Thursday, January 28, 2010

Whisper to Me Softly...

Well, enough is enough... I swear if I don't catch a break here pretty soon then I'll just scream. Okay, maybe not but I'd like to. **wink, wink**

The month has been going fairly well with the ex-husband being on a business trip since Jan. 9th and the princes being with me. It's been true bliss except for the emails flying back and forth the day that he left but I'm done with it and the good news in this area is that my attorney is getting a court date so the judge can decide and get the crap over with since it's been going on for 3 yrs and the mediation & parent coordinator (crazy lady as we like to call her around here) didn't make any dent in the situation. I'll either get my ass handed to me by the judge or come out with what I'd like to see happen for the princes.

Back to this week... it started with me making a visit to our local Redi-med on Saturday night to find out I had a bad case of strep throat, staying home from school on Monday and going back on Tuesday and finally feeling better on Wednesday.

Wednesday night comes and I begin to slowly lose my voice! WTF???? My throat doesn't hurt, I'm feeling better and now I'm losing my voice? I woke up this morning with the squeakiest voice I have ever heard - I swear it was like having Minnie Mouse in the house or something like that! Anyhoo... I go to work because no one would be able to hear me if I called to request a sub plus I had a box full of basketball clappers that I needed to take to school. Got to school and came to the realization very quickly that there was no way that I would be able to teach a group of 5/6 yr. olds with no voice. Got a sub and went to the dr.

Waited almost 2 hours to see the nurses practitioner (and this was only to get back to the room). It was another 40 minutes before she came into see me and this is how the conversation went:

NP: "Hi, I'm so-and-so."

Me: shaking head

NP: "You went to Redi-med and was diagnosed with strep throat?"

Me: shaking head again

NP: "They put you on 500 mg Biaxin 2 times per day?"

Me: again shaking my head in agreement

NP: "And why are you here to see me?" (Imagine her saying this while she is doing the little head cock with the annoyance in her voice.)

Me: squeaking out "Because I have no voice."

NP: "It's going around and it takes 5-7 days for the voice to come back."

Me: "But I had strep earlier this week and think it could be related."

NP: "It's a virus." (This without her even touching me!)
Me: "I've waited 2 hours to see you when my appt. was at 11:20 and you're not going to examine me."


NP: "It's a virus. Sorry. Go home and rest."

Me: "The phone nurse could have told me this when I called. The front desk or your nurse could have told me you were 2 hours behind and given me the choice of seeing someone else but instead I waited for 2 hours for you to not examine me. This is unacceptable - I came in to make sure it wasn't anything else or still the strep but you won't even listen to what I'm saying to you."

I politely told her that she was a bitch and walked out with the paper to take the the cashier who when I asked her to have my dr.'s nurse make a note that I am NEVER to be given to the nurse practitioner again asked why. She promptly offered to have another dr. see me and went and explained the situation to the other dr. This dr. stayed late from lunch to see me. Comes to find out I have fluid behind my right eardrum (enough to be causing problems), a sinus infection that is draining into my throat causing it to be sore & irritating the vocal cords making them swell to the point of causing my laryngitis! This dr. put me on another medicine along with the current antibiotic and if there isn't a slight improvement tomorrow then she will change my antibiotic tomorrow afternoon before the weekend. Hmm... now the nurse practitioner might have caught all of this if she would have done her job and actually examined me!!! Thank goodness for the wonderful dr. and wishing the nurse practitioner learns some bedside manners very soon!

I should have part of my voice back by Monday (and I'll scream then if I'm not better) but it means another day off from school for me and not going to the school's open house on Sunday. Nothing like a 4 day weekend - it'd be better being able to talk but a little "me time" is always good. ~grinning~

Friday, January 1, 2010

A Decade in Review

Wow! Where has the last decade gone? I think with each passing year the time goes just a little bit faster or could it be that I am just a little bit busier with each passing year? A thought for another post I suppose.

Having had the day to reflect on where my life has taken me over the last 10 years (it seems I've either had a touch of a 'bug' or one hell of a hangover which is unusual for me on ONLY 2 martinis!)

When Y2K began, I was a new bride and new mom - I know what a combination... and I had realized what a mistake that I had made in getting married to a man that I truly didn't love but as many people I thought to myself that I "made my bed and needed to lie in it" and tried to make the best of a not-so wonderful situation. My then husband chalked it up to me having post-partum that kicked in 6 months after the birth of the oldest prince. Shortly after this I found out I was expecting the second prince. I know *shaking head* some of you will be asking "why". I've asked myself that million dollar question many times and I always come up with an answer but that's another post.

Three years later brought the youngest prince and my accomplishment of finishing my teaching degree, giving up my job to raise my little guy who came early and take care of my princes. It also brought to the realization that I was married to a man that didn't actually care about my well-being which was definitely apparent when I was placed on bed rest and he chose to ignore the medical issues that I was having and it was still required that I take care of the house, other 2 princes and the yet to arrive prince.

A year later in 2004, went through ups and downs with family - had A LOT of money scammed from us by someone we trusted and had let into our lives. Needless to say, I had the last laugh in 2005 when the SOB was arrested and he tried in 2006. That is definitely another post! I can tell you about super-duper sleuth skills and my "undercover" assignment.

Then in 2005 I became involved in an organization that gave me a purpose and unbeknownst to me I would be introduced to my prince charming! It just took a whole year for that to become apparent.

The year 2006 rolled around and my close friend moved to the Wild West the past August, I increasingly started doubting my husband's devotion to me and his family and started questioning what the fuck I was doing with my life. It was the year of change for me... and boy, did it ever. The friendship that I had made with this person that would end up being a god send helped me realize that I was not me any longer. I long had "lost" who I once was - that fun-loving, silly at times, strong but serious when I needed to be girl that moved to a town that I had no one 10 years before. I decided to take a leap of faith and step out and find her again and knew that to do that I needed to make changes. The first was to stop lying to myself and the people I truly cared about and finally step out of a relationship that I had allowed to suck the life out of me. With that first courageous step, I have finally found ME again. You know you are on the right track when your mother looks at you and tells you that she has her daughter back. OUCH!

The last 3 years has had it's ups and downs but I am a stronger person because of them. I continue to grow in who I am - I still have my prince charming that was there when I needed him the most, my princes adore their mom and I adore my princes, I FINALLY have a job that I LOVE!

Now, as I begin a new decade.... I am still a new bride but this time it's a dream come true so I say bring on the next 10 years!