I went back to the doctor yesterday to follow up on my ER visit/hospital admittance.
I've gained about twenty pounds in the last month as my diuretics are no longer working well (I'm swollen with a lot of edema). Coupled with being low on potassium at the hospital, he upped one of mine and kept me at the same dose of my other one. This has not been helped with the clearing out of the kitchen and the eating of lots of high sodium foods (lunchmeat, canned tuna etc) or fast food. I'm going to try to choose salads when we do fast food; I am well aware they are still not great, but if I stick with the "side salad" type without cheese or meat and use low cal dressing they are not too bad. For sandwiches I'm switching over to low sodium peanut butter for awhile. Bananas are now breakfast every day (potassium, but not TOO much). Once the kitchen is totally done I will be resuming a "whole foods" diet that was previously helping. It's really impossible to do with no kitchen at all. While I do have fridge access, I don't have dishes/pots/etc to cook items in or wash them in at the moment.
For the tachycardia and panic attacks he has added Buspar to my Klonopin. He doesn't want to change me up too much all at once, but when I return in January I will be starting a beta blocker. At that point we will also do another contrast CT to check out this adrenal "nodule" that showed in the hospital to see if it has grown. I will also do another 24hr urine test to see what my adrenaline levels are at again.
I am a smoker, and he pointed out I've now been one for 20 years. Even though I am only 33, that is part of why I'm starting to have issues not usually seen till one is in the 40-45yo range. I do know how badly I need to quit, so I will be trying a new round of Chantix in January. (My doc is smart enough not to suggest a quitting attempt during the renovation and holiday season, LOL). He did suggest I cut down as much as possible and try doing crafts or other things to occupy my hands when I can until January. Each cigarette I don't smoke right now will help me feel a little better.
And then I came home and this morning woke up to blowing and hacking up green mucus. Ew. And VERY painful. I'm going to give it 48 hours to see if it goes away (color change does not always mean infection) or gets better, and if not I will call him and probably be put back on antibiotics and steroids.
So.. hopefully I am better soon.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Waiting Game
In some ways there has been a lot going on in the past week; in other ways there has been very little going on.
My Week #45 for OrgJunkie is apparently a lesson in waiting instead of decluttering. We're making some decisions that are not only very costly, but that we will be living with for a very long time. Everything requires a lot of thought and reflection and discussion instead of simple, quick decisions.
The kitchen has been delayed until either the beginning of next week for the cabinets only, then the granite install after Thanksgiving; or the entire thing being delayed until the first week in December. I didn't realize while I was so sick that I needed to okay the stain samples the builder had done, or that I needed to pick out the actual slab of granite that would be used - I thought I just told them color names and they picked it up. Oops!!
I'm scared of some of the decisions I've made, and there are a couple of things where it seems like there isn't an option for what I want. This is approximately the color scheme we first wanted, dark wood with light granite:
I didn't want a lot of wood grain, but the wood they used has a lot of grain in it (maple). To have less, we would be going to a softer wood like pine - and we already said no pine as we've had furniture pieces made of it before and it nicks and dents too easily. Other woods that had less grain but were hardwoods are completely out of our budget. Also, we nixed the dark wood color due to a lack of natural lighting within the room and not wanting "the cave effect". So then we were looking at a color scheme more like this:
I originally went wanting a granite that was a lighter color with a lot of quartz or reflective bits in it and black veining. I did locate one and liked it, and then saw a very unusual slab of black that had not only reflective bits but almost pieces of what looked very similar to the wood color we chose (it really does look like wood chips in it!). I felt very drawn to it at the time and decided on it because it was so unique. Now, I'm scared that I didn't go with what I decided on ahead of time and found. I'm so nervous. Granite is expensive - if I choose something we end up not liking, we are stuck with it for practically forever.
So now we're at this color scheme:
It's the exact opposite of where we started out. I hope I have not chosen badly :( We are adding under cabinet lighting to keep the granite very reflective and increase the light in the room without adding too much to the electric bill (they will be LED). We are going from a single pendant over our sink which was already offcenter to a strip of 3 pendants that can be moved down and centered exactly over the sink and provide more light there and on the bar.
