ho hum...

i haven't blogged in a while because, basically, we haven't done anything interesting! mostly, we've been working and coming home and going to sleep and waking up and working... you know, continuous cycle. the most exciting things i've done over the past few days has been going to the doctor for my "annual" physical - that i haven't had in like 5 years, and getting my "regular dental cleaning" that i haven't had in a few years. both places report positively (good health, pretty teeth), and i feel positively about both offices! they're both within a few miles of our house, and they were both very kind, professional, and knowledgeable. in case you live nearby, i went to dr. harmon's family practice on n. pleasant coats rd. and to riccobene associates family dentistry on hwy 210.

this weekend, i have to work saturday morning, but andrew and i are going to meet up with my parents for dinner! yay! perhaps i'll have more to blog about after that.

bloggy facelift!

i got bored... let's see how long this one lasts!

carowinds!

this weekend andrew and i were invited to go to carowinds with my work. i was really excited because i LOVE roller coasters, but andrew was somewhat more reserved since he doesn't. i had, however, convinced him to ride at least one, just for me, and i was really excited about a fun weekend with him and my work friends. unfortunately, the night before we were supposed to leave, andrew got sick with a stomach thing, and i ended up having to go alone :-( i still had a good time, but i wish he'd been able to come too.

before leaving saturday, we had to be open at work for our usual saturday morning hours, however friday was crazy, and we ended up having surgeries that would have to happen before we left as well. i stayed late friday night to assist with a splenectomy/mass removal, i worked double-duty saturday morning running appointments and helping with another surgery, and then before we could leave that afternoon, we had a THIRD surgery. by the time we got on the road we were all a touch on the grumpy side and very very tired. though i had planned to ride with andrew, i was lucky enough to hitch a ride there with steph and sammy. the grumpiness faded away, and we revved up for a great weekend at the park!

that night, after figuring out the room fiasco (there were some issues with competency at the half-renovated hotel), we grabbed a bite for dinner and hiked over to the park. we stood in line for a long time for the nighthawk as our first ride:

then we made a dash for the afterburn, my personal favorite:

i didn't want to carry much around, so i don't have any pics from my own camera - sorry!

after our quick jaunt at the park, we headed back to the hotel for some pizza, beverages, and some stanky leg dance. i believe there is a picture i can find of this. good times.

we got up saturday morning and "enjoyed" (not so much) the continental breakfast and then headed to the park! it was awesome. we rode every ride there was (with the exception of the carolina cyclone because i've ridden it several times and it always gives me a major headache). we even rode the scooby do haunted mansion, where i got 900 pts shooting ghosts with my laser gun!

our crew: sammy, steph, me, hunter, rich (not pictured: kat and edie)

then we headed to the water park, where i lost $25 in the wave pool (stupid running short pockets), we went down some fun raft rides, and then we almost died on the screaming wombat tube slides. holy cow, i have never felt so terrified in my whole life. so i wouldn't say that the water park was a complete success, but if it hadn't been there i would have probably overheated before we left.

we spent the rest of the day on wooden coasters (no thank you, too jerky), getting icees, re-riding the fun coasters, and getting totally sunburned. i rode back with hunter and rich, and by the time i got home at 9:45, i was exhausted! but i had a great time - thanks to carefirst for letting me feel like a teenager again!

honeymooners (part 2)

andrew and i were feeling the need for a romantic excursion, so instead of doing the typical burned-hamburger-cheap-beer-bug-spray-cookout-and-fighting-for-a-spot-fireworks 4th of july, we went to the inn on biltmore (the same place we went for our honeymoon almost 2 years ago). i had gotten a few presents (in monetary form) with directions to "go on a vacation" that i had spent fixing things at the house, so this little getaway was pretty much fully financed by generous benefactors -- thanks to you :-)

we each had friday morning off, so we got up, packed, stuffed all 3 dogs in the car, dropped them off at the new care first at grace park, and set out on our journey. when we got there, it was bright and sunny, so we went and hung out at the pool:

since it was a holiday weekend, they had festivities going on all over the inn, including a poolside bar - yum!

after lounging at the pool, we got all cleaned up for dinner at "the dining room", which is the 4-star restaurant on the bottom floor of the inn:

we had a lovely night. the next day, we went down for the breakfast buffet and enjoyed the brisk mountain morning:

after that, we walked down to the winery and tasted more biltmore wines. we still aren't crazy about their reds, but they do have some pretty nice whites, and their dessert wines/champagnes are excellent. we ended up with a mixed case comprised of chenin blanc, a reserve pinot noir, a reserve red blend called "passport", a few different champagnes, a cabernet rose, and a table white. the lovely inn had it delivered to our room so we wouldn't have to carry it back up the side of the mountain. for the record, while the dining room is phenomenal, the bistro (which is the restaurant adjacent to the winery) is not good, nor is their customer service - quite contrary to the rest of the biltmore feel.

