News from the Great Beyond

Everything That's On My Mind - TMI Friday

Bet you thought I meant "TGI" Friday (as in "Thank God It's").  But nooooo, you get "TMI", as in "Too Much Information"!!! Possible TMI ahead - proceed at your own risk.  To skip the TMI stuff, click here (hope this works!).

For those of you who have bothered to read my ramblings about my recent health issues, you will remember that I was scheduled for an IVP (kidney x-ray) on Wednesday.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  After 24 hours on a clear liquid diet, 3 hours without any liquids at all, working my nerve up for the IV (I do abhor needles), and sitting in the waiting room for nearly an hour, I was called back to the exam room and asked the standard question they ask all women between the ages of 10 and 50 when radiation is involved:  Is there any chance you might be pregnant?

I had anticipated this question, and being really close (like, one day) to the end of my monthly cycle, had taken a home pregnancy test the day before, which was negative.  Having been off birth control for two years, and having not gotten pregnant once yet, I figured the chances of this being the month were pretty slim anyway without some sort of medical intervention.  So when they asked me, I told them no, I've already taken a home pregnancy test to confirm and it was negative.  "Well, have you had a blood serum test?" No, I have no reason to believe I am pregnant, why would I get a blood test done?  No symptoms of pregnancy, and every indication (without being too specific - that truly would be TMI) that my period was set to start right on schedule the next day.  The radiology tech went to consult with the doctor, and came back.  Bad news - they refused to do the test unless I could prove that I wasn't pregnant.  Come back when your period starts, they told me, or you can get your doctor to order a blood test and bring the results back in.

I was so incredibly frustrated. I was beyond hungry, very thirsty as I'd had very little water that morning and none at all since 8 AM, and emotional - PMS'ing.  I just wanted the stupid test over with so I could stop dreading it.  I told the lady "This is so dumb.  I'm going to start my period tomorrow, and then I'll have to go through the whole preparation thing again."  Oh yeah, I forgot the stupid laxatives they made me take.  I don't even want to think about that.  It just made the day even less pleasant.

So the radiology tech told me a story about how when she was pregnant with her first child, she wasn't sure what being pregnant was supposed to feel like so she had taken eight home tests that all came back negative, she'd even had her regular period so I don't know specifically why she took all those tests in the first place... but she was scheduled for knee surgery and they had her on the table waiting for her labs to come back before they put her under anaesthesia, and when the results came in she turned out to be pregnant so they cancelled the surgery.  She was 10 weeks pregnant at that point.  I don't know why she told me this story except to convince me that even though I didn't think I was pregnant, it was better to be safe and get proof.  But if I went by her story, I'd have to have a blood test every time I was considering doing an x-ray even if I was currently having a period, because how else would I be absolutely sure I wasn't pregnant?  Whatever.

Oh yeah, and I was right.

In any event, the test will have to be rescheduled... I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now, except that I think the middle of my back is a bit out of whack, which is causing minor discomfort (not even approaching pain) just above my right kidney area and occasionally up to my right shoulder.  I should go back to my primary care physician and have him order a full set of back x-rays, but then the radiology place might refuse to do those too unless I've had a blood test done.  *heavy sigh*

For those who are still reading, well, bless you.  You're either related to me, you really care about what's going on with me, or you have no life. *wink*

In other non-kidney-related news, I am just about drained from working with Vacation Bible School at my church all this week.  Well, except for Tuesday night, when I had to stay home due to preparation for the IVP that never happened.  We've had somewhere between 20 and 30 kids, ages 2 to 12, every night this week.  I've been helping with music, and elsewhere as needed (preparing and serving snacks, corralling runaway youngsters, etc.) and tonight I'm signed up to do face painting at the mini-carnival they'll have in the back part of our church parking lot.

The vehicle curse I mentioned a while back resurfaced on Sunday when my power steering went out - thankfully, it was only a belt that was inexpensive to repair, but I had also been having problems with my car overheating/running hot, and they had to replace the radiator and temperature gauge.  Between all that and the tow bill, that was about $580.  The tow bill alone was $104.  Thankfully I have towing reimbursement on my auto insurance.  Whee.

