It always takes longer

In preparation for a trip to Indiana later this summer, we bought a trailer hitch and cargo tray for the car.  The hitch was designed for our specific model and year so it was slated to be a 45 minute bolt-on installation with no drilling or other complex work.  The cargo tray is a 2 foot by 4 foot tray that goes behind the car for storing extra “equipment”.  With all three kids in the back seat, there is almost no room in the car.  We’re glad to have an option for our upcoming trip back to Massanutten Resort (and Water Park) in the fall, as well as our recently confirmed family camping trip at the end of the summer.

So the hitch and cargo tray show up a week before my surgery – I set an evening aside to go down and install them.  To sum up the story, I worked on it that night and a couple days later to no avail.  Today, we took the car over to my brother’s and got the job done.  All told, I probably spent 12 hours on this (almost all fighting with a weld-nut that broke loose inside of the frame).  It was a silly problem that drug this out and I was glad to have it behind me!

We got the hitch on the car in about 2 hours and had some help:

 

After the kids took their nap, we went downstairs to attach the cargo tray to the car.  That was just as much fun for them:

A Glimpse

Playing and talking 

Night time snuggling 

It's late, but...

He's so close to crawling

Blowing kisses

iPad games with daddy

Big Kids

Best part: "Mommy I love you. I love Daddy."

Worst part: "Don't touch me! Get away!"

Love, love, love them. 

Fresh haircuts!

Swimming is so exhausting!

A little bit

Our little Noah Tyler 

At the doctor for swimmer's ear. He did SUCH a great job! The doctor was impressed that he answered all her questions and was so interested in her "docktor tools". Yes, I can't help bragging about these kids :)

Eating morning snack

Fishy Face!

Noah's first story. We read it three times; he loved it. 

Surgery

On Monday night, I had to call the hospital for the arrival time for my surgery on Tuesday.  Bethany and I were shocked when they said 7am (not that we didn’t expect it to be early, just that needing to be anywhere at 7am is shocking).

Tuesday morning, my mom got to the house to watch the kids (who were straggling out of bed as we were leaving) and we left for the hospital.  By getting there early, we got a nice parking spot (the hospital is extremely busy and parking is tiiiiight!) and things were quiet there.  Like you’d expect early in the morning, staff were getting papers ready for the day, maintenance staff were taking care of little things in the lobby, and some of the medical staff were coming in to start their day while others were counting down the minutes left until the end of their shift.

We checked in at the “Same Day Surgery” lobby where Bethany would spend the rest of her morning.  I went back for all of my prep work (questionnaires, consent forms, meeting what felt like 100 different nurses/doctors/technicians, vitals, and my IV) and Bethany had to wait in the lobby.  After about 45 minutes, Bethany got to come back and visit for about 15 minutes before they took me back.  I was awake on the stretcher for the tour down/around the building to the operating room.  I remember going into the OR and getting to look around for a minute.  I saw the daVinci Surgical System and got to talk to some of the OR staff for a minute.  Once they moved me onto the table from the stretcher, I only remember them asking me to put my arms in a specific spot.

The next thing I remember is some spotty memories in the recovery area.  My right shoulder was killing me and I was confused about where I was.  Then I fell back asleep.  Then I woke up and looked around, then fell back asleep!  It went on like that for a while until they took me up to my room.  I only remember parts of the trip – we went around some corners and up the elevator.  Bethany came in after a little while but I know I was still groggy.  At some point, they started my morphine and other medications.  I know I wasn’t good company – she said I was slurring my words and I remember having a hard time holding a conversation.

My shoulder pain kept coming back and there was little I could do about it.  I was also wearing compression sleeves on my legs (SCD/sequential compression device).  I had compression stockings on and the sleeves were velcroed on tight over them.  I spent the whole evening burning up until the nurse finally took them off for me (for a little while).  She called the doctor but he wouldn’t let me leave them off or move to the boots.

