Scans

This is a whiny health-related post so just skip it if you want. It will most likely be the ONLY whiny health-related post I will ever do as I prefer to keep things upbeat.
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Several weeks ago, David forced encouraged me to go to the doctor. I had been having chest pain on and off ranging from mild to moderate. My migraines had also been getting more frequent, and I had passed-out again. (The first time was last year, and the culprit was low Potassium.) Don't get me wrong. I love my doctor. She listens carefully, is very professional, yet friendly, and easy to get in to see. I just don't like having anything wrong with me that requires a doctor visit.

Anyway, after a normal EKG, my doctor started pushing around on my abdominal area while I tried not to come off the table when she pressed on certain spots. She said that she thought it was my gall bladder. I beg your pardon. Are you sure you're looking at the right chart? David just had his gall bladder out last month, but I don't have gall bladder problems. Apparently, I do. She mentioned a list of symptoms that I had ignored or dismissed as other stuff. That pain just below my ribs on the right side...not high gas after all. Suffering from heartburn for the first time in my life...not heartburn. My doctor said that gall bladder pain can show up as chest pain going straight through to the back, so she ordered an ultrasound.

During the ultrasound, it freaking HURT when she pushed on my gall bladder area so I was expecting the worst, but a few days later, I got the report of no gall stones. Well, alrighty then! My gall bladder must be fine...nope. Time for a HIDA scan, but first let's get an MRI of your brain just to address the migraines and passing-out. (My Potassium had come back normal this time.)

Now folks, I'm semi-claustrophobic. It's never affected my quality of life or anything. I can do elevators as long as its not full of people with me trapped at the back. I can do caves fine, once I'm down in them. The initial cave entry is stressful, but I can do it. That stupid MRI machine, however, was a whole other ball-game. I thought that I would be okay as long as I closed my eyes. I started breathing hard when the techs snapped this cage over my head. I had my eyes closed after that, but I could still tell when I slid into the coffin tunnel, because it went from light to dark (even with my eyes shut) AND they had packed me so tightly to keep me still that my shoulders kind of squished together making me feel extremely trapped. PLUS I had that &^%$@ cage locked down over my head so I couldn't have slid myself out if I wanted to. The techs had barely exited the room before I panicked and squeezed the little bulb they had given me. We tried again, but I just couldn't do it. They told me that they would call my doctor to reschedule and I could have her give me something to relax me.

Several days later - MRI Take 2 - I took a Xanax at 5:15am and another at 5:45am. David was with me this time and had permission to stay with me, touching me so I would know he was there. This tech was much more understanding being claustrophobic herself. She taped an oxygen tube onto my shirt so I would have air blowing over my face and didn't pack me quite as tightly. At 6:00am, I slid into the tube and felt just as panicky as before. The *&%$ Xanax did not seem to be doing anything. I had never had it before so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel. THANK GOD David was there. He talked to me soothingly and rubbed my legs the ENTIRE time. He is the ONLY reason I made it through the first 10 minutes. In an effort to relax, I was singing little lullabies in my head that I used to sing to KJ. One was about counting to 30 and the other was learning the months of the year. (Yes, I was one of those moms.)

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, seeev-en..8, 9, 10, 11, 12.....thiiiir-teen, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20........21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, tweeeenty-nine and then comes 30 can you count along with me?" over and over

"January, February, March, and Apriiil...May and June, July and Auguuust...September, October, November, Deceeeember..These are the months of the year. 12...12...12...12 months, 12 months come in every year...12...12...12...12 months, 12 months come in every year" over and over

I knew when the Xanax kicked in, finally, when I struggled to remember how to count to 30 and what were those months again?

We stopped to eat on the way home and I could barely form a coherent sentence. By the time we arrived back home around 8:15am, I was slurring my words and went straight to bed. People, I slept until 2:00 that afternoon! Actually sleep may not be the correct word. I was comatose until 2:00 that afternoon! (KJ was at his dad's.) I really think I can get through any future brain MRI's with just David though. No more Xanax for me!

