Check out this video and have a giggle. :)

Then check out all of the reenacting videos on YouTube pertaining to the video.

Have a great weekend!

As we were having dinner last night, the news was on in the background and I caught a glimpse of a "WTF" moment. I had to see if it was on YouTube, and surely, it was. Have a looky and tell me if you agree with the commentator... "These visuals may shock you."

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up from the floor!

Sofia couldn't seem to figure out why on earth her throat still hurts so much, so I had to take a photo to show her. Here she is, one week post op and finally willing to open her mouth wide enough for me to take a peek! From what I read, the first week recovering is the worst and each day afterwards should get better. She actually slept through the entire night last night since the operation. THANK GOODNESS!

It's been four days since Sofia's operation. As minor as I had expected the operation itself to be, nothing prepared me for how Sofia reacted after she came out of the operating room.

Let me start with the very beginning of that day, April 22, 2008...

We had a horrible storm early in the morning, and it started to set a uneasy tone for me, as to what to expect that day. I am very pessimistic. But, as we drove to the hospital, the sun poked it's head out and we were greeted by this lovely sight. I breathed a deep sigh at the sight and started to be more optimistic.


We arrived at the hospital a 7:30a.m. because the doctor told us to be there at 7:45. We were the first (from the list of 30) to be operated on that day. We thought to ourselves, "Yeay, first, this should go quickly!" We should have known better to think that! After our arrival, the rest of the patients started to pool in one by one, accompanied by their family members. So we waited around...and waited...and waited. Turned out that we needed to wait for other patients to be discharged first in order for the waiting patients to get their beds. I think it was 9 o'clock by the time they found a room for us. It wound up being upstairs, on the maternity floor! I'm sure that the three new moms cheered in delight when we walked in to be their new 'roomies.' Yes, that made four of us (plus family members), in one room. Joy! NOT...

It was terribly hot in the room and when I say hot, it was hot! It's not like I could have opened the window because the room was full of newborns and the mothers would have been terrified that they catch a draft. In Italy, draft = sickness! Thankfully, after the babies were taken to the nurses station for checkups, one of the cleaning ladies came in to do her rounds and she flung the windows open. "THANK YOU," I quietly thought to myself. A new addition to the hospital is being constructed. This is what the view was like out of our window. Oh how I wished we were in one of the new rooms!



So we did some more waiting. Sofia was all excited about her bed and she made me take photos of her in the bed. She was all smiles and giggles right up until she went to the operating room. Regardless of the fact that she hadn't eaten or drank since the night before.


Well, it was 11:45 and they finally came to tell us that it was Sofia's turn. Tony brought her up into the operating room and held her while the anesthesiologist put a mask over her face and inserted an IV into her hand. When Tony came down, he told me that she started to resist but she quickly became dead weight in his arms because the anesthesia worked so fast! I could tell he was distraught because he quickly went outside for a smoke while me, Lina and my MIL waited. This is where time stood still for us. It was only about a half hour from when they took her and brought her back, but time literally seemed to have just stopped. It was the weirdest sensation. We must have looked at our watches a dozen times and by 12:15 we heard a door slam and Sofia's soft, mumbled cry. Tony didn't wait for the elevator to come down. He ran right up the stairs to see her. As soon as Sofia saw her daddy, she jumped off of the gurney into his arms. All the while, we were downstairs wiping away our tears so that she wouldn't see us crying (tears of relief) when she came off of the elevator.

The elevator doors swung open and Tony came out with Sofia in his arms. Only, it wasn't my Sofia...it was her body, but not the playful, cheerful little girl that went upstairs not too long before! As soon as she saw me, she reached her arms out for me and I took her from Tony. She started yelling at me, words that I could not understand. But she was clearly, angry! The whole walk back to her room, she thrashed uncontrollably! Once we were in the room, she went from being placid one moment to thrashing the next. The whole while I was trying to calm her, I was crying from the shock of her behavior, feeling consumed with guilt. It was a tidal wave of emotions! Let me just tell you that the only person with a dry eye in that room was Tony. He was definitely stressed though. Everyone else was crying. You had three women who just had babies who were all hormonal to begin with and then there was me, Lina and my MIL. She carried on for about a half hour or so and then she finally calmed down. I don't know who was more traumatized from the whole experience. It's definitely a moment that I will NEVER forget!

