Not Vertigo!

I had my ENG today. This was the test that determined once and for all if my dizziness was caused by an inner ear imbalance or vertigo. It definitely is not vertigo! So that is good. Off to a neurologist for me it is! But first let me tell you about the crazy test that I had to take to figure it out. First, they put these special goggles on you. My left eye was completely covered, but my right eye had like an open window. They used the goggles to monitor my eye movement. They made me follow this blinking red light with just my eyes. I felt like I was flying a jet fighter looking for heat seeking missiles. Then they laid me down and made me turn my head left & right back & forth and roll to my side, back & forth. It was weird. But the REALLY weird thing was when they took a tube, inserted it into my ear and blew in super cold air at apprx 100mph. I felt like my brain was going to come shooting out of my nose. This was the part that "may" make you dizzy. (like all the rolling around looking at blinky red lights was a perfectly normal thing to do!) Needless to say, I felt like I was on a tilt a whirl. It was unpleasant. So they did the cold air in both ears (one at a time of course!) and then hot air in both ears. Then I was done, complete with goggle face. Except for the dizzy feeling, but that only lasted 5 or 6 minutes more. The doctor reviewed, said I was fine and time to move on to the next specialist. I'm still going to have the sinus surgery (not a Nose Job Erica!) in Sept, but it's not an inner ear issue that is making me dizzy. One more thing checked off my list.

Other things going on: Rascal, my black lab, got VERY sick on Sunday. He was sick all over my house and I finally had to chain him up to a tree outside (I threw out two throw rugs after he got sick on them!) After getting sick out there for awhile. i took pity on him, I never him chain him up outside!! and decided to block him into the kitchen, so if he got sick on the floor, at least it would be an easy clean up. About 5 mins after I brought him into the kitchen, he started to vomit blood. So that was the last straw. Tony and I packed him into the car and brought him to the all night emergency vet. (Tony even cleaned up dog puke, so I KNOW he really digs me!!) The vet did some blood work and said he got a little anxious being away from me last weekend, and maybe he ate some unusual food, and it caused some gastric stress. Anyways, he is taking a bunch of pills now to stop the nausousness (oddly enough, the same things they gave me when I was in the hospital!) and he is doing so much better. He is back to his regular doggie self. I'm so relieved. I'll be honest, seeing anything puke up blood is enough to scare the crud out of me. I could never be a doctor or a vet!! I love this dog. I'm so glad he wasn't really REALLY sick.

So...that's it from me for now. Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

This & That

First off, I left my camera at Tony’s so I have no pics to download yet. Should get it back tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned.

 

Trip to Dallas was really good. The flight wasn’t so hot, we were crammed in there pretty tight, and of course I couldn’t even bring lip gloss with me, which is a little irritating.  I mean, it’s not easy to look this good. I require product people!  Anyway, we landed without incident and were met by Erica  who took us to this super cool bar.  It had a whole two story wall full of liquor. It was very neat.  Friday, Tony and I got to drive around Dallas thanks to Erica’s GPS system. It was very very cool, and one day, I’m totally getting one of those. I am directionally impaired, and this thing was made for ME. It has a map and arrows and tells you when turns are coming. Very VERY cool.    But the main part of the trip was McKenna’s baptism, for which I got to be a God Mother. It was a beautiful, simple ceremony and I was really happy to be there.  Erica tells me that Tony gets the official best friend Stamp of Approval, so that is awesome. And lucky for me, she has a horrible memory and didn’t tell too many embarrassing Shannon stories!! HA HA HA   (and he liked her too, so that made me happy!)  All & all, we had a really good time.  Erica is going to come out and see me after Emily comes home, so that is good too!

 

In the adoption world, they gave out referrals while I was out in TX. I made the mistake of checking the internet while I was at Erica’s and I almost had a stroke that they gave out only 9 days worth of referrals. NINE DAYS!   I don’t understand the need for all this secrecy and stuff. It makes me bonkers. I’m a big planner. I like to know generally what the heck is going on. But this not knowing anything at all, it’s for the birds. I think I’m in an angry stage right now.  I feel like they should just tell us what is going on. If I KNEW even down to a two or three month time frame, I would feel better about it. But I don’t.

