Bubble Wrap Fun

Otherwise known as "Poppy Paper" at my house. Yesterday I got a birthday gift in the mail. It was wrapped in a ton of industrial strength bubble wrap. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I LOVE poppy paper!! My mother fondly recounts walking out into the garage to find me stomping on bubble wrap because the concrete made it so much better. So anyway, I digress. Apparently my love of the bubble wrap is genetic because both of my boys love it. Back to the story...I left the bubble wrap sitting out in the kitchen last night hoping to keep myself from going crazy with it. This morning the boys finished their breakfast when I suddenly heard a loud clamour from the kitchen. This is what I walked in to find:



The first video is where the boys figure out that they have been discovered with mommy's bubble wrap. The second is the continuation of the fun. :-)



And the last one that will just make you laugh!

CT scan results

So I called the doctor's office yesterday to see if they might have gotten the results. I love how the nurse calls me back..."we got the results, everything looks fine" was her spiel. So where do we go from here was my response to her. She was totally deflated sounding. She said that she would have to talk to the doctor and get back to me. What the heck? Now going on 7 weeks with an illness and all she had to say was good test results? So I suggested that maybe he refer me to an infectious disease specialist or do another test for Lyme disease. Something, anything to figure out what is wrong with me. Right now I am fighting off the massive headache that started about 20 minutes ago. Someone told me the other day that Lyme disease doesn't always give a positive result the first time...or sometimes the second time. So maybe I got a false negative...at least Lyme disease is curable. I went in today for another round of blood work. They took four vials from my left arm since the IV was a week ago in the right one. I am starting to feel like a human pin-cushion. Yuck.


On the positive side, I celebrated my birthday this weekend. Let's just say that I am 29 with a few years of experience and chalk it up to that. We celebrated with friends on Friday night at an Indian restaurant and then we celebrated as a family on Saturday by going to the High Museum and seeing the Monet Water Lillies exhibit.

I also enjoyed the beach and water pictures exhibit as well. We ended up downstairs for a snack in the little snack shop and noticed that they had easels set up outside for kids to paint on. Grayson was all about that so we decided to go out there. Randy has this idea that we cannot go anywhere that I don't know someone. And by george, he seems to be right! Sitting outside helping was a gentleman that I spent three days with in a workshop talking about incorporating the arts into every subject of instruction. How funny it was to walk out and see him there. Plus the fact that I was totally BUSTED. I should have submitted four lesson plans on Friday...and I didn't. He said only 5 people had done it and he was going to offer an extension. Thank goodness. :-)


This is Grayson's painting. Starting from top left and going counter-clockwise: a house, then mommy, below her is grass and next to the house is a very long slide. I think it is interesting that the house looks like a stop light. :-) He is definitely the artist! He loves to draw, color, paint, write, etc.

CT Scan Today

Boy that was fun!! Not really. Unfortunately, it was one where I had to have the contrast. At first the nurse said that I was going to have to get the IV and the drink the liquid. Then she said that I might have to drink two things of the liquid. Ugh. I had a difficult time with glucose test when I was pregnant. For some reason, I just cannot drink that much liquid in such a short period of time. It just makes me gag to drink that much...let alone some nasty yuck liquid. So needless to say I was not looking forward to this at all. We get back to the room and I see the needle and just lose it. I did not come to the appointment with the idea in my head that needles would be involved, so I was not "prepared" for it. It worked out fine because I guess I cried and got it out before the nurse came in. She came and said that she was wrong and I would NOT have to drink that yucky liquid (Hooray!!!). But I still had to have the IV (Boo!). I hope you are getting the sound effects along with the narration...it just makes it so much better!

