Impeccable Timing :/

Life is funny. It seems that every time something super amazing comes our way we get hit by a reality check. Unfortunately for me, that reality check came in the form of a Thyroid Cancer diagnosis. Back in February during a routine yearly physical my doctor felt a lump or nodule on my thyroid. This was not surprising because that same doctor had found it back in 2011 and after a sonogram then I was told "your fine, everything looks fine". Well I hadn't had a sonogram on it since 2011 so we decided to schedule one to check in on it. After the results from the sonogram came in, as well as routine physical blood work, I was referred to an Endocrinologist. The nodule had grown slightly but more concerningly my blood work showed I had antibodies against my Thyroid. On March 26 at my first endocrinologist appointment I was told I have the autoimmune disease, Hashimotos. It is a super common disease where for whatever reason your body starts attacking the thyroid and will continue to do so until the thyroid ceases to function at all. My thyroid function is normal, for now, but whether it would be in a few weeks, months, or years my thyroid would stop working and I would need to be put on hormone replacement drug for the rest of my life. Not devastating news especially since I feel fine.  Because the nodule is a lump of some sort I was told to get a biopsy done just to cover all the bases and then I was sent on my way. Fortunately I was able to get scheduled for the Biopsy that following Monday, March 31. I don't know how many of you have every had a biopsy, let alone one to your throat, but man it is super nerve wracking.  You lay on a table where one man is doing a sonogram of your throat while a second man jabs you in the throat with a needle while following it on the sonogram to make sure he gets the right thing. geez. Anywho, the whole process took maybe 5 minutes if not less. The thing I like is they test the tissue sample right away and actually give you the results right then!

knock knock knock
Dr.:" I'm sorry it is indeed a Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma"
Me: "Well Shit"

That is pretty much how that played out.

So apparently I have Thyroid Cancer, of course this news would come less than 24 hours after signing our papers to sell and buy a new house.
I had to wait 2 days before I was able to go and see my endocrinologist again to find out what exactly is the next course of action. I'm not going to lie, I didn't really eat and or sleep for those 2 days. My mind was racing ALL the time.  Wednesday April 2 came and I finally had a ton of my questions answered.
Yes I have Thyroid Cancer and I will have to have my Thyroid removed. We will not know what stage it is in until they remove it. The stage will determine if any other treatment will be necessary. I will most likely have to receive at least 1 radio iodine treatment post surgery(radiation). I will have to be on a hormone replacement for the rest of my life.
Next step is go for my surgical consult at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on April 29th. There I will hopefully set a date for surgery and find out more details about the actual procedure (whether they have to take out surrounding tissues and lymph nodes ect.) as well as have many questions hopefully answered about radiation and the limitations included with that treatment. After the surgical consult I will have a special pre op sonogram for Lymph Node Mapping of my throat (this will be on May5th, the day we close on our new house HA).
It is a lot to take in but we are hopeful that it has not spread and that I will recover in a quick fashion. I will post more when I know more :) but for now we have to focus on packing up and moving. Go big or go home right?

Good Bye Leesburg...

BIG NEWS The Christensen Clan will be leaving Leesburg! We have been talking about putting our townhouse on the market for quite some time now and the deciding factor for selling now rather than wait one more year was, our neighbor got a motorcycle. No joke, he turns that thing on every morning at 6am and lets it just idle for 30-40 minutes. It is super effective at waking up my children. And on weekends, well he doesn't get it started in the morning, he conveniently waits until the exact moment Jordan falls asleep for her afternoon nap to take his kids on individual motorcycle rides around the neighborhood, all 4 of them, grrrrrr.  Anyway... we spoke to our realtor about possibly listing our TH, he said if we could have it ready for photos in 5 days then his photographer would be available then. So we scrambled to de clutter and straighten the best we could. Pictures were taken on a Thursday and BOOM our TH was listed at 2am Friday morning.  No joke 12 hours later we had a showing scheduled for Friday night and woke up to a full price offer on Saturday! Unbelievable. we did not accept the offer until later that weekend only because I think we were in shock at how fast everything was happening. We officially close on the TH May 1st.

It just so happens that a few weeks prior to listing our TH we saw a beautiful 3000 sqft single family home in Purcellville,  on .3 acre, with a garage that would fit Peter's Truck(harder to find than you think). Did I mention it has a wrap around porch! so cute! Long Story short we made an offer and stood our ground when they countered and we got it for what we wanted! Once again Unbelievable. Things are moving crazy fast and we close on our new House May 5th.  We are super excited and can't wait for this new journey for our family to begin :)

Good Bye Leesburg... Hello Purcellville.

