The first appointment.

Thursday, April 28th

Today we met with an LPN at St. Joe's Women's clinic to gather my health history and pick a midwife. They collected urine from me at the beginning, and after the appointment they stole 7 or 8 tubes of blood from me. I wasn't expecting a blood draw, so this was a surprise.

The LPN asked when my LMP (last menstrual period) was, and I told her. But I was hesitant to tell her. Since my cycles are so long, it is unrealistic to use the normal due date calculator. I'm not normal. I pleaded for her to not use her number. But she did not budge.

According to her calculations, I'm 7 weeks. According to mine, I'm 4. That, is a huge difference at this point. She did bargain with me and scheduled my first ultrasound in 4 weeks (so what I believe is 8 weeks and 4 days). That way, if I'm right (and I know I'm close) I should still see a heart beat. Hopefully my midwife will agree with me and change my due date to the one I predict. A difference between December 12th, and January 3rd.

Is it weird that I'm secretly hoping for twins?? I know they are a lot more work, but goodness imagine the cuteness! :D I saw this double stroller with one seat in front of the other, and the car carriers fit on there too, and it was absolutely adorable. I'm crazy, I know. Only part of me wants twins...and it is highly unlikely. But I just have this feeling...

I've told pretty much all of my close friends, and family members. I finally decided that it doesn't matter at this point. If I receive bad news at my ultrasound, I'd tell them anyway. So I might as well tell them the news, while it is still good. (Hopefully it will continue to be good). :D

How I'm feeling:

I just switched over to night shift, which always messes with my head a bit. But this time seems a little bit worse. Smells are making me crazy. Yogurt doesn't taste the same. Food doesn't sound that appealing.

And unfortunately, I've had a small amount of diarrhea. I'll spare you the details.

But I am beginning to have nausea that comes and goes. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to puke, and I start to think about getting to the toilet, but then it passes. I'm also pretty tired, but again, night shift also makes me tired. And, I haven't been sleeping all that much as of late. (Just related to MD appointments, and visits with friends).

Actually, a nap sounds super amazing right now....hopefully I don't sleep through the night. (It's currently 1935). After I wake up, I need to do dishes...

Vitamins and minerals

Prior to my realization this weekend that I wasn't pregnant, I was freaking out. Here is the situation:

Jamaal, Bret, Joe and I go to Safeway, because I don't feel very good and I want ginger ale, cranberry juice, tums, wheat thins and nilla wafers.

I also secretly wanted to buy a pregnancy test. But, I didn't want them to know. The boys decide once they are done following me around, that they should get chips and pretzels to snack on later in the night. This was my chance to break for it.

When I get to the pregnancy test spot, however, there are none available for purchase, instead you have to go to the pharmacy desk or service desk to purchase them. Because apparently they are at risk of being stolen. (Food can also be stolen...)

Of course, there is a line at the pharmacy, but on a turnstile thing near the bottom, I find this:

If you remember, I was thinking about buying one of these babies online, but didn't know what size to get. This little baby is way too big really for my current vitamin regimen, but everything fits with plenty of room. There is a divider for AM and PM meds, that comes out easily. But for now, I'll leave it in so I can take two calcium chews per day.  

Back to the story....since I was freaking out, thinking I was pregnant, I thought it would be prudent of me to begin taking vitamins regularly. So I purchased the medication organizer.

The boys, by this time, were waiting for me at the front, wondering what had gotten into me. I wish I had a picture, but I was carrying cranberry juice, the boxes of wheat thins and nilla wafers, and the pill organizer. We left the store, and I was trying to figure out how I would get back there later.

The ginger ale I went with was awful, I chose a 2 liter of Safeway brand Diet, and it was terrible. I prefer Canada Dry Diet any day. Lesson learned...

Also, we decided on Papa Murphy's for dinner, so I was in charge of picking it up. This trip, I also picked up a couple bananas and carrots, which both sounded good to me. It is interesting to me, that I had pretty severe food cravings last weekend. I knew exactly what sounded good to me, which made me think that I was pregnant even more. I'm anxious to see what I'll be like when actually pregnant...

