Randomosity…

Written on May 23, 2013 by in Gabeycakes, gastric bypass, Joey, Marty, Vic

Welcome back to the Lair this lovely Thursday evening. I have lots to tell you…nothing that would make a great stand alone post but a lot I want to share. So, here goes…

  • I was caught in a very weak moment about 3 to 4 weeks ago. I was contacted by both Joey’s middle school and Gabe’s elementary and asked if I would help proctor the EOG (end of grade) exams. I don’t know what possessed me but I said yes. OMG, it is beyond deadly dull. You can’t read. You can’t do anything. All you get to do for between 2 and 3 hours is either sit and watch or walk up and down the aisles. Truly, it’s so dull that it is the perfect cure for insomnia. For the second year in a row, I swear that I will never do this again. Of course, check with me next year…
  • Joey took the cutest picture of a frog today. You have to look closely (or click on the picture to see a bigger version), it’s right in the center.

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  • During this last quarter of the year, Joey finally figured out how middle school and the homework responsibilities worked. In his Social Studies class, they had an end of year project. They had to create a book on ancient China (basically write a report) and  had 8 topics they had to cover (at least 1 page on each topic). Joey not only started early but he did a seriously kickass job. He got a 120 on it…yup, 20 extra credit points because he did such a great job.
  • As many of you know, Gabe has a Titanic obsession. One of my good friends happens to share Gabe’s obsession and had two copies of the 500+ page book, The Mammoth Book of the Titanic. So, Sue sent a copy home with me for Gabe. Gabe decided he was going to read it by himself. It’s slow going and I have to explain the meaning of some of the words but he is doing it. I was blown away when he sounded out the word infinitesimally tonight.

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  • When Marty goes through growth spurts, he turns into a bottomless pit. Well, Gabe does the same thing. Check out the size of the bowl of cereal he ate as his pre-bedtime snack…

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  • Vic is doing phenomenally well since his gastric bypass surgery on the 13th. He is already down 2 full waist sizes from his pre-surgery size. But, even more importantly, his neuropathy is gone. His feet no longer hurt and the feeling is coming back. I am totally blown away. His blood sugar continues to to be in the normal range without insulin and he is feeling great. I feel so blessed.

If you made it through my long rambling sharefest, thank you. Now, pretty please, share something random with me.

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The Barber and the Milk Cow

Written on May 22, 2013 by in Gabeycakes, Joey, Marty

You hope your son gets your husband’s eyes or maybe his broad shoulders. Or, maybe, you hope your little girl gets your beautiful hair. You don’t hope they get your acne or your lousy eyes or even your crooked teeth.

Out of my three sons, Marty, the oldest, got the better end of the deal. He got my husband’s perfect teeth…no cavities, absolutely straight, and bright white. However, he got my lousy vision.  But my younger two boys, Joey and Gabe, they got the short end of the stick. They both got stuck with my crooked ass teeth (oh dear God, save me from paying for two sets of braces). It’s bad enough that their adult teeth don’t come in straight but, there baby teeth don’t want to let go.

When Joey’s adult teeth started coming in, the baby teeth didn’t fall out by themselves. I don’t think a single one of them came out with assistance. I won’t go into details but the tooth removal adventures involved everything from wash clothes to the traditional strings and doorknobs. Once (or maybe twice) we even employed a pair of needlenose pliers. Joey was stoic through it all but I started to feel like I had developed a macabre hobby (or maybe it’s just that I had a previous life as an old West barber…pulling teeth and cutting hair).

imageI was not excited when Gabe started showing evidence of baby teeth that just won’t let go. I had visions of more macabre afternoons involving yanking teeth. But, I haven’t had to do that once. Nope, Gabe is my little warrior man and he pulls his own teeth. In this past week alone, he pulled two loose teeth (both his top front teeth). He doesn’t have that big gap in the front of his mouth since the adult teeth had already started coming in but I still think it’s a cute look.

So, we have perfect teeth, crooked teeth, cute kids, smiles with adorable gaps, and a possible former life as an old West barber (to go along with my former life as either a wet nurse or a milk cow)…

What’s going on with you?

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An Old Dog Can Learn New Tricks…

Written on May 14, 2013 by in gastric bypass, Vic

I’ve learned 3 major things this week.

1) I have the most awesome group of friends, family, and loved ones around. I can not begin to tell you just how much the outpouring of support has meant to us. Knowing your partner is going to have major surgery is unbelievably stressful (even when you spend most of the time denying that there is any stress) and knowing y’all had our back was incredible.

2) I learned that there is no way in hell I will ever be able to deny my status as a true blue GEEK. Someone asked me how gastric bypass was able to affect (cure) diabetes and I described it as giving your body a hard reboot. Literally, that was the first thing that came to mind. I think using computer terminology as your default description for a medical procedure gives you major geek cred.

