Recovering

Most of my recovery took place on the couch. Work sent me beautiful flowers, which my cats promptly tried to eat. Going back to work on Thursday - yay!

Appendicitis surgery - yay

Onset of Pain
It started Thursday night with abdominal pain. Mostly I was uncomfortable all evening, then finally around 1am or so I decided it was not getting any better and that maybe I should go to the ER. My sister agreed - she wasn't able to go with me since she had a medical procedure scheduled herself early Friday morning. Good thing I had the car, I drove myself to Clovis Community.

To the ER
It was funny to  be checked into a hospital I worked for - gives me a whole new perspective. I waited in the waiting room for some time, in great discomfort but tolerable pain. They called me in to talk to the nurses. I described my pain and talked to the nurses. I was given a pain med and sent back out to await a blood draw. I called David, he had offered his company earlier on that night and I took him up on the offer. After being called back for blood work David showed up. We sat and waited and talked, then I tried to get some sleep. I was very tired, but the discomfort prevented me from getting any real rest.

MRI and IV
At some point I was called back again, this time for an MRI. For that they had to IV me, which meant my time in the waiting room was over. The nurse asked if I was ok to walk to the room, I told her I was. It was rather a long walk. In the room they put in my first adult IV (I am sure I had one when I was an infant and had surgery, but of course I have no memory of that).  I had to lay on a very narrow table and was wheeled into a white machine. It was all pretty fast and proved no more painful then what I had already been in. Then I was given a bed in the hallway - which proved much more comfortable then the waiting room. David was shown back to my hallway bed, and he took a seat in a chair. By this time the painkillers really started working and I was able to get some blessed sleep.

Diagnosis
At around 5 am Friday morning a doctor came to talk to me. Though I didn't have the classic rebound pain, my blood work showed an increased white blood cell count, which prompted the MRI, which showed my appendix was enlarged. It would have to come out. At the thought of surgery I started crying. The doctor assured me I would be ok, and encouraged me to inform them if I was in pain - after all, they had more pain medication then I had pain he said. Surprisingly I didn't really have pain. Sometime after 6 I called work and left messages about where  the project was that I had been working on and let them know that I wouldn't be in. i called my mother and let her know, and assured her via message that I was ok, even though I sounded like a blubbering mess.  Then I slept.

The Wait
Sleeping never felt so good. Mostly I slept all day. I woke up when my mom arrived with her laptop, I helped her get it connected to the employee internet (hehe!). Dad came too, he and mom sat by my bedside and waited. Tegmine came by too, but went home to sleep. First my surgery was to be around 9 am. Then sometime after noon. Then 5 pm. My coworkers texted me to check on how I was. The director of the ED stopped in, telling me Sipho (my manager) had told him one of his people was there and asked him what the hold up,  At one point Sipho, even stopped in - it was nice to see him. Finally they told me surgery would be near midnight for certain.

Surgery
At 11:55 it was time for surgery. I was really scared. Mom and David came up to the prep room with me. Dr. Holmes would be performing my surgery, he looked very young. I started crying again, which made me feel silly. The OR is very bright and cold. They had me shift over to the operating table which had rests to the sides for my arms. I remember feeling very unclothed and incredibly vulnerable. They put a warm blanked over me, and the anesthesiologist put the mask on and told me to count to 15. I remember struggling to breath with the mask, then I was out.

Recovery
I vaguely recall waking up in the recovery room and hurting. The nurses kept trying to talk to me, but I kept falling back asleep. Apparently the plan had been to release me right away so I could recover at home - they had asked me my preference earlier, and that had been my response. My body, however, was not cooperating and just wanted to stay asleep. I woke up fully in a private hospital room, to see my dad's face looking down at me, followed shortly by my mother. I felt pretty good, but darn sore. Mom and dad went home after being assured that I was good and on the road to recovery. David stayed, he had ordered my breakfast for me, which tasted wonderful!

I had an incredibly difficult time sitting up, my abdominal muscles were so so sore. I ended up having lunch in my room as well, which wasn't as wonderful as breakfast was, but that might have been because I was wanting to go home. By 2 pm I was released. We had to wait for a while for staff to bring a wheel chair and wheel me down to the parking lot.

Yaay home!

*written 6/22/2014

Lovely Morning at the Farmer's Market

My next planned excursion into the wondrous world of lip balm creation includes a honey lip balm, for which  I wanted fresh farmers market honey, such as that which my sister has been telling me can be found at her favorite Saturday farmers market. So I decided to sacrifice my Saturday morning sleepin for early trip to the farmers market with my sis. And boy was it early! The crazy woman decided to call me all chipper like at 7:14 AM guh! (I had my alarm set for 7:30, I thought we were going at 8:00)

As it turns out, it was quite worth the early hour, the market was small but lovely, with all kinds of temping food to be had! First we purchased goodies from the french bakery booth (La Boulangerie) then some coffee (I don't recall the name! sorry!) and finally tamales!!! (CASA de TAMALES). Omg yum. Todays haul includes: 

• 5 Fuyu Persimmons
• 1 Pomegranate (Some variety I don't know, its pale yellow and the seeds were pale)
• 3 baskets of raspberries! 
• 7 tamales! (Green Tomatillo Chicken, Jalapeno & Cheese, Blueberry & Cream Cheese, Sweet Corn with Chipotle Honey, Spinach & Artichoke, Portobello & Asparagus, Pumpkin Pie)
• 4 Lemon Chicken Crescents (Meat pies from Mediterranean To Go)
• 1 100% Pomegranate Juice (from Ferry Farms)
• Ham and cheese croissant, apricot and almond pastry (La Boulangerie)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

More fun with lip balm!

