The Biggest B

It's 11:15pm and what am I doing? Oh, that would be attending a conference call with China and India. The same thing I did Saturday night from 10-11 and Friday night from 10-midnight. I knew being the mother to a 15 month old I would no longer have swinging social life, but I never thought it would turn into this.

Why on earth would anyone have conference calls on Friday and Saturday nights in the US and at the start of Chinese New Year, the biggest holiday in China? That is because I work on a project with one of the biggest Bs I have ever met in my life.

I know, I know...I have my moments but this woman puts me to shame. I work with people from all over the world and I always thought hands down that French women were the worst offenders, followed by Americans....but low and behold I was wrong, terribly wrong. This woman is NOT French or American...she is Indian and she is the worst.

Not only does she schedule conference calls at the most inopportune time, she also just asked me at 11:15pm to redo slides I turned in at 3pm today (yes, on Sunday). Really? I'm sure you can imagine what I wanted to tell her to do with said slides...looks like it's going to be a LONG night.

Dental school here I come

As I was eating lunch today, I had the wonderful experience of the remaining packing on the roof of my mouth coming down. Again it fell down but not off as it was intertwined with the stitches. A-WE-SOME!

I weighed my options:

1. Let this nasty tasting bandage keep hitting my tongue for the next 18 hours until I can get into the periodontist

2. Let Adam perform dental surgery on me.

3. Do it myself

#1 was out because I refused to taste old food and dried blood for more than 3 minutes. #2 was out because all our scissors are right-handed. Adam said he was willing but when he brought up the right-handed thing I knew it was a cop-out. He was just trying to be nice but didn't want to be responsible if I ended up in the emergency room.

So, I said "Screw you, Rookie Amber, I'll do it myself"...and I did with minimal bleeding and keeping all other stitches intact. I definitely fared better than any other time I've been to the doctor. Maybe I found my calling...dental school here I come.

Sliding into Spring

How about 75 degrees for a Saturday at the end of January? There is no other way to describe the weather today than GORGEOUS! We took advantage of the great weather and took Maison to the park. It was so nice to finally get this poor child some fresh air!

Unfortunately, we aren't quite into spring yet as it's supposed to sleet and snow on Wednesday!

Run in with a rookie, Take 3

Seriously? There's really not too many other responses you could have to the following other than...Seriously?

Last night the packing I had replaced on Tuesday fell off...A-GAIN! When I went to bed, I was dreading having to call the doctor first thing when I woke up to go in and get it replaced...again. So when I woke up this morning you can imagine my delight when one of the packings on the roof of mouth was hanging by a thread....literally. It was intertwined with the stitches and was pulling them out of the roof of my mouth. Since the bandage was hanging down I couldn't even talk. It kept hitting my tongue and making me gag.

I was in the waiting room hoping that anyone but Rookie Amber would come to get me. I'm sure the look on my face when she opened the door was "F&%#, why me"??? The doctor comes to see why I'm back yet again. He even asked if I was trying to get a job there. I politely informed him that TWO of my packings that his incompetent staff applied just a mere 2 days ago were falling off. He gave Rookie Amber instructions on what to do and left. Left! Left! I was tempted to grab him by the tie and say, "Screw rookie Amber, I want someone with real medical training to handle my packing issue, for God's sake!!"

But I didn't, and Rookie Amber is who I got. She detached my packing from the roof of my mouth and proceeded to remove my remaining stitches, which, by the way, she was not instructed to do. My mouth immediately filled with blood and she just shoved gauze in my mouth and proceeded to inform her trainee (yes! apparently imbeciles can have trainees) what she was going to do to my new gums where the packing was gone. She put the packing on, packed it down (obviously learning nothing from Tuesdays mistake) and huh! My new gums started bleeding AGAIN! I demanded to see the doctor after she assured me it was ok to bleed. I've had gum surgery before and it is not normal for it to bleed one week after surgery.

The doctor came back, said it was ok (really, what else could he say? My staff sucks complete a**, sorry for your pain and suffering while we train people?), told the imbecile to stop the bleeding and let me go. She literally shoved gauze in my mouth, told me to get a milkshake on the way home and walked me out. She did add "there will be no charge for today"...YOU THINK?

Anyone want to wager how long this packing will last?

Here we grow again ~ Part 6, Stat Quo

Maison had her 15 month wellness exam today. She was actually deemed well enough to get her 12 month vaccines (no, 12 was not a typo). Other than that, things are just status quo...still not gaining much weight dropping her to 60% but of course she's still completely off the charts in height...a-gain. Here's how she's weighing in...

