Another Update

I'm going to try to update more often. Too many months are going by between updates. I should probably use this more like a journal...

So. After my last update, within a few days, I ended up in the ER. This part may be TMI, so if you're squeamish, you may not want to read this section. I had started having diarrhea on Valentine's Day and by February 26th, I knew I was dehydrated, despite trying my best to keep hydrated. I was also having upper quadrant stomach pains. I had called my family doctor that afternoon and he said that the diarrhea needed to be treated at the ER, because if I needed further testing, they could provide it. I was there from 3pm until 8:15 the following morning. I ended up having to get 3 liters of IV fluids because I was dehydrated. My electrolytes were off, so I went home with scripts for those, and took pills while in the ER. I had to make an appointment with my GI doctor and I went home exhausted and VERY angry because the ER doctor did no tests, other than labwork, due to my history of the eating disorder. He said he suspected I was abusing laxatives and didn't want to waste time doing tests if they were going to come back negative to begin with. I asked to see another doctor, and he said the ER was full and that wasn't a possibility. So I sent a very strongly worded letter to the hospital administration. The ER gave me a list of foods/things to avoid for the diarrhea, and I hadn't had that stuff to eat/drink in a looong time, so that was less than helpful. I broke down in tears signing the discharge paperwork because I asked the nurse what I was supposed to do. She told me there wasn't anything they could do. I felt stupid. But having diarrhea for that long was excessive and I felt like crap (no pun intended), and I was told NOT to take an anti-diarrheal medication because my system was so out of whack, and that could swing things the OTHER way to the extreme. I didn't want that, either. When I saw my GI doc, she ordered an ultrsound of my entire abdomen. It took about 45 minutes, and I got to watch, which was pretty cool. I've had belly ultrasounds before, but was never able to see the screen. This tech let me see and it was awesome. Especially since I got to see my heart beating and I was just like, "Wow, God! The body and how it works is SO COOL!" I couldn't stop staring at the screen. My GI doc called the next day and said I had an appointment with a General Surgeon on March 11th. She said my gall bladder was full of gall stones, which could explain the diarrhea and would definitely explain the stomach pain. My GI doc didn't want to leave my gall bladder in, as I have a family history of gall stones. I've never had a problem with them before now, but with the way my ultrasound looked, my GI doc didn't want to take any chances, but she wanted me to see the surgeon to get his opinion. My surgery date was April 4th. The surgery was done laproscopically. My surgeon said the gall stones took up about 3/4 of my gall bladder and that my gall bladder was covered with adhesions. My Rabbi's wife, Barb, took me to the surgery (I was up at 3:45am to leave my house at 4:30am, to be to her house by 5:15am, to be to the hospital by 6am, to be in surgery by 7am...) and I stayed with them overnight, since I wasn't allowed to stay alone. They have been such a God-send in my life! I had an appointment with my surgeon on April 22nd. I half-caught my niece when she started to fall out of my parents' screen door a week or so prior to the appoitment. Something 'popped' on my right side, near my belly-button. He pressed on my stomach and definitely felt something there. He ruled out an infection pocket because I told him I haven't felt sick; no fever, chills, etc. I told him I felt it wasn't an infection, either. So that's not an issue. He wanted to see me again on May 13th, thinking might correct itself. The appointment on the 13th was a disaster and I walked out in tears. I called his office about a week later and told his nurse I wanted a second opinion with a surgeon not affiliated with the hospital where I had the surgery. I told her that my surgery was well over a month ago, I was still in a lot of pain, and I felt my surgeon was brushing me off. Apparently that got my surgeon's attention. I've had a few more tests and have another appointment soon.

On May 14th, I got arrested for driving with a suspended license in this small village I grew up in. HOWEVER, according to the DMV, my license was NOT suspended. So I was falsely arrested and when I went to court, the court-appointed attorney and judge wouldn't even look at the paperwork clearing the arrest. The judge waved me off, and the attorney told me it wasn't important. Barb was with me at my June 1st court appearance, and she was almost as upset as I was! Here's what happened: I was driving through Altamont, NY (tiny village my mom grew up in and my family lived in for a while) to church that Saturday morning, and got pulled over. I gave the cop my license and registration, and he asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. I told him I knew my inspection was past due. He said, "Yes, that's correct, but I pulled you over for talking on your cell phone." I wasn't on my cell phone. My cell phone was in my bag, and my bag was on the floor on the passenger side. And my radio isn't working, so I wasn't singing. So my mouth wasn't even moving. Where he got that I was talking on my phone is beyond me. And my blue tooth was at home, still charging. Trust me, if I had been talking on my phone, I would have admitted to it. So the cop went back to his car (I ended up pulling into the police station parking lot because there are NO shoulders to pull off onto in Altamont) with my information and sat there for about 5 minutes. All I thought was, "Go figure that this tiny village still hand-writes their tickets!" He came back to my car and said, "We have a problem. Your license is suspended." I told him it wasn't and gave him the ONE form I got from one of the courts where my suspension was taken care of (Amsterdam, NY). The top of the suspension form says you only have to keep the form on your person for 6 months. This one was from November of last year. He said that I had two suspensions from Glenville, NY. I told him that I took the forms out of my bag the prior weekend because they were from JUNE of LAST YEAR, and I was only required to keep the forms on me until December of last year. He said that I must have gotten two other tickets in Glenville after I took care of those two suspensions. Actually, I've only gotten pulled over ONCE in Glenville, and that was the time I got the two tickets on the same day, at the same time, and they were taken care of at the same time. So NO, I didn't get two other tickets. So then the cop said that maybe someone borrowed my car or used my license. Also not possible. I was the only one with a set of keys to that car. As for my license, I'm the tallest one of my sisters, and none of them look THAT much like me. The cop asked me to get out of my car and placed me under arrest. I drive a '94 Olds Bravada that has doors that weigh more than I do, I'm willing to bet, LOL. So you have to give them some force to shut them. I slammed my car door, and the cop accused me of giving him attitude and told me he'd make my life miserable if I didn't knock it off. He walked me into the police station and said I couldn't go until he did paperwork and I posted bail. I had to give him all the cash I had on me (thankfully I had enough), and I had to sit through an hour of paperwork. My car was towed to the garage next to the police station (it cost me triple digits for the car to be towed 100 feet, plus the impound fees), plus the tickets I got that day, if the judge decides not to look at the paperwork again when I go back to court on July 6th. I'm going to try to get Altamont to pay the towing/impound for my car because I was falsely arrested! My parents agreed, as do Rabbi Steve & Barb, and I've already talked to some lawyers. And I'm going to ask my chiropractor's dad what he thinks. He's a lawyer and could possibly take my case and sue the town and police department. The abstract copy of my license, which I got with Barb earlier this month, says my license is valid and that the suspensions were taken care of on July 6th of last year.

