Today (well, yesterday, technically, since it is 1:40 AM) my baby girl turned THREE!
Clayton took the day off of work and we had plans on going to Gale Woods Farm to see the animals (specifically the pigs!), have a picnic and take some family photo's and three year pictures of Faye. Unfortunately, It was a very gloomy day. Cold and it was supposed to be rainy most of the day. We decided to go to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America instead.
My kids have NEVER been on any rides before, so we were taking a huge chance at wasting the day, but it turned out really great. We got both kids on rides and they loved them. We didn't really give them an option, but there were a couple rides that Maddox said no way to. Faye said no to pretty much all of the, but when we stopped asking and just got in line and put her on the ride, there were no protests.
Our first stop was Diego's Rescue Rider. It was a little bus that sent around in circles, up and down. Faye was really unsure of the ride. Maddox started out by clutching on to me, but he relaxed a little while later, once the butterflies in his tummy settled down!
Next stop, Crazy Cars! This was just Maddox and Clayton. They were big, fast bumper cars. I was nervous about Maddox not liking it because of all the intense jerking, but he had fun!
Next we went onto the Big Rigs. They're little semi truck cabs. Maddox, Faye, and Clayton went on. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking they wouldn't let Faye go on by herself because they wouldn't let her in the front of the truck, she had to sit in the back.
Then we went over to Blue's Skidoo and Maddox and Faye went on the ride by themselves. They shared a Blue (even though Faye wanted Magenta, but all the Magenta's were taken) and Faye really liked it. It went around and if you pressed a button, it would lift your Blue (or Magenta) up in the air.
Faye's last ride was the Balloon Race. Hot air balloons that lift up into the air and then go around in circles and lift up and down. Faye, Maddox, and I went on that.
Maddox's last ride was Swipers Sweep. Faye and I went to the toy store, but I think it was kind of like the big rigs, that just go on a circle track round and round, but much faster. It whipped around corners. The description says "Climb aboard for a wild whip of a ride… but look out! Swiper is after your stuff! As your vehicle zips around, Swiper “reaches” out to grab you, but you’re too fast for him." Maddox said it was his favorite of all the rides. He said he was scared at first, but as soon as he realized that he wasn't going to go flying out of the car, he really liked it.
I had to bribe Faye to go on a couple rides. Mostly, just not asking her if she wanted to go helped get her on the rides, but before that, I told her that if she went on rides until the points where all gone that we could go into the Dora store we had passed and pick out a toy. We went into one toy store, then the Dora store, then another toy store, and then the toy store called "Toys". We ended up being in there for almost an hour. Maddox and Clayton went over to the Lego store and finally, after a really long time and some prodding, Faye picked out a Webkinz Pot Bellied Pig. It's pretty dang cute!
After we finished all the ride and went through the toy stores, we went to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. We sat by the gorilla's and the thunderstorm and gorilla's were really loud and freaked Faye out. First she laid on her chair and would not raise her head off the chair. I got her over onto my lap and she was just still. I got her to eat a couple mozzarella sticks. After our food came, I put her in her chair and she just sat there, with her chin down and her eyes up, staring at the gorilla. It FREAKED her out. She said the gorilla was staring at her and it was going to hurt her. I brought her back on my lap and she took one bite of a fry. After awhile, she held a mini hot dog, but didn't take a single bite of it. She eventually fell asleep in my lap with the hot dog in her hand.
While Faye was still awake, we had planned on them bringing her out a Volcano dessert for her birthday, but every time they brought one out for anyone else, she winced. She didn't like the sparkler. So we switched to just a little sunday with a candle. Of course she passed out before that came, but they brought it out and lit it and gave it to Maddox. He made Faye a birthday wish and blew out the candle for her.
When we got into the car to drive over to IKEA, Faye woke up. We wondered IKEA for a very short time, spent under $13 and left for home. Maddox passed out in the car on the way home.
Now you're probably wondering why I am still awake at 2AM. Faye has a big birthday party tomorrow. She requested so many things. She wants a big pink birthday cake with a cat on it. She wants balloons and streamers. She wants a My Little Pony birthday. She wants a Pinata, but she's not getting one! So... I've been making her cake since... I don't even know! Since, maybe around 6PM. 13 Cups of flour... 7 Sticks of Butter... I've got the cakes baked and separately wrapped for tomorrow. I still have to make the frosting, frost the cakes, refrigerate them, then put them together (with a topper, no cat for her, but we found two really cool toys we're going to put on there. Not both, just one, but we're not sure which one yet). I have to do all that, plus the grocery shopping and decorating. Wish me luck!
I'll post photos later.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
My Dad's Surgery
May seemed to fly by pretty quickly, up until the end of it. I got a call on the morning of Friday, May 20th from my sister. My dad was in an ambulance being taken to the VA Hospital. He had a heart attack while at work and the school nurse (he is a security guard at a school) called an ambulance for him. I didn't find out until later that he has been having these for 2 months and the school nurse said "enough is enough" and called 911.
Through out the day, I was receiving calls either from my brother or sister in law with all of the news that was coming in from the VA ER. Several heart attacks in the past 2 months. Dead heart tissue. Messed up electrical system. All three arteries blocked. Triple bypass. Extra blood vessel growth?. Heart lesions. Withdrawals from Substance abuse.
