Goodbye

I closed on my house this morning. I said my goodbye to the house on Tue. when I cleaned it up. I had to take a couple of pictures to remember it by. It was a good house.

I have not been up to much else. I am back working again. I have worked 3 days in a row. I know hard to believe. I have to work tomorrow too. That will make it a whole 4 days in a row. I hope I don't die from being over worked!

That's it I really don't know anything else.

Later Sharon

bad dog

Dexter used to be such a good dog, never begging for people food. Not anymore. As you can see by the picture Dudley has taught Dexter to beg. Now every time you go into the kitchen to cook both dogs sit and wait for a scrap of food. BAD DOGS!!!!

$61,075.99

So I added up what all my medical cost are since June 6 and it comes to a total of $61,075.99 That is a lot of money. I sure am glad I have insurance. I should have to pay just under $3000. for my part.

Saturday night we went to Amy and Adam's house for a great supper and bon fire. We had lots of fun and the food could not have been better. We had giant marshmallows. It was funny watching Adam and Rick try and roast them. They were so huge they would not roast very good. Liam loved them. There was a ton of bats that came out at dark. Liam thought they were pretty cool. Good thing he does not know yet that you should be scared of bats.

Sunday we moved the last few things out of my house. Now I just have to go over there on Tue. and do a once over cleaning. Rick and I went for a 13 mile bike ride in the morning. It went a little better this time. Of course I am still way to slow!

Today I am going to the doctor for my yearly checkup that I am almost 2 years behind in. I figure I better go in now since I have completely fallen apart this year. Should probable make sure I have no other hidden problems. After all 2009 has been the year from hell for me for heath problems.

I better get going since I have to be in Faribault for the doctor at 12:15

Later Sharon

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

-Lance Armstrong

I have become a total Tour De France addict. I love watching it. When I first got home from my surgery and could do nothing I sat and watched it all day long. Some days I watched it three times a day because I would fall asleep and then when I woke up I would have to watch the parts I missed. I know I'm a little nuts!!! Thank God it is over tomorrow so I can get on with my life!

It was nice to go back to work this week. I cannot believe I said that, but it is true. Even if it was hard to get up at 4:00 and it is boring at work now because the students are gone, it was still nice to be back. I miss interacting with the people at work. Of course I only worked two days and now I am on my last 4 day weekend for a month.

The underground dog fence is going well. After a couple of ruff days the dogs are finally getting it. We had a day or so after they both got there first shock that we had to just about pull them off the step. But now they are both much better, as soon as they hear the beep they run away from the fence. It is so nice not the have to tie them up every time they go out.

Today I went for my first run!!!!! I only ran 1 1/2 miles. I decided I better stop before it hurts. It felt pretty good. My stomach was just a little sore after I ran. I am very happy to be out on the road again....one mile at a time!

Tonight we are going to Amy and Adam's house for supper and a camp fire. She is have us over because we gave them lots of stuff when I moved. It should be lots of fun.

I am putting off paying my bills right now so I guess I better end this and get to it.

Later Sharon

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mmmm...coffee and donut

This is my stomach 13 days after the surgery. It is looking much better. Rick said it looks like I was shot....he is so funny.
This morning I had to take my car in to have the cracked windshield fixed. I figured I better get it done before I go back to work. I had to have it there at 8:00 so I had to get out of bed early again! So since I was up and Rick had to pick me up at the glass place and bring me back home he stopped and got me coffee and a donut. It was soooo good. A good way to start out the morning.

I have not been up to a whole lot. Went to the fair on Sat. morning to watch the Strong Man event. It is always fun to watch. After that we got almost everything moved. I am so sick of moving. It was nice that I had a month to do it but it has been endless. The only thing left at my house is a bed, desk, chair, TV, my computer and my puzzle. Amy is taking the bed. Adam is going to help Rick move the rest of the stuff sometime this week. We hoped to have the downstairs done so we could hang the puzzle but that is not going to happen. So now we have to find somewhere to put it where it will not get broken. I am happy that I have so much more room now because just maybe I will be able to work on the rest of the puzzle now.

