SUCCESS!

Surgery was a HUGE success!
The doctors found endometriosis, lasered and cut some lesions off...
we'll spare you the gory details (and pictures!)
but suffice to say that all (Jess, Eric, and the docs) are thrilled
to finally have some answers.


Enji helping Jess recover after surgery.

Three little holes - painful but not for long.

It's a short recovery then things should be feeling much better for Jess.
Thanks to all for the support and prayers.

A new arrival!

Eric has been wanting a cat for ages, but Jess played the allergy card till now.
Wednesday, while we were home prepping for surgery, our friends dropped off
a little cage...

Meet Engine, or "Engi" for short. He's about 5 months old and purrs very loudly.



Eric was VERY surprised at Enji's arrival and couldn't believe Jess had set all this up for him. He spent a few hours thinking up a name, but after trying to sleep with the constant purring, "Enji" had his name. He's a cutie, and he loves Eric - of course!

more snow...

warm homemade calzones for more cold winter days

this snow never stops!

a little looking around...

Surgery:

Thursday, February 26

Doctor Green says it's worth a look.

4 holes in my abdomen, 1 week of rest, up to 2 hours of surgery,

and a 20-40% chance we're on to something.

We'll see.

Getting Somewhere?

Jess spent half of yesterday with Doctor Bev (gyn) who was not very impressed that none of the other doctors had done anything during the last year. She ran Jess through the normal gamut of tests and scans and blood drawing, and said she'd call with the results.

Expecting the normal two weeks and "everything's fine" response, we were delighted to receive a call today from Doctor Bev. She thinks Jess is a good candidate for Endometriosis surgery, and we will be meeting with the surgeons on Monday!

(Basically, this means that the lining that is supposed to grow inside the uterus, where there is space, starts growing outside, attaching to organs in the abdomen. This, obviously, is very painful.)

Funny - or sad - thing is, when Jess first got sick, Aunt Laura had suggested this diagnosis and Jess had asked the doctors about it, but they didn't think anything of it...

So we're holding our breath for Monday at 3pm.

We'll let you know how it goes.

its too cold... still!

In the first two months of 2009, Mom & Dad Schaefer and Alaina went to Florida, Grandpa and Sarah enjoyed Texas and the surrounding states, and Megan and George returned from North Carolina . . .

Meanwhile, we're stuck frozen solid in New Hampshire. So not fair!

To help with the cold we borrowed some energy:

Lexi loves visiting us. While she never sits still for a photo, she does have a great attention span when it comes to cooking - or eating! We enjoyed some coloring while our sugar cookies were baking then had fun decorating them with left over Christmas sprinkles (because, after all, it still looks like Christmas out!

Below is a sample of our budding photographer's work...


Hope you are all staying warm and making it through these crazy days with joy.

<3
jess&eric

yum

Muffins!