gall bladder update

I am going to make 3 blog posts today to celebrate having INTERNET BACK @ HOME! I'm so excited.
We are sharing with our upstairs neighbors. Completely worth $27 a month. We're thrilled.


So, first of all- a gall bladder update.
I got some horrible news on Monday.
I went into to the county office to see if I could add in my $1003 ER bill into my county assistance application. But instead, I got denied all together. The lady who works @ the office is so sweet, I cannot get mad at her. But, I guess this is what happened...
my surgeon had to write a letter to the state doctor explaining why I need the surgery- and apparently in the letter he did not make a compelling enough case that I needed the surgery. He said that is was "recommended" so, the state doctor (which i think it's totally ridiculous that some doctor who has never examined me can be the overruling force in this process) said he didn't think it was necessary. He said I should be tested for acid reflux, which is about the most absurd thing I've ever heard- i obviously have gall stones, i obviously have gall bladder attacks on a REGULAR basis, so saying that it COULD be acid reflux is as ridiculous to me as saying... OR.. it could be an ingrown toenail- i feel like they are just throwing out any possible thing it could be, except admitting what it ACTUALLY IS! (sorry, can you tell i'm frustrated?)

So, now I have to go back to the surgeon (which hopefully doesn't cost me any MORE money) to have him write a more compelling letter saying that i MUST have it removed. I've had now my 5th attack since going to the ER 2.5 weeks ago. Usually people only have to have 1 or 2 attacks before they get their gall bladder removed. My attacks are not "easier" than theirs- I just don't have the $4000 the surgeon is requiring for a 50% deposit. I am so fed up with being in pain and incapacitated all the time. I have to call in to work all the time so I'm losing a lot of money (if i made a lot of money while working :) and not only that, i feel like they will just stop scheduling me because I'm so unreliable. OH! and that's not to mention our Evapaul clients who I'm totally neglecting all the time since I'm too sick.

You'd write a compelling letter for me, right?

OK but there was a sliver of hope in my visit to the county office. I told her that I had not gotten my denial letter from medicaid yet which surprised her. How the process works is that you apply for medicaid and county assistance at the same time- then, they assume you're going to get denied for medicaid and move forward as if you've already been denied to apply for county assistance. So, she moved forward with it as if I was denied and THEN i got denied for county.

But, I haven't been denied yet.. so there is a CHANCE that I could get medicaid instead which would be AMAZING. they pay 100% and also will pay for my $1003 ER bill from a couple of weeks ago. The lady @ the county office said denials usually come pretty quick, within a week or so, so she said it was a good sign that its been almost 3 weeks and i haven't gotten denied yet. So, i am really hoping i just get approved for medicaid- but i need to still go to the surgeon just in case i need to reapply for county assistance.

thanks for reading- i've felt so loved through this whole process. thanks everyone <3

customized prints

my mom encouraged me to design some customizable children's prints for our shop: evapaul petite. i know she used to be so excited whenever she found something with the name: Kirsten on it when I was little (it was rare and usually just in Solvang, a primarily Scandinavian hamlet in CA) She never could find things with my brother's name, Kjell. I wonder why?



So, I've designed a little boy and a little girl- then you get to pick the colors and I'll put your child's name in the bubble. This way it will be perfect for your baby & will perfectly match their room too.

A 10x10 print is $12 but if you mention this blog post in your "message to seller" in the checkout on etsy, I'll refund you $3, making it just $9 for the print (same as our non-custom ones)

hope you enjoy! and tell your friends!

*and yes, Magnolia will be her name if [IN THE DISTANT FUTURE!- this is in no way an announcement!] we have a girl and Sebastian (Sebi for short) will be the name if it's a boy. So, if you steal these names in the mean time, I'll know where you got them and think you're lame & unoriginal :)

when you're feeling down...

design a new, happy save the date!

my gall bladder is broken

so, yesterday was eventful and i felt so loved through phone calls, texts & facebook messages so i thought i'd update you all.
i had yet another gall bladder attack yesterday morning and after taking vicadin and sleeping for a couple of hours i woke up ready to go to the hospital and do whatever we needed to do to get my gall bladder removed. well, it didn't really work that way...

i first went to the ER where they did some blood work (thankfully my other organs have not been affected, which i am so grateful about) and had an ultrasound ( a lot less fun when there isn't a baby to see!) and yes... i have gall stones (shocker) they recommended a few surgeons in rexburg for me to call.