Another large consideration is the floor. The kitchen quote came in right under $20k and that means we have no budget whatsoever left for flooring. We have this awful, horrible black tile that never looks clean (I've ranted about it before) that we wanted to go over with laminate wood. We are stuck with the black tile for now, which was one of the reasons I went with the black granite; it will look good with the tile, and later when we DO get the laminate, the wood tones in it will also go well with the laminate.
Still very anxious about how it's all going to look.
My Week #45 for OrgJunkie is apparently a lesson in waiting instead of decluttering. We're making some decisions that are not only very costly, but that we will be living with for a very long time. Everything requires a lot of thought and reflection and discussion instead of simple, quick decisions.
The kitchen has been delayed until either the beginning of next week for the cabinets only, then the granite install after Thanksgiving; or the entire thing being delayed until the first week in December. I didn't realize while I was so sick that I needed to okay the stain samples the builder had done, or that I needed to pick out the actual slab of granite that would be used - I thought I just told them color names and they picked it up. Oops!!
I'm scared of some of the decisions I've made, and there are a couple of things where it seems like there isn't an option for what I want. This is approximately the color scheme we first wanted, dark wood with light granite:
I didn't want a lot of wood grain, but the wood they used has a lot of grain in it (maple). To have less, we would be going to a softer wood like pine - and we already said no pine as we've had furniture pieces made of it before and it nicks and dents too easily. Other woods that had less grain but were hardwoods are completely out of our budget. Also, we nixed the dark wood color due to a lack of natural lighting within the room and not wanting "the cave effect". So then we were looking at a color scheme more like this:
I originally went wanting a granite that was a lighter color with a lot of quartz or reflective bits in it and black veining. I did locate one and liked it, and then saw a very unusual slab of black that had not only reflective bits but almost pieces of what looked very similar to the wood color we chose (it really does look like wood chips in it!). I felt very drawn to it at the time and decided on it because it was so unique. Now, I'm scared that I didn't go with what I decided on ahead of time and found. I'm so nervous. Granite is expensive - if I choose something we end up not liking, we are stuck with it for practically forever.
So now we're at this color scheme:
Another large consideration is the floor. The kitchen quote came in right under $20k and that means we have no budget whatsoever left for flooring. We have this awful, horrible black tile that never looks clean (I've ranted about it before) that we wanted to go over with laminate wood. We are stuck with the black tile for now, which was one of the reasons I went with the black granite; it will look good with the tile, and later when we DO get the laminate, the wood tones in it will also go well with the laminate.
Still very anxious about how it's all going to look.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
I haz a plan
I have many, many things that have to be done this week. I am working on listing them out and making them work, as I'm still resting and in pretty bad shape.
Tomorrow (Saturday) - sit and help the older kids with their Science Fair research during the day. All kids may be able to go over to neighbor's to play in the afternoon. SIL and BIL are stopping by to pick up the party supplies that they left in the garage, and I may tangle BIL into helping move the hutch with neighbor's husband to neighbor's house (who wants the hutch). And then I shall possibly nap, or watch Hulu and chill out.
Sunday - DH is off work as usual. Will lift and move as little as possible while helping him clear out the kitchen. Have a very painful decision to make; I have a border of coffee mugs on the tops of the old cabinets, and the new cabinets are going to the ceiling. They are cheap mugs and normally I wouldn't think a thing of just tossing them, they were there to fill space - but my mother gave me most of them, hunted them down at the Dollar Store for me, and she passed away in June. I don't know if I can let go of them yet, and the thought of them boxed up or gathering dust where I can't see them either literally has me in tears. I don't want to be attached to
"stuff", but this particular thing is huge to me as it's kind of the housewarming gift she gave us, that I picked out, and there's not much else of her in my home to remember her by.
Kitchen must be 90% cleared out, all dishes done and out of the dishwasher etc Sunday night. While DH attacks that with the kids, I will be working on the paperwork for the girls' IEP meetings Monday and getting organized so that I'm not caught flat footed and have what I need to get what they need done.
Monday - The IEP meetings are at 9am and 10am. There is no way they will take only an hour; I already foresee adjournment. There is too much the school is not doing that they should and are in violation, and in other ways there are many changes that need to be made to the existing docs, for which I have documentation and am prepared to argue. DD1 is 11 and will be sitting in on her IEP for the first time so she can speak about what she needs. We will see how it goes. I hope well, but I suspect "not well".