The HIDA scan was l-o-n-g and boring, but uneventful. It showed that my gall bladder is only working at 23% so it needs to come out. I see the surgeon this Friday to schedule that. The MRI showed a "non-specific finding" spot in my white matter that is most likely caused by a migraine. My doc wants me to follow up with a neurologist just to be sure, and to do something about the increase in migraines. Ironically, that spot is located in the same place where most of my migraines start. I won't see the neurologist until mid-September unless they have a cancellation.

The winner is...

... Lisa of "Because I'm The Mama That's Why" with her Friendly Advice entry. Yay Lisa!! Please email me at musicmom32@yahoo.com with your prize choice. I'll be away from the computer most of today, but I promise I'm not ignoring you.

David, KJ, and I read, laughed, and discussed all the stories at length. We all had our favorites and their was some initial disagreement as to which one should win. Finally, we decided on a few factors on which to base our decision. We went with the following in order of importance.

1. How hard was the clean-up?
2. How big was the mess?
3. Was it yucky?
4. How hard did we laugh?

Chris won the #4 category hands-down with his One Hell of a Diaper entry.

Karisma and Kids made as shudder in horror from the "yuck" factor with her Flushed Away story.

I was leaning towards Wendy's lipstick being the hardest mess to clean up, but ultimately I beat everyone up we agreed on the overall winner.

Thanks everybody!

Ya'll are great!

I'm not sure I've ever laughed this hard. The stories are all sooo funny that I'm going to have a bear of a time picking just one. Maybe I'll pick two...I'm terrible at making decisions which is why at 9:30 last night, I was still fretting over which co-op classes I wanted KJ to take. Registration was this morning.

You still have until Sunday if you want to enter the contest.

CONTEST!!

Announcing the first contest (and maybe only contest on my blog).

Inspired by Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, Good Soil (actually she had a giveaway, but I'm not that nice), and Life With My 3 Boybarians, I'm having a contest.

First, read my post below about cleaning the bathroom after the septic tank backed up, if you haven't already.

Second, tell me about a time you had to clean up a big mess. It doesn't have to be a foul, nasty, disgusting mess, just a mess. For example, if you're two-year-old decorated the living room walls with permanent magic marker causing you to have to prime and repaint; that's a big mess but not disgusting. If it IS a foul, nasty, disgusting mess, that's fine too.

Either leave me a few sentences in the comments telling me about your mess cleaning up time, or if you want to be verbose or include pictures; blog your story and send me a link. If you are one of the last few people on Earth without a blog and don't want to leave your story in the comments, then email it to me at musicmom32 at yahoo dot com. The winner will be chosen by me and maybe David and KJ.

I think that's everything you need to know to enter. Oh wait! I forgot the prize!

The winner will receive a free T-shirt, tote bag, mug, cap, onsie, or bib from our T-shirt store, The Eclectic Bohemian. (any item except the sweatshirts, hoodies, or tracksuits, because they're more expensive and I'm not made of money, you know)

I dislike deadlines, but I don't want the contest to go forever so let's say you need to have your entry to me by August 26 at 9:00pm. That's this Sunday evening so you have all weekend to enter.

The Sweet Aroma of a Full Septic Tank

Yesterday, David came home from work with an upset stomach. KJ is vacationing with his dad all week so I had planned to meet at a friend's house for lunch. I asked David if he wanted me to stay home with him and he moaned, rolled over, and mumbled something that I took to mean, "no," so I kept my plans.

I was happily munching on a salad and chatting with Kerrie-Ann (we were at her house) when my cell phone rang. It was my darling husband calling to inform me that the toilet had overflowed all over the bathroom making quite a mess, and what was our landlord's phone number, please? Actually, that is a calm summary of what the problem was. In reality, he was as mad as a hornet, the word sh*t was used a lot describing what had flowed all over the floor, and ended with one of those pregnant pauses... "Ummm, do you want me to come home?" I asked. Another long pause....and then he said, "No, just give me Bud's number." I gave it to him without mentioning that Bud's number has been the same the entire time we've lived there (5 years for me and 7 for David), or that the number was on the fridge...didn't want to push my luck.

After awhile, I called David back to see what the situation was. He was considerably calmer, and said that Bud was outside digging out the clean-out for the septic tank and that I would need to rent a carpet cleaner on the way home. Apparently, some of the nasty toilet water had gotten on the carpet in the hall. Luckily for me, Kerrie-Ann had a Little Green Machine that she was happy to lend me. Thank you, Kerrie-Ann. Meanwhile Debbie arrived and we all visited some while I procrastinated as long as was reasonable. Eventually, I headed home, stopping at the grocery store for cleaning supplies and to use their restroom. Did I mention that our house only has one bathroom?

