Stuck in my throat: a tale of woe involving Prilosec, Mylanta and Zytrec

Boys be warned: This story involves girl talk.

SOOOO, I went to my lady doctor last Monday to have my IUD removed. After asking me if I wanted to keep said IUD for my wall (I politely declined--she was kidding), she prescribed an antibiotic for me as a precaution. I didn't even fill the prescription for another day because I thought it was unnecessary. Finally, guilt told me it was better to be safe than show up back at the office with some unwanted something or other that could have been prevented if I'd just played it safe.

Fine, I filled the prescription last Tuesday and took one blue pill that night (the bottle said twice a day for five days). Wednesday morning, it felt like the pill had dissolved in my throat, and I had some heartburn off and on. My friend said heartburn is common with antibiotics. The next day, I choked on most everything I ate and had more heartburn. I remember the choking being just another form of heartburn from being pregnant with Grace.

I was out of town on Thursday, so the next time I took the stuff was on Friday. More heartburn. On Saturday morning, before I even took a pill, I drank a glass of water and felt stabbing pain shoot down my arms, back and chest. Same with breakfast. I quit taking the antibiotic and looked it up online.

Doxycycline, (click here for more info.) it turns out, commonly causes heartburn. The more serious side effects are "difficulty swallowing or throat pain." In less than 1 percent of people, it causes esophagus damage and ulcers of the esophagus.

My neighbor/doctor told me to get on a strict regimen of Prilosec, Zyrtec and Mylanta. He told me to call him if I didn't start feeling better within a few days, and he'd probably have to put me on Prednisone, a steroid that makes your face swell. NICE!

SO, I'm now slowly starting to feel the effects reverse. Sunday was terrible, Monday about the same. I could feel each bite go down my throat just fine and then shoot spasms of pain everywhere once it hit about my chest area. Mashed potatoes and banana smoothies, ironically, were the worst. Tuesday was a little better, today the pain is occasionally, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to choking heartburn.

Oh, and Dr. Danes said chances of me getting anything from my IUD removal (the reason why I took the antibiotic in the first place) were very slim. There you have it . As a result of being precautious, I caused myself a week's worth (hope that's all) of stupid, unnecessary, over-the-top pain.

Pet snuggie

Kevin HATES the Snuggie. After the presidential election, he was thoroughly irritated that Snuggie sales increased substantially. I sent him this link I saw today on MSN. Thought I'd share.

Favorite new quote

Just got this from my friend, Jen. Love it.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractively and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, screaming "WOO HOO! What a Ride!"

Summer pics

Pics from Idaho in the gardens. My sister Kerry bought the cousins red, white n blue shirts and orchestrated some cute cousin pics.
And some not so cute.

Kourtney--cute braids.

Ashley--cute Ashley.

Cousins in the veggie garden.

Cousins on a corral. I love how Baby Wyatt is kinda perched up there on the far right and Hallie is looking down at him like she's kinda worried (or like she's gonna kiss his little head).

Grace and her favorite McKay on haybales. Kerry did this trip much more justice on her blog :) http://www.kjudy24.blogspot.com/

Lazy Days of Summer ?!!!

Oh, I wish!! Summer is already over for Ashley. She went back to school on Monday--the same day we sent Kourtney off to Oakcrest. Something is terribly wrong when one daughter goes to girls' camp and another goes back to school on the SAME day!!
Here are a few things I did photograph in this last month: We went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple openhouse with Kevin's family last week. This is the best shot we could get. It was scorching hot and we were ready to leave. And we were staring into the sun ;)
The whole Knudsen clan at the open house. Notice my niece and nephew, Abbie and Brandon front and center to the left of Ashley. They're brother and sister. Abbie's wearing her long white baptism dress (she wanted to wear it to the temple) and Brandon is wearing a black suit. As we were walking toward our tour, an old man stopped the two of them and jokingly said, "Hey, are you two getting married today?" Brandon didn't even crack a smile. He just said, "Yes. Yes we are" and kept walking. Twas funny!

Veggies from my garden!!! We have tomatoes now too!!! This is the first year we've done more than a salsa garden. It's like magic--put the little seeds in the ground and a few months later, there are veggies out there among the forest of weeds (Once the heat hit, I gave up dilligently weeding and the weeds happily ran rampant))

Cute Grace and Macie at Wheeler Farms.

Ashley's June dance recital.

Girls' getaway to St. George.

There's a super quick recap.

Notice there's nothing in there about Father's Day. Sigh. Not one word about Kevin.

Or how much I appreciate his patience.

Or how I love his humor.

Or his superb! cooking.

Or how I love that he takes the girls shopping.

Or how he never complains about running errands.

Or how he laughs so hard at funny movies that I find him just as humorous as the movie.

Or how he loves me more than anyone I've ever known.

Or how he works so hard at a job he doesn't love to take care of the family he does love.

Maybe next year.

Is it June already?

I'm afraid I've been cheating on my blog with Facebook (blush!)

Such a fast-paced mistress with instant comment gratification on the cute photos I've taken of my girls recently.

I do however love the cozy, personalized, finished look and joy of blogging, and I have finally updated my background.

I can't believe an entire month is gone. I've got some cute June pics to post.

New haircut

Ashley snapped this lil photo of my new hairs. I'm experimenting with how to style it--this was a bit of a flippy version. It's kind of a Carol Brady style, but I kinda like it.