HAHA!!

You'll have to click on the picture to see it better, but holy crap I thought it was hilarious. BagelDave sent me a link to a picture on Flickr, and it stopped me with a screen that said it fell outside of my safe filter, and it had a button to continue on to viewing the picture. So I did, and I could see why there was a warning, a little bit of nudity. But check out what was at the top of the page:


Ha ha! I thought that was a riot! Unfortunately due to some user error on my part I wasn't able to see if the button actually took me to some kittens - I closed the damn tab!

Nice Day?

Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving yesterday? Honestly, I didn't. It was weird. Part of it is just me being off - I still don't feel like my normal self yet. I get so tired after barely doing any activity. The other part was actually spending Thanksgiving day with my family; this is the first time in 4 years I've done that. The last 3 Thanksgiving I've spent with GravyDave. I've always had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so I just stayed in town to be with my him, and then I'd go to Mom's on the weekend. This year I felt like I was on lockdown. We did the food thing, I hung out with my best friend Jackie, and then I was at a loss on what else to do. No way in hell was I going out shopping today. Screw that, there's nothing I wanted that bad (except maybe an Xbox, but whatever I still wasn't getting up). Usually when I go to my mom's we go out shopping, have lunch, hang out at the house, and then maybe shop some more. But no, this time is was being at home. And that was it. It felt like prison. And we were actually all getting along...

This Is Me Lately

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Slacker

On my way home from work tonight I stopped and had my eyebrows waxed. I hadn't been keeping up with them lately, and I figured I'll let someone else tame them and get me back in line to maintain them. As I was driving there, I thought to myself, why not have a girly night. Get the brows waxed, then go home, do a home facial, soak my feet and paint my toe nails...all sorts of girly fun stuff. But now that I'm home...I am feeling so lazy. You know, I could stop typing right now and get my footbath ready. Oh okay...back in a minute!

Oooo...feels so nice, the warm waters and the bubbles! I just hope I can keep this motivation going! I've just felt so lazy lately. I'll admit, part of it is just being so worn out from all that's happened in the last 2 weeks. Today is the first day that I haven't crashed out in a nap on the couch after work. Cross your fingers I make it until bedtime! The eyes are feeling heavy though. I have found myself stuck in that nasty cycle that I don't sleep well at night so I end up napping during the day for too long, and as a result I don't sleep well at night. Maybe this will be my turning point.

Things have been getting better. My eating habits are almost back to normal. I'm still not in the mood for milk - I have that yucky sick taste in my mouth, and that's just not cool with milk. Also, the bubbles in soda are a bit much. Oh well, do I really need a soda? Quite a few people even commented that I looked and sounded like I was feeling better. Just in time for the holiday break!

So, anyone got big plans for Thanksgiving? Is anyone braving the crowds and shopping on Black Friday? I'll be at Mom's for Thanksgiving...and that's all I have planned so far!

Wow

I just don't even know where to begin with my feelings on this one. I was at lunch the other day with a friend, and a story came up about tech support. He was dealing with a server issue and ended up calling Microsoft's tech support. As soon as the tech support representative answered, he hung up, simply because it was a woman that answered the phone. He called back, got a guy, and was happy. I was appalled by his actions, and he explained that the last two times he's had to call for help and spoke with women, they weren't able to solve the problem. He knew that he'd run into a tough situation, and he didn't feel like wasting his time talking to a woman when he'd just have to call back. I just couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. As a female in the IT industry, I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart. Never before have someone's words made me feel so worthless. I don't even know if I can put into words how crushed I feel. It's like he's taken my livelihood and made it feel so pointless. Replaying the conversation brings tears to my eyes and sickens my stomach. Now I realize that's his opinion and he's quite entitled to it, but I just have a hard time swallowing it. Moreover, I...I...augh! I can't even get words out - the little Kim in my mind feels so upset she's just standing there, fists clenched, screaming and crying all at the same time. And it hurts so much more coming from a friend and a coworker. A coworker!

*Update* - So of course I've been thinking and thinking about this. I think I figured out that it bothers me so much because I feel like he must not respect me professionally. And if he lacks respect for me in the workplace, how can he have any for me outside of it?

A Little Setback

So the other day Erin asked how long how it would take to heal. To be honest, I'm not really sure. I remember my doctor saying the first week would be rough. I had read online that it would be 7-10 days, 10-14 days, but I don't remember my doctor saying anything specific. Well today the bleeding started up again, and it was the worse it's ever been. I wasn't sure if I was overreacting, but I finally broke down and called the doctor's office. I had to leave a message for the nurse, and per their recording I wouldn't get a phone call until tomorrow. Well, a nurse did call me back to get more details about the situation. She reassured me this was normal, but she wanted to talk to the doctor to find out exactly what I should do next.

