So yeah, there I was in the hospital, in the lab room thingy where they do the electrophysiology study/ablation and they were sticking innumerable sticky pad things all over my body and I had this overwhelming desire to just get up and run far, far away. But just as I was working on getting a hold on the anxiety, the nice medicine came into the IV and I was fast fast asleep for the next 3 or so hours. I like it that way. It is strange, though, how it feels like you just closed your eyes and the next thing you know it’s three hours later. Very strange.

I have an incredibly sore throat because they felt the need to do a transesophageal echocardiogram in which they send the echo probe down your throat. Sounds fun huh? The sore throat is probably the worst aftereffect besides the incredible tiredness I’m feeling.

I wish I had really good news for you. Unfortunately, I have really complicated news for you. The good news is my heart is back in rhythm and out of tachycardia and flutter. The other part is, well, rather complicated. (Read on …)

I’m home, I’m alive, my heart is in normal rhythm at the moment. There is much to tell, but I’m way too tired to do it right now. Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts. I am positive they helped.

More later…

In about 23 hours, my procedure is supposed to begin. We all know that won’t happen at exactly the right time because that’s the way stuff goes at the hospital, but I’m sure it will be close anyway.

The good news is that the hospital called yesterday and the insurance approved everything, so all we have to pay is the co-pay.

Two years ago when I had this done, LG was only 8 months old and I decided then that it would stress me out more for her to be away from home then it would stress me out to not have Mike with me at the hospital, so Grandma came over in the morning and stayed with her until Mike got back after they had taken me in. That was what worked best for me last time. They even pinned a picture of her to the pillow so if I turned my head I could see her sweet little face.

This time, of course, I’m going under general anesthesia, so I won’t be turning my head to see her picture. I also won’t be stressed about her being at Grandma’s all day since she goes there all the time and she can actually communicate her wants and needs. So, since all of your comments said you’d have your hubby with you, I feel less guilty about wanting mine with me and he’ll be there. ;) He’ll drop me off at the hospital to start checking in, then drop her off at Grandma’s and come back because the hospital is really close to our house and that arrangement will let us sleep the longest. And when you’re talking having to be there at 6, sleeping as late as possible is a good thing!

I’ll be home sometime Friday afternoon – whenever they decide to let me out of there – and since Mike has to work and they don’t like you to be alone and I’m not supposed to lift a thirty-something pound toddler for a few days, Rochelle has graciously consented to come babysit us Friday night. So, we’ll be watching Bridget Jones movies (because she’s NEVER SEEN THEM!!!!) as long as I can stay awake.

I’ll try and post something when I get home to let you know I survived (which I’m sure I will). In the meantime, thank you for all the wonderful thoughts and comments and emails you’ve sent. I really truly appreciate there are people out there who care what happens to me! Thank you for your support and prayers and thoughts.

I’m not feeling much like blogging this week. As the date of the procedure draws closer (this Friday), I’m getting stressed out and grumpy. Well, I’m probably grumpy more because I just don’t fell well and I’m sick and tired of it, more than grumpy about the procedure, but still…not really emotions conducive to blogging.

I have been on Toprol – which is a blood pressure medication/bloodthinner. It serves two purposes – one, it keeps my heart rate down and two, one of the risks of atrial flutter or fibrillation is that you will throw a clot and end up in a much worse position, so you need the blood thinner to greatly lower the risk of that.

Unfortunately, you have to stop taking it a couple of days prior to the procedure, because since they are going into the groin via the arteries, after they are done, they obviously want your blood to clot. But, it leaves you vulnerable to that whole throwing a clot issue. Now, the risk of clots with flutter (which I am in) is much much much lower and very unlikely than it is with fibrillation (which I am not in), but there is still a risk, and that of course, is stressful. Today is my last day of medication, so I’m just going to be taking it really easy until Friday.

My other issue I’m dealing with is whether or not to have Mike up at the hospital while I’m undergoing the procedure. Do I have him in the waiting room where he can do absolutely nothing, or do I have him with our child? On the one hand, it would be nice to know he was there and LG will be fine at Grandma’s. On the other hand, I’m sure it would be a lot more fun for him to be with LG instead of sitting in a waiting room (although he’ll probably figure out a way to catch up on some sleep…lol). So, I’m still debating that. What would you do? Would you rather have your hubby with you (even though he couldn’t be in the room with you) or would you rather have him with your kid(s)?

Anyway, if I’m quiet this week – now you know why.

Scroll down for Surfer Sunday!

• Meeting a scorpion in your kitchen is not exactly a fun way to start the day. Not sure how it got there – most likely, Melody dragged it in – but I grabbed LG and ran out of the room while Mike dealt with it with a fly swatter. (It was a baby one apparently.) Then after it was dead or mostly dead, we took the opportunity to teach LG what a scorpion looks like, how to say its name, and what to do if she encounters one (run away really fast and get Daddy or Mommy). We told her they are mean yucky bad bugs and they give bad owies that make you sick and to STAY AWAY. It’s not a bad lesson to learn when you live in the desert.

• LG has her first official chore. She is in charge of feeding the dog! I’m sure I’ll have to remind her how to do it, and I still have to scoop the food out for her, but she is perfectly capable of carrying the food scoop to Melody’s dish and dumping it in. I think it’s the perfect chore for a 2 1/2 year old!

• And for some reason, Rachael Ray is exceptionally annoying to me today.

Did you know that July is national ice cream month? Yay for ice cream!

