So there's Dh and I, camped out in the emergency room. The double dose of morphine has done the trick; the pain is gone and, other than feeling exhaustion from several hours of painful contortions, I'm feeling good. Normal, in fact.
This is not a good thing.
You see, I'm the sort of person who loathes going to the dr for much of anything. If it isn't broken or bleeding profusely, I tend to just take care of it myself. Actually, that includes profuse bleeding, but only to a certain point. It's taken me years to get past that, and it's something I still struggle with.
Which means I was starting to think there was no reason for me to be at the emergency anymore. We could just go home. I felt fine.
Dh just rolled his eyes when I told him that.
We stayed, of course. At the very least, we had to wait for the Xray results.
It was an interesting wait.
I did try to doze off while we waiting. I knew I needed the rest, but I didn't want to actually go to sleep, since I figured we either had a lot to come, or we'd be going home soon. That and there were a lot of interruptions preventing any real sleep.
The nurse who'd given me my second dose of morphine had done it just before her shift ended, so that I wouldn't get lost in the shuffle of shift change. Some time later, the new shift nurse came to introduce herself and check on me. My vitals were taken again. Now that the pain was going, my BP and heart rate were back to normal. The nausea and dizziness had disappeared as well. I'd gone through my first back of IV fluids rather quickly, so I was hydrated again and the new bags they gave me were set at a much lower drip. There wasn't much to do at that point. I ended up taking out my phone frequently to check my facebook, answering comments people had left on my status updates as best I could with one thumb - with the IV in my other elbow, I couldn't bend it far enough to grip the phone and use two hands - and doing a bit of browsing online. There were some weird connectivity problems that lead to my status updates being uploaded as many as 5 times in a row, or not update at all due to a lack of connection. Dh's Blackberry was fine, though, so he kept in touch with the girls and, at one point, I even borrowed it to access my own facebook and send more updates. It was the more practical way to let our far-flung family members know what was going on. Our batteries were draining rather quickly, though! *L*
We quickly learned to really appreciated the staff in the emergency room. Those people deserve to be sainted!
The way the ward is laid out, there were 5 "rooms." Three of them were against one wall while the remaining two were on opposite walls facing each other. We kepts our curtain pulled for privacy, but the curtains were about 2 ft short of the floor, so we could still see people's legs moving around. Of course, we could hear everything, too.
There was one elderly woman there that needed some rather gentle care. The nurse found out it was her birthday and offered to get her some celebratory jello. She promised to pass it on to the other staff so that when she was admitted for her longer stay, they would help her celebrate. Meanwhile, the same nurse had to try and explain to another older woman right next to me why, even though she was hungry, the nurse couldn't give her any food because of the tests they had to do. Rather heartbreaking, as the woman seemed to have difficulty understanding and was a bit confused. After a while, a guy was brought in with 3 or 4 broken ribs. He'd actually broken them some weeks ago, but kept rebreaking them while doing things like shoveling snow. *facepalm*
It was the guy in the room directly opposite me that made the evening... most interesting. Not in a good way.
At first, we noticed him because he kept calling loudly for things. A sandwich. A glass of water. Another sandwich. The nurse went past to work with the guy with broken ribs, and this guy was calling out for her, asking her to open his sandwich. Apparently, that was more important than some one's broken ribs. When he got his glass of water, we could actually hear him finishing it off in no time, then call out to some passing staff member for another. I don't know what the staff member was, but he wasn't a nurse and not someone to give patients anything. Then he was calling out for another sandwich because he was soooooo hungry! In fact, he was asking for sandwiches so often, someone finally came and told him he couldn't have any more because they were running out.
And there I was, with my stomach rumbling and growling away, wishing I could eat at all! In fact, I couldn't even drink.
Dh and I chatted, of course, and wondered what would come up on the Xray. The kidney stone possibility was still there, but I didn't think it likely. Which meant it was "something else." There aren't a lot of possibilities. Because the pain was so localized, a few things came to mind. The most obvious, of course, was a cancerous tumour. A cyst was another likely possibility. Less likely was that it was some sort of intestinal blockage. A loop of intestine might have gotten kinked or twisted. The tearing sensation I was feeling could mean... well, that something had torn or ruptured.
I don't remember how long it took, but it wasn't very long before the doctor came back with the Xray results. At least I think it was the same doctor. When he saw me earlier, I was a bit distracted by my contortions. It was some time later that I joked with Dh that I couldn't remember what the dr looked like. Just some vague notion of blonde hair.
The doctor comes in with the results and sits himself down with a very serious expression on his face. The Xrays showed no sign of a kidney stone, nor anything else. It could still be a kidney stone, but the urine test didn't show any sign of one, either. This meant they had to look into other possible causes. Then he sort of braced himself, looked at me directly and said,
"We could be looking at cancer."
To which I replied, "Oh. Interesting." Then I turned to Dh and started cracking some joke. The doctor blinked at me for a bit, then turned to his clipboard saying, "not the reaction I was expecting!" I just laughed and told him I was a very pragmatic sort. The doctor told us the next step was a CT scan of the area, and that they'd be getting it ready for me as soon as possible.
*sigh* So much for being able to eat something!
Which meant we had more time on our hands, waiting. By now it was about 11:30 in the evening, and I'd been there for 6 hours. Sleep sounded like a very good idea! Ah, but it was not to be!
Dh called the kids directly for this, then tried (unsuccessfully) phoning his parents. My own parents, I trusted my other family members inform when and how they saw fit. They need to be handled a little more delicately. Especially my father. The less stress and worry he has, the better, and at this point, we really had nothing to tell anyone besides "not kidney stones."
That meant we got to listen to our neighbour across the way some more! Joy! Not.
This was not a quiet guy, even when he wasn't talking to anyone our calling out for the nurses. There was a continuous stream of burping and farting, moaning and groaning. He kept asking the staff for stuff, as if they were his own personal servants, demanding attention from the nurse even when she was dealing with other patients.
Then he (I'll refer to him as B) started letting out a strange moan. Then another, louder, moan. Before long, he was letting out these long, ululating wails, calling for the nurse, complaining about his IV and that it was burning his arm. A couple of nurses rushed over to him and discovered his IV was no longer in the vein, but in the muscle. Dh and I couldn't help but glance at the IV in my own arm, thoroughly taped down in several places, and realize this was no "accident." We could hear the nurses talking B through what they were doing. The IV nurse got the needle in properly again, and we could actually hear the amount of tape she was using to lash this thing into place. As they were telling him to be careful with it and whatnot, B started getting all indignant at the suggestion that he might have done this himself, even by accident. They tried to be diplomatic in their answers, but really, how diplomatic can you be with something like this?
