My David is so brave!!

CAUTION: This post does mention blood and a bit of gross stuff, so if you don't want to hear about it... or see it... don't read this one....

David has had a lump on his back all year, and we didn't notice it too much until it started hurting him and rubbing against his lower ribs in his back.  Over the past few months we have noticed it just getting slightly bigger and more sensitive.  So next up, we went to the doctor.  We found out David had a tumor, fatty lump, in his back.  Yeah, kinda gross, but also cool because our doctor said he would remove it to check and make sure it was okay and get rid of the pain.

So we still had to wait a month or two to get it taken out, but over Labor Day we scheduled the appointment.  I went in with David on the Friday before at noon, so that I could be there as well as drive him home.  We weren't sure how painful it would be and for how long.  So, first off, I think everyone was more concerned with little me actually WATCHING a bloody event... but I made it through it :)  I didn't watch, but sat to where I couldn't see.  Wish I could have held David's hand, but the scalpel and tools were everywhere!!

David was great though.  I was nervous enough for him.  We got in and our doctor was pretty silly since he was headed to fly out of town for Labor Day after our appointment.  He numbed up the spot and had David on his side while he proceeded to cut open and pull out the bump.  According to David it just felt weird to feel someone pulling at your insides, but he was pretty numbed up luckily.  After it was out, took like 10 min, Doc sewed him up with a few stitches and taped it up as well.  David was turning pretty white and I could see all the red gauze all over... he was losing blood definitely.  So, we had him lie down still while our doctor told us that it wasn't just a fatty tumor as we thought.  It was actually a bunch of blood vessels clot together.  No wonder it was hurting anyway.  And the blood coming out...  It was bigger, but the doctor had to pull it out rather than "how easy the fat would pop out" is what he told us.  It has been sent to the lab and David is all clear.  It looks small but it was pretty big inside of him...

We went home, David still white, and we both took a nap for like 3 hours.  So nice for a Friday afternoon!  And it was nice too to have the whole weekend to ourselves w/out anything we had to go to :)...  David was in more pain than we thought all weekend.  Most things you do requires your back so that was tough.  Even sitting in one place was hard after awhile.  He slept on his stomach, sat w/out backs, walked slowly, couldn't lift anything, reach high, etc.  Poor guy, but he really didn't complain at all, I could tell he was in pain, but he's just not a complainer.  (unlike me totally!!)  But, we made it through with movies, ice cream, and lots of sleep for him.  The stitches came out a week later and the tissue is finally healing.

We're glad its over but at the same time, it was a fun weekend together all the time and I loved caring for my David.  First of many futures for me.  He's already taken care of me lots for my many colds, sicknesses, sore legs, feet, etc.  Finally it was my turn.  Glad you're okay David!

Our boating trip 2010

Before it got cold, well actually it was a bit cold this day... end of August 2010.

We went BOATING!!!!  Yeah baby :) :)  David kept in contact with an old bishopric member who took us boating last year and said we could go again last year.  Well, we put together a list of those we'd like to see and bring with us again.  David really put it all together and organized it all... for me... for us.  I just needed to be on a boat at some point this year - and I think David was just as excited.

We had our good friends from the singles ward come with since they knew Bro. Linton as well.  He's just such an amazing man...  he's a dentist, our example of someone we'd like to be like someday.  We met him at the dock and he took us out all day despite the wind.  We loved it SO MUCH!!  I miss those singles ward activities I have to be honest, I mean big group boating activities, dancing, etc, so this was so much fun.  Here are some of the pictures, yes it was crazy windy - my hair..haha.

And I'm so proud, I sort of made sure David would get to wakeboard - and guess what??? He got up!!  He didn't feel what it was like last year, but he did it this year!  And then I did tubing with him as his reward since I'm so afraid of them.  Screamed the whole time and laughed too as everyone laughed with us.  We're going to have many more years of this stuff for sure!  We're going to need to buy a boat one day when we're rich.. such a dream huh?  We'll take anyone out who wants to go with us though :)

What the???

