It's been raining and I have been hurting bad. No one seems to understand what it is like to not be able to move your leg because its frozen in place at the hip. Yet despite this, or perhaps because of it, I find myself longing to be truely mobile again. I am terrified of going to the othropedist. I already know what they are going to say. Hip Replacement. Knee Replacement. Skeletal Replacement (is there such a thing?) In the back of my head all I can hear is the old theme music to 6 Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman and the words - we can rebuild her - better, stronger, faster. I dread having to have my blood drawn to check my iron levels, let alone have major surgery. Maybe thats why I have been procrastinating going to see the doctor.
But hey, it didnt take me 18 months to post again. Maybe I will post again tomorrow. Stay tuned!
*ya I know no one reads this and Im just talking to myself, I dunno, maybe I'm supposed to learn something from this, so until next time self! *
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
I'm a really bad blogger I have come to realize...
It has been FOREVER since I wrote in on my blog. There have been so many changes in our lives it will be hard to catch up with everything that has happened. So here is our lives in a Readers Digest nutshell.
Over the last 18 months, the following things have happened:
1. We tried to buy our house again, and again and again and again. Finally gave up. Found a nicer, bigger, better house that we will hopefully be moving into in September. Unfortunately it won't before school starts, but within the first few weeks, and since it is in the same general area that we used to live in, the kids are still close to all their friends, as well as closer to others. I can't wait to get into the new house, get it all cleaned up and slowly work on fixing it up and making it the home we have always wanted.
2. Finally gave in and decided to do something for me for once and went to the doctor about all the issues I have been having. I love my doctor. She is the best. She doesnt judge me or think that my issues are weird or strange or all in my head. Even tho its been a year now, yes Im still anemic and still taking iron for it. Yes I have cysts in my thyroid, and no they aren't what is causing me problems with swallowing, and yes, I have to go and have them ultrasounded again to make sure they don't grow in size. As for my swallowing issue, well I have seen a few different doctors about that and the good news is that, no, I dont have any evidence of reflux damage or cancer in my nose/throat/esophagus. They think that maybe I have muscle spasms when I try to swallow, so it doesnt relax and open, but tightens closed and makes it hard to swallow even water. Yes I went to a weight control doctor, and I love her too. Again she doesnt judge me, accepts me as I was/am and has helped me to lose almost 100 lbs. I still have more to go, but I'm doing it slowly and without surgery. Yes I have heel spurs that makes walking painful, but I just found out that I also have degenerative arthritis all over, and that sometimes makes walking impossible when my hip pops out. I also have "female issues", but at 47 thats not entirely unexpected. And for the first time since they botched my root canal and I had to have what was left of my tooth and the infected gum and jawbone removed almost 12 yrs ago, I went back to the dentist. If I can give anyone out there who bothers to look or read or listen any advice, it would be to not neglect going to the dentist. Even tho I brush my teeth all the time, I still ended up with a bunch of cavaties, and will be getting to know my dentist really well in the next couple of months.
3. My girls went to girls camp, and it was the first time for my youngest. She has been saying for an entire year that she would not go, she would get eaten by bears or wolves or both. Needless to say, she went and had a great time and is looking forward to it next year. Oh, and despite assuring her that we would have a really nice funeral for her when the bears did eat her, the "wildest" animal she saw the whole time was a chipmunk, and it didn't eat her either. *mosquitos don't count*
4. Kid 2 and 3 went on trek with their cousins in Virginia. They had an amazing time, and I even managed to make 2 praire skirts and a set of bloomers for kid 3. Kid 2 had invited his best friend (adopted son #2) to go with them. We got amish hats for all 3 boys and bonnets for the 3 girls. They worked hard, but learned alot along the way and had a great time. In return we invited the 3 older cousins to go to our youth conference, but only the girls could attend. Nephew #1 had to work. It was fun to have them with us for a few days before and after the conference, and we got some help with packing and getting ready to move out of them too.