Dropping the Ball

Holy Cow it has been 2 years since writing anything on this blog! It is safe to say I have officially dropped the ball on this one :) Leyah is now almost 5 and doing amazing in Preschool. I get to register her for Kindergarten next week, KINDERGARTEN. Unbelievable. She swims and plays soccer. Something a little special this soccer season is, I'm her Coach, haha, we shall see how that ends up. Jordan is now a little over 2 and doing amazing. Heart wise she is good to go. We are on a  once a year cardiology schedule which is pretty much the best you can do. She is still struggling with her milk protein allergy but we have all adjusted to making sure meals are dairy free. She is registered to start pre school next year, eeek. My baby, tear. Jordan is super smart too. She amazes Peter and I everyday with something she has picked up somewhere. As for Peter and I we are hanging in there. Peter is a machine when it comes to work, he travels a lot still but he enjoys it. He is in a flag football league for the second year in a row, woo hoo Go Team "Suns out, Guns Out" Hahaha Alrighty that was a SUPER quick little update about the fam, stay posted for more in depth posts.

unseasonably warm!

This weatehr is CRAZY! haha almost as crazy as the way I just spelled "weather". Anyway, Peter has been breaking down our deck and by doing so all of our summer time toys can now be seen from our living room windows. Leyah has been wanting to do the water table for awhile now and with these 70-80 degree days it was perfect. We don't have pictures of it but Jordan splashed her little piggies a few times as well :)

happy little lady

With this nice weather we have also been able to go to the park almost everyday and have picnics all the time. We found out last weekend that Shorty Jordy LOVES the swings woohoo!

Love her !

keeping busy

Being a stay at home mom is tough. I love it, don't get me wrong, but if you have never done it well you just don't know. I do my best to try and keep Leyah entertained yet educate her as well. I wish I was disciplined enough to have a circle time and lesson plans for her but that just doesn't happen. I have been taking her to the library lately where we pick out books on a certain subject and then try and focus on doing stuff that week with that subject, it's been pretty fun. For our bird week we made bird feeders and hung them all around the neighborhood, the best part was checking them everyday haha

finished product

one happy little girl

We had a water and science day which was pretty cool. Thanks to pinterest Leyah was entertained for an HOUR by dropping colored vinegar onto a pan of baking soda, I played too it was quite cool

Here comes Peter Cotton tail

sorry this is so late. Our easter was a ton of fun. The weekend before we kicked off festivities by going to the Ida Lee egg hunt. Leyah had a BLAST and we got to see the Easter bunny, Leyah had wanted to bring him a salad but we compromised with bringing him a carrot instead :)

Poor bunny carried that carrot for HOURS hahaha

egg hunts with Braden are the best

Leyah found a "special" egg and won a small prize

I completely forgot to take pictures of the girls getting their baskets on Easter morning, but they both enjoyed them, at least I'm assuming Jordan did :) Leyah got HOP the movie along with a few small chochkeys, and Shorty got a sweet rattle, bathing suit and rubber ducks. If you didn't know the easter bunny does NOT bring candy to our house haha b/c we all know he brings a ton of it to grandma's house haha.

Every year Cannon Ct. has a neighborhood egg hunt and we are fortunate enough to still be included, even though we aren't cannon courtonians anymore. I'm so used to Leyah being the smallest and youngest hunter on the street but this year she fit right in! That's crazy!

the hunt is on

growing up and fitting in

Easter lasted a long time thanks to a package coming everyday for about 3-4 days in a row, Leyah now thinks every package is for her with a treat. Thank you everyone for loving our girls!

Jordan with her sweet bunny hat :)

yiayia with crazy fun gifts haha

Jordan Update

SO it has been just about six weeks since Jordan's surgery and she is beyond thriving! We are loving to see her grow and change each day. At Jordan's 4.5 month appointment she weighed in at just under 12 pounds and a week later at her cardiology appointment 12.9 pounds!!! I/we are so excited. She has rolled over a few times, is eating solids and being a general baby bad ass. WE LOVE YOU SHORTY JORDY!

