Wow. Getting my insides cut up hurt more than I thought it would. I'm on the mend and mostly better, but I did not think it would be this tough.
I asked the surgeon if I could see my gall stones after they came out. She said, "No, they're a bio-hazard, but I'll try to remember to take pictures of them." I got 4 lovely full color photos of my gall bladder and stones. Even after doing the gall bladder cleanse in April where I got a couple hundred pea-sized and smaller stones out, I still had a gall bladder jammed full of stones. Big marble-sized stones with sharp edges. No wonder I hurt so much!
Fortunately, Mom and Dad let me stay at their house for 4 days while my pain, grogginess and nausea were at their worst. It was nice being there and being well taken care of. Mom and Sheri made sure I ate and Dad made sure I walked a little every day.
I think by the time I have my follow up visit, I'll be pretty much back to normal. By then it will have been 2 weeks and 1 day since my surgery.
I really, really don't want to go back to my yucky stressful job, though. If I didn't need the money, I would quit. Mom found a children's librarian job in the Clipper that sounds fun and pays $2.12 more/hour than I'm making now and more than likely has benefits. I'm totally applying next week.
Benefits would be nice. I probably wouldn't have to wait 2 months to have surgery, like I had to this time around. Thank goodness surgery finally happened! I have a feeling that once I recover, I'll feel 100% better than I did with a gall bladder and I'll be able to eat many more foods than I've been able to.
David brought me home yesterday and the house was pretty clean. David even cleaned out the bedroom and had each of the kids clean a room. I was impressed. I'm glad to be home now, with a few more days off before I have to go back to work.
I'm going to go take a nap now...
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
What Everyone's Been Up To
I haven't done this in awhile, so I thought I would do it now.
David - mostly chatting to strange people around the world on facebook while playing several games at once. I think the person he chats with the most is a particularly entertaining transvestite in England. David and the kids cleaned up the driveway the other day so it no longer looks like a junkyard. We can actually pull the minivan all the way in the driveway now. He also vacuumed the living room yesterday before my very long Primary Presidency meeting. How nice of him!
Meagan - starting to get around to planning her wedding. I really haven't been into it. I gave her a budget of what we're willing to spend and told her if she doesn't have a car by the time she gets married, she only gets half of the money to spend on her wedding and the rest is going toward a car. She needs a car if she's going to be working odd hours!
Cameron - mowed the lawn yesterday - and I only had to ask him once! It looks so much better than it did. Cameron's also searching for a job. He's applied at the BSA Camps, Harland Clarke, WinCo, Smith's, ShopKo, Walmart and few other places I can't remember. He keeps calling Media One about a job at the newspaper, but no one has returned his calls. It's a tough time to be looking for a job right now - especially a first job. Cameron hasn't gotten a single return call. I keep telling him to go around to the fast food places and ask if they have any openings, like Meagan's friend Brianna did - she got a job at Taco Bell on the spot. But Cameron doesn't seem to want to do that. Right now Cameron's making snickerdoodles for his Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday.
Jarom - has spent most of the summer sleeping. I guess working so hard all year during school and getting up early for jazz band wore him out.
Amber - went to Oakcrest in June and just got back from our Stake's YW Camp today. She's been camping almost 2 weeks this summer. I'm glad I didn't get to go this year. YW Camp was exhausting the last few years I went! Amber's also been happily going to the library once or twice a week all summer long. She checks out very strange anime dvds and books.
Jetta - got most of her fur shaved off last week. She hardly puffs and pants at all now. We're all much happier about that. Without her fur, she's half the dog she used to be. Kailien noticed a tumor on Jetta's leg when she chopped off her fur. I didn't think much of it until she started gnawing on it. Then we got an immunization reminder in the mail, so Cameron and I dragged her to the vet. She needs to have surgery to remove the tumor and she also needs her teeth cleaned. The vet says she actually needs her teeth cleaned worse than she needs the tumor removed, but we only have to pay for anesthetic once, so it's a better deal if we get it done all at once. I told Jetta she has to wait til I recover from my surgery before she gets to have hers. She seems OK with that.
