Still alive

Thank you guys for the get well wishes.  It would be nice if the recovery process was faster but it just isn't happening.  They warned me in the hospital I would be down for awhile, they were right.

I went to my primary doctor on Thursday to check in.  She was not completely satisfied with the care I got.  According to her, they let me out way sooner than she thought they should have since I was not able to keep food down for several days after I left the hospital (thanks to the antibiotics).  She also thought that they release me to return to work way too soon, she ordered me to stay home on Friday and rest.  No problem there.  Last but not least she threw a fit about my hemoglobin level; which was 8 in the hospital.  She said that they should have been giving me blood transfusions with levels that low.  I'm not going to lie, that one freaked me out a little.  They tried to do a blood draw but couldn't get a vein to work.  They actually hit a nerve in my left arm and I told them NO MORE.  I have several bruises on my arm from all the stab wounds.  I ended up returning to the office on Friday and they got a vein on the second try with no pain, go figure.

For now I am waiting by the phone for the doctor to call and tell me what I need to do next.  Fingers crossed my hemoglobin has gone up enough that I can just do iron infusions and not blood.  Something about that really freaks me out a lot.  I am supposed to be working half days but I had a lot of thankless training to do so I am going to stay all day.  I know I will sleep good tonight.  I also expect to have to take off again for whatever the doctor decides to do about my blood. 

The baby puppy found a good home.  Her new parents have a lot of land and lots of ponds for her to swim in.  They said they were playing fetch with a tennis ball in the pond with her over the weekend.  Not bad for a 3 month old puppy!!  I would have loved to keep her but I can't save them all.  I told Dennis when I picked her up that she will only break my heart.  I think she is in a much better home than I could give her right now and I need to concentrate on my old guys.

There is nothing going on in diet and exercise.  I kind of have to force myself to eat still but it is at that level where I am not losing, my diet is not healthy right now.  I have dreams about running all the time.  Last night I ran from the BOK arena to Kohl's, which is about 10 miles.  I was meeting my sister there to shop.  I remember laughing in my sleep because I hate Kohl's but I was going to run there to shop.  Then I was mad because I woke up before I got to spend any pretend money.  Last week I dreamt that I ran a marathon but I forgot to set my garmin so I had to start over.  Too bad dream running miles don't count as real miles.

I will let you know when I hear back from the doctor.

pneumonia recovery and puppy breath

1.  I have been out of the hospital for a little over a week.  I worked every day this week but only half days.  I am so tired by the time I get home I sleep until Dennis gets home from work.  Then I am in bed by about 8.  This sucks!! 

2.  My hair is falling out from the 105 fever I had last week. blech.

3.  Today is my follow up appointment with the primary doctor.  Dennis has a list about 10 long of things he wants me to ask her.  She is going to love me by the time I leave.

4.  Despite getting over the horrible crud, I rescued a puppy earlier this week.  She is easily the prettiest little girl I have ever seen.

5.  Pictures!!

 This is her at the house I got her from.  This is the mom.  The poor little girl lived in a 2X4 cage by herself covered in fleas and ticks.  She is 11 weeks old and had never been to the vet or had a bath.

 Those eyes

 That sweet lab head bump

 Those puppy snuggles

 She loves to pose for pictures.

 wasn't the least bit shy about wanting your food

 again, THOSE EYES

 after a trip to the dog wash and the vet, she was worn out

 22.4 pound at 11 weeks!!

 doing what puppies do best

 seriously, those eyes!!

 more puppy cuddles after her bath

 taking her to her new foster home

she is going to be a monster!!

6.  I love her so much but I know that after being in the hospital last week I don't have the energy to chase after and train a baby puppy so a friend at work has her.  I think she is going to keep her.  I get to see her next weekend and I am so excited!!

7.  I am not looking forward to working 5 days a week 8 hours a day next week.  Of all times for the furloughs to be over.  That is if the doctor clears me to work 40 hours.

8.  Maybe my doctor will be able to get me into the lung specialist sooner.  I can't get in until Sept 11!!  That seems like forever from now.  I am know there are a lot of question I have that my regular doctor isn't going to be able to answer.  I can't believe it takes that long.

