7 Quick Takes: 05.22.09

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

1. We go from flames to flood here in Central Florida. For weeks, we’ve had brush fires. Now? It’s been raining for DAYS. Thankfully, we aren’t at risk for any flooding, but so many people have been driven from their homes. And in this humidity it is VERY difficult to dry out and prevent mold growth. Here’s the Doppler image from Friday afternoon:

dopplar052209

2. I’m feeling a STRONG need to PURGE my house of stuff. Wednesday, I must have lifted more than 50 books – one at a time. I listed most of them on the FREE swap site www.paperbackswap.com and a few on Amazon and half.com! Check them out and see if you want any of my discards! I also filled two boxes to go to charity. One to our church’s annual rummage sale and another to go to a library one of the missionaries from our church is setting up in . . . I don’t remember what country. oops.

3. I’m really liking paperbackswap.com! I’ve been a member for about a year and I requested my first book today. (I’ve been more interested in getting rid of books than receiving them.) A few weeks ago, I registered with its sister websites, cdswap and dvdswap to allow transfer of credits from one to the other. I transferred two book credits to dvdswap and ordered a dvd for FavoriteSon. It arrived within days and it was in great condition.

So, check out my “bookshelf.” If you see a book you want, order it and I’ll send it right out. (more purging!) I pay the media mail postage, so it won’t cost you a thing. Each book I give away earns me 1 credit and I’m saving up credits for Christmas shopping. Now that I’m on all three sites, I can get books, cds and dvds – All FREE! Did I mention it was FREE?

4. We’re trying out another free swap site too – www.swaptree.com. This site allows trades for books, cds and dvds, but it also allows trades for video games. I’m not sure if we like this site yet. There are no credits. Every item must actually be TRADED with another person. The system matches members up when trades are identified. That means trading only happens between people who want what the other person has listed. It supposedly can handle three way trades also. Each item is valued the same – you give one item, you get one item, no matter whether it is a book, cd, dvd or video game. We’ve listed a bunch of video games and we’ve begun to put items on our “wish list” but we haven’t had a transaction yet. We’ll see.

5. I’m reading fiction. FICTION. Those who’ve been around Compendium for a while know this is a big deal. I read a lot and I buy a lot of non-fiction books (used and cheap, of course), but I keep all my fiction books at the library. Mainly because I don’t read that much fiction and also because when I do, I don’t usually re-read the book later. Well, being physically limited while recovering from surgery, I’ve been trying to REST. Since reading non-fiction equals learning and learning – for me – equals research and idea development and . . . well, NOT rest, I decided to read fiction. I had seen some books reviews for Angela Hunt on Mocha with Linda’s blog, so I got a few of her books. My personal trainer also recommended an author to me. Before my surgery, I had asked for fiction referrals, and I got quite a few, but they just didn’t click for me. When I asked my trainer, she used the adjective I was looking for. FUNNY. Although I hadn’t realized it as I was asking for referrals, I really did want something funny. The author? Janet Evanovich. I read the first one before my surgery and FirstHusband read much of the second one to me during my first few days of recovery. I had to ask him to stop a few times because laughing was painful. Why I wanted funny while recovering from abdominal surgery, I do not know.

6. First day of summer for us! We all slept in, except for FirstHusband, who had to get up and go to work as usual. But NOT as usual. He didn’t have any KID DUTY today! He was so excited about the prospect last night that he asked PinkGirl to guess the first thing he was going to do when he went downstairs this morning. She had no idea. So he showed her. It was the iCarly belly rub dance that Spencer does on Nickelodeon. Basically, you pull your shirt up to show your belly and rub it in big circles while saying “Whoo, whoo, whoooooo. It means you are carefree and happy. umm, hmm. that’s what it means.

7. Working on an overhaul for business website. I HATE the one I have up now. It’s dark and gloomy and amateur and the menu is broken and it’s too fragmented and I hate it. I bought a template from allwebco.com and I’m transferring the content from old, ugly, dark and broken to new, classic, light and functional. It will take a while because it’s summer and the kids are home and my windows of time are just that. Windows. Tiny little windows. When I get it finished I’ll be asking for objective, honest feedback.

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Join in with your own 7 Quick Take Friday post at Conversion Diary hosted by Jennifer!

use your OUTSIDE voice!

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I was reading one of the blogs I follow and this memory came flooding back.