 

And the last bit of news is about my home study. I emailed my agency yesterday and said, hey when does that expire. (since I’m going to have to spend a fortune to update it?)   And they wrote me back today that it expired in July, because it was only good for 12 months. I have it in writing from the home study agency (different from my adoption agency) that it is good for 18 months. So I’m like WTF?  And why didn’t they notify me in July that it had expired, if, in fact, it did. Aren’t I paying them thousands and thousands of dollars. What the heck are they doing over there? They don’t have a chart or a spreadsheet or something that keeps them on top of crap like that?   For the record I hate my adoption agency.  They just seem useless and clueless to me. *sigh*  I keep thinking I’ll be able to forgive them once I see Emily.  I hope that happens.   Anyways, does anyone know officially how long an NC home study is good for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

You've Got to be Kidding Me!!

I heard from another local single mom to be today regarding re-doing our home studies and I171H forms. Since it seems that we are in the same boat in regards to these items expiring prior to us going to China, she wanted to give me a heads up. The agency we used to do our home study has increased it’s prices for *updates* Last November when I asked, it was $400 for an update. Now it’s $550 dollars for an update PLUS $150 fee for China. I’m not even sure what that means. They don’t send anything to China!! I’m the one that has to take it, get it all notarized and approved and translated! What the HECK is that?! To go from $400 to $750 in like 9 months is absolutely ridiculous. I’m so angry about this. This agency is totally taking advantage of the situation that I’m in. I’m not sure that I will be allowed to use another home study agency to do an update, since they didn’t do my original home study. We are looking into it. But if it turns out that this place won’t change their fees, I’m absolutely going to put their name up here so you NC people can stay away from them. I can’t believe they can price gouge like that!!


Trip to Dallas to be covered when I’m not irked as heck. I had a fabo time though! Stay tuned!!

The Saga Continues

I wanted to share with everyone that because I am still having these unexplainable dizzy spells, I went to see an ENT today. Good news, bad news sort of thing. Bad news is that he doesn't think what I have is an inner ear/vertigo type issue. (which I figured out myself, but it is nice to have confirmation) However, since we are playing Dr. House here, I will have to do some sort of test next week, and ENG. That actually stands for something but i can't remember what right now. They put these goggles on your eyes that track your eye movements while you do certain tasks. Sounds bizarro to me, but whatever. The good news is that if that goes ok, and proves once and for all that I don't have an inner ear problem, he'll call my regular physician and do a consult with him regarding who to send me to next. He is thinking a neurologist. (which is what my regular physician thought too, but we had to see this guy first) ANYWAY, I will do the happy eye ball tracker movement test thingy next week. Mom is once again being a super hero and coming to Charlotte to drive me to and from the test since it "may make you dizzy" I'm already dizzy, I don't need help there!!! So I'm definitely needing someone to drive me home from that. Isn't my Mom super to drive me around like that? And she thought her days of chauffering me were long over! HA!

The GOOD news is that while I was there, he took a look at a CT Scan of my sinuses. I have had numerous sinus infections over the years, at least 2 a year. As my sister says, I make way more snot than the average person. (TMI right?) I thought I just had really bad allergies. Turns out I have a deviated septum, and several of my sinus cavities are blocked. Who knew? I don't snore, and my nose is so darn cute I would never have guessed. Anyways, I'm going to have a very minor outpatient surgery to correct that later in Sept. I'll miss a few days of work, but in theory, I'll never have another sinus infection, and I'll stop sounding like Moose in the wild when I blow my nose. I am THRILLED about this. I thought it was just something I had to live with. No more constant runny nose. WOO HOO!!!