Ok, I couldn't help myself, I had to make more lip balm, this time with more clove oil. I made a much smaller batch this time, and I think I'm going to stick to around this size batch for the near future. Here is what I did this time:


1 tsp Beeswax Pearls
1 tsp Shea Butter
2 tsp Sweet Almond Oil
.15 tsp Clove Oil
2 capsules of vitamin E
scraping of Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in 'Fig'

(made 4 tubes)

I didn't want to get the different batches mixed up since I increased the clove oil so much (not sure the exact percent since I couldn't measure accurately  but I know I filled a 1/4 teaspoon less than halfway, so I am sure its under 5%) and if anyone is going to deal with skin irritation side effects I would certainly rather it be me then a unsuspecting guinea pig, er, friend or family member.  So in order to keep batch 1 distinguishable from batch 2,  I scraped off a little slice of Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in the color 'Fig' and added it to the second batch for color. Worked like a charm, the color came out more of a warm tan instead of so yellow. So far I like it better! I will have to wear it for a few days and make sure there are no weird side effects, but it smells lovely!

A comparison between the colors of batch 1 (right) and batch 2 (left)

Fun with Lip Balm

It seems like every time I fall in love with a lip balm it gets discontinued. For a while it was Chapstick Fresh Effects Green Tea Mint or Mandarin Orange. Then all the stores in my area stopped carrying them. I tried Burt's Bees Clove. Omg, I loved it. Suddenly they all went on sale - I bought every tube I could find! Only to discover the sale I was so happy about was due to the fact they were being discontinued! Guh! I remembered an article that I read on a blog where the writer made her own lip balm. So off to google to research DIY clove lip balm! I ran across TONS of recipes  I was overwhelmed actually, so I ended up deciding to stay pretty close to the original post I read. Here is what I used:


2 tbsp Beeswax Pearls
2 tbsp Shea Butter
4 tbsp Sweet Almond Oil
1/4 tsp Clove Oil
2 vitamin E capsules

(made 17 tubes)

They turned out pretty nice, I like the color and texture but I had been hoping for the clove oil tingle I get from Burt's Bee's. I ran some calculations on my trusty TI-89 (well my emulator anyways since my calculators are all at work) and found I only used about 1% clove oil. I think I'm going to try another batch and up the percentage, first to double check what percentages are safe to use - don't want my lips to go permanently numb or anything!

Frustrated with a book....

Presently I am reading/listening to Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood. I have loved this series, waiting with much anticipation for each book to be released and gobbling them up as soon as I can get a hold of them. For the first time in the ten books plus handful of short stories, I have actually had to put the book down completely disgusted with the characters. Grated Rachel is not perfect, and is not some supreme fighter who always comes out on top, that's part of what makes her so relateable, she takes a beating and doesn't always come out on top immediately. But so far in this book she has yet to come out at all - she get captured, beaten, disabled, and so very often relies completely on her splat gun which has yet to even hit anything 80% into the book. She bemoans her inability to access her power or tap lines, thinking how everything would be completely different if she hadn't handicapped herself with the silver bracelet, yet the first run she is on after its off, she relies on her splat gun and Trent's charm. The only time she even comes close to using her power is to tap a line to bubble herself once. After she was disabled yet again and tied up with her own zip strip I'd had enough. I expect so much more out of her, even with her mistakes. This is nearly as depressing as Bella. I am taking a break from this book and I so hope it gets better...

Adventures with AT&T

On Friday I have no internet. I examine the modem, the DSL light is flashing red – which gets me thinking about the fact that I recently changed bank accounts and my ATT internet is set to automatically deduct from my old account. Rats, I bet no payment went through and they disconnected me. I glance through my pile of papers on my desk for something with ATT’s phone number – first thing I find is my welcome packet. I call the number go through the automated system (2:49pm): …no the account is not attached to the number I’m calling from…yes I already reset my system and I know that is not the reason I’m having trouble…no I’m not going to do it again – just give me a person to talk to, guh.

Finally I get some guy and he asks for the number associated with the account (which I already gave the automated system) then the name on the account, then my name (ie same as above). I tell him what happened and he asks for my customer id. Customer ID? What customer id? I just gave him my account number and verified the name…apparently on my bill there should be 3 digit number after my account number. I tell him I don’t have a bill in front of me (I generally don’t get them since I’m on automatic payments). He asks for the exact amount of my last payment. Er, I don’t know that either, I know its around $48. Nope not good enough. Apparently with out one of those two numbers he can’t help me. Really? Not even with my account number, name, address, social security number, or numerous secret questions they love to make me set up for this reason, nor any other myriad question they could ask me? Nope, he can’t help. He has to transfer me to a different department. Alrighty then.

