Museum of London

After St. Paul's we visited the Museum of London--we barely made it through one exhibit and were there for hours, but it was so fun. We went through the history of London, starting with Prehistoric London. My favorite were the skulls with holes in them--I know there's a reason they used to do this, but I'll have to research it to find out. I had to laugh, because I have a hole in my skull, so maybe in a billion years my head will be in a museum--yup, I'm morbid like that. ;)

I always wanted to ride one of these.

This is a 1920's flapper, and what is actually really cool is that I wore one almost identical to this (but black and purple) when I was in high school--it was my grandma's or great-grandma's or something cool like that.

I had to take a picture of this just because it's a hedgehog, and I love them.

Old treadle sewing machine--cool because it's sewing, and sewing is as everyone knows the coolest thing around, but also cool because my mom has one in her room. :)

I want an old candlestick phone--much more fun than these little cell phones with buttons too small for my fingers.

and me talking some more--anyone surprised? ;)

Patience and Gratitude

There are two wonderful lessons I learned today: patience and gratitude. Well, let me rewind a bit: I'm here! I made it to London in one piece, which is pretty amazing if you know me--my luck is always causing fun surprises in life. ;) The flight wasn't the greatest--I was sandwiched between a guy with horrible breath catching flies and an old woman watching all the love scenes off the movie menu--but it sure beat missing my flight and getting lost like I did last time I traveled! (had some issues getting to Mexico) Plus, I can never argue with free movies, especially since I NEVER go to the actual movie theater. My favorite on the flight was HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON--if you haven't seen this one you must! Something about Toothless the dragon reminded me of my Little Guy back home (most especially his personality), so of course I shed a tear or two for that, but all in all I thought it was an adorable movie with a good message, and I even laughed out loud a few times.
But the most wonderful part of the past 24 hours is that I'm here and I'm whole! I am exhausted and hungry and have a headache, but I realized something to do that humbled me yet made me feel just wonderful. Four of us shared a taxi to the London Centre, which was about a 30 minute drive, so we got to talking; one of the girls happened to go to Provo High, and it turns out she is the little sister of a girl I went to high school with. In and of itself this isn't all that exciting, but my old high school peer happens to be a fellow Chiari-survivor, and there aren't many of us! She actually had her surgery back in high school, years before I had mine, and I was always a little jealous, thinking that she healed quicker and was better off for it, being in the prime of life and all. I was only a few years older when I underwent surgery, but from my extremely impatient perspective, it's been a LONG road to recovery, and there were several times I wondered if I would be sick for the rest of my life.

So as I chatted with this girl, she explained to me that her sister (Chiari patient), although her surgery was years ago, still suffers quite a bit even now, especially with migraines--she pretty much has to deal with them every day, and talking even a small vacation is difficult on her; if she were to take a flight to London like I just did, she would definitely have to dope up on sedatives and painkillers galore, but even then she may not make it--at least she would suffer for it for several days following. And there I was, surgery only a year ago (my hair still hasn't fully grown back), coming off of a long and unusually turbulent flight to London, just chilling without any problem at all. I did have a slight headache, but I soon discovered it is more from lack of food and sleep than anything, and even then it's not debilitating. I used to suffer from killer migraines every second of every day, like this girl still does, but now only a year later I have absolutely no trace of Chiari, minus a scar up the back of my head and neck, but even that is rapidly fading.

I can barely believe that it was just a year ago--I thought the torture would never end, and anyone who knows me well knows how impatient I was about the whole thing (and still am--patience isn't one of my better virtues, that's for sure). I thought I would never be the same, but I can honestly say that I have never been better! I didn't know if I would ever be able to fly, and here I am 13 flight hours later and I'm just fine. It easily could have gone another direction, like it did for this girl--but miraculously for me, I have been blessed beyond measure. It didn't come quickly or easily in any way, but here I am, ready to take on the world and without any health problems (knock on wood) to hold me back. It's moments like these that you realize just how blessed you are and just how wonderful life really is. Thank goodness for such a loving and patient Heavenly Father, an understanding and healing Savior, and for the two most stubborn gene pools on the planet (thanks Mom and Dad): it really does pay to be a Snouston... or a Ho. ;)

My new do?

