I have now survived more than a week with out a "real" glass of water and I am okay. Although I have been "sneaking" water, aka "watering down" my Gatorade to adjust myself back into the "best drink on earth". I miss being able to see through the glass and liquids in it. Strange, huh? Nope, this also helps me inspect the dishwashing skills of the kitchen assistant of the week. Gatorade is definitely murky. (At least the kind they carry here. I'm too cheap to get the more expensive stuff!)And if you'd like to know how water feels on my stomach feels after drinking water, just imagine being stabbed in the stomach from all directions. Horrible description, but worse being on the receiving end.
Today I have to bake bread and make granola for Elise's class. Walking into the kitchen and having a pile of dirty dishes in the sink is discouraging, but we will trudge on!! I also have to go grocery shopping. This weeks budget is $75.00! Hmmm, I think we aren't eating out- too expensive. We did it twice last week and well, it was a pocket buster!
The menu this week so far is:
Goulash, green beans and fresh bread.
Oven fried chicken, corn pudding and buttery garlic spinach
Beans and sausage, rice, fresh veggies
Make your own Pizza (spinach alfredo or bacon cheeseburger)
Chicken curry, rice and pickled veggies
The room I am focusing on this week is...........
The garage!! I am going through boxes of clothes and taking out the best things to go to Haiti.
There is a plane leaving next week and I feel that we all have more than enough to give to them. We are also donating to Christian Aid Ministries- they have been working there for many years with medical clinics. Also Midwives for Haiti is a group I have known for many years. Lord willing, when my children are older (and my French a bit more polished), I will be able to join them for a few weeks and get some additional hands on experience. So until then, I am happy to be at home and will pray and help as much as possible.
Have a blessed Monday.
Misty
Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
When Mom gets sick....
I know, this has been a year of "Good grief, not again!", but well, it has been exciting, you know!
I was doing my usual thing Thursday night, dinner, dessert, get the little ones ready for bed, when after dinner my stomach felt achy. I asked Mr if he felt it too and he said,"Just a little". No one else seemed to have the pains that I was having so I chalked it up to "I guess I shouldn't have eaten the too sweet chocolate cake for dessert-a 3X3 piece!!!".
Well as time went on, I felt worse and worse so I decided to expediate the bedtime process. I was in bed right before 9 and if it weren't for the shortest person in my life climbing in and jumping across the bed, then I would have been asleep in 15 minutes. Feeling a sort of sea sicknessey, I got a glass of water and had a good, long sip. Ahhh, that was good- OHHH, it feels like knives stabbing me from within. Better lie down and rest a little bit. Falling asleep in pain, I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours and hours until I woke up, sweating and still in pain. "Maybe it's my appendix?" Better drink some more water. OHHH, ARRGH, the pain! I can't take this anymore and slowly stumbled upstairs to ask Mr to take me to the hospital. ( I sleep in April's room because of my back, a bad mattress on my bed and a ship stuck at customs with my new mattress on it!-long story.)
It was only 11:30!!
We called before we went and they were ready for me when I got there. They took the usual bodily fluid samples and had me wait awhile until the first test results came back and then they promptly hooked me up to an IV. They only tried 3 times and on the last and most painful try, I lost it. Nausea overtook me and well, I had to use a bucket! I have only thrown up 5 times in nearly 20 years and well, it's always quite memorable, but at least this time it was contained. In trying to describe what happened to the children, I said, "Do you remember how ...Zilla blows fire from his mouth? That was it- best description!" My oldest said, "That was probably why he attacked and destroyed everything- his stomach was hurt and he didn't get relief until he let it all out too!" Oh, what a laugh!
