.:: Yolospat ::.

I’ve been going to the Windsor Spine Center for 3 going on 4 weeks now, suggested to me by my dear Aunt Martha whom sadly also suffers from Fibro. Dr. Jason is doing wonderful things there and he’s giving me my body and health back. Altho I’m one of the worst cases he’s seen, my progress there has been nothing but miraculous. I go to physical therapy 3 times a week, a commitment I never thought I would be able to make and I’ve only missed one appointment due to a migraine last Monday. The past several years my Fibro flares have increased to 3-4 flares a week. Since I’ve been going to the Windsor Spine Center I’ve had one flare up that lasted less than half a day before I was on my feet again. They started me on the Ideal Protein Diet and this last week has been my “detox” week and my body has been fighting this detox with everything it has (or, it could be due to stress in other area’s of my life since I was hit with a bomb shell at the beginning of the week) but the good news is I’ve already lost 8lbs, 2 inches around my waist, 2 inches around my chest and one inch around each arm. I’ve been told that there have been 5 people (who which to remain anonymous even to me) that have donated to my account because they have heard my story or I have touched them in some way which was incredible. I found this news out last week and was floored.

The best way I can describe the Windsor Spine Center is taken from the commercial on TV when the man talks about the Cancer Centers of America and how they breath hope into you. That’s exactly what the clinic is doing for me. The people that work there are genuine and they truly care about their clients. My normal routine when I get there is to do my stretches, then Dr. Rich or Dr. Jason make adjustments to my neck and spine. Next I do different stretches focusing on the neck and legs which one of the girls assists with. After that I go and sit in traction for 10 minutes (might sound mid-evil but it really feels good). Last stop is laser treatment that I get done all the way up and down my spine which promotes pain relief and helps bring down the inflammation in my spine that is damaging my nerves. Every Monday I have a weigh in with my nutrition specialist and we go over my meal plan for the week. I also attend classes every Tuesday that goes along with the Ideal Protein diet with others that are on the diet (which most everyone is that goes there is on).

I’ve gotten to know some of the other patients that have the same schedule as me and I’ve made a lot of new friends. I look forward to seeing them every time I go. One patient is my age and he and I have become buddies. He was shy at first but he’s opened up the more we talk. When I got done with my stretches today I went and laid down on the adjustment table to wait for Dr. Rich to adjust my back and neck. He looked over and said “you are so pretty” which caught me off guard, but not as much as it caught him off guard. He said “did I just say that outloud?” and his face turned as red as my hair. I thought it was cute. When he was on his way out he said “see ya next week cutie” .. It made me smile. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a compliment like that from a guy. Sort of made my day.

It was a big day for me in another way too. My Uncle Don has been needing a wheelchair since his surgery and now that I don’t need it anymore I packed it up and dropped it off at his and my Aunt Donna’s house. I know he meant this as a compliment but he said he hasn’t seen me look this healthy and strong since before I left for Florida in 2005 because since then I’ve looked like an invalid. Nice, eh? Made me laugh in the car on the way home.

I cut my hair and bleached it and it looks totally rockin’

Like a 1980's Punk Rock Chick

I’m planning something big this year year. It’s not some lame New Year’s resolution list of goals that just set one up to fail. No, it’s not going to be something impossible either, like hoping for the cure for Fibromyalgia – It’s not going to be something that I can’t control.

The one person I have control over is me. I’ve learned some pretty hard lessons this last year I’m surprised I made it out with my sanity. I’m going to let go of the last horrible rotten year and leave it in the past. I will carry with me those lessons learned. They are the only stow aways that are permitted to come with me into 2011.

I will do everything in my power to kick myself. I’m going to kick my ass out of the pity parties that have been coming around more and more it seems. I’m going to get myself out from underneath this cloud of negativity. I’m not going to be afraid to fail – because i will from time to time and I can grow from it – at least I would have tried.

