10 in 2011

It seems like good movies come out in groups. We will go months without anything worth me driving to the theater for, but then all of a sudden there are so many that I can't get to the theater in time to see them all. Here are 10 that I am looking forward to this year:

1. Sucker Punch - March 25 (it doesn't exactly have a riveting plotline, but the graphics appeal to me)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - July 15 (I still need to buy the last two DVD's!)
3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - November 18 (I can't find a trailer)
4. X-Men: First Class - June 3
5. Green Lantern - June 17 (Can't get enough Ryan Reynolds!)
6. Cowboys and Aliens - July 29
7. The Hangover 2 - May 26
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - May 20
9. Captain America: The First Avenger - July 22 (I really enjoy graphic novels made into movies)
10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - December 21 (no trailer available yet)

A Whale of a Story

Wednesday, a whale beached on the west end of Galveston Island. It is strange to me that whales come so close to Galveston. I've heard stories from fellow scuba divers that you can easily see whales if you go to the Flower Gardens about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston. I guess it's one of those, you gotta see it you believe it things.

A friend of mine from college (pictured above rescuing the whale) currently volunteers with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network here on the island. Whenever there is a beached animal, she takes off work to go help out. When this got called in, she was one of the first on the scene. She had to hold the animal out of the water for an hour and a half before the truck arrived with the appropriate transport materials. Whales have to stay wet, or else their skin dries up. Also, it is hard for the animal to breathe out of water because they don't have the buoyancy in the water to help support their weight anymore. That is why it had to stay in the water until the transport arrived.

When they originally approached the animal, they believed it to be a baby sperm whale. They were hoping to find the mother off the coast so they could reunite her with the baby. They were worried it would be a difficult task because of all the fog we've had recently, and particularly that day.

After bringing the whale back to the holding tank at the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, they realized it was an adult pygmy sperm whale. No one has ever successfully kept one of these in captivity and 90% of beached pygmy sperm whales do not survive. Generally, if a whale has beached, it is because there is something wrong with it already. At the end of the day, they decided to euthanize the animal.

Lauren said she was exhaused after a day of dealing with the 1000-pound whale. She said this was only the second time she has encountered a beached whale on the island in her 6 years volunteering with the network. They most frequently get dolphins that they rehabilitate, then either release it or give to a facility that can house the animal (think Sea World). More often, the stories end happily. This just wasn't one of those cases.

Courtesy of Travis' Grandma

Travis is the little guy third from the right.

I got this photo via email from Travis' mom's mom last month and thought I'd share it. It was accompanied by this note:

Here is a picture of Travis around age 3 at Christmas with the children's choir. This is when he reached over and took the microphone off the stand and held it up to his mouth like he was going to say something. You could hear him breathing softly into the microphone, but he remained quiet... then someone got the choir director's attention (the red head sitting in front) and she tried to retrieve it. As he gave it to her very willingly, he dropped it and it clunked very loudly down behind the communion table to the floor, where she had to work to get it. This picture was taken after all that.

I am constantly amazed how great most people's memories are. There is no way I would remember something like this is such great detail. Which is why I take so many photos! Between Travis as my memory rolodex, this blog and photos, I am able to retrieve stories with "ease".

Recovery

Travis is doing SO MUCH BETTER. Every day he makes huge steps in recovery. From the time he got home from the hospital, until the following evening, he only got out of bed to use the bathroom. We brought him food in bed and he watched TV all day. He did come out to sit with us for about 20 minutes on Saturday morning.

That night, he came to the dinner table and ate with us. He only sat at the table for maybe 10 minutes before the pain got too strong. The pressure of his organs on the suture site was too much to take. That night I only had to get up once to give him pain medication.

Saturday, Aiden did not want to go to sleep during nap time. He left Mr. Lion at daycare all weekend, so he was having some trouble relaxing. After an hour and a half of struggling with him to go to sleep, I finally thought to pull out the travel crib. I was so exhausted and just wanted to take a nap (awake from 4:30am - 10pm Friday, then up every 3 hours Friday night). I couldn't do that unless Aiden was sleeping too. Thankfully, he went right to sleep in his travel crib.

