Birthday Boy

I haven't had a chance to get on here very much since my surgery. I have to say, I'm pretty miserable. It still hurts quite a bit, and I have to keep watching Rachel's every move because she seems determined to grab my incision. I'm on so many drugs right now that I have no idea what's happening most of the time! She's generally been good, but there are those moments when all she wants to do is cuddle close to my neck and then she tries to pick at the incision.. YUCK. And on top of all the pain from the surgery, I am now dealing with a case of Thrush on top of it all!!! Yeah, life's good... just not right now!

So today is my honey's 50th birthday. I can't believe that he has come to this huge milestone and I am stuck here on the couch like a big old lump of... well... you know... I had so many ideas I wanted to try out for his birthday. I had wanted to do a party, but that was way out of the question. I even tried to get at least one or two of his friends to come up , but that didn't work out either. I feel so bad. This is such a big birthday for him and all he is doing is hanging around watching me stumble around the house!

I'm trying to make up for not having a spectacular party for him so I told him he could go thru all the take out menus and order from where ever he wants... that might have been a mistake... naturally he chose the most expensive place we go to down here! LOL... that's ok... he only turns 50 once!

My folks called a little while ago and said they were going to buy him a birthday cake so they will be coming over too.. I just feel so bad that we didn't have a big party planned. Although I wouldn't be feeling all that much like going out today, right? I had tried to get some of his friends or family to come down for a little vacation, but I waited far too long to ask, so nobody was able to come down. I really should have started planning something much longer ago, but then again, I wouldn't have been in any condition to do anything if it was scheduled for this week.

Dr Robert

Tuesday was finally my surgery day. Everything seems to be good. I'm already up & walking around. And despite all the folks telling me I wouldn't be able to eat solid foods, I have been ok. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast today, this afternoon it was lasagna and tonite I think its supposed to be tilapia... and the food just isn't bad either!!! Not as good as mine, of course, but not as miserable as I'm used to hospital food being!!
I was supposed to go home today, but the weirdest thing happened after surgery. I have this excruciating burning stabbing pain in my left hand in between my index finger and thumb... there is no explanation for this, and because the pain is SO intense, they are waiting to figure out what it is before I can go home... apparently it's some sort of nerve issue... the Dr hasn't been in yet today, so still don't know anything.
As for the neck, the incision is pretty huge... goes from just under my ear lobe to about my throat where they would put a trache... they didn't, but that's where the incision ends.
Anyway, I'm no longer on morphine... now its Valium & percoset... which is good because they would not have let me go home until the pain eased enough to get off the morphine...
speaking of... feeling a little loopy at the moment... so maybe I'll finish this later...

So the Dr came in and still can't figure out what the hell is going on with my hand. He drew around the area that hurts the most. He put me on another script, one that is specifically for nerve problems... As of this writing, I had one dose... no help at all. But I'm gonna go home on Thursday no matter what!!!!

They keep assuring me the scar won't be all that bad by the time it's all said and done... Hopefully, they are right and these will just blend into the creases in my neck...

Hurricane Years

It was 5 years ago today that Hurricane Charlie blew through our neighborhood. Hard to believe it has been 5 years already! Wow... I still remember how scared we were. It was our first hurricane & we did not prepare at all. No covers on the windows or anything! Tommy & I were in the laundry room with the dog and a mattress in front of the door. Abbey was in her cage in the alcove between the 2 spare room doors. She was totally silent, probably terrified, for the whole day. The noise was incredible, especially when the next door neighbor's tree came down about a foot and a half from the side of our livingroom! If we had the addition already done, it would have wiped it out. But when all was said & done, we made out ok. We lost power for a few hours but luckily we are on the hospital's grid, so it came back pretty quickly considering. We sustained minimal damage, mostly to the pool cage... lost a few screws, all on one side. We also lost our trees. But considering some of our neighbors lost their entire roof, or even worse, some houses were completely destroyed, we came out of it relatively unscathed. We were SO blessed. So now we can say "Happy Anniversary Hurricane Charlie... hope to never see ya again!"

Yesterday, I was so wiped out that I didn't post, so this is a twofer... We went to the beach for a couple of hours yesterday. Margie & Charlie came with their grandson Baby J... the kids really had a great time but I was a totally bad mommy and didn't take a single beach picture. I know, don't beat me up... but I did manage to take some shots of the kids in the car when we were ready to head home! They got along MUCH better in the car than they did on the sand!

Baby J was not into playing with girls. Rachel was filling her little bucket with sea shells and his bucket was full of water. Well, Rachel wanted a scoop of water so she reached her shovel into his bucket and he took HIS shovel and wacked her on the head! Margie gave him a little smack on the side of the head and said "Don't do that!". That's when Rachel leaned over and tapped him in the head too! LOL... no tears were shed from either kid, so no need to panic... it wasn't a knock down drag out free for all or anything!

After the beach, we headed for home, totally exhausted. We decided to enjoy our newly clean pool for a while to get the excess sand off! Rachel had a ball, especially because she was able to swim, which she really couldn't do at the beach with the waves and stuff... Tommy cooked BBQ chicken for dinner, and I promptly fell asleep at the table. 38 hours awake was just more than I could handle! But it was a GOOD tired... Even Rachel slept like a rock. It was her first trip to the beach, and just like the rest of us, the salt air seemed to knock her out.

Piece of Cake

This week is Tommy's "forced vacation" week. It was pretty nice having him around! Especially because I got to take an extra nap befor going to work! hee hee...

So tonite, we went to a cute little place with Margie & Charlie for dinner. It's right near their house and it's called Pink Cadillac. They had an "all you can eat" buffet that was actually really good! And the prices are TOTALLY reasonable.