I went to bed at 9PM that night. It didn't work though. I got out of bed (where I was snuggling with my two children because Clayton was out for the night) at 11:30PM and hung out on the couch for awhile. I put Faye in her bed and went back to mine at 1:30AM. I last looked at the clock at 2AM, but it still took me a while to fall asleep. I sprang awake at 5AM, noticing that my husband was STILL not in bed and got up. He was laying on the couch. I read on my phone in bed for 2.5 hours and UP for the day at 7:30AM. Less than 3 hours of sleep. That REALLY sucked.
Saturday morning I went with my brothers to see my dad. I was really nervous about how he was. I was scared that he was going to look and act as sick as I thought he was. I was worried that because he had not had anything to drink in 36 hours and he had not had a cigarette in 24 hours that he was going to be in a really bad mood. Of course I am the type of person that goes over the possible scenario's in my head before hand, they were not pretty. I guess I felt I prepared myself and if my dad had been in the mood I expected him to be in, it would have helped, but who knows! The car ride there (though already a long one) seemed like one of the longest car rides I had ever been on. I just thought and thought the entire way there. I teared up a little from worry and then I felt fine and then I teared up again. When we got there I was able to keep calm and I wanted to base my emotions and reactions according to how my dad was feeling, so I tried not to be happy or sad. It was SUCH a relief once we walked in the room. My dad's face lit up and I got a cheerful "Ker Bear!" There's my dad, laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to blood pressure cuffs and other stuff, barely able to move because of chest pain and he actually looked better than usual. Without the "substances" in his body, he looked less swollen and had good color to his face (which is normally bright red). Of course he was not doing better, technically. He was having heart attacks. Blocked arteries and a clot in his thigh. He needed surgery or he would die. But he was in a very surprisingly good mood.
Saturday night we went over to Clayton's cousins house for his Uncle's 60th Birthday Party. I managed to get a pretty good picture on my phone of a tornado that was about 8 miles north west of us. Seemed so much closer at the time. We got to the party, parked around the block because it was a surprise party and had to walk to the house. Of course as soon as we got out of the car, the sirens start to go off. I walk in to the house and Clayton's cousin asks me a few times if I was OK. She said I looked as white as a ghost, haha!
We had a decent time there and the kids had a lot of fun and then I got a call from my mother at 8:22pm. Yep, I remember the exact time. My father had another heart attack at the hospital while he was on the phone with my brother and collapsed. My brother yelled at him to press the call nurse button and then he hung up and called the nurses station. My dad called him back not long after that and was doing better. They gave him a shot of nitroglycerin to open up his arteries. Since he had not had an alcohol in 48 hours, at that time, the heart attack had been a lot worse than the previous ones. Seems all the alcohol he normally drinks was keeping his blood pretty thin and causing his heart attacks to be less severe.
Again, I was up most the night. I was in bed around 10PM, or 11:30PM or something. All I remember is that I was in bed laying there awake for a couple hours. I got up, kicked Clayton off of the couch (where he had, again, fallen asleep) and laid there for a few hours. I watch a documentary about the Great Barrier Reef and then a documentary about Sharks. I fell asleep for a short time during the Shark one and turned off the TV and closed my eyes, but with the TV off, I couldn't fall asleep. I wonder if the Shark one was boring? I'll have to re-watch it sometime... I last looked at the clock at 2:30AM this time. Because my husband was not out at all hours of the night at a certain party with certain people, I did not spring out of bed at the crack of dawn. I managed to sleep until 7AM! We skipped church. I may have gotten at least one hour more than the night before, but less than 7 hours in two days is still not enough to function, for me.
Originally, my dad was supposed to have surgery that Monday, but his red blood cell count was incredibly high. They drained blood out of him and got his blood pressure way down. When he first came into the hospital, it was 190 over something. That first evening it was up to 205 over 100 and something. I cannot remember the numbers, but it was HIGH. They drained blood out of him at least twice, I believe. It wasn't until Monday afternoon that I got the news that he was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday at 7:30 AM. They ran tests on his liver and kidneys and got the test results back for them on Monday as well. All clean. Healthy liver and kidneys. I asked my brother if he made sure they didn't mix up the test results with somebody elses. Seems impossible that those would come back with no problems.
I woke up on Wednesday morning at 5:30AM and we left the house at 6:20AM. My mother in law took the day off of work for me and watched my kids all day. Clayton and I got coffee and were on the road just before 6:30AM. I was really nervous that we were going to get there too late and I wouldn't be able to see my dad before they took him out of his room to prep for surgery. It's a 30 minute drive in the first place and I was worried we were approaching rush hour. We still got there just before 7AM. We beat my brother! They were running late with everything anyways and they didn't end up getting my dad out of the room and down to the next floor until closer to 8:10AM. I was fine, but I felt a little sad when we were standing, with my dad in the bed on wheels, waiting for the rest of the surgical team to get there. My dad was clearly upset. He was pretty worried about the surgery and his face was a rosy red again, for the first time in almost 5 days.