Sunday, Aiden and I went for a walk to the park, to help wear him out for nap time. I didn't even want to mess with him fighting it, so I put him straight into the crib. Travis got up and walked around more frequently. He ate lunch and dinner at the table with us, but he spent the rest of the time either sitting on the couch or laying in bed. He also developed a taste for Angry Birds on Rich's phone.

Monday morning I got up with Aiden, we ate breakfast, then I dropped him off at daycare. On my way back home, I picked up some breakfast burritos from this great place in Galveston. I was hoping it might get Travis' bowels back on track. Having Aiden at daycare gave me the day to focus on Travis and catching up on laundry. (Six loads!)

Tuesday I brought Aiden to daycare again. I cleaned the house in the morning, then Travis treated Brenda and I to pedicures that afternoon as a 'thank you' for taking care of him. I told him it was one of the perks of having a wife, but he wanted to do it nonetheless. It was really nice to relax for a minute without having my brain pulled in a hundred directions. What should I make for dinner? What's Aiden getting into? What time is it - does Travis need medication? Does Travis' ice pack need to be refilled? I'm hungry... I'm tired... Aiden's hungry... Aiden's tired... Travis is hungry...

We got the salt scrub and hot towel treatment. I couldn't believe how relaxed I was when I left that place. It took every ounce of energy left in me to get my body to work after that. I dropped Brenda off at the house and then continued on to the island to pick up Aiden. The Ramby's brought us pot roast for dinner, which was amazing. It was nice to not have to cook and also nice to shake things up a little after the monotony of recovery.

Wednesday? Back to work! I had a lot to catch up on, since I missed a large part of a study. So tired... I think I'll go to bed soon...

Pain Monster

I feel like Travis had a c-section yesterday and we brought home his little pain monster bundle of joy.

I kept having flashbacks yesterday of my time in the hospital when I was induced. Then when we got home, we had to get up every three to four hours to feed the pain monster. And by feeding, I mean stuffing Travis full of Ibuprofen and Hydrocodone.

I'm having serious baby flashbacks here, people. Travis even had a "FALL RISK" wristband just like I did!

Oh and besides giving him pain meds, I also had to change the ice on his ice pack. That reminded me of making formula bottles by the glow of the nightlight. I periodically tried to feed Travis yesterday evening and then through the night, but he was to nauseous for most of the offers.

So, the schedule yesterday didn't go exactly as planned. They made it sound like he'd be out of there by 10, but he didn't actually check out of the hospital until the afternoon. We got to day surgery on time and they gave Travis a gown and socks to change into. They took him in back at 6:20 and then I sat in his post-op room while I waited. I had my own bathroom, TV and reclining chair to "relax" in.

At 8:30, his doctor, a cute little woman in pink scrubs, came in to tell me how the surgery went. She said it all went exactly as planned. Throughout the five minute talk, she said "He's got GREAT anatomy," three times. Uh, what does that mean?! She said it the last time as he was walking out the door. WEIRD.

Soon after the doctor left, Brenda came from dropping Aiden off at daycare. I had assumed they would bring him back right away for his "recover period", but by the time 9:20 rolled around and he still wasn't back, I started to panic a little. I went out to find a nurse and he told me that they would keep him for close to an hour in the recovery room outside the operating room. He told me I could go visit him there, so I rushed down there with Brenda.

Travis was really groggy, but he wasn't loopy. We were only allowed one person at a time, so I went in first. I stayed for a couple minutes, then let Brenda go in. After a few more minutes she came back out and said they were going to be bringing him up soon so she would meet us there. At 10 o'clock, I walked up to the room with him getting pushed on the bed by a nurse.

We spent the next several hours waiting for Travis to "void". AKA, pee. At 1:30, he needed some pain medication, which meant he had to wait at least an hour before he could go. Even if he peed. At 2:10, he finally had to go to the bathroom, so the nurse unhooked him from the IV and I helped him. The pain he incurred during the walk, most likely crossed with the anesthesia, made him really nauseous. He breathed through it, thankfully. He was terrified of vomiting after an abdominal surgery.

