Home Sweet Home

Before the transplant, the doctors predicted the length of stay for my husband and father-in-law. It was said, my husband would be in the hospital for a week and my father-in-law would be in for about two weeks.

My husband came home 6 days after the transplant on Sunday 3/5/2006. He was still tired (he just wanted to sleep all the time, I guess his body was busy rebuilding his liver) and not eating a lot, but he was getting better each day.

My father-in-law came home 8 days after the transplant on Tuesday 3/7/2008. He was feeling so much better! While he was in the hospital he was hoping out of bed, doing laps around his nurses station, he wouldn't sleep since he was feeling so good, he just wanted to get up and go. Since he progressing so well, the doctors felt he should go home. There was no sense in him staying in the hospital with a risk of a viral infection from another patient or visitor.

Things were looking great! Until one evening my husband calls me into the bathroom and says "this doesn't look right".

Doctors Oops!

My father-in-law was in a not-so-good situation after the first night. After he (and my husband) where moved into their rooms (they were on the same floor, but about 10 rooms apart) it was discovered that his drainage fluid (they both had drainage bulbs for the excess fluid from the surgery) was darker then it should be.


The nurse explained that he was bleeding somewhere inside and she was not sure where or how. So, she took action right away in hopes that her theory would work. If it didn't, he would have to go back into surgery to find the problem.


The nurse started him on a clotting agent to see if that would work. After a little while it slowed down, but the fluid was still darker then she liked it. Then she upped the clotting agent and then ordered him a pint of blood. After that pint was done going into his system, it was late evening. She wanted to hook him up to another one, just to be safe.


By the early morning of the third day it had stopped. Phew!The nurse explained, the bleeding was from a small vain the surgeons either nicked or didn't reconnect during surgery. Since alot of the blood flow during surgery is slowed down, it could have been something they missed. I'm just glad that she caught it!


This was his only complication from the surgery. And his coloring does get better!

Pain Management

My husband was in a lot of pain around his abdomen area from the incision. He had a morphine drip and an epidural to help control his discomfort. It hurt him the most when he had to move.


When he didn't have to move around for the nurses or to have tests done, he only wanted to sleep. He wanted the room to be quite, cold and dark. He was hooked up to a catheter for a few days too, so he just had to lay there. Also, he really wasn't hungry, because he was hooked up to a bag of nutrition. But, of course they wanted me to try and make him eat anything. Oh, that was fun!

So, each time he had to clime on another gernie to be wheeled down he was is so much pain. One time, I almost started to cry because he hurt so bad. No one could understand because of the pain management tools he was hooked up too should be helping him, but they didn't really look into it. Who knows what they were thinking.

A few days later, when it was time to remove the epidural, the nurse rolled him over to his side. The tape was removed that "held" it in and oh look at that, the epidural feel out. No wonder he was in such pain! I just wish the nurses had checked sooner for my husbands sake. After the "removal" of the epidural, he started to feel a little better since time was passing and the morphine worked better.

I stayed in the hospital with my husband and father-in-law. I slept in my husbands room on a cot, but mostly hung out in my father-in-laws room. I just wanted to be there with them to keep them company and provide and extra set of ears when the doctors did their rounds.

And the winner is........

My husband was done with his surgery first. His surgeon gathered us all together in a private room and told us that he did fine during the transplant and he was being stitched up (my thought was, then whey are you out here talking to us, but I guess that is what interns are for). She warned us that he would most likely wake up and be very uncomfortable like they had warned us before hand. They explained it like he would feel like he was hit by a mack truck. Ouch!

Next up, my father-in-law. I believe it was about 45 minutes later my father-in-laws surgeon came out to let us know he did great during the surgery. We asked him if we could see either or both of them after they were brought to ICU. He said only for a brief moment.

After they were brought to the ICU, my husband was awake but very uncomfortable from the pain. He didn't want to see anyone (that was tough to hear, but I respected his wishes). But my thoughts were, at least he is awake.

