So first, my husband is fine. He's walking, talking, laughing, joking and overall just fine.
He was in a car accident this morning. This huge yellow rental truck (you know the BIG trucks) side swiped the back panel of his car causing his little tiny car to do a 360 into the guard rail 4 times. The car is totaled. The airbags went off. But it's the little tiny car that could. It kept him safe and sound. He's got a couple of air bag burns on his face and his nose is a bit swollen, but he is safe and sound at home.
Little Tiny Car, you did good.
Showing posts with label Rob. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rob. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2012
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Quick Update
This is going to be a scattered update:
1. LDN: Last week I decided to take one night of 1.5 mg. That 1.5 mg night through my world into a whirlwind. My left knee hurt so badly that I pulled out the CMO cream and used it three days in a row. I also pulled out the knee brace and not only wore it at home, but wore it to work as well. I decided though to not skip a night, but just the next few (well 5 or 6) nights to take the 1mg LDN and hope that things improved. They did so last night I took another night of 1.5 mg. This morning so far is "okay." No particular pain, but my throat does hurt a bit and my hands are a bit swollen. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes.
2. My hubby is about .2 pounds above where he *should* be, but by tomorrow he'll probably be back down to within the 4 pound range. He struggled with having free reign and has now a plan implemented that includes medical shakes and the traditional 500 calories food which should give him 1500 calories a day. We'll see how this work. Then once he's stablilized he'll probably add in some other things while removing one of the shakes. It just seems like it will be easier this way for him.
3. In other news, I went to get him a new pair of pants last night. Now all of his pants were about 38s .. I wasn't sure exactly what to get him so found a pair of 33's in his pant length and came home. They fit almost perfectly. We only got him one pair because honestly he doesn't wear dressy dressy pants that much. These will be good for church or for interviews or such. Then we went out to buy a dressy l/s shirt. Now his "biggest" shirt neck sized was 18. The new one we bought was size 16. Woo hoo.
4. We'll probably pack up all his "big" clothes today and take them to goodwill at some point. Maybe even take cash with us to see if we can find some Wrangler Jeans in his new size or some dress shirts. It's time.
5. One of our dogs has been "hurt." For the last couple of months, he's been acting funny. He's been yelping and we went to the vet about a month ago. They gave us some medication to help with the pain and were hopeful it would take care of the problem. Well once he was off the medication for a good number of days, he would start acting funny again. Lethargic even. So we went back and asked for an Xray. Though we were certain he didn't break anything, he had starting limping often. The good news is that there were no visible breaks, cancer or arthritis. So more than likely it's either a pinched nerve .. or my thoughts .. LD. Though Rob disagrees. Told him he was acting like a MD and laughed. ;)
6. Remember all those that serve this country whether it's the military, fire fighters, police officers, pilots, teachers, ministers, volunteers. Pray for them. I can't believe it's been 9 years since the gasp was heard around the world.
1. LDN: Last week I decided to take one night of 1.5 mg. That 1.5 mg night through my world into a whirlwind. My left knee hurt so badly that I pulled out the CMO cream and used it three days in a row. I also pulled out the knee brace and not only wore it at home, but wore it to work as well. I decided though to not skip a night, but just the next few (well 5 or 6) nights to take the 1mg LDN and hope that things improved. They did so last night I took another night of 1.5 mg. This morning so far is "okay." No particular pain, but my throat does hurt a bit and my hands are a bit swollen. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes.
2. My hubby is about .2 pounds above where he *should* be, but by tomorrow he'll probably be back down to within the 4 pound range. He struggled with having free reign and has now a plan implemented that includes medical shakes and the traditional 500 calories food which should give him 1500 calories a day. We'll see how this work. Then once he's stablilized he'll probably add in some other things while removing one of the shakes. It just seems like it will be easier this way for him.
3. In other news, I went to get him a new pair of pants last night. Now all of his pants were about 38s .. I wasn't sure exactly what to get him so found a pair of 33's in his pant length and came home. They fit almost perfectly. We only got him one pair because honestly he doesn't wear dressy dressy pants that much. These will be good for church or for interviews or such. Then we went out to buy a dressy l/s shirt. Now his "biggest" shirt neck sized was 18. The new one we bought was size 16. Woo hoo.