5. Kid 2 spent his spring break with his German class touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg. He can't wait to go back. He has so many pictures and stories to share.
6. Kid 1 is getting trained in all the different departments at his job. Maybe he will get more hours, or find something he enjoys doing. They talked to him about taking cake decorating classes too, so who knows, maybe this will spark a new passion in him and he will be the next ace of cakes?
7. Step kid 1 is doing great at UF. We are all so proud of her and what she has done in her life. And she has another "kid". Stewie has joined their little family, and Oliver is being a great "big brother". At least we haven't heard anything about them chewing on anything or each other.
There is so much more to catch up on but I would be writing this point for a month to do that.
Perhaps I just need to start fresh and work from this point on.
But for now, I have to figure out what we are going to do for dinner. Until next time!
Over the last 18 months, the following things have happened:
1. We tried to buy our house again, and again and again and again. Finally gave up. Found a nicer, bigger, better house that we will hopefully be moving into in September. Unfortunately it won't before school starts, but within the first few weeks, and since it is in the same general area that we used to live in, the kids are still close to all their friends, as well as closer to others. I can't wait to get into the new house, get it all cleaned up and slowly work on fixing it up and making it the home we have always wanted.
2. Finally gave in and decided to do something for me for once and went to the doctor about all the issues I have been having. I love my doctor. She is the best. She doesnt judge me or think that my issues are weird or strange or all in my head. Even tho its been a year now, yes Im still anemic and still taking iron for it. Yes I have cysts in my thyroid, and no they aren't what is causing me problems with swallowing, and yes, I have to go and have them ultrasounded again to make sure they don't grow in size. As for my swallowing issue, well I have seen a few different doctors about that and the good news is that, no, I dont have any evidence of reflux damage or cancer in my nose/throat/esophagus. They think that maybe I have muscle spasms when I try to swallow, so it doesnt relax and open, but tightens closed and makes it hard to swallow even water. Yes I went to a weight control doctor, and I love her too. Again she doesnt judge me, accepts me as I was/am and has helped me to lose almost 100 lbs. I still have more to go, but I'm doing it slowly and without surgery. Yes I have heel spurs that makes walking painful, but I just found out that I also have degenerative arthritis all over, and that sometimes makes walking impossible when my hip pops out. I also have "female issues", but at 47 thats not entirely unexpected. And for the first time since they botched my root canal and I had to have what was left of my tooth and the infected gum and jawbone removed almost 12 yrs ago, I went back to the dentist. If I can give anyone out there who bothers to look or read or listen any advice, it would be to not neglect going to the dentist. Even tho I brush my teeth all the time, I still ended up with a bunch of cavaties, and will be getting to know my dentist really well in the next couple of months.
3. My girls went to girls camp, and it was the first time for my youngest. She has been saying for an entire year that she would not go, she would get eaten by bears or wolves or both. Needless to say, she went and had a great time and is looking forward to it next year. Oh, and despite assuring her that we would have a really nice funeral for her when the bears did eat her, the "wildest" animal she saw the whole time was a chipmunk, and it didn't eat her either. *mosquitos don't count*
4. Kid 2 and 3 went on trek with their cousins in Virginia. They had an amazing time, and I even managed to make 2 praire skirts and a set of bloomers for kid 3. Kid 2 had invited his best friend (adopted son #2) to go with them. We got amish hats for all 3 boys and bonnets for the 3 girls. They worked hard, but learned alot along the way and had a great time. In return we invited the 3 older cousins to go to our youth conference, but only the girls could attend. Nephew #1 had to work. It was fun to have them with us for a few days before and after the conference, and we got some help with packing and getting ready to move out of them too.
5. Kid 2 spent his spring break with his German class touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg. He can't wait to go back. He has so many pictures and stories to share.
6. Kid 1 is getting trained in all the different departments at his job. Maybe he will get more hours, or find something he enjoys doing. They talked to him about taking cake decorating classes too, so who knows, maybe this will spark a new passion in him and he will be the next ace of cakes?