I get transferred and I notice the automatic wait dialogue is in Spanish. Uh oh. The next cheerful representative answers: “Gracias por haber elegido a AT&T!...” Oh no. Me:“Er, I am really sorry but I only speak English”. Guy: (Heavily accented) “Ok, how can I help you?”  I explain what happed with the billing, we struggle to understand each other, but he is nice and trying hard to help me. He gets the bank account information switched over and tells me that the full amount for last month and this month will be deducted at once on March 2^nd. Hmmm.. but I have no internet now. I ask if I could just pay it now and have the internet back up. He is confused and repeats it will be deducted on the 2^nd. We go back and forth a bit – he agrees that I could pay it now but still seems confused. I finally say it’s alright (might as well approach this from a different angle hopefully with a English speaker). I tell him I am having connection problems and would like to talk to internet tech support. He cheerfully agrees and transfers me on to…

Spanish speaking tech support: “Gracias por haber elegido a AT&T, ¿cómo podemos ayudarle” Me: “Er, I’m sorry I was sent to the wrong place, could you transfer me to an English speaking tech support angent?” Guy: (heavily accented) “Yes, sorry ma’am, one minute”…

English speaking tech support. Finally I am able to talk to someone about why my internet is not working. She quickly finds that my account is still suspended and tells me I need to talk to the department that deals with that, but it closes at 5pm eastern time (ie 3 mins ago) so she is trying to get a person there for me to talk to. She transfers me and….

“We are sorry but this number is not longer in service, please call customer service to be redirected.”

WTF?!

So I call again (3:21pm), now I’ve located and opened the notice that I missed a payment, so I have a different number to call. Back through the automated system (Guh I HATE that system!). I don’t even remember how I get to the right department, but I do. They see that I did update my banking information, but say that I need to have the past due amount in now in order to remove the suspension. I tell them I’d be happy to do that (in fact I was trying to do that with the Spanish speaking guy!). So he processes my payment and removes the suspension, and says my internet should be restored within half an hour.

About an hour and half later, still no internet. I call again (5:01pm) I get through the automated system and talk to tech support. He still sees the suspension lift processing; he says it should be up within four hours, and definitely sometime tonight.

Saturday morning, still no internet. We go to Panera’s and enjoy their wifi (mmm… and a soufflé yum!). Back at home by 6:56pm I really want my internet. I call. Automated systems asks for my number, I tell it: “559 299 ####” It repeats back to me “519 218 #&!%”.  I tell it “NO” and we go back and forth through this a few times. I wonder if my headset isn’t properly plugged in, I unplug it and replug it.  I call again and try again. Same thing, the automated voice keeps repeating back a random seeming string of numbers. Where the hell is it getting these numbers? I hang up and call again, and try entering the numbers from the keypad instead. Its still giving back wrong numbers. I begin wondering if I am crazy and I am the one entering wrong numbers. I pay extra close attention to what I enter in. I know I entered the right numbers. I even try the “I don’t know my number” option, which just tells me I need a number and it suggests ways to find it. Arg!! After 5 calls (6:54, 6:56, 6:58, 7:01, and 7:10 according to my call log) it finally figures out my number and I’m put on hold for the next representative. The dialogue tells me that there are an unusual amount of callers and it will be a long while be for I’m assisted and I may want to call back. Ha, no way – I’ll wait. I sit and paint D&D figurines while waiting.

Finally about 20 minutes later I am startled by the sound of a human answering my call. I give her my name and number and she asks for a call back number in case we are disconnected, I give it to her, she starts saying something in response and the line goes dead. I look at my cell (which I KNOW has full battery) Screen is black, and the phone is not responding. Omfg! I pull out the battery and put it back in, and my phone starts back up.

I call again (7:34pm). Thank god the automated system gets my number on the right try. I prepare for another 20 minute wait, but my call is answered immediately. The representative sees that I’ve been having trouble and been calling and my account is noted. She asks if I’ve reset my system (yes, I have – even though I knew it probably would help – I always do a power cycle and check all the cords before I even bother calling them) She says her systems is showing service to my line. She asks if I’ve moved my box to another outlet. No I only have one outlet in my entire apartment. She asks if I have a phone plugged into it. No, I don’t even have a home line anymore (can’t she see that on my account? Ah well) She asks if the cord is frayed or damaged. No - I explain everything is the same as it was before Friday and it was working just great until then. She has me unplug modem from line, and then from the power, re-plug in line, and re-plug in power and watch the lights.  DSL is still flashing red. She asks if it ever changed to red/green flashing. No, I explain that since Friday it has done nothing but flash red. She says she is going to reset my circuit packet (or something like that)  I sit and wait. The DSL light switches to blinking green. I tell her this. She suggests maybe its because she reset something (duh!). The light switched to solid green, and the internet light also turns green. Woot!! I tell her and open a webpage to see if I really have internet. She asks me to open a webpage to check for internet (er, yeah). Success!! She says there is still some errors showing up in my line, and she will put in a ticket for me. Ahh blessed blessed internet!! Now if only this all could have been done with one freaking call!!!