My first leap into making this the year of Yolospat has to do with my better half. My best friend and soulmate. My ex-husband. I know I know, you’re all thinking, “You’re best friends with your ex-husband?!” Well, we are a rare breed I suppose. In fact, we have better communication skills now with each other than when we were married. I would have not made it through this last year without him. It’s been a year and almost 4 months since I saw him last so this month I’m going to fly out to Georgia to see him. We are both excited, and it gives us something to look forward to. We never got to say goodbye when we made – in my opinion – too rash of a decision. Growth and good changes between us have happened, and also individually that couldn’t have happened had we still been together. Brendan is what smiles are made of, and I can’t wait to see him. We have agreed that I would bring his xmas box with me instead of shipping it so that we can open his presents together.

I have a few projects lined up for this next year. I will be focusing on my writing this year. This includes my blogs, articles, journaling, poetry, freelancing, short stories and a novel I’m working on at the moment. I’m also going to be focusing on my artwork and bring my portfolio into existence. I’m going to try and volunteer at the humane society. I also have house projects lined up, like painting a few rooms, my fence and my deck. I need to put the art studio back together too. I think I might bring the studio inside and put it int he basement for the winter so I won’t have to worry about heating the garage (which is detached from the home).

I have to remember to pace myself. Living with Fibromyalgia is a very tricky balancing act. If I have a good day and I use up more energy than I should have I’ll be in bed for the next 2 days exhausted. I have to remember that I can only do so much and the better I pace myself the greater my “good days” will be. I also want to talk about Fibromyalgia this year in detail to spread the word and to debunk the myths. I’ve talked about it briefly from time to time but it’s a very hard medical condition to understand. I want to help people understand, so anyone has questions please feel free to ask.

My Writer’s Market book came in the mail yesterday. It’s what every writer needs in reference to publishing, agents, writing idea’s, tips and tricks. You name it, it’s got it. It also has the updated 2011 list of all agents and houses, including what they specialize in and what they are looking for. I also got the Short Story Writer’s Market book too.

I hope everyone makes this year a better year. I know I am.

I’ve had my ATT/Cingular account for a good decade now and I’ve never upgraded my phone on it. A few days ago my iPhone3g 16GB did something some would think of as a dire emergency. One of those people was yours truly.

It ran out of space.

I headed straight to ATTs website and for the first time, I took advantage of my upgrade features. I got the iPhone3gs 32GB (white of course). It arrived in the mail yesterday, sparkly and brand new. Right away I powered it to full and sync’d my whole music library. To my gleeful surprise I still had room! This is not something I’ve ever ran into before. So I started syncing some of my TV shows I haven’t watched yet. I’m a big fan of Fringe & The Office. After that sync got done I was again surprised to see I still had tons of room.

It’s not like my music collection is tiny by any means but over the years I’ve weeded out the music I don’t listen to anymore. I decided not to push my luck and happily left all that empty space, proud that my usual instinct to fill a drive to the fullest was at peace.

Next I started loading my iPhone apps. One of my favorite apps right now is “Red Laser.” It reads bar codes and suggests places you can get that product the cheapest or it will tell you the nutritional value of a food product like it did for a loaf of wheat bread Mom got from Safeway.

With the iPhone3gs the camera on it is so clear and it has the focus capability. All those barcodes my iPhone3g wouldn’t read the iPhone3gs picks up in seconds. I think I’ve managed to scan every barcode I could find upstairs in Mom’s house.

The good news is my Uncle Don is going to buy my old iPhone3g since my Aunt Donna just got one under one condition. I have to give them a rash course on the basics as well as the fun stuff like apps, picture messaging, and text messaging. I’m looking forward to that. I get so excited about gadgets I want to tell everyone about them.

One more thing the iPhone3gs has is something I’ve been wanting since 2005 when I left Colorado for Florida. A compass. Ironic I have one now when I have no idea which direction is up and/or down and what my future will bring. I think it’s perfect timing I got it now.

Good Timing ….

I never knew what Adobe Contribute was for until I happen to come across a site that spoke about it being a blogging client. Well, let me tell you, it’s a lot more than that. It’s a blogging client and whole website rehaul client. I’m going to publish this and see if it works.

