Get Your Daily Requirement of Omega 3 with an Omax 3

The 411 by Maria:

Teach and I are both at a place where we put a lot of weight on what we put in our body. Maybe it is because we are getting older. Maybe it is because of my medical issues in 2010. Whatever it is, it isn't a bad thing.

Both of us are careful what we put into our body and I can tell  you that for him, it is really showing. He looks better than ever but than again he only eats 6 different things and works out 2 hours a day for the past 4 months. Good for him but this is not something I can do. 

What I can tell you is that the omax3 Ultra Pure soft gels are easy to take and easy to remember. The best part like the feature portion of this post states is that there IS NO fishy burps. If you have taken Omega 3 supplements you know this is pretty nasty.  These tablets are easy on the stomach as well. I have had no issues. While I have not tried the freezer test myself it makes sense.  Knowing there are no saturated fats makes this something the Teach and I feel we can take for a long time. We like knowing that although it is one more pill, it is a good one!

Journaling My Medical Drama of 2010 - Warning, Graphically Detailed-PART 2

Part 1

The 10 days leading up to my surgery I made sure that everything that needed to be done if God forbid the worst happened, was done. 

I cleaned out paperwork and put it in a place that would be easyily found if my husband needed it. 

All Christmas cards were mailed out.

All Christmas gifts were wrapped and tagged.

The kids clothes for school, were bagged by day down to the socks and underwear.

Notes to the school and teachers about the change in drop off and pick up were sent in.

Snacks and vitamins were ready for the kids in a bin in the kitchen.

Gas tank on the car filled.

Clarissa was on stand by if The Teach needed back up or someone to drop off or pick up the kids.

My husband did the gig for two weeks but it is a lot to do it all especially when you don't normally do it.  Anything I could get done, was! 

On the morning of surgery, I woke up and started to get dressed. Before putting my shirt on, I looked at my stomach in the mirror. I ran my hands up and down the smooth, unlined stomach knowing that it would never look like that again. I have an appendix scar and two c-sections but those are at the bikini line. This was going to be different.  I was having a Left colectomy - removal of the portion of the colon located on the left side of the body (also known as the descending colon). Colectomy can be performed as a treatment for cancer and other diseases of the bowel. I looked it up on line and watched a medical video, it is better to be semi prepared.

We dropped the kids off and I tried hard not to cry. I kissed them both praying it would not be the last time I saw them. I prayed I would be out for Christmas.

We got to the hospital after an uncomfortable conversation in the car. I felt strong until the conversation and needed to regroup and gain my strength back. We walked into the hospital holding hands and headed to pre-op. I couldn't be at the Christmas Concert and really wanted Teach to record it and I focused on that. Blood, IV, a nice warm blanket (like bubble wrap that is inflated with warm air) and I was comfortable and nervous but ready.  The doctor comes in, shakes our hands. I ask him how he is feeling. He is in scrubs and just came out of surgery. I hear him tell Teach that I will be in recovery for 2 days "They will keep a better eye on her there.". When he leaves, Teach says, Ok..so the kids won't be able to see you for at least 2 days. I can't bring them into recovery." 
 
In my head, I thought, OK, let's just get this done. I don't want to be looking at this, I want it behind me. Teach took my things (my wedding/engagement ring, kissed me, we said our I Love Yous and I watched him walk out of the curtain. I took a deep breath and the curtain opened revealing someone who introduced themselves as my anestesiologist.

Right before he left he asked if I wanted something to take the edge off. I am not great with meds, they make me sick, and I pass out quickly. My stress level seemed OK and I was alone so said, "nah, I'm OK!"

He walked out, and the nurse turned to me and said, "You really should take him up on that offer! It will make the ride down the hallway much quicker." I said, "Ok!"

She stuck her head out the curtain and said, "She changed her mind. She would like a cocktail. Make it a sweet one!"

He came back in with a syringe. I watched him insert it into my IV and he walked out of the curtain. The nurse was writing something in a notebook with her back to me.........

I woke up to someone removing an oxygen mask from my mouth. I was angry. I loved the cold, clean air. I felt a hand patting my leg and saying, "the surgery went well." As I moaned out loud, feeling the first lick of pain, she thrust something into my hand and pressed my finger onto a button. "Here, this is your pain medication, press this button." I felt her hand squeezing mine around the clicker in my hand. I moaned, feeling as if I were hit by a bus....

My eyes open. I don't have my glasses on so I can't really see but the room is dark other than some colorful lights from monitors. I hear beeping and see two people standing at a desk, talking quietly....

I wake and feel like I am moving. A nurse is squeezing my hand telling me to push the button, I am going over an elevator frame, there are some bumps and I am moaning. They are wheeling me into a room and I worry that I am supposed to be in recovery.

