As usual, I can't really remember what we have been up to. Mostly because I have had so many issues to contend with for myself lately. Doctors appointments and surgeries and pills, OH MY! When I left off last it was the second of November. Here we are at the 14th already. Where is this month going?
Thursday plans ended up changing. Just as well as there was plenty to do around her. Missed seeing my friend, but we will plan another time to get together. Ping did have tennis that afternoon.
Friday was a busy day. I had a pre-op appointment at Brigham and Women's. Bill was home for the day because he doesn't go to school on Fridays. So he dropped the kids off and picked the two youngest up after their day was over. Then he took the two to Yamira's therapy which she did great at. She has had a couple of good days at school and I have been immensely pleased.
Well after I posted that last paragraph, I was pulled away for a few days, but now I am back and am determined to get this posting done before the end of the day which is midnight, right? I should have a little bit of time. Mind you I need to go get Ping soon. She is at a play date. Okay, where was I?
To finish up Friday, we had a babysitter for Manny and Yamira. My neighbor came over while Bill and I took Ping to the Chinese Acrobatic show at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. It was a great show. I am not a fan of acrobatic shows, but it was really amazing. I felt really bad that the younger ones didn't come, but they never would have made it as the show started at 8:00 pm. As it is, Shayla kept passing out during the second part. We didn't just take Shayla because it had to do with Chinese Acrobats, it really was because she is older and thought she could stay awake. Next year we will take all if we go again.
For some reason today I am very shaky and can not concentrate. It's too bad because the house is quiet. Yamira is watching a movie. Manny is sleeping and Ping is out! Yet I can't seem to streamline anything I am doing. I am getting things done. I had a bunch of ordering to do, but nothing is really working for me today. So frustrating.
So Saturday the 5th was a decent day. I did a few errands by myself in the morning and then I was going to do a Tastefully Simple party that evening, but it was cancelled. So after doing a few errands out I decided to stop at a craft fair. I picked up a couple of really cute things. I then headed home. I was able to score at the very last minute, three tickets to tea with Clara. So I met Kirsten and her beautiful Molly and my girls and they attended tea at the Hanover theatre. They ate a sprinkled cookie, listened to the Nutcracker which Clara read and then colored a Nutcracker cookie and had a picture taken with Clara. It was an hour long. It was so cute and fun. I took Ping two years ago and it was a nice time. I was so glad I was able to get us tickets even though I had only known about it since last night. I made a call and got a call back, so it worked out perfectly. It was a nice time!
On Sunday, we went to Lowell for a photo session with a photographer. Ayi Meri and Uncle Joe gave us a nice gift certificate to a photographer for the adoption of Yamira and Manny. So two or so months ago, I booked this appointment. I shopped for the perfect clothes for this appointment and it was now here. We went to Lowell and spent nearly two hours taking photos at the photographer's loft. It was a difficult day with the three and trying to get it all done, but it's done. Yay. We headed home after the session so we could give the kids dinner and baths before bed.
On Monday, I woke up to discover my left foot wasn't working. It was very, very upsetting. Another health problem. Just what I need. Over the last two weeks or so, I noticed that I was tripping over my right foot. I also noticed my balance was off on my right foot. I thought at first it was my boots as they are fairly new. I am not used to wearing them. So I thought that because I am in sneakers every day, I just need to get used to my boots. So the next few days I wore sneakers. I was still tripping or stumbling. I thought it was maybe because my sneakers are old and stretched out. So for the next few days I wore my newer sneakers. Well at this point I noticed that my right leg was feeling somewhat numb. Very disturbing. It has taken me awhile to figure it out, but on Monday when I woke up, I stuck my feet out and started to point and flex and circle my feet. I could do that on my left, but my right foot was dead. I could point, but I could not flex. So I got up and got ready and called my neurologist somewhat in tears and begged them to fit me in. What a stressful day. My neurologist is going to India for 2 months and so I had to wait to see if they had a cancellation or to see where they could fit me in. That coupled with the possibility of dragging the three kids was overwhelming to me. Needless to say, it was really a tough day. An appointment was finally made for Wednesday. I had done a lot of research and had spoken to others who have had weight loss surgery to see if they were familiar with this. I and others thought this was "Foot Dropsy." After much research, I discovered that crossing my legs for hours upon hours a day is not helpful. So I stopped crossing my legs immediately and started exercising my foot. Another thing I had noticed over the last two weeks, is every time I struck with my right foot while walking, the right struck much harder than the left. I thought I was walking fine and Bill agreed, but also agreed I was very loud with my right foot. He too thought it was the older sneakers! Well as you know now, it wasn't that. By the time Wednesday came around, I was so much better. I will get to that when I get to Wednesday. Let me finish up with Monday first.