What a basket case.

Once I realized I was ovulating, I went on to play beer pong and did horribly. Jamaal and I were partners, and at one point we had only 1 cup left on our side, and hadn't gotten a single cup on their side. Of course I got blamed for being lousy. Oh well...

Silly puppy

I meant to post this last night, but didn't save it, so this really happened yesterday.

This morning I had the following conversation with my dogs: (yes, I talk outloud to my dogs, probably more than I realize I do.)

"Please die of old age. I want you to be healthy but old when you die. Please feel free to pass away in your sleep when you are old and grey. Please do not get sick."

Bacardi, only a minute after I said this, proceeded to dry heave. I leapt out of bed, carried her to the sliding door, and threw her out. She then vomited 3 times. It was very small, yellow colored slime.

I'm just proud of her for missing the carpet.

I think someone is trying to prepare me for children.

"Jordan, please don't touch that."
"Allison, please don't hit your sister."
"Carmen, please don't wake up yet."

And then Jordan touches it.
And Allison hits her.
And Carmen wakes up.

And Bacardi gets sick.

Tonight my mom and I will be going to the Fife pool to do some water aerobics. My mom and sister-in-law have done a couple weeks-long sessions already and really like it. They both have felt results from it, and I'm hoping for the same. If I like it I'll continue to go twice a week, either on Tuesdays and Thursdays or Mondays and Wednesdays. (And if I need to I'm allowed to mix-and-match if my work schedule doesn't allow me to go on Tuesday or Thursday.) The class is from 1900-2000, so as long as I'm working an 8-hour shift, I'll be able to make it (I start work at 2300 for an 8-hour night shift). The same is true for when I'm on day shift, I'll be able to make it if I work only 8 hours that day, since I get off work at 1930 for a 12-hour shift.

I'm trying to make better choices when it comes to food, but I find myself feeling hungrier than normal now. I'm thinking it has something to do with being more active, which has increased my metabolism a bit, so now I'm burning the food I eat a little faster. Plus, eating less can do that to a person. :) I got salmon for a late lunch at the Olive Garden the other night and I was starving about 2 hours later. I only ate half of it for "lunch" and then about 3 hours later I made some brown rice and had the rest. Later that night (I worked an 8-hour shift) I had an apple when I felt hungry and it filled me up. To be honest, I'm not good about reaching for a fruit or vegetable for a snack. Cookies or chips sound so much more appealing to me. But I felt so much better after eating an apple.

Last night at work my snacks included an avocado and an apple. I was only at work for 4-hours, because we had very few patients and a lot of nurses. So I ate the apple just before leaving to go home, because I didn't want to feel hungry and think about going to some drive-thru for a snack. Instead I air popped some popcorn and drizzled it with melted butter.

I will not starve myself or deprive myself of things I enjoy. A few summers ago I got really into losing weight, and I was so strict on myself that I would feel deprived. I was doing Weight Watchers (without the meetings) and would save up points so that I could have things I wanted like ice cream or popcorn or whatever. To the point where if you looked at what I was eating during the day, I had very little nutrition so that I could have a treat or two at the end of the night. I felt myself starting to develop an eating disorder, and that scared me to death so I stopped watching what I was eating. I never puked, tried to make myself puke, nor thought about making myself puke, but I was binge eating. Not to an extreme, I did not eat my weight in chips. But I felt that if I continued on that path, I might have gone there.

I moved in with Jamaal a little bit after my realization, and he has not really helped me with my eating. He has no problems with eating fast food on a daily basis. He could eat pizza daily. And unfortunately these things are easier than cooking. They make less dishes, and so are more appealing to me. Plus they taste good. We haven't ordered pizza in a while now, I think he might have gotten tired of it finally. I've been tired of it for a long time now, but would go along with it because I either had nothing else available to make, or didn't have a lot of energy to make what I had planned to make.

