Which You Want First??The Good News...Or The Bad News ???

First the GOOD news.........
This is a pic of My neices, Tasha(who is leaning on the bed and who I TOTALLY stole the pic from on her MySpace) and her sister Nancy-Ann (the mommy) with The Twins- a Baby Boy AND a Baby Girl who were born yesterday morning-The 29th of April!!!!!


Baby Boy-
Matthew Scott
21 inches long
7 lbs-12 oz
Born at 8:34 AM

Baby Girl-
Madison Darlene
19 inches long
7 lbs-2 oz
Born at 8:36 AM

They are ADORABLE and honestly the ONLY twins I know who have been carried to FULL TERM!!!

Congrats Nancy-Ann and Matthew!!
****************************************************



Well, Damn..............Now for the BAD news.

Yesterday I once AGAIN I had to go to the hospital for severe pain in the abdomen.
I went to the hospital to be with my sister while her twin grand babies were being delivered by C-section(who are ADORABLE BTW and healthy as a horse!!! More on them in a second.....)
And after it was over I came home and went to bed about noon.
Around two-fifteen I was jolted awake by a HORRIBLE stabbing pain in my lower tummy. So I got up and made my way into the living room where I took a pain pill and waited an hour before calling my mom crying and asked her to come take me to the emergency room....again.
Luckily, she was at the very hospital I was wanting to go to(about 10 minutes from my house) and she arrived in minutes and loaded me up and took me to the ER. My daughter was also at the hospital visiting the babies, and she met us at the ER. So they got me in there pretty quickly,especially after taking my vitals and my Blood Pressure being sky-high. I waited just a few minutes and the doctor was in there, asked a few questions, poked and prodded at my tummy and ribs and told me he thought my ovarian cyst had probably ruptured. He said the pain was being caused by the excess blood in my tummy area and that if it was indeed the ruptured cyst, it would clear up on it's own in a day or two. He said he COULD do another 1600 dollar test to make sure that's what it was but he didn't see a need for that unless the pain continued. So he ordered an injection of some REALLY good pain meds and an injection of some REALLY good nausea meds and after waiting a couple of hours to make sure my B/P was back to near normal, sent me home with instructions to see my doc in a day or two for a follow-up or if the pain came back/persisted. So my daughter drove me home and literally helped me in the house and on the sofa where I slept from 8PM til 8AM and then I moved to the bed where I slept until noon.
Yep- 16 hours I slept.
Today I feel MUCH better tho I am still tender in my tummy.
Tomorrow Paulius and I have Diabetic Education Class all day. THAT should be fun......

It's A Date!

I love my breakfast dates with Paulius.
We usually do it on Sunday mornings, but this week it got delayed until today.
Paulius and I catch up on our breakfast dates. We tell each other stories about growing up.
We solve our problems if any crop up during the week.
We sit and eat and talk and linger over our coffee- in no hurry to start our day-content to just enjoy each others company before life intrudes and demands our attention elsewhere.
We have time to focus on US, on the things we WANT to enjoy and share- not the things that insist together we make decisions on NOW-AT THIS MOMENT.
It's good to be able to do that- to just enjoy each other and life's peaceful moments.
I think that's where a lot of couples go wrong...they let life's routines and problems take over from the second they open their eyes in the morning til the time they close them to go to sleep at night and don't make time to enjoy and remember the "couple" they once were.
Paulius and I have endured too much and come too far to take each other for granted like that.

Not in THIS lifetime.

Awesome Days

Well, It has been a week let me tell you.

I had to work on Wednesday and Thursday this week- my easy week.
As usual, on my easy week I ended up more tired than I usually am and glad to be off for the weekend.
I can't remember whether I blogged about it or not (but knowing me I probably DID blog about it)but last weekend I was in hospital again for most of the weekend and I had a follow up appointment on Wednesday morning with my regular doctor.
She said I had lost an additional 6 pounds since I saw her last week and altho it was good I was losing so well, I needed to slow down a bit. I explained that I had been ill the day before and since I had been throwing down all day and night, most of the weight loss was probably from that illness and not so much from my regular dieting.
She accepted it and just told me to be careful. See, in addition to having a problem with being overweight, I also had a problem when I was around twenty where I was in a situation and lost weight....and couldn't stop losing. I got down to 87 pounds on my 5'6 frame before I finally stopped losing....and only then because I was preggers again.
So, I have a double problem of needing to lose weight but having to be careful lest I end up in THAT situation again. Shoot- Paulius is already telling me I'm getting bony spots on my body.
:-)
I can only imagine if I lost down to a hundred pounds.