My father-in-law was still sleeping, but they let us see him. They warned us not to be negative or upset when we saw him with all his tubes because they only want positive words and feelings around him (the doctors say that they are not 100% sure what the patients hear while being under, so they want all interactions to be positive). I wish I had a picture to share, but none of dared to take a picture, but he was connected to all kinds of tubes and had a huge piece of orange tape across his face (to hold in his respirator). He just looked peaceful while resting and we told him he did a great job.

After our brief visit, we all headed to either our hotel rooms (me, my mom, husbands sister and uncle stayed at a local hotel) or family members house (my brother and sister-in-law stayed at her family's house near by) for some rest. It was a very emotional draining day for all of us, but it was just the beginning.

Tick.....Tock.....Tick.....Tock

The time seemed to drag while we waited to hear anything from the surgeons/nurses about my husband and father-in-laws updates. All of us brought things to do while we waited. There were books, PSP movies, word searches and card games to pass the time, but the minutes were slow to pass.

The surgery was scheduled to last about 8 hours. I remember it was a long day for everyone. It was tough not knowing what was going on with two of our loved ones in a major surgery. But I'm glad we were all there together, to support one another and be there in the event anything happened (positive or negative).

This time two years ago, it was only a couple of hours to go before we get any real updates.

Its go time!

Two years ago this morning, the family (brother-in-law, sister-in-law, my husbands sister, my father-in-laws brother, my mom, me and of course my father-in-law and husband) all met in the waiting room in the clinic to get ready to head to the designated area for the surgery.

When we were all there, we all calmly headed to the waiting room. My husband and father-in-law checked in at the reception desk and didn't have to wait too long before being called in. The nurse told them they could bring one person each in with them while they get prepped. They gave their hugs and kisses and my husband had me go with him and my father-in-law took his older son with him.

While they changed into their gurneys, my brother-in-law and I waited in a hallway for them. After they changed, we caught some pictures. My brother-in-law said it was for before and after photo's of my father-in-law. At least we were all joking around before the surgery.

As each one was called in for prep, we really didn't have too much time. It went by in a blur. I didn't want to be in the room while they put my husbands IV's and other tubes in him, so I left the room to check on my father-in-law. He was chatting with his son. After a couple of minutes, I went back to see my husband and he as all set. Then next thing was some shaving around the stomach area and he was all set to go. The nurse took care of the shaving, we kissed, said our I love yous and it was time. I walked out of his room and my brother-in-law was walking out of his. They were ready, were we?

As we walked out of the prep area, I took a deep breath and said to myself, its go time. We walked through the double doors where everyone else was sitting. We gathered everyone up and headed to the family waiting room. It was going to be a long day!

My father-in-law and brother-in-law

Me and my husband

Rain, Rain, Go Away......

We found out around 2pm that the race yesterday was delayed due to rain. So, after my husband and I settled on our couches he found golf to "watch" (I wouldn't really call it watching, but it was on TV while I read my book and my husband slept on the coach) while we waiting for the rain to stop in CA.

Before supper we checked on the race and still a delay. After supper I checked again and it looked promising as the raceway was being dried by NASCARS version of a pavement dryer. But, there was no talk about it starting any time soon. So, I popped in a movie (It was invasion and it was OK).

After the movie I check back and there was still no racing. But, I noticed the announcers were talking about how everyone raced 21 laps and there was a huge crash. Of course now, I really wanted to see the crash and see what all the hype was about. Finally they showed a re-run of the crash and it was pretty significant and everyone was OK. We turned it back on just in time to see the drivers getting back in their cars and Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon check out the track.

Then the race starts and there are countless cautions. Well, we gave up about about lap 60 something to get into our Sunday night routine of getting ready for work. Then right before bed we tried to find the race and we found out it was rain delayed again.