I’m finally here at Mom’s house. It’s just beautiful here today, nearly perfect except for the mosquitos. No clouds in the sky, birds chirping in the blue spruces, a distant sound of an airplane, kids next door jumping on their trampoline, Molly sleeping on my lap, the neighbors wireless at full signal showing on my MacBook Pro. I’ve gone Molly shopping to get a nail clipper, some poop bags and a cute halloween outfit with my cousin Tina. We also ate at Coyotes today, a local mexican food restaurant here in town. Finally, some good mexican food! I still haven’t found one venue that has good mexican food in Georgia.

Brendan wasn’t able to make the trip and he missed out on his second half of his birthday present that was waiting here in Colorado. It makes me sad, but it’s beyond my control.

It’s just so great being back in Colorado. Molly and I slept like a log last night. Didn’t wake up once. I’m just getting ready to take an afternoon nap from all the running around. It wore me out and my back is still hurting from yesterday when I was trying to hurry te backs we packed so packing could be easier.

I think that I’m going to start that nap right about now.

Holy Moly I’ve been busy doing lots of things. I’ve been reading up about internet marketing along side reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It’s a GREAT series if you ever want to read it, I highly recommend it. I’m taking a few classes right now in the subjects of writing and blogging and marketing while combating my old work for my COBRA papers and a letter so I can sign up for unemployment. They have already robbed me of 2 weeks being uninsured and 2 weeks of my unemployment pay. Rather upset at them for that. It’s the nature of the business however and I couldn’t say how happy I am to not be working for them anymore. Every time I think of how that company screwed me for putting in extra time and effort (you would think that would be a good think right? And they expect you to do that) only to try and forget the 3 weeks of overtime that I’ll never get paid for. Just thinking about it gets my blood boiling and my stress level reaches dangerous levels so I think I’ll put that subject aside for now.

Brendan and I will be going to Colorado in September for my Grandmother Reba’s 90th birthday party. This will be the first time meeting the family. I’m sure he’s nervous and shy and scared. The same emotions I have since I haven’t seen that part of the family since I was a child. We will be good support for each other. I’ll get to introduce him to my Colorado friends too which is going to be the highlight of the trip. The first thing I thought of when we got the airplane tickets was, PACK THE WIRELESS ROUTER as my Mother only has one computer. Funny what geeks think of before the necessities. What am I talking about, that IS a necessity!

Molly is growing fast. She’s now the size of a 10 week old kitten. She’s also getting a little attitude but I’m sure that’s because I spoil her. She does know what “no” means and she stops once she hears it. Smart little booger that she is. We’ll be boarding them at the PetSmart Hotel in the same kennel. They don’t like being away from each other and Molly will need Jonah on her first time away from Mommy and Daddy. Hey, when you don’t have kids, your pets are kids.

Ever since I’ve been laid off our “baby” plans have taken a back burner. Makes me made especially when I see all my friends and couples my same age who either have babies or are planning for babies. We decided to try for kids our second year of marriage and we’re getting close to our 3rd year anniversary. I’m scared one day I’ll say, to hell with it. I hope that day never comes, but it makes two people who thinks it’s time not just one in most cases.

I can’t wait until all the trees start changing so I can go around taking pictures of Kennesaw in the fall. It’s so beautiful. I’m looking so forward to seeing Colorado again. Every time I’m there I miss it more and more. In some ways I feel Kennesaw has been ruined for me with the job and all. See, here I go taking about it when I said I would stop but so much anger is still present about it. People who I thought were friends were actually against me and people who I’ve busted my ass for .. well, I’m going to let it go for now. Only person I hear from is my friend Brian. He’s always been the one I knew would call me and remain friends with me. We have too much of a history and we’ve both gone through so much hell with that company that we’re the only ones that totally understand each other with sparked a wonderful friendship. We also depend on each other to cat sit or dog sit when either one of us is gone. He’s in the Dominican Republic right now for a work thing and we are currently taking care of his cat “Little” who loves the continued chaos that Brendan and I are used to with the pets (kids). She soaks it up like a sponge and goes home as happy as she can be. We’re her second home and she’s Brendan’s favorite since she favors Brendan rather than myself. The other three kids (pets) favor me over him so it works out good to balance things out.

