I finally had my rheumatology appointment today. I have to say, I was surprised by his ideas. No lupus, no rheumatoid arthritis, but thinks I might have ankylosing spondylitis. Talk about a mouth full. Had a blood test done today that is 85% accurate, so I will know in the next few days.

Cheryl is supposed to be flying in tomorrow and I hope she can make it here. Cold temps in Houston shouldn't be a problem, but all the snow in Dallas could pose a problem! I really hope she makes it because I miss her!

Well, Scott and I have been sick this week (him worse than me), and I have been laid up in bed for a couple of days now. I'm getting sick of doing nothing so I thought I would update this. It's been over a year since the last update so I won't go into everything that has happened...to much to write.

Big news! Scott is done with residency at the end of June and we are moving back to Texas! He got a job at North Texas Anesthesia, which is based out of the hospital he worked at in college and the group he got to do an away rotation with during medical school. We are both very excited to be moving back home and I am glad that he gets to start his career with a good group that he already knows and trusts. Anesthesia friends out there...if you want to move to Dallas, this is THE group to interview with.

I REALLY wanted to buy a house when we moved, but I think it will be better financially if we rent for a while. Scott's loans start repayment as soon as his residency is over, so it's going to be a lot in the beginning. I am disappointed, but am getting into looking at rentals.

In health news: I haven't been doing so well lately. Just REALLY tired all the time, and about 2 weeks ago, the joints in my hands started swelling and became really painful. I went to the doc, and found out my inflammatory markers were elevated, but everything else came back normal. My doc was sort of baffled since only my hands were affected and I wasn't having any colitis symptoms. She referred me to a rheumatologist, and I have my first appointment on Friday. I am hoping he can find me some answers.

Anyways, I am just trying to get better and healthy for this weekend when my friend Cheryl comes to visit! Woohoo! It will be good to see someone from back home.

So I went to a nutritionist yesterday to try and help me learn to make better choices. She had some great tips, although most of the information is pretty much common sense. One thing that she told me that was surprising is that I am not getting enough dairy products. Since I am pretty much lactose intolerant, she said soy products are just as good. I am supposed to have a glass of milk (or in my case, Silk Light) with every meal. I am going to try SOOOO hard this time, and to make sure I do...I am going to post my weight once a week. Help keep me accountable! Today's weight....153.7lbs. Ahhhhh. I ideally would like to be about 145, so losing 1 pound a week, that will take roughly 2 months.

I also discovered that we get Fit TV included in our cable service. They actually have some fun things on there for weight loss (belly dancing, yoga, etc.) I think I would be much more likely to work out if I could do it at home. I watched the belly dancing show today. Maybe some other time I will actually get off the couch and participate!

Just added a blogger app to my iPhone.... Sweet!

So I have been bad about renovating my life. However, I am ready to give it another whole-hearted try. Here are the things I have already done:

1. Saw an internal medicine physician to try and figure out why I am so tired all the time. Her suggestions weren't what I expected, but I am going to try them and see what the outcome is. First, she drew some blood to rule out any easy things like anemia.

-My Hct was 34, which is low/normal. Personally, I think this number is lower since I am chronically dehydrated. So I have started taking iron supplements. Let me tell you, these things are gross. I burp up metal taste all day. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this?

-I also have an elevated eosinophil count, which is probably due to the allergies I have developed since moving up here. Going to start taking non-drowsy Claritin when I am outside for longer periods of time.

-She drew my vitamin D level, and although it was normal, she suggested taking at least 1000 i.u.s of vitamin D per day. She said people living in Seattle have more of an issue with this deficiency than the rest of the state. So I began taking my GNC vitapack regularly again. Side note: these things rock. If you are a girl, and need an all around vitamin pack, get the BeWhole from GNC. It has a multivitamin, skin and nails tab, fish oil, calcium, and vitamin D....all in one little package. And they are pretty :) They are all natural so even the coating is mica, which makes them pearly looking.

-She also thinks that I have conditioned insomnia (don't laugh mom). If you know me, you know I sleep ALLLL the time. She thinks that because I have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, the 12 hours I typically get a day is not the right kind of sleep. It can take me 30min to 2 hours to fall asleep, and I wake up between 4 and 10 times a night. Apparently this isn't normal (I had no idea my sleep was wacky). It should only take people between 10 and 30 minutes to fall asleep, and they should wake up once at the most throughout the night. She suggested seeing the sleep disorders clinic at VM, and also gave me a prescription for Ambien. I tried the regular formulation, but it didn't quite work for me. I had no trouble falling asleep, but I could only sleep for 4 hours before I would wake up and have to take another dose. So this week she switched me to the Ambien CR. Now I can get a good 7-8 hours of sleep a night and actually wake up feeling rested!!