After getting home and taking stock of the situation, I sprayed this
into

making me look like this.

I didn't take pictures of the mess since I know that some people read my blog while eating, and quite frankly, it was everything I could do to keep from puking much less hold a camera. First, I rummaged through our leftover dissection supplies looking for rubber gloves. I found 3 gloves, but they were all lefties, so I put on 1 glove, grabbed a trash bag and headed back to the bathroom. In an effort to stop the water from flowing into the hall, David had thrown a bunch of towels down. I picked up the dripping towels, trying to mop up any ummm solid waste as I found it, and put the towels in the trash bag. I contemplated just throwing the towels away, but as that would leave us with about 3 towels for the whole family, I decided to try and salvage them. They went into the washer along with about half a jug of bleach. The glove and trash bag went into the trash, and I returned to the bathroom. What was David doing during all this you ask? He was lying on the couch watching TV. Don't get mad. He WAS sick, you know.

These next two items are my new best friends. I used an entire container of Clorox wipes just on the floor., and part of a second container on the outside of the toilet. I couldn't do anything about the inside until it was flushable so I just kept the lid down. David, apparently tired of lying on the couch or maybe feeling guilty, mixed some bleach and water in a spray bottle and sprayed in the corners and cracks around the edge of the floor next to the baseboards. I went ahead and cleaned the sink while I had the supplies out anyway.

Okay, the bathroom was as good as it was going to get until I could flush the toilet. Now it was time for the hall. Time to try out the Little Green Machine. This thing worked amazingly well! Once I started, I liked the way the carpet looked so much that I had a hard time finding a stopping place. David asked (from the couch) if I were planning on doing the entire hall.

By this time, the washer had stopped, so I washed the towels again, but no bleach this time. Meanwhile, Bud had finished outside and called several septic tank pumpers trying to find one that could come right away. The earliest anybody could get here was the next morning which would be today. That means about...let's see...about 18 hours without a toilet. For liquid waste, I figured David could go outside. What else are the woods behind the house for? As for me, I'll leave it up to your imagination as to what I did. Where would YOU go if you couldn't use the toilet? I did rig up a solid waste disposal system though.

Meanwhile, I washed the towels one last time and hung them on the clothesline. I've read that UV rays can also kill germs.

This morning, about 9:00, Bud (he lives next door) knocked on the door to tell me that the pumpers were on their way. A few minutes later, I heard the rumble of a truck in the driveway.

Woo Hoo! Septic-Tank-Man was here! I blurred his face since I don't know that he wants it on the internet.

Those are two of Bud's dogs, Pie and LK, watching the action. The smell hit me about this time so I ran back inside.

About an hour or so later, everything was empty and unclogged. Finally, I could use the toilet...but first I had to clean the inside. Time for these guys.

Yay, it's clean! And yes, I've already used it.

KJ's hair over the years

I added a page to show KJ's hair color changes over the years. It will be in the sidebar too.

Meet the Education Animals - Part 3

It's now time for Meet the Education Animals Part 3. You can still view Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them the first time.

First up to say, "Howdy," or I guess he would say, "Jambo," since he's from Africa, is the Sudan Plated Lizard. As far as I know, he has no name. He is called a plated lizard, because his scales are plate-like.

He is VERY fast and swings his upper body back and forth when I first pick him up. He calms down almost immediately though.


Next up to say, "Hello," is the Chuckwalla. He is found in the Mojave desert area. We call him Chuck or Charles if we're being formal. Chuck isn't really as fat as he appears in the picture. When a chuckwalla is scared or nervous, (which for Chuck is every time he is picked up,) he inflates his lungs so that he swells up. When threatened in the wild, a chuckwalla will run into a crevice in the rocks and blow himself up. This makes it difficult for a predator to pull him out. Chuck apparently mistakes humans for coyotes on a regular basis.

