So things have been... interesting around here, so say the least. Remember awhile back when I mentioned that pesky gypsy wind was wreaking havoc with my status quo?
Well she came back.
In gale force.
And my life is about to be turned completely upside down.
Let me explain.
So back when I wrote that blog post, I had been searching and applying The Husband for jobs for several months. He has been unhappy with his current employer for awhile now, ever since they made some, shall we say, douche-y decisions. So I started looking around the greater Seattle area.
Local city governments, school districts, hospitals, major businesses, small businesses, utility companies, you name it I checked it out.
Now, The Husband has been in the IT industry for over 15 years now, and in probably any other part of the country that experience and expertise would be in demand. But not in Seattle.
IT people are a dime a dozen around here, and employers either want the entry-level tech who will work for $12 an hour, or someone who holds three Master's and two Doctorate's. There's nothing in between. Combine that with the fact that Boeing is getting ready to do a major layoff of thousands- yes, thousands- of IT people, and the odds become stacked even more against you.
So I branched out.
San Francisco. Portland. British Columbia.
More of the same. Too few jobs being competed for by too many overly qualified IT people.
I even devised a hair-brained scheme to move to the incredibly beautiful but incredibly tiny town of Joseph, Oregon. Why? Because it's pretty. Are there jobs there? NOPE! Their industry dried up years ago, so unless you are an established small-business owner, you're out of luck.
This is where the culmination of my frustration turned into the blog post about wanting the gypsy wind to take me away.
All I can say is, be careful what you wish for!
Shortly after that, my aunt suggested looking at the hospital in her city. She had heard they were hiring for IT, and sure enough, they were! So I applied The Husband, assumed it would be more of the same, and forgot all about it.
Until they called. And I began to panic.
Because the hospital where my aunt lives?
It's in Cheyenne. As in WYOMING.
Yeah...
Fast forward to today, and my life sits on this giant precipice above a gnarling torrent of chaos.
That sounds a bit dramatic, eh? But it's so true. The offer that the hospital presented to The Husband was... incredible, to say the least. Too good to turn down. Husband gave his current employer a chance to counter the offer, and they did. However, the counter offer was nothing more than a token gesture, and was actually a bit insulting when you consider that he has given them his blood, sweat, and tears over the years.
So we're moving halfway across the country.
I don't think it has fully sunk in yet. It seems surreal to me. And let's just say that no one is really taking it well. My family isn't speaking to me. Husband's family is split- some are excited for us, some are pissed. Our friends are all heartbroken, but they have all promised to come visit regularly. And naturally we will be back up here to visit as well.
But still. It's a huge move. And it's scary, and sad. But it's also a really good thing.
By the way, did you know that Wyoming has antelope?!?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The hammer of the gods
First of all, it figures that I would have a good hair day when it is pouring rain outside and my mane's good behavior will inevitably be ruined just walking to the car. Lame.
Second, I'm a little bitter because I have that new Daft Punk song stuck in my head and it's really annoying me. I can't say that I've ever been the biggest fan of Daft Punk (nor have I particularly disliked them... I've been mostly apathetic to their musical stylings), but this song has crawled under my skin and proceeded to irritate me worse than a week-old splinter.
Which leads me into my topic de jour- music.
I am a total music junkie. I have it playing pretty much constantly throughout my day (apart from when I am doing school work, as I have the attention span of a gnat).
It has largely been agreed that I was born in the wrong decade, as the majority of my musical tastes are from the late '60s through the late '70s. I do however (contrary to some opinions) make room for newer stuff.
Occasionally.
(Loving the folksy indie trend happening in new music right now!)
I have a pretty varied musical collection, and my tastes are... eclectic, to put it nicely.
Metallica.
Traveling Wilbury's.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. ('Helpless' is probably my favorite!)
Fleet Foxes.
Mumford & Sons.
Buck Cherry.
Cake.
The Who.
Pink Floyd.
Rolling Stones.
Tom Petty.
Fleetwood Mac.
Ray LaMontagne.
Queen.
The Lumineers.
Supertramp.
Stone Temple Pilots.
