remainder of vacation and prayer request

Hello all -man am I terrible at updating this thing, I promise I'll try to get better - k?

I'll start with the story to the end of our vacation which was in our last post and have a favor to ask at the end.

On July 5th and 6th, we spent time with my Anderson side of the family, to catch up but also for a specific reason. I have 2 cousins (brother & sister) that are living in Colorado, they are both expecting their first baby this fall. My cousin Heather and her husband Dustin are due in early November and cousin Jeff and his wife Kelly are due in early October. They were home to MN to visit family, so a double baby shower was planned while they were here - so that event is what rounded out our week vacation.

22 of us, I believe, took in a Twins game on Saturday night, the 5th and then met again for the baby shower on Sunday before heading back home. We had a great time just visiting with family, but specifically with the cousins since we don't see them as often as we'd like and talking to them about their impending parenthood.

This is a picture of as many cousins that were able to make it to the shower. We're missing 3 of our cousins that live in California, but the other 6 of us were there with our families.


From left to right (back couple rows of adults): Jeff Haanen (cousin), Dustin Camping, Heather Camping (cousin), James holding Brady, Kelly Haanen, me, Susan Miller (cousin), Scott Wittnebel (cousin), Nikki Wittnebel, Brad Anderson (my brother) holding a sleeping son Dylan, Sara Anderson


From left to right (kids in front): Ben & Nicholas (sons of Susan), Hannah (daughter of Nikki) and Grant (son of Brad & Sara)

The kids are a little less clothed because it was very hot and humid in Plymouth that day and the sprinkler was going full blast :) It was a great day and so excited for them!


Now, on a heavier note - I want to ask for any extra prayers. My aunt (mom to these 2 that are expecting) informed me today that Heather was hit by a car yesterday. She and Dustin were walking through Estes Park, CO and were crossing the street when the car that was waiting for them to cross was rear-ended and hit Heather. She was tossed about 5 feet, fortunately never lost consciousness but was taken to the ER to get checked out. Her right wrist is broken and left knee in a great deal of pain. She was having an MRI on her knee today to see what the damage is, but I haven't yet heard. The best news: baby is fine. Obviously, we pray that it remains that way. Heather may have a tough road ahead in the immediate future, but can recover from physical injury - it will just take time. Thank you for including my family in your prayers!

well - this post could be long! We were on vacation this past week 6/30-7/4 and of course packed a decent amount of events into our days. We started on Tuesday 7/1/08 at a Twins/Tigers game, which of course the Twins were victorious. :) James' aunt & uncle, Jim & Joan drove up from Zumbrota, MN to join us for the game. Always a good time. Joan was surprised at how well Brady sat for 3 hours - James and I were equally impressed!

We stayed Tuesday night at James' cousins place in Eagan, MN. We love staying there, they truly seem to uphold the name "hotel Wood" - and it's fun for Brady to have kids to play with. Jeremy & Kelly have 3 children, Tyler (13), Alexis (4) and Addison (1). Lexi sure loves when Brady comes and she treats him so well, even helped me give him a bath.

Wednesday we headed for the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN - we were a little concerned with how Brady might do since he doesn't seem to like even cats & dogs. The fish seemed to be a favorite for him, he pressed his nose to the plexi glass watching the dolphins swim around for awhile, but couldn't seem to get closer than 5 feet to any animal that wasn't in water. We don't understand it . . . but why should we, right? :) My parents took me nearly every summer and it has changed, but not enough where it didn't bring back very fond memories - and I still LOVE the zoo!

After Brady taking pretty well to the dolphins as you see at left, we decided to watch the actual dolphin show before leaving. I cracked up hard when I captured Brady's face as he watched the dolphins jump out of the water during the show. I just can't believe that I timed it right. Check this out!

After the zoo, we headed to Zumbrota, MN, to James' uncle Gary & aunt Alyce's farm to stay Wednesday and Thursday nights. We were again back to our trouble with how Brady was going to take to the animals. He could pick from dogs, cats, cows and birds. We tried to teach him to say "hi" and "bye" to each animal, hoping to curb some of his fear. I don't know that we really succeeded with that approach because he would still scream when at the level of the animal. Sometimes to the point that he didn't like James or I even petting any particular animal. He really didn't seem to like when I sat in the driveway with the 13 cats and kittens as they crawled all over me. So protective at such a young age! Gary & Alyce's grandson Garrett did his best in being very patient with Brady to encourage him to pet a rooster . . . pointing at it was the closest Brady got . . . bless Garrett, he tried!

