j3n: You are full of beans. You’re so full of beans, you are a bean bag!
G-man: No I’m not, I’m full of blood. That is what is inside us, okay?!
I don’t want to wear the Babe Magnet shirt because then people think I am Babe Magnet, but really I am just Gunnar
G-man: Do you know what is cool about pooping?
j3n: What?
G-man: It feels like something else.
j3n: Like something else? Like what?
G-man: Like someone is tickling your booty!
Everyday you get a little older. On your birthday you get a lot older, for real.
G-man: What do your friends that smoke do?
j3n: What do you mean? What do they do for work or what do they do for fun, or what?
G-man: No, what do they do to fight bad guys?
j3n: Hrmmm, I don’t know.
G-man: Maybe they smoke and then cough on them.
I was goofing around with Yearbook Yourself , a site where you can superimpose pictures of yourself onto yearbook pictures from 1950 to 2000. As I played around, I was surprised to see how much I actually resemble the women in my family, on both sides. Take a look:
The picture on the left is my mother, circa 1974.
The picture on the left is my paternal grandmother circa 1955.
Ever since I took Gunnar to Yuri's Night and Maker Faire, he is obsessed with Make Magazine's YouTube clips of building things, robots, rockets, bikes, you name it he asks if we can build one. Today Eric indulged him and they built a Foxhole Radio.
Yesterday we took a trip to Radio Shack for the wire. A few years ago I bought Eric an electronics kit which came with an ear piece that turned out to be perfect for this project. Everything else was easily found around the house. Here are some pictures of their efforts:
So sweet.
I got the results of my biopsy today and all signs point to benign. I still have to follow up with the gastrointestinologist when he gets back from vacation because my primary doctor wants his specialized opinion as to whether I should go in for a colonoscopy yearly or every three years from now on and whether or not I'm at risk for Familial Polyposis.
The first finding in my colonoscopy was that I have a redundant colon. This means I have more colon than I need so it loops back over itself. Generally this isn't a big concern and just means its easier for me to get constipated than your average person.
The second finding was scattered Diverticulosis or weak spots in my colon. One of these weak spots is located in my cecum which is pretty rare (5%). Again not something to really worry about, just keep an eye on. Glad to have finally figured out why I get really bad abdominal pains though since pain due to diverticulitis is often mistaken for appendicitis.
The third finding is a little disturbing, they found three polyps, two of which were 1cm while one was 5mm. All three were removed and sent to the lab for biopsy. One of these showed signs of having been the cause of the dorkus husbandus examining my poop as described in my last post.
While I'm glad they found everything seemingly early and most likely I have nothing to worry about, I hate the idea that I have to do this every three to five years from now on. Though, If it means continuing to be here for myself, the dorkus husbandus, and G-man I'll do it as often as needed.
Today I'm doing something that scares me. I'm going in for my first colonoscopy. Yeah, I'm only 35, but I'm a level 3 risk for colorectal cancer since my dad passed away at the age of 53 from rectal cancer. The doctors determined that he had had the tumor for a good 3-5 years prior to diagnosis, which means he developed his polyps and full blown cancer before the age of 50. Thats significant because the current cancer screening guidelines are that people should start getting checked for this type of cancer at the age of 50. Now I love my dad, but he was a procrastinator to the highest level and because of this he waited way too long to go to the doctor and ignored the signs his body was putting out (blood in his stool, change in poop habits, and unexplained abdominal cramps). If he had listened, the doctors may have caught it sooner and all the treatments we tried might have been successful.
Being truly my father's daughter, a few weeks ago when I saw blood on my poop (not on the toilet paper), I pretended I didn't and I ignored it. It must have been something I ate, its the stress, its psychosomatic - these are the things I told myself. Until it happened twice more over the next two weeks. At that point, I worked up the courage to talk to the dorkus husbandus about it. Ladies, you do not know love until you can openly ask your husband to come look at your poop and tell you if that is indeed blood coming off it. Yeah there was an immediate look of fear in his eyes. I could tell he was trying to mask it but it was there as plain as day for a few seconds. We made plans for me to talk with my doctor the next day and went to bed a little less bullet-proof that night.
Long story short, less than a week after dragging the dorkus husbandus in to view my poop, my doctor and the gastrointestinologist were concerned enough to warrant a look-see, which in my case means a colonoscopy. This means after not eating anything aside from clear liquids for 24 hours, I drink at least three liters of a saline bicarbonate based solution (in 3.5 hours) and then another 10 oz of Magnesium Citrate and don't go too far away from a bathroom. Next, I'll head down to the office and they'll give me some sleepy drugs in an IV and stick a camera tube in and see what the deal is. The good news is, if they do find any of those pesky pre-cancerous polyps they remove them right then and there. While I'm not looking forward to this at all, it must be done and then there will be solid food again!
