No More Stones in This Gal(l)

Sorry for starting with that dreadfully punny title.

So things were going great once all the bedbug and floor stuff was taken care of. But then my gallstones decided that right when I was into the swing of things (I was seriously an AMAZING housewife for a bit in there), they'd ATTACK. And attack me they did. Hard. Violent. I didn't eat for days. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't care for my daughter. B had to take off work because of it. Finally enough was enough and we went to the hospital where I was admitted and put on fluids for the duration of my stay. Turned out that the gallstones were also affecting my liver pretty badly. I lost ten pounds during my week and a half of torture.

I had an ERCP on Monday the 18th, and let me tell you it was one of the worst experiences of my life. They don't put you to sleep, but the drugs can cause you to fall asleep which is what happened with me. However I woke up mid procedure and I really freaked out. Waking up with a tube down your throat is 100% terrifying. I am scared when I think about it, even now. Anyways, they removed some stones and then gave me morphine and then the extremely handsome nurse told me to pass as much gas as I could.

The next day I have my lap-chole. I felt 100% comfortable going into it for a couple reasons. 1) They're always talking about that procedure on Grey's and ER so I knew what it was. 2) I'm generally a chill person, and I knew I wouldn't wake up in the middle terrified as with the ERCP. I trust doctors, the anesthesiologist seemed like an awesome guy, and my nurses were so friendly. I don't remember falling asleep but I do remember waking up feeling panicked. Not as scared as during the scope, but a different kind of panic because I couldn't remember anything and I HATED the oxygen mask. I felt so constricted and like I wasn't getting enough air. When they switched to the nosey tubey thing I was much happier. And they gave me a lot of morphine and it was nice. As a bonus, after my surgery I was moved to a different ward where I had a swanky private room.

All in all, though there's been a lot of pain and inconvenience over the past few weeks, I'm thankful to be rid of my gallbladder. It has been attacking me for over a year now. It was time to ditch the thing. By Monday we'll be back to our regular routine. I'm able to help more with G, my incisions are healing nicely, and B will be able to go back to work.

In other news, I've started to decorate our apartment in our A Very Zelda Christmas theme. I will be making all the ornaments/decorations myself which I think is going to be so much fun. Here's a couple progress pics:

I don't have any proper craft supplies so I've been working with paper and embroidery floss, but I'm hoping to pick up some perler beads soon so that I can begin creating the 8bit goodness. 

Well that's all for today! Hopefully I'll remember to post again in a more timely fashion.

Hi!

Apparently I haven't blogged since around G's birthday, and that was in July and it is now November. Oops. Good stuff and bad stuff have both happened since then.

Probably most significantly was the bad stuff we had to deal with concerning our apartment. Ever since moving in I would sporadically find bug bites on my body but since it was summer I didn't give it a second thought; I just assumed it was mosquitoes. When my bestie (and next door neighbour) discovered she had bedbugs however, I started to pay closer attention to what was happening. I inspected every inch of my apartment and could find no sign at all of an infestation. Yet bites would continually appear on my body. And then TWICE I found actual bedbugs on my body. Both were in different spots in the apartment.

We contacted management on Monday Sept 16 about the bugs and were told an inspection would be forthcoming. We didn't hear back all week. On the Friday, building managers went door to door just to make sure all was well with the tenants. I was asked if we had roaches (we do) or bedbugs and when I said yes and showed my bites, they didn't believe me. So I grabbed the jar where I'd been keeping the bugs I found on my body (KEEP ANY BUGS YOU FIND IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU!) and THEN she believed me. That weekend we moved into B's parents house for what we thought would maybe be two weeks tops. It turned into 6 weeks.

Days stretched into weeks in part because after we left the apartment due to the bugs, our kitchen sink clogged (with food that was absolutely NOT ours) and our kitchen, dining room, and entryway flooded with nasty greasy water. B went into the office nearly every single day while we were not home to find out what the deal was with everything. The office would give vague answers and it was clear they didn't know what was going on. It turned out the extermination company they worked with was dropping the ball. They would book jobs despite being short of staff, which was completely unacceptable. When we finally got sprayed for bugs October was almost over. We were told they would either clean or replace or flooring, and it wasn't until the day before we moved back that a manager ACTUALLY FINALLY LOOKED AT THE FLOORS. No one had taken those few minutes to check. If they had, they would have told us we can clean it ourselves easily enough and that no replacements had to be made. And if they had told us that, we would have been home way sooner. Fortunately throughout the ordeal, we didn't have to pay full rent.

Living with B's parents was a nightmare for me, but I won't go into that today. Suffice to say, I'm ECSTATIC to be home, despite the fact that we have no living room furniture and are living in mild paranoia of bugs returning.

Now. I have two new blogs to recommend:

http://www.geekyhostess.com/
Tips, DIY, Recipes from a geeky girl. Even if you're not a geek, it's a blog worth reading. She hosts fabulous parties and has inspired me to try hosting an event of my own. (Perhaps at Christmas time!)

http://www.freckled-fox.com/
A mom blog, but different from any of the other ones I've found. She has great hair tutorials, and I love seeing her pregnancy fashion.