4. We'll probably pack up all his "big" clothes today and take them to goodwill at some point. Maybe even take cash with us to see if we can find some Wrangler Jeans in his new size or some dress shirts. It's time.
5. One of our dogs has been "hurt." For the last couple of months, he's been acting funny. He's been yelping and we went to the vet about a month ago. They gave us some medication to help with the pain and were hopeful it would take care of the problem. Well once he was off the medication for a good number of days, he would start acting funny again. Lethargic even. So we went back and asked for an Xray. Though we were certain he didn't break anything, he had starting limping often. The good news is that there were no visible breaks, cancer or arthritis. So more than likely it's either a pinched nerve .. or my thoughts .. LD. Though Rob disagrees. Told him he was acting like a MD and laughed. ;)
6. Remember all those that serve this country whether it's the military, fire fighters, police officers, pilots, teachers, ministers, volunteers. Pray for them. I can't believe it's been 9 years since the gasp was heard around the world.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Day 42 of the CD
If you recall, CD stands for Crazy Diet. Here is what I wrote about it on July 25th to jog your (and my) memory.
****
But in addition to some specific medications that were prescribed by my crazy doctor, my husband is going to be having 2 days of crazy fat foods. He's to eat burgers, cheeses, carbs, ice cream, and whatever else he desires that has high fat content. THEN, for 40 days he can only consume 500 calories a day along with these prescribed things that I don't want to get into. It surely will be interesting. My doc's first patient is someone that works in his office. He's completed the 42 day CD and he's been in the maintenance phase for a while too and he's still within 2 pounds of the last day of his diet.
****
So the big question is, "How did we do?" Honestly, I have to admit I was a tad bit skeptical. Most docs only recommend losing a couple to 3 pounds a week much less 34 pounds in 42 days. My husband has tried to lose weight before and with varying degrees of success. He actually lost about 25 pounds a while back, but then gained almost 1/2 of it back with vacation and the loss of my grandfather. How did he actually do? I'll admit. He did a fabulous job. There were some cheat moments here and there, but did he meet his goal? Did he lost 34 pounds in 42 days? I'll let you ... tell me!
I did crop his face out of this one just because he thought his face was kind of silly, but it was the best photo of the bunch to show off his new physique.
Now for the facts. He did indeed meet his goal. He's lost 34.6 pounds. His BMI went from around 33 percent to around 25 percent. I created a chart of foods. In this chart, I typed in every food he ate along with his weight every morning. It was a fairly simple chart in which I also included any "cheat" foods he ate. He had his own more complex chart he filled out every day as well which included his BMI and any exercise he might have done.
I also had a measurement chart. On the day he started the CD, I took measurements from his neck, chest, stomach, waist, right arm, right calf, right ankle, right thigh, hips, etc. Then every once in a while, we'd remeasure to see how things were progressing. We saw how things were going on the scale, but this really was the indicator to me that things were working. I won't put the actual numbers due to the embarrasment factor, but I will put the "loss" number.
Neck: Lost 1.5 inches
Right Arm (bicep area): Lost 1.25 inches
Chest: Lost 5.5 inches
Waist: Lost 4.75 inches
Stomach: Lost 5.75
Hips: Lost 3.75 inches
Right Thigh: Lost 2.75 inches
Right Calf: Lost 1.25 inches
Right Ankle: Lost .75 inches
Where do we go from here? Well for the next three days, he will stop the medications and continue the 500 calorie diet. Then upon that milestone, he will pretty much be able to eat whatever he wants minus Carbs. The goal is to stay under 1500 calories, but we really won't be counting. He just has to watch the scale. If he loses or gains 2 pounds, then he has to recalculate what he's eating to maintain where he is today. We'll see the doctor again soon and see how much further he has to go, but we're thinking it's about 15 pounds.
I am extremely proud of my husband. He went from fitting comfortably into a XLshirt to fitting comfortably into a MEDIUM shirt. The orange shirt above was even a size Small!
****
But in addition to some specific medications that were prescribed by my crazy doctor, my husband is going to be having 2 days of crazy fat foods. He's to eat burgers, cheeses, carbs, ice cream, and whatever else he desires that has high fat content. THEN, for 40 days he can only consume 500 calories a day along with these prescribed things that I don't want to get into. It surely will be interesting. My doc's first patient is someone that works in his office. He's completed the 42 day CD and he's been in the maintenance phase for a while too and he's still within 2 pounds of the last day of his diet.