They were done in no time at all, though, and soon he was left alone. Within a minute, he was moaning and wailing again because the IV was burning. The nurses rushed back and, sure enough, the IV was no longer in his vein. The main nurse was more blunt to him about pulling out his IV, which lead to him loudly wailing and crying and "how dare you suggest I'd do something like this!" He got even more incensed when the nurse mentioned that his blood work showed that he was inebriated (like that was a surprise!), which had him protesting loudly that he'd only had a glass of wine with lunch, and how could she possibly suggest that he was drunk. Then he started calling her stupid, which she shut down rather quickly.
They ended up taking out the IV completely and leaving him without.
I'm not sure this was a good thing, because now he was free to move around. We could see which pair of legs under the curtain was him by the jeans and shoes (the only patient not in a hospital gown) and the shuffling. Other times, we saw him go by in a wheelchair, pulling himself forward with his feet, frequently brushing into our curtain on the way to his own room across from us. That had to take some doing, really, considering the layout of the place. We were also treated to the constant calling for painkillers. Very specific painkillers. We heard a lot of nurses diplomatically saying they had to ask the dr before they could give him anything. We also got to hear about all the other drugs he was apparently taking as much as 3 times a day - but hadn't taken at all in the last 10 months.
We learned more about this guy's medical history in a couple of hours than I know about most of my family put together! It was a constant litany of complaints, body noises and whining.
As you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep.
At some point, the older woman in the room next to me was gone and guy of about middle age was soon installed. I really felt for this poor guy when I heard the doctor telling him he had a 5 mm kidney stone. No whining and complaining from him, but we could hear from his voice that he was terrified, as I could also see from the few glances I got of his face in between the curtains.
We found it sadly amusing that the loudest complaints were coming from the one person who seemed not to have any injuries at all.
Throughout all this, we had things pretty quiet. Dh did go out and see if I could at least have something to drink, only to be told that, because of the CT scan, they couldn't let me eat or drink anything at all.
*sigh*
I had managed to actually doze off when they finally came to get me for the scan. With all the stuff going on around us, it felt like we'd been waiting for ages, but in reality it was less than an hour. A porter came to wheel me off down the hall where a tech was waiting for me. I was asked if I had a full bladder or not, as it turns out I needed one. Having already given a urine sample and not being allowed to drink anything, I had nothing. I was sure glad to finally be allowed to drink something, even if it meant I had to drink a lot in a short time! The porter had to leave, so the tech gave me a big glass of water (think of a disposable glass from a fast food place that can hold a litre), then wheeled me to the entrance of the waiting room that was there, so I could watch some tv. The Daily Show was on, (Do people really think this guy is funny?) so she gave me the remote so I could watch whatever I wanted. I ended up watching Ace of Cakes and ended up drinking almost 2L of water. My bladder may not have been full yet, but my stomach sure was, and it would have to do!
The first thing I noticed when she wheeled me into the room was the COLD! It was absolutely frigid in there! The machine itself heats up a lot inside, so they have to keep the room colder than normal. I was able to get myself onto the scanner bed. I had to lie flat on my back with my arms above my head. The test is a lot like the MRI, except the machine is amazingly quiet. I was surprised by the lack of noise, actually. The scans were a lot faster, too. Much appreciated, considering I had to hold my breath for them. The whole thing was over in a matter of minutes.
As fast as it was, my insides were definitely not happy with lying on my back like that! While lying on the scanning bed, it felt like something was being yanked inside me. By the time the scanning was done and I had to go back to my stretcher, things were starting to twinge and spasm a bit. Because of the cold, the tech was a sweetheart and wrapped me up in a blanket fresh from the warming shelf and made sure my stretcher was back in a slightly upright position to help relieve the pain that was starting up in my abdomen, then wheeled me back to my room in the emergency. Normally a porter does that, but the scan was over so quickly, she wasn't back from her break yet. The tech wasn't used to handling a stretcher, and this one was giving people steering problems all night. She managed to get me back without incident until the very last moment, when she accidentally backed me hard into the wall! *L*
With the nice, warm blanket around me, I felt my insides relaxing a bit, but after all that water, I soon had to get up and go to the bathroom. My dancing partner had been left behind somewhere, so Dh got a nurse to bring one over for me. After walking to the bathroom and back, however, things were kicking in again. Walking definitely was a trigger, and lying flat on my back seemed to be as well. I hoped it would go away, but it was quickly getting worse.
Dh got the nurse over and we talked about it with her. The pain was still bearable, but quickly getting worse. I wasn't yet sure if I wanted to take more morphine so soon, and wasn't sure it was bad enough to warrant it. In the end, I was given some Toradol. It didn't work as quickly, but it's longer lasting.
Now, it was back to waiting, and being "entertained" by the antics of B. By this time it was about midnight or slightly past. I was actually able to doze off a bit while we waited. The Toradol did the trip. What I appreciated most was that, while I felt no more pain, I could still feel *something* going on. This meant I wasn't going through the idiocy I did with the morphine, where I was feeling nothing at all and thinking of going home!
It was maybe an hour before the doctor came back with the results. It was definitely NOT a kidney stone. That was the only thing they could say for sure. What they could see was a large, dark mass around my fallopian tube, but they couldn't tell what it was.
Because of where it was, I was going to be transferred to the care of the emergency gynecological team (I had no idea emergency wards would need such a team!). The next step was an ultrasound, which they would do in the morning. It was about 1- 1:30 am by now, and I would definitely be staying the night.
I still wouldn't be able to eat, nor would I be able to have anything to drink again.
*sigh*
After the doctor left, we passed on what news we could and Dh packed up to head home. He'd been able to keep the girls updated by texting them as we got news, at least. This was definitely a time for us to appreciate how independent and responsible our girls are! At no point did we ever worry about them being able to take care of themselves. We just weren't completely sure how they were handling what little news we could pass on to them.
Then he was off for home, and I was left to - hopefully! - get some much needed sleep!
Not that my chances for it were very good. ;-)
.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Saturday, March 05, 2011
An Adventure in pain!
Ah, the things life throws at you.
Thursday afternoons, Youngest has guitar lessons. Handily, her lessons are at a nearby university's conservatory of music, and only about a 15 minute walk from home. Though her lessons are at 2:30 in the afternoon, she and I have been walking over to arrive a half hour early because of the rather severe cold we've been having lately. I have no idea if it's necessary, but the idea of going from -20C to being used at room temperature is something I don't think is very good for a guitar. So we leave early and try to remember to have something along to keep us occupied. For me, that means my crochet project bag.
