PT-LawMom

Well Pumpkinhead had his psychiatric evaluation today. He took three tests, two of which he completed this morning and another he went back for late today. (So, yes, Mommy was off work all day. Fortunately I managed to hop on some conference calls and complete a few projects for my boss.) Anyway, Pumpkinhead barely sat still for the first two hours of testing so the psychiatrist asked us to go back tonight for the computer-based testing, which we did. She has to score the tests and expects to have results when we return Wednesday morning. She said her initial impressions are that he is extremely bright, but that he also is very impulsive, hyperactive and has a strong sense of entitlement. God, this sounds exactly like my brother (the psycho who used to carve in my Mom’s china cabinet and call her a bitch and now knocks up and beats up his girlfriends). Even Chapin has started to see my brother in our son. UGH. Unlike my parents, who couldn’t have foreseen my brother’s future, I want Pumpkinhead to get any help he needs now because, like my brother, he has a very sweet heart, a strong intelligence and a lot of potential. It just depends which fork he takes in the road.

In the meantime, my father (Bipolar Guy), disappeared again this week instead of going to work. My mother is just beside herself. Pumpkinhead was sad that G’Dad was not around and showed it. This was definitely not a good week for mental health… or physical health. Blue Eyes also got some bad medical news that means his life is going to be miserable for a while here. Fortunately, instead of holing up at home in a funk over it, he came over last night after Pumpkinhead was in bed with a DVD for us to watch together. Then, even though he was too sick to engage in any fun activities, he asked if he could lay and cuddle with me so I let him stay over. It was really nice and comforting for both of us, I think - definitely for me. Anyway, Pumpkinhead typically comes in early in the morning so I locked the door. It worked out fine. At 5:45, Pumpkinhead knocked on the door and I went around the partition to see him. Told him to go back to bed and I’d come lay with him there. He did and I gave Blue Eyes a kiss goodbye and said I’d see him later. Pumpkinhead was none the wiser and I felt very happy that I had a successful single mom sleepover. Now I’m going to go crack open a bottle of Merlot and spend some time with my mother watching a good chick flick.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I had gastric bypass surgery in 2001 and am now suffering the consequences (malnutrition, peripheral neuropathy, small bowel obstructions, etc.) Self Magazine has an article in this month’s issue on several people who have also had major complications. While many of the WLS cheerleaders are PISSED that this article is even out there (cause it’s a miracle cure, they’ll tell you), I wish I had known then what I know now. I probably would have still done something but perhaps it would have been the then-new Lap Band procedure instead of the intestinal-rerouting, malabsorptive gastric bypass procedure.

You can click on Health in my Categories links to read more about my struggle, which started with severe B12 deficiency after my son was born in 2003.

I made it through my first day back at work. Returned to huge bombshells, an overflowing inbox and a ton of urgent tasks, but I didn’t panic. I did, however, leave early to take a nap. By 3 p.m. my side was killing me and the Advil/Tylenol alternating schedule just wasn’t doing the trick. I drove home, picked up Pumpkinhead from the Y, made him dinner and then collapsed into bed for a two-hour nap. Then I got up and watched the most amazing episode of Al Diablo Con Los Guapos (OMG, I can’t take the suspense!!!) and I am now avoiding the pile of work next to me on the bed. Had to bring it home to rationalize my early departure (to myself, not my boss). Oddly enough (and this tells you how solitary my office is), only the people who sit immediately around me knew I was gone. Apparently gossip is not big around there (that or no one gives a crap about me…). It could also be that the legal department staffers travel a ton so people probably thought I was on a trip or something. Anyway, hopefully tomorrow will be a bit less painful. That is, if I can get myself to turn to this memo on my lap and make some progress!

P.S. Potential awesome school fall schedule news to come.
P.P.S. Site hits from my current town (and my former town, oddly enough) are way up since my “Busted?” post. Hola amigos!

It’s almost 1 a.m. and I cannot sleep. That’s because I slept way too much today. Woke up at 9 a.m. in pain. Chapin took Pumpkinhead downstairs and made us all breakfast. I took a pain pill, ate an egg and half a bagel, and, at 10:15, told Chapin I was going to rest a while, begging him to take Pumpkinhead out with him while he ran errands. I had wicked bizarre dreams and woke up at 3:15 (!!!) when my friend Denise (who, coincidentally was in my dream) called me. In my dream, Denise had just turned down half my bonus check I was going to share with her after she didn’t receive one (she’s had some horrible luck with jobs lately) and she was throwing a juice-bottle-shaped soda bottle at my head. She laughed her head off when I told her.