I've got the Charlie Hall song "Holy Visitation" thoroughly stuck in my head.  That and a catchy little tune from VBS entitled "Jambo".

I'm thinking about springing for a makeover as a birthday present to myself (my birthday is in 12 days, for the curious among you).  I haven't had a new hairstyle, with the exception of changes in length, for the last 7 years or so.  My current hairstylist is good, but not the type to make suggestions about what she thinks would look good.  I've also worn my makeup basically the same way with the same basic colors and products since I got out of college.  I think it looks good, but some professional advice might be welcome.  The only problem is convincing myself to spend the money.  I am a little hesitant to pick some random local salon that I know nothing about, but the spa/salon places that are really pros at this sort of thing (like the Red Door, etc.) are very pricey.  Any Phoenix-area readers have a good suggestion for me?  If I do it, I'll make sure to post before and after pics for y'all.  :)

Blog stuff:  Maybe one of these days we can convince Hubby-head to post something again.  When was the last time he posted something, anyway?  This is why he doesn't start his own blog *wink*.  Speaking of people who need to post, Big Brother has some deep thoughts running through his head - I know because I hear about them frequently, we've been carpooling fairly often since he works a mile from me.  He's got stuff to say on religion, politics, music, and much more.  And sometime in the relatively near future, our church is going to have a blog - it needs to be tweaked a bit, have the graphics and layout designed, and have folks trained in how and why to post to it, but I think it will be rather cool when it's up and running.

I've got a bunch of new names on my blogroll that I've been meaning to introduce... My intention is to do that this weekend, as well as make a few final changes to the post that I pulled earlier this week and re-post it.  The comments I got on my "Chickening Out" substitute post made me reconsider. 

So there's turmoil at my homeowner's association.  The management company they've been with all nearly 8 years I've lived here has terminated their contract with the HOA (probably over a big stink that was raised due to the board president working for the management company)... Now half the board members have quit, and the three that are left can't agree on anything.  I don't care who they decide to use as a management company as long as they do what they're supposed to and stay out of my hair.  I just need to know who to send my check on the first of the month.  Anyone else hate HOAs?  (That's like asking "anyone else like to breathe?" Stupid question, I know.)

I suppose this is enough rambling for now... So, I leave you with this question:

What would you like as if you were your own made up animal?

Everything That's On My Mind - Post-Independence-Day Edition

I know I've mentioned it before, but I do love three-day weekends.  Even better are four-day weekends *grin*... This time I had three-and-a-half days, since I booked out of work after lunch on Friday.  I went to the library, picked up a few books (not that I don't already have enough to read), headed to get a back X-ray at my doctor's request, and then settled in for a relaxing weekend.

For those who know about my recent health concerns, here's an update. I went to my primary care physician on Wednesday of last week - he drew some blood, did a urinalysis to confirm what Urgent Care had told me on Sunday (which is that I do not have a UTI at the moment), referred me for a lower back x-ray, and concurred with Urgent Care's recommendation that I visit a urologist.  My previous history (having had my ureters transplanted when I was 5 years old) - and my recent history (3 or 4 UTI's in the last couple of years) - in combination with my current symptoms (heartburn, occasional light-headedness or tiredness, lower back ache, frequent urge to pee) made it a logical choice.

I did come to a realization on Wednesday, though.  When I was on antibiotics for my most recent kidney infection, I started drinking much more water than I normally do.  Normally, I get 60 to 80 ounces a day, on top of other liquids (herbal tea, caffeine free soda, etc.).  I had started drinking something in the vicinity of 120 ounces of water a day, on top of other liquids.  No wonder I had a frequency issue.  I decided to cut back to my normal fluid intake again, and that symptom has abated.  Since then, I've also had less of an issue with being extra-tired or light-headed.  The dull ache in my lower back still bothered me occasionally.  But then, within a day or two of that appointment, I started having some tingling and pain in my right shoulder, arm and wrist.  I'd think it's a carpal tunnel thing, except that it goes all the way to the top of my shoulder.  I'm seriously suspecting my back and neck is the cause of this.  But of course, the x-ray my doctor ordered was of my lower back, and who knows if that will show anything of use.

