Zack vs. the ice storm

Ice storm won:









Did you seriously think he wouldn't make this face at some point? Come on, you know my son...



He got a little close, dontcha think?

Zack loves being outside. Even though our yard is a sheet of ice, he's been outside like 5 times today. When he found out school was two hours late, he suited up and went outside to play. As soon as we got home from school today? Yup, outside playing.

Dave was shoveling the walk and didn't see what happened, but apparently Zack ate it pretty hard. Poor kid was terrified when he ran in the house. He's just overdramatic when it comes to cuts and things. I had to say probably 4 times, "Zack, you are fine, if something was really wrong, do you think I'd just sit here or do you think I'd get up and take you to the hospital?"

I have no clue how he got to be so dramatic *wink wink*

So Much For Daily Updates

Yeah, well, I've been busy.

The surgery went well. The time in the recovery room at the hospital? Not so much. It was exactly what I was dreading, yet expecting at the same time. I do love the Women's Surgery Center, though, it's such a great facility. We didn't have to wait too long in the lobby, which is always nice.

They took me back to the pre-op room, where I changed into my gown (a double gown, incidentally so no ass hanging out, nice!). They let Dave come back after I was dressed and he waited with me. We talked to the anesthesiologist and my doctor about what to expect. Not 5 minutes later, I was on the table.

"This may burn a little" and bam, out like a light.

I woke up in a lot of pain. As soon as I was coherant enough to tell the nurse my pain was an 8, she gave me some kind of narcotic painkiller. I don't remember what, though I know it wasn't morphine - perhaps dulaudin (sp?). Whatever it was, I didn't like it.

I'm not a narcotics girl. I had morphine about 15 years ago when I had a kidney stone and I never want to have that again. I don't like how it makes me feel. So, needless to say, I didn't like this stuff either. I couldn't stay awake for more than about a minute at a time, but I also couldn't sleep for any period of time either. So, I was constantly falling asleep and then waking up. Pain wasn't really going down, so another dose. Ugh.

Dizzy. Not fun. Nauseated. Less fun. Meds for nausea - pretty good. They had told Dave it would be about an hour after they took me in that he could see me. Well, I kept asking for him and the nurse said he couldn't come back until I was more awake and responsive. Out I went again. It was 2 hours before Dave was able to come back. Poor guy, I know he was worried.

I went through an hour or so of pain at level 4, which I could totally deal with, but I wasn't able to pee and I wasn't able to stay awake and sit up without being extremely dizzy. They don't let you leave until you pee, FYI. Talk about pressure.

At around 11am, I started to get really agitated, physically. I was antsy. I wanted to leave. I was finally able to stay awake and I was miserable. I just wanted my own bed!!! FINALLY about 20 minutes later, I was able to go to the bathroom and they let me leave close to noon.

FYI, my surgery was at 7:30am. I was expecting to be home well before noon. Oh well.

The ride home was hell on earth. First off, remember, I'm still really dizzy, pain's at a level 4 and the drugs are wearing off, so it's getting to start hurting more. Did I mention that I'm prone to motion-sickness? Poor Dave. I was curled up in the front seat in the fetal position and every time we went around a corner, I thought I was going to vomit or pass out (I did neither). There was a lot of groaning from me and apologies from Dave, even though he was driving as smoothly as he could.

Did I also mention that I live at least 30 minutes from the hospital? Yup, our local hospital is 1 mile from my house, but my doctor doesn't have surgery privileges there - only in surrounding counties (long story short, when I worked in the county over years and years ago, he was in my office building and that's how I found him - I'm telling you, there is nothing more convenient when you are hugely pregnant and on weekly visits to have your doctor right downstairs. They would call me and tell me when he was ready to see me so I didn't have to sit and wait. Awesome).

Once I got home, I stumbled in the door, quite literally. My son is a sweet, sweet boy. His little 7 year old self took me by the arm, hooked his arm around mine, and walked me up the stairs. I have some foresight and I was dressed to go to sleep, so I crashed fairly quickly, but not after some nice hugs from both boys.

Dave got my Percocet filled (and thank goodness that stuff is cheap - we still didn't have our insurance cards, so we had to pay full price). I was so tired, I was sleeping through the pain anyways, but when I woke up, that stuff was awesome.

I slept most of the day on Monday, whether upstairs or here on the couch. I was still pretty out of it on Tuesday, as well.