9.  Going to get my haircut tomorrow, I hope she can work some magic and make my hair look thicker.  I never had this problem with the weight loss so it figures I have it now. 

10.  Short and sweet cause I gotta get out of here and bring Coco (the puppies) toys to her new foster mommy.  Yes I already bought her toys, I am a push over that way.

Too sick to die

I woke up last Sunday with 105 fever. Dennis took me to the ER and they admitted me for "fever of unknown origin". After a barrage of tests they discovered I had pneumonia that wasn't being picked up on (at least) 2 chest X-rays.  3 days in the hospital. I am having problems keeping food down, probably because of the 2 different antibiotics I'm on. If things aren't better tomorrow I am supposed to go back. So don't want that to happen. 

Remember me?

1.  I can't believe it is Thursday.  I really can't believe it is the first of August.  I would love to have one more day this week to get some work done.

2.  I haven't done any "organized" exercise this week but I hauled limbs to the curb for 4 days straight.  I need to call the chiropractor and have him fix my shoulder.  It has always popped really easy; who knows why.  It is really soar now.  It's not like I don't have Monday's free.

3.  I start a new running program on Tuesday.  New groups always cause anxiety.  I am slow and I always have that "what if I'm the slowest" thought going through my mind.  This is though crossfit and it is supposed to make you faster so we will see.  One of my friends from the old running group joined too so at least I'm not in it alone.  It will be hot and the only thing that makes me more anxious than a new running group, is a new running group in the heat.  It will work out though and I need this organized training to help me stick to the training.  I have a half planned in October and November.

4.  I ended up having to have a little fluid taken out of my band Saturday.  I coughed all freaking night on Friday so I had .2 taken out.  I need to schedule another fill but I'm not sure what the financial situation will look like in a month.

5.  My weight is down about 5 pounds!!!  I wore a pair of 6's to work yesterday and they were too big.  I wore 4's today and they are a little tight in the thighs...kinda weird since I have chicken legs.  I have had to eat out for work and family obligations the last few days so I am glad I could maintain the 5 pound loss!!  I am sure the new running program will help as well.

6.  Work is out of control.  I get one thing off my to do list and add 5.  Not going to mention it again.

7.  I am going to my friend's daughter's (AKA favorite toddler) second birthday party Saturday.  I'm not around kids as a rule so I might have to have a drink or 7 afterwards.  FT is so cute though, I asked her how old she was a few months ago and she told me "I not 2", now she says "I happy!!.....2".  They are so fun when they aren't yours.

8.  My mom's birthday is next week and she wants us to go eat at Logan's steakhouse.  I have already starting looking through the menu to see what I can eat that won't be too hard on the old band.

9.  I have no plans tonight.  I am going to sit around and read with my little Sid in my lap.

10.  I am cutting myself off of root beer.  I have cut down to 1 a day but as of today, no more.  I am pretty sure it will help me feel less bloated and help my clothes fit better.

Wow that was fast....

9. 

Finally got my fill!!!

Holy cow where did the week go? 

Tuesday night I swear we had a hurricane blow through.  The only other storm like it I remember was when I was working Katrina recovery in ought five and Rita blew through.  Our power went out at 11 that night.  I stopped by the house at noon and the power was back on, a few minutes later Dennis got there to start cutting trees off the fence and storage building and it was off again.  We finally got restored at 7 that night.  This morning while I was getting ready it started to flash again.  My butt puckered a little but it didn't go out, thank god.  One of the building leases I manager for work had the roof blown off and I am bending over backward to get that taken care of.  What sucks about that, we got more rain last night and today so I sure hope the patches work.  Really strange weather for late July!!

