COBRA-LALALALA -or- My Old Lady's on the Floor

(By Lazlo)

Kate's health problems (alluded to below) turned out to be gallstones. Over the weekend, she was in severe pain and we decided to go to the hospital on Monday morning. Like, writhing-on-the-floor-moaning pain. And vomiting. So, I figured out the insurance stuff (we borrowed some money to pay the exorbitant cost for COBRA) and we left the girls in the capable hands of Stands With A Fist (and later Baby's Aunt Pam) and went to Seton. (That's a hospital for you non-Austinites.) She was seen relatively quickly and got an ultrasound confirming that she had gallstones, saw a surgeon, and was admitted. Yesterday the doctors did an endoscopy (with lasers!) to dislodge one particularly out-of-place stone, and this morning Baby went under the laproscope and got her gallbladder removed. Baby is feeling like a car ran over her midsection -- which is to say much better than she felt on Sunday. Otherwise, she's doing really well. The surgery went off without a hitch. The lasers did what they were supposed to do. Baby should come home sometime tomorrow.

The timing on this whole thing could have been better -- it could have happened in two weeks, when we'll have insurance through my job. Wren could have not come down with a serious cold yesterday. I could have had some accumulated sick time instead of having to pay for my time off. It could have even happened when my parents were in town so they could watch the girls a little bit. However, right now I just feel incredibly blessed. Our families have provided so much for us in the last four days: childcare, stew, lots of money, and so much of their time. Also sympathy, good advice, and diagnoses (some false, some accurate.) Baby's surgeries have gone as well as possible, and we've been able to use the COBRA with no problems so far. (I've been told that we'll be fighting bills for the next two months to get Baby's hospital stay covered, but nothing so far has prevented her or Wren from getting care quickly.)

So, to all of you have have helped us out this week, thank you. We'll be leaning on you a little while longer, but you have made our lives so much better than they could have been. Now I've got to go to bed early so I can start making up for some of this time lost off work.