keltys surgery and update

Hello everyone. First, I would like to say thanks for all the support. it means so much to me that people have hopped on planes and driven accross states to be here and support us. I cant tell you how grateful I am to have the family and friends I do. It means more than words could ever explain to have you all here with us.



Kelty has been diagnosed with brain cancer. I dont know exactly what type it is yet. In fact, theyre still scraping it out of her head as i write this.



We were sent up to Primary Childrens yesterday for a CT scan to see if anything was going on in the head that could be causing keltys gross motor delays. Her symptoms prior to this were: not walking, decrease in movement, cocking her head to the side all the time, and macrcephaly( having a big head). I had been noticing her shake and lose balance all the time amongst other troubling symptoms.



So they found pockets of fluid in her head from a tumor in her cerebellum. The tumor had been closing off the opening to the spinal chord where the fluid is supposed to escape. It had been building up in her head so bad that it was starting to push through her brain and make her head bigger.



After the CT they had us talk to a doctor and he said it would not be a good idea to go home but to stay in the hospital and do surgery as soon as possible. So we got registered after spending hours talking to a doc and getting everything situated. Turns out that this doc is the chief of peds neurosurgery, chief in charge of resident training, adjuct chief of pediatrics and a professor of neurosurgery for the university of utah. So he must be the man. oh yeah, hes also the director of some kind of brain board and physician of the year.



We had an MRI done last night and it went well. there was no tumor on her spine as well. thank heaven. Kelty was given Deximethysone for her brain swelling through the night and to prepare for surgery.



This morning was the most heart breaking thing I have ever been through. not including the horrendous night last night. Having to watch your daughter be carried away with her hand outstretched and screaming into an operating room where she may never come back is the hardest thing I have ever had to go through.



So they will(or already have) make a 6 inch incision in the back of her head, remove a piece of bone and literally scrape this tumor out of her cerebellum. They have already placed a drain in the top of her head to get some of the fluid out to reduce the trauma of the swelling. She could have some side effects from the surgery including partial facial parallysis, not being able to look upward for a while, and some breathing problems. And if the doc misses and slips a milimeter she could be paralyzed from the neck down and be on vent for the rest of her life.


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The above statements were written durring Keltys surgery as I waited in the waiting room about 3 weeks ago. The connection wasnt very good and wouldnt load. So it never got posted.

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Today, Kelty is home and doing very well! Exceptionally well! I am excited to say that she has no side affects from surgery and is now acting like a "normal" 20 month old.

The hospital stay was scary and nerve racking.....to say the least. I have never been so tired in my life. Kelty HAD to have someone with her or she was screaming constantly. I dont blame her, if i had my head spliced open I wouldnt be very happy either. So I stayed...like I was going to go...

Anyway, we are all doing soooo incredibly good its awesome!!! I cant explain the relief and how grateful I am to have my little baby still with us. Shes a miracle, plain and simple.

I cant believe the outpouring of support and love we felt and saw from family and friends. I am filled with almost disbelief that sooo many people would drop everything to come and wait with us at the hospital durring surgery. My whole(the complete Christensen side with the exception of Ryan who is in Georgia) drove across the state and called in sick at work to come and help us through a rough time. Jays mama dropped everything and booked a flight on a days notice and flew in from oklahoma to help us with Kelty and her recovery. What a blessing she has been.
There are no words to explain the love I felt that day. I was mortified but had such a wonderful blessing from family to be able to get through the hardest part of my life so far.

Thankyou everyone for your generous kindness.

Oh, for Pete sakes!

Good morning my loyal mignion of scrupulous(totally spelled wrong) readers!

One wonders why someone would dress like a cracked out ventriliquist puppet? I have seen many people walking around in public with doll makeup on. The kind of makeup with the pale white foundation, dark circles under the eyes and purple eyeshadow with a hint of black on the lips. What is this?

Why do these people follow Tim Burtons imagination so closely that they have to act out in "real life"? I came upon a young lady with a corsette of black and purple stripes atop a freyed white button down shirt. But not to forget, the docs that lace up to your thigh and have a wedge as thick as 4 inches. Ok, the shoes were kindof cool but please! You look like the Corpse Bride gone bad!

I dont understand this fashion. Carrying around chuckey dolls and being obsessed with Nightmare Before Christmas. I just dont get it. I see grown men walking around with backpacks and binkis in their mouths. If thats not the biggest giveaway for being a drug-ee than I dont know what is.

HELLLOOOOO!! What ever happened to looking presentable in public? And acting like ladies....and gentlemen?

Bash butt had a birthday!!! YAY!!!

