Day Trip Up the Coast

On Friday Heather and I took a day trip up the coast to Santa Barbara. We didn't go because we had a breakthrough of feeling well enough to live life again. On the contrary, we were both feeling pretty crummy. Heather has been trying to pass kidney stones for the last several weeks, and my attacks had been coming more frequently and by Friday I was entering day three of almost constant nausea. But we figured that we had been stuck in our house pretty much all week, and if we're gonna feel crummy, we may as well feel crummy during a chill day in Santa Barbara. We're so glad we went.

We kept getting the giggles during the drive out because we would be chit-chatting away, laughing about Georgie or talking to Georgie when all of the sudden one of us would groan in pain or moan with nausea. We decided we wouldn't have wanted to spend a day like that with anyone else, because neither of us had to worry about ruining the joy of the day for the other person. Both of us knew we were both in pain and feeling icky, both of us had the same amount of sympathy and compassion for the other, and both of us knew how to keep our humor about us as we battled through our discomforts.

We got side-tracked by the Camarillo Outlets on our way to Santa Barbara. There was an item or two Heather was on the look out for and I thought of a few things I wanted to find at discount prices, so we took a walk around the loop of stores. We parked right in front of Bebe where I spotted one of those dream outfits...the kind where you look at it and realize that is how you were born to dress. Which one of these outfits do you think caught my eye?


Were you right?

I just had to try it on. LOVED it on even more than on the mannnequin. Unfortunately, even at the discount outlet price the whole outfit would have been probably around 200 bucks. Anyways, I really like this style.


We made it to a few kids clothes stores, a cosmetics store, a few womens' clothing stores, and approached the end of our time at the outlets by a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Heather asked if I was going to be up for a caramel apple after our lunch, and I surprised myself and Heather by saying yes! Because of my nausea the previous two days and that morning, not much had gotten past my lips, and the stuff that did get forced down my throat I had no appetite for. But I was so thankful that while I was walking around the outlets, my nausea disappeared! It was replaced by the start of one of my painful attacks, but at that point pain in my back was welcomed if it came with a break from the nausea. We bought our caramel apple and saved it for after our picnic lunch.

Our last stop before packing back into the car was at a toy store where Heather and I set out on a look out for a small toy to get Georgie for being such a good girl. We came across a basket of Beanie Babies and agreed that we would each select two animals that we thought she would like and then let her choose from them. I saw a gray goose with a bright orange bill and feet that I was pretty sure she would be attracted to. I also went out on a limb and selected a dragon from among the rest of the animals. Heather found a polka dotted bear and a red rooster. We set all four animals in front of Georgie and asked her which one she wanted. She slowly and meditatively glanced at each animal, starting with the rooster, moving on to the bear, then to the goose, and ended with the dragon. She then extended her pointer finger and with the rest of her fingers curled up to her palm, decisively pointed to the goose. Heather and I laughed so hard to see the intense thought that she had put into her decision and the effort with which she had pointed. We promptly bought her animal of choice: Honks, the goose.

When I got into the car I realized that my attack was growing with remarkable acceleration. By the time we were back on the freeway I was constantly moaning and groaning, the pain was beginning to draw tears, and I could no longer answer any of Heather's questions...talking was just too much. I had already taken my pain medication and wasn't going to be able to take it again for another four hours, so Heather made the decision to make an emergency stop at Walmart for some advil, a drug I can safely take with my other pain medication. About 20 minutes after I took the advil, either it really did kick in or my attack naturally ended and I felt normal. No nausea, no pain. And I was hungry. :) Oh, hunger with a non-nauseas appetite is such a blessing.

We had a picnic at the beach in Santa Barbara, on a huge grassy lawn before the sand.


We all joyously devoured our delicious lunch prepared by Heather. Marinated stir-fried chicken and broccoli in quinoa with watermelon and blueberries on the side. I was so thankful to have an appetite for a meal. It was the first meal I had actually enjoyed in literally days.




Beauty shots:








Dramatically savoring my apple:


After lunch Georgie and I played a game of tag:




Heather and I took turns taking model shots with Georgie:








We all joined forces for a footsie photo:


Georgie and I reverted again to a game of "I'm-a-gonna-getchu!"







Heather and Georgie played around together:




Hugs and kisses (WAY better than Hershey's...):





Heather and Georgie drank out of cute little sippy cups:
Beautiful babes:


Georgie decided she NEEDED to carry the 10 lb. lunch box. It was so necessary. It was a little too heavy for her though, so Auntie Hayley had to hold it above the ground while she walked with the strap around her shoulder.








Georgie and Auntie Hayley teamed up to "get" Heather:


Then we packed up our belongings in the car and went to dip our toes in the sea:








Heather said this photo is for Brent. Here you go, my Brent.

We drove home after dipping our feet into the water. Wonderful relaxing day. I was SO thankful that God gave me a window of feeling normal so that I could maximally enjoy our food and our playtime at the beach. Sure enough, after dinner when I got home my nausea returned. It really was just a little window that God provided me. :)

That day I got a phone call from my surgeon's office. It was one of his nurses, who wanted to know how how I was feeling. When I had seen the surgeon on Wednesday he was very surprised that the kind and amount of pain medication he had prescribed to me wasn't helping with the attacks, and was further surprised the next day when I called to tell him that my new prescription didn't work either. So on Friday the nurse had the surgeon on the other line while she talked to me, and after I described to her my nausea and my intense tear-drawing attacks, she put me on hold while she spoke to the surgeon. They told me that if I got one of those attacks during the weekend, I needed to call the office phone, and the operator would direct me to the on-call doctor who would tell me decisively whether or not I should return to the ER. After that phone call I felt very taken care of and appreciative of my surgeon and his office. I'm so thankful they're taking my pain so seriously.

My colonoscopy consult is tomorrow. I'm praying that the colonoscopy can be this week.