I think its funny how in my household we base our Sunday (and even sometimes Saturdays) around a race. I'm just glad I wasn't at that race!

Photo Fun

Since my company let everyone go home early today with our latest snow storm, I had some me time this afternoon. I decided it was a great opportunity to play with my new camera! Here are a few photo's I wanted to share from around the house.

You're doing what on your lunch break?!?!?

Two years ago today, my husband and I decided to get married on our lunch break. Yes, you read it correctly. Now, this was in the middle of all the last minute transplant appointments that my husband and father-in-law were going through and the rest of the family adjusting their schedules.

This is how the day went two years ago..........mid-morning I received a text message from my fiance for me to check out the MA regulations on marriage (We had assumed a blood test and a wait period was still required for all of MA marriages. We were going to handle all of this in the summer since we were planning on getting married in July that year).

Since I was busy at work, I called my mom and asked her to call city hall to find out what is needed. My mom reports back and tells me that blood tests are no longer required, but there is a wait period between the issuing of the marriage license and the wedding. I asked my mom to call back and ask if there could be an exception since we need to be married so I can activate the family leave act for the transplant (and other legal matters for instance, its best that we were married in the event I had to make any medical decisions for my husband if there were any complications from the surgery).

Moments later my mom called back and said the judge will be at lunch until 1:30pm, but city hall is willing to start paperwork and set up a hearing to go in front of a judge and tell him our story. Also, there was a Justice of the Peace working at city hall and they were willing to stay (I guess they had a 1/2 day) to marry us.

So, my fiance and I decided around 11:00am that we will get married on our lunch break. I called my parents, he told his dad (who works with him) and he notified his brother. My soon to be brother-in-law calls me and asks me "What are you doing on your lunch break?". I told him what we were planning and its OK if he (and my soon to be sister-in-law) can't make it since its such a last minute thing. My fiance and I met at our house around 12:30pm (he had to meet with a lawyer first to deal with his son's situation). At our house is my parents, his dad and his boss. His boss wanted to see this happening since this is the first time he heard this excess for an extended lunch break!

Our first stop was at city hall to fill out paperwork.


Then we had to go to the court house and wait for the judge to return from lunch. When it was time, my fiance and I walked up to the judge bench. He asked us what our story was (in a tone that was like, oh you knocked her up and now you need to get married all of a sudden). My fiance started to tell him about the liver transplant and explained that we want to get married before hand for legal purposes and.....then the judge asked him to stop and signed the papers with out asking another question.

Then it was back to city hall for the ceremony.


Then we were married! After we kissed, we headed our separate ways to get back to work.

Its When?!? What?!?!

My husband received a phone call at work from the clinic on Friday 2/17/2006 that the transplant will be done on Wednesday 3/1/2006. He called me right away to let me know about the date and I said "WHAT?!?” He said in a surprised tone, yup. This left us with a week and half to plan everything. Ok, we can do this, I was trying to stay positive and productive.

Then my husband called me back moments later because he received another phone call from the clinic saying, oh we just received a phone call from the O.R. and the surgeons and there is an open slot on Monday 2/27/2006 and we have now moved the surgery up. What?!? It was such a shocker for everyone. Now we had only a week to cram in the last minute appointments for my husband and father-in-law, including a family meeting to let everyone know what to expect after the surgery.

I didn't know if we all could make it through the week before the transplant with everything that needed to be done. Now I was starting to panic!

Getting Ready

So, two years ago mid-February everyone is waiting for the phone call to find out when the transplant would be. All the involved family members are busy notifying their bosses that they will need a few days off from work (or 3 months if you are my husband and father-in-law, or me asking for a few weeks off to take care of both of them), but not really know when it was going to be.

My company wouldn't let me take the Family Leave (the act that protects you for taking time off up to 3 months without having to use vacation time) because my husband and I were not married at the time, but we had everything set to be married 7/31/2006. So, my husband and I joked around that we should get married before the transplant, but we weren't really serious. Also, we thought a blood test and a wait period were still required for marriage in Massachusetts.

