I was tagged by CoCo :-)

Copy and paste these questions, replacing my answers with yours, then tag 5 people to do the same thing.

THREE NAMES I GO BY
1. Carol (everyone)
2. Carlos (my sis in law)
3. Kitten (Josh)

THREE JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE
1. Store Manager
2. Photographer
3. Makeup Artist

PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Fullerton, CA
2. Los Gatos, CA
3. Beaverton, Oregon

THREE TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. American Idol
3. Cash in the Attic (on BBC)

THREE PLACES I HAVE BEEN
1. Hawaii
2. Mexico
3. New Orleans

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
1. Great Britian
2. New York City
3. France

THREE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
1. Anything Chocolate
2. Chinese food - especially silver-wrapped chicken
3. a big salad with cranberry sauce/cream cheese dressing (yummmmm)

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
1. buying a house
2. Going back to work in 4 weeks
3. being able to drive again (due to surgery, not getting in trouble!)

THREE PETS THAT YOU HAVE OWNED
1. Currently Lucy, Molly (or Jelly as I call her), Luckers
2. Mr. James
3. Taranne

THREE FAVORITE BANDS/ ARTISTS
1. Lily Allen
2. Jason Mraz ("Mr. A to Z")
3. Morrissey

THREE FAVORITE TEAMS TO WATCH
I don't do sports, so we will go with Dancing with the Stars teams:
1. Steve O and Lacey
2. Holly Madison and whoever she dances with
3. Chelsea Hightower and jewel's husband, who isn't a star but is on the show anyway..

THREE FAVORITE DRINKS
I don't really drink, so..
1. Hot chocolate
2. Green Tea
3. Water

So I know I amm gonna tag Cat, Brandie, and Gracie, but if you haven't done this, consider yourself tagged!

Day 16, or where have I been?

I passed the 2 week mark on Wednesday. I didn't think recovery would be this difficult. I get winded just putting dishes in the dishwasher (before you yell at me I know I am not supposed to do that, but it was driving me nuts). I wake up with neasea too. My incision is looking great though! But my stomach is still swollen and really sensitive, can only be described as a sunburn with no heat or redness.. just the pins and needles. It's slowly getting better though...

So with all of this time on my hands I have turned to crafts...This Sugar Skull necklace I made last week. I have no idea where to wear it.

I like this one made from a bottlecap :-) CUTE!

And these little guys are finger puppets! My favorites are the mad waffle and P.B. & J. They have since been joined by a slice of bacon and a band - guitar, bass, drums, and microphone.

Next on the finger puppet list is a set of little sushi guys...

Day 11 and Happy Birthday to meeeeee

I woke up this morning to starbucks peppermint hot chocolate and and a cinnamon roll from my dear husband :-) I hadn't had Starbucks since just after my surgery (hence the bank account going down much slower that usual..). It was YUMMY...

Then Josh went to the store and got me all of my goodies I wanted - veggies, milk, and the piece de resistance peanut M&M's... ahh, my favorite...

He also bought me an iPhone! Yay!! I love it and I have already filled it with different apps, such as Facebook (of course) and Bejeweled...

Then we decided to break the rules and go to a movie. we saw the new Nicolas Cage movie Knowing and it was pretty cool. There were lots of little foreshadowing thingies during and it was all tied up in a neat little package at the end. Special effects were great, Josh even shrieked a little during an especially specialy effected scene...

Then we were going to go to my favorite place House of Good Fortune but decided to get takeout from them which was super yummy....

Now I am relaxing watching Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels where the girls are currently taking slutty photos of eachother - but classy slutty. Of course.

So I leave you with the video to my favorite Birthday song. Here's Concrete Blonde with HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My favorite are the kitty cartoons..

Day 10... only 5 weeks to go... and Did you Know? BH90210 edition..

I am feeling much better today than days past. Except I had no idea how much you use your stomach muscles for everyday things, such as scoop ice cream into a bowl, or try to yell over the carpet cleaning service next door.. Anyway, I have spent a lot of my time watching old Beverly Hills 90210 reruns and I am surprised at how many now famous people have shown up. I mean, we all know that Hilary Swank was on for a season, but did you know that:

Djimon Hounsou played a doorman on the first episode?
Jessica Alba played a teen mom? She tried to ditch her baby but good old Kelly saved that day...