I had an appointment with one yesterday and the receptionist said i could have the surgery tomorrow but they require 50% down before the surgery. The total cost would be a minimum of $8000 and we definetely don't have $4,000 on hand (more like $4) so that wasn't going to work. I met with the surgeon and I really liked him. He reminded me a lot of my dad which i'm not sure is comforting when they will be cutting you open (since my dad designs closets) but, oh well, i felt comfortable with him and so that went well. we spoke with the finincial lady at the surgeon office about our options with $. she said we should apply for county assistance and what they do is contract the hospital and surgeon to work for medicaid rates instead (1/3 of the normal cost) and we don't have to pay anything- we pay the county back after the surgery. They take monthly payments and when we talked to the woman @ the county office she said people typically pay $25 a month but some people pay as little as $5. (and i'm not positive on this but i'm pretty sure you only have to pay for 5 years- so it's not like we will be paying this off when we're 80 which is comforting) so, in total the bill will only be $2500-$3000 instead of $8000, which seems so much more doable. We only had to pay $200 when we had Daphne so I guess we're paying for her now. OH! and that reminds me.... I've been following this SUPER strict diet for the past 4 months since my 1st attack but the surgeon said that he's pretty positive my diet has NOTHING to do with having attacks- the stones probably formed due to a hormore during pregnancy and having attacks is due to that, not with what i'm eating. This really makes sense since I would always be confused when i had an attack because i've been 100% faithful only eating 15-20 grams of fat a day. So, i'm a little annoyed that I've been SO good and it doesn't matter. On the plus side, I've lost 15 very needed pounds and I still have about 10 to go to be where I want to be. So, it's not all a loss. But, it does make me want to go to five guys (i still want to eat vegetarian... i just want to have 1 day where i go a little crazy and then i'll go back to it.. which i'm sure would make me totally sick but i'm craving a cheeseburger and chicken strips with fries like nobodies business :)

The problem with going through county is that i won't be able to have the surgery for 10-14 days. I also learned that i won't be able to work for AT LEAST 2 weeks after the surgery and i won't be able to lift (which i do a lot of @ gap) for a month. So, that's not comforting.


In other news, we are desperately trying to sell/get out of our contract and we're moving in with Nic's grandma Jane in Idaho Falls. She lives right across from the mall so I can walk to work and Nic will carpool from IF up to school each day. It's basically the only way we can survive and not get evicted. It will be temporary till we move to Denver in December and we're grateful for Nic's fam (parents included) who were so willing to help us out. Why aren't people buying invites anymore?!?!?! It's annoying :)

So, that's life. Hope you all are well <3

update

i feel like no one reads this blog anymore and i really don't blame you! we had internet through our apartment complex and they just discontinued the service, so i'm writing from the lounge where i have to work now. we won't be living in rexburg for 6 months so it's been hard to find an internet provider for less than a 6 month contract. arghhhh it's so frustrating.

but, all in all- life is good. we're poor college students (but only for 4 more months- then we'll just be POOR which is kind of depressing) and i just got a job at gap to help things out. nic is off of school and i'm so glad he's at home with daphne. i'm saving all my favors for when i'll be working and he'll be in school (with 21.5 credits) so let me know if you want to watch daphne sometime! :)

she is doing great. she cracks us up. she's started sneaking around (not sneaky at all but she thinks she is) and it's really cute. she learns lots of new words everyday and talks CONSTANTLY at home- not so much when we leave the house, she's a little shy.

I've been suffering with gall bladder attacks and it's really unbearable. even with a very restricted diet i'm still having attacks and it's the worst thing ever (way worse then any part of labor i experienced, plus- no cute baby at the end)

so, that's the update. we're happy. we're healthy (ok, not me) and we're here- just not HERE on the internet. stupid apartments.

yellowstone (yes.. again!)

Our friends Seth and Maddy have been in Europe for the past 3 months and are now in Rexburg for a bit before they move somewhere for good (so depressing) they wanted to go to yellowstone before they moved away and we were so happy to go with them! We left daphne with Grammy & Grandpa for a whole 2 days. I didn't hesitate to go for 2 days, so I guess I was ready to leave her for an extra day (we've only left her for 1 day previously) but, by the end of it i was going CRAZY to see her and Nic was too.


We camped at Lake Hebgen in Montana. it was GORGEOUS! I've never seen so many stars, seen so many bugs and spiders or camped next to such grumpy campers (we arrived at 10:30 and they wanted us to go straight to bed- not eat dinner and talk VERY quietly to each other-- they yelled at us twice. not cool) it was great and Seth and Maddy were perfect company. On Saturday we went into the park and saw some of our favorite along with some things we didn't get to see last trip. It was awesome. We ate the delicious black bean burger at the Old Faithful Inn (i'd been thinking about it ever since our last trip- it is AMAZING!) and then made tin-foil dinners on Saturday night.

On the way home Sunday our bus broke down 30 min. from Rexburg. It was so sad. I miss it already. We'll be getting it fixed soon (we hope!)

18 month stats

just as i thought... daphne has lost weight.
i guess we all have been in our family. unfortunately, i'm the only one who needs to be!
she hasn't grown at all either (since her last check up 2 months ago)

29.5 inches tall [below the 5th percentile]
19.8 pounds [below the 5th percentile]

the doctor said there was no need for concern (but he did recommend a gummy vitamin for her with b12 since she doesn't eat a whole lot of meat.- and no, we're not making daph a vegetarian. i don't cook meat [or eat it... obviously] but if we go out to eat daphne still has chicken or at sunday meals with the family and she does eat the same soy meat that we do on occasion too)

he just said we'll watch her growth charts at 2 (her next check up... i'm going to CRY! she's so old) and see how she's doing. He said she's probably just going to be a short, skinny person. Thanks for your good genes Grammy!! I'm glad she's got the Bingham metabolism, not the Pedersen one :)

He was happy with her developemental milestones and said she's doing more of what they expect a 2 year old to do, instead of an 18 month old, so that's good.

Her biggest fit during the appointment? you'd think it was when they pricked her finger for the lead test.... nope. it was stepping on the scale. cried so hard.