About 20 minutes later my doctor called me. She gave me some new instructions - stick with cold. For the next 24 hours cold drink and cold food. If the bleeding starts gently gargle with cold water and/or suck on ice cubes. She asked how much bleeding there was, stuff like that. Then she asked if I was home alone. I couldn't lie, I told her no I wasn't alone, because I was at work. Boy that was the wrong thing to say! So then more doctor's orders: go home. Go home and do nothing. No puttering around the house, no pushing the vacuum, nothing. I am to sit around, kick back, and RELAX. The most energy I need to put out is when I'm walking to get myself something to eat or drink. Or changing the channel with the remote. So if anyone needs me, I'll be on the couch with my new buddy, Duncan:



He was waiting for me on my desk when I went back to work. I named him after my doctor. Even though things might be kind of rough now, I'm confident it will be worth it in the end!

SO Tired

So I did go back to work today. Holy crap was it rough! When I got home I slept from 7:00 - 9:00 and I am still beat. And in pain. My throat is hurting. Sigh...it was good to see everyone. It felt good - as soon as I walked in the door everyone was excited that I was back. But that also meant a lot of people that wanted to talk! Jackass coworker did come over at one point to talk to me, and he actually ended up being nice to me! Shocking I know!! He was there when another friend asked how the pain was, and did they give me anything for it. I told him I'm in constant pain...that I don't notice when I swallow and it does hurt, because that's the norm. I take notice when I swallow and it doesn't hurt. I think Jackass actually listened and was much nicer to me afterwards.

*Warning* gross details ahead: I think things will get noticeably better when I start sleeping better. Last night was one of my worst nights so far. Bleeding is normal, and even more so when you're not drinking enough. I was sleeping like the dead last night, when suddenly I could feel it. The blood was just running down the back of my throat. The taste was awful...I hopped up and headed to the bathroom and spit. At first I wasn't sure that I was bleeding, but oh yeah, I was. It was awful, I could feel it running down the back of my throat, with no way to make it stop. I spit out what I could, which was unnerving to see the mouthfuls of red in the sink. I tried to drink some gatorade, which did help. I think drinking in general helps it stop. But that was my entertainment from 2 - 4 this morning. I even spit out a bloodclot. Holy crap was that disgusting.

Not Ready Yet

I'm just not ready to go back to work. My tummy troubles are now pretty much nonexistent - thank God! The pain is the one thing I'm still having a hard time dealing with. I haven't made it to the point where it doesn't hurt more often than not. Hmm, that sentence is confusing. It's fair to say that it still hurts 95% of the time when I swallow. Now, it's not ungodly pain where I just want to keel over and die, but it does hurt. Shit, it hurts even when I don't swallow. I think I've done more talking today than I have in a long time. My absolutely awesome friend Jennifer came to visit me today (and bring me soup!), and we chatted it up for a few hours. After that I went and watched football with some friends, and did my fair share of talking there, too. The result - pain in my throat, neck, and ears. How am I ever going to make it through work? Granted, I think (or at least I hope) I'll be able to do other things that don't require that I be on the phones and talking, but I'll have to talk nonetheless...people have apparently missed me! And of course I do want to talk to them, it's just going to be rough and I'm nervous. Heck, right now if I want to talk to my mom I just call her and she answers the phone saying, "I'll go get on the computer" and we just message back and forth. And it's not just talking that has me nervous about work, it's being up and away from home for more than a few hours. Like when I was watching football today, I could feel myself start to fall asleep. And if I had, I don't think anyone would have cared - they probably would have just let me sleep, but that's me being tired and I was doing nothing but sitting on the couch and occasionally socializing. Guess we'll find out how tough I am on Tuesday. I think I'll have completely run out of sick and vacation time, so I kind of have to go back. Sigh....hopefully I'm worrying about nothing.

More Of The Same

Things over the last few days haven't been much different. My poor little tummy's been on a roller coaster ride, but the vomiting's stopped, so I will not complain! Or at least I'll try not to, this has been rough. I felt terrible for my mom yesterday. She'd been with me throughout everything, and she ended up going home last night. She called to let me know she was home, and she couldn't have called at a worse time. I didn't get sick, but my poor tummy was in knots and I was not in the phone-talking mood! I could tell she was upset, feeling a little helpless that she couldn't do anything. It's okay Mom!

