Almost a year!

Well, here we are! It's June, the flowers are in full bloom, the summer rain storms have begun and the house gets a little hotter everyday. The good news about the heat is that our landlord is putting central air in our apartment. The vents are already cut out and in the ceiling and the unit is in place. We are now just waiting for the electrician to hook everything up. We are praying that this will happen soon.

As I was at work today, I couldn't help but think about what I was doing last year at this time. It was the week before the wedding and Mike and I still didn't have a place to live. My family was getting ready to put the house on the market and I was trying to not get cold feet. As much fun as the wedding was, and as amazing as it all turned out, I'm glad I'm not doing it this year. Planning a wedding is fun and exciting. Planning your own wedding? Not so much. There are way too many factors you have to consider and too many people to please. But the day turned out perfect, accept for a little heat sickness after the pictures at the temple, and almost forgetting the marriage license at home.

If someone would have told me what this first year of marriage was going to be like, I think I would have laughed. Luckily, we've been able to laugh through most of it and cry during the rest. There have been a lot of prayers said in our behalf, and a lot of family support. We would not have made it through all of this with them.

On a slightly sadder note, my grandma, also known to the ladies I work with as Rehab Grandma, passed away on May 23rd. She was trying to fight cancer and her body, and mind, gave up and she let go. M. Elizabeth Gates was only 77 years old, but she had fought through a lot to get there. Before I was born, she had a brain aneurysm that should have killed her. A few years ago, she tried and almost succeeded at overdosing on pain medication. Then there was the anorexia, the bulimia, and, oh yes, the cancer. She was a tough cookie who was always right and she made sure that you knew it.

The funeral was very nice and well done by good old Pastor Bill from my grandma's church. I was able to see family that I haven't seen in years! I am hoping that the next time I see them, it will not be at a funeral. There was also a feeling of relief in the room that she was at peace and not suffering anymore. She was buried next to my grandpa and Aunt Maxine. Now they are together, and maybe Grandma will realize that we weren't as crazy as she thought...(Long story to be told at a later date)

It's Spring Time...I Think!

I love spring! I get so excited to see the flowers come up, the trees blooming, the grass trying to recover from the harsh winter...and two inches of snow on my car! The weather in Utah is so messed up! It had all winter to snow, but no. It decides to come now. Just when we are getting used to walks in Liberty Park and flip flops, Mother Nature decides to play mean tricks. NOT COOL!

But in other happy news, my mom and two of my sister, Wendi and Gina, participated in the MS Walk last weekend at the Gateway. It's the first 5K of the season, and it was the first one since I had surgery. The more exciting part is that it was Gina's first 5K ever. Gina and I had surgery about a week apart from each other. While I was getting ready for my gallbladder to be sucked out, Gina had a lap band procedure done. She has done so well with it too. I am so proud of her. She has lost 45 pounds in the last 7 weeks! So it was exciting to walk across the finish line with her and feel her excitement. Then we ran into one of the nurses that works with Gina and assisted in the surgery. She was so impressed and excited.

So now, it's time to start preparing for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on May 9th. This 5K is very important to me and my family. My aunt, Maxine Elizabeth Gates Newell, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 16. Then she had almost any kind of cancer you can imagine, and then was diagnosed with breast cancer again later. She passed away in 1992 due to complications with the cancer. She was only 39 years old. It's amazing to see how far research and treatments have come in the last 16 years. So this race is very meaningful.

As a final note - I am healing very well from the surgery and feel amazing! I had no idea how poopy I had felt for so many years until the last few weeks. I have energy, I don't get sick every time I eat, and I can breath deeply without feeling the pressure of an enlarged gallbladder! So life in that realm is great! So, on to the next!

Drugged and loving it!

What an exciting time it's been in the Rohde house! Just when it seemed we were starting to get things under control and running properly, the Lord and his sense of humor had to come in to play. About a month ago, I starting having pains around my stomach and was getting nauseous. This was nothing new, as this has been a plague since high school, but this time it was enough to bring me to tears. I called my doctor and went in for some blood work and an ultra sound. Turns out...I had gallstones! I included the picture above to give you a reference of where the gallbladder is. If you can't see it too well, it's that green grape thing in between the stomach and the liver.

Many have asked "What is the gallbladder and what does it do? Can you live without one?" Well, according to Wikipedia "The gallbladder (or cholecyst, sometimes gall bladder) is a small non-vital organ which aids in the digestive process and concentrates bile produced in the liver." It helps digest the yummy, fatty foods you eat. Gall stones are crystalline bodies formed within the body by accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile component. They range in size from a spec of sand to the size of golf balls. Unlike kidney stones, you can't pass a gallstone. There is no way for it to escape from the gallbladder. So, in my case, the only thing they could do was remove my whole gallbladder!

