Complicated

Why oh why do things have to be so... ugh... complicated? I'm not talking about the holiday in of itself. In fact, Thanksgiving was great and I was excited that I could eat a meal for the first time since 'the incident'. Then in the middle of the night my Thanksgiving dinner was not settling on my stomach so well. I was up for two hours in stomach pain, then my body decided to hit the eject button. Though I felt a bit better, I could barely eat the next day so I went back to my magic man of a kinesio/chiro to see if I could get any relief.

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He checked me out and sure enough it wasn't just inflammation of my rib cage and abdominal walls I also managed to develop a hiatal hernia (click on the link for all the great details if you want them). In short, part of my stomach decided to take a trip upward into my esophagus. Oh yeah, you know it is as 'fun' as it sounds. Blech.

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So no I wasn't so busy with Thanksgiving I forgot to post, I was in pain and exhausted, and kinda cranky with it all lol. Good news is it's not a serious injury, just an annoyingly uncomfortable one. Add that I have to eat tiny portions, deal with acid reflux, and I have become one not so pleasant person. I haven't had a full meal in over a week. My blood sugars hate me right now.

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Here's to this week... may it be filled with good recovery, larger meals, and kids who won't decide to take their frustrations out on my poor stomach.

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ps- Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving or at least a Happy Thursday.

Follow Up

Today, not even a full three months into this job, I had to fill out worker's compensation paperwork. Cuhrazy. After a night of not sleeping well, and continued discomfort and swelling due to the pain in my side thanks to the incident where my stomach was rudely introduced to a student's shoulder I was told to go and tell the principal what happened. My boss is uber cool and was very kind to me about the whole deal. Seriously, I feel bad and kinda embarassed that a second grader managed to do some damage. We talked to the student to explain to how their actions, though not a punch, still caused me pain. The kiddo felt bad and I made sure to point out how we were still friends and that we can move on from here. The child was actually taken home due to their actions. I felt bad, but, I'm hoping this ordeal can be used to help the child. To be honest, I'm not angry because this particular case is heartbreaking and I dearly want that kiddo to get the help they deserve so they'll have a fighting chance at having a decent future.

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Anyways, after that little talk I began filling out paperwork with our health assistant. Upon completion of said paperwork, I had to head to a clinic immediatly ( I did not loose any pay thank goodness) to get checked out, mind you all of this with Leo in tow. I got chest x-rays taken and no surprise there wasn't anything broken (I mean I'm pretty sure the pain would be a bit more intense if it was!). The verdict? My rib cage and abdominal wall have suffered contusions and strains. Just like what my magic of a chiropractor/kinesiologist said! That kid really did hit the sweet spot. So, 'real' medical science has verified I'm going to be uncomfortable for the next few days and to not overdue it as tearing of this area could be bad. Wee haw.

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Well, at least the swelling in my abdomen will likely keep me from overeating Thanksgiving Day! See? There's always a silver lining.

It Was Bound to Happen...

I work in a school with a varied student population. That said, we have some students that resemble the younger, more hopeful, version of the kids in the movie "Dangerous Minds". Sometimes, and I hate to admit this, it's like we're watching ticking timebombs. We hope we can diffuse or at least lessen the severity of the inevitable, but, we accept there is only so much we can do for these kids though we try to help and use every [sometimes limited] resource at hand.

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With that in mind, I knew one day I would end up in an altercation with a child. Today was that day. Back from a two days out due to the stomach flu, I come back ready to go, and I get bodychecked by a student who didn't like my [not really that bad of a] reprimand for pulling another kid's shirt in the cafeteria. This student got up, yelled how he didn't do anything, marched towards me and planted his shoulder square in my stomach. Now mind you he's tiny and there wasn't a lot of force going into this bodycheck. So imagine my surprise when I felt intense burning pain in my stomach that lasted for over six hours straight.

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Welcome back!

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I went to my chiropractor who also deals in kineasology. Apparently, the tiny second grader managed to hit just the right spot bruising my stomach and diaphragm a bit (having a sore stomach from my virus probably didn't help anything there). No real harm done, just some soreness and mild discomfort which will require some ice, deep breathing, and maybe a return visit to make sure everything stays in place.

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To say I'm ready for Thanksgiving break to begin is an understatement lol. And to think, all the teachers have told me it just goes downhill from here as the winter/Christmas break nears. Oh goodie.

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Help?

Adventures In Raising Leo

Don't be fooled, this sweet face can mean trouble.

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After yesterday's blog post I left to Owasso, got lost thanks to road construction, but, made it to my new hairstylist there. Normally, I wouldn't go so far for a simple haircut especially while recovering from a virus, but, my friend and stylist rocks my hair like no other so it's definitely worth any commuter related troubles.

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After my stylist touched up my highlights (yes, I highlight, keeps my hair from going two toned when there's not so much sun outside to lighten my hair's natural highlights) I looked at my phone and saw a call from Jon. Odd. Right as I was about to call him back, he called me. I knew immediately something was up.
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Leo in a fit of boredom and lack of rawhide bones decided to climb into the bathtub and look for something to gnaw on. The object he selected was a razor- one of those cool five bladed ones that shave a man's face really nice. Jon managed to catch him doing this, fished out the bits of blades out of his mouth, BUT, two blades were not accounted for. Merde.

