There’s a really cute new show on TLC, called Jon & Kate Plus 8. It features a couple who has two year-old sextuplets and six year-old twins. Hence, the “plus 8″ of the show’s title. I’ve seen specials on this family before and love that they’ve got their own show now. I’m not sure if they used in vitro fertilization to conceive or not, but I know a lot of times, that results in multiple births. You can learn more about that, and other bits of IVF fact and fiction at the website of fertility specialist Dr. Randy Morris in Chicago, Illinois. His website has tons of information for couples undergoing the IVF procedure, or anyone who wishes to simply learn more about the process.
My daughter had her surgery last week and she came through the whole thing just fine. I took a before picture so you can see exactly how tightly her tongue was connected to the area underneath her tongue:
A little snip and a stitch, and she was done. She still says that it hurts from time to time (we’re 5 days post procedure now) but I think that’s normal, considering she’s able to move her tongue in entirely new ways now. We have to do little exercises with her every day to prevent it from healing back the way it was.
My son was scheduled to have his procedure for the same thing on Thursday, but I just rescheduled it. With my husband and I leaving town on Friday for the weekend, I didn’t want to leave a little guy who just had laser surgery, especially now that I see how Grace felt in the days following her surgery.
My daughter had laser surgery this week. She was tongue tied and so she had a frenectomy, which is fancy dentist talk for “snipping extra skin”. I got to see the whole thing, which was SO cool. Because it was done with a laser, there wasn’t any blood. The whole thing was done in about 10 minutes and she has just a single stitch in her mouth…more to prevent things from healing back the way they were.
My son is having the same procedure this week. Hopefully he’s as brave as his big sister was!
My husband finally made it to his sleep study this weekend. Yes, he was supposed to do it a week ago, but someone didn’t bring home the directions to the center! So we rescheduled, and he went Sunday night.
The initial results show that he is losing oxygen when he breathes, and that’s why he never feels well rested. We’ll know more after he goes back to the doctor, and that’s when we will find out if he’s going to go back for a second sleep study to try out a CPAP machine.
Tomorrow is the big day. My husband has his appointment with the pulmonary specialist to discuss his sleep issues…or rather, his snoring issues, which give me sleeping issues! After the consultation tomorrow, he’ll be given an appointment to go for the actual sleep study. I’m going to the appointment with him so that I can give an ACCURATE representation of his sleep habits. I am very interested to hear what the doctor has to say.
Going off to college probably means freedom for most young adults. Getting away from mom and dad, their rules, their restrictions. Being able to stay up all night, or out all night if you choose. Making new friends, meeting new people. For some, it probably also means partying a bit more, now that you’re away from the watchful eyes of your parents. Some schools are even known as “party schools”. And because treating young adults with addiction is different than treating adults, there’s now an addiction treatment program specifically for people ages 17 1/2 through 26. At a time when peer pressure, school pressure, and life is intense, SoberCollege attempting to help young adults get over their addiction, and finish school.
Jim went to the dermatologist this morning and in addition to the suspicious mole I noticed, the doctor found 2 more. He removed all three, and we’ll find out in 2 weeks if they are cancerous or not. Last night, over dinner, I mentioned his appointment, and the kids started making silly jokes about moles. Then I had the chance to creep them out by telling them how the doctor would remove the moles. Never a dull moment in our house!
I’ve always been a fan of Rosie O’Donnell. I know a lot of people don’t like her, including my husband, but I’ve always enjoyed her personality. I remember watching her on TV doing standup in the 80’s, and then in A League of Their Own, and I even read the Rosie magazine she did for a while. I saw this article that said Rosie has coped with depression since the Columbine shootings and I can sympathize. After 9/11, I had trouble sleeping. I just couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, and I didn’t even know anyone personally affected by the tragedy. I just identified SO much with everyone touched by it.
This Friday’s episode of The View will focus on depression.
There are all kind of hotlines you can call when you need help. The suicide hotline. Adoption hotlines. Domestic violence hotlines. It makes sense to have a hotline to help people find drug rehab programs too. If you know of someone in need of drug treatment, help can be only a toll free phone call away. By calling 1-800-NO-DRUGS, you’ll be referred to a drug treament program by a counselor who can determine what kind of program best fits your needs.
The 1-800-NO-DRUGS.com drug rehabilitation referral service is a non profit, and the service is completely free to the caller. They can refer people to drug rehab, as well as programs for alcoholics. With thousands of programs in the country, finding the right one can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Why not let them help?
Last night, Jim and I went to bed early. Early for us I guess – before 10pm! And boy howdy, let me tell you – after the night I had, that sleep study he’s going to do can’t come soon enough. He of course, fell asleep in his normal 2.3 seconds. I read a book for a while (a biography on Carol Burnett – I love her) to relax. His snoring was out of control, and if he wasn’t snoring, he was breathing out of his mouth. Finally around 11pm I turned off the lights and attempted to fall asleep, but it wasn’t happening.
I need quiet to fall asleep. Once I’m out, you could drive a truck through my bedroom and I wouldn’t wake up, but it has to be QUIET for me to get to that point. And it was not quiet in my bedroom last night. Finally I woke Jim up and insisted that he go into one of the kid’s rooms and sleep. It was only after he moved that I was finally able to get some rest.
I plan to attend his consultation with the sleep study doctor so I can give details on exactly what the problem is – because as far as Jim’s concerned, he doesn’t snore “that bad”. HA!
