Click here to watch The Vagabond Opera

...or their song, Ravella

You haven't lived until you've heard nine cellos play "Sweet Child of Mine." ...Followed by a lovely Vivaldi number.














Valentine's was filled with sparkles, a handlebar 'stached accordian player, a professional hula-hooper, and music that might be described as The Decemberists on Vaudevillian LSD. Also, about 12 cellos. I lost count.


















I felt like I was getting a fair share of both culture and freak show. And I am totally stoked that I could do both at the same time.

Thank you, Vagabond Opera! And your cello guests! And Libby for the suggestion!

My wonderful day with Hubby

Today we drove over to Cannon Beach.











It was chilly, a little damp, and overcast, but the beach was still peaceful.










We ate at Mo's. James has never been there so I had to take him.











I had clam chowder and fish and chips, and he had the slumgullion. Slumgullion!









Then we went to Cloverfield. We both really enjoyed it. Go see it--I don't think it would have the same effect on your average tv.

Oh, and I didn't take any of these pictures. Especially that last one. My camera battery is dead (alas).

Behold! The Mighty Arm of Skunkie!

This afternoon I took advantage of my iTunes gift card and purchased three albums. I've owned the first two before, but lost them long ago... and it was about time I replaced them! For those of you not familiar with James or Pink Martini, your life is incomplete. And who doesn't like a little electronica?

Wrapping it up.

What's 18 inches shorter, 10 pounds lighter, and ate a WHOLE CHEESE SANDWICH today?

Yay! Me!

I've finally updated my links, by the way. I feel like a bad friend when I follow the links on someone else's blog and find a link to my own. There are plenty of blogs I follow, but have been too lazy to change my template... and I figure, hey, it's the new year, I'm starting from scratch, I should really do SOMETHING productive with the time I'm spending not napping on the couch. How I will survive the next two weeks is beyond me. Hubby and I have already talked about how I'm going to want to go back to work too soon, and I really need to take it easy... funny how when you're in the middle of work all you want is rest, but once you get it, you go crazy. At least for me.

Anybody have any good new year's res's? I know I already posted mine, but this year seems especially "new." I hope I don't botch this one up.

Sprung!

I'm outta that joint!

No more IV tubing sticking out of my neckmeat.

Skunkie slept on my chest all night long. He usually doesn't do that. I think he missed me almost as much as James did.

Still here

Well, I'm still in the hospital. The doctor said hopefully Friday or Saturday I'll be able to go home. That'll be the 2-week mark.

I did end up getting that headache, and I've spent the last couple of days laying down as flat as I can. This kind of headache doesn't respond to any kind of pain medication, even migraine stuff. Fortunately, the anti-nausea meds they've been giving me also make me super sleepy, so I've been knocked out for most of that. Yesterday I think I slept 21 hours. Highlights: I can now eat jello, and I can pee without anyone else's help. It's the little things that keep me going.

New Year's resolutions, in no particular order:
*Do yoga at least three times a week. I mean it this time.
*Plan ahead
*Take deep breaths
*Appreciate Hubby more
*Get down to 158 lbs

Surgery Updateowel

This is James. Because I'm such a leet haxxor, I am updating you from Aud's blog.

Aud went in for surgery at 5ish, was out into recovery at 830 or so. They removed about 18 inches of her bowel, pretty much what they were expecting to have to do. There were no surgical complications, and the surgeon said she responded well. The anestheia doc said there was a problems when he went to do her epidural, and that he punctured the sac in her spinal column, essentially giving her a spinal instead of an epidural. There is the possibility for a nasty headache for the next 4-5 days, but there may not even be that, and keeping Aud on her back will help that. I know Aud would LOVE visitors, but I don't know when is a good time to start, I imagine starting tomorrow would be fine, but your results may vary. She's at Meridian Park Hospital in Tualatin, by the way.

Today

Thank you, Hubby, for the totally rad Christmas present--the iPod Nano Video! Mine's green and pretty. It has lots of music in it. Now it just needs a name! I'm going to figure out how to put my pictures on it and make an audio slideshow.

Today at 5 I'm going in to surgery. Most of my abscess is gone, and the doctors aren't too worried about my friend Santa (even though he's alive and kicking, and located between the layers of tissue by my skin and fat). They'll take out between 12 and 18 inches of small intestine, and possibly part of my large.

