28 February, 2014

Cape Cod or what we got to do over summer vacation 2013 cauz my parents paid for it

I have a godson GO. He lives out in California with his sister and parents. He’s 9 and I have only seen him once (at the christening) due to us being poor (although when I say we are poor I fully recognize that we own our own home, it is in a safe neighborhood, we always have good food to eat and have a redonkulous amount of toys {a pool, X Box,3DS, more books than you can shake a rake to}) so maybe not poor,  just not rich enough to hop on a plane to Cali to visit my godson.

My parents have worked hard their whole lives and I am beyond lucky that they are both incredibly generous, not only with their time, but with their money as well. My dad has been looking for the “perfect house” to rent (not own, they aint rich). He wants it on the water, he wants my mother happy so he also looks for something with 3 full baths (so my brother & his wife and Boy Toy, Spotty and I can all stay at the same time) and multiple bedrooms. He had a perfect spot at Linger Longer – beautiful house, not on the water, but we had to take…100-200 steps on a board walk past the house on the water to get to the water. It was a beaut – but the only week he could get access to was the week Spotty Chop goes back to school, so we could only go down for a long weekend. Well, one year due to a hurricane and no electricity I think we stayed till Wednesday, we didn’t have electricity at the Cape either, but who cares when you are in a beautiful place next to the ocean?

My parents really wanted to give us the ability to have a week vacation (actually I think my dad just wants to be with Spotty.) We did that for 2 or 3 years. Then my dad found a place on a pond. It was right on the water, we in fact walked down the stairs into the water. It was next to the bike path. It had rooms galore, decks, and bathrooms. It would have been perfect except for one tiny thing…no AC. Well it had two window AC’s one it my parent’s bedroom and one in the bedroom we stayed in. My mother did not approve. During that trip we went on a whale watch tour. As we left Hyannis we passed some beautiful houses on the water and my dad said “gee I wonder who gets to stay in houses like that”. Queue foreshadowing music.

Guess where we were last year?


My Godson’s mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer last year (fast forward to today – she had her last surgery/chemo in January and has a clean bill of health) and my mom thought since we were going to have a whole house, my parents have been visiting them for years and since Spotty and I had a great emailing/book sharing relationship with GO (and GO’s dad is my mom’s baby brother)  , she would invite the kids to come and then her brother and wife would be able to spend some time alone together.

We had a bit of fun






We had such a great time getting to know the kids, and the kids got along so great it was like they had always known each other.   I really miss waking up with them and telling them all to go to bed. 

It was the best gift my parents could have given us. And I hope to hell we get to spend more time with them.

ps the Bruins hat you see on GO? I gave it to him, it was supposed to be sent the Xmas of 2012, but I had put it in a "safe" place. 

25 February, 2014

Last Night I did something that I haven’t done in years


That’s right I am exercising. What’s brought this on? Well, the truth is…I have started to feel old, and not in the “get off my lawn you meddling kids” sort of way. More in the “why the FUCK am I winded coming up from doing laundry”? My mom had a massive heart attack in her early 50’s. She in fact died and they brought her back. The ONLY reason she is alive today is because my dad is so in tuned to her that he dragged her to the hospital even though she didn't think she needed to go.  Boy Toy…isn't that in tune to me…just sayin. I am turning 46 (47?) this year which means I am not getting any younger, nor am I getting into shape by eating ice cream sandwiches. I have finally accepted that I do not want Spotty Chop to have to live without me. Well, I know I don’t want him to be without me and only with Boy Toy, and I know shit happens, but I will be damned if I don’t do everything in my power to stay alive and well. So I pulled out the Jane Fonda DVD (that I got over the internet sometime last year when I had a brief thought about exercising). Is it goofy? Oh hell to the yes, but this has always been my “gateway drug” to exercise.  Any time I have been serious about losing weight/getting healthy it always starts with this workout. What I found hysterical (aside from not being able to keep up to the workout routine “4 reps of 8 MF? How bout I try 1 ½ “)


is that I have always used a cassette tape to do the workout, used it through college, when we lived behind the crack house.   A few years ago (again when I had a glimmer of getting healthy) I realized I couldn't find it. Now I know damn well I wouldn't throw it out, but if it isn't with the other cassettes where the hell is it? Anyhoo after a year or two I found some guy selling the DVD online and I tossed it in last night.  Wow – some of the exercises are not at all what I thought they were.  Who knew?  


Another contributing factor to my newly found commitment to health is that I had the plague last week. I don’t remember the last time I was as sick as I was. I never really understood how people die from the flu. OK really old and really young, sure. But your non sickly people?  I realized last week that while I am not sickly, I am sure as hell not healthy.  If I have to die of something it sure as hell better not be a Fing cold. 

08 February, 2014

Holy Crap it’s been almost a year since I last posted.

Apparently when work is insane I have no desire to be on the computer in my nonexistent free time. Actually I had decided I would start the new year off right by starting to blog again, but have had such a shitastic year so far that I couldn't bring myself to do it – but for Spotty Chop…

Spotty Chop underwent some minor surgery on Tuesday. The doctor wanted to remove a lesion on his lip so they could check it out and verify that it wasn't anything funky. 

I don’t know how parents of truly sick children do it. How they don’t implode, or burst into flames or kill themselves over the stress and fear is beyond me.  But if you have a sick kid, or know a sick kid make sure you give the parents a random hug, chances are they need it.