Eva Longoria has a bit (teeny bit) part as an airline attendant towards the end of the series?

Dean Cain was Brenda's love in Paris? That was when she cheated on Dylan...

Matthew Perry played a tennis player in an early eposide?

And Ryan Seacrest was a game show host when Donna and Matt were on to win $25k. Kelly was just too embarrased to go on...

Others have been on too, such as Daniel Day Kim (of LOST), David Arquette, and Playboy Bunny Julie McCullough.

Just a bit of mindless crap for you to chew on... Seacrest.....OUT!

Day 7 or "I want to be back to normal now"...

Today I woke up and had a terrible pain in my tummy, just to the left of my incision. The skin is completely numb, it pain was really deep, kind of like a hard pinch or stab. I had an appointment with my Dr today so he checked it to make sure it wasn't a tear, thankfully it wasn't. He prescribed me more painkillers (THANK YOU!) and sent me on my way. I will go back to see him in June unless I have more discomfort....

Josh took my sister and nephew to the airport this morning :-( I miss them already.. Mom left on Sunday :-( and Josh goes back to work tomorrow... My house is messy and I can't clean it... I think I am going to go back to bed now*....

*sorry, I have been really emotional lately, as I said in the last post. maybe I should put up streamers for my Pity Party here... on second thought that would take a small amount of effort...

Day 5

I woke up this morning to a terrible pain, then I realized I overslept and was supposed to take my painkillers 3 hours prior. Won't do that again...

I decided I would walk to the mailbox since I hadn't gotten my mail in a week. The walk to was ok, but the walk back turned into a very slow one. I felt like my balance was all off and my tummy was hurting a lot. Luckily I had my sister and my nephew with me to brace myself on, but I felt like I was 80 years old and without my walker...

I am becoming increasingly emotional and irritable, I know that has everything to do with the hormones this surgery has stirred up.

Oh, and I also have a lovely bruise on my hand from my IV. It hurts when I wake up... When the nurse pulled the tube out of my vein blood actually spurted out so she had so apply a lot of pressure which pushed blood under my skin. The photo really doesn't do it justice...

My doggies also haven't left my side.

Pretty much the only things I do are sleep, take meds, eat a little, and watch TV. Mostly sleep though, I am in and out of it all day. I can't wait for my arty things to come in the mail. I ordered some organic felt and embroidery floss and wool so I can make some nifty things, such as finger puppets for my nephew and this. Also these.

I have a post-op visit with Dr. Bankowski on Wednesday. I think I am getting my surgical tape removed from my incision. I am still swollen quite a bit and half of my tummy is numb, which is apparently normal..

Day 4

Feeling the same today, no better but no worse... My heating pad and pillow on my belly are my best friends. I woke up at 3:30 am to pain but I couldn't take anything for it because I had just taken hydromorphone at midnight. The pain wasn't excruciating, just uncomfortable. So I tried to go back to sleep and woke up again at 6:30 and took my drugs.

My incision is starting to itch a little bit. Really annoying because obviously I can't scratch it. I also got a little emotional yesterday. I am walking a little bit around my house but have not ventured outside yet. Maybe tomorrow I will go out to get the mail*

*maybe not.

Day 3, and PIC warning

First off, there are some pics of me in a not-so pretty-state (no makeup!) AND a couple of photos of my incision. So you have been warned...

I am sitting here with a heating pad on my tummy and some hydromorphone in my system, feeling mellow... So I am feeling well enough to let you all know about my experience so far... Let's start from the beginning...

I didn't need to take anything or do anything other than not eat past midnight on Tuesday. No diuretics yay! Wednesday I woke up, took a shower, and packed my small bag. We got to the hospital where I signed my admittance papers and gave $100 copay. Then I waited for about 15 minutes to go into pre-op. I got my ID bracelet on too.

When we got there I was asked to change into a hospital gown and waited for the nurse. She then came in and gave me my IV, which kind of hurt.

Then my anesthesiologist Dr. Ford came in and explained what he was going to do, which was give me a relaxer, then wheel me in and get the tubes in my throat and put my catheter in. Then Dr. Bankowski came in and said there was a little bit of a wait but I would get into surgery soon enough. Josh and mom were with me the whole time and keeping me at ease.