Just to be prudent, I'll still go to the urologist tomorrow and face whatever manner of testing they want to put me through *sigh*.  But I don't expect they'll find anything out of whack, and when my doctor returns from vacation next week, I'll be making another appointment to have him review my back x-ray and check out my right shoulder/arm pain.  This, at least, goes away somewhat when I use a topical menthol rub and ibuprofen or Tylenol.  In short, I'm feeling better overall, but with more localized pain.  (So, Mom, you can stop worrying about me. *wink*)

I have done some cooking over the last several days using recipes from the recent Carnivals...  I've tried Annamaria's Pasta Pollo Tricolore (fabulous!!), Prochein Amy's Variety Pie (in two different scrumptious varieties - banana cream pie yogurt with strawberry banana jello and chocolate graham cracker crust, and key lime pie yogurt with lime jello and Nilla Wafer pie crust), Owlish Mutterings' Spinach-Stuffed Meatloaf Squares (I used too much spinach, and too much onion... but otherwise quite tasty), and my own recent contribution of Watermelon Raspberry Lemonade (Hubby thinks it's better titled "Melonade".  Ohhh, I drank too many melonades).

I didn't go out to watch fireworks on the Fourth.  Just not in the mood for crowds, primarily.  Hubby and I went to the Diamondbacks/Cardinals game and watched the D'backs get spanked.  That was enough fireworks for one day, thank you very much.

And in a lovely little work-related development, our current client has decided to hire Ex-BossMan to work on a separate piece of our project - much to the chagrin of our management who made the unfortunate decision to fire him.  He arrived on the job today, looking happy and much less stressed and about 10 years younger.  If that's what leaving CM#1 will do for ya, CoWorkerB and I figure we might just have to give it a try.  Heh. 

Enough rambling for now... So tell me - how was your holiday weekend?

Everything That's On My Mind: Post-Ides-of-March Edition

Beware the Ides of March!  That's what I felt like yesterday, anyway... I woke up with stomach cramps and nausea, and felt unwell all day.  I did go to work, for about three hours, and then decided that it was going to be impossible to do anything productive.  If I was going to be unproductive and miserable, I much preferred to do it in my own home.  I was feverish last night, too.  I'm better today, if not 100%.  (And before you get all excited, FormerCoWorkerT and BossMan had the same symptoms yesterday, so unless pregnancy is "going around" it's not that.)

But yeah, I'm better today.  My appetite has returned, so I had an asiago cheese bagel from Einstein Brothers with sun dried tomato basil cream cheese for breakfast.  The HardHatGuys' project manager brings in bagels pretty much every Wednesday...  I almost forgot today was Wednesday, since I was sick yesterday.

Which reminds me, last week, I don't know what she (or whoever picked out the combination she brought in) was thinking.  I looked in the box of bagels and saw a cinnamon-sugar one as well as several ones that looked like cinnamon raisin and blueberry... and the only types of cream cheese were garden vegetable and salsa.  I don't know who would try a cinnamon-sugar bagel with either of those cream cheeses, but I shuddered at the thought.  Bleh.

We got our new computer desk set up last week and the computer moved over to it on Thursday night.  I keep intending to take a pic of the new desk and post it... I'm digging it.  Now I just can't wait to get the rest of our new living room furniture (couch and coffee table).  We should be getting that in a week and a half or so.  *bounce bounce bounce*

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Of course I started this post in the morning, and by afternoon the stomach troubles have returned.  Guess I'm missing church tonight to stay close to my good friend Juan.  (Too much information, y'all?)  I've eaten nothing since that bagel at 10:00 AM, except some Pepto Bismol chewable tablets.  Mmm, chalky wintergreen flavor.

