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Firing someone is never easy.

Firing someone is never easy. Such a harsh term, "firing". It's makes it sound like your burning somebody alive. Seriously, I will use the word termination.

The thing about working so closely with people is the simple fact that you become "friends". You spend more time with people you work with, than you do with your own family. In my case, I thought I was doing the right thing by giving Sommer an opportunity to grow and build her clientele. To my detriment giving her too much time was making me the "enabler". I was trying to be the best person I could be by not letting her go a long time ago. The fact is that in this struggling economy, I was paying way too much for the job that was being performed

The timing could not be worse. The very time she is going through a rough patch in her relationship with, my friend (that I matched made with 10 months ago), was the way the timing played out for this termination as well.

Simple truth; I gave Sommer an opportunity to advance within the company. I poured my heart and soul into a plan that could catapult her to the next level. When I presented it to her, she did not show one sign of understanding what I had just offered her. She claims that she was busy processing it. I gave her a deadline to report back to me her decision. I made it clear that if she was not interested in growing within the company that , that was okay too. I was talking about future possibilities of partnership with this young lady! The deadline came and went, without acknowledgment of the offer, an acceptance or denial. Nothing, not a word. I even went to where she was for the entire afternoon, the day after the deadline, and waited for her to give me some sort of unsolicited response. She did not. So the time came that she was finished for the day and I told her that I had given her a deadline for the advancement offer and that I had not heard back form her. She agreed. .......okay, now is the time to say something Sommer, hello??? IS there anyone home? Not one word in her defense. Not one. I said, "Okay, well, I'm sorry but I think it is time we sever this relationship, neither of us are benefiting from it and I cannot continue to waste my time, or yours [hers]". "Okay". No, that's what she said, just, "okay". She proceeded to pack her things and head to the door. I ask, "Is that everything Sommer?" She responded "Yes". I ask did she have anything to say after 3 1/2 years? "Nope". I stated that I was shocked, she then responded, "I'm the one that's shocked, because I know that this does not have to do with anything here, but rather was what Uri [my friend and her boyfriend] was running his mouth about". WHAT? I told her it did not have anything to do with Uri, and everything to do with the fact that she completely ignored my repeated request for making decisions about moving forward.

That said a lot to me. She wanted to blame someone else for her not making a decision. She is not willing to take responsibilities for her short-comings.

Wow, that's all I have to say. Wow!

Time for my education....damn it!

Busy day today in the salon. Haircut's all day. I really like it when color clients break up the day, but about every 5 weeks or so there seems to be a trend that it's all haircuts, all day. Exhausting!

Does anyone watch "Tabatha's Salon Takeover"? It's a great reality show about failing salons that are at wits end with terrible management , staff or in some cases, both. She comes in and literally takes over for one week. Catch it on Bravo if you can. It's a great informational show for stylist too!

I'm ready to focus on some education myself. I have spent the last 5 years building my business, sinking every penny I make back into it, that I have neglected myself when it comes to education. I'm ready Vidal! I'm signing up for classes before this summer! That will be my vacation this first half of the year.

I really, really, really wanted MISO Sushi tonight! Since Mark is in Dallas, someone (me) had to come home and love on the babies. They don't like being left alone for so many hours. I forgot to leave lights on this morning when I left, so they sat in the dark for a few hours.

Kelli and her family are making arrangements for Debbie and I will be sure to post the info, in case anyone reading is interested. So sad. My heart aches for them. Keep them in your thoughts and meditations.

If you live to be one-hundred

I don't think anyone even reads my blogs, and that's okay with me. I find it a great place to get things off my chest that I do not wish to post on Facebook or Myspace. I suppose I could just write it all in a journal and keep it completely private; what good would this $2400 MacBook Pro be if I was writing crap!

I have not written here since my surgery and hospital stay back in June. I think coming to the blog site makes me think about how close I came to really not being okay. It reminds me of my hospital stay and I don't like thinking about that. I need to change that, so I'm here again, blogging away, and I think I'll keep doing it just as a "release" at the end of each day.

This has been a day of mourning for The Manes family. Debbie, dear, sweet, bright Debbie had kidney surgery yesterday because of a mass of cancer. She pulled through the surgery, but in the end, her heart was too weak to keep her alive in the hours following. Most of you know my dear friend, through thick and then, Kelli Manes. She assisted me in the salon for several years and is looking to have her license in her hand and back to the salon full time this year. She was with her mom when she died this morning at 12:25 a.m. I pray for Kelli and her family and hope that she is strong through the days, weeks, months and years ahead. Debbie will truly be missed. She was a ray of sunshine and had a contagious laugh that you could not help but love! I'm sad that I do not enough memories with Debbie. Life is short. If you love to be one-hundred years old; life is short.

I'm glad that Kelli felt that she could lean on me in her time of need. She was over, with Crystal and Helen most of the afternoon today. It was very sad, yet at times we were in tears laughing about our sweet memories. I will be there for you Kelli, whatever you need.

I'm ending my day today meditating about the power of now; how you are never guaranteed tomorrow, or even later today. You must live in each moment and stop and take the time to see what's great in your life. Take the time to let the ones you love, know how you feel. I don't mean through a "chain" email telling you how special you are to them. Call them. Send them a card. Do something damn it! You may not have another chance.

A is normal I was B (notice the extra duct on the gallbladder)

Okay, so for all that have been following along with the blog and my frustrations about what happened when I had my gallbladder removed last month; here's the down low; the 411; the deal'eo.......I'm a freak of nature!

So my case from the beginning apparently was not typical. From the time I checked into the ER in the very early morning hours of Friday June 11, 2009.

