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Did I mention in my previous post that I made a few scrapbooks lately?  Well actually, over the weekend, I made two using Snapfish and some awesome coupon codes.  The coupon codes made the actual scrapbooks  FREE! and I only had to pay taxes, shipping and handling.  Can't beat that!!!

So today, I get an email from Snapfish that says:

A Special Thank You Gift! 

Hi Crimson, 

You've been a great Snapfish by HP customer and we want to say thanks.

Our gift to you: a FREE 8" x 11" Classic Photo Book!

Another Scrapbook!  Awesome!!!  


I know what I am doing tonight!!! 

 

There a bunch of little things I've been wanting to write about that, individually, wouldn't make up a full post, but put together, would make a happy little list :)

1. Scrapbooks, Scrapbooks, Scrapbooks (the ones made digitally):  There have been some awesome deals online for my favorite scrapbook sites, some all the way down to free scrabooks, just pay shipping! Now, how could a coupon clipping, money saving diva pass up deals like that on, of all things, scrapbooks!!! So, I think in total, in the past two to three weeks, I have made six scrapbooks.  Wow.  Now I just have to sit back and wait for the UPS man to bring them to me.  Totally Awesome.  Now I just have to get back into the groove to doing real  scrapbooks.  They are more meaningful to me since I make them with my own hands and take hours upon hours to complete.

2. Houses do no clean themselves:  Did you know that?  It is waaay overdue for a, um, winter cleaning in the house.  Since ringing in 2011, we haven't "deep cleaned" the house.  I've tried to make the dogs to it, but since they don't listen to me in the first place, and don't have thumbs (haha?), they won't do it either.  So, this weekend, we are cleaning the house,which brings me to...

3. The Christmas Tree Must Come Down: Sad, but true.  It will February soon, and it looks out of place.  There are no more presents under the tree.  Ty keeps eating the glass balls, and Zeke keeps wacking stuff off the tree with his huge tail.  For all of these reasons, I am sad to announce, the Christmas season is over in the Miller household.

4. Groupons, Eversave, and Living Social: are fabulous sites to save money on cool stuff.  If haven't checked them out, do so (each word has a link to their associated website, just so you know).  But beware, they are addictive.  And the cool thing is, there are more of these types of webites coming out....Moolala, kgbDeals, and TaDa ...   You need to check them out!

5. It Feels Great Going Back to Work!!!  Having a routine is essential for me.  That, of course, includes, my work.  I missed my co-workers dearly, all five of them =D.  I live  for routines.  Waking up at the same time (well, sorta), watching SVU with my sweetie every morning, and of course missing traffic by coming in early.  In by 7, out at 4.  Call friends and family on the way home (yes, handsfree, of course).  Come home to a wonderful husband and two rambunxious dogs who are just so happy to see me.  Yes, the cold and lingering headache got in the way a little of my routines, but I am happy to be back. 

6. Going back to Church felt GREAT:  We missed a few weeks of church, obviously, and I missed it.  We tried listening to the sermon live onine, but it's just not the same with dogs in your face, in your pajamas, not feeling well.  I am beginning to feel more comfortable at SPEP.  It was wonderful to see our friends Jen and Jeff, and to see that her recovery is doing so well.  God is really working in her life. I can see it ~ It's Amazing.

I think a list of six is good enough for now.  I'll be posting again soon though, don't worry.

Exciting times!  It was our first week back to work this week!  

First off, Jon update:  He is doing well, but he is still having headaches.  I suspect that pesky spinal headache is still lingering, but there were other issues as well.  He was taking too many NSAID's (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) to keep the headache at bay, causing a rebound headache.  And then I found out he stopped taking his Topamax because he didn't feel it working.  I explained both, and now he is taking less Advil/Aleve and is taking his Topamax on a daily basis. His headache did get bad enough that he did have to take the migraine medicine twice this week.  

And thanks to being in the hospital and being off work, his sleep schedule is out of wack.  We're working on that.

So, Jon had a nice, short week.  He had off work Monday for Martin Luther King Day and then a three hour delay on Tuesday, basically making it a half day.  That's good for a comeback week, nice and easy.

