zimagirl79's Xanga

Let's catch up!

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:52:58 GMT

So let's see, what's been happening? Well, in terms of my health, things are on a solid upswing. The scope I had done August 5th showed a buildup of scar tissue that the doc cleaned out. He also found a polyp and removed it to be biopsied, then called me a few days later to let me know it was benign and I'm in good shape. It took a few more days for me to feel "back to normal" but I finally do feel good again. We're going to meet again in a couple of weeks so that I can report on my progress and then I should be done with the surgeon. A major turning point in my attitude was getting the stent out. I was out of sorts that day, but felt 100% better the next day and it made such a difference in how I was feeling. I still have to go for a renal ultrasound and followup with the urologist but I'm sure things are flowing nicely and I'll be done with him too. My gyne is probably not going to see me again. I don't know what it is, but I'm just not comfortable with the man. I'm considering going back to my old gyne, even though he doesn't participate with my insurance plan. I will just pay for my visits since I only need to see him once a year to get a mammogram ordered. I might even be able to get some of that cost reimbursed.

I cannot believe I never mentioned Megan's ordeal in July! She broke her foot in 3 spots on July 2nd. I really and truly thought it was just bruised, and never took her for xrays until July 4th. Bad, bad mommy! Well, we saw an orthopedist a few days after the xrays, and he offered her a choice of a cast for 4 weeks or a cam walker (boot) for 4 weeks with the option of removing it for swimming in 2 weeks. She of course opted for the boot, and was very good about keeping it on when she was supposed to. She healed well, and will have one more set of xrays (I think) next week. She walked funny for a couple of weeks after getting the boot off - like she was still wearing it - but now she is mostly walking normally.

The kitchen project continues to move along, albeit slowly. The wiring rough-in is done, insulation has been put up, and the plumber was here the other day to move/rough-in plumbing for the new location of the sink. My old sink got moved over to the spot where the new sink will end up so I can still do dishes with ease. Cooking is not so easy, and will only get worse as the weather gets colder so I hope we can move the project along soon. It's ready for drywall so hopefully that gets started soon.

We're heading off to camp for the weekend, sort of a last hurrah and farewell to summer. Tuesday is the first day of school so I will bring the girls home early Monday to allow enough time to do some laundry and generally get them prepared for the first day of school. I can't believe Megan is off to Middle School this year. She had a "transition camp" for 2 days at the school last week and is very excited about going there. Hannah will still be in elementary school for this year and next, and I hope this will be a time when she grows in experience and confidence. Since she will no longer have her sister in the same school it will be a new and exciting time for her.

My babies are growing up!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:24:43 GMT

Okay, so I'm really bad about keeping this updated. I just never seem to have the time lately.

My last visit with the surgeon didn't go so well. I thought I was making normal progress but he seems to feel differently and has scheduled me for a short scope on August 5th. The suspicion is that my colon has narrowed, probably at the site where it was put back together. The scar there could be shrinking and "cinching" the colon like a belt being tightened. Hopefully it can be stretched out and give me some relief, bringing some normalcy back to my life.

Last week I had visits with 3 of my doctors in one day. I saw my PCP, who ordered my annual bloodwork which showed my cholesterol is still borderline high. Same old stuff there. Next was my gyne, who aspirated a breast cyst for me that was causing a lot of discomfort. He once again advised I cut down/cut out caffeine and take a vitamin E supplement to help avoid future cysts. Next I was in for a visit with my urologist - best of the three visits that day. I'm scheduled to get my stent out finally on July 31st. I will have it done right there in the office and it's pretty simple according to the doc. One more step toward being totally back to normal. I still don't feel right, especially in the area where my colon was put back together, but little by little things are getting better.

On the home front, the kitchen remodel has finally gotten underway big time. We got all of the walls stripped out and it is basically empty except that the sink is still there, supported by some 2x4's, so that I can still easily do dishes. Earlier this week we had an electrician in to do the rough-in and install a sub-panel in the basement to supply power. Everything is ready for me (and hopefully my father) to do the finish work when the time comes. The plumber is next up, with just a little work for him to do. He has to move the plumbing for the sink and probably move the gas line slightly. Meanwhile, we're ready to insulate and put up drywall. It's going slowly, but much faster than it was before.