As her teacher wasn't able to make her lesson the previous week, this past Thursday was to be an hour long instead of half an hour. I had a light lunch - just a couple of pieces of toast and half an avocado - then we left early enough to arrive at 2:00. By the time we got there, my insides were feeling decidedly uncomfortable. I figured a trip to the bathroom was in order, but it didn't seem to help much. We sat ourselves down in the waiting area and I broke out my crochet. Soon I was squirming around, trying to find some way to sit comfortably. Though the general pain was intestinal and included most of my left side, the source was very specific. I remember mentioning to Youngest that, had it been on my right instead of left, I would have thought it was my appendix - except I don't have one.
Her lesson started off as usual, and I kept trying to crochet. After a while, I found myself getting up and trying to walk off the discomfort a few times. Then I'd sit for a bit and try and crochet, but couldn't keep it up. By about 3, I was texting Dh about the possibility of a ride home. He was home from work because of his back and I knew heading out would be very painful for him, but by that point, I realized any attempt for me to walk home would be extremely painful.
I'm glad I asked for a ride.
By the time 3:30 rolled around and Youngest's lesson was done, I was having difficulties standing up straight. Usually, we take our time packing up, getting our coats on and heading out. Instead, I already had all our stuff packed, my own coat on, and barely have her time to put on her own coat before we headed for the elevators. I was decidedly hobbling by then.
Dh had some issues finding where we were in the van - he'd only ever gone there by bus from the other direction, and the road is one of those one way streets where the entrance is easy to miss. Youngest ended up holding on to my project bag for me, keeping a lookout for Dh, while I hobbled over to a window ledge so I could lean against it and breath my way through the pain. Getting into the van was a bit of a challenge, too.
Once home, I went straight into a hot bath, thinking the heat might give some relief.
It didn't.
Strangely, through all this pain, I was still able to feel hungry. Aside from the toast and avocado I'd had before we left for the lesson, I'd only had a cup of tea and a cookie all day. While still in the tub, Youngest brought me what was handy - a porkchop on a fork. *L* It didn't really take the edge off my hunger, but with the increasing pain, I didn't try to eat anything else.
After my attempt at a bath, I tried lying down, only to discover I couldn't. Lying on my back was out of the question, but whichever side I tried to lie on, it felt like something was pulling and tearing at my insides. I found myself writhing around from position to position - some of them getting decidedly pretzel-like! - and breathing away the pain. It reminded me of some of the stuff I did while in labour, except more painful. I did take some pain killers after my attempt at a bath; a double dose of extra strength Advil, to no avail.
We were at a loss as to what was wrong. Was it cramps? Gas? The world's worse case of constipation? We couldn't figure it out. Dh thought it might be kidney stones, except that primary source of the pain was in the front instead of the back. Finally, I threw in the towel and told Dh to drive me to the emergency. I mentioned to Dh along the way that, if it did turn out to be nothing more than massive constipation, I wouldn't be the least bit embarrassed to have gone in, for the amount of pain I was feeling! It was worse than 71 hours of labour. Worse than giving birth to a 9 pound baby. I've endured extreme pain a few times over the years, and this blew them all away.
When we got to the hospital, the entrance to the emergency was different from what we expected. Rather than a drop off area, there were automatic doors for vehicles to drive through - and there were three ambulances in there, with no way for him to go in one way and out the other. So I got out of the van and hobbled in while he went to find somewhere to leave the van.
Walking in was truly interesting. By this time, my entire left side was pulled into itself. I couldn't straighten my left leg, so I hobbled and lurched my way to the triage nurse. I made a point of having my health care card handy, since I wasn't sure how well I could talk. The nurse had her back to me at first. I must have been quite the sight when she turned around, leaning against the counter with one arm, the hand rail below it with the other, and making weird breathing noises through my teeth in between sudden spasms that had me crunching around my left side even more. My hand was shaking massively as I handed her my card and stammered out as best I could, what was happening to me. She was actually able to take my BP and hook a sensor up to a finger while I was at the counter while she plugged in my card number and started a file. I was in the middle of that when Dh walked in, so he was able to help me to a chair when she was done with me.
The waiting room was pretty full, though I have only a vague notion of lots of people around. I wasn't really seeing straight. I tried sitting, squirming around, twitching and spasming. Every now and then I had to stand up, turn around, and jam my left knee onto the chair seat while hanging onto the hand rests. While I was doing that, Dh was called to one side to finish up my paperwork for me. Handy, that. If it had been just me, who knows when it would finally have been done! *L* After a while, I started to feel nauseous and dizzy from the pain, while still feeling hungry! What a contradiction of sensations. It was like having menstrual cramps, constipation, diarrhea and muscle tears all at once, with nausea, dizziness and hunger to top it off.
I have no real idea how long we were in the waiting area, but it wasn't long. We had a different nurse let us know that I was next and they were preparing a stretcher for me. When another nurse came to get me, she asked if I wanted to walk or take a wheelchair. With my inability to sit properly, I chose to walk.
"Walk" being a very loose description of what I did.
At first, I was hanging on to both Dh's arm and the nurse's as I lurched along like something out of a horror movie. Things got a bit too narrow for the three of us and, since I had no clue where we were going, I let go of Dh so he could follow behind. A couple of times the nurse tried to comfort me by saying we weren't in any hurry and I could slow down. I was completely incapable of telling her that I wasn't actually rushing. It was just the spasms causing my left leg to yank up, and the rest of my body trying to compensate for it.
We got to the waiting stretcher soon enough. The nurse started to tell me to lie down, but quickly amended it to "however you feel comfortable." I was given a gown to change into and some privacy. I don't know how I could have changed without Dh to help me! I found myself on the left side of the stretcher, standing on my right leg with my left knee contorted onto the stretcher, left hand jammed into my left side while my right hand was braced on the stretcher. This came in handy when the nurse (or was it a different one?) came in and was able to use my right arm to take my BP and heart rate again. I did ask what the readings were, but I don't remember the BP numbers right now, other than they were higher than any reading I've ever had before. My heart rate was at 110.
We were left for a while again and I kept having to move and shift into different position. At one point I was on the right side of the stretcher, sitting with my left leg on the stretcher and twisted into some sort of pretzel shape, right leg braced on the ground. It was about then that a nurse came in to stick an needle in my right elbow, take 7 vials of blood for testing (she explained she was taking more than needed, in case more tests were needed later, so they wouldn't have to do it again). Then she put me on IV. I was pretty dehydrated by then, not to mention light headed from both the amount of blood taken and from hyperventilating through the waves of pain. How I managed to keep my arm still enough for her to insert the needle while twitching and squirming, I don't remember. I do know I went through that particular bag of fluids rather quickly, and Dh let me know that he could actually see in my face that it made a positive difference.
