Kamakura

I said I would post this pictures a while ago, and just never got around to it. So here's a few of our trip to Kamakura. There are more posted on Facebook if you haven't seen them already.

The Hasadera Temple

One of the big Koi on the temple grounds saying hello

Daibutsu- aka The Big Buddha. He really is huge. And for 10 yen we got to go look inside him.

One might think they were actually brothers and not just brother-in-laws...

I love my brother! So glad he came to stay with us!

And a picture of us down on the beach.

It was a really neat place to visit. We stopped in some of the little shops, including a music box store and a little candy shop. As expensive as it can be, it's always fun to get out and experience a little bit of Japan.

And We're Headed To...

NEW YORK!!! We finally found out where we'll be headed once we leave Japan! We're headed to Fort Drum, NY. For those that don't know, it's more Northern NY up towards the Canadian border. My first thought was "COLD!!!" but I think it will be a nice change. We always talk about how much we miss the snow, and I don't think there will be a shortage of it here. One website I looked at said the average snowfall is 81" each year. That's a lot of snow! I can just see the dogs going out to go potty and just falling through the snow because it's so deep. Haha! Anyway, that's not the only thing we look forward to. There's lots we want to go see while there. The Church History Sites in Palmyra are only about 2-3 hours away, NYC is about 6 hrs or so, DC is about 8 hrs. Plus all the other National historical sites and stuff to go see. They're all close enough that we can make weekend trips out of them, so that will be fun. The town right outside post (Watertown) has pretty much everything we need too- Walmart, Old Navy, Sonic, Dairy Queen, a decent mall... And if it's not there, it's probably in Syracuse which is about an hour and a half away. I can't wait! I'm ready to be back in the states. Japan is nice and it's been a good experience, but I'm ready to be back home. Granted New York isn't the closest place to Idaho, but we'll be back in the states. And that's what matters! :)

Still Here

I know, it's only been a few weeks since my last post, but it feels much longer. I've got lots to blog about, but don't feel like doing it right this moment. I'll try to get it done by the end of the week though. My brother heads home Wednesday (he ended up staying an extra 2 weeks) and Ben will be back to work this week, so I'll have the house to myself again by the end of the week. :) We're doing alright here though. Ben is mostly recovered from his surgery. He ended up getting a hematoma under one of his incisions, and that's been a bit painful but there really isn't much we can do for it. So it's just a matter of waiting for it to go away on it's own (or so we're told). We've been able to go out and do a few things with my brother, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Between Ben recovering from his surgery, the house repair guys coming over every other day, and the horrible yen rate, things haven't exactly worked out as planned. That's life though, right?! But anyway those are all stories for another day. Let's see, what else is new... We still don't know where we'll be moving to in about 6 months. We're having issues with Branch (the ones who give the assignments out), but I think we're going to push for Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The biggest reason for there is because of the hospital. With all the problems Ben's had, it would be nice to be somewhere with a decent hospital that has all the specialists we need. We'll keep you updated on that though. We're trying to find some time to sneak home for a couple weeks too. It may end up just being me, but we'll see. Ben could use a break from this place just as much as I can. Just gotta wait and see how things pan out first though. One last thought... I just started a new blog. Don't worry, I'm keeping this one too. The new one is strictly for my photography. My goal is to post a new photo every day. We'll see if it turns out how I want it to. The web address is: http://hulsephotography.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out! :)

Not EA

Ben's surgery went great yesterday. The results are: it was adhesions in the same place as his last surgery and there was no sign of the epiploic appendagitis. So that is great news! He cleaned up the adhesions and did a thorough look around. Everything else looked normal. He said if this didn't fix the pain there was nothing else we could do, but Ben can already tell a difference in the pain. The pain he had before the surgery is gone and now it's just the normal after surgery pain. They kept him in the hospital last night just to make sure the pain was under control. My brother was awesome enough to stay home with the dogs so I was able to stay with Ben at the hospital. And it's a good thing I did. We are not impressed with the in-patient care there. By the time he left recovery and got to his room it was about 430 or so. We got him settled and everything and they went to call in his dinner order but the cafeteria people had already left. They knew Ben was staying the night, you would have thought they would have had something ordered for him. They didn't. So I ran to the commissary to grab some snacks and Burger King to grab some dinner. I was gone for like half an hour, and in that time no one came to check on him. He had been trying to get ahold of the nurses, but the call button on his bed wasn't working (and they hadn't bothered giving him the one that did), he tried waving to the camera but apparently no one was looking, and he tried yelling but after having the anesthesia tube down his throat for the surgery that didn't work too well. He was close to tears by the time I got back. So I grabbed the nurse and got him taken care of. The rest of the night wasn't much better. The only times they really came in was shift change and to do vitals every 4 hours. It was a bit frustrating. Not that it wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but I'm sure you get the idea. We couldn't have been happier to get out of there. Their discharge procedures aren't very good either. They basically told him what meds he's supposed to take, that his activity level should be as tolerated, his diet is as tolerated, and his follow up appt is in two weeks but they didn't give us a day or time. Then they had him just walk out. Seriously?! I was down at the pharmacy getting his meds and they tell him to just walk out?! No wheel chair, no escort, no nothing. He came out of the elevator just as I was getting ready to go up. So we were happy to get out of there. We left about 945 and were home about 11. But we're home now, he's resting, and things are alright. He's on convalescent leave for 2 weeks, we go back on Sept 2nd to get his staples out (he's got 15), and he probably won't have to go back to work until the Tuesday after Labor Day. So we're going to make sure he's all healed up this time. But yeah, that's the latest news from here. Surgery went well, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it was. I'm still very glad it's over though. It's so much easier to be the patient than the one sitting in the waiting room. :)

