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Showing posts from August, 2011

The Follow Up

Well the appointment went well. My stitches were removed and the surgeon told me that pathology said my gallbladder had been "grossly inflamed" but there were no stones to speak of. Which is good but kinda neither here nor there now that that bastard is out of my body. She told me she felt I was healing up well and to just keep taking it easy with lifting and such until I feel that my muscles can handle it. I am released to return to work next week. I'm really nervous about going back actually. I know I can do the sit and drive part, with only mild discomfort. But there are a few physical demands I'm afraid of causing a problem. One being the securement of wheelchairs (which is very physical and requires me to contort and manipulate my body in ways that might prove painful) and the other being the demanding hours I'll be working. Of course I'm also quite worried about dietary and digestive changes affecting my ability to drive uninterrupted by th

Anxious to Follow Up

Today I meet with my surgeon for a follow-up appointment. I'm not really too concerned about the visit. I'm hoping she snips out these stitches and maybe tells me what ended up being wrong with my gallbladder. Surely pathology has had time to run all their tests on it. I'm healing up well and feeling better each day. But I'm still having some muscular pain on my right side, probably from where they punctured through them to remove the gallbladder. I removed all of my bandaging late last week so I could let the wounds (man I hate that word) get some fresh air and get cleaned. I know the doc said to let the Steri-Strips fall off on their own but I couldn't wait. They were looking grimy and I was more afraid they'd cause me to get an infection. Speaking of which, the thrush is completely cleared up and I couldn't be happier. That was just about as unpleasant as the surgery itself. Since I've been off work and sitting around healing a lot

Quaaaaaaaake!

So yeah I apparently missed all the action while on my way to my surgeons office today. Thanks to the fabulous shocks on my Versa I didn't even feel the slightest tremor that occurred during the 5.8 earthquake that hit earlier. People all over the state and eastern seaboard, friends of mine even, felt it and were posting about it on Facebook. I felt left out. While everyone else was freaking out over the minor earthquake I was busy dealing with medical crap. First I had to go to MedExpress to have my throat checked out. I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong but I needed confirmation and a doctor to write the scripts necessary to resolve the issue. It's kind of a gross one for me. At first I thought maybe I was getting something like a strep or staph throat infection. Which would have been really bad especially having just had surgery. Any infection could potentially cause big problems. But after I did some research I wasn't certain that it was that kind of

Sedation Dreams

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Last night I woke up about every 4.5 to 5 hours needing to use the restroom. Liquid diets will do that I suppose. But it was also just about on time every time for my next dose of pain medicine. And apparently the pain meds I'm taking give your brain a chance to be super creative. For instance, last night I dreamed that I was going back over-the-road and was at a company terminal that was the most magnificent thing I ever saw. Shiny perfect trucks and trailers all over the place, a state of the art garage and handsome mechanics everywhere. (silly part of that was two or three of the guys I knew through my old trucking company were in the dream) I was of course still recovering from my surgery in my dream and was kinda doped up and not really sure where I was or what was going on. I just knew everything around me was fancy and shiny and clean and...well... cute. ;o) Luckily my mom was with me and was helping me get settled. She took me to the garage and helped me get

Surgery, Sooner Than I Thunk...

Well my consult with the surgeon went well today. So well in fact that I'm scheduled for gallbladder removal surgery (aka Laparoscopic cholecystectomy ) tomorrow afternoon. Yep. Surprisingly soon. But I'm thoroughly stoked. I am very happy to be finally getting rid of "The Boss". Yay. So there. :)

Looking to the future...

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Tomorrow is the day. I finally meet with a surgeon to discuss my surgical future. I'm scared and excited and a wee bit nervous. Plus after the latest round of medical bills that arrived in the mailbox today I'm kinda dreading it. I know surgery is going to be way more expensive than a few overnights and a couple of tests. Oi! Fun stuff to forget my woes... My hubby and I went out and about enjoying the sunny day today. We stopped and drooled over the newest bit of awesomeness at the Nissan Dealership, the 2011 Murano Convertible. Yup.. I want one. But I'll never afford that! Loaded it is $48K! YIKES! We then went and drooled over the 2011 Juke, which is just as awesome but much more affordable at a mid-range price of $21K. Sure, it's not a convertible but it's still freaking sweet. I think when the time comes and I can afford to upgrade from the Versa I'll be torn between the Juke and my dream car, the Volvo C-30. Of course by the tim

When the gallbladder attacks....

