Monday, December 10, 2007

Surgery and other thoughts.

Surgery #4 is tomorrow, which means the hydration project starts today. I have horrible veins. Just terrible. So bad that when I've gone in to donate blood, I'm sent away after a handful of nurses try to find a big enough arm vein.

Blood donation needles are rather large, hence them sending me away. But even those little iv needles? Yup. Issues! No one has gotten anything out of my arms for years and years, so we always start with the hand. I rarely ever only have to get stuck once. My personal record was 11 times. They've had to resort to a foot IV once - that was pretty strange. But my average is 3 sticks. Hydration helps though. Last time, I really really really over hydrated myself the day before and even though I spent a hellish night peeing every 15 minutes, it only took one stick. So I say bring on the water!

I'm working from home today. I actually have a lot of "busy work" to get done and I do it much better without all the distractions of the office. It's also day 3 of snow and although the roads are probably FINE to drive on by now, looking outside my windows I only see white white white, so it's a nice day to stay snuggled inside. The only problem staying at home is I can't get my morning coffee! Damn.

I usually sit in my office when I work from home. No TV. No distractions. But today, I'm taking advantage of my great new laptop and wireless connection and I'm sitting on the couch. Which means the tv is on in front of me and it's spewing out bad daytime tv. I will admit that my guilty pleasure is court tv shows. The bad ones like Judge Mathis, Divorce Court, The People's Court. I love it (but couldn't watch it on a daily basis). Anywho - these people amaze me in what they sue each other for. I have noticed a pattern though. One, never get a cell phone for anyone ever. Two, if you lend someone money, especially a girl/boyfriend or family, get it in writing. I can't believe the amount of people who say "It was a GIFT!". Yeah. Sure.

Christmas gifts to the service sector is my next topic (no segway there, sorry). How many of you give gifts to the people who "do" for you? I get gift certificates for everyone and I got them all out this morning. Mailman, Milkman and Garbage Man are all taken care of. But I am having problems with the paper boy. I have no idea who our paperboy is and he comes so early, what am I going to do? Sit outside in the dark with a card? I'm going to call the paper, but I don't think they'll be able to help me. Ugh. We used to have a paperboy who would put in a card in our paper early in the season, so we'd have his return address. That was smart if you ask me.

What about tips for the people who regularly do something for you? (hair, massage, nails, etc). I just read an article how it's customary to give your person a Holiday tip the size of the service you are getting. I can't afford that! I can barely afford the $130 cost of my hair appointment as it is! Another $130 on top of that? I just had a massage and I gave him $100 when I usually give him $60. So I guess that's pretty good. Damn. I have a hair and esthetician appointment coming up too. Maybe I should try to schedule all my appointments around the month of December? (wink~wink).

Alright, enough distraction from work. I need to get to it since I'm not getting paid to blog. Although that would be nice, eh?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your surgery tommorow. I hope everything goes well and you dont' have to get stuck too many times.

Amy

Wordgirl said...

Good Luck with your surgery Nancy...from one 'hard stick'to another...I always laughed and said...why is it that the one thing svelte about me had to be my veins...

IdleMindOfBeth said...

I hear ya on the Miraculous Vanishing Veins! When I had my CT Scan for my surgery, the tech actually called in the "IV Team" (after 4 other nurses/techs trying a total of 8 times), and it still took the "experts" 4 pokes to get a vein. I'm all about a wee lil butterfly needly to the back of the hand, thanks.

As far as tipping goes... I'm terrible about holiday tips. I'm generally a pretty generous tipper thoughout the year, so I don't see the need to go crazy about it at Christmas. That, and we don't get the paper, we're on a rotational route with the post office, I just recently found a hairdresser I like (and I always tip her 25% or more), and the garbage men are assholes!

Good luck tomorrow hon! And ENJOY YOUR SNOW DAY!

Dr. Grumbles said...

Hope the surgery goes well.

Anonymous said...

Hope your surgery goes well and the oven is cleared fo some bun baking. On the blood taking, since May this year (3 IUI's with injectables, 1 fresh IVF and 1 FET) I have lost count of the number of times I've given blood - it would have to be around 30ish. I hope for your veins sake (and yours too obviously) that it takes a lot less than that before #3 baby is on its way.

JJ said...

Sending you thoughts and prayers for a smooth surgery tomorrow!

jenn said...

Good luck tomorrow!!! I hope it;s nice & easy & a smooth & perfect recovery.

I am the same with needles by the way- I always forget to super hydrate though. But I never hit 11- I think my record was 5 or 6.

Oh- and we always used to bake little things for the service sector gofts- which I don't do know that I live in a city & we don't have the same anyone week to week...

Meghan said...

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow.

And you are a better person than I, I don't tip all those people!

q said...

When I had my sugery in September they had to put the IV in my neck because no one at the surgical center could get the IV into my hand or arm. I totally feel your pain in that regard.

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow.

Searching said...

Just thinking about you and the surgery.

I'm blessed with massive veins. People probably think I'm a heroin addict. I don't even need a tourniquet because I've been stuck so many times my veins are hosepipes now. In nsg school I actually practiced on myself since no one else would volunteer. The easiest place for me to start an IV was my foot. That sucker really hurt, not sure if it was because *I* was doing it or if feet are just sensitive. You poor thing, I really hope they get the IV on the first stick today!