My blog: 2010 in review

The stats monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how my blog did in 2010, and here’s a summary of my overall blog health:

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. My blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2010. That’s about 9 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 74 new posts, growing the total archive of my blog to 168 posts. There were 246 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 283mb. That’s about 5 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was April 22nd with 40 views. The most popular post that day was When your three year old stops napping.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were bananabearandbophie.blogspot.com, mail.yahoo.com, facebook.com, blogger.com, and kiddycrafts.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for spring books for preschoolers, 3 year old not napping, sleeping kids, sleeping on the floor, and no soul left behind.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

When your three year old stops napping January 2008
2 comments

2

Preschool Books for Spring! April 2008
1 comment

3

What “Select Comfort Number” is this? June 2009

4

Viewing Sesame Street: The body at COSI December 2008
1 comment

5

Motivating kids to do extra schoolwork January 2010

Looking back and laughing

Yesterday, I was cleaning out a drawer in my nightstand, and I found six medicine bottles for prescriptions I had been given when I was sick and bed-ridden almost three years ago.  I found bottles of Levsin, Lomotil, Phenergan,  Prometrium, Reglan, Zofran, and other pills.

Those days were miserable – I was sick with gastroparesis and severe gastritis, and unable to eat much of anything for months.  I spent so much time in bed, I developed a bed sore on my right hip.  I lost 25 lbs, and could eat nothing more than Ensure, white rice and Jell-o.  Finally, after several weeks, I was able to tolerate some protein – fat free ham.  We always bought our ham from Meijer, and the brand name they sold was John Morrell Ham.  I spent a couple of months eating a lot of  John Morrell Ham.

Once, during that time, my husband made a comment about John Morrell.  I said, “John Morrell – that name sounds familiar.  Who is John Morrell?”

He replied, “The only man who spends more time inside my wife than I do.”

 

Breast Lump

“The radiologist wants to speak to you.”

I was really surprised when I heard those words.  I’m 36 years old, and two months ago, I discovered a breast lump.  Breast lumps are rarely cancerous at my age.  In fact, my doctor told me that the lump is most likely to be a cyst or a fibroid, but to get it checked out right away “just in case”. 

However, the radiologist thought it was cancer.  He showed me my breast images (I had a mammography and an ultrasound done that morning), and he said that there was “both good news and bad news”.  He told me my lump was definitely not a cyst, because it wasn’t fluid-filled.  He showed me my images, and said that the good news was that the lump appeared to have a “grey beard” or a “grey shadow” on the ultrasound.  That was good – it is characteristic of a fibroid (not cancer).  However, fibroids should be almond-shaped, and mine is not.  Therefore, he insisted that I get the lump biopsied by a breast surgeon immediately.  In fact, the nurses wouldn’t allow me to leave until the appointment was scheduled!

However, the radiologist assured me not to worry too much.  Since the lump was small, he was encouraged – cancer or not.

Luckily, my breast surgeon was so kind and helpful.  When I first met her, the first thing she said to me was, “I’ve reviewed your films.  Your radiologist thinks this is cancer, but I’m confident that it is just a fibroid.”  She explained that although fibroids are almost always almond-shaped, active fibroids are not.  Given the amount of pain I’ve been having (the lump hurt so much that it would wake me up in the middle of the night!), she expected that it was an active fibroid and not cancer. 

My breast surgeon suggested taking Evening Primose Oil capsules to help relieve the pain associated with my breast lump (The lump doesn’t hurt all  the time, just mid-month when I’m ovulating).  However, she said it would take several weeks to improve noticeably. 

She also thought that she could remove the entire lump when she biopsied it, and she told me the biopsy wouldn’t hurt at all past the initial shot to numb the area.  She was wrong about that.  The lump is very close to my nipple, and the procedure was worse than childbirth (and I’ve had two unmedicated childbirths – one was even a home birth!).  She gave me 3 injections to numb the area, but it did nothing for my pain.  I was in and out of the doctor’s office in less than an hour, but the pain made it seem much longer. 

At follow-up, the doctor confirmed that I did not have breast cancer, simply a very active fibroid.  She was shocked when she saw my breast.  The entire breast had turned purple and blue from the procedure.  She said that she expected a bruise the size of a quarter!  However, she said that excessive bruising from the biopsy could actually be a good thing.  Since she was only able to remove half of the fibroid during the biopsy, she was initially worried that my lump would continue to cause me pain.  However, since I have experienced so much bruising, she said that the blood might “clean up” the remaining fibroid as the area healed. 

The lump felt bigger than ever after the biopsy, but that was just blood from the procedure.  Eventually, the lump and the bruising went away (it took more than a month for all the bruising to disappear). 

Now, I’m lump-free and pain-free, so all is well.  But, it was a very stressful two months!

Update on my Health

I haven’t posted anything until now on my health, but since I have so many inquiries as to how I am doing, I thought I might as well….

Up until last February, I was a very healthy woman who ate well, exercised reguarly, and generally took good care of herself.  However, at the beginning of February, things changed dramatically.  I got sick and couldn’t eat anything.  I lost 18 lbs (and I’m thin to begin with), and spent almost all of February, March and April in bed.  One friend said I looked like a “walking corpse”.  I was unable to care for my children and had to hire someone to help out.  After 6 trips to the e.r. and four hospital stays, I was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a hiatel herna, and gastritis.

Gastroparesis is when the stomach stops working.  Basically, food would enter my stomach and stay there for hours.  The gastritis and hiatel hernia were believed to be caused by the gastroparesis (having old food sit around in your stomach for hours isn’t such a good thing).

The most common cause of gastroparesis is diabetes, which I do not have.  There are several other causes of gastroparesis, but I didn’t have any of those either.  My gastroparesis was judged to be the result of the flu.  I guess post-viral gastroparesis isn’t all that uncommon.

I was given lots of medication to help my condition.  At one point, I was popping 11 pills a day.  I also was unable to eat much of anything.  For weeks, I ate nothing but plain white rice, jello, and Ensure.

However, I had another upper endoscopy done in November.  The results were very encouraging.  My gastritis is getting better, I still have the hiatel hernia,and I still have to stay on the gastroparesis diet (I can only eat about ten foods that don’t upset my stomach).  My GI doctor biopsied something, but I think that turned out fine.

All in all, the doctor was really very positive, and said that the inflammation in my stomach is starting to heal, and it isn’t as bad as it was in March.  He even suggested I try decreasing my meds some more.  I’m now down to only two pills a day!  What a change!  He says I should be eating normal foods soon, probably next summer!

Until then, however, I have to stay on the gastroparesis diet.  That means no foods with fiber, fat, or any kind of seasoning or spice.  Fats and fiber slow down the stomach, and my stomach is slow enough as it is.  Anything acidic (like tomatoes and OJ) is also out, as well as things that are hard to digest (nuts, berries, anything with seeds or skins).  All desserts (especially chocolate) are out too.

I am so thankful for all my friends and family who have helped me out.  I especially appreciate all the prayers, Masses, meals, babysitting, rides, gifts, and help everyone has given me.  I don’t know what I would do without everyone’s help and support.  Thank you!!

“Remember that the present day is given to you in order to gain the future day of eternity”  St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)