Revenge of the Gallbladder

When I was pregnant with Max. I would get pains in my upper stomach below the breast. Sometimes it would radiate into my back, Or the left side. I thought it was because Max was always kicking me in that area.
After I had Max I continued to have pain. Sometimes I would wake up at night and be in a lot of pain. I really needed to go to the doctor and never did. Sometimes, us moms never seem to take care of ourselves. Please go to the doctor if you're having these kinds pains. Or you could have the terrible experience I had.
Monday night, November 9th at about 10:00pm I started having the most excruciating pain. I couldn't even breath. It was terrible! I told Shaun he needed to take me to the emergency room. You think if your going to be taken to the emergency in this much pain that your going to be helped.
I was wrong! I think I lost faith a little bit in humanity that night. It was an awful experience. Where is the CARE in Health care? They could see I was in so much pain and it was like they were robots. Programed to ask you the questions and then put you to the side until someone can get a moment to see you. I could barely answer the questions. The pain was so INTENSE! The nurse just stared at her computer and said in a rude tone, " I can't hear you." ARE YOU SERIOUS!! The people at the front desk, The nurse, The doctor, All of them thought it was my gallbladder. It still took forever to get the care I needed. Shaun got very heated a couple of times with them. It was awful!! He could see I was in so much pain and no one seemed to CARE.
It took forever for them to finally give me something for the pain. (Morphine and Toradol)
I realize they are dealing with a lot and see a lot of horrible things. I'm still a human bean. We cannot become so desensitized that we lose all compassion.
Even after they did the ultrasound and saw that it was my Gallbladder. They stuck me back in a waiting room, heavily drugged and extremely exhausted. To sit and wait in a chair. NO BED.
They finally gave me a bed to lie down in. Then I had to wait some more. We finally got to go home with a diagnosis of Gallstones. They gave me a prescription for pain meds and told me to follow up with a surgeon to have my gallbladder taken out. We got home at 4:00am.
I just want to forget the whole ordeal. It really was a HORRIBLE experience. The system needs work! AND government wants to take over Health Care? BAD IDEA!!! It would be even worse.
Thank you to Lindsey, Our neighbor, For taking care of Max for the night.
When we called the surgeon. She couldn't see us until next Tuesday. She would be in surgery all week. I ended up calling the doctors office Thursday because the area was still having pain even with the pain medications. The doctor said she would see me in between surgery. Her office called me when she was done with surgery. We hustled down to meet her before she had to go back into surgery. I was so THANKFUL for doctor Butler.
She said the stones were probably blocking the way of the bile and it's really inflamed. She said she would see if she could schedule to take it out the next day! When she got back to the hospital she would look up my ultrasound and give me a call if she could take my Gallbladder out.
She called us back and we were scheduled for surgery at 11:00am the next day! We needed to be at the hospital at 9:00am. I'm so thankful we were able to schedule the surgery so soon. I needed to get back to normal and take care of Max. No more revenge of the Gallbladder.
When I came out of surgery I felt really good. I felt better then I've ever felt coming out of surgery. I've been recovering. Thanks to pain meds. Which I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with. I'm now fine with out them. I hate recovering. I'm not a patient person about it.
I love feeling back to normal.

***When I was in the emergency room in the worst pain. A guy comes in and wants to have his cast taken off his leg. He travels around and it was time for it to be taken off. That's part of the problem! You don't go to the emergency room for something as stupid as that!! I was beyond annoyed about it!***

The BIGGEST loser

I'm the BIGGEST loser! I hope. Why would I possibly want to be the BIGGEST loser? Because I'm in a competition with some friends to see who can lose the most weight.
This is the push I need to get myself healthier and in shape. There is 7 of us in the competition. We started the competition Monday, November 9th. We weighed in on a wii fit and will continue to weigh in each week on Monday. The competition will last 13 weeks. It's based on the % of weight losed.
I'm so excited to get going! Because of my Gallbladder I haven't been able to get out and work out. The first week I lost 3.3 pounds. Awesome! Tomorrow we weigh in and I'm afraid I didn't do so well because I was down from the surgery. I'm so excited to get into a work out routine tomorrow! It's going to be hard through the holidays. I love the sweets! My middle name should be Chocolate. Wish me luck!!

Oh Yeah Ladies!

