Happy Anniversary!

My internet was down yesterday, so I didn't get to post.

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of my open-heart surgery. As my husband put it, the one-year anniversary of the day they brought me back to life. They had to stop my heart in order to correct the structural problem.

So here's my Friday Fave Five, Gratitude of an Anniversary Style:

1. I'm thankful for a primary care doc who was aggressive in getting my heart murmur investigated. His insistence that I get an echo 18 months ago saved my heart valves from permanent damage.

2. I'm thankful for a sister who works (indirectly) for the best acute-care hospital and for the best surgeon in the western states. Oh the irony ... she lives in North Carolina. But she's the one who got me the name of my surgeon.

3. I'm thankful for my surgeon (and his staff). He had the experience and the knowledge to take care of my anomaly without too much fanfare -- and without making me feel like I was an idiot for insisting on seeing him even though my former cardiologist kept saying, "I don't think you need that surgery." The surgeon and my new cardiologist proved him wrong and got me taken care of. And the staff in the office has answered all my questions and called in pain killers without question when I need them (they are NOT narcotics, so don't go thinking I have a problem here!) Along that line, I'm also thankful for the cardiologists who found the problem, and for the ones who are now my once-a-year best friends.

4. I'm thankful for the staff at LDS Hospital and the insurance that paid for a chunk of the cost of the care I received there.

5. I'm thankful hubby stood by me and stayed with me during my hospital stay, only going home to do homework and have a shower. He even slept on cramped couches the one night I spent in the ICU. I didn't really get it, that he really loved me until later after hearing about that night. Apparently, when they wheeled me out of surgery, he came and hugged me and said something about wanting to go home to clean up and I asked him to stay. So he did. Even after I threw up on him multiple times due to the morphine they kept pumping in me (it's now on my list of allergies to medications). The nurses were all going gaga over him and his devotion to me, and he was so oblivious and just in love with me and worried about me ... I think most of his gray hairs showed up that week. And lemme just say, spending the night with him (and no kids) last night was a whole helluva lot more fun than the nights spent in the hospital and at home last year. Woooooo! hahahahahaha. I sure love that guy. And I'm grateful CC and DisGrace and all the other wonderful people who knew I was struggling so hard with loving him helped me so much during our courtship. hehehehe.

(I'm also thankful that I've recovered to the extent that I have -- I still get some musculoskeletal pain and fatigue, but the dizziness and the palpitations, even if I'm running on caffeine, and flutters in my throat are gone!)

The kids were at each other's throats yesterday, so I took the short one away and left Small Fry to fend for herself for a little while -- mostly to protect Small Fry from Munchkin's abuse. The errand took longer than expected, but I left Munchkin at a neighbor's for a while and hubby and I spent some two-on-one time with Small Fry. Then Munchkin came home and started terrorizing everyone again, and then Demented showed up to get the girls and take them home for a sleepover. Dizzy was playing shy, but man she's cute. Alas, our date was interrupted by a few phone calls with reports of the girls arguing and being dramatic and NOT very good guests.

Hubby is going to make them clean the house later.

Alas, I'm going to have to have a talk with the short one and let her know if she's going to keep acting like a baby, she's going to get treated like one. No TV, no videogames, no pixters ... no big kid toys. at all. I was extremely upset with her yesterday -- I don't think I've ever been so angry with her in her short life.

Anyway. The internet is up and I need to work like 15 hours. So I'm off to do so.