7. Step kid 1 is doing great at UF. We are all so proud of her and what she has done in her life. And she has another "kid". Stewie has joined their little family, and Oliver is being a great "big brother". At least we haven't heard anything about them chewing on anything or each other.
There is so much more to catch up on but I would be writing this point for a month to do that.
Perhaps I just need to start fresh and work from this point on.
But for now, I have to figure out what we are going to do for dinner. Until next time!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Time Flies
Amazing how time flies sometimes. It seems like just last week I made the post about my oldest turning 20. Lots of real life stuff going on. I have this strange desire to learn to do things for myself again. I am teaching my girls how to cook from scratch (cakes, cookies, breads), how to knit, and darn socks, as well as sew up tears in their clothes. Next week we are going to practice making tortillas. My boys are doing more cooking and cleaning and we will be working on finishing the basement when the weather starts to warm up. It would be fast and easy to hire someone to do it, but I just have this strong feeling that we need to learn how to do some of this stuff for ourselves. Maybe all the earthquakes lately have brought it out in me. The survivalist mentality. My ex was big into that for Y2K. Thank goodness things were no where near as bad as he had envisioned. But all the devastation and destruction in Haiti and Chile makes me think that I need to make sure we are prepared in case of an emergency. I remember when Isabelle hit the DC area. We were without electricity, clean water and telephone for over a week. We managed to do ok, but it was the end of summer, so we didn't have to deal with cold weather or snow. If a major disaster hit us here, in the dead of winter, how would we cope? We don't have a back up heating plan (another reason to finish the basement), our gas is all controlled with electricity. Im just thinking about all the things I, as a mother, need to know how to do, prepare to do, be ready to deal with, to allow our family to shelter in place if needed. Perhaps the threat of 40 inches of snow on Sunday is freaking me out some. I'm not sure.
So this blog will probably begin to chronicle my journey to preparedness also.
More to come later. Soon. I hope. :)
So this blog will probably begin to chronicle my journey to preparedness also.
More to come later. Soon. I hope. :)
Friday, February 19, 2010
So the BIG post for yesterday didn't get made. :(
I was hoping that my son would be home when I typed this up so that he could share his thoughts and feelings too, but he had a really lousy day at work, and came home in a horribly ticked off mood. Just what you don't need on your birthday. :(
So yeah, the big news, yesterday my son turned 20. He is my oldest of the 4, and the one we weren't sure was gonna make it. He was born 4 weeks prematurely. He was a huge baby, so the doctors didn't think there would be any issues with his birth. To this day, I owe his life to an unknown LD newborn nurse who noticed that he was having breathing issues, and ran him up 2 flights of stairs, in her arms, to the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She broke protocol, didn't follow hospital rules, and single-handedly got my son to the doctors and nurses who could help him. His NICU pediatrician told me that had she called a code in the newborn nursery, he would not have made it. He was born weighing in at 8 lbs 3 oz, 4 weeks early. The hospital had never seen a preemie his size, and it never crossed the mind of any one in the delivery room that he would have problems.
He was born with Hyaline Membrane Disease. His little body didn't make enough surfactant to coat his lungs, allowing him to breathe. Without surfactant, the alveoli (little air sacs) can stick together when there isn't enough air in the lungs to keep them inflated. So within an hour of his birth, his lungs had collasped in on themselves and he wasn't getting any air at all. He had to be intubated and put on a respirator. At the time the newborn nurse noticed what was going on, most of the staff was helping an emergency delivery, and the NICU was the only placed that had staff that could help my son. She ran up 2 flights of stairs to get him to the people who could save him. For 10 days he was in the NICU, in a medicated coma on a respirator, hooked up to tubes thru his umbilical cord. They had to medically put him in a coma because he kept trying to pull the respiratory out. After 10 days, they took him off the respirator, and I got to hold him for the second time, the first being for about 2 minutes after his birth. He was the biggest baby ever in the NICU. The hardest thing in the world for me, was leaving that hospital without my son.