I managed to catch a nasty cold, I presume in the hospital, and dealt with that all that funness this week (achoo!).  Went to the doc, but the funny thing is, we spent the majority of the time talking about Jon, not me.  I feel like his wife, mother, and nurse.  But it's not a bad thing to be needed ;)

Thank you to my friend Jen for sending me this wonderful picture from Pittsburg Hospital Saturday Night.

She said "she could just see little Miller Jr. now..."

Let's not egg Jon on.  

Great pic though!!!

Recent Pics of My Babies...

Zeke the bum,

who stole my seat on the couch this morning,

and just looked too darn cute to make move...

And Ty (Ty-Bo, Ty-Baby, and TYLER! when he's into no good),

with the "love me" eyes,

begging for a bite of my popsicle,

or at the very least to steal the stick when I was done.

I head out for work at my normal time, o dark thirty.  Not worried about the weather, the roads have been well treated.

Warm the car (Thank God for remote starts), scrape about half a ton of ice off the car, and get gas.  Arrive to work a little later than usual, but still earlier than anyone else.  This is normal.

Start the computer.  Start Outlook.  Just one email.

Delayed Arrival at Work

Please use caution in attempting to get to work on time this morning. The secondary roads are still untreated. Arrive at work when you are comfortable driving.

Mark

 
Only in my world do these things happen.  I just have to smile.

So today was my first "real" day back to work after everything that has happened with Jon.  Actually, I managed to make it in a whole two days this before today this year, but really, I don't think that those days count.  One was between ER visits and one one a partial day when my day dad brought him to the doctor for me and I met him there in the afternoon.

It's a shame I caught a cold, I really should have seen it coming.  Not taking great care of myself, more trying to make sure Jon is OK.  No biggie, It'll tide over.  I just now know that you shouldn't take Execedrin Migraine and Theraflu in the same time period.   My face face was numb and tingly all day.  Weird.

The funny thing is Jon is headed to work tomorrow, but he slept in until 11:30am today.  I see a problem here, but at least he's asleep already, so maybe he'll get a a good night sleep and be ready to head in to work for the first time this year. Amazing.  

Good Luck to Jon tomorrow at work tomorrow!  I hope he doesn't wear himself out.  He has hasn't been been to work this entire year!

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow will will be a good day...no sleet, less sickness, and no tiredness on anyone's part.

See you tomorrow!!!

It's been a wild way to ring the new year in thus far.  Hopefully Jon will not be sick with anything else, ever.

These are the things I learned about hospitals and their staff during Jon's stay:

• A patient ALWAYS needs a patient advocate when in the hospital to look out for well-being.  Especially when the patient is heavily medicated.
• Just because the ER and patient wing is brand new, doesn't mean it's the best.
• It's a tough decision, if you want a short ER wait, go to Franklin Square.  If you want the better physicians, wait it out at Bayview or take a drive down to Howard County General.
• You should see your doctor and specialists more than once a day.  How else can they properly treat you?  Jon's neurologist saw him a total of ONE time during his five days stay at the hospital. Now, does that sound right to you? I think not.
• When the doctors actually take your (me) advice on medications, be afraid.  I know many things, but a doctor I am not.  I suggested the toradol instead of ibuprofen, they said ok.  I suggested the topamax, they said ok.  When I suggested a migraine relief med, they said it was too late.
• So, when you take the patient to the family doctor and tell them the story (as described in the previous posts) AGREE with me, and give him treximet (migraine relief meds).  That night when he took the magical medicine his migrane/terrible headache got substantially better.
• And then, when you go the neurologist, a his disagrees with everything they did at the hospital, be vary wary of going back to that hospital.  He did, however keep him in topamax and treximet.
• So, where do we go when we get sick???

So Wednesday comes, and I go back to work, with the plan to meet Jon at the neurologist.  Everything went as planned, and the appointment with Dr. Reim went well.  He agreed to keep Jon on topamax to prevent migraines, and him a prescription for the treximet.  Dr. Reim also disagreed with many of the hospital's actions.  But Jon is doing much better! Back to his loving, joking self.  Jon is off work recovering until he goes back to work on Tuesday (MLK day is Monday = government closed).

