Crazy Week in Review....

First off ...  it has been a long long week.  Started off taking Nathan to Seattle ... he had his Cleft Palate Clinic that day, and it was long ...  detailed blog of it, if you are interested in reading ...  is here: August Update .... we were told that when he has (had) his hearing test, if it's not normal, then, he'll need surgery on his cleft palate.  So that hinged, totally on his hearing test.  And the speech lady, he saw there, is certain that he has a speech disorder based on seeing him for 20 minutes - that's all in that update too.  There is a video of Nathan talking over there on that blog, also.  And then on the 1st, Noah and Nathan both had their audiology appointments - hearing tests, their first since we've been here.  That update can be read here: Say What? ...  complete with pictures of Noah getting fitted for his hearing aid, because he has pretty significant hearing loss in his left ear both in his ear and nerves/bone, and his right ear is perfectly normal.  Nathan has a mild hearing loss.  His is in his ear not the nerve/bone - which says that cleft surgery is probably inevitable - and there is hope of it actually fixing his ears too. So it's been a long week full of bittersweet news ... all good because in the long run, our kids will improve but sad because - at least for Nathan - it means more surgeries.   So check out their blog (the links above) to read more detailed reports :)

 A few cute things ....

 Nathan started saying something the other day and ...  I didn't understand him .... so he mentally rolls his eyes at me, calls me a moron ... and points up!  I look up and see a RAINBOW and it all makes sense, he was saying main-row ...  yep...  so we laid in my bed for awhile, and mesmerized the amazing gift created by a lot of sunlight and a CD sitting on my desk... 

Do you see something wrong with this sign???

Um...  yeah, that's one of our local Subways....  (would so put a comment here but ....)

I got an email with Calahan's picture from this year in my email today ....  that's my Sophomore - he needs a hair cut....  

Now ...... for me, things are not going so well ....

I'm totally going to go TMI here ..... so in all fairness you can turn back now or totally skip to the comments section! LOL...

So ..... I had a phone call with my Doc Divine ...  cuz I'm cool like that, she calls me at home...  anyway, it was when Kaedyn was running his higher then hell fever and between talking about the child who was roasting himself from the inside out, we managed to talk about me.  I told her how the pain has been pretty unbearable - especially with stupid old Aunt Flo visiting when she wasn't invited, welcome or suppose to be around.  Being on birth control continuously to keep her at someone else's house.  Because I have issues with all that, I'm only suppose to break once a year for a visit...  well, she's been coming around every month regardless of invitation ...soooooooooo ....  Doc Divine wanted me to see her Lady Bits Doc friend ...  so I ended up getting in to see Lady Bits Doc the next day.  I went in there and had to go through my history, 17 pregnancies  ... 14 miscarriages.... 4 kids ... yes the math doesn't add up - my oldest son was a twin and I miscarried his twin ...  yes yes the math does make sense now ...  history of fibroids, and had a dermoid cyst... yep yep ...   and then..... she.... says...  the .... words....


Please undress from the waist down and she'll be right in .......

I actually cringed on the inside over what happened next.   I actually whined like a little girl and went "What? I don't want a pap today ...."  and I swear I ALMOST stomped my foot!!  :: sigh ::  She almost laughed at me and said "Well she's got to do an exam so that she can figure out what's going on."   AND THEN, I kicked off my shoes and whined "then she might as well do a pap cuz I'm overdue... "  The nurse left, and when Lady Bits Doc came in, I got to meet her with my pants off, talk to her with my pants off, and let her exam my lady bits, then talk MORE with my pants off.  We joked ...  and she told me how when she worked in Rhode Island, one of her patients had dermoid cyst, and after she had it removed, she told everyone it was her evil twin because once it was removed, all the voices in her head went away ...  she laughed and said "I think it's more like a pregnancy thing" ...... I laughed.  The way it was explained to me is that it's an egg that tries to make a baby on it's own .... they have teeth and hair.... and mine, had hair.... trust me, I know, Dr. Miracle back in WI took pictures for me even though when he asked, I told him I didn't want any - wanna see?  I still have them!

Anyway .... she felt a tumor on the outside of my uterus and we're hoping it's a fibroid ... but I'm scared, of course.  She also says that my uterus is "enlarged" and she's not sure if it's 4 baby enlarged or enlarged for other reasons, but since I'm so tender over my uterus and on my right side especially over my right ovary where I think I have a cyst... so she wanted me to have an ultrasound and she wanted to check some blood work......

Now here is where it gets interesting .....  I had a blood work order for almost a month from Dr. Divine .. it was a fasting one, and I just hadn't made it down there - fasting - so I hadn't done it.  But they pulled all the blood work other then the one that needed to be fasting ...

Yesterday (the 1st) - the day after the blood work ...  Doc Divine calls us up and we're about to walk out the door to leave for Seattle...   so she says my liver levels are way up and first thing she asks me is .....

Are you yellow? 