I went to the band doctor yesterday.  I was supposed to get a fill at 5:45 and stay for the seminar and talk to them and answer questions.  Well Dr.
A didn't end up getting there until almost 8!!!  Don't get me wrong, I was answering questions and stuff but it still kind of pissed me off.  I got .7ccs though.  I feel tighter so I hope it is enough to get me back on track.  I was 131 this morning.  I am 19 pounds above my secondary goal and 8 pounds over my first goal.  I told Dr. A that this summer has been a shit storm and that I really think that the stress is making me hold on to the weight.  Granted I did go overboard when Dexter died, eating donuts and drinking root beer every morning but that didn't last and I am still gaining.  I am going to call next week and get a full blood work-up done including hormone levels.  I told him that when I wake up in the mornings my fingers are so puffy I can't get my rings on.  He told me that the stress hormone cortisol as the same effect on the body as taking prednisone and he thinks I need to step up the exercise to help with the stress.  I am going to try to get to the gym on a more consistent basis.  It has really been hard this last few weeks though with my friend passing away and the storm crap.  Hey, I can clean up my yard and not have to go the gym.  That will be a work-out!!!

I am going to get my hair done tomorrow.  I have to get my turquoise and purple streaks taken out.  It is just too expensive to maintain right now.  Maybe I can find something else fun to do this fall in time for race season.  I am sad to see my funky hair go but $40 a month adds up fast!!

I dropped my big girl off at the groomer this morning.  I don't know why that makes me so nervous but I am fighting the urge to call and check on her and she hasn't been there 3 hours yet.  This is my Pyrenees mix so it will take awhile.  She is getting hot spots again so I want to get her shaved down so I can keep an eye on it.  I know you aren't supposed to cut their hair but I can't stand to watch her all itchy and freaking out trying to get the undercoat ripped out.  I hope she will be ready at lunch.

OK, I better get busy.  Not sure what the weekend holds.  Lots of sleep hopefully!!

Have a good one!!

weekend goings on

I have been a really bad blog friend.  I have read posts but since I am not feeling really good about myself, it is hard to fack the positive vibe.  That is going to turn around.  I am getting a fill this week (fingers crossed) and I will be back to my normal sarcastic bitch of a self.  Right now I am sitting in my size 4 pants with them unbuttoned because they are so tight on my stomach it hurts.  Back on the program now!!  Maybe getting a fill is more psycological but so be it.  I need that feeling of control to not feel like a beached whale.

Just to proove how lazy I am, here is the post I put on the Calorie King site.  I am too fat and lazy to write another one ; /

Had a pretty good weekend, despite the rough start. For some reason there are lots of pictures.

Thursday night Dennis and I went to the VIP party at the Hard Rock. It was a lot of fun and I think even Dennis enjoyed it. There were two live bands and I really liked the first one, we left before I could tell much about the other band. They had typical finger food....chicken strips, fried mushrooms, meatballs, spring rolls, a huge table of fruit and veggies and chips and dips. The food was ok but the open bar was just what I needed. I'm not much of a drinker and I always get stage fright when I order, I have no idea what I like. I got a margarita and it was half a glass of tequila with a little of the mix, no way I could drink that. Dennis thinks it is funny that I'm a light weight. He told me the faster I drank it the less I would taste.  The next time I went up and asked for something fruity and they made me something called a jellyfish made with malibu rum. I drank two of those in no time flat. We decided that we should probably head home since I had the memorial service the next day and it would be hard enough without a hangover. On the way out I put $5 in a slot machine, I played for maybe 10 minutes and left with $8. I just can't stand to throw away money like that. I sent a text to the guys that also worked with Marsha and they went to the casinos too, Kim lost $100 and Rhonda won $2,400. Again, I am a light weight.

Friday was a very hard day. The chapel was packed and I got a chance to talk to the family and tell them how sorry I was for the loss. The service was pretty good. They told stories about her that made you laugh through your tears. She was a nut. There were a lot of former co-workers that showed up and we took pictures because you know how it is, that is the only time people seem to get together. Her husband had her friends come in and take the flowers home with them because they had so many. We were very reluctant at first but he insisted. I have a beautiful bouquet drying in my kitchen.



I will have to look at pintrest and see what I can do with the dried flowers. Afterwards about 20 of us went to lunch and had a really good time. I don't think I got home until almost 4. I was so tired.

