I learned a few things from having my tonsillectomy that I don't want to forget. The experience itself was life changing for me. Perhaps it was mostly due to having this particular operation tied into my personal goal for resolving some long-time breathing issues of mine in honor of my fifth decade of life.
For one thing, I can breathe now even though my throat is still very swollen from the surgery! Yes, my husband said he didn't know I was in the bed the other night! (I recovered from my tonsillectomy in my living room, mostly sleeping upright in various reclining chairs.)
The reason he didn't know that I was in bed was that I went to bed after him and I apparently didn't snore all night! I was able to lay down and sleep for the first time in many months while also being able to BREATHE! And nobody has ever told me in my entire life that I slept for ANY amount of time without snoring. This seems like a very good sign. Maybe I will actually, FINALLY, be a princess when I sleep :)
In my opinion, any improvment is welcome as to my snoring; but, I am personally most interested in BREATHING well, sleeping sounder and having less nightly jabs in my gut for the rest of my life. I hope it works out like that.
But regardless, it was a positive life experience and there are some lessons learned that I don't want to forget. So here they are --
Note: It is interesting to me how I developed some new habits over a 10-14 day recovery period. Those habits developed fairly easily because they were repeated often, over the course of several days, and were due to the need to cope with both pain and getting to the point of recovery (so I found myself having to do them to get through the days).
From the recovery experience, here are some things I want to apply ongoing ....
Tonsillectomy Habit #1 -- Have a cold, non-milk beverage beside me at ALL TIMES and drink often whether I am thirsty or not.
How I want to continue to apply this lesson in my life from now on -- I was a milk addict. Milk was too thick and pasty to drink during my tonsillectomy (yes, even skim). I had to turn to more water-based drinks during my tonsillectomy recovery and I found that Juicy Juice became my new desired drink over the course of my recovery period. But, Juicy Juice has too many calories post tonsillectomy. So now, I am choosing water either by itself or with some Crystal Light or Propel in it (to give it that fruity flavor) ... and I am going to keep it by my side all day long .... and drink it for great hydration ... whether I am thirsty or not.
Hoped for result --
Milk and Juicy Juice are way more caloric than water and/or Crystal Light or Propel. I hope to lose more weight than the 2.5 pounds I took off by doing this last week.
Tonsillectomy Lesson #2 -- Jello is a yummy and hydrating snack and is easy to make, especially when I use my rubbermaid containers with lids (which are easier to find a spot for in the refrigerator and very easy to store jello in). Therefore, it is not necessary to worry about using a big, cumbersome 9" X 13" pan to make jello and the water for the jello can be boiled most easily in the microwave rather than the stove.
How I want to apply this lesson in my life from now on -- I want to eat more jello and serve jello to my kids more readily when they get sick. Jello is a wonderful recovery food and it is just fun to eat too.
Hoped for result -- Life with more jello in it and kids who feel extra pampered and cared for when they get sick. And kids who get well faster due to the hydration jello provides too!
Tonsillectomy Lesson #3 -- When family members took my kids out of the house every afternoon for one week during my recovery period (I really miss that by the way), my house did not get near the wear and tear it usually does in the week. This meant less housework ... and who really enjoys housework????? Definitely NOT me!
How I want to apply this lesson in my life from now on -- Consider less housework as a motivating factor and benefit to getting my kids out of the house WITH and WITHOUT me during the course of a week (although I think the WITHOUT me opportunities will be more sparse than the WITH me opportunities in any given week .... oh well!)
Hoped for result -- Less housework at times (???)
Tonsillectomy Lesson #4 -- During my recovery period, I lost my normal sense of taste for a few days and when it came back, it was like my sense of taste was heightened. I also developed a greater appreciation for foods overall as I sought to get through the days while balancing intense throat pain with the need and desire to eat; nourish the body for strength and recovery; and curb hunger. I developed a greater awareness and appreciation for the variety of shapes and textures in foods as well (as they relate to the taste of what used to just seem like normal foods). The shapes and textures of the various foods we have available to eat on this planet are truly a blessing!
How I want to apply this lesson in my life from now on -- I want to eat consciously for LIFE and appreciate every bite; refrain from overeating (which causes a true lack of appreciation for food as well as weight gain.); and enjoy eating any food I desire (while emphazing the importance of PROTEIN and FIBER in every meal).