So they pumped me with 3 bags of fluid and some anti nausea meds, causing me to fall asleep.They did wake me up and ask for a urine sample to which I replied," I have plenty to give, you sure you want just a sample? That cup is not BIG enough!" But they also had some interesting conversations with me while I was in a semi-drugged state. Something about my liver tests coming back fine except one which they were going to retest in a few hours. And how did I let myself get so dehydrated? "I'm telling you, I have been desperately thirsty for the last 3 weeks-I called and talked to one of YOUR nurses about it! I'm drinking more than a gallon of water a day an am having NO results! I AM TRYING!!!" Okay then, what next?
SO in the middle of the night/early morning, a Dr in jeans, leather jacket and icy hands comes to talk to me and guess what? I can't tell you what he said to me because I was SO DROWSY.
And all of this time, MR was asleep on a chair across the room! He wake up briefly when one of the nurses came in to check on me or change my IV bag.
Morning came and I automatically woke up at 6:30. I roused Mr and said he had better get home and get the children out of the door-call your office so they don't think you are AWOL! He calls the office and splains the situation, then calls the house and makes sure the children are awake and thank the Lord, our oldest has them all awake and dressed. The nurse comes in and tells me that I can leave as soon as I feel up to it- no rush. They have to take the IV out and obtain one more sample.
Mr goes to get the children out to school and I lay around for a few after they unhook me from the IV. On with my clothes and my coat! Shoes- thank God for slip-ons! I slowly mosey to the nurses station after calling MR and telling him I'd meet him by the ER entrance at 08:00. The nurse on the morning shift, a sweet and caring woman, helps me to get a Gatorade and ride down the elevator for the long walk to the ER door. We had a nice conversation, she has 4 children also and their ages are spread out like mine. Sh reminds me NOT to drink any water for a day or two(too hard on the stomach-trust me, I KNOW, to take Tylenol for the pain and to REST(which is near impossible with a toddler).
MR and Chloe come and we head to the store for Gatorade and crackers and whatever else he is in the mood to buy.
Now back at home, I get comfy and doze off and on for nearly 8 hours! Whew, I didn't think one could be tired from resting, but it can happen!
They ask me about dinner and I tell them it's Elise night and she was making tuna burgers. When I finally make it downstairs, (if you are feeling ill, try not to traverse the stairs more than 3 times daily), and I get a look at the place, I have to close my eyes and whisper a prayer at the utter destruction. They had Burger King for breakfast and dinner. Yuck! Dishes everywhere, stuff on the floor- the banana peel on the carpet is what got me, coats lying around and just a mess. I am going to take a picture(where is the camera?), to show them that this is not the way WE live and since mom is sick, they need to keep up the house. I'll tell them that when I get better but now, I will step over the mess and try not to think of how many hours it will take for this place to get cleaned up!
Oh, my diet since Friday morning- Gatorade and TWO saltine crackers. I brushed my teeth and swallowed some water after rinsing my mouth- I thought there were knives in my stomach again!
Back to the Gatorade.........
I was doing my usual thing Thursday night, dinner, dessert, get the little ones ready for bed, when after dinner my stomach felt achy. I asked Mr if he felt it too and he said,"Just a little". No one else seemed to have the pains that I was having so I chalked it up to "I guess I shouldn't have eaten the too sweet chocolate cake for dessert-a 3X3 piece!!!".
Well as time went on, I felt worse and worse so I decided to expediate the bedtime process. I was in bed right before 9 and if it weren't for the shortest person in my life climbing in and jumping across the bed, then I would have been asleep in 15 minutes. Feeling a sort of sea sicknessey, I got a glass of water and had a good, long sip. Ahhh, that was good- OHHH, it feels like knives stabbing me from within. Better lie down and rest a little bit. Falling asleep in pain, I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours and hours until I woke up, sweating and still in pain. "Maybe it's my appendix?" Better drink some more water. OHHH, ARRGH, the pain! I can't take this anymore and slowly stumbled upstairs to ask Mr to take me to the hospital. ( I sleep in April's room because of my back, a bad mattress on my bed and a ship stuck at customs with my new mattress on it!-long story.)