Anyway The doc also said my cyst wasn't to be worried about right now, we will keep an eye on it tho. She said my pain was coming from my kidney illness back first of the month. She said basically that I was trying to do too much too soon and I needed to back off the activity a bit. She said they TOLD me I wouldn't be back up to speed for a couple of months and they actually MEANT a COUPLE of months!
So, I have backed off my "normal" activity- again- and am really taking it easy- again. I went to my nieces baby shower today and had to come home after only about a half hour because I was just exhausted.
I had a big weekend, you see. Now I KNOW I just told y'all I have backed off the activity, and I have. Most of my activity this weekend so far has been sitting on my butt watching the actual work being done. Altho I have to admit I DID grill some burgers yesterday.
But I had my eldest son, Frank, and his little family come over and spend the day with us on Friday. I had a spot in back of my house that I wanted to make a postage stamp veggie garden in. It was where someone(I don't know who) had started a porch or deck and never finished the project. I figured since it was just sitting there doing a whole lot of nothing- it was the perfect size for my very first veggie patch. And since it was contained in a cement block wall a couple of blocks high it would be a pretty good weed guard and wouldn't require quite so much maintenance as one planted out in the middle of a field. (Pretty smart for a BLONDE huh? I tell you- changing my hair color to a reddish-blond instead of golden blond has made all the difference in the world in my intelligence level. SERIOUSLY!!!)
So, Frank 'nem came over and he and Marie cleaned it out(it was full of odds and ends that had been dumped in there during previous years yard-work) and then he weeded it and borrowed my moms rototiller and he and Paulius tilled it. Devon and Nicholas and me went looking for some good long pointy sticks for doing dessert after dinner.
We lost the light after that, so we grilled burgers and sat around the fire toasting Hosmedders til time for them to go home. Poor Marie had to work today and they didn't get home til almost 11PM last night- I know she had to be exhausted today.
Then last night/this morning I got ill again. I asked the others if they were sick and no one but me got sick so I'm assuming I ate too many of the grilled burgers (I had almost two!!) and my healing system just rebelled. I won't be doing THAT again anytime soon.
Anyway, so this morning I went and picked Frank and the boys up and he came over and planted my garden for me. Nothing elaborate, just a short row of bean bushes and a short row of sugar snap peas. And a couple bell pepper plants and a couple of low-acid tomato plants. And then there are the cantaloupes, Cannonball watermelons, and, of course, pumpkins for the Jack-o-lanterns for the Halloween party we're going to have for the kids this Halloween instead of taking them trick-or-treating.
I just sat in a chair and pretty much pointed a finger where I wanted the things located and Frank planted it there for me.
Devon did some work as well, moving our lawn furniture around to the shady side of the house....after a bribe/promise of ice-cream as a reward. Devon is a VERY enterprising little boy. He wanted to negotiate terms of payment and was adamant he wanted cash money.....until I offered him Ice-cream instead. His negotiating skills went OUT the window at that point. He needs to work on that.
Hehehehehe.
Then I went to the baby shower for a while and got to see my daughter, Julie-(she had left HER 4 boys at home with Eddie)-and also Kathy and little CJ. I also saw my two sisters and my mom and most of my female relatives on that side of the family. All forty of them.
;-) It was a good time.
Paulius was abed at the time napping and missed ALL the excitement. Some neighbors across the rail-road track had been clearing some brush and decided to burn it. By the time Frank was finishing up the garden the smoke was THICK and Frank and I was wondering if it had gotten out of control. So while I was at the baby shower next door, we heard sirens as the brush fire had indeed gotten out of control. Ten fire trucks had to be called in to get it under control and there was still two there and an ambulance when I got ready to nap and it finally started to rain. If it had rained this MORNING when they were predicting it would start the fire would have never been started-let alone got out of control. But neither would my garden have gotten planted and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of my son and his two boys spending the day with me in my garden. And while the kids napped Frank and I watched a movie together, too.

So here it is-1AM on Sunday morning and I'm sitting here writing a blog about how great my weekend was and it's not quite half over yet. I could definitely use more times like these past couple days......

For Two Of Julie's Boys.

For TJ- who requested a picture of a MONSTER TRUCK- and a Video of Christopher who was jealous he didn't get HIS pic up on Nanny's Blog as well.

Don't worry Devon, Austin, Justin, Nicholas, and of course Lil CJ- I'll be posting YOUR pictures on here too!! (Little hint- you have to SLOW DOWN long enough for Nana to TAKE pictures occasionally!!!)

Love, Nanny V.

Does It NEVER End???Drama Queen Revisited

My friends are going to be so sick of me....Hell, I'M sick of me.

