who needs sleep?

Hey my faithful friends, It's me again,
I am working again aalllll night! I am feeling a bit whoozy tonight. I have been up since 6:45 yesterday morning and I will need to be up until 7:00 this morning. When I called home at 9:00pm things were not going well for Nick. He sounded very flustered and upset at the series of events that had transpired since I had left for work. Apparently, Nicholas, 11 was hanging out at the soccer field with a friend, when suddenly the boys broke out in a spontanious wrestling match and from what I can tell, Nicholas now has an injured knee! ( So injured, that Nick doesn't think Nicholas will be able to play soccer this weekend.) That's bad because he is supposed to play 4 games this weekend! I also heard that my son Noah, 9 sort of accidentally splattered dad with red gatorade ( and all over the couch! ) I'm thinkin' dad was a bit "ticked". When I called my home my son Noah asks to talk to me and when I get on the phone, he whispers things like" dad's gone crazy"... " you have to come home !" They don't react well to being scolded.. oh well, I guess I picked a good night to be at work. ( hee,hee) I simply can't wait until I get home in the morning and find out how it all panned out.
Well, on to other subjects, as you know I work in an emergency room and I am here to tell ya, I think it must be "stinky -feet" night! WHEW! Ya know, I am down wind of the patients too! YIKES! It has been a very busy night. Nothing too exciting though.

Nicholas came home from 6th grade camp Friday and I still can't believe how calm he was about the whole thing. ( my baby is all grown up) I went to pick him up at the bus at the school, and as I wait with the other parents I scan the bus windows for my waving child ( don't see him though) suddenly they beging to let the children off the bus and all of us parents lean forward in anticipation ( almost rushing the bus ) . At last, I see my Nicholas coming down the steps. I step toward him and I notice that he looks the other way, I am worried my son will feel lost. I call out to him lovingly.. " over here nick", this child casually looks my way and gives me a "wait a minute" sign with his finger. ( what? My lost child is telling me " chill out"? wow! ) then he strolls over after finishing his business with whoever that was. I hug him and tell him how happy I am to see him and ask if he had fun.. ( I am expecting a whooping response, I get " yeah, It was fun')
Yep, he's a different boy. He is so precious. He had so many stories to tell us about horseback riding and canoeing and square-dancing. He told me that they must have top chefs there because all of the food was "great" I, of course ask what he ate, and his response is, chicken nuggets and pizza and pancakes and the like.. Oh.. that's different..( NOT!) Bottom line, he had a blast. Next week, it's back to the grind. Well, that's the update, until next time. c-ya

The Saga Continues.. Well, sort of.

Hello faithful friends,

I hope you are enjoying my life's drama, I certainly am. I wanted to update you all on what happened at the Urologists office last Thursday.

Well, first of all, I did make it home alive ( I didn't fall asleep on the road, I mean) I was able to get the boys off to school, and even to get a 1 hour nap. ( It was delicious ) . The doctor peeked at those cute photos of my innards, then announced " they look great. I see nothing wrong" , Well friends,It's always good to hear that nothings wrong, however, why am I having pain? I did go on the antibiotics and things are feeling much nicer, if you know what I mean. So I guess for now, things are wrapped up in the left-sided pain saga.My pain is actually going away ( I think there has been allot of praying going on ).