I'm on a mission to make better choices for us. I'm not going to cut out fast food entirely. It's okay once every couple weeks. But I'm going to make an attempt at cooking more wholesome meals for us. I've gotten into a rut of relying on bagged frozen meals, as they are easy and quick. Some of them aren't awful nutrition wise, but I feel the quality isn't as good.

And so I conclude this post...it kind of took a turn that I wasn't really planning on doing...

My Shape

I was going to post about this after washing the dishes, but I am still getting over my workout and want to rest up first...

My mother-in-law got me "Your Shape" for the Wii for Christmas. At first I was hesitant to try it. But I'm glad I have. It is essentially a workout program that tells you whether or not you are doing the workout correctly or not. The game comes with a camera that you hook up to the Wii, and it projects you onto the TV. It tells you to "watch your arms" or congratulates you for doing a good job.

I'm realizing that I'm super out of shape, but this game is helping me to be motivated to work out. The only problem is, I don't want Jamaal to watch me, so if I don't get my workout in before he gets home, I'm not very motivated to do it. ;)

Today I did a leg routine for 30minutes and even though I was sweaty and tired, I also did the "Bikini Challenge" for 15minutes. Then after that the girls and I went for a 30-minute walk, which successfully tired them out. :D

My first workout was on Tuesday, and I stuck with it and did a workout on Wednesday. Then on Thursday I went to lie down and was shocked to find that my abs were sore. The more I moved, the more I realized I was sore all over. It was amazing to me. I'm hopeful for good results. The great part is that the workouts fluctuate according to your skill level and the area you are focusing on.

The only down side is that sometimes it will say "uh oh, watch your arms" when my arms are doing the same thing she is doing. But it helps me to focus on all parts of the exercise.

Gotta get my body in better shape and lose about 10-20 pounds before I ruin my body with baby bumps. Haha. ;)

Merry Christmas!

and Happy New Year!

I haven't had a lot to blog about as of late. I'm not crafting very much (since my craft room consists of boxes), and haven't really been cooking anything fancy. Although I did make some candies for Christmas, that turned out heavenly, if I do say so myself! I didn't have my camera out though so no pictures of that.

Last week, I was supposed to work Christmas Eve night shift from 7pm to 7am. I was dreading it. I had worked on Tuesday during the day and looked to see when the last time everyone had had time off. I was the next one up for time off of all the people working Christmas Eve night shift. (we keep track of when we are given time off, so that time off is first offered to the person who hasn't had time off most recently). Since it was a holiday and most of our patients have scheduled surgeries, our beds were pretty empty. At one point our census was 9 patients and we have 28 beds available. I got a phone call at 5pm from work on Christmas Eve, and they put me on Standby for the first 4 hours. I had just finished making a cheesecake, and after receiving the phone call, I decided to make some toffee (the recipe link is one I found by reading the blogs that Kayleen reads. Yes, I'm that nosy. And yes, I enjoy reading most of blogs I find on Kayleen's page.) It turned out super. I followed the recipe to the nose, and though it took forever, it came out perfectly. I remember asking myself why I wanted to make it, I kept switching from my left to right hands, and almost enlisted the help of my husband. The only tip I would add is to use something bigger than a spoon. I chose a metal spatula, and it was perfect. I was able to scrape the entire bottom of the pot without difficulty.

After making the toffee I was inspired to attempt a caramel recipe I found in my Taste of Home magazine. They are Pecan Caramels. After running to the store for some last minute items, and to my parents house to borrow their candy thermometer, I was set. It was less work stirring the caramels because once you hit a certain point you are supposed to stop stirring, and just let it boil. Well I used much too small of a pan, though I thought the recipe told me to use the size I had, to the point where it began to boil over. I quickly dipped a small coffee cup in to remove enough of the syrup so that it wouldn't make as big of a mess. (I still have a burnt ring on that particular burner though. I need a razor blade to scrape it off of my glass top stove...) The caramels also turned out perfectly. The recipe called for 2 pounds of chopped pecans, which I cut in half, and they still tasted awesome. I cannot imagine putting 2 pounds of pecans in them.

