Manic Monday

Do you know there are about 10 songs written with Monday in the title?  Last week was Rainy Days and Mondays.  Today is Manic Monday...little known fact, but Prince wrote the song for the Bangles to record.

Yesterday, Bill and I had the absolute treat of being in Bowling Green, KY to watch Music City Mystique perform at the Mid-South Regionals of WGI.  We had the added benefit of being able to spend the day with Bill's sister, Marj and her husband Tom (they live in Louisville and came down for the day).

MCM won first at the preliminary on Saturday and first on Sunday for their group level, which is Independent Percussion World.  SO EXCITING!  This puts them in very good status for winning at the World Championships in Dayton in April.

Here's a video of the show from Sunday:  Music City Mystique 2015

The only downside to Sunday was that I was feeling feverish and achy.  I got it under control for the most part by spacing out Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  BUT, I realized I had some swelling around the incision where the lymph nodes were taken out.  So, Bill let me rest on the drive home.  Swelling was worse Sunday night and more so on Monday morning.  I made an appointment with the surgeon this afternoon.  He is based out of Brookwood, but apparently does surgeries and clinics at St. Vincent's as well, so today was St. Vincent's day.  The swelling looked even worse after I called for the appointment, so Bill and I decided to go early to check with the nurse that I was going to survive this  (we started thinking about the last surgery I had; the site got infected and I was put back in the hospital for 3 days).  By the time the doctor got to me, he did an ultrasound and said, yes, there's lots and lots and lots of fluid in there.  He inserted a drain that he described alike a straw. Not to be too gross, because it sounds gross and it is gross, he drained off quite a bit.  The drain will stay in til he removes it next week.  I also got an antibiotic that I have already started.  He said he was surprised I didn't feel worse (my mama didn't raise a whiner!).

Another interesting fact...because some drainage had gotten on the table, by the time we walked out of the office, two guys had come (from maintenance? from the "OMG it's an infection" office?) and were taking the table OUT.  Don't know if they were going to disinfect it or throw it away!

Soooooo while we were waiting to pick up the antibiotic (here's the reminder to say the VESTAVIA Rite-Aid, VESTAVIA please, because if you say just say Vestavia Rite-Aid on 31, they will definitely send it to Hoover), Bill got the call from his doc's office with results from last week's MRI.  His gallbladder needs to be removed!  Apparently, the MRI showed some gallstones, so it's pretty clear having it removed is the best option.  We have a couple of weeks to get that scheduled, and it will be done on an outpatient basis, laparoscopically.  It's a very common procedure, but the timing adds more stress to Bill's already stressful life!

However, we have Ben home this week, as it's JSU's spring break week.  He's getting some observation hours done at VHHS, with Mr. Horton.  He enjoyed his day today, and will be there several more times this week.

Still planning on starting treatment Wednesday morning.  I still haven't watched the video that the educator sent me, but I will get that done in the next hour.

Here's hoping that next Monday isn't worthy of another Monday song!
Denise

PS:  (Can you do a PS on a blog?)  I had a great conversation with one of my retired Bham City School peeps...I had to miss a lunch gathering last week, so she was bringing me up to date.  She said one of the things they did at their gathering was to talk to each other about what their preferences might be if they got sick or incapacitated.  Preferences such as:  how would you want to communicate (text/phone/email, etc.), what's your husband's phone contact and can we call him?, would you want to be visited in the hospital or would you want us to wait til you got home, etc.  I thought it was so great to have that conversation with your small group of friends so you would have a hint of how to move forward and act.  Also, here's a reminder to GET YOUR WILL and HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE updated and signed!  We did ours last week, and it's a relief to know that it's in place.  It's not morbidity, it's common sense.

By the way, PLEASE text or email! It would be fine to check in with me, and even to say that you would like talk if I have the energy or time!