Hoped for result -- Weight loss .... ALONG with joy in eating from ALL food groups available on this great earth. (Including the chocolate and pastry group. I mean, what is life without chocolate??? Maybe not as sweet.)
Thank you God for great food and for all of the blessings we have on this earth!!!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday Five
Here are five great things this Friday :)
1.) I am thankful that my husband's medical tests have come back normal. They were testing for an aneurysm and that was scary. He does still have the headaches but at least we can rule out brain surgery ... goodness!
2.) I am blessed to have three beautiful children, inside and out. I love their sweet, kind ways. Did I teach them to be nice people, or were they born that way?
3.) I am grateful for the speedy recovery I have made from my tonsillectomy. I am so glad that I had this surgery and I feel proud of getting through it so bravely :)
4.) I am thankful for nearby family and good friends who keep me sane (somewhat sane?)
5.) I am sooooo thankful it is FRIDAY!!!! Can I just say S-L-E-E-P is on my weekend schedule big time!
1.) I am thankful that my husband's medical tests have come back normal. They were testing for an aneurysm and that was scary. He does still have the headaches but at least we can rule out brain surgery ... goodness!
2.) I am blessed to have three beautiful children, inside and out. I love their sweet, kind ways. Did I teach them to be nice people, or were they born that way?
3.) I am grateful for the speedy recovery I have made from my tonsillectomy. I am so glad that I had this surgery and I feel proud of getting through it so bravely :)
4.) I am thankful for nearby family and good friends who keep me sane (somewhat sane?)
5.) I am sooooo thankful it is FRIDAY!!!! Can I just say S-L-E-E-P is on my weekend schedule big time!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Out of Sorts
I am feeling out of sorts today. Maybe I have overdone it. I just felt great on Tuesday and began to take over full force with my life. But yesterday .... I just sort of dropped everything and was soooo tired. My dishes never did get done yesterday at all, dinner came together in pieces (or did we have dinner?) and my house is such a wreck right now that I had a bad dream about it.
Today, I skipped the preschool routine. If we are going to skip "just because," we always skip on Thursdays. That is because Ellie's class meets again tomorrow. It is always my personal challenge to muster the energy to pack my two in the car, only to be able to drop off one. And so, I indulged my tiredness today and we skipped. We do this maybe twice per month on a Thursday and I don't tell Ellie we're doing it.
And so, today I must first get those dishes done and maybe do a quick living room pick up. I need a shower and a good lunch. The girls and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors the last two days and that fresh air does wear a person out (as a friend of mine says "in a good way.")
I still plan to walk outside with the girls later today (once I get my energy back in check). I like our new walking routine. It sure beats spending time on the treadmill any day! I really wish I had a girlfriend to walk and chat with though. An adult. I keep my eyes out in the neighborhood but haven't found anyone yet. I guess my little ones will have to be my girlfriends for the time being :)
On another note, I am feeling worried about my dh. He has had a continuous headache for three weeks, non-stop. Of course the man only tells me this after two weeks of having it. The dr. gave him a fancy test on Wednesday and I just feel very worried. I look forward to good news and having this behind him/us soon. Health issues always make me a nervous wreck. But, also, I don't want him to be in pain :(
Today, I skipped the preschool routine. If we are going to skip "just because," we always skip on Thursdays. That is because Ellie's class meets again tomorrow. It is always my personal challenge to muster the energy to pack my two in the car, only to be able to drop off one. And so, I indulged my tiredness today and we skipped. We do this maybe twice per month on a Thursday and I don't tell Ellie we're doing it.
And so, today I must first get those dishes done and maybe do a quick living room pick up. I need a shower and a good lunch. The girls and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors the last two days and that fresh air does wear a person out (as a friend of mine says "in a good way.")
I still plan to walk outside with the girls later today (once I get my energy back in check). I like our new walking routine. It sure beats spending time on the treadmill any day! I really wish I had a girlfriend to walk and chat with though. An adult. I keep my eyes out in the neighborhood but haven't found anyone yet. I guess my little ones will have to be my girlfriends for the time being :)
On another note, I am feeling worried about my dh. He has had a continuous headache for three weeks, non-stop. Of course the man only tells me this after two weeks of having it. The dr. gave him a fancy test on Wednesday and I just feel very worried. I look forward to good news and having this behind him/us soon. Health issues always make me a nervous wreck. But, also, I don't want him to be in pain :(
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
We're Debt Free!!!!! (Our Dave Ramsey Journey)
In September of 2007, I began a personal campaign to gain control over our household finances. We are a single income family that used to be two-income family (until November 2006). By September 2007, it had become obvious that the household funds just were not cutting it. (We had continued to live as a two-income family but had cut back to only getting one income after having back-to-back babies).
