Happy Weekend...

...At the very least I'll get some relaxation in. We're going to go visit my new nieces and nephews (we still don't know the sex of the baby guineas...should know by Monday). Can't wait to see them. Then we're going to southern Indiana for the weekend. Am hoping that I can fall asleep in the car so that the pain meds don't make me all dizzy and nauseated. My parents are going to come back up with us on Sunday night and go with me on Monday. Who knows when you'll see me again. Hopefully next time I'll have more answers as to what's going on with me.

...tonight I'm going to what could be my last karate class for a long while. Am very sad at the thought.

I'm An Auntie!

....at least until these little cuties have a good home. I could just scoop them up and nuzzle them! Needless to say, Alaina didn't want to start a guinea pig farm. And anyone who's ever had two guinea pigs of the same sex would let you know that they tend to hump eachother to claim alpha status. Well, we thought that's what Ruby/Rudy was doing. I suppose Alaina failed to notice how incredibly fat Pearl was getting. I would think that she'd have been enormous, as the babies you see are only a few days old! But they are so freaking cute, and will be ready for a new home in a month or so. So let me know if you're in the Indy area and want a guinea pig!

...things are much the same as far as my pain goes. And what I hate most about all this is that I might have to give up karate for a while. Even more so than just going to one easy class a week. And I hate that. So I'm getting nervous and anxious all at the same time for Monday to come. Nervous of what they'll find. But anxious to know what is going on.

Ibuprofen...

...proved to be better at helping with my pain than I thought. I have been banned from taking ibuprofen and aspirin products until after the procedure Monday. So I took two Tylenol yesterday, which did NOTHING for the pain. So I went home from work. Again. Percocet is my new BFF (sorry, Katie!). Am currently attempting to work while hopped up....am dizzy and cloudy-headed.

....want. my. life. back.

The Weekend...

...went pretty well. Saturday Collin and two other guys from the karate school competed in the tournament. And, while we didn't place, the people who showed up did pretty well. My very first sparring partner, Steve, did his first competition, and only lost by one point! He scored FOUR points, which is AWESOME for his first go! Kelly, the other guy from my school, didn't score at all, but did pretty well. Steve also did the kata, and screwed it up pretty badly, but if you didn't know the kata, you would have never guessed that he'd messed up! Which was truly awesome in and of itself. Collin did pretty well for his first competition. He looked good, but nervous. He's a very timid spirit, and it showed when he went up against other people. For his kata, he did really well. We're not used to practicing our katas for competition, so, while Collin did his kata well and his movements were good, he didn't do it to where he would score well above average.

...Easter went well. I am still in a significant amount of pain, so I stayed home from Easter services and popped a pain pill. Then after they got back from church, we went over to Aaron's parents' house. I laid around with a heating pad on my back and the kids played with Grandma. They LOVE her. She plays with them and enjoys them like Aaron and I don't have the energy to. And I love that. I'm chopped liver when she's around, but I am past being hurt by it. It actually is nice to not have to strategically place myself at the dinner table so that I can sit by both twins.

...So I just got off the phone with the urologist. New antibiotics and more tests to be run for me. One under anesthesia! Go me! We shall see what happens next. Am hoping to get to the root of the pain that I've been in.

Am Very Bad Girl...

...but I feel a bit better. Had a can of diet Cherry Coke this morning and two Mountain Dews for lunch at O'Charley's. According to the urologist, and I already knew this to be true, drinking caffienated beverages is like pouring gasoline on the fire when you have irritation in that general vicinity. I'm sure that there are so many reasons that diet Coke is bad for you, but I sure do miss it in the vast quantities of my pre-I'm-in-back-pain-hell life. And you know that if I'm attempting to give up diet Coke and the occasional Mountain Dew (I really hate diet Pepsi), that I'm in pain.

...the other problem that has resulted from the pain is that the 4 ibuprofen three times a day is starting to do damage to my stomach. So I've switched to Tylenol for today. Which of course does nothing for me.

....Moving along....Collin is doing his first karate tournament tomorrow. Am way excited for him. Sad that I can't participate right along with him, but am excited to be able to sit back and hopefully take some pictures and cheer him on, along with the other people of my school who are participating. The best part of the whole thing is that my momma is coming up to see it. I am happy to be able to spend the day with her and get the momma hug that I so need right now.

