1000 Island dreaming

Location, of course, not salad dressing. I can't believe we're days away from headed up there! It seemed SO far away when I was getting out of the hospital. But, my 6 week check-up was last week, so I suppose it's actually here! Watch out fish, here comes Steve! Though, the focus is wedding, not boating, I'm thinking there will still be some time analyzing how to catch some lunch!

I'm hoping my side effects continue to stay mild while we're in NY. Not sure how that will all work out. I've got a few more days left in the 2 week post shot safe zone. Then, the side effects could start to kick in...yay. However, I've got medication that I take daily to help keep those on the mild side...hopefully it continues to work well!

I am looking forward to getting in some good family time. Every time we're up there, there's only one bad part - leaving. Beyond the family, it is one of the most gorgeous places on the planet. Peaceful, amazing views wherever you look...should help keep me calm if I turn crazy hormone person from time to time!

First shot is in...

...I suppose I could go with the "but, not the fun kind of shots" comment. But, I've only ever done one shot in my life. Some cinnamon crap drink at the Puke-e-tan in Westlake that Steve bought for me. And, I didn't shoot it...I think I took about 20 minutes and wasn't even able to finish it all.

This was a not so fun, but necessary in the process, shot. The shot itself wasn't that bad. The nurse suggested not looking at it - said it could be a bit overwhelming. I told her that wouldn't be a problem, I never look at the needle stuff anyway. I walked out of the room and said, "Well, I'm not crazy yet." The nurses laughed and told me it wouldn't happen quite so quickly. They laughed again when I told them Steve had scheduled "RUN FAST" on his calendar to coincide with my shot. Then, they stopped laughing and said, "Yeah, that's actually a good idea."

I also started a prescription that is supposed to help ease the side effects of the Lupron. I'm hoping it will help - less hot flashing, mood swings and forgetfulness. Of course, the Lupron may increase my forgetfulness and I'm supposed to remember to take the medicine each day. This seems like a sick Catch 22.

In non-medical news, Dude has his last day at Primrose tomorrow. I absolutely can't believe that is possible. We met his Kindergarten teacher at a Meet and Greet last night. She's been teaching for 35 years and came highly recommended (we'd requested her and were happy to find out that request had been granted). Little has her first day of dance tomorrow. This will be convenient because Steve will pick Dude up from school while I'm at dance with Little. I don't think I could handle picking him up and not breaking down in a non hormonally challenged state! By Monday's first day of Kindergarten, I should be a blubbering fool. Thankfully, the school is having a "Boo Hoo Breakfast" for freaks like me.

One more week

I went in for my check-up yesterday. All was good there. Everything I'm feeling - random lightheaded-ness, nausea, the huge downslide in my ability to sleep - is normal with where I am in the recovery process. The good news - Dr. Gillean said all of that should start to significanty improve in the next two weeks. The bad news - that's about when the Lupron joy will begin to set in. Fabulous.

Speaking of that, the craziness has been delayed a week. My Lupron shot wasn't in yet, so I'll be getting it next Wednesday. Dr. Gillean said the first two weeks would be a surge in estrogen and then I'll start to go "downhill" with feeling the crappy side of it. Perfect timing for my sister-in-law's wedding Labor Day weekend! Thank God the wedding takes place at one of the most serene places on the planet...and hopefully it will be cool enough to combat any major hot flashes that may decide to start then!

I got a fun total of about 3 hours of sleep last night. I chose meds that went after pain...and wasn't about to mix those with any Ambien. When Steve rolled over around 5am, I told him he was on his own with the kids for breakfast and getting Colson to school. I knew I wouldn't be functioning at that point! Tonight, it's half an Ambien for me! I'm SO not used to having such messy sleep!

Big Mistake...Big...Huge

Happy Sunday!

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks today since I came home from the hospital. It seems like forever ago and like it was yesterday, all at once. I am feeling a lot less sore overall, which is wonderful. I'm still having to pace myself a lot. I do a bit. Rest. Do a bit more. Rest. You get the picture.

I still have the foggy overall feeling - though I'm trying to convince myself it's decreasing! The lagging effect of all the drugs in my system is not so fun. And, I'm just uncomfortable enough that it messes with my sleep - which has been somewhat of a challenge. I don't operate too well on 4 hours total (mostly non-consecutive) hours of sleep in normal circumstances, let alone while I'm trying to heal from major surgery. It has made me look back and wonder how I functioned at all with newborns after having c-sections. But, this surgery made those look like a breeze!