Starting on Sunday I began to feel miserable. I had a sore throat, headache, malaise, fatigue and some very slight nausea which led to decreased appetite. I also had a temperature I'm pretty sure, but our thermometer is packed still, so I have no fact to base that on. On Monday I set my alarm early to gauge how I was feeling, and thought I felt better. So I got up later to shower. After my shower, however I felt worse, so I called in sick to work. Tuesday I still felt tired, weak and thought it would be best if I didn't go to work. Then on Wednesday I went to work with a slight cough. I wore a mask all day long, and by the end of the day (it was an awful day) I felt worse than I had prior to work.

Jamaal and I had planned to go to Portland for New Year's Eve with a few of his/our friends. We were going to go on The Party Bus, a bus that takes you to several different bars and the whole point is to be pretty drunk the whole time and have fun. Well on Wednesday I was starting to have reservations. I didn't feel like drinking, and I didn't feel 100% well either. You aren't allowed to sleep, or puke on the bus, and if you do either of those things you get kicked off. I didn't know if I'd be able to stay up until the bus was done. I also didn't want Jamaal to have a lousy time because I wasn't up to participating.

Then on Thursday, I woke up to no voice. I didn't feel much better, in fact just a little worse than I had on Wednesday morning. I told Jamaal I wasn't going to go.

Jamaal was able to ask his brother, who didn't have plans, and they all had a really good time. I was glad that they were able to party it up without feeling guilty.

The girls and I went to my parents house and spent the night with them. We watched Twilight and Four Christmases and relaxed. I received sweet texts from my drunk hubby until his phone died. Since Joe, Bret and Lamar are all single he was trying to help "hook them up" and I kept getting updates about their progress. In the end all three of them ended up kissing a girl, but Jamaal didn't know. He sucks at being cupid, and keeping me up to date on the gossip. ;) But he was very good at saying that the girls weren't his type and that they were not me. (I'll post about something sweet he did before Christmas, once I get around to taking pictures...)

Today I still have very little voice, but now my nose is stuffy/runny. I tossed and turned all night long and dreamt of shopping with Stevie, and only fleetingly Jessie, Kayleen, Kristina and Sarah. It had something to do with everyone else didn't want to be around my sickness.

Tomorrow Jamaal and I will be taking my parents to Avatar in 3-D possibly in IMAX as well. Jamaal and I saw it regular, and have heard its even better in 3-D. We owe my parents a movie for Mother's Day and Father's Day 2009, and I think they'll like Avatar.

What have I been up to?

Since I last updated, a lot of things have been going on. I will post later with some pictures of a couple things that I did last week (one was having my youngest nephew over to spend the night!)

But I thought I would let you all know that my wisdom holes have been healing well. (I actually never really had any holes because they were able to stitch me up pretty well. I'm eating normally now, but do have a little pain at times on the gum line, but that comes and goes.

I have a shoulder pain that comes and goes that I don't really know why it hurts, and that is my new gripe. I need to go to the MD about it to possibly get a physical therapy prescription, but kind of got busy my last two days off so I did not go. The pain doesn't really happen until I'm at work, and then it kills me. I don't know what I'm doing at work to hurt it, so it leads me to believe it is stress related.

We'll see.

In other news Jamaal and I will be buying a house here soon. Well, I say that, but we will be looking at the first few options on saturday. BUT we are able to put an offer in at any time. Mostly the issue is location. We would prefer to be north of our parents, kind of situated around I-5, ideally right around where we are currently. However, this area tends to be more expensive, and we've been spoiled with a big house, so it would be hard for us to downsize a ton. Obviously we would do so if we had to, but the fact is that if we lived around our parents we could have a bigger place. So we just have to figure out our priorities. We found one house that is basically gutted, which would be a ton of work. But we would be willing to do so as long as we could get a loan for a lot of extra dough to do the remodel....we'll see.

A little less wise

Warning, some disturbing content below!!