So, I figured I would have to use up all my vacation and personal time to come up with 37.5 hours of time off for 3 weeks for when it was time. Then have no time left for our honeymoon in August, it was a stressful situation. But I figured I would deal with it as it came along.

Also, as we wait for the transplant date, my husband found out my step-son would be moved to VA since his mother and her parents were moving there to get out of Western Massachusetts. What a nice time to tell him and the family as we all prep for the transplant. She could have told us before the holidays since her parents were actively looking for a housethen. She decided to tell us after the house was bought. So now, my husband had to look for a lawyer on top of getting everything he needed done for the transplant. Nice, huh?

Picking the Transplant Day

My father-in-law wanted to wait until after my husband's and my July wedding before doing the transplant. This is why he agreed to have my husband go through all the tests and prep when he did so everyone could be ready for when the time came.

Well, my father-in-law and I went to his follow-up appointment in February 2006 and his doctor told him that the transplant should be done earlier then planned because they cannot predict my father-in-laws health in 6 months later. His health wasn't decreasing fast, but there were things slowly getting worse. He was retaining water again with no help from meds and he developed another hernia.

Since my husband was now approved to donate part of his liver, it was up do the doctor to say when the transplant would happen.

So, the doctor said it would most likely be happening in March. It all depends on when the surgeons are available. That night the three of us were taking bets to see who can pick the date of the transplant. Let me just say, we were all wrong!

Check List

Lets get back to the transplant story-

Since my husband made up his mind that he would donate part of his liver to his father, the real "fun' began. He now had to go through many tests and appointments to see if his liver was compatible. The appointments began in October 2005 and continued until January 2006.

The tests my husband had to go through first was-
Blood type match (this is the very first test)
Physical from his primary doctor
Blood tests to see if there are any illnesses my husband was not aware of (Cancer, HIV, Diabetes, Hepatitis and any other type of infection that would not be good to give the donor)

Then after the clinic receives these results, he had to go to the Clinic for these tests-
Physical from his liver team doctor
Psychiatric evaluation
Blood Tests
Liver Scans for size and mass
Liver scan to see where his veins would cut ok with none curving in a weird way
Liver scan to see that he would be able to donate enough at the natural incision line (he would donate the right lobe of his liver, but in the picture its on the left hand side, the larger half)

• • 

And while my husband was going to Boston for all of these tests on different days, my father-in-law was still going to Boston for his monthly check-ins with the doctors. Oh, we have many miles on our cars going back and forth to Boston.

The weird this was, even through they live in the same house, we passed the information to my husband and vise versa, but a nurses still had to call him and tell then the official results from tests and appointments.

Boogty, Boogty, Boogty......

Let’s go racing!

Yeah, NASCAR has started for 2008! The race was pretty boring until the end with the handful of issues causing cautions. I used to cheer for Dale Earnhardt Jr but since he switched teams and went to the dark side, I just can't this season. If he does good, good for him, I just can't cheer for him since he is now a team mate with Jeff Gordon.

So, this season it’s all about Kasey Kahne. He's a decent driver and a hottie. I was always a secretive fan of Kahne's since I was a Jr fan and my husband said I can't cheer for two drivers. But, not it’s legit. I can switch since Jr switched.

I'm also not the only won who is jumping ship. My dad used to like Earnhardt Sr and we all know what happened there. So, he cheered for Jr until this season. He is now cheering for the Gibbs team since he really doesn’t know who to pick and has to cheer for someone/team.

My husband is a Ryan Newman fan, so he was happy last night (since Newman won the biggest race of the year).

So, with this all out there, let’s see how the season unfolds.

Oh My God!