...Happy Easter to everyone. Sunday should find us at Aaron's parents' house. And I will have to make sure to save room on the camera to get a picture of the little princess in her Easter dress. Grandma took her shopping and got a very cute pink dress for her. Am so looking forward to seeing her in it! Too bad I can't do hair, or she'd look completely like a princess. The poor girl with the defunct mother. I think the powers that be made a mistake when they made me a girl instead of a boy.

Caffiene deprived, and no end in sight....

...ok, so knowing that all the diet Coke has likely been hurting the efforts of being pain free rather than helping them, I've decided to wean myself off of diet Coke. I'm down to two a day, and living in a sad, caffiene and cold fizzy bubble goodness-deprived world. Am not happy. At all.

...So I went to the urologist yesterday, which Aaron so lovingly called the pee pee doctor. He tested my urine (loverly, no?), and found that whatever infection they've been seeing is, indeed, clearing up. He has very sketchy explanations of why I have pain still. He called it referred pain. Kind of like when you hit your funny bone, your fingers tingle. Well, he seems to think that I have had a bad bladder infection that is causing the pain to radiate to my kidneys. His other explanation is that the infection is in my ureter, for which the antibiotics that I'm currently on will not treat. Should I have said infection, I am going to receive a one month's supply of an antibiotic. So if the pain persists past Monday, I will call and we'll see about this new round of antibiotics. And, after one month, if the pain still persists, it's likely NOT to do with my urinary tract and I'm back to square fucking one. Am not happy. At all.

...a bright spot...This morning, Aaron got the bug up his hinderparts to make pancakes for breakfast. I told him that Griffin was stoked. Griffin said "Yes, I'm stho happy!" I said "Griffin, say 'I'm so stoked!'" He says, "I'm stho sthoaked." No matter what I did, he said "soaked" instead of "stoked." Makes me giggle. Love that little man. Of course, then he proceded to throw a big fit when we got to school. Love him anyway.

24 hours from now....

...am hoping to have a more definitive answer on why my life has gone to hell in a handbasket over the past two and a half weeks.

10:30 tomorrow.

....If you were wanting discussion that DIDN'T revolve around my kidneys and the pain I'm in (it comes and goes.... just when I think I'm not feeling too bad, the pain comes back.... ), you'll have to come back later. And at this point I'm not holding my breath that it's ever going to go away.....

If this EVER happens to me again, someone tell me to go to the ER, directly to the ER, do not pass go, do not collect 200.

Things I Never Thought I'd Say...

....and "I can't wait for the urologist to call." ranks right up there.

...yes...it's still there. Yes, I'm still in pain. No, I didn't do anything worthwhile over the weekend. Yes, I really should have just gone to the fucking ER two weeks ago.

WTF?

WTF is wrong with me? Am on day four of antibiotics. Should be feeling better, no? Weird pain that's been in my back since January is still pretty bad. Bad enough to wake me up at night. So after talking to the nurse today, they're thinking that perhaps it really is my back after all? At this point, I don't care. I really wish that there were some way to get a more definitive answer. This pain isn't really like anything I have had before. And it's suspiciously close to where my kidney should be. And I had all that scariness two Sundays ago. So it's not unrealistic to think that this might still be kidney type stuff. But whatever it is... I have to figure out a way to make it stop at this point. I can't function like this for very much longer.

Thank you, little Lovey....

....Thank you to the child who so helpfully informed Erin about the dangers lurking under your bed, in the closet, and down the stairs. As a result of your thoughtfulness, she didn't sleep very well at all last night. She graced me with her presence at 3:30 this morning, terrified for her life that there was a ghost downstairs, not returning to sleep until well past the point where I started dozing off again.

....Bless your little heart!

Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time...

....to get out of my bed that I've been lying in for the past week and get to work. I still have pain. Lots of it. Four ibuprofen do nothing for it type pain. So I thought I would just not take anything until I got to work. Only take one throughout the day and still be able to drive home, right? Nope. Am so loopy right now I can barely keep my head up. Am dizzy. At least I'm not nauseated, like I was yesterday.... horked in the parking lot of the doctor's office. Go me. At least I am the proud owner of a two weeks' supply of antibiotics. When they finally kick in, I should be pain free.

