So long, 2006--don't let the door hit you on the way out

Can I say how happy I am that 2006 is over? The year started with confronting infertility and starting the testing process, then my dad was hit by a car 2,500 miles from home, then there was family drama, then we moved cross-country, then I was unemployed, then we figured out why we hadn't gotten pregnant yet, then I got my dream job, then our cat almost died, and then I got pregnant. For a year that ended on such an amazing note, though, most of 2006 really sucked. While my family was visiting for Christmas we agreed that our collective New Year's resolution was that no one (save for me in August) end up in the hospital. We'd better all keep that resolution.

I have so many hopes for 2007. Mostly I hope for a healthy pregnancy, but I also hope that J's internship and residency continues to go well. I hope that my sister gets into the nursing program she's been working so hard to qualify for since last year. I hope that my parents and in-laws stay healthy and that we see lots of them. I hope that we have zero pet health emergencies. I hope my friends (who had even rougher years in 2006 than I did) get the news they've been praying for. I hope this war starts to come to a conclusion. I hope the Democrats don't screw up leadership of the House and the Senate. I hope our leaders start listening to reason. I hope for so many things, and have hope that at least most of my hopes will come true.

The big news

Well, I'm sure that some of you have guessed what I'm about to announce, but hopefully it's a surprise for a few. I'm pregnant! I'm 8 weeks today and would have told you all much, MUCH sooner (I haven't been posting much for the last few weeks because I knew that if I did it would be too hard to keep the news a secret) but we wanted to surprise our families with the news for Christmas and many of them read my blog. So, SURPRISE!

Symptom-wise I'm feeling good about feeling crappy. I'm constantly queasy or nauseous, having the worst acid reflux of my life, and experiencing major food aversions. Sushi and Mexican food are dead to me right now.

J is thrilled, and so were our parents when we finally spilled the beans. This is already one very loved baby! We're all anxious about my first appointment on January 17, but I'm seeing the awesome Dr. M who figured out our scar tissue problem, so at least I know that I'll be in good hands.

It's a strange feeling, blogging from this side of the infertility fence, but I don't plan to forget about everything we went through to get to this point. Infertility is still a very important part of my story.

Merry Christmas to All

I hope that wherever you are this Christmas season, you're looking forward to the new year and new possibilities in 2007. Happy holidays!

More fun with the vet

Codi had her follow-up appointment tonight, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that not only is she stable, but the medicine is working. She has 50% more lung capacity this week than she did last week. We suspected as much, especially since we saw her chasing Arcadia the other night. The bad news is that she still needs the surgery in the next few months. I think we'll probably schedule it around my spring break in March so I can be home with her while she recovers.

I dearly hope this chapter in our lives is almost over. I've told all the pets that their New Years resolutions need to be to stay healthy.

In other news, my parents get into town tonight, and I can't wait for the family holiday festivities to begin!

I am so ready for a break

Wednesday seriously can't come fast enough. I'm exhausted, drained, and (totally unrelated to the semester winding down) getting sick. Ugh. I just have to make it one more day, though, then school is out until the second week of January.

In other C-as-slacker related news, guess who popped in a disc of "Big Love" instead of working on the quiz she's giving her juniors tomorrow? Just guess. I.Can't.Wait.For.Wednesday.

Longer posts will be forthcoming soon, I promise. I know I've put this blog on the back burner for the last few weeks, but I promise that will be changing very shortly.

Brief Codi Update

Codi went to the vet today and there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that the pleural effusion is back. This is the problem we originally took her in for, but isn't the one that landed her in critical condition for the better part of a week. The good news is that she's stable right now, can breathe without too much trouble, and it's very unlikely that she has cancer or heart failure. She may still have a heart problem, though, so if a course of medication doesn't clear it up by this time next week she'll probably need to have surgery. As scary as that might be, right now we're trying to stay positive about her prognosis and hope that the meds do what they're supposed to do.