I have a page-a-day calendar which gives me unusual websites to check out for 2008. I just have to share with you today's suggestion. Its a website with 30-second movies with animated bunnies as the actors. Yes, animated bunnies. Its so disturbingly funny! I don't know which movie is my favorite. Enjoy!

http://www.angryalien.com/

Mental Health Day

I guess when your boss and co-workers urge you to take a day off, well I'm not going to argue. The last couple of days have been rough and even though I could make it through the day at work, its also best to take time for yourself as a mental health day.

I don't know the best way to say why I'm at home, sitting in my bathrobe with my slippers on while I write this, but here it goes.

The nasty doctor was right. I had a miscarriage. It started Wednesday night, the worst was yesterday and it seems to be coming to an end today. I know its a part of natures way of letting me know things were not developing correctly, but I just wish the doctor had more compassion instead of being so blunt and nasty about what was going to happen.

Now we wait for my body to adjust and return to "normal" (I use the normal word loosely, because normal is so boring) and then we start to try again.

The hardest part is of course losing the baby, but now we have to tell our friends and family what just happened.

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone has a day filled with love and friendship!

Making the List

My father-in-law received noticed that he was going to be put on the liver transplant list in the fall of 2005. His health was detereating at a fast enough pace that it would be best for him to receive a new liver. Because he went to the Lahey Clinic at a good point in his condition, he is able to consider receiving part of a liver rather then waiting for a cadaver liver which would be a whole liver. If he had waited even 6 months before making his appointment at the clinic, it could have been too late and he would have had to wait until his number came up for a cadaver liver.

So, my father-in-law let his 3 children know and like I mentioned before, his oldest wanted to see if he would match, but he had just started a new job and didn’t feel like he could ask for 3 months off from work, his middle son (my husband) was on board and his youngest did not have health insurance. Of course my father-in-law really didn't want to have his son to go through this major surgery, but my husband insisted and called the clinic to see what needs to be done.

Since my father-in-law was placed on the liver transplant list, he is able to consider the live donor program. The doctors suggested that biological family is the best way to start to look for a live donor since genetically, things have a better way to match since there needs to be countless things that have to match between the donor and recipient.

What The &%$#

I have been waiting to share my wonderful news with everyone. It was good news and now its just frustrating and I am a mess. So, before the story gets any longer, lets start from the begging.

On Sat 2/2 we found out I was pregnant. Yeah! I had a positive home pregnancy test and we shared our news with only a handful of people since it wasn’t official yet. Monday morning I called to make my positive pregnancy test appointment. It was made for Thursday 2/7 at 10:45am. So, I was able to enjoy my news for 5 days.

For some reason on Thursday morning, I decided to use up my last home pregnancy test. I guess I wanted to use up my last test. I really don't know why. And of course it was positive.
Also, since I found out I was pregnant, I substituted my morning tea with water. So, on Thursday morning I had my bottle of water before my appointment.

I arrived at my appointment with my mom (my husband couldn't get out of work for this apt, but he was planning on being there at the next one). We are called in. My mom is escorted to the examining room while I am conducting the urine test. I asked the nurse as I hand her my clear sample, if drinking water would effect the test. She said no. Well, two negative pregnancy tests later, I would say it does.

So, after I wait for 20 minutes talking with my mom about what the heck is going on, the doctor finally walks in. She walks in and right from the start is telling me all the negative things this could mean (the 2 negative tests). She never offered a positive solution or even suggested that my urine sample this morning was diluted so lets try again tomorrow. No, she gives me her opinon on the situation and they are - I have a chemical pregnancy or I am going to miscarry.

I told her I just tested positive this morning 4 hours ago. She just shrugged this off and continued to type in her laptop. My mom then asked, can it ever be that two positive tests at home could be wrong? The doctor said no and then she offered that the pregnancy tests at the office have not been working properly lately since they received a bad batch. Then she starts talking about miscarriages again in her next breath.