Then we journey to Lowe's or similar to get new non-louvered doors for the pantry (ugh, hate them!) and a new microwave, because they are going to custom frame in the microwave to look nice. I hope to find some sort of deal but for stainless I know it's not going to be cheap.
Kitchen must be totally empty that night, and the kids have karate. Trying to figure out where to set up a peanut butter/tuna fish sandwich station somewhere else in the house with some dry snacks and bottled water for packed lunches and snacks. Have some disposable stuff, need to get disposable coffee cups and plates.
Tuesday - the kitchen crew may or may not arrive. It depends on when the cabinets are done (they are being made offsite). They will be here Tuesday, Wed, or Thurs - but WE must be ready by Tuesday in case they are ready to go. Ripout should take one day, maybe two but they really think one. Reform will take one day. Cabinet placement one to two days, and then it's a week's wait for the granite installer after he gets the final exact measurements. I don't know if the backsplash goes in before or after the granite, no clue. then paint touchups and such and it'll be DONE hallelulah!
Outside of the kitchen going on, it should be a "normal" week going on around that. I need to make it up to the storage place at some point during the week and arrange to go down from a 10x10 unit to a 5x5 unit; we'll be moving the few things left in the 10x10 to the new 5x5 and then taking the Halloween boxes from the garage to the new 5x5 and filling it up. Then that will be done, and has accomplished cutting that bill in half (we gave away a lot of stuff out of the 10x10) AND as of tonight the outdoor storage shed is no longer storing Halloween crap. Yay. DH is very happy about this, and so am I. Some things remain to go out there that he will work on during the week such as the pool chemicals going from the garage to the building, and such. Eventually, that will have the GARAGE all cleaned up. Again. And three things will get marked off my OrgJunkie weekly challenges :) Woot woot!
Sunday - DH is off work as usual. Will lift and move as little as possible while helping him clear out the kitchen. Have a very painful decision to make; I have a border of coffee mugs on the tops of the old cabinets, and the new cabinets are going to the ceiling. They are cheap mugs and normally I wouldn't think a thing of just tossing them, they were there to fill space - but my mother gave me most of them, hunted them down at the Dollar Store for me, and she passed away in June. I don't know if I can let go of them yet, and the thought of them boxed up or gathering dust where I can't see them either literally has me in tears. I don't want to be attached to
"stuff", but this particular thing is huge to me as it's kind of the housewarming gift she gave us, that I picked out, and there's not much else of her in my home to remember her by.
Kitchen must be 90% cleared out, all dishes done and out of the dishwasher etc Sunday night. While DH attacks that with the kids, I will be working on the paperwork for the girls' IEP meetings Monday and getting organized so that I'm not caught flat footed and have what I need to get what they need done.
Monday - The IEP meetings are at 9am and 10am. There is no way they will take only an hour; I already foresee adjournment. There is too much the school is not doing that they should and are in violation, and in other ways there are many changes that need to be made to the existing docs, for which I have documentation and am prepared to argue. DD1 is 11 and will be sitting in on her IEP for the first time so she can speak about what she needs. We will see how it goes. I hope well, but I suspect "not well".
Then we journey to Lowe's or similar to get new non-louvered doors for the pantry (ugh, hate them!) and a new microwave, because they are going to custom frame in the microwave to look nice. I hope to find some sort of deal but for stainless I know it's not going to be cheap.
Kitchen must be totally empty that night, and the kids have karate. Trying to figure out where to set up a peanut butter/tuna fish sandwich station somewhere else in the house with some dry snacks and bottled water for packed lunches and snacks. Have some disposable stuff, need to get disposable coffee cups and plates.
Tuesday - the kitchen crew may or may not arrive. It depends on when the cabinets are done (they are being made offsite). They will be here Tuesday, Wed, or Thurs - but WE must be ready by Tuesday in case they are ready to go. Ripout should take one day, maybe two but they really think one. Reform will take one day. Cabinet placement one to two days, and then it's a week's wait for the granite installer after he gets the final exact measurements. I don't know if the backsplash goes in before or after the granite, no clue. then paint touchups and such and it'll be DONE hallelulah!