Bob Seger.
John Cougar Mellencamp.
George Thorogood.
Plain White T's.
Random country like Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, and Brooks & Dunn.
Guilty pleasures like Def Leppard, Journey, Air Supply, Ray Stevens, and Aqua.
They all find a happy little place on my iPod.
(But no 'pop'. Because standards)
But my all time favorite is Led Zeppelin.
So, so, SO many of my favorite songs are Zeppelin songs. There's one for every mood, situation, feeling, and thought process. There's slinky, sexy songs. Loud, crazy songs. Beautiful, melodic songs.
And they're all amazing.
John Bonham on the drums? No one compares.
Jimmy Page's guitar? Epic.
Robert Plant singing? Sexy, slinky, daring, screeching, amazing.
I won't even bother trying to list my favorite Zeppelin songs, because there are simply way too many.
Suffice it to say, my day revolves around music, and a large portion of that music is Led Zeppelin. And I'm good with that!
When I'm not listening to my iPod or a CD, the radio stations I tend to stick to are 102.5 KZOK, 99.9 KISW, 107.7 The End, and 103.7 The Mountain (although I almost broke up with The Mountain recently on account of them playing a Nickleback song... an unforgivable sin against music).
Between these four stations, pretty much all of my musical needs are met, and with such a wide variety in my tastes, that's not an easy accomplishment!
Music, in my world, equals happiness. Music is my zen. Music is my meditation, my I Ching, my Dao.
Music is my sanity.
Music is my everything.
Second, I'm a little bitter because I have that new Daft Punk song stuck in my head and it's really annoying me. I can't say that I've ever been the biggest fan of Daft Punk (nor have I particularly disliked them... I've been mostly apathetic to their musical stylings), but this song has crawled under my skin and proceeded to irritate me worse than a week-old splinter.
Which leads me into my topic de jour- music.
I am a total music junkie. I have it playing pretty much constantly throughout my day (apart from when I am doing school work, as I have the attention span of a gnat).
It has largely been agreed that I was born in the wrong decade, as the majority of my musical tastes are from the late '60s through the late '70s. I do however (contrary to some opinions) make room for newer stuff.
Occasionally.
(Loving the folksy indie trend happening in new music right now!)
I have a pretty varied musical collection, and my tastes are... eclectic, to put it nicely.
Metallica.
Traveling Wilbury's.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. ('Helpless' is probably my favorite!)
Fleet Foxes.
Mumford & Sons.
Buck Cherry.
Cake.
The Who.
Pink Floyd.
Rolling Stones.
Tom Petty.
Fleetwood Mac.
Ray LaMontagne.
Queen.
The Lumineers.
Supertramp.
Stone Temple Pilots.
Bob Seger.
John Cougar Mellencamp.
George Thorogood.
Plain White T's.
Random country like Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, and Brooks & Dunn.
Guilty pleasures like Def Leppard, Journey, Air Supply, Ray Stevens, and Aqua.
They all find a happy little place on my iPod.
(But no 'pop'. Because standards)
But my all time favorite is Led Zeppelin.
So, so, SO many of my favorite songs are Zeppelin songs. There's one for every mood, situation, feeling, and thought process. There's slinky, sexy songs. Loud, crazy songs. Beautiful, melodic songs.
And they're all amazing.
John Bonham on the drums? No one compares.
Jimmy Page's guitar? Epic.
Robert Plant singing? Sexy, slinky, daring, screeching, amazing.
I won't even bother trying to list my favorite Zeppelin songs, because there are simply way too many.
Suffice it to say, my day revolves around music, and a large portion of that music is Led Zeppelin. And I'm good with that!
When I'm not listening to my iPod or a CD, the radio stations I tend to stick to are 102.5 KZOK, 99.9 KISW, 107.7 The End, and 103.7 The Mountain (although I almost broke up with The Mountain recently on account of them playing a Nickleback song... an unforgivable sin against music).
Between these four stations, pretty much all of my musical needs are met, and with such a wide variety in my tastes, that's not an easy accomplishment!
Music, in my world, equals happiness. Music is my zen. Music is my meditation, my I Ching, my Dao.