Then the doctor says, well lets get a blood test ordered and we'll see if that is positive. Then we will continue from there. Also, at this point I am balling my eyes out. I know I am pregnant at this point and she is acting like I am not or that I was going to lose it any minute now. She couldn't confirm I was pregnant so we never talked about what food to eat and avoid, what activities to do and avoid, she just told me to continue to take my vitamins. Also, she did figure out how far along I was (5 1/2 weeks) but never talked beyond that.

At 5:07pm that night, I received a call from the doctor and what do you know, my blood test was positive for pregnancy. She then said she wanted me to come back in for a retest in 48 hours for a urine test. I thought this was odd since it was confirmed by my blood work, but I agreed.
I called the office Friday morning to make my urine retake.

Then around 2:30pm a nurse calls me. She asked if I needed to make an apt for a blood test. I said no the doctor wants me to come in to do another urine sample to make sure my "numbers" are rising. The nurse says no, its already confirmed you are pregnant, the blood tests are more sensitive and she ordered me another blood test for Tuesday 2/12 (I couldn't do it sooner because I was going out of the area to visit my step-son) to test my "numbers".

Yesterday morning I go and give my blood sample. I ask the nurse when will I know the results. She said, oh the doctor didn't put a "stat" on the tests, so it might no be until tomorrow. (What the *&%$! I just want to know that the heck is going on!) Then the nurse says call the office after 4pm today and see if the lab work is in the computer. So, at 4pm I call the doctors office and the nurse calls me back. She now says, the "numbers" have gone up, but not as much as we would like. She doesn't know what the doctor would like to do for the next step, but she will review the results tomorrow and someone will call me back.

I have enjoyed my pregnancy for 5 days and ever since my last Thursdays apt I have been paranoid at every little thing that goes on in my body. I freak out, oh my god am I going to lose it, what does that little cramp mean, what does that little pang mean. I still am pregnant, I still have pregnancy "symptoms", but I just want to know what is going on. I am currently a little over 6 weeks pregnant.

My New Glasses

Here are my new reading glasses! I really like them except when I have to look up from my computer or desk at work and who ever is standing on front of my is blurry. Oh well. I have to look over the top of my glasses like I was a granny. Yes, I get made fun of at work, but its all good. What goes around comes around! I hope you like!

Next Step

To continue the story.......

My father-in-law, myself and husband went for his two day appointment at the Lahey Clinic in August of 2005. The first day was a sort of meet and great with the doctors and they reviewed what type of liver transplants there are. You ask, well what types are there? Well, there are two ways a liver transplant can be done: the first is a cadaver, which is the old fashion way so to speak, where, a liver it taken from an organ donor and placed in a recipient who is on the list. The second is the live donor program. What this is, a person donates part of their liver to someone who is on the liver donation list and the liver will grow back to what the donor’s body will need.

So, at this meeting we learned about both types of donation, what gets a person on the big list, what a liver looks like and its functions, if someone would like to become a live donor what they should do, and everything along those lines. The first day was an educational type of appointment.

The second day of appointments was for the tests. The tests my father-in-law had to go through was cat scans, liver scans, blood tests and every other test you can think of. The clinic needed to really look into his health since he was showing he was serious he was about a transplant since he was there to learn about it.

Also, we were not the only family there. There was about 6 other families there doing the same thing as we were. It’s amazing how many people need some type of liver help and what stage of liver failure they were in.

The next step was to wait and see if my father-in-law makes the liver transplant list.

Left You Hanging

I do apologize for not continuing my story yesterday. I had a very up and down day emotionally yesterday and didn't have the lets go and tell a story attitude during my lunch break. So, I hope you understand and I will continue the liver transplant saga later on today.

Oh, I got my new glasses yesterday too. I will show them off next week! Ta-Ta for now! I always wanted to say that!

In the begining.........

My father-in-law found out from his liver doctor in the spring of 2005, that he should go meet the team at the Lahey Clinic to see what they could do about his condition. His liver doctor had done everything he could do to help my father-in-law and it was time to try to move onto the next step of help.

