Crazy week!

This has been a rather crazy week for us. Monday and Tuesday were actually fairly normal. Then Tuesday night my stomach started feeling bad. It felt like gas pain, and I've had quite a bit of digestive trouble over the last few months so I didn't think much about it. I went to bed and after a while managed to get a bit of sleep. Then I woke up at 2 to feed the baby, fed him, and realized that my stomach hurt so much I could barely stand up. I finally decided to wake up Master Fob and ask him what he thought we should do. After an internet search determined that I had most of the symptoms of appendicitis, we decided to go in to the emergency room. Master Fob's brother was nice enough to come over and sleep on our couch at 4 AM so we didn't have to leave S-Boogie home alone, and we took Little Dude with us (he was also nice enough to just sleep in his carseat during the entire trip to the hospital). At the hospital they hooked me up to a nice IV with fluids and morphine, and then did a bunch of rather disgusting tests on my insides. And the final verdict was that I was constipated. Yep, that's all. But, it was complicated by the fact that my ab muscles are still recovering from recent surgery and I'm taking iron supplements, and I haven't been getting much physical activity. And they figured out that I had a urinary tract infection too, which wasn't helping much. So basically my body was just really messed up and my digestive system went on strike in order to protest. I left the hospital with several more prescriptions and was told that everything should work itself out in a few more days. Today feels like things should start getting better, and at the risk of grossing everyone out, you can't understand how good it feels to fart again after being unable to do so for several days. So the next time you do, just count your blessings that you can.

That was early Wednesday morning, so I spent the next few days (until last night) in a lot of pain until the various medications worked their magic. Since I was feeling so wonderful (note the sarcasm), I decided a 4 hour road trip was in order. My grandma passed away last Saturday night and I really wanted to go the funeral up in Wyoming. We were all in a pretty bad mood on Thursday when we left, but it turned out to be a nice little trip. I'm glad I was able to go to the funeral. She's been in poor health for quite a while, and she actually looked better in her coffin than I had seen her looking for a long time. It's nice to go the funeral of someone who lived a full life and was ready to move on. She was a fairly average woman for her time period--grew up on a farm, got married at 18 to another farmer, and raised 8 kids. She lived in the same house for the last 53 years. Her life revolved around her family and friends, her garden, cooking, and a lot of hard work. All of the tributes to her talked about how she worked so hard on everything and cared so much about everyone. She really was an excellent cook and gardener, and I loved the fact that even though she had nearly 30 grandchildren I always felt special when I visited her. I'm glad I went to the funeral because all of the grandchildren except the 2 on missions and my sister who is in Morocco were there. At the end of the service all of us, including our spouses and the great grandchildren, got up and sang a medley of Primary songs. It was really special to be there. I've realized over the last few years that even though funerals may seem like a lot of expense and hassle, the ritual is nice to have. Even though we were all expecting my grandma to die and most people had a chance to say goodbye, it's nice to get together and pay tribute to her. Even though I felt pretty crummy most of the time I was there, it was worth going and visiting with my family. I like my extended family a lot, and Star Valley in June is absolutely beautiful.