Thursday, August 30, 2007

Long time no blog!

Do you ever have that feeling that you are forgetting something? That is me most the time. My life is so busy anymore I am always wondering what I forgot.

It's been way over a year since I last blogged and so much has happened! I got a full time job, got pregnant and had a baby! My precious little Emma girl was born May 17, 2007. She was 8lbs 2oz and 21" long. I can't believe how much I love this little girl.

The boys just love her so much, they just want to be by her, play with her and help her all the time. She of course is already bossing them around, it's crazy! Maybe it went to her head when she was born, them calling her their little princess all the time.

Connor started Kindergarten last week. My baby is getting so big! Owen starts preschool next week and that makes me nervous. He is such a good boy but he loves being the class clown. So it should be interesting!

We are hoping to get pregnant again in the next 5 months. Once we have baby number 4 we will be done! If it doesn't happen it doesn't happen. But I am really hoping it does. I just love having a big family. I guess I have always liked a challenge. It's a lot of juggling but it's worth it!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Lots of Jobs!

OKay, last week I was complaining because I had applied for 15+ jobs and nothing. So I applied for another 15 jobs within the last week. Then I got "hired" at Kelly Services a temp agency. Went in, did my tests, scored really well *expert on some* and they said they would be calling me. They had to do background check etc.

So today they called with 2 job opportunities.

One with Aegon as a Data Entry Specialist *one of the tests I rated an expert on* making good money, but it would be temp for 6-10 weeks.

One with GE Capital as an Office Assistant making good money *just a bit more then at Aegon* but this would be a long term position *so a year or so*

I told her to submit my resume to Aegon, but not GE. I had 2 job offers from GE in the past without me applying for them. So I am pretty sure they would hire me. But I don't want anything long term right now.

Well earlier today I applied at Lindale Mall at Guest Services, its 3.5-10 hours a week, nights and weekends only. So I thought it would be a good second night job.

So then I get off the phone with Kelly Services and Home Depot calls! They want to set up a phone interview. OMG, with them I applied for 3 different positions, so who knows which one they are looking at me to interview for!

Then I remember on Monday *the 19th* I have an interview at Dick's Sporting Goods as a cashier!

See complain enough and you will get lots of interviews! So somehow I have to put off Home Depot until I find out about this Aegon job! I am canceling the one with Dick's Sporting Goods.

This should be fun! At least that means money is going to be coming in!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Avascular Necrosis

If you read my title and say what?? You aren't alone. When I was first told I had Avascular Necrosis I said the same thing. Those who know what I am talking about I am sorry, especially if you are not a doctor. Most people who know what it is are either a doctor, or someone who has had it themselves. Which sucks.

I go and read all I can on it sometimes. I want to share an article I found tonight, but in a bit. First for those who don't know what it is, I will explain and tell you of my journey of getting Avascular Necrosis.

In Dec 1999 I came down with pnemonia. No big deal right? Well it was to me, because I have Asthma. Within 3 hours of having issues breathing I was in the hospital, and within 20 mins of being in the hospital I was in ICU. I won't go on and on about my hospital stay. But I was in there 10 days, out for 3 and back in for 5 because I then had Influenza A.

But, in the hospital is where my journey started. I was put on prednisone *a steroid which helps people who have asthma, amoung many others* prednisone itself is the devil. For those who have taken it know what I mean. If you google side effects you will find a page, if not 2 of side effects.

Anyway, one side effect I have never read only when you google prednisone is Avascular Necrosis. I took prednisone till around March 2000 I believe it was. Have to ween yourself off of it because it's so nasty. So finally around March I was off of it. So I took it for about 3 months, maybe 4.

Around June of that year I started having bad left hip pain. Bad... I mean bad. When people asked me how it felt I told them it felt like my hip was just going to break off. I serisouly thought it would. So I went to the doctor. He thought it was something else, I don't think we did an xray then. But I went to physical therapy in August to help it.... never felt better.

Kept getting worse so in October of 2000 I went back to the doctor. he took an Xray and saw nothing, but sent it someplace else to get looked at. Came back there was something there. A really small thin black line... what did that mean?

So I had an MRI and talked to a doctor named Jeffery Nassif. I have to tell you, Dr Nassif is not only a good doctor, but a weird, funny doctor! OMG... at first my mom and I were looking at each other like WTF?

So anyway, we went in and I was told I needed surgery. I was like okay, what are you going to do? He said drill a hole in your hip to relieve the pressure on the joint. The prednisone had cut off the blood supply to my hip and basically my bone was dying. The hole in my hip would relieve pressure and hopefully the bone would start growing back.

