A Reason (or Two) to Celebrate...With Wine!

Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me, there was lots of whining and complaining and general crabbiness. I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, and apparently my body’s reaction to that is an all-out ache. It almost feels like you have the flu, but there is no getting comfortable. And so everyone I know gets to hear about how miserable I am and how I just do not remember my last pregnancy being so awful.

After a drug-induced sleep and a decent morning, (except of course dealing with pink-eyed little screaming girl who wanted nothing to do with anything and I am surprised even woke up), I was driving to work. Late, due to aforementioned screaming child.

And that was when Mark Suppelsa told me something that makes me very, very happy. And makes other people I know happy too. He said a study recently came out that showed if a woman had a glass of wine every day during her pregnancy, then that led to more well-behaved children. And there are no other adverse effects. Hallelujah!! I can have wine! Red wine!! Yay!!! (And you can totally trust Mark. He’s the anchor on the WGN News at 5 & 9, but more importantly, he does the news on the Eric & Kathy show on the radio in the morning. So if he says it, it MUST be true.)

I’ve always been one to believe in moderation in all facets of life, but especially during pregnancy. I have a bit of caffeine every day, and chocolate, and sugar, and other not-good-for-you things. (OK, maybe a lot of chocolate and sugar) I’ll even eat lunch meat. But I always stayed away from the alcohol because they scare the shit out of you, with stories of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and premature babies and generally being a terrible mother. And really…who wants to be a terrible mother? Not me.

So this story makes me happy. And that should make everyone I know happy.

On another happy note, my dad went to see Dr. Witt the Neurosurgeon yesterday. Last week he was released to the world from his occupational therapist. (He celebrated by taking my three nieces to the pool, away from the horrid heat of the garage sale that my mom and sister were having. And there were no travesties.) Dr. Witt told my dad he is now allowed to DRIVE and EXERCISE and GOLF. (OK, to be fair, he can’t swim yet, because he has a couple of little soft spots still in his skull. Like a baby!!) But even better…he can WORK. At a desk, but that is just what my pacing-the-floors-of-his-house father wanted to hear. Of course, he isn’t going back to work until he gets home from his fishing trip to Canada, of which he leaves this week. So that is major excitement in my parent’s world. I am sure that my mom is happy she no longer has to play chauffer, or entertainer, to my father. And I am sure that my father is happy that he can now chauffer and entertain himself.

Just over 3 months after his diagnosis, which was just over 3 months after he fell and whacked his head on the ice, my dad is well on his way to being 100%. What happened is exactly what I had hoped would happen. We found a problem and fixed it. It was fixable. (I’m such a boy in my thinking.) I know that many people have health problems that aren’t fixable, or are ongoing, and don’t get better in roughly 3 months after 2 brain surgeries. I know how lucky we are.

Tonight, I think I’m going to toast to that.

Updates Like Crazy!

My dad is doing well, according to me. According to him, he is not as far along as he'd like to be. Him and my mom don't see the vast improvements, since they are there every day. But trust me...there are improvements!!

My sister who lives in Germany left on Tuesday morning, and one delayed flight, one cancelled flight, one missed flight, one lost piece of luggage, one hotel room, and one trip to the first-class passenger lounge later, she just made it home!! Yay!! Here is a pic of her with my oldest and youngest nephews, as well as Sam. (Don't worry, the oldest just got a hair cut...it doesn't look like that anymore!) Sam was not in a cooperative mood for mommy the photographer.

Memorial Day is next weekend. Just wanted to remind ya'll.

I have a vet appointment for Fonz tomorrow to make sure he doesn't have cancer. I really don't think he has cancer, but he has been limping a tad on his back right hip, and I found a couple of new lumps, and his dad died of cancer when he was 10. Fonz is 10 1/2. We're doing x-rays just to be sure, and because I feel it has been all too long since I have handed a couple hundred dollars to my vet.

I have heard no news on my buddy The Piano Man. I am starting to wonder if I started a rumor, or was spreading news that wasn't supposed to be shared. Oops.

I joined Networked Blogs on Facebook! I've been wanting to do this for a while but didn't have the patience to figure it out. Turns out it's super easy. But due to dial-up speed "high-speed" internet access at home, I almost lost my mind and threw the computer out the window last night. (The only reason I didn't is because there are too many wires attached and there is a big-ass printer in front of the window.) So please! Feel free to click the little button over to the right and follow me!! I am not exactly sure how this works, so if there are too many updates for you, then you can always un-follow. I think all it does is post an update on your wall whenever I post a new blog. And if you go to MY wall, then you can see the posts of people that I follow. I think that's how it works. But again, let me remind you of the dial-up fiasco that almost happened last night...so I could be wrong. Also let me remind you that the number of followers I have is directly tied to my self-esteem...soo.....

