Migraines

There are definitely some less-than-awesome things that I am prone to health-wise.  For one, my asthma makes it pretty imperative that I get my annual flu shot, and even still, I've had a serious bought of walking pneumonia or bronchitis every other year since I was a sophomore in high school. Lucky for me, this is destine to be that year.  :-(

One of the other, far more inconvenient, things I suffer from are chronic migraines.  Starting in college, they tend to be significantly worse around "that time of the month," but I seem to have cluster and migraine headaches regardless of my cycle, and sinus headaches accompany many of my head colds.

It's especially irritating because I have varied  warning that a migraine is coming.  I rarely have an aura, but my neck becomes very stiff and I find myself stretching in from side to side frequently throughout the day without really thinking about it.  As soon as I notice that, I know the migraine will be arriving soon.  Similarly, once I am suffering, my neck is the one thing that sees no relief from my medications.  Even once I've managed the pain in my head, my neck is still.  It's not until my neck begins to feel normal, that I know I'm in the clear.

This morning, I have a particularly intense migraine.  I had my coworkers over last night to celebrate the Giants being in the World Series, and we made tacos and did a potluck.  Of course, with six girls socializing outside of work, we ended up hanging out and drinking margaritas more than watching the game.  But that was okay.  Sam was called in to operate, so I stayed up reading to wait for him.  We finally went to bed around 11:00, and I passed out thanks to the sinus congestion that has been zapping my energy the past couple of days.

Well, around 4:50 a.m., Hunter woke me up pawing at his water dish in our bathroom.  He does that to let me know when he's out of water and thirsty during the night.  Sure enough, as soon as I came to consciousness, I was in pain.  Deep, hemispheric pain that seemed to be radiating all the way down the left side of my extraordinarily stiff neck.  Waves of nausea were washing over me.

I sat up and the pain intensified, making it to the bathroom, bracing myself against the counter as I leaned down to pick up the bowl and then down to put the full bowl on the floor.  I reached into the medicine cabinet to find the Excedrin, my go-to over-the-counter method of relief.  I may have gone back to sleep, but at 5:30, Hunter was scratching on the front door to be taken out to go to the bathroom, and I figured it was well enough that I got up anyway.  My head didn't feel significantly better, which it usually does within half an hour after medicating myself.

Hunter and I headed downstairs and I was aware of the sensitivity I had to the lights on the buildings. When we came back upstairs, I dug into my purse and found my prescription strength migraine medication.  Then I settled in on the couch to wait.  Again, it takes about thirty minutes to kick in.

Around 6:00, Sam came out to find me sitting on the couch with my laptop and he inquired as to why I was up, and not in bed.  We chatted a bit and he proceeded to get on with his day.  Just before he left, he said that I didn't look well and he hoped I was feeling better by this evening.  I doubt that will be the case.  My head feels not quite right - not painful anymore, but not quite right, and my neck is still stiff.  From experience, I know that even if this episode is over, there will be another one on the way.

3rd Year Home Call

Last night was Sam's first night on call of his third year of his orthopedics residency.  We had a relatively quiet beginning to our evening, but around 9:30- in the middle of Pitch Perfect- he was called in for a dislocated elbow and a pediatric wrist.

Cue me worrying about whether he is coming home or not all year again.  Who knows, maybe I will get used to it this year.  Or maybe it just won't be that bad... I mean Sam was home by 11:15 last night and he said he stuck around longer than he probably really needed to.

And he told me this morning that he was paged every 2 hours and had to go in at 4:00 AM.  Talk about an ah-ha moment, I got up to go to the bathroom at 5 because Hunter wanted up on the bed and was whining.  I saw a light coming from under the bedroom door and went out into the living room to find the light on in our kitchen.  At the time, I was half asleep and it was puzzling but I shrugged it off and went back to bed.

Apparently Sam had just gotten home and forgotten to turn of the lights when he came back to bed.  He said Hunter was on the floor passed out in our comforters which we kick off the bed now that summer weather has returned to Southern California.  As Sam came into the room Hunter woke up and wanted back up on the bed, which was what woke me up.  Not the shrill sound of a pager, not the sound of Sam getting up and getting dressed in the middle of the night, not even the sound of the door opening and our alarm dinging (twice- once when he left and once when he came back).  Boy, I'm apparently a much deeper sleeper than I thought or I was just really exhausted last night.

