Tales of a Fulltime Mom: Eyes, Lips, and Rashes

Yesterday was an interesting day in our household. On the plus side, Duncan had LASIK surgery done on his eyes. He's wanted to do it for years and we recently found out that the hospital pays for a good portion of it so the timing seemed right. He went for an initial appointment and they said he was the ideal candidate because he did not have astigmatism and falls between a negative one and a negative four on his contact lens prescription (he's at negative three). The only catch was that he had to wear glasses for three days prior which he did not have. I know, it's crazy. He takes his contacts out every night and has no glasses. I've harped on him on what he would do if there was a fire or someone broke into the house (Hold on a second. Before you take my valuables, would you mind if I put in my contacts so I can get a good look at you?). The getting-the-glasses part turned out not be so easy. Your torn between not wanting to spend a bunch of money on something you'll never need again and not looking like a dork at work. Thankfully it eventually all worked out.

It took a rather strange turn on Thursday night. He had the surger at RDV and the doctor there is the son and brother of two well known (non-SDA) ministers in the area. They started a huge church which has thousands of members. We were watching the late local news on Thursday night (not a usual occurrence) and what comes on but a report that the brother of this mega-church had resigned because they discovered he was having an affair. What does Duncan do but give him a hearty "How are you doing??" when he gets in there yesterday afternoon. He said he regretted it right after he said it. Oops. Anyway, it seems not to have affected his skills because everything went off perfectly and they said he was the model patient...which they do not tell everyone (according to them).

We picked him up about an hour after the surgery and he had dark glasses on and was very sensitive to light. He had to put drops in every 15 minutes until he went to bed which could not be for at least six hours after the surgery. He had some eye discomfort but not unbearably so. This morning he went back in for a quick follow-up and his vision is now 20/15 which means he can see from 20 feet what others can see from 15. They said he is ahead of most people at this point. So everything seems to have worked out great...he's even driving already. I'm contemplating it myself but having something done to my eyes kind of freaks me out not to mention I hate bad smells and I don't know if I can get past that burning eye smell that Duncan said definitely happened. We'll see.

Okay, so on the downside of yesterday, I had an odd thing happen to me. Odd in that it's never happened before. We ate supper here at home with my meal consisting of bulger, grape tomatoes, goat cheese, shallots, parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and coarse kosher salt. Everything I've eaten before. Duncan and Aubree ate the same thing. About twenty minutes after the meal, I started feeling really itchy starting at my head and shoulders and quickly spreading downward. All I wanted to do was get in the shower. It didn't help and I kept feeling more and more itchy and then I could feel my bottom lip swelling up (Angelina Jolie would have been so proud). At this point I figured I was having an allergic reaction to something I had eaten. But what? Duncan researched that I could take an antihistamine so I took some Alavert. In the meantime I was paying close attention to my throat and tongue since it things got really bad, those could swell up and that would not..be..good.

I called my mom and she recommended I seek medical attention. Of course, Duncan couldn't drive and I didn't feel up to it and anyway, we weren't about to drag the kids somewhere at 8:00 pm. Thank goodness for friends and close neighbors. Tangie came over right away to take me to Centra Care. Unfortunately only three locations were open at this hour and all of them were sporting several hours of wait. Oh goodie. But not to worry! Duncan works with (and occasionally I do as well) the doctor who is over all the Centra Cares. A quick call to him by Duncan and he contacted the Lake Buena Vista one to say I was coming and to give me priority. Bless him!

I got in right away and they took my vitals (asked if I was runner. Ha!). My blood pressure was 83/58 which is low but I usually run low. They took me back to the room and said they would be right back. Well, I started not to feel so good. Kind of light headed in fact. They have no call button or anything and I was at the far end of the hall. I got up to go find someone and barely made it to them. I thought for sure I was going to crumble to the floor. One of the nurses took me back and had me lay down. A few minutes later the doctor came and she was very nice. She asked me if I eaten anything with iodine or shellfish. No and most definitely no. I tried to think over the next few minutes of anything else out of the ordinary but couldn't think of anything. I had taken an Excedrin Migraine at like 1:00 (darn Friday headache had started early but I did get rid of it). She said that it was probably something I had eaten because of how it started 20 minutes afterwards and usually these things occur 20 - 30 minutes after the trigger.

She advised me to keep a journal to try and isolate what could have caused it. She said that when she was 21, these exact symptoms happened to her on a bunch of occasions and no one could figure out what caused it. She started a journal and discovered that 30 minutes after she would take an Advil or Excedrin, she would get hives and a swollen lip. Apparently while she had been working in the lab (at school), she had been exposed to something that would interact with the medications and cause that reaction. To this day it still happens and she can only take Tylenol. Weird, huh? So who knows. I'm hoping this was just a freak occurrence not to be repeated.

To get rid of the itching they had to give me a steroid shot. Now, other than having those tiny RhoGAM shots when I was pregnant because I had Rh negative blood, I haven't had a "real" shot since 9/6/91. Yes, I know the exact day. Needless to say, I was not excited about the prospect but you have to do what you have to do. The nurse, who was from the Boston area and chatted me up about the Patriots, advised me that it was tiny and didn't hurt going in but would afterwards. Yup, she was right. My posterior was quite sore! She left and said if I needed anything to give a holler. Within 60 seconds I felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't see myself yelling at the top of lungs so I got up to use the trash can. I immediately thought I was pass out so I had to lie on the floor next to the trash for a minute or two to steady myself. And then I was able to take care of business. I guess we can chalk up the Mediterranean Grain Salad as a recipe that will not be repeated for many reasons. It was so good too. Drat. I finally got up the energy to walk down and let them know what had happened. They came and helped me lie back down. I was there for about another 15 minutes so they could monitor me and then that was that. I felt much better then. The itching had almost subsided and no more light headedness. They discharged me and said I could take Benadryl for the itching.