We were at a track meet. Outside. Under a clear blue sky. The sound system blaring every time the announcer listed the race winners. Track meets last HOURS. We wait and wait and wait to watch FavoriteSon run for less than 12 seconds, then we wait and wait and wait for him to run for 26 seconds . . . It was, you know, a track meet.

PinkGirl gets bored. As I would if I were 8 years old and had to hang out at my big brother’s 3 to 4 hour track meet. So I let her play and check in with me every once in a while. Thankfully, she always finds the fun and usually makes a new friend or two. When the high jump and pole vault events are over I can usually find her on the giant landing pad with a group of kids.

This particular day, one of her classmates, who has a big sister who runs track, came to the meet. They were under the bleachers, playing. Giggling. Squealing like 8 year old girls tend to do. They were DIRECTLY beneath me and the other girl’s father.

Let me give a little background, here. The other girl, who I’ll call ChurchMouse, was invited to PinkGirl’s birthday slumber party back in November. Since I somehow have the ability to completely tune out kid noise that tends to drive other parents insane, (it’s true. I don’t know how I do it, but I do.) I let the girls get as loud as they wanted while they played. At one point, I heard a squeal/scream that penetrated even MY noise threshold and I said, “Was that CHURCHMOUSE?” I had NEVER heard that child before. You ask her a question and you have to lean in for the answer. She’s quiet. Polite. And I know why. I’ve seen her mother interact with her. Zero tolerance for . . . here’s the way I explained it to Pinkgirl:

“ChurchMouse’s mom is just more comfortable with kids who sit still and be quiet. But I need to tell you something. You are a very enthusiastic and curious girl and I don’t want you to sit still and be quiet. If you did, I would be very bored. So if you want to sing and dance, sing and dance. But if you are ever around ChurchMouse’s mom and she wants you to sit still and be quiet, please respect her and obey her while you are around her. But when you come home, don’t ever think that’s what mom and dad want you to do.”

So, back to the track meet. You know, the one OUTSIDE, with all the noise, and the girls playing under the bleachers. There’s a squeal/screech, followed by giggles. ChurchMouse’s father leans down and calls under the bleacher for ChurchMouse to “settle down.”

Settle down? At a track meet? WHY is this necessary? NOBODY on the bleachers seems to care a flip, if they even heard anything in the first place. I say NOTHING to PinkGirl. I consider the possibility that because I didn’t admonish MY daughter, he thinks my parenting is . . . lacking.

And yet, I am unmoved.

A few minutes pass. Then the girls must have overrun his noise threshold again, because he repeats the leaning “settle down” warning and ads a consequence. ChurchMouse will have to come and sit with him. Which means PinkGirl wouldn’t be able to play with her.

So I look at the dad and ask, “Would you be more comfortable if they were quiet, you big fun sucker?” (okay, I said “you big fun sucker” in my head. But hey, it made me feel better.)

He pauses. He looks at me as I walk down the bleachers toward the girls, but doesn’t follow me. At the edge of the bleachers, I see the girls and call PinkGirl over so he can’t hear me talking to her from above. I tell PinkGirl that they should probably move out from under his seat or ChurchMouse will get in trouble and have to go sit with her dad.

We’re inviting ChurchMouse over for play dates this summer and I’m going to let her use her outside voice.

Even inside.

ibuprofen, eye contact & a retarded cat.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

1. I’ve learned that 400 mg of ibuprofen pales in comparison to ANY mg of Percoset. Baby aspirin might be more effective at getting rid of pain. Or a chanting witch doctor.

2. I’ve learned that, with water, I can EASILY take four ibuprofen tablets at the same time. (A BIG thanks to the table-full of women at the 8th grade banquet last night who all informed me that 800 mg of ibuprofen is what I need!) And yes, you BET I’m taking them with food! Chocolate counts, right?

3. I’ve learned that I need to restock my personal mini-van pharmacy.

4. I’ve learned that I need to carry a bottle of ibuprofen and a bottle of water with me everywhere I go for the next few weeks.

5. I’ve learned that I miss my Percoset. I gaze affectionately at the half-full bottle. Then I pop my ibuprofen instead, get in my van and drive to where ever I have to go with no narcotic impairment. 🙁

6. I’ve learned that when doctors say that recovery from an abdominal hysterectomy is 6 weeks, they aren’t just saying that in an effort to protect themselves from a malpractice suit.