Last week my best friend and adopted sister, Cam, stopped by here with her husband on their way to Texas where her husband who is in the Army got stationed. It’s been 2 years since I’ve seen her and it was the most wonderful visit for the short time they could stay. I’ve realized that 2 years is too long in-between visits and not to make that mistake again. What a refreshing day and 2 nights it was to have them stay. Next time I’m going to have to visit them in Texas and make it down near Houston to visit my long time friend Tiffany and see my neices. They have been going through a hard time since Tiffany’s recent divorice and since I’m going to miss Sharon’s birthday this year I need to make it up to her. Kids just grow up too fast, too fast indeed.

Sad news. I got a call last night from my Mother. It seems that my Gram B (Dad’s Mom) has passed away. I grew up being neighbors with her all my life until I went to college making frequent trips back to see my folks as well as her. I will aways remember when she started getting dementia. It was when I was 26 years old and I walked into her house and said “hey Gram B, thought I’d drop in and see you!” and she greeted me at the door and gave me a huge and pulled on my red ringlets and said “hi honey, I don’t think I know you, are you new in town?” … “No Grandma, it’s Jenny, your granddaughter, I lived right next door, remember?” .. I’m not quite sure she remembered but she acted like she did and invited me in. We had the same chat about 15 times before I told her I had to go. She’d forgotten who I was by then again and said “bring your parents next time so I can meet them!” with a smile on her face.

I’ll never forget her keyring which taught me my first curse word. It was a big red plastic one that said “BITCH” engraved on it. Whenever I would ask her what it meant she just said it was a female dog. She never had dogs so I could never figure it out, at least until I was older.

She was one of those woman who told odd stories. Once she took me up to Estas Park in the Rocky Mountains. Every high cliff we went by she would tell me that that’s where the Indians used to jump off to commit suicide. In my young mind I knew that wasn’t true, but whenever I see cliffs my eyes still visualize Native Americans jumping off those cliffs. I always wondered who cleaned up the bones afterwords.

Anyway, as eccentric as you were Gram B (which is actually on her license plate on her car she hasn’t driven in 12 years), I loved you. I hope you come back as a dog so you can learn how to laugh and love.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Amazon Kindle. It’s brought reading back to me. So when I got a crack in my screen on my original kindle they wouldn’t do anything about it.  I still have the box sitting right here ready to be shipped back. So since they wouldn’t take it the Kindle 2 came out and I bought one and was once again book nerd happy. Then, that kindle’s screen cracked. I called Amazon and they said they couldn’t do anything with it because I dropped the kindle which was true, but it was in it’s cushy case. I mean, how fragile are these things?

I was so mad that I just threw my kindle 2 in the garbage since nothing showed up on the screen. For reading purposes, that’s a pretty important thing.

I started hearing about this $5M class action lawsuit against Amazon for the very same problem as what happened with both of my kindles. My first thought was .. shit … I threw that damn kindle away. I decided to call Amazon again to see what they could do. At first I was told there was nothing they could do if I didn’t have the device to send back. I told this man on the phone, look how many Kindles I’ve purchased and other things. I’m a very loyal customer to Amazon and well, I used to spend a lot of money there (now that I’m laid off, no more spending on fun loving gadgets). Anyway, he Amazin guy on the phone asked me to hold on a sec and he would talk to his supervisor. It wasn’t but a few minutes that he was back on the phone telling me that they would be sending me out a brand new Kindle 2 at no charge and without returning the other one since it’s in some land dump somewhere.

I was so excited I was thinking him over and over and embarrassing him because you can only say your welcome so much. It should be here first thing tomorrow morning. Finally, I’ll have a kindle again.

Here that Sissy, I’m getting my Kindle back! I can read again

Now that work isn’t keeping me from doing what I have been wanting to do for a long time and since my afternoons are free, I went down to the YMCA and signed up for water aerobics. My first day will be tomorrow. I’m excited. Plus, it’s going to be so good for my Fibromyalgia and arthritis. It will also help me get back on a schedule. Some nights I’ll stay up all night, other times I’ll sleep all day and night. It’s a mess so getting back on a schedule will be nice.