I got up once for a walk before Bethany left for the night – we walked to the end of the hall and back.  I was surprised at how hard it was (and how much everything hurt).  That short walk satisfied the nursing staff and they let me back in bed for the rest of the night.  I slept for a few hours here and there – they staff was great in letting me sleep (though I’m sure my half-asleep confused expressions were entertaining for them).

In the morning, I got to eat a “real” breakfast (pancakes, fruit, muffin, juice) and it felt great.  With more morphine, I was still foggy.  I spent part of the morning sitting up in a chair, then around noon I took another walk with Bethany – this time was a few trips up and down the hall.  It felt good to move everything around and, as the nurses promised, moving around provided relief for the pains that the medication wasn’t helping.

We ran into the surgeon in the hallway on my walk and caught up quickly.  It turns out that through some confusion, one of the pain medications I was supposed to be getting hadn’t been ordered.  Once we got that cleared up, I felt much better.  I was astonished at how much improvement there was from early morning to the evening when I got ready to go home (though I’m sure the additional pain medicine was a large factor).  At the start of the day, I fully expected to be staying an additional night (which was an option if I needed it).

I got to eat lunch and napped for a little bit (so did Beth!).  When we started to get ready to go home, Beth ran out to pick up all of my medications from the pharmacy so we had everything and didn’t need to run back out.  I had dinner at the hospital so that was out of the way.  When she got back to the hospital, we did our final paperwork and were on our way.  I’d been worried about the trip home (and up the stairs) but I was feeling great and everything went smoothly.

Last night, I got a good nights rest (in between getting up for medicine) and had a great day today.  I’m looking forward to the next couple days when I will finish up with the pain medicine and get back to feeling more “normal”.

 

Thanks to everyone who has checked in on us this week!

The Juicing Craze

Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Joanna on Pinterest

For the next 10 days, I am doing a fruit & vegetable fast. I won't bore you with the story behind it, but since I haven't done a fast since before the twins, I thought it was about time. My body has changed so much in the last two years and I was reminded of the benefits of fasting after watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, an interesting documentary about a man who juices fruits and vegetables for 60 days.

I am anxiously awaiting my juicer which should arrive via Amazon this evening. My friend (who is also joining me in fasting) and I stocked up at Produce Junction. My entire stovetop is fruits and veggies. I began yesterday by drinking pure store-bought fruit juice (think Naked, Bolthouse Farms, V8, brands) and eating roasted veggies for dinner.

The most difficult obstacle that I foresee will be making meals for everyone else. In previous years, I just stayed out of the kitchen as much as possible and relied on store-bought drinks. This time, I'm doing it the right way, but will have more every day obstacles.

On a completely different note, why do people keep the ringers on their phone SO LOUD? I'm in the waiting room at the hospital, waiting to see Steve after his surgery. You wouldn't believe the number of people who are talking on their phones despite the numerous signs discouraging this. Ringers are going off every few minutes with various songs, dings and bells. It's super annoying.

Steve's mom was at our house at 6 this morning so we could be at the hospital at 7. When the alarm went off at 5:30 I shut it off and nearly fell asleep again, forgetting why it was set in the first place. It already feels like it's been a long day even though the clock says 9:46. Steve's surgery will last a little over 2 hours. He'll have a breathing tube, a stint and a few small incisions. The procedure is robotic if everything stays normal.

I'm anxious to see him.

I want to get something to drink, but I'm afraid to leave my seat to go to the cafeteria. I snagged a good one since we were here so early; my spot is large with a little table- perfect for lab-topping. It feels weird sitting here in a room full of strangers. I'm tired, both from the fasting and the early morning. The kids have been really restless at night ever since they were sick with the fever and rash. There are only so many nights of broken sleep before you just start feeling like a zombie.

I'll keep everyone updated on his progress. Thanks for all the texts, emails, etc. It's very thoughtful of you.

Summatime