Bag O Cheetos: February 2007

Work & Play
Ok... so we have been so bad lately about writing. It looks like we, I mean "I" do a really good job at posting pictures. In my opinion, this is fine. I love to look at pictures and rarely read the stuff. However, I started going back to read stuff Cheeto wrote a couple of years ago. It was interesting and fun to go back and read the events that happened from day to day. I wish life didn't go so fast and get so crazy. It just gets hard to get to this kind of stuff. I can't say for sure that it will happen, but I really want to try doing better at writing.
I'm going to try to update some of the big news since the last time I wrote. When we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Asheville, we noticed Cade was having some emotional signs of not liking school. He had been attending Jones Spanish Immersion. My mom spent a day with him. She got there early for lunch and decide to watch the class through the window for 20-30 minutes. She said Cade just sat with his head on his desk all day and said nothing. The teachers and other students didn't really make an effort to acknowledge him. Mom said Cade wasn't the only child like this. But it was still sad to see Cade just sit there all day. We know this isn't Cade's personality. Well, after a few days when Cheeto just couldn't get him out of the car in the morning; I called the school and Mr. Lee, the school counselor, came out and talked Cade into going inside. Mr. Lee took some time out of class with Cade to see if he could understand why Cade was doing this. Cade wouldn't tell him much. The next week Cheeto had meetings in Raleigh so I had to take him to school. Both days, Mr. Winslow, the assistant principle, had to come out and peel Cade out of my arms to take him inside. It took everything I had to be strong and not cry in front of Cade. I did cry all the way home. After some discussion and prayer, we decided to try to transfer Cade to our district school, Jesse Wharton Elementary. They weren't going to allow this, but because of the behavior situation they told us to write a letter to the school district office asking to release Cade from the Spanish Immerision program. After a few days, we got the go ahead to move him to Jesse Wharton. The first couple of days were an adjustment, of course. The first day walking Cade to class he saw 2-3 kids that he knew from either church or soccer. This alone made Cade happy. He knew and saw no one outside of school at Jones. It was sad to see Cade walking away from such an opportunity to learn Spanish. However, it's not worth a child's happiness. His teacher, Mrs. Doutt, is awesome! She has been really working with him to get more involved in the class. She noticed right from the beginning that Cade was good at excluding himself from the other kids, especially at recess. However, there have been a few kids that made the inititive to get Cade to play with them. She did say that Cade works much better in small groups. If Cade and a few kids start playing a game on the playground or something and other kids see and want to join the fun, when the group gets bigger then Cade will walk away and choose to do something else. He also has struggled with getting his work done on time. We have started working on that at home and school and we have seen a change in Cade. We have seen a much happier child come out of all of this. I think we have made the right decision. I can't believe I did this... but Cade is also riding the bus to and from school. There have been to scares so far. The first day I was left alone from recovering from my surgery ( see below) I was excited to meet Cade at the door coming off the bus. Well, the bus just drives by, doesn't slow down or anything. I call Cheeto and explained what happened. Cheeto runs home and chases down the bus. He gets on the bus and asks the driver if Cade is on the bus. Cade stands up and started to cry a bit. By this time the driver is almost crying herself. Asking how long Cheeto had been following her and why didn't Cade say anything? I think we all had scare that day! The next time... was about 2 weeks ago. It was almost 3:40pm and Cade hadn't come home yet. He is always off the bus by 3:05pm. I'm starting to panic and decide to call the school. His bus driver didn't show up after school. They had to find another bus and driver. It was almost 4:15pm before Cade got home. These are stresses that I don't like dealing with. Thankfully, both times things worked out fine!
