Miss W -->

 
   Saturday, December 29, 2007  

Whew!

Wow!  The Christmas whirlwind...but before I can get to anything, I need to send a hearty congratulations to Jen and Cait.  And of course, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my dear friend Amy.

We began our Christmas vacation by piling into the car on Thursday.  Somehow a drive that normally takes us 10-12 hours took only 9 hours!  INCREDIBLE!  We got out only ONCE during the ride to eat, use the bathroom, and change a diaper.  The lowercase was extremely agreeable and happy the whole way.  Although he would NOT allow us to turn the radio on, and we did have to put in a Thomas DVD for the entire time we spent on the Ohio Turnpike (about 3 hours).  Interestingly, he didn't watch it most of that time, but sang along to the songs and told us stories about the trains that he made up.  (One morning, Thomas saw Daddy!  And mommy!  He went to Mimi and Poppa's house.)

The holidays were lovely, if a bit different from our usual madhouse.  My grandmother isn't healing quite as nicely as she should, but she is healing.  Part of the problem is that her sugar levels aren't staying where they should consistently.  This could stem from the fact that there was no dissuading her from baking an extra dessert and eating at least one serving of each dessert present at EVERY meal.  I don't know what the numbers all mean, only that on 12/27, the visiting nurse tested her and it was 258.  Apparently to heal quickly and well it needs to be more than 100 points lower.  Huh.  And yet she is an adult woman and we can't just tell her no.  We can't stop her from doing things and making her own decisions about food.  And, as she said to the nurse, she still doesn't really believe that she is diabetic...despite the multiple insulin injections per day and the numbers that prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Grandma's memory is also very bad.  And she knows that she is forgetting things and it bothers her greatly.  So there is that.  But things are so much better than they were a few short weeks ago and for that I am extremely grateful.

Mr. W's phone call went well.  Extremely well.  So well in fact that he will be traveling to the company's headquarters with accountants in tow Thursday to examine the books.  And then we make our final decision and go through all the legal maneuverings.  Nobody expects there to be any problems -- the company owner is so confident of that fact that his health insurance plan is already sitting on my kitchen counter.

And holy shit am I in love with that insurance plan!  Our current insurance plan is a good plan...if you are a normal person with normal reproductive abilities.  But the plan sitting on my counter for us to peruse?  Covers everything.  It covers IUIs....injectibles...GIFT...ZIFT...IVF...ICSI.  Granted it's not unlimited in its scope (up to 3 IUIs maximum and 2 IVFs -- with transfer of 2 embryos max per procedure), but it's a damn sight more than most insurance plans in the US!  I haven't read it myself since we've been home less than 12 hours  and I had a cranky toddler to try to get to go back to sleep, but it looks good.  It kind of looks like I could maybe possibly use that...and I've got 10 years to decide since the infertility benefits expire at age 40.

Other things going on...I almost thought that this job coming back on the table was some kind of foreshadowing.  Mr. W has said the only way he could see me personally being pregnant again was if he worked from home...and then for the last two weeks I had severe nausea.  I didn't think much of it but he pointed out that it was almost like I was pregnant it was so bad.  And then the sore boobs happened.  And my period didn't come.  And I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Until finally, 7 days late, it showed up.  And the soreness went away.  I had some pretty intense cramping that I usually don't -- all while driving home yesterday.  Maybe it was something, maybe it wasn't.  Regardless, it's time to get my body back to normal.  I'm quite a bit heavier after the lowercase's birth than before -- I went from a size 4 to a size 8.  Maybe that has something to do with things.  Maybe not.  I don't want to go back on birth control -- I prefer to not take medications when avoidable (which includes all over-the-counter products as well).  I'd rather try to handle my body naturally.  And so I think it might be time to break out the ol' bbt and start temping and charting.  Not to try to become pregnant necessarily, but to start to understand my own body again...to give myself more of a clue when things are happening and why.

(And for those of you wondering...the 7 days late and my thoughts that maybe...I would have been happy if it had been something, but I think I just am not ready for that at this point in time.  I want to go on vacation in the spring that I wouldn't be able to if I were pregnant.  I want to drop the rest of this extra weight first.  I want things to be a bit more definite with Mr. W's job and not feel pressured to do something because we need him to be home for the lowercase while I'm stuck in bed.  In short -- BAD TIMING.  So I'm not exactly sad that it wasn't meant to be right now.)

   [ posted  @ 10:48 AM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (0) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "Whew!":



   Tuesday, December 18, 2007  

Oh my damn!

The job offer is back on the table.

Yes....this one.

Phone call tonight at 8pm EDT.  And so...we wait.

   [ posted  @ 6:35 PM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (4) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "Oh my damn!":
Wooohoo!! And FX FX FX!!
sounds like it was meant to be
Wow!

Sending lots of good thoughts your way (and the Mister's too) that this works out.

Please keep us posted :-)

P.S. Sorry for my lack of comments lately, but I was very happy to hear that your grandmother is back on track and feeling/acting like her old self. Wonderful news for her, for you, and for the rest of your family. It made me happy to read it the other day!
So, what happened?