-I also talked her into giving me a prescription for massages. My insurance will cover up to 30 something massages a year for $10. So why not take advantage huh?? I am setting up an appointment with a massage therapist/occupational therapist to work on my lower back. Nursing in an ICU is HORRIBLE for your back. Especially since I am tall, everyone needs the bed lower than is ideal for me. I end up bending over considerably to pull patients up in bed, hold them why they are getting cleaned, or hoisted them to the commode. I can't wait to get my first one!

-I also made an appointment with a nutritionist. I know I need to eat better, but the "good" foods irritate my colitis. Also, I am just really lazy and I hate to cook :) Hopefully she will have some good tips about eating healther and maybe losing a few of these "marriage" pounds I have put on.

-I switched my anxiety/depression medication from an SSRI to Wellbutrin. I've been told it is the most energizing medication of them all. I can already tell a difference....hence I have the energy to post all this!

-I also switched my ulcerative colitis medication back to Asacol. It's going to be a hassle to take it three times a day, but I just think it worked so much better than the once a day version.

-I am still having nausea/stomach issues, so I am still on the Prilosec. My doctor also added another medication to help with the nausea until I can have a hydrogen breath test to see if the H. pylori bacteria is gone. That won't happen until later this month, so for now I am just eating smaller meals more times per day to keep my stomach at a more even level of acid production.

-I started taking a probiotics pill every day and trying to eat at least one yogurt a day. Yoplait light has sooo many good flavors, that shouldn't be hard at all! My favorite is the banana cream pie :)


Things I have yet to do:

-Exercise. Right now I don't have the energy, although I am looking up some fun ways to make exercise seem less like work. The gym down the hill has hip hop, yoga, and pilates classes that seem like fun. There is also a dance studio close by that has adult ballet classes. I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A BALLERINA! I am hoping that the changes I am making will give me some more energy to get off my butt and exercise. I also thought about walking the dogs down to Seattle University a couple of times a week so they can run off the leash. I think Sam is adjusted enough now that he wouldn't run away. My only concern would be their interaction with other dogs. Gracie can sometimes be aggressive with certain dogs (maybe she thinks they will steal her Sammy away??) We will see how that goes. It would be nice to let them wear themselved out at the park instead of playing in my lap all the time.

-Keep the apartment clean and chores done on time. I think this will reduce my stress overall, but right now it seems more stressful to get started.

-Get all debts paid off (except the student loans). We still have that one loan from Lazyboy that is looming over me. We have until September to pay it off without any interest so I am going to buckle down this next month and make it happen! My contribution: I haven't been to Sephora or Ulta for two months!! Talk about hard! I have been using Aussie for my hair and all my leftover face stuff and makeup. I probably have a year's worth of products in my bathroom right now that has built up over time.

-Finish decorating the apartment. Most room are done except the most important!! The bedroom. Need to organize so that having a king sized bed in a small room doesn't seem so cramped. I finally got a storage unit in the basement of our building so we don't have to store Scott's overflow in the extra room anymore. Looks much better in there now!

Well, that is all I can think of at the moment. Wow, I wrote a novel.

The last month and a half have been pretty busy. Sorry bout the lack of updates.

1. My grandma passed away a couple of weeks ago. I know this sounds odd, but it seemed like perfect timing. My sister and I had been planning to come down and see her for a month or so. Just so happens that she passed away the morning after I got home. I got to spend the whole night holdering her hand, and she passed away the next morning with my mom right by her side. My sister and I got to attend the funeral, which we had been scared we wouldn't be able to do.

2. I am moving to days at work! My first day is Tuesday, and I am pretty nervous because days are much busier than nights. AND, the managers and ANMs are around to point out everything that you are doing wrong. Really not looking forward to that part...

3. The past week or so I have been really trying to finish up the decorating on our apartment. It is looking great! I painted the hallway and bar area. I am going to tackle the extra room and bathrooms today. Pictures to come when I am finally done. Yesterday, I covered a set of drawers with some fabric I bought at IKEA. Now we have a place to put our keys/wallets/etc when we come home.

