Results....sort of....

I had my follow up appointment today. It worries me a little bit that, first of all, my original doctor was nowhere to be found, and second, the doctor that I did see didn't know I'd had a full lumpectomy. He thought I only had a needle aspiration. My pathology results were nowhere to be found! When they finally got a hold of my original doctor he just told them that he wanted to see me on Monday instead. They did have the results of this "needle aspiration" which is the outcome of the fluid that was inside the cysts. It was benign, which is fantastic. The doctor did say that the preliminary pathology results, based on the needle aspiration results, are very promising. I guess I'll know more on Monday.

Post-op follow up....coming soon.

So, I have my post-op follow up appointment tomorrow. I'm very anxious to hear the results. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here. The post-op appointment wasn't supposed to be until the 10th day or so and I'm being seen only 6 days after the surgery. My case manager tried to get me an appointment on the 3rd or 4th of August, as that would have been the 9th and 10th day post-op, but I guess my doctor is going on leave. I hope they are still going to give me the full 10 days, at least, to recover. As of right now I still can't go up and down stairs correctly. You know how one usually more or less bounces up and down stairs? Well, I have to "glide" down them. Not only that, but even when I walk I have to be really careful. I still even have pain if I'm just sitting there. The doc gave me Percocet and if I'm on them the pain is maybe at a level 2. Once they wear off the pain is at about a 4 or 5 which isn't THAT bad, but it's still pain and I don't like pain :(

Mainz!!

Random AWESOME pig!!

Love the face, Heather!

Me, Heather and Rick at Mexico Lindos

My first trip in Germany was to Mainz on Monday the 27th. This is the city I usually hung out in while I was living here back in 2001 to 2004. Heather, Rick and I spent a little time shopping before we tried to find a place to eat. I wanted to go to the old Wackernheimer Hof. This restaurant is AMAZING! It probably has the BEST food in Germany. Before I left back in 2004 the owners of the restaurant told me that were closing their current location and moving down the street a bit. Rick found out where they moved to, so we thought we'd have dinner there. Just our luck, they were closed for a few days. We are going to go back there on Friday. Since they were closed we headed back into Mainz and ate at Mexico Lindos. They have some really good Mexican food and their margaritas are delicious. Overall it was a really nice walk down memory lane. I hadn't forgotten how beautiful Germany is, but actually seeing it again took my breath away. Everything is so green and lush and you can really see the history of this country. I am dreading going back to Iraq even though that would mean that all my tests came back positively. Anyways, we took a trip to Heidelberg the next day. I'll blog about that once I can get the pictures from Heather.

My trip to Germany and a little surgery....