Bumped up *edited*

My abscess is a bit worse than they thought, and as of Christmas Eve, I've developed another one 6-8 inches away from abscess #1. I've named this new one Santa, since he came on Christmas Eve AND because "Santa" is an acronym for "Satan." He's located above my right hip, and he's big and red and swollen and very warm to the touch. We also found out that he's made up (at least partially) of some sort of staphylococcus species. I'm taking a look at my lab reports from this morning (they did a culture of some of the gunk that came out of my abscess) and I've got:
*Light growth Klebsiella pneumoniae
*Heavy growth Presumptive Streptococcus anginosus group
*Heavy grown Staphylococcus species, coagulase negative
*Scant growth Bacteriodes fragilis

Don't worry, the staph is the kind that can be treated by normal IV antibiotics. It's just not the right kind to be treated with the Cipro and Flagyl I've been taking for everything else. But let me tell you, it was NOT the thing I wanted to be freaked out about at 3 AM on Christmas morning, when I had woken up and seen it in the mirror. The nurse was so kind to me, though.

Tomorrow I'll have another CT scan to determine how big this thing is, if the swelling's gone down at all, and if Santa has gotten any smaller. One of the nurses drew a line around it tonight with a surgical pen so we can see exactly how it changes. If it's getting bigger, we operate Thursday or Friday. If it's getting better, I think we wait another 10 days, and THEN operate.

In other news, Christmas was more cheerful than I thought a Christmas in a hospital could be! Pat and Libby are still here, and we've been watching "Lost" and playing Hand and Foot. Hubby has been here, and he next the next few days off so it was wonderful for him to stay here until late last night holding my hand and vegging out. The Wrights came by and we had a quick Christmas get-together, shortly joined by both my doctor (who brought me a cute gift and a card! so sweet!), one of the surgeons, and a nurse or two. And of course I've spoken to the fam in NY, and I got to talk to my grandma last night as well. Being in the hospital at this time of year has made me (and James) realize just how far away from personal the holidays can seem, and we've made a resolution to change our ways in future Christmases/birthdays. It's about relationships, you know? And too many people try to maintain those relationships by annual giving-of-the-perfect gift, and there's so much pressure, and the amount spent is always an issue, and everybody gets stressed out, yadda yadda. I was forced this year to forgo Christmas shopping, and instead, I talked to a lot of people. True, I got many dismissals from said shopping, but wouldn't it be nice if everybody got that dismissal? Wouldn't it be cool if no presents was genuinely the expectation? Hmmm... Maybe I'm just a grinch.

Oh, we've also become official celebrators of "Festivus." I have the perfect Festivus pole, even! It's on wheels!

Third Time's a Charm?

I'm back in the hospital again. Ugh!

New symptoms, in addition to the old ones. Also, a urinary tract infection to boot. What is wrong with me?!?!

Warning: I include gross details. My inhibitions have all but vanished and now I don't really care who knows all the disgusting things going on with my body. But if YOU care if you know, then proceed with caution!

My test on Monday showed very little inflamation, and a small linear lesion (what was left of the original) in my intestinal lining, but no abcess. Basically, I looked almost normal. However, sometime in the three days AFTER the test I developed the UTI and an abcess--painfully squooshing other organs out of the way and settling in the lining next to my abdominal muscles. Also, they found that it is, indeed, a fistulating abcess (look it up; it's gross), and that the little bugger is attempting to eat through my muscles all the way to my skin. Translation: PAINFUL. I spent Thursday night awkwardly propped up on the couch, paralyzed with pain. So, Friday I came back here. I'm actually glad they found the abcess, because now they'll actually DO something about it.

The plan: today, they will drain the abcess (the most painful experience I've ever had, when they did it 6 years ago--you have to be awake when they do it). They'll leave the tubes in for two weeks, and if there's no more infection, they plan to go ahead and remove all the infected intestines. The surgeon said he'll try to do it laproscopically, but operating on Crohn's patients is a tricky business, and they might have to open me all the way up. Also, he doesn't know yet if they will remove only the ilium or also part of the large intestine.

The surgery is pretty simple, but I'll have to be on steriods for quite a while after, and that increases the chance that there will be a leak and a consequential infection. However, if all goes well, it will probably mean years Crohn's free, which appeals. After the surgery, if I'm recovering well, I'd stay in the hospital for about 5 days, and the doctor recommends I stay home for another two weeks after that. If everything goes as planned, this would mean that I'd go back to school right at the start of the next semester.

Looks like it will be longer than I expected before I can have that cheeseburger I've been craving!