Thor - spends most of his time outside these days. Every once in awhile he comes inside and sleeps on a recliner in the cool of the basement, but most of the time he stares at me like I'm insane when I ask him if he wants to come in the house.
Me - well, that's mostly what I write about, isn't it? Mostly dealing with gall bladder stuff - getting registered for the hospital and all. Last Saturday David and I went to "Bye, Bye Birdie," a city Arts Council Musical. Lorry, who I work with, plays the Mayor's wife. Lorry is a bigger ham than I ever imagined. She's hilarious what with her fainting, her red polka dot underwear and her freaking out over a rock star. Silly. Her daughter, husband and grandson are in the musical, too. I was impressed with the quality of the singing, dancing and acting. Some of the lighting was a little dodgey, but it was opening weekend, so maybe they've worked it out by this weekend.
David - mostly chatting to strange people around the world on facebook while playing several games at once. I think the person he chats with the most is a particularly entertaining transvestite in England. David and the kids cleaned up the driveway the other day so it no longer looks like a junkyard. We can actually pull the minivan all the way in the driveway now. He also vacuumed the living room yesterday before my very long Primary Presidency meeting. How nice of him!
Meagan - starting to get around to planning her wedding. I really haven't been into it. I gave her a budget of what we're willing to spend and told her if she doesn't have a car by the time she gets married, she only gets half of the money to spend on her wedding and the rest is going toward a car. She needs a car if she's going to be working odd hours!
Cameron - mowed the lawn yesterday - and I only had to ask him once! It looks so much better than it did. Cameron's also searching for a job. He's applied at the BSA Camps, Harland Clarke, WinCo, Smith's, ShopKo, Walmart and few other places I can't remember. He keeps calling Media One about a job at the newspaper, but no one has returned his calls. It's a tough time to be looking for a job right now - especially a first job. Cameron hasn't gotten a single return call. I keep telling him to go around to the fast food places and ask if they have any openings, like Meagan's friend Brianna did - she got a job at Taco Bell on the spot. But Cameron doesn't seem to want to do that. Right now Cameron's making snickerdoodles for his Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday.
Jarom - has spent most of the summer sleeping. I guess working so hard all year during school and getting up early for jazz band wore him out.
Amber - went to Oakcrest in June and just got back from our Stake's YW Camp today. She's been camping almost 2 weeks this summer. I'm glad I didn't get to go this year. YW Camp was exhausting the last few years I went! Amber's also been happily going to the library once or twice a week all summer long. She checks out very strange anime dvds and books.
Jetta - got most of her fur shaved off last week. She hardly puffs and pants at all now. We're all much happier about that. Without her fur, she's half the dog she used to be. Kailien noticed a tumor on Jetta's leg when she chopped off her fur. I didn't think much of it until she started gnawing on it. Then we got an immunization reminder in the mail, so Cameron and I dragged her to the vet. She needs to have surgery to remove the tumor and she also needs her teeth cleaned. The vet says she actually needs her teeth cleaned worse than she needs the tumor removed, but we only have to pay for anesthetic once, so it's a better deal if we get it done all at once. I told Jetta she has to wait til I recover from my surgery before she gets to have hers. She seems OK with that.
Thor - spends most of his time outside these days. Every once in awhile he comes inside and sleeps on a recliner in the cool of the basement, but most of the time he stares at me like I'm insane when I ask him if he wants to come in the house.
Me - well, that's mostly what I write about, isn't it? Mostly dealing with gall bladder stuff - getting registered for the hospital and all. Last Saturday David and I went to "Bye, Bye Birdie," a city Arts Council Musical. Lorry, who I work with, plays the Mayor's wife. Lorry is a bigger ham than I ever imagined. She's hilarious what with her fainting, her red polka dot underwear and her freaking out over a rock star. Silly. Her daughter, husband and grandson are in the musical, too. I was impressed with the quality of the singing, dancing and acting. Some of the lighting was a little dodgey, but it was opening weekend, so maybe they've worked it out by this weekend.
