10 years ago, one of my very dearest friends was diagnosed with Sarcoma. They found it in her lung, which was very rare and over the years, after treatment after treatment, it spread to her brain. Emily has endured so many medical treatments, some experimental, surgeries and radiation, one would truly wonder how any cancer could survive. But it has and now she is losing the battle. This weekend, I am traveling with Mike to Dallas, to spend my last weekend with her. Even as I write this, my body is numb and I am not sure how I am going to make it through.I think anyone that reads this will know ... ...continue reading

My life changed...for the better. Actually, it is hard to believe that 5 weeks have gone by already. So fast! I feel great! Relatively speaking, no pain, and I am pretty much back to normal. Between week 3 and week 5, I was exhausted. Because I felt well during the day, and the kids were out of school, it was non-stop, go, go, go and then by their bedtime...I would crash. The hours rolled into days, days rolled into a couple of weeks...and here I am.I am so happy to have had the opportunity to blog during this experience. I think its not only helped me but helped a lot of other people who ... ...continue reading

I guess I wish I didn't feel so good in the morning, because then I would not be running around all day to leave me feeling like crap all night! It is so hard to stay put. How I ever was on bed rest for 5 months is literally beyond me, but at the time, I did what I had to do....OH...and I only had 1 child!So....being 3 weeks post op today...for the most part I am doing extremely well. I am healing like I am supposed to and the swelling is all par for the course. Some things happened though, that I never knew was going to and it brought back to the time I delivered my 1st child. I read "What to ... ...continue reading

The past week and half +, during recovery, its given me a lot of time to really think about what my body went thru on July 7th. I think I had short term memory, because truly the impact was made on Friday, when I asked Dr. Schwartz to send me a few photos of "before". WOW. My life has changed for the better, forever. This experience, money spent aside, was the best thing I ever could have done. I am young and have so much more life to live - without ALL of that extra skin around my midsection! Even for the 1st time, now, I did not mind looking in the mirror!Recovery really was doing a whole ... ...continue reading

Ok, so I am not 20 again, and actually almost 40, but at least my stomach is as flat as it was(if not flatter) than BC....that would be before children!Now...be forewarned...I am an open book - so if at any time, the info becomes TMI...stop reading!I can't believe its over. Truly. I was so scared going in on Tuesday morning. My dad arrived at about 530am to stay with the kids while Mike took me to the surgery center. We got there, I got into a gown, same ol' thing - nothing on, opening in the back...blah blah blah. The nurse came in and started my iv. I was still feeling ok. Then Dr. Schwartz ... ...continue reading

I never was secretive about wanting a tummy tuck, but I also didn’t want people thinking it’s an issue of vanity. Before 8 pregnancies, 3 live births including 2 sets of identical twins, I would have told you that people who get plastic surgery were vain. I think it’s a fact of life that things will sag and get wrinkly as you get older, have children and time progresses. There’s a lot to be said for growing old with grace. So all that being said, I kind of felt like a traitor knowing that next Tuesday in Westlake Village, I will be going under the knife. I didn’t like how it got in the way ... ...continue reading