Life just keeps going...

Sorry I haven't written in a really long time. I guess I haven't had much to say. Actually I feel like not a lot of interesting stuff has been happening. Of course how boring and mundane you think your life is at times it still keeps going. Here are a few highlights from my life as of late.

• I quite my job at Call Assist! Yippee!! Actually that deserves a double YIPPEE! I quit Call Assist on Nov. 24th. Don't worry I have another job at Qwest. I start on Monday. I'm way excited. It's going to be a challenge cause it's very sales oriented & sales is not a strong skill of mine but I'm ready to make it a strong skill. The beauty part is that I only have to deal with one call at a time rather then 3! Brilliant!
• In my week & half vacation I've mostly been chillaxin. I've watched many many Red Box movies & have been reading a lot. I discovered the beauty of ordering books on amazon.com. They have a great Jewish selection, much larger then you can find here in Mormonville. I ordered 4 Jewish fiction books from amazon. ALL 4 books only cost $1.07! Of course you have to pay shipping and handling which brought my grand total to $17.03! Funny huh? Ok, let's review: 4 books = $1.07 S&H = $15.96. Still a very good deal so I'm happy & a bit amused.
  
• I spent Thanksgiving with family. The night before Thanksgiving I stayed at Deb & Jesse's house. It was so fun to play and bond with Mo. He might be the cutest baby ever. I bonded with him by reading to him and he bonded with my by expelling much bodily fluids onto my shirt. For sure I'm his favorite Auntie now, no question!
• I ended up having 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year. I must mention that this year was my first Thanksgiving without actually eating turkey. I've recently converted to vegetarianism. I didn't miss the turkey but I did miss the nostalgia of it. Ok, I'll admit I did miss the turkey with ranch & the week of turkey sandwiches that follows Thanksgiving day.
  
• The first dinner was with Jesse's family. They're fabulous! They're very loud, talkative, & there is many of them. The minute I walked in the door Jesse's grandpa said "make yourself at home." No prob, I was completely in my element with a bunch of almost crazy people laughing and talking all round me. There was a lot of teasing, laughing & a general feeling of welcomeness which is so much like my family. They were even ok with me spilling a large glass of water all over the beautifully decorated table before the dinner even started. Opps!
  
• The second dinner I went to was at my Aunt Marda's house. The house was bulging with people. I would guess that about 30 people were there. Of course it was noted that the crowd was a bit "small" this year! The best part was when my cousin Jana not so nicely kicked me out of my seat at the table cause she wanted to sit across from her daughter! I thought she was joking at first when she told me to move, but oh no, she was serious. It was quite funny. I'm hoping to bring it up in following years to make her feel "guilty" about being rude. :)
• I do have exciting news. Deb & Jesse are moving to Logan in 2 weeks! They have already found a cute house. It is even cheap and close to campus. The best part for me is that it has a stoop & a small porch! Can't you just picture me sitting on the stoop holding a glass of wine, laughing and carrying on in all my glory! I can't wait. I'm so excited to have them close. I can't wait until they actually get here.
  
• I'm finally getting over my cold but my ears hurt like mad! It's mostly my right ear but my left does hurt sometimes too. I've tried to see the doctor a couple of times but they can't fit me in. They keep telling me to go to insti-care but I can't afford that. Grrr! I'm a bit worried that my ear drum will rupture or something horrendous like that will happen. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
  
• One last thing. Poor Canon & Daphney have been trapped in the house for about a month. This isn't from the cold weather but from the 2 huge black dogs that my upstairs neighbors have. Poor little shuges. My apartment is just way to small to be stuck here all the time.
  

Ohh the pain!