Here comes the Common Basilisk saying, "Hola." He doesn't have a name, but KJ calls him, Basil. He is found throughout Central America. Basilisks are also called Jesus Christ Lizards, because when chased by a predator, they can run on water for short distances. I just love his beautiful green color. See those claws on his front foot? Well, they're on all his feet and are extremely sharp.

When I repositioned him so David could get his long tail in the picture, one of his back feet got away from me as HE tried to reposition himself where he wanted to be. The result was several bloody scratches on my wrist.

Oh by the way, please ignore the large bruise on the back of my hand. I had to have an MRI last Thursday (another post for another time), and when the tech finished injecting the contrast, my vein blew out.

Last, but far from least, we have Petunia, a Virginia Opossum. She is soooooo sweet and my baby. Opossums are found just about anywhere in the United States. Petunia had gotten quite fat, but has lost back down to a reasonable weight after being put on a diet and exercise program. When it was cooler, I walked her outside on a cat leash. Now I just let her run around in the Ranch House while I'm there. Because of her diet, she is always ravenous when it's time to eat. I feed her half her food first, then take her out to walk around for 45 minutes before putting her back up to eat the other half of her food. If I try to get her out BEFORE she eats something, she bares her teeth and glares at me. I think she suffers from LBSCBDO. (low-blood-sugar-cranky-butt-disorder)

Come see us at the Cameron Park Zoo!

high school meme

I got this from Dy.

me in 1988

1. Who was your best friend? - I had several; Kathy S., Kathy W., Tricia, Crosby, Jack, and of course, my boyfriend, Jay.

Kathy S. is now Kathy P., is married with 3 kids. We talk on the phone almost daily.
Kathy S. - Then

Kathy S. - now

Tricia and I email about every 6 weeks or so.

Tricia - Then

Tricia with her "children" - Now

Jack and I were close for the first 10 years after high school, but not anymore.

Jack

2. Did you play any sports? - JV tennis my freshman and sophomore years

3. What kind of car did you drive? - I started with a Maverick that burned huge amounts of oil. Then I had a 1977 Granada with a broken gas guage, and lastly a Chevette which had a different-colored fender salvaged from another car so I had one round headlight and one square headlight.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? - During football season, I was at the game since I was in the band. The rest of the year I was either working or out with my boyfriend or friends.

That's me taking Texas big-hair to a whole new level.

5. Were you a party animal? - nope

6. Were you considered a flirt? - Lord, no

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? - band and orchestra

8. Were you a nerd? - Oh yes, I was in a group that took all the "Honors" classes, was on the Academic Decathlon team, and made all "A's"

Fellow nerd, Kathy W., and I being nerdy and studying. Kathy and I email sporadically, but I got to visit with her in person last year when she was in the area on a business trip.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? - No, I bent the rules a little, but since I was in the previously mentioned "nerd" group, I got away with it.

10. Can you sing the fight song? - No, I don't even remember the tune anymore.

11. Who was your favorite teacher? - I had several. Mr. Tilford was my band director so I had him for all four years. I used to go by and talk to him while I was in college. I also loved Mrs. McGough, Mrs. Wells, and Mrs. Hulsey. They taught English, 10th, 11th, and 12th respectively.

12. What was your school mascot? - husky

13. Did you go to the Prom? - Yes, with my boyfriend, Jay. We started dating at the end of 10th grade and continued through the rest of high school. We broke up at the beginning of college. Incidentally, Jay ended up marrying a good friend of mine, and I was a bridesmaid in their wedding.

Don't we look cute? Could my hair stick up ANY higher?

This is Jay with his wife, Angie, and their three beautiful girls. Angie and I have discussed Jay's timeless look, the man NEVER ages. I think he has some secret fountain-of-youth somewhere. Angie, if you ever find it, please send me some too.

14. If you could go back, would you? -No, I enjoyed high school, but I have no desire to repeat it.

15. What do you remember most about graduation? - Not much, it was fairly unexciting. I just sat there until my name was called. I remember that I went bowling afterwards.

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? - I don't even remember having a Senior Skip Day so I'm assuming I was at school. (probably studying with Kathy W.)

17. Did you have a job your senior year? - Lay-away at K-mart

I knew I saved these badges for a reason...

18. Where did you go most often for lunch? - We weren't allowed to leave for lunch so I ate at the school cafeteria. I DID sneak off for lunch with some friends a couple of times my senior year, but we never got caught.

