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Joy of Living!

I love reading Just for the Joy of It at Good, True and Beautiful on Thursdays. I missed it last week because I was in the hospital. But I can come up with a ton of "Just for the Joy of It's" today. I'll share a few.

Starting with the Conga Line….Hubby had helped me shower today (that's joy in itself!), and was helping me down the stairs as it puckered me out. He walked in front of me and I held onto his shoulders. The Smart One yells out, "Conga Line!"

A smile, Just for the Joy of It!

Cuddling with the Drama Queen and watching "Tammy and the Bachelor."

Begging Chicken Noodle Butt to stop talking, but secretly smiling inside.

Sitting with my eldest next to me; not really talking much but surely enjoying his company.

Watching the Talented One and B-boo secretly giggle together and then burst out laughing; having no idea why, but it gives me joy to know they are.

Stealing a kiss with hubby.

Explaining to the Drama Queen the difference between a "private kiss" and a smooch.

Visits from friends.

The love of friends; the meals that have been brought, the phone calls, the help.

Baby steps every day; it's those little accomplishments that bring me joy!

Laughing, talking, singing, loving; living.

God is good.

JustfortheJoyofitcopy

Humor in All Things

It's interesting being stuck in bed; at the mercy of you're family. The home nurse told them to watch for a few things:

Fever

Chills

and craziness. As in, if I started saying or doing crazy things, they need to call the doctor.

Those of you who know us well, stop laughing!

I've put up with all kinds of *crazy* jokes. "Oh, should we call the doctor?"

It's worse when I know in my head what I'm trying to say, but I just can't get it out correctly. And I can't seem to remember what day it is. I am totally not in control.

My husband likes that.

B-boo and Hubby have learned how to administer my antibiotics through the picc line. Hubby likes to joke about air bubbles, while B-boo takes her job very seriously. (Hubby is serious, too, he just likes to find as much humor as he can.)

We have mini celebrations of accomplishments.

"Look, I can lift my feet up by myself!"

"Look, I can get into bed by myself!"

"Look, you don't have to push me up the stairs anymore!"

There's humor in how to position my pillows.

Humor in the bruises and holes in my arms. Ah…there's fun with that one.

Humor in grossing out some of my kids with the picc line.

Humor in who's really in control now that I have no control. 🙂

Humor in that breathing contraption thing; they love to torture me and encourage me to hit my mark the correct amount of times. And they know I can't chase them down, so they find humor in that!

For now, they're in charge. I guess that's a good thing. They've had to have learned it from someone, right?

Yup, humor in all things.

She Lives

It's been nine days since I first went in for a simple surgery. It's taken nine days just to have enough energy to sit up with a bit of a clear head and type this. B-Boo may have to finish it, as I seem to think I have energy and then quickly realize it's been zapped out of me.

Day 1; surgery went well.

Day 2; I'm told I'm going home. Then, told I have an infection, I'm staying. (Seems to make since because I tell the nurse the surgery site is starting to burn.) Then I"m told the levels are going down, HMO wants me home. So home we go.

Day 3; I'm exhausted. A little confused because I usually snap back quickly and I can't seem to stop shaking or lift my head off the pillow. It becomes hard to open my eyes. I start to not care, but I have two children laying in the room with me and I try hard to focus. I finally muster enough energy to have one of them take my temp. Fever. We call the doctor; he says go to the ER.  By the time I can tell hubby what we need to do I can barely walk. I start to wonder how we'll ever make it to the ER. I'm so nauseous I just want to be left alone. I vaguely remember them dragging me to the van and crying as we head out. By the time we got to the ER, both hubby and I are covered in vomit, so they take us back right away. By this time, I really don't even care anymore. They figure out I have an abscess and admit me.

Day 4: Early in the morning, they transfer me to a room. The nurse tells me that they've called in an Infectious Disease doctor, an internist and my surgeon. They are testing for staph. They know I have sepsis and an abscess. I call hubby.

Days 4, 5 & 6 are spent in extreme pain and whirlwinds of semi-consciousness as meds and antibiotics are poured into my system. HMO wants to sent me home on Day 5, but the doctors refuse. Finally, after more tests on Day 6, I am sent home with a pic-line. For the next 14 days, I will have antibiotics run through. A nurse comes daily to teach hubby and B-boo how to administer the antibiotics. I'll have weekly blood level checks.

