After weeks of research, appointments, prayer, and analysis, Mom finally went through with surgery today. As everyone who knows her knows, she is very reluctant to walk through the doors of a hospital, and after I heard about all the things that happened in the last couple days, I'm surprised she didn't check herself out before the operation this morning.
Apparently, when she was in the pre-op stages, a lot of machines were not working. She got on a scale, and it didn't work. They tried to do an EKG, and that machine didn't work. Even the bathroom lights weren't working this morning -- so they had to give her a flashlight to take in with her! And then even the
flashlight broke! This all would not have bolstered her trust in the medical community, I'm thinking.
As my dad was relaying all this to me today, I said, "Well, I'm glad they made all those marks on her skin yesterday, to show where they're going to make incisions. At least we'll know they just have to follow the arrows today."
"Oh no," Dad answered. "That's another thing that didn't work: all the marks came off last night! So they had to re-do all that this morning."
What were they using yesterday? Crayola washable markers?? My kids could give those doctors a lesson on how to write on skin with permanent markers so it won't come off for days, even weeks.
Anyway, somehow Mom managed to stay -- maybe they had her strapped into a gurney by that point -- and the surgery went forward.
We were very, very relieved to find out that the first surgeon found
no evidence of cancer in the first lymph nodes they took out, so they didn't have to remove any more. (which is good, since Mom was saying 2 days ago that she did NOT want them taking out any more than 3 lymph nodes -- because she thinks she "needs them!" I'm glad she didn't have to wake up mid-surgery to tell them to STOP.)
The 2nd surgeon also brought a good report, saying that everything went as expected, and there were no surprises. We are all soooooo thankful!
Hopefully, she will be going home tomorrow, and her recovery can begin. Both arms will be partially out of commission for awhile, and she has some drains, but we're hoping God will continue the grace He has been pouring out on the whole situation, and her healing will be quick.
So, we praise God today for being merciful to us and to Mom and giving us the best-case scenario here. All in all it's been a very good day. In fact, that hardest part of the day for me ended up being the 5 minutes I spent trying to wrestle my van into a spot in the parking garage.
Tonight at dinner Colsen wanted to pray, and in his usual mixed-up 3-year-old type of prayer, he said, "
Thank you God for celebrating Nonna in the hospital today." At first I wanted to correct him, but then I realized that was actually pretty accurate. Mom's theme through this whole journey has been "count it all joy" -- and today it was easier to do that.
Talk about "crash!"
Honestly, they were behaving fine, I suppose, but due to more middle-of-the-night antics and another early morning, I was getting weary. Preparing the seventy-eleventh cup of juice or snack, and washing each of the dishes was getting old. Not to mention the constant laundry, question-answering, etc… Longing for a break, I was.
(why does everything seem to be broken when Pete is gone??), several way-too-long sweaty bike rides with little ones complaining they’re too tired to ride all the way home, and a very bloody gash on Miles’ finger that soaked through my entire box of band-aids over 2 days and provoked several wrestling matches between him and me as I tried to get him to keep said band-aids ON.
Colsen came running in the other morning to tell me about a nest he found in the tree by our driveway.
The dad kept bringing pieces of straw and string and stuff... I guess they were in the newly-constructing stages of home building.
They certainly did not choose the quietest spot on the block... we'll see if there's a "for sale" sign out in front of the nest soon. In the meantime, we're enjoying them!
In questioning the alleged perpetrator, I asked him how it happened.
Somehow I suspect I'm not getting the full story. 
We had fun celebrating the great daddy in our house today! As I told him again today, I was pretty sure that I would be getting a good husband when I married him, but the fact that he is also a terrific father has been a wonderful bonus. I love watching our kids with him -- always eager to climb on him, play with him, get his attention. He is a very patient man. :)
This book may have been more appreciated by Strider than even by Pete. It's called "Handy Dad" and it has a bunch of projects in it he can do with the kids. For example...
I hope it gets a lot of use!
Pete, Strider and a friend all went on Friday to participate in the Million Meals Mission going on in Charlotte right now. (This is the same organization the Bain's have been working with in Minnesota for years) Over the next few weeks, the local group here is trying to assemble one million meals for people in Haiti. During Strider and Pete's shift, the 100+ volunteers managed to get together 38,000 meals (while wearing hair nets), which was the most done in that amount of time by a group at this mobile station. :)
I was thankful for all their energy and enthusiasm as they led the kids through all the games, songs, and activities.
"You can't ride in my little red wagon"... I'm assuming parents heard this a LOT at home this week. :)
They played a lot of games (capture the flag, elbow tag, cross my ocean, jump the creek, fish in the net, capture the treasure, obstacle courses, relay races...):
(... and did some World Cup cheering. Go Holland!)
Today began our 2nd not-quite-annual Back Yard Explorers Camp! Six teenagers are helping me run it this time... which I love soooo much more than trying to do it on my own. :) Over thirty kids came, so the yard was abuzz. (Should that be hyphenated?)
Looking forward to the rest of the week!