Music is my sanity.
Music is my everything.
Friday, May 17, 2013
My gene pool is closed for maintenance
Okay, so the other day I referenced something about genetics and how they suck. Let's discuss that further, shall we?
So as you know I went in for a colonscopy/endoscopy a couple of weeks ago, and everything looked okay. I still needed to wait for the biopsy results regarding Celiac's and colitis, but I wasn't too worried because I was highly certain I did not have colitis (since it's a pretty severe and obvious illness), and if I did end up having Celiac's I would just alter my diet. No biggie.
So here I am thinking all is well and the ordeal was over until my next colonoscopy (as of right now my doctor wants me to do them every two years).
Wrong.
Last Monday I get a phone call from the Providence Comprehensive Breast Center informing me that my gastroenterologist referred me to them as a "potential high risk patient". Because of my family medical history, I may or may not have the mutated genes linked to certain cancers, upping my overall cancer risk substantially.
(Much like Angelina Jolie, her positive BRCA-1 result, and her preventative double mastectomy. Her cancer risk went from 87% to under 5%, which is awesome)
So the gal at the Breast Center informed me that I need to fill out a comprehensive family history form and bring that in to my appointment. Once there, one of the geneticist's nurse practitioners will plug my information into a computer and get a risk percentage. If my risk turns out to be high, they will then take a DNA sample to be sent off for genetic testing.
7-10% of breast/ovarian cancers and colon/uterine cancers are from a hereditary mutated gene, and 30% of all cancers are familial. Based on my dad's incredibly early and aggressive colon cancer, my doctor suspects his cancer may have been because of a mutated gene, rather than bad luck, and that I therefore would carry this gene as well.
They would be testing me for the BRCA or HNPCC genes, the so-called "cancer genes" that would... well, ruin my day, quite frankly!
(Of course, were I to test positive for the HNPCC gene, I can't really have a preventative colon removal... it's not like taking off your boobies and replacing them with new ones!)
However, the caveat to all this is that the gene testing is very expensive (and let's face it, I'm not exactly in Angelina Jolie's income bracket!) so they only do it if it is deemed absolutely necessary, and only if insurance covers it fully, or if I'm willing to cough up the dough to cover the remainder myself.
BUT, even if I end up in the low-risk category, or if I can't have the test done because insurance says no, I will still leave there with a very detailed and personally specific plan on preventing cancer, as well as early detection signs.
Because I'm not even 30 yet, I have young children, and I have a lot of living left to do. I'm not going down without a fight, dammit!
So as you know I went in for a colonscopy/endoscopy a couple of weeks ago, and everything looked okay. I still needed to wait for the biopsy results regarding Celiac's and colitis, but I wasn't too worried because I was highly certain I did not have colitis (since it's a pretty severe and obvious illness), and if I did end up having Celiac's I would just alter my diet. No biggie.
So here I am thinking all is well and the ordeal was over until my next colonoscopy (as of right now my doctor wants me to do them every two years).
Wrong.
Last Monday I get a phone call from the Providence Comprehensive Breast Center informing me that my gastroenterologist referred me to them as a "potential high risk patient". Because of my family medical history, I may or may not have the mutated genes linked to certain cancers, upping my overall cancer risk substantially.
(Much like Angelina Jolie, her positive BRCA-1 result, and her preventative double mastectomy. Her cancer risk went from 87% to under 5%, which is awesome)
So the gal at the Breast Center informed me that I need to fill out a comprehensive family history form and bring that in to my appointment. Once there, one of the geneticist's nurse practitioners will plug my information into a computer and get a risk percentage. If my risk turns out to be high, they will then take a DNA sample to be sent off for genetic testing.
7-10% of breast/ovarian cancers and colon/uterine cancers are from a hereditary mutated gene, and 30% of all cancers are familial. Based on my dad's incredibly early and aggressive colon cancer, my doctor suspects his cancer may have been because of a mutated gene, rather than bad luck, and that I therefore would carry this gene as well.
They would be testing me for the BRCA or HNPCC genes, the so-called "cancer genes" that would... well, ruin my day, quite frankly!