Naturally, Rachel's favorite part was the home made cake! They had chocolate (she takes after her daddy... this was her favorite) and a white cake with coconut frosting (which she didn't turn her nose away at either!)

We are trying to enjoy as much of this week as possible while her daddy is home with us! Tomorrow he is going to show her how to play with the metal detector! I told him he needs to find something really good so we can retire and stay home with Rachel all the time! LOL...

I also want to try to get the house as cleaned up as possible before next week. I know it will just keep getting messy, but I'll feel better coming home from the hospital to a clean house!

I'm still kinda nervous about this surgery, but keeping positive thoughts that the Dr will do all the right things and maybe I can finally be rid of the pain in my upper back and neck! that will be a wonderful thing!

Silly Girl

We've been working on potty training Rachel the past couple of days. Basically, we've been letting her run around without a diaper during the day and keep putting her on the potty. She's used it a few times, but mostly we've been cleaning the floor a lot. The other problem is, she will take off her shorts and has opted for wearing them on her head! I told her she is just preparing herself for all those Frat/Sorority parties when she gets to college!

Other than that, today was an uneventful day. I actually got to sleep in, and Tommy took care of Rach all day. Unless he's working overtime, that is usually how Saturdays work.. it's the one day of the week I get to sleep enough! WOOHOO...

Winds of Change

What a day... ok, so first, I got out of work this morning and was supposed to call this woman who was selling a little picnic table on Craigslist. I call Margie to see if she would take a ride with me to go pick it up. I headed to Margies while I waited for this chick to call me back. She was not thrilled with waiting until today to sell it to me as she was planning on selling on a first come first serve basis... I explaind that I had Dr appts the earlier part of the week and that I work midnights, so Friday would be the first chance I had to go all the way to Pt Charlotte to pick it up. I promised her I would call her at 7am on Friday. So I called... and called... and called some more! Then I emailed her... No answer, no response. I waited until 8:15 at Margies. Still no response. So I gave up. I then wrote her an email saying how disappointed I was that she didn't even have the decency to respond. I was upset about losing so much sleep for no reason.
Sometime later in the evening, she responded by email saying she had a family emergency. ok, I can understand, but at least be fair and let me know? Whatever...
Then I got a phone call from the Dr's office. My surgeon had a death in the family, so they were cancelling my surgery scheduled for Tuesday. They are supposed to call me on Monday to reschedule. I sure hope they can get me in this week, since Tommy will be home to help me with the baby! If they have to make it much later, things are going to be so much harder.
We then went to my folks for dinner. Rach had a great time playing with her Nana & Papa. It totally knocked her out and she was asleep before we got to the end of their street! Unfortunately, we got home a little later than I would have liked. So in total, I slept for 3 hours today. I am SOOOOO tired... Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday, and I get to sleep in while Tommy is home! YIPPEE...

Behind the Wall of Sleep

Sometimes, parents can sure surprise ya.... Today was just a totally exhausting day. I worked all last night and then had to go to the hospital for all the pre-op tests. After the tests, I stopped at Sam's to get some much needed supplies, since I won't be able to get there next week. I got home around 10:30am... meaning I'd been awake for just about 24 hours and just lost more than half of my regular sleep for the day!
I went straight to bed and Tommy kept Rachel & the crew pretty quiet (altho I don't think an explosion would have woke me at that point!).
I got 3 hours of sleep and then it was time for me to get up with Rachel. I called my mom and she offered for her & my dad to come play with Rachel so I could go back to sleep for a while more! WOOHOO for Mom & Dad!!!! They came, they played, I napped! Mom woke me at 6pm, so I can make dinner for the munchkin. She is now eating happily, I'm getting a few minutes of computer time, and when she is all done, I will get a little MORE sleep!!! YIPPEE!!!! So all together, I will actually have gotten at least 6 hours for the day. Considering how exhausted I was this morning, I am thrilled.
No updated pictures today... I left my camera in the car. Besides, if I took pictures of what my adorable daughter is wearing right now, I'd be drummed out of the mommy club! Tommy put her in my favorite red white & blue skirt. Unfortunately, he decided to match it with her pink, yellow & green shirt! LOL...

Ok... dessert time for the munchkin...
More tomorrow...

Erase The Pain

So Sunday we went to Outback for my girlfriend Margie's birthday. Rachel actually let us put her hat on for a while, but it didn't last. She kept putting it on herself, but then she would take it off and stare or play with it...

Dinner was good, but Rach decided she was going to be a lttle fussy for a while so Tommy & I basically took turns walking her outside.. didn't want to disturb any of the other people! Well, as usual, she was the center of attention. The waitress totally melted because she held her arms up and wanted to be picked up. So the waitress picked her up and she layed her little head on her shoulder and was ready to fall asleep! So THAT's why she was miserable! Guess we waited a little too long to go to dinner!

Monday was Doctor day for me... had an appointment in the morning with a new Dr, and then in the afternoon, I had my second opinion consult about my back. So this Dr also feels surgery is necessary, but he had some different views on the whole process. The first Dr asked me what I wanted to have done first. This guy said he felt I should do the neck first because it's possible it will take the pain away from the lower back and leg too... and maybe I can avoid a 2nd surgery, at least for a while.

So next Tuesday, I will be heading in to the hospital to have some disks removed from my neck. The real decider was when he said that a minor trauma could potentially cause paralysis because of the pressure being put on the spinal cord right now. Ok.. scare me stupid... I'm ready to sign...

I scheduled the surgery for the week that Tommy will be home (his company is closing for a week because of the lousy economy... he's forced to take a week off, so he can help with the munchkin!)

The Dr also said I should be feeling MUCH better by the time the gang arrives for our big "Hunan Spicy Girls Renion" next month... Yay!!! That was the other reason I wanted the surgery scheduled right away... I know I am gonna want to pick up all those adorable babies!