I was suffering from severe abdominal cramps and vomiting. (read the previous blogs for all the details). At first, they wanted to schedule me to come back for outpatient surgery. Usually a gallbladder operation is quick and simple and recovery time minimal; certainly not normal to have an 11 day stay for it. Once they ran some additional blood test they determined that my white blood count was too elevated to send me home. I was admitted that evening and told that the surgery would be that weekend; something changed, because they decided to do it that night, right after I was admitted.

On Saturday, I refused to go home because I had not met some of the discharge orders and I had experienced that last year after the removal of my appendix. They told me that I would have to go the next day. About 3 am the the next morning, my stomach felt as if it was going to explode and the oral pain medications were not touching the excruciating pain that I was experiencing. They started running additional test, a lot of them for the next several days. They discovered that I had a bile leak and decided to go in, drain the fluid build up that was making me look like I was 7 months pregnant and the next day scope me through my mouth and place a stint where the leak was to give it time to heal itself. Once the GI team got in (ERCP) they reported to my surgeon that the leak was not where they assumed it would be. In fact, it was coming from a different area.

This is an abnormal birth defect that happened when my embryo formed. My liver grew an additional duct (referred to as DUCT OF LUSCHKA). When my gallbladder was removed, the "normal" ducts were cut and clamped, but this extra one, the size of a hair, was traumatized and opened up to start the bile leak that made me so sick. Unfortunately it takes a series of test to determine this and that is why I suffered for a few days. It was totally abnormal and something they would not normally look for. The surgeon did tell me that he looked around while he was laparscopicly removing the gallbladder, but the inflammation was so bad, he could not have possibly seen this duct of Luschka.

The surgeon also told me that I was very lucky and should be glad that I came in when I did. My gallbladder was very sick and infected and if left untreated could have caused sepsis, which could have put me in ICU for a couple weeks.

I'm thankful that they finally found the cause, and that I have some answers for what exactly happened.

He did apologize for the pain I suffered, but pointed out that it was a really cool learning experience for him and his team; in fact, he wants to give me a copy of the x-rays because he will be using them in his lectures from this point forward. He pointed out that he had been a doctor specializing in this for the last nine years and practicing for the last fifteen and I was his very first case of duct of Luschka. He said he had only read about it in the past and wondered if it really existed. I guess I once again, have made a medical mystery show topic; thank God, I survived.

I am following a story about the airman from TAFB that went in on July 9 for a simple gallbladder operation, the doctor nicked his heart valve and cut circulation off to his legs, which had to be amputated because of the mistake. God Bless him and his family. I feel rather fortunate after hearing this story.

Thanks again for following my story!

Recovery Update

For those interested, my recovery is coming along very slowly, but hopefully surely. I have not been on the computer since Thursday or Friday due to the fact that I have been so nauseated. I am keeping fluids and solid food down, but I must take my anti-nausea medication to even want to eat. The side effect of the phenergan (anti-nausea med) is that it makes me really sleepy.

I had a one week follow up appointment yesterday morning. The Dr. says that my recovery is taking longer because I had a lot of trauma to my abdomen in such a short period of time. She compared it to my stomach being 9 months pregnant. Of course, I feel like I've been home for a week already and I should be up and ready to go back to work. She assured me that it is normal that the healing is taking time.

I'm tired of the nausea and night sweats. Thank God most of the "real pain" has subsided and I have not taken any pain medication since Saturday night. Ibuprofen 800 mg has worked enough on the inflammation and the dull pains that remain in my abdomen.

She also put me on a high protein diet for the next few days to help build my strength up. I really want to try and go back to work tomorrow, I feel guilty not working, and I think that getting back into some kind of normal routine could not be a bad thing.

I'm sorry to all of my clients that I have inconvenienced through this whole process. Hair stylist are not allowed to be sick; not this long.

Thanks again for your love, support and prayers. They are much appreciated and lovingly accepted.

On The Mend

Today was a much better day than the day before and I'm hoping that tomorrow will be better than today.

I am still on such medication that I'm forced to lay around groggy most of the day and end up wide awake in the middle of the night waiting on my night medications to take effect.

I think I have watched enough "Everybody Loves Raymond" to know that I, for one, am glad that I don't have to deal with in-laws and a meddling family. I think some opinions would be welcome, but all the time with the unsolicited advice from the nosy mom across the street? It does make for funny television though. The plastic on the sofa? LOL . I don't know how I managed to miss this show when it was in regular broadcast.

Mark was off to Minneapolis this morning and left me with nurse maid Kelli, who took very good care of me today. She made me breakfast, lunch and dinner & I went for a couple of walks to the corner and back to keep things moving along.

I am really hoping to be back to work by Saturday, but I don't think I'm going to be rushing things and listen to my body; it'll tell me when I'm ready.

That brings me to my next point of listening to your body and that inner voice we all have that tells us what we should or should not do. If your body is telling you it does not feel right; kick and scream until someone listens to you. They wanted to send me home the day after the first surgery, telling me everything was "normal". Had I listen to them, I might have died. Maybe a little dramatic; I believe that I could have really gotten a bad infection and truly could have died had gotten bad enough, especially if I kept reassuring myself what the Dr.'s were telling me, "Oh it's normal, the pain will go away in time."

In short, listen to your body. Don't let them dismiss you so easily. If you know something is not right, you know something is not right. Keep at it until you know things are right. We can only do what we can do. They are only going to do what they "have" to do. Michael's [Crumpton] dad had all this crazy footage of stint wiring left in his body after a routine surgery, he almost died. Had he not insisted that more test be run, he could and would have died.

If I'm going, I'm going kicking and screaming all the way.

Here's to good health.

Drowsy now, nighty night.