In other news, my stress level is slowly going down as finals wrap up, and I have ACTUAL PLANS this weekend that don't involve grading papers and planning lessons. Say it with me people, WOO HOOO!!!

End of semester blues

Well, it's the last week of the semester and I am (still) exhausted. I have scholarship applications to grade, letters of recommendation to write, final reviews to prepare for, and (my least favorite part of all) failing kids to try to get back on track. Anyway, there's just a week left to go until all make-up and extra credit work is due, and I can certainly make it another week before taking a break.

In the meantime, though, I'm probably not going to have much time for posting, so I'll leave you with these pictures of our Christmas tree and the animals. Arcadia was strangely disinterested in the tree this year, but Codi and Jasper let us photograph them to our hearts content. Codi is doing much better, by the way. She's eating us out of house and home and her energy level has definitely improved. I think she's going to be just fine.

Google says what?

I think there comes a time in every blogger's life when she does the obligatory "gee, isn't it funny how people find my blog?" post. Well, my time has come. As This Sorta Fairytale nears its one-year anniversary (just a few weeks away, and I have a big surprise planned!) more and more random people seem to be ending up here because of a Google search. The more entertaining ones include:

Cats that hate their vet
Sorry, we've got two of them (Codi in particular hates Dr. F quite a bit right now) and there's really nothing that can be done for it as far as I know.

Employed by crappy medical office
You are? I'm sorry. Do you want Google to find you a new job?

If you give a mouse a cookie
This is probably the tenth hit I've gotten on this children's book title. GO TO BARNES AND NOBLE, PEOPLE!

marie antoinette movie ticket stub
I'm sorry, but WHY, for the love of Pete, would you do a Google search for this? Why?

bats missed by home inspection
The...BATS??? Oh lord, I'm sorry. I'm laughing, but I'm sorry.

babysitting disaster
Let's face it, I'm probably the poster child for this one.

Meme

All readers of Stirrup Queens have been tagged to do this meme, and since it seems like the right time of year to reflect back on 2006 and look forward to 2007, I decided to do it tonight.

Things I learned this year
1) Our new city agrees with me
2) I love dogs

People you met
1) I "knew" her already, but this year was the first time I really "met" Kathleen, who is one of my favorite people on Earth.
2) I also met all of my students, and in spite of their slacker tendancies, I really do love them.

Things you don't want to take with you into 2007
1) Infertility
2) A negative attitude

Things you want to hold close as you pass into 2007
1) My family
2) All the pets, but especially Codi since she's been so sick

Things you're looking forward to in 2007
1) Being a mom
2) Finishing my teaching certification

Things that were life changing in 2006
1) Getting a diagnosis for my infertility
2) Moving here from DC

Things you hope to accomplish by the end of 2007
1) Becoming a mom
2) Starting my Masters

Welcome Home, Codi!!!

The vet called this afternoon to say that he felt Codi was well enough to come home, so right after work I got to pick her up! She looks so much better. She's active, eating, and basically behaving like her old self. She's still painfully thin, but should fatten up pretty quickly again. We're going to take her back in next week for some follow-up tests, but for now at least she's not on any heart medication.

I can't even say how good it feels to have her back. We planned to put up our Christmas tree last week, but without her it just didn't feel right. Now our whole family is together again, and it looks like we're going to stay that way for a long, long time.

Gradually Improving

Well, the bad news is that Codi isn't coming home this weekend. She's steadily improving but she's started to have some small liver problems that mean that she needs to be tube fed for the next couple of days. Our vet doesn't think this is something we need to panic over, and apparently it's not uncommon for cats to develop these kinds of issues if they don't eat for a couple of days, but since she's still pretty lethargic he doesn't trust her to eat on her own if she comes home.