(Of course, were I to test positive for the HNPCC gene, I can't really have a preventative colon removal... it's not like taking off your boobies and replacing them with new ones!)
However, the caveat to all this is that the gene testing is very expensive (and let's face it, I'm not exactly in Angelina Jolie's income bracket!) so they only do it if it is deemed absolutely necessary, and only if insurance covers it fully, or if I'm willing to cough up the dough to cover the remainder myself.
BUT, even if I end up in the low-risk category, or if I can't have the test done because insurance says no, I will still leave there with a very detailed and personally specific plan on preventing cancer, as well as early detection signs.
Because I'm not even 30 yet, I have young children, and I have a lot of living left to do. I'm not going down without a fight, dammit!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Ooops
So you know that saying "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it"?
Yeeeeaaaahhhh....
Clearly I didn't take it seriously enough!
I can't really get into specifics, because nothing has actually come of it yet, so until something more firm is in place and decisions are made, there really isn't any point in getting people all riled up.
It's just weird how things work out. The timing, the unexpectedness, the fact that when you want something to happen, it won't, and when you truly believe something isn't going to happen, it does.
It's like Alanis said. Life has a funny way...
So I suddenly find myself with a lot of information to wade through, a lot of potential decisions to make, and a lot of unknowns. And in case you missed that memo: I don't like unknowns!
Predicability is good for me. Routine and normalcy are my friends. And I'm about to throw all that down the drain willingly!
Yeeeeaaaahhhh....
Clearly I didn't take it seriously enough!
I can't really get into specifics, because nothing has actually come of it yet, so until something more firm is in place and decisions are made, there really isn't any point in getting people all riled up.
It's just weird how things work out. The timing, the unexpectedness, the fact that when you want something to happen, it won't, and when you truly believe something isn't going to happen, it does.
It's like Alanis said. Life has a funny way...
So I suddenly find myself with a lot of information to wade through, a lot of potential decisions to make, and a lot of unknowns. And in case you missed that memo: I don't like unknowns!
Predicability is good for me. Routine and normalcy are my friends. And I'm about to throw all that down the drain willingly!
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Raining men at Le Faux
First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!
Okay.
So the drag show.
Suffice it to say the evening did not go as planned.
The show was entertaining, and the host, Isaac Scott, was fabulous.
I would probably go again, but I would change a few variables.
So let's break this down, shall we?
The original plan was to take my mom down there for her birthday. We would pay for her ticket and her meal, watch the show, all that good stuff. Well, it turns out that, for one, the gal that I spoke with when I made the reservations gave me some misinformation (like, you know, pricing, seating, all that somewhat important nonsense), and two, I had misguided expectations of the evening.
The misinformation snafu meant that I didn't bring enough cash with me, and the girl specifically said to bring cash. Strike one.
The misguided expectations were a big strike two and strike three.
Strike two: in my mind I was expecting a Cage Aux Folles kind of situation, where you sit at the same table for your dinner and to watch the show.
But no.
We were shuffled around like cattle by a fairly rude German man. And ended up sitting in these horribly uncomfortable wooden chairs where we had to wait for over an hour for the show itself to even start.
Strike three? Was the ridiculously drunk women next to us who, for one, are way too old to act like that and drink that much, and two, were horribly disruptive and disrespectful to the audience and the performers. They were a bunch of hot messes... minus the hotness.
There was also the awkwardness of my sister's friend who decided at the last minute to come with us, only she refuses to speak to me.
Like, literally.
She and my sister have been friends for... oh... over ten years now? And this chick has literally never said a word to me. Apparently she is afraid of me because she thinks I'm super pretty and therefore scary, and I guess her natural reaction is to just be Frosty the Snow Bitch to me.
Whatever. I tried to talk with her and engage her in the conversation, but to no avail. It was awkward, to say the least. Especially considering I planned the entire thing. But yeah. Ignore me. Not that I'm annoyed or anything...
Overall, the experience was... alright. The food was alright. The performers were pretty good. The host was awesome. My mom had fun, which was the important part.
