Home now!

Ross got out of the hospital today.
Once we got home I dropped him off and went to get his scripts.
What a nightmare! Apparently whatever painkiller they perscribed is very rare to have it in a liquid form. I went to four Pharmacies before finally finding one that carried it!
But, now that we are home I am just trying to take advantage of the opportunity that I have have to work un-interruped, just as soon as I post this pic....

Surgery is over... everything went well

Ross just got out of surgery and everything went ok.
I didn't get a chance to speak to the surgeon so no one has told me the details like whether or not they pulled the two partial teeth or whether or not they had to cut into his jaw from the outside. I'm sitting right here next to him, but they have an icepack strapped to the side of his face so I can't tell. He is in that drowsy state of half consciousness and I'm a nervous wreck.
They told me that if he has to vomit that we have to cut the wires so he can open his mouth or he will drown. Everyone I know vomits after anesthesia, including me! I am so worried. I'm having to write in the blog right now to keep myself busy so I don't just sit here watching every breath Ross makes and giving myself an ulcer.
I've actually been a nervous wreck for hours now. There is a Carlsberg promotion down in downtown Miami and Ross had all the signs and glasswear for it. He didn't have to be there, but the stuff that was in his truck did. So, we came up with the idea for me to drive down to Miami during the surgery to drop it off.
Well, this hospital is in North Broward and the bar that I needed to get to is in the middle of downtown Miami so I knew it would take about an hour each way. The surgery was supposed to be two hours long so we figured it would help me not be so nervous.
WRONG.
As I am getting onto the turnpike there comes on a news report about power outages all over Miami. The reports just keep getting worse and worse. The southbound traffic was mild but the northbound traffic just kept getting heavier and heavier. So, I get to Miami and the drawbridge that is on the street I need to go down is out, assuably because of the power outages. I really don't know my way around Miami and Ross is the one I would usually call for directions. Finally, I finagle my way around the traffic and find the bar, drop off the stuff then start heading back. Worst traffic I've dealt with in years. It took me two hours to get back and about mid-way back the gas light comes on. I'm 6 lanes over from the exit in dead standstill traffic!
Plus, the neighborhood that I'm in is one of those that they tell tourist never to get off the highway in. The actually tell people that they are safer running out of gas on 95 than to try and get off! So, I'm mildly panicking at this point.
Then, BING the check engine light is on. Then I look and the car is on HOT ok, major panic now. I worked my way over to the right lane and see that the next exit has a gas station right of the exit. So, I risked it. I pulled in and got gas just as if I owned the place. I didn't open the hood or even show any indication that something was wrong with the car. I got back in, got back on the highway and guess what.... I guess being calm does actually pay off sometimes because the temp gauge starting going back down.
It went back down to normal temp and I just kept truckin'. So, I'm back at the hospital and I race up to Ross's room figuring that because I am an hour late than he would have been out of recovery.
He wasn't.
Panic again. The nurse (great nurse...from Germany... name's Ana) told me where to go to get to the surgery waiting room. I get there and there is no desk, no nurse station, no no one anywhere for me to ask to find out if Ross is ok. I'm running up and down the halls like a mad woman and finally a nurse appears out of a room.
She told me Ross was fine and that everything went well.
WHEW.
He is going to kill me, but I've taken pictures of him to post here :)