I had to back to the ER this weekend. I began having the same symptoms again on Friday and so Saturday afternoon when I woke up and things hadn't improved I took off to the ER, hoping against hope that the infection wasn't back. Well, after a MULTITUDE of tests again, they came in and said all indications were I DIDN'T have the infection again and they wanted me to come in for an Ultrasound the next morning. So they gave me an injection of Demerol and Zofran for pain and nausea and sent me home.
Well, they gave it to me KNOWING I had driven myself up there and after giving me the injection handed me the phone and informed me that I needed to call someone to come GET me to drive me home cause they couldn't let me leave and drive myself home after getting that injection. Now THAT'S a great time to tell me I need to have someone drive me home....AFTER giving me the injection.
First of all- it goes to work almost automatically and I couldn't remember anyones phone number. Finally I got my mom's cellphone number right and called her. A dozen times. It kept going to voice-mail because she had called the number back and it went directly to the main switchboard. And THEY had her on hold trying to find me which they couldn't do because I wasn't actually admitted to the Hospital Proper- just in the ER.
Well, I finally managed to find my brother Charlie's number on one of the 200,000 bits of paper I have in my purse and wallet and asked him if he would come get me- AND if he could manage it, round someone else up with a Drivers License to drive my car home so I could come for the ultrasound the next morning at the crack of dawn.(I don't know WHY they couldn't have done the Ultrasound THEN while I was still there IN the hospital instead of making me come BACK in the next morning which was just a few hours away anyway but that's neither here nor there, I suppose.) Fortunately, I have one of the sweetest Baby Brothers in HISTORY and altho he was elbow deep in working on his truck- he went next door and got my sister Tee-(you've heard about her before on here many times) and they came and got me and my car and got us home safe and sound.
Well, when I got home I had to call my boss and let him know I wouldn't be coming in to work and that I had an ultrasound scheduled for the next morning and I would let him know what was going on as soon as it was over.
Bless his heart- he's a GREAT boss as well. Not to say he was HAPPY about my being out of work once again, but he seemed to understand the need.
Well, anyway,
I got up next morning and went in for the ultrasound and it seems I have an Ovarian Cyst.
My sisters have had them and one had surgery to remove it and it never came back. The other sister did HRT-(Hormone Replacement Therapy)- and had to have a hysterectomy because she developed Ovarian Cancer a few months later.
So the ER doc told me to contact my OBGYN doc and decide what to do about it with her. So I have a doctors appointment tomorrow afternoon with her about that.

You know- in my LAST life I must have been a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE person- like one who chopped heads off little babies and skinned kittens alive- to have such BAD Karma in this life.

On the other hand- the ER doc said from the size of it I have had this cyst for a while and IT was probably what was giving me a lot of the pain when I went to the doctor about the Kidney Infection so it very well may have saved my life. So I can't complain..........

Wait!!!!!...................................Yes I CAN...IT HURTS!!!!!!
And to top it ALL off, I have a seriously upset tummy and think I'm coming down with whatever yukky stuff my poor Paulius has had the past few days!!! I just CANNOT win!!!!

Anyway, I have been called a Drama Queen(QUITE UNJUSTLY, I MIGHT ADD!!) and I swear- I am NOT getting all this horrible stuff just for the attention. I can think of MUCH easier things to do if I want attention.
MUCH EASIER!!!! And FUNNIER!!!And More INTERESTING!!!!!!!

Hugs and Apologies to you all for putting up with all my "Drama".

TJ

This is My VERY Handsome, VERY Smart, Very FIRST Grandson,TJ, who is the Apple of my eye.
He is Julies Oldest son and such a smart sweet funny hardworking young man who is just destined for GREAT things in life....I just KNOW it!!

He's going to make all A's and be President of the USA one day.....or maybe an astronaut, or a doctor, or a policeman or just anything he wants to be.

He can DO it!!!!!
I love you TJ!!!!

More Great People......

Yesterday i posted about a sweet stranger who helped me out.
Today I'm going to post about one of my best friends in the entire world and her hubby- Lois & Bob.

Lois and I met online thru a weight loss site about......8 years ago.
We connected right away(along with another DEAR friend Terry, who you'll hear about a bit later) and have been fast and true friends ever since.
Now, despite the fact that she and her hubby, Brother Bob, live in Florida she and Bob came up for mine and Pauls wedding in December of 2003.....despite the fact we had had to postpone it yet AGAIN for the 7th time

About TIME!!!

