I thought I would have trouble falling asleep the night before my surgery but after a nice hot shower I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.  I was dreaming about walking across a dirt bridge, I was looking for a hut, I never found out why because I suddenly woke up.  It was 5:15 and I had forgot to set my alarm.  I had planned to be up at 5 so I could take another shower, relax and get First Born awake, showered and medicated before we left.  I had to shorten my shower but First Born was eating breakfast as we headed out to the surgery center.  Pops (The Husband’s Father) was in visiting from England so we didn’t have to arrange for babysitting.  Pops was elected by default to stay with the kids until The Husband came back.

We got to the Surgery Center five minutes before I was scheduled.  The Husband filled all the paperwork out.  The receptionist made notes, made me sign papers and gave me a copy of the patient privacy regulations (don’t know about you but I am sick of getting those).  She then lead us upstairs.  The Husband waited until I was in the bed waiting for my IV and then headed out to take over the kids from Pops.

For some reason I was really calm.  I read People magazine and started falling asleep.  The nurse came in put the IV in my arm and made a mess.  I wasn’t wearing my own clothes so no big deal for me.  The anesthesiologist explained everything to me. He said he would give me  shot in the pre-op room (where I was), I would then scoot off that bed onto the operating table.  Then he would give me more drugs and put me to sleep.  I don’t ever remember scooting onto the operating table but I guess they got me there somehow.

In recovery one I remember wanting my oxygen mask off then I must have fallen asleep again.    In recovery two I heard the nurses telling The Husband that they would call after they gave me my pain medication.   The nurse gave me my medication, called The Husband and told him 20 mins.  She came back 15 mins later, helped me get dressed when I heard the phone, The Husband was waiting down at the car.  I got into a wheel chair and headed home.

I spent the first day in bed, sleeping.  I had really, really, really dry mouth.  Did I mention I had no wetness in my mouth?  I tried to eat toast but it stuck so bad I had to swallow water with it, like taking a pill.  That lasted about two days. 

The second day after the surgery I was sore.  I didn’t lift the kids and tried to take it easy.  The third day I would lift the kids if Pops wasn’t watching (he would get grumpy with me if he saw it).  The week after surgery things were back to normal.  I went to playgroup, took care of the kids and the house.

Right now I have a rash where the Band-Aids were and my belly button hurts every so often.  Nothing in my eating has changed.  I haven’t had any side effects from having my gall bladder out.  Well, there is one side effect, I’m not in excruciating pain in more.

The End

I made an appointment to see a surgeon.  He seemed nice enough.  He asked me questions.  He said that I do need my gall bladder out.  He then went through a spiel about what to expect, using hand drawn graphics.  The Dr. explained that he would make 4 incisions, one under the belly button and the other three around my gall bladder.  If he goofs then he will cut me open and fix the goof up (not his exact words, but details aren’t really that interesting and kind of gross).  I said great, when can we do it?  He said lets try before Thanksgiving.  I guess Thanksgiving is a big gall bladder holiday where they take out a lot of them so better to get it over with.

The nurse calls me back and tells me that I am scheduled for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and she needs $250.  I was shocked, for what do you need my money right before my daughter’s birthday and Christmas??  It is for the assistant . Dr.  “Extortion” feels everyone should be paid for doing their job.  Yes, I agreed everyone should get paid but I pointed out that I have great insurance and it should cover it.  If not I would pay the difference.  Nope, not good enough for them so I told them to shove it. 

Actually I found a new surgeon verified that they don’t want me to pay up front. They do expect co-insurance  up front but since we don’t have co-insurance because we pay huge bucks to the insurance company monthly for 100% coverage, I made an appointment for Tuesday. I then then called back up Dr. “Extortion” and  I told them sorry, you guys suck, I’m not paying for something that I know will be paid for, its not my fault other people don’t pay their doctor bills.  I can put that $250 to good use, it’s not like you are paying me interest to hold my money for two to three months so I’m talking my gall bladder elsewhere (I’m paraphrasing of course).  The poor nurse apologized and said she hoped that the doctor would change his policy if he lost a few more patients this way.  She did sound really embarrassed, I felt sorry for her. 

My new doctor was nice.  In fact I liked  him better, not so much like a used car salesman.  He actually felt around my stomach before agreeing with everyone else.  So I was scheduled the following Tuesday to have my gall bladder removed.

To be continued: Gall Bladder Blues Part III: Bye Bye Gall Bladder

On Halloween I was trick or treating with the kids and all of a sudden I was really nauseous and in pain.  I thought it was the pizza sitting wrong in my tummy.  I had to cancel the second half a trick or treating because of the pain.  After loosing my dinner, a hot shower and resting a bit I felt better. 