December brought some craziness. I had been having these crampy pains on the right abdomen since before I was pregnant with Analise. They would come and go. I had seen my OB about it and he told me he found nothing obviously wrong. There was a chance it could be scar tissue related but unless he did exploritory surgery we would never know. I opted out of that. Well, after talking with our friend, Dede, she said it really sounded gallbladder related. I went to our family physician and they started running tests about the 12th of December. None of them came back with positive results of gallbladder disease or gallstones. Dr. Miller said she could arrange a meeting with a surgeon to explain more options. The first opening they had wasn't until after the new year. Our insurance was going to change deductables drastically. We were thinking because Analise was born in the same year that maybe we could save some by already meeting some deductables. I was upset because they couldn't work me in until January 3rd. I called asking, well, pleading, for an opening. They said they didn't have anything. Then, she said, "WAIT! I just found something for tomorrow morning at 8:30. Can you be here?" I said, of course. Our prayers were answered! After meeting with a surgeon, he said sometimes the gallbladder is diagnosed with chronic inflammation. I told him our situation with insurance. He was kind enough to speed up the process and get it done the 26th of December. He immediately sent me to get a CT of my abdomen and to get all of the pre-op done. This was the 21st. It was crazy on how everything just fell into place after that. I spent an entire day getting everything arranged. I found out not eating made the pains go away. So I just started eating light, especially in the fats department. The day of surgery, we were on our way to drop kids off, when we got a phone call from the hospital, asking if we could be there earlier. I was a wreck. I was so nervous going into this. I had had D&C's before but nothing that involved incisions. I just had a bad feeling about all of it. Cheeto did his best to keep me calm. After surgery I couldn't get up on my own, let alone walk. I had some major problems going to bathroom. The nurse suggested we stay overnight, just to be on the safe side. I was trying to keep the costs to a minimum. So I told Cheeto, "Let's go home." So we did. I was in pain, but trying so hard not to scare the kids. Chemo and Cheeto helped me into the house. I don't really remember that night too much. But by the next night, I was a wreck. I was in so much pain. I got nauseous and started throwing up. Because of the incisions, I was trying to hold my stomach together and puke at the same time. Sorry for the details! But this is more for my record than for your reading. :) The pain so bad that I couldn't get myself off the floor. Cheeto had to lift me to and from the bathroom. I couldn't sit up on my own. I remember Cheeto calling Dad at 2:00am to come over and watch the kids just in case we had to go back to the hospital. I laid on the couch just trying to keep from throwing up more. But the pain just got too bad. Cheeto had enough, he said he didn't care how much I was refusing, he was taking me to the emergency room. Just the little bumps in the road was more than I could handle. I cried the entire way. It took everything I had to just keep from screaming for Cheeto to drive better. I knew it wasn't his driving. I wanted him to drive faster to get there sooner, but I also wanted him to drive slower to keep the movement to a minimum. I knew I was crazy to even mention either one. Thankfully there was only one other person in the ER. It seemed like forever, but I was worked in within 15 minutes. I immediately started throwing up again. Cheeto did all of the talking with the dr.'s and nurses. Man, that first IV of drugs was heaven! I'm not kidding, just breathing hurt before the drugs. However, it only lasted about 2 hours. The nurse that was helping us said that Dr. Bowman had done her gallbladder surgery and she was snowboarding with in 3 days. I was thinking, "well, good for you!" Cheeto left to go shower and such. They moved me to CT's and found out that there was fluid in my abdomen. The decided to admit me and get me a room. In the mean time, the drugs had wore off. There was no call button by my gurney, I was trying to call to the nurses as they passed the curtain, but it hurt so bad to talk let alone yell. Then this guy came in. I asked him to ask a nurse for some more pain medication. He said he was there just to move me to my room upstairs. Then this other guy comes in and says he brought food. FOOD! Are they serious? I can't eat. The moving guy said she'll have to hold it. I said there was no way i can hold that. I remember shaking and consciously telling myself to take deep breaths. Kind of like Lamaze breathing. Then this guy starts to move me. I was so mad at this man! He missed the elevator and ran the gurney into the wall. SO MUCH PAIN! I was just balling and thinking, where is Cheeto? It's my fault, I told him to go home and shower. I have learned my lesson on that one! Well, then we get up to the room, remember, I can't move anything on my own at this point. I ask the guy to help me get into the other bed. He replies," Sorry, I'm not allowed. I'm might strain my back!" Are you kidding me? How heavy do you think I am? I was so mad at this guy! My vision was so blurry that I couldn't read his name tag. Well, thankfully, this sweet nurse comes in and asks if I need some more pain medication. I said,"YES!" She then gave me some Dilaudid for the pain, and phenergan for the nausea. I was on both of these for days. The phenergan started burning up my veins so they