Money.... no, INSURANCE... rules the world

I completely understand that health care is expensive and that the doctors and hospitals have a difficult time sometimes getting folks to pay their bills but some of the things we've encountered in the past couple of days are just downright ridiculous.
I was at work when they took ross to the hospital, but he was admitted to the Emergency Room and they asked him for payment BEFORE anyone ever saw him. He is there with a very serious break, can't speak but relates to them that his pain is a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 and they ask him for money rather than giving him meds!
Then, yesterday morning the surgen came in to examine him. He looked at him for a couple of seconds and then asked him about his insurance. We weren't sure wether or not Ross's insurance had taken effect yet so Ross told him the situation. He tells Ross that he better get it straightened out or that he was going to have to come up with some way to pay before the surgery could be done.
So, this morning I call the surgen's office and pretty much got put off by his staff. I told her that we DID have insurance (his work confirmed that we did) but we just didn't have the number yet but would have it by the end of the day. I explained that we were just waiting to hear back from the guy in the benefits department. I told her that I didn't want Ross's surgery to be delayed because of payment, and she said that the best way to make sure that doesn't happen would be to send a deposit of two thousand dollars and then proceeded to give me the doctor's name and P.O. Box.
I asked her was it standard proceedure to ask an insured patient to send a two thousand dollar check prior to surgery. She didn't have much of an answer for me. She just kept stressing over and over that the surgery was going to be over ten thousand dollars. I kept answering back saying that we have insurance. It mattered none to her.
I told her I would send the check but pointed out that I felt as though we were being treated like a charity case. She at first got offended and began to tell me the doctors impecible record and whatnot. I told her that I just felt like they were stalling the surgery or putting other people ahead of us strictly because of money. At some point during the phone call I think she realized that she needed to make sure that we were taken care of so that they will stay in the good graces of Blue Cross. By the end of the call, she was giving me her direct line and telling me over and over that if I needed anything to please call.
It is just pathetic that the doctor is more worried about his payment than he is the patient. He didn't explain anything to Ross. He didn't tell him what the surgery would entail, how long it would take, how long the recovery usually is, or even what he was going to do. He only talked to Ross about how he was going to get his money. I don't think that is the role a doctor should be taking.
I don't know if it was because they finally got confirmation that we do, in fact, have insurance or the comotion I caused this morning, but the doctor and his staff lady both called today and checked in. Both being very thorough about everything now.

Sorry about the rant.

Ross is being a real tropper. He is able to swallow a little better today than he was yesterday so he is a little more comfortable. His IV was hurting him so we got the nurse to move it to the other hand. He talked her into letting him take a shower after she took the one out and before putting in the new one. I think this made him feel much better. He had been here for close to three days and had arrived straight from the rugby field. He said he was feeling so gross. He even brushed his teeth a little. Now he has on the gown and is ready for the surgery tomorrow.

It is kinda cool that the hospital has wi-fi so I'm able to get work done and update this blog while sitting here keeping Ross company. Plus, it will give him something to do when I'm gone. Play computer games or catch up with friends on facebook.

Ross

Brandi stopped by the hospital yesterday to bring Ross "something for the pain"

(don't worry....he isn't drinking it... he's got pain meds. I took it home with me to save for later)

Rugby is a dangerous sport....

I'm writing this while waiting for my friend to pick me up to drive me across town to pick up Ross's car. Why? you might ask.
Because Ross broke his jaw today in a tournament. Two breaks and lost two teeth. He said he took a knee to the face. He has to spend at least two nights in the hospital. He is there now and has to have surgery tomorrow. So please keep him in your prayers tomorrow.
His face is pretty swolen and he is in a lot of pain but was handling things like a trooper. They've given him morphine.
Tomorrow they are going to have to re-align his jaw and wire it shut. They said he will have to drink through a straw but I'm not sure for how long. I guess it is a convienient thing that he lost a front tooth.
I'll update more when I can.

Little Helper

Lily loves to help and participate in things. She is so cute. If I tell her that I am going to take a shower she runs into the room saying "sha, sha, sha" and then will go pull the towel off the rack and hand it to me saying "taw, taw, taw". I'd written before about her being the toilet paper concierge, well, she still does that too so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm grooming her for a career as a bathroom attendant. She will literally stand outside of the shower waiting for me to get out so she can hand me a towel.
She loves to do things for us. She will throw things in the garbage for us and put our shoes in the closet, help me load and unload the dryer and dishwasher. The other day I was watching at the window as Ross was walking across the backyard with an arm-load of sticks and there was little helper Lily two steps behind with a couple of sticks in her arms too.
So precious.
This one is where I found her the morning after we got the bowflex. The night before she had been helping Ross put it together. Check out the little screw driver!


This one was just funny. Those are Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

The other night I got a cute video of Ross and Lily playing with a balloon and Lily was laughing so hard she had to take breather breaks.
She was squealing and giggling and laughing so loud. If you don't have volume on your computer this video is worthless, but if you can hear it, it will make you smile.

Neglecting my blog!

