Update

1) Holding a baby is a strenuous activity
2) Someone is finally AWOL
3) Preparing for flu season
4) Finally getting somewhere with doctors
5) A light is dawning

The first one is obvious I should think.  I held my friends baby for about 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon with not much support for me and then again for a good 2 hours Sunday night and woke up with a shoulder and upper arm so sore you would have thought I had been in a prized fight.  I was even surprised when I didn't see bruises.  How can something so small (under 7lbs) cause any pain.  However, there is no way that I will ever not hold him because I am worried about pain the next day.  Just not going to happen!!

Second is actually welcomed news.  My mom finally admitted over Thanksgiving weekend that my brother has gone missing.  They have heard nothing since the early early hours on October 5th, he is not updating his facebook page and his cell phone has been disconnected.  Just what my mom needs during this time she is supposed to be using for healing in the run up to more surgery.  So we are back to the whole keeping doors locked and not answering any phone calls from unknown numbers.

My mom, K and myself all went over to the doctor's office yesterday to get our flu shots.  I know this can be a controversial topic but we choose to get ours.  Last year I didn't get one (as I was sick) and I was sick from mid-October through February.  I am not doing that again!!  It was easy getting K to get one this year, I just told him he couldn't see the baby if he didn't get his flu shot!  He got his shot then looked at me and said "That was it? It didn't hurt!".  We are still waiting on dad to get his but keep telling him with mom's upcoming hospital excursions, her need to heal and my crappy immune system he has to get one!

Fourth on the list is one that is pretty frustrating.  As you all know from my LONG post the other day about my mom, we have been in limbo for a while.  Dad decided on Monday that since it had been three weeks since the 'surgery' that he was going to call around and see what was going on.  He called mom's ob/gyn (Dr. P)'s office to see just what was going on and they hadn't heard anything but told him that they would make a few calls and find out what was going on.  They called back shortly and told dad that they were glad that dad called because when they called 'big city' they were told that mom's appointment was actually last week!!!!!  They had an appointment set up for her on October 18th that we never knew about and they never even questioned why someone in our situation wouldn't show up for an appointment.  Well dad was pissed!!!  I wouldn't have wanted to be on the other end of the phone.  So he called the general surgeons (Dr. B) office and just let go saying that they could be there in an hour and 15 minutes and that they would come at any time.  They told dad that Dr. B operates on every other Thursday and sees patients the other Thursday's (not sure what she does every other day of the week :S ) so they 'squeezed' mom in on November 1st at 8:45 in the morning!!  Which leads me to think that the doctor is coming in early to get mom's appointment.  Now remember, we live over an hour away so this makes it an insanely early time to get on the road for the appointment.  I honestly would suggest that mom and dad went up the night before and got a hotel but I don't think mom would go for that.  Now, here is the tricky part.  Thankfully mom was sound asleep through all of dad's phone calls and just woke up to find out that she has an appointment on November 1st.  Dad doesn't want to put anymore stress on her so we are not going to tell her about the 'missed' appointment.  Not sure how that will work out when she gets to the appointment so we will just see what happens.  Now this is only a consultation visit but we are hoping that we get a lot more information and dates from this.

Lastly, something I have been trying to avoid I think.  I am starting to realize just how messed up my GI system is getting.  I have all the 'normal' EDS and gastro lower GI issues (constipation, bloating, bleeding, cramping etc) but always just chalked that up to the pain medications that I am on and never thought anything of it.  A few weeks ago we found out that the stool softeners I have to take are not supposed to be taken within two hours of other medications!  I always took them with my normal night time medications.  So mom and I figured that maybe we should try stopping that to see if my night meds might just have been affected and messing with my sleep.  I went out and bought some Miralax and switched to that for a week.  I have never had the stomach cramps that I have had this week, and lots more issues with constipation so I will definitely be switching back to the pills as I haven't even noticed a difference with the other meds.  But at least I tried and saw what happened.  Now as to upper GI issues, I have noticed them getting a lot worse, especially after the scope I had last January.  I have finally got the real bad reflux under control with changing my actonel drug dosage thankfully but have lately been noticing other issues.  I have had a lot of problems with eating and having it feel like it is just sitting in my stomach.  I am not talking about feeling full a few hours after supper, I am talking not wanting to eat for a few days because I was still full from a meal I had a few days ago.  Also have found that I have to be careful when feeding the dogs and actually sit on the floor to feed them instead of bending and reaching down as if I do this (like touching your toes) the food literally comes back up and I have been quite close to throwing up.  I have to watch more which foods I eat as well as to figure out which cause me problems and stuff like that.  I have also been under a lot more stress with mom's problems but also quite run down as I have had to be more active this last month filling in for mom and stuff like that.  Once things settled down, this will be an issue that needs to be looked into for sure.