My doc's visit went VERY well today!
Turns out I'm doing everything RIGHT when it comes to my weight loss and cooking and eating routines.
The doctor made the ONE change to my diet yesterday (she advised me to replace the grapefruit juice with Cranberry juice to prevent another UTI), and the nutritionist/dietitian today made one MORE change to the diet(she advised me to stay with it but instead of doing the 12 days ON and two days OFF rotation-change to a six days ON and one day OFF rotation.That way there was no two days with sugars and starches in my diet.)
So there we go.
I learned a LOT today from her in the hour and a half I was there.
UNFORTUNATELY, I had gotten up and NOT eaten breakfast NOR lunch before going to the appointment and then afterwards I went to the supermarket to do the weekly shopping and while I was there shopping my blood sugar bottomed out and I had to sit down in the middle of the store and eat a half a candy-bar and drink half a sugary soda to keep from passing out. After 15 minutes I was good to go again, tho, so I got my groceries and came home. Ironic, huh, with me JUST having come from Diabetic class.
Thank goodness for the cashier who knew exactly what to do for me when she asked if I was a diabetic and I confirmed it.
BLESS her!!
There ARE some wonderfully caring people still out there in the world. They're just hidden amongst the idiots and arse-h*les and don't get noticed because they're not the type people who jump up and down and wave their arms around yelling "Look at ME- I'm absolutely WONDERFUL!!!" at the top of their lungs because if THEY don't toot their own horns, then who will?.......
Anyway- I have 8 more hours of class left to go to so I can take one 8 hour class all; day or I can do two days in a row of four hours each.
I think I'll do the day long one. Paulius has agreed to come with me to it so it'll be a learning experience for the both of us. He's being so supportive of me with all this going on.

Anyway, it was a BIG day for me so I'm going to go now and rest.
More about some wonderful people I know in the next few days posts.
Yeah- I know quite a few wonderful peoples.
:-)
Later, Gators.

Ohhhhhh Yeah!!!!!!

Ahhhhhh- finally!! My days off!!

Went for my docs appointment this morning. Everything looks good. My blood pressure was a bit high- but it's to be expected. Doc said I had lost 25 pounds since my last regular visit(in February) (thirty pounds total)and she said I was doing GREAT!
My blood sugar was right on target-at 100, and the only change she suggested was in my diet- instead of drinking Grapefruit juice (which I don't do anyway because I'm allergic to citric acid) she wants me to replace it with Cranberry juice to reduce the risk of another UTI with results like I had at the beginning of the month.
No problem- I LIKE Cranberry juice.
All in all I was very happy with the results of the visit today.
Tomorrow I go for my Diabetic Consultation for my Diabetic Education classes. I'm interested to see what they have to say about all that. I'm NOT looking forward to having to stick my finger two or three times a day to check my blood sugar, tho.
Ah well, I suppose you have to take the good with the bad!

Slowly my life seems to be getting somewhat back to some semblance of "Normal" whatever the heck that is.
I still have my melancholy days when i brood about Clay and My Dad and cry over the should have, would have, could haves I missed. But all in all, I am trying to occupy my time and fill my days with all the joy and happiness I can muster and conjure. Having so many loved ones around me helps immensely.
Also having the two dogs helps too. it's almost like having two five year olds running around.
They annoy the bejesus out of each other and I swear, to be so little, Barney sounds like a herd of horses when he runs around the halls and when they wrestle in the living room floor.

I am still getting my strength back a bit at a time too. I worked last night for 12 hours and the last two were spent in one of the big comfy chairs in the Doctors lounge in between my rounds. I just can't quite make it all the way thru a 12 hour shift without taking a quiet rest the last two hours. Then when I went to the doctors office, I was so tired(it was a couple hours after I got off work and didn't have time for a nap before going in)I climbed up on the examining table and almost fell asleep there before the doctor came in. She laughed when she came in and told me to stay there and that it would take a couple of months for me to get back to full steam and to rest as much as I felt like I needed to until then. I intend on doing JUST that, too.

Paulius and I have our 4 year anniversary coming up next month!
How time flies by.
We have several anniversaries we try to celebrate. We met/e-mailed for the first time in late October almost 10 years ago!! Can you believe it????
We met face to face for the first time in mid May two years later.
We finally got him back here so we could be married on April 4th of 2004, And We were married mid May six weeks later! Almost on the EXACT date we had met for the first time face to face almost three years earlier!!!!!!

We didn't get to celebrate our April 4th anniversary this year cause I was hospitalised that day and it just slipped our minds, but I just wanted to say- I didn't totally forget about it, My darling Paulius. Seeing you in that airport coming back to me was one of the happiest days of my life and I will never for get how wonderful it was(and still IS) to be in your arms again.

So- Happy Homecoming Anniversary, My Darling Husband.
I Love You With All My Heart and Soul.

Awesome Weekend!

