12 days later

It is now 12 days post surgery. Hard to believe I looked this bad last week but I sure did feel bad. I still don't feel great. I'm a bit achy around the eyes and have intermittent stabbing pains in my nose. In 2 days the doctor is going to take out the plastic splints that are way up in my nose and I admit that I'm a bit scared. He's not the gentlest of physicians, especially when it comes to putting long metal tools up my nose. And he usually says strange things to NOT put me at ease. Like when I ask him if it's going to hurt and he says "it won't hurt me a bit but thanks for asking, that's very kind of you." And then it usually hurts like crazy. Then, when his nurse pokes her head in the room to look for someone and he says "there's no-one in here but us chickens." What does that even mean? Kind of a funny guy. Or kind of not, I can't decide. Anyway, sooooo looking forward to Monday.

In the beginning (above)

And today

R.I.P.

I purchased these boots for Gill at Justice just last June. She really liked them. And I mean a lot. I think she wore them every day of the summer and most of the time without socks. Eew! She could quickly clear out a room when she took them off, but I didn't dare throw them away. Alas, the day came when she had left them outside after a camping trip. They got rained on and infested with fleas or some other small hopping black bug. Not to mention the numerous holes and stink. Patsy suggested they should be thrown away, first wrapped in plastic and then disposed of. I thought that Gillian would not understand but she readily admitted that they indeed were deserving of the garbage can. So rest in peace little boots, you've done your job.

Soccer girls

This is how we spend our Saturdays. And how the girls and spend Tuesdays and Thursdays. It has been a quick soccer season with our last games being next Saturday. Gillian is on the Fireflies team and Drew is on the Penguins. I can understand naming a team Fireflies, but Penguins? At least they both have a lot of fun and a lot of exercise.

Mourning in the morning

I'm sitting here monday morning as my dear mother busies herself around my house doing laundry and getting ready to leave. I'm sad. And it looks like the gray skies are here to stay. Need to get out my Happy Lites. So I need to buck up and put some clothes on and be the mom again. She is so amazing there are no words to describe it. Sniff, sniff..... I'll be ok, really....

So let me relate the unfortunate events of yesterday. It all started with a tissue. I've been pretty aggressive with my nose care and I think I might have taken it a bit too far. I rolled it into a snake and twirled it up my nostril all the way to my brain (I think) and was so pleased with myself when I pulled it out. It had a big boogery blood clot on the end and I could breathe a gallon of fresh Seattle air. I even showed Darren. He seemed impressed. THEN, I proceeded to do my Afrin and saline spray like a good girl. I tipped my head back and squeezed several healthy doses into each nostril. And then,,,,,, BURN BURN BURN! Holy cow my whole stinking head was on FIRE!!!! There was nothing I could do, fire was coming out of my ears, nose, eyes and any other part of my face imaginable. My jaw was chattering as I ran to the toilet, sure that I would vomit from the pain. I didn't. I just sat with an icepack, hotpack and a prayer in my heart that the pain would subside. My mom promptly decided that she would skip church and stay home to keep an eye on me. I think she saw the smoke from the flames coming out of my head.

So I spent Sunday trying to rest and keep up on my Vicodin. I am starting to supplement with ibuprofen.

Gavin has been working on contraptions in the garage. He said he is making Claymore Mines out of rat traps. And he can't really spell very well. But he is very creative.

The girls spent the afternoon running around the house giggling, sqealing, making noise, running some more. They have too much energy. Then Gillian announced that they are best buddies which made me happy. Then they fought. Then they were best buddies again.

And Patsy made a wonderful healthy meal. Sigh.

And Darren rested. Much deserved rest.

Hopefully Patsy will get some rest once she gets home!

Rhinoplasty

Oh how naive I was to think that this wouldn't be that painful. Just a little marker to show where to sculpt and shave the nose, no problem. Then....

Monster!! Ok, this is about the most uncomfortable, painful thing ever. Luckily my mom caught wind weeks ago from one of my dad's patients that a nose job is no walk in the park, so she graciously came to rescue me. Seriously, I really don't know what I'd do without her. She has taken care of me and makes sure I take all of my pills. She does math with Gill and drives the girls to all of their activities and even took Gavin to the doctor. He has an ear infection.

The surgery took almost 5 hours and when I woke up my neck hurt SO bad from being still for so long. The doctor said that I had some stubborn bone fragments in my nose and scar tissue as well as damaged cartilage. So he cleaned everything out and straightened it up and even straightened out the tip and made it less pointy. I'll look just like Michael Jackson, at least that was the image I told him to have in his mind. By the time I was home and in bed I was in tears. Joelle and Bryan were there and held my hands until the drugs took effect and I drifted off to sleep. Where was Darren you may ask.... working hard as usual. Poor guy works too hard and too much. I sure love him!

Sleep has been the worst part of it because I can't breathe out of my nose. Darren says I spend the night gasping for breath and when I wake up my mouth is so dry I can barely close it. I usually have dreams that I am desperately searching everywhere for water and can't find any. Or that I have a hose but I can't spray the water in my mouth. Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink! Now that I have the packing out of my nose I can finally breathe a bit better.

Cascade Park

So far this October has been unseasonably warm and sunny. Ok, maybe not so warm, but still sunny. So we went camping with friends at Cascade Park in Granite Falls. It is a church owned campground complete with a zipline, a river where the salmon were spawning, and 80 acres of beautiful property to explore. We had many many roasted marshmallows, hotdogs, and even roasted licorice. Eeew! So yes, by Saturday I had a gut ache. The kids basically scattered the minute we got there and we didn't worry about them once. There was nobody else using the campground so it was like we had our own private ranch. I wish we could spend more weekends like that. There is a stage where the kids put on "shows" during the day, and in the evening they did a glowstick-nightdancing-laser show type thing. It was quite amusing.
Ummmm, not quite sure what to say about Gavin's outfit. I could barely see him with all his camoflauge and foliage. But I did like Bryan's interpretation of it as he tried to blend in with a tiny tree.