Last Thursday, I went in and had my wisdom teeth pulled. Now, 4 days later, I'm still on the mend. While the pain is getting better, it still hurts pretty bad, bad enough that I'm pretty sure I should take a vicodin before I eat anything. Here it is noon, and I'm wondering if I should eat something to fight the hunger pains, or should I just go without for a bit longer...

If you had the night I had last night, you would be having the same internal dilemma. I barely slept, and was up nearly every hour on the hour with the worlds worst gas, etc. That is all the detail you need. Fortunately I did not throw up, that would have made everything even worse!

It was interesting to have surgery, one second I was awake, and the next they were waking me up. The MD said "I just gave you a little bit of fentanyl and versed, once you're comfortable I'll give the propofol." His assistant put something in my mouth to hold it open, and then they were waking me up. Telling me to straighten my legs; teaching me how to walk again. Haha. They sat me down while they went over instructions with my mom, and I started to shake pretty badly, which is a side effect of the anesthetic. I had a warm blanket on me, and I stopped shaking. But even this part now is so hazy, I barely remember getting into the van to leave.

My mom and I went to Top Foods to pick up my prescriptions, and I was ready to join her to go shopping for some food. My mom was having none of that, however, I suppose she didn't want to babysit. :D So instead I wrote out a shopping list for her: apple juice, sprite, popsicles, a loaf of bread, and deluxe macaroni and cheese.

Fortunately for me, I only had 3 wisdom teeth, and only one of them was on the bottom. So really the pain is mostly on one side of my mouth. I feel like the pain should be gone by now, so part of me is worried that I'm infected or something. But it looks good in there...so I'm probably just a big baby.

If you get easily grossed out, don't look below!!





I asked the surgeon to save my teeth!
They were able to pull them all out whole! Most of the time they have to break the bottoms, but I was an exception...

Biopsy Blues

Well on Friday I had my thyroid biopsy. (If you missed my previous post about this, go here.) And compared to my previous biopsy, it really was not that bad. The worst part was the anxiety leading up to the biopsy.

I made sure to talk about my previous experience (trying not to cry) to let the ultrasound technician and the doctor know how terrible it was. I feel like the MD was trying as hard as he could to make this biopsy better than my last. He made sure to tell me to swallow before he put a needle in my neck (you don't realize how much you need to swallow until you are not allowed to), and he was very comforting.

Now it is day number 3 after the biopsy and you can barely tell that I had one done! Last time I had a ridiculous bruise all over my neck complete with large itchy welts! It was terrible. I ended up going to the MD to see if it was infected, and she told me it was an allergic reaction. We treated it with some topical cortisone to decrease the itching.

With a wedding less that 30 days away, I was ridiculously scared that this biopsy would maim my neck like it did last time. Fortunately, thus far, my neck is looking just fine!

The bad part is that the MD had to stop the biopsy before he wanted to, because blood was covering the area he was trying to get to. Ultimately he could no longer see the area he wanted to biopsy, so he had to stop. He said that he was 50% sure that he got a good enough sample. That doesn't make me feel very good...he said that I might need to have another biopsy. Which, if that is the case, I will not do until after my wedding.

I'm not sure if I want to find out the results before my wedding or not. I won't be doing anything about it before my wedding anyway, and I don't want to be burdened with the thought of either having to have another biopsy, or the thought of having cancer. However, if it is nothing, that would be a huge relief.

The results take 5-7 days to get back, so I won't be able to find out until next week. Which will give me enough time to get used to the idea of having cancer, or needing another biopsy. (Of course if it is neither I'll feel great!)

My dramatic thyroid

Well, you might remember me talking about my problem thyroid, but if you want a refresher course, go here! The blog entries there are listed from most recent to oldest entry so if you prefer to read them in chronological order, start from the bottom.

Well my last ultrasound was in October of last year, and like I noted before my thyroid MD wanted me to have a repeat ultrasound in 6 months. So last week, I had another ultrasound done.

