Drama

I'm in Texas now.

Lots o'drama. Everyone is okay, though.

It just makes me tired.

Saturday excitement ;-)

I guess it has been a while since I wrote. Since then, lots has happened.

Ky is home (hooray!!!!!!) and I've been soaking her up, trying to be with her enough so that I'll have lots of happy memories to tide me over once she returns to school.

That event will come very soon. Probably the middle of August, which is waaaaay sooner than I realize. She'll move into her own apartment and I am very excited for her.

Today we braved Ikea to go buy up all the furniture we needed from there. Today they had some special event that allowed us to get breakfast there free. We made it barely under the wire, but we all got eggs, bacon, potatoes and coffee free. Even usually, that would cost only about a buck. I think they figure if they can get some of us in there before noon, we'll stay until lunch and eat lunch there before buying lots of stuff. Ikea sometimes gets a snooty look from folks because lots of their furniture is cheap, as well as inexpensive. We had done a lot of looking around, however, and I don't know why anyone would buy brand new furniture for their college student if it wasn't fairly cheap.

A couple of weeks ago, Ky and I went to every place I could think of to try to look for inexpensive furniture. I had found several items on Freecycle, but we don't own a truck or SUV and I had no way of collecting that furniture, plus it wasn't usually very good. Ky had taken her time and found exactly what she wanted. We purchased it all and once it was all in her little Scion xB, there was barely enough room for her to sit in the back seat and I was sitting a bit sideways in the front seat with my knees pressed firmly against her glove box. Kim was driving and I warned him not to hit any bumps or I'd be left knee-less. Thanks be to God that we all made it home safely and so did the furniture. Boy, am I happy to say that her apartment is on the ground floor. :-))))

We had a great time today. It will be so sad to see her leave again, but we'll get along. I hear from other parents that we'll eventually not mind her being on her own. Well, we'll see. I'm not so sure.

She and Kim built her a bed frame this afternoon. She is getting rather handy with tools. Oh, and she made us another cheesecake. Now, do you see why I'm reluctant to let her leave???

Good Day

Today was a very good day.  

We all went to Tysons Corner and saw Night At the Museum:  Battle of the Smithsonian.  

Been to the Smithsonian a lot of times.  It was fun to see the museum, even though most of the show wasn't shot there.   

It is good to know that decent movies can still draw a crowd.  

People-Pleasers

I just heard a sermon stating that everyone is a people-pleaser.   It went on to state that there are two types of people-pleasers:  Those who want others to like them and those who want to be successful.  

The first will do what others want them to simply to try to stay on the "good" side of the people around them.  Sometimes, though, they are forced to choose between people because one person will convince them that to be correct, the people the person used to please was wrong and should now be avoided/displeased/punished/whatever.  (I've seen that happen quite often as children mature and form their own relationships.)

The second will do whatever is necessary to achieve their own idea of success.  That would mean that in the first example, this people-pleaser is the one who tells the first person to avoid/displease/punish/whatever the earlier person that was that person's ideal.    This person is a Donald Trump type of person.  Not really interested in individuals, just in his/her own success.  

I'm still mulling this one over.  What do you think?  

Question

Why are Spring Breaks so short????

The Cadillac of Stents

I'm baaaack!  

The hospital room was weird.  I must admit, the cath lab was amazing.  I was ushered into a small waiting room with a TV that was stuck on the Lifetime Channel (ugh) to await the procedure.  I was given all the preliminary stuff to do, like answer forms, ask questions and get stuck.  As IVs go, this one was about an 8.  They are finally using flexible catheters for IVs now and that makes the whole thing more tolerable.  I still get itchy from the tapes and transparent dressings sometimes.  Must have been Tegaderm.  Forgot to put that on my "allergies" list.  