The good news is that overall her health is really improving, and the major problems that we've been so worried about for the last few days are resolving themselves. In the long run she's definitely going to have health problems related to this episode, but as long as she can recover from the events of this week we should be able to manage whatever those problems are. Ultimately I'm feeling pretty good about her prognosis right now, but we need to wait until these liver problems are fixed before we'll know exactly what the future will hold for her health-wise.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers for our little kitty, and I'll keep you updated if anything changes. For now, I need to get ready for my last class of the semester (WOO HOO!) and then buckle down for a weekend of non-stop grading.

Cautiously Optimistic

First of all, thank you all SO MUCH for the well wishes you left in the comments section. It means a lot to me and J.

The best news is that Codi survived the night. I've talked to the vet twice today already and he's "cautiously encouraged" by her progress. The pulmonary edema (fluid in her lungs) has resolved itself. Yay!!! This means that she's not having trouble breathing anymore, so he's been able to get her off the oxygen.

The bad news is that her heart muscles are enlarged, which points emphatically towards heart failure. There's medication we can give her to manage it depending on how well she recovers from this episode, but in the long run, heart failure is still heart failure. She's also not eating yet or moving around much, but that doesn't seem to be concerning the vet too much. Given all the stress her poor little body has been under for the last 48 hours, lethargy is to be expected.

The vet is keeping her with him again tonight and we'll re-assess the situation again tomorrow afternoon. I hope she can come home, but I worry about what could happen if she starts having problems again while J and I are at work.

Worst Case Scenario

Codi is in critical condition. J took her to the vet this morning and it turned out that she had a pleural effusion (I know I'm not spelling that right, but I don't care) which means that there was a buildup of fluid in her chest. They drained about a cup and then sent her home with J. Well, she went downhill really quickly, and J called me while I was driving home to let me know that he was taking her back to the vet. The vet did an x-ray and discovered that she now has pulmonary edema, or fluid buildup inside her lungs. Basically, she's probably going into heart failure.

The vet is keeping her overnight (he's actually taking her home with him so he can monitor her heart) and will call us if things get worse. He's giving her a 50% chance of surviving this, and J and I are just beside ourselves. There's a chance that the edema could be a result of how quickly they drained the original fluid--apparently it happens a lot in humans--but the vet didn't want us to get our hopes up.

Anyway, if you can send any healthy thoughts or prayers Codi's way, we'd really appreciate it.

What the...

It's 26 degrees here this morning. TWENTY-SIX DEGREES! Brrrrrrrr! So much for an easy winter.

Codi's appointment is later this morning, and I'll post an update tonight. Thank you all who left well wishes for her in the comments on Tuesday.

Oh, and on a final (somewhat disjointed) note, does everyone see how effed up my template is now? I switched to Blogger Beta, and the navbar at the top looks like it's taking over my masthead when I open up the blog. Does it look this way to you guys? If so, I'll try to fix it over the weekend.

Scared

So, I haven't posted about this before because I kept trying to tell myself that it was nothing, but Codi is clearly sick. She's behaving normally (well, as normal as Codi ever behaves) but has dropped at least 3 lbs. in the last month or two. We did switch her and Arcadia to diet food awhile back, but there's just no way that diet food alone would account for this weight loss, and we've both finally realized that she needs to go to the vet for tests. Lots of tests. J is taking her in on Thursday, and my guess is that we won't know anything until sometime next week.

Anyway, this is a big part of the reason why I haven't been posting much. Writing about it makes it seem real, and the idea of my baby kitty really being sick scares the crap out of me. Any good or healthy thoughts you can send her way would be much appreciated.

Back to work

The last week has been heavenly. I've worked a bit, spent a lot of time re-bonding with Jasper, and generally just relaxed as much as possible. The semester will be over in three weeks (when Christmas break begins) and it seems like time is just zipping by. Where did November go? For that matter, what happened to June, July, and August?

Well, regardless, I'm heading back to the classroom tomorrow. I can't say that I'm exactly looking forward to waking up at 6:00 in the morning for the first time in nine days, but I am looking forward to seeing my kids again. Plus, I can't wait to wear the cute new outfits that I picked up on Black Friday!

