Gall Bladder Surgery

A few weeks ago I had to go to the emergency room because I was having excruciating pain in my gall bladder.  I was having a hard time breathing, and was hyperventilating.  I had some blood tests and an ultrasound, and they found multiple gall stones.  I've had gall bladder problems ever since I was in high school, but they never found any gall stones until my most recent ultrasound.  I guess it was kind of a relief...like finally, I have a reason to have it taken out now.  So yesterday morning at 6am, Tye drove me to the hospital.  My surgery was at 7:30.  I was a little nervous, but mostly for the aftermath.  I wasn't sure how I would feel when I came home.  I don't even remember them taking me into the surgery room.  I just remember telling Tye that if anything happened to me (like if I died!) then I wanted him to remarry someone who would love the kids as much as I do.  Then the next thing I know, I hear my name from a nurse trying to wake me up. 

Last night my friend Susan brought by dinner.  She is also the R.S. president, and is very busy.  So it was very sweet of her to do that! And my neighbor, Katie, watched the kids all morning while Tye was in the hospital with me.  And before that, another friend from the ward, Kristin, came over at 7:15am to make sure the kids got off to school O.K. 

Today I've been in a lot of pain.  It feels like I've been stabbed in several places on my stomach.  The sisters in the ward have been so helpful.  My visiting teacher, Natalie, took Katlyn and Aaron to my friend, Shayna's house.  Then she brought them back home a few hours later.  It was nice to be able to nap a little bit.  Shayna even sent some homemade bread back too!  I had some of that for my lunch with some peach jam.  Then my friend Katie brought over dinner from Rachel Peterson.  I was very thankful for it, because my afternoon was spent taking Brock to the doctor's office.  I'm not suppose to be driving with the medication I'm on, but I really had no choice.  Brock came home and told me he had blood in his urine, and that it hurt.  He was also nauseated all day long.  So when I called the pediatrician, they told me to come right away to get lab work done.  They ended up taking some blood tests, and think it may be a small kidney stone, but we'll see if it clears up tomorrow.  It was kind of funny at the medical office, because Brock was pushing me around in a wheel chair, so everyone thought I was the patient.  Brock had to be checked "down there", so he gave me a mad look, and said I owed him ice-cream.  I really did feel bad about it, so I drove through Good Times, and bought him a shake on the way home.  I'm glad I made it home.  I could feel the medication making me tired and loopy! This may be how people feel when they are slightly drunk. :(  I'm not planning on driving anywhere anymore until I'm all healed!

Sometimes I take my health for granted.  It really is a blessing to have good health!  I think this will give me a new perspective when others have to have surgery.  It really is hard to get around and to day to day things after surgery.  I'm so grateful for the help from my friends and ward family!

 

December 2011

A stranger came to my door the other day and asked me if I was Heidi.  He then gave me my camera!  I couldn't believe it. I had been looking for my camera ever since Christmas.  He said he found it on the trails, in the open space area.  I think he got our address by seeing the boys football jerseys with our last name on them (kind of scary when I think about it now...) But I'm so happy to have my little camera back!

The Relief Society was in charge of our ward's Christmas party this year.  I just got put in as the R.S. secretary, so I got to help out.  I miss being in charge of all that stuff.  I just went with Ariana and Emily.  They boys were too pooped out, so they stayed home and bonded with video games, I guess. 

Ariana and Emily dancing

Our neighbor, Zack, is such a charmer. 

Here's the cookie exchange table.

I took the girls to go see the Nutcracker.  We went with one some people in the ward.  It was so fun to see their faces when the show started! Their eyes were glued to the stage! 

From left to right, Katlyn, Sydney (a friend), Emily, Ariana

We invited a few families over to do a nativity with us.  Lots of kids! The big kid in the middle is suppose to be a sheep with the white blanket on him.  It was pretty funny.

Here's my friend, Naomi. Katlyn loves to snuggle with her and her daughter, Izzy.

It's always fun to have snow during Christmas!

But it's not so fun to dog-sit during Christmas break! Can I just say....YAP! YAP! YAP! YAP!

Bridget seemed to like having another dog around though, but after a few days, she wanted to make the little dog her own personal chew toy!

We went to the Hammond's Candy Factory in December. When we got there they said most of their workers had left on vacation.  So the tour was pretty boring.

But the gift shop made up for that!....

Here's Tye trying to make a skinny face as he eats a carmel covered marshmallow.

New Piano!!! Woot!!!

Can I just say how much I LOVE Craigslist??? I am LOVING my piano!  We now have choir practice in our home.  Now Brock has no excuse to not sing with us. :)  Ariana has been joining us in choir too.

We made a walkway to go down into our basement.  I was getting tired of the neighborhood kids seeing all our laundry spewed all over the laundry room floor.  Now the laundry room doors can stay shut! :) 

I've been busy painting the walls in our home.  I borrowed my friend, Susan's, super tall, heavy, and scary ladder.  I think my life flashed before my eyes today a couple of times!

First couple of weeks in November...

Brock's sitting in the middle (#42).

Here's Bransen standing by our car after we painted the windows before their championship game.

The following few pictures are taken at Famous Dave's restaurant after Brock's choir concert.

Here is Ariana and Aarons room after I painted it.  It was a HOT PINK color with black trim when we moved in.  So I painted the top a soft blue, and the bottom a tan color.  Then I painted the trim on the bottom white, and attached new chair railing and crown moulding.  Tye was happy to use his new saw!

Next, I'm going to make a couple of hot air balloons to float above Ariana's bed.  And I got a cute, red, metal airplane to hang above Aaron's bed.

I got Ariana's bed on Craigslist, and painted it white.  And I got the striped rug at Pottery Barn Kids for $29.00 on clearance.

I still need to do some touch-ups on the paint (under the trim). And I'm keeping my eye out for a cute comforter for Ariana.

I painted a whole wall with chalkboard paint last week.  I had to flatten the surface with plaster first, then sand it, then paint it.  The kids are having fun with it!

And here's a photo of our home! It's been really windy for a few days, so most of the leaves have fallen off of our trees.

Three Nights of Halloween!

Saturday night we made it to the last part of our ward's Fall Festival, and Trunk-or-Treat.  We had chili and rolls, and the kids had fun playing all the games.  Their favorite was eating a doughnut from a string. 

Bransen was a wolf man.

Emily, Ariana, and Katlyn were all fairy princesses.

Aaron was very possessive of the pumpkins. This one is Katlyn's, but he didn't care.  He wasn't letting go of it!

There wasn't much of a selection left at Walgreens, but everyone loved Brock's M&M costume!

On Sunday night we carved our pumpkins.  This is always a fun time.  Bransen carved his pumpkin all by himself this year and did a great job!  Ariana also carved her own pumpkin...mostly.  Brock carved out a storm trooper design.  I need to take pictures of all the finished pumpkins!  It was just too dark when we finished (and I was too tired to remember to take more pictures!)

Tye always goes deep in thought as he thinks of a design for his (I mean Aaron's) pumpkin. He made a nice little vampire jack-o-lantern.

Bridget was going crazy because we wouldn't let her in.

The following pictures are from tonight, Halloween, after trick-or-treating.  It was PERFECT weather! We couldn't have asked for better weather tonight.  We even met up with some of our neighbors who have a daughter in Ariana's class at school.  It was nice to get to know them a little bit. 

Brock is writing "Brock's Stash" on his candy bag.

We had a great Halloween time! But I must admit, I'm glad Halloween is over.  I always look forward to the Holidays, and now I feel like I can officially play Christmas music. (Except when Tye's around! He wants to wait until after Thanksgiving!)