Finally!
After almost 2 months of waiting, I finally got to see a General Surgeon Monday. PCN finally came through for me! Frighteningly, I couldn't get an appointment with a surgeon until PCN set it up for me. What do people with no insurance do? I guess they wait until something is life-threatening and go to the ER. I tried that, but the ER didn't think my problem was life threatening. My gall bladder problem certainly is quality of life threatening, but I guess that doesn't count in the ER.
I'm scheduled to get my gall bladder removed on Tuesday July 19. I am happy, happy, happy! Maybe right after the surgery I won't be, but in the long run I'm positive I will be. Maybe I'll even get to eat normal food again. Wouldn't that be awesome?!
In any case, once I recover I'm sure I won't be awake all hours of the night in so much pain I wish I could die. And that's a very, very good thing. Who knew a stone-filled gall bladder could be such a trouble maker?
Dr. Nolan told me gall bladder cleanses are a scary thought for a surgeon. "I'm sure lots of people do cleanses without any problem, but surgeons see the cleanses that go wrong. We see the people that end up in the ER with a stone stuck in their bile duct - and that can cause inflammation, jaundice or worse."
So, no, I won't be doing another gall bladder/liver cleanse. Not that kind, at least. If I do any, I'll be doing the more gentle kind, like Flor-essence. I'm hoping I get to see my stones before they get tossed. My sister Becky says they won't let you keep them because they're a bio-hazard. She didn't get to see her gall stones, but Dad did. Maybe I'll have David take a camera so he can take a picture of them if I'm too out of it to look at them. I want to see the little critters that have caused me so much pain...
When I did the cleanse in April I got some hard stones about the size of a pea that looked like little chunks of cement. I wonder how big my biggest stone is? Yeah, this is kind of gross, isn't it?
I'm scheduled to get my gall bladder removed on Tuesday July 19. I am happy, happy, happy! Maybe right after the surgery I won't be, but in the long run I'm positive I will be. Maybe I'll even get to eat normal food again. Wouldn't that be awesome?!
In any case, once I recover I'm sure I won't be awake all hours of the night in so much pain I wish I could die. And that's a very, very good thing. Who knew a stone-filled gall bladder could be such a trouble maker?
Dr. Nolan told me gall bladder cleanses are a scary thought for a surgeon. "I'm sure lots of people do cleanses without any problem, but surgeons see the cleanses that go wrong. We see the people that end up in the ER with a stone stuck in their bile duct - and that can cause inflammation, jaundice or worse."
So, no, I won't be doing another gall bladder/liver cleanse. Not that kind, at least. If I do any, I'll be doing the more gentle kind, like Flor-essence. I'm hoping I get to see my stones before they get tossed. My sister Becky says they won't let you keep them because they're a bio-hazard. She didn't get to see her gall stones, but Dad did. Maybe I'll have David take a camera so he can take a picture of them if I'm too out of it to look at them. I want to see the little critters that have caused me so much pain...
When I did the cleanse in April I got some hard stones about the size of a pea that looked like little chunks of cement. I wonder how big my biggest stone is? Yeah, this is kind of gross, isn't it?
Monday, July 04, 2011
Fourth of July in the Canyon
This morning we loaded the kids, the rubber raft and a cooler of food in the van and headed up Parley's to Smith-Morehouse. The van made it up Parley's and back just fine - yay!
When we got to the canyon, we drove around the lake, then up to the campground. The streams by the campground roared down the mountain so swollen they almost overflowed. Three or four campgrounds close to stream were blocked off with yellow caution tape and the road further up was closed. I don't think you could go to the trailhead we used to camp by.