So like I said, I think I would go again, only this time with my friends. You know, people who will actually acknowledge my existence!
Okay.
So the drag show.
Suffice it to say the evening did not go as planned.
The show was entertaining, and the host, Isaac Scott, was fabulous.
I would probably go again, but I would change a few variables.
So let's break this down, shall we?
The original plan was to take my mom down there for her birthday. We would pay for her ticket and her meal, watch the show, all that good stuff. Well, it turns out that, for one, the gal that I spoke with when I made the reservations gave me some misinformation (like, you know, pricing, seating, all that somewhat important nonsense), and two, I had misguided expectations of the evening.
The misinformation snafu meant that I didn't bring enough cash with me, and the girl specifically said to bring cash. Strike one.
The misguided expectations were a big strike two and strike three.
Strike two: in my mind I was expecting a Cage Aux Folles kind of situation, where you sit at the same table for your dinner and to watch the show.
But no.
We were shuffled around like cattle by a fairly rude German man. And ended up sitting in these horribly uncomfortable wooden chairs where we had to wait for over an hour for the show itself to even start.
Strike three? Was the ridiculously drunk women next to us who, for one, are way too old to act like that and drink that much, and two, were horribly disruptive and disrespectful to the audience and the performers. They were a bunch of hot messes... minus the hotness.
There was also the awkwardness of my sister's friend who decided at the last minute to come with us, only she refuses to speak to me.
Like, literally.
She and my sister have been friends for... oh... over ten years now? And this chick has literally never said a word to me. Apparently she is afraid of me because she thinks I'm super pretty and therefore scary, and I guess her natural reaction is to just be Frosty the Snow Bitch to me.
Whatever. I tried to talk with her and engage her in the conversation, but to no avail. It was awkward, to say the least. Especially considering I planned the entire thing. But yeah. Ignore me. Not that I'm annoyed or anything...
Overall, the experience was... alright. The food was alright. The performers were pretty good. The host was awesome. My mom had fun, which was the important part.
So like I said, I think I would go again, only this time with my friends. You know, people who will actually acknowledge my existence!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Men in glam makeup and women's clothes impersonating celebrities? Yes please!
Don't have time for a full post right now, as I am in the middle of writing a paper for my Race and Ethnic Issues class. However, I just wanted to get on here really quick to say...
GOING TO LE FAUX TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!
I have much to share, including how genetics suck, how bonfires and gasoline are not a good combo, and how my friend wound up sleeping in my driveway, but it all must wait until tomorrow...
GOING TO LE FAUX TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!
I have much to share, including how genetics suck, how bonfires and gasoline are not a good combo, and how my friend wound up sleeping in my driveway, but it all must wait until tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?
(I think you can in Europe...)
(If you don't get that reference, then we are never going to be friends)
You know those days when you feel like all of this "stuff" is being dumped in your lap and you are supposed to just find some way to fit it into your already full schedule?
Yeah.
That's where I'm at.
In the last two days, every weekend, and I mean literally every weekend, from now until the end of June has been booked. Solid.
Never mind the fact that I also have school, and the kids have school, and The Husband has work, and our gigantic yard needs constant, never ending, unyielding attention...
Sigh.
I'm tired just thinking about it!
This week for my Race and Ethnic Issues class, I have to watch a movie or read a book that addresses the issues of racial or ethnic diversity, and then write a paper on it using other researched sources to substantiate my point.
After much deliberation, I have decided to watch American History X.
Let me be clear... I HATE that movie.
I mean, it's a really good, well done movie. Don't get me wrong. It's amazing.
I also hate it. It breaks my heart. It makes me angry. It makes me cry (and I hate crying).
(I also dislike Edward Furlong. I find him creepy... in everything... always)
So suffice it to say, I'm not looking forward to watching it again. It's been... I'd say a good 14 years or so since I last watched it... This is going to be tough.
But first, I need to finish my World Religion readings on Buddhism and the printout for the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings in order to do my discussion questions for that class. Then I need to read the two chapters on African American history from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement (a total of about 90 pages...oy vey) for my Race and Ethnic Issues class in order to do my discussion questions and take my quiz.