Saturday I woke up wide awake at 5:30 again. I got up and went for a horrible and miserable run. My hair is long enough to put in pigtails finally!! My shadow was too funny. I wanted to get a picture of me looking like an overgrown 2 year old but the sun came up before I could get a shot. So I took a picture of my little pigtail.



That little ringlet curl just shows how damn humid it was.

I took Dennis lunch at work since I planned on being gone most of the night. I got home, changed clothes and headed out to the Center of the Universe. I got there early enough that I found a good parking spot and got my ID wristband and stuff with no problems. I had picked up my volunteer shirt and wristband on Thursday. There was a huge snafu that started on Friday night. They had three levels of "seating" the VIP zone ($165 per ticket), which had access to air conditioned Cains Ballroom, free beer, a large lounge area with live feed from the main stage, and real bathrooms. They had access to the front maybe 15% of the area in front of the stage. The next level was BOK zone (about $75 per ticket). They were SUPPOSED to have access to a few air conditioned bars and from 15-25% of the front of the stage. Free Zone for the cheap bastards who didn't pay was just everything else. As it turns out, OneRepublic started a huge problem because they said they wouldn't play unless they opened up the BOK area to the people who didn't pay. That caused a huge issue for the people that bought the second level tickets, as it should. They were allowing the people that didn't pay into the bars that was supposed to be BOK and VIP only and there was no longer a separate area in front of the stage. I volunteered at the will call/ticket office and there was almost a riot from the BOK ticket holders. They wanted to be upgraded to VIP but we couldn't do that because of the free beer thing and it would just cause more problems. This happened right before a popular band; that a lot of people were there to see, was about to take the stage. It was kind of a nightmare. I don't know why they didn't just let them go to the VIP stage area and not change the wristband. I just did what I was told. They are going to have to contact everyone who bought the mid level tickets and give them a refund. Talk about a mess. Volunteers got free reign of the place. It was totally worth kicking in a few hours and being able to drink free beer (I actually drank 2 after the ticket fiasco) the lounge and the front of the stage. My shift was over just in time to see Ok Go. They were amazing!! I didn't know much about them except for the cool videos they make (they did the video with the choreographed routine on 8 treadmills). I have a couple of their songs on my running playlist so I know I like them but after seeing them live I absolutely them. I totally have a school girl crush on the lead singer. There is a song they do on handbells (I know, right) and in the middle of the song a semi drove by and honked the horn. The singer looked up and got this huge smile on his face and it was all over from there.  Actually, here is a video of it, cutie pie
I didn't stay for Neon Trees. I was so tired and my back hurt - yes I am old. I got some food truck food for Dennis and I and went home to eat. I was afraid that going by myself would be awkward but it really wasn't. Not only did I see the band I wanted to see, I got to leave when I wanted. Here are a few pictures from OK Go





There are a lot more pictures on facebook.

Yesterday I had to take Hunter to get his arthritis shot. He is so freaking cute. I had a $100 bill so I drove through McDonalds and got him a breakfast burrito so the vet wouldn't have to deal with finding change. The burrito was really hot so I was blowing on it. He was being impatient so I gave him a small piece and this is the look I got

I love that boy. I took him to the regular vet because he has been really itchy and the vet and tech hung out in the room with him for 30 minutes giving him a big(ger) head. He is such a good dog. He got two shots and acupuncture yesterday so he was ready to go home. That is a big day for a 13 year old dog.

My plan was to get my swim bag and head to the pool. I grabbed my bag and headed back out. I stopped for lunch at the mall and when I got out the sky was really dark. By the time I got to the turn all chances of going swimming were a wash, pun intended.  You can see one of the water slides in the background....


Today is back to work as much as I liked getting paid, I really like a 4 day work week. I got my first statement with the reduced pay and it hurt. That was with only one day pay lost so it is really going suck next payday. I may set up a fund raising site for furloughed federal employees. Maybe I can get used to the reduced pay and when they want me to work 40 hours I can tell them to suck it!!

