I had my staples taken out today.  I felt like I had the surgery all over again.  You should have seen the way I was walking.  It’s pathetic.  My balloons are starting to deflate, but not by much.  WPS sent them to me when I was in the hospital.  They were the first thing I got, and it was really great.  I had no idea who had sent them, but when I saw it was “my friends at WPS”, I was touched.  TriWest sent me flowers, but I like the fact that WPS’ balloons got there first.  I got another prescription for my pain killers, Percocet, today.  Another 40 pills should hold me over.  He told me I had four more weeks before I could return to work.  I’m surprised how much pain I’m still in.  It’s not too bad, but it’s enough to know I can’t do a damn thing.  Well, I watched the Packer game in HD, with the 5.1 surround sound.  Too bad they lost.  I called and spoke to TDM briefly after the game, and I didn’t feel too bad since they beat Minnesota in the previous games this season.  I went to lunch with Karen yesterday.  We went to Oregeno’s.  She was pretty sick when she went back to Michigan for Christmas.  My sweetie has made some really good meals while I’ve been home.  It’s been great.  We told the kids that I was running with scissors and that’s how I got hurt.  They aren’t the brightest crayons in the box.  JenJen came and visited me while I was in the hospital, and MG2 was sweet enough to call Cookie to let her know what was going on.  I really like the fact that she didn’t have a problem doing that.  It meant a lot to me.  I’m happy she is confident enough in things to know that she doesn’t have anything to worry about.  We stayed up real late last night talking.  I remember when we were in Utah, Kirk, the guy that she used to work with that showed us houses when we were there said something about the fact that if there is enough space in the master bedroom we could put chairs there to talk or something.  I was like huh?  Talk?  When I go to the bedroom we have sex.  What the hell does he mean, talk?  But we reminisced last night and it was great.  About how we used to stay up all night and we’d be really tired the next day at work.  We’d make out a lot, but it all started by long talks.  It was just nice to do it again last night.  We talked about our families, our fears, our grandparents, all sorts of things.  All the while I was rubbing her back.  I didn’t even realize I was doing it, as it required no effort.  And that surprised me as usually I get tired after only a few seconds of doing it.  It was just a great night.  Then today the Nazi that lives near me decided to start cutting wood and hammering early this morning.  The ass-clown has been doing it all day.  Tigger has been sweet, and he is feeling better when his ears are kept clean.  You can see his boost in energy.  But I’m really starting to miss Sierra and Lucy.

I wrote the above several days ago.  On Monday, actually.  Tonight I’m going out with MG2, Karen, and our other neighbor Maria.  Oh, and good news, the Nazi above me is moving out.  He was packing his car today.  Still trying to figure out where to go for dinner.  I’m starting to get depressed having to stay home all the time since I can’t drive anywhere.  We’ll see how it all plays out…

It was bad enough losing JB once, but it’s harder losing her in my dreams over and over again…

The short story:  I presented to the ER on Monday, December 28th, complaining of abdominal pain.  I had what I described as stomach pains that would build in intensity and just act like a wave going through my stomach.  They did a CT and discovered an obstruction.  I was admitted to the hospital and had emergency surgery the next day.  They removed roughly six inches of my small intestine.  After eight wonderful days in the hospital, I’m home.  I’m out of work for 4-6 weeks, so I’m quite bored.  And with MG2 working, I’m lonely.  I counted 26 punctures from needles, one long cut, and 21 visible staples (I can’t see how many staples are in my small intestine).  I finally watched Garden State, and watched the news about the tornado warning for North Scottsdale yesterday.  As for the emergency surgery, it was what is called “Meckel's Diverticulum”.  1 in 50 people have this pouch left over from the umbilical cord.  Of that 1 in 50 people that have it, only 1 in 25 have a problem with it.  Maybe I should be playing the lottery instead.  I was textbook though, everything I read described my situation perfectly: the pain causing an ER visit, the doctors doing a CT, and not knowing what it is until they cut in.  On the bright side, there were cute nurses at the hospital.  New Years wasn’t too exciting, except that I had a bowel movement just before and just after midnight.  And even though I have yet to have a solid movement even after 10 days from going to the ER, having one in the first place is nice (it makes my belly feel better).  On New Year’s Eve I had only woken up at 11:30, because they had me drugged from the anti-nausea medicine.  I almost missed it.  I hope to be better soon.  What am I supposed to do for 4 to 6 weeks?  What did I do the first day I came home?  I went to Carrabba’s and made love later that evening.  I don’t know how I did either, but when you really want to do something, you find a way.  It won’t be happening again soon, but it was so worth it.  She was so sweet to me, she used up all her PTO at work to be with me at the hospital, she came both before and after work to see me, and she missed a lot of sleep.  Not to mention that she held down the fort, paid the bills, took care of the dogs.  She was great.  All I did was buy her a George Foreman Grill to say “thank you”, but if you would have seen how excited she was to get it, maybe that was all I needed to do.  I hope to get better, so I can continue to make it up to her for the rest of my life…