I've really been neglecting this blog!
I just got back from Las Vegas and after being home for three days, can finally say I've gotten back on track. Well, I would have been caught up last night except that just as I sat down to the computer to catch up on emails I get a call from Brandi.... at the hospital!
Last night Todd got jumped by 5 or 6 little punks. I really don't know what their motovation was. Brandi said that they were at a gas station visiting his sister (she works there) and Brandi locked the bathroom key inside the bathroom. So, Todd was looking in the car for some tools so that he can help his sister out by gettting the keys back out. Brandi said that out of nowhere these guys just came up and knocked him out. She said that they were hitting him with beer bottles, trash cans, milk crates, anything they could find.
Brandi got their plate numbers and the police were called, but who knows what will happen with it.
They took Todd in the ambulance and he was bleeding pretty bad. Both of them were covered in blood and Todd ended up with 5 broken bones in his face!
Yikes.
He still won't find out until Friday wether or not he will need a surgury.

So, Vegas.....


We had an afternoon flight so decided to start drinking. We played rummy and by the end of the flight I think we may have annoyed the flight attendants. oops.


We tried to get a picture of how huge this show is, but this picture doesn't do it. We spend an entire half day wandering around looking at the stupid map before we even realized that we were in the wrong building! This show was at least 3 gi-nor-mous buildings and thousands of exibitors. This picture would be the only one you will see of me in heels.

The second night there we went to a party hosted by Sailor Jerry (a company who conviently sells clothing AND rum!) at this little hole in the wall punk bar off the strip and had a blast. My definate favorite night. We hung out with the designer who designed the dress that I was wearing and met so many really fun, rockabilly type people. oh, and did I mention that the booze was free?

So, the next day I didn't make it the whole day at the show. I made Tonya quit early and go back to the room for a nap. After the nap we bundled up (FREEZING in Vegas!) and took ourselves out for a nice healthy Valentines Day dinner of chicken wings and beer at the House of Blues.



Then we just wandered around and checked out some different casinos and stuff. At the Excallabur we found a really run down arcade and played around like little kids. Tonya doesn't like gambling and I don't have any spare money so we just had to play other stuff.
Here is Tonya inside the claw machine.


Did I mention it was FREEZING? Us Florida girls just aren't prepared for this type of weather. There were snow flurries that day and I've only got a jeans jacket!


We had a blast though. Looking forward to doing it all again in August.

More catching up

I'm just going through my 'January '08' file and posting the stuff that I haven't gotten around to yet. This is Brandi's boyfriend Todd's youngest son TJ. He is 13 and has just moved in with them. He's a sweet kid and I think it has made Brandi just slightly more responsible these days....maybe.

Sandy Bum. When Brandi was getting Lily ready for the beach while I was at work, she got her swim suit all wet. So, we did what any self-respecting redneck would do...

I know you probably can't read it in my blurry picture, but that shirt says "you can sell it on eBay" Ross calls me a nerd, but yes, I have an eBay shirt.


Lily has gotten so much more personality lately. She loves to read books and she loves shoes too. This picture is very fitting. Reading a book wearing a stiletto. She hasn't figured out how to walk wearing two of them so she just wanders around the house wearing one.
The other day Ross found my flip flops under a bush in the back yard!

getting caught up ....again

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've decided to add on yet another venture. This time I really put thought and planning into it before jumping in. And, I made a pledge to myself to cut back on some of the other things in order to really get focused on the important work. (this is all about my web-work stuff...not the family stuff....not cutting out any of that!)
I'll tell you about my new project in a later post...no time now, just getting caught up on some pics before Lily gets up.

We made Brandi babysit so we could go out and celebrate a friend's birthday. I had realized that in going through all of our pictures the other day in order to get photos for the lawyer (green card renewal) that Ross and I hardly ever get our picture taken together. My drunk ass must have told everyone that because all of our friends kept taking our pictures. Two of them actually printed them up for us and one gave us one in a frame even! We've got great friends.

I am highly allergic to poison ivy. Lily came home from Tennessee back at Christmas with a small spot of it on her arm. Just a couple of applications of poison ivy cream and it was gone. Then, somehow, three weeks later I'm covered in it! all over my arms too.

On the way to Aunt Brandi's to go to the beach ... so cool.

While we were at the beach that day there were some girl scouts walking down the broadwalk with a wagon full of GS cookies. I've never seen Brandi run so fast. It was kinda funny to see a girl running up the beach in a thong yelling for cookies! I thought she might tackle them. We gave Lily ONE and she loved them. Thankfully Ross showed up just in time to distract her.

He actually took her in the Water! I never swim in January, must be that African blood.