Thursday we visited with another cousin of James' in Zumbrota before picking up his grandparents for lunch at the Coffee Mill in downtown Zumbrota. Grandma Violet's health has been failing in the past year, so we really wanted to make a point of spending time with her - quite honestly was a large piece of where we chose to spend our vacation. We returned to their home after a yummy lunch to just sit and visit for awhile. It was a beautiful afternoon to sit on their deck, plus Brady had a fabulous time watching the traffic go by since grandma & grandpa live on highway 52 to Rochester, MN.

Early Friday morning we returned to Eagan for a 4th of July parade. It was quite toasty sitting out there - I believe it was near 90 degrees by the conclusion of the parade about noon. It dawned on us that Brady doesn't get to watch many parades, so excited to see his reactions. The only parade he annually attends is Loco Daze in Dilworth, but with Grandpa Jerry in charge, we don't get "down time" to actually watch the parade. I lost count after about 30 minutes of how many cars and trucks Brady pointed out, but overall seemed to really like the parade. He leaned forward out of my lap many times to see what was coming next. He liked the "wow-wow" trucks (fire engines to the rest of us), but wasn't a fan of the load horn when they were sitting right in front of us.

Friday afternoon, Kelly (cousin Jeremy's wife) and I took Brady and her 2 girls to McDonald's for lunch and then put them all down for naps while the guys went golfing. I think this was only the 2nd time out this summer for James, but I think he enjoyed himself - don't know that he thinks he did all too well, but that's another story. The evening brought us to the Mendakota Country Club (where Jeremy & Kelly are members) for a buffet dinner, games for the kids, horse rides, bouncy house, petting zoo and fireworks at dusk. It was a beautiful evening to be outside, not even much bother from the mosquitos - I'm guessing the club had recently sprayed in preparation for the night. We lined up along the first tee awaiting the fireworks - Brady loving the sparklers and little fireworks that were going off around us. He even got in to the "oohs" and "aahs" that are appropriate for fireworks. So 10:15pm comes and the "real" fireworks start . . . we think he liked them, but had to laugh at the manner in which he enjoyed them . . . check out the picture at left to see how Brady watched the fireworks that night - we can't figure out if they were a little too bright or it was the noise or a combination of both - too funny!

not too shabby if I do say so myself :) Didn't know I had a "fireworks" setting on our camera until I needed to have one!

Our vacation wrapped with some time with my family on the 5th & 6th, but I don't have any of those pictures so that will have to be a different post when I get those pictures on the computer.

Father's Day

We had a fun Father's Day - we had been in Minneapolis most of the weekend for a wedding, but drove back early Sunday to meet my parents and grandma for lunch. This is Brady helping James "open" his Father's Day present - it's a framed picture of Wrigley field in Chicago. James has always wanted some framed fields, so Brady & I thought this would be perfect.



The picture at right is Brady sitting between Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Jane at Johnny Carino's for lunch - I couldn't get him to make a good "cheese" with Grandma & Grandpa in the picture - so I guess we'll take this one :) Unfortunately my brother and his family weren't able to join us, as our nephew Grant was not feeling so well that day.



This picture was our best attempt at a picture of Brady with James for Father's Day - didn't turn out too bad if I do say so myself! I've gotten WAY too good at these "self-portraits". Brady really loves seeing his picture on the digital camera once it's taken, so it's sometime hard to get him in front of it first. At least we're all smiling . . .

Hope all you dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day!

And - as evidence that I'm getting too good at self-portraits. This is pretty good and cute if I say so myself . . . although I may be just a smidge biased :) The self-portrait is the only way I get in the picture most times, but if any turn out this well - I certainly need to continue!

Good news - our brother-in-law Jeff got to return home (finally) from Mayo Clinic last week. He has some pretty strict at-home instructions and care to follow but at least he gets to be at home instead of 11 hours away, across 2 states!

That's about it for now - still waiting for spring or summer to arrive weather-wise - Brady still has to wear his stocking hat when he comes to watch James & I play softball and it's JUNE! Oh well, what do you do.

Brady's good - picking up more and more words and we're actually starting to understand what he's trying to say. Literally tries to repeat most things we say . . . so far, so good :) Still can't believe he's almost 2 - the same question of "where does time go!"

On a silly side note - I'm very happy to report that 2 weeks ago, I hit my first true homerun with my women's softball team. It was actually over the fence in dead center - MAN that felt great! Have to say - I really want to have that feeling again, it was so fun!

That about wraps it up for now - will keep you posted with Mitchell life as it comes.

I'm finally going to get some pictures on here like I had promised - just had some time to transfer my digital pics to the computer - so take a peek if you want and have the time - thanks!