We drove back down the bumpy dirt road to the lake and pumped up the rubber raft Mom and Dad bequeathed to us several years ago. This is the first time we've used it. Mom and Dad weren't sure the raft would inflate after all this time, so we bought a patch kit just in case. Despite our concerns, the raft proved seaworthy - not a single leak. The raft says it has a 650 pound capacity, but I think you'd have a tough time cramming more than two people in it. Comfortably, at least.
Jarom and Amber ventured out first. Amber was confused about paddling the oars, but she and Jarom made it back just fine. Cameron and Meagan went out next. Meagan sat so far back, she was in the middle of the raft. David didn't want to go out, so Cameron was nice and went out with me. I knelt most of the time. It's hard paddling while sitting down in a raft, especially with a lifevest on.
Sitting by the lake in a camp chair under the clear blue sky, surrounded by quaking aspen and emerald green pine trees with a gentle breeze blowing across the lake felt heavenly. Snow still capped several mountains in the distance. I heard that Snowbird's ski season closed today. What a beautiful day, though.
As we sat by the lake we munched on grapes, potato chips and baby carrots. When everyone had paddled enough, we squished all the air out of the raft and rolled it up. At 3:00, we headed up to the campgrounds to see if we could use one for a couple of hours. They campground hosts told us we could stay until 5:00. I guess it's a good thing we didn't wait 'til 5:00 to go to the campgrounds!
We found out you can use a campground for the day rate of $7 as early as you want as long as there's a camp site available, but you have to leave at 5:00 pm unless you're camping overnight. Overnight camping is $19 for 1 car. We might have camped overnight, but David's oxygen supplier no longer has vacationers. Not sure how we're going to go on vacation for longer than 12 hours... David may have to switch oxygen providers!
Once we chose a campsite, we lugged everything to the brown wooden picnic table and ate a late lunch of cold fried chicken, potato salad, strawberries and string cheese. During lunch we discovered we'd chosen the only vacant campsite with a damp firepit. An hour and a half and an entire book of matches later (from Caesar's Palace, no less!), we had a roaring fire. After the fire burned down, Meagan and Cameron discovered a triangle of logs that created a little oven that roasted marshmallows toasty brown all the way around.
At quarter to five, re-dowsed our lovely fire and packed up. Back at the lake we walked on the gravel road along back side of the lake. Cameron and Jarom hopped from boulder to boulder along the side of the road. Jarom found a gigantic ant he named "big executive ant" and snapped a photo of it. At the end of the road, thousands of gallons of water gushed down the cement spillway in a light brown waterfall.
Eventually, we meandered back down the road to Oakley. We stopped at the little convenience store planning to get drinks or ice cream, then I realized it was already 6:30 and we were starving. On the way up, we noticed a diner in Oakley made from a traincar, so we'd stop there - til I saw the prices. Something like $8 for a sandwich. We changed our minds and drove to Park City and ate a Wendy's.
I don't think the Park City (Kimball Junction? David claims it's Kimball Junction) Wendy's gets much action most evenings, at least not inside. They had 3 adults running the drive through and one rather flustered teenage boy running the counter. He did a pretty good job dealing with us all. I think it's the 6 of us ordering all at once that really threw him.
With our bellies full of tasty food, we raced down Parley's, seeing if we could get home before David ran out of oxygen. Actually, it wasn't that bad. If we'd taken the turn off to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for fireworks rather than going home, David's oxygen would have run out before the fireworks were over, but David still had about 1/2 hour of oxygen left when we got home. We made it home about 8:30 and by the time we unloaded everything, it was almost 9:00. David and I were tired, so we stayed home. I passed out on the bed not too long after 9:00.
I promised the kids we'd go to Grandma and Grandpa's on the 23rd for fireworks - unless I'm recovering from surgery. If that's the case, maybe just David and the kids will go. Unless I go to Mom and Dad's to recover from surgery - then I might already be there...
When we got to the canyon, we drove around the lake, then up to the campground. The streams by the campground roared down the mountain so swollen they almost overflowed. Three or four campgrounds close to stream were blocked off with yellow caution tape and the road further up was closed. I don't think you could go to the trailhead we used to camp by.