Age Weight Height
Birth 7 lbs 9 oz 21"
2 weeks 8 lbs 11 oz 21 3/4"
2 months 11 lbs 14 oz 24"
4 months 15 lbs 2 oz 26"
6 months 17 lbs 7 oz 28 3/8"
9 months 21 lbs 0 oz 30 3/8"
12 months 22 lbs 10 oz 32 1/4"
15 months 23 lbs 5 oz 34 1/2"

Run in with a Rookie, Take 2

I was getting ready to take Maison to the pediatrician and had a little surprise as I was going to get in the shower. One of packings (bandage over graft area) came off. Considering I just had my surgery 4 days ago and the packing was supposed to last two weeks, I knew I had to go in and get it put back on. The exposed graft area didn't feel so great, but I was doing pretty good with the pain when I got to the doctor's office.

And then...she was there. Rookie Amber from my surgery would be replacing my packing...aces. She put the packing on, pressed to secure it in it's spot, and basically exploded my newly attached gums into mass amounts of blood in mouth. She seriously squealed and said "Oh my god, you're bleeding". Um, you think? You just forced something on top of a open wound. Needless to say the packing had to be removed and replaced, again.

So she went to get the doctor. He basically told her she didn't know what she was doing and that the packing needed to go laterally but not all the way to the jawline and that it needed to cover both attachment points. Ok, I have NO MEDICAL training and I got what he meant. Rookie Amber had to ask another assistant to do it for her. The doctor came to check "Amber's" work and he threw a fit. It was not done correctly so he went to get the other assistant who then had to admit that she was the one that had done it wrong and had to redo it, again.

I'm sure you can imagine how awesome it feels to have the packing pulled off and redone THREE TIMES. Yeah, with no painkiller but the loratab I had taken about an hour before. It was just the highlight of my day...

Run in with a rookie

I survived my gum surgery despite having a rookie assistant who was trying to do me in. She couldn't get the oxygen/relaxing gas set up right so every time she moved the tube or stepped on it, it would blast a big gust of air at one time.

Then after the Dr put the needle for the IV in my hand (thank goodness she didn't), she couldn't get the IV tube fastened to the insertion point. So she kept bumping the needle while it was in my hand. The result, other than the pain at the time, is a big bruise on my hand at the insertion point and pain up my arm.

If that wasn't nice enough, I have a huge blister on my lip from either the adhesive they used to hold the tubes in place or from the tubes rubbing my lip for 3 hours. That's just what I needed, a blister to go with the roof of my mouth and 2 sides of my mouth being bandaged.

Speaking of bandages, she covered one of my grafts incorrectly and when the real assistant came to check her work, she told her she had done it wrong and it would have to be redone. So with no painkiller she ripped it off (yes, right off of where it was just sewn back together!) and replaced it.

So was I surprised last night when a huge piece of the bandage from the roof of my mouth came off while I was eating ice cream and I swallowed it? Nope, not at all. Am I surprised after 18 hours of taking loratab the only part of my mouth that hurts is where she ripped off and replaced my bandage...not so much.

All I know is I will request that this NON-rookie of the year not be involved in my post-op!

Blister on the left side of my mouth:

Bruise on my hand:

Sent from my iPhone

Cause when your fifteen...

"Cause when your fifteen someone tells you they love you. You're going to believe them"

~ Taylor Swift

And love her we do! Our sweet little bug turned 15 months today. She's still sick (STILL!) but we were able to get into the GI specialist at Children's last Friday rather than having to wait until Feb. He thinks she has a sugar allergy on top of her ongoing c-diff issues. His recommendation was to take her off sugar, switch her formula, take her off all probiotics except one, and take her off all medications. He also agreed we could stop all the extreme sterilization rituals we were going through and that Maison could have back her stuffed animals and bath toys...YEA! He said she shows no symptoms of c-diff associated disease and in his opinion, she just still has the c-diff infection.

This made me so happy I almost started crying in the man's office. The entire weekend Maison did great and we really thought this guy had us on the right track to her recovery. Then slowly things started getting worse again. Wednesday and Thursday she was back to waking up several times a night and being fussy in general. I'm hoping it's just a teething phase and that we are finally doing the right thing. I'm still reluctant to get my hopes up as she been sick now for almost 4 months...but we have to have something to hold on to. For me, faith that my baby girl will be well by her next monthly b-day, and for Maison a big fat Hello Kitty!

Happy Birthday, my snuggle bunny!

Going under the knife

I'm sitting in Dr. Glaser's office about to go under the knife. Unfortunately he is not a fab plastic surgeon doing me up with a fantastic boob job. He would be a periodontist doing me up with repeat gum surgery...yea.

I had four grafts done in 2005 and two have detached. So repeat gum surgery it is...Awe-some. What's up with kids these days? I have my gums replaced TWICE by 36 and Adam was told he needed his hip replaced at 38. What's next? Walkers and dentures??? Geez!

Sent from my iPhone

The best gift ever...

A "baaahh" from home depot...

The anti-hangover

There is a down side to being "sober" and falling off the wagon...

