This One's for Kathryn.....

Everyone thank Kathryn who actually "says" she wants to see my scar/owie. They won't let me hike up my black skirt on stage in the Tabernacle, so....


Here's 1 week after the surgery:

A) Steri strips starting to age. Oh, goody..... almost time to unwrap and look at the carnage!

B) A little bruising from the MILLION shots they had to give me to numb it up. Plus the five additional when I FELT some cutting.











Here's 2 weeks after the surgery:

A) Notice the bulging on the sides. Yeah, that's because the doc says my leg is a conical surface. Not COMICAL. Conical means cone shaped, get out your geometry books. Mmmmm. Reminds me of ice cream....

B) The other reason it looks bulgy is because of THE MISSING FAT in the middle he had to take. He took fat clear to the muscle just to be careful that he got everything. I encouraged him to take AS MUCH as he wanted. Chinsy doctor.

C) Don't worry, I'm working on replacing the fat ASAP. Even as I type. It's a tough job, but I don't want to look lumpy. "MORE ICE CREAM, STAT!"



Here's 2 weeks and 1 day after the surgery:

A) I added eyes. I don't know why this cracks me up so much. It just does.

B) My knee shouldn't look so worried. I'm all better now.

Back to School Means......

1. Decorating backpacks. These $9 Wal-Mart specials needed a little sumpin' sumpin' so the girls and I shopped high and low to find the perfect way to jazz up their bags. Found it! RIBBON BABY!!


I love their own creative ideas. Decorating backpacks probably won't last many more years now that they are becoming 'Tweens.

I was consoled that they aren't getting too grown up when they called a friend over yesterday to come "play school". (The friend is now in junior high and this could have ended Jessica's social life if she had asked the wrong person, but Cami is an AWESOME friend).


2. Giving Haircuts. Josh donned the shaggy look all summer. At first it was annoying. Then I began to fall in love with his look. Then he asked for a haircut.

You ask for it, you got it, Toyota.

He says he looks lame now. I don't disagree, but I don't totally agree. I said, "You look hot, Josh. Don't worry about it." He told me, "It kinda grosses me out when my mom uses the word "hot" about me." Oh. My bad. Note to self.

He reminded me that a 9th grader doesn't really wear their hair in that style (he's in 8th- so, wha?) and he thinks he looks British. (Is that racist?) Sorry British people, I must think you look hot. Kinda.

I'm sorry, Josh. Didn't mean to do what you said. And cut your hair for school. I miss the locks, too.

3. Get lockers set up. Apparently it's not cool to show up on the first day with all your binders, organizers, mirrors, magnets to decorate with. Wouldn't want to look like a goober. Now that's a non-judgemental statement. There are all kinds of pressures to not be a goober on the first day. Even for boys. I remember those feelings, so we headed down to the jr. high and high school to be cool.

I'm sure everyone thought I was there to get registered for school myself. Nope. I was "Benson's mom" and "Mrs. Rice" and all these matronly terms all at once. At the high school. Didn't I just graduate?


4. Looking good for the first day. The night before school at our house turns into a mad dash for the washing machine and hairdo suggestions. Thank heavens for the hair-do blog I follow. Jessica got the curlers and Aubrey got the braids.

I so love that they want me to do their hair. Making them look cute somehow makes me feel less guilty about my joy in sending them back.

So Josh? He just had to look British, I guess.
And Benson? His hair had full flair, as you can imagine.

No, don't imagine: I decided you need a visual on Benson. I guess it's got to get bigger and better.... I mean, wow. I actually had one mom comment to me while I was pointing out who my son is: "Aren't the hairstyles getting crazy these days?"

(Note: these were taken at the D.I. where Benson found these funky glasses/goggles, made of miniature beer mugs. I've learned to keep my camera close whenever I shop with Benson.)

#2 "Alexa, His Twin Sister" Countdown: Bored Kids=Mischief

I forgot to mention that Alex has a twin sister, Alexa. At least, that's what the girls' explanation was... poor thing has therapy in his future for sure.

Time to Heal, STAT!

Okay, that last post was a little intense.
The truth is, I'm vegging out on the couch and getting pampered a lot while on pain meds.

The worst part of the surgery was them numbing my leg up and the smell of my burning flesh as they cauterized me. "So THAT'S what I smell like when I burn! I probably wouldn't take the time to notice under different circumstances." Yeah, the doctor warmed up to me after awhile. Good thing, since I have to go see him every 6 months for LIFE. I found out he never got his merit badge in sewing which wasn't comforting as he stitched.