I visited my surgeon on Thursday. She removed my staples and put steri-strips on instead. She was concerned about my back pain and drew blood to check my liver enzymes (could be elevated bilirubin levels). Fortunately the bulge next to the incision line was not a hernia but rather collected fluid. She said that I need to be very careful not to lift more than 5-10lbs and that I should expect to have pain for the next 8 weeks or so because they did some major digging around. Bah.

Anyway, I’m going to try heading back to work tomorrow. The surgeon said that I should see what I can tolerate, but that I was cleared to drive. I’ve given the nanny notice (one month under her contract terms because she and her two daughters live with us) and she is sticking around for now. Pumpkinhead starts camp tomorrow at the local YMCA where they will have having Wild West week. He is super excited. He has to lug a ton of stuff with him, including a change of clothes, a blanket, a bathing suit and towel, two bottles of water, spray-on sunscreen, snacks and lunch. Fortunately my mother found a great rolling backpack from Big Lots for $15 so hopefully he can handle it all.

I’m hopeful that I can make it through tomorrow with no problems. I’ve got Advil and Tylenol packed so I can alternate them throughout the day. I’m not supposed to take NSAIDs but I don’t think I will develop an ulcer if I use the Advil for just a few days. If I have too much pain, I suppose I will come home early but I just can’t see taking a full month off of work. This past week was my third week away and I’m certain that, as great as my boss has been about all of this, my presence is badly needed to get the work accomplished. They’ve already put off a major decision we were going to make the week I went into the hospital. I had a presentation all set for the GC and now I have to come back and finally give it. Hopefully my brain will kick into gear quickly so that I can get back in the swing of things. I’m just glad I don’t have school on top of everything. Now that I’m facing a new week and evaluating my pain, I know there is no way I could have done both.

Chapin leaves for his trip this Friday, I think, and is returning in early August. He went and bought clothes for himself and gifts for his family so I feel confident that he intends to carry through his plan this time.

The Dean tells me that I have the option of withdrawing from my second summer class. BUT I would have to return all summer aid to the lender and pay out-of-pocket for the first class. Damn it. I figured that was the answer. After three weeks of unpaid time off work and facing a $500 hospital admission deductible, I cannot possibly do that. So it looks like I am facing six weeks of Administrative Law starting Monday. Better get off the drugs quickly and start reading!! I also need to get to Kinkos to cut my book (thanks to Dicta for the good advice many moons ago) so that I can handle the weightload of my laptop and the reading assignment in a small bag with my injured belly.

I think I’m going to drop down to two classes in the fall. I’m still not sure. I just don’t know that I can handle three, especially if we’re trying to sell the house and move and everything. Pumpkinhead will need me and I need to get home by his bedtime to see him. If I take three classes, I won’t end until 9 p.m. most nights which means getting home at 9:45. I can’t count on Chapin to maintain a consistent visitation schedule so I need to be the reliable one.

Friday is July 4. Duh. I have an appointment now for Thursday morning with my surgeon to have the staples removed. Hopefully it will be a bit more healed by then. Right now the entrance points are red and tender.

I need to go see my neighbors. We replaced the fences right before i went into the hospital. I arrived home to a large bill from the neighbor who purchased all the lumber and now I have to go see my other neighbor to get them to pony up half of the funds due. Hopefully they will do it quickly and painlessly so I’m not on the hook for that sizeable bill.

Since I’m home this week, I think I need to go ahead and ask our real estate agent to come out and take pictures. The longer we wait to put the house on the market, the less likely it will sell. Hopefully my Dad can come by and help me move some crap out and into his poolroom.

I am trying to sit here at home and distract myself from my life. Unfortunately I have Chapin planning to leave the country for a few weeks and asking me, again, if I’m sure I want to move forward with the divorce. I have a whole law school class down the drain and another one looming, plus pressure from my internal angel to skip it and my internal devil saying, “You’ll never finish law school if you don’t move ahead.” Not to mention that I don’t even know if I can handle three classes in the fall when two was so much work over the past year. I have the house sale that has been put on hold while I was in the hospital. We were supposed to get it listed last weekend and now we’re way behind and my house is just not ready. I wanted to pack stuff up but I have a lifting restriction (no more than 10lbs) for the forseeable future. That also made my mother question how I plan to tackle another class starting next week when I can’t even grab my bag out of the car. And I can’t even begin to think about work, of which I’ve missed two weeks and will miss one more, and which has a “no sick leave for 6 months” policy. I haven’t even spoken to HR about short-term disability or other options and am just expecting a ZERO paycheck next Friday, about which I’m not sure what to do. The neighbor decided to change the fence and is hitting me up for half the cost. Meanwhile I’m just floating down that famous Egyptian river…

Fortunately I am surrounded by beautiful flowers and have waves of prayers and support to carry me through. My awesome study partner sent me an Edible Arrangement, complete with some chocolate-dipped fruits (yum!). Sweet New Duck sent me two novels and a Suduko book to keep me occupied. And my Dad took Pumpkinhead and my nanny’s daughters out to see Wall.E. this morning. So I’m going to sit in bed and continue to distract myself with these lovely things and save the worries for Monday.