What did our freezer do to our ice?  Yes, it's totally up in the air and frozen like that.  We have aliens in our freezer, right?  When we saw this, I just laughed and laughed.

Guess who came to visit???

MY ROOMMATES!!!!  I've been looking forward to this weekend for months!  Actually since Courtney didn't make it to my wedding when the weather wouldn't let her get on a plane.....


It was a girls weekend on August 20th, and I dragged David (actually he came on his own free will and wanted to meet my friends) to some of it.  Yay!!!  We went out to eat a bit - Cafe Rio and Burgers and Frozen Custard, we stayed up late chatting at Megans (everyone but me spent the night)... and we had a bon-fire too on Saturday night with some other good friends still in the SLC area.  We also had some fun singing while Courtney played - some past times we did a lot - although we didn't break out and dance like we used to?? Hmm..  The first night I also set up Courtney with a good friend of David (and me) from our old ward.  It may have been more of a fun date for us to have our friends and each other at dinner, golf, and ice cream.  But I had thought of it since before our wedding so it was fun to actually have them let us set them up.  Even though they live on other sides of the US.  (who knows what could have happened right??)  Sarah and Courtney were so amazing to fly and visit me (and Megan :) ).  It was a total blast to chat with some of my favorite girls.  I've loved having it just be my husband and me, but some girl time was definitely FUN!  Thanks girls for visiting!!!

and of course, one of the cute Clarks :)

Work Play Day

David and I made it to LAGOON this year!! We went last year too - yeah we already have our traditions I guess :) But this year we weren't planning to go. BUT.... I've been in a committee at work to plan our Summer Work BBQ, and finally they approved us to go to Lagoon. It was going to be a BBQ outside our office or at a small golf course that wouldn't fit our 1500 family members. Well, I was excited! David and I left work early that Friday and we did rides from 3-6pm. That's about all you need when you have a free pass right? I mean, if it wasn't so hot that day I think I could have gone up and down the drop and lift off one a thousand times and still been scared and screamed and excited each time. But, it was really hot, I complained as usual, and we got an Icee and then took a break for a BBQ with our co-workers at the picnic area. It was actually fun to see co-workers and have David there and just a relaxed family atmosphere. I forgot to mention that this day was a 2 for 1 day at Lagoon and the last weekend before school - so the park was to the max! Really, we could have picked a better day so that we didn't wait in 1.5 hour lines for little rides! But, it was fun and quick and more memories....  Here was our one picture at the swings, another favorite. We also did the rollie coasties and I got a bit dizzy from some of them - I couldn't believe it since I love rollercoasters so much!

Sushi Anniversary

On our 6 month anniversary I was still canker-sick and at the doctors.  And our 6 month also meant 1 year from when I first introduced David to sushi!!  So, we had to go back.  We plan to get sushi every so often since it's one of our favorites.  Well, since I was sick, we went after I recovered and could actually taste the sushi.  We got the private room thing again and had lots of FUN and lots of good FOOD.  Here's us at our Sushi spot.  Awe...  Happy 6 months to us!!

Strep or Stress??

This is a GREAT story.  At least I think so.... but how to tell it?.