Well, it was an awesome weekend for me. I got a lot of rest- and had a lot of fun too.
Friday I didn't do much of anything but lie around and rest- Being a good little patient like I'm supposed to. Saturday I got to babysit Lil' CJ for a few hours- he's such a little doll and when his mama came in to pick him up we were BOTH napping on the sofa. I'll give a detailed account later but for now this short-short will have to do.
Then yesterday I had all the kids and grand kids over for a cookout and altho we still had one or two loved ones missing it was a WONDERFUL day for us all.
All the kids were having a blast and the grown-ups as well.
We ate, we talked, we did some shooting, we toasted some marshmallows, we told some tales, and we loved every second.

I ran out of steam pretty early on- but I just sat around listening and smiling a lot.

Paul and my kids all made sure I didn't over-do and I had a lovely time with ALL my loved ones.

Today I got a call from the hospital and they have set me up with an appointment with the diabetic educator for Thursday to get some MUCH needed insight into this stupid disease i have. They are giving me a Glucometer too so i have to start taking my blood sugar every day- tow or three times a day for a month or so to see when my blood sugar levels off and when it rises or falls to dangerous levels. That will determine if and when I'll need meds other than my diet and exercise program later on.

Well, I'm needing a napp-ee-pooh so I'm off to have a couple hours sleep.

Julie might not be posting on HER blog so much for the next couple of months- she got her wish and is now enrolled and going to class for CNA- and possibly even more nurses education if it works out for her.
All the luck in the world to her and her endeavors in her future education and work efforts.
She deserves the BEST that life has to offer in everything!

And a VERY special thanks to Paulius for being such a wonderful husband, and for all my family and friends who have been doing everything in their power to help us out during my illness and recuperation.
Much Love to You ALL!

Short & Sweet

First of all, This is our Lil' Clay now. He's almost two months old! Hard to believe isn't it?
His Aunty Julie took this photo of him over the weekend.
Isn't he a DOLL???!!!

Okay, well now........
I worked my first shift back at work last night. And it was light duty so my work-load was virtually cut into only a third of what I normally do.
And my butt is STILL dragging this morning. I ache all over, so I am going to take a pain med and my antibiotic, and go to BED for the rest of the day. Then I'm gonna get up and do it again tonight, as well.
And THEN I get to be off until Monday night at 10PM. Whoo-Hoo!! I really wish I had taken the doctors advice and stayed home til Monday, tho. But too late NOW!

I'm REALLY looking forward to my weekend off. Mostly I'm looking forward to our family cookout......the one we didn't get to have on Easter cause we all had to work or was out of town.
I just hope it doesn't rain. But if it does, that's okay too- Paulius and I have a HUGE country family dining table and we'll just cook'em them burgers in the oven instead of on the grill.
Almost as good tasting altho I KNOW the guys will miss being able to play in the fire if it DOES rain.
;-)

Later, Y'all!!

Trial Run.....

Well, I went for a ride with my mom today.
We loaded up our trash to take to the recycling center since it hasn't been done for the past three weeks while I was sick. I thought, well, we'll be gone an hour or so- it'll be a good test to see how well I'll hold up tomorrow night at work.

We went to the recycle center and one of the guys unloaded the stuff for us. That took about 30 minutes.
Then my moms blood sugar started dropping so she had to stop for a bite to eat. Of course she insisted I eat as well, and even tho I wasn't really in the mood to eat much, I ate a very small bowl of beans and an equal one of applesauce with a glass of water. That took about 35 minutes.

Then when we got back to the house, she decided to stop at HER house and show me a couple of her treasures she had gotten since I saw her last and that took about 10 minutes. Add another 20 minutes complete drive time and that was what......about......an hour and a half or so I was gone altogether.

By the time I go back home to say my butt was dragging is an UNDERSTATEMENT.
To be honest I'm not sure HOW I'm gonna make it this week at work altho I only work on Wednesday night and Thursday night. I can guarantee there will be a LOT of sitting down in between my rounds- and probably DURING as well and it's a REALLY good thing I'm not on a TIGHT schedule at my job.

Okay, I'm off to rest now.
Later Y'all.

Road Trips and Life's Little Adventures

Well, I'm still recovering.
I'm just not used to being this inactive.

Saffy and I were e-mailing and I told her I wished I could just get in the car and DRIVE for the sake of taking a road trip.

I miss doing that.
High and Skyrocketing gas prices these days prohibit it from happening.(And they ARE high! To our standards, anyway. I remember when gas wars would have gas prices down to 5 CENTS a gallon and the REGULAR price for a gallon was 50 CENTS! Now compared to THAT- Gas prices NOW are DRAMATICALLY higher!)
I get jealous every time I see Ozzy mentioning his motorcycle cause I know they are GREAT on gas consumption and I WANT one and if I HAD one I could do a road trip anytime I liked.

Someday Paulius and I are gonna get a bike and we are going to just hop on and ride all day. I swear we will.