3) I learned that maybe, just maybe miracles really do happen. Thanks to Dr. Bruce and the fabulous team at Rex Hospital, Vic came through his surgery with flying colors. Only hours after surgery, his blood sugar was dropped from 180 to 160 with only 2 units of insulin. I can’t remember the last time 2 units of insulin did ANYTHING for him. Then, today before I left the hospital, his blood sugar was only 125 and he hadn’t had any insulin all day. Holy shit, y’all! I had hoped, I had prayed, but I hadn’t really believed it was possible. And, to add to the OMG factor, Vic’s feet which had debilitating neuropathy…we’re talking numbness and pain that I can’t even begin to understand…his feet haven’t even twinged since the surgery. Vic has been up and walking and there has been any numbness or any pain. I still find myself trying to corral my growing excitement because there could potentially be a flare up with the neuropathy but the simple fact that my husband has been able to walk without pain just blows me away. I am so overwhelmed I find myself almost melting down in tears…tears of relief and joy and belief. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes and thank you God for this maybe miracle…wish I could just drop the maybe entirely but Im not quite there.

Thank you everyone.

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I didn’t know I had to brush my hair…

Written on May 12, 2013 by in family

I had every intention of writing a sweet, maybe even beautiful, post about Mother’s Day. I was going to do all the typical things (Thanks for being you, Mom) and even a few untypical things (thank you to all the women in my life both those with and without children who have made me a better mother). But, all that got sidetracked this evening.

We had an earlyish Mother’s Day dinner with my mom, my dad, my sister Becky, and Jennifer. We scheduled it early because Vic’s surgery is tomorrow morning and we knew there were things we had to get done tonight and we just wanted to have a relaxed evening with the kids.

Recently, I’ve been kind of amazed by my children. Gabe has gotten so tall and seems so grown up. He reads amazingly well and is kicking ass in school. Marty has grown again, too. He’s taller than all of us. And, Joey has been kicking butt lately. He is so very good with Gabe and has taught him all kinds of things including tricks on his scooter. Hell, we’ve had a near miraculous occurence with Joey. He actually started a school project over 2 weeks early. I have been so impressed with his growing maturity…but, I’ve also been mourning the rapid growing up of all my boys.

Tonight, I was reminded that no matter how much they seem to have learned, no matter how much they seem to have grown up, they are still clueless kids under all of it.

imageJoey asked me if I’d have time to give him a hair cut today. We trimmed it earlier in the school year but it’s been a while. However, he’s seemed to have been doing a good job taking care of his hair.  It was never too out of control and appeared fairly well tamed despite how long it had been since a haircut. I got him draped and ready for his haircut. I grabbed the brush and started to run it through his hair so the clippers wouldn’t get caught. I hit one snag and then another snarl and then another. Oh dear God! His hair was a mess. Then I asked the fatal question…”Joey, how long has it been since  you’ve brushed your hair?” He looked at me dumbfounded and said “I didn’t know I had to brush my hair.”

WTF?!?!?!?…I thought.  ”Dude, how old are you?”

“Uh….12 years old.”

“And, you didn’t know you had to brush your hair?!?!?!? THINK…please.”

Just when the feeling of them growing up too fast threatens to become overwhelming, the realization that there is soooooo much left to teach them comes roaring back.

So, how was your day?

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A Storm Raging

Written on May 6, 2013 by in gastric bypass, infertility, me, Vic

happysadfaceAs we get closer and closer to my husband’s surgery date, my emotions feel like there is a storm raging through them. Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled Vic is going in for the Gastric Bypass surgery. I am thrilled (oh please, please dear God) that my husband will regain his health and add years to his life. I am thrilled that we will have more time together.

The surgery means that the end of his diabetes is in sight. It means Vic’s body will have a chance to recover from all the nasty complications diabetes dumped on him…no more high blood pressure (yay for pre-diabetes levels), cholesterol levels will return to the obscenely good numbers he had pre-diagnosis, and, if we are lucky, even the peripheral neuropathy might begin to repair itself. We are both looking forward to ditching a bunch (maybe almost all) of those medicine bottles that have dominated our medicine cabinet for the past 7 years.

But, a very small part of me is scared. Let’s face it. Collectively, we have a fucked up medical history. What happens if this is one more thing in the shit happens column of our life? What if Vic isn’t in the 85% of people who ditch their insulin by day 3 post-op? What happens if there are complications? I know, I know, they really have perfected the surgery but my infertility scarred psyche doesn’t really trust medical odds anymore. What if? What if? What if? God, I fucking hate what if!

Most days, I beat these feelings down and remain positive. I’ve been upbeat and supportive with Vic. The kids have a great attitude about Vic’s surgery because we’ve maintained such a positive outlook. In fact, I dare say my family has no clue even this small part of me is scared…but, it is.

The upcoming surgery has also caused a whole other set of feelings to boil to the surface and those are the feelings tied to infertility. A little over a year ago, I shared the story of our second encounter with secondary infertility…maybe I should have called it When Diabetes Killed Reproduction. Since any chance of a 4th child was completely wiped out by Vic’s diabetes, I’ve been able to fool myself into thinking I had dealt with the longing and the hurt and the desire for a 4th child. I told myself that the worst feeling I had regarding finishing our family was a little bit of conflict. Turns out I hadn’t so much dealt with it as I had flat out lied to myself. With Vic’s surgery looming on the horizon and the end of his diabetes in sight, all those feelings have come roaring back. I am back to tearing up when I see baby pictures. I am back to thinking “Why not me, God?” I am back to thinking “Oh please, oh please, oh please.” I’m back to thinking “Maybe, just maybe it could happen for us.”

So, to sum it up…

I’m happy.

I’m sad.

I’m hopeful.

I’m scared.

I’m a mess.

Yay me!

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