Matthew's Foot Surgery

Matthew - my youngest - had surgery this morning on both feet! He has had problems with his feet for about the past 6 years - since he was just a little guy. We've tried orthotics for years, but he has been in almost constant pain. Little boys should be able to run and play sports - things Matthew hasn't been able to really do because of the pain. So, our foot doctor suggested this surgery where he placed an implant in between the bones under his ankles (I think). That moved his foot into the correct position and hopefully will stop the pain. It was a pretty simple surgery, and we are hopeful that it will work. He did well - he was emotional about having an IV until the doctor came in and told him they'd give him laughy gas and put him to sleep before they inserted the IV. That made him immediately settle down (and his elevated blood pressure went down!) After the surgery, in recovery, he just wouldn't wake up. The doctor kept shaking him and yelling "Matthew - wake up!", but Matthew just snoozed right through it all. Funny. He finally woke up, and of course was really disoriented. Matthew decided on a Cherry Coke instead of a slushy - funny kid! When he was feeling like he could go home, the nurse took his IV out (something that really turned my stomach - too many past IVs for me, I guess), and his hand wouldn't stop bleeding. It bled all over! The nurse finally got it stopped and we headed home. He is now resting on the sofa with his feet elevated and iced. It's pretty tough keeping a kid his age still for any length of time! He is constantly getting up and driving himself around in the wheelchair. Of course, the other boys love the wheelchair, too. Michael drives himself around and claims he feels like Stephen Hawkings (he wishes!). If you've taken the time to read this, please leave a comment for Matthew - I know he'd be thrilled and feel special reading messages meant just for him. Here's a few pictures of our patient...

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

CHECK IT OUT... The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Try to do something during this month to help the fight. Here are 10 suggestions...

1. Find a local breast cancer walk and join it. On October 10th, there is a walk in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City that I'm going to try to go to. Why don't you join me??? http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY10GreatWest?pg=entry&fr_id=19868 You can sign up as a team or as an individual walker. Don't forget to make a donation!

2. Do a self exam. Go to my breast cancer blog and click on the self exam button on the sidebar. This will give you directions on how to do your self exam. On the 15th of every month, I do a post on that blog reminding you to do your self-exam. It's important. www.foobbabe.blogspot.com

3. Schedule your mammogram (once a year - October is a great time). There is a button on my breast cancer blog that you can click once a day - this is easy to do and it provides a free mammogram to those women who can't afford it. Cool, huh? So visit each day to help out. Here is my blog... www.foobbabe.blogspot.com OR here is the website (The Breast Cancer Site) http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2&ThirdPartyClicks=BCS_linktous_120_01

4. Help a friend who is going through cancer. A few tips. Just offer your help - don't try to say "I know it must be hard", or "I know how you feel". Unless you've been in that exact spot, you'd don't know. So, just help. Bring dinner. Send flowers. Show up and do some laundry, or help clean. Send a note. Anything is appreciated. Believe me, there are days when you just can't even get out of bed, so any help is great. Call first. :-)

5. Donate money to help find a cure. Tina, over at Blogging For Boobs Bash, is raising money for breast cancer research - she will be featuring survivor stories on her blog all month. I'll be there at some point. Go and take a look. http://talkinwithteenie.blogspot.com/search/label/blogging%20for%20boobs%20breast%20bash She's doing lots of give-aways this month as well.

6. If you are a survivor, find someone to mentor - answer their questions, lend them your scarves and hats, etc. There are lots of online communities that you can join to share your story - one I belong to is Wellsphere. I'm in the Breast Cancer community there. Check it out... http://www.wellsphere.com/home.s

7. Be aware! Don't bury your head in the sand and hope breast cancer doesn't come your way. Some statistics:
An estimated 192,370 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009- that's about 528 per day, 22 per hour - one woman every 3 minutes!
An estimated 40,170 women will die of breast cancer in 2009 - that's 110 per day!
The median age at breast cancer diagnosis in the United States was 61 years. This means that half the women diagnosed with breast cancer are under the age of 61 - I was 42.
An estimated 2.5 million women living in the United States have a history of breast cancer.
So take care of yourself and make sure the women in your life - mothers, sisters, friends, aunts, cousins - everyone - takes care of themselves.

8. Spread the word about breast cancer - talk to everyone. The internet is a powerful tool - use email, facebook, twitter, blogs - whatever you can think of to spread the word about the importance of early detection in breast cancer.

9. Know your family health history. This is something I need to work on. It changes all the time. You should be aware of the health problems (especially stuff like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer) of your siblings, parents, and grandparents. When you go to see a doctor, they'll want to know about your history and it really is important.

10. Keep "abreast" of Breast Cancer. Research for Breast Cancer is making huge strides. Gain some knowledge - read books, search the internet, etc. Become an expert. It could help you or someone you know!

Breast cancer SUCKS. You DO NOT want to find out how much. Believe me.
(This post will be repeated on my cancer blog)

Take Care Everyone! Love you all. Thanks so much for helping me through this last year - you were all wonderful. MMMMWWWWWAAAAA!