First time in the baby command center

modeling a tutu I made for a charity event

Jordan turns 5 months, AT HOME :)

love my baby's blue eyes <3 

St. Patties week in Photos

our rainbow jar cakes to get us in the spirit

we made leprechaun poop a few days prior to st. patricks day

festive b-fast during the week

I think someone enjoyed it

decorated hat :)

St. Pattie's day morning( leyah had pneumonia here and we didn't know it at the time)

green themed bfast which our sick girl didn't eat :(

green eggs and pistatio muffins for mommy and daddy

feeling a bit better and up for the park

the cozy coupe had to wear green too

sooo this is a MOM at the park!? what! niice lady (enlarge to see what shirt says)

HKU

Heart and Kidney Unit (HKU)

Our new home until we are discharged :) Things here are crazy chill, from the minute Jordan got her room we pretty much had full access to do whatever we wanted with her. We can change her diaper freely, wipe her down, feed her bottles and even hold her!

I've never been so excited and nervous at the same time

In the HKU the nutritionist wanted to start Jordan immediately on her 30 cal/oz "protein shakes" to help make up for lost time. This was a terrible decision. In the above picture I was giving her her first 4 oz protein shake, about 5 mins after finishing she violently threw it all up :( We thought it was just a fluke, until she did it with her next one, and the next, and the next. 4 Bottles. The nurses were going to continue on this puke fest until I asked to switch her to plain breastmilk, they reluctantly agreed and BAM she held it down no problem, imagine that :) So She was on BM for all of Friday and did fantastic.  She has been eating, burping, going to the bathroom, pretty much meeting the all the normal baby requirements. On Saturday her daily chest x-ray showed that it was time to remove her chest tubes and pacing wires. Those hurt. They gave Jordan some morphine then grabbed those suckers and yanked, like starting a lawn mower! It looked terrible and boy did she wail, poor baby. It got a lot better fast though and she loves being held. As of right now we can go home Monday and we can't wait! I can't believe we will be bringing home Jordan with her little mended heart.

Jordan turns 4 months old

first getting to the HKU

Chest tubes out and feeling good

26 hours CICU

Wed 2/29

2pm- saw Jordan for the first time is CICU
7:40pm- started waking up, ventilator turned down to respiratory rate of 20
9pm- Awake with eyes open! Oral gastric tube removed
9:20pm- ventilator turned down to respiratory rate of 9!

Thur 3/1

1:40am- taken off of ventilator and put on O2 :)
2:20am- 2oz pedialite bottle
8:30am- 2 oz breast milk bottle
9:30am- Left atrial pressure line removed, arterial line removed
12pm- 2 right atrial pressure lines removed, catheter removed
3:30pm- got a crib and moved to the heart and kidney unit, GOODBYE CICU!

a few mins after being take off the vent.

Sweet girl

Peter got to feed Jordan her pedialite, lucky :) 

just taking a snooze, still pretty loopy

At first sight

(warning graphic photos at end of post)

We were warned it would be scary. We were warned about all the tubes. We were warned about everything, yet still nothing could have prepared us for seeing our sweet girl in the CICU.  Walking through the halls to Jordan's room was eerie, one room after another filled with very sick children, they were packed, all 26 beds were full most of which were babies.  Various beeps and alarms were going off in virtually every room. We rounded the corner and were led to the last room on the left. Fluorescent lights filled the room, 2 floor to ceiling electrical "trees" covered in equipment surrounded a twin sized hospital bed. There was a portable x-ray machine and technician taking chest x-rays, a nurse trying to do an EKG and a nurse finishing up attaching Jordan to the "trees". All this going on but the only thing Peter and I see is a lifeless Jordan spread out on a bed that is 10 times too big only making her appear smaller. Tubes and wires literally everywhere. A machine breathing for her.
The tears just poured down Peter and mines faces, it was as if it were a reflex, there was no stopping the flow. We just stood there holding hands and watched as they manipulated her little body to accommodate their needs. Numb. We were just numb.
After x-rays were taken, after the EKG lines were removed, after finishing hooking her up we finally got to move close enough to touch her little body.  The nurse pointed out and explained to us all of the stuff on her.  This is a list of what our 11 pound 24 inch baby had:
1. A ventilator tube in nose- breathing machine
2. Oral gastric tube- in mouth down to stomach to let air escape
3. Iv in left wrist
4. Arterial Line(stitched into Right wrist) -used to measure BP, blood O2 level and take blood without an additional stick
4. Iv in right foot
5. Pulse ox on toe- measure O2 level in blood
6. Monitor on forehead - measures O2 in brain
7. Monitor on back - measures O2 in kidneys
8. Catheter - tube used to drain urine
9. 2  Right atrial pressure tubes- inserted into right atrium to measure pressure(stitched in place)
10. Left atrial pressure tube - inserted into left atrium to measure pressure(stitched in place)
11.2 chest drainage tubes (stitched in) - allows blood and excess fluid drain out of chest cavity
12. 3 external pace maker lines - attached to heart and used to get the heart to beat at the right beat in a case of an emergency( these were never used :) )
13. 5 EKG leads on stickies all over chest- measures heart rate, pulse and respiratory rate

Over whelming is an understatement.

