I suppose it's about time for an update. It's been about a month and a half, and it's been a pretty busy month and a half.

A few weeks ago I had my nose surgery. For anyone who didn't read the last couple of posts, I did not get a nose job. I actually quite like my nose. No, I had a severely deviated septum corrected and my adenoids removed. My original purpose for doing this was to fix a bit of a snoring problem in hopes that Ben would be able to sleep better, but I thought it might also be nice to be able to sleep myself....and to be able to breathe through my nose. That is something that I have never been able to do. In fact, it wasn't until I was probably in 1st grade that I even knew you could breathe through your nose. I'd always wondered, "What if robbers came and tied me up and put duct tape over my mouth?" I would suffocate because I really couldn't breathe through my nose for more than a little while without probably passing out. (I also have to consciously think about breathing through my nose because it is not at all natural for me).

Anyhow, I had the surgery a few weeks ago. I knew that it would be painful, but I didn't think that it would be too big of a deal. Family took the kids for a few days because Ben was going to be working, and I was nervous about little babies being attracted to a big white bandage on my face. Ben really wanted me to find babysitters for the entire week, but I thought that was kind of ridiculous. I was kind of looking forward to a few days alone and had a list of all sorts of chores to do. I'm here to say that Ben was totally right. Not so much that the kids needed to be gone longer, but it was a much bigger deal than I expected. Ben ended up taking 3 days off work because I couldn't even get out of bed to get my medicine. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced, and I've given birth to two babies whose heads are off the charts. It was so miserable! Forget the soreness from the actual surgery. The biggest problem was blood constantly draining down my throat because my nose was all packed. Apparently, the human body cannot digest human blood, so there was some pretty awful vomiting. And since I was on some pretty strong pain meds, I wasn't so with it and ended ruining some bedding (blood vomit does not wash out).

I was encouraged by the thought of having the packing removed from my nose after four days. I had been told that things would improve 100% once it was gone. True, recovery was much easier once my nasal cavity was open. No one had said anything about how awful the removal would be. The four days with the packing in was terrible, but the 20 mins. I was in having the packing removed was as bad as those four days combined into 20 minutes. It probably wouldn't have been quite so bad if when the packing was pulled out my nose didn't turn on like a faucet. I couldn't see it all, but I felt it, and Ben said that he had never seen so much blood in his life. Since it was bleeding so profusely, Dr. Ventura used a suctioning tool like at the dentist to try to clear things out. He was suctioning my nose, so obviously I couldn't breathe through it. Meanwhile, more blood was dripping down my throat, making it difficult to breathe, so I ended up aspirating blood all over my doctor. I'm sure he appreciated that. It was a grizzly mess. A bit of advice, use hydrogen peroxide to get blood out of clothing and off skin.

Once it was all done, I really wasn't sure that it was worth it. Now, it's still a little sore, but I will say, I can breathe through my nose. I'm not sure what the snoring situation is, but I'm sleeping longer without waking up, and I feel like the entire inside of my nose is hollowed out. It's so open that it almost burns to breathe. Moral of the story: I think nose surgery works, but I would never recommend it unless you REALLY need it.

The sad part of the month was a week ago Friday when my Grandpa Ray passed away. My grandpa had had a difficult time ever since his car accident about 5 years ago. He never really recovered and things just got worse over time. It's hard to explain what an impact that accident made to anyone who did not know my grandparents prior to it. It was kind of like my grandpa aged 15 years overnight. Since the accident, my grandpa has had a lot of problems. He's been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers. A couple of months ago, he was put on in home hospice care. For weeks, he's basically been lying in bed, and about a week before he passed, we were told that he was pretty comatose. It's so sad to see someone deteriorate like that.

It's been neat, over the past week, and during the funeral to hear stories about my grandpa that I had not heard before. I knew that he had served in the Battle of Tarawa during WWII, but I don't think I really understood (and of course I still really don't) what he went through. He was the last known survivor of the battle and survived some really amazing circumstances. He's definitely a hero. I knew that he had received a Purple Heart for being wound during that battle, but I hadn't heard about his efforts to help save other soldiers that he didn't even know. I didn't know that his amphibious vehicle was even shown (actual footage) in a movie made about Tarawa. He's been honored a couple of times by the governor, and he definitely deserved it.