I went in to speak with my thyroid MD to review the results, and she said that the right side has pretty much stayed the same, so that she is not very concerned with that. However, the left side, while it has less fluid (and is therefore smaller) there is a larger solid component, which she feels should be biopsied to verify that it is not cancerous.

When I heard that, my stomach dropped. My last biopsy was the worst experience of my life. I refuse to go back to UWMC for it. Only because I know if I go there, I will have a resident perform the biopsy, and I'd much rather have a radiologist who has done several hundred biopsies that someone who has done a couple.

So I have an appointment on Friday at 1:30. I don't know how long it will take to get the results back...but I'm pretty nervous.

Lent

I was recently reminded of Lent by a good friend of mine. While I had not forgotten about it, I did not realize that it had started already. Last year was the first year since high school that I did not give something up for Lent.


This is interesting because I am not Catholic, nor do I associate myself with any other religion. The first time I gave up something for Lent, it was because a friend of mine Senior year of high school was doing it. I thought it was interesting, and decided to do it. It turned out that I went to a Jesuit Catholic University so I was around people again that followed Lent, and I liked it from the year before.


Last year I'm not sure why I didn't give something up for Lent. It could have been that I was not reminded of when it began, whatever the reason, I'm ready to resume my tradition.


Lent, for me, is a time to attempt to better and to challenge myself. I admit, I do not follow Lent for the same reasons as a practicing Catholic might. I understand the ritual, and respect the beliefs associated with Lent.


So this year I have decided to give up/limit the following:

1. Swearing: I have noticed that I swear more than I would like to. Jamaal is a bad influence here. I have decided that "heck" is okay. But pretty much everything else is off limits including h-e-double hockey sticks.


2. Soda: I am allowing myself only 1 can per week. I think this one is going to actually be very difficult. Flavored, carbonated waters do not count. And no ordering of soda at restaurants.

Starting tomorrow....

I'm baaaaack....

Well last you heard from me I was sick...and I was going to finish the story of my Thanksgiving day. I was sick for 2.5 weeks. I had fevers off an on for a week and a half. It was so concerning to me that I actually went to the doctor for it. I wanted to make sure I didn't have an ear infection or anything that required antibiotics. She told me that I had a cold, and if it didn't start to go away in a few days that I should fill a prescription for an antibiotic. (I probably should have gotten that antibiotic, because a few days turned into a week) But my immune system is now stronger for all that work! :D This week was the first week that I actually felt better. I could breathe through my nose again (at times) and I didn't have too terrible of a cough. I was coughing up greenish yellow junk, but now it is mostly just gelantinized clear phlegm. I hope no one was eating, or thinking about eating while reading this. (unless you are a nurse, in that case you don't care!) Many people at work are now sick. I ended up calling in ill once and calling off my last 4 hours of a 12 hour shift one day. Being sick ate up my benefit time! :D I want that time for important things like a honeymoon and maternity leave, and heaven forbid a possible surgery.

So I'm hoping that now, I've gotten this whole being sick thing out of my system, and it won't happen again for me in like a year or more! :D

On to my Thanksgiving adventures. Once we were all finished with dinner at my parents house, I got out a few costumes I had purchased at Target for $2.50 each....

Bella, as Mrs. Claws and Shadow as a very sensitive reindeer. (You'll see what I mean in a few pictures)

Shadow and Bacardi, the Christmas Elf.

Bacardi the Christmas Elf. She was the best poser there. She is usually all over the place but once the costume was on she calmed right down.


Here she looks very hoity toity. Like, "I am too good for the likes of you". Either that or she is glaring at some one...."take this ugly thing off of me!"


Bella jumping for joy! "I am so excited for Christmas Mom!"

Shadow is fine as a reindeer, as long has her hood isn't on...
Once the hood goes on, she pouts. "you are laughing at me not with me!" She literally will lay down and stay there until someone feels bad enough to take the hood off of her. She can't see so she just gives up..."nobody likes me everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms..."

Bacardi is looking up at my mom...."please help Shadow with her hood..."