Lets see what did I do Sunday... Oh that's right I unpacked again. I got a lot done but am still not finished!!! We also put an underground fence for the dogs. Now I am trying to train them on it. It is a pain with two dogs because you have to do one at a time. So I put one in the kennel and take the other one out. I am pretty sure it is going to take forever.

Yesterday was one of those days. I was just so sick of unpacking and being at home that I had a hard time motivating myself to do anything. I did get a few things unpacked. In the morning I also went and had my hair cut and colored. I really needed the color, had way to much gray showing! At 5:30 we went over to Waterville and took the bikes out for a ride with Jese. We went 18 miles. I'm guessing I should have stopped at about 5 miles because my stomach hurt all night long. You have to use a lot of stomach muscles to bike. Oh well it felt good to do something physical even if I was mega slow. Poor Rick and Jese spent the whole night waiting for me.

It is back to work for me on Thur. I am ready to go back. I have not worked since June 30. That is so long. It is going to be hard to get back in the routine but I will be glad to get back in it.

I guess I have to unpack some more today.
Later Sharon

Fair

Josie was happy to be at the fair too

Liam is all tired out from the fair

RUN RUN RUN

Rick takes the dogs for a walk every morning at 5:30. He took this picture this morning.
I just found out that Amy, Christa and I got into the Twin Cities 10 mile race on Oct. 4th. I am excited since my stupid gallbladder stopped me from running the Grandma's half marathon. I should be able to run 10 miles by Oct.

So I have been busy, well as busy as my body will let me. I went back to the doctor on Tue. for my one week checkup. I asked the doctor about me being so a-typical. He said that I was because I was so infected and was feeling no pain. He said that is very unusual, I really should not even have been able to walk around. He said that because I was so fit before this all happened probable made all the difference. He said that athletes have more endorphins and that because of that it caused me to be able to tolerate that pain much better. I think I am just tuff!!!! The good news is he said that after two weeks I can try and start running. He said I have to take it slow, that if I run a mile and I start to hurt I have to walk back. Believe me I will because I don't want anything like this to happen again. He also said I do not have to wait 6 weeks to lift more the 10 pounds. Again I just have to take it slow. I am just super excited to be able to do anything.

Yesterday Amy and the kids and her new dog came over for a puppy play date. To bad Amy's puppy is not potty trained yet :( Christa also stopped over for a little while to visit. I got some laundry done and cleaned out the fridge to make room for the food in my fridge. Of course like always there is not really much food in my fridge. After the kids left I went to my house and packed some stuff up and moved some stuff over. Not much left to do. Rick and I are going to get the rest of the stuff on Sat. then I can clean the house up. Last night Rick and I went to the Waseca Fair. We just walked around a bit and watched the tractor pull. We were home by 8:30.

Today I am super tired, I think I may have done to much yesterday. I just got back from the fair again. Amy picked me up at 11:00 and we took Liam and Josie. Liam loved all the barns animals. Well everything but the pigs. He was scared of them last year and was again this year. As soon as we got in the pig barn he said he wanted to leave and go see the cows. It was pretty funny. Also when we went into the horse barn he said SCARY. But he at least still wanted to see the horses.

Now I am going to take my car to Waseca Glass and see about having my windshield replaced. It has a huge crack in it. Then tonight Rick and I are going back to the fair to watch my old neighbor Alix in the enduro race.

I will put some pictures of Liam and Josie at the fair tomorrow.

Later Sharon

Getting Better

I got the drainage tube taken out on Friday. Amy took me there. She said she had to come in and watch so her, Liam and Josie all got to watch the drainage tube get pulled out. It felt like someone punched me in the stomach when she pulled it out. It feels so much better now that it is gone. It was pretty funny when we went into the office. It was not the surgeon who took it out but a physician assistant. She came in and asked why the surgeon did not take the tube out on Thur. I told her I did not know he just said I had to keep it one more day. Then she looked at my chart and said "Oh your the one.... you are A-typical, you don't have a normal anatomy. I understand why he left it in you, he wanted to keep a close eye on you." So I guess they were all talking about me. It was pretty funny. I guess I may have been a little sicker then I thought. Oh well I am doing better now. Every day gets better. I am off the pain pills now I am just taking Tylenol.
Saturday was a busy day. Adam came over and helped Rick move some of my stuff over. I just watched. Then Saturday night was the big UFC night. There was lots of great fights. Jese came over and watched some of it. He brought his dog over. Dexter was afraid of it. It was pretty funny because Christa's and Jese's dog is about as big as a rat. Dexter just kept running away from it.
Sunday was another day of moving and unpacking. I just wish it was done. Amy helped me unpack the kitchen stuff. That helped a lot.
Today I am going to try and move a few things. Hard to do when you can only lift 10 pounds.
It is already 11:00 and I still have done nothing so I better get to it.
Later Sharon