The nurses are buzzing around. I want to call Teach but can't move. I have a tube up my nose and down my throat. It is extremely uncomfortable and I want to cry. I feel the heaviness of the tape holding it to my nose. It is hard to breath, swallow or lie flat with the tube.

Nurses are buzzing around, making room in my shared space for all my equipment. I feel the bed being moved, things being shuffled and I am in ridiculous pain. They tell me that they spoke to my husband and he knows where I am.

I have a catheter for urine, IV's in both arms (one for my meds, one for morphine and one for my IV), and the one up my nose and down my throat. That was the worst one BTW!

The tube down my throat is constantly sucking stomach acid and everything else so that my intestines are not forced to work. It is disgusting hearing the sucking noise and seeing the dark fluids go past my face to collect into a glass canister behind me.

I am able to speak to the Teach on the phone and tell him about the tube and how hard it is to talk and swallow. He tells me that the surgery well and that the reason I wasn't in recovery is because it wasn't as bad as they had originally thought. Good news!

The next day he comes to the hospital. He tells me that he wrote to everyone we are both friends/family with on Facebook and told them not to call or visit me until he gives them the OK. The only person allowed is my father. He tells them that I have a tube that makes it hard for me to talk and swallow and that he needs me to concentrate on getting better. Some people were shocked, some (my sister, angry), most understood that he was doing it for me.

The pain was about an 8. I could breathe through it and couldn't wait for the tube to come out of my throat!  They took my catheter out the next day and brought me a commode. Hooray, I was right next to the door. Had a tube in my throat that only let me go about a foot from my bed, IV in both arms and my room mate had neighbors. I couldn't reach to close the door or the curtain and had to pee every 20 minutes. It was crazy. No privacy at all. Everyone and their brother saw me pee and would wave at me as they walked by. Son-in-laws and brother-in-laws of my roommate included would literally wave and say hello. Maybe they didn't realize what I was doing but, seriously! If someone is sitting on a commode, could you divert your eyes as you walk by and give them a little dignity. There was no way around it either. If I had waited for an aid or nurse which is what I did the first 6 hours of this, I would wait sometimes 20 minutes for someone to get there and when you had to go, you had to go. Pressure in that area after my surgery wasn't good!

Part 3 coming up.

Journaling My Medical Drama of 2010 - Warning, Graphically Detailed

I have been meaning to get to this post, mostly for myself because well as this is Maria's Space most of the non-commercial stuff gets saved into a Word file that I hope to eventually put into book  form for myself and my kids.

It is over a month that I had surgery but it wasn't far enough behind me to write about. It was such a traumatic time that to revisit it would be too emotional but I am ready and willing to write it down for prosperity.

Yesterday I finally discussed the details with someone outside of my immediate family and friends and it was very easy to do. So....here it goes.

If you have been reading along, you may remember that last May-into June (here is the post), I ended up in the hospital with a severe case of diverticulitis that required me to stay at the hospital for 2 weeks and on heavy antibiotics for over a month afterward.

Since June, I have had numerous uterine infections and never felt quite right. My stomach ached, digestion wasn't easy and I always felt, weak, sick and nauseous. At the beginning of November with my 3rd uterine I headed to the gynecologist yet again. "Something is wrong! I have another infection." She does her thing and says, "yes, it appears you have a bacteria, very normal. I am going to give you an antibiotic, although I am surprised that after almost 6 months of antibiotics you have anything!"

I ask her to please send the culture to the lab! She insists it is just a vaginal bacteria and that the lab bill will be something she can't control (I have no insurance) and wants me to wait a day and reconsider not sending. I tell her that I understand about the bill but there have been too many infections, something is not right!

She calls me a week later from her car phone and tells me that she had to look up the bacteria that came back because it is outside her realm of medical knowledge. It is Bacteroides fragilis which turns out to be an intestinal bacteria. "Ummm"...I ask, "what is that doing by my cervix?" She says, "I wish I had answers for you, I don't know." Well, thanks lady!

The next day I call my GI doctor and explain over to the phone to his staff what is happening and ask to see him. We make an appointment and I head down to see him to set up a colonoscopy which is something we have had to reschedule before for a uterine infection.

Colonoscopy scheduled I head home and prepare myself for the thought of this. Two days before the colonoscopy, I pass stool from my vagina. Now, when I explain this part to people, I carefully say, there is no solid stool coming out. There is simply a smear of "poop" on the toilet paper. How did I know? I saw brown, smelled it and sure as shit it was shit!

