Getting ready for the yard sale and DIY

We decided to have a yard sale this weekend.  It will probably be the first of three this Spring.  We are de-cluttering and earning a little towards the wedding.  Since I was home with Randy yesterday, I went through one small shelf in the living-room and one small area in my bedroom and got 2 box fulls of stuff and three trash-bags full of clothes.  Can't wait to do the rest.  We will be out front on Saturday.  Stop by if you get a chance!

I have also been working on the DIY stuff for the wedding.  I bought some cheap garland at the dollar store.  It was little white flowers with silver paper hearts.  I strung them together to make a 36' garland and used the roses I got at a garage sale last week to spruce them up a bit.  And still working on more pew bows.  Oh, I got a bunch of cello bags for the candy buffet.  I might have mentioned that in the post about the candy.  I'm just really excited that they are so cute and fit the theme perfectly.

I can't believe I have to get ready for work already.  Time flies when you don't want it to and drags when you do!

Randy's Kidney Stones, Stent removal. Semi-graphic description

Randy got more bad news about his kidney stones.  There is another one in the kidney.  I am beginning to believe that his doctor is milking the IPA for visits, though.  He is sending him for another x-ray to verify where the stone is saying that the one Randy has is not clear enough.  How can it be clear enough for him to say he has another one, but not clear enough for him to schedule the procedure to remove it?  Even if he needs another x-ray, it would seem that the authorization process should have started with what he already has. SMH.

The doctor did remove the stent in his office.  Randy said it was a much better procedure than when the last stint was removed by the other M.D.  But I had a feeling something was wrong and went home for lunch instead of seeing my mom.  I wound up taking the whole afternoon off.  Randy was in pain.  Do much pain I wanted to take him to the E.R.  But he wouldn't go.  Stubborn man!  He took a TON of medicine and it was still climbing.  Climbing all the way to a 9 on the pain scale. He called his pain management doctor and never got a call back.  He was jumping up and down to try to loosen whatever was inside hurting him.  He drank 5 pints of water to try to flush it out.  Finally, around 5 p.m., he was able to pass some debris and the pain finally eased.  Thank God!

Randy called Dr. Yeske, his primary care doctor, to get him to fax over the order for the x-ray to my office and asked about his state Disability paper work as well.  The doctor still hadn't filled it out.  He told Randy to have Dr. Wu fill it out since Dr. Yeske didn't know the right codes for the kidney diagnoses and procedures.  I mean really?  Have you heard of Google?  That's how my office looks up code we don't know!  So, Dr. Wu didn't want to do the paperwork either.   What?  Randy had to tell him.  You do realize I've been out of work for almost a month and I have a mortgage and bills to pay, right?  Could you go a month without YOUR income.  He finally agreed to fill out the forms.

Randy came over to my office to fill out new forms since Yeske wouldn't fax them to Wu since he had "messed them up" and got to show off the stent they had just pulled out of him in an autoclave bag.  YUCK!  But it was shorter than I thought.  I guess the x-ray is actually enlarged.  But it was still long and bloody.  Gross!

So now we wait again.  This time it should be easier.  The ESWL is a much less invasive and less painful procedure.  The shoot sound-waves at the stone in the kidney to break it up and get it flowing.  The only problem is you do still have to pass them and that can be excruciating.  And they made need to do another scope if any of the fragments are too big to pass.

145 Pounds of Candy and 3 Bridsemaids Dresses Later...

Before I start, one last request to please like Invisible Touch on Facebook and then "Like" this Photo The contest ends in a few days.  THANKS!!!

Our Easter consisted of picking up my mom from Alamitos Belmont, taking her to Ikea to see Christa (she had to work 7 to 3 there and then 6 to 10 at JetBlue) and having Swedish Meatballs, Pizza and Frozen Yogurt.  My only complaint is that Ikea only has Pepsi products.  What is up with that?  It was interesting!  And my mom LOVED Ikea.  We walked around the store.  She was amazed at the prices.  Both how low the mundane things are price and the "exorbitant" price on furniture.  She would actually gasp at the prices.  How much is that dining chair?  $59 Gasp* Oh MY! choke choke.  She's quite amusing.

