Kidney Update

So, Pete had surgery Tuesday morning. When they went to get his stone, it went back up into his kidney.

*sigh*

The anesthesia made him really sick, and kind of made him trip out, I think. I visited him early in the afternoon, and he was just staring at the wall, all hunched over. Me: Pete, how are you doing? Pete: I feel weird. Me: Are you nauseous? Are you in pain? Pete: I feel weird. Me: Can I help you out somehow? Pete: I feel weird.

Quite the productive conversation.

Later he felt better. And now he knows to never do drugs.

Pete will probably feel like crap again today, because he had to go in and get his kidney blasted with sound waves to break up the stone this morning.

When the nurse, named "Loopy" (no joke) was checking Pete in, she asked if we had a living will. I said, "No, but I know what to do if something goes wrong," and made the slit-your-neck motion. Loopy said, "I told my husband he wasn't allowed to die, that I'd keep him around somehow." I'm all, "Like stuff his dead body?" Loopy: I had four little kids. I needed help. Me: "Kids, if you don't behave, you'll have to go sit on Dead Dad."

I really hope this is the last of it. Going to the hospital over and over is getting a little old.

Oh, and if anyone has any money they don't need, feel free to send it my way. Because dang.

Fragments

Brain scattered.
Back hurting.
No drugs for three days. (Hooray!)

Ivy three stitches on chin/lip.

Bonked on couch.
Trooper.

Progress with potty.

More stickers than shown.
Very few accidents.
Still glad in Pull-Ups for now, though.

New blinds finally put up.
After 2 months.

Better late than never.
LOVE them.

Now curtain rod holes to fix.
Home ownership standard, I think.


Shopping done.
Christmas cards done.
Lots and lots to still do.
New "must do"s coming this way, every day.
Got Coke.
Should be okay, then.

The War on Drugs

I would love to write more that just a smattering of ideas that randomly come through my mind, but I'm still heavily medicated, so smattering, partial ideas is really all I get right now. I'm slowly trying to wean back on the pain meds, but my tummy is a bit tender and my back is a bit sore. And sometimes, "a bit" is "a lot". But the drugs are driving me crazy, because I can't think well. Seriously, I don't know how people get addicted to pain meds. I mean, sure, it gets rid of pain, but it makes my brain feel like a roller coaster ride that I barely remember. I guess if you like to be dizzy and stupid, then being addicted would be awesome.

I've been renting and watching "Friends". I'm on Season 3. It's like comfort food.

I'm in love with "Glee". After the first 5 minutes of the first episode, I was hooked. Go watch it! (Follow my link-it takes you to Hulu, which has some of the full episodes).

Before my surgery my fam got some pics taken down by the river by Megan Blethen. They turned out really well! This one is one of my favorites. I'm just having a hard time deciding which ones I want, and in what sizes. And since my brain is SO good at concentrating right now...grrr. Go take a look!

I'm glad that my kids already have Halloween costumes.

I love naps.

The end.

Drug-Induced Musings

You know how there are some musicians that take drugs and totally make their best music when high? Well, you're not going to get any genius from me while I'm on pain meds; I mostly just lose my short-term memory and repeat myself a lot and watch the room spin around. Which can be fun, too, I guess. I was going to make this super clever post about my awesome surgery, but the more I think of it in my swooshing head the more it's just not super clever. But I still want to type, so you get a mediocre version of my super witty post. Lucky you! (See? And I said "super" at least three times in the last two sentences. Yay, short term memory!)

First, I realized that I should have explained my surgery; I just kind of threw the news out there. I had what is called uterine prolapse, where the ligaments that typically hold the uterus in place and upright kind of gave up, which was giving me a lot of back pain; the solution was to get a complete hysterectomy. Despite some nausea afterwards, the surgery went well, and hopefully I'll be getting back to normal soon. I can't do any lifting or stretching for about a month, which means no housework like sweeping or vacuuming or laundry. So it's like a vacation. A pretty sucky vacation, but a break of sorts nevertheless.

