February 28, 2007

Furniture

I'm still here, I've just been busy. The in-laws came in town after rescheduling their cruise when a barge hit their cruise ship two weeks ago (yes, it was weird). And I've spent most of this week in depositions in New Iberia, which have been fine, but I've been on the road a lot.

The main excitement is that we finally have more furniture. We haven't had a dresser since Katrina, so we've been putting our clothes, well, on the floor (the ones that aren't hanging in our closet, that is). The biggest problem we have with furniture isn't a price issue but a design issue -- we can rarely find furniture we like. So, Archi-Sapper got a wild hair and drove to Houston last weekend and paid a visit to Ikea to stock up on furniture.

Wanna see? His and hers (both in Antique Stain).

Posted by Kitty at 05:30 PM | Comments (13)

February 18, 2007

Miscellaneous Sunday

I'm happy to report that I'm one week post-stone and everything is just fine. I went to the doctor Monday and had my stent removed and chatted with the doctor briefly. I didn't think he'd remember the specifics of my surgery since mine was one of nine of that same procedure he performed that day. But when he came in to see me, he asked, "Do you remember waking up from surgery?" and I said, "Yes. Were you there? I saw two blurry doctors by my bed, but couldn't tell who they were because I didn't have my contacts in." He said, "Yes, that was me. You kept saying, 'Is it over? Is it really over?' You were so cute!". Glad to know how cute I am post-op.

In other news, I fear I'm going to develop a heart problem after I saw my credit card bill. I'd charged some stuff to it recently, so I was expecting a balance (which I haven't had lately), but what I wasn't expecting was the 30% APR listed at the bottom of my statement! That's THIRTY percent -- three - zero. Now, I know my credit score isn't perfect, but it isn't terrible, and even if it was, thirty percent? Insane. I have another card with a 10% balance and will soon be transferring my balance to that card. I won't be using Bank of Usury any more unless they'll lower my interest rate.

Posted by Kitty at 03:11 PM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2007

Success

Naturally, I was worried for nothing. I went back to the same fabulous hospital where I had the fabulous baby, only this time I went to the outpatient surgery center. It is new and really nice. After coughing up my deductible they called me into the back where I changed into the gown and ended up meeting half the free world. The hospital I go to is a teaching facility, which I think is great. I'm more than happy to be treated by residents who are supervised by more experienced doctors -- being a youngish professional myself, I know you have to start somewhere. However, when you meet your doctors, nurses, and residents, you start to feel like you've met the entire supporting cast of Gray's Anatomy.

The folks who work there are so nice and so professional -- if anyone could calm me down (other than Archi-Sapper), it's them. They were even nice to me when I cried because I was scared (hey, I only did that twice!) They brought my mom back to hang out with me until I was ready to be wheeled into surgery. When it was time, she took my glasses so I couldn't see a thing. I couldn't wear my contacts during surgery (apparently the anesthesia dries you out so much from the neck up that your eyes could really have problems if you leave your contacts in).

The nurse anesthetist started pumping some drugs into my IV and they wheeled me into what looked, blurrily, like a supply closet. Granted, I can see very, very little without glasses or contacts, but the room they wheeled me into looked like it had tons of large pieces of medical equipment just thrown into it. I wasn't even sure if the gurney I was on would fit in there. I said, "Are we going to fit?", and someone responded, "Oh, no problem. We just did this procedure on a woman twice your size." Oookay, not what I meant, but interesting information. I was still scared that the anesthesia wouldn't work, but I decided to take things one step at a time.

They asked me to scooch over onto the operating table. I immediately complained because I didn't have a pillow (yep, I'm picky), and they actually gave me one! Then, the nurse anesthetist put the "gas mask" (or whatever it's called) on my nose and mouth and it was pinching my nose. I said, "Hey, this is pinching my nose," and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll move it." He moved it up slightly, and I don't remember anything after that until I was in the recovery room.

I checked into the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and was home by 11:20 a.m. Speedy! I have a follow-up visit on Monday afternoon. I haven't had any pain since the surgery, so no need for the Percocet, just some mild discomfort. The doctors talked to me in the recovery room and said they got the stone out, and the nurse said it took about an hour, which is the longest amount of time they usually budget for this procedure (usually lasts 15 minutes - one hour). Needless to say, I'm thrilled that they got it out and I no longer have to be worried about being racked with pain on a moment's notice. The only downside to this procedure was that now that I'm stone-free and no longer need to make weekly visits to the hospital, I'm seriously going to mess up my chances of being the hospital's employee of the month.

Posted by Kitty at 06:53 PM | Comments (77)

February 07, 2007

Two Surgeries, Six Months, No Problem

I know you're sick of hearing about my stupid kidney stone. Believe me, I'm sick of hearing about it, too. But after I ended up in the ER again on Sunday with crazy pain and vomiting, I decided I should move up my appointment with the Urologist and see if we have an aquifer in our backyard to supply all the water I need to drink.

I met the physician's assistant this morning (he's an old friend now) and he confirmed that my stone hasn't moved. While we were looking at my CT scan, he saw the doctor passing in the hallway and said, "Hey! Come in here and take a look at this stone!" I have to tell you, you REALLY don't want to be the patient who has a medical problem so bad/bizarre/awful that it makes one doctor say to another, "You have to see this". The doctor looks at it and when the p.a. informs him that the stone has been in that position since January 2, the doctor said, "Well, that has to come out now. How does your schedule look for Friday?"

And let me tell you, folks, he wasn't kidding around. I told him that my husband left town this morning and won't return until Sunday. This wouldn't be a huge problem if I didn't have a fabulous four month old, but I do! I told him I could call my mom and see if she could come in town. I said, "Well, I'll call her this afternoon and call you back and schedule an appointment." He said, "No, you'll call her now." He then led me into the hallway, dialed her number for me and handed me the telephone so I could call her.

To make a long story longer, I'm scheduled for surgery Friday morning. The doctor assured me that this is a routine procedure, that no one's ever died from it and people rarely have complications from it. I'm still scared. The good thing is that it's an outpatient procedure. The scary thing is that it requires general anesthesia. Of course, my only concern is the knowledge I've gleaned from one too many episodes of Dateline -- you know, those shows where they talk about the one person in ten bazillion who got general anesthesia but it didn't really take, so they were basically awake through the procedure, but couldn't say anything? Yeah, those are the things I worry about. I don't know why, though, considering that two Benadryl are enough to knock me out on most days. I should be worried that it'll take too long for me to wake up.

Argh! Surgery!

Posted by Kitty at 11:37 AM | Comments (7)