Welcome back!

So, this weekend we went to Omak for Stampede. As I mentioned before, I love Stampede! There is such culture there, and it's a great way to learn more about Native American heritage. Except this year... see, one of the highlights of the Stampede has always been Tee-Pee Town. This is a section of the park right off the highway that is just covered in tee-pees. Natives would set them up and that's where they'd sleep through the duration of Stampede. What I noticed this year is that there were only a handful of tee-pees, while the rest slept in tents. Tents? Come on, people! Get with the heritage program! So, I've decided that Tee-Pee Town is more appropriately going to be called Coleman Compound. :) Or Coleman Campground. I can't decide. But what I have decided is that I will write a letter to the editor of the Wenatchee World newspaper and tell them my new name. :) Yeah, that should go over well...

Saturday night we all took Madeleine and Tamieka over to the carnival. They really had a lot of fun. We got the girls some tickets and they went on a few rides. Even late at night there were still tons of people there, so we had some lines to contend with. Tamieka went on the little Dragon Rollercoaster, which Madeleine so desperately wanted to go on, but she was too short. So after that we went on the "horsies", or the Carousel. Madeleine, of course, said, "One more time!" when we got done, but I talked her into going to the bouncy castle. Now, she is a kid after my own heart! She got in the castle and promptly laid down, letting all of the other kids do the work by bouncing. She just laid there and let them bounce her all over the place. She cracks me up! On a slightly irritating note, I will tell you of one thing that happened while we were in line for he rides. At the carousel there was a group of kids, at least 6 of them, that cut right in front of us. **I'm not at all prejudiced, so please see past that in this next statement** They were all mexican kids, so naturally, they spoke no english. Now, wanting to set a good example for my daughter, I kept my mouth shut. But when we were in line for the bouncy castle, this tiny little mexican lady with beedy eyes walked up beside me (out of line, mind you), looked right at me, then pushed her 2 kids in front of me. Um, I don't think so, lady. So, I looked back at her, looked at Madeleine (I was holding her in my arms), and then stepped up in front of her kids. I looked back at her and said, "I don't think so." And that was that. Incidentally, it was her kids who kept jumping when it was time to stop. My daughter and Tamieka very promptly came out when time was up. What good little examples they are. :o)

There was a sign over at Coleman Compound that read, "The Salish language is in danger" and it was talking about how the language is becoming extinct. Do you know what the first thought in my mind was? Probably the same as most Americans. "So is the English language!" Yes, I said it. English is becoming extinct, while Spanish and Russian take over. In our own country, no less! Frustrating? Extremely!

Okay, so now that that's over... Daddy took Madeleine down the slide at the carnival. This is no ordinary slide. It's aboout 30' in the air, so you climb nearly a bazillion stairs to get to the top, then you slide down on a burlap sack. The carny asked George if he wanted to go slow or fast, and of course he said fast! So he and Madeleine got some air coming over a couple of the humps in the slide. And Madeleine's response to that??! "One more time, Daddy!" Sorry, honey. No more tickets. It was midnight and definitely time to go home...

I spent a lot of time with my dad this weekend, which was great. I always love being with him. George helped him get some stuff together for his move to Florida, which is happening at the end of this month. They were able to spend some good, quality father-in-law/son-in-law time together. I love that. George and my dad get along so well. We got to talk a lot about anything and everything, and just spend time together. Then my dad gave me a picture that he took and his girlfriend photo-shopped. Um, let's just say I'm still busting a gut from laughing so hard! I can't explain it, so I'll attach it at a later date. :o)

Today I went to Deaconess for my surgery, which went incredibly well. First of all, I got up at 4:30 this morning. I'm a firm believer that people should NOT be awake at that ridiculous hour! Nonetheless, I was up and at the hospital at 6:00 am. Mom and Mike came into town, so they were with me, along with George. We went up to the 4th floor for surgery registration. I gave them my paperwork and then sat down. We were sitting in the waiting room for just a few minutes, having a good ol' time, and then a NAR came out with a chart. She stopped in the doorway of the office and said, "OMG! How do you say that?" Now, having had the name Rhiannon for over 28 years, I knew she was getting ready to call me up. :) So, I sat there and waited. My mom and I were snickering. Then she came out and correctly pronounced my name!! I started laughing because the poor girl probably got stuck with me by luck of the draw. She asked if people mispronounced my name often. Oh, honey... you have no idea. So, she took me to the patient prep room and weighed me. I asked her if she really had to wreck my day like that, but she said that it's simply to find out how much anesthetic to use. She did, however, take off 2 lbs for clothes. I tried to negotiate 5 lbs, but she wouldn't budge. Very well, 2 it is.