This morning I made yet another trip to the ER because of my gallbladder. I was at work, driving along and all of a sudden I was hit with the urge to go #2. I found a place to pull over my bus and use facilities for that sort of thing. It was unpleasant. I'll spare you the details. Shortly after returning to my bus and getting back on the road the pain started to grow in my abdomen. It hits in the same spot each time, initially pinpointed at a place just below my ribs on the right side. Stabbing sort of pain that flows into a a constant achy pain. That achy pain seems to radiate to my shoulder, back and side in a kind of burning sensation. The pain settled in for the rest of my trip. I also had to stop and make a mad dash for the restroom at our downtown transit mall before heading to the other end of the valley for the rest of my run. I felt bad for my passengers as I left them gawking at my awkward form as it ran for the restroom. When I returned to the bus, sweat

Huge Good News

My husband received news that he has been selected for the Apprenticeship program at the Local Plumbers & Pipefitter's Union. This is big, actually HUGE, for him. It will finally thrust him right into the career path he's been wanting to get into. He recently started classes for at a Community & Technical College for HVAC (heating and cooling basically) full time. But he will probably be asked to drop out of that class so that he can focus his full attention and efforts on the classes he will be attending two nights a week for the Apprenticeship program. He will also probably get job offers fairly quickly once he's started his Apprenticeship training and could land a job sooner rather than later, as he would have through the Tech Class. He will likely end up making around what I am making right now and get incremental raises until he tops out at over double what I am making right now. He's so excited and I'm certainly excited for him. He'd

An Opinion

Just kinda wanted to put the word out there.... Boys (or men for that matter) you most certainly should NOT wear skinny jeans. I don't care if you're Emo, a Hipster, Punk-Rock, etc. Skinny jeans on a dude is just gross.

Re-reading Old Posts

Due to current job dissatisfaction, other life crap and a stress level high enough to produce enough energy to fire a light bulb for a week... I found myself thinking about my old life over-the-road. So I decided to pull up posts at random and refresh my memory about the old Gi-Gi. I laughed at some of the things I read and also remembered scenarios that made me want to pull my hair out, scream and/or cry. OTR was by no means an easy job. It had its' moments for sure. But I don't remember being as stressed as constantly as I am now. My husband seems to think that I absolutely hated that job and says I complained about how much I hated it all the time. But I think he's really just remember those last few months after I'd made the decision to come off the road. Those last few months were quite rough. I had decided I was done with the adventure of it, I was engaged and wanted to be near to my dearest more regularly. I spent countless hours scouring the internet for

Excuse me sir....

Yesterday I had a new experience as a bus driver. I relieved a driver who had accumulated a medium sized load of people on a bus that was heading up river to my old hometown. As he left his post in the drivers' seat he told me a few bits of pertinent information about the passengers on board and wished me luck with one, who had apparently been asleep since he got on over an hour prior. I took my position behind the wheel, adjusted everything that needed adjusting and then closed the door, released the break and off we went. Everything was going great. Passengers got on, passengers got off. I had a couple of folks who had only paid for a base fare zone that didn't have hat checks when they tried getting off in a different fare zone. Of course they tried to give me a hard time but realized I wasn't opening the door to let them off until they paid for their full ride. It wasn't until I pulled the bus into the station at the end of the line that an interesting and kin

O M G Really?

So yeah I'm gonna blow off some steam. We all get angry right? We all get pissed off and need a good vent right? Well here's one for ya. How do you file a workers compensation claim, get denied, appeal, get denied again and then mysteriously 5 months later you find out that less than 30 days ago the workers compensation paid PART of a medical bill relating to the claim without telling the parties involved in the now lawsuit that they had done so? Yeah. That's what happened to me today. I had went into my lawyers office this morning to give a telephonic deposition. I swore in, answered a million ridiculous questions most of which completely unrelated to the incident, did my damnedest to be honest and accurate, I perspired, flushed, shook, and was all around a nervous wreck because of it. Then my lawyer calls me later this afternoon telling me of a possible "settlement" offer. It's a crap offer... seriously, that's the best they could do? And then thinki