Um........... no.....  then she asks if I have pain and if I'm vomiting ...  I say yes to the pain, I have had that pain since my liver issues started and as for vomiting, no .. but I'm continuously nauseated...  okay okay ...  she says ... I don't want you drinking any this weekend ... no tylonel .. no drugs ....  I said "Dang, there goes my weekend!" totally as a joke, which - luckily - she totally gets ...  and says,  "yeah, no magic mushrooms for you!" ...  ha ha ha ... and she adds that she doesn't want me taking my metformin for my diabetes too.  She wants me to completely stop.... and she's going to call me on Tuesday and hopefully have a plan ...  while we're driving to Seattle she calls me back and says ... "I talked to my co-worker and we think that we want you to come in for an ultrasound on your liver and a CT Scan tomorrow..." .... ooooooh kay?  She likes to play off things a little - so that you don't worry ...  but, I worry.

So today (the 2nd) I've got a lady bits ultrasound, a liver ultrasound, and a CT scan ...  lucky me!  While waiting for the first ultrasound Doc Divine happens out of her clinic area and says "I recognize that face" and I look up from my book.  We talk for a few, and I ask her "are my levels that bad? Like way beyond my previous high?" and her whole demeanor is just worrisome because she's acting like she doesn't want to say to much to worry me ... but she tells me, yes they are really high.  She says, probably - on Tuesday, she's going to have to set me up with a G.I. Doc ... I'm like ... okay ... but literally, she's concerned and worry on her face even though she's trying NOT to ... so it makes me worry more...

I get back there and they decide to do the liver (and other organ) ultrasound first ...  now, I have sensitive bones - I blame my CFS ...  and so her pushing on me hurt like hell ... and the ultrasound chick was SO TALL ... I mean, ten foot easy!  Seriously though - she had to have been almost seven foot ...  anyway ...  after that was done, I get to drink ........ this........

Mixed Berry Contrast......  I could have had Banana .. but I passed...  Mixed Berry it was.  And really - about half way through, I'd take a gulp, and gag badly.  Every gulp after that, gag gag gag....  and she comes in when I first started it, told me I had to drink faster, so I drank half pretty good and then - down hill ... but I managed to get it all down.  Then she started on my lady bits ultrasound.......

..... and stopped.......

Why?  Well one simple reason ....  apparently my bladder wasn't full enough.  Never mind it's after 1pm... almost 2pm... and I haven't pee'd since 8am! I drank 2 bottles of water, and then all that chalk contrast... and my bladder wasn't full enough?

So I wait for awhile.... pants pulled down to my hips, towel tucked in, but flipped up over my tummy so I'm not all .... EXPOSED .... reading ... then she comes in, shuts off the light, checks....   nope.... gets up, flips on the light, leaves...... reading ........... comes back ...  "okay I can kinda see ...  if I look at your bladder this way it doesn't look full but if I turn it this way" she flips up the ultrasound thingy "it looks HUGE!" lol... geez ...  then the other lady comes in and says "we don't have time to do it, CT is going to come get her in about 10-15 minutes" ...  so she stops.  I have to reschedule for the lady bits... great......

So then I reschedule and sit and wait for CT ... and when I get taken back to the tin trailer in the parking lot for that.... I get to ride the huge loading ramp...  the guy tells me they are going to do an IV for some contrast and I'm like ... whoaa... I know I signed all that paperwork but I'm just going to let you know upfront, I am likely to freak out on you ...  just fair warning ...   so we get in there and he has me take off my bra ... then I lay down, then get up to drink MORE chalk contrast.... and then the doctor looking guy comes in and talks to me about beaches and blah blah - trying to calm me down ....  and he manages to get the IV in on the first try with out me crying or killing him ...  I got to ride in the machine for awhile and follow the breathing instructions of Mr. Machine ... got the nice warmth of the contrast being shot into my veins through the IV ...  got to ride the machine and listen to the voice of Mr. Machine giving me breathing instructions some more....  and then I was done....

Then, remembering that I thought Doc Divine said something about more labs, I stopped in there to see if there was and sure'nuff .... there were a lot of labs marked "STAT" ... meaning they had to process them there - and not send them out ...  so in full discloser  I told her about the fasting, only had water, but I'd just had a CT and had contrast .... and after checking around, got a "I think we can do these" so she did them all.

I walked out of the lab, said "Just call me a pin cushion" followed by "Let's get out of here before they decide to do something else to me."

I'm worried, freaking out... thinking the worst ... hoping for the best...  appreciating any prayers ...  I can't take any pain meds so I'm getting worn out real fast with all the pain ...  already ...  in addition to the issues above, I've been losing weight even though I'm not doing anything different to TRY to lose weight, I'm just losing it ... everytime I go in, I've lost weight ...  and I've noticed that my hair is falling out in small bunches, I can touch my hair, run my fingers through it, pull it back, and I have tons of hair all over my hand ... not just a strand or two ...  a lot... but I don't mean big clumps either....  and there is other stuff going on too...  ugh..

Doc Divine is calling on Tuesday to talk to me......
Wednesday is attempt two at the lady bits ultrasound.....