For Christmas, Bill got an alien pizza kit. If you didn’t know, Bill believes he was abducted by aliens so this pizza kit is right up his alley. The boys helped him make the pizza with a green crust and purple sauce. Unfortunately, I was in the hospital so didn’t get to taste the creation but heard it was good. The boys had a really good time helping dad in the kitchen.
I love my boys. They keep me laughing and they give the best hugs and kisses. They both seem to understand that I do not feel well and they show me compassion. They also do and say funny things.
The Cookie Thief: While I was in the hospital, Bill took Baden to Walmart. As they were walking down the aisle, Bill looked down and Baden was eating a cookie. This was before Valentine’s Day so there was a big display of cookies in the bakery section. Baden opened one of the boxes and took a cookie. Bill went back, found the box and bought it.
Fat Legs: Because of all of the fluids pumped into me during my hospital stay I came home with very swollen legs. When I got home from the hospital, I was in my room changing into a pair of pajama bottoms. Billy walked in and said wow, mommy you have legs like a fat lady! Thanks, Billy. 🙂
Women: Billy was trying to hide in the car, but I saw him and called him out. He said how did you know I was there? I said I just know. He said yeah you must know because your a woman. Glad he’s learning these things early.
B: Baden calls Billy “B”. He sees the bus coming down the road in the afternoon and he starts saying B, B! It’s so cute. Billy doesn’t really like it and we are working on getting Baden to say Billy, but for now it works.
There are days I want to hide out, but I wouldn’t trade my boys for anything.
Where do I begin? I have been through the trenches the past two weeks. On January 28th, I went in for a balloon dilation to help the strictures I have and ended up being admitted to the hospital due to complications. I stayed for a day and was released to go home. I got home and still had pain. On Monday, February 1st, I went in for a CT Scan to find out the source of the pain. I had a perforated bowel. I was admitted to the hospital again with the possibility of emergency surgery. I had a nasal gastric tube and a feeding tube inserted through a PICC line. This is major stuff. I was miserable the first few days. I couldn’t eat and was only allowed ice chips. I have a great surgeon taking care of me and he treated me conservatively with antibiotics and allowed my bowels to rest. After a few days, I got to eat clear liquids. I never knew I could get so excited about broth and Jell-O. It tasted so good after no food at all. I have realized that there are a lot of food commercials on TV. Too many especially when you can’t eat. I craved mashed potatoes. I saw one too many KFC commercials. After a couple of days, I was allowed to eat a soft diet. The tomato cream soup was so good. Then I moved to the entree and there were mashed potatoes. I was in heaven. They were so good. I was finally released on Wednesday, the 10th and am now back home. It was tough being in the hospital for so long. This is the longest I have ever stayed. The longest was when I had Billy and I was in the hospital for four days. This time was ten days. A very long time to be away from my family. Bill took care of me and made sure I had everything I needed to survive. I missed Billy and Baden so much. It was hard to be away from them. They sent pictures to me and when I got home I got the best hugs and kisses. I am also thankful for my mother in law who extended her stay to help out. I really appreciate that. I am not out of the woods yet. In about six weeks, I will have surgery to repair the damaged strictures. It is a long road, but one that will be worth it.
We’ve had some great snow falls so Bill and the boys took advantage of the snow and headed to the Sandia Mountains. They are a hop, skip and a jump from our house. They had a lot of fun.
I am happy to say I am not in the hospital at least for now. I will be going to the hospital next week for an outpatient procedure to help stretch my insides. I know, it sounds great doesn’t it. On a lighter note, I have moved up the food chain and now can eat soft foods. This means mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, eggs, ice cream, Reese Peanut Butter Cups ( I did my research and it’s okay because it is made with creamy peanut butter), pudding, and so much more. I will revel in soft foods until Wednesday and it’s back to the clear liquid diet. If all goes well, I can continue with a soft diet and then maybe one of these days I can eat regular food. Right now, crab legs sound so good. You would think I would be able to eat that now, but it’s shellfish and it’s on the excluded list for a soft diet. So not fair. I appreciate everyone’s good thoughts streaming my way as I go through this Crohn’s bout. Now do I want mashed potatoes or mac and cheese for lunch? Decisions, decisions.
I was thinking lately that I haven’t really had any Billy Quotes to post. It’s not that he doesn’t say something almost every day, it’s just sometimes they just don’t stand out. Well this week he’s been on a roll.
After finding him sitting on a bean bag chair with Baden underneath and asking him why he did that (Don’t worry Baden could breathe):
“I just couldn’t control myself.”
He once had a big Spider Man action figure, but he decided to try to color it black. It was ruined and thrown away. Today he told me:
“I am really sorry I colored my big Spider Man black. I just wanted to be an artist like Squidward.”
Then upon hearing that I might be going into the hospital, he said:
“Does that mean that Daddy will be our parent?”
For the last two days I have been on a liquid diet. It’s really no fun. I can have any clear beverage of my choosing, broth, jello, popsicles, hard candy and that’s about it. I am enduring this diet because I found out today I have a partial bowel obstruction. That’s really no fun. In fact, it’s down right miserable. So for now I am on a liquid diet until well who knows when. I have basically one day to let my body do the work or it’s off to the hospital for a stay. My body has until Thursday to do its thing. I am not feeling very confident. The last time I was on a liquid diet I was preparing for the dreaded colonoscopy. But then I couldn’t eat red strawberry jello or anything that was red. This time I can. So I guess there is an upside, but not really. I also find myself watching an insane amount of Food Network. Everything looks so good. Even things that I might not even want to try look and probably smell delicious. Yesterday after getting labs and x-rays, we had to run to Costco. It was around lunch time so Bill got a quick bite to eat. Being the sweet guy he is, he asked me if it was okay. Of course, I can’t deny him the luxury of eating solid food. He only got a hot dog and he put sauerkraut on that hot dog and I don’t like sauerkraut, but it looked so good. I could have downed that hot dog faster than the guy who won the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. Being on a liquid diet this time around is really testing my well power. I am already thinking about my “first” meal after this is all over. I don’t know what I want because at this point I want everything. Maybe Food Network will give me some inspiration or just make me drool. Guess I better go find out.
Six years ago, Bill and I got up really early and headed to the hospital to have our first child. It was an exciting and a little bit scary, but the end result is great. Billy turned six today. We are so blessed to have him in our family. He is stubborn, but he gives the best hugs and is a good hearted kid. We had a family party this year with an Ironman cake and Bebe and Grandpa stayed to help celebrate. Baden didn’t quite understand why Billy was getting to open presents and and he wasn’t, but Billy let him help open a few. Billy’s favorite present is his “big” Ironman. It talks. Pretty cool. He loved all of his presents and told me this is the best birthday ever. He also got to celebrate at school. I brought cupcakes in and his classmates sang happy birthday to him. He was blushing, but loved every minute.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We traveled to Oklahoma for Christmas this year. After watching the weather, we decided to go ahead and leave on Wednesday, the 23rd and thought we would be okay. As we got further east, the snow started coming down. We made it safely through the panhandle of Texas and it was dry into Oklahoma. Then about midnight, it started to rain and then by morning it was snowing in Altus. This is a rarity. We had blizzard conditions. Oklahoma City (about two hours away) got 14 inches of snow, a new record. The governor closed all the interstates, state highways and the turnpike border to border. We were stuck. 🙂 The boys had a great time baking cookies with Bebe, opening presents, playing with new toys and making a snowman with Grandpa. We loved our White Christmas in Oklahoma!