And I have to find the time to do all of that while also having friends over for a bonfire on Friday, and going down to Le Faux in Seattle for my mom's birthday on Saturday.
Suddenly I have a headache...
(If you don't get that reference, then we are never going to be friends)
You know those days when you feel like all of this "stuff" is being dumped in your lap and you are supposed to just find some way to fit it into your already full schedule?
Yeah.
That's where I'm at.
In the last two days, every weekend, and I mean literally every weekend, from now until the end of June has been booked. Solid.
Never mind the fact that I also have school, and the kids have school, and The Husband has work, and our gigantic yard needs constant, never ending, unyielding attention...
Sigh.
I'm tired just thinking about it!
This week for my Race and Ethnic Issues class, I have to watch a movie or read a book that addresses the issues of racial or ethnic diversity, and then write a paper on it using other researched sources to substantiate my point.
After much deliberation, I have decided to watch American History X.
Let me be clear... I HATE that movie.
I mean, it's a really good, well done movie. Don't get me wrong. It's amazing.
I also hate it. It breaks my heart. It makes me angry. It makes me cry (and I hate crying).
(I also dislike Edward Furlong. I find him creepy... in everything... always)
So suffice it to say, I'm not looking forward to watching it again. It's been... I'd say a good 14 years or so since I last watched it... This is going to be tough.
But first, I need to finish my World Religion readings on Buddhism and the printout for the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings in order to do my discussion questions for that class. Then I need to read the two chapters on African American history from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement (a total of about 90 pages...oy vey) for my Race and Ethnic Issues class in order to do my discussion questions and take my quiz.
And I have to find the time to do all of that while also having friends over for a bonfire on Friday, and going down to Le Faux in Seattle for my mom's birthday on Saturday.
Suddenly I have a headache...
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Footloose and cancer free
Hey hey!
I'm back and better than ever!
Suffice it to say that Thursday and Friday sucked big time, but I'll get to that.
First of all, the weather in Seattle is Ah-mazing! Holy crap I'm loving it!
The only problem is I have stupid school stuff to do, so even though I wanted to go hiking today, I don't think that's a responsible thing to do. Boo.
Oh well. Summer is almost here. Which means no school! You better believe I will be hiking the crap out of this summer!
Also, my garden is starting to sprout! It's been so freaking cold lately that nothing was happening, but now that the sun made its reappearance and the thermostat is a-rockin', things are beginning to grow! It's supposed to stay nice for the next several days (fingers crossed) so I'll be keeping an eye out for those cute little sprouts curling up and pushing the dirt out of their way.
Okay, so on to Thursday and Friday.
Thursday was "prep day", which is basically a generic medical term for "you will be miserable and hungry all day".
After taking the kids to school, I cleaned my house and slapped on the pretty as quickly as possible, then proceeded to take the four 'starter' pills at exactly 9 am.
For the next few hours I subsisted on tea (lots of tea!), water, and Jell-o. Now, I'm not a huge Jell-o fan to begin with, and when it's the only "food" you are allowed to eat, it makes it all the more depressing. I really came to hate that unnatural, jiggly substance by the end of the day.
The Husband came home from work early, as I was... shall we say... uneasy at the thought of leaving the house and being trapped in a car for 30 minutes to pick up the kids from school. Ahem.
While he headed out to get the kids, I prepped the gallon jug of electrolyte solution that I had to drink.
GAG!!!
The nurse had suggested mixing it with Crystal Light to make it taste better. I can't imagine what it would have tasted like without the Crystal Light, as my flavored concoction still tasted something akin to a homeless man's bathwater.
I will never, I repeat NEVER, drink Crystal Light again.
Blergh!!!
The only way I could get the electrolyte stuff down was with it being ice cold.
Like, ice ice ICE cold.
That was the only way it was tolerable.
This also made me super cold. At this point, I hadn't slept well in several days and hadn't eaten solid food in 18 hours. Because of this, I was under my electric blanket shivering, which made drinking this solution even more miserable.
But I got through it, and my system was, uh, cleaned out sufficiently...