So I didn't cry when she put the IV in. Wow. I am getting better with the getting blood drawn, so I maybe I am getting better over-all? No probably not. The nurse said she was really happy that I didn't cry, because it would have made her feel bad. At least I didn't make her feel bad right? :-)

I went into the CT room and the gentleman there was really nice. He put me on the bed and told me what would happen. He hooked up the contrast to the IV. It was interesting because the "cord" was coiled like telephone cord...for those of us who remember that phones used to have cords. He told me that he was going to hook it around my fingers, to which I replied, "So it won't pull out right?" He said that not many people get that. To me it just seemed to be common sense, but I guess many people wouldn't see it that way. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather not have iodine all over me because the IV pulled out. They had this cool gadget that could tell if the IV was working properly that taped to my arm. If the drip didn't do right, it would turn off the machine. It sort of looked like one of the store alarm inserts with the metal coils. It was pretty interesting to me anyway. He warned me that iodine would feel warm as it went up my arm and all over the place. It was especially weird feeling in my neck and throat. I asked him if anyone ever passed out before from it, because I felt like I might. He said no and that it should pass in a minute. Once it did pass, they took the pictures and I was done. Sum total it only took about 15 minutes to do it all. I got a really bright green bandage for my arm. It was either that or bright red.

I felt weird the rest of the day. Especially in my neck. My throat doesn't feel too hot either and he told me to drink plenty of water over the next few days to flush out the iodine from my system. I asked him if I would be radioactive for the rest of the day and he laughed and said no. Then I asked if I was going to pee orange or something and he said no. Man was I disappointed. I thought that would be really cool. Oh well. I hope to know something in the next few days. Meanwhile I am still having the headaches and the low-grade fever. C'est la vie.

I got to have lunch with my cousin today! It was really cool. She has lived here for a few years, but due to a misunderstanding of proximity we never got together. It is wonderful that something great came out of my granny's funeral because now we know we are not that far apart and perhaps can spend some time together. Annie is my second cousin. Her dad is my granny's brother. So technically she is my dad's cousin which makes me her second cousin...or something like that. Anyway, I got to eat a cool little place in Chamblee and meet her fabulous beau. He was really cool and he and Randy seemed to have some stuff in common. I really hope we hang out some as the year progresses. I am really am a family person.

General Surgery Consult

Wow! I really liked this doctor. He was older but sharp and very personable. He cracked jokes and was very light-hearted. If I had to see someone for general surgery I would definitely see him. So he listened to all my stuff and felt around all of my lymph node areas. He did say that my lymph system was participating in the whatever is going on with me. But, he said that he did not feel a mass together enough to get an easy biopsy. So he called my doctor and told him that there was no way he was going to go in searching for a lymph node to biopsy. So the next step is to go and get a CT-scan. Hooray. The surgeon asked me to let him know when they find something. :-) He was a riot!

So my CT-scan is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9 AM. Fun. I have never had a CT-scan before so I don't know what to expect. If it is anything like an MRI with a long tube, I am going to have some problems. If they have to give me contrast, I am going to have some problems. Between my needle phobia and my claustrophobia, I am a mess!

Meanwhile, I woke up sweating in the middle of the night. It was a weird feeling. Then I woke up with the headache already. Not a good sign when I don't normally get them until later in the day. Still just trying to take it one day at time. Sometimes I feel as thought a whole week hits me all at once. :-)

Fun Day today

Yesterday I went to my yearly cardiology appointment. I go every year because I have MVP (Mitral Valve Prolapse) where my mitral valve doesn't work properly so it leaks. I take meds daily for it so that my heart doesn't work harder than it has to work. I seem to be doing fine. Apparently, from my moniter last year that I never got results for, I had just normal palpitations. That's good. It means the meds are working and my heart is fine. I had mentioned to her that I get these night terrors of spiders in the bed every once in a while. It doesn't really bother me, but it scares the heck out of Randy when it happens. Normally I get the sensation that a spider has fallen on me from the ceiling, so I scream, do a combat roll in the bed, and begin beating the "spider" to death. Needless to say, it wakes me up (and Randy too). I usually go right back to sleep after it. So the doctor tells me yesterday that the meds I am on has been known to cause these types of things. Wow. Didn't know that. So she suggested that once I get my health back on track, we might try to switch me to another medication. I think we may try that.