7. I’ve learned that when I tell people I had a hysterectomy and a tummy tuck, they only hear “tummy tuck.”

8. I’ve learned that when I tell women I’ve had a tummy tuck, most of them verbally express their jealously of me while abandoning eye contact in favor of staring at my abdomen – while they blatantly rub their own tummy and fantasize about the results of their own tummy tuck. (If I were to ever get the “girls” lifted, I wouldn’t tell. THAT lack of eye contact – and “gesturing” would creep me out.)

9. I’ve learned that the pain (mostly crampy) I’m feeling is INSIDE my abdomen, seemingly from the hysterectomy and not the tummy tuck. I’m thinking that all the organs which previously surrounded my giant uterus are now dukin it out for the newly available real estate. There’s very little incision pain from the tummy tuck. Still too much swelling and numbness. Even the tightened abdominal muscles aren’t really painful. It just feels like I did 2000 crunches. Yesterday.

10. I’ve learned that I really don’t like sleeping on my back.

11. I’ve learned one of my stupid cats believes I’m his personal jumping stepping stone.

12. I’ve learned that my cat can fly. And land on all four feet. Three times in a row.

13. I’ve learned that my cat has a steep learning curve. Or that he suffers from short term memory loss.

14. I’ve learned that this was the PERFECT year and time of year to have these surgeries! It has worked out really, really well.

15. I’ve learned that am incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful, selfless husband who tolerates loves me, even when I’m dishing the cranky because I can’t do anything I’m used to doing.

16. I’ve learned that my kids can be selfless and sweet. Sometimes. When I really NEED them to be.

17. I’ve learned that I need a nap. And a temporary cleaning service. And a rented dumpster for the driveway.

To find out what others learned this week, check out What I Learned this Week hosted by Musings of a Housewife.

summer already?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Yep.

One more full day of school (Tuesday) and two more half days (Wednesday and Thursday). That’s it. Then “Mayhem” is officially OVER for us!

Early!

So here, at the BEGINNING of summer are the:

GOOD THINGS:
No more crack of dawn alarm clocks!
No more struggle from bed to shower to breakfast to car every morning!
No more car line!
No more packing lunches the night before!
No more laying out clothes the night before!
No more packing backpacks the night before!
No more permission slips!
No more fundraisers!
No more check writing for this and that, and this and that.
(FirstHusband calls it the death of a thousand paper cuts.)
No more multiple trips to school in one day.
No more HOMEWORK!

Every summer, I like the kids to tackle LEARNING something. Because – if left to their own devices – they would completely VEG in front of video games and television while constantly complaining about how BORED they were. So here are:

THE PLANS:
Minimum of 1/2 hour of LEARNING every day
PinkGirl has decided to continue learning computer keyboarding and math everyday. We like online typing games. We also got our own copy of her 2nd Grade math book last summer and we are ordering our own copy of her 3rd Grade math book this summer.
FavoriteSon has decided to continue learning to play the guitar. I think he should learn something else too. Poor guy. He doesn’t know yet.

Minimum of 1/2 hour of READING every day.
PinkGirl has decided to start with her BoxCar Children books.
FavoriteSon has no preference so FirstHusband and I have picked some out for him to start:
The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel and Slaying the Dragon: How to Turn Your Small Steps to Great Feats by Michael Johnson.

Minimum of 1/2 hour of physical activity every day:
PinkGirl has the redneck pool (photo HERE), so that’s not usually an issue, except for rain.
FavoriteSon has some sports camps, but on the days he doesn’t, he has committed to strength training and basketball. I’m committed to getting back to a two minute plank before he can do one. He knows I can’t do any strength training until after June 16th, so he’s slacking.

So, learning, physical activity and reading. What else? Any ideas?

I’m thinking I might “strongly encourage” each of them to plan and cook a meal or two, or four per month. It rains every afternoon in the summer anyway, it’s not like we’ll be in the pool at that time of day.

Let’s finish up with a preview of a few GOOD things about summer being OVER:

I will be able to complete a thought.
I will be able to hear clocks tick in the solitude I will have been deprived of for nearly 3 months.

Find more ideas over at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Mary at Giving Up on Perfect.

Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to January 2015 are archived at We Are THAT Family

Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to February 2009 are archived at Rocks In My Dryer

the fine line between rest and lazy.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

On Tuesday, I wrote this in my prayer journal:

“Lord, please help me to find the line between rest and lazy.”

