No more IV's!

No more IV's in my arm, yay.
My original line got clotted off today on my last day!! Ugh. I tried to flush it out with the saline solution they gave me, but it wouldn't go through and just ended up making a lovely swollen bulge under my skin. So I had to call the nurse to come out and start ANOTHER IV just for my last dose. But she was very good and it barely hurt, so no harm done. The boys were home from school by then and thought it was very interesting to watch, as they always do for my various "procedures." After that last dose I removed the IV myself, which was totally no big deal, but for some reason made me really squeamish. I have a very high pain tolerance, but I just HATE watching needles go into or out of my veins. Shots are not a problem but the in-the-vein thing just really creeps me out. I don't even like to think too hard about the IV catheter sitting there in my vein day after day. But I was a big girl, got all the tape off myself, and then pulled the thing out. Didn't really hurt, just feels very odd. And I'm all disconnected, and aside from a few bruises on my arm, good as new!
Now for the lovely week of withdrawal. I'm hoping all the horribilizing I'm doing in my mind will make the actual experience not as big a deal as I worried. In any case, I've got a lot of junk food to get me through. Comfort food does have a place in life, right? We have oatmeal raisin cookies I made for my YW presidency meeting this morning, brownies my visiting teacher brought over, some leftover home-made ice cream, leftover regular store-bought ice cream, two apple-turnovers, and various lunch-box cookies in the pantry. Yeah, I should be fine. AND, in a couple of weeks when I'm stronger I can start walking and burning off the couple of pounds I will inevitably have put on over these two weeks.
Tonight was the 1st grade orientationat the school. Always a challenge when I have 2 first graders and only one of me. We went to most of Joseph's and then slipped on over to Brigham's for the last couple of minutes. Seems like they should have a good first grade year. I really need to get my boys onto a regular homework-time-with-mom schedule every day. They have homework starting in October, but I want to start some one-on-one math and reading time with me before then. Probably just 15-20 minutes a day at first. The school is emphasizing reading, of course, being 1st grade, and my boys LOVE to be read to, but I know the teachers want me to sit down with them and read to them word-by-word, pointing out each word, etc., which is much more boring for me and for the boys. But I understand that is how they are going to start recognizing words much more easily and start getting excited to read for themselves.
There are a bunch of Chinese and Indian students in both the boys' classes (ok, I know I'm being totally un-PC here, but whatever), and I just know those parents are sitting down with their kids for like an hour each day with math and reading, then an hour at piano lessons, violin lessons, etc., etc. I don't want my boys to necessarily have that kind of totally-structured after-school time, but I also want them to feel like they are just as smart as the other kids, and that they are keeping up with them. Ah, the dillemmas of putting your kids in academically advanced schools!
You should have seen Mosey tonight when Ben got home from work. He was so excited to see him. Mosey must be just completely bored with me. Part of the problem (most of the problem?) is that I really can't do much of the rough-and-tumble horse play that 3 year old boys crave. So anyway, Ben gets home and is swinging Mosey all around, dropping him on the couch, chasing him around the kitchen/playroom/living room circuit we have, pretending to eat his sunshine bear, and just making Mosey burst out into gales of laughter. It did my heart good to hear him laugh like that, and also made me feel a bit miserable for not being able to make my little boy laugh like that myself. I hate feeling like I'm ripping my little guy off. Thank goodness for Daddies!! THIS is why Heavenly Father meant for families to have moms AND dads. There are some things moms (even fully functional moms which I am not) just can't do as well, as regularly, as naturally as dads.
OK, off to bed for me. Wednesday is tomorrow and the week will be half-over!