Addendum to the Addendum...

Anyone want to trade places with me right now? Please?! Haha. Well, first off, Josh got his lovely stitches out, Whoohoo! I have to say, the stitches actually going in were easier than the stitches coming out! Seriously! Several of them were extremly tight and a few had skin overgrown on them. Poor guy, he cried and wanted to run! He had begged me previously to do it but I'm so glad we hadn't...I would have had to take him in after starting the whole procedure and admit to playing nurse! I'm just glad it wasn't me making him cry in the end...





And for the last "addendem" (the BIG one anyway), well....here's a few pics that speak volumes about how I feel right now...






See this nice spacious room? Looks kinda like a maternity suite, doesn't it? And no, my daughter on the bed is NOT having a baby (nor she better anytime soon, I think my brain would officially call it quits). But if you look on the "couch" to the right, there's a man laying there (and NO, he isn't in labor) and this is not a maternity suite. This is.....






If you haven't seen the insides of the new rooms at the Kaiser Hospital in Brentwood/Antioch, Mark can show you around! They are not only spacious, they are private AND have plasma screen T.V's with cable! (we don't have cable at home so we go to hospital's to watch). He felt he should keep his tour going of all emergency and hospital rooms, we'll soon be writing a book about how they each rate, just like hotel's. We are quite qualified with much experience, we feel it will help others out immensly in choosing which hospital they'd rather stay at and recieve optimal care.

If you aren't detecting sarcasm, well, then you need my life. haha. Yes, Mark really is in the hospital and NO, we aren't their just to watch TV. I would LOVE to tell you why he is there but we are honestly still trying to figure that one out. Kaiser hasn't changed much in the "doing" sense, so we are REALLY REALLY missing our Pittsburgh doctors right now! Mark is hopefully due to get out tomorrow morning(a deal he talked the doctors into) granted he keeps food down with no accompanying pain. He will do remaining tests on an out patient basis if he does get out. Oh, and why we went in? Mark started having pains a few days ago(much like the ones back in June when things started to go south again) but at about 2am Friday morning it became extreme, he started running a fever, he threw up, and I took him in. He's gotten LOTS of pain meds (dilodid, his fav.) and now he's dying to get out since they aren't doing anything. Same old story...so, the offer is out there...anyone want to trade lives with me? Huh, huh? Just for one day?! J/K I honestly wouldn't for the world. I would just like to go to bed...so...Good night!

PS! I almost forgot! After several months of job searching with no luck whatsoever, I finally got one(!!!) and started on Thursday...only to call in sick on Friday(the day Mark went in), and got a call on Friday from another company for an interview. Isn't life ironic? Don't ya think?
PPSS HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be sharing hospital food with Mark, aren't we SOOOO romantic?!! Lol

He is NOT a Rocket Scientist...But He Thinks He Is!

I'm starting to realize how very good I am NOT at this blogging thing! I enjoy blogging to an extent (I finally admit it). I just wish I had the energy/time to keep it going. If I wasn't spending 4-6 hours a day job searching/posting, I might like my computer a little more :) So, here goes the update for the month...

I'm thinking Mark thinks he is a rocket scientist or that because he is a science teacher this somehow entitles him to "experiments"...yet they aren't ones that take place IN the classroom and sometimes he isn't even trying, it just happens! But he MUST do these things just the same. For instance, while camping with friends in March, Mark got wind that they had dry ice in their cooler. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Mark pulled out pieces of dry ice and got some empty water bottles because he wanted to try and make a dry ice bomb (and because I don't want other "children onlookers" to know, I'll leave out the "how-to" part). All the kids were surrounded and going nuts with anticipation. Not only did it work, IT WAS LOUD! And the kids LOVED it, couldn't wait for Mark to do another. Mind you, one of these kids IS a student of his...I thought it wasn't the best idea. But, Mark wanted to do another just to see if he could make it louder. Of course he suceeded. While it did detroy the bottle into twisted plastic, nothing catastrophic happened (although admittedly I thought something would!)
Later on Mark was cooking when suddenly the stove caught fire. The flame started creeping down the pipe towards the propane tank! While I blew furiously to try and keep the flame from making it's way down the pipe, Mark madly unscrewed the propane and the fire was out. So like I said, whether or not we plan these types of things, they happen to us. I couldn't help but think our campground could have become "a rocket". Here's some fun pics of the trip...we had a blast!!









Well, I'll have to post the other things later...as usually, something came up! That's our crazy life for now!

Medical Blah blah blah's

So we have actually been technically "medically free" since we have been home (I don't count getting blood drawn each week). Yes, we've had the occasional follow up appointments, but nothing serious, which is great! It's funny that about mid February it hit both Mark and I at seperate times:

...something is missing? No...something is different....there's a void...no....it's not quite a void...what the heck is it?.....

