...or at least one of them: birth of octuplets.
First of all, I really don't want one, let alone eight, babies coming out of my body. That whole thought just creeps me out. Second, then you have eight babies to raise. OMG. I'd die. This couple will be living one of my worst nightmares.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This is the day
...that the Lord hath made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Amen!
I wore red, white, and blue to work today. When I got here, people were coming back from various viewing areas for the inauguration, and everyone was chatting about how we have hope again. I thought Obama's speech was perfect. It was serious and matched the tone of our current situation. He seemed very stalwart in his message and understanding of the great undertaking ahead.
I think one of the best things was seeing president Bush leave at the end. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!
I wore red, white, and blue to work today. When I got here, people were coming back from various viewing areas for the inauguration, and everyone was chatting about how we have hope again. I thought Obama's speech was perfect. It was serious and matched the tone of our current situation. He seemed very stalwart in his message and understanding of the great undertaking ahead.
I think one of the best things was seeing president Bush leave at the end. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Makes sense
...in an alternate universe. Jennifer Lopez said that she didn't wear her wedding ring to the Golden Globes because it didn't go with her dress. Ummm. It's a wedding ring. The point is that it's the symbol of your love and commitment to your partner, not a fashion statement. Personally, I think that she was feeling ignored by the press covering other celebrity couples, and decided to do something to bring the attention back on herself. I don't know why, but she really irks me for no particular reason.
Plenty of married people manage to wear their rings despite the fact that they might not "go" with their outfit at the time. And, if there ever was a time to wear an 8.5 carat sparkler like J. Lo's ring, it would probably be when you're dressed to the nines for the Golden Globes. I mean, you think my ring matches my outfit when I head to the gym in my pony tail and sweats?
Actually, my jeweler got after me for wearing my ring while weight training because the bar makes little dings in the metal, so I have taken to putting it on a chain when I work out. But it still feels weird when I don't have it on. Right before L. and I got married, I had to leave my engagement ring with our jeweler to have it fit with the wedding band. The whole time I'd forget that I didn't have it on and freak out thinking that I'd lost it somewhere. It just doesn't feel right when I don't have it on.
Plenty of married people manage to wear their rings despite the fact that they might not "go" with their outfit at the time. And, if there ever was a time to wear an 8.5 carat sparkler like J. Lo's ring, it would probably be when you're dressed to the nines for the Golden Globes. I mean, you think my ring matches my outfit when I head to the gym in my pony tail and sweats?
Actually, my jeweler got after me for wearing my ring while weight training because the bar makes little dings in the metal, so I have taken to putting it on a chain when I work out. But it still feels weird when I don't have it on. Right before L. and I got married, I had to leave my engagement ring with our jeweler to have it fit with the wedding band. The whole time I'd forget that I didn't have it on and freak out thinking that I'd lost it somewhere. It just doesn't feel right when I don't have it on.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Well, I wasn't expecting this
So, as I wrote in my last post, I've gone off of my antidepressants due to a possible allergic reaction. I've also now finished up my second round of prednisone and I'm still doing the heavy-duty antihistimine at night and Zyrtek during the day.
The good news? The rash is a lot better. It's still not 100% gone, but it got much better with this round of treatment than it did last time. And it continues to get better, so that's a good sign.
The bad news? Or rather, the news I wasn't expecting? Coming off of an antidepressant can make you feel like you have a nasty bout of the flu. I expected to have some emotional issues, and a little bit of an adjustment period. What I've been dealing with for the last few days is exhaustion (which is also probably due to the antihistimine), headaches, sweating and chills, dizzyness, and nausea. Good times. Plus, my sleep schedule is completely messed up right now. I'm sleeping in the middle of the day and up at 3:00 AM. It's totally weird. But, each day is slightly better than the one before, so I'm hopeful that I'll be back to work tomorrow and that things will continue to go on the upswing.
Then I'll really be able to tell how my emotional state is for all of this. I can say that I'm very thankful for the rash to finally be going away. Having half your body covered in an itchy, painful rash is no picnic either. On with the great experiment...
The good news? The rash is a lot better. It's still not 100% gone, but it got much better with this round of treatment than it did last time. And it continues to get better, so that's a good sign.
The bad news? Or rather, the news I wasn't expecting? Coming off of an antidepressant can make you feel like you have a nasty bout of the flu. I expected to have some emotional issues, and a little bit of an adjustment period. What I've been dealing with for the last few days is exhaustion (which is also probably due to the antihistimine), headaches, sweating and chills, dizzyness, and nausea. Good times. Plus, my sleep schedule is completely messed up right now. I'm sleeping in the middle of the day and up at 3:00 AM. It's totally weird. But, each day is slightly better than the one before, so I'm hopeful that I'll be back to work tomorrow and that things will continue to go on the upswing.