I did think this was funny...Tuesday night my brother called and asked my mom how I was doing, and at the time I was at one of my lower points so my brother said he'd call back with his technical question later. He called back on Wednesday and it just happened to be another time when I wasn't doing so hot, although it was better than I was on Tuesday. Mom jotted down his problem - he could get signed into his Hotmail account, but he couldn't see everything in his inbox, like the page wasn't fully loading. Is a tech support worker's work never done? Brother! I'm sick! Haha...I wrote out a few things for my mom to tell him to do, hoping that would fix the problem. I listened to them talk for a bit, and finally I decided to just suck it up and get on the phone and do the talking myself. How my brother managed to never upgrade his browser is beyond me, but he's good to go now! Just wait until he gets my bill...making me work while sick is going to cost you!

Gross Details

Well, things haven't been going so well since my last update. Monday was a very good day. The pain was tolerable and I was drinking like a champ. However, starting yesterday at noon things took a turn for the worse. I didn't sleep all that great Monday night, and I was woken by my phone at 7:22 Tuesday morning when the cable guy called. I bought a sexy new LCD tv on Sunday, and the cable dude wanted to know if he could come by early and setup my box instead of waiting until my scheduled time of 1:00 - 5:00. Lucky for me, but moreso lucky for him that he came by that early. During his scheduled time I was busy sitting in my bathroom on the toilet with a trash can in my hands.

We're not 100% sure what it is wrecking my stomach. At 3:00 this morning I quit taking my heavy-duty pain killer, thinking that might have been what was causing it, but when I threw up this afternoon I figured, nope, that wasn't it. Mom did call my doctor this afternoon and told her what's been going on, so now I'm no longer on my fucking $91 antibiotic. I am on a children's probiotic now. Awesome...children's meds for a child's surgery. The probiotic is meant to "maintain the balance of the intestinal flora." Whatever will keep food & fluids in me, I'm cool with it. The biggest problem right now I have is being dehydrated. I'm supposed to drink 8 oz. an hour, and that's just not happening.

My mom has to leave tomorrow, and she said if I wasn't feeling better she's taking me with her. I'm not down with that...I can't imagine being in the car for 2 hours. But at the same time I can't imagine throwing up and not having someone here to hold my hair back. Ugh...this is what I was so afraid of!

The Long Story

Kim is tonsil and adnoid free!! And thank you Mom for the lovely picture! Haha!

Yesterday went very well. Mom and I showed up a few minutes early before my 6:45 check-in time. We only had to sit in the main waiting room for about 5 minutes before they came and got me to go to Pre-Op. They weighed me and then showed me to my little "room". I say it that way because it was beds in a line separated by curtains. I was in Room 13. Nice. They told me to change out of my clothes and put on the gown...and they reminded me that meant everything off! I changed and hopped up on my bed and Nurse #1 came. She introduced herself, took my blood pressure, and then tried to draw some blood. She tried to get the vein on the side of my wrist, but it kept rolling and she couldn't stab it. It really did hurt, and she kept apologizing, saying she didn't want to have to stab me again. I told her if this was the worst pain I felt all day, I'd be good. She chuckled and said, "No, it's going to get worse!" Aw! Finally she gave up on the wrist and then decided to try for a vein in the bend of my elbow, which she got in no time! She drew some blood and then started my IV of fluids. Which made me pee. A lot.

Once the IV was started Nurse #2 stopped by to give me an EKG. My blood pressure was up and they wanted to make sure the ol' ticker was in good shape. After she left Mom and I just sat there and chatted for awhile. Next the anesthesiologist came by to chat. He started on his little speech and said that they would have to insert a breathing tube and that may cause a sore throat. Then he looked up at me, then at my paperwork and we all laughed...yep, I was going to have a sore throat anyways! My ENT stopped by and introduced herself to my mom. She is a peppy woman!

The last few things I remember were Nurses #3 and #4 that got me all tucked in and covered in warm blankets. As they rolled me to the OR we dropped my mom off in the waiting room. I remember getting into the OR, seeing the big lights above me, and that was it! It was only 25 minutes between the time my mom left us for the waiting room and the time that the ENT went out to see her. The doc said it was the worst set of tonsils she's ever seen. That's pretty bad, considering I was feeling well when I went in! She also decided to take out my adnoids. She told Mom that this week would be rough week for me, but this time next month I should feel like a new person. It almost makes me tear up to say that...how many times have you heard me complain that I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!