Well, if I'm home tonight I can bake a cake to take to praise team practice tomorrow evening - somehow I got volunteered to bring baked goods when we set up this last-minute practice to work on our Palm Sunday music.  I made one of my "famous" cakes on Saturday for the singles group but none of them showed (there was a youth event that most of them went to instead), so I brought it to work on Monday.  It turned out fabulous.  It involved a Pillsbury Golden Butter cake mix and some Paul Masson Mocha Caramel Cream Liqueur.  Oh, and Smuckers Dulce de Leche ice cream topping between the layers.  Mmmm.  I'll have to stop by the store and explore my options for tonight's cake.  I could use more of the Mocha Caramel stuff with devil's food cake... but there were several other liqueurs I saw that had potential.  Decisions, decisions.

I have quite the link-fest post planned - I've been storing up good links for a week or so, and perhaps I'll have the mental energy to draft that up tonight between cake-baking action and not-so-fun-tummy action.  I also need to finish my Tuesday's Top 10 (I know, it's late!)... and there is much to share regarding the Terri Schiavo situation.  I had even thought about blogging about last week's episode of The Apprentice, but mainly what I wanted to say is "sheesh, John, good job of going from my favorite to win the whole thing to the one person I thought deserved to be booted the most within two weeks".  Gah.  Perhaps I'll do a roundup of the remaining contestants and my thoughts.  Or not, I've got a lot on my plate already, for someone who hasn't felt like blogging lately.  Or eating.

Stay tuned, fearless readers... Your usual prolific blogger shall return.  In the meantime, check out some of those links on my blogroll there... and new readers, surf the archives.  You may find something to amuse or inspire you.

Everything That's On My Mind, Bored Tuesday Afternoon Edition

Taking a short break from work to do a bit of off-line blogging... I've been alternating between writing a bit in Notepad (to be posted here after work) and working on my meeting notes from this morning's meeting.  Ugh, meeting notes.  Spare me.

Regular readers have probably noticed a dearth of recent posts for my normally wordy self. What I have written lately hasn't been much of substance.  (Bad, bad blogger.)  It could be, as Susie would say, a case of the dreaded beal... I think it's partially because work has been busy, and partially because I don't have much on my mind that's really driving me to write right now.  With the elections over, I'm burned out on the full-on political/cultural rants for the time being.

In the way of personal updates, the electricity situation at our house continues to be an issue.  We thought it was resolved, but a couple of weeks after the new main breaker was installed we began to notice the lights in the restroom flickering quite a lot... and when running the microwave sometimes the light would dim and then brighten up again... and the little fan in the bedroom seemed to pulse at times.  We were somewhat concerned about it, and even called the electrician one day when I had taken off work with a nursty headache, but by the time they returned our call it appeared to have calmed down, and I was unable to get my Visa card (cancelled while Hubby was out of work) turned back on despite the relatively low balance, so we delayed figuring we'd need some significant money for repairs.

Unreasonable Emotional Outburst Caused By Electricity (or lack thereof)

Warning: Possible TMI ahead - but not much of it.

Sunday night I had a dream.  I dreamed (sorry if this is TMI) that I started my period, and I was so distraught about not being pregnant yet again that I had an absolute crying fit.  I was sobbing like it was the end of the world.  I was probably sobbing harder, because if it was the end of the world, I wouldn't miss it all that much.

Anyhow, I woke up - of course it was just a dream.  In reality, I knew I would never be that emotional over not being pregnant this month - I wasn't using the fertility monitor this month because I forgot to reorder the test sticks, so my hopes for this cycle were more of the "wouldn't it be kind of ironic" variety.  In fact, near the end of the day I started getting the telltale signs that my period was starting, and I was fine with it.

I had a pretty decent day, which ended with an impromptu jobsite tour when the A/V consultant sent someone by to take a look at the job unannounced, and being short-staffed at the moment, BossMan gave me permission to blow off a few tasks in order to escort the visitor around.  So I left for the day about 45 minutes late, with hard-hat hair, and a bit hot and sweaty, but feeling pretty good overall.

