Surgery Ahead

I had an appointment with Dr. Beingesser, who informed me that my huge ovarian cyst should really be removed. She suggested surgery in February. She also mentioned that if I was thinking of bariatric surgery, I might be able to have both done at the same time. This sounded like a prime opportunity, like the universe was saying 'Now is the time Morgan - you have to have surgery anyways, lets get this done!' And so I left her office with a surgery date in February set and a referral to Dr. Swartz for bariatric surgery. 

Thus begins my journey.

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...