I found myself in a ackward position as I attended the NICU support group sessions that met several times a day. My first session almost ended up being my last session. Everyone introduces themselves, who their baby in the NICU was, when they were born, what their weight was, and when their projected "Go Home" date was. When it was my turn, I was hoping that most mothers, and the few fathers would be understanding, but at the mention of my sons weight, the lady at the end of the table said I didn't need to be there, my baby wasn't a "preemie", he was too big to be considered a "preemie". The lady laughed at me. I was dumbfounded to say the least. I excused myself from that first session after being told I didn't belong there. Later that night, one of the NICU nurses convinced me to try the session again, and she went with me. Most mothers there had small babies, under 5 lbs, but they could hold their babies and interact with them. Most of the discussion revolved how many milliliters their babies were eating. I didn't introduce myself at that session, the nurse told my story for me. The other mothers there knew their babies were going to go home. I still didn't, at this point, even know what was wrong with my baby, just that he almost died, and I couldn't even hold him. The second session was more accepting than the first, and I would go to sessions until they released him, but I sat in the back and didnt say anything. I just tried to get some hope from the stories of others.
Maybe that is part of why I also started this little blog. I don't care if no one else ever reads this, or if it just serves as a way to journal my life, for my kids to reflect back on later. Just reliving his birth and challenages as I typed this out, I find myself a little more hopeful for things to come.
So, now I have a child who is no longer a teenager. It was a long hard road to get him thru school. He has some special learning disabilities that took him a long time to learn to deal with and to overcome. After failing every class in his freshman year, he did graduate, and his last semester of his senior year he was an A/B student. He doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, and thats alright with me, for now. He just got his first job, and 2 days ago, he opened his first checking account. He has come a long way in 20 years, and I look forward to watching him continue to grow and develop over the next 20 years.
If I survive getting his sisters thru their teens, it will be a miracle. :)
So, happy belated 20th my first born child. I know yesterday was a bad day for you. I hope we get to have some fun celebrating this weekend.
So yeah, the big news, yesterday my son turned 20. He is my oldest of the 4, and the one we weren't sure was gonna make it. He was born 4 weeks prematurely. He was a huge baby, so the doctors didn't think there would be any issues with his birth. To this day, I owe his life to an unknown LD newborn nurse who noticed that he was having breathing issues, and ran him up 2 flights of stairs, in her arms, to the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She broke protocol, didn't follow hospital rules, and single-handedly got my son to the doctors and nurses who could help him. His NICU pediatrician told me that had she called a code in the newborn nursery, he would not have made it. He was born weighing in at 8 lbs 3 oz, 4 weeks early. The hospital had never seen a preemie his size, and it never crossed the mind of any one in the delivery room that he would have problems.
He was born with Hyaline Membrane Disease. His little body didn't make enough surfactant to coat his lungs, allowing him to breathe. Without surfactant, the alveoli (little air sacs) can stick together when there isn't enough air in the lungs to keep them inflated. So within an hour of his birth, his lungs had collasped in on themselves and he wasn't getting any air at all. He had to be intubated and put on a respirator. At the time the newborn nurse noticed what was going on, most of the staff was helping an emergency delivery, and the NICU was the only placed that had staff that could help my son. She ran up 2 flights of stairs to get him to the people who could save him. For 10 days he was in the NICU, in a medicated coma on a respirator, hooked up to tubes thru his umbilical cord. They had to medically put him in a coma because he kept trying to pull the respiratory out. After 10 days, they took him off the respirator, and I got to hold him for the second time, the first being for about 2 minutes after his birth. He was the biggest baby ever in the NICU. The hardest thing in the world for me, was leaving that hospital without my son.
