Valkyrie

So, my two boys are watching "Valkyrie" while I sorta watch it with them. (It is almost 11 and I am beyond brain dead!) Andrew's favorite quote so far? "Any problem can easily be solved by the careful application of high explosives. The trick is to not be around when they go off." Now, why is it that a 16 yo male child is so drawn to that statement???? :)

Comments!

Woohoo! Comments!

I am indeed grateful for the comments. I often treat this blog as a bit of a journal...a documentation of the life in the Coleman home. But often I wonder if this blog arriving in your inbox is just one more in a long line of emails that you would rather not receive. If you choose to not come to the website, it is ok. I just hate the thought of being one of those pesky emails that you are too polite to ask to not receive!

In reply to what it is I accomplish...well, let's just say that you have not seen my house! The garden is planted, but the house is a mess. The kids ate dinner tonight, but the laundry is in baskets waiting to be folded or ironed. I have just enough energy to sit in my chair while the boys watch a movie and type out this post in the vain hope that it provides some level of encouragement to someone...or provides some level of clear thought to me in the midst of this drug induced haze. (Have I mentioned that I really hate Plavix??) :)

Please feel free to contribute to this...this really doesn't have to be a monologue. Iron sharpens iron...we can learn from one another and dialogue about the daily life in this fallen world...

Comment on, my friends!

Thumper's Dad

Remember in Bambi when Thumper is asked what his dad always said, and Thumper replied, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all." Well, that is my motto here. Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog, but it hasn't been a load of fun at the Coleman home, so I've kept my unpleasantness to myself. :)

I have reacted to medication, so they put me on Ticlid, which apparently, I have a photosynthesis reaction to. In other words, riding in my Jeep for four hours, wearing SPF 50 (applied four times!), I still ended up looking like I had been in the sun for four days. Only I wasn't burned. It didn't hurt. It just itched and looked like it should hurt. So, back on the horrid Plavix I was sent...after I was sent back to the ER for more labwork. So now I am totally brain dead, exhausted, grumpy because I am exhausted, and really hating food because this medicine makes me ill. Lovely.

The kids are definitely showing signs of the wear and tear. There's not much happiness in Mudville. But, Andrew did get a job at Kings Dominion and will be lifeguarding this summer...He's totally thrilled. His Jeep is totally thrilled. :)

I am getting ready to attempt a new set of attire for said oldest male child. He had the audacity to outgrow the new attire before I had finished it, so I get to start all over again. At least I hadn't finished ALL of the buttonholes on the frock coat yet! Will needs attire also, but Andrew has seniority here, so he's first on the list. :)

The garden is almost fully planted finally. Two rows of beans still need to make it into the ground, but it's otherwise planted. The tomatoes are needing stakes, but mine from last year did not survive the winter, so I need to visit Lowe's and purchase new ones.

So, gardening, schoolwork, sewing attire, and maybe even cleaning my house occasionally are on the list for this summer. What's everyone else doing? You really can comment on this blog and let me know that someone out there is reading it! There's this little word at the end of every post that says, "comment". Just click it and start typing! Really. It's that easy!

My mom died Mother's Day weekend. It tends to not be my favorite holiday. But several months ago, April invited me to scrapbook this weekend at our favorite bed and beakfast.

Orchard House is amazing. We have a room just for scrapbooking, so we can make a mess and leave it until the next morning...after these huge, amazing breakfasts that they serve...

You also get to take two naps a day if you want!

Thank you, Billy, for driving me all the way here so I could spend the weekend with April and rest and recover!

Surgery, Recovery, and Complications

So, I had a catheterization. They decided that I could have the hole in my heart repaired through another catheterization...using both legs and installing a device in the wall between the atria and voile', hole closed, no problem. Unless, of course, your amazing nurse ends up holding compression on the arterial cath site because it won't stop bleeding. Then there is the difficult night in the hospital that is salvaged by another amazinge nurse.

So, I get discharged, and head home to rest for a couple of days...no lifting anything over ten pounds, no exercise...just rest...and you will be fine. Or not. Instead, I could choose the path of dizziness, tachycardia, nausea, and extreme fatigue. Well, long story short, I call the doctor on Monday after almost passing out...again. I thought this was supposed to be over??? So, my doctor sends me to the ER (again) so that they can run some tests, which all come back normal. Haven't we been here before?

Tuesday, I head back to the doctor - he wants to run two mores tests to ensure that this isn't a pulmonary embolism. He may not understand why my heart is racing, but he is trying to find out...He puts me on meds to slow my heart rate and pull off extra fluid that is building in my system...at least until I almost pass out the next day. This is a recurrent theme! I call him and he takes me back off the meds he had prescribed just the day before.

I must admit that my doctor is truly wonderful. He not only gave me his personal cell phone number, he told me to call him if I had any more trouble. Don't call an answering service or his nurse, just call his cell phone. How many doctors do that??? He is concerned and he is willing to do what it takes to fix whatever is wrong. At least I hope he can fix it, because this is not fun.

So, I go back on Monday to revisit the wonderful doctor...tachycardia and fatigue are still present. It isn't bad if I don't have to get out of my chair and can take two naps a day...but...that really isn't a good long term plan when you have six children still living at home whom you home educate...or a husband who would like to see his wife coherent occasionally...

So, five weeks ago I could run 3 miles. Today, I can hardly walk down the driveway without needing a nap. :(