...honestly, I don't see how people with chronic pain can function. Either the pain is blinding and you can't do much. Or you get hopped up and can't do much.

...tonight is a sparring class that I'm not healthy enough to attend. And that just plain sucks.

...pass the cheese, please!

Am OK

I spent four and a half hours away from my desk today at good ol' St. V's, which is the local hospital for those of you out-of-towners. I got a CT scan and some blood work done today. And, while I do not have a kidney stone (or at least a large one that would show up on aforementioned CT scan), I do have an infection. Joy of all joys. So the doctor is going to wait until he gets all my bloodwork back to determine what, exactly, he wants to give me to make me feel better. Am ready to feel healthy, already!

I was supposed to go away for the weekend to scrapbook. It's looking more and more likely that I'm not going to go. I've missed too much work and the weather's supposed to get bad again. Have felt like I've lost my scrapping mojo, so I'm not altogether heartbroken, but am a bit sad. Was looking forward to the three hours of solitude in the car. Time to unwind...listen to my heathen music as loud as I want, singing to the top of my lungs.....time to think and clear my cluttered mind. Perhaps I'll just take a good old nap this weekend instead. Who knows.

And remember the scrapbooking store for which I was a design team member. Yeah...it's closing soon. Am somewhat saddened by this, not that I went there enough. I need to go in and get all my junk down!

Bad Karma??

...so I am not sure what is wrong with me, but I think it might have something to do with my kidneys. And I think I've let it go on this long because I don't want someone to tell me to stop drinking diet Coke. But after Sunday's scare and the continuous pain in my back for the last couple of months, I think I'm ready to have someone tell me a lifestyle change is in order. Just not sure how I'm going to give up the diet Coke. I really like cold fizzy caffiene over warm caffiene. Call me crazy. So I call the doc yesterday, get patched through to the nurse, and never hear from them. As I'm waiting for them to call back, I get a call from the kids' school. They had a major power outage due to weather and a blown transformer....needed to go get the kids. So I go... mind you, it's starting to sleet and rain ice. I get in the car, realize I'm going to be stuck on the highway if I get in stopped traffic, because I'm on empty. So, I make a few turns and try to get to a gas station. Know that there is one on a certain intersection, so I make like hell for it. Get to the intersection and make a few turns only to realize that there are only two ways to get to the gas station and neither are the way that I think I can get there.... so I sweat it into the station. Get out of the car, and it's a freaking thunderstorm of ice. After being pelted while filling my car, I slide all over the road to get back to the school. Only to see all the freaking lights on! I get into work this morning, and the nurse left a message on my work phone at 4:30. Nice.

...So I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to see if they can figure out what is wrong with me. I would think that the pain in my back is from karate had I not had the issues that I had on Sunday night (most of which are gone now...).

YOWZA!

...have some notsofun things happening. Karma, the nasty bitch that she is, is getting me back for all the horrible things I've done in life and is causing my body to revolt against me. Am in pain. I won't go into the details...TMI... but suffice it to say that I've not had anything like this before. And it freaked me out enough to call the doc on call last night. I will be fine (it's not that horrible...just painful and not something I wanna chat about in details here). Thank goodness for medicine that seems to be fast-acting.

....while I'm throwing a pity party for one here, I shall tell you that we had the kids' birthday party on Saturday. I thought I would be a nice momma and answer Erin's request for a party at Chuck E. Cheese. I knew that it might be a bit busier on a Saturday, but wasn't prepared for the utter hell of the chaos that is a birthday party there on a Saturday. They didn't even have beer I liked! It was insane. Absolutely insane. And something I will NEVER do again. There is something to be said for parties at home. And that's where they'll be from now on.

....I broke down and paid full price for Breaking Benjamin's "Phobia" cd. And am darn happy I did. Nothing like a good cd to make a simple girl like me happy. And, yes, I am a heathen who listens to music with lots o'curse words..... *wink*