Even though it's only Thursday, I am super duper looking forward to the beautiful weekend ahead of us. The sun is shining, it's almost lunchtime...so get off of your computer (after you follow me) and go outside and play!!

A New Level of Lazy

I'm writing this as I am sitting in my dad's hospital room. He's reading the paper, or pretending to. Because every once in a while, I look over, and he's asleep. And every once in a great while, whether he is awake or asleep, one of his monitors pings. PING! And I look over to make sure he take a breath, because it pings when he is only taking 4 breaths every 30 seconds, or something like that. The first time it happened, he was awake and was like, "Geez, breathe." My sister immediately quipped, "Yeah, do you want to get brain damage?" And we all laughed at him.

As I was driving down to Indianapolis last night, and again this morning, I was struck at just how lazy a driver I am. You see, my car has this great thing called "cruise control." Maybe you've heard of it...you press a button and you don't have to keep your foot on the gas? Greatest. car. invention. ever.

MY van has this great thing that I call "cruise control 2.0." It's an even better version of the usual cruise control. Because when I set it, and I am driving down the road, and I come up upon another, slower car, my car automatically slows down! By itself!! Which means I don't have to take my poor little foot off of the floor of the car and press down on the brake pedal. It's flippin' sweet. And my car then paces that car, until they move out of the way and I can resume my pre-determined cruise control speed. And I don't have to do a damn thing.

But the past 2 days, I haven't been driving my van. I've been driving our little red race car. Which does NOT have CC 2.0. Which means that when I am speeding down the interstate, and a car cuts me off, I have to PRESS THE BRAKE! Can you believe it?? How dare that little red race car make me work??! And every time I get annoyed, I think to myself, "Wow, you are lazy." Kind of like my dad forgetting to breathe, except he has an excuse. And then I just miss my flippin' awesome minivan a little bit more.

Finally!! A Picture!!!

I took a picture of a computer monitor when one of dad's doctor's came in this afternoon. The image on the left was taken this morning. The sides are flipped, so the left side of the image is actually the right side of his brain, and vice versa. The image on the right was taken when dad first came in a couple of weeks ago. You see that dark grey area on the left of the left side? Yeah...that's all fluid and membrane. That is why he had a "little bit of weakness" on his left side. The lighter gray area on the right half of the left side of the image on the right (got that??) is dad's right side of his brain, all squished up. Poor brain.

Dr. Witt just came in, and dad thanked him for taking care of the membrane and cleaning out the ick. Dad didn't remember threatening him, which made Dr. Witt actually smile at the memory!! (we think he was a very shy child...and probably has an IQ double mine and my sisters put together) (his residents call him Dry Witt) It's a momunmental moment to get Dr. Witt to smile.

So, while dad looks kinda like crap, and feels like hell, he is getting a little bit better every hour. He does loves his hourly pain injection, and me and my sister are watching him like hawks while "working" on our computers. Thank God for technology.

Latest Dad Update

Do you like how I say "dad", instead of "my dad"? It's just how I talk. Weird, I know.

I've talked to my two sisters who are currently in the same city as mi padre. Apparently, he looks like hell. Bandage wrapped all the way around his head this time. But when you have 2 brain surgeries in less than a week, I guess you are supposed to look like hell.

Dr. Witt decided after looking at yesterday's CT scan to make a bigger hole in dad's head and try to get more fluid out and clean things up a bit. The surgery should have taken about 3 hours. Once they got in there, they realized that a membrane had grown. It's like the brain trying to compensate or protect itself or something. He likened it to a tumor removal, since there were blood vessels involved and everything. It was quit thick in some places, up to an inch. Wow!

So Dr. Witt and his team of cronies got all the ick out and I guess drained even more fluid. It wound up taking about 5 1/2 hours. They put in a plate and four screws to help keep the replaced piece of skull in place. My sister said that it's a huge hole, maybe the size of a 3x5 photo!! Dad said that his head hurt. He also told Dr. Witt that he was going to get him back for doing this to him. Good to see that he has a sense of humor. He'll have to lay on his back for 24 hours again, and then they will slowly raise him. From our experience last week, the first 48 hours after surgery are the worst, and then things slowly get better, day by day. He'll have to stay in the hospital for another 3-5 days. Which will be at least a week longer than originally anticipated.

