Is There a Doctor in the House?

Yes! Many of them, actually!

Wearing a CPAP is...Fun?!?

Heck yeah! Especially if you're 3 years old!

Doesn't she make sleep apnea look fun? She made it look so fun my nine year old niece, Kenyan, and seven year old nephew, Van, were soon up there trying it out. Van even strapped the whole thing on! But did I manage to have the camera with me? No! Like I fool I left laying on the table downstairs! Sometimes I could just kick myself!

A Little Bit of This & That

On Tuesday I went out to Whidbey Island to join my mom, brother, sister, and nephew for the day. We celebrated Father's Day with my brother--and kind of made it a bit like his birthday too, as his birthday is in early January right after Christmas and he always gets rather jilted as everyone is kind of over celebrating things!

Leave it to Dani to buy James the same thing we did: an electric water kettle! LOL But we also got him a mug with one of our favorite pictures of he & Dante on it.

It turned out to be such a glorious day, that we just had to get outside, so James & Dani took us to this wonderful little flower farm/nursery where everything is either chocolate colored or chocolate scented! The woman who owns the farm also owns a "chocolate" shop in Langley where she sells items, such as homemade candles, scented from her flowers that will make you go insane craving chocolate as you burn them (trust me on this!)

The grounds were beautiful & Danielle & I each took a million pictures, while James followed Dante about and mom got "stuck" listening to the rather bizarre (yet interesting) life story of the owner!

I took so many wonderful pictures, I could fill this blog posting up with them, but I decided it best to just condense them to the above collages. :-)

Later we went into Langley to an outlook where people often see whales--they even have a bell you can toll if you see whales so that others know to come look!

The water was so still, so calm, one could almost think it a lake instead of part of Puget Sound! The colors in the water were incredible--so many shades of blue! 

There was an ever-so-slight breeze and it was a lovely day for contemplation. It is amazing, though, how even just the slightest change in perspective (say, a change in height, for instance) can make such a difference in your out-look on life!

On Wednesday, I had the honor of being present when Teagan, 3.4 years old, had her hair cut for the very first time! Her hair was so long, she was able to donate a 10 inch pony tail to Locks of Love in honor of a family friend who is currently battling cancer.

We went to Auntie Donna's house and she was such a good girl as her hair was measured & the pony tail was cut off! And then she sat so still as Auntie Donna cut her hair into the cutest little bob ever! She brought her friends Perry, Baby Monkey, and Pinkie to watch and they even helped (she held Perry with her chin so Donna could cut her hair evenly in the back)! She only got a little nervous when we had her stand on a high stool so Donna could make sure everything was even: but holding on to Mommy made everything better!

Gramma surprised us by crying as Teagan got her haircut and Auntie M (that would be me) surprised us by not going through the trash (for very long) looking for a remnant of hair to keep. And Teagan surprised us by being so thrilled:

Isn't she adorable? As her Auntie Mary (her daddy's sister) said, "I didn't think it was possible for her to be any more beautiful, but she is!" I totally agree!

So that's a little of what I've done this week...a little of this, a little of that. A whole lot of love!

Dani took this picture of me at the flower farm. 

BTW: I've lost 30 pounds.

Just thought I'd mention it!

Paging Dr. Teagan!

Look what came in the mail today!!! I'm sooooo excited!!!!!

Maybe Dr. Teagan will be able to heal my stomach issues. That would be nice! In the meantime, I'm on close, intimate terms with my bathroom. Boo :-(

Paging Dr. Teagan

When I was leaving the ER Saturday night/Sunday morning I snagged a couple of the face masks they leave out for patients with coughs or colds to wear so they don't affect other patients. I took an adult and child size, thinking perhaps Teagan would be interested in them, as she has been very interested in my health/surgery.

Today she came to visit, bearing a box of items to cheer up her Auntie M. Enclosed inside was one of her special "Elmo" cold packs (for when she gets an owie) and a bright and very cheerful, indeed, penguin:

She is fascinated with my cane, which I've had to use since the surgery to stay steady. We shortened it to her size, but she wanted to be able to have her little stuffed monkeys use it but it was too big...major bummer!