Bella checking Shadow out. It was really funny...once all of the costumes were on. The dogs had to sniff each others butts to make sure they weren't eaten by an elf, deer or lady...

They did much better with the costumes on than I was expecting. It was very entertaining....

I never get sick

Never! But for some reason this week I decided to catch a cold...On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was fine all day at work until 5pm exactly, when, I started sneezing like crazy. (Now I do sneeze crazily all the time, I sound like a poodle, or a small dog barking.) But this was different. I could not stop, and when I did I only had like a 5 minute break in between bunches of sneezes. My throat felt itchy, and my nose was running. I thought that it was an allergic reaction, but on thanksgiving morning I felt just as bad. I thought that I should call in sick, but I thought that if I did the unit would be short staffed, and it is hard to get people to come in on a holiday. So I was going to truck on through. Sick or not. At 0620, as I was saying to myself "Aubri, you need to get going." My cell phone rang. I've said this before but when my phone rings that early, I know it is work calling to say stay home! I was so thankful! I was not fit to be working, because not only was I sick, but I was also sore from working out. And when you have a cold, aches and pains seem so much worse.

I was also thankful, because this meant that I would be able to see Jamaal's family as well for Thanksgiving. Since I was going to be working we decided that he would meet me at my parent's house after he had already been to his grandma's house in Tacoma. I was not looking forward to driving all by myself from work, to my house to change, and then on to my parents house, and then driving home again.

As it was, I was able to go with Jamaal and his brother to my parent's house first to drop off the girls (I did not want the girls to be left alone all day on Thanksgiving!) then, we went to Jamaal's parent's house to drop off his brother's luggage (Jamaal picked him up from the airport at midnight the night before) and meet up with their parents. And off we went to grandma's house. Jamaal's mom has 8 brothers and sisters, and most of them were there at one point in time, I think one brother did not come. You can imagine that he has a ton of family, many many cousins, and I still have a hard time keeping them straight. (even after 3 years!) I know the ones I see the most. Anyway it was a good time. Jamaal's dad made the turkeys and they were fabulous! So juicy and he seasoned it well.

Off we went to my parents house after a few hours at grandma's. My mom was mad at me for not calling her when I found out I wasn't working. (It was 0620 and I thought that I didn't want to wake them up) Besides I sent an email to my dad telling him the story because he usually gets up at like 0600 even on days when he does not work. Well she did not get the memo...and she was upset with me...even though I told her that even though I was not working I would probably get to her house around the same time as if I had worked since we went to Grandma's...

Anyway she got over it quickly, and we had a good meal there with my parents and my aunt. (I say "we" but I was the only one who ate. I just had turkey and a roll at Grandma's house, because I told my parents I would eat with them. Jamaal ate at Grandma's.)

By the time I got to my parent's house, I was really beginning to notice my cold. And my arms and shoulders were so sore I was beginning to be miserable!

I will show some pictures later, but all in all, it was a good night. I had the worst time trying to fall asleep, but the benedryl I took helped a lot. The rest of the story will come, I just keep walking away from this post, and now it is time for bed...

TMI post follows...

So you will probably think this is TMI, but don't say I didn't warn you...



Yesterday at work, I was having bladder spasms. Not too often. Just once in a while it would happen more often if I leaned forward while in a sitting position. The spasms were terrible though, the pain would shoot up from my bladder up through my sternum (the middle cartilage/bone in your chest...). From that I knew I had a bladder infection.

The weird thing is that that was the only symptom I had. (Except for a dull pain in my bladder while driving home from work) Normally there is pain or burning with urination, feeling like you have to pee all the time,

I knew I had to do something. So I called my doctor, who is located in Federal Way, during my commute home after work. It was 4pm when I called them. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to Federal Way thursday or friday, so I opted for an appointment on saturday of this week. When I was talking with the receptionist, however she mentioned that they accept walk-ins for things like bladder infections, but they only accept walk-ins until 4:30pm. I settled for an appointment at 9am on saturday.