So, with the mission of doing whatever needed to be done to avoid my having to go back to work and put my two babies in day care (they were 11 months old and 23 months old at the time), I set off to find a solution. I began by playing the Grocery Game http://www.thegrocerygame.com/.
I had a lot of success with playing the Grocery Game and became very involved with their message boards (where I met some very amazing frugal ladies). And that is where I learned about Dave Ramsey.
At first I just ordered his books and quickly perused them. O.k. more finance books, whatever. I had read several finance books in my life by this point and they all had very good ideas. But none of them had ever really, really changed my life. (Although I did make some good decisions as a result of having read finance books in the past, which I later found out. Some of those things came in handy during our Dave Ramsey journey).
But none of those books ever helped me to really get a real handle on where our money was, or went, at any given time. We were credit card people baby and we had great time!!!
So, from Sept. 2007 through Dec. 2007, I plugged away, making some changes that I thought were good, attempting to create a budget, deeply cutting back on spending in most ways ... but still, it wasn't working out ... and then I finally figured out why due to the wise ladies who were Grocery Game veterans.
Basically, I had gone nuts playing the Grocery Game while using my credit card!!! I was saving money off the price of groceries, but I was regularly exeeding our grocery budget by using my credit card to buy whatever groceries I wanted, in whatever quantities I wanted to buy them!
Sooooo, I redirected and in Dec. of 2007, I opened and read Dave Ramsey's best book, Total Money Makeover with new eyes. And, I began at the beginning, with Baby Step 1. My husband didn't want to get too involved, but he did give me free reign to reorganize our monies and our budget in whatever way was necessary. And my husband (having grown up broke) can stop spending on a dime if need be and so I would instruct him accordingly as this journey got underway.
It took awhile. Many lessons were learned. And relearned. I might list some of those lessons out in another post because they were truly a big part of this whole process. It was not as easy as just reading the book and applying the principles. The real life lessons from applying the principles, and then seeking to find a way around the principles, and then realizing that I had to go back to the actual principles and stick to them to make this work ... those were the big lessons.
I really did not expect that on March 9, 2010 we would finally be debt free except for our house. I knew we were on plan, but I often have not focused on when the actual end to our debt would be. I also had not planned for the large tax refund that Uncle Sam allowed to let happen for us this year.
And then last week, when I was recovering from my tonsillectomy, I had a lot of free time. I found out that this month was actually a three paycheck month for us. And so, I found in our budget the last amount of money needed to finally pay off our original $24,700 Home Equity Line of Credit!
Here are the stats:
How exactly did we do this you might ask. After all, our income didn't really change all that much in the 2.25 years we were involved in this journey. In fact, my husband made less money each year after 2007 and even took a temporary pay cut for three months beginning in January 2009.
Well ... we sold some things. We sold many things. We cut back on some small things. We cut back on some big things. We refinanced our house. We did without things. And, most importantly, we kept the goal front and center.
And now I can say that we actually DID it!!!! It has been life changing!
It doesn't free up more money though. Because there are many things we must now save for in 2010 in order to maintain a debt-free lifestyle. For instance, it is no fun that we have to buy a roof for our house this year. But we will save for it and dh will put it on :) We also have to save up to pay our property taxes due this year. And that is no small amount of change. And other boring things like that must be attended to as well this year.
But after those things are taken care of, we will be ready to take on Baby Step 3 with gusto! We are not done. Just baby steppin' our way there ...
So, with the mission of doing whatever needed to be done to avoid my having to go back to work and put my two babies in day care (they were 11 months old and 23 months old at the time), I set off to find a solution. I began by playing the Grocery Game http://www.thegrocerygame.com/.
I had a lot of success with playing the Grocery Game and became very involved with their message boards (where I met some very amazing frugal ladies). And that is where I learned about Dave Ramsey.
At first I just ordered his books and quickly perused them. O.k. more finance books, whatever. I had read several finance books in my life by this point and they all had very good ideas. But none of them had ever really, really changed my life. (Although I did make some good decisions as a result of having read finance books in the past, which I later found out. Some of those things came in handy during our Dave Ramsey journey).