There is a possibility that Brendan will be getting full time here soon which is great news. This will mean health insurance. I’m not sure if he has to wait 60 or 90 days like most companies. In the meantime I’ll have COBRA insurance at least. Mom will be helping me turn my 401k into a CD which will draw interest. More on that later.

Here is our little one in her bed chewing on a bone and getting sleepy. I wish I could get sleepy right about now.

And I called Amazon and they told me that they don’t fix damage if we drop the kindle (not like it was on purpose). So, as sad as I was, I just threw the damn thing away. Then I find this article about a 5 million dollar class action suit. Sigh, figures.

Today makes it 2 weeks since I’ve been unemployed. Yup, two weeks ago I got laid off due to downsizing (or, at least that’s what they told me). I cried all the way home nearly pulling over so I didn’t get in a wreck because I couldn’t see past the tears in my eyes. Then I got home and Brendan sat with me for a while. Then my wonderful husband said to me, why don’t you start following your dreams for a change and do what you’ve been wanting to do for years. Altho they are paying me for the next month to “find something” (who finds something in a month???? Especially in a recession like this?!?!?! That’s insanity!) Anyway, it’s tough when you think you are part of the core “group” in a company, only to get laid off at the worst time, EVER. What crap.

Anyway, I told my Mother of my husbands idea, that I should follow my dreams and what better time than now? Not saying what that is right now, because I don’t want to jinx that too Mom was all for the idea. Everyone is backing me up on this which gives me the courage and motivation to get on out there and do it.

The only one that has kept in contact with me after the lay off was Brian. What a guy. Shows you who your real friends are, that’s for sure. We’re currently cat sitting for him right now until Saturday. Mom is here until Wednesday. It’s been hard to get my work done without the constant interruption but I’d rather her be here than not.

My sweet Cam bought me a book called “You can heal your life” by Louise L. Hay. Thanks my dear sister, I love you so much We’re going to go through each chapter one by one together. This whole job laid off thing has been just .. well, it got me real down for a little bit, then I started the panic. Now the stress from that job has lifted like you wouldn’t believe. I feel 100 tons lighter. I never realized how much work I put into my job until now when I look back on it. All the time I’ll never be paid for. Fact of it is, they do that intentionally. The last week of working there I hear a lot of things the higher ups were talking about and I never realized what a dishonest company that is, and they don’t care who takes the fall for it. They did me a favor, that’s all I know.

So I’m going through this web site that has some wordpress themes I haven’t seen before. One theme in-particular was called “Xplosive” so my overactive imagination makes me picture fire, nuclear bomb, the general things you would think of when relating to the word “Explosive” attached to emotions of fear, excitement, adrenaline rush.

Then I saw the theme. Not only was the theme incredibly boring but I think they people that made it were running out of names or something. Does this look like it matches the name it’s been given?

Behold, Xplosive!

I have never done a challenge before, whether it be one of those “write a book in a month deals” or the “1001 goals to accomplish in 1001” days (even if I’m still working on that one, I just don’t have all the goals on there yet. So when I came across Pro Blogger as I’m going through my RCC feeds in Google Reader and came across their 31 days to build a better blog. This task at hand actually makes me excited and gives me something to look forward to. The contest begins on April Fools day (April 1st for those across seas that don’t keep up with American tradition.

I’m totally tagging my best friend on this one. Cammy-bear, you up for the challenge?

Yes. Finally got rid of that desk I’ve had over the last few years that was s wobbly as hell. It was the type of desk that could give at any minute. When I bought my townhouse in Colorado they had left such a deck in the upstairs loft. My Mother touched it and it feel to pieces. That’s where this desk was heading, Propped up with TV stands it was on it’s way out, no doubt. I know most geeks out here will understand me when I say my home office and my computer room is my “Domain” … if I’m not at work melting under florescent lights, I’m home in my home office with ambient lighting and a half standing desk.