Then I'll really be able to tell how my emotional state is for all of this. I can say that I'm very thankful for the rash to finally be going away. Having half your body covered in an itchy, painful rash is no picnic either. On with the great experiment...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A change to my SOP
So, when L. and I went on our honeymoon in France in October, we both got sick with colds. This wasn't surprising considering we were both pretty busy and stressed out getting everything ready in the weeks up to the wedding, and then boarded a germ-ridden plane that's carried more butts than I care to imagine. We both had a couple of rough days when we first got to Paris, which I'm sure was both due to the colds and severe jet lag. But we then started to get better and really hit the ground running on the second day.
However, the nasal stuff really hung on for me throughout the trip and when we got home. And over time, it just got worse and worse, so that I finally went to see the doctor and he put me on antibiotics due to it being a bacterial infection. He threw out the term MRSA, which freaked me out, but based on the test, it wasn't actually MRSA. Just a regular bacterial infection, and he gave me the oral and topical antibiotic (to put in my nose) to treat it from the outside and inside. This was mid November timeframe.
The infection went away, and I was very happy except I had a small itchy spot on my upper right leg. I attributed it to the antibiotic, figuring that I had a reaction like I usually do. Typically, whenever I take antibiotics, I have some kind of allergic reaction. Over time, it went to my other leg and started working up my stomach, chest area, and lower back. I went back in to see my regular doctor in mid December, because my normal treatments (oatmeal baths and lotion, hydrocortizone cream, and benadryl) weren't helping much at all. She thinks it's a reaction to the antibiotics, too. So, she put me on a heavy-duty antihistimine to take at night, Zyrtek for the day, and a 6-day decreasing strength treatment of prednesone. With all of that, things got better, but not 100% better. And a couple of days after ending prednesone, the rash started spreading back to the places where it had cleared up.
So, I went back into my doctor this last week and she looked at everything again. It may have still been kicked off by the antibiotics, but she's wondering whether my antidepressant might be delivering a 1-2 punch. So, I'm working off of the antidepressant now in addition to the nighttime antihistimine, Zyrtek, and a second round of prednesone. I'm hoping that this will cause the rash to go away for good.
I have one more night of my antidepressant and then I'm off altogether. It was a hard decision to make, since I've been on antidepressants of some sort for 10 years, and they completely changed my quality of life. When I think back to the years before I started them (especially in college), with all of the extreme ups and downs, and panicky feelings, I thank God that I went into my doctor and got treatment before I ended things. Yes, it was that bad. Depression and anxiety run in our family, so it's not a huge surprise. And I was smart enough to get help when I needed it.
In any case, I decided that now was a good time to try going off of them and see how it goes. I talked with my counselor about it, and she once asked whether I had ever planned to go off of them, and I said "nope". And I meant it, because I just couldn't imagine going back to the way that things were. But she said that it might be worth trying when things stabilized in my life, and as far as I can tell, now is a good time to do the experiment. And if this antidepressant is causing the allergic reaction, and if it turns out that I still need antidepressants, there are other ones out there to try. But it will be interesting to see whether the last 10 years of counseling and working through deep-seated issues will help me to cope better with my emotions going forward without drugs. I'm hopeful. And I'm ready. I made an appointment with my counselor for Tuesday, and L. is very supportive as is my mom. I know that they're here for me if I fall apart. And that is a scary possibility. But it's one that I'm willing to risk at this point because I think that things are the most stable that they've been in my life for some time, and how wonderful would it be if all of that personal work and coping exercises paid off in an antidepressant-free existance? So, fingers crossed, here we go...
However, the nasal stuff really hung on for me throughout the trip and when we got home. And over time, it just got worse and worse, so that I finally went to see the doctor and he put me on antibiotics due to it being a bacterial infection. He threw out the term MRSA, which freaked me out, but based on the test, it wasn't actually MRSA. Just a regular bacterial infection, and he gave me the oral and topical antibiotic (to put in my nose) to treat it from the outside and inside. This was mid November timeframe.
The infection went away, and I was very happy except I had a small itchy spot on my upper right leg. I attributed it to the antibiotic, figuring that I had a reaction like I usually do. Typically, whenever I take antibiotics, I have some kind of allergic reaction. Over time, it went to my other leg and started working up my stomach, chest area, and lower back. I went back in to see my regular doctor in mid December, because my normal treatments (oatmeal baths and lotion, hydrocortizone cream, and benadryl) weren't helping much at all. She thinks it's a reaction to the antibiotics, too. So, she put me on a heavy-duty antihistimine to take at night, Zyrtek for the day, and a 6-day decreasing strength treatment of prednesone. With all of that, things got better, but not 100% better. And a couple of days after ending prednesone, the rash started spreading back to the places where it had cleared up.