Sadly our last chicken was murdered by a raccoon on Easter morning too.  She was good little chicken. Well, actually she was quite plump and tasty looking.  Especially to a raccoon, apparently.  We found her in the morning.  The raccoon actually pried the door to the coop open, killed her, dragged her out and eat most of her.  Very sad.  But she lived over 7 years and had a great free range life.  So I can't feel too bad.

We had a great time at Olivia and Josh's for Karina's birthday (Christa's flower girl).  She turned 6 in March, but we celebrated the day before Easter.  There was a visit from the Easter Bunny and a huge Moon Bounce with a slide to go down.  We only stayed about an hour since Randy is still not doing great with his kidney stones.  But we did get to catch up a bit with her family and Michelle.  I dropped off some Easter baskets for the kids.  I only got them from Karina and her brother, but when I gave Christa her the next day, I handed her a Target bag and said, here, this is your Easter Basket. SMH  I'm a horrible mother.  But she seemed to enjoy the goodies.

The day after Easter, Christa locked herself out of her house with car keys inside, so Randy gave her a ride to work.  He then went to the after Easter candy sales and bought a bunch of non-perishable candies.  I decided to check out the Von's by my work to see what they had on sale.  I couldn't believe it!  There were so many great things we can you at both Christa and Alex's Candy Buffets!  I made a spread sheet to see how much of each kind we have and Yup, you guessed it, we have One-hundred-forty-five pounds of candy.  I still need more and different kinds of candy.  But most of it is done!  WOOOT  probably saved about $500.

We finally decided and ordered the bridesmaids' dresses in Hibiscus.  I got all three last night for the girls and they should be here on Saturday.  Again, an amazing deal!  Christa got them on sale a couple nights ago but she forgot and used her own address as a billing address when the card has our house as the billing addy.  So, we looked again to see if it was worth fighting with Macy's to get the sale price when, lo and behold, they were even more on sale. WOOOOOOOT!  More money saved!

I've also been working on some of the artificial flower decorations.  I made two pomander or kissing balls and a pew bow.  I think they will be quite lovely.  I got the flowers at a yard sale for $10 for each huge bin and the bows at Dollar Tree for fifty cents.  Not bad, huh?

I'll update more later! Have a great week!

Randy's Kidney Stones. Graphic Pix

Picture of Randy's Stones

The procedure went well.  Better than either Randy or I dared hope for. There is such a difference between this time and the last time he had to have this done.  Randy notice immediately that he didn't feel anywhere neat the pain he felt with the last procedure.  His sense of urgency to "go", wasn't nearly as bad.  In the day that has passed, he is still having some pain, but it is easing and continues to gets better.  He is seeing hope at last.  It has been such a long time since he hasn't felt defeated by the situation.  Over a year of constant pain.  It works on a person's psyche.  He has been so miserable for so long!  But even in the bad times, his attitude has been great. He is always thinking of others.  If it had been me, I would have been a royal bitch and there would have been no living with me.  I adore my brave, patient, wonderful husband!

They found two stones in the ureter.  The doctor is sending him for another x-ray on Monday.  He is hopeful that the stone in the kidney passed into the ureter and that another procedure, this time a non-invasive one (ESWL), wont be necessary.  Otherwise the stone was bigger than they thought and broke in two.  They left a stent in and it is quite irritating to him.  But this time they did not leave the strings hanging out of him this time and he is therefore, coping much better.  They would have to leave the stent in if he needs another procedure.  Let's hope it is gone completely this time!

