October is a great month...

          Because of this

                                                            

   and this

                                                                       

   and this

I'm so happy that I married my sweetheart. Thanks to all our family and friends who have supported us.

Have you read this?

The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving....

                                                                   Irena Sendler

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most though had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Recently, Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected. However, Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming and Barack Obama won for a speech on peace.



My grandma sent me an email with that story attached.  I am touched by all of the unknown bravery and unselfishness that the world has to offer, as well as,  good people.  I think Irena is one of my new hero's and I appreciate her example.

Medical Advice

 Three years ago I worked for a plastic surgeon. During my time there I learned that if you have any size or shape of pigmented lesion (aka a mole) around  the periphery of your hands or feet, or on your soles or palms they needed to be removed. The reason you ask? Because they have a greater likelihood of being preCANCEROUS and no one likes cancer.

10 days ago I finally made an appointment to go and have my moles removed from Dr. Fairbanks. Bart had been bugging me to get the mole taken off my left big toe.  The mole didn't bother me and I figured not many people even noticed it but Bart kept telling me to get it taken off. Well, 3 hours later, 4 moles removed, 4 shots to my big toe and lots of sutures later I hobbled out of the office. Dr. Fairbanks had to do a skin flap in order to close the incision which is why I have so many sutures. Yes, the shots to my toe hurt and I wanted to jump off the table.

Seven days later my pathology report came back from the lab and guess what?  Both of the moles on my hand and foot showed ATYPICAL cells which means that those mole were precancerous and could have eventually caused melanoma. But since I had them taken off I am fine and don't have to worry.

Moral of the story, each of you need to look at your own hands and feet and then tell/look at all your family and friends hands and feet. Even if the mole is small and looks like a freckle it is better to be safe than sorry.



The worse part of the entire experience is NOT hobbling around or needing to wear socks and athletic shoes, or cleaning my sutures twice a day rather it's the fact that I can't get a pedicure for 6 WEEKS. AHHHHH