So that is it. Tomorrow, Tony and I are off to Dallas, TX to see my lifelong best friend Erica. I get to be her daughter's godmother this weekend, so I'm very excited about this trip. Plus Erica will get to give Tony the official "best friend stamp of approval" hee hee. He has no idea what he's in for, does he? We'll be back in a few days, so I'll be sure to have fun pictures to post then. I'm so excited!!! Plus, it could be there will be referrals en route when we get back, so that will be something fun to come home to! So, have a great weekend, and i'll see you on the flip side!

TOO MANY BLOGS!!

I have a problem. A BIG problem. There are too many cool people adopting from China that have blogs!!! Do you know how many blogs I check out on a daily basis? Like 45 people. I’m totally addicted.  I am suffering from BA, Blog Addiction. There. I said it. That is the first step right?!   Each and every one of you have become like mini soap operas to me. I have to know what happens next!!  The list I have on the right hand side of my blog is a pitiful, pitiful list. I look at so many more than that, that it would take me a good hour or so to update my list. (Although I do intend to do that, one of these days)

 

How do you all handle the Blog Addiction? Because I know I’m not the only one with BA I mean is there a patch out there that will reduce my need to scroll through blogs? I don’t really want to give any of you up, but man, I’m spending way too much time on the computer these days!!  Good thing I have plenty of time on my hands waiting for Emily. J 

 

 

 

Birthday Party Bash!

Me and Colin at his birthday bash!!

YES!!! A box full of tissue paper! Just what I wanted!

We forgive Aunt Shannon for getting my birthday date wrong. Look at the cool tractor she got me!

I'm not sure about this "cake" stuff.

Happy 1st Birthday Colin!!

So my nephew turned 1 today!! It is hard to believe that a year ago today we were all passing around this teeny tiny baby and now we have a little one year old boy on are hands!! He is such a cutie pie-definitely the center of our universe. For your enjoyment, pics from his birthday bash!

Retail Therapy

So Kohl's is having a 70% off sale on most of it's infant/toddler clothes. What are you waiting on?!?! I SAID, Kohl's is having a 70% OFF SALE!!! Go!! scurry away to a Kohl's near you! (but first, check out the cute stuff I got for Em!)

Over It

I’m over my bad day. Which is good.  As has been pointed out to me, there isn’t much I can do except complain or decide not to adopt. I might complain once in awhile, but I’m definitely not ready to throw in the towel yet.  Thanks for all your nice comments though. It did make me feel worlds better to know other people have had rotten adoption days too.

 

In other exciting news, it seems that folks that were LID last December are in the REVIEW ROOM. Ooooh ahhhh.  Since no one has called me and chucked me out, I’m taking this as a good sign. Please pray that my dossier will be met with outstanding approval and no one will think anything of it.  For those of you who are new, they review your dossier for errors or missing info or any kind of red flags.  If there is going to be some problem, this is when they would catch it.  It kind of bugs me that it’s taken 8 months just to be reviewed, but it’s ok. It’s all ok. I’m going with the flow today.  (how am I doing??) 

 

Other than that, I seem to be feeling better and better every day. I still wish I knew what had happened, but if I can’t know, at least it’s not causing me to feel horrible anymore. 

Hope everyone is having a groovy day!

 

 

 

 

Bad Adoption Day

Some days the whole waiting around for a child from China seems absolutely ridiculous to me. Does anyone else ever feel that way?  I mean, I know what I’m doing, I know the process and what is going on, and it still occasionally feels like just a really stupid thing to have to do. Why am I having to wait so long? Why doesn’t anybody know anything OFFICIAL?  This is one of those days where it is just getting to me.  The recent rumors (yes, I’m addicted) say that we’re looking at 15 days of LIDs every month.  I think everyone that reads my blog these days knows what I mean by that, but just in case, here is a good analogy I read somewhere recently.  It’s like when my paperwork was received in China I was given a little piece of paper on it with a number, just like you would get if you were waiting at a deli counter. My order is in, but it’s just not up yet. And I’m listening to the numbers they are calling, and there are like 100 numbers ahead of me.  I’ll never get my sandwich!   Only in this case, it’s Emily I’m waiting for, not ham & cheese on rye. I can’t go next door to McDonalds if the wait is too long for me. I just have to wait.   So, because I like numbers, this is what I’m talking about.  My LID is my deli number. (Dec 8, 2005)***  They only give out so many referrals (matches with babies) of LIDs per month.  See….

