Weekend Happenings

With Cole no longer having kidney stones & me having both weekend days off, this has been a great weekend! My Aunt Wendy, Uncle Sheldon, & Cousin Shelby are in town, so Cole & I spent Friday night at my parents house. Wendy made a wonderful meal on the barbecue. Shrimp, scallops, steak, & veggies! It was nice to see the fam!

Saturday morning Cole & I took Patch to the vet for his annual appointment. He hates the vet...he gets so nervous! He had a heart worm test & got 2 shots (Rabies & Distemper). He looks good, but I will need to put to some medicine on his butt daily to keep it clean & dry...got to love those Bulldog tails. I will also have to clean out his ears & give him ear drops once a week. Boy does he hate this...he was really upset with me yesterday!

Sommer slept over last night. We made whole made pizza & it turned out great! Thank you Anica & Ian for teaching us how to make pizza! Here are some pictures of the yummy pizza!

Cole is at work today. Sommer & I made waffles this morning. We used up the mango syrup. I'll have to have Jenna make some more for me. It was so good! Sommer & I will be heading over to my parents house this afternoon for some poolside fun! I am really looking forward to hanging out by the pool. Sadly, this will be my first time all summer! My Uncle Sheldon went back to Colorado, but Wendy & Shelby will be here another week. It will be nice to spend more time with them. Back to work tomorrow, but it will be a short week! I work Monday thru Thursday & then Cole & I will head up to Alpine for the weekend. Cole's parents rented a house so we will have some family fun!

Back to Work

We are pleased to report that Cole passed his stone yesterday. He is feeling better & made it to work today! We are thankful to have this behind us.

Shock Wave Lithotripsy

Just got home from St. Joe's. We spent the afternoon at the hospital. Cole had his Shock Wave Lithotripsy. The procedure went well. Dr. Cadoff says the stone looks like it was broken up. Cole's kidney is sore from the procedure & he will need to pass the pieces. Cole is bummed he can't go back to work tomorrow. We are hoping he will be feeling better in a couple days...finally!He will follow up with Dr. Cadoff in 1-2 weeks after having another KUB (xray). The next item of business will be figuring out how to stop future stones :)

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day & I am missing my Dad. It has been 7 years now since he passed away, but it doesn't seem to get any easier. I feel like it was only yesterday. I am very thankful that I had such a wonderful Father. Not all are so lucky. I cherish all the memories!

I had to work today, but went to Dos Gringos after work to celebrate Father's Day with the family. The weather was great. It was nice to relax & enjoy each other's company. I am very thankful to have such a great step-dad!

Cole's parents are still in Europe. We wish Russ was here to celebrate Father's Day, but are happy he is having a blast in Europe! Happy Father's Day to all you Dads!

Kidney Stone Update

Cole's kidney stone still has not passed. He had a KUB (abdominal xray) at 8am to check for obstruction & an appointment with Dr. Cadoff (Urologist) at noon. Cole's stone is obstructing his kidney, so it will need to be lasered. However, they can't get him in until next Tuesday. That is a long time to wait! The laser should break up the stone into smaller pieces. The bad news is that he will still have to pass the smaller pieces! It is unlikely, but we are hoping Cole's stone passes on it's own, so he doesn't have to wait so long for relief. Cole will see Dr. Cadoff again tomorrow for a pre-op appointment & the laser procedure is scheduled for next Tuesday 4pm at St. Joe's in Phoenix.

My work has been really flexible with me leaving work to drive Cole to his appointments. I am very thankful for this! We'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Cole

Today is Cole's 26th Birthday. Unfortunately, he missed work & was in pain most of the day. I hope that he is feeling better soon & has a great year! Happy Birthday Cole!

