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Coffee Tawk

5 Random Things

Yes, I’m doing this again. Honestly, I just can’t focus. I feel like I’ve lived a month in the past 48 hours. My half marathon seems like weeks ago. I swear, so much has happened in my personal life in the past week that I have hardly sat down at the computer for more than 15 minutes at a time — certainly not long enough to craft a clever or informative blog post. Grab your coffee and sit for a minute or ten.

1. The Race

I keep adding race photos to my Facebook album. The official race pictures keep coming in. I’m incredibly impressed with how many they captured and how they manage to send them all to the right people. Here are a few of my faves.

half marathon

I’m amazed at how quickly I’ve recovered. I was very sore and stiff for the first few hours after the race. I finally caved and took an Ibuprofen, which helped a lot. The next day when I woke up, I felt fine. I mean, remarkably fine.

I’ve been consistently wearing the Strasburg Sock to sleep in for the past week or two, and seems to be helping my plantar fasciitis immensely. I had NO heel pain when I woke up on Monday. NONE. I was amazed. I have been wearing my flimsy ballet flats this week with no pain, although I did wake up with some heel soreness this morning, and I think it was due to tromping all over two states in those ballet flats yesterday. I need to find a more supportive flat shoe for fall, I guess. But I am still very encouraged by how good I feel.

I ran 4 miles this morning, and it felt really good. My calf is a bit stiff, but otherwise I feel great. I’m raring to go! When’s the next half marathon!???

2. The Car

In other news, I finally got my new car! I say finally not because it really took that long — it was exactly a week from the day I put my Volvo in the shop to the day that I agreed to buy a Honda Pilot — but because it was such an all-consuming process. I knew that I should be taking it easy last week with the race approaching, but once I start a project, I am obsessed until I get it finalized. So I spent days visiting car dealerships and researching online and negotiating and trying to make my foggy brain do math. I used to be great at math, but it’s true what they say — if you don’t use it, you lose it!

It was actually my math that cost us our best deal on the car. Last Saturday, I turned down the best offer I got because my brain played tricks on me when I looked at the numbers they gave me. The dealer wasn’t too happy and went all Reese Witherspoon on me so I left before I had a chance to realize he actually gave me what I’d been asking for. OOOOPS! I realized my error several hours later, and I debated calling back, but then I decided I didn’t want to give my business to someone who would treat a customer like that. It just goes to show, it pays to be nice. If he had asked a few questions to clarify the offer, I’d have signed on the dotted line and been done with it.

So I put the car deal on the back burner and ran my race and resumed negotiations on Monday.

I did manage to finagle a deal I was happy with, but before I had a chance to go pick it up, we ended up in the ER with my son.

3. The Hospital

My son has had these weird side pains for years — half his life, really. My husband took him to the ER a few times for it when he was a little boy, but no one could ever explain it. It’s always the left side, and it will come on for a few hours at a time — usually in the later afternoon, and it will occur for a few days in a row. Then it goes away for weeks or months at a time, and then it resumes again. It’s pretty debilitating. Sometimes he can work through the pain, but other times he will spend most of the afternoon and evening on the couch. It usually goes away sometime during the night.

We had him to his pediatrician this summer, and he said it was muscular and nothing to worry about. I was not convinced. I’ve threatened many times over the past year or so to take him to the ER, but he never wants to go. My husband kept saying it was growing pains. Again, I was not convinced. Of course we’d talked through all the possibilities and spent hours on Google trying to shed light on this confounding situation, but nothing seemed to fit.

Finally this week it got really bad, and Tuesday night I put him in the car and started driving. I wasn’t sure where to go, but I wanted ANSWERS. My instinct told me to drive right to CHOP, but I hate driving into Philly and that’s an hour away. He was in severe pain by that point — worse than I’ve ever seen him. The whole time I was driving, I was praying that God would lead me to the place that would get us ANSWERS. Some suburban hospitals have better reputations than the hospitals near us, and we often drive a ways to get to one of those, but this time I considered stopping at the closest one because I couldn’t stand seeing my son in so much pain and wanted to get him help ASAP. I turned into the hospital closest to our house and prayed that I wasn’t making a mistake as I walked in.

The short version of the story is, after many hours and many tests and even a few vomiting episodes (which REALLY had me in fits to get an ANSWER because that hadn’t happened before), the doctor ran a CT-scan as a last ditch effort, although he told us he didn’t expect to get a diagnosis. An hour later, he came back to our room and victoriously announced that he’d found it.

