Back to Routine, Back to Crochet

I went back to work this week. I really hated seeing that one coming. However, I've been really fortunate. I've only had mild-moderate pain twice this week and I haven't had to take any more pain pills. I'm back to sleeping through the entire night. I guess being back into your daily routine really does help get your body functioning normally again. I've just been so exhausted this week! I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to sleep late Saturday and have a long weekend. Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!
While I was all laid up the past week or so with kidney stones I didn't really feel like crocheting all that much. I did manage to crochet a flower brooch...something fairly fast and super simple. Also, I managed to complete a fingerless glove but despite adding stitches and adding stitches it still felt too tight. I guess that may get tossed and as time allows maybe I'll start over with a larger hook. It's such a shame too because the glove turned out really pretty. I think I used 5 different colors...purple, green, brown, beige, and blue...which is very unBrandy like. Ah, oh well, hopefully one day I'll get back to it.
The plan now is do the Football Fever afghan for my husband. He's wanting it all specialized so I've had to do all kind of crazy graphs. This is one project that is probably going to take FOR-EVER because it requires my complete, undivided attention, which means it won't be a take along project. If you want to check out the afghan I'm talking about you can check it out on Ravelry. Here is a picture of someones finished afghan.
Then, the second massive undertaking I want to do is the Babette Blanket. It's an afghan comprised of 100 or more different sized granny squares and about 17 different colors. You can check it out on Ravelry too. (I would provide links but for some reason my computer is acting WHONKY!) Here's a picture of the Babette.
(I love that name! That's what we used to call my husbands aunt Annette before she passed away) That way I'll have an at home project and a carry along project. Also, I'll have an afghan for my husband and for myself. I don't plan on using those particular colors on the Babette though. I hope to use several shades of green, golds, and browns, or possibly fall colors. I haven't exactly decided yet. I'm still collecting yarn for the project and that will probably take awhile because, unfortunately, I can't afford to drop $70+ on yarn right now :-(
Oh well, just thought I would post my intentions on my blog sort of as a motivator. Afghans take a long time and I have a short attention span. Wish me luck!

Surgery

So, I had the surgery Tuesday morning. And IT SUCKED!! I was scheduled to be there at 6:00 a.m. and my surgery was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. in horrible pain and couldn't go back to sleep. I took a Lortab around 3:00 and eventually it kicked in and I dozed off to sleep around 4:00 sitting Indian style in my bedroom. I didn't have a clue what to expect from the surgery. No one had told me anything. I got wheeled back to the operating room where they hooked up my IV. Then I woke up in recovery with a terribly sore throat, shaking uncontrollably, and sore as a mother-duck. NO FUN!!! Anyway, after close to an hour in recovery I got to go home. The rest of the evening was much of the same...pain pills and water, pain and discomfort. They put a stint in to keep my passage way from swelling shut and to help the fragments from the kidney stone to pass. I went today to have the stint removed. THANK YOU GOD!! That stint was no fun either. The doctor said that the stone wasn't necessarily all that big but that it had 'hooks' all over it and that it had hooked on to my tubing or whatever and wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The rest of the stones in my kidneys he said were very small and I should pass those with little to no discomfort. I sure hope so. I don't want to have to go through this again!
So, anyway, that's that. Hopefully all that drama is over with. Looks like I'll be back at work on Monday. Now, what to do until then...
...I think I'll take a nap.

Same song just a different day

Well, yesterday was much of the same as New Years. I woke up around 7:45 a.m. hurting in my back and abdomen so I immediately took a pain killer and my nausea medicine. After about an hour or two and no relief we called the ER in Easley and they said there was nothing else they could do for me. They said they had already prescribed me the strongest pain killers possible. So, my mom called my urologist for me and spoke to the doctor on call. He told me to take another pain killer and to lay in a bath of hot water, and if that didn't help then to go to Greenville Memorial's ER. I did both and still had no relief. Rolled around in the bed, on the couch, and on the floor and none of the 3 helped so finally around 11:30 we headed off to Memorial. I ended up spending about 4-5 hours there. They gave me Dilaudid as a pain killer and I had an allergic reaction to it so they ended up putting me on oxygen. Honestly, that freaked me out a little bit. Anyway, it got rid of my pain so that's all that really mattered, to me at the time. They gave me 2 IV bags full of fluid to try to flush the stone out, but I've had no such luck with that. My pain was under control the rest of the evening. I decided (like a big dummy) to go into work today. Right around 10:30-11:00 the pain kicked in, I couldn't use the bathroom at all, and my right side started swelling so I left and drove to my urologist. There, I took some more pain medication :-) and got scheduled for surgery in the morning. The doctor said that I should have passed the stone by now but since I hadn't he's going to go in and bust it up with a laser. Unfortunately, I think he's only busting the one stone that's stuck in my passage and not the other 5 of them camping out in my kidney's. I guess I'll know more in the morning...this was kind of last minute.
Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know. I really hate missing work and I really hate surgery's. So, say a prayer for me. Hopefully, this will get everything under control and back to normal.

What a way to ring in the New Year

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of New Years Eve. It requires me to stay up way past my bed time. It's not really a big deal to me if I actually see the New Year in or not. I'd prefer to wake up to it-at a time of my choosing. But, everyone else celebrates it and I'd hate to be a real downer so I go along with it. I'll admit, this year wasn't so bad. Spent most of the evening crocheting, watching bowl games, and playing dominoes. Not exactly a wild crazy party like some may expect of me...Ah, who am I kidding, no one expects that of me...but it was fun none the less. Of course we watched the ball drop on TV then went back to the dominoes.
I guess I finally got in bed a little after 2 a.m. I woke up about 4 hours later with an awful stabbing pain a couple of inches beneath my belly button so I got up, walked around a bit, and used the restroom. I was guessing it was probably a kidney infection and planned on calling the doctor on Friday. Even though I was still hurting I went back to bed and eventually fell back to sleep. I woke up 2 hours later with the same pain, plus the most HORRIBLE, INDESCRIBABLE pain that started at my belly button and wrapped all the way around my right side to the middle of my back. I knew right then-it was a kidney stone-waaaaaaaaay worse than the 'gravel' I had passed a few weeks before. I ended up accidentally waking my husband up when I almost fell over our puppy gate trying to get back into bed. I guess it's a good thing though because I would have never intentionally woke him. He's had kidney stones before so he asked if I wanted to go to the ER and like a idiot I told him no. I thought I could ride it out. So, he went ahead and got in the shower. I quickly changed my mind. As soon as he got out we headed for the ER. The Lord blessed me in the rare fact that there was no one else in the ER so I got to go straight back to a room. I guess we got there around 9-9:30. I took a nausea drug, a slow acting pain medication, and a fast acting medication. Whew, it was wonderful. I had a CT scan done and it revealed that I had 4 kidney stones in my right kidney, 1 in my left, and 1 on the way. Finally, at about 1:00 we were released but not before I got some more nausea and pain medication...OH, and some antibiotics for the kidney infection that I ALSO HAVE!!
Needless to say I slept the entire day and missed the Clemson bowl game...what a crock. I took some more pain medication before I went to bed...HEY, I had to. I was in pain. As of now, I still have no passed the stone. I don't know what the heck is going on. Anyway, I go back to my urologist on Monday so we'll see what he recommends; probably nothing.
Sooooooooooooooo, Happy New Year to me! That's okay though, I'm still trying to be positive even though my medical deductible hasn't been met yet and my husbands truck ended up in the shop...Things are really looking up! STAYING POSITIVE!
I did get my hair cut today though!