Sort of An Update

Wow, is it gorgeous today! I am feeling tons better today, so we've been spending some time outside working in the yard and the weather is amazing! I just wanted to post a small update with news about what's been going on with my health. I still wasn't feeling too good after finishing the z-pack I got for my sore throat. SO back to the doctor I went! I was persistent in wanting them to do another throat culture and not the rapid one they did which had been negative for strep before. So they did that and checked my white count again and did a mono spot test as well. Mono came back negative to my suprise! I figured maybe that's what it was due to the extreme fatigue and awful sore throat. More good news was that my white cells were down from near 20,000 to around 13,000. I think normal range is 4,000-10,000. Don't quote me though!!! But it's good to see that number coming down.

So they sent me home with a tougher antibiotic that I have been taking three times a day and some prednisone for my throat being so swollen still. The meds are helping a lot, but I'm still nasty tired. The nurse called back Friday as well to let me know that my throat culture came back positive for beta hemolytic strep. Evidently it's another nasty kind of strep that doesn't show up in the rapid strep test. But I'm lucky they did catch it and give me something else because I guess it can be pretty serious if it were to spread to my heart or lungs (Jim Henson died of this strep when it spread to his lungs) which it doesn't appear to have done as far as anyone seems to know. I say that without complete certainty because I am still not getting too many answers from anyone!! My only instructions were to finish the meds and take it easy so that's what I'm doing.

I have no idea if that had anything to do with the heart episode or not, but I am seeing an electrophysiologist (cardiologist that specializes in heart rhythym) on Wednesday to find out if there is some type of underlying problem or damage that would have lead to the heart rate issue or not. Either way, there is some urgency there to find out so that it doesn't happen again. There is a lot of focus surrounding sudden cardiac arrest right now due to the untimely death of Michael Jackson this past week. Cardiac arrest is different than a heart attack in that the causes of each are different. Heart attacks happen to people when the coronary artery is blocked and the muscle dies. Cardiac arrest is when the ventricles that pump the blood go into a useless fluttering and the heart stops beating. It's usually related to some sort of underlying disease, arrhythmias, illness or sometimes medication that causes weakness or damage to the heart muscle. When the fluttering or fibrillation happens and it isn't corrected right away, the person loses heart function quickly. Sudden cardiac arrest is the most common cause of death in the US - between 200,000 and 300,000 people die every year. Quite a sobering statistic. And while I wasn't superfan of Michael Jackson, I find his death incredibly sad. I, like many other people, loved his early stuff before he got so odd. Hopefully the medical people can figure out exactly what happened to him so that his family can get some answers.

Well, that's about it for now. Wish me luck on Wednesday!!! This doctor comes highly recommended, so hopefully he's good. Lord knows I'm not a good patient!! ;)

To Andy

It was a summer evening in June of 1997. I had just graduated from high school and Kevin had finished his first year of college at the technical school in our home town. It was a humid night without much of a breeze. The crickets were chirping and there were lightning bugs out. It would have been like any other summer night, except that it wasn't. Everyone was home because Andy was sick and he was getting worse fast. The doctors had tried everything and there was nothing more to be done. He passed away that night in his sleep. Outside the lightning bugs still lit the night and the crickets still chirped.

I guess it's weird that I only write about Andy on/near the anniversary of his death in June. It's not that I only think about him then or that it hurts to remember him. I think about him a lot. I guess the pain and shock of those first few months after his passing have been dulled and replaced with a quieter kind of sadness that creeps in when I'm not paying attention. Sure it's harder on birthdays, anniversaries or holidays when it's more noticable that someone is missing. But someone will always be missing. He exists only in the memories of those who knew him, a happy and gentle spirit. This is the twelfth anniversary of his death. His name was Andy Reimer. He was 45 years old when stomach cancer took his life.

Andy was one of the best people I knew - that a lot of people knew. Lots of people remember him in different ways, but if you knew him you loved him. He was a happy man with a HUGE personality who would do anything for anybody. He did lots of good things while he was on this earth, but if you asked him I bet he'd tell you his greatest accomplishment was his family. He would be so proud of his boys and all nine of his grandchildren if he were here today. It is a complete tragedy that they'll all grow up without knowing their grandfather. But we make sure to tell them all the stories about him! And there are so many!!

After twelve years, Andy's memory is still strong and so is our family. We have him to thank for that. He may have left us too soon as those who mean the most to us often do, but he left us with a legacy of love and strength and for that I am so grateful.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!!!

Just a quick post with a tear jerker slideshow here! Today is my son Ethan's 9th birthday and I just cannot believe it. I can remember as clear as yesterday bringing him home. All 6 lbs 4 oz of him!! He was so little and sweet. He slept through the night by six weeks old and was probably the best baby ever. He is still a really great kid. He's a quiet, deep thinker but also a total goofball like his dad. But he has my need for alone time and my quick temper. Sorry, Ethan!!!