19. Have you gained weight since then? - most definitely

20. What did you do after graduation? - worked that summer, then left for a semester at UT in Austin. I decided it was too big for me so I moved back home and went to Midwestern State University.

21. What year did you graduate? - 1988

22. Who was your Senior Prom Date? - Jay

I already showed you the prom picture so here we are at a band banquet. We won the "Cutest Couple" award.

23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? - I missed my 10th as I lived 1200 miles away at the time. I have already RSVPed for my 20th though. It is next summer.

Newspaper pics

Oh cool. There was a newspaper photographer at the Night Out party, and his photos are MUCH nicer than mine. You can see them at the WacoTrib website. It won't give me a link directly to the picture, but you can go here and go to pictures #18 and #20 to see KJ.

Stonhenj at Hewitt Night Out

On Monday, KJ performed with Stonhenj Renaissance Players at a kick-off party for the Annual "Night Out" block parties. I have to say that I personally had a lot more fun than I anticipated. A homeschool family that I used to be close to until they dropped off the face of the Earth (long story) was there, and we spent hours catching up, renewing friendships, and promising to get together again soon. Another homeschool family that I had only met the week before was also there so we also talked and the husbands got to meet. Several local businesses had booths with free goodies so I had a free hot dog, free soda, free water, free nachos, and free cotton candy. I made sure that David and KJ also ate and voila, we've had supper.

I didn't take very many pictures due to my socializing, and the ones I did take are all of KJ. (My apologies to the rest of Stonhenj.)

Doesn't he look cute here? I also remembered NOT to call him sweetie the entire time we were there. You can see the beginnings of extended sideburns or *gasp* a beard.

You can tell that it was HOT by the look on Sir Marcus Desmond's face. Boy, they wore lots of layers during the Renaissance.

They're discussing something in depth here.

KJ and Montuss entertain and educate. Obviously, it was getting dark.

T-shirts

Okay, we moved all our T-shirts to one store which makes it much easier to navigate. I posted the new link at the top of the sidebar.

Karisma and Kids - Thanks for the comment. I answered your concerns in the comment section as I'm not sure of blog protocol for commenting on comments. The new blog sounds interesting.

I know that little boys(& girls) tend to get filthy more often than not, and KJ was no exception. Even as recently as six months ago, he would routinely work on his frog pond and come in muddy and wet. I had thought though, at age 14, that he had outgrown that phase. Apparently not.

When I picked KJ up from his dad's Wednesday morning, his slip-on, checkered Vans were covered in mud and wet. I threw them in to wash when we got home. 3 wash cycles, lots of stain remover, and some bleach later, the shoes were semi-decent looking again.

On Wednesday evening, KJ announced that he had no clean shorts and brought his laundry to me. I washed and dried all his clothes, and on Thursday morning, everything was clean. He had left one pair of shorts at his dad's, and one pair is a hair too small, so he only had 3 wearable pair. (NOTE - He does have pants, but its been too hot for them.) Anyway, he wore a pair of shorts Thursday while hanging around the house, to a movie, and out to eat. So far, so good, they're still fine. Thursday evening, however, he and Taylor (yes, THAT Taylor) went outside for about 45 minutes. In that short amount of time they managed to get muddy and wet.

They both changed and were inside the rest of the evening. Friday morning, KJ wore the clean pair from the night before to a homeschool gathering at a local park. The younger children played on the playground and watched the local fire department (who were very nice) spray various water patterns while testing the fire truck. The older children, however, played in a nearby drainage ditch, catching fish. All four of them (ranging in age from 11-14) came back muddy and wet.

KJ changed into his remaining clean pair of shorts when we returned home, but now his lace up tennis shoes were muddy and wet. Of course now, he had no clean shorts to take to his dad's for the weekend so I washed them again, and told him to toss them into the dryer at his dad's house. On the way over, we stopped and bought another pair of tennis shoes (his old ones were in pretty bad shape anyway). I told him that from now on, he is to wear his Crocs or old shoes into any muddy situations. The problem is that he never plans to get into those situations. They just happen to him. I have a feeling that KJ will still be getting himself into wet, muddy situations for many more years. He'll probably make it a career.