The fancy chair/bed I was on was wheeled down this hall and that until we went into "lucky number 5" cath room.  This room was awesome.  It was spacious and looked to be uber-clean.  There was my royal bed in the center, up on a little bit of a pedestal.  I was warned that the room was going to be very cold, but I'd be warm.   On top of the bed was a weird air mattress.   It looked like it was made out of that blue and white plastic/paper stuff you see all the time in medical facilities.  As I climbed onto it, I found that it was filled with very warm air.  It was so much nicer than a cold, hard table!  I just snuggled into the warmth and relaxed.  Little things really matter at times like that.  

Then, the doctor who was to perform the procedure called in over a loud speaker.  It was like he was announcing me.  Name, birthdate, etc.  Was I blushing?  Probably.  Not sure what all of that was about, since everyone else had already checked my ID.    Doc made his grand entrance and I got REAL comfortable via my IV.  I sometimes looked at the four monitors, but couldn't really tell what they were doing.  They had good ol' classic rock music playing, so I was quite at ease.  Pretty soon, they were done and I was transferred back onto my crazy bed/chair for transport to a recovery room.  

The recovery room (no. 37) was another weird room.  It was obviously supposed to be a temporary room because there was no toilet and NO SINK.   The patient bathroom was down the hall, so I had to plan my every sip of water.  It was a trade-off:  was I thirsty enough that I would be willing to walk that far just a few minutes later?   They had minimal nursing staff.  Not really a good thing, IMO.  I had two nurses the first day because one was training the other.  Later, I found out that they were pretty good.  By that, I mean that I got my meals.   

I spent the first six hours lying in one position on the crazy bed/chair.  Not very comfy.  Later, when they changed the bed, they mentioned that this bed/chair was one of the inferior, lumpy ones.   Couldn't they have found that out earlier?  

During the six hour wait, I had lunch.  It was either pasta or salad with chicken strips and soup.  For some reason, I choose the salad and soup.  Poor Kim had to feed it to me while I was lying flat on my back.  I wonder what they do when someone chokes while doing that?  

For dinner, they brought me a tray.  I noticed it was the pasta meal I had turned down earlier.  Fortunately, the nurse noticed it, too, and replaced it with something else.  Don't recall what that was.   

The area I was in got rather deserted over the course of the evening and I don't think there were more than a handful of us in rooms.  The heart catheterization has changed from being a treatment to being a diagnostic tool, so those who don't get subsequent treatment (balloon, stent or bypass) go home after that 6 hour torture.  (Where was the comfy air bed then?  Couldn't I have just kept mine since it looked disposable?)  

My night nurse was Tony.  I only got a 12 hour stint with him, but my guess is that he gets a minimal amount of work done during his shift.  I visited the bathroom several times during the night since sleep was pretty impossible and I don't think I saw him more than once.  Most of the time, there was no one at the nurses' station.  Glad I didn't have a problem.    When my morning nurse arrived, I waited for her to come in and introduce herself.   Eventually, I went out and waited at my door to see who would claim me.  She was nice enough, but this daytime staff clearly enjoyed each others' company.  They were all young and gabby.  Lots of laughter and fun.   "I'll be in in a minute,"  she said several times.  She did finally arrive and I mentioned that it was 8:30 and inquired about my breakfast.  "Oh, you haven't eaten?"  She claimed that she'd like to become a diabetes educator and I couldn't help but think she'd need to have a better idea of what time it was before she does that.  She was very nice, but not as competent.  It was definitely time for me to go home.

The doc arrived to set me free.    He told me I had 99% of my main artery on the left side blocked, so he put in a balloon and a stent.  I have a friend who works for a stent company, so I asked him what kind.  He told me the name of it and the nurse remarked, "as stents go, you got the Cadillac!"  

I hope to put in many more years with this Cadillac before I need anything else.  It seems my heart was being efficient and storing up all the plaque in this one spot and my right artery had sent over two smaller blood vessels to feed the muscle that was being deprived of blood.  (Thank God!)  

I appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers.  I hope to be back to normal as soon as possible!  

