Plain milk's fiiiine

The holidays have been great so far! I flew home on Dec 20, it was so nice to only be in the air for a little over an hour instead of the 12 hours in a car. Take off initially scares me because I am rather fond of the ground. Its nice and solid. However, then the adrenaline kicked in and I wanted more- kind of feels like a roller coaster:)

Home sweet home :) I love me some pine trees with snow. Will someone take me snowmobiling? Pretty please? 

We got our family pictures taken over Thanksgiving break and we received copies recently

All "the ladies" :)

 Siblings in order of oldest to youngest

E'erybody

I just had to throw this little family portrait gem in here because I am watching Star Wars right now. That is because I am a closet nerd. 

 Spotlight on Connerman. Seriously, he is one of the most loving kids I know. He'll give you a hug almost anytime and he makes you feel like a million bucks.

Santa came specially to visit Callie and Peyton! And then Peyton disappeared after Santa asked her if she was naughty or nice....

 My first picture taken for instagram, I finally joined. Jane's hounding finally worked. 

 I always take a picture with Emily when I see her! Cousins. Friends for life

 Grandma  Hansen! I look up to this woman, and hope that I can have her devotion to the Lord when I am that old.

 Jake really likes to squeal. But, he is adorable in his Sunday best:)

 Driving home to the airport, finally getting close to home

The girls singing on Christmas Eve

Dad figured out that it only matters what you do with the remote.. Surprisingly he only lost by about 200 points. 

Things that make Molly happy:]

• New perfume, I smell real good
• My travel pack for Christmas!! For when I travel through Europe after I graduate college
• This little gem right here. I'm gonna pull this out when he is a football linebacker in high school.
• 
• It was a White Christmas! And I watched all my Christmas favorites- Santa Clause (the original) " Plain milk's fiiine"  Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• I am healing really well, ready to be done with surgeries. Like forever.
• Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Starbucks... mmmh good.
• playing Just Dance on the Wii " Hey I just met you..."
• Helpful people in doctor's offices
• I am excited for New Year's! I am going to dance all night long!
• My boots, hats, and scarves because baby its cooooold outside!
• Plants vs Zombies- fantastic game that I have recently acquired and am hooked on.
• Walking Dead marathon is coming on tv soon!

NEC yo

*please excuse how long it took me to update because there has been a lot of stuff gone down in the last SIX DAYS that I have been stuck in the hospital (props to my flipping awesome nurse ladies that put up with me, but hospitals suck.)

I AM OFF PAIN PILLS! ( I decided the pain was better than wanting to throw up all the time.) 

NEC- NO.EVIDENCE.OF.CANCER
The biopsies came back negative! And they think they caught it all in surgery. I am classified as Stage 1c (the "c" part being from when the biopsy of the cyst was taken the first time- the whole appendix thing, no humanly possible way the doctor could have drained it and not have a drop go astray. )Gross. I know, but that's why I need chemo.


CHEMO?
Yes- probably just about 3 treatments, its a cautionary act, I don't want them cutting me open again in 2 years...
             WHERE?
                      I haven't decided if it will be done in Spokane or Salt Lake, it has been a bit tricky wading through the parts of my insurance policy figuring out who will cover me.

My amazing roommates drove down from Rexburg just to see me! I felt so special. We played a board game, caught up on what has happened in the last week and they made fun of my waddle (cant quite stretch my stomach out yet). 

 Pre-Op... I had to drink that whole thing, and then another one just like it. I am never drinking Gatorade again in my life. 

 One of the few foods I could keep down- delicious. One thing SLC has going for itself is the awesome food options. 

 Jane got me flowers! They made my sterile room so much prettier. And she got a Get Well Soon balloon so people would know I didn't just have a baby like everyone else in the Woman's Pavilion. 

 Joe got me flowers too! They were so pretty, and he picked them out by himself:)

 I've become very stylish, with my compression socks that I have to wear pretty much 24/7 ( i hate wearing them at night... like a lot..)

 I played quite a bit of Ticket to Ride and watched a lot of Walking Dead. 

This is Stanley- he was my only man inside the Woman's Pavilion, and he kept me company on my walks around the building.

St. Mark's Hospital- I cant say enough good things. My surgeons, anesthesiologist, my nurses, the CNA's, my social worker and case manager. Seriously, they were all awesome. 