Somewhere through all this, my own responses to the pain changed. While still in the waiting room, the pain made my eyes water enough that I was pretty much crying and in need of nose blowing. It's rather difficult to blow one's nose while writhing and spasming. This changed some time after I got to my room in the emergency (each "room" in the wards consists of a stretcher, necessary equipment, a chair and one of those tables that can go over the bed, and a curtain for privacy). I found myself being rather angry, with more than a few choice words escaping my lips during the spasms. Dh commented on my looking ready to kill something and I joked about making angry faces at the pain. The nurse taking blood at the time asked me if that helped and I told her that yeah, it actually did! *L*
I can't quite remember the proper sequence of the next few things. I do know that, after the IV was placed, I got a visit from the doctor working the emergency room that night. I was back on the left side of the stretcher again, doing some weird contortions and making my angry faces. The doctor took my blood pressure and heart rate again and asked me a bunch of questions. He said that, based on my level of pain and how localized it was, their thought was that it might be kidney stones, and that they wanted to do Xrays. If it wasn't kidney stones, then they'd have to explore other options. I think it was just after he left that a nurse came in with some morphine.
Now this was a strange thing! I've never had morphine before. She warned me as she was prepping (and making sure I was actually lying on the bed - this was not a time for me to be even partially standing!) to inject it into the IV that I might feel a burning sensation and possible nausea. She did know I was already feeling nauseous. At this point, I guess it was a good thing I hadn't eaten much.
When the morphine was injected into the IV, the affect was instantaneous and incredibly weird! There was this strange wwwhhhoooossshhh feeling in a wave that radiated from my arm across my body. Then the nausea hit. Dh and the nurse quickly got one of those kidney shaped disposable bowls handy for me. Thankfully, I didn't need to use it. I don't imagine it would have been the same if I'd had a meal earlier!
The pain just melted away. With it went the nausea. All of it.
What an incredible relief! Slowly, I was able to straighten out my left leg, then at the waist. I could breath normally again!
That's some gooooodddd stuff!
This made waiting for the Xray much more pleasant! I even got to dose off a bit, under the watchful eyes of Dh. I remember lying there, drifting off, then opening my eyes to find him leaning against the side rail, staring at me intently. I'd start laughing at him and we'd crack jokes about the joys of morphine or some such, then I'd drift off again.
Then it was time to go for the Xray. Someone did ask if I wanted to walk or get wheeled over. With the morphine, I figured walking wasn't a good idea. Somehow, I assumed that by "wheeled over" they meant in a wheelchair, so I was getting all ready to get off the stretcher. Turned out they meant the stretcher itself. One of those "duh" moments, but hey... I was stoned!
Off I was taken to Xray. For that, I did get off the stretcher and stood up. It went by quickly - I just had to lean forward against the machine for one, turn around for the other, then it was back in the stretcher to wheel me back to my room in the emergency. Just getting in and out of the stretcher woke up some discomfort, though. My insides were definitely starting to talk to me.
Once back in my room, a nurse came by to tell me they needed a urine sample to test for kidney stones. My IV bag was hooked up to my dancing partner (my term for the IV pole) and I was able to walk to the bathroom around the corner. There, they had a basket full of sample bottles and another of wet wipes. I was to use a wipe on myself, then get a mid-stream sample.
Have you ever had to give a mid-stream urine sample? It's difficult enough for a female to provide a urine sample without pissing all over the place. For this, I had to let 'er rip for a couple of seconds, stop peeing, position the bottle, then continue taking a leak. Blech.
I had to use a few extra wet wipes. And wash thoroughly. And wipe the drips off the floor.
I hate giving urine samples.
Walking back to my stretcher, however, my insides started acting up even more. As I lay down, I mentioned it to Dh (who, by the way, was continually keeping the kids updated by texting them on his Blackberry). Within a minute, I was starting to squirm again. Within two, I was having to breath through the pain while writhing. Dh had already gone to tell someone the pain was coming back, so when a nurse came in, she already had another dose of morphine ready.
By this time, it was clear that the walking was a trigger of some kind. Things were moving around in me. Whatever they were, it was causing me a lot of pain. Enough pain that my first dose of morphine wasn't enough. She quickly gave me a second dose.
This time, I figured the wave of nausea would be worse, so the puke dish was already handy. It wasn't necessary. I still got that massive wwwwhhhoooossshhhh across my body, but it felt slightly different than the first dose, and had no accompanying nausea at all.
The second dose did the trick. Finally, the pain was gone.
After that, all we could do was wait.
Thursday afternoons, Youngest has guitar lessons. Handily, her lessons are at a nearby university's conservatory of music, and only about a 15 minute walk from home. Though her lessons are at 2:30 in the afternoon, she and I have been walking over to arrive a half hour early because of the rather severe cold we've been having lately. I have no idea if it's necessary, but the idea of going from -20C to being used at room temperature is something I don't think is very good for a guitar. So we leave early and try to remember to have something along to keep us occupied. For me, that means my crochet project bag.
As her teacher wasn't able to make her lesson the previous week, this past Thursday was to be an hour long instead of half an hour. I had a light lunch - just a couple of pieces of toast and half an avocado - then we left early enough to arrive at 2:00. By the time we got there, my insides were feeling decidedly uncomfortable. I figured a trip to the bathroom was in order, but it didn't seem to help much. We sat ourselves down in the waiting area and I broke out my crochet. Soon I was squirming around, trying to find some way to sit comfortably. Though the general pain was intestinal and included most of my left side, the source was very specific. I remember mentioning to Youngest that, had it been on my right instead of left, I would have thought it was my appendix - except I don't have one.
Her lesson started off as usual, and I kept trying to crochet. After a while, I found myself getting up and trying to walk off the discomfort a few times. Then I'd sit for a bit and try and crochet, but couldn't keep it up. By about 3, I was texting Dh about the possibility of a ride home. He was home from work because of his back and I knew heading out would be very painful for him, but by that point, I realized any attempt for me to walk home would be extremely painful.
I'm glad I asked for a ride.
By the time 3:30 rolled around and Youngest's lesson was done, I was having difficulties standing up straight. Usually, we take our time packing up, getting our coats on and heading out. Instead, I already had all our stuff packed, my own coat on, and barely have her time to put on her own coat before we headed for the elevators. I was decidedly hobbling by then.