My father-in-law has sirousus of the liver. His liver doctor had him try out several medications that did not work since his sirousus was so far along and caused his mental capacity to become shaky. It was too the point that my now sister-in-law was worried for the family's well being because the medication caused him to be unstable.

Also, besides sirousus of the liver, his skin was a dark mustard color, he had extreme water retention, and he was depressed, tired, weak and irritable. All common side-effect when your liver can no longer filter for the body.

Also, before going to see the doctors at the Lahey Clinic, my father-in-law had 3 hernia surgeries. We found out later that it was a common thing with sirousus of the liver because of the water retention, but before knowing this he just thought it was from his job delivering mail.

So my father-in-law and brother-in-law made their way to meet the liver team at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington MA in the early part of summer in 2006. My father-in-law was tested, poked and explained his situation to the new doctors. They then explained that they will invite him to a two day session to explain the whole liver transplant process since he appeared to be a good candidate.

To be continued...............

Why February is Great!

The month of February is great month for many reasons. Well, everyone knows that this is the month of love (Valentines Day), it has the big sales around Presidents Day, the kids in Massachusetts have a week off from school and it’s a month closer to summer.

The personal reasons this month is great is, this month is host to my wedding anniversary and the anniversary of my father-in-law's liver transplant which was able to happen because of my husband. You ask, why because of you husband did the transplant happen? Well, it’s a long, but exciting story. I don't want to overwhelm you with details in this one entry, but I will break the story up so there are pauses in between each "chapter".

So, today I will start our transplant story with a brief explanation. Oh, and my wedding date does tie into the transplant story, but that will come later. My husband, along with the rest of the family, found out in September 2006 that my father-in-law needed a liver transplant. From the moment we found out, my husband said he wanted to donate part of his liver to give his father a chance at a longer and healthier life. You ask, how? Well, for those who don't know, there is a relatively new procedure that surgeons can remove most a person liver, transplant it into the recipient, the donors liver will grow back to what ever the body needs along with the recipients.

My father-in-law has two other children, but his oldest son had just taken a new job and didn't feel comfortable letting them know that they just hired someone who would need to take 3 months off to donate part of his liver, so that left him out. His daughter had no health insurance, so that left her out even thought as soon as the person is approved to donate, the recipients insurance takes over for the cost, but there is all the pre-testing that needs to occur and with no insurance, there was no way she could have afforded it.

So, tomorrow I will start from the beginning of the story to share my husbands and father-in-laws liver transplant story. I thought this month was the best to pay tribute to my husband to show how proud I am of what he did, since the two year anniversary is at the end of the month.

Favorite Superbowl Ads

Wow! What a game last night! My husband and I were routing for the Giants (I shouldn't say that living in New England, but we survived). Our teams were not in the game, so we had to pick someone! My team is the Washington Redskins and his team is the Buffalo Bills. We loved the game since it was so close and not a blow out which made things interesting.

Here is my list of top 5 commercials (not in order)-
1. Tied - Both E-Trade Ads (the baby talking about his investments)
2. Budweiser - Clydesdale (the Clydesdale who trains to be great)
3. Vitamin Water - Shaq the Jockey
4. Budlight - Wine and Cheese party (the one when the men smuggle in beer at a party)
5. Pixar - Wall-E (the new animated movie with a robot fooling about with the vacuum)

Two weeks until Nascar!

Something you didn't know

I borrowed this from Somewhere Over the Rainbow, thanks!