It was only 11:30!!
We called before we went and they were ready for me when I got there. They took the usual bodily fluid samples and had me wait awhile until the first test results came back and then they promptly hooked me up to an IV. They only tried 3 times and on the last and most painful try, I lost it. Nausea overtook me and well, I had to use a bucket! I have only thrown up 5 times in nearly 20 years and well, it's always quite memorable, but at least this time it was contained. In trying to describe what happened to the children, I said, "Do you remember how ...Zilla blows fire from his mouth? That was it- best description!" My oldest said, "That was probably why he attacked and destroyed everything- his stomach was hurt and he didn't get relief until he let it all out too!" Oh, what a laugh!
So they pumped me with 3 bags of fluid and some anti nausea meds, causing me to fall asleep.They did wake me up and ask for a urine sample to which I replied," I have plenty to give, you sure you want just a sample? That cup is not BIG enough!" But they also had some interesting conversations with me while I was in a semi-drugged state. Something about my liver tests coming back fine except one which they were going to retest in a few hours. And how did I let myself get so dehydrated? "I'm telling you, I have been desperately thirsty for the last 3 weeks-I called and talked to one of YOUR nurses about it! I'm drinking more than a gallon of water a day an am having NO results! I AM TRYING!!!" Okay then, what next?
SO in the middle of the night/early morning, a Dr in jeans, leather jacket and icy hands comes to talk to me and guess what? I can't tell you what he said to me because I was SO DROWSY.
And all of this time, MR was asleep on a chair across the room! He wake up briefly when one of the nurses came in to check on me or change my IV bag.
Morning came and I automatically woke up at 6:30. I roused Mr and said he had better get home and get the children out of the door-call your office so they don't think you are AWOL! He calls the office and splains the situation, then calls the house and makes sure the children are awake and thank the Lord, our oldest has them all awake and dressed. The nurse comes in and tells me that I can leave as soon as I feel up to it- no rush. They have to take the IV out and obtain one more sample.
Mr goes to get the children out to school and I lay around for a few after they unhook me from the IV. On with my clothes and my coat! Shoes- thank God for slip-ons! I slowly mosey to the nurses station after calling MR and telling him I'd meet him by the ER entrance at 08:00. The nurse on the morning shift, a sweet and caring woman, helps me to get a Gatorade and ride down the elevator for the long walk to the ER door. We had a nice conversation, she has 4 children also and their ages are spread out like mine. Sh reminds me NOT to drink any water for a day or two(too hard on the stomach-trust me, I KNOW, to take Tylenol for the pain and to REST(which is near impossible with a toddler).
MR and Chloe come and we head to the store for Gatorade and crackers and whatever else he is in the mood to buy.
Now back at home, I get comfy and doze off and on for nearly 8 hours! Whew, I didn't think one could be tired from resting, but it can happen!
They ask me about dinner and I tell them it's Elise night and she was making tuna burgers. When I finally make it downstairs, (if you are feeling ill, try not to traverse the stairs more than 3 times daily), and I get a look at the place, I have to close my eyes and whisper a prayer at the utter destruction. They had Burger King for breakfast and dinner. Yuck! Dishes everywhere, stuff on the floor- the banana peel on the carpet is what got me, coats lying around and just a mess. I am going to take a picture(where is the camera?), to show them that this is not the way WE live and since mom is sick, they need to keep up the house. I'll tell them that when I get better but now, I will step over the mess and try not to think of how many hours it will take for this place to get cleaned up!
Oh, my diet since Friday morning- Gatorade and TWO saltine crackers. I brushed my teeth and swallowed some water after rinsing my mouth- I thought there were knives in my stomach again!
Back to the Gatorade.........
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A crazy night!
It's Sunday evening and school starts again tomorrow after a 2 week hiatus.