The team got there and Dad and his team dropped us off at the Surgical waiting room. The room was a large indoor courtyard. Incredibly bright and just huge. My mother took the day off to come sit with us and her and my sister in law got to the hospital around 9AM and Clayton left shortly after that. We sat for a few hours. We got one update that they had started late and had not yet gotten to the open heart part of the surgery. They were "still harvesting the veins". We decided that we were not going to eat the cafeteria food and I suggested we take the light rail downtown or to the Mall of America to eat. We took it down to the Mall and had Rainforest Cafe. None of the three had ever been on the light rail before. We got back and I called the "operation update line" to see how Dad was doing. It was about 2-2:30PM at this time and they had started with his heart and were nearly half way through. They were done about 4PM. My brother kept bugging my sister in law to go call on the line for an update and she kept saying "let's just wait 5 minutes", he bugged her enough so that she went over there and before she was able to come back with the news that "Dr. John is on his way out", Dr. John was already out.
So, we're all sitting there waiting and Sarah (my sister in law) is away calling the line and a doctor comes walking out, straight towards us, and he's carrying a silver lock box under his arm. He comes up, asks if we are the family and then sits down, putting this box in his lap. I, honest to God, thought he was going to take this box, open in up and hand it to us explaining that the surgery did not go well and this is your dad's heart. Clearly I watch too much television.
Dad's surgery went well. He was scheduled for a triple bypass and they ended up performing a quadruple. I do not know when they decided this and how long they knew before surgery, but they never told us until afterwards. We were able to go into the SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) at 5:15PM to see him. He was still out. They were not even going to attempt to wake him until around 7-7:30PM. He looked pretty creepy. I was fine, unless I looked at his face and especially his mouth. His eyes just looked like he was sleeping, but his mouth made him look like he was dead. The only breathing he was doing was by a breathing machine. He had tubes all over the place and all sorts of machines hooked up to him. The nurse said that a lot of times, alcoholics do not handle anesthesia very well and wake up extremely agitated. He woke up fine though and had no problems. After we saw him, we left and I hopped back onto the light rail to go downtown to meet Clayton, who was at work.
Thursday I got Maddox out of school 10 minutes early and we walked half a mile up the street and caught the bus downtown. I had my mother drive downtown and get the kids and I took the light rail back to the VA Hospital to see my dad. He was out of the SICU and into another area. I'm not sure what the floor was, post surgical recovery? I walked in to his room and he was in the middle of talking to a Neurologist. It seems earlier, in the morning, his left leg (which is NOT the leg that he had the veins taken from) had gone completely numb from just above his ankle down. It came back and then went numb again 20 minutes later. They were thinking he might of had a mini stroke. The Neurologist and two UofM kids (residents?) were in there with my dad having him do all sorts of funny tests. I think the Neurologist was kind of a douche. He was throwing out all sorts of medical terms. Neither of us really knew what he was talking about. You'd think in a place like the VA, where a very good majority of the people there are 60+, that they'd use more "commoner" words instead of all their medical jargon. From what I gathered, it sounded like they thought he might of had a mini stroke and they were going to do a CT Scan. It sounded like the guy said an MRI would be better, but they were going to do a CT Scan. I don't know why they couldn't/didn't do a MRI. he had a CT Scan and it came back fine and he hasn't had any issues with it since.
After that, the nurse came and had my dad stand up and he pushed his wheel chair around to take a walk for the first time since he was wheeled out of his room for surgery. We did a lap around one side of the area and that left leg was really stiff and heavy. I sat with him while he ate his dinner. Opened some of the beverages, tried his creamed corn soup (per his request LOL), and read a card that the employee's from school sent. His glasses were in my brothers car. The most I've helped my dad since I was in elementary school and I might have gotten him something from the fridge while he was watching TV in the living room. He was really tired and kept dozing off. He did not sleep well the night before. I was only supposed to stay a half hour and leave by 5:30 to get back downtown by 6, in time for Clayton to get off work, but I didn't end up leaving until 6:30, after Clayton called to see if I was downtown yet! They kept trying to get my dad to get in bed and rest, but he refused to go to bed until after my brother got to the hospital. He said if he fell asleep before Eric (my brother) got there, he wasn't getting up again until the morning. He had a feeling he was going to be OUT and he needed to be!
Clayton and the kids and I stopped in for a visit with my dad a day later. We baby sat Logan (Eric & Sarah's 2 year old son/My nephew) and then after my brother came to pick him up, we met my brother and Logan up at the hospital. We were probably only there for 10 minutes. Before we even got 10 minutes from our house, Faye was talking about how she wanted to touch things at the hospital. Both kids were terribly impatient. I don't blame them. We never see "Grandpa Dave" and they are not used to him at all. Faye wanted to see "Your dad at the hospital" and so we did. My dad liked to see them and understands too that they are not as comfortable with him because we only see him maybe 1-2 times a year. Hopefully that will change now.
This past Thursday afternoon, my dad got to leave the hospital. My brother picked him up and brought him home. My brother has my dad's car at my brother's house and my dad is not supposed to drive for a month. Of course his first day home, we walked a couple blocks down to the corner store. I was feeling a bit upset and panicked on Thursday. I just do not understand why they let him go home. He lives all alone. I'm so nervous that he is going to start smoking and drinking again and according to my sister, it sounds like both my brother and dad have this theory that "drinking and smoking in moderation is OK", that is apparently what my dad's doctor told him. But no intelligent doctor would ever tell an alcoholic that drinking in moderation is OK. Alcoholics do not drink in moderation. And if they do, their idea of "moderation" is just a matter of opinion!