****
So the big question is, "How did we do?" Honestly, I have to admit I was a tad bit skeptical. Most docs only recommend losing a couple to 3 pounds a week much less 34 pounds in 42 days. My husband has tried to lose weight before and with varying degrees of success. He actually lost about 25 pounds a while back, but then gained almost 1/2 of it back with vacation and the loss of my grandfather. How did he actually do? I'll admit. He did a fabulous job. There were some cheat moments here and there, but did he meet his goal? Did he lost 34 pounds in 42 days? I'll let you ... tell me!
I did crop his face out of this one just because he thought his face was kind of silly, but it was the best photo of the bunch to show off his new physique.
Now for the facts. He did indeed meet his goal. He's lost 34.6 pounds. His BMI went from around 33 percent to around 25 percent. I created a chart of foods. In this chart, I typed in every food he ate along with his weight every morning. It was a fairly simple chart in which I also included any "cheat" foods he ate. He had his own more complex chart he filled out every day as well which included his BMI and any exercise he might have done.
I also had a measurement chart. On the day he started the CD, I took measurements from his neck, chest, stomach, waist, right arm, right calf, right ankle, right thigh, hips, etc. Then every once in a while, we'd remeasure to see how things were progressing. We saw how things were going on the scale, but this really was the indicator to me that things were working. I won't put the actual numbers due to the embarrasment factor, but I will put the "loss" number.
Neck: Lost 1.5 inches
Right Arm (bicep area): Lost 1.25 inches
Chest: Lost 5.5 inches
Waist: Lost 4.75 inches
Stomach: Lost 5.75
Hips: Lost 3.75 inches
Right Thigh: Lost 2.75 inches
Right Calf: Lost 1.25 inches
Right Ankle: Lost .75 inches
Where do we go from here? Well for the next three days, he will stop the medications and continue the 500 calorie diet. Then upon that milestone, he will pretty much be able to eat whatever he wants minus Carbs. The goal is to stay under 1500 calories, but we really won't be counting. He just has to watch the scale. If he loses or gains 2 pounds, then he has to recalculate what he's eating to maintain where he is today. We'll see the doctor again soon and see how much further he has to go, but we're thinking it's about 15 pounds.
I am extremely proud of my husband. He went from fitting comfortably into a XLshirt to fitting comfortably into a MEDIUM shirt. The orange shirt above was even a size Small!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Since Dec. 94
I met my husband December of 1994. I am almost wanting to say I met him on December 10th, but that would be a little bizarre to put a date on the day we first laid eyes on each other. I do remember the day though. I met him shortly before I got my acceptance letter to go to Western Carolina University.
Throughout 1995, he and I became buddies. We were friends that saw each other once a week. We chatted and had a great time. Once I went to college, I looked forward to coming home during the holidays and seeing my friends. In November of 1995, I realized that he was the kind of man I would like to date. However, I had just ended a relationship that was pretty dreadful. Also I was going to college a good 300 miles away and having some health issues. I rarely saw him in 1996, but we did hang out some in the summer of 96.
During the summer of 1997, I ran into him again and we exchanged emails. We began our friendship on the computer in August of 1997 and in September I agreed to hang out with him for a bit the weekend of a family friend's wedding. We hung out at Golden Corral, at the lake, the rock quarry and at the bowling alley. A few days later, he officially asked me to go out with him. I was elated, but nervous.
In 1998, he bought a house. It was our future home, but it wouldn't be my home until 2000. In 1999, he asked me to marry him. It was a very sweet proposal. He essentially recreated our first unofficial date by carrying me to Golden Corral, then we went to the lake and finally wound up at the rock quarry where he popped the question. Of course (obviously) I said yes. Later, our friend took our engagement pictures. This is still one of my favorite pictures of us together.
In 2000, our lives became one life. The lady that altered my dress said that I was the tiniest bride she had ever seen.
2005 at Grove Park Inn. My favorite trip ever.
I began to get really sick in 2005 during that trip. I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in March of 2007. The last 10 years of marriage have been something else. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring. In a few years, we'll have been together longer than we lived without each other. I hardly remember what life was like without my husband.
On Thursday, we'll head to Myrtle Beach for a few days to celebrate our 10 years together.