after the lunch and wine, we'd wanted to go biking, but andrew's silly wife was too tired and wanted to go biking on sunday instead - unfortunately, as we would later find out, it rained saturday night and sunday, so we didn't get to go. instead of biking, we took advantage of our room amenities (translation: we watched tv and had chicken strips delivered to our room - gourmet!).

saturday evening, the biltmore put on quite the production for the 4th complete with a cookout, oyster/shrimp boil, square dancing, and fireworks.we had a wonderful time!

after that, i was craving the banana souffle that i'd had at the dining room the night before, so andrew and the waitress from the night before managed to get it run up to us while we sat outside on the balcony. it was amazing to be treated like royalty.

this morning, we woke up reluctantly, and the mountains cried for our departure (it rained). we had another fabulous breakfast buffet in the dining room, had the bellboy take our luggage to the car, drove most of the way home, visited dr. cindi on the way, picked up the crazy dogs, and made it home safe and sound. i am totally bummed about having to go to work in the morning, but i had a wonderful weekend and wouldn't have traded it for the world!

ps. if you want to see more pictures, go to the album on my flickr page.

i'm employing the thumper rule.

if you pray...

please pray for my former student, mike.

this is an account of what happened, written by his older sister:

Hi everyone,

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mike’s older sister, and I just wanted to take this time to update you on how he’s doing. First of all, thank you so much for all of your posts and messages and calls; I can’t even begin to tell you how much they’ve meant to my family and me. We’ve been getting a lot of support from family and friends, and your prayers and best wishes have really made these past couple days easier on us. Please continue to pray for Mike and keep him in your thoughts!

I know there has been a lot of confusion about Mike’s condition. Some of you have gotten a chance to briefly talk to our brother, Sam, and others have heard the news through the grapevine. To begin with, he’s not on life support, and as far as I know, he’s not in a coma either; I’ve not heard the word used by any of his doctors or nurses, and although I’ve never been to med school, I think there’s a difference between “in a coma” and “unconscious.” As far as I’ve heard from his primary physicians, he’s just unconscious. He’s being heavily sedated, and to my understanding, the medicine is a big part of what is keeping him asleep. I hope that clears up some of the stories that have been floating around; here are all the other details about what happened:

The accident happened on Tuesday, at about 10 or 11 in the morning. Mike was biking way too fast down Airport Road next to the police station when his tire hit a curb and he flipped over headfirst. Most of the shock was absorbed by the part of his brain called section 8 (or something like that) which is a section deep in the middle of his brain, and the main concern right now is that the shock didn’t spread to any other parts of his brain.

There is some swelling, and the next 48-72 hours are really critical in making sure that the swelling doesn’t get any worse; if it does, Mike could stroke, and that could be fatal. So far, however, the swelling is at a great level and hasn’t changed much at all over the past couple days. The doctors have been monitoring him very closely, and they seem to be optimistic about his continued healing. He is scheduled for an MRI sometime tomorrow, and that test will tell us how extensive the damage to his brain is. We really won’t know anything until the results from that come back. The doctors haven’t been able to tell us when he’ll wake up, how long it’ll take him to recover (he’ll definitely need occupational and physical therapy), and if there will be any changes in his behavior or learning abilities afterwards. They keep telling us that there have been many cases similar and worse than Mikey’s where the patients have fully recovered and return to their old selves with zero complications; however, each person is different and there really isn’t any telling how Mike will come out of this.

When he was first admitted to the hospital, Mike’s body was seizing as a reaction to the shock of the impact. The doctors put him on anti-seizure medication, and he’s been off of it for a while now; all his brain waves and signals are normal and looking good. Mikey was also moving his left side around a lot (involuntarily, but at least he was moving), but he began to run a fever so they put cooling pads on his chest and legs. He started shivering, though, so they gave him a paralytic to keep him from moving and using all of his energy on shivering. They’re bringing up his temperature now, though, so they can get him off the paralytic and see if he’s still moving his arms and legs. They’ve also found that when the body is unstressed and at a comfortable temperature, MRI and other scan results are clearer and more accurate.