I was worried, so after we finished most of our errands on Saturday, I called my dad to see if we could come over for a short visit. He didn't answer, so I left him a message. I called my brother to see if he had talked to my dad and he hadn't recently, but he said that he was going to go over there to bring him to the grocery store. We decided just to go home after that. Faye passed out in the car too and I figured as long as my brother is going over there, at least SOMEONE is going over there. My dad called not long later and I talked to him for a little bit. I told him that we were not going to stop by because Faye had fallen asleep in the car and that we knew he would be going to the store soon. About a week before my dad ended up in the hospital, I had called and asked him if would go to a Twins game with Clayton and I, this coming Father's Day. He said yes and I was completely surprised and giddy about that! Then he ended up in the hospital with heart attacks, needing open heart surgery and I figured that was down the tubes. While I was on the phone with him on Saturday, though, he brought up the game and said we would have to take it easy. "I just want you to know I'm not going to be able to walk that fast, especially if we have to be walking up and down stairs." Yay! He's coming! Fortunately, we do not really have to do much walking up and downstairs. We had awesome seats, so just a couple short stairs! He sounded so good on the phone. So happy and healthy and energized, nothing like he used to sound like over the phone.
And we never did figure out what was in that doctors box!
Through out the day, I was receiving calls either from my brother or sister in law with all of the news that was coming in from the VA ER. Several heart attacks in the past 2 months. Dead heart tissue. Messed up electrical system. All three arteries blocked. Triple bypass. Extra blood vessel growth?. Heart lesions. Withdrawals from Substance abuse.
I went to bed at 9PM that night. It didn't work though. I got out of bed (where I was snuggling with my two children because Clayton was out for the night) at 11:30PM and hung out on the couch for awhile. I put Faye in her bed and went back to mine at 1:30AM. I last looked at the clock at 2AM, but it still took me a while to fall asleep. I sprang awake at 5AM, noticing that my husband was STILL not in bed and got up. He was laying on the couch. I read on my phone in bed for 2.5 hours and UP for the day at 7:30AM. Less than 3 hours of sleep. That REALLY sucked.
Saturday morning I went with my brothers to see my dad. I was really nervous about how he was. I was scared that he was going to look and act as sick as I thought he was. I was worried that because he had not had anything to drink in 36 hours and he had not had a cigarette in 24 hours that he was going to be in a really bad mood. Of course I am the type of person that goes over the possible scenario's in my head before hand, they were not pretty. I guess I felt I prepared myself and if my dad had been in the mood I expected him to be in, it would have helped, but who knows! The car ride there (though already a long one) seemed like one of the longest car rides I had ever been on. I just thought and thought the entire way there. I teared up a little from worry and then I felt fine and then I teared up again. When we got there I was able to keep calm and I wanted to base my emotions and reactions according to how my dad was feeling, so I tried not to be happy or sad. It was SUCH a relief once we walked in the room. My dad's face lit up and I got a cheerful "Ker Bear!" There's my dad, laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to blood pressure cuffs and other stuff, barely able to move because of chest pain and he actually looked better than usual. Without the "substances" in his body, he looked less swollen and had good color to his face (which is normally bright red). Of course he was not doing better, technically. He was having heart attacks. Blocked arteries and a clot in his thigh. He needed surgery or he would die. But he was in a very surprisingly good mood.
Saturday night we went over to Clayton's cousins house for his Uncle's 60th Birthday Party. I managed to get a pretty good picture on my phone of a tornado that was about 8 miles north west of us. Seemed so much closer at the time. We got to the party, parked around the block because it was a surprise party and had to walk to the house. Of course as soon as we got out of the car, the sirens start to go off. I walk in to the house and Clayton's cousin asks me a few times if I was OK. She said I looked as white as a ghost, haha!
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| From Phone Photos 2011 |
We had a decent time there and the kids had a lot of fun and then I got a call from my mother at 8:22pm. Yep, I remember the exact time. My father had another heart attack at the hospital while he was on the phone with my brother and collapsed. My brother yelled at him to press the call nurse button and then he hung up and called the nurses station. My dad called him back not long after that and was doing better. They gave him a shot of nitroglycerin to open up his arteries. Since he had not had an alcohol in 48 hours, at that time, the heart attack had been a lot worse than the previous ones. Seems all the alcohol he normally drinks was keeping his blood pretty thin and causing his heart attacks to be less severe.
Again, I was up most the night. I was in bed around 10PM, or 11:30PM or something. All I remember is that I was in bed laying there awake for a couple hours. I got up, kicked Clayton off of the couch (where he had, again, fallen asleep) and laid there for a few hours. I watch a documentary about the Great Barrier Reef and then a documentary about Sharks. I fell asleep for a short time during the Shark one and turned off the TV and closed my eyes, but with the TV off, I couldn't fall asleep. I wonder if the Shark one was boring? I'll have to re-watch it sometime... I last looked at the clock at 2:30AM this time. Because my husband was not out at all hours of the night at a certain party with certain people, I did not spring out of bed at the crack of dawn. I managed to sleep until 7AM! We skipped church. I may have gotten at least one hour more than the night before, but less than 7 hours in two days is still not enough to function, for me.