With Cole home sick, I was forced to take it easy today. I stayed in my pajamas all day & didn't have to worry about make up. It was great & much needed! I was able to make breakfast...I used our new waffle iron & the mango syrup Jenna made. It was yummy! I worked on a project for work for a few hours this morning & spent the afternoon reading. I was finally able to finish the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Brittney gave it to me for my 23rd Birthday. It's sad it took me so long to read it. It really was a great book. I made pasta & Greek salad for dinner & Cole & I took Patch on a walk. The weather has been surprisingly nice for June in Arizona. A nice relaxing day - a true day of rest!

Oh, what a day...

I am so tired from a very busy day. Cole is recovering from kidney stones, so I ended up doing both his & my stuff around the house. When I went to do the pool, the storage room bolt lock would not work. I tired some DW40, but no luck. I ended up calling a locksmith who was able to fix the lock (for a pretty penny) so I could clean the pool this afternoon.

We did make it to Emily's 4th birthday. Emily has lots of friends. It was fun to watch all of them play! We got Emily a Create-A-Book for her birthday. The personalized books make the child the star of their very own hard bound storybook. They're pretty cool. My Aunt Julie gave me a couple when I was little. Not only did I love them, I still have them! Check out the website http://mycreateabook.com/

Tomorrow is Cole's 26th Birthday! I hope he is feeling better & able to enjoy himself after he gets off work. We will be going to Four Peaks Brewery here in Tempe for dinner & drinks.

ED Visit...

That's right...Cole & I spent the last 6 hours in the ED at Banner Desert. Cole started having kidney pain last night. Luckily, we had pain meds for him. Cole was feeling better this morning & went to work. He didn't make it all day at work. When I got home he was in a lot of pain & the pain meds were no longer working. We headed to Banner Desert & spent 6 hours in the ED. Cole had a CT scan & urine analysis. He also got an IV placed for pain medication & fluids. As we suspected Cole has kidney stone's again! However, the stone is 4mm this time. That double the size of the last stone he passed. When they get to 5mm they need to be surgically removed. Needless to say Cole is in for some pain! Ouch! The doctor gave Cole scripts for pain meds & flomax (used to open the urethra).

We learn that Cole has a Medullary sponge kidney (MSK). MSK is a birth defect of the tubules (tiny tubes inside the kidney). I was shocked that Cole has had so many kidney stones & CT scans, yet this is the first time we have heard of this disease. Cole will follow up with a Urologist on Monday. MSK is not curable. However, we are hoping the Urologist can help us come up with a game plan to reduce the number of kidney stone episodes & identify a way to avoid the ED. I hope Cole feels better soon!

Sunday with Britt

Cole & I both worked today. After I got off work, we headed to Brittney & Michael's house in Gilbert for spaghetti dinner. It has been a while since I've seen Britt. Makayla is already 5 months old. She is very active & so cute! It was great to see them. Brittney & I were trying to convince Cole that we should move into Brittney's neighborhood. How great would that be. It's a nice neighborhood & I am so ready for a house. Thanks for dinner guys!

Friday

I was off today & will be working the next 6 days. For some reason I scheduled myself to work 2 weekends in a row. I thought it would be nice to take my days off so I have two 3 day weekends. A nice idea in theory; however, that means in 17 days I will only have 2 days off. No wonder why I'm tired!

Today was a busy day. I had a follow up appointment this morning and then went to Katie's (a past co-worker & friend) home to teach her infant massage. Baby Jaxton really enjoyed the massage. Jaxton has been having some GI issues. I hope the infant massage will help Jaxton & his parents!

Tonight Cole & I babysat my friend Mindy's daughter Kendall. Kendall is 4 months old & I was her first babysitter. I am honored that Mindy felt comfortable leaving Kendall with me while her & Dustin went to Kaylee's dance recital. Cole & I had fun with Kendall tonight. Bath time was definitely the highlight. I wish I had a picture to share.

Quick Update

Today I had a follow up appointment with my gynecologist. I have PCOS symptoms, but do not meet the criteria for this diagnosis. I will be taking progesterone supplements since my levels were low on both blood tests. This should help with the cysts & the hormone levels. I will soon be a happy camper!