The pain of humiliation and a touch of fun

Well, I spent yesterday in the hospital. All day. It was not the most shining moment in my life. I didn't even mind so much being at the hospital if it wouldn't have been how I got there. I had a REALLY BAD gallbladder attack at work yesterday morning. I had to wake my sleep staff to watch the house and get my consumers ready for their day while I succumbed to violent bouts of vomiting and lay sweating and shaking on the bathroom floor. Not exactly the professional image I like to uphold. It was embarassing, it was uncomfortable, I never want to experience that again. So DH came to my rescue, took one look at me and loaded me in the car to go to the hospital. Of course, immediately upon arriving the worst of the attack passed, so while I waited for more critical cases to be dealt with I dozed in the ER. After tons of tests and about 7 hours, they sent me home saying again that it has to come out, but not 'till after baby if we can help it. At least the doc said he WANTS me to come in if it gets that bad again, so they can keep checking to see if the stones are migrating. I guess if that happens I will have surgery prego or not. Of course when I got home everything flared up again, so I spent the rest of the eve sick and in terrible pain. I am more upset by the frustration of this than anything. I can deal with hurting (not that I like it), but the mental strain of being sick and hurting is huge.

Anyway, on to happy things....




This is the photo of my first ripe tomatoes. I don't even like tomatoes really, but my DD is a big fan, so we always put in a dozen plants. She was so excited when I sliced these up for her to eat.



This is a pic of the Taylors Falls Princess, the paddle boat we took a scenic tour on the 29th. This has become an annual trip for my family, and the kids loved it. DD is a big boat and water fanatic, so she spent the whole time giggling like a madwoman. It is a nice tour, going up and down the St. Croix River. They point out the rock formations and tell the history of the area. I recommend it if you ever happen to be in the area.





After the boat tour, we wandered around on the "pothole trail". The potholes were created by rocks being swirled around by water, grinding away at the larger bed of rock. This one was evidently two potholes really close together. I like the way it ended up looking like a heart.



This was the last part of the day. We drove over the river and up the hill into Wisconsin to Fawn-Doe-Rosa, a deer farm and petting zoo. You can buy bags of feed and walk around feeding all the animals. There are deer, rabbits, geese, ducks, goats, sheep, ponies, etc. The kids were afraid the animals would bite them, so Uncle and I tried to show them how tame they were. I was holding a carrot in one hand and the camera in the other when this pic was accidentally taken. I kind of like it, though. After this the girls had no fear where the animals were concerned. I have some reservations about going to a place like this, it seems the animals are in such an abnormal situation and I don't know how it can be good for them. Yet they are well cared for and healthy, so who am I to argue? I know it was an amazing experience for the kids, they really had fun.