It is hard having such a gorgeous family :)

It is hard having such a gorgeous family :)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009

Summer Summer Summertime....

We love summer time weather.. it was a gorgeous day outside without a cloud in the sky and Cambree and I decided to enjoy it...
She took a nice snooze with her favorite new hat!
She looooves the soaking up the rays!
I wish everyday could be like this..

Feathers for three...

For my 30th birthday (yeah.. I know.. 30!) I bought this cuuute feather headband... it screamed Party! Fun! Not in the least 30!
So what better than to try my hip headband out on my baby girl
And Sissy.. of course! I think my headbands a hit with everyone!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

"Rare"... was all he said!

So anyone who knows anything about me knows one simple fact... I have horrible knees! I started having knee pains when I was very very young. I remember telling my mom how much they hurt and I was like six years old. Of course there was this incident... I was six and we were out on the ski slopes. About all I remember is that I was flying down the slope and it ended up in a horrible crash at the bottom. I hurt both knees pretty bad and had to be carried around everywhere!! Needless to say I hated skiing every since but that is another story for a different time that includes dad tying a rope from me to him next time we tried skiing.

So yeah I've always had knee problems. Well then my brother started having knee issues and my mom finally took him to an orthopedic surgeon Doctor Pepper Murray. Little did we know then that Pepper would play a big factor in our lives. Well ended up Shaun has some plicka in his knee that needed to be removed and not soon after that I ended up seeing the good doctor myself and soon enough I was being scheduled for the first of many surgeries.

Well of course he found plicka in my knee as well. Plicka is a band of tissue we are all born with. In most people it sloughs off and goes away as you grow. In some people it doesn't and the band grows tighter and tighter around the joint and it causes pain and restricts movement. Well he found and removed plicka in my knee as well as arthritis. Yeah arthritis already! I was only probably 20 at the time. Well over the next ten years I've had seven knee surgeries. I had plicka grown back twice, I had a knee cap that wasn't tracking and was off 40 degrees.. A few surgeries ago he informed my that the cartilage in my knee was deteriorating and by the time I was 40 I was looking at a knee replacement in both knees. That was devastating to hear and I remembe crying in the recovery room.

So yesterday I went in for surgery number seven and when I woke up in recovery the first thing I asked my mom was the same question I always asked her first.... what did he find. I died when she told me. Of course he scaped away the arthritis, cleaned up the cartilage but he found that for a THIRD TIME the plicka had grown BACK!!!!! I said three times? I asked her what Dr. Murray had said about it and all Dr. Murray said (mind you he is a man of few words) is "rare!" That about sums up my family and the crazy things that happen to us... rare!

Well not long after as they are putting oxygen on me because I'm not breathing well.. Dr. Murray's PA came in to talk to me. He told me about the plicka growing back a third time and told me... He said about 5 people a year come in with plicka that has grown back a second time.... I was the FIRST PERSON he has ever seen where the plicka has grown back a third time!!! Yeah I shouldn't have been surprised!!!! I'm pretty sure it isn't normal to have seven knee surgeries and be told in your twenties that you are looking at a knee replacement in a few years!

Anyway so now I am upstairs doing the same drill. Ice on my knee.. knee elevated... and trying not to focus on the pain! Thank heavens for Shauns lap top!! Well after one c-section, and two knee surgeries.. I'm ready to head back to England in less than a month and join my husband!!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hannah Montana!!

Okay okay okay.... so I've never been an actual fan of that Hannah Montana show... I mean don't get me wrong, when there is nothing on, I'll totally sit down and watch an episode or three... and yeah I might have watched a marathon before on a boring day but yeah its not like I tune in faithfully! So there I was ... watching tv when a preview came on for her movie and I just knew it was a must see!! So tonight KK, Shaun, and I went.... and as I suspected.. I LOVED IT! It was seriously so goooood! I mean is it safe for someone over twelve to admit they liked the show?

Anyway thats not the real story of the night.. oh yes my friends that came later. So after the killer movie I was like... we have GOT to go pick up the soundtrack! Seriously, again... I never really thought Mylie Cyrus was like that great of a singer but her new song "The Climb" gave me goosebumps when she sang it in the movie... or maybe it was because she was brave enough to finally take off her blonde wig and just be Mylie.....okay I'm getting off track (and you'll have had to see the movie to understand why i said that!).... so yeah we hit up Target and I ran.... actually ran to the cds. Mind you my knee is NOT healed up well enough for me to be running yet so after the run I was hobbling a bit....

So I get to the place it is suppose to be and...and ...... they were all gone! Seriously sold out! So I was like.... onto Wal-Mart! I know.... who shops at Wal-Mart right? (Jk) So we hop back in the car and we cruise to Wal-Mart. I get out of the car and decide running is out, and casually walk in... but it was a fast paced walk. So we get back to the cds and......... gone! They were ALL gone! I'm like what the heck.... so we check like all over and seriously nothing and I'm starting to get really sad...... until.......I see Kelly reach for something and my eyes get big and I see the best thing these eyes have seen in a while........THE LAST HANNAH MONTANA --THE MOVIE CD!!! You cannot imagine my joy! I started hyperventalating my sister said and I was going on and on about how I couldn't believe she got the last cd, and how great it was, and how if she let me have it they could both burn it to their iPods and I'm just going on and on... and I clutch the cd stand to help support my hyperventalating... and thats when I noticed..........this hot boy standing RIGHT behind me listening to EVERY WORD I was saying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omgosh I was sooo embarrased. No wonder my sister quickly handed me the cd without a fight (i mean she wanted it too people)..... no wonder my brother quietly walked away like he didn't know...... as i was going on and on and on and ON.... this guy was standing there listening to me and was probably wondering if I was a special needs kid or something!