On Thursday it all came back, worse.  Five hours into the pain I gave up and went to the doctor office.  I was pretty pathetic sitting in the waiting room.  I kept on shifting positions, seats, walking, going to the bathroom, anything that would help alleviate the pain.  Nothing worked.  Luckily there was only one other person waiting for part of the time and she read a magazine, never made eye contact.

I have a great doctor.  Before she pokes and prods she always asks a lot of questions.  I suck at answering questions but at least she takes a through history.  So after the question and answer session she started poking and found the part that hurt and poked there a few extra times just to make sure I really hurt.  She says everything points to gall stones but I needed to get a sonogram of my stomach.

The next morning I went for the sonogram and again they found the part that hurt and pushed there a few extra times.  The whole sonogram took an hour! They were mumbling about me being positive with something.  Of course they never talked to me about it.

So, on Tuesday, Nov 7th I voted and that night went back to the doctor.  She was right, it was gall stones.  Not only gall stones but multiple gall stones.  Prognosis: it needs to come out.  One catch, my liver enzymes were high, as in 150 points high.  Now we had to pull me off the Welbutrin and see if that helps my liver, postponing any surgery.

Unfortunately I was stupid, really stupid, and ate pizza again.  A couple of hours later I landed up in the hospital in PAIN.  They gave me a shot of Demerol and the pain went away.  I saw my doctor again and since my blood test at the hospital had my enzymes just a little high she recommenced a surgeon.

Next Chapter: The visits to the surgeon.

I can’t remember the last time I posted an entry (don’t mention the fact that I could just look at my last entry, ruins the whole effect) It has been such a long since I have written  that it seemed weird to be writing.  It is like when you tell someone you will call them and a week goes by, you think about calling and make a note to do it but something comes up and next thing you know it it has been a month and you debate whether or not you waited too long to call and then another month goes by, next thing you know a year has gone by and then you know it would be weird to call? Sometimes I still make the call, so today I am starting to write again.  Is this weird for you?   You can look forward to at least one post about my gall bladder removal and getting ready for Christmas but for now here are some pictures from Princess Girl’s third birthday.

Yummy Cake!

Grandkids and Grandparents

Posing for the camera

Waiting for her Happy Meal

At J-boy’s preschool they have a ‘wacky’ theme on Wednesday.  Some weeks it is wear a certain color others wear favorite sports team clothes.  This week is outrageous hat day.  J-boy owns two hats a chefs hat and a fireman hat, which would have worked just fine.  However, The Husband surprised the two oldest and took them to Krispy Kreme for breakfast so J-boy got to wear  his Krispy Kreme hat to school. (note: The Husband did NOT bring me a donut home, grounds for divorce I’m sure)

I think is smile is outrageous too:

Please note he is wearing his hat sideways like Admiral Lord Nelson. The Husband told he that Lord Nelson wore his hat sideways because it got into his way or something like that.  The point is I was listening (sort of) when he told me that tidbit.

It all started years ago.   I was about ten years old and I got $20 for something.  So, I put it away, safe, so my little brother and sister couldn’t get it.  Three years latter when we were moving out of state I found $20 tucked into an encyclopedia.  By then I didn’t even remember that I had put it there.  I am assuming it was me since the book was in my bedroom.

Fast forward to when I was 16.  I got a car for Christmas.  It was a 1979 Horizon.  I spent more on repairs then the value of the car but heck it was a car.  Anyway, I had issues with my car keys.  I lost them once, twice, three ok, every set I had.  One day before work I had gone through my last copy of car keys and had to call a key place to open the car and make me a key.  I did eventually find most of the keys.  This weekend my keys were missing again.  I had just told The Husband he needed to leave his keys for me.  Then as is was looking for the light bulbs that I had put up safe, I saw that my keys were hanging where they belong, go figure.

The Husband dreads hearing these words come out of my mouth “I put it somewhere safe”.  His response is “Oh, god” (must read with an English accent, much funnier) I do put stuff safe(ish) so the kiddos can’t find it.  Unfortunately I usually can’t find it either.  Most of the time the kiddos find where I hid something before I remember that I need it.  The other times, I have to search the house and all my hiding spots before I find it.

Right now we are missing the checkbook and Entertainment book.  I know where they are… somewhere safe.

The other day I watching TV and saw a new  Barbie is on the market.  Now, Princess Girl isn’t into Barbie, yet.  I have no objection to  Barbie.  The jury is still out on the Bratz doll but luckily we have a couple of years before she is looking at little dolls.