Let me just set the tone for you. Imagine Ferris Buellers day off. The song with the Ferrari scene. "Oh Yeah.........Beautiful............chick-a, chick-a."

For Halloween Shaun was not just any 80's dude. He was his brother Thom in the 80's. Thom had a really RAD mullet. Looked just like this.

80's Thom with future Thom

Future Thom taking it back to the future.

Mom, Can I have one??

Let's take this for a ride.

The witch

Woo hoo Witchy women.

HALLOWEEN FUN

MoNsTeR Cupcakes

These were really fun to make! Thanks Amy for the fun idea. You can get creative and make your own with whatever candy you think would make a great monster face.

My little Trick or Treater

Chocolate GHOST suckers

You can use Almond Bark or white chocolate chips. All you do is melt the chocolate. Add some vegetable oil to the chocolate so you can spread the chocolate easier.

Spoon out a ghost shape onto parchment paper. Add sucker stick, Then cover with more chocolate so it holds better. Make some eyes. I used red hots. Put in the fridge until hard.

PUMPKIN time

Cleaning out the guts





I carved a detail into the pumpkin. It looked really cool in the dark. I couldn't get a good picture with my flash on my camera. It was the first time I had done a design. Their really fun to do. I recommend that you get the really good carving tools. Not the crap cheap ones.

Pumpkin seeds

I roasted the pumpkin seeds in the oven. I just coated them with olive oil and salt. Shaun and I enjoyed them. Does anyone know of a good way to separate the seeds from the guts? That is a pain. I put all the guts and seeds in the sink with very cold water. The seeds are supposed to float to the top so you can scoop them up better. They did float to the top, But so did a lot of the guts. It took a long time to pick out the seeds.




Halloween block party

We had a Halloween block party at our house. We started at 8:00pm. We had soup, snacks, treats, and fun SPOOKY music. Thanks to all that participated! It was a fun Halloween/October.

October teeth fest!

Max now has his 2 lower teeth. Fully visible and looking so cute when he smiles. AND.......................His top teeth are coming in! His top right tooth has already made it's appearance. The top left is soon to follow. It's almost there! October teeth fest at our house!

Referring to the picture to my left. This is what I love most about the cooler weather. Snuggling Max up! I love those little caps!

Also, Happy Halloween!! I've been doing a lot of fun Halloween things! I'll have to post tomorrow about all the Halloween fun with lots of pictures! Monster cupcakes, Pumpkin carving, ghost chocolate suckers, roasted pumpkin seeds, costumes, decorations, and the fun block party I'm having at my house tonight! I Love Halloween!!

Utah TRIP------Part II

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch with my mom, sisters, and kids. I love enjoying the fun of the Halloween holiday.

My little Pumpkin. All dressed up for the occasion in orange.

The cousins

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!!














The Corn Maze

I went in with some of my nieces and nephews. They scattered every which way and left Max and I by ourselves. LOST!

I was pushing this little umbrella stroller through the rough terrain. I just wanted to get out of the stupid thing! LOL! I think I like Corn Mazes a lot more when there haunted. It makes it more fun.

Which way Max? I think the scarecrow is pointing the way. Get us out of here!

6 month check-up

My baby is a little over 6 months old and I can't believe it! He's 30 inches long (still over the 95%) and weighs 19lbs 14oz. (80%)

Because Max is so tall. Everyone we meet thinks he's older. I LOVE my TALL boy! I love everything about him.

Max and I got a little bug when we were in Utah. We thought we were rid of it. Then yesterday at his check-up. He had a ear infection in the left ear. The doctor said it wasn't too bad. He still gave us some antibiotic because Max is only 6 months old. My poor baby!

He also got 5 pokes yesterday! He got his regular vaccines. Then he also got the flu shot AND the swine flu shot. Tough day for my little guy. After the initial shots. He was fine the rest of the day.

On a side note. The day before Max's appointment the doctors office called to confirm the appointment. I cannot even tell you the feeling I get when the lady at the doctors office calls and says, "Is this Maxwell's mom?" It brings such joy to my heart to say "YES."

Maybe it wont be quite as fun if it comes from, Lets say, the police station, The principle office, or a neighbor calling to tell me what trouble Max has gotten himself into. Even then, I think my heart will always swell to say, "Yes, This is Maxwell's mom." Then I can be a mom and ground him for being naughty.;) Because if a kid never got in trouble. What kind of a boring childhood would that be?