Dh had some issues finding where we were in the van - he'd only ever gone there by bus from the other direction, and the road is one of those one way streets where the entrance is easy to miss. Youngest ended up holding on to my project bag for me, keeping a lookout for Dh, while I hobbled over to a window ledge so I could lean against it and breath my way through the pain. Getting into the van was a bit of a challenge, too.
Once home, I went straight into a hot bath, thinking the heat might give some relief.
It didn't.
Strangely, through all this pain, I was still able to feel hungry. Aside from the toast and avocado I'd had before we left for the lesson, I'd only had a cup of tea and a cookie all day. While still in the tub, Youngest brought me what was handy - a porkchop on a fork. *L* It didn't really take the edge off my hunger, but with the increasing pain, I didn't try to eat anything else.
After my attempt at a bath, I tried lying down, only to discover I couldn't. Lying on my back was out of the question, but whichever side I tried to lie on, it felt like something was pulling and tearing at my insides. I found myself writhing around from position to position - some of them getting decidedly pretzel-like! - and breathing away the pain. It reminded me of some of the stuff I did while in labour, except more painful. I did take some pain killers after my attempt at a bath; a double dose of extra strength Advil, to no avail.
We were at a loss as to what was wrong. Was it cramps? Gas? The world's worse case of constipation? We couldn't figure it out. Dh thought it might be kidney stones, except that primary source of the pain was in the front instead of the back. Finally, I threw in the towel and told Dh to drive me to the emergency. I mentioned to Dh along the way that, if it did turn out to be nothing more than massive constipation, I wouldn't be the least bit embarrassed to have gone in, for the amount of pain I was feeling! It was worse than 71 hours of labour. Worse than giving birth to a 9 pound baby. I've endured extreme pain a few times over the years, and this blew them all away.
When we got to the hospital, the entrance to the emergency was different from what we expected. Rather than a drop off area, there were automatic doors for vehicles to drive through - and there were three ambulances in there, with no way for him to go in one way and out the other. So I got out of the van and hobbled in while he went to find somewhere to leave the van.
Walking in was truly interesting. By this time, my entire left side was pulled into itself. I couldn't straighten my left leg, so I hobbled and lurched my way to the triage nurse. I made a point of having my health care card handy, since I wasn't sure how well I could talk. The nurse had her back to me at first. I must have been quite the sight when she turned around, leaning against the counter with one arm, the hand rail below it with the other, and making weird breathing noises through my teeth in between sudden spasms that had me crunching around my left side even more. My hand was shaking massively as I handed her my card and stammered out as best I could, what was happening to me. She was actually able to take my BP and hook a sensor up to a finger while I was at the counter while she plugged in my card number and started a file. I was in the middle of that when Dh walked in, so he was able to help me to a chair when she was done with me.
The waiting room was pretty full, though I have only a vague notion of lots of people around. I wasn't really seeing straight. I tried sitting, squirming around, twitching and spasming. Every now and then I had to stand up, turn around, and jam my left knee onto the chair seat while hanging onto the hand rests. While I was doing that, Dh was called to one side to finish up my paperwork for me. Handy, that. If it had been just me, who knows when it would finally have been done! *L* After a while, I started to feel nauseous and dizzy from the pain, while still feeling hungry! What a contradiction of sensations. It was like having menstrual cramps, constipation, diarrhea and muscle tears all at once, with nausea, dizziness and hunger to top it off.
I have no real idea how long we were in the waiting area, but it wasn't long. We had a different nurse let us know that I was next and they were preparing a stretcher for me. When another nurse came to get me, she asked if I wanted to walk or take a wheelchair. With my inability to sit properly, I chose to walk.
"Walk" being a very loose description of what I did.
At first, I was hanging on to both Dh's arm and the nurse's as I lurched along like something out of a horror movie. Things got a bit too narrow for the three of us and, since I had no clue where we were going, I let go of Dh so he could follow behind. A couple of times the nurse tried to comfort me by saying we weren't in any hurry and I could slow down. I was completely incapable of telling her that I wasn't actually rushing. It was just the spasms causing my left leg to yank up, and the rest of my body trying to compensate for it.
We got to the waiting stretcher soon enough. The nurse started to tell me to lie down, but quickly amended it to "however you feel comfortable." I was given a gown to change into and some privacy. I don't know how I could have changed without Dh to help me! I found myself on the left side of the stretcher, standing on my right leg with my left knee contorted onto the stretcher, left hand jammed into my left side while my right hand was braced on the stretcher. This came in handy when the nurse (or was it a different one?) came in and was able to use my right arm to take my BP and heart rate again. I did ask what the readings were, but I don't remember the BP numbers right now, other than they were higher than any reading I've ever had before. My heart rate was at 110.
We were left for a while again and I kept having to move and shift into different position. At one point I was on the right side of the stretcher, sitting with my left leg on the stretcher and twisted into some sort of pretzel shape, right leg braced on the ground. It was about then that a nurse came in to stick an needle in my right elbow, take 7 vials of blood for testing (she explained she was taking more than needed, in case more tests were needed later, so they wouldn't have to do it again). Then she put me on IV. I was pretty dehydrated by then, not to mention light headed from both the amount of blood taken and from hyperventilating through the waves of pain. How I managed to keep my arm still enough for her to insert the needle while twitching and squirming, I don't remember. I do know I went through that particular bag of fluids rather quickly, and Dh let me know that he could actually see in my face that it made a positive difference.
Somewhere through all this, my own responses to the pain changed. While still in the waiting room, the pain made my eyes water enough that I was pretty much crying and in need of nose blowing. It's rather difficult to blow one's nose while writhing and spasming. This changed some time after I got to my room in the emergency (each "room" in the wards consists of a stretcher, necessary equipment, a chair and one of those tables that can go over the bed, and a curtain for privacy). I found myself being rather angry, with more than a few choice words escaping my lips during the spasms. Dh commented on my looking ready to kill something and I joked about making angry faces at the pain. The nurse taking blood at the time asked me if that helped and I told her that yeah, it actually did! *L*
I can't quite remember the proper sequence of the next few things. I do know that, after the IV was placed, I got a visit from the doctor working the emergency room that night. I was back on the left side of the stretcher again, doing some weird contortions and making my angry faces. The doctor took my blood pressure and heart rate again and asked me a bunch of questions. He said that, based on my level of pain and how localized it was, their thought was that it might be kidney stones, and that they wanted to do Xrays. If it wasn't kidney stones, then they'd have to explore other options. I think it was just after he left that a nurse came in with some morphine.
Now this was a strange thing! I've never had morphine before. She warned me as she was prepping (and making sure I was actually lying on the bed - this was not a time for me to be even partially standing!) to inject it into the IV that I might feel a burning sensation and possible nausea. She did know I was already feeling nauseous. At this point, I guess it was a good thing I hadn't eaten much.
