Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Sunday, January 26, 2020

JCP Level 7 tournament

Connor and Paige both played in a level 7 tennis tournament this weekend. Connor had one match on Saturday and two matches on Sunday. Paige had three matches on Sunday. The tournament was at JCP and there were quite a few good players there. Connor won his first two matches and made it to the final match. The final match was very competitive and he hit hard and played really well, but fell behind in both sets and came in second in his age bracket.


Paige struggled a little with her tennis today. The first match had an awkward confrontation when her opponent's father got upset because Paige was trying to figure out if her opponent was serving on the wrong side. Unfortunately the court monitor didn't help out and an official had to get involved to get things back on track. Paige was in a bit of a funk after that and ended up being a little off the rest of the day. She lost her first two matches and lost the first set of her final match before she turned it around. Paige managed to win the second set in her final match and won the tiebreak as well to end the day 1-2 overall.


Paige's A honor roll


Paige earned A honor roll again this past quarter and we snapped a pic this weekend with her certificate. She has been such an awesome student and this year has been more challenging, but she has excelled and her grades have been A's all year. Paige is so motivated and we hardly ever have to worry about what is going on in her classes or study with her. Great work Paige!

Andrea's surgery - replace expanders and complete hysterectomy - TNBC/IDC/BRCA2



On Tuesday, 1/21/2020, Andrea had the final phase of her mastectomy reconstruction and also had surgery to remove her uterus and cervix which essentially completes the hysterectomy (her ovaries and tubes had been taken out previously). Each of the procedures were not considered major surgeries, but since Andrea wanted to take care of both at once, it was a little more complex to coordinate and it is going to be a bit more difficult for recovery.

We'd anticipated Andrea's surgery would be the first of the day since there were two surgeons involved, but unfortunately they decided to schedule it for 3pm. This kind of messed up what we'd planned on for my work and for the kids' schedules with school, but thankfully Grandpa Rick stepped up for us and came on Tuesday afternoon to make sure the kids got home from school without any problems and he ended up staying the night at the house with them since Andrea ended up having to stay the night after surgery.

Andrea's surgery started a little bit late and I gave her a goodbye kiss and they wheeled her back to the OR around 4:15. I went home for a little while and got things together with the kids and ate with them and with Grandpa Rick at Longhorn. A couple hours later (around 6:30) I got the call from the plastic surgeon that the reconstruction and exchange surgery had gone perfectly and that the hysterectomy was starting. I got a call fairly soon after at 7:30 when Dr. Dinh completed his portion of the surgery. He reported that everything looked good and normal and that there were no problems. One of his residents completed the closure and wrapped everything up and I went to the ICU waiting room for them to bring her out of the recovery area. It took quite a while and it was a little after 10pm when they finally wheeled her up to her room. It took quite a while that evening to get everything taken care of and to get Andrea tucked in and for me to make up an area to sleep. We got a little sleep that evening and then the next morning we went home after discharge.

Andrea has been doing really well since she got home, actually probably better than I have. I didn't sleep much in the hospital and I struggled a little to get caught up with work and it was hard not to be grumpy. Andrea only took a small amount of pain medication the first couple of days after surgery and hasn't had anything at all for a while now. So far so good, every day I'm impressed with Andrea for being such a strong woman and enduring so much since her cancer treatment. She is an amazing person and has handled every step with grace and she makes me so proud. We all love you Andrea!

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Piano lessons


Paige started her piano lessons on Thursday last week and she enjoyed learning all the proper ways to sit, play, and position herself with the piano. The lessons couldn't be any more convenient since they're just down the street at a neighbor's house!


Branchie update


The weather's been beautiful so we've been going on walks and Paige and I went on a bike ride the other day. We checked on Branchie (or is it Branchy?) and snapped a pic of them together.

