January 2011

My goal for my blog is to now start updating it monthly.  I remember when my brother Austin and I were younger my mom would make us write in our journals once a month on fast Sundays.  We wouldn't be able to break our fast and eat until our journal was done.  I don't think I'll be that hard on myself, but I want to be able to look back and see what our little family has been up to.

This month found us at the annual Phoenix AMA supercross race.  Bruce and Nate came out for the event and we brought Damon along with us.  We love watching supercross and look forward to watching the races every Saturday on TV.  We also enjoyed Bruce and Nate staying with us for the weekend.  I missed little "Nay Nay" since we didn't get to see him or Syd over Christmas.

My mom put us through a little scare this month.  For the past several months she has been noticing a pain in her knee.  She just chalked it up to normal wear and tear of getting older and having run on it all her life.  She finally decided to get it checked out and saw Dr. Moleski, our orthopedic surgeon.  He saw something on the X-ray he took, but didn't think it was anything serious.  He ordered an MRI and bone scan just to make sure though.  The radiologist interpreted her MRI and said that the spot was "suspicious of chondrosarcoma," a rare form of bone cancer that effects the cartilage.  Immediately we started researching and mom got 2 consults with orthopedic oncologists lined up.  The good news was that the most common form of chondrosarcoma is a slow growing tumor with low rates of metastasis.  We were all pretty worried and thought we were going to have to go out and buy our livestrong bracelets for our little cancer warrior.  It was sad to see mom so affected and sad.  Amazingly both oncologists looked at her scans and got her history and think that it is actually an enchondroma, a benign tumor that looks identical to a chondrosarcoma under the microscope and on imaging results.  The doctor at the Mayo Clinic is going to have her go back in 3 months to see if there is any growth because that is the only real difference between the two.  The cancerous tumor grows and the benign one doesn't.  We are all breathing easy around here now though and are confident of her doctor and his confidence in her case.  Needless to say, we aren't wearing our livestrongs yet.

The Pratt family annual Superstar competition took place in January.  We actually were unable to complete all the events in one day, and still need to finish bowling, but it's probably safe to say that Austin is going to take the win this year.  Being married to Aaron has helped with my competitiveness and I actually find myself rooting people on instead of yelling for them to miss.  How evolved I'm becoming :) Mine and Aaron's Christmas gift to the family this year was personalized superstar shirts.  I think they turned out awesome and although most may think it's cheezy to wear them, most went along with it.

 

 Wrapping up January makes me 15.5 weeks along.  No weight gain and no belly growth - enjoying it while it lasts.