Well, there has been a whole lot going on here in the last week. My mother is meeting me on Friday in Atlantic City, NJ to see Jethro Tull as a birthday present to me. I don't know why this came about, and I am not sure why I am so happy about it because of the feelings I have had about the whole situation with my mother over the last several years. It is one of those things that I have really wanted to do since I was about three years old. She knows that. One of the things that had my life went a little more according to my own vision would have been a natural occurance for me and my mom. We spent a lot of time during my childhood listening to music together. In fact, I learned flute because I wanted to sound just like Ian Anderson. It is a damned shame that after nineteen years I don't sould like him at all. More or less I still sound like I did in high school. I am hoping this is some sort of bonding attmept. I hope it is a good sign that she actually misses me and does give a shit. Anyway, it is going to be just the two of us. We are going to kill some time before and after like grannies at the slot machines and looking around. I am pretty freaked out about it. I have never been away from home alone. I went right from her house to Terry's apartment. I have only flown a couple of times since and each time there was someone at the end of the long hallway from the plane to the terminal to take care of me. There was no big wandering around finding things by myself. This should be interesting, to say the least. I won't be there long though. I come home the very next day. Which suits me just fine. My baby and all my monkelets will be home with me for an extended weekend as Sunday is my birthday and Mr. Monkey has Monday off.
I bought, this and this today. It wouldn't have been so wacky except that I need the first top for the concert so I had it shipped Next Day and had to pay like $30.00 or more for shipping. Ugh! Oh well, I paid for it with money I actually have so I guess that is one consolation. I bought a little something else too. It is actually from the bridal collection and I am not actually still considered a bride, am I? At any rate it is still very pretty and I am approaching my tenth wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks so I thought it would come in handy. Because...
Mr. Monkey is taking me here for our anniversary. We are staying in the cabin called "Laurel View". It is going to be great. We are taking the children too. I figure it will do us all some good to get some fresh air and the kids need some outside time. So we will wear them out sightseeing all day then they should sleep like logs by sundown. If you know what I mean :) We are going to be there for five nights. It is so beautiful up there. I absolutely cannot wait!
Posted by gwendolyn on August 26, 2002 at 08:20 PM
gw3nd0lyn: we are scraping the bottom of the barrel today. girls are eating whole grain pancakes with no syrup
gw3nd0lyn: they all had tomato soup for breakfast
Hung3rM00n: thought it was payday yesterday
gw3nd0lyn: it was
gw3nd0lyn: but i am not taking three starving kids to the grocery store
gw3nd0lyn: that would be QFU suicide
Hung3rM00n: i'll take yer word for that
gw3nd0lyn: Savannah is trying to convince me to let her put chocolate syrup on her pancake
gw3nd0lyn: ever go to the store hungry and buy more stuff than you needed? taking three hungry kids who aren't exposed to that much junk food except on Halloween and Easter and who have absolutely no concept of money to the grocery store is only for amateur mothers/wives/QFUs
gw3nd0lyn: they are the ones that sit around afterward and wonder how they ended up with shit like Trix flavored yogurt in a squeeze tube and vampire bat shaped marshmallow-like crap in their cereal
Hung3rM00n: LOL
Hung3rM00n: what is Trix?
gw3nd0lyn:a cereal we have had here since i was little featuring a fucking rabbit tripping on acid and some multi colored berry flavored puffed balls of sugar and battery acid
Posted by gwendolyn on August 23, 2002 at 04:14 PM
For all of you keeping tabs on my womanly physical woes, a follow up trip to the doctor revealed that the continued leaky pipe syndrome I had been experiencing might actually be normal for a few months while the swelling goes down in the area and the blood vessels shrink from the embolization. He also concluded from pushing around on me that the spot on the right side that used to be very swollen and painful is no longer either of those things. I gathered from his approving nod that this is a very good development. He did say that if the leaky pipes continued after a significant amount of healing time then we would have to consider going ahead with the major parts removal surgery. Considering the fact that I have been feeling better over the last few days and have had quite a bit more energy than I usually do, I am trying to be optimistic about it. I have lost two pounds since the last time I was in there! I hope it wasn't all hair. Also, he doesn't want me to go see a Urologist after all. It seems that he never gave that order to begin with and that some lady in his office just came up with that one on her own. He did give me three stronger pills to take for the lingering kidney infection and told me to call him if they didn't help. However, I magically woke up this morning sans the horrible tears welling up in the eyes, praying to the gods,cursing-like-a-sailor,lamaze breathing, hard surface gripping pain when I go like I had yesterday I thought I would just keep them and wait and see what happens.
I tried to recreate the salad I always get when I go to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It has spinach, orzo pasta, capers, black olives, diced tomatoes, chopped sun dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and a roasted garlic lemon vinaigrette. I didn't have any pine nuts this time. I threw in some baby carrots. I did roast the garlic with olive oil and fresh chopped basil and make the vinaigrette myself. It is pretty good. Word to the wise though, don't toss the spinach with the rest of it until you are going to serve it. It tends to get sort of wilted if it sits too long in the refrigerator before being served. I guess that is common sense. I happen to have had to find out the hard way.
After a call to the main customer service department of the company that owns the apartment complex where I live, a brief conversation with the manager of the complex and the exchange of her personal cell phone number should I need it day or night, and a lot of apologizing and reassurance on her part that the situation is taken care of, I do believe my air conditioner is fixed for good. This is a really good thing.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 21, 2002 at 05:52 PM
Now can I run around screaming at everyone saying "I told you so! I told you so! I told you I am not crazy!"?