The next day, I received a card from one of the ladies in my circle. In it she wrote:

“I pray you continue to feel stronger and better every day! Be extra gentle with yourself . . . and don’t push too hard. It seems a lot of surgeries are more involved than imagined. Give yourself permission to rest without guilt. Soon you’ll be ready for the beach!

Yesterday, I went for my second plastic surgery post-op, put away a few things on the back porch (while FirstHusband filled two garbage bags from even more stuff on the back porch) and went to PinkGirl’s 1/2 hour Cheer Camp performance.

Then? I laid down for a few minutes and woke up 3 hours later. When I woke up, FirstHusband told me that FavoriteSon’s Middle School State Track Meet would be webcast this morning. We decided that I should stay home and watch it on the internet instead of spend the day at a track meet, over an hour from home.

I was disappointed and told him so. I said,

“I just thought I’d be a little more active by now. It’s been two weeks. I spend a few hours out of the house and need a three hour nap? What’s that about?”

FirstHusband picked up my friend’s card and read,

“Be extra gentle with yourself . . . and don’t push too hard. It seems a lot of surgeries are more involved than imagined.”

sigh.

So, I’m home this morning, watching a webcast of FavoriteSon’s track meet. Isn’t the internet cool?

In other news:

My GYN post-op was Wednesday. Turns out my uterus was 138 grams and filled with polyps and fibroid tumors. A normal uterus weighs 70 grams. My friend wins, though, her uterus was FOUR times as large as normal. She had her hysterectomy the month before I did and I saw her yesterday. She looks and feels GREAT. I’ll catch up.

But the BIG news for me?

I got the second drain out yesterday!!!!! YEAAHHHHHHH!

I am SOOOOO happy about this. REALLY happy! REALLY, REALLY HAPPY!!!!

and

I can now take a shower using TWO hands instead of one! (no more holding the drain)
I get to drive my van for the first time this Monday!
I can’t do ANY strength training for another month.
I CAN walk – no restrictions on that, so I’ll soon be updating my exercise log again.
I still have to wear a compression binder for another month.
My stitches look really good. I’m starting Mederma and Vitamin E moisturizer.
I’ve lost at least 10 pounds since the day before my surgery and I still have a lot of swelling.

Baby steps, baby steps.

Dude, where’s my car?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

FirstHusband took my car. Because he knows I can’t physically climb into his truck, a Ford F250. Or drive it in my condition. Not that I was going anywhere. But, without a car, I CAN’T go anywhere.

He’s so bossy.

I’m trapped.

I’m bored. I did work yesterday for a couple of hours. Client training on the internet.

But, now I’m bored again.

I am reading a lot. I’m presenting the program to my ladies circle on Thursday morning. (Yes. Someone is giving me a ride.) I’m still reading and learning about suffering vs. a loving God, so I’m organizing what I’m learning and presenting some of it. Looking forward to the discussion and feedback. Always lots of food for thought from these ladies.

I’m reading the chapters on suffering in:

Lee Strobel’s The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity,
Bringing Your Faith to Work: Answers for Break-Room Skeptics by Geisler and Douglass

and the books

Dark Threads the Weaver Needs – The Problem of Human Suffering by Herbert Lockyer and
Where Is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancy.

I’m also going to be looking at Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ by John Piper and The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. Any more recommendations on the paradox of pain and suffering vs. a loving God?

So I’m reading and learning a lot.

But when I’m not doing that, I’m still bored.

And slow. I’m walking w a y too slow. I’m so slow, I irritate myself.

Can you tell I’m bored?

Watchin a LOT of Niecy Nash on Clean House. What kind of bra does she wear? Seriously. I need the make and model of that bra. My “girls” don’t compare to Niecy’s, but that bra is FABULOUS, as Niecy would say.

I told you I was bored.

I feel like I’ve been to a theme park.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

But no, just a little field trip. My first post-op appointment with the plastic surgeon was today. Percoset aside, I am going to sleep GREAT tonight. My post-op with the GYN doc is supposed to be next week. Hopefully, a field trip won’t take so much out of me by then. After hearing the news that the cysts were all benign, the GYN appointment will be very anti-climactic.

Here’s the latest:

One drain removed!!!! THANK YOU GOD! I HATE the drains. My doctor placed one running from the upper left side of my incision to the upper right side and a second drain running from the lower right side of my incision to the lower left side. The upper drain (the one exiting on my right side) had stopped producing any fluid so it was removed today! And again – THANK YOU GOD! I HATE the drains. The (lower) left drain is still going strong, so I have an appointment a week from today to remove it – UNLESS. Unless it slows to less than 30ml per day for two days in a row. If that happens, I can call the doctor’s office and come in earlier to remove the left drain. Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please!!!!