1 hour after VSD/ tetrology of fallot repair

1 "tree"

2 "tree"

The full picture :(

Leap day 2012

Jordan's surgery was scheduled to begin at 8:30am with anesthesia starting at 7:30am. We got to children's hospital around 6am and did all the regual registration stuff that one has to do at a hospital. We got called back to a "room" right on schedule where Jordan got wiped down with special wipes (they were warm too!) had all her vitals taken and then she was given a stylish gown :) We were very lucky that it was so early and she's such a good baby, she was sleeping most of the time, thank god becasue she hadn't eaten since 3am. 7:30 came and went, which we half expected, when are hospitals ever on time haha. We were informed we'd have a 30 min delay due to an emergency and since Jordan was perfectlt content we were alright with that. Waiting...waiting...waiting... Finally someone came and told us at around 8:50 that her surgery was pushed back by 2-3 HOURS due to the emergency surgery! I'm all about getting sick babies fixed but I would be lying if I said I didn't mind getting bumped, poor think was starting to get so hungry too. I decided I might as well go pump while I had the chance seeing as how I was going to have to do it every 3 hours anyway why not start now.  You'd think that being in a hospital setting, a Children's hospital setting no less, that one would be able to pump right there, no I had to go into the surgical center waiting room and find the "quiet room" which was occupied. Too bad haha I'm pretty sure I tramautized the teenager trying to do her homework in there by busting out my breastpump. Anywho, 5 mins into pumping Peter called my cell phone and with limited service I was able to make out "they are taking her NOW come back!" I have never moved to quick in my life, not that they would have, but I was just picturing them taking her back and me not getting to say goodbye. Needless to say I made it back within 30 secs and all was well, we had our quick hugs and kisses and that was that. We still don't know what changed from them telling us we'd have to wait 2-3 hours and then they took her 5 mins later. who knows.

in the "holding cell" before surgery, can you tell we'd been awake for 2 days straight

Heart families are special in the surgical center. We got a pager for text message updates and some meal vouchers. And now the real waiting began. We were pretty hungry so we chilled in the cafeteria and recieved our first page around 10:30 letting us know that surgery had started. A quick 30 mins later bypass had been started. Wow, just writing that is weird, my daughter was on bypass :( Everything seemed to go real quick after that. We just "relaxed" in the cardiology intensive care unit (CICU) waiting room; it was much calmer there and we were able go online and watch tv. Before we knew it we were making our way back to the surgical center to meet with Dr. Jonas (jordan's surgeon) because surgery was done. Everything had gone very good and Jordan was doing fantastic. They had closed her VSD and also found another small hole that they closed. They shaved down some "beefed up" muscle bundles in her right atrium, like we had thought, as well. Ever since Jordan was born we had been told that she had a large VSD, that's it. But apparently because of the muscle bundles and the other small hole Jordan's actual diagnosis was "pink tetrology of fallot". I haven't had a chance to look up exactly what that is but I will here shortly. We knew we now had about an hour before we could be reunited with Jordan up in the CICU. I was soooooo excited I couldn't wait to see her, I missed her. We had been told repeatedly that seeing her for the first time was going to be hard, we had went over all the tubes and stuff she would have with nurses and doctors, hell we even looked up pictures of other kids so we could prepare ourselves ahead of time. Whatever. NOTHING can prepare you for seeing your child like that Nothing...

Rise and Shine

Surgery is tomorrow, ahhhh. Actually I'm doing pretty well, Peter is too. Shorty Jordy had her pre op today and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had pictured. I've been up since 3am and am supposed to get up at 3am again to give Jordan her "last meal" then we have to leave the house at 4:50am, holy crap! it's officially worse then labor :)

Jordan in her gown haha cute!

Pre op started off with the usual vitals routine, where we found out she has lost a little more weight, stinker. BP, pulse ox, Heartrate, ekg all looked good. 

