Friday, June 29, 2012

Well Water turns my skin and clothing orange!

I love my house. I love living in the country. I love that it's peaceful. Today I got to witness a fawn trapped in my neighbors garden. Poor thing was scared to death and couldn't figure out how to get out. 



Anyhow, I love living where I do, but I hate my water! It makes my clothes turn orange, it turns my skin orange, it makes my tub, toilet, and appliances orange. We even have filtered water. Although apparently it doesn't filter the iron. :/


So I've posted some photos agove. My right leg below the knee I've scoured until I was white again. Above the knee you can see where I scratched the orange off of me. The left leg is what it looks like after I shaved my leg. So I did get a little off in the shaving process. Unfortunately that very expensive blade is now toast. 

UPDATE: I also have another post that follows this article dated 7/27/12

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Kid's Bedrooms

I thought I would post some photos of two of my daughter's rooms. My mother in law helped me paint the fishes and she painted the tree and the safari room.




Also note in the fish room the hanging clothes. It is one of my crafty ideas that I'm proud of. I re-purposed the headboard and a footboard of a toddler room. My daughter didn't have a closet in her room, but I desperately wanted to hang up her clothes and I discovered the sleigh-style head board and foot board make a great and nice looking clothes hanger. I know, I'm talented!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Frustrations with Perceptions of My Shaved Head

Yesterday I had an appointment with a local surgeon. She was delightful cheery. The appointment actually did not last that long. It went well, but the doctor seemed to want to know more about my personal life just so she could put it into a file just to cite at a later date with the idea in mind, it would make us seem like we have more of a relationship than just doctor/patient relationship. 

I felt frustrated through some of her questions. She actually took the nerve to ask why I actually had my hair cut "so short". Keep in mind, my annoyance stems from the fact she's taking notes on me: my life, my preferences, etc. I guess I find it more normal for people to ask why I shave my head. The doctor using the words "so short" implies that she personally thought my hair was too short. 

Why can people circulate pictures all over Facebook and the web of women/teen/kids with shaved heads due to cancer and claim they're beautiful but since I choose to shave my head, I'm not beautiful? Shaving my head has been such a freeing experience and has opened my eyes to how brainwashed we are as a society to think the closer one emulates Rapunzel, the more beautiful they are. 

I find it refreshing and romantic that my husband loves me with or without hair. He has indeed taken his wedding vows seriously. He loves me no matter what. He loves me through my moods, loves me when I have to wear adult diapers because I can't hold my bladder when I have a cold, he loves me without hair, and he loves me even if I don't make it out of my pajamas by bedtime. I could hope that every woman can find a man like Joe. 

I have shaved my head several times since I began dating Joe. This last time, I said, "I think it's time to shave it again. " His only response was, "Please just don't go pay somebody $15 to do it. I'll do it for you instead." :D His only concern is the financial obligation, which is one reason why he likes me to shave my head. No buying expensive products to manage my hair. 

Anyhow, back to the main subject of a surgery date. It will be August 14th. I wish it were sooner so I can recover and get back to training for my 1/2 marathon, but I'll just have to train really hard leading up to surgery instead. 

 Me with only a few more inches of hair.

Me this morning with a freshly shaved head. I haven't even taken a shower yet and you wouldn't be able to tell!

So, according to my monitor, I'm actually getting visits to this page. If you are visiting, please just leave ONE word in the comment area to describe what you think of this blog thus far. Thanks!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Medical Update

Whoa! Where has the last 16 days gone?! A lot of it has been waiting for doctor's phone calls and doctor referrals. After I went in for the ultrasound, my doctor finally called me back and said, "Good news! You're intestines aren't spilling out of your hernia, but you do have fat coming through." 


Ummm.. You know, I just lost 45 pounds in the last 8 months and I still have my fat haunting me?! So they were going to refer me to a general surgeon, but I had contacted my OBGYN in the meantime. The good news to that was that I could lift again. Light weights anyways. I have, since having kids, had terrible PMS and a terrible time when my period comes because of my pelvis problems. So after talking to my OB and looking into all our available options, Joe and I determined having a subtotal hysterectomy  would be the route to go. I may be a young 27 years old, but Joe and I had both gotten taken care of so we wouldn't have any more children. 4 is enough to stretch the limits of our sanity, thank you! So I wrote an email to my OB and told him our decision and before I finished I typed in, "Also, is there anything we can do to fix my bladder leaking problem? It would be wonderful to play with my kids and not pee all over myself!" My OB's nurse called back a few days later (my doctor happened to take a 5 day weekend, as it would happen) and said that my OB wanted me to come in. 


Going into this appointment, I thought it would be just a "let's talk about the decision you made and discuss it in detail what it means" and maybe the signing of some forms. So I walk into the room and find myself face to face with a plethora of medical things sitting on the counter, just waiting to be used. 
I panicked, "oh goodness, what the HELL am I doing? WHAT are they going to do to me because I sure as hell didn't shave my legs. Hell, I don't even think I had time to take a shower before I left!"(remember, I have 4 kids age 6 and under) I pulled myself together and asked the nurse, "What is this all for?" She said, "You're doing a bladder test today." 