When I got him back to the bed, I called for the nurse. The CNA came in to hook Travis back up to his IV bag. While she was hooking him up, I ran out to fill up his ice pack. When I got back, the nurse was gone and Travis asked me to check his IV because his back was getting wet. The nurse hadn't unclamped the line AND she turned some valve the wrong way, causing his back to get soaked. She gave him new blankets and then ran out. I think she was embarrassed. I was irritated.

By 3:30, Travis' nausea was gone and he'd stayed long enough to let them know he didn't have any serious adverse reaction to the pain medication they gave him. We were talking with the RN when Travis realized he had a heart monitor patch stuck in his arm pit hair.

REALLY?! The guy's not enough pain? Now we have to yank a sticker out of his arm pit hair?! It took 5 hard yanks before the thing finally came out. Travis was a champ. He didn't even flinch. Or maybe the pain meds were doing their job.

I went out to pull up the car, while Brenda waited with Travis and the nurse. By 4 o'clock, we were on our way home and Brenda was headed to pick up Aiden from daycare.

The rest is history!

Today's Schedule:

5:30 am - Arrive at hospital.

6:45 am - Surgery begins.

7:00 am - Brenda drops Aiden off at the daycare.

6:45 - 8:45 am (approx.) - Travis goes under and I plan to ignore the real world by immersing myself in a fictional novel.

8:45 - 9:45 am - Travis' recovery period as an in-patient (I really hope I get to be around for that part).

9:45 am - Discharge from the hospital and then we're on our own!

I still have no idea if Travis has any food restrictions after the surgery. If he does, and it's not something we already have at home, then I will make a trek back out for food. I'm REALLY hoping they send him home with his pain killers. I really don't want to immediately run to the pharmacy.

I'm planning to wait until the very last minute possible to go pick up Aiden from daycare. It sort of sucks because his daycare is on the island and we don't live on the island. That means I'll have to drive back down to pick him up at the end of the day. That said, I would prefer to do that than have to take care of him all day at the same time as I'm dealing with Travis.

Eek! Wish us luck!!

Monkey

When Travis and I were trying to pick out baby bedding for Aiden's nursery two years ago, we felt like our options were limited. We didn't really like much of the pastel colors and we really wanted something a little more bold. When I was looking through our options online, I was strongly drawn to safari decor. We ended up with monkey bedding and the hopes of a safari theme in the nursery.

For our baby shower, Alexa continued the monkey theme. We ended up with a lot of monkey gear to bring home. Last night, I piled all the portable monkey items on the futon in his bedroom and stuck Aiden in the middle of it. It's borderline ridiculous.

You can see the Valentine's sock monkey in the top right corner of this photo...


Love it!


Travis' mom got in yesterday afternoon. (Thanks Brenda!) She is staying with us for a couple weeks to help take care of Travis, Aiden and the house during Travis' recovery period. His surgery is scheduled for Friday, although we won't know the exact time until they call us the day before. The hospital called on Tuesday to tell Travis that the surgery should take about two hours and he is not allowed to take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for a week prior to the surgery. Three days before the surgery they finally decide to let us know that? Thankfully, Travis doesn't think he's had any. Phew!


Then yesterday, they called again to ask how he was feeling.


"Fine," he says.


"Are you taking any pain medication?"


"No," with a lilt at the end, as in 'why are you asking me that when you told me I couldn't have any yesterday?'


"No pain medication?! How are your sutures?"


Blink, blink... "Uh, I haven't had the surgery yet."


"Oh. Well sorry about that! We'll call back later then..."


My faith in this hospital dwindles daily. I know it is a teaching hospital, but COME ON PEOPLE! I purposely did not deliver Aiden at that hospital because I did not want to have some student testing out their abilities to hit a vein while I was in labor. I'm quickly regretting not bringing this up to Travis when he went in for the check up on this hernia thing.