I just got out of the hospital here in Germany. I have a bit of free time on my hands so I thought I'd let you all know about my trip and surgery. I left Baghdad on the 22nd of July at about 2100. I flew in a Blackhawk for about 30 minutes to Balad. I told my husband that these experiences of flying in a Blackhawk and C-17 were lost on me since I don't find them to be exciting. Cory would get much more of a thrill than I would. Anyways, I was stuck in Balad for quite a few hours but I did get out at about 0300. I had to fly to Germany in a C-17 and that was probably the most uncomfortable I've been on a plane....EVER!! Since it was a medical flight I was able to get some Phenegan for my motion sickness. There aren't any windows on a C-17 so motion sickness was a given. That one little 25mg pill worked like a charm...it also knocked me out pretty good. I managed to get a little bit of sleep but it was very uncomfortable. The seats are along the sides of the plane and they aren't your typical airplane seats. I didn't have anyone sitting next to me so I was able to put my carry-on on the seat next to me and just face it and lean forward to fall asleep. About halfway through that flight I had to use the lavatory. Someone had to grab my arm and lead me to it because I was "high" on that motion sickness pill. I couldn't walk in a straight line. I wanna say I landed in Ramstein, Germany at about 0800 or so. Talk about a sight for sore eyes! I forgot how GREEN Germany is!! Coming from where everything is brown and sandy and arriving in a place where there are tons of trees that are actually green took my breath away! Once I got off the plane I hopped on a bus for the short trip to Landstuhl. From there it was one appointment after another until about 1700. I was scheduled for surgery the very next day to get my lump removed. After all the appointments my LNO (not quite sure what that acronym stands for but basically he's the guy that I call with any questions and he takes me anywhere I need to go on any of the local posts) took me to Vogelweh so I could spend my $250 civilian clothes voucher. Yes, that's right! I got $250 to spend on clothes!! After that he bought me Taco Bell for dinner and took me back to my barracks room. Actually, it feels more like a hotel room. It's actually bigger than the motel me, Cory and the kids stayed in when we first got to Kansas. I have the room to myself but that can change at any moment. I have my own bathroom, computer complete with internet and webcam, TV with DVD player, microwave and refrigerator. It really is quite nice. I couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight so I sort of stuffed my face with Taco Bell. I had my last bite and drink at about 1930. After talking with my husband I went to bed. I had to be at the hospital at 0615. When I got to the hospital the next morning, everyone who was scheduled for surgery was put into a hospital room to wait. I am so glad they did it that way because I didn't go in for surgery until 1530....9 hours after I first got there! I spent a good chunk of that time sleeping so the time went by quickly. I had a roommate which was fine. The only thing that made it difficult was that she was there with her husband and kids. It really made me realize that I was alone. I cried for a little bit. The doctors and nurses came to get me at about 1500 and I was put under about a half hour later. I awoke what felt like 2 minutes later but was actually about an hour and a half later. My pain level was at about a 5 out of 10 so the nurse gave me some morphine. About 10 minutes later she asked again what my pain level was and it was only a little better so she gave me more morphine. The third time was the charm and that last little bit of morphine took my pain away altogether. Did you know that morphine makes your face itch? I had no idea. When I mentioned that my face felt funny and was itching, the nurse told me that little tidbit. It was weird. A few minutes later the doctor came in to tell what he had found. He found two lumps instead of only one but when he drained the fluid out of them the fluid was consistant with what one would find in your average benign cyst. Since he found two, he sent them in seperately for testing. He said those results should be back in a few days but my last instructions were to call for a post-op follow up appointment in about 10 days. I don't know if I'll get a call with the results but if I don't I'll know everything when I go in for my post-op appointment. I had to stay overnight at the hospital since I was there by myself....yet another realization that my husband couldn't be there. I got released at about 0930 after they saw that I could keep my breakfast down. I couldn't eat much of it because my throat still hurt from the tube they had to put down it during the surgery. It was the same with dinner the night before. I hadn't eaten all day so I was pretty hungry. The dinner they served me I couldn't believe that anyone would call that food. I told the nurse and she agreed with me. She was really nice and went to get some yogurt and graham crackers. Much better! Once I got back to my barracks room I gave Heather a call. Her and Rick met me down in the lobby at about 1130. She brought me some schnitzel and some Bath and Body Works goodies...in my scent!! That was sooooo sweet of her! I hadn't had schnitzel in years but it tasted just like I remembered....delicious!! The visit felt a little awkward but I think Rick was the reason for that. He said something jackass-ish and I replied with something like, "you're still an asshole aren't you?" Heather acually said that he is even more of an asshole. I don't know what his deal was. Anyways, overall it was a good visit. We are going to meet for lunch tomorrow and I'm going to try to put in for a pass so I can get off post. It sounds like I'm going to be here through next weekend and if I am I'm going to try to go on a castle cruise. They had one today but with me having surgery yesterday and being released today I didn't think I'd feel up for it. Plus I don't have a camera so I'm going to try to get a cheap one before the next trip. Well, that about sums up my last few days.

NYC....here we come!!!

So it’s been decided. The whole family will be heading to New York in November instead of just me and Haylie. I found a really nice hotel at an awesome rate but I just couldn’t justify the cost for only one night, so Cory and I talked and we decided to cancel our Jamaica trip and just stay longer in New York. We did talk with Haylie first to see what she thought about it. At first she said she didn’t want her brother to go, but this was when she thought we were only staying there for a day or two. Once she found out that we were staying an entire week she said it was ok. She and I will still have our mother-daughter day on Saturday, the day of the Miley Cyrus concert. We are going to get our hair and nails done and have either brunch or lunch at the American Girl Place. I showed her the website for those dolls and she got really excited. I may even let her get one while we are there as the store itself is at the restaurant. Since we decided to make this a family vacation I have spent all of my spare time planning it! I am having so much fun!! I’ve already secured our tickets to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. They just recently opened up the crown again and when I checked to see how much the tickets were, I saw they were already sold out through the 19^th of October. I bought 4 right then and there.

My friend who lives in New York offered to watch the kids for an entire day and through the night so Cory and I could spend some time alone together since we aren’t taking our honeymoon anymore. I don’t have anything planned for during the day yet but at night we are going to have dinner at Don Shula’s Steak House. After that we will see Wicked on Broadway.

Cory and the kids are heading up to Nebraska again this weekend for his brother’s wedding. They went last weekend for his cousin’s wedding and come to find out he got the days mixed up and ended up missing the wedding entirely. He feels really bad about it. I asked him if he knew for sure that his brother’s wedding was on Sunday and not Saturday instead. He’s actually in this one so he better have the day right. :P

I finally know when I’m going to Germany for my tests. I hated not knowing for sure. I was certain that someone was going to knock on my door in the middle of the night and tell me that we had to leave right then and there. Thankfully that’s not going to happen. I have to be at the TMC on the 22^nd to fly out to Balad and from there I should catch a civilian plane to Germany. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone but hopefully I’ll be heading back here to finish my tour and not being sent back to the states early because the tests came back bad. This is probably the only time I will say that I will be glad to be coming back to Iraq.