The anesthesiologist that came in the first time (I saw about three or four of those guys, but I'd better only get charged for one of 'em) was like the McDreamy of my hospital; I swear when he smiled he that little star-thingy (*) by his teeth and it went ping! All of the nurses and doctors were really nice, especially since my surgery got pushed back because of an emergency C-section my doctor had to perform.

They had this thing called Bair Paws; the dressing gown had little tubey things in it, and a tube of warm air connected to it, and it fills the gown with warm air. Oooooh, so nice. I'm going to try to link to a pic of it right here. I've also had these anti-embolism stockings, which have kept my post-surgery cankles in check, and keeps the circulation a-flowing, so my feet are actually warm, and helps with the blood clot chances. Added bonuses there! Oh, and the best part: they had these leg brace looking things, and they alternately fill with air and squeeze your legs a little bit, then let go. Again, for the clotting reason, but it was like a 24-hour leg massage. Me likey. A lot.

I totally stayed up until 2 a.m. Monday night making bags for YW in Excellence, along with hemming these colored cloth things. I did a really crappy job. It was like drunk dialing, but for seamstresses. I don't think I could have done a better job with my current drugged state as I did that night. Which tells you how great of a seamstress I am.

When we were checking in at the hospital, they asked if we wanted to pay upfront. I asked if we could get a discount if we did pay now. We got 20% off. There are a lot of couponers out there that would be so proud of us.

Um, that's all I can think of right now. Maybe when I'm a bit more sober/lucid/coherent I'll come up with something more.

Thoughts

Jakob's jaw is getting bigger, I think, because he's starting to get a gap on the side between his teeth. It probably doesn't help that his front tooth is loose, either. It's kind of Hillbilly-ish.

I took the last of the medicine for my rash on Saturday. This medicine has steroids in it. And seriously? How can anyone in their right mind want to do to their body voluntarily what has just happened to mine? I have the fishbowl head feeling, where I'm just standing there and then all of a sudden I feel like I'm tipping over backwards, yet I know that my body isn't actually moving. I absolutely crash during the day because I'm so tired, but at night when it's time for bed I lie there awake. And then when I do sleep, it's crazy dreams and tossing and turning. And then I'm all shaky, like too much caffeine or something. I don't get why any of that would be ideal, just to get bigger muscles or whatever. Yeah, I'm really hoping all of the side effects go away in the next little bit.

We took the training wheel off Jake's bike. I say wheel, singular, because the other had fallen off before. And I say Jake's bike, even though it was Brock's bike for his birthday. My kids are kind of...transient when it comes to what belongs to whom. After we took the other wheel off, Jakob started yelling and pedalling as fast as he could up and down the street. "Yeah! This is awesome! Woo-hoo!" a la Leonardo DiCaprio on Titanic ("I'm king of the world!")

I'm trying a new motto: cease to be idle. It's kind of working.

I can't decide which animal Brock is most like. He's like a squirrel, where he hoards away toys in his bed. He's a night owl, for sure.

I've also come to face the reality of laundry every day. Back in the good ol' days of two kids, I could put it off and just do once a week. Now if I wait just once a week, my kids run out of clothes and the pile is almost as tall as I am. This week I realized that I have to do at least a load a day. *sigh* I wonder when a good age is to have your kids start the machines etc. by themselves...

I can't find Ivy's toothbrush. It's probably in our massive mess of toys. Not that I can really perform the actual act of brushing with her. Eating toothpaste is kind of like brushing with toothpaste, right?

We buzzed the boys' hair the other night. Troy looks bald because his hair is getting lighter and his skin is getting darker.

Memo, our killer cat, has brought us many treats in the last couple of days, including two birds. I'm very impressed with her hunting skills. My gag reflex while scooping up said dead birds is very impressed as well.

I love to eat out. If I could, I would eat out once a day. But I would make sure it could get delivered to me. More restaurants should have delivery.

I hope that cat food is an appropriate snack food for little mischievous girls.

I wish that brownies would magically make themselves, like a neverending supply. But they would also change themselves to be different kinds of brownies. Maybe I've been reading too much Harry Potter...nah.