had to switch it to zofran. That afternoon they did a HIDA scan and found there was a bile leak. The cause of the leak could have been 2 different things. They either nicked the liver when taking the gallbladder out during surgery or they didn't clamp off the bile duct completely. Either case... it happens and eventually the body will heal itself. In both cases they have to put a stent in to speed up the process. Saturday I would have to have an Cystic Duct Stent Placement done endoscopically(meaning: down your throat and stomach). I remember Dr. Hayes coming in Friday night and trying to explain what was wrong and what was going to happen the next morning. I was so out of it because of drugs. I remember agreeing with him. And telling him that I was coherent enough to remember what he was discussing with me. Yeah right! He then said I'll just call and talk with your husband and asked for his phone number. I just wanted to laugh.. but it hurt to bad! I knew I had to be a site to see for humorous reasons. All this time, I still couldn't go to the bathroom. Either #1's or 2's! :) Finally, they decide to insert a porta -cath. Which is just a temporary catheter. Immediately, I start to feel better. They drained almost 500cc's ( I don't really know how much that is - but it looked like A LOT!) Through the night I was still having problems and they decide to just put in and leave the catheter. Except I get the nurse that can't do it! The worst! I just said, forget it. I'll wait for someone else. Next morning, one nurse, one try, DONE! I go for the endoscopy and don't remember much of that. I do remember the nasty tasting spray they used to numb my throat. Smelled liked gasoline and fizzed a lot. It took about 10 days to get that taste out of my mouth. Cheeto said that Dr. Hayes got some dye into my pancreas but it should be fine. Rarely, does anyone have complications from this, such as Pancreatitis. Sunday I started getting more pains up high between my ribs. They just said it was all a part of healing. I brought in the new year on drugs and alone. I laughed about myself, to myself as the ball dropped. One of the few years I actually was awake to see it fall. Monday they tried to ween me off all the pain med via IV. They gave me some vicodin. WOW!! I didn't like that stuff! I was hallucinating and felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It was crazy! By Tuesday, not much had gotten better, but nothing worse. I tell Cheeto I'm going home today. I asked the nurse to give me one more shot of zofran and dilauted. She kept telling Cheeto it wasn't wise to take me home. Cheeto agreed with me. I made it home. By Thursday, I was getting up and around a bit more. But I was still had so major pain between my ribs. After staying up all night Thursday night, Cheeto took me back to the dr. They ran some tests and found out I had pancreatitis. Dang! If anything could go wrong, it did! I was the 5% chance in every scenerio. They put me back on an only liquid diet until Tuesday. Tuesday they put me on a no fats diet for 10 days. After which, just low fat foods for another week. Overall, I lost about 15 pounds. It took me over a month to feel somewhat normal again. For a surgery that they say has fast recovery, I made it into be a very complicated ordeal. Cheeto was great through the whole thing. He managed to take care of the kids, work, and tend to my needs. There were times I wondered how he managed it. IC could tell he was struggling to keep it all together. He looked exhausted! But not once did he complain. Every once in a while I would get mad at him because he would try to tell me what kind of pain I was in or that I was over exagerating. How does he know? I felt bad because he was suppose to study and take a test the week all of this happened. Luckly because of the circumstances he had to cancel the test, they refunded his money. I just pray nothing like this happens again. Months ago after nursing Analise, I was teasing Cheeto about getting a boob job sometime down the road. NOTE: I was teasing! I would never go through with it. After all of this - that would be a definate - !@#$ NO! I even told Cheeto, I don't care - I will never have any surgery again - life or death! I had to take back the life and death part... but man, if I have to surgery - it's has to life threating or very serious to get me to do it again. The frustrating part... is that the pains I had before the surgery have subsided... but they come back now and again. Not as bad... but they aren't completely gone.
Analise turned 1 in January! She still has no teeth. So she still looks a lot like a baby! She is always running to keep up with the boys. She has become a climber like her older brother, Kelson. Her hair is long enough for pig tails. So many people comments how much she looks like "Boo" from Monsters, Inc. We have lots of fun with her.
Kelson has been fussing for me to play school with him everyday. He misses Cade when he leaves for school. I think Kelson is just trying to do what Cade does all day. I got with my friend, Ashley, who has a little boy about the same age as Kelson. We have decide to get them together on Tuesday mornings to play and do some preschool stuff. Kelson loves it. Jacob would just rather play with the toys with Kelson. It's fun though.
Well, I think that about brings us up to date. I can't say too much about Cheeto and work. He doesn't tell me too much. Still working for Navigon Financial. They did move into a new office, which is seriously right around the corner. I love that! I love him coming home for lunch. However, it's not his favorite. So with Cade at a closer school and riding the bus and Cheeto working around the corner; our gas bill has decreased significantly.