I did mention the symptoms I have been having lately to her and she her first response was the same as Randy's doctor. Have you seen an Infectious Disease Specialist? I told her no. She recommended one to me and told me if I needed her to she would write me the referral. I am a little overwhelmed at the moment so I may do it on Monday. Today I have an appointment with the doctor for a surgery consult. My PCP said that I should have the lymph node biopsied. Woo hoo this should be fun. I go today at 2:30 for the consult. I guess I will know more after that.

Newest Developments

I called the doctor's office today to let them know that my symptoms have remained unchanged despite the newest antibiotic round. I know that they are probably getting sick of me at this point, but I really just want some answers. I am prepared for anything at this point, so I will take whatever comes, but I just want to know what I am dealing with. The first time the nurse called me I was just about to hop in the shower so I quickly listened to what she told me and got off of the phone. The idea was that the doctor wanted to refer me to an ENT. While in the shower I started thinking about it and wondered what the heck an ENT was going to do for me? My thoughts went to wondering what it could be if it wasn't a virus or bacteria. The idea came to concentrate on what would make my body temperature be so weird. So I decided to look up information on what controls body temperature. I resolved to call the nurse back after I looked up the information to ask about the reason for the ENT referral and to ask for a copy of the real lab report so I could see exactly what they tested me for and the numbers they got rather than just the word normal.

So apparently the body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain. It has some other functions such as hormones, taste and smell, and giving the feeling of hunger. The interesting thing I found out is that if you had a tumor on the hypothalamus, it would not have originated there. It would have to have come from some other source first. Well the information just didn't really fit, but it was good to learn something new.

So I revisited the list of possibles that I got from WebMD. The one that the doctor wouldn't consider 5 weeks ago was lymphoma. He said that most doctors would not consider it until the pain and/or swelling had been in the lymph node for at least 4-6 weeks. Well here it is 5 weeks later and just about everything else on the list has been explored. I went back to the information I found on lymphomas and started reading it again. Maybe it is time to consider the possibility.

I called the doctor's office back and talked to the nurse again. She said she would send me a copy of the actual report from the bloodwork in the mail, so hopefully I will have that soon. When I asked her about the ENT referral she told me that with the cold symptoms I was showing that the doctor thought it might be good for me to see the ENT. First of all, I already see an allergist for that sort of stuff because I do in fact have allergies. I offered to go see her instead of having to go through the hassle of doing a referral and all of that. However, I argued with her that I did not in fact have cold symptoms...no sneezing, stuffiness, coughing, runny nose, etc. I only have the elevated temperature, the headaches, and the pain in the lymph node. I asked her about autoimmune diseases and she said they checked for those. I suggested that perhaps we needed to revisit the lymphoma idea again. She said that she would talk to the doctor and get back to me. I really don't like being a pest, but I would rather be pesty than to go to a doctor unnecessarily and waste everyone's time and money.

The nurse did finally call back after 5:30...which was pretty late for a doctor's office. Apparently, my doctor wants to send me on a surgery consult to do a biopsy of the lymph node. Holy crap! That involves a very large needle and me being awake. I was really not expecting that to be the answer even though I knew it was a possibility. Hooray. This summer just keeps getting better and better. So now I am in wait to hear mode. Not worried about the results, no matter what I will handle it. Granny had lymphoma twice and beat it twice. The prognosis for someone my age is very good if it is caught early. Mostly, I am worried about the biopsy. Go figure.

Queue manical laughter

She let me have posting rights! Woohoo! The evil I can do! I will take over the world, one blog at a time!

Right, power trip done. I wanted to post that the boys got to experience their first MRE last night. That's Meal, Ready-to-Eat for you non military people out there. When we were at Ryan's BBQ (good times had, great food cooked and enjoyed, and tasty tasty beer) for Memorial day, we met one of his friends and neighbors, who is active service in the Army, who very generously gave the boys each an MRE he had spare.