Scenario 1  1/2 Month at time
LID	Referral	months
July 1 -15	July	12
July 14- 31	Aug	13
Aug 1 - 15	Sept	13
Aug 16-31	Oct	14
Sept 1 - 15	Nov	14
Sept 16 -30	Dec	15
Oct 1 -15	Jan-07	15
Oct 16-31	Feb	16
Nov 1 - 15	Mar	16
Nov 16-30	apr	17
Dec 1 -15	May	17
Dec 15-31	June	18

 

 

So we are talking MAY people, before I see a referral. (in theory, and yes I realize it isn’t for certain it’s just a possibility)  And before anyone has a cow, I did NOT steal this off anyone’s rumor blog. I came up with this on my own months ago (it just happens that this matches the most recent rumor)   I also have scenarios, 2, 3, & 4 all with different amount of LID days per month.  I’m THAT crazy.  Basically, what I’d really want is to just be able to plan my life. If I’m not going to get my referral until May, that’s fine. Just freaking tell me already.

 

To go with this when I’m getting my daughter kind of day that I’m having, I’m suddenly becoming obsessed with cleaning and getting her room ready and her things organized and I have urges to paint and re-decorate.  Like somehow, if I went ahead and got everything ready for her, it would make her get here faster.

 

It just feels like its make believe now. Oh SURE, you’ll get a kid. One day. Some day. Don’t hold your breath or anything. BOO!

Today stinks.

 

 

 

CORRECTION!!!

 

My nephew Colin’s Birthday is AUGUST 20, not Aug 19 as listed below.

 

I am a horrible Aunt. The kid has never even had a birthday yet, and already I’m screwing it up. *sigh*

 

Interesting Info

I have much going on, but am lazy. Refer to bullet points

 

• I’m feeling worlds better.  Thanks again for everyone’s concern. I’m working a full day today even. BIG GIRL!
• I was feeling so much better (and so incredibly bored at being at home)  that I actually cleaned out crap from my house yesterday. I’m now the proud owner of 3 clean and organized kitchen drawers and the cabinet under the sink is spotless. Oooh ahhh
• I also organized all of the clothes I have bought for Emily and started to clean out the crud from her closet.  I got very AR and did things like all the clothes that are size 12 months are on pink hangers, and everything 18 months is white hangers, etc etc.  I need to buy more hangers so that the few items that I have in each category where I ran out of that color hanger can be corrected.  It’s a little OCD, I admit, but it’s nothing compared to my sisters Nut & Candy section of the pantry! Ha ha ha
• I love, love, love my computer now that it is functioning. I really missed it.
• I watched way too much tv the last few weeks. 2 new guilty pleasures. Who Wants to be a Superhero?  Where grown ups where tights and try to save the day. It just cracks me up. I mean, there is one lady FAT MOMMA who wears donuts on her belt. I mean Batman had that hook/cable thingy, so she has donuts. HA HA HA   The other one is Celebrity Fit.  It’s just interesting to watch people lose weight, and besides, most of these guys are nut jobs. It makes me feel better about myself.
• Apparently everyone cool I know is a Leo. Birthday shout outs to: Shannon, Aug 4, Jill, Aug 13, Jeff, Aug 14 and Tony Aug 14 and Colin Aug 19.  Happy Birthday to You!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Look?

I think I want to change the look of my blog. After reviewing everyone else's tonight, mine is pretty boring. Is there anyone out there that can help me with that?

OH...and leave a comment if you can help, don't email me right now. I have about 300 emails to go through since I've been without a computer for awhile. I'll email you when I get through that nightmare. ugh what a mess.

To Sum Up

First off, thanks to everyone for your well wishes. You guys are so sweet and caring! It's nice to feel the love through the internet!!