I found out some disappointing news the other day. I found out that the Army is no longer having ”station of choice” as an option for re-enlistment. This means that if I re-enlist in April, like I was going to, there’s no telling where I could end up. If this option isn’t back by April I’m waiting to re-enlist. I’m still staying in the full 20 but I’m going to hold out for a bit before re-upping again.

TNG

Three words....Texas...National...Guard. UGH!!!! These people irritate me to no end!! And it's not just me! Everybody I've come across seems to despise them. They are on their way out so they've all got this "I don't give a crap" attitude. The main road that runs in front of most of the CHUs is a rather narrow road. On one side you have a little bit of room before there are some trees (down the entire length of the road) and on the other side you have just enough room for your tire to fit before you'll drive into the canal. When two cars are going opposite directions one either has to pull over to let the other pass, or put the tires on this little slab of ground before the canal and the little bitty space before the trees and slowly pass eachother. The real army, when walking down this road to the gym or the chowhall, will walk down this road actually in the road but when a car is coming we will move as far over as we can so the cars can pass us with ease. The TNG think they are above doing this. They will stay right where they are! I cannot believe how close we have come to smacking some of these people with our side mirrors!! I hope it happens someday! I'd love to see it!! And then we've got the "tubbies." Some of these reservists, mostly males, are so huge that their ACU tops look like they are about to pop open! Then there are those who, in uniform, will wear their pants or PT shorts sagging to their thighs. I don't know if my civilian readers can understand what it's like to see someone wearing their uniform like that. Ok, I think I'm done with that rant now.

85 Days to go!!! (Give or take a couple)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!! Mine was quiet and uneventful….which is perfect! Another week down and about 11 or so more to go. Work has been ok. We’ll have slow days and busy days but there seem to be more slow days than anything else, which is fine by me. The days still pass rather quickly. I should be heading to Germany within the next couple of days. I have to have some tests done at Landstuhl that they couldn’t do here. I don’t know how long I’ll be there but I should be coming back to Iraq when all is said and done. Heather is heading back to Germany. She just finished up her 15 month tour and is awaiting a flight home in Kuwait. With the way the timing looks, we should be able to meet up while I’m in Germany for those tests. We’ve talked for a few years now but have never been able to meet. This should be fun and I’m really looking forward to it! Have a safe trip, Heather!!!

I read the entire Twilight Saga in less than a week. There are 4 books in the saga and they are all fantastic! I couldn’t put them down. All I did on my last day off was read! It was absolutely wonderful!! I can’t wait for the movies. I know in general that movies based off of books are never as good, but I really don’t care. I enjoy seeing what I read and what I pictured in my mind come alive on the big screen. Now that I’m done with the Twilight books, I’m starting up Anna Karenina again. It’s a little more difficult to get into than other books I’ve read, but I’m not giving up.

My sister and her husband recently moved to Sioux City, Iowa. They are doing ok but I know Erin really misses home. She’s a co-manager of Journeys while her husband is a manager at Finish Line, which is why they moved in the first place. Erin wants to strangle the other co-manager and I really don’t blame her. If I were there I’d probably help her. J This guy sounds like a real douche bag. I can’t believe the company has kept him around as long as they have.

Cory and the kids are fine. They are heading up to Nebraska this weekend and next weekend for weddings. This weekend his cousin Cameron is getting married and next weekend his brother Joey is getting married. His brother is graduating from the Border Patrol and the day after he gets married, both he and Erica are moving down to Texas. What a busy weekend for them!! Yet another family event I’m missing. Haylie had a doctor appointment yesterday. The doctor wanted to see if there was any urine that was backing up into her kidneys to cause her frequent UTIs. Of course there wasn’t. The test came back normal. The baby birds the kids were taking care of are no more. The last baby bird didn’t make it L Cory said it was fine the night before but when he woke up it was dead. Haylie is still modeling her clothes for me. Actually, I’m reminding Cory to take pictures of her whenever she wears a new outfit.

My company is starting to finalize our leave dates. It looks like there are going to be 3 blocks of leave; two in November and then one in December. I really wish they would make it one big chunk but I’ll take what I can get. The first leave block covers the concert that Haylie and I are going to in New Jersey, so that’s good. There was a little bit there where I thought I would have to navigate the streets of New York without my tour guide. Since leave is starting the week prior, he’ll be able to show me and Haylie all the sites. I am getting so excited for this trip. I’m going back and forth between asking Cory and Kevin to come with or not. I think it would be something really neat to do as a whole family, but I already told Haylie that it was going to be just me and her and she seemed to really like that idea. Flights to New York are cheap so maybe we all can go for a weekend sometime before we (hopefully) move to Europe.

Chirp Chirp!!

Cory and the kids are taking care of a little baby bird they found outside. It was two birds but one of them died the other day. They got worms to feed it and everything. I hear she chirps all the time. I hope this one hangs around long enough to be set free at some point. Cory says that it's a girl based on the color of her chest and that she's a Robin. So cute!!

Here she is!!

Kitty being curious...as usual.

Sneaky Miley!

She loves to be held and pet.

When there were two.