THINGS THAT MAKE MOLLY HAPPY :]

• grilled chicken, coconut rice, delicious broccoli with some of that orange pop (what's it called...)
• RETAIL THERAPY! ( I just bought a bunch of clothes at F21 and H&M, and I feel pretty awesome:)
• Netflix ( Walking Dead and How I Met Your Mother... Shout out to Zach Athens, who I can ALWAYS guarantee on for recognizing a reference and making me laugh)
• I get to fly home for Christmas! ( required a bit of juggling because of the high risk of blood clots)
• My family
• My parents who both came down for my surgery, and who are dealing with the fact that I am campainging hard  for being the most expensive child
• Jane and Joe: let their home be overrun by me 3 of the last 5 weekends, and get me anything I need and visited me in the hospital!
• Abby flew down to come see me and always answers any sort of prescription question I have.
• The rest of my family is being really supportive:)
• All my friends in Rexburg, I miss you all!
• I am also very happy that I feel better, and getting back to my old self day by day:)

M.A.T.H.

                    This is how I am feeling right now.... I hate math.SO.FREAKING.MUCH.

  On a more positive note, I saw this quote and decided it was pretty cool. Something to think about      

Your choices affect YOU. 

Things that make Molly happy:]

• I have 3 out of 6 classes done. Huzzah!
• I am almost done with Season 1 of Walking Dead- new favorite show ( behind How I met Your Mother and Friends... and Big Bang Theory... I might possibly love TV...)
• Surgery is T-minus 5 days, and then I will get some more answers!
• Sleep. I am counting on doing a lot of sleeping next weekend. 
• Family :)

Peace out homies!

college life

So this weekend was really nice to feel like a normal college student again!! 

 So, there is an apartment in my ward, and they have "The Brain Trust" where the brotherhood is based upon this sacred eight ball. Which, of course means that we- people not in the brain trust- are bound by the laws of nature to  steal the eight ball (from here on refered to as Bobby) . We were successful because our FHE brothers are awesome and held Bobby for a little while until things died down. Then, the boys did nothing for a solid 2 weeks. Then there was this phone call which was supposed to be threatening but was not. Anyways, about a half hour after we denied them, they attacked! They sprayed us with silly string and french vanilla air freshener. Our apt stuck for the rest.of.the.night. They got a little crazy with the silly string, so Ashley had to scrape it off the ceiling with the broom because our apartment is full of short people;)

 Chelsey and Ashley grabbed water to retaliate with, but they sprayed and ran.

 We ended up going bowling with the enemies later that night and then Wendy's. Don't ask for any explanation, because I can't give you one. 

 We are genius, so we retaliated that night. We tied their door shut with yarn, and then covered their stairs in it. It was really fun! Zach's bedroom light was on the whole time, so we were worried he would see us. He did not. Because we were super stealth like:)
To the left is the aftermath. And we still have enough yarn for round two if necessary! 

 We are rocking the white trash trailer look while hiding our yarn:P

In the end... Guess who Bobby likes better? 

I love these girls!

Things that make Molly happy :]

• stumbleupon- you tell it what kind of things you are interested in, and it helps you find cool articles and websites. Check it out- all the cool kids are doing it
• I almost have all my homework done that is due before Thanksgiving!!! Now I just have to study for some finals
• Thanksgiving Break! Yay for sleeping in my bed and sleeping in.
• Those little Butterfinger Christmas bell chocolate things... SO delicious
• Family- they got my back
• I know I put this on pretty much every list but seriously, my roommates are pretty dang epic. I could make a list of why, but then you would be reading this forever. Hopefully point has been made. 
• Having random people stop by and then being invited to a birthday party. Party time!

breathe in. breathe out.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

This post is going to be super quick because I was on campus for 10 hours today and I am really tired but I wanted to let you all know how my appointment with the gynecology oncologist went.

FIRST OFF: I love my doctor to pieces. She explains things really well ( I mean, to the level where a 20 year old college student understood what was going on, not always possible). And she makes the lady exams not as unpleasant, which is a tall order.

I asked Dr. Zompolich if it would be safe enough to push back my surgery to December 6th. She said she felt like that would be okay, so I jumped on that situation. The main reason why I am deciding to hold off on my surgery is because I want to tie up all my loose ends so I could just focus on recovering. I had an uncomfortable recovery for my appendix surgery because I felt I had to rush back to school, so I had a few miserable days of school. I am hoping to not repeat that.

Anyways, I meet with Dr. Cavin on Dec 4 so he can meet me before he helps carve out my insides:) Then on Dec 5 I get to do Pre-Op... Yaaaay... Sometime in the afternoon I will hear what time my surgery will be on Dec 6. 