So, I had the bottom half of my head shaved, and some of my more tactful friends sent these to me as a few suggestions for my new do:

I think I will definitely keep the top half of my hair, and I am a big fan of color, so maybe I'll go with this last one. Maybe a few of these color extensions:

Who knows, it could be fun. :)

The Bride of Frankenstein

Today marks the final day of monsterhood--my staples came out! This morning Sister Dr. Kendall stopped by and pulled out the 17 little staples that kept my neck together this week.

It's been 9 days since the surgery, and I'm still alive (amazingly). Yesterday was probably my hardest day yet, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, today (so far anyway) has been my best day yet. Cheesy, but I guess the night truly is darkest before the dawn.

Oh So Loved

You know how girls like flowers? Well I LOVE flowers. You know how you always secretly wish that someone will bring you flowers for your performance, or birthday, or at the hospital? Well, I secretly wish this every day. I secretly wish that flowers will pop up every time I enter a door. My weakness when I grocery shop is not the chocolate goodies in the checkout line, but the beautiful flower arrangements near the produce. So, imagine my excitement when I woke up from surgery to find a bouquet of the most beautiful, cheerful sunflowers waiting for me!

It truly made my day. Seriously, that was all I needed. And yet, it didn't stop there: roses, lilies, daisies, cookies, cards, Jamba Juice, visitors, calls, you name it. I hardly had time to rest in those days at the hospital and a few after.


This is going to sound silly, but I never realized that I was oh so loved. Really. The last few weeks everyone has done so much for me, it's ridiculous. I can't explain why, they just do. I'm not complaining, oh no, I'm beyond grateful. It's a great feeling. So thank you, THANK YOU! for everything you all have done, whether it was a gift, a kind word or even just a kind thought sent my way, it's worth more to me than you will ever know.

A Break From Cakes, and Yet More Cakes!

My surgery was scheduled for March 27th, but as luck would have it (as it usually does) the doctor called me up on March 24th and said why not tomorrow? Go figure. I panicked, I flipped, I did all the things you would expect a paranoid over the top person to do. Finally, I accepted the inevitable. The funny thing was, my biggest concern was that I wasn't going to finish my cake. You heard me, I wasn't worried about the surgery or the life vs. death or any of that--that would come later, trust me--for the moment all I could think about was my cake--my LAST cake, at least for now. See, the last day of our Fondant and Gum Paste class was the day after my scheduled surgery. Since there was little chance I could make it, I had talked to Katherine (the instructor) earlier and she said I could make the final project beforehand and send pictures with my mom and Carolyn. I had planned to finish it by Thursday, and all the sudden Tuesday night was here and my cake HAD to be done! It may seem like a silly thing, but this was a huge deal to me. Fortunately I am blessed with an angel mother who helped me through the surgery pre-opt and after dinner we sat down and worked on decorating my cake; however silly it may have seemed on the surface, she could see how important it was to me. After all, this would be my last cake for quite some time! It had to be a good one.

Well, to make a long story short, we did finish the cake in time, even in time to get to bed at a half-decent hour for my 5:30am surgery call time. The result: a beautiful piano-themed cake, dedicated to Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum for their excellence and endurance through the torturous program of AIM (Achievement In Music). I almost didn't want to let them eat it, I was so proud, but I had little say in the matter, seeing that in a few hours I would be spilling my guts out on an operating table. I did get to eat some of the chocolate fondant though--mmMMMMMmm--it was like rocky road fudge! It was a pain in the butt to work with, but the taste was definitely worth it. So enough of my jabbering, here's the finished product:


By the way, I made the chocolate fondant just like the normal marshmallow fondant found on Katherine's site, except I added 1.5-2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. In retrospect, I think adding some karo syrup would have really helped, because it tended to crack quickly and needed to be reheated much to often. Other than that though, it tasted wonderful.