My uncle told another story about my grandpa when he was about 80, I think. My uncle saw that my grandpa was covered in some bruises and scratches and was concerned. My grandpa didn't want to tell my uncle what happened. My uncle thought that maybe my grandpa had fallen and wanted to take him to the doctors. Finally, my grandpa said that he had been at Mr. Mac to buy a suit. A kid had approached him with a knife and told him to give him his wallet. Obviously, my uncle was very concerned and wanted to call the police. My grandpa was super opposed to this, and my uncle didn't understand why he wouldn't want to call in the attack. After a while, my grandpa divulged that he had hurt the boy pretty badly, and he probably wouldn't be trying that again.

The service was very nice, and it was great to be with the entire family. Brian and Marinda were even able to fly in. It definitely was unfortunate circumstances, but I do love being with my extended family. I will miss my grandpa, but I'm very grateful for the knowledge that I have that we can all be together again. I'm also very grateful for the legacy that he left and for our family.

Aside from those major events, we have spent a lot of time trying to clean up the yard. We bought a large gazebo and are excited to get it up and get our outdoor dinette set under it, so we can start having barbecues and eating some meals outside. It's a large metal-framed gazebo with tenting and netting. It doesn't have a floor, so we just need to agree upon a base and figure a nice secure way to stake it down since the wind it so ridiculous out here. In the future, Ben (and I) would really like to put a shed in the backyard as well. We've looked at a few and have been pleasantly surprised at the installed pricing. That will probably be next year though. This year, we'll get the gazebo up, we've already fixed up the raised beds in the front yard and have desperately been trying to improve our lawn, we're hoping to get curbing poured, and I'd really like to have shutters put on the front of the house. We'll see how much we can get done.

I've also been working on planning a birthday party for the boys. It will by Miles' 3rd and Conan's 1st. Since Miles is getting a little older and has some friends now, we're going to invite some of his little friends. We'll see how that goes. We're going to have a superhero party, and it should be really fun. Miles is super excited about his Spiderman birthday cake, but I haven't figured out yet how to do a cake for Coney that doesn't have wheat or eggs in it. If you have a great idea, let me know. I think they'll be excited about the surprise guest (Spiderman) coming. We're postponing their birthday party a few weeks because we'll actually be out of town for their birthdays.

We're going to Redfish, Id with Ben's mom and brother's family in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. I've never been, but Ben's family is constantly talking about Redfish. I love the mountains, and I love lakes, and I love spending time with family, so it should be a perfect fit. It will be fun to see how Miles and Conan enjoy it. I was thinking of getting them (well at least Miles, I may have to find something a little more age appropriate for Coney) little kid fishing poles, so they would have something to open there on their birthdays.

Today, we are focusing on getting everyone healthy. The wind has really stirred up all sorts of weeds and grasses, and the pollen is really getting to the entire family. Actually, I take that back. i really haven't had allergies since my nose surgery. That's not to say I haven't had asthma. It's nice to not have the runny nose and itchy eyes though. We'll see how long it lasts. Miles, of course, it taking it the worst. He was really bad on Thursday and Friday last week, and we were really concerned about how he would be Saturday since that was my grandpa's funeral. Ben took him in to our new Instacare on Friday and was lucky enough to get an asthma specialist as his doctor. He treated him and recommended using Atrovent treatments in his nebulizer (in addition to the Atrovent inhaler he uses for maintenance). He also gave him a couple of doses of Dexamethazone, which I believe is basically a stronger form of Prednisone. Rather than taking it for a week or so like Prelone or Prednisolone, it's a one or two dose thing. It's nice, but it does have a negative side. All steroids make little kids act up a little bit, but this (and Decadron--which I think is basically the same thing) really affects Miles' behavior. It makes him super hyper, super emotional, super irrational, and kind of naughty. He gets really restless and aggressive when he's on this medication, so I apologize for his stinker-pottedness over the past couple of days. He's never a perfect child, but this really does make a huge difference.

I took him in to his pediatrician today, and despite his breathing sounding terrible, his lungs sound pretty clear, so it looks like he's on the mend. We're adding the Atrovent and Zyrtec to his regular regimen. Dr. Ditty recommended that I start Coney on Zyrtec as well. His poor little eyes and nose are all runny, so I'm sure the allergies are going to be super fun with him too. 'Tis the season, I suppose.

I think that pretty much covers things for now.