I remember the last two spur of the moment road trips I went on.

The first one me and my BFF of 40 years-(OMG- has it BEEN that LONG?)- Rhonni, borrowed Clays little CRX and went to lunch at the Asian House in town. After a long leisurely lunch, we strolled out to the car and I asked what she had planned to do for the rest of the afternoon and she said nothing.
So I asked her if she wanted to go buy a lottery ticket and she said sure!
So what I didn't tell her is that we always went to a certain spot just across the line to BUY the tickets, so off we went. On a 40 mile scenic route road trip to buy a lottery ticket. We live in Upstate SC and have some of the most beautiful country in the entire country all around us. Lakes, mountains, rivers, meadows and forests- we got it all- and the beach is only a few hours away as well. Close enough for a day-trip there.
Anyway, I digress....
We got to the lottery spot in about an hour and a half and bought our tickets. 2 each -and we WON about 50 dollars. So we were VERY happy campers!
We decided since Clay had loaned me the car for the day we would just ride back the REALLY LONG scenic route. So I bought a RC Cola and a Moon-pie and Rhonni bought a Dr.Pepper and some Doritos and we fueled up the CRX and off we went.
We went back thru Clayton Georgia and then wound our way to Scenic Highway 11 and drove thru a part of the North Carolina mountains.

Miles and miles of beautiful views with nothing on our minds but the beauty of our surroundings and the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair.
We stopped at a little cafe and got a bit of dinner somewhere up there in one of the quaint little towns we drove thru, a little mom and pop operation and you KNOW the food was better than just good and we didn't worry a bit about how much fat was in any of it.

We talked to our hearts content about anything and everything. Our families, our Hopes for the future, our dreams that had fallen along the wayside. Three states in one day.
It was a great day. One that will stay in my memories forever.
I wish we had thought to bring a camera.

Which brings me to my LAST Road-trip.

This one Paulius and I went on.
We had made quasi plans to go on a mountain ride that day.
We got up about mid-morning and hoped in the car and off we went towards the general direction of the Highway 11 area.
Again, beautiful spring day, sun shining, mild temps. Just beautiful!
So we got to the breaking off point and decided to go o North Carolina mountains. We pull onto the highway and drive , enjoying the views and scenery. We stopped and got a couple Cokes and some chips. We got some Boiled peanuts and Paulius tried some. He didn't much care for them, but I LOVE them and took care of the rest of them. Paulius is more the Roasted Peanut type, I think. And I have to agree that they ARE a more neat treat to eat, but that's half the fun of the boiled peanuts, getting the juices all over you.
Well, we came to another junction and decided to go a way I had never been before- have a REAL Life's Adventure for once and take a chance with the new and different.
Well, we rode, and rode, and talked, and talked. And then we rode some more til we came up on a nice sized town. That I had NEVER heard of before. And I had driven all UP in those mountains for a courier company.
That's when things started becoming a bit hairy.
All the sudden we were out in the middle of nowhere, and to make matters worse, a mountain Thunderstorm blew up out of nowhere and it was SPITTING!!!!
We actually had to pull over and wait on the rain to stop before we could go on.
We were still laughing at this point- but the laughter was beginning to sound a bit nervous.
Well, the rain finally stopped and we backtracked as best we could figure and the first town we came to we stopped and called my Dad since none of the convenience stores seemed to sell maps of the state or area and I just didn't trust anyone to give us correct directions at that point. (Mountain people in those Quaint little towns have a strange sense of humor and would be just as likely to send us on a wild goose-chase just for the fun of it as not.).
He grew up in those parts and he told us where we were-(about 100 miles from anything familiar to ME) and he gave me two sets of directions as to how to get back home. One was the scenic route- the other straight highway.
Can you GUESS which one we chose to return home on?

Yep- the highway.
Once we got back to a certain point that I was familiar with, then we veered off the highway and grabbed a bit of dinner before heading back the scenic route again.

When we finally returned home that night we laughed about our Life's Adventure.....and we laugh even harder about it today. Especially with some of Paulius' viewpoints of the story.
He's bloody hilarious!
And again, I wish we had brought a camera.

Then there was the White-Water Falls Incident when he was just over visiting from England......but I'll save that one for another day. And no- no camera THAT day either.
But NOW we DO have not only a camera but COMPACT CAMCORDER as well!

Lucy In The Sky...............

I don't know what's up with me.
I don't know if it's some of the medications I'm on now, or whether it was the near-death experience I had, but I see some really weird stuff when I close my eyes now.

Seriously, you know how you can close your eyes and when things come into focus behind your eyelids it's made up of all these little black and white bulls-eye dots and circles? Well, mine do anyway....or they USED to.

