11/1/06 - 13th Letter

13th letter
Wed. 11/01/06

Brock is 5 weeks old today – good crud!
So we took my mom to the airport Monday afternoon and man was that hard. It was so great to have her here – everything was very easy, I got plenty of sleep, and it was so fun! I have to admit, I cried and cried on Monday, sheesh – it was hard to see her go. It accentuated the fact that we are so far away from everyone. But it especially worked out that she was here at the end…
Because as some of you know (from mom’s emails), I had surgery last Saturday morning. For the last 2-3 weeks I’d had about 4 “episodes” of pain that at first sort of felt like a horrible stomach ache – but only at the very top – really it was right below my sternum. The pain would wake me from my sleep and last anywhere from 30 min to an hour and a half. The first 2 attacks were like that and then it was also in my back, directly behind where it hurt in my chest. Then, Thursday night (or I guess I should say early Friday morning) after I put the baby back in bed after feeding him, I went back to sleep for 15 minutes before being woken up by this pain. Within 10 minutes it hurt more than it ever had, and the pain seemed to have a wider radius – hurting on the right side of my chest as well, and actually up in my chest too. I could barely breathe, and making a lot of noise as I tried to suck in some air. I woke Bryan up (this is after 2am) and we went to the ER. The 10-min drive there about killed me and I about threw up in the car. They tried giving me a few things that didn’t work, and after about an hour of this intense pain the attack lessened and felt more like a normal attack, so I could at least breathe. Then they gave me a little Demerol and the pain was almost completely gone it was so nice. To make a horribly long story short, my mom and I had talked to a nurse a few times about these attacks but she had been convinced it was NOT a problem with gall stones – after bugging her long enough on Friday, after spending a few hrs in the ER that morning, she put in an order for me to get an ultrasound of my gallbladder (she was quite frustrated with me by this point) – I called Radiology for an appt for it- they didn’t have an opening ‘til Nov. 28th – but they called later and got me in at 3pm that day – a miracle. Anyway, I got lucky and when the tech in radiology was trying to find my OB doctor to show her the ultrasound results, the main surgeon was there and he looked at my ultrasound. He came down and took me to the surgery clinic where he told me and my mom that I had multiple small stones in my gallbladder and that my description of my pain was pretty much a text book response of gall stone symptoms (yet no one else would listen). By this time of day I had thrown up close to 5 times – he admitted me so they could get some fluids through an IV into me to get me away from my dehydrated state, and Saturday morning my gallbladder was removed. It all happened very quickly without preparation (a little dejavu…like what happened a month ago!) for it (mental preparation I guess you could say). The doctor said my stones were small and squishy, and that I had a bunch of other sludge in my gallbladder, and that it was a little more wedged into the liver than normal – but the surgery went as planned – laparoscopically – and no major incisions had to be made – 3 holes and a cut out of the belly button. My mom was a huge help and took care of Brock at home while Bryan was able to spend the day with me at the hospital. I stayed in the hospital the night after the surgery and I was discharged Sunday afternoon. I was extremely sad because the whole last weekend with my mom and our plans to show her more of Japan was ruined, but she was happy that she was there to help. Friends brought us dinner Mon., Tues., and Wed., nights – so that was really nice. Bryan has had to work though, so that was a little hard, especially since he found out Tuesday afternoon that day shift was going to last 2 hours longer now, until 5pm. Aahh! Not happy about that – of all weeks to change to that, too!! So until further notice, his shift is 6am-5pm Mon-Fri – so much for our “cushy” hours….so hopefully there is “further notice” on that!!
Our friend Ashley also had her baby Wednesday afternoon – so we need to go visit them and their new little boy! It’s so weird how you go from a bump in your belly to a baby!!! Still sort of a weird thing for me to really fathom.
Bryan finally was able to schedule a time to take his AFOQT (Officer Qualifying Test) – Nov. 16th. Way later than we ever wanted him to take it but oh well. Now we’re just trying to make sure it’s the right version (the newer, shorter one), and trying to get him set up to take the TBAS too (an additional test pilot applicants have to take) – we have to find someone here that even knows what it is!!! Man it’s so frustrating. Bryan also has a 22-pg paper due Nov. 15th and 2 other papers due a couple days after that; so he will be very busy this next little while!! Once again, what a horrible time to extend work hours! He’s tough though – he’s amazing – I’d be stressed out of my mind.
I am struggling to at least finish one of the two classes I registered for this semester. I expect that I’ll retake the other one next semester.
Brock continues to grow. We’ve started putting away some of the clothes that he’s grown out of. He also had his first blow-out last week – gross! He smiles a lot, and this week he eats a lot! Our little chubs…ahh sheesh. We know another little baby boy that’s 2 weeks older than Brock, who is way tinier – there is NO fat on that baby’s face! My mom just thinks the kid looks sick. But I have to admit, I think they’re cuter when they’re skinny. But we love our babes to death!!
Well like you saw from pictures I sent out earlier, we took my mom to see the “Big Buddha” – the biggest Buddha of all – the 2nd weekend we were here – only worth making that hour-and-a-half drive once for that I think. They have some crazy, detailed, gory beliefs here on what happens to you after you die! We also took her to Sukiya the first weekend she was here – a type of fast-food Japanese I guess you could say. We didn’t get out too much – she saw plenty of the base and all, that’s for sure, and of little Misawa – but that’s why I was so horribly sad about how her last weekend here ended up! There was more I wanted her to see! We did get to run to a HUGE bazaar that they do once a year here, where tons of vendors come from all over the country and a few others, and even though we only had 30 minutes, she was able to pick up some great stuff for her littlest girls, and she was really excited that she found a little something for herself as well – so I was happy about that. We also picked up some “cheese rolls” from a Japanese restaurant right off base, so it was fun to have her see just how small and squished together everything is here. By the end of her trip she was definitely appreciative of America and how spread out it is! We were jealous she got to go back to the states.
Well, time to end this – Brock should be waking up any minute for his first mid-nightly feeding. Like I said though, man I miss my mom to death – all the cleaning she did, all the great food we ate while she was here, the things we were able to get done (it’s so hard to get anything done now!), all the talking we were able to do…she was such a great support and I love her so much!!! It was quite an adjustment after she left, and still makes me sad when I think about it!
We appreciate everyone’s love and support!
Love, Julie, Bryan, and Brock Blumenkrantz

For a few more pictures besides the ones posted below click on this link and then the picture to view the slideshow: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.3hkxh2h4&x=0&y=-57ez3q&localeid=en_US. There are some really unattractive chunky monkey ones of Brock at the end!!