Originally, my dad was supposed to have surgery that Monday, but his red blood cell count was incredibly high. They drained blood out of him and got his blood pressure way down. When he first came into the hospital, it was 190 over something. That first evening it was up to 205 over 100 and something. I cannot remember the numbers, but it was HIGH. They drained blood out of him at least twice, I believe. It wasn't until Monday afternoon that I got the news that he was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday at 7:30 AM. They ran tests on his liver and kidneys and got the test results back for them on Monday as well. All clean. Healthy liver and kidneys. I asked my brother if he made sure they didn't mix up the test results with somebody elses. Seems impossible that those would come back with no problems.
I woke up on Wednesday morning at 5:30AM and we left the house at 6:20AM. My mother in law took the day off of work for me and watched my kids all day. Clayton and I got coffee and were on the road just before 6:30AM. I was really nervous that we were going to get there too late and I wouldn't be able to see my dad before they took him out of his room to prep for surgery. It's a 30 minute drive in the first place and I was worried we were approaching rush hour. We still got there just before 7AM. We beat my brother! They were running late with everything anyways and they didn't end up getting my dad out of the room and down to the next floor until closer to 8:10AM. I was fine, but I felt a little sad when we were standing, with my dad in the bed on wheels, waiting for the rest of the surgical team to get there. My dad was clearly upset. He was pretty worried about the surgery and his face was a rosy red again, for the first time in almost 5 days.
The team got there and Dad and his team dropped us off at the Surgical waiting room. The room was a large indoor courtyard. Incredibly bright and just huge. My mother took the day off to come sit with us and her and my sister in law got to the hospital around 9AM and Clayton left shortly after that. We sat for a few hours. We got one update that they had started late and had not yet gotten to the open heart part of the surgery. They were "still harvesting the veins". We decided that we were not going to eat the cafeteria food and I suggested we take the light rail downtown or to the Mall of America to eat. We took it down to the Mall and had Rainforest Cafe. None of the three had ever been on the light rail before. We got back and I called the "operation update line" to see how Dad was doing. It was about 2-2:30PM at this time and they had started with his heart and were nearly half way through. They were done about 4PM. My brother kept bugging my sister in law to go call on the line for an update and she kept saying "let's just wait 5 minutes", he bugged her enough so that she went over there and before she was able to come back with the news that "Dr. John is on his way out", Dr. John was already out.
So, we're all sitting there waiting and Sarah (my sister in law) is away calling the line and a doctor comes walking out, straight towards us, and he's carrying a silver lock box under his arm. He comes up, asks if we are the family and then sits down, putting this box in his lap. I, honest to God, thought he was going to take this box, open in up and hand it to us explaining that the surgery did not go well and this is your dad's heart. Clearly I watch too much television.
Dad's surgery went well. He was scheduled for a triple bypass and they ended up performing a quadruple. I do not know when they decided this and how long they knew before surgery, but they never told us until afterwards. We were able to go into the SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) at 5:15PM to see him. He was still out. They were not even going to attempt to wake him until around 7-7:30PM. He looked pretty creepy. I was fine, unless I looked at his face and especially his mouth. His eyes just looked like he was sleeping, but his mouth made him look like he was dead. The only breathing he was doing was by a breathing machine. He had tubes all over the place and all sorts of machines hooked up to him. The nurse said that a lot of times, alcoholics do not handle anesthesia very well and wake up extremely agitated. He woke up fine though and had no problems. After we saw him, we left and I hopped back onto the light rail to go downtown to meet Clayton, who was at work.
Thursday I got Maddox out of school 10 minutes early and we walked half a mile up the street and caught the bus downtown. I had my mother drive downtown and get the kids and I took the light rail back to the VA Hospital to see my dad. He was out of the SICU and into another area. I'm not sure what the floor was, post surgical recovery? I walked in to his room and he was in the middle of talking to a Neurologist. It seems earlier, in the morning, his left leg (which is NOT the leg that he had the veins taken from) had gone completely numb from just above his ankle down. It came back and then went numb again 20 minutes later. They were thinking he might of had a mini stroke. The Neurologist and two UofM kids (residents?) were in there with my dad having him do all sorts of funny tests. I think the Neurologist was kind of a douche. He was throwing out all sorts of medical terms. Neither of us really knew what he was talking about. You'd think in a place like the VA, where a very good majority of the people there are 60+, that they'd use more "commoner" words instead of all their medical jargon. From what I gathered, it sounded like they thought he might of had a mini stroke and they were going to do a CT Scan. It sounded like the guy said an MRI would be better, but they were going to do a CT Scan. I don't know why they couldn't/didn't do a MRI. he had a CT Scan and it came back fine and he hasn't had any issues with it since.
After that, the nurse came and had my dad stand up and he pushed his wheel chair around to take a walk for the first time since he was wheeled out of his room for surgery. We did a lap around one side of the area and that left leg was really stiff and heavy. I sat with him while he ate his dinner. Opened some of the beverages, tried his creamed corn soup (per his request LOL), and read a card that the employee's from school sent. His glasses were in my brothers car. The most I've helped my dad since I was in elementary school and I might have gotten him something from the fridge while he was watching TV in the living room. He was really tired and kept dozing off. He did not sleep well the night before. I was only supposed to stay a half hour and leave by 5:30 to get back downtown by 6, in time for Clayton to get off work, but I didn't end up leaving until 6:30, after Clayton called to see if I was downtown yet! They kept trying to get my dad to get in bed and rest, but he refused to go to bed until after my brother got to the hospital. He said if he fell asleep before Eric (my brother) got there, he wasn't getting up again until the morning. He had a feeling he was going to be OUT and he needed to be!