So I asked when. He said ASAP and you need to be on crutches now until the surgery and can not put ANY pressure on it, otherwise we can't do the surgery and will have to do a full hip replacement. He then told me that the surgery is a temp fix and I will need a hip replacement in the future. But couldnt' say when, could be 2 years, could be 15 years.

So I get in for surgery in 2 weeks. He drills a hole in my hip and I am on crutches still for like 6-8 weeks. No work, no driving, nada. Oh and drilling the hole in my hip, the medical term for it is Core Decompression.

So we get another MRI months later and it looks like the bone is growing back a bit. The pain goes way down. I mean on a scale of 1-10 my pain at first was like a 20! It was bad. Then it went to a 2-3 depending on the day.

So then 3 1/2 years, after I was told I had Avascular Necrosis, November of 2003 I was having so much pain again, and I was so limited in what I could do. I had 2 small boys at this time and it was getting hard to play with them.

So I went back to the doctor who told me we would only do a hip replacement if the pain was so bad I couldn't handle it... then I we would wait a bit more. Or if my hip was about ready to fall off. Well I told him the pain was bad, but it was limiting what I could do in my life.

So I had a full left hip replacement in Jan 2004... I got me a Ceramic hip! Whoo hoo... lots of time sitting around, laying around... it was bad. Now it's 2+ years later and sure I still have some pain, some stiffness, but my hip squeeks from time to time. Mostly when it's cold outside. I am sure people look at me funny, especially when I tell them it's my hip.

So anyway, that is my story. Oh, and by the way, when I was told I had Avascular Necrosis and had the Core Decompression I was 24, and I was 28 when I had my hip replaced. A lot of the nurses couldn't believe it, and remembered me when I came back for the 2nd surgery. Everyone was amazed at why I had Avascular Necrosis and that I had my hip replaced so young... I won't even tell you about the classes I went to, no one besides me was under the age of 60-65!

I wish I had pictures of my hip before I had any surgery and then before I had my hip replacement. By the time I had my hip replacement a good chunk of my hip joint *the ball part* was gone.

So the articles, I will link it and then below it quote the parts that intrests me:

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/926046182.html
  • Steroid Medications: Corticosteroids such as prednisone are commonly used to treat diseases in which there is inflammation, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and vasculitis. Studies suggest that long-term, systemic (oral or intravenous) corticosteroid use is associated with 35% of all cases of nontraumatic avascular necrosis. However, there is no known risk of avascular necrosis associated with the limited use of steroids. Patients should discuss concerns about steroid use with their doctor.
    Doctors aren't sure exactly why the use of corticosteroids sometimes leads to avascular necrosis. They may interfere with the body's ability to break down fatty substances. These substances then build up in and clog the blood vessels, causing them to narrow. This reduces the amount of blood that gets to the bone. Some studies suggest that corticosteroid-related avascular necrosis is more severe and more likely to affect both hips (when occurring in the hip) than avascular necrosis resulting from other causes.


The first part I bolded: Well I would say I am a case of limited use of steroids and having avascular necrosis.

The second part: Yeah, that is what I am worried about, especially since once every couple years I have to take the steroid again because of issues with my asthma. They also worry about my shoulders.


Treatments
Appropriate treatment for avascular necrosis is necessary to keep joints from breaking down. If untreated, most patients will experience severe pain and limitation in movement within 2 years. Several treatments are available that can help prevent further bone and joint damage and reduce pain.

Of course my sever pain and limitation in movement took just 3 months to show up.


Here are a couple other articles on it:

http://www.twbookmark.com/books/68/0446679771/chapter_excerpt18500.html





Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Insomnia SUCKS!

Of course though if you go to the doctor they ask you:

Are you stressed?
Are you drinking Caffiene right before bed?
Has your diet changed?

Ugh.. no I am not anymore stressed then I have been before. No Pepsi after 7:00 *okay tonight it was 9:00* and no, I freaking eat the same as I always have.

Then they give you meds they think will help. And the side effects are HORRIBLE!

Man, if I get a day job how am I going to function!? Thank goodness my boys are good in the morning and sleep in. You would think I would be tired at 2:57 am Central time, when I got up at 9:00 am! But nooooo, maybe starting to get drowsy.

Insomnia sucks... it's fine if you don't have kids, or a job to go to in the morning. Crap, I am not 20 anymore.

Maybe I should acutally try and go to bed. Think that might help? Maybe, lay in bed, play some Gameboy Advance... Wario World is what I have been playing lately.

I just remembered, tomorrow *actually today* is the first Wed of the month... so guess what is going to wake me up in a few hours. The freaking testing of the siren.

Great... just great....

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Mother in Laws

If you have a Mother in Law you love *or MIL* then I am happy for you. But for those who have MILs they don't get along with... I feel for you.

