaps..... Hayden's swim lesson.

When you came in I had to look twice, and then a third time, and then again.

I was just in shock, seriously how old are you?

Much of the time I was staring, I was trying to figure out your age.

I didn't think you were a prematurely gray haired 50 year old.

I figure you have been a member of AARP since the first George Bush was President.

Retired for at least 10 years.

You are older than my father.

And Sir, can I just say....

Your body is smokin' hot.

Ok, I know, it is so wrong, you are probably 70 years old. But I have NEVER seen muscles like that in my entire life...except on one man..

Matthew McConaughey

Or as I like to call him

Matthew McCon-a-hey-hey

And then I figured it out...

... You must be Matthew's grandfather or his father's much older brother.

There is no way those muscles are not related.

Again, I apologize for staring. I realize you and your muscles would like some privacy.

And next time, when I remember to bring my camera, please ignore the flash, I am just taking pictures of my son in swim lessons. I would never take pictures of you to post here on my blog.... No, that would just be wrong.

See you Thursday morning and give my love to Matthew.

Sincerely,

The drooling, open mouthed, crazy, staring lady on the bench at the pool

MIA

Sometimes I try to do too much.

Or maybe I just wait until the last minute to get things done.

Either way, I haven't had time to blog lately.

To see what Hayden has been up to, check out Hillary's blog.

After 5 years in Cub Scouts, Carter crossed over to Boy Scouts. The boys walk across a bridge and are greeted by the Boy Scouts from their new pack. The ceremony was held during the Blue and Gold dinner. We are very proud of his commitment and dedication. He hopes to earn Eagle Scout someday.





Hayden, the four year old, has developed the mouth of a smart alec teenager. After I was gone working on the yearbook yesterday afternoon, I walked into the family room, he turns and looks at me and says, "Well, look who decided to join us."

Griffin's 2nd grade class (all 3 classes) performed a musical, 12 songs from around the world. One of the songs was Guantanamera, never heard of it? How about One Ton Tomato? One Ton Tomato is the parody of Guantanamera. The kids did a great job singing in many different languages.



I did have time to do the Incline again with my friend Chandra. It was her first time and she did great. I hope to get up there again soon.




Ben is done with refereeing basketball for the season and it is nice to have him around more.

We are still planning our driving trip to Southern California for spring break and we may have picked up a passenger or two. My dad and his cat may join us. The cat would be a one way trip only. What could be more fun for the 17 hour drive than adding a 66 year old grandpa with a hearing aide and a cat who hates being in the car.... Just kidding, I am sure having Grandpa along will be a huge help. He can drive and help entertain the boys.

I have a backlog of work to do also. Real work. The work I get paid to do. I have a (very) part time gig doing marketing work for a local restaurant group.

And so that is what we have been doing, or should be doing. Hopefully I can find more time for the blog between the paying and volunteer work. Thanks for understanding my lack of time management skills.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Elvis and the Sock Hop

Much to Priscilla's dismay, Elvis never had a problem picking up the ladies.


Hayden (Elvis) and the twins




Hayden and Anna



Sock Hop

"Have a nice walk"

That is what my husband said before I left with Hillary.

We wouldn't exactly call it a walk, more like a hike, a really, really hard hike.

The Manitou Incline is a legendary workout. Yes, it is only about a mile long but in the mile you climb 2100 feet in elevation.

Hillary and I at the start. See that break in the trees, you think that is the end? No, it is the false summit, it goes up further, that was a shocker.

How sad that I have lived in Colorado for almost 30 years and had never hiked the Incline.

Since I am an inquisitive girl, I had to find out the history of this incline. I found some great websites loaded with information.

Completed in 1907 the Manitou Incline was a 1 mile cable tram built to support the construction of a hydroelectric plant and it's waterline. After performing this service the railway was then purchased by Dr. Brumbach and turned into a tourist attraction. The incline boasted a 16 minute ride to "scenic splendors", 10 miles of hiking trails in Mount Manitou Park, and claimed to be the "longest and highest incline on the globe."






Spencer Penrose bought the incline in 1923 and made it part of his tourist attraction empire, which is now owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Co. During this time the cars were upgraded to allow for a retractable roof and more safety. The summit station was again rebuilt in 1958 and lasted until it was dismantled upon closure of the incline.



The Manitou Incline became a prominant feature above Manitou Springs. It was a popular tourist attraction and remained busy for many years. However it was plagued with rockslides that made the maintenance costs very high.




1969 Summit Photo and the final version of car used on the incline.


The Incline tourist attraction closed in early 1990 and has become a very popular place for local hikers. And now we know why.

Hillary


Me and Hillary


More to go


Hillary looking down



I found myself counting the railroad ties, "I'll take a break at 40." Or "If I can just take 20 more, I can sit and rest." Rumor has it there are about 3000 railroad ties. I counted to 40 several times. During the steepest parts, I counted to 5.

Looking up


Looking down


Hillary gets to the summit


We ROCK!


And you can either hike back down (umm, no thanks) or take the 4 mile stretch of Barr Trail back to the parking lot.

Next Saturday we are going to take this "nice walk" again. Want to join us?