I didn't sleep at all Thursday night. Partly because I was nervous about the procedures on Friday, and partly because I was still dealing with the after effects of the electrolyte stuff.
Friday morning my alarm went off at 5:50 am. Gag. I hit snooze once, but I just stared at the wall. Even though I'd maybe gotten three hours of sleep (at most) and was utterly exhausted, I was wide awake.
This was it. The day of reckoning.
I got up, got ready to go, and once my mom arrived to watch the kids, The Husband and I headed out.
Naturally, it was a bright and sunny day, and since I had to wear my glasses for the procedure (no contacts, safety precaution), I got an instant headache. I just curled up in the front seat, covered my eyes with the sleeves of my sweatshirt, and grumbled begrudgingly.
Hubs and I were both nervous, so there wasn't a lot of talking during the 35 minute drive to the clinic.
I got there, got checked in, and within a few minutes a nurse came to collect me from the waiting room. She had me change into one of those medical gowns that do nothing to hide your modesty and gave me little booties to put over my socks.
She walked me back to the triage area, where I nestled into a reclining chair with several warmed up blankets (at this point, the best part of my morning!).
It took them three tries to thread my IV catheter into a vein, so I have a massive bruise on my right hand from the burst blood vessel. It looks gross. Luckily, they were really good at what they were doing (minus the missing the vein part) so the multiple pokes with a needle didn't hurt.
After this, The Husband was brought back, and we waited for my doctor to come and explain the process to me. After he did, we waited a few more minutes, and then the nurse came to collect me and bring me back to the procedure room.
This is when I got really nervous. Up until this point, I had thought Hubs could be in the room with me, but it turns out he couldn't. Gulp.
I was shaking at this point, and the nurse could tell I was silently freaking out, so she chitchatted with me about my tattoos. Apparently she goes to the same tattoo parlor I do, so we discussed the different artists there and how it's the best one in the area.
Once she got me situated, IV cords and all, on the exam gurney thingy, she injected the Happy Drugs into my IV, and this is where everything gets a little... fuzzy.
I've had to ask Hubs several times since Friday "so is this what happened?", "they said this right?", "I think I remember this...yes?"
It's weird not being able to trust your memory and having whole chunks of time be missing!
Anyway, after we got home I spent the rest of the day either in bed or on the couch. I felt like crap! Anesthesia affects me quite strongly, so it took a long time to fully leave my system, plus after having not eaten for a full 24 hours, those two components combined to make me incredibly weak and nauseous.
BUT!
Once I did start feeling better, Hubs grilled me the most delicious steak and roasted the best potatoes ever, in celebration of the fact that....
... Everything came back normal!!!!
My colon and intestine and stomach are all good to go!
No polyps! No cancer! No gremlins!
I am waiting for the results of the biopsies to test for celiac's, and a couple other things. But regardless of those results, it will all come down to making changes to my diet. Compared to other, more life altering possibilities, I am more than willing to alter what I eat!
So yeah, all good news!
I'm back and better than ever!
Suffice it to say that Thursday and Friday sucked big time, but I'll get to that.
First of all, the weather in Seattle is Ah-mazing! Holy crap I'm loving it!
The only problem is I have stupid school stuff to do, so even though I wanted to go hiking today, I don't think that's a responsible thing to do. Boo.
Oh well. Summer is almost here. Which means no school! You better believe I will be hiking the crap out of this summer!
Also, my garden is starting to sprout! It's been so freaking cold lately that nothing was happening, but now that the sun made its reappearance and the thermostat is a-rockin', things are beginning to grow! It's supposed to stay nice for the next several days (fingers crossed) so I'll be keeping an eye out for those cute little sprouts curling up and pushing the dirt out of their way.
Okay, so on to Thursday and Friday.
Thursday was "prep day", which is basically a generic medical term for "you will be miserable and hungry all day".
After taking the kids to school, I cleaned my house and slapped on the pretty as quickly as possible, then proceeded to take the four 'starter' pills at exactly 9 am.