I should mention that I am at work again, ( I'm at not-work again ) It is 3 am and all is well. I only got a teeny nap today, then came to work at 6:00 pm, and of course it was BUSY, which is strange for a Sunday night. So I have been working mostly, but it is slow right now, so I can write,( lucky you ). When I leave here at 6:30 this morning ( Monday ) I will rush home to get my children up and ready for school, ( just like last time ) This morning my oldest , Nicholas, age 11 will go to 6Th grade camp for 5 days! I think we have him all packed and ready to go.Did you know that 11 year olds must have socks that " feel right" on their feet or they won't wear them? I am looking forward to hearing all about his adventures.
As I mentioned I will get the boys off to school/camp, then I will have time to sleep maybe 2 hours ( if I'm lucky ) then I will leap out of bed just in time to welcome my friends over for a bible study! This will be our 3rd meeting with this group and boy is it great. Today, we will be covering chapter one of the book study. Yes, I got my home work done. Once the ladies leave at 2:30, I will need to get the 2 boys from school and have them home and fed in time to get to their soccer game ( daddy is the coach, It's soooo sweet!) I look forward to seeing my 2 running like crazy after that ball. Oh, to have that energy again,huh? I look forward to having an intimate relationship with my pillow tonight though, I will be very drooly by then. Hey guess what? I get to do this all over again on Friday! I am picking a 12 hour shift for a friend, then Saturday will be 2 hours of sleep and then 3 soccer games throughout the day. What a weekend it will be. Well, looking back on this blog, I realize I am not being very funny, more whiny then anything. Sorry... I will work on my wit for next time. I gotta go and get some pretzels or something , my eyes are beginning to roll back in my head.LOL. Until next time, April

chapter , my bad.

Hello all,

It is time for another installment of "What Hurts Now?"
I went and saw this wonderful Urologist last week. Now THAT was something to write home about. I thought my GYN was invasive.. Little did I know that a urologist spends time in there. After we "bonded" I told him my whole story, ( and he didn't even fall asleep) Actually, I thought he had a lovely sense of humor. He explained that to HIM, it didn't look like anything that he could fix. That was very disappointing, then he told me he wanted me to come back next week and bring my CT films with me. He also told me my urine looked great ( I bet he tells that to ALL the girls ) . I was not surprised at this revelation, I have always had allot of pride in the beauty of my urine. So, he told me he would keep my urine and culture it to see if anything grows, ( I was thinking "whatever you want to do in your free time is up to you, darlin'" ) They called on Monday of this week to tell me I am + for a bacteria in my bladder and that they wanted to start me on Amoxicilin right away. WHAT? That's how this whole mess started, with a doctor telling me I had a bladder infection, remember where that got me? At this point, I do something very stubborn and kind of silly, I refused the antibiotic . ( why,you ask? Because the last time I was diagnosed with a bladder infection, I had NO symptoms. Then I ended up in the ER, so this time I have decided to be 1 step ahead of them. This time I have NO symptoms either. AHA. ( I feel very smart at this moment. Then on Wednesday night I began to get a very yucky suspicion that I have a bladder infection. NICE. Well, I remain stubborn and I have not called for the antibiotic, however, I see the doctor tomorrow ( really today it's almost 2 am ) and I will get the script for the medicine then. ( I will try not to beg or look pathetic). I am curious if this doctor will see anything on this Ct scan. I would love to have an actual diagnosis. I will admit though, that the pain is quite less now ( except for this awful bladder infection LOL ) We shall see what happens next. Remember folks, I am just as confused as you all are. I will not get much sleep tomorrow, ( I mean today ) because I am working all night and when I get off work I will drive home in a dazed and drowsy state, only to get my boys up, their lunches packed and their breakfast crammed down their throat ( lovingly of course ) and then, I will need to take them to school,, then...I may get an hour of sleep before I need to be ready to go to this appointment. When I get home from that, I will probably have about 2 hours before I need to pick those darling boys from school. What an exciting challenge! Then it's make dinner and be ready for "soccer-mania" . I think I need a nap just thinking about all of this. I suppose I will go make a cup of tea, and hype up. Until next time friends, take care and take notice. ( what does that mean? You tell me.)