 

Happiness is...

...watching your two year old "read" C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.

(Sadly, he wouldn't sit still for me to run downstairs and get the camera.  Next time.  For there will surely be a next time.)

   [ posted  @ 5:40 PM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (0) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "Happiness is...":



   Monday, December 10, 2007  

At last!

I'd like to thank each of you who have emailed, messaged or asked how we're all doing.  There is finally good news!

My grandma was re-admitted to the hospital last week.  She was hallucinating.  She was in a really bad place -- at one point she was "crocheting a hat" for her new baby...her first baby....my mom.  But at least she was sort of timely on that one as she probably was making that hat exactly 55 years ago in preparation for my mom's birth (her birthday is shortly before Christmas).

She was a mess for quite a while.  And then she woke up on Saturday...and she was my grandma again.  She's once again fastidious about her appearance.  She is prim and very, very proper.  She is beyond embarrassed that she hasn't been to the salon in three weeks to get her hair done.  She is horrified that the surgery affected the nerves that control bladder functioning and that she has accidents and a bladder that doesn't fully empty without catheterization every few hours.

But she sounds stronger than she has in quite some time -- months...maybe years.  She is ready to come home and get her Christmas shopping done and her house decorated.  If all goes well and they get all the family members living nearby trained to help her put in the catheter two or three times a day, she can come home Wednesday afternoon.

   [ posted  @ 3:34 PM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (2) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "At last!":
That's fantastic news. I hope she has many many more years to go.
Excellent, excellent, excellent. What a great Christmas present.



   Tuesday, December 04, 2007  

When do things get easy?

Grandma is back in the hospital after being home for 4 days.  She was (is?) hallucinating.  She is very confused and can't remember that she's taken her medication last even though that was less than 10 minutes ago.  She starts eating and then even though she hasn't finished a single slice of pizza is just sure she's eaten enough.  She's in intense pain (to remove the cyst, they had to kind of scrape around the spinal cord and so of course her nerves have abrasions -- at least, that's the best way that I can describe all the neurological blah blah blah from the surgeon).  Because of the nerve/spinal cord issues she doesn't have perfect control of her bladder.  She thinks she needs to pee very badly when she doesn't...sometimes when she does she doesn't know it until she's starting to go and stops herself.

They took her off of the medications she was on as they feel certain it is the medication causing all the (I can't bring myself to use the "dementia" word) forgetfulness, confusion and hallucinations.  She's been catheterized.  They are doing intense physical therapy -- her back problem started in June/July, so she hasn't been doing much and by November the "not much" was nothing.

Grandpa will now have to have hip surgery from pulling her up to stand and taking care of her.  He broke his hip 12 years ago and had a pin put in but is having severe pain in that area now and will likely need to have that repaired once grandma is better.

I spoke to Grandma this morning for the first time since the night before her surgery.  She doesn't like being confused and generally doesn't want to talk to people when she's like this -- instead she makes Grandpa handle all of the phone duties and then tell her repeatedly after what is going on.  She doesn't sound well at all.  She's very obviously drugged -- sounds very tired and weak.  But she does know some things.  She knows that it is nearing Christmas and that we will be coming home then.  But she doesn't know if she feels better today than yesterday but she said she thinks she is getting better and will definitely be up and around by Christmas.

The doctors are still of the opinion that her mental status is due to the medications and that she will come back to us.  I'm terrified of the alternative, so for now I'm (repeatedly) making the conscious decision to believe that that is the case.  And with therapy and time, her back will be better -- she already walks better than she has in six months.  So...we wait.  And we cry.  And we worry.  And we hope.  And we pray.  Maybe some of you can do the same?

   [ posted  @ 11:05 AM ] [ Post a Comment ] [ View Comments (4) ]
   [ E-mail this Post ]



  Comments about my post, "When do things get easy?":
Absolutely, lots of prayer, both for your Grandparents, and that G_d will give you strength to get through all of this. Also, my mom went through a period of confusion and hallucinations caused by overmedication, and once she was under a new doctor, and the medications were reduced to the minimum necessary, her mind recovered quite a bit and she had several more good years. Hope the same will be true for your grandmother.
Oh, this must be so hard for your family. I'm not a prayer, but will be sending your grandma (and you) good vibes.
thinking about you as I know you are me.
our thoughts are with all of you guys. hope she heals fast and you see a lightening of this load soon.


 
[=
Archives=]
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
February 2010
May 2010
June 2010
March 2011
April 2011
August 2011


[=Links=]
A Little Pregnant
Barren Mare
Broken or Not
BrooklynGirl
Chez Miscarriage
Fractured Fairytale
Hardscrabble
Here Be Hippogriffs
Horkin Ramblings
Never Ever Late
One Pink Line
The RE's Muse
Scrambled Eggs
So Close
Uncommon Misconception
The Unproductive Reproductive
Wasted Birth Control


[=Powered By=]


[=Designed By=]


Customized by Miss W
Scripts / Code by "Mr. W"


Send Miss W. E-Mail!