It's always something

For over a year, a friend at work and I have been walking for about 30-45 minutes each day instead of lunch.  It works out well since we are both close in age and I have really enjoyed getting to know her better.  She and I have completely different backgrounds and yet we work well together and tolerate each other well.  Okay, she tolerates me.  I can't recall a time I had to tolerate anything from her.  :-)  

In mid- to late January, I started feeling a strange pain in the area of my sternum during our exercising and since it didn't stop me from walking, I would continue on.  The pain seemed to be deep in my chest--almost in my back--and would radiate to my shoulders and finally to my fingertips.  

It has been ten years since I was last treated for a slipped disk and after that surgery was told that I'd likely have more problems.  Due to this and the fact that the pain seemed similar, I assumed this pain was caused by another slipped disk.  

I got an appointment with my neurologist and with my cardiologist.  I had quite convinced myself that the problem wasn't a heart problem since it only accompanied exercise.  The neurologist tested me by using the dreaded EMG  (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromyography  for the description if you really care about it!) but during this procedure I have to lay on a flat surface and first the technician uses something that I call a Taser because it is two little electrodes spaced about an inch apart and they put them on different parts of your arms, hands, shoulders, etc. and zzzzapp!  You get this hideous electrical charge.  That is the nice part of the test.  Then, the technician is replaced by my doctor, who pulls out some thin needles.  He sticks an electrified needle in a muscle and tells me to push or pull, which causes that muscle to contract, causing pain to me and a funny scratching sound to entertain the doctor.  That noise is followed by, "Oh, that one is a 0.4, which is not to much worse than the 0.45 you had last time."  All the while, I'm hoping he is learning a lot more from this than I am, since all I learn is that I wish this was over.  

EMG over, doc says, "Well, I didn't see what I was expecting to see, so let's do some blood  work and an MRI."  $$$$$

In the meantime, the pain persists, so since I get the feeling that this pain might not be due to my disk's displeasure, I reschedule the cardiologist.  I had gotten an apointment in February, but had to cancel it due to my rushed visit to Texas to see my father, who had suffered a heart attack.  

These days, when I call a doctor, it isn't the pleasant, "Oh, hello, let's see when we can get you in--hey, how about later this week?" of yesteryear.  No, it is, "Well, the doctor is booked up until mid-May.  What symptoms are you having?"  At that point, you are given the option of saying "nothing" and getting an appointment sometime in July or describing your symptoms to everyone within earshot.  For me, that means all of my co-workers because doctors' hours have become similar to bankers' hours.  I told the receptionist that I was experiencing chest pains, but was sure they were something else and she told me she'd call me back.  About ten minutes later, she said she'd told the doctor, who told her to fit me in the next day.  Sheesh.  Really, they weren't that bad!

The doctor was no-nonsense and direct.  "You had a nuclear stress test in July that was completely clear and it is odd that something would suddenly crop up like this."  Whew.  Just as I had suspected!  It wasn't heart-related!!  "...but I want you to schedule a heart catheterization next week just to be sure."  What??   Not one of those!  All I've heard is that the ones my parents have had were awful and painful and dangerous and scary.  The doctor told me that if I didn't want to go in for the catheterization right away, I should at least get another stress test and THEN have the catheterization.  Seems like she wanted to sell that catheterization, didn't it?  

I had the stress test.  This time, however, they wouldn't let me leave until they had the doctor talk to me.  He told me I have a blockage that worsens with exercise and I need the catheterization as soon as possible.  So, here I am, waiting for said catheterization on Tuesday morning.  And feeling like a walking time bomb.  

The amazing thing is that I have only recently started having chest pains when I have not been exercising.  So, by exercising, I got a head start on this!  I guess that is a reason to exercise I had never considered.  

No one at work would let me do anything.  Dear husband is keeping a tight rein on me, too.  (I kinda like that!)  I have, however, been touched by the many words of encouragement I've heard from friends and family and co-workers.  My small group is determined to see me through this, despite the fact that each of them has worries enough of their own.  

I am blessed to be surrounded by so many people who care for me.   I've never thought that I ever had many friends, and I certainly have never had someone who I considered to be a best friend except the man I married.  God provides, though.  

I ask that you keep me in your prayers.  

Thanks.