Here she is after she settled down. You see that IV in her hand? She tried many, many times to pull it out.
When I got home, I did some research and learned that Sofia's episode is referred to as, "emergence delirium."




A closer look shows the dried up blood in the corners of her mouth. I wanted so badly to clean it and wet her lips because she looked so parched! But, after her ordeal, I figured it would be best not to disturb her!


So, we stayed the night at the hospital. Why? I'll never know... it's not as if the nurses cared a flying fig about her. But, that's they way it is here in Italy. A patient's family member is left to do the "nursing." I would have been much happier going home the same night and starting recovery within the comfort of our own home. Sofia moaned all night and the newborns cried all night. It sucked!

Anyway, when we came home Wednesday afternoon, we went straight to my bed and played slumber party for the next two days. I told my mother in law in the car on the way home that if anyone came to my house without letting us rest first, I would go apeshit on them! They respectfully obliged. ;) Sofia and I got some much needed rest. When we woke up that evening, she played with her new princess tiara that she received as a welcome home gift. She wasn't too thrilled with my picture taking and put her hand in front of the camera in protest!


I asked nicely to take a photo of my pretty princess and she gave in, with a forced smile!
Doesn't she just look ecstatic to have her photo taken?


The next day she was in better spirits and she even started to show signs of having her appetite back. She asked for a PB&J sandwich! I made it with the smallest amount of peant butter because I was afraid of it sticking to the back of her throat. She ate about two bites and then complained that it hurt. "It's a start," I thought to myself.


She has since been eating lots of soft, cool foods. Today she complained a lot about her ear hurting but I did my research and I was expecting it. I gave her some pain medicine and she is fine now. I think we have another week of recovery ahead of us.

We took Sofia in this morning for her pre-op. When it came time for the bloodwork, things got hairy. She didn't cooperate very well the first time around and it was difficult for the nurse to pull the blood, which resulted in Sofia's vein collapsing. After some coercing, the nurses were able to get a clean pull from the other arm. Thank goodness! The cute little butterfly on the tip of the needle (the first time around) didn't phase her at all. Pfffft! One of the nurses blew up a glove to bribe her to remain calm. Sofia happily walked out of the office with what looked like a cow's udder! lol

Here she is, proudly showing off her boo-boo.

Of course, not without one of her fish faces!

Hopefully, tomorrow will go more smoothly!

If it weren't for YouTube, I wouldn't be able to keep up with American Idol, over here. My favorite this season is David Cook! Check out this performance of Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby," by David. He put a different spin on it and did an excellent job! I'll admit, at first, I thought "Oh no, no, no, one mustn't mess with a Mariah song..." but he proved me wrong. Actually, I like this version better.
Here's his live performance.
*Note* David sheds tears after the judges have their say. NO, it's not for pity votes. David's brother is battling brain cancer. He happened to be in the audience, so David became, understandably, emotional since he dedicated the song to his ailing brother.


And here is a longer (studio) version if you wind up falling in love with the song, and want to play it over and over, like I do. ;)

This is a long one folks, so please bear with me...

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been writing much on the blog since writing about Tony's Uncle's death. I posted a short entry to get rid of the entry regarding his death because it was too painful to see all the time. What you all don't know is that prior to that short entry, I typed out another one and decided not to post it. Reason being, is that my family reads my blog and at the time because they were unaware, I felt it was best not to post the information so as not to worry them. Now that my family is aware, I feel it's ok to display what I was feeling at that time...

When it rains, it pours.
(Original post date March 10, 2008)

I want to thank everyone, so much, for their comforting words since I posted last about my husband's Uncle. Zio Giovani was laid to rest last Tuesday. His murder is still under investigation. So many allegations have been made. I refuse to believe any of it because I only knew him as a good person, and that's how I want to remember him! I only hope that the person/people who did this to him are brought to justice so that his family can have some sense of closure.

On top of Zio's death, I found out just a few days later that my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He went into the hospital Thursday morning for outpatient surgery to have the tumors removed. He wound up having to be admitted because of complications. He is now home awaiting the results of his cat scan, to see if all is clear.