Oh joy, lets add this to the things I've done in my young 27 years! So after going through the routine with the nurse, I go to the bathroom and empty my bladder as much as I possibly can and of course I took the opportunity to make sure I didn't have any crazy things down there that would alarm the doctor and embarrass the crap out of me. I went back into the room and undressed from the waist down. My doctor comes in with a nurse and tells me what the procedure entails. This is how I went through the humiliation step by step, in the stirrups by the way:


They put a catheter in to fully empty my bladder and my doctor cheerfully exclaims, "Not much in there!" Yep, what can I say? I tried to do the best job I could peeing! lol
Then leaving the catheter in, they filled my bladder up with water and told me to tell them 1) when I first felt that I had something in my bladder and 2)when I felt like I couldn't hold anymore. Now, I don't know about you, but I always feel like my bladder is fine until I get up and try to walk around. So after they had their second cup of water poured into me, I told them I felt like I was fairly full. They took the catheter out, and said "OK, give me 3 good, hard coughs." I obliged and nothing happened. I figured it wouldn't. Next came the most humiliating thing I've had to do in my 27 years. They put one of those paper wraps on the ground and had me stand over it, buck naked from the waist down, bend my knees and have me cough again. I thought, I hope they brought their rain boots... Cough Cough gush


Yep, I could of told them that would happen. Hell, I could of done that on nearly an empty bladder. Yep, I flunked the test with flying colors. But the best news is, they are going to fix my bladder too. 


So after that, I waited a few more days and they called me and said, "We've set your surgery date to July 3rd." I was so excited, that's right around the corner. But I asked them, "That's also to fix the hernia right?" The surgery coordinator was clueless. So they said they had to still refer me to a general surgeon. The surgeon office called me and and gave me a date for July 3rd. Just for the consultation. I begged for a sooner date and they said they had a date in a few days with a different surgeon in their office. So, now my appointment is tomorrow. 


However, last night after waking up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom, I realized I have a bladder infection from the catheter. Yea for me! What a wonderful week: I have a nasty cold, my husband was supposed to be gone one week and turns out he's going to be gone two weeks instead of one, and my over the range microwave that's a year and a half old (and just out of warranty) went out. 


And people actually wonder why I have no hair. :D

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Discovery

So I think I'll be blogging about how creative I'll be getting soon. Yesterday, I had a friend over and I was showing off some of my "amazing abs" but she had to feel them through my kangaroo pouch that had carried my 4 children. She ended up giving me a good poke right above my belly button and exclaimed, "what is THAT?!" I felt and had no idea what the lump is that we felt.


So today, I went to the doctor. After some ultrasounds I found out I have an abdominal hernia. No lifting groceries, no lifting laundry, no lifting kids. How in the world am I going to manage this?


I am constantly lifting Rowen, my 20 month old, up and down. Joe works swing shift and so the duty of putting kids to bed is me. From the few people that I have told about my hernia so far, a lot of them have told me: "Well, Rowen is just going to have to become more independent." It's frustrating that they don't understand because even independent kids need help. I need to lift Rowen in and out of his crib and in and out of his carseat mostly. He can climb onto a kitchen chair but he's still not able to climb in the bathtub. 


When people give such advice, I feel it's a way that they're discretely telling me I am inadequate in trying to make my kids healthy, functioning humans. I know that's not what people mean to do, but it's the way it makes me feel.


So from the research I've done on hernias and the surgery that I am sure is to come, I'm going to be out a few months from lifting, working out, and other things. 


Now will be the time to discover who my friends are. Who will support me and helping me when I need it the most. 


I really should explain that I feel lame because I don't feel like I'm really in that much pain but the logical part of me is saying that I need to be careful and listen to the doctors. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

I OWE THIS BEGINNING TO MY FRIENDS

So several months ago, I had several friends tell me that I needed to start a blog. They say I have lots of good ideas. Lots of experiences to offer other people. Other mothers in particular. So I better start with who I am.


I am a woman. A wife. A mother of 4. I'm a creator. An inventor of good ideas. 


So of course... I want to immediately gush about my family. I have a super amazing husband who is an awesome father to our children! Serenity is 6, Ila is 4 (soon to be 5), Aviana is 3 and Rowen 1. I hear an endless amount of people that say having 3 girls and 1 boy must be hard. Taxing. Time consuming. Some of that is of course true, lots of other ways, untrue. It's hard but such a pleasure to have four extraordinary children!


It's funny that I'm starting this blog after some exciting points in my life. Marriage. Kids. Weightloss (45pounds-Thank You!). Training for a 1/2 marathon. Oh well, it's not like I won't ave any other exciting points to go through in my life. Those were just a few to name. Although I do hope I never have to get fat again and go through the weight-loss again. lol


Anyhow, I'm excited to see what this blog turns into...Thanks for joining the adventure!