Update

On Friday afternoon, I got a call. It was the doctor's office, telling me they needed to see me at the hospital in Edmonton either that night or Saturday morning. We packed our bags, sent the two middle kids away to aunties, and we were off. We went to the pediatric Emergency on Saturday morning. The doctor said that it was clear I had an ulcer that got infected. He said right now the Meds that I'm on seem to be working, so just to stay on those. This might be a thing that comes back again (From what I understand, it's common in people with g-tubes) and if it does, he said to get a hold of him and they would do a scope. As of right now, the meds seem to be working. I haven't had as much pain since I started the ulcer meds. I still am really tired. I still don't have much of an appetite, but when I eat I don't feel like I'm going to puke, so that's a good thing. My tummy is doing funny things because of the meds. Hopefully everything will work out soon though, and I'll start feeling better.

Just Listen ~ Book number 1 on my summer reading list

Like I mentioned before, this summer I want to do a summer reading list of some of my favorite summer reads. It's taken me forever to start this, because I'm always afraid once I make the list, I'll find more that I want to add. So I'm doing it this way... Book reviews! For every book that I think would make a good summer read, I'll write a review on it, that way I can just keep adding to the list when I find another book that's 'summer reading worthy.' So... here's the first book on my list, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen!


Just Listen is a novel written by Sarah Dessen. It's the story of Annabel Greene, the girl who has everything. Or she was. Now she's the girl that has nothing. Dealing with losing her best friend, her anorexic sister, and a chaotic home is a lot for Annabel to handle. Then she meets Owen Armstrong. Owen is tall, dark and handsome, and totally obsessed with music. He's also addicted to telling the truth. And maybe, with Owen's help, Annabel can face the truth of what happened that night when She and Sophie stopped being friends.
The main characters of this book would be Annabel herself, Owen, Sophie, Annabel's ex-best friend, and Whitney, one of Annabel's sisters.
The minor characters include Kristen, Annabel's other sister, Grace, Annabel's mom, Mallory, Owen's sister, Emily, Sophie's best friend after Annabel, Clarke, Annabel's ex best friend, Rolly, the guy who works on the radio show with Owen, and Will, Sophie's boyfriend.
As always, in Sarah Dessen's book, there is a little bit of mild language. It's nothing bad, and I barely even noticed it as I got wrapped up in Annabel's story. (Just in case any of you were wondering.)
It's hard to pick my favorite character from this book, because there were so many and each character was special and unique.
It's also really hard to pick my favorite scene in the book, but I think it would have to be the one where Annabel shows up at Owen's radio show REALLY early one morning, and then she tells him "Don't think or judge, just listen." Either that or the scene at the court house where Owen beats up this one guy for... Well, I can't tell you that. I know it's going to sound wierd, but that scene was so sweet.
I can't say a lot about this book without giving it away, but it's a really good book, and Sarah Dessen hit's the nail on the head again with this one, with her insight into the life of teen girls. I think you'll find yourself relating to some of the characters in this book, just like I did. I would rate this book a 4.3 out of 5. (I know, they are all rated so high, but they are all SO good!) This was a very real book. It made me think, and by the end I didn't want the story to be over. So if you're trying to find a book for a summer read, maybe consider Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

Wordless Wednesday/Quote of the day

Moments...

Do you ever wonder what other people are doing when your life is falling apart? I thought about that, when I was laying in the hospital Sunday night/Monday morning. Then, I reversed it. What was I doing when someone else's world is falling apart. I got an email from my best friend today, and her little cousin is sick and may need chemo. What was I doing when she got the news? It's wierd to think about what I was doing when other people's lives changed, maybe forever. It's wierd for me to think about. And if you change it around again, what were you doing when people got the best news of their lives? Maybe you were there, just a person in the backround of a picture. Maybe you were having your own worst moment. It's funny to think about how one person's worst day could be another person's best day.

You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other people's lives we've been in. Were we a part of a stranger's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in - as if we were destined to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise? Just think, you could be a big part of someone else's life and not even know it

Guess Where I Spent Last Night?

In the hospital! Definatly not where I expected to go yesterday night, but it's where I ended up anyway. I had a fever and the hardness in my stomach was so bad you couldn't touch it. We went to the ER, got in fairly quick, but had to wait a while to see the doctor because there was emergencies or something. When we finally got to see the doctor, he ordered blood work. The lab tech got it first try (a rarity in my case.) and then we had to wait for the results. It took another little while before we finally got the results. There was nothing wrong with my blood work, so the doctor was thinking it's an ulcer. He gave me some meds to try that, if it was an ulcer, would help. Of course, we can't tell anything until we get a scope done. We didn't get home until the sun was rising! So It was a LONG night.

Random

I feel like all I ever talk about lately is being sick. It feels like that's all I think about. I'm either thinking about the pain or discomfort that I'm experiencing or thinking ahead to the next test. I'm always having to mentally keep track of my blood sugar and when I need to eat and how I need to work my schedule around that. For me, doing anything else would be totally wierd, since I've been doing this my whole life. But there are times when I stop and think about how, to everyone else, how I live and function is wierd. It's wierd to think about sometimes. Sometimes I think about everything I missed. I think of the things I didn't get to do because I was in the hospital or things I can't do because I'm sick and doing them would be dangerous. Sometimes I feel sad, that I didn't get to have a 'normal' childhood. I know that I gained so much too, but sometimes it doesn't help. I still feel sad for what I lost, even knowing everything I gained.
Here's a list about other stuff I want to say, but that is too long to write about.

1. The tests went ok, I think. I got blood work (Only needed two pokes!) an X-Ray, some breath test where I had to drink this really sour, powdery lemonade thing and breathe into a tube and an ultrasound. So much for the ultrasound being a painless test, cause it hurt.


2. My stomach has been bothering me lots in the past few days (Since Wednesday.) I took some chewy things today that might help, and they tasted like I was eating chalk.


3. It is snowing. In June. I was all depressed the other day because it was June and I wasn't ready for summer and there's still so much for me to do. And now it snows. I have a thought that maybe God is laughing at my worries and showing me that He is in control.


4. I was sitting in the chair this morning, all curled up in a blanket. I had just taken those chalk things and still wasn't feeling any better, and I was tired from the lack of sleep last night. Jaxon asked if I was feeling good and I said no. "It's ok, I'll help you," He told me. He went off to get my comb and hair elastics and started doing my hair. It was so sweet.

The Scar

I'm walking out the door to go see the doctor and get blood taken in under an hour. I'm getting kind of tired of posting every day, so maybe I'll do only every other day. I had a wierd freak out last night about it being the first of June. June means summer. June sounds like it's *so close* to when we leave on the missions trip, even though that's not until July.

Check out this video. It's become one of my favorites in the past little while. It's of Paige Armstrong (The girl in the picture.)She's a singer/song writer/ soon to be author who had a life threatening cancer when she was 11. She had a wish granted by the make a wish foundation and wished to record a CD. So watch this video and maybe you'll be as inspired as I am by this amazing young woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ss14pKx9to