Not tonight, my thumb hurts...

Kelly bought Left For Dead on the 360 for me for Christmas. I am obviosly excited to play and asked her to join me, to which she replied " my gaming thumb has a crack in it".

I'm so proud! Back off boys, she's all mine!

I present to you, a photograph of said bad gaming thumb.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Ho ho HO!

Pictures from Christmas...

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Obviously we'll post more pics and stuff later, this one was too good NOT to post.

Merry Christmas!

Kids and Christmas (Round 1)

I LOVE to drive the kids nuts by getting everything set up for Christmas early. We finished wrapping everything up today and placed ever so neatly under the tree. We usually use 5 - 6 different kinds of wrapping paper and instead of putting the kids names, or using a unique type of paper per kid, what we do is write a number. Each number equals a kid and then there is another number we toss in there for family gifts. This drives them batty, and makes Kelly and I laugh and laugh.

Anyway... One of the types of wrapping paper this year is a solid red color with "ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho" written all over it. It's pretty cool looking. Tonight, Ryan was sitting near the gifts and he very matter of factlike said "ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho, MAN, that is a LOT of Ho's". Obviously, we all died laughing and he has no idea why.

So, round 1 goes to Ryan.

Crazy hair day.

Check it.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Merry early Christmas.

Butterfly killed Santa.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Healing up

I finally trimmed down my grizzly beard to take a peek at the scar. Rebekah and Kelly say that it doesn't look too bad, so I'm chooing to believe them VS my own view on how it looks. Anyway, here's the latest picture. Enjoy.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Nord's Wedding

It hasn't started yet, but soon one of my best friend's in my entire life will be joining the elite few married men that I know. Congratulations my friend! We love you.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Thanksgiving!

The first of a few pics I'll be posting.

Rob's teef be awesome yo!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

My Secret to Faster Healing?

Butterfly kisses... Don't you know? Dogs will save the world...

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Butta' Fly

I know its sideways, but you get the idea.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Thoughts on being sick ALL of the time...

Quite often I find myself thinking "if only I felt better, I would do [insert whatever]". Not in a self-pity sort of way, more of a wishing sort of way. I've done a LOT in my life that I am proud of and happy about, but wouldn't it be cool to be as giving as this guy?

I could only hope...

Healing well.

As I said before, the facial hair is hated, but the throat slash is healing up nicely.

I don't know what I would have done without the love and support of kelly, friends, and the kids (not to mention countless prayers).

Thanks everybody, I may not say that enough... So, thank you all.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Grrrr...

I can't wait to shave... I hate hair, especially facial hair.

Doctor appointment tomorrow. Wish me luck that everything is healing ok.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Quantum Mechanics

Gotta love it!

Butterfly ate my cellphone

For some reason, my dog LOVES to chew on cellphone whenever she can get sneaky little paws on it. Last night was one of those nights.

Strangely, she somehow snapped a photo of herself doing it, which I thought was hilarious.

So, here it is. Enjoy!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Thankful for every day. :)

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our friends and family for all of your thoughts, prayers, love and support. Most of you know that this has been a pretty tough year. I know that I have learned a lot about myself this year and I have grown as a person. (Figuratively, not literally peeps, I'm still just shy of 5'4"). I have learned to trust in a way that I never thought I would be able to, and I have learned to cherish every single day that I have with my wonderful family. We are so lucky to have four really great kids and I am blessed to have a husband who loves me despite my inequities.

Having discovered that Chip is cancer free is a relief that I cannot begin to describe. I love you, Papa. I look forward to growing old with you and raising our family together.

Results are in!

No Cancer! Yay!!!

I'm way too tired to go into details, maybe Kelly can fill them in. Basically, I'm going to be out of work for a while and I'm not allowed to go in the sun (I found out why when I walked out of the doctors office into the sun and felt like I was shot in the neck by a Stormtrooper).

Can't Sleep...

I HATE Having to wait for the news about my biopsy. Something is just not right and I HOPE they can actually find out what's going on so I have something to work towards.

For years, the target keeps changing, but I'm using the same means of defense which isn't much.

I just hope that my super rag-tag fleet of rogue doctors have gone out way beyond their normal comfortable zone that they work within and look at me as something new altogether. If they can do that, we'll get far and hopefully come up with something new can be fixed.