We drove back down the bumpy dirt road to the lake and pumped up the rubber raft Mom and Dad bequeathed to us several years ago. This is the first time we've used it. Mom and Dad weren't sure the raft would inflate after all this time, so we bought a patch kit just in case. Despite our concerns, the raft proved seaworthy - not a single leak. The raft says it has a 650 pound capacity, but I think you'd have a tough time cramming more than two people in it. Comfortably, at least.
Jarom and Amber ventured out first. Amber was confused about paddling the oars, but she and Jarom made it back just fine. Cameron and Meagan went out next. Meagan sat so far back, she was in the middle of the raft. David didn't want to go out, so Cameron was nice and went out with me. I knelt most of the time. It's hard paddling while sitting down in a raft, especially with a lifevest on.
Sitting by the lake in a camp chair under the clear blue sky, surrounded by quaking aspen and emerald green pine trees with a gentle breeze blowing across the lake felt heavenly. Snow still capped several mountains in the distance. I heard that Snowbird's ski season closed today. What a beautiful day, though.
As we sat by the lake we munched on grapes, potato chips and baby carrots. When everyone had paddled enough, we squished all the air out of the raft and rolled it up. At 3:00, we headed up to the campgrounds to see if we could use one for a couple of hours. They campground hosts told us we could stay until 5:00. I guess it's a good thing we didn't wait 'til 5:00 to go to the campgrounds!
We found out you can use a campground for the day rate of $7 as early as you want as long as there's a camp site available, but you have to leave at 5:00 pm unless you're camping overnight. Overnight camping is $19 for 1 car. We might have camped overnight, but David's oxygen supplier no longer has vacationers. Not sure how we're going to go on vacation for longer than 12 hours... David may have to switch oxygen providers!
Once we chose a campsite, we lugged everything to the brown wooden picnic table and ate a late lunch of cold fried chicken, potato salad, strawberries and string cheese. During lunch we discovered we'd chosen the only vacant campsite with a damp firepit. An hour and a half and an entire book of matches later (from Caesar's Palace, no less!), we had a roaring fire. After the fire burned down, Meagan and Cameron discovered a triangle of logs that created a little oven that roasted marshmallows toasty brown all the way around.
At quarter to five, re-dowsed our lovely fire and packed up. Back at the lake we walked on the gravel road along back side of the lake. Cameron and Jarom hopped from boulder to boulder along the side of the road. Jarom found a gigantic ant he named "big executive ant" and snapped a photo of it. At the end of the road, thousands of gallons of water gushed down the cement spillway in a light brown waterfall.
Eventually, we meandered back down the road to Oakley. We stopped at the little convenience store planning to get drinks or ice cream, then I realized it was already 6:30 and we were starving. On the way up, we noticed a diner in Oakley made from a traincar, so we'd stop there - til I saw the prices. Something like $8 for a sandwich. We changed our minds and drove to Park City and ate a Wendy's.
I don't think the Park City (Kimball Junction? David claims it's Kimball Junction) Wendy's gets much action most evenings, at least not inside. They had 3 adults running the drive through and one rather flustered teenage boy running the counter. He did a pretty good job dealing with us all. I think it's the 6 of us ordering all at once that really threw him.
With our bellies full of tasty food, we raced down Parley's, seeing if we could get home before David ran out of oxygen. Actually, it wasn't that bad. If we'd taken the turn off to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for fireworks rather than going home, David's oxygen would have run out before the fireworks were over, but David still had about 1/2 hour of oxygen left when we got home. We made it home about 8:30 and by the time we unloaded everything, it was almost 9:00. David and I were tired, so we stayed home. I passed out on the bed not too long after 9:00.
I promised the kids we'd go to Grandma and Grandpa's on the 23rd for fireworks - unless I'm recovering from surgery. If that's the case, maybe just David and the kids will go. Unless I go to Mom and Dad's to recover from surgery - then I might already be there...
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