Pissed off at arrogant doctors

I am so tired of doctors that don't listen and make preconceived opinions about patients to the point that they don't even hear what the patient is saying or look at the objective evidence that they have in their hands.  Because of doctor's like this my friend, Corina, is on dialysis  for the rest of her life or until she gets a new kidney.  Her doctor kept ordering blood tests to monitor her kidney function and never looked at them.  Corina's functioning kept decreasing, but no one told her about it.  Also, this genius doctor decided to increase the medication that was causing the decrease in function to make her kidneys fail all the sooner.  Told her the pain in her back "could be anything" and just brushed her hospitalizations off as unknowable reasons.  NO ONE on the hospital staff SAID ANYTHING to her about the state of her kidney function until it was too late to do anything about it.  We are one of the most advanced countries in the world, so why is the state of our medicine so poor?  Why do we allow uncaring, incompetent doctors to abound?  Why does the good old boy network of MDs protect their incompetent colleagues?   There was an article about it in the Reader's Digest in 2008 "Doctors Who Do Harm"  I just think it's shameful!

The sad thing is I think Randy's urologist is generally competent.  I trust him to do the procedure that has been scheduled for Thursday.  But I don't trust his judgment in just about anything else.  I think his focus is not on patient care.  I think he is a very skilled technician.  Which, unfortunately, is pretty much what most doctors have become.  There are no M.D.s like House who keep looking at a medical problem until they actually figure it out.  Now if something doesn't fit the norm, it must be in your head.  But what about all the stones I'm bringing in?  What about the pain in areas I'm not supposed to feel pain, but when you x-ray them, they show up right where I say the pain is?  Must be in your head!

Pray for us and pray for his doctor and doctors everywhere.  There are still some good ones out there!  I have to believe that.

Below is a letter I am thinking of sending to Randy's urologist:

Dear Dr. Henry H. Wu:

If you would listen to your patients instead of reading a report from a doctor trying to cover himself for possibly not doing a procedure correctly, you might just be better able to care for your patients.  My husband told you in front of me and again when he saw you the second time that he HAS a pain management doctor seeing him and then YOU suggested that he get one when you scheduled him for his scope on the phone on Tuesday.  He has NOT asked you for any pain medication even though he has had to wait over two weeks for this procedure while in agony. His pain management specialist told him she would give him whatever he needs.  What if he didn't have her?  You would have made a man with a 10 mm kidney stone in his ureter and another one in the kidney to wait in pain for 2 weeks.

By the way, the authorization was in your office last Friday, the day after you requested it, yet you made him wait until Tuesday to schedule it.  That is not an IPA issue, that is your office issue.  If Randy hadn't called on Monday, who knows how long your staff would have made him wait.

If you don't want to treat IPA patients, you shouldn't.  Your patients didn't sign the contract with the IPA, you did.  Perhaps you should take yourself off their roles and allow a doctor that actually cares more about patient care than authorizations for a follow up office visit the next day take your place.  Also, it's quite bad form to complain to the patient about the hassles of the IPA, the way the patient is making other patients wait because of the IPA when you know the patient did everything in his power to follow your instructions.  Including bringing you a worthless x-ray when you hadn't even looked at the CT scan he brought with him from the E.R.  The second visit you insisted on and obtaining the auth for was completely useless and everything could have been accomplished on the first visit, including obtaining the auth for the procedure a day earlier.  You made my husband suffer through an extra weekend and possibly an extra week because of  it.

My prayer for you is that you gain some insight and compassion for your patients.  I think you have lost it somewhere along the way.  I hope God finds a way to show you what you have put people through and reduces your arrogance.


Sincerely,

Pattie Kromrey

So, My mom is done hating me and other tales (Nina's Wedding)

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated!  My mom is done hating me.  She actually likes her new roommates.  She is finally adjusting and much happier over all.  A good move for her.  Of course, her witchy, evil roommate from her old room is now in the hospital.  I'm sure it's my fault some how, LOL.  I saw Mom yesterday between a wedding and a reception.  We had a nice long visit.  My sister, Carole, talked to her on the phone for a while.  Unfortunately, Mom was not having a great memory day.  She kept repeating subjects and couldn't remember that Carole was moving or that Christa was getting married, etc.  But she seemed happy and relaxed.  She was really enjoying the weather.  It got up to at least high eighties and was probably over 90.  She loves to sit on the patio and look at the sky. We walked her through folding a dollar into a simple heart.  She really enjoyed it.