We spent Monday night at the Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill as Spotty needed to be at the Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary at 6am, and my boys? They don’t do mornings. We had a quick walk from the hotel to the hospital where they treated us right. From the quirky “path” to the pediatric unit to the Spider Man and Minnie Mouse scrubs folks wore, everyone we met was kind, gracious and sympathetic to my seemingly never ending tears. 

waiting to be called

Spotty Chop was weighed (he’s lost weight, didn't need to,  assuming stress) and his vitals were checked, and rechecked. We answered questions and then answered them again and again. We explained to Spotty that they do this to make absolutely sure that they are keeping him safe. While we were in the “curtained  section” there were 4 or 5 other families around us having the same questions asked. Spotty appeared to be the oldest of the bunch. At one point Spotty said “If I die” and I heard a loud gasp from the mother in the next curtain. “YOU WILL NOT DIE. THERE IS NO DYING GOING ON” I shouted. Spotty looked at me as if I had 10 heads. “Mum, I didn't say I was going to die I said if I die”. “WE ARE NOT DYING” I repeated, because seriously. Boy Toy was going into the operating room with Spotty. I had initially planned on going in, but a coworker who’s son had his tonsils out asked me who was going in. When I said me, he looked me dead in the eye and said “no…you WILL NOT, it will kill you. My wife did and it was the worst mistake she ever made.” Well, as I can’t talk/type or think about the surgery without crying I thought he may have a point. So Boy Toy got dressed in scrubs and Spotty got dressed in hospital jammies.





 Spotty got to bring Cherry into surgery with him

Can you guess what word Spotty was thinking of?

getting nervous

 reading helped


Then it was time to go. The nurse, Boy Toy, Spotty and I started walking, we stopped at the hospital room Spotty would be moved to once he woke up. I started to tear up again. Spotty put his arms around me. “mom it’s gonna be ok.” He and Boy Toy walked off. I sat and knitted. And I sat…and sat…finally an hour later the same nurse that walked my baby away from me came back. She wanted to let me know that the surgery hadn't started yet which is why my husband wasn't back yet. About 20 mins later Boy Toy walks into the room. Tears are streaming down his face. I’m like “WHAT”.  Watching him be put under was fairly traumatic apparently. They put the mask on his face, took some deep breaths and then went weirdly still, not like falling asleep. A few seconds later Spotty sat bolt upright, his eyes wide open, foaming at the mouth. The doctors ushered Boy Toy out “perfectly normal” they said.

Good Lord I am glad I didn't see that.  I asked if Spotty had colored his mask. He decorated it with stickers and then got to choose a scent. The great thing (and maybe they do this everywhere for pediatrics) they don’t stick a needle in him (Spotty Chop would have been a Fing mess) they use a form of laughing gas and once they are out they switch to an IV. So Spotty decorated and chose a lemon sent to go off to sleep – well actually he chose cherry and one of the doctors said “are you sure, I don’t think the cherry smells good”. He went and got the cherry so Spotty could take a whiff – BLECH was Spotty’s response, “I’ll have the lemon”.  When I asked what took so long Boy Toy laughed. Apparently they have Ipads for the kids before they go into surgery. Spotty had about 8-10 different doctors and nurses surrounding him. He was teaching them all how to play Minecraft. The surgeon had a 7 year old, the anesthesia team all had kids. Boy Toy said it was hysterical. They kept asking him questions. I believe all of the day’s surgeries may have been delayed some.

About 40 minutes later (I actually have no idea how long it was, time was CREEPING) the nurse came back and said “he’s all done and is starting to wake up”. We ran down to the recovery area. Spotty was shaking so badly and kept trying to get up. “Take this out of my hand and let me up. I have to get UP and WALK” he was shouting. The nurse explained that the IV needed to stay in until he had something to drink, because if he was nauseous they would give him something through the IV. Spotty wanted out so bad. Boy Toy held his head, I got his butt. Spotty was getting more agitated and the nurse looked at his hand again, she said – that is actually pretty red – I think maybe we should just take out the IV. I thought it was a brilliant idea. She said that sometimes they just needed to get out of the recovery area. As soon as she took the IV out Spotty was calm. So calm they decided he could go up to his room. I don’t know what you call the folks that move the beds from one area to another, but they seem to be some of the kindest folks around. Slow and calm and competent. I remembered that from my last ER visit with kidney stones. You just feel safe with them. Since Boy Toy was in scrubs he got to walk up with Spotty. I had to go a different way. I got there before them, I may have ran. Within 15 minutes of Spotty being moved from one bed to the bed in the room he seemed completely normal. Playing on the phone and talking to us.




The nurses came by to check his vitals, give him popsicles and apple juice.  The doctor initially thought we would be staying at the hospital until noon or one – but Spotty recovered so quickly we were out of there by 10-10:30.

We went back to the hotel (Spotty wanted to hang out) and I would say an hour after we got to the hotel Boy Toy said “look at his lip”. The swelling was almost gone (well not gone gone, but it went from a lip the size of your fist to a lip the size of a lip). Around noon we left to go home. On our way to the elevator I was telling Spotty “just think, if any of your friends have to have surgery, you will be able to tell them everything will be ok”. An older gentleman had walked up to the elevator. “are you going home?” he asked Spotty. “yes” and then proceeded to tell him all about the surgery. “Well, I am glad everything worked out ok for you.” He gave Boy Toy and I a smile. 

Nice people rock.

We had planned on Spotty staying home on Wednesday, we didn't really think he would NEED to, but figured he earned a day off.  Mother Nature apparently wanted to make doubly sure and sent us a foot of snow. Spotty appreciated the gesture, and spent the day playing video games.