Here are some pictures from the last week. Kim and Crystal seem to be super busy right now. So Mom and Dad have been keeping Mal and I company. Thanks Mom and Dad! If you know me, you know I'm not a fan of being alone! So we have gone on some great Walks, ran erronds, or hung out in the back yard with Mommo and Poppo.



This weekend Mark, Mal and I went to our pal Ian's 2nd birthday party! Then Mommo and Poppo came over and took us to a new park! Mark and I also spent a ton of time cleaning! OOOHHH...AND Mom and Dad came over Friday night after Malachy went to bed so that Mark and I could go on a date! That was Great!

Kid for sale...

Mark goes to get his stent out on Thursday. Which is good news because it has become increasingly painful for him. He is actually in more pain npw and able to do much less then the first week after they put it in!? So we are looking forward to having it out and getting on with things.

The procedure is only like 20 minutes or so but it still ends up being a long day because he still has to go under general anesthisa and all that. That makes pre-op take a while and then in recovery they want to see you eat and go potty and all that good stuff. So I'm guessing it will be like a 6-8 hour day.

Mark would like me to go with him so I can hear what the doctor says. The doctors always come and talk to you when you are way to drugged up to remember any of it. Mark would also perfer me there because even though it is unlikely there is always a chance something can go wrong when they put you under. I would like to go with him because it seems wrong for him to have to be there alone! Also I want to hear what the Doctor says too!

However, I really have no one to watch Malachy at this point. With Kim working I have had to rely on Crystal a lot more and I don't feel like I can ask her again. Mom and Dad haven't been feeling up to spending that kind of time with Malachy either. So I'm not really sure what to do.
If anyone knows of some reliable babysitters that I can look into for this Thursday please let me know.

Thanks!

HaHa!

Crystal and I were chatting it up in the kitchen last Wednesday and we heard some commotion from the living room, upon further investigation this is what we found! Are they not to stinking cute! =)

Inquiring minds want to know...

Well anyhoo...to make a long story short Mark's doctor did not find the kidney stone. Boo! It is possible Mark had already passed it and it is possible it is hiding. The doctor will do x-rays in a few weeks to try and determine what happened.

To make a long story short the Doctor said no to the D.R. He really did everything he could to help make it a possibility but Mark is just in too much pain. The pain is really only when Mark urinates but the Doctor was like how are you going to avoid that!!? Especially in the D.R. where it is hot and humid, the doctor dosen't want Mark to get dehydrated trying to avoid urinating. So Mark is obviously disapointed but he is dealing with it, poor little guy.

The pain mostly comes from the stent which will need to be removed in a week or 2. The stent runs from the bladder to the kidney and is put in to avoid narrowing of the ureter. This will help stones pass and prevent scar tissue from closing the passage. However it hurts like a mother. It causes urine to back into the kidney and that hurts!

Poor Mark. I'm sure he will have more opportunitys for mission trips in the future but he is obviously disapointed. Thanks for your prayers!

Stress

WoW ! I'm sterssed! Kinda freaking out stressed. And in all the stress Mark and I totally forgot he had a side job this morning which sucks! Because we REALLY needed the money and it makes him look really bad to the company that hired him and we feel horrible it sucks all around, poor Mark!

Mark has kidney stone attacks for several months now and the Doctor implied it would be better to remove them before he leaves for the Dominican Republic on Thursday. The soonest he could get in for surgery was Tuesday so he will have the procedure done on Tuesday and we will hope to God there are no complications and he will feel well enough to fly to the Dominican for a week long serving trip on Thursday.

The procedure is called Ureteroscopic Stone Removal and is performed by inserting a catheter and retrieving the stone using a basket type deal. Which will obviously cause discomfort but the part that has me more concerned is that they leave a stent in to make sure the scar tissue dosen't close of any pathways. The stent is really confusing, someone told us that they have it tethered to a string and they remove it a week later. I also read somewhere they leave it in for several weeks. Appparently it is super uncomfortable. We also read that many people require 3-5 days of rest after the procedure and Mark will be in the Dominican within 3 days. I'm so worried about him but I'm also trying to be supportive because he wants to go. I'm just really scared for him.

After all of this I have to figure out how Malachy and I are going to do 5 days without him now that Kim is working. Crystal will be out of town most of the time Mark is gone as well. I don't know how I'm getting to work or will watch Malachy on the weekend or anything. But I will start dealing with that after tomorrow.

Please pray for Mark!

Yikes!

It took me 10 minutes just to get logged in! Ever since I switched to the new beta blogger it always give me problems...Grrrr!

Anyhoo...I thought I should do my weekly update before bed! =)

This was a good weekend. I feel like we did something important on Friday but I can't remember what it was. Probably going to the rec center. We have gone 5 times now I think and it feels like a big step. It is a lot of work just getting packed up and getting there with Malachy let alone the work out. I hope all the work pays off. It feels good to be doing something proactive about our health!

Saturday we went to a wedding! It was in Indianapolis and we car pooled with our friend Bill from work. The wedding was for Matt and Jamie. It was a fun day despite the lack of fazolis. We can blame Mark for that. It was nice to get to hang out with some of our work friends out side of the building! (and of course the best part was getting to celebrate Matt and Jamie's wedding! Yay for them!)

Malachy spent most of the day with Crystal, whom he adores! Then Saturday night Crystal and Corey bought me some clothes for Malachy! Super cute clothes! I know they are both tight on money and I'm sure had better things they could have spent their money on but they did it just to bless Malachy and I! For no reason at all other then to make us feel loved and bless us! And we do feel very loved it was so nice of them! And Malachy is in style! I will have to get pictures up soon!

Sunday I went to work and then we came home and worked on the yard a bunch...we did a good deal of that on Monday as well. =)

Today we went to the the rec center in the morning. Then Malachy and I went for a super long walk and adventure with Mommo and Poppo! We walked down by the rive boat casino down town. It was beautiful down there! Elgin is looking swanky lately. We got some lunch and Ice Cream on the way! Yummy! Malachy got to see the boat, the trains, ducks, construction workers and many other exciting things along the way. Then I came home and did the house work while Malachy napped. Malachy got up and we played outside with the neighbor kids some. When we came in Malachy and had I some dinner (Mark works tuesday evenings)I Got Malachy bathed and in bed and felt like super Mom!

It would be odd not to mention that we have had some challanges going on in the family this week as well. I have been keeping everything and everyone in my prayers and I have seen a lot of strength in everyone despite some challanges!

Lauren got a great job earlier this month which she starts soon, and her and Noah just got back from helping a friend move. Mom and Dad have been doing a lot of walking and are feeling good about that. =) Kim started her job this Monday! And I have not heard anything bad from my Doctor so I'm assuming I'm ready to start trying for baby 2 again very soon! =) Oh and really good news about Marks Mom! Her surgery last week on her foot went well and it apppears they got all her cancer out and she will not have to have more surgery! She is still struggling with walking from the surgey but time will help heal that! =)

I think that is all our updates! Much love to you all and check out Mama's blog for fun videos of Malachy and Guinness! =)