Steve and I had some unexpected down time this weekend. Colson and Ashlyn went to Jiggy's to play yesterday afternoon. Very quickly, play time turned into "we want to sleep here!" So, I packed their bags, their pillows, etc. and dropped it all off. Steve and I were hanging out around 8...8:30...9...not knowing whether or not we'd get the "we don't want to sleep here" call. But, no phone rings! And, when I went this morning to pick them up, Colson said, "I want to stay here for-evah!" Dude, the puzzle master, was working (very successfully) on a 300 piece puzzle that Jiggy had bought for them to set up on her dining room table. Jiggy and I also worked on the puzzle with him. She's tempted to work on it some herself (puzzles, they're addicting) and I'm fairly certain Colson will bitch her out if she does too many "matches" without him!

I volunteered for Colson's elementary school's PTA yesterday. I heard back from the President quickly with details of the Hospitality Chair position. Organizing/planning various events throughout the year is the basic description. I feel it will be a fantastic place to channel my sickness for organizing and planning events! :)

Big plans tomorrow. Okay, plans. The kids both have school. I get to tackle some of the interesting Great Occasions details. We just relaunched the site, so there's all sorts of adventures occurring. And, I may catch a movie with Nate. Stuff. Rest. Stuff. Rest.

Oh, and can anyone guess which movie I watched last night (one I've seen a million times but not in forever)? I believe one of you out there was with me when I first saw it in the theater...am I right The First Mrs. C.?

Because I can't figure out how to put pictures in the Comments section...

The picture on the previous blog was Steve's suggestion for a picture when he and Colson were capturing the puzzles. Colson's idea is the one below. The kid has us all out organized. Little Alex P. Keaton - except, thankfully, showing no signs of being a Republican.

Lots of glitter and puzzles

So, I didn't take a lot of pictures during the Aunt/Nurse time over the past couple weeks. Maybe I had my mind on other things. Maybe I questioned my ability to even use a camera. Whatever the case may be, there was one event that warranted immediate camera use.

At some point, as I was sitting half awake/half asleep on the couch, Lisa and Ashlyn were coloring on the coffee table. I noticed Ashlyn look over at me and notice that I wasn't completely coherent. She then made her move. "Lisa, let's go do a project." Simple enough. I came out of my fog enough to realize that she was trying to get Lisa into my office where the glitter and glue reside.

Having no ability, or desire to do much more than exist in my foggy state, I told Lisa where she could find the "project" stuff.

It seemed that I was in and out of it for a while when I noticed that they were still in my office. I got concerned. And, I got the camera. Here's what I found...



Walking in...seemed harmless enough...



I said, "Ashlyn, let me see your hands" and here's what I got...

You can see a little on Lisa's hands - nothing in comparison to the little one, but she is probably still finding sparkles on herself!

Lisa's project...she does nice glitter work!

Concentrating on her use of glitter...

SO happy with sparkles!

Relocating the pile of glitter...Probably thinking something like - wow, Mommy NEVER lets me have this much! They had the glitter containers open to "pour" not "shake"...

Notice the top of the glue stick - also covered in glitter!

This one is from tonight. Colson, in his night time undies and a shirt, with all the puzzles he's completed in the past 2 nights after dinner...

Night night for now!

The help has left the building

As of this morning, our Aunt/Nurses are officially gone. GOD HELP US! Lisa left today, after a long stay of taking care of us, feeding us, playing with the kids, etc., etc., etc. We had no down time between Mimi and Lisa's visits. Lisa showed up a couple days before Mimi left. Steve keeps asking who is going to show up tomorrow. We're screwed.
I worked on laundry during "day one, post help"...with some help from Ashlyn, of course. She was actually amazingly helpful today - especially when I hit a wall around 1:30 ish and said, "Mommy has to go to the bed now." In my half-coherent existence at that point, I put on various episodes of "Caillou" - thank God for that bald, little child. She watched TV a bit, played with Barbie's (about 4 of them also came to bed with us) and then checked on Steve in his office upstairs. He said she was great there too. She'd keep really quiet while he was on a call. Then, when he'd hang up, she'd say, "I was really good, Daddy!"
The kids got an exciting "breakfast for dinner" theme tonight. Steve and Ashlyn picked Colson up for school while I worked on standing up long enough to make pancakes. Thankfully, the Crazies were very happy. They LOVE breakfast for dinner!
Jiggy showed up later on with grilled filet for Steve and me. YAY! We've been terribly spoiled with dinner being made for us every night. And, not just any dinner, gourmet dinners! So, it was very tasty to get some yummy stuff (and good protein) in us tonight.
In other exciting news, we went shopping for all of Colson's school supplies yesterday! He found it totally amusing, Ashlyn had a few meltdowns (didn't help that I confined her to the cart as she just started antibiotics for a sinus infection yesterday morning...trying to limit the germ intake and spread!) and Lisa and I were a bit teary! CAN'T believe my baby starts Kindergarten in 20 days. Incredible.