...and we made it to the doctor's office, in just enough time for Jon to swing open the car door and you guessed it...vomit.  Cleaned that up, and went up to the doctor's office.  We got there about 45 minutes early, hoping to be sooner than his scheduled appointment, but unfortunately not.  We waited an EXTRA 30 past our appointment.
But when we were finally seen, Dr. Golle disagreed with many of the hospital's choices.the doc gave him a IM shot of toradol (for pain) and an IM shot of phenergen (for nausea). And gave us a few samples of treximet, a medicine for migraines to take about eight hours later.  I was worried about him, so instead of Dad taking him home, I went home with him.
That evening, he took the treximet, not only did it knock Jon out, it knocked the headache down! Hallelujah!

Here we are, ALL AT HOME!!!! Sorry for the delay, we were all in need of some rest.  

Sunday night, thank the Good Lord, Jon was discharged from the hospital.  I took him home and put him straight to bed.  But he was at home!!!  

Official diagnosis: Spinal Headache.  Cause: Lumbar Puncture.

But what caused the first headaches and vomiting?  No diagnosis there.

For the most part his nurses, techs, doctors, and other hospital staff treated him well.  Thank goodness for good, caring nurses, especially when I'm not there....hold on...

...OK the liquid ibuprofen didn't settle well with Jon's stomach.  He can't swallow the pills, the liquid is nasty, I feel for him...

Sunday night I went and got the most important medication they prescribed - valium, to help him sleep.  The rest could wait until morning.  I went to Target with good intentions on using my coupons.  Ended up screwing that whole plan up - left a prescription in the car (I thought there were 3, there were actually 4), forgot the coupons, and had to drive to a Target away because I  knew the one near us was backordered on oxycodone.

I didn't realize that I missed a prescription until this morning, when he asked for it.  Big OOPS!  I'll fill it today for him.

So for now he is doing ok, still with a painful headache, but at least we're heading off to the doctor's in a few minutes.  

More to come later...

Cool Animated Pictures I Made.  There's so much cool stuff on the internet.

First, do you like the design of the blog?  I thought it was about time to change it up, and since Jon is sleeping most of the time I am here with him, I had some time to play around with it.  Personally, I think it looks really good, but please let me know what you think!

OK, so back to Jon, no outstanding changes yesterday.  The doctor came in and talked to us, told us that he would be given an IV with caffeine in it to see if that would help.  That was finally given to him last night, but it didn't help with the headache at all.  Either is the fioricet they have been giving him.  He was having trouble swallowing the ibuprofen pills (800 mg), so they switched to a liquid for him.  At least that's a plus, making it easier on Jon and his myotonia.  He only threw up twice yesterday, which is an improvement I guess, but not throwing up at all is our goal.

Jon was supposed to have two friends visit him last night, but they never showed.  I felt really bad, since I was there either.  I wish he would have told me, because I would have come back to hospital to stay with him.

As usual, I couldn't sleep very well, so I got up at 5am and started getting ready to go to hospital to see Jon.  I decided to dress nicely to lift Jon's spirits (he always loves a his wife in a dress and boots:D), and then packed the Christmas gifts for Vickie and Norman.  They, as well as Grandma and Grandpa are headed down from Pennsylvania to see Jon today.  And Vickie and Norman haven't received their Christmas gifts from us, so I thought this would be a decent time, and something to do while we are all here at the hospital with Jon.  (We already mailed Grandma and Grandpa their gifts before Christmas.)

I got to the hospital just before 7:30am, and Jon had already gotten his shower, and was awake and happy to see me.

Soon after breakfast arrived, the doctor came in to talk to us.  He had spoken to the neurologist and the neurologist said that at this point it would be too late to try Imitrex (I had asked about this).  While he was here, I asked a bunch more questions?  Is there another pain medication we can try him on?  Are you going to start him on a prophylaxis as you mentioned a few days ago? Can you change the timing of his pain medication medication so he's not in so much pain?  He responded positively to my questions.  I suggested that they start him on toradol instead of ibuprofen, since it is an IV medication, often given for to patients with migraines, and he said OK.  I asked if they were going to start him on a prophylaxis to prevent any future or rebound migraines, he said yes, and asked what I currently take (which is topamax, and works wonderfully for me on many levels, I call it my miracle drug).  And he switched up the timing of his medications so he receives medication more often (but not more of it) to help control his pain. 