Outside of the kitchen going on, it should be a "normal" week going on around that. I need to make it up to the storage place at some point during the week and arrange to go down from a 10x10 unit to a 5x5 unit; we'll be moving the few things left in the 10x10 to the new 5x5 and then taking the Halloween boxes from the garage to the new 5x5 and filling it up. Then that will be done, and has accomplished cutting that bill in half (we gave away a lot of stuff out of the 10x10) AND as of tonight the outdoor storage shed is no longer storing Halloween crap. Yay. DH is very happy about this, and so am I. Some things remain to go out there that he will work on during the week such as the pool chemicals going from the garage to the building, and such. Eventually, that will have the GARAGE all cleaned up. Again. And three things will get marked off my OrgJunkie weekly challenges :) Woot woot!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
When Everything Happens At Once
Or at least, it seems that way.
Last Thursday, I went to the Emergency Room as the bronchitis I've been fighting for over five weeks became just unmanageable. I couldn't get my breathing under control, and was experiencing some pretty scary stuff. DH was on his week of vacation and I already felt horrible for "ruining" it - this was supposed to be a fun time of decorating and getting ready for our Annual Halloween Hijinx party! I'll skip the gory details, but after a contrast CT, I was sent home with a dx of pnuemonia, and scripts for an inhaler and more antibiotics.
Friday evening, friends came over to help do party prep. I am eternally grateful to my co-hosts for that night as they slaved over the Jello shots and DH worked on food. I made the pumpkin bread cake. It looked like this, if I hadn't been feeling so bad.
Last Thursday, I went to the Emergency Room as the bronchitis I've been fighting for over five weeks became just unmanageable. I couldn't get my breathing under control, and was experiencing some pretty scary stuff. DH was on his week of vacation and I already felt horrible for "ruining" it - this was supposed to be a fun time of decorating and getting ready for our Annual Halloween Hijinx party! I'll skip the gory details, but after a contrast CT, I was sent home with a dx of pnuemonia, and scripts for an inhaler and more antibiotics.
Friday evening, friends came over to help do party prep. I am eternally grateful to my co-hosts for that night as they slaved over the Jello shots and DH worked on food. I made the pumpkin bread cake. It looked like this, if I hadn't been feeling so bad.
Mine looked a lot crappier. It mimicked how I felt. We had a sick pumpkin bread cake. At least it was tasty, even if it wasn't as pretty as the one above.
Saturday night came along, and the party with it. I'm told everyone had a blast. I sat outside in the cool air trying to breathe, my spendy custom costume gone to waste, my makeup about the same as the Sick Pumpkin Cake instead of what I'd envisioned. I told my guests goodnight and went upstairs about 11pm, the last partygoers were kicked out around 3am when I told DH I needed to go back to the Emergency Room.
I was running a fever of 105.4. I've NEVER run a high fever before, and I hope never to again. I was in so much pain. At the ER, I thought all was well, my Xrays were clean, they said my lungs looked good, the on call doc wrote me a scrip for painkillers, cough, and a different antibiotic. My temp was down - WAY down to 95.8. And then.. the discharging nurse noticed that my O2 was hitting the 80's when I dozed off. There was so much crap in my lower lungs that my autonomous breathing wasn't giving me enough oxygen without me forcing deeper breaths while I was awake and in pain. I was admitted.
Admittance brought more pain - lots of needle sticks. We'll again skip the gory parts. The good part was - MORPHINE! Yay, not so much pain. The bad part was... well, everything else including the food. DH made sure I could have caffeine and sugar and brought me the most delicious Starbucks I've ever had. It was sooo good. And made me hack and cough and yanno because it was hot and relaxing.
I came home Monday afternoon - almost against medical advice, but they agreed to discharge me. However, no narcotics. This was going to suck, but I was going to be here for the kids' Halloween. I've never missed one yet, dammit.
So I'm on a ton of meds, but I'm home. On bedrest, and with a ton of decorations to take down.
Did I mention that next Monday we have both our daughters' first IEP/ARD meetings at the new school? And then on Tuesday, our kitchen starts getting ripped out and has to be completely empty?
*Deep breath*
*hack wheeze gasp*
One day at a time. That's the only way we're gonna make it through this right now. Oh, and the kids are doing science projects, too. So. Much. Fun. *screams*
Bless my littlest Batgirl, who told me to put on my big girl panties and deal with it.
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