Sunday, September 13, 2009

My HIDA Scan

This past Tuesday I went in for a HIDA scan. The purpose of this test is to check gallbladder function. Its a very simple procedure,in all reality. I had to prepare by not having anything to eat or drink after midnight. But nothing was said about smoking. So the morning of the test I got up and had a couple of smokes to settle my raging nerves. and to be honest, I had some teeny sips of Sprite. I didnt take anymore than what swallowing would do,as far as liquid consupmtion. And I brushed my teeth, so I know I swallowed some water then.
So I arrive at the designated time for my scan. Got checked in with hospital admissions, complete with bracelet. I was told I didnt need a driver, so I went alone. By the time they called me back I was honestly a bundle of nerves!!! But I shouldnt have been. I was greeted by a very nice tech, who started an IV in my arm. Not like a carry the pole kind of IV but just one of those catheder thingies. Where they tape it to your arm,but have the tube sticking out. Once I was tripply verivied that I was who I said I was, by checking my arm band and asking questions about DOB and what not, I was asked if there was a chance I could be pregnant. I vehemently said HELL NO! The tech got a kick out of that. But I still had to sign a paper to the fact.
Then the injection began of radioactive fluid. The purpose of the radioactive stuff was to see if I had any blockages in my gallbladder. As in gall stones. I already knew I didn't, b/c of an ultra sound I had previously had. So at 15 minute intervals they took Xrays of my abdomen. In the interium I was able to sit in the hospital lobby with other people either waiting on family or waiting on their own test. Then after the 4th set of Xrays, I had to lay on a table. More like HALF a table. My first thought was OMG that thing aint gonna hold ONE of my hamhocks much less both of them. But it did. And the small tube like table had moveable arm rest, so my arms were comfy, my knees were propped up,2 pillows under my head.
I then took a TON of deep breaths in preperation of being hooked up to more medicine and laying still for 25 minutes.
The tech told me that I would be injected for ten minutes with fluid from the bag attached to my IV. And I had to be still. I tried to go to a happy place in my mind. For me its walking along a beach hand in hand with Josh. On Waikiki before all the hotels popped up, Diamond Head in the background. {No,Ive never been there,but its MY happy place}.So as the medicine dripped into my body, the Xray machine was paced to my left at an angle,very close to my stomach area. The tech siad pictures would be taken every minute. Thats why I had to be so still. But this second round of meds HURT like holy hell! My body began to get nauseated, my bowels began to clinch,and my abdomen involuntarily cramped up. I told them I was a puker,so they better get me a bucket or something. I was reassured that in the years both techs had been doing HIDA scans no one had puked. But they aint ever met me before! So I swallowed like no tomorrow, the happy place was gone, replaced by concious concentration to be still and not puke! I asked the nive tech who gave me the first round why in the hell it hurt so bad. He told me it was like eating a greasy cheeseburger! BLEEECK! Much as I love cheeseburgers,it was the LAST thing on my mind,trust me! Then it was over. Just like that. It was the longest 25 minutes of my life,to be sure!
I asked them before I left when my Dr. would have the information. They said under the table so to speak,that my gastro office would have it late in the afternoon. I left there at 1pm,my time and grabbed something to eat. I couldnt eat much,and I dont think a PZone was the right choice either! So I brought it home for Nate. I then went grocery shopping. I kinda had to. My guts were still cramping,but I didnt get sick, thank God!!!
Around 4pm I called the Dr office. left a message for my Dr, and about 15 minutes later the nurse practicioner called me back. She had some disheartening news. My gallbladder was only working at 2%. Not good, as in, on a scale of 100-0, 100 being perfect and 0 being non working,I was at the bottom! The NP told me that I needed to go see a surgeon, and she'd make the call for me. I told her to get me in ASAP, I didnt care when or what time! So a few minutes alter she called me back to tell me I had an apt on Thursday with the surgeon.
Josh and I went together, getting a neighbor to watch Caleb. He came in and was SUPER nice! He asked me point blank if I could get it removed TODAY! My mind was whirlling. TODAY?!? That serious! He said if not today {thursday} then tomorrow, Friday. He left so Josh and I could discuss our options. We decided that Monday {tomorrow} would be the least inconvient time for me to have it removed. The Dr. came back in and we told him Monday would be best. He looked at me rather skeptically. So I then asked if I'd die over the weekend if I didnt have it removed. He said NO, but Id just be in pain and uncomfortable until then. Fair enough. So a time for Monday was set up for surgery at the surgery center where Id had my tubes tied in 07. I liked it there,and the staff was great,so given the option,the surgery center is what I chose.