Posted by gwendolyn on August 13, 2002 at 04:49 PM
The hospital bills and insurance penalty have come back to haunt me. Physical problems just go on and on. I thought it was all sorted. I was so so very wrong. It feels like I am waking up in some sick twisted version of the movie Groundhog Day over and over and over. The air conditioiner is frozen for the fifth time in 24 hours. It is hot in here. I have a lot to do. I am too depressed to do anything. The girls won't move off the couch. Logan is sitting at the table making his schoolwork drag on forever. I want to sleep. Somehow sleeping makes it all go away for a while.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 02:28 PM
Yay! The kidney infection seems to be finally going away. Aside from some minor leaks which Dr. Z says is standard, the plumbing job they did last week seems to be holding up well too.
We barely moved off the leather sofa away from the front of Mt. Bigasstvscreen all weekend aside from dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Grand Cafe and a small shopping spree for Mr. Monkey on Friday night. I went to the grocery on Saturday night. What a nightmare. I think I need to just give up on that entirely and have it delivered every time. Today I started out with good intentions. Kids are working hard on school work and I was cleaning out my closet. Until I decided I needed to update my Victoria's Secret wishlist with all the panties and bras you could ever want to cram into one drawer, satin robe and slip, and several items of clothing and a few pairs of boots and shoes. It sucks to be broke! (She says because she spent $120.00 this morning having her Jaguar washed, waxed to a slippery silky shine, and the leather and wood interior detailed)
It is tough being me.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 12, 2002 at 03:16 PM
I haven't updated about how wonderful and recovered I feel after having all my arteries plugged up because I have been one crabby bitch. I am completely pissed off because just as I am getting my faulty wiring all fixed I come down with a kidney infection that has left me feeling like I have been hit by a truck. I have been on medication for it for three days. I am supposed to make an appointment to see the Urology department at the hospital soon. Dr. Z doesn't want me to go in to see them yet because I am not healed up enough from everything I have just been through to have them poking around on me. As of yesterday the Macrobid wasn't helping. I know this because the prescription tablets of Phenazoprydine I have weren't working either. I bought a new pack of Uristat last night and loaded up so I am numb now. For all of you inexperienced in the art of being constantly sick, that means I can't tell anymore if the Macrobid isn't working or not because I have drugged myself up on pain medication. I still feel tired and crampy but the urgency and burning is gone. Lovely thought isn't it? So, I get to make my rounds in yet another department of the hospital to amaze and entertain the staff. I am sure the accounting department just loves the idea of Mt.Gwensbigassrunningtab.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 09, 2002 at 12:45 PM
Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) in the Uterus. That is what I have. Well, the uterus which is not there and all of the parts that are left in there and the uterine artery.Thankfully, I also have three very beautiful healthy children and a wonderful husband. If not for them, I would be a very broken woman right now.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 05, 2002 at 03:08 PM
him: "Do we have any sugar, Baby?"
me: "I am your Sugarbaby?" *smile*
him: "That's not what I said."
me: "That might not be what you said, but that's what I heard.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 03, 2002 at 06:52 PM
Well...I lived.
The procedure went something like this... Went in and got admitted and went to pre-op and got prepared to go in. They took me into a room that was as cold as a freezer and then put me on a skinny table and strapped me down with velcro. Then they got most of my torso all bare and painted me red with betadine. (I think they thought it was a party.)Then they shot me full of demoral and did the procedure. I was sedated but aware and not comfortable. They then punched their hole in my artery on the right side where my leg connects to my torso and then snaked this wire all through me to get to the place where they were going to place these coils that release this stuff, whatever it is. My eyes closed about half way through it but I wasn't quite asleep. I could still hear what was going on. The last twenty minutes or so I was getting very uncomfortable but couldn't open my eyes or voice my pain because it felt like I was paralyzed. Finally, I got myself together enough to find my voice and then they spent a few minutes finishing up while I began to panic on them and then shot me full of meds on my way out. The rest was a blur of elevators and my room and Mr. Monkey rubbing my head and sleeping and people taking my temperature and blood pressure and phone calls. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and my liquid diet tray was there. Even though it was well after lunch. I was wide awake from then on. I felt pretty good all evening. My biggest complaint was not wanting that catheter in anymore. It was completely uncomfortable.
Dr. Z came in late in the evening to tell me that they found out that the very rare condition that I have has a name. He also said that they think they fixed the problem by cutting off the blood supply to the area of the uterus that was left and now swelling and developing more malformation. He said that the whole source of the bleeding and cause of all my problems was the part that was left in there and that no one had any way of knowing that. This problem only shows up on the type of procedure I had yesterday. It couldn't be seen on ultrasounds. He also said that the uterine artery and the veins there have the same condition. It is a blood vessel malformation and it has a big name I can't spell or pronounce offhand. I was born with this condition. It is so rare that they are now using my case and all of the surgery procedures and information that they have gathered from me to use in teaching. So, my fifteen minutes of fame is pretty low profile. That is cool with me I guess. He also told me that he is very thankful that we didn't go ahead and go through with the cervix removal today because he is certain we would have had a huge bloody mess and that I may very well have not made it through it, at the very least I would have probably would have had a repeat of the first scare and had to have another blood transfusion.
I did so well that they fed me regular food for dinner. Dr. Blandon came to visit and was disappointed that Dr. Z had been there first to tell me all the details instead of him. He checked me out and told me I could come home today. I haven't taken any pain medication since getting out of post op. I am sore in the entry area. I am just glad to be home and pretty mobile. I hope I am fixed. Dr. Blanden said that there is a chance that other organs can have the same malformation but if I don't have any other symptoms or problems not to worry.
Posted by gwendolyn on August 01, 2002 at 11:51 AM