goodbye kyle

It is a sad time for me and everyone in the Faribault Archery Club. On Thursday night while setting up a 3-D for the weekend Kyle Nardinger was killed. Kyle and several other FAC members were working on setting up targets when a dead tree fell on Kyle killing him. It was just one of those senseless things. Kyle was the nicest guy and will be missed by everyone. A few years ago I went on the FAC canoe trip and Kyle got stuck with me in his canoe. He was so nice to me and really did all the work since I had no idea what I was doing. He on the other had was an expert in a canoe. I had a great time thanks to Kyle. I feel lucky to have known him and I am going to miss him.

after the surgery

This is a couple pictures of my stomach with the drainage tube in.

Surgery

Well I survived the surgery. It did not go exactly like the doctor wanted. It should have taken an hour but it took him almost 2 hours. The gallbladder was so swelled up and infected that he had a hard time getting it out. Thank God he did not have to cut me open to get it. It was close to that. He said he did not know how I have been walking around with it so infected. He told Rick I must have a high tolerance for pain. The top picture is of the gallbladder before he took it out. He said it should be small and be the color blue. Not red and full of infection. To the right of the gallbladder is the bile duct. He also said that is about double the size it should be. Because the gallbladder was so infected he put in a drainage tube. I have to empty it every 8 hours or when it get full. It is pretty gross. I had to go back to the doctor this morning so he could look at it. He is making me keep it in one more day. So now I have to go back tomorrow morning and have it removed. I did not sleep very well last night because I have to sleep on my back so I don't mess up the tube. I will be glad when it is out. He also told me I cannot lift anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks. That is a long time. I guess I am going to get out of moving any heavy stuff! I am feeling pretty good. I am taking Percocet for the pain. It is pretty strong stuff. So far I have not had any ill effects from eating. I am taking it slow. I am going to try and eat some scrambled eggs later today. I am getting hungry so I am thinking that is a good sign. I was down to 96 pounds yesterday. So I have lost 7 pounds now. I hope to start gaining it back fast. The couch and a movie is calling my name.

Later

Sharon

Last Supper

I ran the race!!! Rick, Tim Fierke and I all ran the 5 mile race. Julie and Melissa Fierke walked it. Tim ran it great beating me by over a minute. I finished it in 44:53. Rick came in 4 minutes faster then he ran it last year. I was very happy to run it. It is the most I have ran since I got sick. It felt great. Really gets me all excited about running. After the race Ricks family came over to his house for lunch. The food was great and everyone had a great time. After we ate we went back to Clear Lake park and listened to the bands play for awhile. When everyone left Rick and I went to Menards to get flooring for the basement. We were just going to paint the floor but then we decided that we should just do it like we want to right away. So we got some laminate flooring.

Sunday was a busy day. We got 3/4 of the floor down. It looks so good. I am really glad we decided to do it. It is pretty easy to put down. Now we have to paint the walls and get the trim up. We are also going to do some changing in the last 1/4 of the room. We are taking out the carpet that is there and fixing a wall that use to have a fireplace on it. When that is done we will put the rest of the flooring down. It is going to look really good. I will put pictures up as we get it done. After we got the part of the floor done that we wanted to we started to put together the V-Core weight machine that we got. We traded in our two weight machines for this one. It is going together good. Before we starting putting the machine together I insisted that we go out to eat at the Mexican restaurant. I wanted to have one last good meal before my surgery. I was so glad I did as you will read next.