Perhaps this is some actual progress in treatment!  Maybe all it took was some real patient advocacy.  We'll see.  It's to 10:30am now, I'll post again later with some more updates.

Thanks again for all the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers.  All are much appreciated, and needed.

From Franklin Square Hospital, signing out...

After a day of watching Jon, I went home to take care of the dogs, and was mentally and physically exhausted.  Side Note:  Did you know this is a good way to loose weight?  I'm down another couple pounds.  Anyway, on my way home, my good friend Rachel called, and asked how everything was going, and asked if I needed anything.  Half jokingly, I asked if she wanted to come over for a bit (let me tell you, this is one busy woman, and I really didn't expect her to be available), but she said yes, she would be over a little later!

It was later in the evening, but oh how nice it was to be able to spend some quality time with a great friend right now.  I needed that girl time, to relax, joke a little, laugh, and ease my mind of what's going on.  Rachel was even nice enough to bring me some McDonalds to munch on.  I wasn't really hungry, but I also hadn't really eaten all day either (fried food is always good for the soul).  

Before she left, Jon called in good spirits, said he was feeling better than he was, and left us laughing on the phone because he was acting so silly.  All in all it was a good end to a very rough day.

Thank you Rachel!  Love you!

So it's a little late, I have a valid excuse this time.


Here is my doable list of New Year's Resolutions.


1.  Keep going to church.
2.  Keep a dairy, and write in it.  It doesn't have to be every day, but consistently.
3.  Let go of grudges.
4.  Exercise some way, some how.  Using my Pilates videos, using the Wii, whatever, just get up and get moving.
5.  Read Boundaries and complete the companion workbook.
6.  Read The Seven Levels of Intimacy.
7.  Read an additional five books by the end of the year.
8.  Be healthier by following my doctor's orders, taking my prescriptions as directed, and keeping all doctor's appointments.
9.  Maintain my current weight.
10.  Drink more water.
11.  Keep in better touch with family and friends.  And tell those I love, that I love them more often.
12.  Write in my blog more often.  Even if no one reads it, writing in my blog makes me feel better.  And yes, it's different than writing in my diary.
13.  Declutter the house and the closet and donate what I no longer want.


That's it.  Lucky number 13!  
What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Jon finally got a room in the hospital at about 5:30 last night, just as one of his good friends Chuck came to visit him..  I figured it was a good time for me to scoot out and let Chuck and Jon spend some time together, and let myself get a little (much needed) rest.  Jon was also scheduled to have an MRI in the AM. So that was that.

I came home to my wonderful father and step mom Annie taking care of the doggies and putting up the blinds they bought us for Christmas.  Now the whole front of the house has matching custom wood blinds.  They're just awesome.  They even took out the trash and walked the dogs for me.

So after a rough night's sleep (worrier again) I went to see Jon.  He told me he kept down some pudding and jello last night. Good!!! And he ate and kept down a little of his (oh so yummy) hospital breakfast. Great!!! But the headache remains, and the nausea is still there, just not as bad as it was.

Mid morning, he was swept off to get his MRI.  Can you believe it, he said he actually fell asleep during the MRI?!?! I've had a couple MRI's done, and when I'm feeling good, I could never fall asleep during one of those.  I attribute that to the meds.  At any rate, a little while later, the doctor who works with the neurologist came in to talk to us.  The MRI came out fine.  All clear there.  She examined him, and advised us that the neurologist would be in shortly to talk to us.  She also said that his headache was most likely caused by a migraine, and that needed to be started on a prophylaxis to prevent another episode.  

Soon after she left, I also prepared to leave, to take care of the dogs, since I had left them alone all day.  

_ _ _ _ _

It's now 6:15pm, and I have talked to Jon a few times since I left.  The doctor suggested drinking some caffeinated beverages, so Dad and Annie stopped by and brought him some Mountain Dew and Gatorade.  That will also help to hydrate him.  His headache has also gotten worse since I left.  The staff also said he would probably be able to be released tomorrow so long as everything goes as planned.

I feel so bad for Jon.  I wish I could be there for him 24 hours a day, and make this all go away for him.  

Another post will come tomorrow with an update.