They have these "No Cell Phones" signs everywhere that look like they were installed the year cell phones were invented. Of course, I totally ignored it.

Duncan was anxiously awaiting my arrival home. He had been texting me almost continuously while I was gone. Unfortunately he's been scarred from my miscarriage experience when I passed out in the bathroom and he had to call 911. I do imagine it can be stressful to watch your spouse have a medical issue. I'm just thankful my hubby loves me so much! Fortunately today I haven't had any ill effects so all's well that ends well it appears.

In non-medical news, we got our Christmas tree on Sunday. Usually we get it from a Christmas tree lot but this year we ended up at Home Depot...mainly because it was next to the eyeglass store where Duncan was trying to find some glasses. The downside of these stores is that most of the trees are wrapped up so you either pick one of the ones that happens to be unwrapped, possibly not that great looking, or you have them unwrap some more for you to look at while all the other customers waiting for help shoot daggers at you. So, we went with option one. It's not a tree I would necessarily have picked, it's not that "fat," but Duncan likes it. I think it's important for him to have a "win" every few years sot there you go. The upside is that at least the trees are cheaper and we got an eight to nine footer for $59.

Look closely at the sign. Even the girls couldn't believe they were trying to pass this midget (ah, little person?) tree off as a 6 - 7 footer.

We'll take.....that one!

All sold out. I guess we'll take the little boy in red instead.

Decorating can be a challenge especially with Brady who wants to touch everything and take it off the tree as soon as you put it on there. We only had two broken instruments, as Aubree still calls them this year, so I think that's a pretty good record. It may be a bunch of work to get all the Christmas stuff out but I tell you, it's all worth it once you do. One of my favorite things is sitting in my living room in the evening, after the kids are in bed. The tree and candles are lit. The lights are turned down. The room is awash in red from the Poinsettias, and Christmas music is playing softly. All that's missing is a fire. Maybe someday. But honestly, it doesn't get much better than the setting I just described.

Eating the decorations

Finished product

I tell you, I am in love with my backyard! Seriously, I grossly underestimated how much I would love it...or should I say how much the kids would love it. The weather has been so gorgeous lately and they constantly want to be out there. I'm at the point that I will let Brady out there without me as long as the blinds and door are open and all the stuff he can stand up on (bikes,wagon) have been removed from the patio. I don't know how much are neighbors love us being out there at 8:00 am but I try to keep them quiet. I wonder what the "unwritten" rule is on a decent time for having your kids outside. Anyway, it's amazing how well they can entertain themselves without a swing set, sandbox, etc although these are a top priority to get.

Attempting to climb Calleigh's bike for the first time.

Success!

He was pretty pleased with himself.

Playing in their new tent.

They kept dumping Brady out of the wagon but he kept laughing and climbing back in for more so I guessed he liked it.

Sure did!

Thursday I took the kids to JCPenney for their annual Christmas picture. I went to our old mall (30 minute drive vs 8 minutes) because I love Liz so much who takes them. Wouldn't you know she wasn't there. I was going to ask about her but I thought maybe the photographer we got would feel offended. Unfortunately I didn't think she did that great a job and we only ended up with about once decent picture. Oh well. The stinky thing is that Brady ended up with two bug bites on his face the day before so there I was trying to put make up on him to cover them up. Figures.

Went to mall playground for a few minutes after pictures.

My cousin Kelly had her baby Sunday night (11/25) about 10 days early. Welcome Caleb Steven! He sure is a cutie and not all babies are, truthfully. Everything is going well and we're happy to have another cousin join our crew. I was lamenting that after his birth we wouldn't have any more babies on the way but not to fear! Shannon announced she's pregnant and is due July 3. Phew! So happy about that and I hope they get a sister for Finley.

Proud new Mama

The two new babies and their daddies. Steve with Caleb and Heath with Westin (photo courtesy of Lori Case)

Our big purchase this week was a big screen TV for our workout room. Ron and Elaine had an Xbox that they rarely used and Elaine was in need of a new cell phone, courtesy of a cracked screen, so Duncan traded his iPhone for 4S for the Xbox. A win win. He's loving it because they have some really great workouts. I will try it myself one of these days.

In closing, a conversation I had Calleigh I had in our van one day. They were watching a kid's DVD that apparently was a little unacceptable as far as language:

Me: (After hearing the word stupid being used): "Calleigh,did I just hear the "S" word? I don't think I like language they are using."
Calleigh: "It's okay. It was just one time.
Me: "Alright. But if I hear things like that again, we're turning it off."
A few minutes later I hear some other questionable things being said. I don't say a word or even turn around but look at Calleigh through the rear view mirror.
Calleigh: (Quickly reassuring me) "No, no, I didn't hear that."

That's all. Have a great rest of the weekend.

A few more pictures:

Brady just went and perched himself on Calleigh's shoulder so course, I had to take a picture.

On our way to the Adventurer's party

Aubree's not technically a Little Lamb but she likes to think she is. Here she wormed her way to the front so she could hold up the words to the Adenturer's song. That's her in red.