The CT-Scan showed a swollen kidney, and the doctor referred us to a urologist at Nemours DuPont Hospital to give us the low down on the details/cause/treatment. Again, I am really trying to give the short version so I’m leaving out a lot, but yesterday we saw the urologist and found out that my son will need surgery to repair the situation but it should be pretty straight forward. Hallelujah!

I know most moms wouldn’t be psyched about surgery, but we have an ANSWER, it is FIXABLE, and it is nothing life threatening. It’s not even urgent, really. He will be out of commission for a week or two so we are waiting until his marching band season concludes, and he will have the surgery in a few weeks.

For the record, I have permission from my son to post this story to the world wide internets. He is amazingly chill about the whole situation and doesn’t seem worried in the least about impending surgery.

And as another aside, Nemours DuPont Children’s Hospital is like a country club compared to any other hospital I have ever visited. If you EVER need medical care for your child and you are in the region, I highly recommend it.

4. The Car

Yes, again. We had been planning to pick up our new car yesterday afternoon, so when I discovered I would need to be in Delware at DuPont at that time, I managed to change our appointment to the morning. Not knowing at that point what the rest of the week might hold with my son’s condition and possible surgery, I thought it best to get the car situation taken care of.

So after being in the ER Tuesday night until 2AM, I got up and drove over to the dealership yesterday morning to finalize paperwork and bring home my new BFF.

car

It is so spacious and shiny and pretty. There are things I miss about my Volvo (that V8 Sport was FUN to drive!!) but this is a better fit for our growing family, and I am hoping it is less expensive to maintain as the years go by.

5. Laundry Room/Command Center/Pantry Makeover Project

This organizing project is still going strong, amidst all the other hubbub in my life. I cannot WAIT to share the finished products with you. The shelving for the pantry and laundry room are ordered, and I am stopping into Target later today to pick up a bookcase which is going to serve as our “command center” in our kitchen. We’re planning to replace the laundry room floor and paint over the next couple of weeks, and then I can’t WAIT to start organizing my spaces!!! I’ll probably write three separate posts to show you how each space turns out and how Darla at Heartwork Organizing makes them work for our family. Maybe it will help someone else out there who is as organizationally challenged as I am!

WHEW!!!! That was a two-cuppa-coffee post, wasn’t it?

Never a dull moment . . . that is for sure.

What’s going on with YOU?

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27 Responses

  1. I was worried when I saw you check in at the children’s hospital. Glad to know that you found an answer! I’ll be praying for an easy surgery and quick recovery.

  2. Yikes! Busy busy!! I’m glad to hear that your son will be fine. Surgery doesn’t bother me either, especially if it’s something that’s fixable and not urgent!! I’m of the opinion that if that’s the best option then go with it! 🙂 We are currently looking for a new car too!! I buying used though and the process of finding what I want for a good deal is exhausting!! I hate it. I always think it will only take a few weeks and then boom! a few months have went by!! 🙂

  3. I’m new to your site Jo-Lynn. I enjoyed reading about your half marathon as it is a goal of mine. Praise God that you are now on the right track and receiving answers for your sons illness!! Love your new car. Enjoy your new BFF:)

  4. Just wanted to say that I enjoy these kinds of posts. I’m glad you were able to find out what is going on with your son. Good luck with surgery!

  5. Phew, that post exhausted me! How stressful. You will probably sleep very well the next few nights! Praise God for the diagnosis and that your instincts were dead on to take him to the place he needed to be. Secondly, yay you on the race! And last, majorly coveting the new ride. I love having no car payments, but my car is no longer so shiny. I expect to be in the market in the next year as we pass her on to my daughter, who should not be old enough to need a car but is!

  6. I love your “old school” posts!

    Glad you got answers for your son’s health issues!

    Can’t wait to see your laundry room make-over. I want to paint mine but I’m sure my hubby won’t be thrilled with that idea! LOL!

  7. I’m so, so happy you got answers about your son’s health. Surgery is never fun, but like you said, at least you KNOW and now you can finally get him the help he needs. Praise God!

    You’re so inspiring with your running. I’m glad those special socks are working for you.