So anyways, here's a very quick slideshow I put together of pictures I could find!! These are my two fave songs about being a parent. Super sappy, but super true!!! Happy birthday, EThan!!! I love you more than you will ever know!!!

Very Scary Day

Things never turn out the way you expect them to. Ever. I expected to have a great time spending time with my husband's family this week. They've been staying with us since Friday night - his brother Jason, his wife Kim and their four amazing kids. Kevin's other brother Matt, his wife Tricia and their twins are also here from Madison. It is a huge blessing to see my husband with his brothers again. And watching my kids interact with their cousins is something I could never put a price on.

Unfortunately I would get sick!! We spent the entire day in the city on Saturday and on the way back I noticed I was feeling very run down and my throat was a little scratchy. I figured I was just tired and it was from being out on the boat tour. But, by morning it was clear something more was going on. I waited it out until Monday morning until which I promptly drove myself to the walk in care for a throat swab. I was sure it was strep. Once I got their they noticed my heart rate was very elevated and wanted to check into that further by having me lay down, check it and then sit up and check it. We didn't even get that far. I passed out on the table and when I came to they were hooking me up to a heart monitor and giving me drugs to slow my heart rate down. I guess it was up towards 200? The second shot of the drug didn't work so they got some EMTs to transfer me via ambulance to Rush Hospital. I thought I was going to die. I told the people to please not let me die because I had an amazing husband and three beautiful children who needed me. They took really good care of me. It was absolutely surreal. I am 30. I am a healthy person. I have NEVER had anything like this happen to me in my entire life.

The EMT warned me that if my heart rate didn't come down they would need to shock me with the paddles. So they had me try some vagal manuevers like blowing into a straw in the ambulance (while we were waiting for a GOD DAMNED train on Ogden) and they helped thank the lord. I was able to get my rate back down in the 140s-150s by the time we reached the hospital.

I stayed at Rush where they did some more basic testing to find the cause of this illness, heart failure - no strep, no swine flu or any flu or any other signs of anything besides a fever and they fact that I was in bad shape. I had an elevated blood sugar of 167, but nothing else. My heart rate went back into the 130s where they felt comfortable discharging me with orders to see a cardiologist at the heart center the next day (this morning.).........

So here I sit killing time until I head over to see a cardiologist to see what they heck is wrong with me. The theory of the ER doc was that some type of infection had spead to my sac around my heart and was causing the distress. Hopefully it's easily remedied and I can get back to feeling normal soon. I see my family practice doctor this afternoon as well for thyroid tests and other blood work to see if illness is an underlying cause. I am trying to stay calm, but this caught me out of nowhere. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers that they would be able to find and treat whatever is causing this. I will update as soon as I know something else!!!

Music For Your Ears

Or music to your ears. Whichever. My husband has been awake working until 2 am (and getting up at 5am!) on some computer geek project the past three days. Needless to say, he went to bed early! I am a night owl, so I thought I would do something I haven't done in awhile and blog about some new music. I've been listening to a lot of new and different stuff - I'm still into my guster and my keane and travis, but have been branching out a bit. You may or may not be a fan!!!

Ian Brown has really been growing on me over the last few weeks. He is actually the former lead singer of the madly popular English band called The Stone Roses. They were big back in the late 80s. He's put out a lot of solo albums since leaving the bandin 96, but the one I've been listening to the most is 'The Greatest' which is essentially a greatest hits. He's been able to fuse dance and rock music together which is so cool. Smooth voice, good dance beat? Works for me! His music is mixed really well and the collaborations with DJ Unkle are some of my faves. He's a weird looking guy. If you're a big CSI fan, you might have heard some of his stuff on the show! Supposedly he's pretty good live, so maybe if he ever comes this way I can check him out!

Check out some of his stuff.....

'Reign' with Unkle


'F.E.A.R'


Eternal Flame - no this is not a Bangles cover!


'Lovebug' - silly, but super cool!!!


'All Ablaze'


'Keep What You Got' - with the Gallagher bros from Oasis who were totally inspired by Ian Brown apparently


And this last song isn't on 'The Greatest' but I think it could very well be my favorite!

'Set My Baby Free'


So there you have it! As I always say, it's good to try new things. Music isn't an exception!!

SYTYCD - Top 20

So I am a little late in blogging about this, but I can't tell you enough how much I love this show!! The audtions aired over the last two weeks and it never ceases to suprise me how much talent there is out there. Or how many idiots for that matter! Anyways, last night the top 20 dancers were partnered up and got to compete in a randomly chosen dance style. Tonight we find out which guy and which gal goes home. Here were a few of my favorites and not-so-favorites of the night!!