The more I drove, the more my bladder hurt. The more I thought "what if I wait until saturday and the infection moves to my kidneys? what if I need to be admitted to the hospital? what if I have to have fluids and IV antibiotics, and I have to call Jamaal to bring in stamping supplies to me so I'm not bored...what if..." You see my point? Mostly only a nurse would think like that...or someone who is familiar with the way these things go...

So I decide that I am going to try to make it to federal way from seattle by 4:30. Traffic was on my side. It was at least moving. (unlike today, which is a completely different story!) But by the time I hit the 320th exit, it was nearly 4:30. My exit was the next one after that. And it would probably take 5-8 minutes for me to get to my clinic. So I decide, I'll call the clinic and ask if I could get squeezed in. The receptionist checked with the "nurse" (I say it in quotes because they call medical assistants nurses...which appalls me, only because I have worked hard for my title...) and it was okay for me to squeeze in just after 4:30. (it was 4:33 when I arrived at the clinic.)

Peed in a cup, and sure enough it was positive. So the MA, asked if I wanted to fill my Rx here or at my pharmacy. I asked if there was a difference, and since there wasn't much of one, opted to take my Rx from the clinic.

She left me in a room, and I thought..."crap, I hope they don't only have Penicillin drugs or sulfa drugs" and she came back only to say, "what we have here, you are allergic to."

I guess I could have predicted that!

So now I am on an antibiotic for 7 days? or perhaps 14 days...BID.

Yesterday I felt terrible. I was fatigued, so much so that I wanted to go to bed at 8pm. But I stayed awake 1 hour longer to get something done. My bladder was sore, and I had a few more spasms. But I was definately not up to snuff. Today I feel better, the pain isn't as bad, but I still notice it. Fortunately I had my chemo class today, which made me drink plenty of water, and go to the bathroom often!

I hope my symptoms are gone tomorrow! That would just be wonderful...although now I am feeling slightly nauseated from the antibiotics...you just can't win I guess!

How I got my bladder infection: At work, I "forget" to pee. I get busy with patients' tasks, and multiple requests, that I forget about my own needs. So I end up going from 7am to 1 or 2 pm without peeing. So that means the urine sat in my bladder, and some sort of bacteria snuck it's way up my urethra, and grew a huge family of bacteria.

This is why it is important to pee often Ladies!! :D

Goals, goals, goals...

So lately I've been feeling pretty crummy. I haven't gained weight, but I feel like I have. And I've realized that I feel so terrible, because I haven't been to the gym in nearly 2 months!!

Night shift screwed me all up. I was doing really well, but then I started to just get tired, and I was able to find an excuse to not go.

Today, I went to the gym and upgraded so that I can go to multiple clubs. I have been travelling to Renton, because at the time, it was the closest club. They opened a club in Tukwila, about a 5 minute drive from my house, probably 10 minute walk, in June, but I really liked my personal trainer so I stayed at Renton. Now, I still like my personal trainer (even though he didnt call me to make me go train) but will only have to go to the Renton club on the days I train, or when I'm in the area.

So here are a few of my goals, I need someone to hold me accountable. (although already I feel much better and I just worked out today...)

1. Drink more water. I need to get a water bottle so I can keep track of how much I'm drinking. But I want to drink at least 2 liters every day.
2. Work out 3 days per week. Right now that is realistic for me. When I work 12 hour days, I don't have much more energy to make myself go to the gym too. However, I am going to attempt to go to the gym before work this Wednesday, since my gym is closer I might be able to workout, shower, and leave the gym by 6:15? It opens at 5. I might be able to do it. perhaps I'll only rinse off, and leave my hair and makeup on? We'll see.
3. Snack less at work. I find myself hoping that there will be some kind of cookie or snack left for us in the report room. It is terrible, and instead of eating the apple I brought I reach for the brownie. Last week I started this one...I did better than normal, but still need work.

Well that's all folks! Let me know what healthy things you are currently trying to do...successes and "works in progress" (I wouldn't say failures...) are both welcome!