So this last weekend was the scrapbook expo. And it was a heap of fun! Although, I have been a little "out of sorts" lately it was still a grand time. It was the first time in a while that I have been able to relax and do something that I wanted to do....all by myself. I seem to be one of those people that need ALOT of solitary time.
Jay and the creatures came with me. But left me alone for an hour or two while they went to the golf expo on the other side of the convention center. It was like heaven. I LOVE my family but it was nice to be able to just do something alone. I only got one page done though. I tend to have extravagant taste when it comes to scrapbooking. I did a portrait of Kelty on fairy tale paper that had beautiful soft shades of blue, purple, and gold. It was embossed with gold glittery stuff and had a fancy tril on the bottom with words that said, "there once lived a beautiful princess". It kind of looked like a water color picture of fancy paisleys and stuff. Then I put nickel eyelets down the side and threaded sheer blue ribbon through them and tied them in knots. All in all, it turned out quite well.
I also got to see a couple friends that had stopped by to do some papel shopping and pick up some of the latest techniques in the scrapbooking world. I got some new brads and embellishments while Jay had just as much fun looking at paper and trying to do some cropping of his own. He was on the lookout for some temple stuff, but no such luck at the expo for that this year. It is such great fun getting such super awesome deals on really expensive stuff! I got some packs of brass alphabet brads(the big ones) from Rusty Pickle for 50 cents!!! WOOT! Also got some new clear stamps for meer cents! We got sooo much stuff it was ridiculous! I wont need to buy anything for like a year!!!
I love the family business thing that goes on there too. My parents both own their own business and have been fairly successful at it. Jay and I have been thinking about starting our own branch of the business too. It feels like the right time to do it now. I just have to get out of the funk first. And that will be happening soon I hope. Things have been going well and we're taking steps to get me back on track and figure out whats wrong with Kelty.

So, Saturday was my bigger little sisters 21st birthday. It was sooo cute she had to wear a tiara all day! I bought her balloons, a new purse, a new wallet(one of the big flat ones), and the Twilight movie. EEEE! It was fun. Its so nice to be able to get along with my sister more now-a-days. It always seemed like she was so much younger than me that we couldnt relate well. But now that shes getting older its getting alot better. I would actually rather spend time with my sister now than some of my old friends. Not such a bad thing.

It was a good time. I'm always glad to see the fam get along. All of us even went out to dinner to Chuck A Rama after and had tons of fun. My parents still think its funny to tell Jay emberassing throw up stories about me when I was little. lol

This is depressing, so dont read if you dont want a downer.

This blog is going to be very blunt and maybe traumatic to you readers. But, this how I truly feel and whats really going on behind the "happy mask" that is Aerial. If you dont want to read a depressing rant dont read any further.

Youve been warned, this is not happy or funny.

K, I guess you want to know whats really going on. First, I write like I'm talking to someone, usually a best friend or my husband. I know there is a term for this but I cant remember if its second person, conversationalism, or what. Which leads me into my lack of memory lately. Throughout my life I have blocked out whole summers and big chunks of my life. I dont know why. I just dont remember anything. I dont remember a few times that I went to girls camp with church. I honestly cannot recall the whole summer of 1999 and 2001. There are also pieces missing from my childhood(pre teenage angst). I dont think I've sustained anything too traumatizing in my 25 years of existence. But who knows.

Second, I think I'm crazy. Seriously. Lately I have been having a really hard time dealing with anything. The littlest things are sending me into meltdowns. Maybe I'm bipolar. There is some depression going on for sure. But you dont get anxiety without some sort of depression. Yesterday I balled all day. I cried for absolutely no reason, and could not stop. There are some stressers in my life. I think there is something wrong with my baby. Shes almost 2 and hasnt started walking. In fact, her movement has been decreasing. She isnt able to hold herself upright without bracing her hands on the floor, she doesnt crawl very fast, her right foot seems to drag when I stand her up and walk her, and shes cocking her head to the side all the time now. All bad signs for development. I am so worried about her that I feel like I cant even breathe. The doctor called out of the blue to make sure we bring her in on the 25th. What kind of doc calls a patient out of the blue?.....ok, a good one. But that says the doc is concerned, which I knew. But it made me completely freak out! Like seriously, I got on the couch and didnt move for like 4 hours. Gage watched cartoons, which I hate myself for. I should be playing with him and engaging him in stimulating activities. And Kelty slept on my side until Jay got home. Then he took over because I was so completley crazy that I just slept. Then I called in sick to work.

The day I planted roses I was happy. The next day, cried all day. Today(Thursday), depressed and borred. I did nothing and felt sad all day. I'm not just sad, I get really angry and yell at my children. I scream at Gage and tell him to shutup. I'm starting to cry right now. No child deserves to be screamed at, let alone to be told to shutup by their mother. What is wrong with me? Sometimes I cant even get out of bed. I can hear my baby crying in the other room because she wants to get out of her crib. But I just cant move some days.