And I know this is just making this post that much longer, and it's on another blog, but I can't help it--Here are a few pictures of Carolyn's and Mom's cakes, which I have to post again because they are just that beautiful--oooh, and they get bonus points for Springiness!:

Cindy Lou Who

The first thing my dad does as the nurses wheel me into my hospital room is whip out his camera phone and start snapping pictures. Of course, when I saw my incredibly awesome style I realized that I totally would have done the same thing. Dr. Reichman did my hair himself--like it?

That's one good-looking brain patient if I do say so myself. For any of you who wish to know, the surgery was deemed a success; my cerebellum and poor little tonsils are no longer squished and yes, I am now part cow. The first two days in the hospital sucked--there's really no other way to say it, they were horrible. I couldn't make it 3 steps without throwing up. I couldn't even enjoy what little there was of my liquid diet. It was sad. However, I made it past the nights of no sleep, the puking and the horrific pain to a better place. Today I even took a shower--well, sort of, I couldn't wash my head, but I washed the rest of me. I even had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Things are, slowly but surely, getting better. No cartwheels yet, but I'll work on it.

5:30am is not a good time

Today I had to get up at 5:30am. I was not pleased about this. Especially because I wasn't expecting to get up this early until Friday. See, Dr. Reichman's office (he's my neurosurgeon) called yeseterday and informed me that he was moving my surgery from Friday to Wednesday--maybe he has weekend plans or something, who knows. It was quite a surprise to my system, learning that my life could be over in less than a day. This is how I felt:



Yup, that pretty much sums it up. I'm over it now though. Of course, seeing that I am sitting in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm, waiting for it all to begin, I kind of have to be--yup, they have wireless in the hospital, go figure. In the end I'm actually really glad they changed it to today; now I can quit worrying about it and just let it be. Oooh, and I was forced to finish my cake last night--my final project for my cake decorating class. It's quite fantastic if I do say so myself. I'll post pictures later, it's beautiful!

Speaking of cakes: in honor of my brain transplant today here is another one of the most awesome cakes I have seen; while I personally would probably never eat it, it is pretty impressive:

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/01/think-theyre-organic-smirk.html

Hahahahahahahahaha, okay, I admit I often have a sick sense of humor, but I love that cake--yes, it's a real cake, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I wonder if my brain looks anything like that...

And, as is my true bipolar nature, a wonderful piece of advice from sweet Elder Uchtdorf for peace during times of distress (if this isn't somewhat a time of distress, I don't know what is):

"We know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep our heads above water. In fact, in our world of change, challenges, and checklists, sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to avoid feeling overwhelmed by emotions of suffering and sorrow."I am not suggesting that we can simply flip a switch and stop the negative feelings that distress us. This isn't a pep talk or an attempt to encourage those sinking in quicksand to imagine instead they are relaxing on a beach. I recognize that in all of our lives there are real concerns. I know there are hearts here today that harbor deep sorrows. Others wrestle with fears that trouble the soul. For some, loneliness is their secret trial."These things are not insignificant."However, [there are] two principles that may help you find a path to peace, hope, and joy—even during times of trial and distress. I want to speak about God's happiness and how each one of us can taste of it in spite of the burdens that beset us."

AMEN. Well, time for the transplant; Hope to see you all on the other side!

Initiating Countdown...

Interesting quote... Hmm... Well, it's officially March, and officially my last month with a full head on my shoulders. No, really. In just a few weeks--March 27th to be exact--I will lose half of my hair and a decent little piece of my skull, right at the back where it connects to the spine. Yeah, crazy, I know. I'm still working on the whole coming to terms with it idea. It's going to be an adventure, that's for sure. If anyone wants to keep me company for the next 2-3 months, I will be hanging out having movie marathons and working very hard to not slit my wrist from boredom--feel free to come visit me! For now, I'm going to be filling my days with as much as I can while I still can--and deciding what on earth I can do with only half a head of hair; really, how many options are there?

Chiari Malformation

So, I finally got a hold of my MRI films... check these out! Kind of cool if you ask me. Look at the cerebellum; it's slipping into the spinal collum.