I was told I'd feel well enough for normal activities (with some restrictions) within 48 hours. Nah, more like 72 and even then, not so much. I'm so glad I had that extra day to recover and didn't have to work until Thursday.

The recovery days were just fine - I feel great now and I was never really miserable once I was home and those first 24 hours passed.

I have a follow up appointment on Monday, where I should be released to full activity, but I'm not sure about that - I thought I read somewhere that lifting restrictions go on for about 6 weeks.

I'm shocked at how little bleeding occured following surgery. I didn't have to use more than a pantiliner after the 2nd day and even before that, everything was infinitely lighter than an actual period, so I was thrilled. Only time will tell if this has worked, but I have a really good feeling it has :)

A Laugh While I'm Recovering

Surgery went well. I'm wiped out. Before I go lay down again, I must share this IM conversation that I had with Zack on Sunday. He sends me texts on my cell phone from Yahoo Instant Messenger when I'm at work. I have to figure out how to save it on my phone forever because it's hilarious!!!

Zack: hi mom
Me: Hi baby
Z: i am waching eddswoldzobieattack (translation: I'm watching Edd's World Zombie Attack)
M: Is it good?
Z: mmhhuh
M: Are you having a good day?
Z: yes
M: Good. I miss you
Z: in one part edd is takeing a shortcutand ses and we just take a left here and holy s
M: Haha that's funny.
Z: the s mean's shit
Z: sorry i menchind that

I'm dying that he thought that he needed to explain to me what "holy s" means. Then he apologizes for mentioning it.

God, I love my kid.

The MIA Entry

I said I wanted to blog as close to daily as I can, but I won't be able to tomorrow and probably not on Monday, so I'll just do a quick one before bed (that's what she said).

Took the boys to Medieval Times tonight. Man, that place is so much fun. Luckily, they are offering some kick-ass deals on tickets right now and we were able to go, all four of us, for $102.00. Yup. Half-price baby!!! I love a good deal.

The boys had a blast, and so did Dave and I. We are goofballs and we totally embrace that.

Speaking of goofballs - man did I have a great time last night with some old high school friends. Two of them were coming in from out of town and we all "Facebooked" each other to get together. Well, they couldn't do it tonight, on my night off, so everyone came into the restaurant last night while I was working. We had a blast. I haven't seen some of these people in 18 years!!! But it was like no time had passed (except that we were all old enough to drink and we were talking about our kids). Everyone was totally at ease with everyone else and a wonderful time was had by all. Yes, you can see the pics up on Facebook, oy. They stayed for almost 5 hours - it was fantastic. I can't wait to do it again.

I'm working open to close tomorrow and the going in for my surgery extremely early in the morning on Monday. I'm nervous, but as my wonderful friend Eileen says, if I weren't nervous, I'd be a robot.

Pretty sure I'm not a robot. Not today at least.

Wish me luck...

It only took 21 years...

But I actually ran out of gas today.

Let me preface this with the fact that David will be so proud of me for admitting this publically ;)

When I drove home last night from work, I had 1/4 tank of gas (well, it appeared that I did). Today is Dave's day to get Zack up and take him to school so I can sleep. In my grogginess this morning, I advised Dave to warm the van up first because it's friggin' 12 degrees outside. He does.

About 20 minutes later (TWENTY MINUTES, that's just too long and I need to talk to him about THAT), he and Zack come back inside and Dave comes upstairs, not very pleased. "Your car just ran out of gas, so I want you to take care of this."

WHAT? Seriously? I run that shit down to the bottom line, but I've never run out of gas and I've never left so little gas that someone else ran out while using it, either.

I told Dave to put the gas from the lawnmower gas can in the van and that should give him plenty to get Zack to school. He got into the car and saw that it was still really low to the bottom line and refused to drive Zack :)

Funny thing - when I pulled out of the driveway and got the car level, what do you think I saw? A 'full' quarter tank of gas. Stupid slanted driveway.

So thanks to gravity, I have a new first in my life. Boo!

I wasn't kidding...

This is what I came upstairs to last night when I went to bed:


I put her on the bed and she went right over to him. I caught her in mid-lick of her chest, so her head looks weird:



And for the heck of it - a picture from a few minutes ago. Man, she's cute:

Insurance Hell

I've decided to try to blog as close to daily as I can. Doesn't necessarily interesting, but I need to get my thoughts out more often.

Today I worked open to close. My boss is in Texas, so I worked her night shift (I normally open on Wednesday). She will work my day shift next Wed, while I recover from my surgery.