We left the surgeons office and went for pre-op stuff.
THEN, On Friday I woke up with a knot under my arm. My right arm, same symptoms as Id had back in the late winter when I had staph. I had noticed a teeny pea sized knot before, but when I got up on Friday my arm was swollen and streaky. SHIT, I thought! So I called the Surgeons office and told them what I thought was going on, and if it would affect my surgery. She said,maybe. But if I got on antibiotics over the weekend, that Id probably be fine. It was just up to my Dr. So off to the PC I went. told her everything that was going on, and about the staph Id had,and how I was terrified it was happening AGAIN!!! I was pissed off at that point. So she put me on strong antibiotics for the weekend, and Im hoping it will not affect whether I have surgery tomorrow or not! She was unable to lance the knot as it was too deep. But yesterday it would have been prime for lancing,and the redness had grown, to about 3 inches above my elbow. When Caleb was in the hospital with the same thing, they drew a circle around his red area,to see if it shrunk or grew. Josh did the same for me. Yesterday it had tripled in size from Friday. last night before going to bed,I drew another circle with a different color marker. Ive been taking the antibiotics just like Im supposed to. This morning,Josh said the redness had gone down some,and I can feel that the knot is not quite so big. I also have today for the antibiotics to work their majic. In hopes that the surgeon can operate even with it,and Im gonna beg him to lance it while Im under. My MIL said postponing surgery would not be the end of the world. true, But I guess mentally Im just thrown by this unexpected curve ball.
So thats that,as they say. We wait till tomorrow to see if the surgeon will operate,and go from there!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Playing With Josh

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a long time with my husband. He and I don't get too much time away from our kids. While neither of us mind,sometimes its GREAT to just be Sarah and Josh, not Mama and Daddy.
We got up bright and early. Actually, it was not even bright yet. We got up at 5 and got ready for dove hunting. I had never been and when he invited me to go hunting with him and some of his buddies yesterday,I took a chance. I was very suprised he even asked me. Since Mel had been at our house all week, I thought maybe he'd want some time with "just the guys". But nope,he asked me to GO! So we take off for his friend Matts Grandpa's place. Its some property out in the country. There wound up being 5 of us hunting and i was the only girl. His friends are great,let me tell you. Oh,they're he-men , and dont censor themselves too much just b/c Im a female. Learned recently they dont consider me a "lady". Maybe I need to work on that,lol. They treat me like one of them. Sometmes I wish they didn't. lol. So Josh and I took off on the 4 wheeler for just the right spot. He had his 12 gauge and I was carrying his 20 gauge. The day before I had practicced with it. Shooting skeet is NOT my strong point, but you give me a stationary target and I can blast it with a shotgun. I only hit like 2 out of about 20 he threw for me. But Josh on the other hand never ceases to amaze me. That man of mine can throw the skeet himself, and shoot it into bits all in about 20 seconds. I am impressed! AND I think after 3 1/2 years of being toghether that he can still impress me is awesome. lol. I had impressed him earlier when I told him sure Id go hunting. None of the other wives do that. and Ive never shot with them either, but I like guns and stuff, so I dont see the big deal.