Now when I close my eyes I get a laser light show with vivid bright colors like Neon Red, Electric Blue, Lime Green, Hot Orange and Glittery Gold. And not plain old dots either....I see things like diagonal streaks of these colors, or swirling mists of them. Sometimes it's a black background and there are the colors making those little nucleus star patterns or a lightning storm of them dancing across my field of vision. And sometimes it's star-bursts like you see in the sky at the big 4th of July celebrations. It puts Star Wars Laser Saber Fights to shame, I tell you.

Sometimes it makes falling asleep easier- sometimes it makes sleep downright impossible.
Odd, that.

Families.

Well, I seem to be mending nicely so far.
I know I've only been home a day and a half but this morning I actually woke up hungry which I haven't done in almost three weeks.
I'm still very weak, and can only stay up for at the most three or four hours before succumbing to a nice long nap, but that's to be expected, I suppose.

I was planning on canceling our family cookout for next weekend, but my kids insist not....they said they would take care of everything and we all NEED that together time, now more than ever. So, I get to have all my babies at home again for a few hours.

So Sunday Afternoon it is, then.

I'm glad I have a sweet family who support me. And Paulius' Parents are just as sweet helping us out like they are as well.

Paulius and I were watching an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" the other day. It was the episode where Amy's parents come to take her back to Pennsylvania because they don't approve of her wanting to get married to Robert, Ray's brother. The entire two families were bickering and Amy finally had had enough and had locked herself in her bedroom. Ray finally had had ENOUGH and went to her door and yelled for her to stay in there- as FAR away from BOTH the families as possible because "no good can ever come of families".

And he was right in the reasoning that a family that constantly bickers and nit-picks about everything can't do a couple any good and they would do well to stay away as much as possible from the stress of it all.
But my family, as much as we bicker (and a couple of us have MAJOR issues with each other) we still leave those issues behind when there is a real need for our support.

My oldest younger brother and I haven't spoken once since my Dads funeral, but he was there for me when Clay had his accident. And we haven't spoken since either.
My two sisters are off and on again but for the most part they are upset with each other most of the time and not speaking....they have major issues with each other, but whenever a crisis arises with one or the other of them, they drop everything and run to each others side.

Sometimes things come up that is more hurtful than others and it causes a permanent break in a familial relationship altogether, or sometimes it's just the final straw. I have seen that happen as well.
All I can say is sometimes things can be mended, sometimes not- and I tend to just sit back with a wait and see attitude rather than try and push issues, or get them out in the open and resolved. If it's going to happen, it will- if it's not, it won't -and trying to MAKE it so only makes things worse, so just don't bother.
Not worth the aggravation and only causes more upheaval.

Luckily since my kids got married there hasn't been one major argument in the family unit that is specifically mine- me, Paulius and my kids. There has been before with boyfriends that Julie has had that her brothers wanted to beat the slop out of that they wouldn't be specific about but just gave a "He's not good enough for her and we have our reasons for thinking so"(Men are always a mystery when it comes to protecting their females)- and girlfriends who Julie wanted to beat the slop out of because she knew they were cheating on her brothers.(Julie has always been more vocal about EXACTLY what she's upset about.) But now everyone gets along and we all help each other out when we can and we give specifics when we have a problem with someone, which hasn't happened in a while.
*Knock on Wood.


Well, my strength is about to run out on me again. This little bit has taken me an hour to get down, so I'm back to bed for a while.

And for a final smile - Ray told his mom when she turned the "MOM" look on him about his "No good can come from family?" remark....

*(whispering)"I meant HER family, ma."
Yeah, of course you did, Ray.



Later Y'all.

THE STORY

Here I sit after waking up from a 5 hour nap which has given me more sleep than I got during the whole hospital stay and I thought I would try and get some of this down before going back to bed.

*************************************************************************

Well, I was still sick with what I thought was the FLU Monday morning when I woke up and I knew I couldn't be off work ANOTHER day without a doctors note, so I said Damn, I gotta go in anyway. So I called the Doc's office and they told me to come on it and they would work me in quick as they could.

So I dressed and tried to wake Paulius but he was in a dead sleep, having been up very late that night/morning before. He's having a battle with his insomnia for the past few weeks again and grabs sleep when ever his body will co-operate. Anyway, It's just a 10 minute ride to my doc's office anyway so I thought...I can make it THAT far! So I wrote Paulius a note and off I drove....slowly, to be sure, but steadily.