Clayton and the kids and I stopped in for a visit with my dad a day later. We baby sat Logan (Eric & Sarah's 2 year old son/My nephew) and then after my brother came to pick him up, we met my brother and Logan up at the hospital. We were probably only there for 10 minutes. Before we even got 10 minutes from our house, Faye was talking about how she wanted to touch things at the hospital. Both kids were terribly impatient. I don't blame them. We never see "Grandpa Dave" and they are not used to him at all. Faye wanted to see "Your dad at the hospital" and so we did. My dad liked to see them and understands too that they are not as comfortable with him because we only see him maybe 1-2 times a year. Hopefully that will change now.
This past Thursday afternoon, my dad got to leave the hospital. My brother picked him up and brought him home. My brother has my dad's car at my brother's house and my dad is not supposed to drive for a month. Of course his first day home, we walked a couple blocks down to the corner store. I was feeling a bit upset and panicked on Thursday. I just do not understand why they let him go home. He lives all alone. I'm so nervous that he is going to start smoking and drinking again and according to my sister, it sounds like both my brother and dad have this theory that "drinking and smoking in moderation is OK", that is apparently what my dad's doctor told him. But no intelligent doctor would ever tell an alcoholic that drinking in moderation is OK. Alcoholics do not drink in moderation. And if they do, their idea of "moderation" is just a matter of opinion!
I was worried, so after we finished most of our errands on Saturday, I called my dad to see if we could come over for a short visit. He didn't answer, so I left him a message. I called my brother to see if he had talked to my dad and he hadn't recently, but he said that he was going to go over there to bring him to the grocery store. We decided just to go home after that. Faye passed out in the car too and I figured as long as my brother is going over there, at least SOMEONE is going over there. My dad called not long later and I talked to him for a little bit. I told him that we were not going to stop by because Faye had fallen asleep in the car and that we knew he would be going to the store soon. About a week before my dad ended up in the hospital, I had called and asked him if would go to a Twins game with Clayton and I, this coming Father's Day. He said yes and I was completely surprised and giddy about that! Then he ended up in the hospital with heart attacks, needing open heart surgery and I figured that was down the tubes. While I was on the phone with him on Saturday, though, he brought up the game and said we would have to take it easy. "I just want you to know I'm not going to be able to walk that fast, especially if we have to be walking up and down stairs." Yay! He's coming! Fortunately, we do not really have to do much walking up and downstairs. We had awesome seats, so just a couple short stairs! He sounded so good on the phone. So happy and healthy and energized, nothing like he used to sound like over the phone.
And we never did figure out what was in that doctors box!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
ANOTHER Ear Infection
I've been forgetting to update you, Blog.
Faye has another ear infection. Left ear.
She was up from 12:30-2:30AM on Tuesday morning (aka Monday night). After laying in bed crying, holding my hand to her ear, trying Chamomilla, then walking around, Then went upstairs, then Tylenol she got back to bed. Woke up again around 4:30AM to repeat all the same stuff, except this time I was more than half asleep and did all those things a little bit different. It started out with me wondering why the fish she had requested earlier is not working. Why doesn't she want this fish anymore? I made it especially for her! Yes, that was me sleeping. Apparently dreaming (after being up til 12:30AM making Sushi) that what REALLY helped Faye was some fish that she specially requested. So then we got back up, it was still too early for more Tylenol and too early for Ibuprofen. We paced around for a while (that was fine during infancy, not as easy with an almost 3 year old!) and then went upstairs. We didn't last up there too long, just long enough to be able to take some Ibuprofen and then we tried bed again. We got to sleep from 6:30-7:30AM and were up again.
We got to the Minute Clinic when they opened in the morning and were able to get her seen and get her a prescription. She was really upset on the way home and when we got home I noticed that her ear drum ruptured. We're not really sure if she was freaking out so much because of the pain from the rupture, or if her ear drum ruptured from all the pressure in her head caused by her freaking out... Either way, it happened really quick. From her first sign of ear infection until the rupture was only about 9 hours.
So she is on strong dose of Amoxicillin for 10 days. I made a follow up appointment at her regular doctor (that I need to change because the time is not going to work out) and she is also taking Zyrtec for a month. The Zyrtec is just a trial to see if it clears up any possible allergies that may be helping to cause her ear infections. Each time she has gotten an infection it has been due to a cold and congestion, but it's only been these past three months with the (very slow) emergence of Spring. She did exhibit some allergies earlier last month, so we'll see what happens.
Faye has another ear infection. Left ear.