She was a very nice NAR, and we had a great time talking. She got me all prepped and ready to go. Then a nurse came in and went over some stuff briefly with me. Following the nurse, the anesthesiologist came in. Now, I must tell you. If you're planning on going into medicine, for the sake! Have some bedside manners. The guy acted as though he was completely disinterested in being at work. Not the impression I was looking for... he was in and out of the room in less than 30 seconds. No worries, I put him behind me. We continued to joke around in the room, and then it was time to go to surgery. So a nurse came in and started wheeling me away.

While in the O.R. I was talking with my nurse about children and school and anything else she brought up. I found out she has 27 and 29 year-old daughters that live in Seattle. She said they're super close, which is precisely how I want Madeleine to be with her siblings (supposing we have more children!!). Anyway, she was such a nice nurse. Very easy to talk to. The anasthesiologist should take some hints from her. :o)

So, in walks a surgery tech. He started to put these stir-up things on the side of the bed I was laying on. Sure, I thought. No problem. I've had to rest my feet in those plenty of times! *Think: pregnancy doctor visits* But the unnerving part was that when he was putting them on the side of the bed, they were practically straight up in the air. Now, I may not know much about medicine, but I can tell you that there was no way on God's green earth that my legs were going to be hugging my ears. Nope, not doing. I was stricken with panic as I played a video through my head. You know... what I would look like with my "everything" exposed to all present. Thankfully my family was in the waiting room. I tried to figure out how I was going to leave with my dignity at the end of the procedure. But, much to my relief, he got them attached and then lowered to a more dignified level. Whew!!

The nurse came back over to me, this time with a puffy, bubbly oxygen mask, and put it over my face. I couldn't breathe!! It was so tight on my face that I felt like I was trying to breathe through a coffee stir stick straw. Yeah, the really tiny ones! So I had to take it off my face to get some air. She said, "Are you clostrophobic?" Well, no, not that I'm aware of. But I am a little leary of not being able to breathe. Oh, the irony! An oxygen mask on my face and I can't breathe! Anyway, she held it on my face to where a corner of it was lifted, so I could breathe again. Then, the anesthesiologist came up to me and said, "You're not going to feel any pain in just a minute." What?!? I wasn't in pain to begin with. Huh... okay, no worries. I'll go along with it, seeing how Mr. Personality is the doctor and I'm just the patient. So then I felt this sharp, awful pain my arm where the IV was. I looked over at it and frowned, to which the nurse said, "Are you experiencing some pain?" "Yeah, sporatically," I replied. Then, the light above me started to spin. I told her I was getting dizzy. That's the last thing I remember! How strange! I have always wondered if you could "will" your way out of falling asleep under anesthesia. Evidently not.

The next thing I remember was waking up in recovery an hour later with a nurse standing by me recording vitals. She asked me to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest. I had very mild cramping, so I told her 1. That's it. The lady to my right couldn't remember a darn thing, so she repeatedly asked where she was, and if she could go to sleep. They told her she could, so she began snoring fairly loudly. All I could do was laugh. :)

So, after the recovery process I was wheeled into a private recovery room where my family could be with me. I ate, or attempted to eat, a piece of wheat toast. Unfortunately, they had put a breathing tube in my throat, so my mouth was so dry I could have spit a sweater! The toast wasn't going down, so I gave up trying.

The end result? There was no polyp in my uterus, like originally thought. No, there was tissue that looked like a polyp on the ultrasound. Dr. Maughan scraped the tissue out, so the never-ending periods should stop, and I should be able to get pregnant soon. Hooray! I have to say that Dr. Maughan is a great doctor. He is very direct and to-the-point. He patted me on the arm and reassured me just before I went out. I just hope I didn't do anything physiologically embarrassing while I was out!

I'm at home, and have been all day. I slept pretty much all day, and that's what I intend to do now. Go back to bed. I've been up as long as my body can stand it. So, I hope you enjoyed this... now that it's all done, I can say I did too. :)

Good night!