Today has been cleanup day for me. I've been cleaning up the messes from the electrician and just generally getting my house back in order. I'm trying to get laundry caught up but all of the trips up and down the stairs are still taxing, even after all these weeks of recovery. I've been on a break for over an hour so I guess I could get back at it and get another load in the washer. We are all running out of clean clothes so my mission today is to refill the dressers! LOL

have a nice weekend.....toodles

I'm Almost Normal

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:57:44 GMT

Surgery went off without a hitch, although he did take longer with it than usual. I spent over a week in the hospital, for various reasons. First off, they didn't take out my NG tube the day after, as we expected. I had it in all weekend before the doc came in on Tuesday (or maybe it was only Monday? - I have no idea) and said it was coming out - which he proceeded to do instantly. I also got my foley catheter out that day as well as having the morphine pump taken away. That part was fine by me as I had been in a total fog and really don't remember much of the first few days - scary huh? I had to have clear liquids at first, but once I managed to move my bowels I was allowed solid food and started to feel human again. The pain levels went down daily, but I was still having plenty of it by the time I went home. I did use the percocet for a few days but because it was making me constipated and foggy I quickly weaned myself to ibuprofen.

My first followup was a week after I was discharged, at which time the doc said I was moving pretty good considering I was only 2 weeks post-op. I was having some problems moving my bowels and was prescribed Metamucil, which I later learned was to bulk up my stools and help keep my colon stretched out some. Well, he told me to take a tablespoon of it in 8 oz of water twice a day, which is impossible. You damn near have to chew it at that ratio! At the next follow up a week later, when I brought it up and said 8 oz is not enough water and I had reduced the dosage, he said "I don't care if you mix it with a gallon of water! You need the big doses" so I went back to mega doses. Of course the smart doctor knows what's best and the mega doses did help. I go back again next week, not quite 3 weeks from the last visit, and at this point he should have no objections to signing my release to go back to work. I'm still not having what I would call "normal" bm's but at least I go every day and I'm getting there. The pain is still there, inside, where it was stapled back together. Also, I have some numbness near the main big incision site. It kinda feels like your lip feels when the dentist gives you a shot of novacaine. Both of these sensations should ease up with time, doc says, although I may not get all of the feeling back where it's numb. I can deal with that to have a normal life again. It was a really big deal to me to be able to wear a pair of jeans again!

I have spent the past month doing almost nothing but resting, and it gets boring. Now that the girls are out of school I have a bit more to keep me busy finally. They have been pestering to go swimming constantly so we've spent a lot of time across the street in the pool. I'm running out of time now, as I'll be going back to work on June 30th. I almost don't want to go back! Now that I'm feeling a lot better and haven't needed anything for pain in over a week, I'm enjoying being off work. The kids are loving it too, and will miss me and the fun we've been having. Today we are mainly just hanging out because I had to wait for a tech to come and check my phone lines due to problems with my DSL service. We seem to be all fixed up now after almost 2 hours of checking this and that and making repairs. Good thing too because I was beginning to get really disgusted with Verizon and regretting ever switching providers. I did it for the money I was saving, but it wasn't worth it considering my connection kept dropping. Anyway, now it seems fine and I will be a happy camper again.

We're also just hanging out because the weather has turned lousy today. It's much cooler and very cloudy with rain on the way. Guess we won't be doing any swimming today! I'm thinking about taking the girls to the Carnegie Science Center tomorrow to have some fun, just because we haven't done much while I've been off and I want to just have a relaxing day with them doing something other than floating around a pool. We haven't even been to camp on the weekends because there were too many parties and activities to attend. This weekend the girls are singing in church and we have a bridal shower on Sunday also. I may take them to camp on Thursday evening and come home Saturday night, just so they get the chance to go. We plan to go up next weekend too, since we haven't been there hardly at all.

wow I'm rambling. time to quit.....toodles

Fairy Tale

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:17:31 GMT

One day, long, long ago.......

there lived a woman who did not whine, nag or bitch.

But this was a long time ago.......

and it was just that one day.

The End

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Thu, 15 May 2008 07:52:47 GMT

Today is my last big surgery - the one that puts me all back together, finally. It's almost 5am and time to head to the hospital. I'm nervous, but very excited at the same time. Wish me luck and say a prayer.

