Follow up

Well my doctor's appt was yesterday and I was in and out of there in 15 minutes. Hm, interesting. She also asked several questions about the 'pain' I was having and that she would continue monitoring it. The followup ultrasound determined the mass they found was a contraction and that I had no ovarian cysts.

So I am still with this mystery pain, which is terribly inconsistent, but I don't think I will be changing doctors yet as I have enough to deal with at this point. With LP's insurance, changing doctors is also like moving to Mars in difficulty.

In the meantime I did take the girls to see Kelly Clarkson in concert. Boy that girl can sing. We all had a blast, and hell yeah I paid for Premier parking and 'accidentally' got placed in the VIP parking! Took me 10 minutes to zip outta there after the concert! Woot!

So in the meantime I will leave with a top 5 list, of which I have not done in awhile:

Top 5 Songs I am enjoying at the Moment:

5. "Crazy" Gnarles Barkley
4. "Ain't No Other Man" Christina Aguilera
3. "Gone" Kelly Clarkson
2. "Is It Any Wonder?" Keane
1. All the fun re-mixes of 80 songs on iTunes. Good times!

crazy road

Weathering the Storm

whoa storm
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Past weekend events, hmm.

On Friday, my kids were at the local water park and LP took the day off. On our way to Lowe's for paint for their rooms, we noticed the sky was a bit dark. Almost black as night. Okay, it was green. LP looked at me and said, "Uh, should our daughters really be near a large pool of water during an electrical storm?" We high-tailed it towards the water park.

On the news later that evening, they listed places tornadoes hit.

Yeah, they included the road we were driving on.

It was totally freaky, and we are so monumentously lucky. We had two power lines fall in front of our car, along with several trees/branches near us, beside us, behind us, but fortunately not on top of us.

We made it to the water park where my idols the Brownie leaders had all 50 or so girl scouts rounded in a room singing "Herman the Worm". I think they should incude that song in all disaster manuals.

When we got home, there was only minor damage to our house, a few limbs and branches but nothing substantial. We did not have power though, and everything in our freezer and fridge were lost. Big deal!

We spent the weekend at my parents, which was nice but also made me realize a weekend is about the perfect length of stay with my parents. By Sunday I was ready to get back home!

Of course in hindsight I really wished we would have taken a different road, but I guess it makes for a good story. And LP can once again tell people he saved me from the wrath of Mother Nature (just like the Ozark boat trip!) Oh he is my Hero.

Now to get on the roof and try to find some hail damage so we can get a new roof! I'm thinking we're SOL but it's worth a shot!

Introducing

I had my followup ultrasound yesterday, and the sonographer not only found nothing else wrong with me, she could not find the supposed 'mass' that was found by the first sonographer. I should get my official results in a few days, but I'm even further perplexed by it all.

I did get to see little wee one again, she's growing like crazy and she took more pics. We are 99.9% sure her name is going to be Makenna. No we have not agreed on the middle name yet.

So here she is in all her little sweetness:

Inadequacy

If I could sum up the past few days, that would be it. I have been stewing about all my inadequacies lately, going back to the time I said such and such to so and so in 1989 and I cannot seem to stop. This black cloud has had been culminating for some time now, and I can't shake off the rain. But I am a fully functioning black cloud, so no worries.

I did go see the Strangers with Candy movie on Friday with LP, and afterwards went to have some Bubble Tea with an old friend and her new flame. That was the highlight of my week. The movie was side-splitting hilarious, and it wasn't just me cuz the whole theater was erupting in laughter. We saw it at the Tivoli which is this really cool movie theater that someone refurbished and it has a great atmosphere. I almost pretended I was a single gal on a date but my protruding belly didn't let my daydream go too far!

We also purchased bunk beds for the girls this weekend, as well as a Pack-n-Play for the wee one. I should have my head examined for even SUGGESTING that Al and Rug share a bedroom. But that's just how it will be. I should go ahead and buy the duct tape now for the line down the middle of the room.

I'm on my second week of my Wilton Cake Decorating Class. How soccer mom is THAT? What's even worse is how completely excited I am about it. I've always wanted to be a pastry chef, and if I have to decorate Scooby Doo cakes to make me one step closer to that, by golly I will.

Al was in the newspaper this past week for swimming so well, I am so proud of her. They are both off at a summer camp this week, having a great time apparently. The weather has been in the 100s but they're in the woods, nice and cool.