Timing, as they say, is everything.

Potential "too much information" ahead - don't say I didn't warn ya!

I found this amusing, in the "if I believed in coincidences this would be a really great one" sense...

Regular readers will recall that a few months ago I bought a fertility monitor as the Hubby-head and I have been off the Pill for over a year and still have not gotten pregnant... I've had some questions (and not all of them from my mom) about how that's going, and the answer on that is so far, no results. However...

The way this fertility monitor works is by tracking your menstrual cycle and (via urine samples about 10 days a month) checking hormone levels. Unlike most ovulation tests, this system tracks your estrogen level, which is supposed to raise about 5 days or so before ovulation, as well as the luteinizing hormone, which surges 24 to 36 hours prior to ovulation. The monitor gives you "high fertility" status when the estrogen level raises, then when it detects the luteinizing hormone it displays "peak fertility" for two days, then an additional day of high fertility.

For the first two months on the monitor, I went from low fertility directly to peak on day 13 of my cycle. I figured I wasn't getting the estrogen level increase for some reason, but decided to wait a couple-few more months to see if this was a continuing pattern before running to the OBGYN and freaking out about it.

Well, this morning I got the "high fertility" status - estrogen level finally working as normal I suppose... So maybe this month *crossing my fingers* we'll see some results. And as for the "timing is everything" note, I just found it amusing after yesterday's baby-related post.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense. Happy Monday, y'all.

Playing Catchup - News and Notes...

I have many things running through my head at the moment, not really enough to rant about individually, so here is another of the type of post that I lost last week, this time I'll be smart enough to save the text file until it's actually published.

What's on my mind...

Now I'm Serious.

(Warning: Possible TMI ahead - don't say I didn't warn you!)

This weekend I took a step that I've been contemplating for a few months here, since next month will be a year since I went off birth control and we're still not pregnant. I'm not in full "omigosh what's wrong/go to the doctor and get checked out" mode yet - I am well aware that for some women when you go off the pill, it can take a year or two to get pregnant. I'm also somewhat doctor-phobic, although I am also well aware that this will have to change as soon as I get a positive test.

So this past weekend, I went on Ebay and bid on a Clear Plan Easy fertility monitor. I've read tons of testimonials from women on the Parents Place bulletin boards that this fertility monitor works wonders - most couples who use it (who don't have other fertility issues) become pregnant within 3 months from what I hear. A lot of women get pregnant the first month. The monitors are expensive new ($200 or so in the stores), but you can find a lot of them gently used on Ebay much cheaper. I bid on a couple of them a few months back but they quickly went up beyond my budget limit (most of them were going for $100 - $150 back then)... but this time, I won the auction, and got it for less than $50.00. I had to bid on a box of test sticks also - again, you'd pay $50 at the drugstore but I got a box of 30 (which should last several months) for about $35.00 plus shipping.

Both purchases should arrive by the weekend, which might be too late to predict my most fertile days this month (I know, I know, TMI - you were warned!) but I'll give it a shot, eh? SOoooooo... perhaps we'll have some good news soon. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any other good suggestions for us. I've heard some decent advice from some friends of ours, but you never know what will work the best!

Happy National Hairball Awareness Day!

Although there seems to be some disagreement on the web about which day it actually is, I heard this morning on the radio that today is National Hairball Awareness Day.

Oh, believe me. I'm aware of them. A lot.

The Smell of Lick

Hubby-head and I have a long-standing quasi-argument about whether saliva has an odor.

I know you may consider this TMI, but sometimes we lick each other's faces, arms, etc. - playful fights, pretending to be puppies, whatever. Not trying to go overboard on the TMI factor here, just explaining.

I swear I can smell the saliva when I've been licked on my face or arms - he thinks this notion is very funny and pokes fun at me whenever I bring it up. Or whenever there's a chance of me bringing it up.

What do you think? Can you smell lick? :)