We sprung mom from the hospital today! Yesterday the doctor told her that if she could eat/drink, walk around, and tolerate oral meds, she could go home. Well, those were the magic words. She was discharged today. We took her to the Iron Horse in Westwood, famous for their burgers with the cheese INSIDE. Supertasty. Then we got her settled and got on the road.
It’s been a long week with a lot going on so I’m happy to be home, but even happier that my mom is, too.
My mom’s in the hospital. I’m exhausted from repeating the story over and over but basically they thought she had a kidney infection, then kidney stones, now they think it’s her gallbladder. She’s in Pascack Valley, getting IV fluids and antibiotics cause she does have SOME infection, no one knows what yet though.
If she’s going to be in much longer than tomorrow, I’m going down there. She told me not to but I don’t care. She’s too damn stubborn to decide what I do. 
Basically I’m been on the phone all day, as well as on the internet telling her online friends where she is. I’m tired. Nice talking to family, though.
I was looking up how to recycle old magazines on the West Hartford town site. I found the reference and it’s surprisingly easy, especially for this the land of Counterproductive Trash Laws. However, there was this note in the directions:
Clean, dry newspaper, (and inserts), magazines and catalogs, junk mail, computer paper, stationery, bills, shredded paper, envelopes with windows. NOTE: Must be less than 2 months old, or goes out in trash.
What? Do magazines have a half-life of two months? Someone please enlighten me because I am quite confused.
In related news, I am on a mission to step-up the environmental concern efforts. We are taking all of our plastic bags and tossing them into one of those recycling containers at the grocery store and never looking back. I want to get reuseable grocery bags or, if necessary, just use paper bags. I will also be using a tote bag or similar for my lunch, except on the days that I have to bring more milk in for my breakfast, at which point I’ll use a large paper bag from Whole Foods or something.
What a gorgeous day! We spent it being very domestic. This morning I made Banana Cranberry muffins from a recipe I got off SparkPeople (have I mentioned SparkPeople yet?). They were awesome. I used 4 bananas instead of 2 and they are so moist and tasty. Mmmm. They’re also healthy! The recipe used applesauce instead of oil and whole wheat flour and no sweetener aside from 1/3 c of maple syrup and the bananas.
Anyone looking to get a healthier lifestyle should check out SparkPeople. For seriously. It’s focused on total wellness, not just weight loss. If you do sign up, tell ‘em “salimoo” sent you!
Anyway, then we hit Home Depot for some compact fluourescent bulbs. Go go gadget energy saver! We had some brunch at AC Petersen and then came home. Nate finished hanging the blinds and replaced the old bulbs with the CFLs while I cleaned the kitchen. Gender roles for the win!
Then we played photo shoot with his new lighting equipment and backdrops. I’ll post the pics when he’s done processing them. I played a rocker chick with his guitar. You almost can’t tell that I have never played the guitar in my entire life!
Now we’re just hanging out, watching a movie, enjoying having the windows open.
I’m sorry I’ve been MIA. Between long work days, going out of town, and no real good news to share, time has gotten away from me.
Friday I had a follow-up with my endocrinologists office for my pump. My pulse rate is down to 72! What a huge improvement over my average of 110 just three weeks ago. The medication is finally working. My blood pressure is still low, but not dangerously so. Gayle, the wonderful nurse practitioner there (and fellow diabetic/pumper) was just amazed with my progress and how steady my blood sugars have been. I’m also amazed. I’m not used to such perfect readings! I also have more energy. Before it was hard enough for me to get through the work day without being completely exhausted. I would be counting the seconds until 5 pm from about 4 pm on. By the time I’d get home I was spent. This week, though, I worked a 16-hour day on Tuesday, then worked until 6 Wednesday and yesterday with barely a yawn. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Next she wants me to give the Continuous Glucose Monitoring System a try. It’s a sensor that goes under your skin and stays there for up to 3 days at a time. It monitors your glucose (continuously!) and sends the readings to the pump every 5 minutes or so. The pump will then alert you if it’s too low and requires treatment or too high and requires insulin. It’s not a “closed-loop” system at this point—meaning that it won’t just make decisions on its own. I still have to actually program the pump to deliver my insulin. It also requires daily calibration with a traditional blood glucose fingerstick. The technology is still pretty new so there are some kinks, it’s not always 100% accurate, it can be 10 minutes behind what the actual glucose is. This also means that insurance isn’t so keen on covering it and the sensors are relatively expensive. She’s going to really petition my insurance company for me, pointing to my retinopathy as a reason for needing even tighter control.
I tried on this dress today at The Gap:
It looked cute on the hanger, the material was nice. Well. I looked pregnant. People who are pregnant look cute in things like that. When you’re not pregnant, though, it’s not a look to strive for. I just want some cute dresses. Sigh. Why why why?
Nate is singing in an endless parade of Easter services so I am holed up for 4 days at a Days Inn. As I keep saying, it has free high-speed wireless and a Panera next door so how can I go wrong? Especially because tomorrow is Baked Potato Soup day! I’m already drooling over the idea of it.
I also have an icky cold. I spent most of today whining and wishing I could just sleep for 3 days. When housekeeping showed up and I tried to make them go away they were very persistant and asked me if everything was okay when I finally opened the door. Maybe they think I’m being held hostage.
Nate is actually free for the rest of the night so we have big plans to get all the things I forgot and then see a movie. Well, if we can tear ourselves away from what the internets tell me is For Love or Money.
FINALLY saw Blades of Glory tonight!
It was AWESOME. It was totally ridiculous but so worth seeing. Will Ferrel’s facial expressions KILL ME. If you like WF, see this movie. Will Arnett (Arrested Development’s GOB) and Amy Poehler (SNL) were also hysterical. Jenna Fischer (The Office’s Pam) was dead-on as the forgotten sister.
If you’re into figure skating there are plenty of skater cameos, like Scott Hamilton as a commentator, Sasha Cohen as a competitor/screaming fan, Nancy Kerrigan as “pretty councilwoman,” etc.
Eric’s blog review reminds me that it was “Downliner” and not “Brooklyn” in the aforementioned three-fer. I always get those two mixed up for some reason. In any case, I also love “Downliner” so I was happy.
Eric is the best because he brought me to see Jesse Malin tonight at the Iron Horse and oh my god. From looking at his pictures you’d think he’d be shy and awkward. Not so! He comes alive on stage. He’s mesmerizing to watch. He played pretty much all of my favorites, doing a three-fer with “Prisoners of Paradise,” “Black Haired Girl,” and “Brooklyn.” (I think that was the lineup anyway) He also did a slammin cover of “Hungry Heart,” and the cover of The Hold Steady’s “You Can Make Him Like You” was an awesome surprise.
I’m still on such a high that I can’t really form the words to describe how good it was.
The opener, Garrison Starr was an Amy Ray clone. She talked like her, she sang like her, she moved like her, she dressed like her. She was awkwardly charming, telling rambling stories to introduce her songs. She also kept making funny jokes about how she was “keeping [her] career a secret.” I was just blown away at how similar she was to Amy.
One of the best moments, though, was when a man came up to our table. He recognized Eric from across the room and came up to introduce himself and say what a big fan he was. Eric reacted in typical rock star fashion and looked at me apologetically and said “This NEVER happens.” I still want to know how much he paid him but alas the man disappeared into the crowd.
Today marks 14 years since my diagnosis. Nice April Fools, huh?
14 years of highs and lows and carbs and insulin and test strips and blood drops. Here’s to 14 more, 5 times over!
Flann | 
04 29th, 2007| 