When the morphine was injected into the IV, the affect was instantaneous and incredibly weird! There was this strange wwwhhhoooossshhh feeling in a wave that radiated from my arm across my body. Then the nausea hit. Dh and the nurse quickly got one of those kidney shaped disposable bowls handy for me. Thankfully, I didn't need to use it. I don't imagine it would have been the same if I'd had a meal earlier!
The pain just melted away. With it went the nausea. All of it.
What an incredible relief! Slowly, I was able to straighten out my left leg, then at the waist. I could breath normally again!
That's some gooooodddd stuff!
This made waiting for the Xray much more pleasant! I even got to dose off a bit, under the watchful eyes of Dh. I remember lying there, drifting off, then opening my eyes to find him leaning against the side rail, staring at me intently. I'd start laughing at him and we'd crack jokes about the joys of morphine or some such, then I'd drift off again.
Then it was time to go for the Xray. Someone did ask if I wanted to walk or get wheeled over. With the morphine, I figured walking wasn't a good idea. Somehow, I assumed that by "wheeled over" they meant in a wheelchair, so I was getting all ready to get off the stretcher. Turned out they meant the stretcher itself. One of those "duh" moments, but hey... I was stoned!
Off I was taken to Xray. For that, I did get off the stretcher and stood up. It went by quickly - I just had to lean forward against the machine for one, turn around for the other, then it was back in the stretcher to wheel me back to my room in the emergency. Just getting in and out of the stretcher woke up some discomfort, though. My insides were definitely starting to talk to me.
Once back in my room, a nurse came by to tell me they needed a urine sample to test for kidney stones. My IV bag was hooked up to my dancing partner (my term for the IV pole) and I was able to walk to the bathroom around the corner. There, they had a basket full of sample bottles and another of wet wipes. I was to use a wipe on myself, then get a mid-stream sample.
Have you ever had to give a mid-stream urine sample? It's difficult enough for a female to provide a urine sample without pissing all over the place. For this, I had to let 'er rip for a couple of seconds, stop peeing, position the bottle, then continue taking a leak. Blech.
I had to use a few extra wet wipes. And wash thoroughly. And wipe the drips off the floor.
I hate giving urine samples.
Walking back to my stretcher, however, my insides started acting up even more. As I lay down, I mentioned it to Dh (who, by the way, was continually keeping the kids updated by texting them on his Blackberry). Within a minute, I was starting to squirm again. Within two, I was having to breath through the pain while writhing. Dh had already gone to tell someone the pain was coming back, so when a nurse came in, she already had another dose of morphine ready.
By this time, it was clear that the walking was a trigger of some kind. Things were moving around in me. Whatever they were, it was causing me a lot of pain. Enough pain that my first dose of morphine wasn't enough. She quickly gave me a second dose.
This time, I figured the wave of nausea would be worse, so the puke dish was already handy. It wasn't necessary. I still got that massive wwwwhhhoooossshhhh across my body, but it felt slightly different than the first dose, and had no accompanying nausea at all.
The second dose did the trick. Finally, the pain was gone.
After that, all we could do was wait.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Unexpected awesomeness
I love it when plans turn out so much better than expected!
Our city has a number of winter festival events going on. Most of the time, we ignore them. It's cold, there's lots of crowds, and the entertainment events are usually not the type we like. For those farther away from us, there's the added irritation of either driving and finding parking, or taking transit that may or may not actually go anywhere near the event.
One of the handy things about these events, however, is that a prime location for them is just a few blocks from us, across the street from our local library. During a recent outing to the library with Eldest, we saw things were being set up in the square, so we checked it out before heading home. We found a sign that piqued our interest enough to look it up on the city's website and decided that we might actually want to check it out, if only to hear the choir. There was supposed to be some kind of circus thing going on, which we were curious about, but that's about it. We're not big circus fans, except maybe Cirque du Soleil. There was mention of pyrotechnics worked into the show, and past glimpses of that sort of thing had left us unimpressed.
It was a bitterly cold night when we headed out. We didn't bother being there for the start and just made sure we were in time to hear the choir. They were fabulous! We had only a vague idea of what to expect based on the descriptions. The choir was put together for this event only, and was made up of some of the best singers of other local choirs. Having enjoyed listening to some of these choirs, we knew it would be good, and we weren't disappointed. We've got some really great singers in our city! One of the songs, which was something like 10 minutes long, did drive a few listeners away, though. Part of that could be blamed on the sound system, though! Especially when the sopranos kicked it up a notch. I think they could have done with the microphones quite a bit farther away from them, but with the space they were using, that wasn't exactly an option.
There was other entertainment besides the choir, including actors in character wandering around the square. After the choir, though, we had about an hour before their second performance, in connection with the circus thing. So we went to the library's coffee shop for some hot drinks, bypassing another shop right on the square that looked absolutely full. Glad we went when we did, because it didn't take long for the coffee shop to be overflowing with people coming in to warm up with some hot drinks! When we finished and got up to leave, a guy with his two small children saw us and sent them over the grab the table right away. Good thinking, on his part! Not that there were enough seats for all three of them to sit, but better than nothing! *L* What a crowd!
Then it was off into the cold again. We eventually figured out where the choir was going to perform again and managed to be right in front. They did their one song, then the all turned around to grab lanterns on poles behind them and wandered off into the crowd. Then the circus thing started.
There was a main stage set up behind where the choir sang, and during their song we did see costumed performers gathering on the side, then moving around someplace else. I still expected the show to be on the main stage. I was completely wrong! Instead, there were a series of stages, with the performers leading the crowd from one to another, pausing for a brief show before moving on to the next. There was a giant tricycle, flames, explosions, fireworks, clowns, stilt walkers and aerial displays, all set to just the right music for the performances. The entire crowd was led from staging area to staging area (Eldest and I eventually got separated and didn't even try to find each other again until the end of the show - though Youngest would have loved it, the crowd along would have prevented her from actually enjoying the show). I'm usually don't enjoy shows that attempt audience participation; they tend to be very uncomfortable and forced, I find. Not this time! The audience participation was enthusiastic. Clearly, the people around has hadn't known what to expect any more than we did, and they were all eagerly moving to each event, looking forward to what would be waiting for them.
The procession of performers eventually came back to the main stage for the finale, which involved more flamed and fireworks and ended with an amazing aerial display of pyrotechnics surrounding the aerial performer. It was absolutely fantastic!
