Friday, November 30, 2007

1st Annual Blogger Craft Fair

Yesterday, one of my friends at work told me about this online craft fair that her friend was putting together for this weekend. So I re-shot some of my pictures last night & furiously finished up my Etsy page in hopes that I would be included.

I was one of the lucky ones to be picked for the First Annual Blogger Holiday Arts and Craft Fair. Yippee!!! So I will madly be working this weekend adding to my Etsy page in hopes that someone will like what they see & will buy.

So far there the dress I added last night has been viewed 28 times! Not bad for only be on-line for 12 hours. (Of course, who knows how many of those are from people I know, instead of from complete strangers.)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Surgery update

We met with the surgeon yesterday. Because the pain has not lessened & the hernia is getting bigger, the surgeon wanted to repair it sooner rather than later. Which is exactly what we wanted as well.

So surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, 12/4 at 3:00 pm. Instead of using mesh to patch the tear, the doctor is going to use cadaver something-or-other. If the body rejects the mesh at some point, they have to go in and re-do the surgery. So to avoid that, the doctor is going straight to the cadaver stuff. Basically the way he explained it, it is the skeletal system (or latice work) of the inner layers of skin but without any living cells. After it is attached to your body, your own cells start growing on it & supplying it with blood. Then it becomes a natural part of your body. Much better than a forgein object in you.

And they will do the incision exactly where the gallbladder one is so there will only be 1 scar & hopefully reduce the chance of recurrance. Of course, this is my husband we are talking about, so no matter what, there is a good chance of recurrance. The smaller the percentage of something occuring in the general population, the more likely it will happen to him.

So that is what we know for now. He will have to stay in the hospital for a couple of days after the surgery. But the recovery should be pretty quick.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Not quite 6 months

Well, we didn't make it 6 months. Monday Ben had a doctor's appointment to go over the results from a CT scan. He'd been having some pains in his side off & on and the spot where his gallbladder was removed was growing.

We had been working since August to get this looked at, but with my new job, that meant new health insurance & we had to go through all of the approvals again. And we weren't too concerned about the bump. So it took until now to get it looked at.

On Sunday the pain started to be pretty constant. So it was a good thing that he had an appointment the next day.

The doctor looked at the CT & checked his belly. Due to the amount of pain he was in & where it was located, they were concerned about appendicitis. So they sent him over to the emergency room to get another CT scan.

We are in the ER enough that the staff remembers us! One of the lab techs remembered us & was showing us his new tattoo of his son's baby foot. It's just wrong that we are recognized.

After about 7 1/2 hours in the ER, they came into to tell us that it was not appendicitis and that they were discharging him with pain medicine. If the pain persisted, we were to go see his PCP. Of course, we were not happy about this as you can imagine. The pain had been constant since Sunday & was getting worse in intensity. So of course, it was not going to go away. And we did not want a repeat of his gallbladder surgery where he was discharged from the ER & the next day he was taken straight from the dr office & admitted to the hospital to have surgery.

We told the nurse that it was not acceptable & she talked to the ER doctor & his PCP. They decided to admit him. So he was taken upstairs at about 10:30 pm for "observation".

We found out around lunch time yesterday that the pain is most likely from an incisional hernia from the gallbladder surgery 11 months ago. But since there is no intestinal strangulation or obstruction, there is no need for immediate surgery. Even though there is significant pain, that's not enough reason for surgery.

Before releasing him, they needed to be sure that he could eat food. So we ordered a yummy lunch of noodles & mashed potatoes. After eating about 15 noodles, he got pasty white & nauseous. So they pumped hm full of anti-nausea medicine. But wanted to "wait & see" how he felt later. This time before dinner they drugged him up to make him eat.

Well, that all went well. So he should have been released last night or this morning. Well, it is 5:00 pm & we are still here. The surgeon already came in to see us around 1:00 & we have an appointment scheduled with him for Monday to discuss surgery. Now all we have to wait for is his PCP to sign the docs to release him. And he is taking his sweet ass time...

Friday, November 16, 2007

Stress...

A friend shared this about stress with me. I found it to be an interesting way to view the toll stress takes on you. And since I have a tendency to be a stress-monger every once in awhile, it fits me well at times.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked,"How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can."

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

New toy...

I finally got the dress form that I mentioned awhile ago. Here is what it looks like with Makenna's flower girl dress on it. Now I have to find someplace in my house to take pictures of it so that it looks professional. (The back door isn't it, at least in my opinion.) Oh, and, I have to actually make something to take pictures of.



I have got a design done, using fabric from my stash. And the pattern to start from. And borrowed my aunt's serger. So now I just have to put the pieces together. And voila, I will have a dress to sell. Stay tuned...

Friday, November 9, 2007

Trying to be healthy....

Sorry I have slacked off on posting this week. I would love to say it was because my life has been so busy & exciting, but nothing like that has happened recently.

The reason I have been slacking is I joined the Biggest Loser Club a couple of weeks ago. And I joined a 6 week boot camp on it that started last Friday. Part of it is reading & posting to the message boards. That has been taking up a significant portion of my days.

But it is definitely helping (I've lost 3 lbs in the last 2 weeks!). My goal is to be to a healthy weight some time between March & May so that we can start trying to have babies. Yes, I know, I am losing weight, only to gain it back. I know it kind of doesn't make sense. But it is what I am doing.

I am also working towards having a healthier life in general. Working for an eco-friendly company & all the crunchy granola people that work here, makes me stop & think about how natural & healthy my life is. Now I don't plan on becoming one of those nutty, crazy natural people.

The other reason I am working towards a more natural life is because Ben has issues cleaning our house. We are finding that most of the cleaners give him headaches. Even the carpet deodorizer I use will give him headaches hours after I use it. A few weeks ago, he was scrubbing the kitchen sink with Comet, had to go sit down, and sat in the sunroom where I had used the deodorizer a couple hours earlier. He had to go lay down because he was feeling so bad.

So I have been looking for natural cleaning supplies or recipes. Gaiam does sell some of the Seventh Generation cleaners so I can always buy them with my discount. I have also found this site and this site which have recipes. And then today I found a post on this blog about another company.

Of course, I have not actually started using any natural cleaners. But the only reason is I am fully stocked on my normal cleaners right now. And we can not afford for me to throw it all away & buy all new. So as I finish a cleaner up, I am going to replace it with something non-toxic.

Then maybe someday my husband will be able to help clean the house again... Oh, and we will be healthier too.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Halloween Part 2

So I was going to post this last night but our internet was down (again). Gotta love Qwest! My goal was to post every day this month; guess I'm not off to a good start :)

Saturday night, we got dressed up & went to Milo's (a bar not too far from our house) with my sister. Milo's was having a costume contest where you could win $300 for best costume. We can always use extra money so I made a few alterations to Ben's costume in hopes he might win.

Last year, we bought him a Spartucus costume for a party we went to. He added his Broncohead to the costume & became Bronco Spartucus. But the sash was red & gold. So this year, I replaced it with an orange sash with blue sequin trim. Again he wore his Broncohead, which was complete with the olive headdress.

Well, unfortunately he did not win 1st place. Which was good because it was a $300 gift certificate to the bar. He did win 2nd place though. And won the beautiful dart board he is holding below. We are going to clean the garage this weekend so he can hang it up. In the end he won the better prize.

The evening turned out to be very fun. And we stayed out WAY past our bed time. My sister's best friend from high school, Carmien, was there. They had not seen each other in about 4 years so they spent time catching up. And Carmien's boyfriend was someone I knew in high school so it was interesting to hear about people I haven't talked to in over 10 years.