So, I went back into my doctor this last week and she looked at everything again. It may have still been kicked off by the antibiotics, but she's wondering whether my antidepressant might be delivering a 1-2 punch. So, I'm working off of the antidepressant now in addition to the nighttime antihistimine, Zyrtek, and a second round of prednesone. I'm hoping that this will cause the rash to go away for good.
I have one more night of my antidepressant and then I'm off altogether. It was a hard decision to make, since I've been on antidepressants of some sort for 10 years, and they completely changed my quality of life. When I think back to the years before I started them (especially in college), with all of the extreme ups and downs, and panicky feelings, I thank God that I went into my doctor and got treatment before I ended things. Yes, it was that bad. Depression and anxiety run in our family, so it's not a huge surprise. And I was smart enough to get help when I needed it.
In any case, I decided that now was a good time to try going off of them and see how it goes. I talked with my counselor about it, and she once asked whether I had ever planned to go off of them, and I said "nope". And I meant it, because I just couldn't imagine going back to the way that things were. But she said that it might be worth trying when things stabilized in my life, and as far as I can tell, now is a good time to do the experiment. And if this antidepressant is causing the allergic reaction, and if it turns out that I still need antidepressants, there are other ones out there to try. But it will be interesting to see whether the last 10 years of counseling and working through deep-seated issues will help me to cope better with my emotions going forward without drugs. I'm hopeful. And I'm ready. I made an appointment with my counselor for Tuesday, and L. is very supportive as is my mom. I know that they're here for me if I fall apart. And that is a scary possibility. But it's one that I'm willing to risk at this point because I think that things are the most stable that they've been in my life for some time, and how wonderful would it be if all of that personal work and coping exercises paid off in an antidepressant-free existance? So, fingers crossed, here we go...
Thursday, January 08, 2009
No-brainer news item
Gu Gu strikes again! Panda attacks zoo visitor: 240-pound animal clamps down on leg of man who climbs into enclosure
Apparently someone climbed into the panda's enclosure at the zoo. This person was the third person to be harmed after climbing into the enclosure. So now the zoo is considering changing the enclosure so that visitors can't get in. I'm not sure what there is to consider. If you're a zoo, you'd better figure out a way to protect your animals from vistors and vice versa. It took me longer to type this blog post than it should take them to make this decision.
Apparently someone climbed into the panda's enclosure at the zoo. This person was the third person to be harmed after climbing into the enclosure. So now the zoo is considering changing the enclosure so that visitors can't get in. I'm not sure what there is to consider. If you're a zoo, you'd better figure out a way to protect your animals from vistors and vice versa. It took me longer to type this blog post than it should take them to make this decision.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Happy 2009
Happy New Year! I've had a busy start to 2009, and as such I am behind in my blogging, responding to emails, and finishing up my thank you cards for Christmas gifts. I'm hoping to have some extra time this weekend to take care of the latter two of those things, but figured I'd put a quick blog entry out now while Oli is entertaining himself with his stuffed flying squirrel.
L. and I went to Missoula for Christmas with his parents, and we took Oli with us. It was a really nice week with them and Oli traveled well. We stayed in Eastern Washington with my grandparents on the way over and back to break up the trip. One of my grandfathers was in the hospital, so we spent some extra time with him and my grandma. He has congestive heart failure and lung cancer, but has been managing pretty well for a 88-year old man. However, a few days before Christmas he started having some trouble, so they brought him in for observation and put him on some antibiotics as they suspected an infection. Luckily he got out of the hospital on Christmas day, so we got to see him at home on our way back from Missoula.
We had a quiet day in with L.'s parents for Christmas. We woke up and slowly unwrapped gifts. We grilled steaks and asparagus for dinner. We then watched A Christmas Story and played games. It was very relaxing and a change from most holidays. Because it was just the four of us, there was no rush for anything and none of the usual urgency to get things unwrapped and setup for kids to play with, etc. The only thing we had to worry about was Oli making it to his papers to potty, which he succeeded in doing well. He only had two accidents the whole week, which isn't bad considering we moved him around a lot between my grandparent's house and L.'s parent's house.