So I arrived and went inside and signed in.
And sat there for 40 minutes. I hadn't been sitting up for more than 5 minutes at a time for a WEEK before going to Docs......I finally went up and asked could they PLEASE put me in back cause i felt like i was about to pass out and before I could turn around and sit down, I WAS out like a light.
Needless to say as soon as I came round I was IN the back.
Doc asked what was up and i told him I thought I have the flu- and since I was in there could he please check for a UTI as well since a couple weeks before, I had thought I was having a few symptoms, but they had went away just before i got sick with the flu. Me, I thought I was trying to get a two-fer since you usually had to make a separate appointment for each pain you had. But I have a FEW special privileges there and sometimes can get by with a freebie like that.
Good thing I did because with the FLU a urine specimen isn't a requirement and he wouldn't have caught the REAL problem without one. I would probably be dead now.

But he did and he sent me STRAIGHT to the hospital to be admitted for a couple days because he said I DEFINATELY had a UTI and IT was making me sick- not the FLU.

As soon as I got there in a room I was hooked up o an IV and then I had to drink this God-Awful drink they lovingly call "Crystal Lite". I think a more appropriate title would be PUTRIFIED ARSE-SWEAT.
But I drank it and was sick for HOURS after.
Anyway, it was the stuff you have to drink for a CT Scan. They did one on my abdominal area and THAT is the next mornings meeting the doctor and us had that you read about on Pauls blog.....

Hospital stay?....I was one VERY sick little girl, the food was horrible, they had nightmares trying to find veins to put the IV in and even then the veins kept collapsing and had to be changed again and again.......but the nurses were Divine taking care of me.

Then, Thursday morning....


My hospitalist came in and said my temp had been to normal for 24 hours and my blood work was still improving every day with the fluids and the meds I was getting, so another couple of days ought to have me looking good enough to go home....unless I felt like going home today.......(At this point he chuckled as if it were a joke) and the looked shocked when I asked... " Can I PLEASE? I would LOVE to go home today."

So he thought a minute and said are you sure you can handle it at home? and then he told me he would allow me to go home IF..1) I continued to take the oral version of the drugs I was getting there 2)I took it easy for the next two weeks til I was completely back up to speed and 3) if I developed a fever I would come right back in 4) he went to look at my vitals and meds that had been ordered and I was clear and looking good on those as well.

So I agreed and asked could I get a note for work for light duty for a week and he was about to call all bets off when I told him I was on A/B shift and I only had to work 2 days next week and with a light duty note I could EASILY handle that.

So he finally agreed and went off to do the paper work for my release and hen they came in to take my vitals TWICE while he was gone to do that. All it would have taken was a fever of more than a degree and it would have been a deal breaker...I was on pins and needles, let me tell you. I also had to get one more bag of antibiotics before I could leave.
Paul laughed at me- said he had never seen someone smile about being able to go HOME like I did.

I did have one scare while there tho......other than the instance where Doc said my Cat Scan was horrendous, that is........ I had a reaction to one of the IV antibiotics I was receiving and they had to rush in with IV Benadryl to keep me from going antiphylactic on them...... I was itching all over and burning and my lips swelled up so much I knew how Ms Jolie must feel every day. By the time they got there I was having problems breathing as well, So they RAN to get the Benadryl and got it in my quickly.

But thank God....I'm home now and will be glad when this week is done with and nothing but a bad memory.

I did have a couple of sweet moments that I have to tell you about tho.....this morning Paul and I was sitting in the hospital room and I got thinking and I asked Paulius, "WHY does all these bad things just KEEP happening to us?"
Then I just totally broke down and burst into tears. Paul was INSTANTLY across that room and had me in his arms and was holding me while I cried.
I felt so safe and secure there and finally calmed down a bit.
God, I love him so much! He's been my ROCK! My entire family has helped us remendously during this time- and many, many, many thanks and all my love to them all.

Anyway... I'm at the end of my strength now again y'all...so I'm off to bed again.

Later yall....

DRAMA QUEEN..............

"So, there I was, standing shivering at Death's Door. I was so close I swear I could could feel his black orbs peering at me from the other side of the peephole........."

Just to Prove I may be sick but I'm on the mend and haven't quite lost my sense of humor..
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.....When I'm fully recovered I'll give you an over-view, but for now- I'm in recovery. BTW- a UTI is nothing to toy with. It CAN be fatal if left unattended.

Thank GOD I'm HOME!

Love Y'all!

Message from Paulius

Just for the people who read Sunny's blog but don't read mine...

Sunny didn't have the flu, she actually has a pretty severe infection. She's currently at the hospital on a course of antibiotics.

If everything goes well, she should be back home either tomorrow or Thursday. Just to put everyone's mind at ease, she's doing just fine and is on the mend. I figured posting here would be the easiest way to let everyone know, rather than with a bunch of separate emails.

Anyway, I've been up for about 37 hours straight now, so I'm going to try and get some sleep.

I'll keep everyone updated on my own blog:

www.thebritinsc.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone.

Paulius.