Throughout 1995, he and I became buddies. We were friends that saw each other once a week. We chatted and had a great time. Once I went to college, I looked forward to coming home during the holidays and seeing my friends. In November of 1995, I realized that he was the kind of man I would like to date. However, I had just ended a relationship that was pretty dreadful. Also I was going to college a good 300 miles away and having some health issues. I rarely saw him in 1996, but we did hang out some in the summer of 96.
During the summer of 1997, I ran into him again and we exchanged emails. We began our friendship on the computer in August of 1997 and in September I agreed to hang out with him for a bit the weekend of a family friend's wedding. We hung out at Golden Corral, at the lake, the rock quarry and at the bowling alley. A few days later, he officially asked me to go out with him. I was elated, but nervous.
In 1998, he bought a house. It was our future home, but it wouldn't be my home until 2000. In 1999, he asked me to marry him. It was a very sweet proposal. He essentially recreated our first unofficial date by carrying me to Golden Corral, then we went to the lake and finally wound up at the rock quarry where he popped the question. Of course (obviously) I said yes. Later, our friend took our engagement pictures. This is still one of my favorite pictures of us together.
In 2000, our lives became one life. The lady that altered my dress said that I was the tiniest bride she had ever seen.
2005 at Grove Park Inn. My favorite trip ever.
I began to get really sick in 2005 during that trip. I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in March of 2007. The last 10 years of marriage have been something else. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring. In a few years, we'll have been together longer than we lived without each other. I hardly remember what life was like without my husband.
On Thursday, we'll head to Myrtle Beach for a few days to celebrate our 10 years together.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
I love my husband
I absolutely adore my husband. He's the kind of man that will do anything to make sure that I am well taken care of in so many ways. He's the one that convinced me to see the specialist that didn't take insurance because he was one of the best physicians in figuring out strange illnesses.
He takes me to the beach when I am stressed.
He shovels the sidewalk after a winter storm.
We have fun together at places like the fair!
He takes me to the beach when I am stressed.
He shovels the sidewalk after a winter storm.
We have fun together at places like the fair!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Dozen
Dozen
Twelve
Two times Six
Two to the Third Power Plus Four
Three Squared Plus Three
Twelve is a very important number. Twelve is the number of years I went undiagnosed with Lyme Disease. But now I have another thing that equals 12.
After years of debating, hesitating and waiting, Rob saw an open door and took a chance. I had just ended a relationship with someone I cared for deeply, but I knew that the relationship wasn't going to be a long term one that led to marriage. He found out about the break up and asked me to go out with him. Even though I suspected that he would ask, I was surprised that he asked me so quickly. I decided I had to *think* about it and asked him to give me 24 hours. So over the next 24 hours, I composed a very long and detailed response in which I described every single reason it would not work. While I won't recount all of those reasons (nor do I remember most of them), one was a huge one. We lived over 300 miles apart from each other and I didn't see how a long distance relationship would work.
However, I took a chance knowing that he would probably be the "rebound" guy and at the end of the email I said, "Yes I will go out with you." This rebound guy has been with me the last twelve years. He has seen me at my very worst. I am glad that I have spend the last dozen years with Rob. He has made the last two times six years very tolerable even through the worst of times! Can't wait to see what happens in the next Three Squared Plus Three
Twelve
Two times Six
Two to the Third Power Plus Four
Three Squared Plus Three
Twelve is a very important number. Twelve is the number of years I went undiagnosed with Lyme Disease. But now I have another thing that equals 12.
After years of debating, hesitating and waiting, Rob saw an open door and took a chance. I had just ended a relationship with someone I cared for deeply, but I knew that the relationship wasn't going to be a long term one that led to marriage. He found out about the break up and asked me to go out with him. Even though I suspected that he would ask, I was surprised that he asked me so quickly. I decided I had to *think* about it and asked him to give me 24 hours. So over the next 24 hours, I composed a very long and detailed response in which I described every single reason it would not work. While I won't recount all of those reasons (nor do I remember most of them), one was a huge one. We lived over 300 miles apart from each other and I didn't see how a long distance relationship would work.