Ever since finding out about my father, I have had chest pains around my left breast. Last night I found what I think is a tiny lump. So, I have a scheduled breast sonogram for tomorrow night to have it checked out. Better safe, than sorry. Tony's family thinks it's due to my stress. A knot, or something. I really hope that that is indeed the case!

I really wanted to update the blog to get rid of the horrible title from my last post. I know I didn't write anything positive right now. I just hated seeing that title pop up everywhere I looked!

So, here's what happened. After having heard about my father's condition, I had horrible anxiety attacks which caused pain, on and off, in the left side of my chest. This happened for the first few days. I had never experienced this before, so naturally, I thought I was on the verge of having a heart attack! I quickly scheduled an electrocardiogram to have my heart checked out.

Throughout those first few days, upon rubbing my chest to try to relieve myself of the pain and discomfort, I felt this tiny lump. Honestly, the first thing I thought to myself was, "Shit...great, this is all I need..." I figured it would take forever to get a sonogram appointment scheduled with the free healthcare system (which it WOULD have) so I opted to go private and pay the 40 euros to be seen right away by a specialist! It turns out that the lump is a fibroadenoma. The doctor used the word "tumor" and freaked me out. But he quickly reassured my that it was benign and that I had nothing to worry about. Actually, he said that it has been present for a long time in my breast and said it was normal, that I had "young breasts," whatever that meant. He prescribed me some medicine, told me to go back in 6 months for a check up and sent me on my way.

My appoinment for my ECG rolled around and thankfully, my ticker is doing fine. But, while I was there, that doctor felt that I should have a shitload of bloodwork done. He also ordered that I have an ultrasound on my neck because it looked swollen to him. Something about my thyroid, I think. Anyway, I have that scheduled for this Saturday. My bloodwork came back last week, and thankfully, everything looked good, except I was told that I need to eat red meat because I am slightly anemic. No biggie, I went out the very next day and bought a nice steak to help solve that problem! ;) That's enough about my health.

As for my father, the results from his scan after the removal of the tumors was not good. His bladder is full of cancerous cells, so he has to have a cystectomy. His surgery is scheduled for the end of this month. Now, we all just have to wait, which is all that we really can do, which is the worst feeling in the world! Living 4,000 miles away at a time like this is definitely a test of endurance!

But wait, there's more! I've probably written how Sofia is sick so often, right? Well, after bouncing her back and fourth to the pediatrician's office that last two years of living here, we decided to finally take her to an ear/nose/throat specialst. She has been sick with fevers, throat problems, ear infections at least once a month each winter, alone! Her tonsils have been so swollen that the first specialist (we took her to see two specialists) told us that "not even the town macellaio has seen pieces of meat so big!" The first specialist wanted to book her for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy right away! I was very uneasy about saying yes right then and there because Tony wasn't with me to agree on the decision. He was downstairs getting the friggin "ticket" stamped. All you Italy expats know what a headache that is! So, I told the specialist that I wanted to discuss it over with my husband. In the meantime, he prescribed Sofia nasal spray and some kind of drops that she has to take before going to bed. He told us to treat her for the remainder of the month and then to go back to him to schedule the surgery.

Well, as any parent would, we asked around if anyone knew of anyone who has had this procedure done. Tony has a friend who works in one of the hospitals in Caserta, who's daughter had the surgery done on her. Ironically, he chose to have his daughter operated on at another hospital! So, we followed his advise and he personally called the doctor who worked on his daughter and scheduled an appoinment for us. We went to see him yesterday and he too said that she needs to have the surgery. She is now scheduled to have her operation on April 22nd. The day before we have to take her for mandatory bloodwork and then she can leave. But, on the 22nd, they will admit her first thing in the morning and keep her overnight to monitor her.

Some people keep telling me that "it's no big deal." Of course, Sofia's surgery will be nowhere near what my father has to endure soon. But, it's still surgery and there are always risks involved no matter how minor the procedure is. *sigh*

So there you have it. I tried my best to give you the shortest version possible. Sorry, if it was too long. Thank you for reading. Your good thoughts, vibes and/or prayers will be greatly appreciated!