Happy Easter

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:37:16 GMT

For a refreshing change, we are spending the holiday with my family instead of my inlaws. My sister-in-law generally calls a few days before Easter to invitie us to her gathering, but the call didn't come this year so I'm assuming she's not having everyone over. Her daughter just had twins and lives down south so I'm guessing maybe they are visiting and spending the weekend with the new babies. Fine by me, because my family has always invited us and we never go. My poor neice is hosting, and her mother (my sister) keeps inviting more people to come. Jess is probably about ready to slap her mother and tell her to stop! LOL

The girls and I did the church thing. The girls sang a song with the group they are in, I sang with the choir, and Megan and I both performed with the bell choir. Everything went well and all performances were well received. The kids did an egg hunt before the service so they came home with more bags of candy to add to the baskets they already have. We are just about ready to leave to go to the party, so I must go and chase them into some shoes. They are very excited to be spending the day with their "other" cousins and are hoping this becomes a new tradition. We'll see.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. toodles

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:14:09 GMT

So it turns out I didn't have a new UTI after all. My doctor sent me to see my urologist, who gave me an explanation. The stent I'm wearing is causing a great deal of irritation that just FEELS like I have a UTI. It is actually about a foot long, and runs from inside my kidney all the way down the tube and into my bladder. The bladder is rejecting this intrusion and trying to eject it at every chance it gets. That invasion of the bladder causes dirty specimens too, so if they do a urine dip it shows I may have an infection and a culture is needed. I'm constantly having bladder spasms, and sometimes the pressure of a full bladder makes the stent move a little and it irritates my kidney also. The course of action for now is to take a stronger pill to control the spasms so there is not so much irritation. It's helping a little, but not giving complete relief. Apparently I have to just deal with it and wait out the next month until I can schedule the reversal surgery. The urologist says I will probably have to leave the stent in until the last surgery is completed, and they might remove it during that same session but after everything else is taken care of. I was hoping I could have it removed sooner but he wants to leave the decision up to the surgeon. No one has called me to say "hey, come on in and we'll yank that puppy!" so I guess I'll keep dealing.

Ya know, I felt pretty healthy until I actually got health insurance to cover me. Since then it's been a downhill slide.

toodles

When does it end?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:32:45 GMT

Good news first. I started back to work last week, working just 4 or 5 hours per day. The first few days I struggled with everything. Getting up from my chair hurt, as did sitting back down. One of my main jobs is checking in the patients and handing off their charts to the clinical staff. This involves getting up and taking the chart to a rack to await their attention. By the end of my first shift, I was exhausted and sore from all the up and down. By the end of the week, I was getting pretty good at it and not in much pain at all. The entire office has been babying me along so others often took the charts for me. The other thing I really struggled with was trying to acclimate myself after two months away. For the first two days, I felt like an outsider....like I wasn't a real employee or something. I didn't have any idea some of the procedures had changed, I was clueless about the status of any pending paperwork, and I really wasn't sure where to begin to get back in the groove. But then it just worked out, and it was just like riding a bike - something you just don't forget. This week I've jumped right back in and am working full time again, except today.

Today I am supposed to work 12-8:30 (Wednesday is now officially my evening shift day), but I have an appointment with my doctor at 2:15 so I am going to go to work after that. After my last stint in the hospital, I was sent home with oral antibiotics for 10 days. So I finished them up last Monday, and by Wednesday I was not feeling right. I had the MA do a urine dip for me when I got to work, and sure enough I still had some action going on that warranted a call to the doctor. The next day I dropped off another specimen at the lab for culture, and the doctor prescribed a different antibiotic for another 10 days. I started them Thursday and am still not feeling any better so I called and talked to the nurse again and arranged a visit for today. I also sent out a specimen from work yesterday to be cultured again, on the advice of one of the doctors. Oddly enough, even though my dip had showed I still had an infection, my culture was negative, and my symptoms continue to worsen. This is the main reason the doc suggested I get it re-tested, and since I did it through work we will get the results there and I can see for myself what's going on before I give a copy to my PCP. I should be able to get a preliminary today so I will have the nurse fax it to my doctor. Hopefully it won't take too long to decide what medication I should really be on that will fix things, since obviously what I have now isn't helping.