I guess I'll log into World of Warcraft and cause some HAVOC with my Death Knight.. I'll write more when I get home from the doc. So, here's another random picure ofthe family.

This one comes courtesy of a day in the Sun soetime last summer on the way up to Simon's house.

Talk to you soon....

Soon

Tomorrow can't come fast enough. It seems like I have had these stitches in forever, and yet it has only been one week. Today is one of those days that seems to last forever.

Awesome Sky

Kelly and I like to send pictures to each other. Here is another awesome shot she sent me a few days ago.

Hogue Hospital

This is the view from Hogue Hospital as we left after my surgery. Kelly took this shot while waiting fie me to be wheeled out.

Another Penny Arcade

Here's another Penny Arcade strip on one of my games...

Penny Arcade is Awesome!

I've seen them do a few comics on games that I've Produced over the years, but this one rules!

I thought this only happened in comic strips

I took this picture of Butterfly on the day we got her. This picture is just too cute and adorable to not share it with everybody.

Little Big Planet

That's right... For a short time, I was ranked #1 in the WORLD!!! If you haven't played it yet, you should do so immediately. It is really so much more than a game... It is a creative sandbox where the only limitation, is your brain.

Lymphoma? I hope not...

Check out the bandages... This thing caused an indescribable amount of pain and discomfort... Now, let's just hope for NO CANCER!!!

This year hasn't been a good one for me health-wise. In January I came down with Bronchitis and was close to death for 5 weeks. Since then, it's been an extremely uphill battle every day fighting off one type of sickness or another. I've lost my voice a few times, lost 25 pounds, gained 25 pounds, slept for 20+ hours a day more than once... I've currently been on increasing dosages of antibiotics for over 40 days straight (normal course is 10 days).

I met with a surgeon last week and they wanted to remove a few Lymph Nodes from my neck and then biopsy them to see what's going on. The Lymph Nodes on the right side of my neck have been swollen and causing pain on and off since January and the past 11 months have been pretty crappy. My doctor sent me in for bloodwork and an Ultrasound last Monday. I was seen by two techs that seemed confused just to be awake, so they called in the specialist...

In the most matter of fact, plain as can be style, I was informed that I have a serious infection if I'm "lucky", and Lymphoma if I'm not...

I was told last week that they were going to remove 3-5 Lymph Nodes from the right side of my neck, and I don't even want to think about the chemo and all of the other bad things that could happen if I'm not "lucky".

I had the surgery last Tuesday and I go in tomorrow to find out the results of the biopsy and to have the stitches and tape removed.

Strangely, This is actually the 3rd time that I've been told I have Cancer!!!!

• The first time (1997) it actually turned out to be a disease called ITP.There is no cure for this disease and it's something that I just have to live with. My Spleen was removed to ensure me living.
  
• The second time (2004), I had 3 Lymph Nodes removed from my groin area, 4 inches of my digestive tract removed, an Ulcer removed that had grown its own blood supply and attached to the OUTSIDE of my stomach, and my Appendix removed. After all of that, I was told that I was Lymphoma free and that I had beaten it.
• And now, here I am again...

I'm pretty sad and depressed that I'm sick all the time. I hope that this will be at least a temporary fix and that I can just be healthy again, even for one single day.

During the surgery, apparently my heart rate dropped below 30 BPM for a long time. I'm told that's an emergency situation and that it was a 50/50 situation if I would make it through the surgery. A 1 hour procedure, ended up taking 4 hours for me because my heart rate was still dipping below 30 BPM in the recovery room and even when they put me in my own room. I could see how much Kelly was worried just by looking at her, but I was so out of it from all the medication I really didn't understand what was going on. I was relieved upon hearing that they only took 1 Lymph Node, instead of 3. But I have to say that this is the worst pain I can honestly remember having to endure. It seriously sucks. I can't do ANYTHING without wincing in pain. I can't sleep, I can't sit, I can't stand, I can't do anything at all without serious discomfort. I never knew that the neck did so much for the body. I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep until it feels better

I'm not looking for sympathy, I just wanted to write it down. I find out the results of the biopsy tomorrow... I'll write again when I get the results.

Hug your loved ones people. Life is shorter than you think. Love to all!

Welcome to our Blog

We finally decided it was 1999 and made our own blogger page. So... Enjoy!