I spent most of the day in a tizzy. I was upset and scared. I was going to cancel my dinner that night with a friend, but decided not to do so. I dropped Ping off at Daisies that night and Bill met me there. He grabbed Yamira and Manny and went home. I headed off to O'Connors for dinner with an an old friend by the name of Cheryl. I am so glad I went. I had spent the day running around picking and dropping off kids, running around doing returns and waiting on calls. I thought I would be awful company by the time I got to the restaurant, but I had such a lovely time. I have known Cheryl for years. Our mother's were in each others weddings. They had coffee weekly. We had played together for years. However, like a lot of things, my family moved and we didn't see each other as much. Flash forward to adults and we ran into each other here and there, but never had a large opportunity to chat. So the last time we ran into each other, we said we would do dinner. Took forever to schedule, but we did it. I had a great time. It's amazing because we both look a lot like our mothers and here we are years later getting together like they did. Wish I could tell my mom. She would be thrilled. Cheryl is every lucky as her parents are still with her. Anyway, the night ended well.
The next day I had to go to the kid's school and cover the desk for two hours. That went great. I then brought home Manny and Yamira and we stayed home for the day till it was time to get Ping. I believe the rest of the day was spent doing homework and hanging out at home doing some stuff around here. I was trying to get as much done as possible before my surgery on Friday!
On Wednesday, I took Shayla to her cranial facial clinic appointment at 8:45 am. Twice a year she gets to attend these appointments where she meets with two doctors and a speech person. The appointments are often long and this was no different. Ping was really upset when I told her she wasn't going to school for the rest of the day. She wasn't going to get credit for it and while that isn't that big a deal, I didn't want to have to go back and get her at the end of the day. I took her and the other two at 4:30 pm over to Rebecca Christoforo's house. She is my savior lately and I am so very grateful to her. She watched the three and gave them dinner while I went to see my neurologist. My appointment went well. He felt the same way as I did. It was due to not having enough meat on my bones! So I can't cross my legs anymore. I had improved about 75% before I saw him. I still had a way to go, but I was doing very well and had more sensation. There is something called "Slimming Poroneal Syndrome" or something like that. It's when you have lost a lot of weight and you start crossing your legs and you can't because you end up damaging your poroneal nerve. There is a lot more to it than that, but I won't bore you with all the details. The doctor said he was going to have me go in for a nerve and muscle test over the weekend. I was so pleased he was willing to fit me in for this test before leaving for his trip. In fact, now that I think about it, he left yesterday. He is a great man! So I left the appointment, picked up the kids and headed home. All I had to do was put them in bed because they had had dinner. Go Rebecca.
On Thursday, Bill had to leave early for school to meet with his adviser. I stayed home to do a few things and then got Ping after tennis on Thursday. That was her last tennis lesson. We came home and after a little playing, had some dinner and went to bed. I wanted them in bed as soon as possible as I had a ton of things to do before the next day because I had surgery. I swore I was going to go to bed early! Of course I didn't. It never fails, I never get to bed on time!
I was lucky that I was able to switch my surgery time because originally they wanted me there for 6:00 am. That was too early for anyone to watch the children. Rebecca was willing to drive me in. Ashly was willing to drive me in. They were willing to do whatever they needed to do to help me. If they took me, Bill could stay home with the kids. I know this may not seem like a huge deal, but it completely immobilized me for days. Who was going to take me? Who was going to watch my kids. I am so incredibly blessed to have a few friends who were more than willing to help. I have other friends that would have helped and tried to help, but they couldn't due to having other things going on. So again, I was so very lucky that I was able to get to the hospital later than originally planned. We got up at 6:00 am and got ready. We then got the kids ready and dropped them off to Rebecca at 7:20 am. We then headed off to Brigham and Women's. We were a little late, but not bad. Once there, they sort of whisked me through all the channels and before I knew it, my surgery was over. I was okay. In a little bit of pain, but not bad. They took out one of my para glands. They asked what kind of pain meds I wanted. I didn't want any really, but decided to take Tylenol 3 with Codeine. I thought that would be perfect because at least it wouldn't make me feel like I was out of it. Needless to say, I ended up not being a fan!!!!