Nina and Wolhan Ovalle

Luis, a former co-work and groom's brother

We went to my former coworker's wedding yesterday. Nina and Wolhan Ovalle.  Such a lovely bride.  It was great to hang out with my coworkers and celebrate the union of our friends!  They come from lovely families and will have lots of support as they make their new lives together.  I'm putting in a bunch of pictures here.  Christa and she are using the same florist, The Fresh Blossom, so I took pix of all the decor too.  I didn't see Julie (the florist) at the reception, though.  There were a lot of people!  Nina didn't have a videographer, so I went around talking to people and getting their advice/well wishes for the couple.  Randy made it through by taking Dilaudid and Vicodin.

Since my last update, Randy has developed two, count 'em two kidney stones.  Both of them are 10 mm or larger.  One is in the ureter and one is in the kidney.  After my finagling with his primary care doctor and the IPA (Lakewood IPA for Healthnet HMO), we got him in to see a urologist.  But, I mean, it only took a WEEK.  Then there were all kinds of issues about whether he needed another referral to see him again the next day to show him the x-rays he ordered. Even though the x-rays were less clear than the CT scan they had taken in the Emergency room the week before.  We are still waiting for the authorization to come back from the IPA for at least two procedures.  The first one they will take a camera and a laser and try to blast out the on in the ureter then they will do an ESWL or a sound wave lithotripsy to get the one out of the kidney.  A third procedure may be necessary to get the rest out.  It's not going to be fun.  The pain is really wearing on my poor husband.  He is worried and starting to get depressed.

Our own wedding plans are coming along.  We are finalizing plans. The Save the Dates are back from the printer and should be mailed out this week.  They will also be getting their engagement photos back soon.  Gillian brought us lovely things from T.J. Maxx and I think most the decor is ready.  Still looking for some uplights.  I bought a bunch of artificial flowers at a garage sale to use with the pew bows I got from the Dollar Tree.

I am keeping busy and trying to keep my spirits up.

My Mom Hates Me

Since my last post on Monday (I know it was published only a moment ago, I had issues with YouTube!), Prudence has moved out.  She decided that since she was with her buddy, Jasmine almost 24/7 anyway, that she would stay with her since Jasmine's mom extended the invitation.  One major issue is that we can't find her cat!  I haven't seen her since Monday night. I'm very hopeful that she will turn up SOON.  So she brought some guy named, Josh to help her pick up her stuff after work on Tuesday night.

Sonia and me at Pei Wei

I had a very nice time catching up with my former co-worker, Sonia and my current co-worker, Kristal at lunch today.  Sonia has about a year to go on her DPT (Doctorate in Physical Therapy) and had just returned from on of her clinicals in Atlanta.  We were all catching up when I got "The PHONECALL"  (Sidebar: This was the same restaurant and same former coworker that I got called at when my mom went into the hospital for the first time on St. Patrick's Day last year) After 3 weeks of my mom complaining about her new and old roommates, they finally decided to move my mom to a new room.  You would think she would be happy.  But she isn't.  They day I picked to go out to lunch with my former co-worker, Sonia instead of seeing her, they move her when I'm not around.  They had no way of knowing, but it's just some bad luck.

Sonia and Kristal

She is so mad at me that the nurse wanted me to calm her down.  I talked to her for about 20 minutes and I got responses like, I tried to raise you right.  I did my best.  I love you anyway (said like she was trying to convince herself and not ME).  I never said I wanted to move.  You ripped me out of my home and now someone ELSE is sleeping in MY bed. They moved EVERYTHING.  All my stuff!  Why did you do this to me?  What did I ever do to you. When I told her I would leave and come right there or I could come after work, she told me not to come until at least tomorrow.

I KNOW it's the disease talking, but it still hurts to know your mom hates you for whatever reason.