The pictures on the left was taken the weekend before Memorial Day, so Brady was a couple days shy of being 22 months old - I love the big grin and that he's learned how to smile for me when I say "cheese". The picture on the right is just yesterday - again, still good with that cheese. Just a couple of my favorite pics

test results

Hello all - got my test results - my once overactive thyroid is now not doing enough :) How's that? Well, my endocrinology doctor said that sometimes the radioactive iodine treatment works a little too well - which is what happened. My T4 level (which is the one that started all of this at 3.8) is now at 0.4 and is supposed to be no lower than 0.7 - so just barely under. So now, and hopefully briefly, I am hypothyroid. I am to take a medication called Synthroid for 3 months to put it back in the normal range and see my primary care doctor in the beginning of August where she'll order another blood test to be sure this Synthroid medication has been working.

On another note - asking for your thoughts and prayers. Our brother-in-law Jeff (James' youngest sister, her husband) is currently at the Mayo Clinic with some troubles. He had surgery yesterday and is possibly having another tomorrow to fix a problem of his lung continually filling with fluid. This whole process started 2 months ago when he was having trouble breathing and taking deep breaths - was hospitalized in Bismarck for a week or so and then transfered to Mayo because they felt that was best for him. He spent around 2 weeks at Mayo the end of March and early April with doctors running all sorts of tests, deciding that this could be handled maybe with a special diet. Well - early last week he was having trouble breathing again and was sent back to Mayo. The surgery yesterday was to go in to the lymphnodes just below the shoulder on the side where the lung is filling with fluid. The surgery Wednesday may be to do the other side. We're not real sure on the specifics, but understand it is very rare. The surgeons that are doing the surgery at #1 & #2 in the nation but have only done this particular surgery4 times I believe. It was decided that this is a condition Jeff has had since birth and doctors are surprised he survived it as an infant. Babies that have this condition are unable to vocalize their trouble breathing and the fluid takes over the lung space in the lung and basically they drown. So, the fact that he's in his mid 30's with this condition is rather impressive.

Hope you are all well! Thanks for checking in!

recent diagnosis

an update for some - others might not have known what I've had going on in the past couple months. So, I'll post the whole thing for those that don't know.

In late January, I was having some fainting, dizzy, blurry vision, hot flash moments. None of those got my attention until I started having some fast heart pounding that took my breath away - that definitely got my attention. On February 1, I took Brady to our family doctor for his 18 month check up and my/his doctor asked what was going on with me because I "didn't look right". I explained to her the above symptoms I was having so she ran some blood tests. Turns out my thyroid was really out of whack. My T4 (which is a component of the thyroid gland) was at a level of 3.8 - the high end of the normal range is 1.8 - not good. The clinical term for this is "hyperthyroidism".

My family doctor refers me to an endocrinologist that specializes in this and I see him 4 days later. At that appointment, he does an exam which consists of feeling my throat for any swelling or goiters and checking my vision and measuring my eyes. Apparently most people with hyperthyroidism notice symptoms with their vision first. Everything checked out normal. His recommendation was to take a small dose of radioactive iodine that would tell us exactly what kind of hyperthyroidism I had - there are 3 kinds: thyroiditis (which is temporary and comes and goes as it pleases, so unable to treat really), Grave's disease, also known as Hashimoto's; and I can't remember the one of the third.

After taking the radioactive iodine pill, I returned to the hospital to have a scan done. A device was close to my thyroid determining what percentage is was overworking. It resulted in 53.5% - the normal high is 28%. This meant I have Grave's disease. 2 weeks later I was given an appropriate dose of radioactive iodine (based on my %) as treatment. The radioactive iodine is the fastest and most effective treatment for Grave's because it directly attacks the overactive part of the thyroid and destroys those cells. I was unable to work for 4 days (because I work with pregnant gals), couldn't do anything with Brady, couldn't touch anything Brady or James might touch but if a must, had to wear gloves, couldn't be in a car with anyone, couldn't go to the movie theater or any restaurants, had to use a separate bathroom and sleeping arrangements. Now in hindsight, doesn't seem so bad - but at the time, couldn't have felt like longer days.

8 weeks later on April 8 I had my blood tested again to be sure it was working. My levels had to be dropping from the initial 3.8 or I had to do the radioactive iodine again - yuck! I was fortunate and my levels had indeed dropped and were now at 2.0. Still higher than they should be, but going in the right direction. I had my blood tested again today (5/8) to see if they are continuing to drop. My endocrinologist would like to see my number at no higher than 1.5 - cross your fingers - I hope to have results tomorrow!

That's been our immediate world so far - bump in the road, but thank goodness nothing serious. It does involve us having to wait 6 months to add to our family which was an initial bummer, but if this treatment makes the next pregnancy safer for me and baby - it will be worth it!