I've been getting lots of support, thank you. Gage and Jessica stopped by last night, as did my boss (principal) Laurie, laden with gifts from school. My heart just melted when I got a present from one of the "troublemakers"! And my principal is so so so supportive--we chatted for quite a while, she feels more like a friend than a boss. She got me a beautiful wrap/shawl. And we're making arrangements for a long-term sub for the rest of January. Oh, and she brought me my laptop (obviously, I guess).

I'm rambling. Sorry. Guests are MORE than welcome, and if anybody comes after this afternoon you'll probably get the pleasure of seeing my new tubing. I remember last time I had one I named her "Cathy the Catheter." Hopefully, I'll be out of here before Christmas!

Just some randomness

Click here to go to one of my favorite new blogs!

Aaaaachh!

So, my car is now in the shop. I think it's the fuel pump or some other fuel-ish gizmo that's gummed up, so no biggie, but it took some creative driving to get myself to work this morning (it started acting weird halfway there). Fortunately, I have some kind coworkers to give me rides until it's fixed.

Let's start taking bets on what ELSE could happen before Christmas, shall we? sheesh!

Body odor and Pac-Man

Teaching was interesting this week. (I went in on Thursday and Friday.) The kids didn't know why I was sick, as the rest of the MACA crew wasn't sure how much I wanted to be known. I figured the best way to explain Crohn's was through a Pac-Man analogy. Too bad I don't actually make the sound effects.

To be honest, being at school was hard. I was really glad to be back with the students (I really did miss them, even the snotty ones) and doing normal things again. But I'm tired, and achy, and the medicine makes me feel nauseas all the time. One of the few things that I can tolerate eating are those little colored/flavored mini-marshmallows, so I have a bag of those at my desk, and the students try to bum them off me all the time. Rubia convinced me to let her try one, and her face was priceless--not her cup of tea! One question I got from all the classes--"Is it contagious?" Once that was asked, 28 nervous little pairs of eyes pleaded at me from their desks... I was tempted a couple times to say yes, and you can get it simply by touching the same piece of paper, and then handing back old assignments. I figured the concerned parent calls wouldn't be worth it, though. So I satisfied my need for humor by convincing students to do silly things. Yesterday, Hayden did an interpretive dance at the front of the class, demonstrating a type of volcano. And I got all the guys in my math class to give a group hug to the "tough" guy. The squeals of "Stop! Stop! The BO!" was enough to last me for hours.

Thank you, everybody, for your concern and support and for checking up on me. It's helped me to keep a positive perspective and a sense of humor. Hubby has been gracious and helpful, and I'm so glad that both times I've had a flare-up, I've always gotten the support I need.

Update

So, here I am. For the SNCP, this will look familiar--of course, sans speeding ticket for Blair. For my PDX peeps, this is new.

It's been six years (almost exactly) since my last (and first) Crohn's flare-up, so I'm pretty lucky. But I'm still full of uncertainty about what this means long-term for me. When is solid food in my future? Oh cheesburger, I long for you!

I include this picture not to induce sympathy, but jealousy. See the tubes feeding me? That means that finally I can be lazier than my stomach. See the green thing on a stick? That's not a lollypop, but a delicious sponge! So that when my mouth gets dry, I can quench my thirst without all that bothersome swallowing. Notice the stylish mitts? It's like I'm a boxer!

This was taken yesterday, and fortunately they've graduated me from the hellish "Total Bowel Rest" to the mere torture that is "Clear liquids." I tell you, there are more food commercials on TV in the hospital. I actually DREAMED about food last night.

For those of you who may be totally confused about what's going on, here's a short description. Those of you wanting the more disgusting details can email, I guess, or call James, as my left hand is out of commission currently, and hunt-n-peck is getting tedious.

Crohn's is a glamorous disease where you immune system thinks your intestines are foreign, and subsequently attacks them. This leads to all sorts of nastiness, like hospital food. My doctors have me ingesting (through the veins or the mouth): two antibiotics, Potassioum, Saline, steroids, immunosuppressants, and immunomodulators. They're saving the mouse rDNA for later. Also, much jello.

No fruitcake, alas.

Good vibes

Please send me some of your good thoughts--

I'm not getting any better.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Fruitcake

This year, I tried especially hard to get back to my roots for the holidays. I, like Paul, have reservations about what the holidays have become. I abhor chintzy decorations, cheesy versions of holiday songs, and marquise lighting. So, last Sunday, I called me mum and asked for the traditional Fruit Cake recipe. Shunned and welcomed in equal measure in our family, the Fruit Cake has been passed down for more than four generations. The original recipe calls for ingredients that aren't readily available in most grocery stores. Fortunately for me, Crisco makes an adequate substitute for lard.
So, I began preparing said Fruit Cake on Sunday afternoon. This was a long process and involved many kitchen utensils and bowls. Great-great Grandma's kitchen must have been bigger than mine. You must understand, I was very excited about this Fruit Cake. That's why it's capitalized.