They checked my vitals and told me I could leave. I felt a little off, but was okay. We headed straight to Rebecca's to get the kids. They had a wonderful time at Rebecca's house. They always do. They would have been happy to have me leave them there! Anyway, we piled them in the car and headed home.
Once home I figured I would lay down. No such thing. Not only was I up and moving around, I was up till 3:00 am moving around. Not sure why. I thought I would be asleep for the rest of the day, but nope. So odd. All in all, I felt decently.
The next day was Saturday and there were no plans to be had. I purposely didn't book anything because I wasn't sure I would be up to doing anything at all. Needless to say, I felt worse than the day before. Not sure why. I guess everything was settling? I had the worst headache. I didn't expect to have such an awful headache. I figured it was from the anesthesia. I wasn't sure. Who is really to ever know. I kept taking my pills, but never felt really a lot better. It took me till Saturday night to discover that the Tylenol 3 with Codeine had some serious side effects like nausea. I kept trying to eat, but I couldn't. So as much as I felt like I needed them, I stopped taking them so I could try to eat a little. Talk about a bad cycle. I feel awful, I take a pill to try to dull the pain and the pill makes me feel worse. Needless to say, I spent the day at home just drifting from room to room to pick up a little here and there. I didn't want to do nothing at all and yet at the same time, I couldn't do very much either. What a waste of a day!
I woke up on Sunday expecting to feel wonderful. Nope. I don't get why two days later I am not feeling grand yet. A bit unrealistic I suppose. I really did hope for the best. Figured if I exercised my neck like I was supposed to, took regular Tylenol and kept focused, I would be feeling grand by now. Well the Tylenol 3 seemed to still be plaguing me and the headache was worse. However, I was powerless to do anything. Who would I call? I had booked Bill to work at the station from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and then home from 6:00 pm-10:00 pm coverage for the station. I know I shouldn't have booked him as I was supposed to be recovering, but we really could use the money and Bill loves covering shifts. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, my awesome neurologist who wanted me to come in for a test over the weekend had called the other night and he wanted me to come in today at 1:00 pm. So there I was feeling awful and having to scramble to find a babysitter because I had booked Bill to work. Why do I do these things to myself? So I asked Ayi Kirsten and Uncle Roger to watch the kids for me at their house while I ran to have a muscle/nerve test done at St. Vincent's hospital. So I dropped the kids off at 12:30 and made my way to St. Vincent's. The test was fairly easy, but it wasn't without pain. It wasn't horrible. There were electrodes that made my feet react. I could deal with that. The harder thing to deal with was the needle the doctor inserted in 5 places to test my muscles. That was pretty bad. However, you have to do what you have to do. He did say that I clearly did have some neuropathy palsy or something like that. Basically my nerves and muscles are not responding as well as they should due to malnutrition. We agreed that my right foot has improved even further. So at this time, we are not going to do anything. I need to not cross my legs at all though anymore. So after 20 years of not being able too as I was too heavy, now I am too thin to do so. The irony!
So I headed back to Ayi Kirsten's house to gather the children who were not fabulously behaved and headed off to Burlington Coat Factory to do a return. The last thing I wanted to do, but it needed to be done. Yamira and Manny had not had a nap, so unfortunately, their behavior was less than stellar earlier for our friends and then for me. Made for a difficult afternoon. Was grateful to get home for the day.
On Monday, I stayed home. The kids went to school and Bill went to school as well. I was lucky as his first class was cancelled, so he was able to get the kids to school and pick the youngest two up at 11:10 am. I actually got up really early as I wanted to call the surgery center to see why I felt so awful. However, I at that point knew I had a sinus infection. After talking with the nurse, she said to call my ENT person or general doctor. I called my ENT and they got me in to see a doctor I had not seen before. Regardless, he gave me a script for an antibiotic. I was grateful. I then headed off for CVS. The day was pretty miserable as I just felt horrible. I had to get to Daisies early as the fall product was in and I had to double check everyone's order, but I was truly lucky to have some great people help. Mrs. Dorman had her son split up all the orders. Renee's son Andrew was a gigantic help as I sat on the floor and read out the orders as he double checked everything. Manny and Yamira played nicely while Ping was doing her Daisy thing. Then Daddy came and we all went home. Daddy went back to get Ping at 7:00 pm and then he went to his Mason's meeting. I was glad to have the day over. I am so grateful for the help at Daisies as that was a huge blessing. We have an awesome Daisy troop!
