Courtney update and new Maggie photos

Here's a quick update on my health (because I'm sick of blogging about myself):
I'm home from the hospital after 9 days. I'm easily fatigued, slightly uncomfortable sometimes, and in pain sometimes, but so glad to be home. I have a follow-up appointment next Thurs. and expect to be in a bikini within the month. Well...maybe not that last part.

Grandma Mathis and Carol (Grant's mom) are staying about an extra week to help me recover and mostly care for Maggie. As my mom said, we're nominating them for sainthood.

And now...the promised photos of Maggie! Here she is with Grandmama, being snuggly.
Here she is just being cute. She now knows how to pull out the kitchen chairs in order to climb up them and onto the table.
Here we are at Pancake Pantry the day after I was discharged from the hospital. I think everyone looks cute but I think I look a little weird.
Here is Maggie at gymnastics. Grandma and Grandmama took her twice and I went the last time but just sat and watched. Grandma taught her to put her arms up and say "ta-da!" after her "dismount".


I'll leave you with a few funny Maggie stories. Carol brought Maggie a little toy that is an elephant that blows butterflies out of his trunk. There are nets with it that kids are supposed to use to catch the butterflies. Edison and Emme Dupree came over and were playing with it with Maggie, but rather than try to play the game, Maggie just ran around them in circles, giggling and saying, "It's so much fun! It's so much fun!"

Also, Erin and Jim brought over a spare chair they had that we'll use in Maggie's room and once it was set in place she climbed on it, plopped down and said, "It's so comfy!" She is really talking like crazy (how many times have I written that?!).


Sometimes when Grant and I are trying to get each other's attention without shouting we whistle a little whistle that sounds like two notes, one high and then one low. Now Maggie tries to imitate us and when we whistle she "whistles" back but it sounds more like this "Fee-foe" (the "fee" is high and the "foe" is low). It's pretty cute.

All right, thanks for reading all of my ramblings!

I am STILL at the darn hospital

As you read from the title, I'm still here! I've had a few minor setbacks but things are looking up. The day that they put me on "Liquids", rather than "Clear Liquids" I ate about 1 cup of creamy soup and a little jello and was really uncomfortable all night long. I barely slept because my stomach hurt so badly. I told my dr the next day and he said, "Okay, we're pulling you back to sips of clear liquid (a demotion even from clear liquids)." He also said that there's one more little setback which I won't get into here b/c I'm not sure how much you want to know! He said I could be here one more day or 2 more weeks, at which point I started crying because I'm SOOOOO ready to go home and am missing Maggie and Grant so badly. That was yesterday and today I've been on Clear Liquids again and have been walking tons, trying to get my digestive system to wake up! Things are improving and so I hope tomorrow morning he'll be able to give me a better idea of when I can expect to go home.

So to recount: since Tuesday, July 17 at 3:30pm all I've had to eat is jello, chicken broth, juice, ice chips and one delicious cup of creamy soup. I've lost several pounds and am really looking forward to milkshakes and my number one craving since I've been here: PANCAKES! (Did I mention this already? I'm seriously hungry now.)

I was thinking, in case you're wondering what the spleen does, or the pancreas, or what information is available online about my solid pseudopapillary tumor, here are some links!

Here are a few photos of my recent trip to New Orleans with my mom to visit my sister Lindsay and her husband Jim (and their daughter/dog, Yippie). Here we are eating Cajun food and the BEST cornbread I have ever eaten.

Here we are outside of La Madeleine, a yummy French restaurant we like. We basically ate our way through New Orleans.

Here is my loony sister, Lindsay, with Jim. She's a good self-photographer, huh? :)

Update on my health

Just wanted to let you know the latest news on my health. I was told yesterday that although I'm recovering very well and speedily, they still expect me to stay until Monday or Tuesday. I'm really rooting for Monday. I've been walking around a lot more and I know that will help. As of today I'm allowed to eat clear liquids which means that for brunch I had chicken broth, grape juice, lemon jello, and a lemon ice dessert. They also brought coffee, which I was excited about, but I couldn't have cream, so what's the point? Does anyone else think that coffee, grape juice and lemon jello are not so much clear liquids?

Anyway, otherwise I'm just recovering more and feeling better every day. I've read about five books and am really enjoying my reading vacation (well...enjoying the reading part and not much else)!

Have you seen my spleen lately?

Well, it's official...I no longer have a spleen OR a tumor (and about a third of my pancreas is gone, too). Apparently the tumor was about the size of a golf ball, which is bigger than I expected. I wanted to see it but it was already sent to be biopsied. I know that's gross and, honestly, out of character for me, but it's not every day you can see something that was growing inside of you.

Anyway, the surgery went well, apparently I didn't bleed much and it took about 2 hours instead of the scheduled 3.5 hours. I got some good drugs and don't remember anything past being wheeled into the OR. Also, I got my first epidural! He said that they recommend it for abdominal surgeries b/c they can be especially painful with all that muscle. I wasn't sure about having it since I skipped it for my own labors, but in the end I decided to go for it. It's still in and will probably remain until I get ready to leave. It's a very weird sensation to have absolutely no feeling in my leg. It kind of feels like it's fallen asleep. I'm not too crazy about it. But it does keep my pain to a minimum. My pain is pretty manageable right now although yesterday was sort-of a worst-nightmare scenario. Upon waking up from surgery in the recovery room my voice was totally gone, I couldn't move any part of my body, and I was in excruciating pain. The staff was working on another patient and didn't notice I had awakened, so there I was, in the worst pain of my life, rasping, "Uhhhhh", trying to get someone to notice me. It felt like an hour but was probably only 5 or 10 minutes. Other than that, though, I've felt pretty good.

The nurses are telling me my recovery is going well and they expect me to stay the minimum (maybe 3 days). Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

As for the house...we are mostly moved in but it's still a little crazy. Thankfully Grant's sweet grandma and sweet mother are helping so much and have even volunteered to clean the old apartment. They're pretty much saints :) This is all on top of watching Maggie while I'm in the hospital. They're going to need a vacation from their vacation!

I'll post another update soon and hopefully I'll be out of here quickly!

I'll post some Maggie photos and stories soon, I promise!