Life without a uterus....

Thanks to all of you who have personally been following my journey from being "whole" to losing the "factory."  HA!  Someone said I'm an "it" now, no, not quite.  Still have those ovaries to remind me regularly that I am in fact female!

Life has not returned to normal.  Not yet.  While the blessing of having DaVinci surgery means you're back on your feet sooner, those feet are not steady.  There is still the daily struggle of pain, brain fog, and exhaustion.   Who knew 3 hours of anesthesia could render me even more blonde than I'd been prior?  The question is, will my brain cells ever recover, or is this like when you have a baby and you permanently donate those brain cells to them?

My running career is on hold.  I am thankful to be able to walk one mile on the treadmill now.  And the nightly walk around the block with the dogs.  I do think back to the first night when I couldn't even stand up for more than 30 seconds!  Or the first days home when I had to ascend and descend the stairs sideways (yes, like a crab) to avoid the strain on my ab muscles.  It's a process, they keep telling me.

"THEY" is the Hyster-sisters website.  To anyone having the fun of considering, going through, or recovering from a hysterectomy, this is the place for you.  To find the information you need, the support you crave, the friends to laugh with along the way.  Checking in here both pre and post op has been the only way I have gotten through the last 3 weeks.

I must send out a huge thank you to my husband, who waited on me hand and foot when I returned home from the hospital.  He has totally been there for me through this nasty recovery process (and the couple days before which were no picnic either.)

Promises to be back soon and share real chaos.  Like the fact that my house hasn't been cleaned since pre-surgery.  Ron has learned how to run the dishwasher.  Laundry?  What's that? 

Eclipse....

Another year, another Twilight movie with the Yarnies. What could be funnier than 8 grown women (with kids of their own) going to see a tween movie and squealing like tweens? We are dweebs. Or as Mands calls us "dorks in Forks."

But it was awesome. Faves....

• Sitting next to Gherkin and watching her curl up in a ball and cover her eyes whenever Robert Pattinson was on the screen.
• Hearing Kitteh yell, "oh baby" when Taylor Lautner is shown shirtless for the first time.
• The fact that as old as we are, we could sit there entranced like tweens for the full 124 minutes of the movie and still be wishing for more when it was over.
• That we are already planning for November 2011 when the next Twilight movie is released.

An entertaining lunch followed at PF Changs. Egg drop soup anyone?

And it's only summer now......

Wow. Time flies, eh? Said RIP to the bird and apparently RIP to the blog too. Cause I haven't posted in MONTHS.

News from the first half of 2010...

Finished up yet another hockey season. Already done with tryouts for the next one. Kyle keeps saying this is his last year, but we shall see. We have 9 months of hockey ahead of us.

Ron is still flying for US Air. He virtually had the entire first 3 months of 2010 off work. Didn't fly much at all. But he's made up for it since April. It's good. We like knowing he still remembers how to fly the airplane.

I'm still knitting. Finally finished that orange sweater I'd started in spring of 2009. Well, sort of. It's wearable, but I'm not convinced I won't rip out the seams and resew it at some point. Just got my custom order of yarn from Gherkin's Bucket.Tell me that's not pretty stuff? Krysten is amazing. The yarn sits here, awaiting the perfect sweater pattern. Might be a while, cause I'm still enjoying looking at just the pile of yarn.

Winter left and summer has arrived. We've been lucky up to this point that it hasn't been brutally hot - however, that will change this week with the arrival of 110+ temps.

I joined 24 Hour Fitness, as I wanted to continue running/walking, but just can't do it in the heat (okay, I could wake up earlier, but really? I like my sleep.) Plus, a bonus is the twice weekly yoga classes with Kayla, that so far, I've only made once.

Kyle is DRIVING. Beware world. Another teenager on the road. He got his permit on April Fool's Day (the only fools were his parents for letting him get his permit!) He will officially be allowed to test for his license on October 1st. For now, he drives with mom, who is trying to learn not to grab the wheel or scream; and dad, who is patient to the point of almost letting Kyle get in an accident or get a ticket. But it's all good. Overall he is a good driver and a good kid.

So that's it from the hot spot. I will try to remember that this blog is not buried and post once in a while.

RIP Bird

We lost our bird to old age December 26th. Ron was with him as he flapped his wings one last time. Rest in peace little bird. Thanks for letting us be your friends at the end.

Merry Christmas from our chaos to yours

Happy Holidays from the Burkovich Family

Snippets of our life in 2009: Ron and Kim celebrated their 20^th wedding anniversary. Ron turned 50. Kyle completed his first year of high school. The puppies turned 4. Kyle got his braces off (too late to make pictures for the Christmas card.) Ron continued playing golf and regularly breaking 80. Kim continued managing Kyle’s hockey team, and enjoying nearly every minute of it. Kyle’s Mustang Bantam A team managed to win SIX tournaments last season (that has to be some sort of record) bringing their total as a group to 13 tournaments over 3 seasons. Snoopy lost weight and gained it all back. Joe remained skinny and a bundle of energy. Snoopy still loves mom’s lap more than any other place to rest. Joe doesn’t rest. Kyle went to summer school to improve his grade in 9^th grade math. Kim did a lot of knitting but is still working on finishing her first sweater. Ron redid the entire front yard (it’s quite beautiful and gives the house so much character.) He also felt inspired to buy a sledgehammer and tear out some of the cool decking by the pool, replacing it with hand-laid pavers. Kyle spent the summer sleeping when he could and skateboarding when he wasn’t sleeping. And making the occasional trips to the ice rink to be sure he could still skate (and mom could cool off.) Ron and Kim took the boat out on Saguaro Lake and had to be towed back in when a water hose burst, flooding the engine compartment. Ron, Kim & Kyle (and two of Kyle’s friends) went up to Heber-Overgaard for a fishing weekend. Turned out it was a very cold weekend, very windy and the fish wouldn’t bite (Ron caught one and Kim caught one.) But we watched the Penguins beat the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals (go Pens!) Hockey season began again in August. Kyle’s hockey team won another regional Silver Stick tourney, garnering them an invitation to the finals in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada in January 2010 (look it up on a map. It’s sure to be a cold trip!) Kim can’t wait to go back to Toronto and finally go up to the glass observation deck of the CN Tower. Kyle’s not so sure. Ron has most of January off for vacation but not the week we go to Canada. Kyle is now a sophomore in high school and looking forward to getting his driving permit in February (eek.) Ron gave Kyle his Toyota pickup which was a great excuse for him to come home in a shiny red Nissan 350Z. Kim is still driving her Pilot. The puppies don’t care which car they get in as long as they get to go somewhere. We put our Christmas tree up two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, but still (as of press date) hadn’t hung any ornaments on it. And with that tidbit, we hope that all of you had an eventful and happy filled year as we have. May your family be blessed with a wonderful 2010.

Love, Ron, Kim, Kyle, Snoopy & Joe

(and the bird who doesn’t talk)

ps – we like the roller coaster

(more than the merry-go-round)