Apparently if you don't drink caffeine for 12 days and then down a 44 ouncer there are consequences...such as staying up all night and waking up at 7:00 on your day to sleep in. Awesome. So awesome, I'm back on the wagon.

Sent from my iPhone

a la Lohan

So I pulled a "Lohan" and relapsed. I had my first diet coke since Sun. Jan 2. I just had...to...have...a...COKE! In celebrity fashion, I realized there is more money in relapsing than there is in a D list career so here I am; ready for Celebrity Rehab and Sober House. Where do I sign up? Should my agent call Dr. Drew directly or will he be contacting me? Or maybe this is just a minor bump in my road to sobriety...only time will tell.

Where's my chip?

One of my new year's resolutions was to give up caffeine specifically diet cokes. So last Saturday, I had my last diet coke from Sonic. I'm partial to the fizzy, yummy, goodness of a Race Trac coke but Adam was getting them and Sonic was on his way.

Since last Saturday I've had ZERO caffeine. No cokes, no coffees (ok, decaf but no caf), no teas (unless decaf). Nothing, not a sip in 1 whole week! I'm not familiar with AA other than celebs that like to wear their sobriety chips or carry their books around (a la Lohan), but shouldn't I be receiving some sort of one week caffeine free chip?

Maison is no snow angel

It started snowing while Maison was napping and I couldn't wait for her to wake up so we could go play in the snow. She slept right up until lunch time so we had to wait until she had her lunch to go outside. I bundled her up in three layers and out we went.

She whimpered when the cold wind and snow hit her face so I thought I'd let her walk through the snow with her back to the wind. After about 2 steps she literally face planted in the snow. Then the crying started.

Let's just say we were outside about half the amount of time it took for me to get us both dressed to go out. Maison obviously hates the cold as much as Mommy...that's why we live in Texas!

It's snowing, bee-ahh-ches!

400 Christmas gifts...

400 Christmas gifts and Maison's favorite thing to play with is a red ribbon we already had...sigh.

And it must be worn as if it's a scarf!

RIP Einstein

Today our sweet little Einstein was laid to rest. He went into kidney failure yesterday and we were told it would be humane to put him down.

Goodbye Stein, Einey, Steinmart! We will miss you....

What a #@&* ing day!

This day has literally been one for the record books...there really is no way to describe this day other than to sequentially list what happened.

9:50 am - periodontist appointment to check on the gum surgery I had in 2005.

My normal dentist suggested I do a follow up because she thought one of the four grafts I had done in 2005 was detaching.

11:15 am - confirmed not only one graft was detaching but two were detaching and a tooth on each side of detached area needed the gums replaced. So on Jan. 21 I will be getting repeat gum surgery on 2 sides of my mouth. If you have any liquid diet recipes please forward.

12:30 am - Adam calls with results from the vet.

Einstein had been acting very weird the last two days. Extremely clingy, crying at night, urinating and pooping on the floor, etc so Adam took him to the vet. Uh, Einstein is in kidney failure and the "humane thing would be to put him down". We were just looking for a new home for him last week since he was not getting the attention he deserved since we were so consumed with Maison. He had started acting out, per the vet, as a result. We are shocked that he is so sick and this came on so quickly.

4:00 pm - Orthopedic surgeon appointment

My heel has been hurting for about a month to the point where it wakes me up at night due to pain. I finally broke down and went to my ortho assuming my plantar has gotten worse. Yep, plantar in my left heel in addition to the arches of both feet. Need to wear a plantar strap 24/7 and get custom orthodics next Fri. Awesome.

So tonight over our seemingly nightly bottle of wine we have new topics to discuss besides Maison's illness. I love new topics and all but occasionally a happy one would be nice!

2010 Recap

So it's 2011, how did that happen? It seems only yesterday it was 2010, oh wait, that's 'cause it was ;oP

And how did we spend 2010?

January - Watching Colt McCoy not play in the National Championship game against 'Bama

February - The biggest snow storm Dallas has seen since the 1950s

March - My first triathlon with Lindsey

April - Rangers Opening Day

May - Gulf Shores Vacay

June - Adam's first Father's Day

July - My first 15k with Jan and Kelly

August - Sedona with my besties and Chicago to visit Adam's besties

September - Happy 3 years!

October - Maison turned 1!

November - C-diff has consumed our lives with doctor appointments and hospital visits ;o(

December - Holidays, Holidays, Holidays

Happy NYE!

My mom was so sore yesterday she couldn't get out of her bed so we decided we would dress Maison up in her NYE party dress and take her over for a visit.

After our Nooey visit, we put Maison to bed, and Adam went to pick up dinner from Sea Breeze. We had a delicious dinner and a wonderful night ringing in the NY with Seacrest and the "Shore Whores". HAPPY 2011!