Monday I had to be at the hospital at 6:00 for my ERCP. Mom had to take me. She did not like having to get out of bed so early :) It all went well. The doctor took 4 more stones out of the bile duct. He also removed both stints. The bad news is I have to be on a liquid diet until my surgery. I was not to happy to hear that. He said yesterday I had to be on clear liquids and today I can be on a full liquid diet. That means I can eat stuff like cream of wheat and creams soups. Oh so good! He does not want me to eat real food because it is harder to digest and then more gall stones might move out of the gallbladder into the bile duct. If that happens it would not be good. I am pretty sure I am going to weight nothing when this is all done. I have to be on a liquid diet after the surgery too. I have to work my way back into real food as I can. Surgery is tomorrow. They are going to call me today and let me know what time it is. I sure hope it is in the morning.

I got the first statements from BlueCross insurance yesterday saying what they are going to pay for the start of my hospital bills. The ambulance ride cost $1924. I have to pay $250. of that. The hospital stay for 4 days was $22,253.94. I have to pay $2,142 of that. That bill does not include the doctor bill, or the bill for the Waseca emergency room or the bills for the CT scan or the bills for seeing the doctors on the 1st. Those will all be more. The bills will just keep rolling in. Thank God my surgery should all be covered as long as it is day surgery. I will be setting up a payment plan with the hospital.

Today I am going to try and get some more stuff moved. I wish I could just get it all moved and be done. I really hate moving.

I will try and update after the surgery to let you all know how it went.

Later Sharon

Happy 4th of July

Okay I know it is not the 4th today but I will be busy tomorrow. So Happy 4th of July a day early! I have been BUSY! Wed. night Rick and I took my weight machine apart and got it loaded into his trailer. We did it in only 45 minutes. Thursday started out with me going to see the surgeon. My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. I will not find out what time it is until Tuesday. While I was there he showed me more xray pictures of my stints. It is really cool looking at them. It is cool to think that the stints are inside me. He also had the blood test results that I had on Wednesday. He said that the lipase amount I have in my blood was 79. I guess normal count is 50. But he said he was not worried about it because I was a little high from the stint I have in my pancreas. Also when I had pancreatitis while I was in the hospital my count was 4000. So I think I will take the 79!
After the doctor I went back home took the dog for a walk and then loaded up the car with stuff to move to Ricks house. Dexter and I spent the day there putting stuff away. I also had to do my laundry there because I sold my washer and dryer on Wednesday. Rick had taken his weight machine apart in the morning before work so while I was there I carried all of it but the 3 huge pieces up stairs and out to the trailer. When he got home he had his neighbour come over and help him move the last pieces up. Then we were off to Mankato. We went to 2nd wind and traded our weight machines in for a new updated one. When we got back to Waseca we went to Walmart to get a few things for the 4th. We also tried to get some brown paint for the trim board in the bathroom. The girl tried to mix it 3 times and could not get it right. So after a half hour we gave up.
Today I am going to move more stuff. My goal is to have everything moved before I go back to work on July 23. That will give me a couple days to clean my house for the new owner.
Well I better get a move on it.
Later
Sharon

July can only get better then June....right???

So I had my appointment with my gastroenterolgy doctor. I am having my third ERCP on Monday to take the rest of the stones out of the bile duct and remove the stints. I cannot have the surgery on the same day. I am not very happy about that. While I was in the office he showed me pictures of the stones in the bile duct. You could see the scope and the duct in the Xray. The bile ducted was about double the size of the scope. He said it should be about half the size of the scope. So that is not good. It was so big because of the size of the stones. He kept saying that's a huge sucker. It was funny. He counted 4 stones in the bile duct alone. Who knows how many there is in the gallbladder. So after seeing him I had to go down to see the surgeon. Of course he was not there, he is in surgery all day. So now I have to go back tomorrow to see him. They will let me know tomorrow when the surgery will be. She thought it will most likely be on Wed. When I left the surgeons office I got to go to the lab and give some blood. Of course the lab tech could not find my vain. After poking around forever she finally gave up and went into another vain. I was not a happy camper by the time I left!
So now I am going to go for a run. It always makes me feel better.
Later Sharon