This is Jordan's shout out to Jolie's Right leg at the oscars:)

Next stop was blood work. It's never fun to see your kid cry but Jordan cried for the giant rubber band tied around her arm not the actaul needle, haha we couldn't help but laugh a little at that, poor baby girl. She calmed down quickly and all was good. Now I don't know if it's just Peter's and mines coping technique but we laughed our asses off at how they gave Jordan her chest x-ray, I'm sure it helped that she smiled the whole time like it was a giant game. 

Touchdown! 

Our big girl getting chest x-rays, hahah

Sorry if that disturbs some people but we truly think it's hilarious. All is well here and I need to head off to bed, if I can, I'm sure I will write more tomorrow while we wait the 6 hours to be reunited with out sweet baby girl. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

2 steps forward...

...1 Step back :(

we are 5 days out from Jordan's surgery and today started our marathon of appointments, we have 1 almost everyday until surgery.  Today was a regular cardiology appointment where I was really looking forward to them telling me, "Jordan's 12 lbs! Good job mom!". Nope. Poor thing LOST 4 ounces in the past 2 weeks, dammit! Shorty is now down to 11 lbs 1 oz, that's below the 5th percentile which if she wasn't having her surgery next week would put her in the category of Failure to Thrive. She has not been diagnosed with that, she just meets the criteria.
Jordan's regular cardiologist is out of town so we had to see an associate, I wasn't a fan. She told me Jordan can only have breast milk/formula bottles (we call them her protein shakes) and that I shouldn't nurse her anymore, at all. Screw that! I completely understand that she needs more calories which is what she gets through her protein shakes and I have no issue giving her the bottles throughout the day, but as for right before bed and in the middle of the night I WILL nurse her. I couldn't believe a female doctor was telling me to not nurse my 4 month old baby especially when her regular male doctor said I can absolutely do so.  Unbelievable.

If you give a girl a nickel

If you give a girl a nickel, she'll want to put it in her piggy bank.
When you give her the piggy bank, she'll tell you she swallowed it.
You ask her where the nickel is and she says "in my belly".
She'll probably start crying because she has nothing to put in the piggy bank.
After she calms down, you tell her we have to go see the doctor.
She'll get so excited she'll think the doctor will take her nickel out.
The doctor can't take the nickel out so she'll have to get pictures...
of her belly
The girl will want to see the pictures.
When she sees the pictures, she'll see the nickel.
And chances are if she sees the nickel
She'll want to put it in her piggy bank.

Maybe in 1-3 days we will find the actual nickel haha fun times for mom and dad :/

Best V-Day EVER

I thought Peter being home was a great valentines day gift but I can honestly say after spending 9 valentines days together this one wins and I'm pretty sure nothing will ever top it :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3sQ77BczkQ

some yummy heart and mini m&m pancakes

Jail Break

With shorty Jordy's surgery date quickly approaching we have been put essentially on "house arrest" to minimise germ exposure. I've been doing my best to keep Leyah occupied because I know how hard it is to be stuck in the house, poor kid. This past week we colored pasta and made necklaces which was super fun until she started to eat the pasta haha ok Monica Gellar :) I also cut out paper hearts and had her glue tissue paper to them, easy peasy. We made 4 for our family, cute right!? My favorite activity was making chocolate dipped pretzel rods today though. The plan was to have her actually help but that quickly turned into her just eating everything, I should have known. After she finished eating her weight in chocolate I semi ignored her so I could finish up the pretzels, boy was that a mistake. After about 10 mins of her "behaving" she comes running into the kitchen laughing and talking about my phone as she hands me the phone completely submerged in a glass of water, doh. Thus begins our "jail break" of leaving the house in search of a new phone. Please keep in mind I do not have a smart phone ahaha it's an old school candy bar nokia which I'm pretty sure cost me $20, but I loved my ghetto phone, parting is such sweet sorrow ;( The closest T-mobile is the mall, yuk, so we ventured out in this arctic tundra and germ infested mall only to be told that T-mobile doesn't sell just phones without a plan upgrade, WHAT?  A phone store who wont just sell you a phone, what is wrong with this world. I was told to go to wal-mart, haha well damn if I knew that HA.  We eventually make it to wally world and I am now a proud new owner of an Alcatel?

Macaroni necklaces

fun times with pasta

Our family hearts

Yummy chocolate dipped pretzels

haha I had to add a cute one of Jordan too