22-Hour Vacation!

I know, I know... it's been a long time since my last update. I'm a horrible person. But, really, are you surprised?

In the last (almost) month since I posted lots of stuff has happened. Notably, Jerry and I went to Florida-- for 22 hours. Our dear friends Lezlee Johnson and Sean Bertie got married in Marco Island on May 16 so we decided to go down there and surprise them (we were invited, don't worry-- but we RSVP'd no because we didn't really realize we could make the trip work until about a week beforehand). We had an amazing time and feel blessed to have been a part of their special day. We send all the best the Sean and Lezlee.

The reception was a couple weeks later in Fargo-- also a blast!! Jerry couldn't make it but I went and represented (WORD) and danced on stage (don't worry-- it was okay the band encouraged it). All I have to say is that the next day was painful. Yuck.

Read more...

The Mysterious Rash Returns... and I ran a 5K!!!

Yep... it's back. To make a long story short:
-Took a steroid prescription while in Vegas
-Rash came back after I finished that prescription
-Went to dermatologist at end of March. He says I'm probably allergic to ibuprofen and other non-steroidal drugs
-I stop taking Advil and rash seems to diminish
-Start taking Tylenol, rash comes back
-Fill a prescription given to me by dermatologist. Prescription makes rash WORSE!
-Go back to derm. for biopsy, wait one week for results.
-I have urticarial vasculitis. Not sure what that means.
-Doc orders blood and urine tests.

Now I'm waiting to hear back on those tests. I think they're testing for Lupus, among other things, as urticarial vasculitis can be associated with Lupus and other rheumatoidal conditions.

In other news... I ran the Fargo Marathon 5K!!! And I'm so proud of myself! My mom is a marathon runner and I've grown up cheering on runners at various marathons across the state and volunteering at local races that my mom has helped direct. Something I'd never done was actually participate in a race. As a freshman in college, I set a goal to run a marathon before I graduated... and clearly that didn't happen.

About 2.5 weeks before the Fargo Marathon I found myself on the Web site and decided just to sign up for it (the 5K, not the full, OMG!). I trained as much as I could and set a goal of 45 minutes to complete it (although my secret goal was 40 minutes). I figured this would allow me to walk in case I thought I was going to die. With the help of my mom who ran with me and kept me motivated, I finished in 37:26... and totally beat my goal! Woo hoo!

Running it made me feel so good that I decided to run at least one 5K each month this summer. The next one I'm planning to run is the YMCA Chase Race 5K in June. Wish me luck and come run with me if you want!!

On a final note, today is really my last official day as an instructor at NDSU. My students have all turned in their portfolios and now I just need to read and grade them. And then my time at NDSU (for now, at least) is over. Speaking about that grading thing... time to do that.

Read more...

Well, hello again!

Wow! It's been a while since I last updated... and by a while I mean a LONG time. Sorry about that. As I'm sure most of you already know, we were dealing with serious flooding here in the Red River Valley. I'm going to blame everything on the flood, including my lack of posts. So, let's catch up, shall we?

The last time we really talked I was about to leave for Las Vegas. We had such a fun time! I had never been there before so everything was new and cool and fun! It was great seeing things I had only seen on TV and identifying with them. The weather was beautiful, the hotel was stunning and I won $300! I would give events and attractions in Las Vegas an A -- because it is so fun to rate things on a graded system, isn't it?

I do have to say, however, that the service would earn a D in Vegas. I was so disappointed! It's like these people don't work for tips. They just didn't understand the idea of guest interaction and quick service. Now, I'm not saying that I went to a sit down restaurant and wanted a fast meal, because there are certainly times when I'm okay with waiting for my food. But the first night we got there we had a LATE dinner at one of the restaurants in the Bellagio (it was called FIX). We waited about 15 minutes before anyone even SHOWED up to our table (at least we were seated quickly)!! Once we were greeted by our waiter everything else (drinks, food, the bill) took a long time considering the place was quiet and most people that were in there were just having drinks and no food.















This wasn't an isolated incident. Over and over again I was amazed at how poor service all over the Las Vegas Strip was. Not impressed! The wait staff was nice enough but just extremely SLOW... and then when it was time for the bill it was like they couldn't get you out fast enough (I get that on the profit side of things, but is it necessary to make us feel like we're getting kicked out?).















I would definitely go back to Vegas because it was fun apart from the service. Some fun things we did included Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum, Blue Man Group, and Ka (a Cirque du Soleil Show) -- all very impressive! We walked a TON every day and wound up with some painful feet. There was a point when I thought my arch had fallen. SO PAINFUL! But we're fine now!

I've included some pics. The first one is the view of the Bellagio water fountain from our room. Next is me and Jerry before we left (AWWWW), and the third one is Jerry trying to pay Jenna Jamison to.... not sure what he wants to do with her.... (WAX FIGURE, people!!).

Next update will come soon and will be about the flood (or maybe not... I think we're all ready to MOVE ON!!).

Read more...

Flood Diary Part 2!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I_r5Cso5QU

Read more...

Flood 2009

Check out my video blog as the great Red River Flood of 2009 progresses...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-q4HwSOXxg

Read more...

Vegas, baby!

We're going to Las Vegas this week and I am so excited!

I've never been to Vegas before but I've heard lots of good (and bad) things. Most people that I've talked to recently about the trip say things like, "It's a fun place," "It's like a playground for adults," or, "Seriously? You've never been?"

We're staying at the Bellagio, which I only know from scenes from Ocean's 11 CSI. This coming Friday is my birthday and that night we're going to a Cirque du Soleil show... I think it's the new show but I'd be a bad person to ask because I really have no clue what's going on. I really don't care what we do while we're there, but I'm not too keen on gambling. I just look at all the money/chips and think about all the other things I could be doing with that money (spa, dinner, bills, savings...).