The steri-strips removed. Owwwww. Pulling tape or adhesive bandages off of skin is one thing. Pulling tape off of stitches is quite another. Owwwww. Especially since the doc and the nurse were double teaming me, each on one side. AND they didn’t tell me what they were going to do! One second they were “looking” and the next . . . DANG! Give a girl a head’s up will ya?

Stitches removed. The stitches around the right drain – gone. The stitches around my belly button – gone. The stitches around the lipo points – gone. All knots on the main incision – gone. Felt like tweezing. Not painful, just not my favorite Friday afternoon pastime.

Percoset prescription refilled. Have I mentioned I love my Percoset? It keeps me walking. Doc still prefers no ibruprophen or naproxin due to blood thinning and healing, so still no driving while on the Percoset. That’s okay, getting into the van today wasn’t all that smooth anyway.

In other news, FavoriteSon twisted his ankle at spring football practice yesterday. We did the ice/heat/ibuprofen thing last night and FirstHusband took him to the doctor this afternoon to check it out while following up on his allergy stuff. Doc sent them to get x-rays and the radiologist said there’s no break. Doc says no activity, so he won’t be playing at his basketball game tomorrow. He needs to heal before Saturday May 16th because he’s running in the middle school STATE track meet! He placed 2nd and 3rd in his races at district – the only middle school student from his school to go to district (and now to state). He runs the 100m, the 200m and the 400m. That’s what a lifetime of idiopathic toe walking will get you – a very FAST kid. As his football coach said, “You can’t teach fast.” (Can you tell I’m slightly proud?)

My ladies circle brought dinner tonight and FirstHusband and I had salad before FavoriteSon called for his ride home from basketball practice (he just watched). Then PinkGirl needs picked up from a birthday party at 7:30 p.m. FirstHusband made four round trips to school yesterday. I think he’s empathizing with me this week. He said he has a new understanding of this “mom chauffeur thing.” It’s always good when your man finds your work schedule annoying when he has to assume it. Mmm hmm. Yes it is.

The best news today? Instead of flowers (which would be eaten and then soon vomited by our cats), my in-laws asked FirstHusband to come up with something else. He picked a chair massage. Isn’t he the BEST? Aren’t my in-laws the BEST? When you read all read this – Thank you SO much!

at FirstHusband’s request.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

It has been suggested to me (more than 50 a few times) that I should confess the “real” reason I was not discharged from the hospital until late Sunday afternoon.

I, of course, choose to believe that had I NOT spiked a fever on Friday night, all would have gone much more . . . smoothly.

(FirstHusband. Are you happy now?)

In all fairness, here’s what a great guy I have:

1. He has been THERE for me, really THERE for me, through everything. A CONSTANT support. EVERYTHING I need. Random doctors and nurses said things like “He’s a keeper.” and “You’ve got a great guy.” to which I replied, “oh, I KNOW I do.”

2. He and I have developed an excellent system to get me out of a hospital bed when my gut is full of stitches. Easy and relatively no pain. This system is borne from experience. He’s been there for me before, more than a few times.

3. He ordered all my “food” in the hospital and turned my cream of wheat into choco-wheat every time. Brought me good coffee from home every day and successfully doctored the one cup of Starbucks I had to drink with a packet of hot chocolate mix.

4. Made sure my water bottle always had room temperature water in it and kept my ice chip cup refilled, AND got me to the bathroom on time, every time. Painlessly.

5. He read aloud to me for days.

6. He walked and walked and walked with me as I pushed my IV stand around the hospital floor.

7. Made me the homemade coughing splint Linda told us about.

8. He helped me take a shower, helps me empty my drains, and rubs my back in just the right spot.

9. Is tracking every single medication I’m taking on a computer spreadsheet because there’s just too much of it and some of it makes me forget things – like what I took and when.

10. Called me last night to ask what color nightgown I wanted when he was out at Target, picking up a few things.

11. Selflessly and immediately released any claim to his bonus this year to finance my tummy tuck add-on surgery.

12. Keeps telling me how good I’m going to look and how happy I’m going to be the the results – and how happy HE’S going to be with the results – when I’m healed, stitches-free and walking upright.

all benign on the homefront.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

That polyp the doctor mentioned? The one she described by saying: “I’ve never seen a cyst like that before. I don’t think that was cancer, it didn’t look like it.”