Ok, now that I got that part out...let me continue...there is nothing that can prepare you for this...I came out of the bathroom crying. I went to the living room to get a tissue and my husband asked what is wrong? I walked into the kitchen and he followed. I told him and cried harder. He hugged me and said, don't be scared (this is not the first time these words have come out of his mouth. I have heard them twice before: 1. We heard a tree break during a storm and didn't know if it was going to crash through our house. He said it right before he threw himself over me and our newborn Handsome. 2. My water broke with Handsome and there was Meconium all over. He knew enough to say, the baby is Breech, his bottom is at your bottom, he will not aspirate, don't be scared everything is OK.)  He said, "maybe you should call your GI doctor. I did! He said, it sounds like you have a fistula. You need surgery. Call Dr. blah, blah and set up an emergency appointment, you need an emergency cat scan to find out where the path is.

I called, scheduled, saw the doctor, I told him that the path was between my uterus and intestine, he said, no it's your bladder and intestine.  Emergency cat scan was scheduled for the next day. I made a video on my cell phone, it makes me sick to look at it. I was so scared heading into the hospital alone for this cat scan. I really thought I was dying. It sounded so bad. Soft organs can adhere to each other and create a path?! What the hell?

The results were sent to the surgeon. During my appointment I asked what organs were involved. He said, it may be bladder, uterus and intestine (I found out later, he said, all three because he had never heard of a uterus being attached to the intestine).  

Surgery was set up. It wasn't soon enough for me. It was 10 days from my diagnosis and I was worried about sepsis. He prescribed an antibiotic.

I was really pissed about the date because just like in the Spring where I missed Handsome's Spring Concert, the surgery would be on the same day as the kids Christmas Concert! Nothing could be done about, the surgery had to happen.

Part 2 coming tomorrow, I just need to get it all down but don't want to make this post too long.

Hospital Update

Surgery sucked!
At least don't remember being wheeled out of Pre+OP. Was offered a cocktail by anesthesiaologist (did I spell that right). Rushed at first then nurse said "take him up on it!"

She shouted down the hall "changed her mind. Make it a sweet one"

He came back 2 mins later. Put it in my IV and I woke up in recovery! Hooray for me. More to come. Hard to type on crackberry with IVs.

Health Care Issues and More

Since incurring over $20,000 in medical bills this year, I find this information very interesting. Just this Friday I had a medical company call me about I letter I sent in regards to a bill. In the letter, we are asking that the 10 medical bill companies involved in my medical stay since May work with us on a budget. We still have the house, the car, the home bills, food, two kids, and now 10 medical bills to fit into our budget. Most of the companies have worked with us. This particular billing company said that I could pay $3,000 to cover the $4,300 bill and be done with it or I could pay $250.00 a month. This sounds reasonable but if I had $3,000 sitting around, wouldn't I have health insurance? Also, $250.00 a month isn't a lot if there weren't 9 other medical bills on top of my household expenses.

We have been blessed and surprised how willing medical practices have been to work with us on payment plans and hardship adjustments.  It frustrates me when my friends complain about doctor bills and how money hungry doctors are. After working for a group of amazing doctors in my past, I know the amount of deductions insurance force on the doctors. I remember the bills going out to various insurance companies and having them  paying sometimes as little as 12% and the doctor having to write the balance off.  So while patients see an office visit show up on the bill that says, $80.00, they have no idea that the doctor gets someone as little as $22.00 for that visit depending on the contract with the insurance company.

I would love to have health insurance but wonder if  we are not in a better position considering that if we had insurance I would have already paid out $48,000 in the past 4 years to have it. So in essence we saved $28,000 by not having insurance. Crazy considering how important insurance is.

Last week I received this article in my in-box.  Heading over to Healthcare.gov for the 3rd time this year to see if there is anything new. The only person with health insurance is Handsome on NY Health Plus. While I am thankful he has it, I worry about the rest of us.

Grrr....Enough Already! Stop The World, I Want To Get Off!!!!!

So, after all the medical drama of the past two months; four days ago, my 24/7 intestonial spasms disappeared. I remember saying to Clary, I wonder if this is the calm before the storm.

Ahhhh...fast forward to today and after three days of hemorrhaging and passing tissue that literally was large enough to have its own heartbeat, I headed to the gynecologist.

How is it that after an internal sonogram at the hospital and four cat scans of 200 pictures each of my pelvic area, no one saw anything in my uterus???? No, seriously, I just have to ask, what the fuck????

The doctor today, pushed from my stomach to feel, I guess, my spine, that is what it felt like anyway. She said, "You have fibroids?" I said, no, I heard at the hospital that I have cysts on both my ovaries. She said, "No, I feel fibroids and your uterus is enlarged. You need to have a sonogram, and I need you to call me right after you have it."

Ummm...ok....what the hell!!???

Just as I am getting over my diverticulitis, still on the damn low-residue diet, now possible fibroids or more?

What next, ulcers in my stomach since it seems like the problems are moving up!???

I knew I needed to get those hospital reports! Damn St. Agonies! You suck.

So, I just want to know, WHAT NEXT??????!!!