THEN, I spent the Saturday evening I was arrested until about 5pm the following Monday house/dog-sitting at Rabbi Steve and Barb's. Their dog, Pushkie, hadn't been doing so well for a while. She'd not eat for a few days, and then feel better, and go back to not eating, and so on. Pushkie was getting old. She was 14. Barb texted me Sunday morning, asking how Pup (a.k.a Pushkie) was doing, since she hadn't eaten since Friday. She didn't eat much of Saturday's dinner. I let Barb know that, and she texted me that if anything changed, to let her know. The last time I watched Pup, Barb let me know that when they were taking her out to pee/poop, she and Rabbi Steve had been carrying her up and down the back steps because it was getting hard for her to get up and down them herself. No problem. I knew something wasn't right Sunday night when I let her out the last time before I went to bed (at 3am) and Pup peed and just flopped down into it. I debated sleeping on the couch, in case I couldn't hear Pup upstairs, but I decided to sleep upstairs because my back already hurt. So I made sure Pup was comfortable and went up to bed. I got up Monday morning around 9am. My contacts were in the downstairs bathroom, so I went down to put them in. As I came around the corner to go into the bathroom, I tripped over something hard, fell, and looked at what I tripped on. It was Pup, and I did a backwards-crawl thing into the wall and started screaming and crying. I couldn't stop crying, and around 11am, I put my contacts in, texted Barb and asked her to call me or text me, because I was so sorry, but Pup had died and I didn't know what to do with her. Barb texted me back, and asked where she was, and if I could find a box to put her in. She was a pomeranian (not a yappy one!), so that wasn't hard to find. Barb texted me again, and said that if I couldn't put her in the box, that Rabbi Steve could do it when they got home that night. I was torn. I didn't want to traumatize them by making them have to do that, yet I was freaking out and also traumatized. I told Barb I'd try. I found a box. I started crying again, and tried for two hours to put Pup in the box. I had Barb's rubber gloves for doing dishes on my hands, and I finally made myself just do it. I started hyperventilating because when Pup died, she wasn't on her side; she was flat on her belly, with her legs out to the sides. So to get her into the box, I had to force her legs in and her body was already stiff. The whole situation was awful, and Barb and Rabbi Steve's hardwood floor was a mess. I texted Barb and let her know I took care of Pup, and she thanked me for taking such good care of her, and for loving her like they did. She texted me again when they got home and said they laid her to rest in their backyard. I was really upset for about a week, and felt guilty; like I didn't do a good enough job taking care of Pup. But Barb told me not to think like that.

BUT... God has a master plan in all of this. I don't know what it is, but I have faith that He'll use everything I've been through over the past three and a half months for His glory. I don't know how He's going to do that, but that's not up to me to figure out! I'm not the one in charge! And I'm thankful for that. When I try to take charge, I always mess it up...

Me with my youngest sister Karrie's kids; Gavin and Teagan. Gavin wanted to give me a kiss, and Karrie caught it. I think this picture is too sweet. Gavin finished kindergarten a few days ago. He goes to a Christian school, and he is one of the sweetest, most sensitive little boys I know. He can be a handful, but what 6-year-old isn't? He loves his family, and he loves to spend time with us. He loves music (he's a wicked drummer) and to draw. Gavin is just an amazing little guy. Teagan is my twin. She looks just like I did when I was little. She loves kitties and the 'Olivia the Pig' cartoon. It's ironic, because I collect Olivia stuff. :) Teagan is a diva, but she an adorable diva. She will go to anyone, and gives the best hugs. If you just say 'Hi' to her, she breaks out into a whole-face grin. Teagan loves to be tickled. And she loves her big bruzzer Gavin.

Me with my little Skibble, my sister Megan's little guy. He's a ham. He's a tough guy, but he loves to give hugs. He loves giraffes, Matchbox cars and watching Mommy mow the lawn through the picture window in the living room; especially if Aunt Ali knocks on the window to get Mommy's attention and she waves to him. Skibble loves bubbles and walking around the front lawn barefoot. Both at the same time is the best! His newest love is Pirate Booty 'popcorn'!

Until next time!