They had me use an antiseptic wash on my incision area and my, ahem, area. Washing my groin in front of my mom.. good times, good times...

At around 2pm Dr. Ford came back in and gave me a shot through my IV. He said "this will make you feel..." and that was it. I was gone. Josh and mom said I asked them to take pictures for my blog, which I don't remember. The next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery, thinking I had to get up to go to work. I had an oxygen tube in my nose and a bandage on my tummy. I had no nausea at all, but I did get the shivers. My throat hurt from the breathing tube. My catheter was out so I didn't have to deal with that at all. I felt like I had bad cramps for a better part of the day too. I also cried just a little but I didn't feel sad. I guess it was part of the anesthesia side effects.

Then they wheeled me into my room (private room!) and I wondered where Josh and mom were. I was feeling quite woozy. But happy it was done.

Then mom and Josh came in and told me that everything went very well. My fibroid was about 1/3 the size of my uterus. they only found the one and I only lost 20cc's of blood. Dr. Bankowski didn't have to cut through my endometrium, just the top 2 layers of my uterus. I had a morphine drip and was alert but a little loopy. Oh, and I got flowers.

And my new best friend - the water bottle.

Then I slept. A lot. Except for when the nurse would come in to wake me up to take my vitals and give me drugs every 4 hours. I was also insanely hungry when I was awake but the nurse wouldn't let me have anything except jello. Josh snuck starburst in for me and rationed it out every so often.. I got up to use the bathroom for the first time after the surgery. It hurt, but not as bad as I thought it would. I think a lot of that had to do with the Morphine and the anesthesia still in my system.

The next day I was feeling better. My Dr. came in around 7:30 and said the same thing my mom and Josh said - all went well, I'm doing great, etc. I got my IV out but the tube stayed in. The best part was being able to eat! This may as well have been a 5 star meal to me:

I did try to walk a little too. I started feeling very light-headed and went back to my room. My nurse said that was very common. I mostly ate and slept until I was able to go home Friday morning.

I also got my bandage taken off...

Thursday evening and Friday were definitely the worst days of this whole ordeal so far, but still not as bad as I was anticipating. Now all I need to do is relax and get well.. I don't know if it's the Motrin and painkiller cocktail I take every 6 hours, but I have been exhausted since the day of the surgery...

I'm home...

As soon as I feel up to it I will tell you all about it... with visual aides...

'Twas the night before surgery....

So tomorrow is the big day.. I am nervous, but I know all will be ok. I have to pick up some last minute things such as a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and oh yeah, my mom! I am so excited to see her, my sister and nephew are here now and I am trying my hardest to cram as much happy fun time into today as I can...

oh, and apparently I am now a gremlin.. or mowgai. I am not supposed to be fed after midnight and I need to stay away from water after the surgery. well, my incision needs to stay away from water.

So I am going to go from this:

to this:

If I break the rules...

for all you moms out there

You need to check out this site:

http://www.rubyscloset.net/

The absolute cutest little hair clippies and other things! I am adoring this clippie set:

It's SUSHI! So darn cute! There's also a Sushi Diaper Set and Washcloth Set...

AND check this out:

Hair Clamps for little boys! I am digging this :-)

Of course, there are more traditional clippies up on the site, but ALL super cute and definitely worth the browsing... there is even a few TTC things, like a Fertility Candle and a "Let's Get Pregnant!" kit....

Too cool....

Pre-Op visit today

I had a Pre-Op meeting with my doctor today. I am feeling SO much better about this all. He said that my surgery should be complication-free due to where the fibroid is. He also has an excellent track record - 11 years performing this type of surgery and has never had to give a transfusion or had any other major complications. The main thing I would need to worry about is infection and the other after-surgery crap. But I do feel very confident in this now. I am hoping this is IT.

This stupid fibroid has been pumping estrogen into my system, and after it's out I may actually ovulate on my own, feel better, and lose some weight!*

* a sore subject with me - I have worked out like mad, ate like a rabbit, and even thought thinner with nary a pound lost or an inch melted. I used to be skinny, and I am not fat, but I would love to see some sort of result from my hard work...