Other than his head injury, Mike also fractured his left wrist, may have torn his ACL in his left knee, and has a possible cracked sternum. He’s also pretty bruised up and his face is still a bit swollen. He’s in a bad place right now, but doing well considering. He looked a lot better than he did yesterday, and we’re hoping that things just keep getting better from here on out. As I said earlier, though, we can’t really do anything until the MRI results come back, and it could be as late as Saturday that we find out what’s going on; I have no idea how long it takes to analyze these things. Brain injuries are never good news, but all in all we're hopeful.

we were getting daily updates, which had been relatively positive, about an mri, brain swelling subsiding, breathing machine being turned off, some movement in both sides of his body. unfortunately it isn't all good news.

this is today's update:

Today was a bit of a step backwards for Mikey. The neurology team talked to my parents and told them that the MRI actually revealed some more damage in his brain; I'm not sure how the doctors missed it the first time around, but they told us that the extensive damage accounts for the minimal movement on Mikey's right side. Also, they're somewhat afraid that the fidgeting in Mike's left leg and arm aren't as purposeful as we thought. There's no good way to communicate with him because when the therapists ask him to squeeze their hands to answer their questions, it's difficult to tell if his squeezes are responses or just involuntary movements. The neuro team is supposed to run several tests on him tomorrow to figure out the best way to communicate with him and figure out what kind and how much therapy he'll need. I'm going to talk to the neuro team tomorrow morning, so once I find out all the details from them, I'll be able to tell you more about what's going on.

please pray for mike.

facebook is funny

found this "letter to prospective clients" in a group on facebook. i did not write it, and do not necessarily agree with everything therein, but it is funny:

Dear Client,

Welcome to out practice. The following are some suggestions of how to make things more pleasant for our staff.

As you have already figured out your scheduled appointment time is just a suggestion. Feel free to ignore it and do as you please.

If you are not going to show up, please do not call. We like the suspense of trying to figure out what you are going to do. Some times we run bets on it. So as you can see, calling and informing us of your intentions would just take the fun out of our day.

Verbal abuse is always appreciated. If possible, wait until the waiting room is full. Please be creative in your profanity, we all like to expand our vocabulary.

Do not put your dog on a leash or your cat in a carrier. Just let them loose as soon as you walk in. The staff enjoys a little pandemonium.

Bring as many small children as possible. Three or more is preferred. If you don’t have that many, borrow from your neighbours (look for the most poorly behaved). Make sure they all have juice and crayons because we love to clean. Also, we encourage them to jump on the furniture, displays and play rough with the hospital cat and go through the drawers.

Do not bring any prior records as we request. Calling other clinics gives us time to catch up with old friends.

We’re just kidding when we suggest that you bring a stool or urine sample. That’s gross. We’ll just get it off out waiting room floor after your dog relieves him/herself everywhere.

Please feel free to stay on your cell phone. Handless headsets are preferred because it really makes it challenging to figure out if you are talking to us or the person on the phone. Make sure to call back later and ask us questions about all the things we were trying to explain.

When giving information about your pet be as vague as possible. The doctor is psychic and can communicate with your pet so it’s really just a formality anyway.

Wait until the vet is using the stethoscope before reciting the life story of your pet. It really is just for show, the vet never has any intention of listening to the intricacies of the heart and thorax.

Be sure to insist we follow your breeder’s recommendations, especially about anaesthesia and vaccines. Our schooling and training really doesn’t teach us much, so we appreciate the guidance.


Give medications as you see fit. We just put the instruction labels on them because the label printer is cool. We understand that when the condition doesn’t resolve, it is our fault, not yours.

Don’t tell us all the other vets had to muzzle your dog until after he/she tries to bite. It keeps our reflexes sharp. Besides, it is more of a challenge to muzzle a dog once he/she is all worked up.

If your cat is hissing and upset, please put your hands and face as close to his/her mouth as possible. He/she would never bite you. If a bite did occur from your own stupidity, it is our fault anyway.

Ignore the staff only signs. Just wonder around as you please. Stick your hands in all the cages. If your child is wondering around, we prefer him/her to be barefoot.

If your pet is sick please wait a minimum of three days before having him/her seen. Also, be sure to exhaust all treatments available over the counter or at the pet shop before brining him/her into be examined. We love seeing sick animals after 4pm on a Friday afternoon, so make sure you wait until the last minute to bring your pet in.

Always complain about the bill. We know our prices are too high. In general, we tend to be greedy and don’t care about your animal.

We look forward to caring for your pet. If you have any suggestions about what we can do to make life easier for you and more difficult for us, please do not hesitate to let us know.