We the family can't thank you enough for all of your love and good thoughts and prayers. I truly believe that they are helping, and I trust that the doctors know what they are doing and what is best for dad. He may feel like shit and be all grumpy, but it wouldn't be right if it was any other way. So keep us on your list and I'll keep you updated!!

Dad & Wardrobe Update

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers for my dad. It means so much to us that we have so many people praying for him. I know it means a lot to him too.

I just got a call from my mom, he is going to have another surgery tomorrow at 9am. He had a CT scan right after his surgery, then another one yesterday at 5am. The second one was worse than the one right after his surgery. So they got him up and walking around, and did another one this morning at 7:30am. Based on that one, his doctor decided that they need to go back in and drain more fluid and clean things up a bit. So a bigger hole in his head. The level of risk is the same, so I am hopeful that he will be able to recover in a similar manner and get the heck outta the hospital and be able to recuperate at home in a few days.


Secondly, and this is totally off the subject, but I have to tell you how I brought out my maternity clothes last night. It’s something that I know I’ve needed to do for a while, but was too lazy/tired/trying to keep my house clean for open houses to do it. And I had 3 immediate thoughts…

1) OMG…these clothes are so. much. cuter. than my regular wardrobe. What the hell took me so long to unpack them?

b) OMG…I have so. many. more. maternity clothes than I do regular clothes. What the hell took me so long to unpack them??

3) Workaholic is wrong, I do need to wash these before I wear them. (His theory was that I didn’t actually pack them up that long ago, and I washed them before I packed them. He was not right, but I didn’t realize it until I was hanging up the third to last shirt. And yes, I did hang up all the shirts before deciding to take them all down and wash them. Damn him for not being a housewife.) And what the hell took me so long to unpack them???

It is actually really sad, looking at my closet now. I took down all the shirts that I probably will never wear again. And I put them into a bin. Even though I will never wear them again because a) they are ugly or 2) they will not fit. Most of these shirts I haven’t worn since before I got pregnant with Sam, because I didn’t like the way they fit!! What is wrong with me?? Seriously??

I think I just like getting good deals on clothes. I wore a lot of hand-me-downs as a kid, partially because I think my mom really hated shopping and partially because money was tight. So now, when I see a good deal on a shirt I think is cute, I buy it. And then I get it home and realize that I hate it. It is usually shirts, because do you have any idea how hard it is to find pants for a woman with a big ass/thighs and a 25 inch in-seam??? I already gave 3 huge trash bags full of clothes to Goodwill, but I am thinking I need to make another run. Even though that will put us over the maximum donation amount on our tax return for 2010. Get ‘em outta my house!!

Maybe if I start purging and “packing”, then the house will sell. Maybe? Just maybe??

"I'm Having Brain Surgery Today"

***UPDATE
Dad is out of surgery and doing fine. It went well, he is in recovery and asking when he can play golf.

A few months ago, my dad slipped and fell on the ice. He hit his head and his hip. I’ve mentioned it before, but dad’s a pilot. For the past lifetime, he keeps in shape because he doesn’t want to lose his pilot’s license. He always gets up at 5am and works out, and eats healthy, and generally is annoying with the fear of going to the doctor. Not because he is afraid of what they’ll find, but of what they’ll report back to the FAA. The FAA=God. So he refused to go to the ER. A simple concussion could ground him for a year.

A few weeks ago, the bigwig at work told inferior bigwigs to tell dad that she didn’t feel safe flying with him. This was HUGE. Like HUGEBIGFUCKINGDEAL huge. It was a slap in the face to him to hear that. What the f*ck was going on?? My mom called me at work, and it took my breath away. Oh dear, this HAS to do with the fall.

We (my mom) had noticed little things. Like, he generally didn’t feel good. He was whinier, bitchier, if you will. He shuffled a bit when he walked, and at Easter Workaholic saw him fall against a door frame, twice. And when they golfed, his normal slice had turned into a hook. All of this was explained away by arthritis and Charlie horses. Until last weekend.

Last weekend, my parents went to a wedding, where my dad saw his brother and his cousin, who is a MD. Between the two of them yelling at him and asking him what the hell was the matter with him, why hadn’t he been to a doctor?? he decided to go to the doctor. The woman that he saw sent him for a CT, and was like, “I’m sure it’ll show nothing, you are completely asymptomatic.” Imagine both of their surprises when the scan came back and the right side of his brain was squished by fluid.

