Saturday, March 29, 2008

Broken Hearts

My heart has been broken this week for a church friend and neighbor who suddenly lost her husband. It was such a shock to hear - totally unexpected. I related to a girlfriend that death is never easy to take, but things like this are seem so much harder to come to grips with because of the unexpectedness. I mean, you expect your elderly or sickly parents or grandparents to come to the end of their life - maybe before you are ready, but you expect it. You expect that a person fighting a deadly disease could lose the battle - we pray for that not to happen, but it is not out of the realm of expectations. But you don't expect someone just going to work for the day to never come home. That just isn't right.

Scott and I talked about it at some length the other night. The bottom line...you just never know. Be prepared, love one another, because you just never know. Another friend who just experienced a sudden loss in her family asked if this is satan's work or God's timing. I told her I thought is was both - we live in a fallen world where bad things are allowed to happen, but God has a reason for everything and a time for everything. We don't have to understand, but just to have faith in Him that there is a reason and to keep praising Him in everything. I can't imagine if this happened to me. But I would just have to pray that I would hold on to God and His strength to get me through. I pray this for my friend and for all the families that are being hit by tragedy that I'm hearing about this week.

God knows about broken hearts and he loves us. His strength is sufficient to get us through. Praise!!!

Just Fine

Well, I had my NovaSure procedure yesterday. Only time will tell if that will help my anemia and do away with the PMS. However, the down side to it is now I have no excuse. You know, the "I can be cranky if I want to because it's my time of the month" excuse, or "I can eat this whole container of chocolate ice cream because it's my time of the month" one, or the "I have to lay in bed all day long because I'm cramping (or have the hormonal headache) and can't cook and clean right now" justification. Yeah, that is gone now. Hmmm. I didn't think of that before.

And, someone really needs to remember to remind me if there is a next time that I don't handle anesthesia well. I can't seem to remember that. Could be that I'm under anesthesia and really don't have that great of a memory while drugged up. I was just fine yesterday when they sat me up in the little waiting room. My nose was still itching and it seemed as if I hadn't stopped talking since I went under. I also apparently talked to my doctor about his website in which I'm working on re-doing for him. I wish I knew what I said. It might have been profound! Anyway, I started having some cramping which is normal, so I was given Advil. Then nausea set in, which is also normal in some, so I was given Phenergan along with animal crackers and gatorade. But the pain was still very strong, so they added Vicodin to the mix. I waited uncomfortably for a long while for relief when my body decided to upchuck everything. Scott reminded me then that I did the same thing while under epidural having a c-section with Hunter (which I remember), and immediately after having my gallbladder removed (which I don't remember). So, yeah, next time, someone needs to remind me that I get sick. Then, I was administered some Zofran which helped.

We came home (longest trip EVER from Plano to McKinney) and Scott gave me 2 Vicodin and then I went to bed until around 3:30. I got up to see my kiddos and get hugs and kisses. Hadyn was so overjoyed to see Mommy that she would hardly let go of me to let me do anything. Hunter brought home an OUTSTANDING report card that I was looking over when missy would let me. I took a couple more pain pills around 4pm and then was good for the rest of the night.

So far today, I've been good. I've had just a little cramping but nothing like yesterday. My nurses told me that my uterus was "angry". Angry? No, I know what angry is. It wasn't angry, it was full blown #$%@ off!!!!! But today, we've made up and I'm just fine.

Again, time will tell, but I'm looking forward to not ever having "that time of month" again, even if it did blow my excuse mix out of the water. Whoo Hoo!!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Suburban Girl

I grew up outside a very small country town in the Texas Panhandle. The closest "big" city to us was Amarillo and going there to shop or eat was a big deal and had to be planned out in advance. I played basketball in other small towns you could smell (cattle stock yards) before you reached them and locals called the smell "money". My Dad told me that the other girls in those towns were big ol' corn fed girls that were up before dawn tending to the ranch before breakfast, which was why they could "womp-up" on my skinny "city girl" butt in our games. City Girl? What? Me? At the time, those were fighting words. Now, well, yeah, he knew. Of course, I'd love to be called skinny again.

Scott would love to live in the country. I wouldn't mind the peace and tranquility of it as long as I either have the resource of an airplane and runway beside my house to take me to town or live within a 30 minute driving distance of the city. Oh, I guess it's not so much "city" as it is the "suburbs". I really love the country hospitality of small towns, but I crave the newness of a growing suburban city. Mmmmmm, that new city smell, don't 'cha love it? Carrie Bradshaw may have her Manolo Blahniks to keep her happy, but watching a Sonic and a Home Depot being built across the street from my house, Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!, tater tots and a paint brush within walking distance - close to Heaven? Yeah.

We are visiting my family in the Texas Panhandle right now for Spring Break and we giggle and chuckle to ourselves about how bad the traffic is around here and that it takes forever to go anywhere (sarcasm dripping in buckets off these statements), but if the job was right, I think Scott might want to stay a while.

I don't know. Tater Tots may be down the street a little bit, but the nearest Home Depot is 45 miles away. Eeek!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Not Crazy After All - A Woman Thing

I had some blood work done a week or so ago during my annual "womanly" exam because I have been feeling so...well, not tired...but drowsy and sleepy all the time. I will have moments where I feel a slight pressure in my upper chest then I will get light headed - not dizzy - and then feel super drowsy. I just want to sleep all the time and it's stressing my family out. My doctor suspected anemia, but wanted to check other things as well. If you are not a woman reading this and feel squeamish about "that time of month" talk, well, maybe you should read elsewhere today. Otherwise...

