Fun Times

Oh buddy....what whirlwind life has been lately. 

First off,  Brian has been cleared with a full bill of health!!! YEAH!!! He has had his followup with the surgeon and the pulmonologist and they both cleared him of any fluid left in his chest cavity! We were very thrilled. 

School has been going great.  I started a new educational system with my freshmen (check it out here) and it has been so successful!! I am a huge fan of how it is working out and it has not only made my life easier with less grading to do at home, but i really feel like I have been working more with my kids and they are comprehending more than just the normal set up of a classroom.  If you are interested in what I do in my classroom, keep an eye on that blog for updates. 

As for today - HAPPY EASTER every one!  I hope everyone is enjoying a day filled with fun with your families.  We on the other hand are being productive today.  (ish) Brian is doing work around the house - which he hasn't done in over a month!  I finished up my last post in my master's current master's class and am doing chores while updating both of my blogs.  We did bring in the holiday with some great fun with friends. 

Friday I was able to have lunch with Brian and his work buddies and I finally got to see his office!  Holy crap, my husband is a grown up dude!  He has a cubicle (with no personality!) and he works in a huge building that has its own cafeteria, gym and heath center! Its nuts.  But it was cool to see him in his daily environment.

Then we had some old friends come over and hang out friday night.  This pretty much summarizes the night. 

Oh - and going on a walk with the puppies at midnight and Jack getting loose and then watching/laughing at Brian while he chased the get away puppy.  No worries, we got him back safe and sound.

So that led to Saturday where we slept on the couch and were complete and utter BUMS all day!  It was fabulous. 

Saturday night we went over to Taryn & Andrew's for our mostly-sometimes-depends-on-the-season-weekly game night.  We played Quelf.  Now, if you have never played this game - you need to.  It is so freaking hilarious and we almost die laughing everytime.  Basically - this is what to expect. 

Yes - that is a piece of paper taped to my forehead and that is aluminum foil over my hand.  Its entertaining to say the least.

Well Andrew went to bed a like a normal person and we stayed up and started talking about educational technology...transitioned into educational reform....transitioned into politics......transitioned into religion.....transitioned back to politics.....transitioned into personal beliefs....transitioned into what is wrong with society...(this is where I couldn't keep my eyes open any more and fell asleep on the couch)...but Taryn and Brian kept talking and needless to say - we didn't get home until 6:30 this morning.  So we slept - until 2pm when we finally got out of bed to face the world. 

Everyone wish us luck in our coming days to help us get back on a normal sleep schedule and to have a great coming week.  I hope every one else has a great day with family and that sets you up for a fantastic and productive week as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update and THANK YOU!!!

So Brian and I are finally home from the hospital! We were discharged yesterday morning and were home just after noon. It was incredibly nice to be home!

The puppies obviously missed us, they were very hyper to see us, which is really odd because they normally don't freak out over us; just strangers. We had to hold them back from Brian because of his wounds from surgery but ally was quite determined to get some full body contact with him. (See picture below)

As for an update on Brian, he is doing pretty good. To catch you up..he did have surgery on Tuesday morning. They gave him an epideral for the pain before surgery and then he went in. They put him under anesthesia and tried to use the scope but it wasn't enough so they had to do the thorocotomy to get out the fluid. Then they "power-washed" (doctors exact words) his chest cavity to clean it out...then put 3 chest tubes in to drain all the excess fluid. The surgery took about 3hrs and then we still didnt see him for another 3 hrs because they were waiting for him to wake from anesthesia and trying to get the pain under control in the recovery room. When we finally saw him I was very relieved, it was nerve racking waiting!!! He got to keep the epideral in until Friday and he also got the chest tubes taken out too. So he was tube free on Friday and in good spirits. The only issues we had were managing the pain and the nausea caused by the pain meds.

He is still very sore and it's hard to move around but the pain meds they prescribed help. Before we left yesterday (was it really only yesterday?!?!?) they changed his dressing to a clear one that he could take off in 48hrs, they said by then it would be closed enough for showers/soap/water wouldn't cause any damage...but with the clear, that meant I could see his wounds. Now....don't get me wrong; I am not a squeamish person. Heck, I dissect cats in A&P and have no issues! But when it comes to Brian, I get all grossed out by the smallest cut that causes him any pain. So when I went to wash him down with the washcloths I saw the damage and was instantly freaked. He has a 5inch line on his shoulder blade from the thorocotomy...but he also had 3 HOLES (yes, literally HOLES, as in I CAN SEE INSIDE MY HUSBAND HOLES) in his side from the chest tubes. Of course I freak out and his first reaction is "I wanna see!!" So he went over to the mirror and was like "ewww" ya, don't have to tell me twice. And to make it worse, I had to change the dressing tonight and actually wash the nastiness. He better freaking love me for the gross things I do for him! Ha.

But this blog is not just for an update on Mr. Sickly...it is to thank everyone for the love and support that we received during out stint in the hospital.

First off, hats off to the people who came to the rooms and visited us, kept our bellies full of real food, spirits lifted and boredom levels low!

Mom and Dad, i cannot thank you enough. you have been there through the whole process and keeping me positive. You gave up your week off from school to hang out with me and keep my anxiety levels down. thanks for making me smile even when i felt like crying when he was under the needle. i love you mostest. I know Brian was grateful too because without you, he would have died from malnutrition from not eating nasty hospital food.

Charlene, thank you for risking the bad weather and staying in a hotel to be with us. I know Brian was incredibly grateful for you giving up your time to be there. You helped keep conversation positive and not focused on the "what-ifs" we really appreciate it.

Dave, thank you for coming up to visit. Even though it was short your cookies and card brought a sense of normalcy to the crazy week. :) I know Brian was excited because he told be about 500 times that you were planning on coming. The small gesture meant a lot.

A special thanks to Johnathan and Ashley for not only bringing us food at the hospital, visiting with him after the surgery, but most of all for staying at our place and watching our dogs. You are absolutely amazing and we are so grateful. Thank you for saving us money and keeping the dogs stress level manageable while we were gone. You have also fed us the past few nights and not having to worry about grocery shopping has made our lives so much easier.

To Mother Nature for allowing me to have snow days for Tuesday-Friday and allowing me the stress free environment to focus on my husband and not have to worry about what is happening at school. Also, thanks to Cassie Miller for helping me with sub plans Monday when we went to the emergency room. I really appreciate it.

Also to the countless friends and family who have showed their support via phone calls, texts and on Facebook. I couldn't possibly name you all but I hope you know that each "like" or "comment" really helped keep our spirits up. I promise I read them all to Brian so that he knew just how much he is loved.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now, time to get back to some sense of normalcy and a regular life. I hope everyone has a good week and know that our gratefulness of your efforts to show your love and support can never be expressed by a simple "thank you"