However, I took a chance knowing that he would probably be the "rebound" guy and at the end of the email I said, "Yes I will go out with you." This rebound guy has been with me the last twelve years. He has seen me at my very worst. I am glad that I have spend the last dozen years with Rob. He has made the last two times six years very tolerable even through the worst of times! Can't wait to see what happens in the next Three Squared Plus Three
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Quiet Month of August
Here are some synonyms for the word quiet:
"buttoned up, clammed up, close-mouthed, could hear a pin drop, hushed, inaudible, low-pitched, muffled, muted, noiseless, not saying boo, peaceful, quieted, reserved, secretive, silent, soft, soundless, speechless, stilled, tight-lipped, uncommunicative, unexpressed, nonspeaking, and whist."
I feel like this month, I have been reserved and uncommunicative. The bad days in August outweighed the good. That is extremely upsetting for me as I have had pretty good months since February. My husband had his appointment yesterday and we have two different views on how it went. I left feeling pretty rotten about the whole appointment and he left uplifted. Just goes to show you how different we are. Let's just make it succinct to say that he will be getting 6 IV's which will hopefully take care of a deficiency he has.
The good of the IV's will be that he *should* get more energy and it should bring up some nutritional levels that are really low. Since he's never had an IV before, our nurses should have no problems getting a vein. That will be very beneficial for him. The bad of the IV's is that we are finally *almost* out of the woods with my debts because of the things we've had to do financially. In September, he'll have 4 IV's. In October, he'll have 2 IV's and we'll both have follow ups. This doesn't include the financial burden of all new supplements for both of us. He says we'll make it and I just get really nervous and "clammed up." The other bad part is that these will take 4 hours out of his Saturdays. Fortunately my doctor's office is open on Saturdays, but who wants to spend their Saturday's at the doctors. Not to mention, these IV's are similiar to ones that I received at the beginning of my treatment. I know what they did to me and I fear they will do the same to him. I was able to be awake enough to drive home, but as soon as I got home I fell asleep for hours. They gave me tremendous headaches and he's already got those with the new medicine for Candida.
Speaking of Candida, He's already feeling the effects of Candida Treatment and he's talking about things I talked about 2 years ago. I think we found the bulk of his problem. Not Lyme, but Yeast. I won't even go to all the Cardiac problems we think (know) he has. It's too scary to think about. The good news is that he's lost many pounds of weight since his last visit. We're headed towards the right direction.
Now on to me: I have yet to start my LDN and I just get so nervous when I start new things. I need to just suck it up and take it, but the fear of the unknown has had me stalling for the last week and a half. I got one part of my blood work back and 3 of the numbers are out of range and 3 of the numbers are close to out of range. I have a fear that this means he'll want some IV work again on me. Two of us on IV's at the same time? There is NO WAY. I fear what the other blood work will show, but am grateful that they were able to show me the things that have come back.
So when do we go back?
The hubby goes back the first Saturday after Labor Day and goes for 6 Saturdays. On his 5th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. On his 6th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. I speculate we will both have bloods after that and then go back in 6 to 8 weeks unless we both are in need of IV's still at that point.
And PICC is a 4 letter word that I don't ever want to see again. Neither is PORT. The doctor says "IV" and those are the two four letter words that come straight to my mind. Well you might ask, "Well you've not had a PICC since February and prior to that no IV insertions since July of 08, why would it automatically mean PICC? Aren't your veins healing?" Well let me tell you a lil story.
A bit after my PICC was removed, they drew blood. You would think that after 7 months of no IV insertions or no regular blood draws that this would be a simple task. Uh no it wasn't. It was absolutely one of the worst experiences that I've had thus far. That was in February of this year. Fast Forward to August 19th. Keep in mind, I hadn't had an IV stick in over a year and I had only had blood drawn ONE time in over a year. The other times were through my PICC line.
I prepare for the blood draw by drinking LOTS of water. I see the Phlebotnist and warn her that I can be quite difficult to stick. Now in the last 3 years, I have yet to meet a Phlebotnist that could get me on the first stick. So I had high expectations of my dear friend who had never had the pleasure of drawing blood from me because only a qualified nurse can draw blood out of a PICC. She promised me it would be simple and easy and that the 13 vials of blood would be a piece of cake!
Because I have passed out in the past and I knew that I had passed out on a "simple" 8 vial draw, I requested to go to my old PICC room so that I could lie down if necessary. She gets things set up and says "Oh there is a beautiful vein." I do my breathing when the lady jabs me so hard that I felt my ears pulsing. She says she got it and starts filling the tubes. The whole time I'm praying, "keep flowing blood .. keep flowing" because I know what happens every time.