Probably my favorite! This was an amazing samba routine choreographed by Louis van Amstel and danced by Kayla and Max. Max is a ballroom dancer, but Kayla isn't! I thought she was amazing!!!


This is my second fave. Mandy Moore is *such* an amazing choreographer. The lines and emotion in this dance were just beautiful to me. And Melissa! She's 29 and a ballet dancer, so that probably makes her my favorite girl. Ade wasn't too bad either. But *why* with the Richard Marx song???!! Blah!


Coming in third for me was the bollywood routine with Caitlin and Jason. This style intrigues me so much! The colors and the energy! I think it'd be so fun to learn! SYTYCD had Nakul Dev Mahajan choreograph their first bollywood routine last season and this routine was just as cool.

Some others.......


I love Evan!!! I wish they would have let his brother into the top 20 too! His style is super old school, so this jazz number from Tyce Diorio fit him perfectly. Randi is pretty amazing too!


Jeanine and Philip did great with this hip hop routine from husband/wife choreography duo Tabitha and Napoleon. Love them!!! Phillip is a popper/locker and I hope he makes it far enough for us to see some of his signature stuff!

This one was a major WTF?? for me...

Wade Robson, you have some serious mental issues. I get that dance tells a story and all that shite, but seriously dude. You were so much cooler when you were choreographing dances for Britney!!! Anyways, the back story on this dance in case you didn't see it was that these two are crash test dummies. Kupono (the guy) is an older beat up dummy and Ashley is shiny and new. And then they make friends and la la la la.... WTF!!!!!!! Just pick a cool song and make up a cool dance, you giant weirdo. And is Mary Murphy not the Paula Abdul of SYTYCD?? She's so annoying!!! I mean, say something productive!!!

SO there you have it. There were some other dances that were pretty good too, but these were the ones that stood out for me most. For one reason or another!!! Can't wait to watch tonight to see who is heading home. Stay tuned for more So You Think You Can Dance posts each week!!

The 90s Were So Cool - Week 6

Remember the film 'Kids'? Then you remember this song. It's from the soundtrack. This one was out in '95 I think?? This is indie rock at its very best!!!

'Natural One' Folk Implosion


Weird ass video, but super cool song. Happy Monday!!!

Summer Project Fun

I'm not sure Kevin would agree with me about the fun part, but it is summer and we are getting some projects finished. As usual, we started new ones when old ones weren't finished! I guess turning 30 didn't change me for the better in that whole 'finish what I started' aspect, but oh well. You can't change overnight!

Since we've been having a lot of cool, rainy weather here (what IS up with that?!) we've been able to accomplish a lot of indoor things. The fireplace has been quite a dilema since day one - it didn't really serve any purpose the way it was designed and always threw me for a loop as to how to decorate it. Here's how it started....

Just rounded drywall with no trim....


Then we added the tile and molding around it....


And here's how it looked once Kevin added the columns around the tv....


And here's where we are now - we added another canister light above the tv and the crown molding around the tops of the columns and drywalled behind the tv....


And the other side that faces the front room has a black wall sconce for extra lighting on the right side and eventually I'll hang a big black framed mirror above the fireplace....


Eventually the columns will have more molding on the fronts of them and everything will be painted white. We'll also add a shelf above the components next to the tv for dvds and other stuff. So we're getting there!!!

I found some wall frames for my gallery wall above the couch. I have bunches of old family photos from my side and Kevin's side of the family that will go up there. Should be cool, but for now here's how it looks!



And this weekend we got the last room of carpet ripped out - Liv's room! Yay! It feels great to be rid of it. Kevin's at Menard's right now getting the new subfloor and then we'll be sticking flooring all night! More pictures to follow when that's all finished. Then all we'll really have left to do is to put the quarter round down in the upstairs. I am still super impressed with the Novalis flooring. It does scuff a bit, but it's not any worse than hard wood would be. And we've only had to replace one plank where I dropped something and it dented it. All we did was heat it up with the heat gun, pull it up and put a new one down. Pretty simple!!!

So that's it for now. As soon as the fireplace is done, I'll be sure to post some pictures of that. For now, we're just over here working on it! ;)

The 90s Were So Cool - Week 5

It's officially June! Hooray! I have been listening to lots of new bands over the past week or so and I'm really excited to blog about them. For now, here's the weekly 90s music fix!

This week I am going with Spacehog and 'In the Meantime.' It's got this relaxing, summery vibe going on which I love.



Such a great song. Nevermind the lead singer is fried out of his mind! And nevermind that this was their only top 40 hit. Guess that makes them a one hit wonder! Oh, well. This tune still takes me back to the good old days of 1996!