Last weekend was the BP-MS150.  Day 1 was cancelled as previously reported.  We spent Saturday waiting around for instructions and then carting a team to Schulenburg where they were staying.  After that, Jack and I took a side trip to Waelder to see M&S’s new place out in the middle of nowhere!  lol  Sorry, M… it really is!

Day 2 was interesting, fun, stressful and everything you can imagine!  If you’re reading this and you rode in that ride, I’m going to say the same thing I said inside the van to other cyclists… We try REALLY hard not to hit you guys, but some of you are just nuts and make it really difficult!  I mean, riding on the wrong side of the yellow line?  C’mon people!!  Anyway, I didn’t hit anyone, and I only got yelled at by one cyclist and one DPS officer!  A good day!  lol  The coolest part of the day was after the last rest stop.  At that point, if they’ve made it that far, they’re making it to the finish.  Well we picked up one very emotional lady who was devastated when her bike had a catastrophic failure.  She’d worked so hard, and this was her first 150.  Well Jack and I broke all the rules and a couple of barricades and got her to the finish line where she was able to walk her broken bike across the finish line!  THAT was a very cool feeling!

The Monday after the MS150 was Cyclists in Suits day.  A lobbying day at the Texas Capitol for bike safety laws.  We visited the House and Senate chambers, then went off to visit our lawmakers.  I had appointments scheduled with both our Senator and our Representative.  Our Senator didn’t bother to show up that day.  I still have issues with that, and the fact that he didn’t show up for the vote on the bike legislation, but that’s another issue for another day.  Our Representative however… his office was awesome, and he even came off the House floor to meet us and hear what we had to say.  I was TOTALLY impressed with him!

We came back home, and I was in super solder mode to get a bulk custom order done by Friday for an event.  In the midst of that we had the Rest Stop captain training for the DFW Sam’s Club MS150, which is this next weekend!  It’s already here believe it or not!!

Jack and I both had doctor appointments this week.  He’s lost about 60 pounds as a result of his surgery, which is fantastic!!  I’m so proud of him!  He rode in the Muenster Metric Century bike ride this weekend.  He did the 65k route, which is about 40 miles.  And he’s been riding to work everyday when the weather or wind isn’t nasty.  He’s my studmuffin cyclist! :o)

Friday we had a bit of a scare.  I was letting the dogs out when Angel stumbled, fell and then had a seizure.  We took her to the veterinarian, who did bloodwork and reported that she has autoimmune hemoglobin anemia.  Basically her body is attacking her red blood cells.  We’re starting her on some steroids this week, which will compromise her immune system, which means no more dog park for her.  I’m going to call the vet and see if it’s ok to still take Spaz, or do we have to worry that he’ll bring something home.  He’d be devastated if he couldn’t go to the park anymore!

So it’s been pretty eventful around here.  We’re getting ready for the Sam’s Club MS150 this weekend… Jack is a HAM operator in a SAG van again… I’m helping with rest stops on Day 1, and captaining a rest stop on Day 2 (If you want to come help… I need the help!  Sunday from 8am until around 2:30 pm… you get a shirt, and I’m really desperate!!).  I’ve got to do some charms for that, and we have the last committee meeting this week.  Plus I’ve got a couple of events that I’m working on, so it’s going to be a busy, busy week!!

I’ll post some photos soon!

~Heather

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The surgery went well.  The doc was pleased.  As pleased as he can be… he’s a man of few words and even fewer emotional demonstrations.  The COMPLETE AND TOTAL opposite of Jack plastic surgeon!  But again, I digress.

We got there around 5:15 AM, surgery was supposed to happen at 7:15 AM, however said doc was “late as usual” (nurse’s words, not mine!), we wondered if he forgot to change his clock! lol  Finally went into surgery around 7:45 AM.