I called Christa and asked her to try to smooth things over.  She went in the afternoon after she got off work from IKEA.  Christa called to tell me that she talked to Grandma and that she told her Grandma that she was there at one of the times when she asked me to move her.  To which my mom responded, "I NEVER said any such thing!"  Christa told her, "Grandma that's what having Alzheimer's is like. Sometimes you don't remember what you said."  To which my mom replied, "That's what having Alzheimer's is like, you have people try to convince you that you said things you never said"  WOW

Randy agreed to meet me at my mom's after work.  When we got there she was eating dinner.  He talked to her and calmed her down and she seemed to understand and forgive HIM.  But she just kept giving me the stink-eye until we left.  So, today should be interesting!

So Many Topics!

It's been too long since I've updated!

Wedding wise we picked the invitations from Ann's Bridal Bargains They have a special where you get $15 off and free shipping for the next week (code APR15FSHP until 4/11/11). and they are already such a great deal!  So Christa and I will be working on exact wording.  We are also going over the layout for the hall this Saturday.  We will need lots of graph paper since I haven't found any good sites to help me arrange things on line.  You would think Better Homes and Gardens tool for arranging a room would be useful, but it really wasn't.

We made it through April Fool's Day!  Not too many pranks, but I did almost convince a co-worker that he was about to get fired.  That was pretty amusing.  Especially if you knew what a GREAT employee he is and that they would NEVER let him go willingly!  Sean hid my monkey too as a prank.  I wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't put it in the dusty, fake plants.  The monkey had a really spiffy new outfit on too.  They wouldn't even do "Warmer, Colder" with me to help me find the evil little imp.  When I did find him, I put right next to the sign in sheet where he over-joyed (read "scared") the patients, LOL. Oh yes, and one patient asked me what the monkey's name was and I blurted out "Jeremy", who happens to be my boss.  What was I thinking? I should have said, "Sean"!  Oh well.  He's back to being Evil Monkey now.  The monkey, not Sean.  Although I can see where you might confuse the two.


My god-daughter, Prudence, moved in this weekend.  She was planning to come the first of May when her lease ran out, but she and her boy had a spat and decided it would be better for all to make a clean break.  She brought her cute fluffy white and yellow kitty with her.  She's quite aggressive and wont take any flack from the cats that are already here.  She is also quite sweet and will come up to you to let you know she needs to be pet.  I haven't seen much of Pru as she is working two jobs and hanging out with her friend, Jasimine.  I did get her a very cute key made to look like a monkey.  I think I'm sensing a theme here.  But really Pru has been into monkeys since she was about 7 or 8.

We took another dancing lesson on Saturday.  I really have to remember to video us so we can remember the steps after we leave.  Randy and I actually got pretty good at the two-step.  I think we'll try it out at Nina's wedding on the 16th.  Trey and Christa are really coming along!  I think he is really getting some confidence now that he sees he can do it.  Plus, Randy and I make him look so much better by our awfulness!

It was the neighbor's granddaughter's 10th birthday on Saturday.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Bounce house, Limbo, music, a swing.  I had fun too.  Carne Asada!  It was great to see everyone have such a good time.  I wont even comment on the blow up donkey they used for one of the games.  I mean it WAS a kid's party, but really, a blow up donkey....hmmm.  I'm just saying I see issues in the future.

Mirtha, my friend and beautician who owns The Sands Salon, came over to do my mom's hair and nails.  Can I just tell you how much I adore Mirtha?  She is the most awesome person.  She does this not just for my mom, but for anyone she knows is in a nursing home.  She goes in and takes care of their beauty needs.  Oh, did I mention? FOR FREE!  She says it's her pact with God.  I mean I would love Mirtha no matter what, but this just puts her over the top.  She is the best waxer in the whole wide world.  It doesn't even hurt most of the time and when it does sting, it's only for a second.  And the results are AMAZING, just like her.  I can't even tell you what a pedicure is like from her.  There are just not enough adequate words.

And lastly, I did my taxes last night!  Woot!  Don't owe very much so I am HAPPY!  I would have done it this weekend, but my internet was down for over 36 hours.  Thanks AT&T!  Your customer service was underwhelming as usual.  Why or Why can't we live in Verizon's footprint?