Whats Up? (with us) - part 1 of a week long series

I realized this weekend that there have been some happenings that I havent blogged about.

Shame on me.

I am going to do 1 post a night this week, until I am all caught up.

We are planning a few camping trips this summer, but we dont know a lot of good places to go camping. On Sunday, we set out in the Heppner direction to "scout" out some spots.

We ended up at Bull Prairie Lake. Its about 30 miles south of Heppner. They have a bunch of campsites, and most of them meet my own personal requirements. One being a fire ring, not a grill on a post, but an actual fire ring. I want a campfire when I am camping. Two being running water... I like to be able to wash my hands, and wash my dishes and cooking utensils. Bathrooms are third on the list, not really important, I can pee outside, but I do prefer a bathroom. Bull Prairie is also a good place for the kids to bring their bikes.

Oh! And there is a lake. Hence the name... bull prairie LAKE!!

We went fishing.

And caught a few fish.

 

 

 

 

keeping abreast....

I've got a problem.

One of my boobs feels different than the other one....

I have been told that everyone's boobs are different, so when I noticed, I was just like... "hmmm, how long has this been like that?"

My boobs change size all the time... because I am a yo-yo dieter and I go up and down in my weight so much.

I made myself a mental note to talk to my doc about it... someday.

I had my annual female "check up" at the beginning of April. She did her routine "hands on" breast exam.... and she noticed.

So, I thought, I better say something.

She didnt think it was anything to be concerned about, but recommended I get a mammogram, just for peace of mind.

So about a week later, I go in for this mammogram. Fun stuff...

The tech had to take 2 sets of pictures, and I still had no answers by the end of the appointment. I was told I would need to come back for an ultrasound, to get a better look at it.

So about another week later... I went in for the ultrasound. The radiologist didnt see anything to be concerned about, but suggested I schedule a 6 month follow up. Simply because I had never had any mammograms, or ultrasounds, to compare this one too. So, the 6 month follow up thing made sense.

Imagine my suprise when I got a call from Kadlec imaging last Thursday. Apparantly there was a spot on my mammogram, that they didnt check during the ultrasound, and they wanted me to come back to have it looked at.

That brings us to today. I went in for yet another ultrasound. The ultrasound was done on the top of my breast last time. This time they focused on the bottom. The lady "did her thing" and then the radiologist came in.

This time, it wasnt such good news. "its not anything to lose sleep over.. but the only way to know for sure, is to get a biopsy." and "i'm sure everything is fine, given your age, and the fact there is no history of cancer in your family... but... the only way to know for sure is to get the biopsy"

ummmmmm....ok???

"The other option.. is to do a 6 month follow up, and if the lump is still there, we could discuss the biopsy at that time.....but....all that is doing is delaying the biopsy"

Of course... the decision is mine.

At this point, the biopsy has not been scheduled. And I am completely undecided. I go back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth.... I have asked a few for advice, and I have recieved mixed responses.. so that doesnt help. lol. My mom tells me "GET THE BIOPSY!"

soooooo...... I have a huge decision to make. I have heard that the biopsy is pretty simple, but if they come back to find out that it is cancer, the cancer cells have been disrupted by the procedure and they start to spread. But, on the other hand, my chances of actually having cancer are like 1% or something.

So, that is what is going on with me.... I havent blogged about this experience at all until now. And very few people are aware that I even went in for that first mammogram. But at this point, I feel like writing about it might help me.

bloggin' bout bloomsday

I came:

We had a lovely drive up to Spokane on Saturday morning. Just me and my boo. We hooked my ipod up to the car sterio and played my running playlist the whole way up there. Its about 99% Christian music. Dennis loves Third Day and insisted that I play them over and over again. lol. I had a sack FULL of snacks, and 4 liters of water. Carb loading, and hydration is serious business.

Got in to town and discovered that we had a flat tire. Dangit! We were right by a tire shop, so we went in and had it checked out. No hole or anything, they inspected it and aired it up, and sent us on our way.

I saw:

We found our way down to the convention center, and I picked up my race packet. It was seriously so exciting! All the people, and the chaos!! It rocked. Dennis was blown away by the crowd. I dont think the "55,000 registered runners" really sank in with him.

We walked the trade show, which was super cool! Then we went to our hotel to get
checked in.

I got my D-tag (timing tag) hooked on to my shoe. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

 

Here is my OWN official race number!!

 

We ventured around downtown for a while, then I asked Dennis to drive me around the race course. Dumb idea. With the map in hand, I guided him through the route. I became very overwhelmed. It was sooooo long!! And the hills???? Impossible!!!

It was discouraging, to say the least. But the morning of the race, I woke up with a better attitude!

I conquered:

Here I am, with a smile on my face, getting ready to line up.

 

And away I went.....

I told myself I would run the first 3 miles, and I did. It was hard. There were 2 hills in the first 3 miles. Killer hills! They sucked. It was really crowded, hard to maintain a good pace. The first 3 miles were loooooooong. The longest 3 miles ever! At the end of the 3rd mile was a down hill, so I just kept running. I ran, pretty much all the way to the bottom of mile 5... DOOMSDAY HILL!! I walked Doomsday Hill. I hate hills! So I didnt feel guilty about walking it. There was a lot of entertainment a long the way.

I was running alone, and I felt lonely. But I dont know what I would have done with a partner either. I am used to running alone. But running alone in a HUGE sea of people.... its wierd.

At the top of the hill, I started running again. I ran into a friend of mine at the top. He was at one of the houses and they were cooking pancakes for the runners and handing them out. Too funny.

The last 2 miles were loooooong. I kept thinking to myself "I know we are getting close" "arent we?" It felt like it took forever to get to the finish line. I was a at a very slow jog by this point. My fat, yes I said my fat.... my fat actually hurt! It hurt from bouncing up and down for an hour. Everytime I would pick up the pace, it would hurt my fat parts. My right boob hurt too. Sometimes if I wanted to go faster, I would hold my boob and run. I held my stomach and ran a little too. I didnt care what I looked like. There were people in costumes, cross dressers, ugly pink pigtails, naked people, etc.

You know what the best sound in the world is to a bloomsday runner???

Chariots of Fire!!

They play it about 1/2 block from the finish!! It rocks! As soon as people hear it, and turn the corner to the finish line... they just started hooting and hollering and sprinting toward the finish!!!! Its a downhill to the finish, its soooo funny!!!

I was glad to be done. I just wanted to get my shirt, and go find Dennis. I had a perma grin all the way through the shirt line.

Behold!!! The finisher shirt!! ONLY finishers get these shirts!!


My time: 1 hr 40 minutes... not too bad, but definitely something to beat next year.

And that is, in short, my first Bloomsday experience.

I will spare you the details about how I ate too much for the rest of the day, and spent the night in stomach pain and throwing up. And had to cancel plans with one of my BFF's the next day, and couldnt move and spent all day in bed, eating only applesauce.....