Josh set us up a makeshift blind, we parked the 4 wheeler away from us, set up camp so to speak and waited for the illustrious dove. I only will hunt what I intend to eat, and I fully inteded on eating whatever we shot! Ive never had dove before, and my mouth had already begun to water for it. We sat there, kinda shot the shit for a while. When you dove hunt, you dont ahve to be quiet inso much as be kind of still. It was beautiful,watching the haze dirft over the trees as the sun snuck over the horizon. The birds {not doves} were chirping, crickets were humming and the occasional slight breeze made leaves drift to their early fall resting place. Suddenly a shot rang out from where Matt and the other guys were hunting. Then a dove near us took off. Josh missed it, but I at least got to see what I fully intended on trying to make supper. It was beautiful watching him stand, aim and fire. Very exhillartating to be sure! He was pissed he missed it, but I was impressed at his fluid movements. Almost like instinct. Wow, I thought, hes sexy standing there all mad from missing! We sat there for 3 hours and only saw a few more high flying birds too far out of our bird load shot guns. Matt and them had been shooting,and we were hoping they at least got a few. That was not the case. Yesterday for them it was hit and miss. So at 8:30 Matt called and said they were going in at 9 if nothing was flying. At this point I was ithcing to shoot! So Josh told me to aim at anything that flew, so I did, missed whatever I aimed at,half hazardly by a mile! But then, knowing I had one more shell left laoded already, I told him I was gonna shoot a morning glory off the top of a sunflower. And Ill be derned if I didnt! Blew the top right off of it! Felt good to aim at something and do what I intended to do. So after that we moved a feild over, me driving his friends borrowed wheeler, Josh told me it was hte first time a girl had ever driven him on a 4 wheeler. Awe,honey! We wnet for breakfast and headed back out to his parents house.
Joshes Dad and Uncle were smoking some shoulders {pork} for todays labor day BBQ. If you've never been around smoking pork,you really cant describe how WONDERFUL the smell is. Hickory on the small side of the big grill creating a smoke to make perfect lil smoke rings on the big shoulders. Man alive,it dont get any better than that! Well, my MIL, went on a beer run. I think she bought the store out! She came back with a couple of cases,all total, and those he men commenced to start drinking at noon thirty. Now, its like 85 degrees and we were all sweating, so even though they wound up drinking most of the beer, between about 6 or 7 men, Nobody really got drunk but Josh. lol. I think he drank MORe than his fair share,lol. But he rarely does that,and I didnt mind at all. The man works hard for us,and had spent time with me,and I felt like he deserved very much to "tie one on",as he says. Well about 4pm, Joshes cousin decided to take his 1 year old daughter for a spin on PopPops big ole John Deere. All the babies in the family have had pictures taken on the antique,beautifly restored tractor. And yesterday was her turn. She loved it! So next it was Calebs turn with Josh {he was not hammered at this point,btw}.But Caleb hollered and hollered. He had not gotten his nap out and then was in a rotten mood. So I told Josh I wanted him to take me for a ride on the big green tractor. But he hopped off and told me to get on. So I climbed into the driver seat, and took off my flip flops. If Iw as gonna learn to drive a tractor, I had to get a real feel for it,and barefoot is the way for me to do that. So he told me very breifly how to ease out the throddle,and ease onto the gas. What do ya know, the massive tractor lurched forward and I was DRIVING it! All by myself. Ive ridden on my fair share of tractors and driven a few lawn mowers,but nobody ever took the time to teach me how to drive one before. So after I made a turn around the garden doing my best Miss America wave, I told Josh i wanted to go faster. So he hopped on and put it in a higher gear and off we went. He was laughing and carrying on. We were kidding around like a couple of 16 year old kids,still trying to impress each other. It was GREAT! He told me a girl had never driven that tractor before, esp not with him on it. {later found out I was female #2 to drive it, his first cousin had helped with hay cutting}. But still, It was a first for both he and I. It was great.
After almost 4 years of being together and almost 3 of being married, we learned we can still not only have fun toghether but impress and teach each other things. While Im always "in love" with him, it grew yesterday. Ive been under a lot of stress and so has he. Just normal life stuff,but being broke, 2 kids,mortgage,me going back to school,him no overtime at work, it can get to you sometimes. But yesterday he taught me that in a dove feild you dont think about all that. You just think about #1 that your saftey is on your shotgun,and let the world ride. take in the beauty of nature around you. Soak it all in.the peace the tranquility and the sheer joy of being with someone you love. It was awesome. I love my husband for the man he is,and the woman he helps me be. He truly is the best friend Ive ever had and I can not see my life without him. ANd I think its great that he and I can still find ways to connect,that have nothing at all to do with sex. Not that that is our only glue, hardly, but that is a wonderful part of our marriage. But its so much more. Its getting up at 5, no makeup, camo all over, sitting around with the family,shooting the breeze, swapping stories, smelling and tasting BBQ, watching the kids run around and dogs play. Its simply enjoying each others company and taking a moment just to breathe! Let life roll. I really needed yesterday and hope today is just as good!