I'm at the point where my brain feels like it's starting to work, but nothing else will listen to me. Friday wasn't so bad, but Saturday was rough. The nurse says that this is how it works until the antibiotics really kick in. She reminds us that we're lucky I paid attention to my body on Monday and went in; that this could have killed me. I'm reminded to take it easy, rest, and give it a lot of time.

As if i could do anything else.

We have been so blessed. Friends haven't hesitated to jump in and help wherever needed. I have felt so much love and compassion over the past several days as my family has been taken care of so that they can take care of me.

My brain is starting to fuzzle again, and B-boo will update as much as she can. Thank you for your prayers!

update from B-Boo

Once again, another crazy week. The is B-Boo updating everybody since well… My mother cant. And shouldn't wont
be on the computer to update you for a little while longer. But when
she gets on you'll have more details. Basically this is how it all went
down.

It was just to supposed to be a surgery, take a few weeks to heal, don't listen to doctors orders. All simple and easy stuff right? HA! nope not in our family.

This
was Saturday the 13th. Today's Thursday, 5 days later. She just got
home from the hospital, Thursday night at 6 PM. Saturday morning she
had surgery. Punky picked up The Drama Queen and The Smart one and took
them to the dentist. The Drama Queen had two root canals, and the Smart
one had 6 teeth pulled. I think. Saturday evening Chicken Noodle Butt pulled
out two of his teeth. Sunday evening she came home. Monday evening she
went BACK to the hospital. And now were on Thursday and she just got
home.

I'm
not 100% sure on what my father (hubby) wanted me to update you all on.
But soon she'll be on and updating you on everything(: If there is a
new thing in the next couple of days…. Well there shouldn't be. Well this was interesting. Thank you and sorry for my bad grammar, spelling, English stuff.

love always

~B-boo

Yes, HPN really does this!

True Story #1

Call from my surgeon this morning.

"You're not going to like this. HPN should approve your surgery within a couple of hours, however, they won't let you have the surgery at the hospital."

"But my doctor's don't go to the other hospital."

Later, I speak to the hospital. They're complaint? Well, HPN is agreeing to the surgery at the hospital and agreeing to pay the doctor, but they refuse to pay the hospital. OY!

We finally got it in writing that the hospital will get paid, too. God is good.

Later in the day………..

True Story #2

I get a call from surgeon #2 in regards to my surgery. He has switched over to a new office, which is good, because I get to keep him! I had informed HPN this morning that I wanted to keep him as my primary, especially since he is doing my surgery.

So anywho, the doctor's office called me in regards to my surgery. While I have them on the phone, I ask her about my biopsy results. I told her that I was simply told I did not have cancer and have never been told anything else. She puts me on hold; comes back and says the doctor is requesting that I come in so he can give me my results in person, showing me the reports and making sure I take a copy with me. Then she transfers me to scheduling.

The scheduler asks me my insurance. I tell her HPN. She wants to know if I've picked them as my primary. I say yes. She wants to know when the effective date is. I tell her I don't know, they didn't tell me that this morning when I picked him. She says I can't see him until HPN has finished their paperwork, because they won't pay for the appointment. I tell her that they are paying him to do my surgery on Saturday. She says it doesn't matter, I can't see him in the office per HPN until they have added him officially. I ask how long that takes. She says 30 days. I laugh hysterically. Then I tell her that it's ridiculous that I have to wait for THIRTY more days for an appointment to get my results because my insurance won't let me see the doctor that is doing my surgery in TWO days. She puts me on hold.

Next thing I know, the surgery scheduler is back on the phone. She says she's talked to the doctor and he told her to tell me that he understands and that he is personally going to bring copies of my records with him and go over the results of my biopsy with me on Saturday before my surgery.

True Story #3

While I was on the phone with HPN this morning, I mentioned that my son's dermatologist is on their provider list and that he is supposed to have an appointment in a couple of weeks. She says I can't keep it because it won't get paid. She states that I have to see his primary first. (That's a 30 day wait). Then, the primary has to refer him back to the dermatologist that he has an appointment with. (another 30 day wait.) Then he can see the doctor.

So let me get this straight…they are paying more money, to make him go to yet another doctor, just so he can go to his first doctor, because they are trying to save money. Yeah, that makes a lot of good, common sense!