Abacos Triples Tournament - Chicks with Sticks - Andrea, Liz and Lauren


On Friday Andrea played with her friends Lauren and Liz in a triples tournament at the club to benefit the Abacos residents that were affected by the hurricane in 2019. Andrea's team was named "Chicks with Sticks" and they wore matching shirts with the Bahamas flag colors.

The tournament was broken up in to different groups and Andrea's team played five matches initially. They lost their first match against a tough team composed of three men, however they won their next four matches. I left at that point to get dinner with the kids, thinking it was probably going to wrap up, but Andrea's team qualified for a playoff round and they ended up going all the way to the finals match. Their team ended up in second place overall, but they played really well and Andrea said it was super exciting to be in the finals with lots of people watching and cheering them on. Congrats to the Chicks with Sticks!






Monday, January 13, 2020

Connor's allergic reaction




The first week of January, Connor had a little bit of a rash that looked similar to the hives Andrea had late last year. We put some lotion on it and hoped it would go away, but a few times we had to go to his school to bring him more lotion and it didn't seem to get better. On the 7th, after school, we noticed his lips were starting to swell up. We were worried it would constrict his airway so we rushed him to the ER where they gave him some medicine and kept an eye on him for a few hours. We were discharged with a prescription for epipens and Connor ended up going to the dermatologist the next day and then our general physician the next week. We're not sure what caused the reaction, but it was possibly related to a viral infection or something that triggered his immune response. With medicine, it eventually went away, but we were pretty worried about him for a while there.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Polar Plunge 2020


On New Year's Day, we went to the club in the morning to do the Polar Plunge. Ever since we were members, we've considered it but always were too lazy to get up and go on New Year's day. This year Andrea said we had to go, and we all went to the club to participate at 10:30. There were a couple of hundred people there and Connor and I were the only Vernons that were brave enough this year. Paige was in a little bit of a grumpy mood from staying up so late.



After saying the pledge, we ran in to the water and jumped in. The ocean was a little over 60 degrees and Connor and I tried to stay in as long as we could. I told him we should be the first ones in and the last ones out. We stayed pretty long, but I decided to come back in after my knees started to ache.



Thankfully they were allowing kids in the hot tub, so we crowded in with some of the others and warmed up.


Andrea and Paige brought us hot chocolate and Paige got in the hot tub for a little bit. It was a cold way to start the year, but we loved it and we got some Polar Plunge T-Shirts to commemorate the occasion. Paige said she will do it next year, but I'm not so sure if we'll be able to convince Andrea.




New Year's party - Casino night at the club



This year, for the first time in a long time, Andrea and I decided to go out on New Year's eve to celebrate. We went to a black tie event at the club along with some of our friends and met them at the tavern before the event started. We took some pics in front of the Christmas tree with everyone and then headed over to the party.



Casino Night was an interesting mix of people, there were some young people there in their early 20's and there were some very elderly people as well. We were probably on the younger end of the spectrum. The party was split between two rooms, with blackjack tables, roulette tables and craps on one side and then a dance floor with a live band in the other room. The live band was super talented and played a big variety of songs, although many of the songs seemed to be for the older people at the party. Quite a few people got out on the dance floor, but I would guess it was busiest when they band took a break and they played some more modern dance music.

We rang in the new year while dancing to the band's rendition of "Timber" and then a short while later we went back over to the tavern to hang out for a bit before heading home.





The kids celebrated 2020 with one of our favorite babysitters Anne Marie, and she was cute about bringing over some party hats and stuff so they could have a proper celebration. Connor stayed up until midnight and although Paige dozed off, she woke up in time to count down.




Happy New Year! We are excited for a new year!

Family pictures 2019


We took our family pictures in 2019 at our beach club. Andrea didn't want to post them on the blog until after we sent out our Christmas cards, so actually posting these in 2020. Anyways, the pictures turned out pretty nicely which is hard since it can be windy at the beach and the weather is a little unpredictable to plan around. We ended up with nice pictures by the fountain, on the sidewalk by the tennis courts, and on the beach.