So, I didn't feel like cooking last night, and we had these MREs that the boys have been dying to try, so... we cracked them open last night. Nathan had the meatloaf, while Grayson had the Pot Roast. Nathan loved his, eating every bit, and as per his usual, hunting around for more food afterwards. Grayson loved the _idea_ of eating an MRE but the reality seems to have differed to his expectations.

I tried both MREs, and I have to say I was very impressed. Both were tasty, and while not 5star gourmet, I could easily live on those for a while. Though with only 24 menu items, and easily 1/2 of those being things I won't eat, I can imagine they would get old after a while if I had to subsist on them for any real length of time. But I'm glad to see we're feeding our service men and women decently when they're in the field. Apparently, this has not always been the case.

Got Some Catching up to Do!

Wow, how time flies...even when you are not having fun!

A lot has happened since I last posted so I will try my best to catch up on all of it...in other words, make the long story short.

My excuse for not writing has been many fold. The main reason I stopped posting when I did is because I hurt my shoulder. I sprained the bone/ligaments between my neck and my shoulder on the right side. Yes, I learned the hard way not to try to catch a 300 pound table as it falls. After many months of physical therapy, MRI's, x-rays, and finally a cortisone shot (yeah, not my idea of a good time), I am feeling better. It took a few months after the cortisone shot for it to settle down. I still have a little soreness in my shoulder, but not all day like before.

The second reason I stopped posting was because my father's mother, Great Granny Annie as my kids called her, got sick in January. She was in the hospital for a few weeks with gall bladder issues, but it ended up that whole reason she was having gall bladder issues was because she had Pancreatic Cancer. They did what they could for her, but the day after they moved her to the hospice facility, she passed away. That was February 6th at 7:15 in the morning. She is the reason I am the person I am today, no doubt about that. She was fiesty, fun, artistic, and great at telling stories. I have missed her greatly. Unfortunately, she died in February but was not able to be buried until the end of April. She needed to be put with Gramps who was in Arlington Cemetery. It was at least a 6 week waiting list to get buried there. So she was finally interred on April 22, 2009. That was a very long time to postpone the grieving process for me.

Shortly after that, it was the last month of school. Anyone who works in a school knows that the last month is CRAZY! Just the paperwork alone was enough to snow me under: I had to (with my two partners of course) do paperwork for all 394 students identified as gifted at our school. We did have help from our wonderful assistant principal, but it was a lot of work collecting and filing all of those papers. Next year, we will have it under control long before the last few weeks of school. I vow it!

I have gotten a new position at work...well sort of. It is really more of a title change. Instead of being a CATs teacher (collaborative action team) I will be a STEM teacher (science, technology, engineering, and math). The main issue is that there really isn't such a program...my other half and I will have to create it. I will be doing a lot of work to get it ready for the fall during this summer break...along with trying to get the clutter under control, the front foyer finished, and doing fun things with the family. It should be a hectic summer.

And now...the newest medical mystery. I seriously wish I knew Dr. Gregory House. For the past month (almost 5 weeks now) I have been suffering with a low-grade fever 99.5 to 100.5, headaches mostly like pressure, and swollen lymph nodes in the groinal area. After 4 vials of blood and two kinds of antibiotics, they still don't know what is wrong with me and I am not getting any better. When I looked up the symptoms on WebMD I found the following illnesses listed: cat-scratch fever, lyme disease, the PLAGUE, lymphoma. I did get a good laugh at the plague reference. Who knew that it still existed? I will be going back to the doctor again tomorrow hopefully to get the details on what he tested for exactly...the paperwork I was sent didn't give any details, everything just said normal. And yes I know, I am NOT normal.

So, as you can tell, life has been full of surprises since I last posted. As I find pictures from the last few months, I will try to post them. As they say in the TV shows: Until next time...