All in all, Eldest and I were outside for about an hour and a half for this. It was so cold, my camera batteries kept dying and I had to shove the camera under my coat and into my armpit to warm it up enough to take a few more shots. I took more video than stills, actually. I spent most of the time with my camera held up high, hoping it was pointed in the right direction, because I couldn't really see all that much. What is it with tall people that insist on pushing themselves to the front? It seemed that every time the procession stopped for a show, some big guy would end up right in front of me, sticking his head into my camera view. I'd move to the side... the head would move to the side. I'd move to the other side... the head would move back in front of me. It's not like they could see me trying to take photos behind them and were doing it on purpose, but geez! What an annoyance. *L*
Still, the show was so fantastic, it didn't matter. We were totally blown away with awesome. Then we ducked into a nearby theatre to warm up while I called Dh for a ride home! Sure, we could have walked home in just a few minutes, but after so much time outside, I figured warming up was more important.
And to think that, because of the cold and my usual distaste for crowds, I was thinking it would be no big deal if we just stayed home, instead. I'm glad we made the effort to check it out. It was absolutely worth standing out in the cold to see!
Our city has a number of winter festival events going on. Most of the time, we ignore them. It's cold, there's lots of crowds, and the entertainment events are usually not the type we like. For those farther away from us, there's the added irritation of either driving and finding parking, or taking transit that may or may not actually go anywhere near the event.
One of the handy things about these events, however, is that a prime location for them is just a few blocks from us, across the street from our local library. During a recent outing to the library with Eldest, we saw things were being set up in the square, so we checked it out before heading home. We found a sign that piqued our interest enough to look it up on the city's website and decided that we might actually want to check it out, if only to hear the choir. There was supposed to be some kind of circus thing going on, which we were curious about, but that's about it. We're not big circus fans, except maybe Cirque du Soleil. There was mention of pyrotechnics worked into the show, and past glimpses of that sort of thing had left us unimpressed.
It was a bitterly cold night when we headed out. We didn't bother being there for the start and just made sure we were in time to hear the choir. They were fabulous! We had only a vague idea of what to expect based on the descriptions. The choir was put together for this event only, and was made up of some of the best singers of other local choirs. Having enjoyed listening to some of these choirs, we knew it would be good, and we weren't disappointed. We've got some really great singers in our city! One of the songs, which was something like 10 minutes long, did drive a few listeners away, though. Part of that could be blamed on the sound system, though! Especially when the sopranos kicked it up a notch. I think they could have done with the microphones quite a bit farther away from them, but with the space they were using, that wasn't exactly an option.
There was other entertainment besides the choir, including actors in character wandering around the square. After the choir, though, we had about an hour before their second performance, in connection with the circus thing. So we went to the library's coffee shop for some hot drinks, bypassing another shop right on the square that looked absolutely full. Glad we went when we did, because it didn't take long for the coffee shop to be overflowing with people coming in to warm up with some hot drinks! When we finished and got up to leave, a guy with his two small children saw us and sent them over the grab the table right away. Good thinking, on his part! Not that there were enough seats for all three of them to sit, but better than nothing! *L* What a crowd!
Then it was off into the cold again. We eventually figured out where the choir was going to perform again and managed to be right in front. They did their one song, then the all turned around to grab lanterns on poles behind them and wandered off into the crowd. Then the circus thing started.
There was a main stage set up behind where the choir sang, and during their song we did see costumed performers gathering on the side, then moving around someplace else. I still expected the show to be on the main stage. I was completely wrong! Instead, there were a series of stages, with the performers leading the crowd from one to another, pausing for a brief show before moving on to the next. There was a giant tricycle, flames, explosions, fireworks, clowns, stilt walkers and aerial displays, all set to just the right music for the performances. The entire crowd was led from staging area to staging area (Eldest and I eventually got separated and didn't even try to find each other again until the end of the show - though Youngest would have loved it, the crowd along would have prevented her from actually enjoying the show). I'm usually don't enjoy shows that attempt audience participation; they tend to be very uncomfortable and forced, I find. Not this time! The audience participation was enthusiastic. Clearly, the people around has hadn't known what to expect any more than we did, and they were all eagerly moving to each event, looking forward to what would be waiting for them.
The procession of performers eventually came back to the main stage for the finale, which involved more flamed and fireworks and ended with an amazing aerial display of pyrotechnics surrounding the aerial performer. It was absolutely fantastic!
All in all, Eldest and I were outside for about an hour and a half for this. It was so cold, my camera batteries kept dying and I had to shove the camera under my coat and into my armpit to warm it up enough to take a few more shots. I took more video than stills, actually. I spent most of the time with my camera held up high, hoping it was pointed in the right direction, because I couldn't really see all that much. What is it with tall people that insist on pushing themselves to the front? It seemed that every time the procession stopped for a show, some big guy would end up right in front of me, sticking his head into my camera view. I'd move to the side... the head would move to the side. I'd move to the other side... the head would move back in front of me. It's not like they could see me trying to take photos behind them and were doing it on purpose, but geez! What an annoyance. *L*
Still, the show was so fantastic, it didn't matter. We were totally blown away with awesome. Then we ducked into a nearby theatre to warm up while I called Dh for a ride home! Sure, we could have walked home in just a few minutes, but after so much time outside, I figured warming up was more important.
And to think that, because of the cold and my usual distaste for crowds, I was thinking it would be no big deal if we just stayed home, instead. I'm glad we made the effort to check it out. It was absolutely worth standing out in the cold to see!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Books, books, books... and movies, and cds...
Gosh, it's been ages since I posted here! I've been posting on my other blog, plus Eldest and I have something in the works that will be coming live soon, but this poor, sad little blog is being neglected. *sniff* It's getting to the point that I don't know quite where to start anymore.
So I'll start with a library list. Our weekly library trips aren't quite as regular - Eldest tends to go several times a week, these days, and a few times they've had regular library day, but I've had to stay home for one reason or the other. So we've got plenty to list, I just haven't gotten to it.
For new stuff we got today, Youngest took out:
Dragons: a natural history
Kings, beasts and heroes
The Resistance (CD)
Showbiz (CD)
She's gone through most of the folklore and mythology section, but found a couple she hadn't taken out before. She's not too impressed with the dragon one so far. Mostly, it's the tone of the writing, as it's rather condescending towards dragon mythologies. A pet peeve of hers when it comes to books exploring mythology.