The blood always stops after 3/4 of a vial and then they have to jiggle the needle to squeeze blood out of turnip and it always turns into .. "Oh I have to pull this one and try again." Uh yeah it happened again. Two of them were pulling and prodding my arm trying to get the blood to come out, but in the end they pulled the needle and were ready to start again. I told them to go on to the next easy stick and come back to me later. They left me with my heating pad and water. The RN (whom I absolutely love) came back and said she'd work on finding the right vein for the blood draw. We worked together and finally found one.
After an hour, I finally left. Now I still have a small bruise on my arm where they manhandled me to try to get blood. SO you can see why when they say IV .. I think PICC.
"buttoned up, clammed up, close-mouthed, could hear a pin drop, hushed, inaudible, low-pitched, muffled, muted, noiseless, not saying boo, peaceful, quieted, reserved, secretive, silent, soft, soundless, speechless, stilled, tight-lipped, uncommunicative, unexpressed, nonspeaking, and whist."
I feel like this month, I have been reserved and uncommunicative. The bad days in August outweighed the good. That is extremely upsetting for me as I have had pretty good months since February. My husband had his appointment yesterday and we have two different views on how it went. I left feeling pretty rotten about the whole appointment and he left uplifted. Just goes to show you how different we are. Let's just make it succinct to say that he will be getting 6 IV's which will hopefully take care of a deficiency he has.
The good of the IV's will be that he *should* get more energy and it should bring up some nutritional levels that are really low. Since he's never had an IV before, our nurses should have no problems getting a vein. That will be very beneficial for him. The bad of the IV's is that we are finally *almost* out of the woods with my debts because of the things we've had to do financially. In September, he'll have 4 IV's. In October, he'll have 2 IV's and we'll both have follow ups. This doesn't include the financial burden of all new supplements for both of us. He says we'll make it and I just get really nervous and "clammed up." The other bad part is that these will take 4 hours out of his Saturdays. Fortunately my doctor's office is open on Saturdays, but who wants to spend their Saturday's at the doctors. Not to mention, these IV's are similiar to ones that I received at the beginning of my treatment. I know what they did to me and I fear they will do the same to him. I was able to be awake enough to drive home, but as soon as I got home I fell asleep for hours. They gave me tremendous headaches and he's already got those with the new medicine for Candida.
Speaking of Candida, He's already feeling the effects of Candida Treatment and he's talking about things I talked about 2 years ago. I think we found the bulk of his problem. Not Lyme, but Yeast. I won't even go to all the Cardiac problems we think (know) he has. It's too scary to think about. The good news is that he's lost many pounds of weight since his last visit. We're headed towards the right direction.
Now on to me: I have yet to start my LDN and I just get so nervous when I start new things. I need to just suck it up and take it, but the fear of the unknown has had me stalling for the last week and a half. I got one part of my blood work back and 3 of the numbers are out of range and 3 of the numbers are close to out of range. I have a fear that this means he'll want some IV work again on me. Two of us on IV's at the same time? There is NO WAY. I fear what the other blood work will show, but am grateful that they were able to show me the things that have come back.
So when do we go back?
The hubby goes back the first Saturday after Labor Day and goes for 6 Saturdays. On his 5th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. On his 6th Saturday, I have my follow up appointment. I speculate we will both have bloods after that and then go back in 6 to 8 weeks unless we both are in need of IV's still at that point.
And PICC is a 4 letter word that I don't ever want to see again. Neither is PORT. The doctor says "IV" and those are the two four letter words that come straight to my mind. Well you might ask, "Well you've not had a PICC since February and prior to that no IV insertions since July of 08, why would it automatically mean PICC? Aren't your veins healing?" Well let me tell you a lil story.
A bit after my PICC was removed, they drew blood. You would think that after 7 months of no IV insertions or no regular blood draws that this would be a simple task. Uh no it wasn't. It was absolutely one of the worst experiences that I've had thus far. That was in February of this year. Fast Forward to August 19th. Keep in mind, I hadn't had an IV stick in over a year and I had only had blood drawn ONE time in over a year. The other times were through my PICC line.
