So last week was an extremely interesting week…
The fun started on Tuesday August 23, 2011 at 1:51pm. I had just gotten back from lunch and was chatting with one of my co workers. I remember turning to type something on my computer when I felt everything shake. I asked out loud if “we were shaking” and someone said yes I feel that too. I was about to utter the words, “Was that an earthquake” when earth moved below us. I had officially experienced my first earthquake. Looking back the next few moments were pretty funny. The girl I was just talking to immediately went into the doorway outside of my desk, while I grabbed my cell phone, I-Pod and keys. As I was going to the same doorway we our VP doing his best Michael Scott impersonation running out of the building yelling “Get out” That was all I needed to hear and I ran outside like everyone else in the building. For me, that moment was such a scary and surreal experience. My adrenalin was pumping and I could not stay focused when it was time to get back to work. I immediately called my family to make sure everyone was okay (thankfully they were). The USGS said the earthquake was a 5.8 that the epicenter was in Mineral, VA. I cannot imagine what the 9.0 felt like in Japan back in March. The East coast did become the laughing stock for the west coast (I am going to laugh and post pictures the next time the West Coast has an ice storm). Thankfully us east coasters do have our own sense of humor about the Earthquake…
Thankfully, everyone was okay and we had no damage done to our house.
So on Wednesday we took Lex to GBMC hospital to get his tonsils and adenoids taken out. This was a rough day for me. I know the surgery is routine but it was knowing that it was my boy that needed to be put under anesthesia really sucked for me. I knew the worst thing I could do was let him see how worried I was that he was going to have surgery so Lisa and I really built up how exciting this was for him to be getting his tonsils and adenoids out, and even planned a night out with him on Tuesday. However, he fell asleep on the way home and we never got to take him to dinner or a movie. His surgery was scheduled for 7:30am and we were told to be there by 6am. They told us one of us could go back with him when it was time so he could be put under the anesthesia and Lex picked me.
So at 7:30 Lex and I start to walk back to the operating room when he saw that Lisa was not around. He then told me he wanted his mommy which we had to tell him it was too late since he already picked me but I told him mommy would be there when he woke up. The next part was really, really hard to be a part of. Lex saw the operating room and immediately knew something wasn’t right. He had this big frown on his face and was really scared. The doctors and nurses really did all they could to make him comfortable but in the end I had to hold Lex down and watch him scream and cry for me as they put the mask on him to make him sleep. Even as I type this I am fighting back tears thinking of that image of Lex. The surgery lasted maybe 25 minutes, and everything went fine. Then the second hardest part was when they took us back to the recovery room seeing how much pain he was in. 
Poor Lex was just miserable. But they discharged us from the hospital around 11:45 and we were home with him by 12:30.
When we got home Lex hospital pain medicine was working in full effect. He was acting like everything was fine. We even let his girlfriend Kaelyn come over to spend some time with him but I could see around 6pm everything started to wear off and he became miserable. He was refusing to take any of his pain medicine or antibiotic and he ended up falling to sleep around 7:30 that night. I was going to be home with him all day on Thursday and I promised Lisa I would get him to take both medicines no matter what.
On Thursday around 11am his “older” girlfriend Ri Ri came over with her brother and mother. As soon as she walked in Lex told them he would take his medicine for them. The antibiotic taste just like bubble gum but the pain killer actually taste pretty horrible and he has not taken that knowingly since (Yes I have put it in his drinks).
As of today Lex is doing a whole lot better but he still is in some pain. Each day that goes by you can see him improve and hopefully his voice will be back to normal soon.
Now everyone knew that Hurricane Irene was on its way, and I received a phone call from a friend of mine who basically scared the crap out of me about information he was given about the hurricane. So after I scared my family with the same information we did everything we could to be prepared for the storm on Saturday. The rain started around 11am and the family just did everything we could to make ourselves comfortable and ride out the storm. I was constantly checking Facebook and Twitter to see what was happening with other people. I became a little worried when I saw how many people had their basement flood and their roof’s leak. We were once again incredibly lucky that we didn’t lose power and had no damage from the storm. We had one worry area where our neighbors roof spits out water into our garden so we put a giant trash can there to catch the water. I ended up dumping the water from there at least three times. I ended up going to bed around 1am and just hoped for the best. When I woke up on Sunday the rain was gone, we had power, and no damage. I was relieved.
Over all it was a very eventful week that I really am glad is over. I thank my lucky stars that everything worked out for me and the family.