The passes were more difficult coming back from Missoula to Seattle. Through Lookout Pass in Idaho, there was one car behind L. that was acting like a total idiot - tailgating people and driving too fast for conditions. He started tailgating L., so L. changed lanes and the guy did the same. So, L. changed lanes again, and the guy sped up fast to pass. His tire then caught the snow buildup off of the divider, and the guy spun out and around back toward us. L. quickly steered around him. We're so lucky that we didn't hit. I'm thankful that I was taking a nap or I probably would have had to change my pants. In any case, it solidified the reason that I, personally, do not drive in the snow. L. is comfortable with it, considering his roots are in Montana. But I don't feel comfortable driving and I certainly don't feel comfortable sharing the road with people who do crap like that.
L. and I both started back at work this week and as it always is with vacations, there is a lot to catch up on. Because of the economy, there are all kinds of worries about layoffs and such, but we just pray that things start to pick up and such measures are not necessary. But we sat down and drew up a budget for this year to work on saving as much as we can to weather out any downturns. And if nothing ends up happening, we'll have the savings for something else like my condo assessment (which has still not begun) or an improvement to our house. We know of a couple of maintenance things that we'll need to do in the next few years to keep things in good working order. We finished paying off the wedding and honeymoon at the end of December, so it is nice to have that off of our plates.
I'm optomistic about 2009, especially considering we'll finally be rid of president shrub. I worry that some people are too optomistic about Obama taking office. I think he will prove to be a great leader, but it will take his admistration some time to work our country out of the hole we're currently in. FDR had four terms to bring the US out of the great depression and world war, and it involved a lot of programs and government action. So, we'll just have to be patient because I'm sure that there are many things the president shrub administration has done that have yet to be revealed to the American public. There is a lot of poop to scoop before we get to the bottom of all of this.
L. and I went to Missoula for Christmas with his parents, and we took Oli with us. It was a really nice week with them and Oli traveled well. We stayed in Eastern Washington with my grandparents on the way over and back to break up the trip. One of my grandfathers was in the hospital, so we spent some extra time with him and my grandma. He has congestive heart failure and lung cancer, but has been managing pretty well for a 88-year old man. However, a few days before Christmas he started having some trouble, so they brought him in for observation and put him on some antibiotics as they suspected an infection. Luckily he got out of the hospital on Christmas day, so we got to see him at home on our way back from Missoula.
We had a quiet day in with L.'s parents for Christmas. We woke up and slowly unwrapped gifts. We grilled steaks and asparagus for dinner. We then watched A Christmas Story and played games. It was very relaxing and a change from most holidays. Because it was just the four of us, there was no rush for anything and none of the usual urgency to get things unwrapped and setup for kids to play with, etc. The only thing we had to worry about was Oli making it to his papers to potty, which he succeeded in doing well. He only had two accidents the whole week, which isn't bad considering we moved him around a lot between my grandparent's house and L.'s parent's house.
The passes were more difficult coming back from Missoula to Seattle. Through Lookout Pass in Idaho, there was one car behind L. that was acting like a total idiot - tailgating people and driving too fast for conditions. He started tailgating L., so L. changed lanes and the guy did the same. So, L. changed lanes again, and the guy sped up fast to pass. His tire then caught the snow buildup off of the divider, and the guy spun out and around back toward us. L. quickly steered around him. We're so lucky that we didn't hit. I'm thankful that I was taking a nap or I probably would have had to change my pants. In any case, it solidified the reason that I, personally, do not drive in the snow. L. is comfortable with it, considering his roots are in Montana. But I don't feel comfortable driving and I certainly don't feel comfortable sharing the road with people who do crap like that.
L. and I both started back at work this week and as it always is with vacations, there is a lot to catch up on. Because of the economy, there are all kinds of worries about layoffs and such, but we just pray that things start to pick up and such measures are not necessary. But we sat down and drew up a budget for this year to work on saving as much as we can to weather out any downturns. And if nothing ends up happening, we'll have the savings for something else like my condo assessment (which has still not begun) or an improvement to our house. We know of a couple of maintenance things that we'll need to do in the next few years to keep things in good working order. We finished paying off the wedding and honeymoon at the end of December, so it is nice to have that off of our plates.
I'm optomistic about 2009, especially considering we'll finally be rid of president shrub. I worry that some people are too optomistic about Obama taking office. I think he will prove to be a great leader, but it will take his admistration some time to work our country out of the hole we're currently in. FDR had four terms to bring the US out of the great depression and world war, and it involved a lot of programs and government action. So, we'll just have to be patient because I'm sure that there are many things the president shrub administration has done that have yet to be revealed to the American public. There is a lot of poop to scoop before we get to the bottom of all of this.
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