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Several frantic phone calls later, driving back to Tulsa in about 13 minutes (after my hair was finished, at least Leo had good timing), picking up Jon and Mr. Chomps-A-Lot, and driving to the south side of Tulsa in less than 15 minutes, we arrived at the vet clinic where Leo was whisked away to the back right away for x-rays. I told Jon if Leo had to have surgery AGAIN I would lose it. I swear I was suffering a bit of PTSD sitting in the waiting room of the vet clinic wondering if Leo would be OK. I was taken back to June when I waited anxiously at the emergency vet clinic to hear if Leo's leg was ruined forever.

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Fortunately, just like June there was good news. Leo wisely did not swallow the blades. So, no surgery, no recovery period, and no further set backs. Though I am still in the process of forgiving Leo for the minor heart attack I went through, I am beyond relieved that we have once again dodged the worse case scenario bullet.

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Let's just hope we don't have to do any more bullet dodging. Right Leo??

Le Sigh

My dearest friends, (if you're still out there) I owe you blog posts. Too many to count! I don't know what's been happening lately, but, to say my life has been hectic is a major understatement. Just in one week I've been to Arkansas and back, had a birthday, worked on getting a big present ready for my dance instructor, had a friend get injured, go to the ER, and have surgery (she's fine btw thank goodness), had work, and to top it all off managed to get a stomach virus early Thursday morning that I'm still getting over (today it just feels like I have a yucky cold).

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When did life manage to get so busy?! Hope you all are well!!

Things That Make Me Smile

Yummmmm....

Leo (and I's) birthday is five days away, but, as two other Service Dogs in Training have had recent birthdays to celebrate being around for a year Madoc's mamma decided to bake a cake and bring dog goodies to celebrate at today's class. I was so surprised and delighted and more than happy to help eat up that delicious cake. Afterall, it's really not to early to start celebrating is it?

They Call Me...

Sorry! I promise I didn't forget to name Newbie, just got a wee bit distracted and didn't get around to telling you all. I do have a variety of good excuses I promise! ;-) So without further adieu....

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Drum roll please....

His name is Tybalt!! Most of the time we call him Tibby or Mr Tibbs (in our best Sydney Poitier accent of course!). Jon thought of his name as I wanted a good Shakespearean name that I could also get a cute nickname from. Tybalt was mentioned and Jon's theatre training reminded him that there was a Tybalt character in another play who was known as 'The Prince of Cats'. Perfect.

Tibby, has totally fit in around here. It's almost as if he's been here from the get go. Mina and him play extremely well and while he's still a bit jumpy when the dogs get revved up, he doesn't mind the dogs being near him as long as they're pretty calm. In fact, Louie loves his Tibby especially at night when they both like to get on the bed to sleep. Louie can even groom him a little bit! Soooo cute. Tybalt is a great addition, he's healthy, growing well, and handles most situations with ease. Love, love that I found this little guy and he has become a great member of my little 'family'.

Desperate Times...

I knew it would come, I mean how could it not? Working with small children one is bound to pick up a bug or two. Intitially, I blamed my fatigue and headache on PMS, started taking some evening primrose oil for that I realized I was getting a bug. The sniffles are in full swing and so is my mini-pharmacy of homeopathic and over the counter remedies. I definitely need more sleep, but, I'm thinking I may have caught it in time. Which is good, very, very good.

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That said to clear up the sniffles Jon and I decided on Indian food tonight. And what do you know, the bottle of Ghost Pepper sauce Jon bought on Amazon showed up at his house. Being known for its off the charts capsaicin searing qualities I put two drops of it in my Indian food, hoping that would help clear up my head a bit.

This has warnings on it... seriously

It worked, well I'm afraid. I only put in two drops in it as a little goes a long, LONG way. My lips still feel as if the top layer of skin was chemically 'peeled' off, though... which is an interesting sensation. What can I say? I like the spice and I love to breathe through my nose even more. Though I'm sure the smell of this stuff would make most tear up I can say that the burn didn't bug that much! Which either makes me a mutant, just plain weird, or insane. Or maybe a bit of everything?

Good Intentions

I was going to blog about my Halloween weekend, I was. I had some pictures taken by my phone (as Jon needs his camera at work... darn it... bye bye nice camera for a bit) and some witty commentary all ready to go. What prevented this from happening you wonder? Waking up. Mind you it wasn't a horrible day, it just was... a Monday.

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In short, today I have/did...

Woke up thirty minutes late.

Forgot breakfast.

Forgot my phone at home.

Left various items in classrooms at my job.

Dealt with Leo's butthead/stubborn moments all stinkin' day. I hate [dog] adolescence btw. Hate. It.

Forgot to lock the door to the teacher's bathroom. Guess how I figured that one out?

Did I mention I work with kids while going through all of this?

Came home to hungry and thirsty kitties, one little one so hungry he nearly knocked all of the food over.

Realize the dirty laundry will take over this house if I don't get on top of it NOW.

Manage to not seal a Ziploc bag properly thus causing Amish friendship bread dough to ooze all over the counter, and the floor, and of course on me..

Come to the conclusion that a post about the Halloween weekend was not going to happen, because dang it I wasn't in the mood.

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Hope your Monday much, much better than mine. As for me, I'm going to drink some wine, fold some laundry, and hope that the world will leave me alone tomorrow.