When I was first given this desk I was told it was “brand new” by a former boss. The hell it was. It has scratches and stickers and gashes all over it. It was one of those desks you would fin in an ally way somewhere thinking great things about how you can use the parts and a little duck tape to device some device to take over the world. I was told I could buy it from him for $50 bucks. I opted against the $50 bucks since I was getting not only extremely used furniture *promised brand new) and there weren’t eve enough bolts to hold the damn thing together. Long story short, it was time for me to have a proper desk and I found the exact on I wanted. I spend the majority of my time in my home office and I was missing that zen factor. Not only was the office cluttered but I had had to have a med for all our fur babies. They follow me everywhere one my oldest has to be right up there with me no matter what. It’s always been our “thing” my Neves and myself bond.

So, with the help of my Mother I splurged on something that would last a lifetime. I got me not only a really nice deck, but one made of light color of mahogany. It has all the nooks and crannies I need. The sucker is HUGE. It takes up a whole corner of two adjacent walls of my home office. It has everything I need, and it’s completely beautiful. I can finally have my own space again and I can finally chill with myself and de-stress and be marry as they used to say. I don’t feel like I have a cock-pit anymore. I feel like I have put in my dues for this desk and finally, I’ve gotten it. I’ve always felt at home on a computer, at my desk but never like this before.

My life from now on is getting my chi (is that the right word?) Balanced, my life balanced and to be in in a place where I am most comfortable. I estaablished that with this new desk in my space, in my zen. The most simple thing one could think of, a desk. Makes such much difference. It’s the little things. It doesn’t involved medication. It doesn’t involved doctors appointments. It just involves a a new set of scenery in a place already so comfortable.

PS – My XBOX Life name is “Yolospat” … didn’t see that one coming, did you?

I’ve been seeing a lot of blogs out there talking about this “new” blog editor called “Blogo” which is really cool and fun and easy to use. Why does every one thing that Blogo is “new” … it’s been around for a while. Over a year at least which is a while when it comes to the tech world.

I’m using it now and I never thought it was really that “great” as an editor. Personally I use MarsEdit and I haven’t found anything that works better than that.

I will even throw an image in there just like they did on the podcast I re-watched.

That being said, maybe I’m bias but Blogo doesn’t look much different than it did when I used it the first time. It doesn’t do anything that makes me excited

Work has been busier this weekend then it has for a long time. I’m merely “on call” which means I only get called if there is a “Priority 1″ or “Priority 2″ system outage. Mainly, one of our sites has to be completely down, or partially down. This weekend, it seemed like everything was down, especially the last 48 hours. I’ve gotten calls back to back all throughout the night up until this morning. I feel bad because my poor husband got woken up each and every time the phone rang. As for me, I’m exhausted as I’ve had little to no sleep.

The good part about all of this is I get some days off due to all of this. I have a doctors appointment Tuesday at the FFC with Dr. C anyway, so I’m going to take that day off for sure.

I’ve been lax with updating my wordpress plugin’s and such lately too so I plan on getting my site all up to date today. I’ve also finished a few afghan’s that I’ve made for friends which need a few finishing touches and hopefully I’ll get those out in the mail this week. Pictures coming soon on that.

Now for WP maintenance.

After being bed-ridden and in pain, I’m finally back on my feet and I’m trying the best I can to not over-do it. I have to hand it to my doctor. He’s the only one that has put all his time and effort into helping me through this, explaining every little detail and why things work like they do, and most importantly, being aggressive on getting handle on the pain so that I’m comfortable. Every single time I walk out of his office I’m reassured that I will get through this, no matter what it takes or how long it takes. I do feel like I’m getting a little of “me” back … baby steps.

Ok, now, onnnnnnnn to the gadgets. I’m a gadget whore, and anyone who knows that this would be coming soon.

I got the Amazon Kindle!

I have a lot to say about this little device. It’s totally and completely amazing. It has electronic paper instead of an LCD screen and it can hold a change for 2-4 days. My list of great things the Amazon Kindle can do.

1. You can download books right from Amazon Web Site and most of the Kindle books are half price of what the actual book would cost.
2. It’s so thin and so light. I don’t have to lug around all those java and xcode books around anymore. I just put them on my Kindle!
3. It’s so easy to read. No more trying to keep the page open so you can read the words that seem to trail all the way down into the spin. Ugh, I hated that, especially in bed
4. The Kindle is going to pay for itself with the amount of books I get from Amazon (and now having all those books with me all at one .
5. You can change the text size in the book so for those of us who are used to squinting. There is a setting there for all times.