Here We Go Again

Just a heads up, Ben's having surgery again next week. After talking to his doc down in Oki, we were able to get it worked out to just see a surgeon here. We were going to go down to Yokosuka, but only one of the docs there was comfortable with taking the case and she's still in processing. Luckily there is a doc up at Yokota willing to take care of it. So Ben went up and talked to him today, and they decided on surgery for next Tuesday. With how much he's hurting and the narcotics he's on, the sooner we can get it done the better. We don't want to go another year without it being taken care of. It's not exactly the best time for another surgery, but oh well. My brother just flew in today and will be here for the next couple weeks. So I guess on the plus side, Ben will be off pretty much the whole time he's here. Granted I don't know that he'll feel like doing much, but he'll be off. Ok, I need a second to just rant... Seriously, this is all stressing me out. This will be his 3rd surgery in less than a year (one for his shoulder, two for his stomach). I love my husband, and I'm gonna stand by him no matter what, but is it really too much to ask for him to just be healthy for a while?! I really feel like the reason I haven't been able to get pregnant yet is because God knows I would go crazy trying to take care of a baby and my husband. Life just doesn't seem very fair sometimes. Anyway, I'm done now. On a happier note, we've got some fun stuff planned for while my brother is here. We're hoping to be able to go to Disneyland or Disneysea, to Kamakura to see the big Buddha, have to hit up the 100 yen store for sure, and of course we'll head to the sushi-go-round. I'm sure we can come up with some other things too. I made him dive head first into the culture when he got here and we took the train back from the airport instead of sitting around waiting for the bus. It was a long train ride, but still got back earlier than we would have on the bus. The dogs are excited to have another friend here too. I'm excited too! Our first (and probably only) guest while in Japan. YAY! I'll be sure to make updates with all our fun adventures. It's going to be a fun couple weeks. :)

It's Baaaaack!

Ben's abdominal pain that is. Silly me for thinking it would be taken care of the first time. He started having some discomfort about a month ago. Nothing too serious, just kinda annoying. It got a bit worse over the past week, and then over the weekend it got pretty bad. He was back to the point this morning that he couldn't stand up straight. We spent the afternoon in the ER down at Yokosuka. (People are probably starting to think we really like hanging out at that hospital....) We explained the whole diagnosis and surgery for his Epiploic Appendagitis back in April, and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. Like I said before, it's not a common diagnosis. The ER doc reminded us several times it wasn't something he'd heard of since med school back in '98. So they did blood and lab work and a CT Scan with contrast dye. Guess what they found... NOTHING! Were we surprised? Not really. After 5 1/2 hours in the ER they finally sent us home. They drugged Ben up, gave us enough pills to fill the medicine cabinet, directions to start a pain management program for chronic abdominal pain, and told us to follow up with our PCM here at Zama and the surgeon in Okinawa. Oh and quarters for 48 hours (ie a doctor's note saying he doesn't have to go to work for 2 days). I had already set up an appointment for him for Wednesday (because that was the next available one they had) before we decided to go down, so I guess it's a good thing I didn't cancel it. I'm sure we'll have to get another referral to go back down to Okinawa, but I already emailed his doc down there to let him know what's going on and see if he has any ideas as to what to do. But I guess until then, it's just a bit of a waiting game. As for me, I'm doing pretty good. Tummy is still a bit sore and tender, but I'm sure that's to be expected only a week after surgery. We went shopping and to a friend's house Friday and that wore me out. Tried going to church yesterday, but that was a bit much. I'm pretty exhausted tonight, but it was a long day. I know, I'm probably crazy for trying to do so much so soon afterwards. But I'm kinda feeling like "ready or not" it's time to be healthy again. Don't worry too much though. Ben still lets me know if he thinks I'm doing too much. It's just a matter of if I listen to him or not. :)