The first few days, they children were moaning about being bored. I gave them graham cracker houses to build, party bags to stuff, a puzzle to work on and various house projects to do. I also told them that they could not live on the computer or the television. Hmmm, "in one ear and out the other", was the phrase I first thought of. After 24hrs of vegetative screen watching, I had enough and had to pull the plug. Then they HEARD what I said," If you have any homework that needs to be turned in, get it done. I don't want you working on it on the last day. That's procrastination and I won't have it!" Wow! Suddenly there was action!
We did have a party scheduled for the 22nd and then Christmas was a couple of days later so we had to get in gear. We had a few travel plans, but were thrown off by the snow and ice for several days, but the children had fun and had the chance to experience COLD, BELOW FREEZING weather. This was the first experience Chloe had with snow. She tried to eat it-hey, it looked like ice cream, her favorite!
Hey, I was talking about something completely different. How did I get here?
Anywhoo, The littlest person requires a pacifier when she goes to bed and for some confounded reason, we couldn't find ANY of them tonight. I was holding her, consoling her and trying to distract her from the hysterical crying she was kicking out. Meanwhile the other folks were looking for one of them, ANY one of them.
Oh, the howling she gave and right then and there I decided she needed to come off of this addiction. So I proceed to rock her back and forth with the hopes of letting her drift to laa-laa land.(Giggles are okay now.)I prayed with her,and she calmed down a little bit. Occasionally a voice from another room would shout,"Chloe, CALM DOWN!". Then it happened. Dad appeared and with him came the distinguishing "Click" of the pacifier. Oh, too late, she heard it and started to sit up saying, patitoo, patitoo. It was coming and I didn't get to tell him that maybe it's time to give it up! Oh well, she got it and then it started. She sat up and moved around on the bed. Then it came out of her mouth so she could tell Daddy "Thank you". There was silence for a moment and she hopped out of the bed. "Click, click" and that was the last we heard of the patitoo. She climbed back in the bed and lied down. Then she asked for the patitoo again. Dad ran his hands through the covers, under the covers, under the pillows and on the sides of the mattress. By this time, she was hysterical again. "Where was that thing? She just had it?" Teen sister lifted her up, kicked out the 8 yr old sister from the bed and dad tore through the sheets looking for the object of her desires. He lifted the mattress and even looked behind the bed. He frisked 8 yr old sis and looked on the floor around the bed. The brother and I were really laughing. Dad was beginning to look angry and teen sis was starting to giggle while holding the crying toddler. "OKAY, WHERE IS IT???", Dad says. By now I could see the frustration on Dads face and was laughing like a maniac over this silly piece of silicon and plastic. Maybe now was not the right time to give up the addiction that was ruling over this family's bedtime. Uh, I had better not say anything or else I am next in the frisking department. WHAT? Someone says check around mom, she looks guilty and all that laughing is giving her away. I am scrambling to get off the floor when hands from all directions reach out to help me get up and WHOOSH!, I am standing up and being frisked by dad! By then my laughing would have put me in any insane asylum and I am knocking dads hands off me shouting, "If you don't let me go to the bathroom, they'll be more problems!" I run off holding my stomach from all of the laughing and made it where I needed to be.
When I came out, everyone had disappeared and only 8 yr old and I remained in the room. I asked her to move her back pack from in front of the bed and I heard a "click". She opened it and guess what was there? Patitoo!!
The parental torture device!
Have a wonderful night and try not to laugh so hard that you nearly use half a roll of tissue to wipe away the tears!!
The first few days, they children were moaning about being bored. I gave them graham cracker houses to build, party bags to stuff, a puzzle to work on and various house projects to do. I also told them that they could not live on the computer or the television. Hmmm, "in one ear and out the other", was the phrase I first thought of. After 24hrs of vegetative screen watching, I had enough and had to pull the plug. Then they HEARD what I said," If you have any homework that needs to be turned in, get it done. I don't want you working on it on the last day. That's procrastination and I won't have it!" Wow! Suddenly there was action!