Tuesday I still felt pretty awful. I had to run to St. Vincents for a blood test. Needed to have my calcium drawn. Every day it is something new with the medical community and me. Sick of it to say the least!!!! After I picked up Yamira and Manny, we went to the library and played with Noah, Skyler and Teresa. It was nice to chat with Ashly and Rebecca. The rest of the day went fairly well. At 4:00 pm, my friend Ding came over with her son Matthew. While Matthew, Manny and Yamira played, Ping and Ding worked on Ping's Chinese. I am so grateful to Ding for spending time with Shayla. Ping loves Ding too. So she really looks forward to her visits with her. They work on writing and talking and stories. Mrs. Ding big popular draw is the iPad that Ping has got to get her hands on each week! She loves it. Sorry Ping, not in our budget for now. After her lesson, it was dinner and bed.
Wednesday was a crazy busy day. There are two half days this week due to school conferences. So Bill dropped the three off at school at 8:15 am. I picked them up at 11:15 am. I get them all released together. Ping would rather stay the extra 20 or so minutes, but it is not worth if for me because I have to literally sit around for another 45 minutes waiting on her just to be dismissed. I hate her missing the time on her card, but it's just not worth it. Anyway, we rushed home and I fed them lunch. We all jumped back into the car and headed back to school. Bill had a doctors appointment, so I had to take all three to Yamira's conference and Manny's. When we pulled in, we saw Miss Ash who was there early, so she was sweet enough to sit with Ping, Manny and Yanira at a table while I talked to Yamira's teacher. Yay Ashly. Yamira is doing quite well at school both academically and behaviorally. I am more than pleased. Then we went to see Manny's teacher. Manny is young, but is doing very well. He is a ball of energy. Hoping he really grows by May. Then we rushed home and met Bill. Manny and Yamira took a nap while Ping and Daddy delivered the fall product to the neighbors. I ran back to the school and met with Ping's teacher. Ping is doing excellent on all fronts. She is getting speech and we feel like it's really helping. So three great reports. I was thrilled. I then headed home and Daddy headed off to school. When I got home, I called the pediatrician's office. Manny has been claiming his arm hurts him. He seems to be complaining less and less, but he is still favoring it a bit. They asked me to bring him right in. So there we are in the pouring rain, pouring back into the car to head into Worcester. The doctor that saw him is someone I don't know, but she was nice. She thought he may have popped out his shoulder by accident and it may have just popped back in. She said to keep an eye on it. Not much else can be done. Even if an x-ray confirmed, there isn't much you can do. Not like he would wear a sling at the fine age of three. So we left the office and I made two stops for my Tastefully Simple business and then we headed home for dinner and bed. What a long day.
Today has been a long day as well. I was really looking forward to today because I didn't have a ton of things to do outside the house. I was excited to be in the house doing stuff all day long. Unfortunately, I am not sure what happened, but I didn't get nearly the stuff done that I planned on getting done. I got some stuff done and I am plugging away now. I am a little disappointed more isn't done, but what can I do. I am getting caught up here and that was important to me. I have some pictures to upload. I need to go through and match up some receipts to a bill and a host of other things. I have tomorrow to do it too and Saturday I supposed. Just wanted to get ahead of the game today. Some days just can't be explained I suppose. I did stay in bed today because I knew I wanted to work late at my desk tonight. I can't believe how late it is already. Bill did most of the running around. I did go out around 4:00 pm to pick up Ping. Yamira had a play date today with her friend Chelsea and Ping had a play date with her friend Peyton. Bill picked up Yamira. I picked up Ping and then we went to Walmart. We were literally out of Pull Ups. That is not good at all. After a quick and wet trip to Walmart, it was home and dinner here. I just put them in bed and now I am going to try and finish up a few other things I need to absolutely get done.
I know this was not the most well written posting. A lot of them are like that. There is just too much content and my brain is all over the place. However, this time around, I had so many interruptions, I am not sure it even makes sense. I hope so.
Mama Out!!!!!!
The acrobat show.
Amazing.
Amazing.
Very cool.
Tea with Clara.
Tea with Clara.
Tea with Clara.
Tea with Clara.
My chicken.
Piggy.
Library fun.
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