What I should mention right about now is that for the last few hours, I had been developing quite a pain in my abdomen--and the same type of pain that I had felt six years ago when I was in the hospital.
As I was nearing the moment when dry ingredients met wet, I doubled over in pain and said to James, "I think I need to go to the hospital." So off we went.

And so I stayed until Tuesday afternoon, after convincing the doctor that I was feeling well enough to go home. First meal after days of jello and beef broth? Grilled cheese and tomato soup. And Ben&Jerry's.












This was after two doses of Demerol, innumerable doses of Dilaudid (and several accompanying stupors, many of which were admittedly welcomed), steroids, four bags of antibiotics, and many many bags of Saline.











And a CT scan. With IV contrast AND watery drink contrast. And many doctors asking me if I'm allergic to any drugs (how many times do they need me to say "morphine"?).


I was dreading the thought of another sick holiday. It seems that every Thanksgiving, Christmas, or both, I'm sick with something.

...so James and I went to the Fred Meyer pharmacy to pick up my four new prescriptions (no avoiding the steroids this time... but at least they're giving me a bottle of Vicodin). As we were waiting, we strolled down to the furniture section to take advantage of a cuddle-friendly loveseat. Unfortunately, it was also located right in front of and facing the holiday decorations. Chintzy decorations, cheesy versions of holiday songs, and marquise lighting greeted us from kitty-corner. A million Santas waved to us. And James and I began wondering when the whole Santa-brings-us-toys-thing began. Early 20th century? I think we both agree that Santa represents commercialism and nothing more, and that we want our kids (wherever they may be at present time) to know traditional holiday stories and avoid the Christmas that we have today. I would love to talk about St. Nicholas. I would love to make traditional tree decorations (round orange slices dried and strung through, beads, cranberries and popcorn strings).

And I would love to make Fruit Cake.

Quarter Update

So, my quarter semester grades have been entered, parent conferences scheduled for next week, tests taken and new projects began. I can't believe we're already 1/4 the way finished--it feels like the school year just began.

One change that has made a HUGE difference in my day is the switch from teaching Photography to Psychology. One of the big things they wanted to learn in Psych was how to manipulate people (yeah right), so I gave them a good dose of it. Thanks to Paul's help with finding Forer's Personality test, I hooked the students on day 1. They took the personality test (I made sure to make it sound super-official) and I gave them the results the next day--but of course, they all got the same "analysis." Most of them thought it accurately described them, and they took it very seriously. Then they were appalled when I read the analysis out loud and asked who thought it sounded familiar--and all their hands went up. Hilarity ensued. And a good discussion of subjective validation, Clever Hans, and the observer-expectancy effect. It was nice to have an actual discussion with students who are genuinely interested... and even when there's a lot of chatting in the classroom, they're talking about the subject. Hallelujah! It's a nice way to end the day. Students stay after the bell to ask follow-up questions.

My favorite mini-victory: many students in that class are failing all others. The pot-heads, the apathy kids, the anarchy kids, the I-want-to-rebel-for-the-sake-of-rebelling kids. And those are the kids who raise their hands the most and offer the most insightful and intelligent comments. I love it. Now I really have something to look forward to during my day.

New Post

My doctor told me this morning that she wants me to quit eating chocolate.

My tests were all pretty inconclusive, so she wants me to have a caffeine-free diet for a while and see if my PVCs (Premature ventricular complexes) get any better. Other than that, she says my heart seems great.

In other news: It was nice to take the day off. I needed that. And Friday, it's a "grading day" so... no students! And no school on Monday (happy early Anniversary, Hubby!)! I can't believe the school year is already 1/4 done. The past 9 weeks have FLOWN by! And I've really got to start planning my Psychology class, as it starts next week. Gulp! I'm excited, really.

Fuzzy pink slippers have become one of my new best friends.

And I finally broke out the oil paint set that Hubby gave me (almost a year ago, he was quick to add). To be honest, I'm very intimidated by oils.

Skunkie is as affectionate as ever. He slept in the crook of my arm last night.

School has kind of hit a low with me, and I've responded by developing a thick skin of apathy. I don't want to become one of those teachers.