We did have a party scheduled for the 22nd and then Christmas was a couple of days later so we had to get in gear. We had a few travel plans, but were thrown off by the snow and ice for several days, but the children had fun and had the chance to experience COLD, BELOW FREEZING weather. This was the first experience Chloe had with snow. She tried to eat it-hey, it looked like ice cream, her favorite!
Hey, I was talking about something completely different. How did I get here?
Anywhoo, The littlest person requires a pacifier when she goes to bed and for some confounded reason, we couldn't find ANY of them tonight. I was holding her, consoling her and trying to distract her from the hysterical crying she was kicking out. Meanwhile the other folks were looking for one of them, ANY one of them.
Oh, the howling she gave and right then and there I decided she needed to come off of this addiction. So I proceed to rock her back and forth with the hopes of letting her drift to laa-laa land.(Giggles are okay now.)I prayed with her,and she calmed down a little bit. Occasionally a voice from another room would shout,"Chloe, CALM DOWN!". Then it happened. Dad appeared and with him came the distinguishing "Click" of the pacifier. Oh, too late, she heard it and started to sit up saying, patitoo, patitoo. It was coming and I didn't get to tell him that maybe it's time to give it up! Oh well, she got it and then it started. She sat up and moved around on the bed. Then it came out of her mouth so she could tell Daddy "Thank you". There was silence for a moment and she hopped out of the bed. "Click, click" and that was the last we heard of the patitoo. She climbed back in the bed and lied down. Then she asked for the patitoo again. Dad ran his hands through the covers, under the covers, under the pillows and on the sides of the mattress. By this time, she was hysterical again. "Where was that thing? She just had it?" Teen sister lifted her up, kicked out the 8 yr old sister from the bed and dad tore through the sheets looking for the object of her desires. He lifted the mattress and even looked behind the bed. He frisked 8 yr old sis and looked on the floor around the bed. The brother and I were really laughing. Dad was beginning to look angry and teen sis was starting to giggle while holding the crying toddler. "OKAY, WHERE IS IT???", Dad says. By now I could see the frustration on Dads face and was laughing like a maniac over this silly piece of silicon and plastic. Maybe now was not the right time to give up the addiction that was ruling over this family's bedtime. Uh, I had better not say anything or else I am next in the frisking department. WHAT? Someone says check around mom, she looks guilty and all that laughing is giving her away. I am scrambling to get off the floor when hands from all directions reach out to help me get up and WHOOSH!, I am standing up and being frisked by dad! By then my laughing would have put me in any insane asylum and I am knocking dads hands off me shouting, "If you don't let me go to the bathroom, they'll be more problems!" I run off holding my stomach from all of the laughing and made it where I needed to be.
When I came out, everyone had disappeared and only 8 yr old and I remained in the room. I asked her to move her back pack from in front of the bed and I heard a "click". She opened it and guess what was there? Patitoo!!
The parental torture device!
Have a wonderful night and try not to laugh so hard that you nearly use half a roll of tissue to wipe away the tears!!
Happy New Year!
This is for you.....
I hope and pray that you and yours have a blessed and happy new year. I hope that you grow in Gods word and ways even more than you could imagine. I pray that you love more and criticize less, that you show your appreciation for little things as well as the big things that roll in your path, that you laugh more and cry more, and that your friends become like family.
There are so many things to pray for like safety, good health and world peace.
But a special thought I want to leave with you is the hope for peace in your heart.
Many Blessings,
Misty
I hope and pray that you and yours have a blessed and happy new year. I hope that you grow in Gods word and ways even more than you could imagine. I pray that you love more and criticize less, that you show your appreciation for little things as well as the big things that roll in your path, that you laugh more and cry more, and that your friends become like family.
There are so many things to pray for like safety, good health and world peace.
But a special thought I want to leave with you is the hope for peace in your heart.
Many Blessings,
Misty
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