Many Helpers

http://gregburdine.com/

I am so thankful for the many people who helped me when I was in the hospital and a little bit after I was released.
As soon as I found out that I was going to be admitted to the hospital, all I could think of was making sure the kids were taken care of. One of the first calls I made was to my kids' dad. He agreed to to pick up the kids from school, take Sean and Noel to their concert and record it, and take the kids home with him for the night (I called them in to school to dismiss them for a family emergency the next day). The following day, he printed up the papers need to sign the boys up for scout camp and to them to their scheduled appointments. The best part was he brought the kids to see me when he stopped by to get their insurance cards. He kept them one more night and dropped Eric off at a friend's birthday party and dropped of the other kids at home. He didn't have to agree to do any of this. He wasn't even going to have them this weekend, but he did it any way.
Another person I called right after being told I was not going home right away was my mother-in-law. I was pretty sure that Chad would not have been able to leave work to be with me since he had only been working at that job for about a week and a half. My mother-in-law is a nurse, and I felt like she would bee able to be my advocate if need be. She and my father-in-law came down as quick as they could. They also came down the following day and were there for me when I was taken to surgery and when I was brought back from recovery. I was nice that I didn't have to be alone.
After my husbands parents came to the hospital, I asked my father-in-law for a blessing. He agreed and asked me to find a second person for the blessing. I called the Tandbergs. Not only did he agree to assist with a blessing, she agree to sit with my primary class on Sunday. They were at the hospital quickly, and the blessing was giving right before the MRI that I had to determine if there was a blockage in my liver as well that would need to be cleared up prior to the gallbladder being removed.
After my in-laws left, the hospital chaplin stopped by and said a prayed for me that helped ease my nerves. He, also, stopped in real quick to make sure I was ok as I was getting ready to go to surgery.
My husband has been amazing since the text I sent him (before calling anyone else). He called as soon as he could. He tried to figure out if he could leave work to be with me. When he got off work, he took his work truck home, grabbed his car, and came to be with me as quickly as he could. Even though the fact that I had very little sleep and was made even more tired from the pain meds made me sleep on and off most of the time he was there. The day of the surgery, he came to get me as soon as possible as well. He got my meds from the pharmacy, went grocery shopping, and sacrificed sleep to take care of me.
After leaving the hospital, I have had ladies from church call or send facebook messages to check on me, meals were brought for three nights, and someone from church came by the house to pick up the papers to make sure the boys are all signed up for camp.
It is easy to sit and feel sorry for myself because my mom can't come to help me, but Heavenly Father has blessed me with many people in my life.

Bad Timing

I couldn't have chosen a worse week to get sick. My kids have a lot going on that I have to miss. Thursday night, instead of going to Sean's band and Noel's choir concert, I was lying in a hospital wondering if I was having surgery in the morning or having a blockage cleared to have surgery the day after. This morning, instead of going to see my daughter's cheer competition, I will likely be sitting at home in pain knitting and watching tv. I also had planned to help with Sean's 5th grade continuation bbq in a few days. I have a feeling I won't be able to do much there either since I have a 5 pound weight limit for the first few weeks.
I hate this. I love watching my kids perform their musical talents. I have put a lot of time and money into cheerleading. I missed Sean's first day of school because I had to work. I don't want to miss this too. I just want to be there to celebrate my kids' accomplishments.

After Surgery

Here I am lying in a Lazy Boy chair sore with an upset stomach. My gallbladder was removed at about 11am yesterday. I was able to go home last night. I just took my Vicodin to help with the pain and I took it with food, but I still feel ill. I don't want to wake my husband because I know he didn't sleep well last nigh because he was so concerned, and he had to work yesterday sine he is in only his second week of training (his parents stayed with me at the hospital). I know he would be willing to help, but I don't know what I need.

Waiting

Yesterday morning, I went to the emergency room in a lot of pain. I was told that my gallbladder needed to come out that afternoon. I was admitted quickly and didn't hear much for hours. Finally, the doctor came in to let me now what was going on. I had to get more testing done to find out if there is a blockage that needed to be cleared prior to surgery. The testing was done about 3:15 pm. I still don't know if I'm having surgery today or if I have a blockage to be cleared today and surgery tomorrow. The longer I have to wait, the scarier this gets.

Shocked (Not in a Good Way)

On our way to the Mammoth (lacrosse) game on Saturday, I decided that since we were going to be very early, I needed to us the restroom, and I have been dealing with kidney pain for some time, I would turn right on the Spear Boulevard exit instead of left to search out a bathroom (there are shops and restaurants that direction). I got out in the rain at Subway to discover that I had to be a paying customer and ask for a key to use the bathroom. I drove a bit further down the street to Walgreens and once again braved the rain to be told that since the pharmacy was closed so were the public restrooms. I decided to wait until we met up with Chad's brother at the Pepsi Center and hope we could get in quickly (not only did I have to pee, it was raining very hard). On our way to the Pepsi Center, I saw something while sitting at the stoplight I hadn't seen since September 1996 at the corner of Federal and 29th (apparently when turning right off the highway, you are on 29th). I saw the funeral home that my mom and bother were taken care of after their death. I honestly had forgotten where it was and had no need to be there since the viewing. This shocked me. My heart sank. On the eve of Mother's Day I was reminded of the loss of my mom. I sure do miss her!

Knitting

knitgrrl

I have been knitting off and on since I was 11 and my mom asked her friend to teach me. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I made most of the baby shower gifts I gave and some wedding presents. I, also, made all the dish cloths in my home. When I went back to work, my knitting slowed down a lot. About a year and a half ago, my husband sat down with me when I was stressed out and needing to find an outlet and helped me to think of hobbies other than watching movies or TV. I mentioned that I really enjoyed knitting and would like to really start doing it again. He has been so supportive in me pursuing this passion.
A little over a year ago, I lady I worked with was making a wedding shawl. It was beautiful. I thought I could never make something like that. I didn't think my knitting skills were good enough. When I found out that she had only been knitting for about a year. This got me working more on expanding my knitting skills. I have yet to make a big beautiful shawl, but I have made two nice shawls, scarfs, hats, and started on a blanket and a pair of socks.
The more I knit, the more I love it!