I wake up depressed alot. I think to myself, wow you are so fat and ugly. No wonder Jay doesnt make a move more often. He thinks your gross. I honestly dont know if thats true. It even sounds absurd to me. But I seriously cant think through it sometimes, actually 90% of the time. I hate the way I look. I am disgusted with myself. I want so badly to wear all my cute clothes. But theyre all too small.

And what is up with this paranoia? I'm getting increasignly paranoid. I think that some of my work friends are talking crap and going to the boss and I'm going to get fired. Thats scaring me. Are they all really talking crap about me?

I cant stand this! The wierd thing is that I am aware that I'm depressed. I need help. I looked at LDS social services and I am going to get counseling or medication or something. Its effecting my job and is becoming debilitating. I feel all these horrible feelings and cant get out of the funk. Maybe if I can work out some of these "issues" I will be happier. In the meantime I'm trying to make life for everyone around me a little more pleasant. Thanks for all you that still stick with me even though I am a rage filled *@&!@# at times.

Most of all, thankyou Jay. Thanks for being my rock. Thanks for always being there and standing by your crazy wife. Thankyou for crying with me the other day. I think I'll pull through this with some help.

This is how I know I am getting old!

Today was such a beautiful day! My kiddos and I planted roses in the front of our house today. Well, Gage dug some holes and cut the grass with scissors. I weeded the flower beds, took a garden hoe to 'em, put some crazy chemical called Preen down to kill anything and everything that isnt my precious new flowers, and thus planted "Queen Pinks" in the front flower beds.



I figured roses wouldnt hurt. I've never done any actual gardening of my own. I've helped with my parents yard quite a bit. And even helped maintain the Walmart on 56th. My dad owns a maintenance/landscaping company, and he said I wouldnt be able to kill roses. Plus, roses are a full sun plant. Our house faces south sooooo the roses should....not....die.



I have really been dying to get my hands into some soil and enjoy the outdoors ever since Jay and I have been married. When I was little my mom always gave us(my sis and I) a piece of the garden to do whatever we wanted with. But we had to plant flowers or veggies. Sometimes nothing would come up but other times we would get a whole bunch of whatever we planted. I think dad would go out and replant things to make sure we werent disappointed after planting seeds and then digging them out looking for potato bugs.

But at the duplex I was afraid to do anything, even make a pot garden. No, not the wacky weed, but veggies in pots. I killed a lavander in a pot the first year we were married. I thought those we supposed to be indestructable......it died a few weeks later, thanks to my former black thumb. Anyway, Maryanne(former landlord) was sooo insane about her garden that I wouldnt even let Gage play in the front yard. It was beautiful though.



I vowe to keep my plants alive! I'm even going to get some plant food and fertilizer for the Queen Pinks and pamper them like little chihauhaus with diamond collars.

Is it weird to be almost obsessing about roses like those crazy little old ladies?
This is how I know I am getting old. Gardening is a fantastic hobby! Where can I get some Allysium and Marigolds! Ahhh! I even know the difference between anual and perenial, full sun and full shade. I also think a rose of Sharon is going to look AWESOME in the patio corner. Yes, I am getting old---er

I've learned a valuable lesson

I've been learning so many life changing lessons since I have been employed at Pioneer Valley Hospital.....and since I have become an adult. They are as follows:

1. speak up or shut up, theyre not going to hear you if you dont say anything

2. dont think your better than you are, people will gladly shoot you down

3. dont try to potty train a boy that isnt ready...Gage was really easy though

4. adults can pee their pants, and at work, poop on everything

5. enjoy the present moment, dont worry about things that are out of your control

6. old people smell funny....70+ nothing will help you escape the funk

7. love grows deeper with time

8. look for the little things that make you happy

9. dont covet your neighbors things and call it ambition to be on the same level

10. find something that makes you happy and do it everyday

11. exercise is good

12. family will always be there to pick up the pieces when nobody else will

13. when you have made a major mistake, admit it, dont try to fix it by doing something stupid

14. learn from regret

15. try to forgive easily

16. listen to fulfilling, good, happy music

17. look for one good thing about everyone you meet

18. its ok to voice your opinion

19. dont let anyone walk all over you

20. take a deep breath and keep going

21. people in the hospital are out of their minds most of the time, including the staff

22. dont be afraid to stick up for someone else

23. sleeping is good

24. the always wear clean underwear thing is TRUE!!! you will get in an accident and we will remove your clothing, including batman underwear....on 20 year old young men....i hope i never get in an accident where they have to cut my clothing off, let alone see my undies!