Results came in and sure enough, I am anemic, along with low iron, nearly non existent vitamin D and D something, and low testosterone. All of which will lead to my sleepiness and no energy. So, my doctor recommended a NovaSure procedure which I am scheduled for at the end of the month. This is a safe uterine ablation procedure which will essentially stop my periods without side effects or having to take hormones and giving me back my blood volume. He thinks I am losing too much blood during my periods and is sure that I will regain my energy level. Another cool thing about this is PMS is reduced or done away, too. Yea! It's only for pre-menopausal women who are not having any more children. Since I had my tubes tied after Hadyn, I think I'm done.

I went yesterday for the procedural uterine biopsy and water sonogram to check for polyps or fibroids, which there were none. And I'll go back at the end of the month for the short procedure and hopefully, prayerfully, after that, I'll feel a return of my energy and my life. I love sleeping. I could consider it a hobby, but when it interferes with my life and my family, it's a problem.

But just knowing that it is something physical, and that I'm not losing my mind, has given me a little burst of life. I was in the yard today pulling weeds. Oh, I'm tired, but there is something about knowing that it's not in my mind that helps out a little bit. And now that I've got the kids asleep, I could go to sleep myself. But I'll stay awake for a little bit to see my hubby.

I'll keep posting to see how well this works when it's done.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

GoodSearch - A search engine that gives!

In doing some web-surfing the other day (I was on JeffGordon.com) I found this search engine that will donate money to specified non-profits for every internet search you do. I put in a charity we've supported before and put the search engine on my web browser toolbar. Easy to use, powered by Yahoo!, and helps fund charites, schools, churches, etc. Yeah. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. If you are interested, here's some info about it from their website: www.GoodSearch.com.

GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. It's a simple and compelling concept. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it's powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime!

How do I raise money for my favorite charity or school through GoodSearch?
Last year search engines generated close to $8 billion in revenue from advertisers. We've developed a way to direct some of that money to the causes you care about most. It's easy ... every time you search the Internet at GoodSearch.com, your charity or school earns money and the more you search, the more they make. Add up the money generated from all your searches and those done by the millions of other people who we hope will use GoodSearch, and we can make a real difference to the people and causes that need funds most.

How does it work?
* On the GoodSearch homepage, choose from thousands of organizations or add your favorite cause to our list.
* Search the Internet just like you normally would — the site is powered by Yahoo!, so you'll get high-quality search results.
* Fifty percent of the revenue generated from advertisers is shared with the charity, school or nonprofit organization of your choosing.

Are the search results going to be as good as the search engine I am using now?
GoodSearch.com is powered by Yahoo! so you'll get high-quality search results!

How much money could this generate for my charity or school?
We estimate that each Web search will generate approximately $0.01 for the designated charity or school (image, video and site-specific searches are not included). It quickly adds up! Here's an example of how much your organization can earn:
Charity or School Size: Small / No. of Supporters: 100 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$730
Charity or School Size: Medium / No. of Supporters: 1000 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$7,300
Charity or School Size: Large / No. of Supporters: 10,000 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$73,000

The sky is the limit. The more people use GoodSearch, the more money will be directed towards causes. There is no cap on how much money we will direct to charities.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Ouch!

Time is something that we all have to guard very carefully. It slips past us so easily if we aren't paying attention to it. And when you try to cram some activity into nearly every minute of your day, then it goes into lightspeed motion and you may end up having nothing but a bad attitude to show for it.

Scott is working through how to balance and set boundaries around his time right now. We should all learn how to do this but usually it takes a critical point to snap us into action. Since we did not home-school Hunter this year, the time that Scott and Hunter spend together has diminished to nearly non-existent. And the time they do have together can be a little rough since Hunter has picked up a little attitude issue this year (someone let me know, is this just a normal 6 year old thing or has my precious boy been body snatched?). Well, one day last week, after a stressful, rushed morning, Scott got very frustrated with a loud, very vocal Hadyn on the way to drop Hunter off at school and he snapped at her to hush. This bothered brother, who is very protective of his baby sister. When Dad was getting him out of the car, he told Hunter that he wouldn't be home until after Hunter was in bed that night. Our little boy responded with an under-the-breath, "who cares." Scott questioned him about that and said, "don't you care that you won't see me tonight?" Hunter turned and looked at him then declared, "No, we have pictures of you."

Ouch!

Yeah, that hurts. But the kid knew where to hit with his verbal punch. And it woke both of us up. Time is so precious. Kids are only kids once. Do we really want to rush them through it? I don't want to coddle him so much that he won't grow up, but he IS a six year old little boy.

School was delayed a couple of hours this morning due to ice on the roads. What did we do? We used our time very wisely. See for yourself:
100_1423

Enjoy your time - whatever you are doing!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Say What? Pt 2

I've often compared having a baby to having a puppy in the house. Now I think that parents of small children and drunk college students have some of the same phrases. For example, "Is that pee I'm stepping in?", "Huh, I just found a chunk of cheese in the dryer," and "Is that peanut butter in your ear?" As a matter of fact, I may have uttered these statements while in college, but I wouldn't know for sure as I was memory impaired at the time.

Yeah, I love being a mom. I actually enjoy these times and these bizarre phrases that are such a normal part of my day. Of course, I have a vague memory of enjoying those college days, too. And, I wake up every morning now feeling like I just got hit by the same freight train as hit me then. Of course, a beer glass can't give me a big hug and kiss with chubby little arms.

Ooooooh! I just can't wait to get more tomorrow and hear myself say more things that only another parent would understand!