I found myself in a ackward position as I attended the NICU support group sessions that met several times a day. My first session almost ended up being my last session. Everyone introduces themselves, who their baby in the NICU was, when they were born, what their weight was, and when their projected "Go Home" date was. When it was my turn, I was hoping that most mothers, and the few fathers would be understanding, but at the mention of my sons weight, the lady at the end of the table said I didn't need to be there, my baby wasn't a "preemie", he was too big to be considered a "preemie". The lady laughed at me. I was dumbfounded to say the least. I excused myself from that first session after being told I didn't belong there. Later that night, one of the NICU nurses convinced me to try the session again, and she went with me. Most mothers there had small babies, under 5 lbs, but they could hold their babies and interact with them. Most of the discussion revolved how many milliliters their babies were eating. I didn't introduce myself at that session, the nurse told my story for me. The other mothers there knew their babies were going to go home. I still didn't, at this point, even know what was wrong with my baby, just that he almost died, and I couldn't even hold him. The second session was more accepting than the first, and I would go to sessions until they released him, but I sat in the back and didnt say anything. I just tried to get some hope from the stories of others.
Maybe that is part of why I also started this little blog. I don't care if no one else ever reads this, or if it just serves as a way to journal my life, for my kids to reflect back on later. Just reliving his birth and challenages as I typed this out, I find myself a little more hopeful for things to come.
So, now I have a child who is no longer a teenager. It was a long hard road to get him thru school. He has some special learning disabilities that took him a long time to learn to deal with and to overcome. After failing every class in his freshman year, he did graduate, and his last semester of his senior year he was an A/B student. He doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, and thats alright with me, for now. He just got his first job, and 2 days ago, he opened his first checking account. He has come a long way in 20 years, and I look forward to watching him continue to grow and develop over the next 20 years.
If I survive getting his sisters thru their teens, it will be a miracle. :)
So, happy belated 20th my first born child. I know yesterday was a bad day for you. I hope we get to have some fun celebrating this weekend.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
It's Been Awhile
Lots of things going on in my life right now. Most are health related. Concentrating on getting better, enjoying our family vacation to Florida, and surviving the huge amounts of snow we have seen this winter has been about all I can deal with, and as a result, I have fell behind in my "blogging". There were so many things I saw for my itsy bitsy piece of the web. Now that I am beginning to feel human again, I look forward to sharing my culinary adventures, and those of my kids. I look forward to sharing the craziness that is my everyday life, and to also use this blog as a way to "journal" my life.
Big post coming tomorrow. It will make me feel really really old. LOL
Until then America! :)
Big post coming tomorrow. It will make me feel really really old. LOL
Until then America! :)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
My Boys Are Too Funny!
Birthday dinner is over, ice cream cake was enjoyed by all. Clean up is done and kids are getting ready for bed. My boys, who both speak German, found the funniest thing on the internet tonight.
Found at Funny Stuff Central, the Home of Funny Video Clips
What was so funny for all of us was the point where the 2 older ladies were having "issues" getting back up. We all looked at each other and immediately thought of the same thing. We used to live in Virginia, and one year we got 29 inches of snow over night and my Mother decided to go out and make a snow angel. She got stuck in the deep snow and it took all of us to pull her back up and out. We all got a big laugh out of this tonight. I hope anyone who happens upon this blog enjoys this as well.
Found at Funny Stuff Central, the Home of Funny Video Clips
What was so funny for all of us was the point where the 2 older ladies were having "issues" getting back up. We all looked at each other and immediately thought of the same thing. We used to live in Virginia, and one year we got 29 inches of snow over night and my Mother decided to go out and make a snow angel. She got stuck in the deep snow and it took all of us to pull her back up and out. We all got a big laugh out of this tonight. I hope anyone who happens upon this blog enjoys this as well.
Happy 13th Birthday!
Today is my daughters 13th birthday. She stayed home from school again, because of a "upset stomach". I hope she gets back to school tomorrow. She already missed over a week thanks to H1N1. *sigh*
Right now there are so many other things I want to rant and rave about, but I think this post will just be about her today. 13 is being a teenager. I survived my boys hitting that age, but she is my first girl to become a teen. I am happy for her making it this far. Here is to her, and enjoying her first year as a teenager!
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