I spent this morning in the ER. Ok, don't panic! It wasn't anything hugely dramatic just EXTREMELY painful! Wednesday night my lower back went into spasm causing sciatic nerve pain. For all of you wanting to know but not wanting first hand knowledge, let me tell you... sciatic nerve pain is the WORST PAIN that I have ever felt. It's the kind of breath stopping, black out causing pain that no one should ever feel! Lucky me I've had this pain a few times before. I had it the most severely back in 2003. That time I made the trip to the ER in an ambulance cause I could not move at all. This time I knew what was up and could move a bit, albeit slowly so I drove myself to the ER. After they loaded me up with a muscle relaxer, steroid, & a narcotic they sent me on my way. Harri came to the ER to drive me home. I didn't faint this trip and I no longer am having to remind myself to breath. Progress!
As I mentioned this pain tends to cause you to stop breathing when it is at it's most severe. As I'm sure you know not breathing causes oxygen deficiency to the brain witch is never a good thing. I actually fainted from the pain in 2003. In retrospect it is kind of a funny story. I lived with my friend Adrienne at the time. She was the one with me at the ER that trip. After many hours spent in the hospital bed I had to go to the restroom really really bad. Being a good friend Adrienne tried to assist me in this task. The whole task was quite a trial for both Adrienne & I & not very successful. With much effort I was able to get myself onto the toilet but not off of it! With Adrienne's help I managed to get up just enough to cause excruciating pain to radiate through what felt like my entire body. The next thing I knew I was on the tile floor dripping wet. I had fainted and collapsed to the ground during my attempt to become vertical. The wetness was from Adrienne pouring water on my face in an effort to wake me up. When I was coherent enough to realize what had happened all I can remember thinking was "Fuck, now I have to try to stand up from the GROUND!" I couldn't so I eventually crawled back to my bed.
Back to 2009...I'm doing much better now. I still hurt but at least I can wipe myself now without assistance, and of course in a situation like this unassisted bathroom trips is the true measurement of success!!
Thank God I've been blessed with a high tolerance to pain. :)

Poor Baby D

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've been told that my fans are anxiously awaiting an update on my "exciting" life. Well here's a story for ya'll.....
It's all about my little boy Daphney:

Friday morning I was standing naked in front of my shower waiting for the H20 to get warm when I heard the most horrid, deep male voice grunting behind me. Of course I was terrified that someone was in my apartment & had found me in my birthday suit. I turned round in a startle and only found Daph behind me. How can such a little body make such a horrid noise? I'm not sure, but he sure was. I guess he was unsuccessfully trying to vomit. I wasn't too worried cause on occasion he has been known to have stomach issues after eating to many treats or something of the like. Anyway, I was relieved that I wasn't being attacked, asked Daph if he was ok and proceeded to take my shower. Daphney left the bathroom so I thought everything was ok. When I got out of the shower I found Daph on my bed curled up & "acting funny." I'm not sure how to describe how I knew he as "acting funny." Just that I did cause I know my boys. As I was running late for work I asked Daph again if he was ok, resulting in a sad look from Daph, & I headed to work.

When I got home from work Daph was still in the same place as he had been 8 hours earlier. While this may be normal for Canon it is not normal for Daph. The thing that really made me worry is that he didn't even get up at all for his after work treat which he loves. I decided to inspect him for any wounds from a cat fight. I found what looked like to me a hurt whisker on his right paw. It looked like a white hair that had been curled and had split ends. When I tugged on it Daph cried out in pain. I also found a small cut in the same area. I put hydrogen peroxide on the wound and hoped he would be ok.

The next morning Daphney was still not acting himself. I wasn't sure what to do. I had to work so while at work I asked by friend and fellow cat owner and cat lover Melissa Whipple what she thought. She said she had a bad feeling about D and I should take him to the vet. Course I hesitated cause I have no funds for such things, but I decided to ring the vet and see if they had any advice they could offer over the phone. The lady on the phone said, "well you should really bring him in. Can you be here in 10 minutes?" I was at that very moment in my car parked in the parking lot of my work. I said, "yeah." I drove like mad home, barged into my apartment, grabbed the animal carrier, threw Daph in it, & then drove like mad to the vet, & yes I made it in the required 10 minutes."

You must know that Dapheny hates the vet with every cell in his body. He spent a few days on dialysis a few years back at the vet because of complete kidney failure. It was the worse and most complete kidney failure that the vet had ever seen but as Daph is a miracle kitty and a fighter so miraculously he lived. As a result of this experience every subsequent vet visit is a bit traumatic for both Daph and I alike.

When we got to the vet the tech asked if I could take him out of the carrier to weight him. When I finally got him out he was completely sopping wet with urine, & I mean SOPPING! Daphney had completely emptied his bladder in his carrier as a response to the fear he was feeling. Of course I was also now wet as I was holding Daph! Fanbloodytastic!! There was urine everywhere, all over Daph, me, the carrier, the bench the carrier was on, the floor, and of course the scale I had to put Daph on. After we got a weight the tech stuck us in an exam room with the promise that she would clean up the mess that D & I had just made.

In the exam room I grabbed paper towels and tried to clean up some of the urine. The tech came in to find out exactly why Daph & I were there, took Daph's temperature and even offered to rinse the D's animal carrier off in the tub. I asked if I could give Daph a bath in the sink while we were waiting for the doctor to come in to examine him. She said yeah and she would grab a towel for me.

