Never a Dull Moment Around Here.

Well the past two weeks have been an adventure.  

I had surgery.

Will's Grandma died.

Will's really good friend got married.

Will's brother got married.

I got nominated for 2 awards.

Let's start with the surgery....

Between my last ER visit on Saturday the 28th and my surgery on Tuesday the 31st - my stomach totally swelled up and was killing me. All I can say is I was literally counting down the hours until it was time for me to go to the hospital.  This gall bladder was killing me.

They checked me in, I was nervous of course.  They IV'd me up and took me into the OR. The anestheseologist told me I would start to feel a little bit sleepy.  The nurse was talking to me, but the last thing I remember is poking my head up to tell her I didn't know what she was saying because I felt very whoozy.

The next thing I remember is having a dream where I was performing on stage in a concert, then heard doctors and nurses talking around me. I found myself waking up in a recovery room. The nurse asked me what my pain level was and I thought for a second and realized my shoulder was killing me.  "My shoulder hurts."  is what I said. Then they doped me up on some more pain killers and whoosh I was all dizzy and asleep again.

An hour later, Will came in to see me.  And after that it was all about trying to get me up and dressed so I could go home.  They tried to get me to eat something but it all made me want to throw up.  Eventually I forced myself to sit up long enough to get my street clothes back on.  Then the next thing I knew I was being helped into a wheelchair.  I remember the nurse saying something about my hair smelling really good.  Then I was in our car.  Next thing I knew I woke up in our driveway and Will was opening my door for me and helping me out of the car.

Will helped me upstairs and then I laid down in the bed and don't remember the rest of the day.  The 2nd day I was in a lot of pain from my shoulder. I guess they pumped me full of carbon dioxide during the surgery so they could operate better, and it is quite common for the air to get trapped in the diaphragm/shoulder area.  

For the first 4 days I felt miserable. Totally felt like what I felt post-csection.  I thought this recovery is so stinking hard!  And worse, my stomach ballooned up from all the air and swelling, and I looked in the mirror and thought I looked like I was about 6 months pregnant.  My weight went up like 6 pounds after surgery even though all I'd eaten was gatorade, chicken broth, and graham crackers.

Finally around day 5 and 6, I felt some strength coming back and my swelling started to go down.  And now I'm down 5 pounds under what I was before surgery. So down 10 from the swelling.

During all that week, Will worked from home most of it and waited on me hand and foot.  There is something about served by your spouse in that manner that makes you just love them all the more.  He was so sweet to me and got me literally anything I needed - even a run to the grocery store to find a specific ice cream for me.

Our boys were having a really fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's house during the first 4 days....

I got the boys back after Day 4, and then there were a couple of families from our ward that volunteered to help me and they watched them on Days 5 and 6.  I felt really bad shipping them off to another home again since they had already just been gone for 4 days, but it was a blessing since I couldn't lift anything. Just getting them dressed and ready to go to the peoples' houses totally wore me out!

And then after that, they went back up to my parents house again for another 3 days so I could continue to heal up and also get some things done.  The whole surgery thing really put me behind on preparing for my upcoming concert and I was starting to freak out that I would need to post-pone it.  But having those extra 3 days to get some things done really helped and I was able to feel like maybe I would be able to pull it off.

So, I forgot to mention on Day 5 post-surgery, Will left for over a week.  His friend, Bryan, got married in Spokane (Bryan is one of Will's long-time friends and was one of Will's groomsmen at our wedding back in 2005....see below of some history with Bryan)...

(our wedding, 3.25.05)

(Scuba diving trip to the San Juans - Labor Day weekend 2004)

(Scuba diving trip to the San Juans - Labor Day weekend 2004)

(Scuba diving trip to the San Juans - Labor Day weekend 2004)

So anyway, Will went to Bryan's wedding on Friday.  Then drove through the night to be at his Grandma Harmon's funeral the next day in Idaho Falls at noon.

(Will at his Grandma's funeral)

The original plan, before my surgery, was we were going to drive over together as a family to go to Seth's wedding (Will's younger brother) on the 11th.  But then the unexpected surgery happened, as well as the unexpected death of his grandma.  So instead of making two trips to Idaho, Will decided to just stay there the entire week. He brought his laptop so he could work from his computer, and also be around to help out with all the wedding plans too - which turned out to be a good thing. :)  

I finally got our boys back on Wednesdays of this past week (so 5 days ago) and I had never been SO EXCITED to see my boys!  I was getting really lonely at home all by myself. I mean yes I was getting a lot accomplished, but at night when I went to bed, I just laid there alone in a quiet house. It was very sad. Will was 2 states away, and my boys were 2 hours away.  Our family had never been so split up :(

Once I got my boys back, we just played!! I was feeling much better and I just wanted to spend time with them!!

Preston had a little too much fun on his bike and fell over and scratched himself pretty good on a nail that was sticking out of the side of our foundation of the house. I called the nurse and she said he should be fine with neosporin though.  I was worried he needed to go get a tetanus shot.

I went to Home Depot and finally bought and installed a curtain rod for our front living room window. It was my first time installing one though, and it ended up being crooked. Not because I didn't measure correctly, but because the darn screws kept coming out of the wall. So when Will gets home, I will need his manly-man muscles to redo it for me :)

Home Depot was also having a rug sale and I finally bought a run for out entry way to cover up the crawl space opening. I really love it and think it makes it look much homier there :)

Here's Taylor saying "Bu-Bye" when I left the boys at my parents house the 2nd time.

I went and bought a sprinkler so the boys could play in the water in our front yard....which needs mowing haha.

Taylor the Tailor. :)

The beach near my parents home....ah lovely. :)

One thing on my 2-do list was to get my new album submitted for the Grammys this year. Which I did. Wish me luck with that. 

And then Friday I found out I was nominated for two HMMA awards this year. One is for "Best Contemporary/Orchestral song" for the song "Illumination". The other nomination is for "Best Film Score: Indie/Documentary/Short" for the Minuet score. This is the same awards show I went to last November, so looks like another fun "business trip" for Will and I this November as well. 

Well, Will is due home in about 45 minutes.  So I'm a bit ecstatic! Yay!  This is the longest and farthest we've been apart since the beginning of our marriage when he was gone for 2 weeks when his parents' basement flooded and he went to install new carpet. I'm glad he was able to be there for his family, but I am very excited for our family to be all together again!  YES! :)