Thursday, August 21, 2008

Anybody??

This whole year has been kind of a roller coaster, but since Mess 2 was born 11 weeks ago it seems like we are going from one "now what?" moment to another.

We have had:
  • jaundice, requiring the use of a billy blanket (Mess 2)
  • pink eye, a bi-later ear infection, a sinus infection, and an allergic reaction to the eye drops treating the pink eye, all at the same time (Mess 1)
  • gallstones, an ERCP, and a gallbladder removed (well, you know that one)

all of which required 13 visits to six different doctors, three visits to the hospital for labs/radiology, one four-night hospital stay, and more needles than I want to think about, but thankfully only one IV).

If you had asked a month ago I would have told you there was no way one IV would last me four days. Of course it took three sticks to get it started. Anyway.

We have fixed and/or replaced:

  • the A/C in the Civic
  • the battery in the Pilot
  • the bathroom window
  • the Pilot's rear bumper (a lady backed into me in the Publix parking lot)
  • the irrigation system for the yard
  • the laptop
  • the seal around one of the windows in the living room
  • the drainage area around the air conditioner
  • the upstairs air conditioner

We still need to fix/replace:

  • the irrigation system (it's still leaking)
  • the evaporation coil for the upstairs air conditioner
  • the water damage from the leaking window
  • possibly Hubby's cell phone
  • the laptop, but it's going to have to make it one more year

I have talked to my health insurance company, the home warranty people, the other lady's car insurance company, and my insurance company for both the Pilot and the water damage to the house.

We also have the "Things you are magically supposed to know" category:

  • That you don't actually have to call the health insurance company every time your hospital stay is extended, even though you are told that's what you need to do. You actually have a 10 day grace period during which they will automatically cover it as long as the doctor deems it medically necessary. I was told this after I called for the third time.
  • That moving to SC and changing your residency as required by a GA, you still have to pay out of state tuition once you no longer have said GA. To avoid this Hubby needed to file for Legal Residency status six weeks prior to the start of the semester. Since we didn't know that we were being charged out of state tuition until the bill became available three weeks ago, and the first phone call to the bursar's office informed us it was a computer glitch that would be fixed prior to the start of school, we found out we needed to fill out the form last week (school started today). I spent yesterday faxing copies of my driver's license, voter registration, car registration, SC tax return, and a letter from my employer stating that I do, in fact, work in SC and have for three years, to the bursar's office. Yes, all five were required, and yes, they all had to be copies of my information as he is my "dependant," regardless of the fact that his name is on the mortgage, car registrations and tax returns. We haven't had to send the children's birth certificates yet, but I'm not holding my breath. The funniest part of the whole mess? Even though Hubby doesn't have a GA this year, he's actually an adjunct faculty member teaching Music Appreciation, but that apparently doesn't count for anything.
  • That the home warranty people have 24 hours to have someone call you to schedule a time to come look at the broken A/C unit, but if you want to call someone else they will cover repairs as long as the repair is authorized prior the work being done, except that when you and the repairman call to get the repair authorized they tell you they won't authorize an emergency repair to an air conditioner unless it is more than 95 degrees outside, so they won't authorize any repairs until one of their people looks at it so they'll have someone call within 24 hours. Of course it doesn't matter that a 10 week old baby sleeping in a 90 degree bedroom is dangerous. Thank goodness the downstairs unit still worked, and the guy from the company we called was able to "patch" the unit till we can get it fixed. Right now they have said they will cover $70 of what is already a $700 repair, and it's still not complete. Additional calls to the warranty people have indicated that this might change, but if we don't have a paid for repair by tomorrow we will be writing a letter and cc:ing one of our attorney friends.

I'm also trying to get caught up at work, since I have only been in the building three weeks since May 12, and of course there's a whole list of fun things happening there, including a new PM who, after a month on the project, can't decide what he is actually going to do making it very difficult for me to figure out what I am supposed to do.

Also, Hubby didn't get a "real" job and the house is still on the market. Jobs for next year should start showing up soon, so we get to start all over again soon. We are going to leave the house on the market for now, but may pull it off for a few months and start over in January. Which means for the time being I still have to make my bed everyday.

So for those of you who saw my FaceBook status, these are the reasons I would like someone else to come be the adult. I am tired of dealing with all these people (not to mention writing checks) so if you would come do it that would be great (and if you would like to pay for some of it that would be fabulous!!).

I need a vacation...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Done!

Surgery is over, I'm out of recovery and back in my room waiting for lunch. I've never been so excited to order oatmeal in my life!

Next week I'll be back with fun stuff...

Progress

Surgery is scheduled for today, but we don't know what time yet. The doctor is probably not used to patients who get excited about the prospect of surgery, but I am ready to go home.

This also means I will get to have a bland breakfast tomorrow (probably oatmeal), which will be the first solid food I've had since Sunday night. Yeah food!!!

On the plus side I can't wait to see how much weight I've lost.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

In the meantime

I've played with some updates to the blog. I hope you like them!

Because it can't ever be simple, Part 3

Surgery got pushed again, so hopefully my enzyme levels will be down tomorrow so we can get this over with and I can go home Friday.

Needless to say I'm tired of the hospital and ready to go home, but this seems to be the best way to avoid complications from the gallbladder removal, so I'm not complaining.

Too much :0)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Becuase it can't ever be simple, Part Deux

So one of the possible complications of yesterday's procedure is inflammation of the pancreas, which of course happened. So my gallbladder surgery is now tomorrow, and I should get to go home Thursday.

It's probably for the best, as I was not doing to well with the anesthesia and this will give me a day to recover before I have to go under again. Hopefully the surgery will be in the morning, so I'll be up and able to post tomorrow afternoon.

Your prayers have been felt and are much appreciated!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Because it can't ever be simple

I'm laughing as I type this. I've just gotten to the point where it all strikes me as funny...

I met with the surgeon yesterday. It's never good when he starts with "They told you about the gallstones, but I have a surprise." Doctors should never use the word surprise, it's just a bad idea.

The surprise was that one of my gallstones is floating in my bile duct and if they don't get it out it could cause serious problems. The best way to do this is with an ERCD before they remove my gallbladder. So Monday is my ERCD, Tuesday is my gallbladder surgery, and what I thought was going to be a quick outpatient surgery has turned into a two night hospital stay.

My mom will be here Sunday to help Hubby with kids and me deal with all the medical information that is getting thrown at me. I've learned more medical terms this year...

I'll try and update as the week goes on, but at the latest when I get home Wednesday. I'm a little nervous about all of this, so prayers would be appreciated.