And … Bedtime

You know what sucks about being on a no yeast diet? Just about everything. I can eat whole wheat bread, but I’ve been eating subway for the last week and frankly, I’m a little tired of it. My doctor told me that when I crave sugar, it’s the yeast talking and starving. That’s creepy, but it makes sense in a way.

I’ve also been craving Yogurt. For me, that is weird. Yogurt with granola on top. Hmmmmm. I just had some, but I wish I had more.

We had a fire drill today at work. It was like a flashback from elementary school, only the gathering area in Adult land included an ice cream cart. I cheated and had an ice cream sandwich. That’s why I had the yogurt. Because I felt guilty.

Thankfully I’m still allowed to drink coffee :: chug ::

It has been a very long tiring day. I went to my long anticipated appointment today to see the specialist that people travel 2, 3, 6, 12 hours to see. I feel almost spoiled having this clinic 6 miles away from my home. When I first walked in it wasn’t like any other doctors office, where there is the typical waiting room and a big front desk. There was just a room off to the side where the receptionist came to greet me and asked my name. After I told her it was like a whirlwind. She took my 24 page questionnaire that I had filled out prior to the appointment (yes, I read the directions). The “waiting room” looked like someone’s living room. Very zen. Not even 5 minutes later a nurse comes out and introduces herself to me, to my Mother and my Husband and told us that she will be taking care of me today and asked me back to one of the rooms to take my vitals. After vitals I was shown to another room with a glass round table and cute little chairs that went around. The only thing that reminded me I was in a doctors office was the seat where you can either lay down or sit on the end (you know, that massage table looking thing that is in every doctors office). Dr. C came in and introduced himself. He is Indian, so I was really scared upon meeting him because I have the worst time understanding people from India because of their accent. I really have to listen hard to pick out the words, I don’t know what it is about the indian accent.

Anyway, he started talking to me right away about why I was there, and that he was positive he could help me. He did a pressure point test on different places around my whole body, and talked about my previous medical history. Doctors usually don’t look over your chart until they are in the room with you but he had already read my entire packet that I had brought with me just 15 minutes previously. He first started to explain to me why my body was acting like it was, and even explained to me why my body is acting like it is, and where the pain was coming from and he guessed that I had been sick for a lot longer then 9 months since some of my symptoms date back as far as 8 years ago when doctors couldn’t find an explanation for my migraines, or for my irritable bowel, or the reason why I always felt off balance. Everything seemed to come together like a puzzle, and everything started to make sense. I think it was at that moment I started feeling a bit hopeful again, even after he said I was one of the more severe cases he’s seen in a while.

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia along with Chronic Fatigue. When I told him I had a full time job and that I went to school he couldn’t believe it. He said that his other patients had had to go on disability long before the point I was at. I told him that I didn’t have that option since my Husband hasn’t gotten a job.

Dr. C then went into the program he was going to set up for me. He prescribed pain meds, muscle relaxers, Ambian for sleep, and an anti-fungal since my yeast levels were high. He wants to start me on 9 different natural and organic supplements on Friday and get me to the point I can ween off all synthetic drugs (chemical drugs you get in a pharmacy) while maintaining pain management and getting my body back to working correctly.

After meeting with Dr. C I was taken in a little room to have my blood drawn. They took 1 liter of blood!! I’ve never given that much blood in one sitting before, I felt a little woozy halfway through when they had me drink apple juice which He also had me do an IV treatment. I was lead into this room with 12 recliners and about 6 people were in there with IV bags hanging over them. I felt like I was on the cancer ward getting ready to get chemo therapy. One of the IV bags was medicine for the pain and stiffness and the other bag was for my memory and concentration (what they call Fibro Fog). The IV treatment lasted 2 hours. After that I got an energy shot in my butt and the nurse went over my medication schedule with a booklet about each med, when to start each med, and how much of each med to take. She said she would call me in the middle of the week sometime to check on me and see how I’m doing. Wow. That’s all I have to say about that, is wow. They were so nice and it was clear they really were all about the patient, and the patients needs.