But none of those books ever helped me to really get a real handle on where our money was, or went, at any given time. We were credit card people baby and we had great time!!!
So, from Sept. 2007 through Dec. 2007, I plugged away, making some changes that I thought were good, attempting to create a budget, deeply cutting back on spending in most ways ... but still, it wasn't working out ... and then I finally figured out why due to the wise ladies who were Grocery Game veterans.
Basically, I had gone nuts playing the Grocery Game while using my credit card!!! I was saving money off the price of groceries, but I was regularly exeeding our grocery budget by using my credit card to buy whatever groceries I wanted, in whatever quantities I wanted to buy them!
Sooooo, I redirected and in Dec. of 2007, I opened and read Dave Ramsey's best book, Total Money Makeover with new eyes. And, I began at the beginning, with Baby Step 1. My husband didn't want to get too involved, but he did give me free reign to reorganize our monies and our budget in whatever way was necessary. And my husband (having grown up broke) can stop spending on a dime if need be and so I would instruct him accordingly as this journey got underway.
It took awhile. Many lessons were learned. And relearned. I might list some of those lessons out in another post because they were truly a big part of this whole process. It was not as easy as just reading the book and applying the principles. The real life lessons from applying the principles, and then seeking to find a way around the principles, and then realizing that I had to go back to the actual principles and stick to them to make this work ... those were the big lessons.
I really did not expect that on March 9, 2010 we would finally be debt free except for our house. I knew we were on plan, but I often have not focused on when the actual end to our debt would be. I also had not planned for the large tax refund that Uncle Sam allowed to let happen for us this year.
And then last week, when I was recovering from my tonsillectomy, I had a lot of free time. I found out that this month was actually a three paycheck month for us. And so, I found in our budget the last amount of money needed to finally pay off our original $24,700 Home Equity Line of Credit!
We are debt free, aside from the house, now baby!!!!!
Here are the stats:
Total debt paid off -- $33,375
Began financial overhaul in September 2007
Found Dave and began TMMO in December 2007
Finished BS 2 on March 9, 2010!!!
How exactly did we do this you might ask. After all, our income didn't really change all that much in the 2.25 years we were involved in this journey. In fact, my husband made less money each year after 2007 and even took a temporary pay cut for three months beginning in January 2009.
Well ... we sold some things. We sold many things. We cut back on some small things. We cut back on some big things. We refinanced our house. We did without things. And, most importantly, we kept the goal front and center.
And now I can say that we actually DID it!!!! It has been life changing!
It doesn't free up more money though. Because there are many things we must now save for in 2010 in order to maintain a debt-free lifestyle. For instance, it is no fun that we have to buy a roof for our house this year. But we will save for it and dh will put it on :) We also have to save up to pay our property taxes due this year. And that is no small amount of change. And other boring things like that must be attended to as well this year.
But after those things are taken care of, we will be ready to take on Baby Step 3 with gusto! We are not done. Just baby steppin' our way there ...
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Day 10
Today I will check in at various times to log my recovery progress. I am just expecting day 10 to be an interesting an exciting one, although so far it isn't starting out to be very different.
10:30 a.m. -- Upon waking up this morning, I did not experience any miraculous feeling of recovery. I woke up one half hour before I was due to take my pain meds (thanks to the doorbell). The last half hour before pain meds is always tough. So, I will update again later after taking them.
*** Update: I am considering going without pain medicine today. I don't really think they do that much to help and I so want to be able to drive my car today and get out and about. I am going to try this.
****Update 2: Already re-thinking this idea about pain meds ...
So, I did take the pain meds. Overall, I feel that I am a shade better than yesterday for these reasons:
1.) It feels like the pain medicines are helping more than they were.
2.) I took a nap today and overslept my next dose of pain meds by two hours (I did wake up in terrible pain, but still, this is progress.
3.) I can eat better than in the last few days ... it's still painful and a lot of work ... but I can do it again without extreme fear.
4.) When I am not eating or talking, there are moments I feel great and forget that I am still
recovering.
10:30 a.m. -- Upon waking up this morning, I did not experience any miraculous feeling of recovery. I woke up one half hour before I was due to take my pain meds (thanks to the doorbell). The last half hour before pain meds is always tough. So, I will update again later after taking them.