We moved 8/7/2010.  I noticed there was a HUGE canker on my inside lip.  So Sunday I swished with all the different medicines and tricks.  Sunday the 8th, my throat was hurting and seemed red.  After church we looked and saw a few white spots. !!!  What?  So, I just tried to ignore the throat thing, and Monday went to work.  By Tuesday morning my throat was really hurting with like 3-4 white spots on my uvula (hangy ball thing in the back) as well as a few surrounding it.  I happened to talk to a few family members on the way to work and they said - Andrea, that totally could be Strep and you are infecting everyone!!!  So, I got to work, looked at strep pictures on-line (totally gross) and decided to call my Uncle Dr. Dave.  I got his machine so then I called my doctor's office, described my throat and they suggested an urgent care and to get out of work where there are others I could infect.  So, I drove to the urgent care but Dr. Dave called as I was walking in, and decided to prescribe me some Penicillin and a canker pill for the canker that was still on my lip even!  Well, I went home, slept, etc.  My head hurt, body ached, and I needed sleep.  I watched movies and did work from home both Tuesday and Wednesday.  David and I still had active evenings - we went to the canyon and got eaten alive by bugs, and then also visited his family who was in town (penicillin had been in my system for awhile right?)...  Well Thursday came, I talked to Dr. Dave who was so sweet and concerned to check up on me.  I told him that the spots were still there, that I barely could eat and that there were more spots appearing all through my back throat!!!  Well, he said I should have someone look at it.  And honestly let me tell you it sure hurt to eat, to swallow, drink!  I tried orange juice and V8 fusion to give me some vitamin C and that stung so bad.  Even water hurt.  So food was most hard and I just tried to get it down.  I was starving but it wasn't worth it.  So, David came with me to the Urgent care that night.  They advised that since I had taken penicillin, that the strep wouldn't show up on a strep test.  I didn't care, I just needed someone to look at it - I was in pain!!!  Our Dr. came in, had me open up my mouth, and took his light shining it all around my mouth.  His only words were "Oh my gosh!!".  He proceeded after he was done to tell me that I didn't have strep... I had CANKERS!!  Like 20+ all over my throat, uvula, and moving up the roof of my mouth.  What???  Yeah I see those white spots but didn't know it was cankers.... He said he had NEVER seen that many at one time and in one location.  Yeah, that was comforting huh?  So, there's not a cure for cankers, you just have to wait them out.  But let me tell you I was done.  And my nice doctor whipped up a concoction to help - he left and brought back this pink stuff to swish around for 2 min.  David timed me and about 1 minute into it my whole mouth started getting numb.  Luckily the fluid didn't come out and I didn't swallow it - it was close - I wasn't prepared for the numbness.  Well, it worked!  I couldn't talk properly - it felt like I was just at the dentist's office - but I also couldn't feel the pain!!!  Sweet.  So he gave us a prescription that Target whipped up for us and we went and bought.  It's like a 16oz bottle and I was worried that my little tablespoons would run out since I just kept drinking it.  But I still have more than 3/4 and I don't have cankers now.  David has tried it and given it to visitors too, he just thinks the effect of numb mouth is funny, as it kind of is.  There's some chemicals that they use for numbing, can't think of them - but definitely stuff that you don't want to drink or they'll hurt your heart.  But it helped and by that weekend I was pretty much cured!! 


So really, we asked what could cause those cankers and the doctor said that besides a huge reaction to something (he doubted) - the cause was STRESS.  Yep.  Who knew?  Okay, so maybe I did know but didn't really know.  David said he knew I was stressed.  It all made sense now though my body was tired and trying to tell me to stop worrying and all that other stuff.  It was work related, moving related, and a whole lot more...  Work probably was the main cause though.
I know just a week or two ago I said work was GREAT with the stress - I finally hit my breaking point of being "Overwhelmed". I have SO many projects that I can't do my regular work. And now we're setting new goals and projects for the 2nd half of 2010. I just shut-down and couldn't contribute anymore. I came home and made a list of all that I've been doing. The trainings take about 20 hours a week, the fair we're planning takes about 10, the benefits issues take 10, new hires take about 10, database about 8, ....up to more than 60 hours per week!! No wonder I'm behind!!! I've also learned something about myself - I won't work at home! Nope, that's not for me. I'll give my 40 hours, but I just can't do more than staying late a few times. Which makes me more behind. I had a one-on-one with my boss and she said she had no idea that I was overwhelmed and that I didn't show it at all. Yeah, so we took at least one project off and now that the trainings are almost over with - I think I'm going to be a lot better. Just these last couple days I've gotten caught up a lot. Just glad that even though I felt like quitting one day - I figured out how to handle it and am doing a lot better :)

So, if you have a busy work and home life and start seeing spots in your mouth, remember that there are other options besides strep!!  Wish I had a picture of it, we tried but getting a camera to focus in a huge dark mouth hole is a bit difficult, just use your imagination I guess....