1. WHAT TIME DID YOU GET UP THIS MORNING? 8:30am
2. DIAMONDS OR PEARLS? Diamonds
3. WHAT IS THE LAST FILM THAT YOU SAW AT THE CINEMA? Knocked Up
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? Prison Break, The Office & Despirate Housewives
5. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? Yogart
6. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Nicole
7. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Squash
8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CD? My old school CD's
9. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE? 2006 Crysler Town & Country
10. FAVORITE SANDWICH? Ham, Cheese with Mayo (boring I know, but I like it!)
11. WHAT CHARACTERISTIC(S) DO YOU DESPISE? People who think they know it all
12. FAVORITE ITEM(S) OF CLOTHING? Warm sweaters and PJ's
13. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? Europe
14. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHROOM? Light Yellow
15. FAVORITE BRAND OF CLOTHING? Anything on sale
16. WHERE WOULD YOU RETIRE TO? Arizona
17. WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY? My 21st, even though I don't remember much
18. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Football & Nascar
19. FURTHEST PLACE YOU ARE SENDING THIS? Cyberspace
20. WHO DO YOU LEAST EXPECT TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Don't know!
21. PERSON YOU EXPECT TO SEND IT BACK FIRST? My blogger friends
22. FAVORITE SAYING? Hellloooo
23. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? June 23rd
24. ARE YOU A MORNING OR NIGHT PERSON? I guess a morning since I like to get to bed early
25. WHAT IS YOUR SHOE SIZE? 8 1/2
26. PETS? None at this time :(
27. ANY NEW/EXCITING NEWS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? Can't say yet
28. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE? Doctor, then a teacher
29. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Happy as can be!
30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Anything with chocolate
31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Wildflowers
32. WHAT IS A DAY ON THE CALENDAR YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO? 2/22, my anniversary
33. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Amanda Nicole
34. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Fergie, the Dutchess
35. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? 2 slices of pizza (one peparoni, the other the works)
36. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Sometimes, if I think it will work
37. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
39. FAVORITE SOFT DRINK? Diet Pepsi
40. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Anywhere down to earth
41. SIBLINGS? None, I'm an only child
42. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Spring, Summer and Fall
43. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? I don't remember, but I know I had fun
44. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer!!!!!!!
45. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!
46. COFFEE OR TEA? Tea
47. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate
48. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO EMAIL YOU BACK? Sure!
49. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Couple of weeks ago, thinking of my grandma
50. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? Shoes and dust
51. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Watch a rented movie
52. FAVORITE SMELL? Feshness (clean towels, out of the shower smell)
53. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Needles
54. SALTY OR SWEET? Sweet first and followed up by salty
55. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR RING(S)? Two
56. HOW MANY YEARS AT YOUR CURRENT JOB? I've been in the same department for almost 10 years, but what I am currently doing, almost 7 years
57. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Friday - Sunday
58. HOW MANY TOWNS HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 5
59. DO YOU MAKE FRIENDS EASILY? Yes
60. HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL YOU SEND THIS TO? Who ever would like to read about me on my blog
61. HOW MANY WILL RESPOND? Not sure.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. I won't revel her real age since she would kill me, but lets just say she's in her early 50's, but getting closer to her mid-50's. I did tell her the other day she was really close to 60, but she still has a few years before she gets there. I love to pick on her!

She was born in Wyoming and is the oldest of 10 brothers and sisters. When she was in her late-20's she was diagnosed with Non-Hoskins Lymphoma Cancer. I was 6 years old. My mom had a 30% chance of living and she overcame her biggest obstacle. I learned early that I am blessed to have her in my life each day. I feel bad I don't tell her that enough that I am grateful to have her as a mother, but I think she knows.

The Cancer left her with a muscle and nerve disorder that the doctors really don't know what it is. The disorder causes her muscles and nerves to become weak and painful. But with this in mind, she takes each day as a challenge and a blessing and doesn’t let her disability get in the way of her life. She is my inspiration to live my life to the fullest. She also is my NYC travel partner and we are trying to go every Spring on a day trip to explore Massachusetts oldest towns. We have tons of fun!

Tomorrow we are going to have pizza and cake for her. The cake sounds so yummy. Its chocolate cake with three layers and peanut butter is in-between each layer. Mmmmmm!