Anyway, while Sam was at work the first time, I was left at home to finish Pitch Perfect with Hunter.  Good thing I have my little companion!  Pitch Perfect was a pretty good movie- I mean yes it was really campy but OMG it was also incredibly entertaining and the talent was absolutely amazing.

10 Years Together

Today Sam and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary.

I guessed that Sam would be exhausted since he was on call over-night on Friday and Sunday.  I was prepared to make us dinner and relax on the couch together, but Sam completely surprised me!

He texted me that we should go out to dinner rather than me cook.  Then he walked in the door with flowers from my favorite florist- 30 minutes out of his way home!  Wow.  Aren't they beautiful!?!


We decided to go to 'our place' The Cannery.  We had drinks, we ate dinner and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  It was like old times, before second year of residency, back when Sam had energy and spark!

He drove me to dinner and told the whole while how great he thinks I am and how much he appreciates that he gives 110% at work (where he gets so little appreciation) and then can only give 20% at home and yet I am so supportive and understanding.  I cannot even tell you how nice it was to hear him appreciate me!  And to his credit, his 20% estimation is probably a little too harsh.  I so appreciate being appreciated!  Sam is such a sweetheart and nights like this one make being a ortho widow so worth it!

What a great way to start off our vacation to Tahoe- although it doesn't technically start until next week and Sam is fighting off a cold!  What the heck, at least we have each other, a cold and a long rest of the week until our trip are nothing compared to that.  :-)

Downton Abbey

So this weekend I am recovering from the exhaustion of last weekend in NOLA.  I am very overloaded and overwhelmed at work and at home.  But at least now I'm relaxing on the couch and mostly caught up from the craziness.

Yesterday I spent the day doing long overdue housework.  It amazes me how much nicer everything looks when the dishes are put away, the carpet vacuumed and the laundry done.  I don't blame Sam, but my goodness, I wish that he would have the decency to pick up after himself a bit more.  It's tough to come home and have a kinds of things going on for me to clean up.

I also stopped at Lowes and picked up some plant food for our budding hydrangeas and rubber plant.  I also bought some soil acidifier to help turn my hydrangeas blue.  Apparently that is what keeps the blooms blue!  I sometimes wish we had a bigger patio area so that I could put more garden in.  Of course, now that Hunter likes to eat most leaves it might not be so great to have a garden.  But I suppose I could train him to keep away from all of them.

Sam really wants to move somewhere with a yard for Hunter, nothing too big, but somewhere were he can runaround.  Obviously I think that would be ideal, but I also think that Hunter prefers to be with us as opposed to outside alone.  It would be great if I could get a doggie door and have him potty outside by himself while I'm at work, and let himself out to sit out into the sun in the afternoon.

Today I bought the first three seasons of Downton Abbey on our AppleTV.  Mom and Nonna just love it and I have lots of friends who are in love with it too.  So here I am, a bit late to the party, but catching up with the masses.  I am enjoying it so far, and I can see why ladies enjoy it.  It reminds me a lot of A Game of Thrones to be honest... all the chivalry, the royalty, the servants being treated as family.

I think I will like it quite a bit!

Hunter & Me

Hunter & I started his Therapy Dog/Advanced 2 training class at Petsmart this morning.  There is another Cavalier in his class, Toby, who is a 3 year old Tri-Color with predominantly  black and white coloring.  I realize I am biased, but he's not nearly as cute as Hunter!

After class, we came home and were lounging on the couch and trying to keep cool despite soaring temperatures.  Here's Hunter's new favorite place to cuddle with me when I'm using the couch for a backrest and the ottoman for a desk. 

Around noon, Sam called and invited us to bring him lunch and hang out at the hospital for a little bit.  He was on call today and last Friday, so we were really excited to spend a little extra time together.  It was cool to get a mini (outdoor only) tour of the hospital and see where the Ortho Clinic is and where Sam does the majority of his work.  After we hung out for a while, Hunter and I headed back home.  