After almost two weeks in this place, the doctors are planning to spring me tomorrow. At least I hope so. I have four teams — GI, Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and Surgery — and they all have to agree to discharge me. Plus this PIC line goes from my bicep into the space above my heart so they have to bring an IV therapy staffperson up to remove that. It’s about time. Pumpkinhead is starting to cry at night because I’m not home and knowing that makes me really miserable. Hopefully I’ll get home early and we can cuddle up in the bed with some good books and cartoons and spend some quality time together. I miss my little man so much.

Still, this pain is insane so I’ll probably sleep more than I play for a few more days. They changed the bandages today and I got a good look at this seven-inch staple line (sorry for the weird angle - I was using my Blackberry camera to take the picture):

Fortunately I am doing much better with this surgery than either of my past two major abdominal surgeries. I got up and started shuffling down the hall the first night and then continued walking yesterday and today. That’s speeded up my recovery and their ability to send me home tomorrow rather than Saturday. Granted, it is much easier to walk with an upper abdominal incision than with a lower one. My spleenectomy was a bitch to recover from. I think I was in the hospital a full five days after that and then was laid up for a full month. I’m praying this one will be much easier.

Thanks again to my blog readers for all your support and good wishes.

Well I’m cut from under my right breast down to where my ribcage ends. I was in surgery for almost three hours and then in recovery for another three. I managed to get up and walk last night (speeds recovery), but only about 20 feet and back.

My Mom stayed the night with me to help me. I managed to sleep fairly well thanks to the pain pump. I woke up about once an hour to press the button that released pain medication into my system. I had an allergic reaction to one of the medications so my left arm is wicked swollen — elephantitis of the arm! They had to put an IV in my neck because the arm veins were shot! I have never had an IV in the neck. Apparently the IV therapy team will be coming some time today to put in a deeper PIC line in my right arm and take the neck IV out, which is good because it’s really uncomfortable.

The surgery went well. My gallbladder had a huge stone. Apparently I also have a ton of adhesions from my past surgeries so the surgeon couldn’t explore as much as she had wanted to. The GI team is worried about more intessuceptions so they are coming up with a plan to try to stop it from recurring and are also going to tell me what to watch for in case it happens again.

I’m supposed to be in the hospital through Friday and then they’ll release me to home. I won’t be able to return to work until July 7. Coincidentally, that’s when my next class starts. I have to decide now whether I’m up to taking classes next session or whether I need to wait until fall.

Zzzzzzzz _ sleepy time now.

I’ve spent the last week being poked, prodded and probed. I’ve been through FOUR IVs (damn nausea medication burns my veins) and every scan they could think of (two CT scans, a HIDA scan, an MRI and a Colonoscopy). Finally they’ve decided to take me to surgery and remove my gallbladder tomorrow morning. Unfortunately they have to do an open surgery instead of laproscopy, which means that I face two more weeks at home recovering.

Please send your prayers and positive thoughts for a quick, easy surgery.

Had the colonoscopy today. OW! Because of my stupid hypotension (wicked low BP - 72/50), they couldn’t give me the normal anesthesia. I had to stay awake through it and that was soooo unpleasant. Bleech. But I got through it and the official diagnosis is IBS.

They still think I’m at risk for another intessusception and they also feel that my gallbladder may not be functioning properly so I have to wait until Monday morning for the HITA screen to test the gallbladder. If it’s fine, I’m outta here. If not, I’ll have surgery. The doctors today said they expect to discharge me Tuesday unless there’s a need for surgery. I can’t believe I’ve been in this place almost a week.

Other than my mother and my priest, no one has visited. I’m pretty drugged up most of the time and tired. But still, this drives home the point that Chapin really alienated me from any close connections. I’m really bored. I’ve already made it through Julia Spencer-Fleming’s latest novel and have moved on to James Patterson’s Sail, but you can only sit in bed sipping on water and sugar-free jello/popsicles for so long. I miss my son, my home and my bed and I’m sick of being poked!

Whine, whine, whine. Thanks for listening.