A Bilious New Year's Eve

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a couple of my posts about having a stomach ache. I felt sick after eating lunch on Tuesday, made a slight recovery, and then had some gut-busting stomach pain at bedtime. I woke up on Wednesday feeling just fine, and assumed the previous day's complaints were caused by questionable leftovers.

I ate breakfast (pancakes by Charlie, yay!) and lunch (whole wheat pasta) without any issues. Dinner was a turkey sub from Jimmy John's. I had to head for bed early because I was scheduled to open the next day. Almost as soon as I lay down, the same god-awful abdominal pain came back with a vengeance. Unlike the previous night, where the pain came in waves and I was eventually able to fall asleep, the pain was unrelenting. Eventually, I horked up my dinner.

Charlie was there next to me, rubbing my back and saying how sorry he was that there was nothing he could do. I felt beyond awful. Finally, we decided that I should probably go to the ER and get checked out since vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and fever can be signs of really serious problems. Charlie took care of all the phone calls -- my mom, my boss, etc. I bundled myself up in the Jeep and then we were on our way.

I tell you what, I must have had the magical combo of symptoms that ensures speedy admittance, because within about ten minutes of arriving, I was in a hospital gown (hello! there's my butt hanging out the back!) and laid out on a bed. The nurse started an IV, then a doctor came in and asked me the usual questions. She suspected right away that my gall bladder was the culprit, and ordered an ultrasound.

Fast forward a few hours and I was full of painkillers and anti-nausea drugs, and my ultrasound was done. The nurse came back and told us that I had gallstones, but that I wasn't in need of immediate surgery (whew!). She referred me to my regular doctor, and sent me packing with a nice kit of drugs.

So that's where we are today. I'm feeling better, although there were some twinges after lunch (nothing fatty, just more wheat pasta). My doc's office is closed until Monday, so I've got to wait until then to make an appointment. In the meantime, I'll be back at work on Sunday, and eating bland, non-fatty, non-spicy food for the next few days (bleh!).

All I can think of is that a) I'm glad we didn't have any fancy or expensive plans for New Year's Eve and b) I'm REALLY glad they didn't whisk me off to surgery last night. I mean, waiting for my regular doctor, waiting for more test results, waiting for a surgical referral, that's all going to suck, but I'd rather be home with my family (and my drugs, bwahahaha) instead of putting my life on hold for God knows how long.

Here's hoping that 2010 is a better year for me, health wise. I sure would like to try and go a year without any major medical procedures.

The Magic of Christmas (Eve)

What a day we've had! I baked, I cleaned, I had Thai food. I got to spend time with two of my most favorite people. I got to see my little guy get ridiculously excited about Santa, the tree, and the whole works. Just plain awesome all around.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, and I'll be thinking of you all. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. And if it gets stressful, or sad, or just not fun, try to remember how magical it all seemed when we were kids. Remember how lucky we all are, how blessed we are to have each other, our families, our friends, our homes, our jobs...all of it. Remember what it's really about -- not just the birth of Christ, but also hope, and family, and love.

Santa's Little Helper - 12.24.2009

The Weekly Austin - Holiday '09 Edition

Last year, I had grand plans to take a fantastic Xmas picture of Austin and make it into a card to send to everyone we know. (SEE? SEE HOW CUTE OUR KID IS? SUCK IT!) My mom got him a great little outfit, the tree was perfect, and I had borrowed kick-ass gear with which to shoot this masterpiece.

What'd I end up with?

That's right. That's a SCREAMING BABY. And we all know, nothing says "Hooray for the Birth of Jesus" like a screaming baby.

With these memories fresh in my mind, I decided to take another crack at it this year. He's so much older! I thought. He can follow instructions! And he co-operates with me most of the time! I just knew I'd get much better results. (I can hear my mom laughing her ass off all the way from Virginia Beach as she reads this.)

I'm not sure if it's the button-down shirts, the Xmas tree, or what, but Austin and holiday snaps? DO. NOT. AGREE. Behold, Screaming Baby's replacement, SCREAMING TODDLER:

And in case you're wondering, I had to do a tight close-up because the only way to keep this writhing demon spawnI MEAN MY BELOVED CHILD still was to wedge him into his Bumbo seat. This was pretty much the best shot I got.

So if you get a holiday card from me this year, don't be surprised if it's a stick figure scrawled onto a Post-It note. Because Mommy is packing up her camera gear and climbing into the bathtub with a bottle of wine. (Isn't that what all the pros do?)