The procedure is called a cholecystectomy. They did go in laproscopic style and sucked it out. If you would like to see pictures of what the whole thing looks like and how it is done, you can look it up online.

I went in on Friday, March 6th and was there for the day. I was at St. Mark's Hospital and the nurses were fantastic! I was in surgery for about 45 minutes and then spent the rest of the day trying to come out of the anesthesia! I went through almost 4 bags of saline before I could go to the bathroom and go home. Mike was there by my side the whole time I was in recovery. He was almost a little more stressed about it then I was!

I now have four war wounds on my abdomen and am still sore and stiff. I went back to work today for the first time since the operation, and it was a little rough. But, I am noticing a difference and there isn't the same pressure as there was before. OH...and my gallstones were about the size and look of Kix cereal! They let me keep one!

Some wonderful changes!

Happy New Year! Here we are again, starting a new year and some new adventures! I have decided to stay at my current job, which is medical billing for Orbit Medical, instead of taking a job with Valley Mental Health. After many talks and some demands were met, I realized that this is where I needed to be. It' s nice to know that I have a company that appreciates all of my hard work and that I can really feel apart of. So thanks to the raise, Mike and I can finally start paying off some bills and try to get ahead of life. Also, Mike is starting to get more jobs as a substitute teacher which is helping a lot. Unlike most people, I am excited to get started on the taxes this weekend so that we can begin to apply for financial aid and start school again in the fall. Thank goodness!
Just as a silly side note, Mike and I have now been married for 7 months and four days. But what is really exciting is that we got engaged on January 10, 2008. We are now celebrating other silly little things. Mike proposed to me on the back road above the Salt Lake Cemetery. Allow me to explain! The year before, I had taken Mike to this spot. It was my thinking spot while I was attending the University of Utah. There is a wall all around the cemetery and I would go sit up there and look out over the entire Salt Lake valley and think, pray, cry, or whatever.
So Mike decided to take me up there and that's when it happened. I was pretty sure that it was NEVER going to happen because he has asked my dad for my hand in marriage almost a month earlier. But he did it! He kneeled in the snow and all. I was so excited and started crying. I couldn't quit hugging him. He had given me his grandmother's wedding ring that was left to him after she died. It is a beautiful 1940s two-toned ring. I couldn't be more excited. He has since then bought me my own diamond ring, but this ring is very special to me.
That is the newest update from the Rohde clan. We are still standing and still very much in love.

Starting out

We have just spent out first Christmas together as a married couple. It was our third Christmas together and it made me begin to think about everything we've been through together. The past six months have NOT been easy at all, and yet somehow, we've survived and moved on. A week after we got married, Mike began to get really sick. He would get dizzy and pass out, which resulted on two falls down the stairs and three trips to LDS Hospital. Three months and $2000 later, we came to realize that a lot of it was brought on by stress and lack of sleep!

But wait...there's more! Our house, which is an old house in the Avenues and is very cool, is hotter then St. George in the summer time! We are on the top floor of this house and there is no central air. We went through 4 air conditioners and 3 window fans in about 3 months. As ghetto-lishious as this place is, I hope to move come May. I don't think I can take getting heat stroke from my own house again.

But wait...there's more! We are also infested with bees. Yellow Jackets, to be exact. It is almost the end of December and we are still killing bees in the kitchen and bathroom. They are living in the house somewhere and I am a-feard to find out where they are. And let's not forget the Box Elder bugs we have as well. I guess if your house has been around since 1893, the bugs aren't going to leave so easily.

But wait...there's more. Once I can get my hands on a digital camera, I will put up pictures of the house. Then there's the ultimate getting used to living with someone saga. I am very lucky that Mike is pretty easy to live with. We have finally figured out the whole sleeping thing. (I have to go to bed and fall asleep before he comes in or else I can't fall asleep!) We're still working on basic housekeeping things like washing dishes, wiping down the shower, putting the toilet seat down and putting the dirty clothes in the wash bucket, not right next to it. As I sit here, there is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and laundry that needs to be put away... and Mike asleep on the couch. But these are the little things that will just take time.

I love my husband. I know I can come home from work and he will be waiting with a kiss and a hug. He can calm me down when others can't and he can cheer me up when I am ready to poke someones eyes out. We are good for each other and I know we can make it through it all as long as the Lord is with us and we are patient with each other!