And the lightbulb turned on. We haven't had any major hospital trips! Now, why this may sound silly, for us it took a few months of "regular life" to actually see what we were missing! Aaaahhh, the peacefulness! :)

But that kind of ended in the past 2 days. ALTHOUGH! I can say I'll take these events WAY over any of the others this summer...and really...I'm not complaining. It's actually nice to have different medical things. I think there's something wrong with me :)

Anyhoo, to the point. Last Friday I was handed a note from the elementary office saying Josh failed the hearing test, his left ear only. I wasn't surprised and even chuckled since he's had this hearing loss since before Kindergarten and somehow he slipped through (previous ear injury). Although, it makes me think that maybe in those past tests Josh just raised his hand randomly, not really sure what to do, and got most of "them" right. Kind of like I did in middle school taking tests on the scan trons and filling in the bubbles randomly, sometimes I actually did ok! Anyway, it would so be a Josh thing to do :) Ok, so back to the story. The school requires you to visit the doctor to resolve the matter and we were overdue for a visit for his ear anyway. Now, the last visit (before Kindergarten) I left steaming mad due to what I felt was the doctor brushing me off. He said there wasn't anything they could do yet, surgery would only be done when he was probably around 10 years old. Until then (!!!!) Josh wouldn't be able to submerge his head under water at all! And sadly but not surprising my irritation got the better of me and I said sarcastically to the doctor "So, your telling me I'm going to have the only 10 year old who doesn't know how to swim because of a hole in his ear drum?" I thought it was kind of ridiculous that he wouldn't do the surgery. Now, in hind sight I feel like an idiot because knowing Josh's demeanor, there is wisdom in that advice; it takes an extremly compliant child for the recovery. And as some know, Josh can't even handle a que-tip swabbing his cheek without 3 doctors holding him down and him screaming madly as if they were sticking needles in his eyes!! And the maintenance after the surgery is vital and I know Josh wouldn't do it.

Ok...I'm getting sidetracked again. SO this time..the doctor came in, examined, with Josh being the most bravest yet in history and not even crying(!!!WHOOHOO!!!!) and delivered what I was expecting to be the same old story. Not so much. Josh developed scar tissue, the hole is bigger(?) and possibly two of the small bones that vibrate may be damaged. The doctor said "You'll either need to have surgery or..." Josh was hanging on that or..."You will need to get a hearing aid..." and Josh interjected "Hearing aid! I just need that, no surgery!" And the doctor then finished saying "And then we'll do the surgery when he's a little older". Josh's whole body slumped and he gave me the sad/scared eyes. What's funny is this surgery could be YEARS away and he will worry and talk about it until the day it happens...which will DRIVE ME CRAZY! I do sound like an unsympathtic mom but in my slight defense Josh is quite the melodramatic kid which can be exhausting! So, we will have another hearing test next week and make some decisions, all the while I will be talking with Josh about ALL the pro's and con's of each. He seems to understand those things at least!

Ok, one more medical mishap :) It's quick. Last week Mark came in from the garage saying "Uh, hey Jen? I think I need stitches". Mark had stabbed his finger while making Josh's pinewood derby. After taping it up really good, he decide not to go in and it healed nicely. So, today ........ I'm in a HUGE hurry, just getting home from doing a sidejob .....we are supposed to be leaving for Reno in a few hours for my cousins wedding. But because of a misunderstanding among scouting leaders who were out backpacking with the scouts, Mark and I needed to find a 3rd person, drive out to the beginning of the backpacking trail where they left the cars, and move them to another city where they would be ending up tomorrow. It was 4:30pm, the park gates close around 7pm (it takes a little over an hour to get there) and we aren't packed to be leaving for our Reno trip whatsoever. And where did I find Mark when I got home? In the garage fiddling with Josh's RC airplane. I was very proud of myself keeping my composure (haha), not even freaking out that we still needed to find another driver! I went inside for 3 seconds, went back outside to ask Mark to start finishing up. And a few moments before, he had finally gotten the motor/prop started for the first time, and I started to say something. Mark turned around and looked at me with a pale face and said "Uh, Jen...I need to go to the ER, I need to get stiches." (WHAT?!?!?!?) So I calmly went over to look thinking he said this last time and he was fine. Hmm, not so much this time. He got his pinky in the way and it sliced it three times right down the side...it was gross! And because he's on blood thinners, it was bleeding all over the place. So I got him some paper towels and sent him off to the Urgent Care. Now, I did find 2 other people to help move the cars after frantically calling all around, we got there with about 2 minutes to spare before they closed the gates. Mark was luckier, he went in, they superglued it and he was home within an hour! Argh! Oh well, at least it wasn't a weeklong stay this time (ha ha). We can be grateful for that :)