I woke up in recovery, with Nurse #3 shaking my arm. She asked if I wanted a drink, but the first thing I did was stick out my tongue and make a wiping motion. It felt like it was covered in slime, but as soon as I wiped it off I felt better. She gave me a little cup of apple juice. I drank it down in no time, stopping to burp after every sip. Nurse #3 laughed and said either end I felt like getting the air out was fine with them! I did have one of those oxygen tubes in my nose, and as soon as I realized it she took it out. It was making my nose uncomfortable. After I finished my drink she asked if I was ready to see my mom, which I was. As soon as Mom walked in I started to cry. When Sexy Coworker had surgery he said he woke up feeling depressed. Guess I did too! I got dressed and had another few cups of apple juice while the nurse explained my post-op instructions. No alcohol (so I said shots tomorrow!), get lots of rest, drink at least 8 oz. of fluid each hour, and absolutely no dairy products for 24 hours! The reason is for some people it causes phlegm and I should do as much as possible to avoid coughing and/or clearing my throat.

I haven't been in much pain. Yesterday and still today one of the most uncomfortable things is that my uvula is swollen, which makes it feel like I have something in the back of my throat, and I so desperately want to clear it. I've been drinking almost nonstop, which is not only good that I'm getting in my 8 oz, but it also feels good. I haven't had much to eat. I can have stuff to eat, but no ice cream until later today and I can't have anything hot, just lukewarm. I've managed to eat some applesauce, a few popsicles, and some sorbet. I'm going to try some of the soup from chicken noodle soup later. I'm really surprised I haven't slept much. I do get tired, but I can't get comfortable. How do you snore with your mouth closed?! I keep waking myself up! But after all of this typing, I think I'll give it a another shot, my eyes are getting heavy!

Getting Nervous

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I am ready to get this over with and for the next 2 weeks to go by. I'm not afraid or nervous about the surgery itself, but the way I'll feel afterward. A few posts I've read online say it's just like a bad sore throat when you're sick. One of my cousins had her tonsils out when she was 18, and she said it was the worst pain she's ever felt in her life. Gee...thanks for sharing that. I'm all stocked up on ice cream, popsicles, and Gatorade. I also have pudding, and even some tea to drink. The one constant thing I've seen online is to drink, drink, drink. Even one guy said that you're encouraged to sleep, but if you're sleeping you're not drinking, and drinking will do more to make you feel better. We'll see. Some of that drinking will be the drugs I'm taking. On the left is my antibiotic, Clindamycin. The drug facts on it are kinda scary! I could suffer severe digestive problems. I'll not go into details, but ew (paragraph 2). When the pharmacist was mixing it she said warned me that it smells like kitty litter. Yum! The other bottles are my mix of hydrocodone and acetaminophen. I'm a little worried that's going to have me knocked off of my rocker.

I did cry a little last night. I think it bothers me so much because the surgery is in my mouth. It's going to affect my eating and drinking. (Affect, right? Or is it effect? I never know!) Not only eating and drinking, but talking, swallowing, breathing! Let's just get this over with.

Everyone Else Is Doing It

So I decided to hop on the bandwagon and purchase a Guitar Hero game. A lot of my coworkers and friends have it and enjoy it, so I figured why not. I suck. Yep, I am not good at this game. Oh well, I know, it's going to take some practice. And larger hands might help - I have such short, fat fingers. I've just been doing the practice stuff so far (all 30 minutes that I've played), but I'm having a good time! Before you know it, I'll be playing an entire song on Easy hahahaa!

Huh, What?

I saw this article on MSN.com entitled "Why You Can't Pay Attention" and thought to myself, that would be a good article to read! I made it through the first two paragraphs and then my mind drifted off. If anyone wants to read it and give me a quick summary, that would be awesome!

Spare Any Change?

Me: can you give a girl $91?
Me: I need to buy drugs
Me: actually, 1 drug
BagelDave: that's one helluva drug
Me: fucking antibiotic for post surgery
BagelDave: i can find pot, coke, crack, mushrooms, lsd, really anything you want for cheaper than that

So yep, I dropped off my prescriptions today for use after my tonsillectomy. Fortunately for me the pharmacy called before they filled it. The antibiotic I was given has no generic equivalent at the Target Pharmacy, so they decided to call and ask before they filling anything. They wanted to make sure I was okay with forking over $91. And what makes me even more lucky is that medicine only has a 10 day shelf life, so had they not called I would have shelled out all of that money for medicine that wouldn't be good by the time I need it. I was just shocked when she said $91 freaking dollars. My insurance is typically really good! For generics I only pay 10%, so in the case of my pain medication, it's only $8. My birth control pills...$1.81! Freaking sweet! There is a different antibiotic they can give me, but we need to check with the doctor first. The one concern the pharmacist had was that it's rougher on the stomach, and I am not down with the idea of vomiting. Stupid tonsils!