Successful Surgery

This was a very eventful week. I'm glad it's winding down.

Saturday afternoon I had a gallstone attack and Mike and I spent Saturday night in the ER. They did an ultrasound and found a whole bunch of gallstones. (I'd had two gallstone attacks in late 2008, but they never found any more gallstones, so they never wanted to take it out. This time, it was time to take it out.) The doctor wanted to put me into surgery Saturday night, but I needed some more time to plan my exit from the classroom a little more gracefully.

Monday morning, I got a hold of the surgeon's office and got an appointment for that afternoon. After talking with him, we scheduled my surgery for Friday morning. He said we could do it anytime this week, and would need to do it sooner if I had any more symptoms.

Tuesday, I had another attack at lunch and got to teach fourth period on narcotics - NO fun, whatsoever. So I called the surgeon's office and he moved my surgery up to Wednesday. I spent Tuesday night writing a week and a half's worth of lesson plans, getting ready for my subs.

Wednesday, I had my surgery. It went just as expected and I went home soon after I woke up. I spent the evening on Percocet sleeping. I was up every hour that night to turn over, which was no fun. Mike's mom flew down from Utah Wednesday evening to help with Mike the baby (Mike still has pneumonia).

Thursday, I downgraded to Vicodin and was much happier and aware of what was going on around me. I took the day pretty easy and napped a couple of times.

Today, I feel a little better. I slept for six hours straight last night, so I got a lot done this morning. I wore pants that were too tight around my tummy today, so it's pretty sore. I only got one nap today, so I'm a little pooped. I hope to sleep well tonight.

Recovery from this surgery has been super easy compared to recovery from my gastric bypass. I was expecting a lot worse, so I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up from surgery and it was so easy to move around. I'm hoping it stays easy from here on out.

I'm not planning to go back to work for another week, until the 8th. I need some time to rest and get my energy back before I jump back into the fire. That, and I have a lot of work to do to get ready for the new students I'll get on the 8th. Mike's mom will be here until next Wednesday and is insisting on keeping the baby at night so we can get some sleep - she's a saint!

Baby's First Steps (Sort Of)

Alyssa took her first steps this week!!! Ok, so they were assisted by holding her up. She's started standing when held up and is often only happy when doing so.

Sick Sucks

I started writing this post a couple of days ago when we were less sick, and it's only gotten worse. So I'd better finish this before it gets even more worse...

Being sick sucks. Especially when life doesn't stop and you still have to be a parent and work.

Here's Mike's story... Just over two weeks ago he went to our regular doctor's office and was diagnosed with bronchitis. A week later, he went to urgent care because the meds they'd put him on hadn't done anything and he'd gotten worse. The urgent care doctor said our regular doctor had put him on the wrong meds, changed them, and said if he didn't get better in five days he would need to be hospitalized. So five days later he wasn't better, went to the hospital, and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia (but wasn't admitted). He had to go to urgent care again a few days after that to have a couple of breathing treatments, but he's finally starting to feel better.

Somewhere in those two weeks, Mike took our bathroom shower apart and found a whole bunch of mold, thanks to the idiot contractors who built it a few years back (they didn't seal it properly). No wonder we have recurring bronchitis/pneumonia every few months.

Here's my story... Just over two weeks ago I got the H1N1 nasal spray vaccine. It gave me a runny nose for a couple of days, which always gets into my lungs and festers into bronchitis. So about a week after that I went to our regular doctor and got some antibiotics to clear up the green chunks I was coughing up (sorry, TMI, I know). Then, yesterday, I was sitting on my couch minding my own business, grading papers, when I got hit with intense stomach pain. It felt exactly like it had in September '08 when I spent a week in the ER with gallstones. So to the ER we went. They did an ultrasound and, sure enough, I have gallstones. So I get to have semi-emergency surgery in the next couple of weeks to remove my gallbladder. My lifestyle is about to change again - no more good-tasting foods for me (no fatty foods after this, and I already can't eat much sugar because of my gastric bypass surgery). But at least my bronchitis is clearing up.

When it rains, it pours. So we're going to hunker down and try to get better. At least Alyssa isn't sick. And my family are saints for watching her at the last minute so much over the last couple of weeks. Thanks guys!

Alyssa's 1 Month Old

Time flies when you're having fun. Christmas break flew by and we've already been back to school/work for three days. Alyssa's spending her days with her auntie Pam while we're at work and all we can do is think about her and worry about her all day. Even though I dreaded going back to work (especially the getting up REALLY early after not sleeping at night part), it's nice to get back and see my students. One of my intern program support providers was in my classroom today and one of my students asked me who he was. I told her that he's another teacher here to help us. She asked if he was here to replace me, and I told her that no, they're stuck with me. She seemed happy with that answer, and I was happy with her reaction. I'm my students' third teacher this year, so they have some trust and abandonment issues. I'm doing my best to provide a stable environment, and it seems to be going really well. Today went especially well - my students have finally gotten back into school mode after the break.

Alyssa got her tongue clipped today. I wasn't there when it happened, but I have it on good authority that she was not happy about it. I wouldn't be happy if someone cut my tongue either. She was pretty cranky the rest of the evening, but we're already noticing a difference in her eating. The last couple of weeks, nighttime feedings took an hour to get a bottle down, every three hours; that makes for tired parents and baby. Tonight, she drank a bottle in just a few minutes. Hallelujah! We're hoping that trend continues into tonight, so maybe we'll get some more sleep. Both of us are walking zombies most of the time nowadays (though I got a nap this afternoon - woo hoo!).

Alyssa turned one month old on Tuesday. I worked and had class from 6:30am to 8:30pm that day, so I missed the vast majority of her birthday, but I remembered to tell her happy birthday at 3:45 this morning, when we were up together. She's growing so fast - we call her our little heifer because she eats so much. She's grown from 19" to 21" and 7lbs to 10lbs. In just a month! That's a lot of milk! She's completely filling out her 3 month outfits, so we'll be ready to move on to 6 month outfits in the next few weeks. She's holding her head up herself, though it's still a little wobbly; she's smiling, especially when she farts; she smiles at us when we smile at her, which is so cute; and she has no problems letting us know when she's unhappy, which can be slightly frustrating when we can't figure out what's going on. But Mike and I make a great team and everything's going much better than expected. She's still a great baby and we're so happy to have her.