    Enjoy that new car! It’s so pretty and shiny.
    ~FringeGirl

  8. Yeah! You have an answer for your son, and the issue is fixable. Yeah, you have a new car, though I never thought you would go for black. Yeah you did the half marathon!

    1. LOL!! Why not black? I wanted a black Volvo when I bought that 3 years ago and I ended up with gray b/c it was the only one in the V8 Sport model in our price range. I have regretted not holding out for black ever since. So when I started shopping for the Pilot, I was determined to get black. 🙂 I love black SUVs for some reason. 🙂

  9. Wow you’ve certainly had an eventful couple of days. Glad you figured out what’s wrong with your son, can’t imagine what you were going though during the hospital visit. Keep us updated regarding your son. Congrats on the new car, I also have an Honda Pilot and we love it.

  10. Good to hear that they were able to determine the cause of the pain and best wishes to him feeling better post surgery. Congrats on the new roomy car and I can’t wait to see what the new home areas look like!

  11. I APPLAUD you for advocating for the care your son needed! Moms always know when something wrong and research backs that up!

    And I love your new Pilot. Mine is maroon and I still kind of smile when I drive it.

  12. We’ve had many visits to that hospital (we are in Delaware). Your son is in great hands. I understand how relieved you are to just have answers. The unknown is always the scariest thing.

  13. I read your bit about your son and was curious to see the results. We are currently going through similar issues with my seven year old son. It’s always the left side pain…never a pattern…Er visits give us no insight. We are told it is BM related. He cries in the fetal position for an hour or more and then it passes within a couple of hours as if nothing happened. We follow up in six weeks with pediatrician after a moral ax regimen. Do you have a family history of kidney stones? We do and I often wonder if it’s related.

    1. Hi Peggy. That sounds very similar. I’ll be curious to hear what you find out. My son has suffered from this since he was about 7. We had him to the ER twice and they found nothing – they never did a CT scan. You might request an ultrasound. It doesn’t use the level of radiation the CT scan does. I think they are reluctant to do CT scans unless the child is in such extreme distress as my son was this time.

  14. Jo-Lynne, again cogratulations on your half marathon and on your speedy and thorough recovery! Way to go girl!

    I completely understand your relief at just having some answers about your son’s medical condition. I think many of us go through things like that with family members where we just don’t know what’s going on. In fact, you never consider it when you have just the common cold I suppose, but most of the times when we’re really sick it seems like we must have some kind of malady that is completely new to mankind! And yet, on multiple occasions now with both of my kids we’ve actually gotten answers. And you just want to kiss the ground that the medical expert walks on who gives you those answers! I sooo get it! And with that, said, Praise the Lord! i’m glad He furnished you with the right hospital at the right time and the right test to give you those answers. I hope his surgery goes well and that he doesn’t have any more flare ups in the mean time. Have a great weekend!

  15. WOW! A lot has happen to you since Tuesday afternoon. So glad your son is ok and you found the problem. YAY! for the new car – you will LOVE it. I will never go back to a volvo.

  16. What a week!!! I’d be exhausted if that all happened in a month. As I was reading about your son’s mystery pain I knew it was a kidney issue. My husband’s BFF suffered for YEARS with horrible pains in one of his sides until finding out in his 30’s it was a kidney. He had a stint put in and has been pain free ever since. His would flair up after eating cheesy foods (lasagna), marshmallows or drinking (not that your son was!) He says that stint was the best surgery he could imagine. Good for you for going in for answers!!

  17. So glad to read in your subsequent posts that your son is on the mend. What a relief. We’re unexpectedly on the search for a new car and have settled on a Pilot, too. Is yours a Touring? And do you love it?

    1. I absolutely love it, and yes, I did spring for the Touring. I wanted a few of the features (like the memory seats… golden!!) My Volvo had that and we had gotten spoiled by them. We switch drivers a lot. And I like the parking sensors. They are a beautiful thing. 🙂 I never use the entertainment system and the NAV sucks, so it’s a shame to pay for those, but whatev. Good luck finding the right one!!! It is really comfortable and easy to drive and park, even though it’s a big vehicle.

  18. Thanks for the info. What a shame about the nav. I had high hopes for that…I get so tired of having to rely on my phone’s GPS.

    1. I tried it and now I just use my phone. It is very difficult to “type” in anything and the search feature is insane. You search for Target and it wants to send you 5 states away. Worthless.

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