After dropping Hunter off, I ran to Target to pick up a few things- I was completely out of deodorant for one thing- and I found a coverlet for our bed.  Sam and I have trouble sleeping when it's really hot out because we both like to snuggle under the covers but get too overheated.  He had us switch out my down duvet for his cotton comforter but I haven't really noticed that I've been cooler.  My Social Media Strategist said she and her hubby had the same problem until they got one of these thick blanket coverlets from Target.  I am really excited to try it out tonight- I put the duvet back on and per Raleigh's suggestion will probably toss that to the bottom of the bed to sleep.  

I spent the afternoon prepping for the Final Project in my Marketing Class.  I did the majority of the spreadsheets and left only a few equations for my partner to tackle this week.  I will have to focus on writing up some concluding paragraphs later this week, but that shouldn't be too difficult.  Tomorrow I am going to conquer the only other thing standing between me and earning the marketing certificate: the Final Exam.  I am so anxious for this to be over so that I can focus more of my attention on my fitness/health and Hunter/our family when I'm not working.  With as little time as Sam has off, it kills me to have to work on homework while he's home.  And Hunter's training has fallen by the wayside so much these last 6 weeks because I am so focused on schoolwork that I haven't been working on reinforcing his skills.  I am really looking forward to having free weekends and nothing hanging over my head- I'll have a lot more time to get back into reading the King of Thrones series on my nook too!  

Last thought before bed: I watched Married to Jonas tonight and really enjoyed it.  Sure, they are definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed, but they actually seem pretty authentic and sincere and they may quickly usurp the #1 Hollywood Couple spot on my list.  Good luck to them, and may their relationship end better than most of famous couples who do reality TV.  

Hunter Hiking

More like Hunter whining the whole time and begging to be carried while Sam rued the day he let me get a puppy.

Sam and I have been suffering from a run of bad luck.  On Saturday afternoon the pilot light on our water heater went out.  I am a pretty savvy lady, but couldn't get it to light.  We called the maintenance guy, and had to get out of the house with the puppy (since our leasing company doesn't know we have a dog).

Sam wanted to take the Top of the World hike in Laguna Beach, which was beautiful, but we hadn't packed any water, went at noon, and we are in the middle of a serious heat-wave.  As a type this at nearly 11 PM I am sitting here baking alive.  Needless to say it was a little painful.

Hunter was acting strangely all afternoon, and after a cold shower- the pilot light was evidently NOT fixed, he had diarrhea all over the carpet.  Wonderful, puppy.  I felt badly for him, he was obviously unable to get comfortable, wasn't eating, and seemed pretty miserable.

He and I went and laid down in the bedroom while Sam supervised the replacement of a part on the water heater at 9 PM last night.  Woohoo!  Back to having hot water showers!

Then, this morning, Sam's car wouldn't start.  This has been an on-going issue in the evenings over the course of the last 8 days but now it is affecting my sleeping in!  Hunter and I went to drop off our surgeon at the hospital and then finished getting ready for the day.

This afternoon, Sam decided to get off early to try to take the car to be fixed at the dealership.  Lucky me, that meant that after running late to work, I had to leave at 4:30 to fight commute traffic and pick Sam up from the hospital.  We got the car to the dealership to find out they currently have no loaner vehicles.  What?!?  That sucks!  So now, I am getting up at 4:30 to take Sam to work and will be missing out on a KISS concert tomorrow night to pick him up.  Bummer.

To top it off, this evening I went to log in and take the quiz for my online class and it was closed.  So much for believing my classmate who told me that the deadlines didn't actually mean anything.  I put a call into my instructor and left her a voicemail explaining that I would like to take it online, or via email, if possible rather than take a zero score.  Even if I do take a zero I will end up with an 87% going into the final project.  Not a huge concern, but annoying all the same because I've only missed 20 points so far in the course.

C'est la vie.  I'm trying to roll with the punches and not get too bent out of shape!

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Ohmigod.  I started seriously tackling my homework over the weekend and I think I may have bitten off a helluvalot more than I can chew.  No joke. 

I read Chapter 1 on Sunday morning, answered the 3 assigned homework questions, and promptly passed out for an hour.  I didn't make it to Chapter 2 because Sam came home from work early and wanted to watch the Euro Cup Finals, then we were cleaning up the kitchen, took Hunter to the dog park, and had Nick & Amy over for dinner.  Oops.  So much for my massively productive Sunday.