Sometime on Dec 6 I have surgery- I will have gone my whole life with no surgery (minus the wisdom teeth thing) and then in a matter of six weeks, had my appendix, gallbladder and one of my ovaries removed. Crazy! To think I used to be scared of hospitals and surgery and needles n' stuff! Not anymore:) I have a favorite spoke to get poked and everything.

Aaaanyways, it is expected for me to be in the hospital for 2-3 days. I hope they hook me up with a giant TV like they did last time. FRIENDS and Grey's Anatomy are just so much better on the big screen. And, I hope they give me a water mug again. I figured I would start a collection. Some people collect snow globes or key chains. Me? Hospital mugs. 

Sorry- I lose focus quickly. While Dr. Zompolich is doing my open surgery, she is going to first take out my grapefruit-like tumor thing. Mental image for you: a woman's ovary is about the size of a walnut, and my cyst is approximately a grapefruit. That's gross man...

 

After she gets that thing out of me, then she is going to poke around and see if she can see any other cancer cells. And she is going to take biopsy's of everything. She's need to take some "surface cells" biopsy (aka fatness) and I told her " you just take as much biopsy that you need, in fact you should take enough for two tests..."

When the results come back, then she can determine what stage I am at and if chemo is necessary. And THEN I get to go back home for Christmas!!!

Little Cheesy Religious Moment: 

I know that my Savior loves me and he has a plan for my life. Which is why I am not too worried about the future. What is supposed to happen will. I need to do my part in seeking the best  medical professional possible, and I need to follow their counsel. 

Any sort of pain I have felt (whether it be physical, mental or emotional) He has felt that and then some. Which is difficult for me to process, but I am trying. 

Things that make Molly happy :]

•  Getting lots of things checked off "the list" to do
• My roommates!!!! Ashley, and Chelsey, and Jessica! Bam, I named you all specifically 
• Homemade soup 
• Just renewed my temple recommend!
• Getting new pictures printed and put up on the wall
• My winter coat- baby it's cold outside
• Sleep. Sleep is gooooood.

And with that, I am off to bed! Hasta Manana

teal.

I met with my doctor in Rexburg yesterday and

Well, there is no graceful or not-awkward way of leading into it, so here goes:

I have endometrioid adenocarcinoma, which is the scientific way of saying I have ovarian cancer. You know how pink supports breast cancer? Well, my cousin did some research, and apparently the color that supports ovarian cancer is teal! I am going to buy me some tights:)

There are many indicators that they caught it early. ( My appendix almost bursting- definitely a blessing). One of the indicators is called a CA 125 test that measures an enzyme in my blood. It showed that there was definitely cancer, but the number was low enough that it is not very far along.

I also had to have an endometriod biopsy done. Basically, they had to take a sample of some cells in my uterus and compare them to the cells from the biopsy of the cyst on my ovary. The biopsy from my uterus came back negative (which is a good thing!) but it has the surgeon stumped. He thought cells from my uterus were moving into my ovary and making everything messed up. Well, now we don't know where the cells are coming from.... Add that to the list of questions to ask my gynecology oncologist on Monday.

Because of the cyst, I will have to have my left ovary removed. And, the specialist will decide if I can keep my right ovary or if I need to have a complete hysterectomy. At this particular point, we cannot tell how far the cancer has spread. Yay for more testing... 

Here is a little bit of humor for you:

"The average age of diagnosis is around 60 years of age. "

Seriously?! I have old lady cancer!  I am currently accepting wheelchairs for Christmas presents. (John already laid dibs on getting me a cane and I said no to walkers- you just can't strut in a walker no matter how hard you try.)If you doubt, even a smidge just refer to below.

           

I am meeting with my specialist on Monday morning here in Salt Lake to figure out a treatment plan, and to see how far it has spread, etc. So, I will probably give yet another update on Monday!

Oh yeah, apparently I have gallstones? I might have my gallbladder taken out in surgery too;)

Things that make Molly happy:]

• Supportive family! A lot of supportive family.
• They caught this super early!
• My gynecology oncologist is freaking.fantastic. 
• My mom is lending me her ipod because I goofed and cant find mine... Music is kind of a big deal in my life
• I am watching the Avengers right now
• The snow looks so pretty on the trees
• Priesthood blessings
• Friends willing to come when necessary to give said blessing
• My patriarchal blessing
• Understanding teachers
• Surprise fleece blanket present with fleece socks... Thanks Jacque!