He can talk normally…just ask the doctors and nurses. He can argue. He was driving his manual transmission truck up until last Tuesday, when he was ordered not to. (Apparently the risk for seizure for a chronic subdural hematoma is pretty severe when you’ve got a ton of blood/spinal fluid on your brain, and driving is not advisable.) He could golf, although not well, just ask him. His memory is what it used to be, that is to say, he can remember the story of his student who had a grand mal seizure at 30,000 feet 5 years ago, but he can’t remember where he left his coat.

So at this moment, my dad is in surgery. My sister is on a plane from England. My other 2 sisters are here with me and my mom and his brother and sister-in-law. And we are just feeding ourselves and hanging out and waiting. The neurosurgeon and his resident seem to think this is a fairly routine surgery. Drill a couple holes, let the fluid drain, DON’T PLUG THE HOLES WITH CAULK, go home and recuperate. (after a couple of days) Give it a month before you start driving again. Flying…well, one step at a time, but we think so. It might take a couple of years, but I think he’ll get back up there.

So the past week has been scary. Not as scary though, as the weeks before, when he was GROUNDED and we didn’t know why. Now we have a plan. And my dad will be around for a long time to come. He’ll see Sam grow up, and can teach her and her little brother or sister how to fish. Maybe even play golf. Who knows…all I know now is that we sit, and wait, and hope for the best. Prayers are welcome.

Writer's Workshop-My Dad

I'm participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week, due to some recent events, I thought it very appropriate...

3.) What does that tell you about your father? List five products your father used (or uses). Write a longer piece about, at least, one of them.

Five products my dad uses…

1. Total/oatmeal. Dad eats super healthy, and has since I can remember. He used to eat Total cereal every morning, and then the doctor told him there was too much iron? maybe in that, so he switched to plain oatmeal with raisins. Every. single. morning.

2. New Balance running shoes. OK, so he doesn’t use these really anymore. Along with the super healthy eating came daily vigorous exercise. It used to be running. Then his feet started bothering him, and his hip, so he had to give that up for the Stairmaster and elliptical machine and swimming. Which he doesn’t enjoy nearly as much, but he wants to stay healthy. And he does it every. single. morning.

3. Aspirin/saw palmetto/multi-vitamin. Again, healthy living. He takes an aspirin every. single. day because that is what the doctor told him to do. Same with the saw palmetto…prostate health. And duh on the multi-vitamin.

4. Ziebart. Yeah…the rust-proofing company. He buys a new truck about when it is absolutely necessary (when one is totaled or deemed un-drivable by Toyota), and the first stop is always Ziebart for rust-proofing. And if his beautiful truck gets dented?? Well…you fix it, otherwise it might rust.

5. Overnight bag. Dad’s a pilot, so he has a bag that he uses when he needs to be gone overnight. It’s a black, leather one that he got from Purdue. Because why pay for something when you got a perfectly good one for free???

It wasn’t hard for me to come up with this list. My dad was raised by parents who lived through the Depression, so you take care of what you have, don’t buy something new unless you absolutely need it, and did I mention take care of what you have?? When his truck was taken from him by Toyota, he found a way to retro-fit his old camper top to the new truck. And when he accidentally lowered the garage door onto said camper top, he was sooo upset because he “lowered the value of it.” (Umm…dad? Probably not worth much before it was dented. I mean, it was like, a jillion years old!)

And while flying is dad’s career, it also has defined his life. He adjusted his lifestyle to accommodate the healthy food and made time for exercise because he loves flying, and wanted to make sure no one ever had an excuse to tell him that he was not allowed to fly. He has had to change plans hundreds of times because something at work came up, and he had to fly. I know lots of other kids’ dads have had the same thing…can’t make a recital/game/play because of work. It happens, and especially in that generation, you work because you need to support your family (because people haven’t always been so lucky to have a job and be able to do so) and so you make it at the top of your list. People rarely work for the same company for 42 years anymore, but my dad has. When retirement calls, whether sooner or later, I know dad will be fine. Yes, he’ll miss flying. But give him his oatmeal and his exercise and his multi-vitamin, and he can get in his Ziebart-ed truck to go golfing. If he’s lucky, he’ll be able to pack his overnight bag to try out a new course.