Other than my continuing health saga, things are going well at work. The new office manager seems nice, and she's easy to work with so far. The temp we had is now a permanent employee (yay!!) so we have lots of help in the front office now and are almost managing to keep up. While I was gone, one of the MAs quit and a replacement was hired, another nice girl so we are all getting along well. It's nice to have a full staff and actually be able to get something done for a change. And speaking of getting things done, I still need to change out my darling attachment that hangs from my belly and get myself ready for work since I will be going in straight from the doctor's office. I might even have time to get a load of laundry done before I go too, but only if I stop rambling here and get it in gear!

toodles

Friday, February 29, 2008

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:15:26 GMT

Last night was fun, even though I came home smelling like a bowling alley. No worries though, I just aired out my coat and tossed my clothes in the dirty laundry to take care of later.

I wore myself out yesterday and could barely hold my eyes open past 10:30 last night. Then I woke up at a little after 2AM, wondering why I was hearing dialog from Guiding Light. Well, the CBS affiliate here airs my favorite soap at 10 in the morning ever since Dr. Phil came on the scene and needed the 3:00 slot, but the soap gets preempted when anything special goes on. The president had a press conference yesterday, so Guiding Light got kicked out. They decided to air the missing episode at 2:07 AM and I just happened to wake up to see it. I went right back to sleep when it was over too!

Today has been an exciting day. I went to see the gyne and the surgeon, and got cleared to go back to work next week. I stopped in at work to drop off the form that confirms it and got hugs all around. I also helped out a little bit while I was there, although my boss kept telling me to stop working. I have to admit it felt good to be useful again, and I'm looking forward to Monday. My surgeon wants to see me again at the end of April, and at that time we can figure out when I get my (hopefully) last surgery. We all had a good laugh when he had me lay on the exam table and I said he and his resident looked more normal from that angle. They both remarked that I was much taller than they thought, even though part of my height was my shoes. The resident kept remarking how good I looked compared to the last time I had seen her. Well, duh. I actually had my hair done and makeup on, and was wearing real clothes instead of a hospital gown. Jeez I sure HOPE I was looking better!!!!

Megan is going to a sleepover tonight. This will be her first with someone other than a relative, and I'm a little nervous about it. I'm not totally comfortable with the parents of the friend she will be visiting, but there will be at least 4 girls there and an older sister who I do trust to keep an eye on them. I have a sneaky suspicion that the parents will not be supervising them very closely, but they are only 10 and 11 years old and all good kids. I think it will be fine, but as with all firsts, I have a hard time relaxing about it.

James has plans to get started again on the demo of the kitchen wall this weekend. I do not look forward to the mess, although I can't wait to have a "real" kitchen again. For now, I'm just gonna hang out for the rest of the afternoon and continue to recover and rest up. Here's hoping we all have a good weekend.

toodles

A semi-normal life?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:58:39 GMT

I think it's time to be out of the "boohoo and woe is me" mode. I've only got a few more days of rest-at-home time and I'm actually feeling pretty damn good. Today I will get out in the world again and get a few things done. I plan a visit to the food bank where I used to volunteer before I started working. They will probably find me something to do, and that's ok. At some point I'm going to do a little bit of shopping for me, for some dress pants to wear to work. I've been meaning to update my wardrobe a little and some of what I have is too form-fitting to wear with a colostomy. I considered just wearing scrubs for the couple of months I have to have this thing, but I don't have a huge selection of them and it gets boring, just as regular casual dress gets old. They say you don't need to buy new clothes to allow for the pouch, but it sits right on my belly fat at the most protruding part, so it does kinda stick out if I wear anything too clingy. And besides, pants with some stretch are just plain old more comfortable. Jeans are out for the moment, because all of my jeans are a little on the tight side and it's not the best choice. No jeans at work anyway unless we have a dress-down day.

My other planned adventure is to go out this evening to meet the girls I used to bowl with. I'll hang out while they bowl and then we'll all go out for a bite to eat after. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house to have some fun with friends.

I'm finally home alone today, and damn it's nice to have the place to myself. Too bad I'm not planning to spend a lot of time here today! Time to get moving and medicate myself, then I'm starting my day for real.

toodles