She was right. It wasn’t cancer! For some blessed reason, I never worried it was, but after FirstHusband posted the doctor’s comment, I wanted to updated this news quickly.

The doc says that polyp and all its little fibroid friends were the source of many a problem from ovulation bleeding, after exercise bleeding, Tuesday’s bleeding, three o’clock in the afternoon bleeding, standing up bleeding, sitting down bleeding, chronic anemia and who knows what else. Let’s blame global warming on that stupid polyp, shall we? I am SO thankful there is no longer a home for such a nasty little intrusion in the future.

I asked the doc if, now, on this side of the operation, she still believes that an abdominal hysterectomy was the right thing to do instead of laproscopic and she says definitely YES. That answer alleviates the doubt I had about adding the tummy tuck. Now I just need to work on the guilt due to the added expense. FirstHusband continues to nick away at that guilt. He has no problem with the expense. I need to get over it. I know me. I will continue to let it nag at me till all the bills are paid and I see our financial state.

So, less than a week post-op and I wholeheartedly AGREE with FirstHusband when he said, months ago, “Just do it. If it was over you’d have done it already.” when I first started talking about a hysterectomy.

I’m HOME!

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Surgery was Thursday at 9am. I was in recovery from about 3pm to 9pm because there weren’t any beds available, but I think it was the best thing. My recovery nurse, Kay was SO wonderful. I got so much of her time and attention because I was the last one to leave recovery that day.

I was supposed to go home Friday, but my doctor postponed that till Saturday, giving no specific reason. Then Friday night, I developed a fever. It came on fast – I felt fine at 6:45pm but by 8:15pm I was at 102 point something. They took lots and lots of blood, loaded me up on IV antibiotics and by midnight I was feeling much better. My sister and her husband had arrived around 8:30pm and stayed with me for all the blood draws while FirstHusband made a quick trip home to pick up stuff so he could stay the night with me. I’m very aware of the fact that I was originally supposed to be HOME by Friday night. God is good.

After all that, the doctor was not letting me leave on Saturday, which was calm and restful.

The kids both stayed with friends and we are SO grateful. PinkGirl’s friends are twins and their parents are LIFE SAVERS. The original plan was for PinkGirl to stay the night Friday and go to softball with them Saturday morning and get picked up by FirstHusband. After all that happened, PinkGirl ended up with them till Sunday afternoon, swimming in their pool, going to a neighborhood barbecue, borrowing a dress and going to church with them, swimming in their pool . . . she was wiped OUT when she got home Sunday evening. We plan on buying them a restaurant gift certificate and taking their girls for a night or two sometime over the summer. Their kindness can’t be repaid with dinner and babysitting. The gift they gave me was the comfort and peace of knowing that PinkGirl was cared for in such a way that she felt wanted, accepted, comfortable and safe. It was such a huge load off my mind and heart.

FavoriteSon stayed with what we call “the parents he never had.” The mom had a hysterectomy last month and their sons stayed with us. I pray that we were for them that weekend, what Pinkgirl’s friends were to us this weekend. FavoriteSon stayed with them this weekend, but he actually wanted to see me on Saturday (how sweet is that?) so FirstHusband picked him up and we spent some time together Saturday night. He slept in on Sunday while FirstHusband came back to the hospital around 8am Sunday morning.

We got home on Sunday after 6pm and all four of us were just wiped out. Today (Monday), I helped PinkGirl get ready for school from my reclining position in the bed (thank goodness she didn’t want braids today), FirstHusband drove the kids to school and when he came back, we turned off all the phones and slept for 3 hours. My new praise team family brought me dinner tonight and it was a true gift! We are all so tired.

Thanks for all the great comments!

Linda – that homemade splint pillow has been SO GREAT! They had given me a regular old pillow and it didn’t do much good. Coughing was so much more than painful! FirstHusband made me a splint from your directions and I haven’t let it go yet.

JanMary – “don’t make me laugh” is right. I’m not ready for it. Laughing leads to coughing. Coughing still hurts.

Heidi – I accidentally read your joke. Thankfully, It didn’t hurt.

Kristin, Tina, Lisa, Elle and everyone! – thanks for the prayers. They are working! I feel better than I expected to at this point. I hope to go outside for a walk tomorrow. Big talk, I know.

More later. I wrote this in spurts, but I just took a Percocet, so I’m winding down. I love Percocet