The other gross thing was seeing my flesh floating in a little container for the lab, like shark chum. He had to take layers clear up to the muscle, including fat which I encouraged him to take generously. What? It's my blog, so I can talk about gross stuff if I want. I might even add pictures, so approach this blog carefully in the future.

My incision is about 4-5 inches long so I'll have to come up with a nice TALL tale to go along with it. Glad it's over: the day of eating chocolate and endlessly playing on the computer without guilt has finally arrived! Big whoop if I have to do this again. BRING IT!!

No MORE!!

Grrrr. What's the stage of grief that is anger? Like 3 or 4?

I've whipped out Wiki to remind myself of the Kubler-Ross model, commonly known as the 5 stages of grief, for a little exercise.

1. Denial. O.K., so a silly little mole can't possibly cause much harm. I feel fine. This isn't happening again. Plus I was NEVER a sun worshipper (hence my milky white tan).

2. Anger. THERE it is. Oops, I guess it's only the second stage. But that's where I am, A-N-G-R-Y. Because this is the SECOND time I've been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. How did this happen? I am a sunblock poster girl! Genetics, most likely the doc says.

3. Bargaining. I'm not really liking my 95% survival rate. Totally not acceptable. I want 100%! (Interesting to note, melanoma on the foot usually has only a 50% survival rate because it's harder to notice/be diagnosed-- that was my first melanoma, on the sole of my foot! Drumroll..... I didn't die YET, so...... look at me GO-- top 50%!.... yeah me!)

4. Depression. I guess none of us has a 100% survival rate. In fact, I'm pretty sure none of us gets out of this existence alive. What's the point? Go ahead, take all the skin you want. That's just less of it to turn into skin cancer again.

5. Acceptance. There are definitely worse things. Plus I can't stop it; just keep getting checked and treated. I'll call it my new "weight loss treatment" to have bits of me carved away regularly. It's really O.K., and I'm not writing about this to get attention for something easy. Stage 1, non-evasive is hardly life-threatening. (Well, only 5%, right?) No metastasis, and we caught it early again.

It's just that both times the moles looked pretty much normal and were small. Through a series of unusual events the first one was found in 2003 and I hit my all-clear just last year-- meaning my risk went way down of developing another one. I could even donate blood again! Note to self: Don't do a google search on "melanoma stories" or "melanoma photos". You see words like "victim","battle" and "deadly". Just sayin'.

So tomorrow I go in for the "surgery" to scoop out any last evidence. The doc will be aggressive--it's above my knee-- so I think my chances at winning a bathing suit contest are over now. Yep, let your tears flow now for that loss.

I'll bet if I act real nice I can get a sucker when I'm done.

#3 "Eating in Bed" Countdown: Bored Kids=Mischief

Stefanie, Stefanie, Stefanie. My little sister.

When Stefanie gets bored, she gets her funny on, thus we see an appearance of her on my blog in the countdown.

The House where Stefanie is working on her recovery has some PRETTY strict rules, and breaking a rule results in an "infraction". Her infraction this time? EATING IN BED (one of my favorite past-times).

One of the consequences is that she had to write "20 Reasons Not to Eat in Bed" and then read it to her group Monday morning (apparently everyone looks forward to Stefanie's "musings").

Stef wrote this assignment while she was with us:

20 Reasons Not to Eat in Bed

1. Crumbs in your bed
2. Spoil or stain your bed
3. Could choke
4. Could vomit
5. Could fall asleep in potatoes and gravy
6. You're not supposed to
7. You won't be hungry at mealtime
8. Can't talk with your mouth full
9. To prevent mice and ants
10. Eating late or in bed could cause obesity
11. Upset stomache
12. It's a nasty habit
13. Disrupts your sleep
14. Causes heartburn
15. Disrupts quiet time
16. Eating after you've brushed
17. Leading cause of Halitosis
18. Can cause nightmares
19. Can lead to a life of crime
* 20. It's not polite to talk in your sleep with your mouth full

Do they give her these assignments to make her actually sorry?...... or for their own entertainment? What did they THINK she would write? She's a Wilson!! :-)

#4 "Free Rides" Countdown: Bored Kids=Mischief

Do I need to post speed limits in my own home? Yes, clearly I do.