I have more to write, but right now I’m too tired.

My Mother goes home tomorrow. I’m really sad about that and I’m going to miss her.

Just making a test right now, posting this from Textmate. I’m also going to test inserting an image through Textmate using drag and drop.

Inserting image didn’t work, trying to find out why

All I have to say about Acrobat.com‘s new web office launch is, whoa.

For the first time, it looks like Google will have some serious competition.

I just tired out Buzzword and ConnectNow and I’m completely blown away so far. Doesn’t webex make you pay an arm and a leg?

Beautiful interface, beautiful design. But then again, it’s Adobe, it’s sort of what they do.

Good job Adobe, very good job.

We have Pepper home. He’s normal ol Pepper, slightly stoned and frustrated about this big ol green thing that seems to have replaced what used to be his leg. He’ll swat at it and growl at it then go about with playing with his little catnip ball. I’m keeping such a close watch on him right now so that he doesn’t tear up his splint and that he has everything he needs. His belly is full of kitten food and he got a few licks of milk. Poor little guy. I’ve never had an animal that has had a broken leg before. Even in his half drunken stooper he knew who his mommy was right away and started purring when I kissed his little forehead.

Goddamn. I hate for animals to hurt and to be in pain. He’s sleeping right now .. he’s had a long day full of pain and uncomfortableness, and people he didn’t know so good. He left there with many hugs and kisses however. I think I counted at least 2 different vet tech’s tell him they loved him. He’s in his bed right now with his teddy bear dozing … and purring. When he wakes up I’m going to take him to the little box and maybe give him a little tuna. I have pain medicine for him for tonight. It’s the injectable stuff but the vet said to just give it to him orally inbetween his cheek and gums. I wish Chriss were here to give him the actual shots. I would attempt it if I knew I would do it right every single time. 

He has to be in the splint for the next 2 weeks and then we’ll take him in for more xrays to see if it’s healing or not. If it’s not healing, then they would have to do surgery (and talking about a $2,500 price tag) .. but if it IS healing, than they will change the splint out and put a new one on him for the next 4 weeks. I hope because he is young that it starts healing and that he won’t need surgery. The vet did have to put him under anthethia for about 20 minutes while they took the straight legged xray and they put the splint on him and he did fine which is a relief especially with his heart murmur. His splint goes all the way up past his hip bone, and the vet said she made sure to leave his privates out, altho they are sort of being pushed off to one side. Poor Pepper. I wish I knew what he was doing when this happened. Playing super-kitteh or something.

Sigh. Poor guy.

Just when I thought it was going to be a good day, I come to work and my happy cloud is blown away. Sigh.

Well, the good news is the WordPress update went very well. The admin console is completely different from the old interface. I’ve been playing around with more themes lately too just to change it up a bit.

There is one thing that looks odd to me tho. This ugly orange line across the top. Maybe it’s not rendering well on a mac but it’s annoying. Good thing I don’t use the dashboard often.

What a shitty fucking weekend. Actually, a shitty last 4 days. I’m feeling better, and my fever finally broke (102.4 was the highest) so I’m trying to get my energy back now. I’ve had those fever dreams every night tho, and those not only suck, but they scare the shit outta me. One of those dreams involved my ex-boss walking in one morning like nothing was wrong, said “good morning” and walked to her office. I wasn’t sure if I should have called public safety, or if I missed something along the way. I ended up waking up instead, whew.

I feel like jello. After laying in bed for days, mostly sleeping which is better the puking, atrophy tends to set in, rather fast. Every time I would get up, I felt like my feet were lead weights, like that one commercial, you know, that one with the dude, driving the red car. Or is it black?

When I was laying in bed, I was thinking of so many things to write about, and now that I’ve gotten up, I can’t think of a thing. Dammit

I just decided to host my own web blog on my own server so I didn’t have to jump around so much. I can totally customize this the way I want it and not have to rely on other providers to do for me what I want to do…

I sort of fought with this all day today, then at the last minute I figured out everything, uninstalled MT, and had it all reinstalled and working in about 10 minutes. Guess you can call that a learning experience.

I need one of these shirts…

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