Obviously I have nothing to say today, but I thought an update would be nice. For posterity.

SPF-- Your Piggies

Kristine asks and she shall receive. Stuff Portrait Day is pretty simple this week, just pictures of our toesies.

Thank goodness for stored pictures. I have yet ANOTHER picture from our Florida trip last year, aren't you so glad I took a gazillion pictures so I would have SPF material for the next year and a half!?!

Anyway, the pink piggies LOVE going to the market (well shopping anyway, she's a sassy one). The piggies at the top LOVE to eat roast beef and the crazy bejeweled piggies prefer not to eat roast beef. LP was off somewhere, so we'll just assume his piggies go wee wee wee all the way home.

Did you play?

Quickie

They postponed my ultrasound until next Wednesday. Wonderful.

I tried to stop taking the Phenergan for a day again with very, very bad results.

My very best friend called yesterday and told me she had a miscarriage at 12 weeks.

our iPod, the garage door opener, our ceiling fan and my cell phone all quit working yesterday. Together. As a team.

But life is still great. It all just allows me to count my unbelievable blessings.

thanks

Thanks for all the comments about my doctor dilemma. My followup ultrasound is tomorrow, and once I find out anything from that, I will most likely make an appointment with a different doctor. Thanks for everyone's support, it really helped me to feel better.

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For those of you who thought bartering was out of style, check this guy out:

Red Paperclip!

Cutting through red tape

I'd like to say my doctor appointments have been going along swimmingly, but that just is not even close to the truth. Although I'm certainly not having as many 'double talk' moments as Susie has, I've definitely had my share. It's getting very exhausting.

My old OB-Gyn retired about a year ago, so before I decided to go and get all knocked up, I went to this new office, early February of this year. I told them THEN and THERE of this lower abdominal pain I'd been having, and the PA-C insisted it was ovarian cysts. Okay.

I've seen two other 'professionals' in this office since then. The doctor (or, CC, completely clueless) and the midwife (she's okay, but let's just call her Man Hands). I have not seen the PA-C ever since, and she was the only one I really even felt comfortable with.

I saw the doctor (or CC) in late April and I mentioned the pain again to HER and she suggested it was irritable bowel syndrome. Right.

When I had my ultrasound and got to see the piggies of little Missy, they also found an irregular spot. They called to tell me this last Thursday. The Medical Assistant assigned to the task of calling me said it could be 'nothing' or 'something' but they want a 6 week checkup to make sure. I then reminded her of the lower abdomen pain, and that it had been hurting a lot that day. Her words were, "Oh! If you are having pain then you should probably see the doctor sooner." She set up a 'sooner' appointment for this past Friday. Okay. And please note she said see the DOCTOR. That will come into play later on. I hang up the phone.

And thus begins the freaking out.

I called LP and he suggested I call my insurance's 'helpline' for reassurance. I did. I got an 'advocate' who offered to call the office and explain the results to me. Big. Mistake.

Mind you, this woman had my best interests at heart, she did, but completely went about it the WRONG way. And I really got no good results out of it, other than being labeled "DIFFICULT" on my medical record I am sure. This woman conferenced me in with the medical assistant (poor girl) and more or less started a shouting match with her. She insisted I see the doctor THAT DAY (which would have been good) but the MA was having none of it. She finally got CC (my doctor) on the line. CC assured me and crazy lady that the 'mass' was probably benign and was not that concerned about it. I told her of the pain, and she said,(after I hear her obviously going through my chart) "You've had that for awhile, and we said it could be irritable bowel syndrome. I will give you a prescription for a stool softener."

Okay, y'all know I'm lactose intolerant right? So stool softener? Not such a great idea.

Then she said perhaps I had a urinary tract infection. I said, "For 6 months you think I've had a UTI? Plus, uh, I was JUST THERE and everything was CLEAN."

"Well, the best I can do is you can come in and give me a urine sample and we can test it today."

Read: "I will not see you today but you can waste YOUR TIME by coming in and repeating the same test you had done two days ago if you think that will shut this crazy lady up."

After we hung up with the office, the advocate woman suggested I find another doctor. Thanks.

So this past Friday I go to my doctor's office. I wait IN THE ROOM for over and hour and fifteen minutes. Just as I'm about to walk out, Man hands walks in. Yep, no doctor. She says, "We are here to discuss your ultrasound?" I looked at her blankly. "Well, I was having pain like I have been before and they said to come in sooner..."