*** Update: I am considering going without pain medicine today. I don't really think they do that much to help and I so want to be able to drive my car today and get out and about. I am going to try this.
****Update 2: Already re-thinking this idea about pain meds ...
So, I did take the pain meds. Overall, I feel that I am a shade better than yesterday for these reasons:
1.) It feels like the pain medicines are helping more than they were.
2.) I took a nap today and overslept my next dose of pain meds by two hours (I did wake up in terrible pain, but still, this is progress.
3.) I can eat better than in the last few days ... it's still painful and a lot of work ... but I can do it again without extreme fear.
4.) When I am not eating or talking, there are moments I feel great and forget that I am still
recovering.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Day 9 once again
I decided to change my recovery day to day 9 versus day 10. I was counting my recovery days the way I was because I was done with surgery by 10 a.m. on the day of surgery (so I called that day 1). But, I found out that this is not how my doctor's office or other people who are recovering typically count the days. You don't get credit for the day of surgery :)
I also figured this particular day 9 (today, which I had expected to be day 10) pretty much sucks as bad as the previous day 9 (yesterday) So, why call it day 10?
Day 10 is magical in my mind. I will wake up with a smile. I will breathe freely; my kids will act perfect; I will win large sums of money just for being a cool person; the stars will line up and spell my name; and I will go out to eat; have no pain; and be all done with this adventure =)
Tune in to hear about Day 10 tomorrow. The Real Day 10. It's gonna be so good!
I also figured this particular day 9 (today, which I had expected to be day 10) pretty much sucks as bad as the previous day 9 (yesterday) So, why call it day 10?
Day 10 is magical in my mind. I will wake up with a smile. I will breathe freely; my kids will act perfect; I will win large sums of money just for being a cool person; the stars will line up and spell my name; and I will go out to eat; have no pain; and be all done with this adventure =)
Tune in to hear about Day 10 tomorrow. The Real Day 10. It's gonna be so good!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Day 9
I called the Dr.'s office this morning. I am on the strongest pain medicine possible. Apparently, this level of pain is normal, even with a pain med. So o.k., I'm gonna get through Day 9. The worst time period thus far in my recovery was the night of Day 6 and the morning of Day 7. This pain medicine I am on right now does contribute to sleep, so I can do this.
Here is my plan. I just took the pain med and now I am eating a bowl of Vanilla ice cream (chasing down my jello breakfast!) I can't eat too much ice cream because it is almost too cold; but on occasion, it has a great numbing quality. As soon as I am done, I will take a shower and hopefully be ready to nap again :)
My mom took Ellie to preschool today and will participate with her in the classroom. I could have moved my participation day, but I knew Ellie would get a kick out of having her Nana go and then she won't have to wait so long to have her adult helper in the classroom again. At the Co-op, the kids really enjoy when their parent helps for the day. They get a special job and they just think it's really cool :) My dad is here "babysitting" me and Katie ... lol! I am so blessed to have this help and to have my family nearby and willing to be so helpful.
The most encouraging aspect of this morning was when the nurse suggested that by weekend's end, I might be feeling great. I think this has to do with the Day 10 theory on tonsillectomy recovery. So, there is hope that in the next day or 2, I will pull right out of this and be mostly recovered. I have read that it can take a full 4-6 weeks to feel totally recovered. I am o.k. with that as long as I feel mostly pretty good :)
Here is my plan. I just took the pain med and now I am eating a bowl of Vanilla ice cream (chasing down my jello breakfast!) I can't eat too much ice cream because it is almost too cold; but on occasion, it has a great numbing quality. As soon as I am done, I will take a shower and hopefully be ready to nap again :)
My mom took Ellie to preschool today and will participate with her in the classroom. I could have moved my participation day, but I knew Ellie would get a kick out of having her Nana go and then she won't have to wait so long to have her adult helper in the classroom again. At the Co-op, the kids really enjoy when their parent helps for the day. They get a special job and they just think it's really cool :) My dad is here "babysitting" me and Katie ... lol! I am so blessed to have this help and to have my family nearby and willing to be so helpful.
The most encouraging aspect of this morning was when the nurse suggested that by weekend's end, I might be feeling great. I think this has to do with the Day 10 theory on tonsillectomy recovery. So, there is hope that in the next day or 2, I will pull right out of this and be mostly recovered. I have read that it can take a full 4-6 weeks to feel totally recovered. I am o.k. with that as long as I feel mostly pretty good :)
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