VOTE FOR MARIUS!!!

I entered Marius into iSmile Studio's Beautiful Baby Contest. This is the local studio where we go to get his portraits taken (so we might have a shot!) To vote, click on the link below. You should see Marius's photo enlarged on the right side of the screen. Hover over the upper right of the photo, and a box will appear. Just click the green thumbs up symbol to register your vote. You don't need to register or log in to anything to vote. One vote allowed per IP address. Voting begins today!!!

VOTE HERE!!!

***PLEASE pass this on to everyone you know, post it on your Facebook, myspace (if anyone still uses that lol), wherever. We need as many votes as we can. We could win this thing!!!!!***

I can't believe how fast

I can't believe how fast time has gone by. A whole year ago today, I started my IVF cycle by taking my first Lupron injection.

On my way out of the hospital. Surgery went well- only took a little over an hour. I'm not feelin too bad right now. Incisions don't really hurt, but i'm sure i'll be feeling more from them later. My only real complaints right now are 1. The gas from the surgery is up in my mid-back/diaphragm area, which is where i felt pain when my gallbladder was still in there (lol), and 2. I'm hungry as a hostage.

My only options at the hospital were saltine crackers (never again. Ate my life's fill of those when i was sick these past several weeks), and a turkey sandwich. I opted for the sandwich, which came on some dry-ass bread with a packet of mayo. Since i'm trying to stay away from carbs and don't want the fat from the mayo, i ate the single slice of turkey that was on the sandwich. Lol

Since they said i may need a liquid diet if stuff bothers me right away, i'm making my mom bring me to GNC on the way home for some Muscle Milk Light so I can at least get my protein.

Update!

Ok, so I know it's been a while. Sorry :( I've been super busy with Marius and really tired. I finally got to have my repeat CT scan and the results are in.... looks like I'm almost back to normal. The neurosurgeon has cleared me to have my gallbladder surgery and to drive! w00t w00t!! I took my car out for the first time in 2 months (after my cousin jumped the battery, then I tried to move the car, the brakes were stuck and I ended up stalling it, so he had to jump it AGAIN). I TOTALLY missed the Subaru. I missed the way it smells inside. I REALLY missed the sound of the turbo. It was so hard having to rely on other people to get me where I needed to go. On Sunday, I'll take Marius for a ride in my car for the first time! It'll be the first time I've ever brought him out by myself!

In other news, I've been eating a strict low-fat, high protein diet, and am now 19 pounds down from my pre-pregnancy weight. w00t w00t!!! I just have to get over the hurdle of my gallbladder surgery, then I can hit the gym. I can't wait!! I feel like I have no muscles in my body from having to be so inactive. I'm documenting my fitness journey on another blog: From HELL to HEALTHY. Please feel free to follow me and give me your input- I need all the help and support I can get! (Plus, I need to get into some kind of bathing suit shape by September 20th, when hubby and I leave for our Caribbean cruise!)

What else is going to go wrong?!?!?

At about 8:00 last night, I was eating a microwave instant noodles dinner. I've had lots of different varieties of ramen and instant noodles in my life. As I was finishing them, I noticed that my stomach was getting itchy. I looked at it, and sure enough, there was a fine rash there. So I took two Benadryl and sat back down. A few minutes later, I decided to take a shower because I was cold. So I got in the shower.

About 5 minutes into my shower, I started getting pain in my diaphragm area and it hurt when I took a breath. It was a tightness, like someone kept sinching up a belt under my boobs, and it went all the way around my back. I got out of the shower. It kept getting tighter and harder to breathe. My first thought was that I was having an anaphylactic reaction. My mom was going to drive me to the ER, but I told her to call an ambulance instead, in case I needed immediate treatment with an EpiPen or something. My throat didn't feel like it was swelling, but it started burning, and I really did not want to take any chances. I have no known food allergies, and I was scared shitless. I seriously felt like something is trying to kill me- I mean, first I get a subdural hematoma, that seems to be resolving itself, then I end up eating something and can barely breathe. I guess that's what I get for buying an 88-cent instant noodle dinner at Wal-Mart.

The ambulance arrives, and I get in. They put me on oxygen. They say my lungs are clear. Pulse ox is good. Blood pressure is fine. I feel like it keeps getting tighter around my diaphragm, and I'm doing my best to remain calm and take slow, deep breaths (as deep as I can with the pain).

We get to the ER, they put me in a room. No oxygen. And we just wait. The itchiness has gone away, so it looks like the Benadryl is working. But all the tightness is still there, and it hurts like a bitch. I get asked the same set of questions about 5 times by different people: EMT, nurse, med student, resident, and doctor. The med student pushed on different areas of my abdomen to see where I had pain. She pushed on my left side right under my ribcage, and it was tender, but the discomfort went away as soon as she took her hands off me. She repeated it in the same spot on the right side, but this time, there was residual pain for some time after she stopped pressing on me. Then I remembered a couple days ago I had some shooting pains there, but they only lasted a few minutes then stopped and didn't come back. I discussed this with the doctor when he came in.

They discharged me and gave me paperwork about anaphylactic reactions and... gallbladder attacks. Yes, that's right. They think I'm having gallbladder issues. Fuckin' LOVELY. More problems are just what I need. I called my doctor this morning and have to set up an appointment to see her, and will probably need an ultrasound of my gallbladder to see what's up.

Fast forward to today. I wake up this morning. The rash is still there. I get up, use the bathroom, and then bust out the breast pump. As I'm pumping, I start to get itchy again. What the hell? The food should be out of my system, and I haven't eaten anything else. Strange. Well, I think I have it figured out. I don't think it was the noodles. When I went to my 2 week OB followup on Tuesday, Dr. Burstyn prescribed me metronidazole gel, which is a vaginal antibiotic. I've never had it before. My only known allergy is to doxycycline, which is an antibiotic in the tetracycline family. This new medication isn't a tetracycline. I looked it up, and metronidazole is Flagyl, which I've taken orally for a UTI. But I've never used the vaginal gel before. I inserted it before I ate last night, and when I used the bathroom this morning. So I'm not going to use it again and will continue to take Benadryl and see what happens.

An allergic reaction and a gallbladder attack at the same time. I can't win.

special report: I POOOOOOOPED!! w00t

special report: I POOOOOOOPED!! w00t w00t!

I think it's the medicines i'm on that are making me so sick, On top of everything else. They had me on Reglan to stop nausea (i always see the class action lawsuits for it on tv. Hesitant to take it in the first place. Doesn't keep me from puking anyway.) i was also on a course of prednisone for God-knows-what. Inflammation or some shit i think. I finished that. They had me on flexeril for my back muscles. Pretty sure i can manage w/ just the heating pad for now. And percocet for pain, which didn't even make me drowsy when i took it. It's only the 5-325 dosage, and i got stronger shit for my endometriosis, which was much more tolerable than this head shit. So now i'm just taking 1 percocet every 4 hrs. Started that @ 5 this evening. We'll see. plus, i haven't pooped in like 5+ days (now i know how my FF girls felt), even w/ a daily stool softener, so i guess i gotta up that to 2 or
more pills a day. I'm just afraid of taking too much and randomly shitting myself in my sleep.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.