The next chapter

Well everyone,
I went to my doctor on Friday and he sort of "fired"himself! Not really, but he has decided to hand me off to a urologist to see if maybe my bladder is the comedian being so funny. Yes, I still have the pain on left side and it still annoys me. However, I have decided to give it the "cold shoulder" ( be elusive pain and i'll show you.) I was hoping to get out of more work around the house..but not so much. I feel like I'm still doing it all. You know us woman. We just keep on going, cooking doing laundry, taking the kids here and there, making lunches, doing funraisers, the list goes on and on. If we didn't keep going the crying would drive us crazy ( no, I'm not talking about our husbands ) My husband actually does more house work then I do.
The problem is I have a condition ( which there is no name for yet ) that disables me to notice dirt on carpet and tables.. I do see it on childrens faces, though. My husband will say"wow, that window is SO dirty", and I usually respond, " really? we have windows? Ya know , things are just like that around here. Well, It's the same with his clothes for work. Every night he comes into the bedroom to pick out his clothes, and it never fails... The pair of pants he needs are ALWAYS down in the laundry.. but that's not the bad thing.. He actually misses his clothes.. He will say, " where are my brown pants? I will say, " I thought I was caught up on laundry," then I feel disturbed when he says " they've been gone a long time down there." I wonder what he really means,, ya know? It's SO funny ( to me, but not really to him.)
I guess I should wrap this chapter up. I will hopefully have a whole bundle of new stories after I start seeing this urologist. I will go back to work next week ( nothing funny in that). I will share more later.

Camping adventure

I was just thinking about this past July when our family and another family went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes to camp. We were having a nice time exploring and climbing the Dunes.
All was well. Then Tuesday night, about 9:00 we began to hear thunder rolling from far away. This didn't worry us, we've been through storms before. 2 hours later, the storm had not reached us yet, however, the thunder had gotten louder and it was now lightning too. At 11:30, my husband and I were bunking down for the night ( the children were already asleep ). No sooner had we climbed into our sleeping bags (yes, we are in a tent ) it started to really pour rain. It was thundering so loud that we could not hear each other talk, and the lightning was so constant and bright, that it never got dark in the tent. It was like how storms look in the movies.. we started to get a little freaked out because it started getting a bit windy and we were in a forest! My husband held up the van key and instructed me that if things got "bad " that he would grab our 2 youngest boys and I would grab the oldest ( they are 8, 9 and 10 years old, and not light). I then informed him as calmly as I could that I had just recently taken a sleeping pill because I have a hard time sleeping when I am camping sometimes. This was not only a surprise for him, but also a setback in his "plan "of escape. As I lay there thinking about how flat I would be after the tree hit the tent, my husband begins using the flashlight to search for "breaches" in the tent where we may get a leak. ( I think this is a guy thing, because I have seen him do this before).
Yes, our tent was leaking a bit, before long a very LOUD crash of thunder woke both my youngest and oldest boys and they went from laying in there sleeping bags to being at a full run in about 2 seconds, which by the way, is always a surprise when you are on sleeping pills. My husband and I tucked our 2 frightened boys into our sleeping bags and held them for the rest of the storm.( which lasted about 2 hours ) The funny thing about this is as we are holding and comforting the boys, my husband does another perimter check (looking for leaks ) and we notice that there is a big continual drip on my middle boy Noah's face, you know, like chinese torture. Drip drip drip.. you get the idea It never woke him up! We all made it through the night alive and not flattened, which is good news ( not that I cared I was asleep, those pills are great!) Everything we owned was soaked when we woke up, not because of leaks, but the water leaked up through the ground. Once we hung everything up to dry, we were on our way to another adventure. The children still talk about that storm. My husband still talks about the tent not leaking too bad ( which again is a guy thing ) and I still keep my prescription of sleeping pills on hand just in case. ha,ha.

funny you should ask.