Anyway, where was I, oh yeah… watching TV and a new Barbie doll.  Barbie and Tanner, ooh, cute right?  Then all of a sudden the dog takes a dump.  You feed the dog and then up goes the tail and the poop, um, pops out.  Though it does include a pooper scooper and trash can to clean up the mess.  How convenient!  I don’t think Princess Girl is going to get this particular doll, the whole concept kind of grosses me out.  Though, maybe the jerk who lets his dog shit in the middle of the road should have it as a learning toy.  He obviously hasn’t heard of a pooper scooper

Carla from Hi-5 was pretending to be a donut making machine.  At one point the “power” goes off and she is happy because you get tired from making donuts.  Which started an interesting conversation with First Born.

First Born:  It’s boring to be a donut machine.

Me: yeah, but they are machines they don’t care.

First Born:  They are real.

Me: Yes, they are real donut machines but they aren’t alive.

First Born: That’s good because they might start a nuclear war or something.

In all my wisdom I just let that statement go.  Where does he get these things?

*For those of you not of the 80’s generation W.O.P.R. is the chess playing Thermal Nuclear War controlling computer from War Games.  Those of you who figured it out, thank you.  I am not alone

I have problem and it’s a bit messy.  I cannot open a Gerber baby food package without splattering myself.   I try pulling it open away from my body but for some reason I can’t open the damn thing.  I pull slow, pull fast doesn’t matter I get green beans or carrots spitting up at me.  I really miss the glass jars.  Anyone out there know how to open these things without making a mess?

First Born is now officially on a soccer team.  Their first practice was on Thursday and frankly it wasn’t pretty.  90% of the boys had never played and the coach had never coached.  We are the Bad News Bears of soccer.  We don’t even have proper uniforms yet.

What I really didn’t like was the coach’s son was a bit of um, a problem.  He would take First Born’s ball and throw it into the trash can and slapped First Born’s ball out of his hand.  First Born was upset because only one boy was nice to him.  I felt so bad.

Part of the problem is the coach really didn’t have control of the kids.  They did the drills but spent a lot of time rough housing and acting silly.  To top it all off First Born kicked someone’s ball from them. The coach saw him and told him off.  Well, ok, he gave him the make good choices speech.  I know it wasn’t nice but  why is it always my kiddos that get caught being naughty?  The coach didn’t see the last three kids kick First Born’s ball away.

Their first game was interesting.  The other team was older and seasoned.  They had been a team last year.  We lost 2-0.  Unfortunately First Born was the goal tender for the two goals.  Like a good mommy I captured the first goal on camera. 

I was wondering why the coach would put First Born in the goal considering he never played soccer before in his life. First Born cleared it up for me, he asked to be goalie.  The next two periods he was a defender and a midfielder.  He happily sat out for the 4th quarter.  I know, soccer doesn’t have quarters.  However, at the U8 level they play 4  10 minutes quarters.

First Born did an awesome job as a defender and midfielder. 

The Husband stayed home with J-boy (he had an allergic reaction to Bunkie’s cats and was too puffy eyed to come outside) and Baby Boy.  Princess Girl came to the game with us.  She was bored but with the exception of poking my butt for attention she was good. At one point she decided to eat some YoGo’s off the grass while my back was turned.   She knew she did wrong because as soon as I saw her with them in her hand she dropped them.  She also climbed on a collapsible chair which did what it should and collapsed on her.  Then she climbed onto the benches and fell.  She got a nasty bruise on her arm.  She got a lot of pouting practice during the game.

I was away from the parents most of the game because I was taking pictures.  I come back at the end of the first quarter and Bunkie gets up and walks over to the bleacher and talks to a lady that was sitting there, I later found out she was the coaches wife.  I could hear Bunkie apologizing for something.  I’m thinking shit what did my mom do this time?   Bunkie is very passionate about her sports.  She is loud and obnoxious at times.  Think of your typical Football dad, mix in a soccer mom and you have Bunkie.  Basically the coach’s wife said something not pleasant after the goal went in and Bunkie started defending her grandson.  Coach’s wife wasn’t talking about First Born but about the other team.  However, Bunkie’s defending of First Born bothered the Coach’s wife because she thought she hurt Bunkie’s feeling.   Anyway, the Coach’s Wife is now First Born’s biggest fan and she now knows one mom on the team, me.

My goal this season for First Born is to have fun.  I hope they win at least one game but that would be icing on the cake.

I liked this picture.  I can’t tell if he’s intense or bored.  Let’s go for intense.