Tips to make airline travel easier, for instance, travel out of a smaller airport. via Lifehacker

Don’t have time to exercise? Of course you do! (Housework IS exercise! I knew it had to be good for something.)

I don’t know that I would try these hanging jar lanterns here in the hot, dry, high-fire-alert desert, but for those of you that live in more humid climates, these might be fun! via TipNut

Pretty recipe of the week

Tip of the week: Try to remember to set your Surfer Sunday posts to post before you fall asleep on Saturday night. Oh wait, that’s only a tip for me. Oh well.

Today, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of this album:

by listening to it all the way through. That’s my kinda celebratin’. ;)

Songs on The Grand Illusion:

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
3. Superstars
4. Come Sail Away
5. Miss America
6. Man in the Wilderness
7. Castle Walls
8. The Grand Finale

Also across the United States today there are rallies to support our troops. If you’re interested in making a difference to them, check out Operation America Rising.

I was lucky! The laptop is back in business. Whew.

The power cord on my laptop has decided to take a nose dive. Which means it works about 10% of the time – if I’m lucky. So until I get a new one (which could be today, if I’m lucky, and there is one somewhere in this city), I will not be online as much.

Oh please. Let me be lucky.

Yesterday was pretty laidback, although life in general has been laidback of late while I’m waiting for my procedure to make me feel better.

We did have to make a trip to the grocery store, but Mike came with us which was great, because he did all the labor of loading and unloading groceries!

Then he went off to his gig and LG and I hung out together. I decided to make cupcakes for a holiday treat and she fell asleep on the couch while I did so. Then we watched fireworks on television from New York. At one point I heard loud booms from outside so I looked out the back door and saw a fireworks display just a couple of miles directly south of us. So we pulled our chairs up to the door and watched some fireworks from the comfort of our air-conditioned home. Since we could hear them, I know they were pretty close, but I have no idea who was putting on the display. It was nice of them to entertain us, though! lol! We could have seen it even better if we’d gone up to the balcony, but I wasn’t really in the mood to drag her up there, and we could see pretty well from where we were.

She now has a good idea of what fireworks are, so if we ever get the chance to see them in person (next year maybe?), I’m sure she’ll enjoy them!

Since she took such a late nap, she wasn’t really having the “go to bed before Daddy gets home” idea, so she stayed up and waited for Daddy (in Mommy’s bed) and he got to put her to bed. Very very late for a little girl, but she would have been up that late had we gone to the fireworks display anyway, so not a huge deal. And besides, when she goes to bed late, she sleeps late, so there is a method to my madness. ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I was trying to get LG to eat the cucumber slices from my salad. First she put them in this formation…

…and told me that was “Mickey Mouse”.

Then she told me that she didn’t want to eat the “computers”.

Teehee!

The doctor’s office called today. The procedure is scheduled for Friday the 13th. Isn’t that special? Yeah, I could have done without the implications of the date, but whatever. It gets it over with before some things that I’m looking forward to, like the American Idol concert and the midnight Harry Potter book release party. I should say the procedure is scheduled barring any issues with the insurance. I don’t expect there to be a problem, but I’m not holding my breath, because we all know how stupid insurance companies are.

The high tomorrow at one point was forecast to be 117. It’s been lowered to 114, but it’s still supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far, and the heat is not my friend right now. So, even though Mike’s band doesn’t start until 6 pm and the fireworks start at 9 pm, it doesn’t cool down that quickly, and Mike and I came to the conclusion that it’s better for me to not be out in the heat at this point. I barely have the energy to chase after LG in the air conditioned house. Being out in the heat is not going to make it any better. And there’s the little matter of trying to make sure she drinks enough liquids. I’m not really wanting to deal with a dehydrated, heat exhausted kid, either. So, Mike is still playing, but our little family outing to the fireworks show is over. Oh well. There’s always next year, right?

Oh and to top everything off? The bar that Mike’s band works at decided to cut Thursdays. Starting this week. Because it’s not like we need the money right now or anything. Yay. *sigh* I think it’s totally bogus that they can do that with no notice whatsoever, but that’s the way it works. Jerks.

Other than that? My blog design has changed to reflect the holiday. If you still see purple, try hitting refresh.

Dear Little Girl,

Today you are 31 months old (or 2 years, 7 months if you want to skip the math) and you are now officially closer to age 3 than to age 2. You are now able to tell me how old you are. You can almost dress yourself. You’re getting closer to potty training and you can carry on an entire conversation.

(Read on …)

This morning Mike’s phone rang. It was a friend from church who had three extra tickets to the circus that she didn’t want to go to waste (she had made a mistake on her online order and you know how THAT goes).

Anyway, even though I really didn’t feel like it, I figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so we took Little Girl to see her very first circus today! There was no way I was going to miss that momentous occasion. :)

When I was a kid, my dad took me to lots of things, but my mom rarely if ever came along. I’m not really sure about the reasons for that, but I wish that she was included in my memories of things like going to the circus, so I want to make sure that LG remembers me when she thinks of those things.

The circus really hasn’t changed much since I was a kid. It’s still a cacophany of light and sound and color and organized chaos. There are still animal acts and acrobats and trapeze artists and beautiful girls and clowns and the handsome ringmaster with the deep booming voice. The only thing different is the technology that’s been added to the show. But really, it’s all about the daredevils and the clowns. Always has been, always will be. Oh, and the kids. It’s definitely about the kids.

Little Girl had a great time and I’m really glad I was there to witness it. :)