So I'm like why didn't you guys tell me he was right there?! Meanwhile my sister is laughing SO hard that she um.... has an "accident".... oopsy don't tell her I told you that. So I'm dying, KK's laughing, and Shaun is no where to be found! So Kelly tells me she notices this guy walking down the isle as I'm going on and he actually stops and listens and Kelly is just so embarrassed cause she is holding the cd and he can see its Hannah Montana and we are clearly NOT twelve....and I'm one step away from needing to blow into a paper bag to calm down.....man I was totally dying later!!!!!!! But it was well worth it... KK snagged me the very last cd in the store and I must say it was well worth it!!

-----The end------

Friday, April 10, 2009

Cambree and Tabby....

Hi guys... this is my best friend Tabby.... my Nana Barbara gave it to me... we love her..
I love to snuggle with Tabby at night...
Tabby and I like to stretch out... comfy cozy....
Two bunnies... one bed!!
Mama made us snuggle with the huuuuge cadbury easter egg daddy sent us.. since we already brushed she wouldn't let us have any :( Parents!
Just as I was getting ready for bed Princess Piggy came to play..
Then my Aunt KK made me go for a ride... I was really scared!! Next time Aunt KK should have to ride it!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cambree looooves Spring...

Ahh spring time has come ....
Time to take a nap in the sweet sweet sunshine
A little indoor napping with the easter bunny rabbit!
Soooooo big!
Enough pictures mom, I wanna snooze....
Whispering secrets to her best friend.... don't listen in mom!
Sissy joins in...
All of Cambree's favorite friends together for a play date outside..
I love my rabbit....
Happy Easter everyone!!! xoxox

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

And this surgery makes number 6....

So there I was ... driving with my mom to the Mountain Orthopedic Surgical Center for surgery number six on my knees. I've always had problems with my knees. Every since I was like six I remember complaining about knee pain and not being able to walk up the stairs. My first surgery was probably over ten years ago. He removed what is called plicka from my right knee. Then he had to go in and remove plicka from my left knee. Next surgery was a bi-lateral release on my knees. He ended up doing both knees at once for this. The reason for the this surgery was because my knee cap wasn't tracking right. When I bend my knee, my knee cap wasn't closing to 40 degree's. This was probably the most painful surgery. I ended up staying in the hospital overnight, going to therapy and having it take a long time to heal. Of course my arthritis was bad in my knee's too so he was constantly scrapping that away. Well then around my fourth knee surgery he discovered the cartilage in my knee was deteriorating. He likened it to tread on a tire that just comes off. He said based on how much cartilage was already gone, that I was looking at knee replacements on both knee's by 40. This was crushing news to me. Here I was in my twenties being told I had not one but two knee replacements to look forward to.

Back to the present day... it was freezing outside on the drive to the surgical center and I was starting to freak out. You would think since I just had a c-section two months ago I wouldn't be so scared ... I mean if I can handle my stomach being cut wide open I could handle this surgery that I've done five previous times and yet I was still nervous.

So we get there and I check in and the nurses got a good chuckle about the last time I was there for surgery and found out I was pregnant. Everyones fingers were crossed this time when they ran my urine test. YAY, it came back negative and things were good to proceed. The bad news was Dr. Murray had a shoulder surgery ahead of me still so we had about an hour and a half wait.... great... not this again.. me being starved to death waiting around for surgery.

Well since I had a long wait ahead of me they were nice enough to let me pick out a movie to watch. This was something new they offered and it was greatly appreciated. I picked Saints and Soldiers and had a nice time watching it mostly because it kept my mind off of what was about to come. What I didn't like was that I could hear the kid a few curtains down watching Transformers lol. It was humerous to watch people walking by in the short gowns though.... I mean the surgical gowns looked like mini skirts on some of those men. lol!

Well around 2:30pm it was go time!!!! Okay my problem with surgeries is this.... I'm afraid once they knock me out that I will wake up halfway into the surgery and feel everything. . Fluke things happen all the time. Haven't you ever seen that movie Awake? The same thing happened to him... Well last time I was having surgery I told the anathesialogist this as he was wheeling me back and he said ... he wouldn't worry about that so much as not waking up at all.... .greeeeat words of encouragement lol.

The worst part is getting wheeled in and looking up at the bright spotlight they put you under... that just gets my anxiety going. I hate waiting to fall asleep and hoping I stay asleep. Well he put the oxygen on me, told me good night, and I hoped for the best lol. Is it just me or is it the weirdest feeling to wake up in recovery almost as if the whole surgery didn't happen. Well I woke up in pain and when they started pushing the pain med it led to heartburn. Yeah, me and my hideous heartburn. They even had me drink some stuff to prevent heartburn before surgery and I still got it.

Well I waited for my mom to come back in recovery to tell me everything Dr. Murray said. Well she said he really felt bad and told her my knee was going awfully fast. (As in the cartilage) This made me cry. I just can't believe my knees have to be this bad at my age. Then Dr. Murray came in and told me the same thing and that I had many more surgeries to come. Including my left knee that I need to get done asap.

Now the thing I really hate about this whole thing, is that unless you have actually gone through knee pain... you really have no idea the extent of the pain you live with day to day. It is truly horrible not to be able to walk up stairs without clutching onto the railing to help pull you up. It only takes about 1o minutes sitting in the backseat of a car before the horrible pain sets in. It just really limits a lot of stuff you can do without pain.

Anyway its Day 2, and I have my knee propped up on the bed watching Lifetime lol. Good times with not so good knees lol!

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England or Bust..

The Fabulous Christensens