Diagnosis: Endometriosis

For those that don't know, I had surgery this past Monday. Yes, it was actually me this time, not Ben. It was kinda weird having switched places, but we both survived. Just a little background as to why this came about... A little over two years ago I started noticing some pain during certain activities. I went to the doctor here on Zama, and he said it was probably just because I hadn't had a period in a couple months. I think "Ummm, ok..." It wasn't the first time I'd missed a couple periods, but it was a first time for the pain. We wait a few months, still have the pain, go back in and have them put a referral in to go see the OB/GYN at Yokosuka. Takes a few months to get in, but I finally do. In the meantime I've done my own research to find possible reasons for the pain. Over the next year or so, I go in every few months for whatever reasons, but always bring up the fact that I'm still having pain. We talk about the possibility of it being endometriosis, but we can't treat that and still try to get pregnant. We opt to keep trying to get pregnant. Now fast forward to about a month ago. I'm still having pain, and it seems to be getting worse. Not only does it hurt during these certain activities, I have pain during ovulation, I have extreme pain during my period (so bad that the first day or two I can't do anything I hurt so bad), and even pain just at random times. So I set up an appointment with my doctor to talk specifically about this. We talk and we have a "clinical" diagnosis of endometriosis, but it can't be confirmed without surgery. We could treat it with medications and such, but we opt for the surgery. With how much I've been hurting, we were willing to take the risks that go along with surgery. She was open to that option (which really surprised me, as I had one doctor tell me they don't like to do surgery for endometriosis because they don't usually find anything), and she went to see when the next available OR date was. It was July 19th, which we agreed to, and started getting stuff set up. That date was later changed to the 26th, due to a shortage of OR staff. So now it's Monday morning. We get up bright and early (4am to be exact) and get ready to head down to Yokosuka. Surprisingly it only took 45 minutes to get there (it took me 2 hours a couple days earlier). I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I've never had surgery before. I've been through plenty with Ben, but never any for myself. So there were lots of firsts for me. Like my first IV. The gal who did it was great, even though my veins didn't want to come out and play. She got it the first time, no problems. We did the whole answer the same questions a hundred times. Talked to the doctor, talked to the nurse, talked to the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist was great and explained everything step by step. He didn't give me the versaid as early as Ben would have liked. It's fun talking to him when he gets it and is all loopy, so we wanted to do the same with me. But I didn't get it until right before they took me back. I could feel it working as they wheeled me down the hall though. I don't remember much after that. I remember being in the OR, with my doctor and everyone getting stuff ready, but that only lasted maybe a minute. The next thing I remember is the nurse asking me to open my eyes in the recovery room. That took some effort. I was starting to wake up enough to say I was hurting, what Ben's cell phone number was, and that my feet were cold. After a few more minutes, Dr. Stoker came and told me about the surgery. I remember her saying they had to make a bigger incision in my belly button than they had planned, there were three incisions all together, most of the endometriosis was on the right side, but there was quite a bit of scarring from old adhesions on the left, and I think that's about it. I remember hearing her call and talk to Ben, but I don't remember much of what she told him. And I remember her talking to the recovery room nurse or someone. I also remember asking at one point what time it was. It was about 1040, and I had been in there for about an hour and 20 minutes, which is about how long the surgery took too. They kept me there until a little after 11 because every time I started to fall back asleep my O2 levels dropped real quick. Not that I was having trouble breathing on my own, I just wasn't breathing very deep. So she had to keep reminding me to take deep breaths too. Ben was waiting up in my room when they took me back up. We got me situated in the other bed, Ben went to the pharmacy to get all my meds, and I laid there trying to wake up the rest of the way. I didn't have much pain at that point. I was feeling more lightheaded and dizzy at that point. So we had to wait for that to get better before I could leave, plus the usual go to the bathroom, get up and walk around, and eat/drink without being nauseous. We finally left just before 2. Needless to say, I haven't done much the rest of the week. I spend most my time either in bed or on the couch. The pain hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected it to be. It really only hurts when I get up off the couch or bed and if I spend too much time standing. It's been pretty tolerable without taking the pain meds for the most part. It's going to be a couple months before we can get back to trying to get pregnant. That's mostly to give me time to heal, but I think also because she wasn't able to remove all the endometriosis, we're going to use medication to take the rest down. She was able to remove most of the scars, the stuff on my ovaries and the stuff on my tubes, but there was some on the veins that would have been too risky to burn down. My post-op appointment isn't until the 17th, and we'll talk more about it then. Hopefully this surgery will have helped though and it won't take us much longer to get pregnant. That's what we've got our fingers crossed and are praying for anyway. :)