Later, she listened intently as I talked to my GI's assistant. (He, of course, is on his way back from CA right now and will call me either tonight or tomorrow to discuss what's going on.) Teagan then quizzed me about what the doctor said. Super cute. And checked out my surgical incisions again...eeeeweee gross! When I suggested they looked like worms, she loved it! Super gross!!!

So then we got the face masks out and told her I got them at the hospital the other night and would she like to play doctor? You betcha!!! We also grabbed a whole bunch of address labels from my desk to fill in as bandages. (Thank you American Heart Association!)

We had plenty of patients!

Paging Doctors Teagan and Auntie M!!!

Look how happy our patients were!!!

Recognize my comforters from the other day?

Gramma & I also got bandages--I on my tummy and Gramma on her throat because she had a slight cough. :-)

Gramma loved the game because it meant that she only had to "play monkeys" with Teagan for a short period of time today! LOL

Having my sweet little TeaRose come to visit certainly did cheer me up~which I need as I am still having (*gag*) rectal bleeding as I have continued to have diarrhea. I have chosen to not return to the ER after spending 6 rather fruitless hours there the other night. I am hoping my GI will be in touch with me in the next 36 hours and we can make some sort of game plan.

In the meantime I'm drinking plenty of water, Gatorade, and soft foods...and my mom's home-made bread! (As these are the only things that stay in lately!)

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Needless to say...after Teagan left, Auntie M went to Amazon and these will be arriving at our house sometime next week:

I'm so excited! I can't wait for these to come!!!

6 Hours in the ER

Well, after 6 hours in the ER tonight, I learned that I have an unremarkable bum and am only slightly full of crap.

Seriously though, Mom & I arrived at the ER at 8pm. By 10pm still hadn't met the doctor, but as all 30 beds were full, that was rather understandable.

However, in that time I did have blood & urine tests done and was in the queue for a CAT scan. When the doctor arrived, I was sad to learn that he was extremely hot--not what you want when you are being asked to provide a stool sample, if possible, and are going to talk about your bowel habits, etc.

Based on my recent history (including the issues that lead me to see a new GI who then sought an ultrasound of my gall bladder which then lead to me having surgery last week), the possibilities of what was wrong with me included (going down the line from most to least likely): an obstructed bowel (as in obstructed with p-o-o-p), a tear or rip in my bowel somewhere (thus all the blood earlier), a twisted bowel, simple bleeding hemroids, complications from the gallbladder surgery, or some unknown quantity.

In the meantime, I continued to remain parched as a wanderer in the desert ("take nothing by mouth") and nauseated until they gave me IV pain and anti-nausea meds (yay!). Then I was only parched.

Doctor Hottie spoke to the surgeon on-call from my surgeon's office, ran the aforementioned tests, and finally did a rectal exam (which he referred to as an exam of my bottom--as though I were a child or something; endearing rather than annoying, probably because he's cute!).

Findings were:

Because the CAT scan showed no gall bladder stones or problems w/the incisions, no need to worry about that any more.
Because there were no tears, or rips or twists in my bowels, no surgery needed--YAY!!!
Because there was no solid or complete obstruction (yes, there was "stuff" in there and air bubbles) I didn't need to have a tube put down my throat and have my bowels vacuumed out--double YAY!!!
Because there was no blood in my stools and the hemroids he did see were external and not bleeding, I can see my GI and have him run the colonoscopy as planned in June.

Results were as I stated in my first sentence, I have an unremarkable ass and am only partially full of shit, which I said all my friends knew anyway!

But what this means is, the spasms, and attacks of pain, and blood were most likely caused by the constipation issues I've been having and these are most likely medication related. So I am to touch base with Dr Arjul (my GI) next week to bring him up to speed and see if he needs to see me sooner than my already scheduled appointment in June.

I am to drink plenty of water (which I do anyway), consume lots of fiber (which I thought we did), exercise (he suggested just walking for now because of the surgery--I'll give him that one, 'cause I've lacked in this area), and try not to strain or push when having a BM. LOL

If I have the bleeding issue again, back to the ER I go. In the meantime, they handed me a much coveted cup of ice water and my marching papers and sent me home, where I sat down with a huge glass of water, a slice of home-made bread (thanks Mama!) and typed this a 3 in the morning prior to going to bed.

I plan on sleeping til noon at the earliest!

Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, concern, and love!!!!