Secondly, here is the run down of what has been going on with me health wise. After my second trip to the ER last Wed, I was told to go home, rest, drink as much Gatorade as I could, and to see my regular doctor ASAP. My Mom was fabulous and stayed with me all last week, so the next morning she took me to the doctor's office. He checked my blood pressure, and noticed that it is dropping when I go from laying to sitting, or sitting to standing and that is probably what is making me feel faint and really dizzy. The person who does echocardigrams (ultrasounds of your heart) is there that day, so he says, well lets have one of those run on you, just in case there is a hole in your heart. (WHAT?!?!? I didn't even think of that so it freaked the crap out of me!!) Drink more gatorade, rest up, call me tomorrow if you don't feel better. Oh and why don't you take these steroids to help you retain some fluids?? ok...sounds fun. So off we go to home. The next day I didn't feel ANY better, so back I go. This time they checked my blood cell counts, and it turns out I have an infection (I do???) because my white blood cell count was pretty high. So, even though I have no symptoms of any kind of infection, and no fever at all, they gave me a BIG ol shot right in the keister of an antibiotic. Then on top of it, I have to take another different antibiotic by mouth for the next 10 days. He tells me it's probably the infection and I should feel better over the weekend. He was wrong. So back I go Monday. Now I have to take meds for vertigo, which he is pretty sure I don't have, but just in case. This is where he tells me that I'm like a case from the TV show House. SO, back home I go. I'm not really feeling any better as this week rolls on, but I am sick to death of being at home. So I went to work for a few hours Wed. Don't worry, I didn't drive, my very cool friend Melissa picked me up and brought me back at lunch. So I was only at work for 3 hours. And it was exhausting. I felt horrible afterwards. So I called the doctor. AGAIN. Finally got to see him this morning. Good news is there are no holes in my heart. (Thank you God!) bad news, he wants to look at my head. So off I go with Mom again to get a CT Scan of my brain. Found out this afternoon that that is all normal. (Thank you to God once again) So the deal right now, they have no idea what is wrong with me, but my heart and brain are both checking out normally. I'm very relieved about that. And at least for the next two days, no one will be poking me to either take out my blood or shoot in something else. I'm pretty excited about that. :-)
The next step is for me to see a neurologist. Not sure what they will do, but whatever. I keep hoping that one of these mornings I will wake up and just feel fine and it will just go away and I won't have to show my insides to anymore people!!
My family has been fabulous through all of this. It's such a great feeling to be surrounded by love like that. And Mr Dreamy aka Tony has been pretty fabulous as well. He's been really sweet about coming by to check on me and keep me entertained and taken care of. He even brought my Mac into the Apple store for me since I couldn't make it myself. And tonight he drove me there to pick it up. YAY!!!! I have my computer again. I'm totally addicted to the internet. I've been going crazy being stuck at home these last few weeks with NO COMPUTER!! It's too much to ask of one girl, I tell you that! So he earned big bonus points in my book for that!!

On a side note, my 8 month LID anniversary was this past week. And I missed it. 8 months is a LONG time. I'm guessing I have another 5 to 7 months left to wait until I see Emily's referral. *sigh* Still, 5 months isn't too much longer. I can't believe I missed the anniversary date. I mean, yes, I've had other things to occupy me this week. Big important things. But still. It sort of blows my mind that I could just forget all about it. It makes me feel like a bad adoptive parent to be. I see other blogs, and there are those people out there who celebrate every month one way or another. Should I be doing that? I'm not at all. I just kind of go, well ok, one more month down. Maybe if there were two of me. Or I was part of a couple that was adopting, it would be more of a THING, ya know what I mean? It's just been so freaking long. It is hard to keep up the excitement this long. On the other hand, if I were 8 months pregnant, I would be bigger than a house, miserable hot in this heat, and probably complaining of someone kicking me from the inside. All in all, I think I'm getting the better end of the deal!!!

So that is it from me. I'm off to read everyone's blogs and try to catch up from the last few weeks. I heart the internet and my Mac Mini!