My MIL I always thought from the begining didn't care for me. Heck her son met me online. He moved from Iowa to Ohio for a job and to be closer to family, but then we realized that we loved each other and he moved back after 5 months.

She didn't like it that he moved back here. Instead of being closer to her.

Then... he hadn't had a drink before he met me. He was 24 for pete's sake, I think it was time for him to have a drink... sure when he got together with me and my friends we got him drunk one of the first times he drove out here to see me *from Ohio*

Then when he moved here I forced him to buy a new couch... haha right. I didn't have to force him.

I am just a bad influence. Then of course after knowing each other for 6 months but only dating for 3 months we decided to get married. Heck, we waited a year to get married... okay, really 10 months, but still! Sure by the time we got married we had only known each other for 16 months, dated/engaged for 13 months, but we just KNEW.

When I told my mom we were getting married she said "I'm not surprised" She knew if he was moving back here to be with me we would get married. His mom "Are you sure?" I swear if she would have had more time alone with him she would have tried to talk him out of it. But I was out there helping him move, so I was around the whole time when he broke the news.

Sure I have gotten to know her a bit better over the last 5 years *since we got married* But we only see her 2-3 times a year I would say, maybe 4 times. She acts like Mike is 20 or something instead of almost 30!

When we got pregnant with Connor right away she was like "Well I think you should have waited a while" Well too late now! Sure... finding out the day before we left on the honeymoon I was pregnant was soon *don't do the math* but we planned it that way! We knew I was going to have to have a full hip replacement, we had told her that. I wanted to have 1-2 kids before I had surgery, because I didn't know if there were going to be any issues after I had the replacement!

Then of course we got pregnant with Owen when Connor was 5 months old... again... planned! Hello! I swear we tell her our plans, or what we want to do and she either forgets or doesn't agree with them.

Oh yeah, when we had Connor she was like, OMG, but you guys are so young blah blah... HELLO! I was 25 when I had Connor and Mike was 24! I don't want to be having my first kid when I am 35!

She still acts like we don't know what we are doing. Sometimes she is too much into our business I think. Wanting to go over our Finances with us. WTF? If I was having money issues were I couldn't pay bills, or my car was being repoed, or losing my house, sure, speak up then. But we are OKAY.

Like my mom says: You are adults, any mistakes you make are yours.

I just cringe everytime we visit them, or they visit us because I just know something is going to be said by her *or my StepFIL* that will piss me off. Usually it's about the boys or finances. Then of course there is the time we were not going to come out for Thanksgiving because gas was too much money and we were trying to save money for Christmas. But we were told they would pay for all our gas.

So 8 hours one way from Iowa to MI.... they gave us $20. $20 for a van. Do you think that is paying for all the gas? I had to borrow money from my MOM to cover the cost of gas after we came home until Mike's next pay day!

OMG.... I just don't know or understand. I went through this with MY grandma. My dad's mom and dad. We don't even see her but once every 5 years or something. She alienated my mom, dad and us kids the same way MIL is alienating us now.

Okay it's late. I vented. I need to go to bed!

Sometimes I just hate people

Sometimes I just hate people. Don't want to talk to people, don't want to see people. Keep me in my nice little bubble here.

Girls are just stupid. No, not all girls, but man some I meet... they are so freaking petty. Okay so it's mostly girls I hate...

My brother said to me the other day that my sister can't have girlfriends because she can't stand girls for that reason. They are so stupid. But he thinks I can be friends with girls easier? WTF!? OMG, does he realize most my friends in high school were boys? Sure I was NICE to girls, but most the time it was an act, or I was being nice to be nice. Heck I do it now. I know how to fake to be nice.

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the time to be nice when you really don't feel like it. But if I wasn't, man I wouldn't have anyone to talk to except a select few.

Maybe that is the difference between me and my sister. I can pretend or act friendly and she has issues with it! She gets a job were most the co workers are women and she freaks! It's too funny.

Now if someone actually finds this blog and is a female, is a friend of mine and wonders if they are someone I hate... well no, because if you really go through all the trouble trying to find this blog, you are probably a friend who I actually care about and love.

Maybe some of the relationships I have with females work better when they are online friends because I don't see them in person? I don't know, I would like to think if Norma or Alma lived here we would get along great and not have as many issues as I do with another friend of mine from real life.

Also, another difference with girls... I didn't mention all the girls I like, or am friends with that are cool on here, so if one I didn't mention find it of course I am going to get crap... because they figure if I didn't say their name then I don't care about them, or don't consider them a friend.

Too damn emotional!

Oh and if my blog actually makes sense, or I don't bop all over the place something is wrong with me... because I never make sense or talk in complete thoughts.