I need to get back into the swing of having homework, because this is an 11 week course that's been squeezed into 8 weeks and the reality is I am already at max capacity without this class.  I should have just taken it Pass/No Pass and tried to learn everything I could but taken something easier to finish out my certificate.  No, that wouldn't work for me, I'm too obsessive compulsive. 

The nice part is that we're going to work in pairs and that will mean that I can hopefully get some support along the way.  My partner is a single-mom living in Carmel who is taking on 4 classes this summer... who am I kidding that she'll be able to shoulder her part of the courseload?  :-)  Here's to hoping! 

Anyway, I have a chapter of reading, 7 homework questions, and 2 powerpoint lectures to get through by the end of the week so that I can tackle our Matel project that is due on July 8th.  Seriously, what have I gotten myself into?

Up All Night

Last night, Hunter woke up in the middle of the night (which he did Tuesday & Wednesday as well).  I had Sam take him to get a drink of water, but Hunter wouldn't relax and go back to bed.  Perhaps it was because he had too much energy- we didn't have time to give him his walk Thursday night, and I had slacked on Wednesday because we had our private puppy lesson.  In any case, I asked Sam to take him out to go potty, and 45 minutes into the not-going-back-to-sleep fun, Sam took him out. 

Hunter came back in and still wouldn't settle down.  So we left him to play on the floor at the foot of our bed.  Suddenly, he goes completely berzerk.  He starts barking like he has never barked before, comes tearing around the corner of the bed to me, and then frantically tries to claw his way out of my arms as I try to console him.  When we offered him his bone (he chews his Orka bone every night before bed) he backed away as if he'd never seen it before. 
We tried to get him to lay down, but he kept going to the end of the bed and barking.  After 30 minutes of him being a complete mess, I took him out to the couch and we got 2 hours of sleep before finally getting back into bed.

Needless to say, I am pooped today and headed home early from the office.  Time for a nap!  And please keep your fingers crossed that this was a one-time thing!

Early to bed...

How is Tuesday night going in our household, you ask?  It's going like this: one passed out boyfriend, one snoring puppy, and me catching up on TV from last week on Hulu.

Tonight I met Sam at the dog park after work and we let Hunter run around for about an hour before Puppy Class.  Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be doing that again because he wasn't super attentive in class.  Lesson learned.  We did meet a new friend at the dog park, Tiffany, who lives across the street and down a block from Sam and I.  Her dog, Lily, is about a year and a half old and a corgi & yellow lab mix.  Lily loves playing fetch, so maybe she'll help Hunter learn.  :-)  

I am SUPER stressed about my final paper in my class due on March 8th.  I haven't started working on it yet, and I really should have done some of the reading (at least) over this past weekend.  Never enough time in the day!  I have really cool news about work, but I'll save that for tomorrow night because I need to get these boys to bed!

Puppy Class Week One

Hunter's first Puppy Class was last night... Sam's soccer game was cancelled so he was able to join us.  We learned how to train Hunter using positive reinforcement and a "clicker" which makes a clicking noise (duh) and helps him to understand what he is getting his treat for.  In one hour we learned "sit" and "watch me".  Sit is something we have worked on since we brought Hunter home, and Watch Me is used to get a dog's attention when necessary.  For example, if we're walking and I want Hunter to lay down, I would say "watch me" to get his attention and then tell him what to do once I have his attention.  Kind of neat actually.  

I was making dinner after we got home from class and looked over to see how Hunter was doing (he usually sits near the entrance to the kitchen and our entryway playing with his toys or sitting and watching me.  Last night, he looked completely exhausted.  

Mom, Puppy Class was tiring, I'm ready for bedtime! 

On another note, this morning was really fun.  Hunter and I went for our morning walk at 5:45 when Sam left for work.  Unbeknownst to us, Sam locked the door on his way out and we did NOT have keys.  Here I am, in my PJs and flip flops, locked out of the apartment and the office isn't going to open until 8am- the same time I had a meeting at the office.  So what did I do?  I walked to the front gate and waived down the next car to come by and asked to borrow a cell phone so that I could call Sam.  Thank God he answered his phone (since he's on Plastic Surgery and not Ortho) and he was able to be late to work and come home to let us in.  THANKS SAM!  Lesson learned: always bring a set of keys to walk the puppy!