25. I've learned that watching people sleep is a gift from Heavenly Father. Its at this time that after a day of MacKelty screaming, Gage needing numerous time outs, and nothing getting done. I can see the beautiful perfect skin of my baby girl. I get to see her long eyelashes clearly and hear her giggle in her sleep. I get to see the little boy thats snorring on my shoulder and how his cute little face is turning into a boy rather than a child. And its when I get to see the little creases on the outside of jays eyes that make him look happy all the time, even when he's not, is a gift from Heavenly Father. Its in these sleeping moments that I am thankful to see the sweet spirits of my family and appreciate them for just exactly who they are.

These are just some of the lessons I've learned from being an YOUNG adult. Some have been bad and some have been tremendously good.

creeeeek, creeeeek, bang!!

Last night was the first night in our new house. Even with my major meltdown the other day and the stress of paying for everything the house needs I think I did quite well...... I slept all night anyway.

So the screen door/storm door slams shut and flings itself open with the slightest gust of wind. Its kinda creepy. It sounds like someone has opened the door to come in the house. But all in all, it wasnt too bad. Jay fell asleep on the floor next to me.....well, next to the couch where I was perched and quite comfy....until my hip started aching from the stupid bar from my moms couch that I slept on earlier in the day.

Jay made his way to the bed sometime durring the night. I stayed on the couch until 7. I stayed on the couch because I was on call for work and didnt want to get into too deep of a sleep and miss the call to come in. So it didnt make for a restful night.....especially with the door slamming constantly. I wonder if the neighbors can hear it banging?

The other thing we noticed about the house was that the icky black sticky subfloor in the master bedroom is grosss! And making black marks on the carpet in the hallway. ICK! I guess we'll get the carpets cleaned again....maybe we shouldnt have pulled up the dingy carpet tiles.....but still! Old people have accidents when they stand up from bed and I'm quite sure there was a hospital bed in there...hence the weird tiling job. I just didnt want to have some ugly microbes making their way into anyone.

so the first night was ....ok.

black sludge creeping into places where it shouldnt be!!!

So, we bought an old house and have been so called "renovating" it. But I have been starting to love it. I didnt like it at first but now that I have stripped wallpaper from every single room, and thus, painted every single room....I now like it.
Its called "grandpa's house". Because the old man that lived there previous to us died. And it looked like Mr. Rogers house when we made the initial visit.

Dont ever put contact paper up as wallpaper. What the heck was Mrs. Grandpa thinking!!! It took ALOT of soaking and scraping to get that crap down!!! Although, we gave up and primed it in one of the rooms and painted over it. It worked good! We should have done that with the rest of the house! It would have saved us 2 days!!

So much paint. Too much paint. Arms sore. Clothes ruined. Brain cells dead.

So now that the walls are pretty, we are planning on replacing the hideous floors sometime in the near future. Also getting a french door to replace the sliding glass door, that has NO lock!.....we have a baseball bat and a stick protecting us from bad guys until the french door can be payed for..........hopefully very soon. Was grandpa not afraid of getting his precious housewares stolen?....or much worse, getting mugged in the middle of the night?

Weird things are going on in this 60+ year old house. We turned the kitchen faucet on and the bathroom sink overflowed.....awe suck! It costed us $589.36 to have all the draines cleaned and fixed....hey, at least we can shower and wash dishes now:) Thats where the sludge came in. When the plumber/rooter man cleaned the kitched drain it spewed black sludge from the wall. He showed me the pipe and it was solid black sludge! Grosss! Grandpa probly never had the drains cleaned according to the rooter man.

Grandpa didnt like matching flooring either. He prefered peel and stick lenoleum. The kitchen is that icky peel and stick old stuff. Gages room is lenoleum in the nastiest color ever! MacKeltys room is gold shag. The master bedroom is a combo of peel and stick vinyl, subflooring in a beautiful sticky black and orange fleshy colored peel and sticks. But the living room isnt too bad, its some kind of light colored berber.

The house really isnt as hideous as I make it out to be. Its actually a cute little cottage-ee type home. We didnt buy it for the flooring but for the charm. It has an awesome covered patio right off the back door, a big yard for the kids to play, mature trees(although in need of a good pruning), a workshop complete with tools and "man stuff" for Jay and Gage-o. It also has a garage and a master suite.
It also has alot of the original fixtures and built-ins with original hardwear. The house has the original windows but those will need replacing before winter. They make the house look antique, which I like.

Grandpa may have been an eccentric old man. Maybe he just liked piles of rocks? He has piles of rocks everywhere.Who knows? All I can do is shrug my shoulders.
I think he also had a thing for big spikey rip your arm off trees. There is a mighty big tree in the front yard with wicked looking spikes jutting out from every inch of it. And lots of really old rose bushes with flesh piercing thorns just waiting to get me.

So all in all, this is a wonderful house and I am falling more and more in love with it day by day(by changing it to all the things I want in it day by day:).