"Oh, I have on your chart that we are just discussing the results of your ultrasound."

"But see, this pain, it's been intermittently getting worse."

"Are you having the pain right now?"

"No."

"Well, I can't very well evaluate it if you are not having the pain right now."

"But I was having the pain last week when the office called and suggested I come in earlier because I WAS HAVING THE PAIN."

"Well, let's go over the ultrasound results."

"So you're telling me the pain has nothing to do with the mass they found? The first person I came in here said it was ovarian cysts. Is that not true now?"

"No."

"Okay, then what could be causing this?"

"Well let's talk about the ultrasound results. You can just take Tylenol for the pain."

Oh my gosh I wanted to bang my head against the wall. I told her I wanted to know what the problem was, not to just take Tylenol and cover the pain. I insisted on a followup and she finally ordered another ultrasound. Then she proceeded to tell me she hoped I didn't think she was brushing off my pain, that was not her intention.

Really.

I've already started the search for a new doctor.

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On a much lighter note, a friend of mine related this story to me the other day:

They were driving home from somewhere and a discussion came up about my pregnancy. Her 11-year-old daughter, a recent graduate of the Catholic school's sex education class which most likely scared them witless into avoiding sex like the Plague, was commenting on what a nice surprise it was, and how there had been several other nice 'surprises' lately. (a few of our older friends have had babies recently...more 'whoops' than planned!)

My friend replied, "Yes, there have been a lot of surpises lately."

Daughter: "Yeah, but mom what did they..."

F: "Yes?"

D: "I mean, it's nice but how did the surprise..."

F: "They had SEX, dear."

D: "OH MY GOSH I am going to get SICK. Are you serious? GROSS! EW! YUCK!!!!!!!!!"

I am not going to be able to look that child in the eyes for a long time.

Stuff Portrait Day Wedding Edition

Today is a very Stuff Portrait Day because tomorrow, Kristine and Shaun, the cute couple who sponsor this every week, are going to the chapel and gettin' hitched. Good news for them and us, bad news for single people everywhere as two more wonderful people will be off the market.

In honor of their wedding, this week's SPF is wedding themed:

1. Your Love (show us some love)
2. Take us on a Honeymoon! (bring us somewhere with your pictures)
3. Something Blue (No sad faces before my wedding!)

And in honor of the fact that I'm just plain LAZY and didn't take any pics, I'm just going to use ones that are already on my computer! SO there.

1. Your Love(s)

Welllllll naturally.

And even though he's been on The List recently, I still love me some LP.

2. Take us on a honeymoon!

I took this on our honey moon when we were in Hawaii and snuggling and...HA no I did not. Please. This was one of those pictures already pre-loaded on my computer. Perty tho huh. Let's pretend.

3. Something Blue. And I chose to use a pic that I've already used before but it's quite blue:

Have a great weekend everyone! I have yet another doctor's appointment today and hopefully they can figure out what is really wrong this time..wish me lots of luck. And oh yeah.....

DIDJA PLAY?

Somebody

Make me laugh!

Summer nights

Emotions running wild in the last few days:

* I cried at King Kong. It was a riduculously LONG and over-CGI'd movie, but at the end, when King Kong has those sad eyes, I could not contain myself. Damn humans screwing everything up.

* My poor Becks, crying on the sidelines after being subbed in the game against Portugal. And how am I supposed to feel when little hottie Christiano makes the winning goal? Oh my. I also saw David consoling his other players who were crying as well. Who said Brits were all stoic?

* My insurance 'advocate' getting into a HUGE argument with the poor unknowing Medical Assistant at my doctor's office. Now THAT they could have shown on pay per view. Whoa.

* And me again, crying watching VH1 Storytellers. That's a post for another day.

* Do you all realize how rare it is for me to cry more than once in a week? I didn't even cry at my ultrasound, or when either of my children were born. I am not a crier. It does not happen. Hell I almost cried watching fireworks last night. It's getting ridiculous.

On a good Mommy note, Al won 3 '2nd' places and 1 first place in her swim meet last night. Her butterfly rocks! I am so proud of her. And Rug has finally started swimming without use of flotation devices, so I'm feeling hap-hap-happy.

Have a great and safe 4th of July. I am the pyro in the family, so I spent lots of $$ on fountains and goodies such as that, no squealers or whistles though. They freak me out. I love the color.