Open Heart Surgery

I'm overjoyed to say that I am home from Cleveland.  My parents, Riley and I all ventured to Ohio so I could have open heart surgery.  The surgery took place on Thursday, August 9th.  I got out of ICU by Friday night and was released from the hospital on Monday night.  We spent two days traveling home back to Kansas.  Luckily, everything went well and there were no complications.

Needless to say, I am very sore and in lots of pain.  My surgeon said that he had never seen a case quite like mine.  He also commented that I have only been using one lung my entire life because all of the function of the other lung was being completely wasted.  I'm very anxious to get healed up and see how I feel with a properly working heart.  Dr. Petterson said that once he was done with me, I would have to run full marathons instead of just halfs.

I missed the first day of school at my new job.  I'm kind of heartbroken about it (no pun intended).  I was really looking forward to meeting my students and new co-workers.  According the the doctors, I am suppose to take off 4-6 weeks.  Lesson plans are written for four weeks; I'm hoping that will be plenty since I only teach part-time.

I had big plans for working on lots of wedding stuff ... but I'm a lot more sore than I thought I would be.  We shall wait and see...

Unexpected Changes

It has been way too long since I have last posted, so I'll be updating you about the past two months.

I finished up teaching at Atchison Middle School.

I was happy to pack up my classroom and move on to another school.  As my last day approached, I began to think about all the things I would miss.  Looking back, teaching there was a great experience; I learned many things and am a better teacher than I was when I began there.  The last day was a rough one, filled with tears and hugs from the staff.  I'll greatly miss the wonderful people who were more than just co-workers.

I moved out of my parents' house and to Randolph.

I couldn't believe how much stuff I had until I packed it all up to move.  Moving day went well.  Luckily I had lots of help including Riley, his parents, and my parents.  Once moved, Riley and I spent several weeks getting things put away and making our house a home.  It is still a work in progress and I have lots of projects in the works.

I started my new summer job.

My summer job started out at the end of May.  I am working as a preschool teacher which is a huge change after spending the last two years teaching middle school students.  I'll admit, the first week or two were rough.  The kiddos were a bit crazy, but now things are going smoothly and I'm really enjoying the job.  The little hugs, smiles, and I love yous from the kiddos make it all worth it.

I traveled to Ohio to visit the Cleveland Clinic.

After dealing with costochondritis for 3 years, a doctor suggest that I have an echo to make sure that it wasn't anything serious.  When the echo results came back, they were not normal so I was referred to a cardiologist.  I went to St. Francis in Topeka to have a transesophageal echo followed by a cardiac MRI.  These tests showed that I have anomalous pulmonary venous return which is rare.  Because of the rareness, I was sent to the Cleveland Clinic this week.  I had a couple echos, a cardiac catheterization, and met with a cardiologist.  While there, I found out that they would be able to schedule open heart surgery at the beginning of August.

This medical issue was totally unexpected and everything happened all at once.  However, I am relieved that I know what is going on and that it can be fixed.  The timing is pretty terrible as I just moved, am starting a new job, and am planning a wedding.  Oh well, there probably is no real good time to have surgery.  I'm hoping for the best and trying not to stress about it

Moving Day is Coming

As the school year is ending, moving day is approaching.  We are down to 9 more days of school.  I have enjoyed this teaching experience but I am very ready for the school year to end.  I'm probably more excited for the move and the new things that are to come.

In a matter of weeks, I will be living on my own and teaching preschool for the summer.

In a matter of months, I will FINALLY be living in the same town as my fiance.  Even better, we will be living together when August rolls around.  After dating almost 6.5 years, I would say that it is about time.

 

Mail Call

When I came home today I was greeted by two packages.  There is no other way to turn a bad day into a good one than getting stuff in the mail and another thing crossed of the mile long wedding to do list.

 

The first package was from Shutterfly. I had a coupon for a free 12 by 12 photobook; I just had to pay shipping--SCORE.

I decided to make a book that can be used as a guestbook.

I used our engagement photos and was sure to leave lots of blank space for well wishes to be written.

Now I just need to find some pens that won't smear or bleed through.

My other package was from VistaPrint.  I got 100 free postards to use as our Save The Dates, all I had to pay was shipping -- SCORE again.

The Front of the Postcard

 (blurry--difficult to take a picture without getting a major glare.)

And the Back of the Postcard

More Engagement Photos

Riley and I got our CD full of engagement photos this past weekend. When I say a CD full of photos I mean full.  Our photographer gave us 2 CDs with a total of 129 photos, so many pictures they wouldn't fit on one CD.

Now we will struggle to pick out our favorites, but such a wonderful problem to have :)

Here are a few more for your viewing enjoyment...

Changes

There have been a lot of changes in the past 7 days.

I had an interview with Blue Valley Middle School for a part-time teaching job last Friday. It went really well and they called and offered the job to me on the following Monday. I happily accepted. Since it is only part-time, I plan to be a para in the afternoon.

The next day, Tuesday, Riley County School District called asking for an interview on Thursday. This interview was for a summer pre-school position. I received a phone call today and I got the job.

Riley and I are very excited. We will be looking for a place to me to live this summer and then he will join me in the fall. Finally after dating for almost 6 1/2 years we can begin our lives together.

Engagement Photos

Riley and I had our engagement photos taken this weekend.

We originally planned to take them in the late summer or early fall. With Riley's internship in Concordia this summer and the possibility of me having a job change, we wanted to get them done.

We won a free mini session with Kayla Stallbaumer from Capture. We wanted to turn our mini session into a full session so we could use it for our e-pics. Kayla agreed to do this for an additional cost of $60. So we set up a date (Friday, March 30th) and met in Manhattan.

Kayla was wonderful to work with and we had lots of fun. When we finished the session, Kayla told us that she didn't want any payment at all, she wanted us to win the whole session. Talk about generous!!!

Anyway, enough rambling... here are a few photos from our preview. We will get the rest in about 3 weeks.