I have yet another appointment with the lap band doctor on this Thursday. I will be interested to see if it pans out this time. I hope he can help me feel like I am in control of my food again because I don't feel that way at all right now.

bring on the weekend

OMG I am so tired.  I slept horribly the last two nights.  I was up about every 30 minutes from 2:30 on this morning.  When I was still wide awake at 5 I got my ass out of bed and went for a 30 minute kinda run.  It was 73 degrees with 90+% humidity.  I did intervals and probably walked more than I ran towards the middle hilly part.  I had the brilliant idea of wearing my hair straight today, lol.  It took forever for my hair to dry and it was unruly by the time I got out of my car at work.  I tried anyway.

I had the strangest experience last night.  I went to walk on the TM and decided to stop at the Neighborhood Skank-Mart that was across the road.  I don't normally shop in that part of town because it is a little sketchy but it wasn't even close to dark.  Of course I was wearing running clothes (lets make these shorts long enough to cover everyone's ass cheeks and roomy enough to move in said no running short designer EVER), shorts and a tank top.  As I was walking down one of the aisles these two guys who where eating chips out of the package right there in the store "cat called" me.  I ignored them and kept walking.  There were kids screaming at the top of their lungs and pushing each other in carts, I could have recorded it and used it as a PSA for birth control.  I checked out with my debit card and got cash back.  As I was getting in my car starting to close the door a lady kind of comes out of nowhere and gets to where I can't close car door and asks me if I had a cigarette.  I have bad asthma and I am a (half-ass) runner so I instinctively blurted out "oh hell no" and she kind of was caught off guard and took a step back.  I shut my door and locked it.  There was a freaking stupid family behind my car loading their groceries and their kid was running loose so I had to sit there until I was sure they were loaded up.  The lady got into another car and drove off.  I told Dennis about it and he asked my what I did about the guys in the store.  I told him I would have been offended if I were younger but now that I am old and fat I told him thank you and offered him my number (just joking).  He told me that he highly suspected that the lady saw me get cash from the cashier and followed me to my car with the intentions of taking my purse.  She wasn't expecting me to respond the way I did (do I look like a smoker?) so it kind of caught her off guard.  Dennis told me I am not allowed to go to that store by myself again.  Fine by me.

I am not working tomorrow, it is the memorial service for my friend and I just took all day off.  It will be a hard day.  I hope it is an upbeat service.  Marsha was so much fun.  I hope they just have people get up and tell stories and don't have a preachy service. They planned the service for Friday at 12:30 because they knew she would want everyone to have an early weekend. 

Tonight I am going to a party at the Hard Rock Casino for the people that are volunteering at the Center of the Universe concert this weekend.  Marsha loved to go play slots, I am not a gambler; I'm a shopper, but while I am there I am going to put $10 or $20 in a machine for her.  If I win I will donate the money to the charity she supported.  I don't think she would have wanted it any other way.

The concert is going to be fun, I am looking forward to it. I am not taking my sister btw.  I hope they have me in the a/c because I plan on being out there all day Saturday.  They will have a tent set up with free food, beer, energy drinks, and of course water.  The good thing is I don't get really hungry when it is hot outside so maybe I won't overdo on the grub.  There is going to be food trucks there too, that is dangerous for me.

Still no luck getting an appointment for a fill.  A friend at work said Dr. Joe Bob does her husbands bypass aftercare.  I called and they want $400 for a fill!!!  I am really damn close to getting a needle and some saline and just filling it my own dang self.  Since Dr. A has been gone for 2 weeks I am sure that put him behind a month.  Who would have thought that such a simple little procedure would be such a pain in the ass?  It would be cheaper to just buy bigger clothes at this point.

Not sure what else the weekend has in store.  Maybe I will go hang out at the pool after the funeral.  Monday I have a counseling session and I have to take Hunter for his monthly arthritis shot.  I asked the therapist if I could bring Hunt if I am running behind and she said it was no big deal, she is a pet friendly office.  I kind of think it would be fun to take him since it will be a pretty heavy session after the loss of my friend.  I will have to see how he is doing though, at 13 he just doesn't get around like he used to. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.