Around 10:30 I finally asked the desk clerk for an update, and after a few terse words (which involved me not checking in with her, to which I replied, “I’m sorry, YOU weren’t HERE at 5:00 this morning for me to check in with!”), the doc came out, said everything went well, he’d be in recovery soon, and have a nice day (minus the have a nice day part!)

Jack was in a regular room around 11:30, then down to radiology for a gastro x-ray to make sure his pouch pooched like it was supposed to.  Jack was surprisingly mobile!  Even when they brought him back into the room, he got up off the gurney (slowly of course!), and walked to the bed.  Then for the trip to radiology he got up, walked to the wheelchair, etc. etc.  Doc’s orders, he has to walk as much as possible.  We made three trips down the hall tonight before he went to bed, and we’ll be making more, and longer trips tomorrow (so prepare yourself, Jack!!).

I came home around 10:45 PM, for some sleep and to let the dogs have some normalcy, although they immediately started hunting for Jack.  Sorry guys!  I’ll go back in the morning, and he’ll be released at some point, probably before lunchtime.

I left for a few hours in the middle of the afternoon for my own doctor’s appointment across town.  But I’ll blog about that later…. maybe tomorrow… over at the Build-A-Family blog.

So for now…. hello bed!
~Heather

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I went with Jack to his doctor’s appointments this past week. He’s scheduled to go back next week for the bone scan and a white blood cell scan.  These will help to show if the infection is bone or tissue.  Once we know that, we will have a better idea of what the treatment will be. So yet again, we’re waiting… for tests, for doctors, for prognosis. And of course with the holidays, I’m sure the waiting won’t be short!  lol That part I do remember!

Jack and I were talking the other day about spending the holidays in the hospital two years ago.  My mom and dad brought us Thanksgiving dinner at the rehab hospital (a friend brought us leftovers just so it would be authentic! lol), and then we were lucky enough that Jack was discharged a couple of days before Christmas. I remember putting up the Christmas tree in Jack’s hospital room, wondering if that really was where we’d spend Christmas. I am so thankful for the doctors and nurses who took care of Jack during that time.  There were times that I felt so lost among the medical terminology, the treatment options and the pressure of it all, but every single person was so kind, patient and understanding. I’ll never forget them.

Ok, so sorry about that little trip down memory lane…. we’ve been doing that a lot around here!

Gotta run… been baking cookies like crazy today, something about the holidays brings out the baker in me! :o)
~Heather

P.S. Awesome news… I’ve lost over 15lbs in the past month!! Yesterday I had to go buy a size smaller pants!!  I’m so, so, so thrilled!! I’ll post later about all of that though!

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Well at least that’s what I’m told! So I’m celebrating my first milestone, my first small victory. Yes, it’s small… pretty small actually… but gosh darnit, I did it! I went ten full minutes on the elliptical machine without stopping once!

Ok, stop laughing now. Seriously, I couldn’t do even five minutes without having to stop. Partially because I was so out of breath, but mainly because my legs were turning to jello! If you’ve never done an elliptical machine, YOU do it for five minutes and tell me how YOU feel! lol Treadmills, bicycles, NOTHING compares to the elliptical!

So anyway, the timer stops when I stop, so I’ve been doing a total of ten minutes this whole time, it just had a lot of stops and starts during that ten minutes. :o)

Well, no more! Today I put on my workout clothes, stuck in my Justin Timberlake CD, got up on that monster machine and I pumped my heart out for ten solid minutes without stopping one time! Yes, ten full minutes of my own FutureSex/LoveSounds (ok, so it sounded a lot more like huffing and puffing than love sounds!).

I’m celebrating the first step in my journey! Today – ten minutes on the elliptical. Tomorrow – Victoria’s Secret baby! Ok, maybe not that drastic, but I’m gonna do it people, I really am!

:o)
~Heather

P.S. My first major goal… lose 50 lbs by the end of August. That’s about six months away. A little less than 2 pounds a week. I can do it! I CAN do it! I CAN DO IT!!! (cue the “Rocky” music!)

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