She was up from 12:30-2:30AM on Tuesday morning (aka Monday night). After laying in bed crying, holding my hand to her ear, trying Chamomilla, then walking around, Then went upstairs, then Tylenol she got back to bed. Woke up again around 4:30AM to repeat all the same stuff, except this time I was more than half asleep and did all those things a little bit different. It started out with me wondering why the fish she had requested earlier is not working. Why doesn't she want this fish anymore? I made it especially for her! Yes, that was me sleeping. Apparently dreaming (after being up til 12:30AM making Sushi) that what REALLY helped Faye was some fish that she specially requested. So then we got back up, it was still too early for more Tylenol and too early for Ibuprofen. We paced around for a while (that was fine during infancy, not as easy with an almost 3 year old!) and then went upstairs. We didn't last up there too long, just long enough to be able to take some Ibuprofen and then we tried bed again. We got to sleep from 6:30-7:30AM and were up again.
We got to the Minute Clinic when they opened in the morning and were able to get her seen and get her a prescription. She was really upset on the way home and when we got home I noticed that her ear drum ruptured. We're not really sure if she was freaking out so much because of the pain from the rupture, or if her ear drum ruptured from all the pressure in her head caused by her freaking out... Either way, it happened really quick. From her first sign of ear infection until the rupture was only about 9 hours.
So she is on strong dose of Amoxicillin for 10 days. I made a follow up appointment at her regular doctor (that I need to change because the time is not going to work out) and she is also taking Zyrtec for a month. The Zyrtec is just a trial to see if it clears up any possible allergies that may be helping to cause her ear infections. Each time she has gotten an infection it has been due to a cold and congestion, but it's only been these past three months with the (very slow) emergence of Spring. She did exhibit some allergies earlier last month, so we'll see what happens.
$129? Are you kidding me?!
I ordered a quilt from The Company Store (The Company Store Kids) and it came today. Its marked retail price is $129.00 and it is on clearance for $38.99. I was super excited, I had a coupon for free shipping and used ShopAtHome to get cash back rewards! Unfortunately, this blanket is a wreck! I ordered Christmas Stockings from this company at a stellar price and was impressed with their quality. I figured with the original price of this quilt and the fact that the stockings were of nice quality, that I'd be getting Pottery Barn type quality. BOY WAS I WRONG! I'd say this quilt is more Walmart quality. I'd say MAYBE a cheap Target kids quilt quality, but $40 for this thing is REALLY pushing it. I'd pay $15-25 and be OK with the quality. If anyone actually purchased this for $129, I feel bad for them and I be they were PISSED! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try to return it, or keep it. Faye doesn't seem to care about the quality (but she's only 2....).
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Problem With My Sons Toys
I'm getting new storage shelving in the kids' bedroom. Faye's toys are mostly in our bedroom and Maddox's toys are in their bedroom. I've got bins for his toys and am separating them and getting them organized.
The problem is there is a lot of separating and very little organizing. He has a bin of monster trucks, a bin of cars, racecars, some airplanes and motorcycles. Mostly they are all Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and "Cars" brand die cast vehicles and belong together. Then there is a bin of transformers and I have another bin that I made the "space" bin. It has an astronaut kit, star wars items, and other space related stuff. Everything else are just a bunch of random junk that does not belong together. He has a handful or less of a lot of different stuff and its frustrating trying to organize it and make it easy to find, easy to get to, easy to put away, and look nice all at the same time!
Grr!
Mama has Strep Throat
I woke on Sunday with a sore throat. It wasn't too terrible, but I decided I didn't want to go to church because I am still not better from the original junk plus I was tired, had the sore throat, and a headache.
I woke up on Monday and felt miserable. I knew I had to have something. I get sore throats all the time, but nothing quite like this and my right gland under my chin was the size of a meatballs and sore! By Monday night, I had decided I wanted to go in to the doctor the next day. Tuesday morning I woke up and wanted to beg Clayton into bringing me in right away in the morning. I tried to be hinty about it, but he didn't want to go before work and I felt guilty begging.
I went into the minute clinic with swollen glands all over the place, white spots on my fire red throat, the right side of the back wall of my throat puffy and lopsided. The doctor did a rapid strep test, but that came back negative. She still gave me antibiotics because between all of that stuff, a fever, headache, the sinus infection that I had the week before and the fact that our original colds were more than likely Influenza, I wasn't getting better and something was obviously going on.
It took me by complete surprise that the strep test came back negative. If this wasn't strep, I would never, ever, ever want to get strep! The antibiotics started working over night and Ibuprofen is extremely helpful too. Between the two, my biggest issue is that I cannot have Caribou because anything chocolate hurts REALLY bad!
A doctor at the minute clinic called a short while ago to let me know that I do have strep. The lab test came back positive. Fortunately, the lovely doctor that I saw on Tuesday night already started me on antibiotics, so I'm good to go!
While I was at the minute clinic, I talked to the doctor about Faye's ear. Her drainage used to be a drippy, clear, dark yellow color and it had switched to a sticky, pale green another like discharge that was pooling in her ear instead of coming out. The doc said it would be best to bring her in, but this morning she had almost no discharge and her ear drops went in without very much stimulation (wiggling and pushing) on the outside of her ear, so I think she's good. We'll definitely bring her in if the lack of drainage seems to be a fluke.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Antibiotics for Ear Infections
The "new" recommendation for ear infections is the "watch and see" method. We are not to rush our children into the doctors office for treatment. Ear infections can and often do (I have read...) go away on their own.