Back Again

I haven’t posted in awhile, I just wanted to let everyone know I’m still alive and kicking.  I unfortunately made a second trip to the ER last Wed (the check in nurse remembered me!) and got another bag of saline.  After multiple visits with my doctor and a bunch of poking around at my insides my doctor cheerfully announced that I’m like an episode of House, where no one knows what is wrong with the patient.  Such comforting words to hear!!  Anyways,  what is happening is that I get very dizzy and light headed almost every time I go from sitting to standing (which is not fun!)  So, I’ve been ordered to take it easy, and take a bunch of meds and drink as much Gatorade as humanly possible and see what happens.  I still don’t feel great, but I feel a little bit better. I promise more grizzly details later, just wanted to send out a quick update.

 

 

 

 

 

My Adventures in the ER

It is unbearably hot here. Maybe you have read about the heat wave striking the US this week.   Today it is supposed to get to 110 with the heat index. That means when you walk outside, basically you are cooking yourself.  Although I’ve grown up in the South, I am definitely not used to that kind of heat. It’s crazy insane hot.   God Bless the man who invented air conditioning, ya know?  Anyway on Monday I was in the warehouse at work counting inventory. I wasn’t feeling too great. In fact, I felt really yucky. Nausea, headache, light headed, the works. I really wanted to crawl into a dark cool spot and lie down. (which looking back is definitely what I should have done) But no, I stood up to count inventory. Walked to the corner of the warehouse to start and turned to the guy counting with me and said “I’m going to pass out” And then WHAM. I did. Luckily for me, he caught me. Next thing I know, I’m on the floor of the warehouse and people are bringing me water and coke and checking my pulse etc.  After awhile, I felt a bit better, and they walked me into the AC where I rested a bit.  Then I walked back to my office (which is on the other side of a long building) I sat down, and promptly felt the passing out sensation take over again. So back to the floor I went. This time work took over and called 911. If you have never called 911, let me give you a tip. For the love of God, tell them it is not an emergency if you are not actually bleeding out or having a stroke. Because you know who shows up if you don’t tell them that? EVERYBODY IN A 10 MILE RADIUS that has been trained to work on people in need of medical attention.  There were no less than 7 men in my office checking my blood pressure, putting me on a gurney and in an ambulance before you could blink an eye. I had firemen, EMTs, ambulance drivers. You name it, they were there. I felt like a big dope.   So they brought me to the ER. Riding in the back of an ambulance when you already feel sick to your stomach doesn’t help the situation. If you are prone to motion sickness, the back of the ambulance is not the place for you!!!  You kind of swing around a lot on that gurney thingy.   Anyways, I made it in one piece.  After checking everything out, they decided I was dehydrated. So they gave me some fluids through an IV, some stuff to help the nausea feeling and sent me home. Luckily for me my Momma and Tony both came to see me at the hospital and take care of me. It was nice.

 

So here are some things that I have learned this week. 

1. I must drink water all the time.
2. Iced Coffee does NOT count as a fluid, even though it is yummy and cold.
3. By the time you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.
4. If you are not sweating in the warehouse that is 98 degrees, you are working towards heat stroke. (I didn’t even find the warehouse warm. I didn’t break a sweat the whole time I was back there. DUH!)
5. When the nurse sticks a needle into your vein to draw blood and absolutely nothing comes out, it is time to stop arguing that you are fine and admit that you must, in fact, be dehydrated after all.
6. My Mom will force feed me Gatorade until I pee blue. 
7. She also loves the AC as much as I do.
8. IV fluids, even at room temp, when stuck right into your veins will make you feel like you are ice skating in the Antartic. BURRRRRRRR!
9. People from work think Tony is “VERY good looking”   (I told you he was dreamy!! )  He met me at the hospital and a lady from work came to check on me and they met. Then she told everyone about my “handsome young man!!”
10. People at work like me. They keep stopping by to check on me. It’s nice to be loved.

 

 

So that’s it. I’m fine. I feel a little foolish, but I’m fine. I have a giant 1 liter bottle of water with me at work today, which I have already had to fill up one time. So I have learned my lesson.  All of you out there, stop what you are doing and go drink some water. It will make me feel better!!