Poor Daph now had a hurt paw, was dripping wet from urine & fear, & now was being drowned in a sink of water by his only protection from all of this....me! The tech brought a towel in for me. As I was drying Daph off the doctor came in to examine him.

This doctor was new to me and Daph but she was great. She was very understanding of all the trauma that was going on and seemed genuinely concerned about Daph. She examined his paw. I showed her the "hurt whisker" & she said, "that looks like a tendon to me, do you mind if I shave his paw to get a better look at it?" Wait what did she just say....A SEVERED TENDON!! I said "that was fine" & off she went with my baby boy. While she was gone I realized how much pain Daph must be in and started to cry. To stop the crying I focused on the fact that I was covered in cat urine and now stunk. I look off my jacket and put it in a Chico bag that I had in my purse and waited for the doctor and vet to return. When they did finally come back Daph looked a bit different...
He had this huge white and blue cast wrap on his leg. I know the pic is horribly blurry. I'll tell you why this is the only pic I have of Daph with the cast in a bit.

Turns out Daph did indeed sever his tendon in a fight and the tendon came through the wound and was poking out. Poor little boy! The doc cut the protruding tendon off, put some antibiotic ointment on the wound, & wrapped his leg up. She gave me some oral antibiotic that I have to give Daph for the next few days to prevent infection. I also have to take him back in 5 days to make sure he is healing ok. As I put Daph back in the carrier, grabbed all my urine drenched stuff and prepared to go pay my bill I wasn't sure who was more traumatized....Daph or me. This whole visit cost a mere $100! Ouch!! Good thing I wasn't laid off last week with the majority of my co-workers. Looks like I'll be visiting Harri's house a lot in the coming weeks for nourishment as I now have no budget to actually buy my own food. Although I am glad that I took Daph in even if it did cost a lot cause a severed tendon seems pretty bad and quite painful. After I paid the bill Daph & I headed home.

As a side note after D & I got home I rung my friends Melissa & Andy Spencer. We had plans to go to Anggie's for a late birthday lunch for me. I told Melissa about the new & not so popular "perfume" I was trying out & told her that I needed to quickly jump in the shower before I met them. I did finally make it to Anggies smelling much better & absolutely starving after this little adventure. Before I left for Anggie's I took the above pic of D with the cast on his arm but realized it was way blurry and figured I'd just get another pic to post after lunch.

While at Anggie's I of course told Melissa & Andy all about my morning. The best bit of this whole thing is that when I told them the white hair turned out to be a severed tendon Andy nearly passed out right there at Anggie's!! When he came to he said that all noise went silent, and everything turned to black! Funny stuff! Note to self..."never say severed tendon in Andy's presence." :)

After lunch I went home to check on my boy. I found him in the window and about 6 inches in front of him was the cast! He had managed to get it off his leg! When I said "Daph what did you do?" he just looked at me with the "it was annoying me" look on his face. Silly boy!

On a positive note Daph seems to be doing ok today. He is limping but other then that he seems like his old self.

Ohhh...the pain!!

I've had a headache everyday of my life for the past 33 years. I am not exaggerating this statement in anyway. I truly wish I were. It's just a fact & reality of being me. It's amazing what a human being can deal with and become accustomed to.
I believe I inherited this ailment from my Great Aunt Marda because she has suffered the same for her entire life. However, she learned self hypnosis and relaxation techniques to help alleviate hers. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I recall my Aunt Marda actually doing a hypnosis exercise on me to help with my severe headaches. Hypnosis wasn't as beneficial for me as it was for my Aunt Marda as 25 years later I'm still suffering!
I tell you all this because I am now dealing with the 4th migraine that I've had in the past 2 weeks. If you suffer from headaches you know that even 1 migraine is 1 too many. Even though I can say with all honesty that I have had some form of pain in my head every single day of my life, 4 migraines in 14 days is a bit much even for me. I have no idea what is causing all of this. Is it the change in season, allergies, stress, or what? I wish I knew so I could stop this terrifying trend.
On a positive note I did make it to Smith's after my second migraine and spent $30 on 3 different sized ice packs to deal with my headaches. This may have been the best $30 that I've recently spent as cold on my head seems to be the only thing that really alleviates some of the pain along with heavy doses of ibuprofen & acetaminophen. In the winter I've even been known to put snow in zip lock baggies to use as ice packs on my head....whatever works huh?
If you have any suggestions or miracle cures for chronic headaches send them my way. In the mean time I have big plans to bury my head in cold compresses in hopes of surviving the storm that has taken over my head!