If you have any tips/advice on Vegas, I'd love to hear it! We leave Tuesday evening.

In other "news," I've been having some writer's block issues lately. This past week at work I had to write some copy for a direct mail piece for a chiropractor. Doesn't sounds too hard but it was! I couldn't get into it. I couldn't communicate what the chiropractor wanted. It was frustrating.

I've also been stuck on issues for the blog. I can't ever think of things to write about. Or, if I do think of something, it's at an extremely inconvenient time or place and when I sit down to write, I can't remember what the idea was! I could easily make this blog just a recount of what happened to me during the past X number of days, but I think it would be boring. When I started blogging it was about interesting or funny things that had happened... not just everyday things. And now nothing interesting OR funny is happening in my life.... hm... oh well.

If you're wondering about what ever happened to my skin issues... it got worse before it got better. Without going into detail, on Friday the rash came back to my hands and wrists, and then traveled up my arms, then jumped to my feet, and then ran up my legs to my hips, and then stopped on my back. Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. I watched the rash envelop my body. And I called Ask-A-Nurse. She told me to go to the E.R. I didn't. I went to bed and woke up the next morning with the rash 99% gone! But then it came back. So Jerry and I went to Urgent Care at MeritCare in Fargo. Told the doctor I wasn't convinced it was an allergy and wanted answers.

"Do I have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever?"

"I see you've been on the Internet. No, you don't have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever."

"I Googled this rash and the three options are Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, syphilis, or meningitis."

"Well, you don't have any of those."

"Thank God!"

He seemed to think it was a virus of some sort and prescribed me MORE steroids (in pill form this time) that I started this morning. Oh, I also went to the NDSU health center on Friday (before the rash got to my legs) and the doctor there told me to take some Zyrtec which didn't work at all.

Hopefully 4th time's a charm...??

Read more...

Steroids and sneezes

So, I'm not really sure what's going on with my body... but something weird is happening.

I first noticed it in January when Jerry and I were in Chicago for a later Christmas. I woke up one morning and the area below my left eye (where the dark circles appear) was puffy and swollen. It was strange and annoying but I didn't think anything of it. It went away around lunchtime. The next morning the exact same area under my right eye was swollen. Hm... odd. Probably just a mild reaction to the detergent used in the sheets or something. It went away by lunch.

The puffy eyes slowly started to get worse. It only happened in one eye at a time and usually occurred about once a week or once every two weeks.

Then I started noticing little red bumps and spots on my hands. Every so often, I found these little splotches but thought they were from having dry skin in the winter. They always went away after a few hours.

On Monday night, as I was driving home, my left eye started to itch. When I got home and looked in the mirror it was completely red in the inner corner and the bottom lid and top lid near the outer corner of the eye were swelling up. It had happened before so I wasn't really worried... just frustrated. I put a warm compress on it hoping the swelling would go down. No such luck. I went to bed and before I fell asleep I noticed that my eye was almost swollen shut!
By the time Jerry got home from his fishing club meeting I could hardly open my eye. I thought it would go away overnight...

But it didn't. So I went to the walk-in clinic at MeritCare. An hour later, the doctor took a look at my eyes and said, "You should see a specialist" and referred me to an ophthalmologist at MeritCare Southpointe. Later that morning I was sitting in another room, this one filled with equipment to stare deep into my eyes (read like a romance novel).

This doctor, who was very nice and educational, had me put my chin on the chin rest and look up. He looked through his little microscope thing with the blinding light and said, "Yep! You have GPC." Then he put some strange dye in my eyes and looked at each one again. "You have a bad case of GPC. You're definitely having an allergic reaction to something in your eyes."

GPC stands for Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Apparently, when you look at the inner lids under a microscope they look like a cobblestone street. All the papillae are swollen and inflamed. Apparently, it's sort of like adult pink eye, minus the itch and discharge (ew!).

"You need to figure out what you're allergic to. Are you using any new soaps or lotions or makeup?"

"No. I don't think so. Is there something that commonly causes this?"

"Well, 9 times out of 10 it's caused by contact lenses."

"But I don't wear contacts."

"Right. So you'll have to really think about what could be causing this. It's possible you'll never figure it out. And, unfortunately, the drops I'm going to prescribe will only have a 50/50 chance of working."

"Hm...."

So I get these steroid drops to put in my eyes 3 times a day for 10 days. End of story? Of course not.

The next morning I woke up with a rash all over my hands. From my wrists to the base of my fingers. It doesn't itch but it's really gross-looking and annoying. I had seen it before this winter but never to this extent and I always thought it was just because my skin was dry and irritated from the dry winter air. I took pictures and e-mailed them to my mom from work. She called back and said, "I think you need to go back to the hospital."



So I did. Met with a different doctor (who was very crabby and rude) who told me I was having an allergic reaction on my skin (dermatitis) and I would have to figure out what I was allergic to. He thinks it's strange that it's only on my hands and asks if I've started using a new lotion.

"Nope."

"Soaps?"

"No."

"Hm... okay. We'll you'll probably never figure it out."

"Awesome."

He prescribes me a steroid cream to put on my hands twice a day. And now I'm trying to figure out what I'm allergic to. I threw away all my eye makeup. I threw away my mittens. I threw away my lotions. I bought new hypoallergenic soaps and makeup. I've been staring at my hands to see what happens after I do things like wash them or eat things.

And I have no answers so far. I've also been abnormally sneezey lately but I'm not sure if that's an allergy thing or the start of a cold.

As I'm typing this I'm starting to notice a few red splotches on my hands. What did I do today? I put the cream on this morning and still I'm having a reaction. What's going on?? I was feeling really sick yesterday around noon. Does that have anything to do with this? What's going on??

Read more...