I prepare for the blood draw by drinking LOTS of water. I see the Phlebotnist and warn her that I can be quite difficult to stick. Now in the last 3 years, I have yet to meet a Phlebotnist that could get me on the first stick. So I had high expectations of my dear friend who had never had the pleasure of drawing blood from me because only a qualified nurse can draw blood out of a PICC. She promised me it would be simple and easy and that the 13 vials of blood would be a piece of cake!
Because I have passed out in the past and I knew that I had passed out on a "simple" 8 vial draw, I requested to go to my old PICC room so that I could lie down if necessary. She gets things set up and says "Oh there is a beautiful vein." I do my breathing when the lady jabs me so hard that I felt my ears pulsing. She says she got it and starts filling the tubes. The whole time I'm praying, "keep flowing blood .. keep flowing" because I know what happens every time.
The blood always stops after 3/4 of a vial and then they have to jiggle the needle to squeeze blood out of turnip and it always turns into .. "Oh I have to pull this one and try again." Uh yeah it happened again. Two of them were pulling and prodding my arm trying to get the blood to come out, but in the end they pulled the needle and were ready to start again. I told them to go on to the next easy stick and come back to me later. They left me with my heating pad and water. The RN (whom I absolutely love) came back and said she'd work on finding the right vein for the blood draw. We worked together and finally found one.
After an hour, I finally left. Now I still have a small bruise on my arm where they manhandled me to try to get blood. SO you can see why when they say IV .. I think PICC.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Rob's LLMD appointment
It's today! We leave at 9:45 to arrive at 10:15 (how fortunate are we to have such a close LLMD?). His appointment begins at 10:30 and suspect will run until noon or so. I'm not sure how much time they have slated for him. Majority of the time, the first office visits are with his nurse, but I specifically requested that we go ahead and start off with our LLMD since he knows Rob's situation already during my appointments. Rob's already had the microscope test too and my doctor was sitting in during part of that.
So pray that I get through this day without major tear production. It's scary knowing we're about to embark on another very expensive adventure and hopefully we'll be able to handle this. We just had to "handle" the last bit of my medical bills by doing something drastic. Since selling our vehicles isn't an option (we've had the truck on the market for the last 6 months without so much as an offer), we decided to let the credit union buy it back. So now we're back to monthly payments on the truck.
Not to talk to much about the financial end of things because that is not why I created this blog, but the debt was overwhelming. We were paying in interest on our credit card each month about 300 dollars. By letting the credit union buy our car so we could buy it back, we will be able to pay off most of the credit card (and by next month the balance will be ZERO!!!!! Praise God for having such a smart husband who knew such thing could be done), we will probably save a ton each month even if you add in the car payment.
So we're back to Zero and now we're starting the beginning treatment for Rob. I just want to say WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Hopefully his treatment won't be anywhere near the expense that mine was. If it is, so help us. God will Provide ... I just don't know where it will come from. The last time we needed God to provide, he provided it in the form of NC WAGES check. NC Legislature how now removed that from Smart Start Funding.
With all the changes at work lately, I've had to repeat the following ...
When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something else. ~ Author Unknown
So pray that I get through this day without major tear production. It's scary knowing we're about to embark on another very expensive adventure and hopefully we'll be able to handle this. We just had to "handle" the last bit of my medical bills by doing something drastic. Since selling our vehicles isn't an option (we've had the truck on the market for the last 6 months without so much as an offer), we decided to let the credit union buy it back. So now we're back to monthly payments on the truck.
Not to talk to much about the financial end of things because that is not why I created this blog, but the debt was overwhelming. We were paying in interest on our credit card each month about 300 dollars. By letting the credit union buy our car so we could buy it back, we will be able to pay off most of the credit card (and by next month the balance will be ZERO!!!!! Praise God for having such a smart husband who knew such thing could be done), we will probably save a ton each month even if you add in the car payment.
So we're back to Zero and now we're starting the beginning treatment for Rob. I just want to say WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Hopefully his treatment won't be anywhere near the expense that mine was. If it is, so help us. God will Provide ... I just don't know where it will come from. The last time we needed God to provide, he provided it in the form of NC WAGES check. NC Legislature how now removed that from Smart Start Funding.
With all the changes at work lately, I've had to repeat the following ...
When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something else. ~ Author Unknown
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