So...I have been bad about updating. Good thing is nothing much has changed in the last month. I found out why I was nauseated so much...I have H. pylori related gastritis. Two weeks of antibiotics and it should be gone! However, I might gain 50 pounds because it causes a CONSTANT metal taste in my mouth. The only time I get relief is when I am stuffing my face!

Other news:
My grandma suffered a brain bleed a little while ago. She is getting much better neurologically, but she will never be able to live on her own again. Luckily, there is a rehabilitaton hospital close to where my parents live and she was transfered there earlier this week. I am trying desperately to get back to Texas some time this month to see her and visit everyone. Hopefully it will all work out! Prayers would be appreciated because she now has pneumonia, which can be very serious for the for old farts.

My dad got assigned to a job in Bellingham, WA which is only 1.5 hours away! He was up here for two weeks, and I got to see him twice. Hopefully he will be making more trips. I miss my family so much!!

My friend Cheryl (i.e. hetero-lifemate) is coming to visit next week! I am sooo excited! I have been really homesick lately, especially after spending time with my dad, so her visit is perfect timing!

Hopefully I will be able to move to days at work sometime in April. I have gotten to the point where I can sleep for 36 hours straight! Not to mention I keep having health issues! Most recently I broke out in a rash. Hopefully it is just an allergic reaction to something, but I'm anxious for it to go away since it doesn't look so pretty. Thankfully, it's mostly covered up by my pants and long sleeves, but I can only imagine what the patients think when I walk into the room and tell them I will be their nurse for the evening.

The dogs are still wonderful. I don't want to jinx myself, but Sam hasn't had an accident in over a month! Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Doesn't she look absolutely adorable with that bow??






She looks and smells wonderful! They even brushed her teeth!

I finally have a day that I don't have to do ANYTHING!! I am really looking forward to having a set schedule at work now. I am completely off the orientation/mentoring thing, and it's so nice not to have someone hovering over me all the time!! I will be working Fri, Sat, Sun this next month. Not sure why I signed up for all weekends, but at least it will some extra money to pay off my ring (only a little bit left to go!!)

Other news: I had a small bowel follow through yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking. I had to drink two cups of chalky barium, and get xrays every 20 minutes as they followed it through my intestines. The radiologist said everything looked fine, so still no answers to why I get nauseated a lot. I still have the endoscopy to do in February, so maybe that will provide some answers. My colitis has gotten sooo much better now that I am on a higher dose of medication. I almost feel back to normal (for me anyways)!

I am still LOVING my apartment makeover. Maybe now that I have regular time off, I can get to painting! I am also going to try (I said try) to eat better. I really think it will help my overall energy, and I know I need to be as healthy as I can be because of my increased risk of colon cancer. I boiled some eggs today, and made a grocery list that includes high protein food. (I have diagnosed myself with a protein deficiency). I plan to go to the grocery store tomorrow and get this thing started!

The living room. I still have to purchase two more curtain panels and do some hemming on the white curtains. I also want to hang some pictures on the right most wall.



We no longer have that awful TV stand....and we have a new 40 inch LCD TV!! Thanks everyone who donated Christmas money so we could buy it! The wall will get painted soon, a lighter version of the color that is on the other two walls.


We got the dresser from IKEA, and the pictures on top are from my bridal session. In my opinion, this is WAY too many pictures of me all in one place...but my mom liked them there. My dad hung some pictures that my mom had taken years ago above for some color. This room will get painted eventually so we don't have to stare at while walls for 3 more years.

My dad hung the two pictures we displayed at the wedding above the bed. I still need to get a headboard, curtains, and updated bedding. I got that quilt YEARS ago from Pottery Barn and it is so comfortable, I have a hard time giving it up!



Scott's IKEA picture of New York that he got a long time ago. My dad hung it in the hallway :)



A new coat rack.





Entryway message board and cubby thing. This area will get painted too (man I have a lot of painting to do).







My dad hung this pot rack I had bought about five months ago but was too scared to hang myself. Now I have lots more space in the cabinets for all the other gadgets I have accumulated.


Other things: hung a curved shower curtain rod so Scott has more room, got a couple plants and seeds so I can have an herb garden in the spring, and hung a message board in the "man cave."

THANKS MOM AND DAD!