Let's Go, Vertigo

A little more than a month ago my husband suggested we take a trip out of town. Since I had instructed him to take off the weekend after my birthday I suggested that we go somewhere that weekend. After many decision changes we decided to go to Chicago. I found a hotel near Michigan Ave that was reasonable and close to things so that we could walk or take a cab wherever we wanted to go.

Friday morning we get up and out of the house by 9 so that we can make it to The Windy City around noon. After a short stop to catch a bite to eat we arrive at The Museum of Science and Industry. Since it is the off season we had until 4 to look around and take it all in. After our very interesting walk through the museum we headed out to our hotel. With relatively no problems we arrive in the parking ramp and haul our stuff into the hotel. I was absolutely exhausted, that walk through the museum was a real test of my strength as it was the longest walk that I have taken since my surgery. We decided to rest a little while before heading out to eat. Josh had his heart set on going to Giordono's for pizza, he looked up the nearest establishment while I rested. After resting for a little while I got up to go to the bathroom and the world started to spin. Not long after that I started to vomit and have bouts of diarrhea. My insurance company like so many others have a Nurse On Call Line. I called them and there advice was "you are in shock. Hang up the phone and dial 911." I explained to the woman that I was not taking an ambulance but I would take a cab to the nearest hospital. Josh and I spent 6 hours at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I wasn't nauseated or dizzy by the time I was seen. I was pumped full of liquids given anti-nausea medications and sent back to the hotel saying that a virus was causing my illness.

Having felt fine I expected our to be tired the next day but head out to some museums. I was sadly mistaken. I awoke to a spinning room. I have never had Vertigo before. I wish to never have it again. Needless to say I told Josh to pack up we were going home. I was feeling worse and the dizziness was getting really out of hand. I couldn't handle it any longer so I again called a nurse hotline (this time my Dr's) and was told to go to an emergency room as they had the neurological capabilities that a Urgent Care Facility didn't. This time I spent my evening at Meriter Hospital in Madison. Now anyone who lives near Madison knows that this past weekend was the big Mifflin Street Block Party. We waited patiently while belligerent drunks were hauled in. We heard them yell and curse, treating the staff that was there to help them very poorly. I waited only 90 minutes to be seen. The doctor gave me something to ease the nausea and the dizziness citing a virus was to blame. I was sent home to rest and drink plenty of fluids.

Now I stopped vomiting on Saturday and the diarrhea went away by Sunday night or Monday AM. The dizziness has stayed. Monday and Tuesday were spent on the couch. On Tuesday I could watch the TV without feeling nauseated. I have been unable to concentrate on things, read or type. Today I said I am the best I have been in days I am going to work. Work proved to be a difficult task. I was frustrated and called my clinic and said "I HAVE TO SEE SOMEONE!" I feel high, spaced out not good conditions to drive with. I finally saw someone who eased my mind. No one at either Hospital explained things to me, no one told me that the dizziness could and would stick around longer than other symptoms. I was told I have labrynthitis. I should be back to normal by the end of the week. If not I was told to come back. For the first time in almost a week I relaxed. I knew that the end was near. If it wasn't I knew what to do next.

I don't expect to return to Chicago any time soon. I expect someday we will look back and laugh, but now we are disappointed and sad that we lost our time together. We instead strengthened our relationship in another way. Josh's visits to the hospital were rare before we met. Now he is learning not to be so scared and learning that it is ok to be scared for the one that you love.

What exactly is normal?

This weekend was the birthday of our Godson Colin. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since his birth but it has came and went. I now I talk about my own family here. Just for today I want to talk about my friend Heidi's family. I love Heidi to death. She has issues... as we all do. I really needed this weekend to put it all into perspective for me.

On Saturday I went alone (Josh had to work) to Waukesha. It was only Colin's family and Godparents (Josh and I) invited to this party. I was a little nervous because I have had a few interactions with Heidi's family in the past. Heidi's mom is a VERY dominating person. She is the type that you don't disagree with or second guess. The funny thing is that she can be so sweet and nice one minute and just go off the next. By the time I had left Saturday afternoon Heidi was neither speaking to her mom nor her sister. In fact her sister had packed up her family and left town. First of all, I feel bad for Heidi and Colin that her family had to ruin Colin's first birthday for her. Secondly, I really feel badly for Heidi, at one point in the afternoon I heard her yell "Why can't we have a normal fucking family?" I feel that the way Heidi was raised she has turned out pretty well balanced. With a mother who asks her 25 year old daughter if she has brushed her teeth and showered before she leaves the house, you have to be a little off. I spent a weekend with her mother last summer and almost couldn't handle it myself. I could not last a lifetime of the pestering.

Needless to say I will take with a grain of salt the bossing around of Mitch because that is all she knows. Hopefully someday she learns how to ask him to do something for him instead of bossing, but hey we aren't all perfect!

42%

Our annual reviews were this week. I really wasn't too nervous about it since I had gotten a sneak peek at what my manager had said. Our review process is one where you set goals at the beginning of the year and at the end you review yourself and then your boss reviews your performance. I wasn't able to do my self evaluation because I was out on leave yet my boss still had to do her review. This process is done online. The only way for me to write my review was to write in the same document where my supervisor had already written. I knew that she was happy with my performance for last year. In fact what she thought was really great that I completed all my goals in 10 months time.

I knew that I was going to get a nice wage increase because my boss's husband (who works at my company too) told me about the fight that my boss had about my wage with upper management. He told me about this about a month or so ago. I had it in the back of my mind and have been anxious to hear about it. I was absolutely floored when I read the amount. It is even 29% higher than when I started here. That equals about $10,000/year more. Which is 42% higher than what I was paid at my old job. Just keep in mind these changes are all within a 2 year time span. I have my 2-yr anniversary here on the 24th of this month. I think changing companies was a smart decision!

NCAA pool final

The office braggart won the NCAA pool. So now we get to hear about how awesome he is. Uggg...... Only 2 more months until he is obsessed with his Bocce team.

It's HERE!!!!!

The Computer is here and installed!!! Josh spent yesterday afternoon playing with it and putting it all together. I was up until 11:30pm transferring songs from my CDs to my iPod. It will be another night of that. It takes about 5 min/CD. I want to get most of my CDs transferred. Then I can start to decide about buying/downloading more songs. Off to WORK!!!