A day later, and Jon is doing worse again.  Tuesday, I went to work on very little sleep (I worry and means no sleep) and left Jon to defend for himself at home while I was at work.  When I talked to him on the phone a few times, he sounded ok, not good, not bad.

But when I go home, he was not doing well.  Jon's situation had worsened again, and we tried to decide what to do.  I had successfully made appts with our family doctor and the neurologist (and good appt times too!).  After talking it over, we decided until the "rush" would be over in the ER and go back later in the evening.

We left the house a little after 10:00pm and headed back to Franklin Square Hospital, again.  The ER waiting room was very busy and I got a little discouraged that we would be seen in a timely manner.  Thankfully, the triage nurse called us back within a few minutes and after vitals were taken, were offered a dark place to sit away from the ER waiting room (apparently if you come back a 3rd time, you're a priority).  Soon after, we headed off to a room in the ER.

Jon immediately received more IV fluids, and after speaking with the doctor, received pain and nausea medication.  Both helped mildly.  Jon received a second round of medication, but was still feeling nauseous and received only some relief from the headache.  

So, at about 2:00 am, the doctor decided that Jon needed to be admitted for IV fluids, pain and nausea management.  The problem is, all the beds are full in the hospital, so Jon was stuck in the ER for now.  

...

It's 1:30pm on Wednesday, and Jon is still in the ER waiting for a bed in the hospital.  Actually, the entire part of ER he is in, is waiting for beds in the hospital.  Wow.  

The hospital is full.  The ER is full.  And so is the ER waiting room.  And, Frankin Square just opened a new patient tower, and this new ER with 100 beds!  That is incredible if you think about it.  What would have happened if it was the old hospital?  Talk about overflow.

Jon is sleeping for now.  Not patiently waiting to see what happens next.

It's been a wild ride, 2011 so far.  Hope this isn't a forecast for what to come the entire year.

On New Year's Eve, Jon and I went out the the Greene Turtle in Hanover to celebrate the new year with my friend from college, Katie, and some of her friends.  Unfortunately, Jon developed another headache with nausea.  So, we left early and headed home.

Come New Year's Day, Jon's headache and nausea got progressively worse and he had to go to the ER. He wasn't keeping anything down.  It was bad.  At the hospital they did a CT Scan, bloodwork, and even a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to find out why he has been having these headaches.  Everything came back clean, and the meds he was given controlled the headache and nausea.  So, Sunday morning he was released and we went home.  Jon caught up on some much necessary sleep, as I ran errands, and filled his Rx's.  Jon was able to watch the Steelers game in bed, and kept down some of the homemade chicken noodle soup I made for him (It is yummy!).  But then the evening came, and the headache and vomiting came back with a vengeance.  Jon couldn't get comfortable or keep anything down.  

So Monday morning came, and I called off work to take care of Jon.  Obviously, he called off work too.  I called our family doctor and talked to the on-call physician, who advised me to take Jon back to the ER.  At about 9:30 this morning we headed back to Franklin Square.  We got into triage pretty quickly, but then it took a while to find us a room, and Jon was getting worse and worse as the minutes went by.  Finally, we got into a room, and they gave him more meds for the pain and nausea.  And after talking with the doctor, they thought this new, more painful headache could be from the lumbar puncture.  It's a risk when doing a lumbar puncture.

We had to wait for the anesthesiologist for finish a procedure, and then he came to talk to us.  To treat the headache Jon was having, they could do a spinal patch to stop the leakage from the lumbar puncture.  Although it was a little early (they usually wait at least 48-72 hours after a puncture to do a patch), we all agreed it was Jon's best interest to go ahead with the spinal patch procedure.  

They completed the procedure with success!  All in all, it took about 10 minutes to complete the procedure, and the relief was immediate.  Jon is feeling much better (with just a slight headache and little bit of nausea), and receiving an additional 2 liters of fluid.  As soon as his IV fluids are done, we can head home.

Thank goodness Jon is okay.  I was really worried about him, and his health.  Hopefully, this will be the last of these horrid headaches for Jon.  Thanks to Franklin Square, the nurses, and doctors, who have helped us, and the well wishes of friends and family.

I can only hope that this was a one-time thing, and not a forecast for what's to come in the new year.  Resolutions to come soon in the next post.  This was more important.

Home, here we come, soon.