Hey everyone, this is my first Blog. I know, that's pathetic, but everyone keeps telling me I should write a book. Well, you know, I'm just too lazy for that. How about a blog though?
This segment will be about my recent weight loss:

People have been coming up to me alot lately and saying WOW! You look great!(are you sick?).I think that is very funny. Us woman are always aware of how much each other weighs, and we also know that rapid weight loss can mean illness.. However, I have been losing weight for almost a year now, so it is NOT rapid weight loss.
It is funny that they ask though, because yes, I am sick! ( and not just in the head ) I have always suffered from pelvic region issues.. 4 years ago, I had my first hysterectomy.. Yes, I know that is an odd thing to say, only for me it feels true. This past February I began having pelvic pain again and my doctor thought I was having an ovarian cyst. For 3 months I had bunches of ultrasounds, and other fun stuff too.The pain went on and on then one fateful day,( after one of these ultrasounds) my doctor announced ( in sort of a confused manner, you have no cyst on your left ovary!) Then he announced that I did however have a cyst on my right ovary (incidently, I was having no pain over there,) My doctor then decides he must "go in" for
my second Hysterctomy ( as I call it ).I was
not totally thrilled about that considering my hysterectomy wasn't exactly a barral of laughs, especially the part where they punctured my bladder by mistake. ( My reaction was "really, how do I know I don't have an indoor sprinkler system?" His response was "Oh, no worries, I sewed it up and ran some dye through it, it's cool ") Don't get me wrong, my doctor is awesome and very capable. He is just quirky, like me. In June they "went in" to take a look around (It always starts out innocently enough, but generally ends with giant surgery. This time was no different. When the "went in" they found that my left ovary and my appendix had an argument and my guess is my intestines tried to "break-up" the fight. My doctor got there just in time to rescue my intestines and the "bouncer" threw out my left ovary and my appendix! I thought that was a bit "harsh" for a first offence, but what do I know? Because of all the rucus, some of my abdominal muscles had to be reconstructed (ice packs were my friends). But the good news is,my intestines were allowed to stay and they are really keeping up with things nicely. You would think that would be the end of the nightmare, but you would be wrong my friend.
In mid August, I began to have pain in my left side AGAIN, ( I kept telling my doctor it was my phantom ovary just visiting) but he didn't buy it. I finally could not take it any longer and went to the ER to get an ultrasound (It was Sunday, as you know all major medical emergencies happen on a Sunday, when it is physically impossible to reach your doctor. ) After much drama(mostly on my part ) they did a Cat Scan and found a MASS on my left side. WHAT? What's left over there? The funny thing is during the last surgery my doctor wrapped up my right ovary in a material that should help with the scar tissue growing too much ( apparently I need "weed be gone" in my abd. So this MASS they were speaking about was a mystery. You see how this is a fun story? Well after being in the hospital for 4 days ( with no food or water "NPO") they decided that their course of action would be to do a CT guided needle extraction thingy.. I do believe that IS the correct medical term for this procedure, but . I'm not positive. So, just when I am freaked out the most and really getting thin, they chicken out and say the radiologist thinks it's "TOO RISKY" ( I'm glad someone stopped drinking for a minute,haha, ) Then, my doctor decided he wanted to try something "midevil" on me. He incerted pain blockers (via needle, by the way) in to my abd, in hopes that it would at least block the pain until we get this figured out. I am happy to say that my blood tests show no sign of cancer or infection;) the bad news is the blocker didn't really block much. One week later,(that should be read with a french accent ) I saw my doctor again ( we are getting very close these days ) and after I told him his evil plan failed ( the pain blocker plan ) , He came up with an even more frightening proposal.. steroid injections straight intoi my abdomin ( I mean shoved in deep!) hopefully, that would "hit the spot" and take away the pain (I hate to dissappoint him, he's such a nice young man). In his defense, he believes my pain is caused from the material that he wrapped my ovary up in ( and apparently scattered around lik party confetti ) is bumping up against my lower pelvic muscle and causing spasms. Wow! I'm "spazzing out". Today, I had another ultrasound.. because I can.. He wants to compare the one I had in the hospital to this new one. I also await my appoint me on Friday to see what new and inovative ideas he may have. Just so you know. I think this whole process is hilarious. I can't wait to see what happens next. I hope you feel the same. Thanks for reading. More later. April