For the next few hours I subsisted on tea (lots of tea!), water, and Jell-o. Now, I'm not a huge Jell-o fan to begin with, and when it's the only "food" you are allowed to eat, it makes it all the more depressing. I really came to hate that unnatural, jiggly substance by the end of the day.
The Husband came home from work early, as I was... shall we say... uneasy at the thought of leaving the house and being trapped in a car for 30 minutes to pick up the kids from school. Ahem.
While he headed out to get the kids, I prepped the gallon jug of electrolyte solution that I had to drink.
GAG!!!
The nurse had suggested mixing it with Crystal Light to make it taste better. I can't imagine what it would have tasted like without the Crystal Light, as my flavored concoction still tasted something akin to a homeless man's bathwater.
I will never, I repeat NEVER, drink Crystal Light again.
Blergh!!!
The only way I could get the electrolyte stuff down was with it being ice cold.
Like, ice ice ICE cold.
That was the only way it was tolerable.
This also made me super cold. At this point, I hadn't slept well in several days and hadn't eaten solid food in 18 hours. Because of this, I was under my electric blanket shivering, which made drinking this solution even more miserable.
But I got through it, and my system was, uh, cleaned out sufficiently...
I didn't sleep at all Thursday night. Partly because I was nervous about the procedures on Friday, and partly because I was still dealing with the after effects of the electrolyte stuff.
Friday morning my alarm went off at 5:50 am. Gag. I hit snooze once, but I just stared at the wall. Even though I'd maybe gotten three hours of sleep (at most) and was utterly exhausted, I was wide awake.
This was it. The day of reckoning.
I got up, got ready to go, and once my mom arrived to watch the kids, The Husband and I headed out.
Naturally, it was a bright and sunny day, and since I had to wear my glasses for the procedure (no contacts, safety precaution), I got an instant headache. I just curled up in the front seat, covered my eyes with the sleeves of my sweatshirt, and grumbled begrudgingly.
Hubs and I were both nervous, so there wasn't a lot of talking during the 35 minute drive to the clinic.
I got there, got checked in, and within a few minutes a nurse came to collect me from the waiting room. She had me change into one of those medical gowns that do nothing to hide your modesty and gave me little booties to put over my socks.
She walked me back to the triage area, where I nestled into a reclining chair with several warmed up blankets (at this point, the best part of my morning!).
It took them three tries to thread my IV catheter into a vein, so I have a massive bruise on my right hand from the burst blood vessel. It looks gross. Luckily, they were really good at what they were doing (minus the missing the vein part) so the multiple pokes with a needle didn't hurt.
After this, The Husband was brought back, and we waited for my doctor to come and explain the process to me. After he did, we waited a few more minutes, and then the nurse came to collect me and bring me back to the procedure room.
This is when I got really nervous. Up until this point, I had thought Hubs could be in the room with me, but it turns out he couldn't. Gulp.
I was shaking at this point, and the nurse could tell I was silently freaking out, so she chitchatted with me about my tattoos. Apparently she goes to the same tattoo parlor I do, so we discussed the different artists there and how it's the best one in the area.
Once she got me situated, IV cords and all, on the exam gurney thingy, she injected the Happy Drugs into my IV, and this is where everything gets a little... fuzzy.
I've had to ask Hubs several times since Friday "so is this what happened?", "they said this right?", "I think I remember this...yes?"
It's weird not being able to trust your memory and having whole chunks of time be missing!
Anyway, after we got home I spent the rest of the day either in bed or on the couch. I felt like crap! Anesthesia affects me quite strongly, so it took a long time to fully leave my system, plus after having not eaten for a full 24 hours, those two components combined to make me incredibly weak and nauseous.
BUT!
Once I did start feeling better, Hubs grilled me the most delicious steak and roasted the best potatoes ever, in celebration of the fact that....
... Everything came back normal!!!!
My colon and intestine and stomach are all good to go!
No polyps! No cancer! No gremlins!
I am waiting for the results of the biopsies to test for celiac's, and a couple other things. But regardless of those results, it will all come down to making changes to my diet. Compared to other, more life altering possibilities, I am more than willing to alter what I eat!
So yeah, all good news!
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