My mother will be so proud

Guess whose blog comes up on the first page when you Google "babysitting disaster stories"? Just guess.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm thankful for many things this holiday season, but the ability to laugh at myself really has to top the list.

Well, it's about freaking time

Remember this? Well, I finally got a call from my OB/GYN this afternoon. FINALLY! I told him that we'd done a lot of soul-searching and that we decided that we wanted to at least get the appointment scheduled in case we're not pregnant by the time it comes around. Since it should take at least 2-3 months to actually get seen, and we'll be almost 6 months post-lap by then, he agreed that making the appointment now was a good idea.

I still have to wait for our insurance to process the request (which probably won't happen for 2-3 weeks) but after then I can make the appointment. I wish things were moving faster at this point, but for now I'm satisfied that the referral is in the pipeline and that we should be in a position to have an RE appointment by my birthday. More than anything else, I hope we end up not having to meet with the RE, but it's going to be nice to have this appointment to fall back on in case it becomes necessary.

Speaking Up

Hypothetical question: Say you're infertile. Say that you share this information with a (formerly) close friend, share your blog address, and in doing so share all your deep, innermost secret thoughts about how it's killing you not to be able to get pregnant. Say this friend essentially cuts off all contact with you for six months, then shows up again out of the blue. Say that after exchanging a few e-mails she tells you that she's pregnant and then disappears again. What do you do?

If you're me, you let it eat at you for months before deciding to write a blog post about it.

Here's the thing--I don't want to be treated like a pariah. I don't want people to feel like they have to cut off all contact with me if they get pregnant before I do. That's not friendship. If you don't know what to say, ask me. If you feel uncomfortable, tell me. If you're just not sure how to act around me, start a conversation. Don't just abandon me. Don't just pretend we were never close.

I don't even know if the person I'm writing about even still reads this blog. Part of me hopes that she doesn't because of how much sensitive information I post here. I don't want someone who doesn't value our friendship to know some of these things. Then again, part of me hopes that she does occasionally check in because I need her to know how I feel. I need her to know that her actions had repercussions, and that she's hurt me. Deeply.

Don't knock it until you've tried it

We're all guilty of doing it, but I have to say that one of my biggest pet peeves is hearing people put down places or things that they've never actually experienced. Restaurants, schools, hobbies, and (particularly for this post) cities.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of city-bashing. There are reasons why I don't ever want to live in Salt Lake again, reasons why I'm hesitant to move back to the DC area, and reasons why I don't love El Paso 100 percent of the time, but those reasons are all based on experiences. I've lived in these cities and formed my opinions based on the years I spent in them. If you don't like a city after living there for several years, then you plain don't like it. Move somewhere else, end of story. If you just think you don't like a place but have never actually experienced life there (and no, a weekend trip in college doesn't count) then, in my humble opinion, you have no business telling other people that it's not a nice place to live.

In case you were wondering, this rant isn't coming out of thin air. I've now lived in El Paso long enough to form a very definite opinion about whether or not I like it (the answer is yes) and it really bothers me when I see people who have never lived here say disparaging things about it. For example, the author of a blog I read is considering a move here. A number of people replied to the post and encouraged her to move somewhere else. They didn't give reasons or personal experiences, just flat-out told her that she'd be happier elsewhere. I can't even tell you how much this bugs me.

True, if you don't like the idea of living so close to the Mexican border, El Paso may not be the city for you. If you're not willing to learn conversational Spanish, you might want to move elsewhere. If you don't like the desert, friendly people, or beautiful sunsets, this is not the city for you. These people didn't think about those things, though. Instead they made stupid, prejudicial, and flat-out wrong assumptions about El Paso.

In the interest of full disclosure, I made a lot of those same assumptions before our move. I didn't think I would like El Paso, didn't think I'd be able to find a job without learning Spanish, and didn't think I'd ever feel at home here. I was wrong. It's a mistake that I won't be making again, and one that I wish more people would stop committing.