Speaking of - I ended up screaming and in tears with the insurance company today. I'm so frustrated, I can't see straight. The new insurance hasn't registered us yet, even though Dave put in all the info over a week ago. They said it takes 48 hours to get into the system. The woman I talked to today said 2 WEEKS. I explained that I have a surgical procedure scheduled for Monday and my doctor NEEDS to have my policy number RIGHT NOW. They can't keep putting it off. The hospital doesn't care - they said they will put as self-pay and I can give them my info when I get it.

My doctor is another story. His billing office requires one of two thigs - insurance information or CASH at the time of the procedure. I bit the bullet and asked today how much - a few bucks shy of $600.00. I have to bring that in ACTUAL CASH on Monday if I don't get this insurance stuff straightened out.

The AT&T benefits center said they put in an emergency request and I should have the info within 24 hours. For some reason, I don't believe them. I just called the 800 number to see if they recognize the SSN. Still nothing.

I guess if I don't get a response tomorrow, I'll start working on getting the cash out. I can either take out like $200 per day from the ATM or just cash a check, I guess. I don't think my bank allows large cash ATM withdrawals. Sigh.

This is adding so much stress to me right now. I mean, I KNOW that we have the cash if we need to, so I should be thankful for that because it would be super-stressful if we couldn't pay for it. But still...

I have to go for pre-op bloodwork tomorrow. I think I'm just going to give them my old BCBS card and by the time that claim bounces back, I should have the current info. I absolutely can't deal with trying to deal with them without insurance information. I have to get the bloodwork tomorrow, it can't be put off.

What I find funny is that they have to make sure I'm not currently pregnant in order to have a procedure that will most likely make me sterile. It's ironic.

I really should take a picture...

Several nights in a row, I have found Chloe (the kitten) sleeping right outside my bedroom door. Why? Because Zack's in there and she wants to be with him. How cute is that?

Every night for several weeks now, whenever I bring her into bed at night, she goes right to Zack's face and snuggles him. It's the sweetest thing. She doesn't do that with anyone else in the family.

Of course, then she starts attacking his feet while he sleeps and ends up waking him up if I don't stop her. She is so much fun. She makes me smile every day.

Now, I just gotta get working on Dave's snoring, so we can get Zack back into his own room. Another side effect from Cassie being back - he was back in his room and Dave was sleeping in hers haha

Sometimes I forget

Well, OFTEN I forget...

How innocent and fun it is to be a child. I had the greatest conversation with Zack on the phone yesterday while I was at work.

Last night, I had called home and both he and Dave picked up the phone at the same time. Zack was upstairs in my room watching TV and heading off to sleep and Dave was downstairs. So, Zack and I had our typical "how was your day? What are you doing conversation." and then Dave says to Zack "Why didn't you pick up a few minutes ago when Mommy called?"

Zack was blown away that all THREE of us were on the phone at the same time. At first, he didn't get it. He thought that Dave had left and come up to work to see me and that's how he was on the phone. Dave chuckled and explained that he picked up the phone downstairs, silly boy.

Zack was giggling and thought it was the coolest thing ever. He asked Dave what he was doing and Dave kinda blew him off, so Zack said "no, seriously, Dad, what are you doing?" He really wanted an actual answer. He was laughing his butt off and he kept saying "I've never had a three way conversation on the phone before!" I had tears in my eyes from laughing.

He was so innocent, sweet, and genuinely thrilled at this new experience. We said our goodnights and Zack hung up the phone, while I stayed on to talk to Dave.

I heard Zack come down the stairs and say something to Dave (I couldn't hear him). Dave laughed and sent him back to up to bed.

Dave told me that he came downstairs just to say "Dad, wasn't that FUN??" He was the happiest kid in the world when he went to bed last night.

All because of a phone call with his mom and dad.

OK Bring it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This bitch is ready.

Last night was horrible - worked sucked. I was emotional and angry at everyone and everything. I thought maybe it was because I missed my meds yesterday, but that had nothing to do with it.

I got my period tonight. By my calculations, at LEAST a week early. Seriously? Come ON. I'm so tired of this. I always feel like such a tool when I'm super emotional and I can't put two and two together. But how am I supposed to put two and two together when one of the twos shouldn't have been happening until next weekend?

Bring on this surgery. I was a little scared and now I just don't care. I want it. I'm ready. Now I get to look forward to days of cramps on top of my work stress.

I'm going to start a countdown. 16 more days.