Eldest, meanwhile, has taken out:
Polka's not dead (CD)
Alice (DVD)
Memento mori (DVD)
Vampire knits: projects to keep you knitting from twilight to dawn
Expletive deleted: a good look at bad language
The case for relgion
The twilight of atheism: the rise and fall of disbelief in the modern world
While sitting at Second Cup after getting our books, we were going through the Vampire knits book. Oh, the horror! The projects are great, but... well, let's just say we're NOT Twihards and leave it at that... ;-)
On my talke out list today, I've got:
The faith of the centure (DVD about communism)
Chicago (1927 silent film)
A guide to making guantlet mitts (teacher's resource)
Cultural accents
Other stuff we still have lying about from recent library trips include:
Batman, the animated series (DVD set, first season, if I remember correctly - Youngest had put it on hold)
Darling, maybe someday (CD)
I love the Escarpment (DVD)
The battle (CD)
Blank unstaring heirs of doom (CD)
The legion sessions (CD)
In the noise (CD)
Deadmalls & nightfalls (CD)
Visiter (CD)
Spelled in bones (CD)
Vanguard of the young and reckless (CD)
Oh little fire (CD)
Blind man on a flying horse (CD)
Dark shades of blue (CD)
Flying upside down (CD)
Release the sunshine (CD)
Lost channels (CD)
Omnibus (CD)
Yeah, that's a lot of CDs! Eldest has taken to searching through the library website for interesting sounding music and putting lots of stuff on hold. She actually maxed out her hold limit with mostly CDs! Then she listens to them all fairly quickly. With a stack like this, she considers herself fortunate to find 2-3 discs of music she actually likes, and as often as not, just one good song on each of those.
Terribly happy (DVD)
A tale of two sisters (DVD)
The city of violence (DVD)
Edlest has also taken to watching foreign horror movies. There's some very strange stuff out there!
Millennium actress (DVD)
This Japanese animation is one that's been taken out a couple of times already. The first time you watch it, it's very confusing. Then, after you see the very end, the whole thing just falls into place with a shock. Then you watch it again, knowing what happens in the end, and the whole thing is less confusing, yet more heartrending. It's worth hunting down.
I don't believe in atheists
The Devil's delusion: atheism and its scientific pretensions
These two books are research material for Eldest and I. The first one got returned today, unfinished. We really didn't like the author and a lot of what he was saying was basically BS. The Devil's delusion, on the other hand, is one we're passing back and forth and reading with interest. The author's writing style is much more enjoyable, for starters, and he makes a much better case for his arguement. Worth reading.
The G.O.D. experiments: how science is discovering God in everything, including us
Another research piece, I actually haven't had time to start reading it yet.
Perfect Blue (DVD)
The book fo the dead (DVD)
The ossuary and other tales (DVD)
The vanishing (DVD)
Tell me something (DVD)
I'm not sure how many of these actually got watched before they had to be returned. :-P
There's more, but I think that's enough of a list for now!
So I'll start with a library list. Our weekly library trips aren't quite as regular - Eldest tends to go several times a week, these days, and a few times they've had regular library day, but I've had to stay home for one reason or the other. So we've got plenty to list, I just haven't gotten to it.
For new stuff we got today, Youngest took out:
Dragons: a natural history
Kings, beasts and heroes
The Resistance (CD)
Showbiz (CD)
She's gone through most of the folklore and mythology section, but found a couple she hadn't taken out before. She's not too impressed with the dragon one so far. Mostly, it's the tone of the writing, as it's rather condescending towards dragon mythologies. A pet peeve of hers when it comes to books exploring mythology.
Eldest, meanwhile, has taken out:
Polka's not dead (CD)
Alice (DVD)
Memento mori (DVD)
Vampire knits: projects to keep you knitting from twilight to dawn
Expletive deleted: a good look at bad language
The case for relgion
The twilight of atheism: the rise and fall of disbelief in the modern world
While sitting at Second Cup after getting our books, we were going through the Vampire knits book. Oh, the horror! The projects are great, but... well, let's just say we're NOT Twihards and leave it at that... ;-)
On my talke out list today, I've got:
The faith of the centure (DVD about communism)
Chicago (1927 silent film)
A guide to making guantlet mitts (teacher's resource)
Cultural accents
Other stuff we still have lying about from recent library trips include:
Batman, the animated series (DVD set, first season, if I remember correctly - Youngest had put it on hold)
Darling, maybe someday (CD)
I love the Escarpment (DVD)
The battle (CD)
Blank unstaring heirs of doom (CD)
The legion sessions (CD)
In the noise (CD)
Deadmalls & nightfalls (CD)
Visiter (CD)
Spelled in bones (CD)
Vanguard of the young and reckless (CD)
Oh little fire (CD)
Blind man on a flying horse (CD)
Dark shades of blue (CD)
Flying upside down (CD)
Release the sunshine (CD)
Lost channels (CD)
Omnibus (CD)
Yeah, that's a lot of CDs! Eldest has taken to searching through the library website for interesting sounding music and putting lots of stuff on hold. She actually maxed out her hold limit with mostly CDs! Then she listens to them all fairly quickly. With a stack like this, she considers herself fortunate to find 2-3 discs of music she actually likes, and as often as not, just one good song on each of those.
Terribly happy (DVD)
A tale of two sisters (DVD)
The city of violence (DVD)
Edlest has also taken to watching foreign horror movies. There's some very strange stuff out there!
Millennium actress (DVD)
This Japanese animation is one that's been taken out a couple of times already. The first time you watch it, it's very confusing. Then, after you see the very end, the whole thing just falls into place with a shock. Then you watch it again, knowing what happens in the end, and the whole thing is less confusing, yet more heartrending. It's worth hunting down.
I don't believe in atheists
The Devil's delusion: atheism and its scientific pretensions
These two books are research material for Eldest and I. The first one got returned today, unfinished. We really didn't like the author and a lot of what he was saying was basically BS. The Devil's delusion, on the other hand, is one we're passing back and forth and reading with interest. The author's writing style is much more enjoyable, for starters, and he makes a much better case for his arguement. Worth reading.
The G.O.D. experiments: how science is discovering God in everything, including us
Another research piece, I actually haven't had time to start reading it yet.
Perfect Blue (DVD)
The book fo the dead (DVD)
The ossuary and other tales (DVD)
The vanishing (DVD)
Tell me something (DVD)
I'm not sure how many of these actually got watched before they had to be returned. :-P
There's more, but I think that's enough of a list for now!
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
All is quiet on the Western front...
... but not so quiet in the East. ;-)
We're just wrapping up our Christmas season, as tomorrow is Three Kings Day. Posts might still be a bit light, however. Eldest and I are putting something together right now, but it won't be officially up until the "foundations" are laid.
Thanks for your patience.
We're just wrapping up our Christmas season, as tomorrow is Three Kings Day. Posts might still be a bit light, however. Eldest and I are putting something together right now, but it won't be officially up until the "foundations" are laid.
Thanks for your patience.
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