Well I watched and I saw my daughters eardrum rupture. Also something that seems to be recommended by some sites as no big deal. I read MayoClinic, WebMD, Medline Plus, and AskDrSears. No conclusive information on this topic. Some suggest to wait to bring your child in until s/he has severe pain (Faye seemed to have that instantaneous), some said if you see blood coming from the ear after rupture, some said if your eardrum ruptures there will be clear fluid, blood, and even pus, but with no other recommendations.
I've got to tell you though... I've decided this "watch and see" bit is not for me. At least not for Faye. She had an infection in the opposite ear in Feb. We brought her in right away in the morning because she was down right miserable all night. We got her on Amoxicillin and her pain was gone by that night. I accidentally didn't give her the full 7 days of it (eek), but it went away very quickly and didn't return.
Thus time she was in miserable pain for a day and a half until her eardrum ruptured. She got relief from that and was able to sleep (a lot!) during the day, but then she was in pain again. The next day most of her pain went away and her fever had been down to normal temp for almost two days, she was dripping everywhere though. About 36-48 hours after her eardrum ruptured, we brought her in to get checked out. We ended up with $50 ear drops! Four drops, two times a day, seven days. Yikes!
Next time we'll go back for the Amoxicillin. Torturing her isn't worth it. She goes from zero to 50 in 60 seconds and if she hadn't taken the antibiotics for the first infections, they eardrum would have burst too.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ear Infection & Sickness
Faye was up all night. Second night in a row. She started complaining Tuesday evening and putting my hand over her ear, then she passed out in my lap.
She was so heartbreaking the first night. She kept crying for "more medicine, mommy" and then she started out crying to me "take care of me, mommy! Just take care of me!" That was heart wrenching. I had been giving her Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, and a benzocaine ear drops. There was nothing else I could give her at the time.
The second night she was more mad about stuff. She was kicking me about stuff, mad because she wanted to read books, and mad about lord only knows. She refused Acetaminophen all night. She told daddy "I don't want to feel better, I want to feel bad." She then cried because she was scared. Scared of me (lol) and scared of the dark. Lots of times she claims to be scared of Maddox. Then she wanted to go sleep with daddy. He was on the couch. I think half because I was sleeping on his pillow and maybe a little bit because he knew Faye was going to be crying all night again. That sounds bad (lol) but she will never let him do anything for her, so he might as well get his sleep. He didn't LEAVE bed! I let Faye go lay with him two separate times. Once early in the night and then again early in the morning, maybe 5-7 ish? In-between she cried and cried to sleep with him. Finally, sometime this morning she said to me "I want to feel better!"
We went upstairs to get Ibuprofen. She didn't want to drink it, she just wanted "eye drops" haha! I told her she couldn't have any ear drops until after she drank the medicine. She drank it down in a second! Of course when I got her laid down for the drops, her ear is all crusty and I think her ear drum burst. Fortunately, she passed out before she could cry anymore about wanting ear drops.
Yesterday, she slept on and off all day. She has been falling asleep very easily. Unfortunately, she wakes up very easily too. She did sleep a decent nap before lunch time and again after school. She's sleeping now too, has been for almost an hour.
All of us have been sick the past week and a half. I got sick on Sunday afternoon (6th?). I had to have our neighbor bring Maddox to his bus stop on Monday. Tuesday I had Clayton stay home from work. I had a 105 degree temperature. I felt the most miserable I ever have and could barely move. I got my appetite back this Monday (14th), but my throat has still been too sore to eat much. I lost my last week too and still cannot talk much. The coughing has settled down a bit, if it weren't for Faye, I'd be able to sleep at night!
Faye woke up around 1-2am on Tuesday the 8th, puking. She was up all night. I ended up having to leave the bed and let Clayton deal with her. I needed sleep so bad and, of course, when I woke up Tuesday morning, the was the worst day of my sickness. Faye only puked that morning and she was fine, in that aspect, for the rest of the day. She has had a 102-103 temp since that day. Lately, she's been around 101-102 even though she was feeling perfectly fine otherwise... now she has the ear infection.
Clayton went to work Wednesday and had a sore throat. He was really feeling like crap on Thursday and by the time he got home from work that day, he had a 104 temp. He is coughing (and so is Faye) but not as bad as Maddox or myself. He's getting his appetite back.
Maddox woke up on Wednesday the 9th with a terrible belly ache. He threw up a few times. He cried his little heart out too. He had a bad headache with ear pain. I wanted to cry with him. During my entire first several days of having this, I had a massive headache with really bad ear pressure. It is what made me non-functional a lot of the days. I thought it was the high fever (I was 104+ for over 12 hours and then on and off as the medicine wore off), but I realized it was from the cold that we had. I gave Maddox some medicine and felt better. He only threw up the couple times and was actually feeling much better before dad even left for work. He stayed home from school Wednesday and had Thursday & Friday off. I sent him to school on Monday because he had been feeling better for a couple days, but he was still in the 99's.
Hopefully Faye will be feeling better soon. Spring is around the corner and hopefully we can kick all this sickness.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I Need to Get Up.
In her half delusional feverish sleep, Faye says:
"I'm sorry Mom, I have to get up. I'm starting to pee in my underwear and on your bed so I have to get up and sit on the potty."
Fortunately, she did not pee a wink in her undies or on my bed. She is the funniest kid ever!
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