5 Things

Posted in Family, Health and Weightloss by

Well being home this week with a concussion wasn’t all bad. Ok, so it wasn’t all good either. But, in the spirit of looking at the glass as half full, here are a few positive things that have come out of this week:

1. We saved on gas. My car was parked down at The Mall for the better part of 4 days and therefore didn’t get driven (drove? Whatever). Hey, if we can save a few pennies out of this whole ordeal, I’ll take it!

2. Speaking of pennies, we have now met our insurance deductible. We were about $1000 dollars away as of Monday morning. Considering Monday afternoon contained a trip to the ER, various doctor charges, a CT Scan, an MRI and blood work, I’d say we’ve more than covered that one grand. Not to mention they’ll probably charge me for the scrubs they “gave me” to wear home.

3. We know that I do in fact have a brain. Hey, some people questioned it but now I have the MRI results to prove it! And, not only do I have a brain, I have a big one. One of the biggest the radiologists have ever seen! Neener, neener, neener! Ok, maybe I’m making that up. Or maybe not. Guess only me and the radiologists will ever know…

4. I got caught up on sleep. Ever since being relocated to The Mall, sleep has been more and more fleeting. I get up earlier and go to bed later and do a whole lot more in between. But this week, I’ve been to bed by 9pm every night and had at least 1 nap every day. Awesome!

5. And the most important thing – I got to spend more time with Munchkin, CJ and Samson. While I would rather have another reason to be at home with them, I’ll take anytime I can get. Munchkin is such a joy and every minute we have together is precious. While I am getting stir crazy and am ready to get back to work, I will very much miss being at home with my family during the day.

Annexed: The Haunted Theater

Posted in Annexed by

Monday started out as any other day. People were rolling in to the office slowly, trying to drag out as much of the weekend as they could. I was feeling particularly icky, dealing with a virus that had me down all weekend. But, things would soon be looking up!

I ate lunch with one of my co-workers, Bob*, and while sitting in the cafe, I saw a man come in through a door at the back of the room. I asked Bob where that door went. He said it led to the old theater. Holy cheap seats Batman! In all our wanderings around the mall, the Brit and I had yet to uncover the old theater! Bob and I immediately ran back to the Annex to get the Brit and tell her of our find. Upon hearing about the discovery, we decided the only sensible thing to do was grab our cameras and go exploring!

With a spring in our step and a twinkle in our eye, the 3 of us headed to the cafeteria and out the back door. What we walked in to was a small foyer with stairs on one side and a long hallway on the other. The stairs led down to the gym below and the hallway led to the theater. We turned right to go down the hall and were immediately stopped in our tracks by something so amazing that we were all rendered speechless.

The scooter!! Yes, Scooter’s scooter was sitting in the hallway, abandoned.

Where had he gone? Did Scooter really ever exist or was the scooter haunted? We didn’t stick around to find out.

We continued on and came to the theater, which is now a Mexican church. All this time, the bay across from the Annex that we thought was the church was really just their administrative offices. This was their actual worship space. Except, it was run down and grimy and dusty. Very Alfred Hitchcock.

The front of the theater. You can see the sign up in the corner which reads "Iglesia de Dios Fraternidad Cristiana"

 I decided to be brave and go up there, where I found the old popcorn counter. And it still had bags of popcorn kernels and coffee beans in the display case!

I walked behind the counter and it was very dirty and scary and I was literally watching my steps, afraid I would step on a roach or mouse or something even more sinister. The Brit snapped a quick pic and then I was outta there!

 We followed the ramp which leads down to the ticket office (don’t you love the Pepto Bismol pink walls?).

We then turned the corner and found the other side of the Theater/Church on our left and another set of stairs straight ahead.

 

On the side of the church was an emblem. The emblem is a big circle with several bible verse references around the outer edge. In the center is Davinci’s drawing of David, with a church building strategically placed over his crotch. Then it says “THE DWELLING PLACE” in huge letters at the bottom. I’m sure it’s very meaningful to this church, but we just found it kind of strange…almost cult like.

Anywho…

At that point we figured it was time to go back. So we headed the way we came – past the ceiling vent with black mold growing on it, past the old rickety door that is still locked even though it’s so barely on its hinges that even I could break it down with just a strong sneeze, past the “blood stained” walls and back to the hallway that leads out of this dark, desolate place. The very hallway where we first encountered Scooter’s scooter. We had been wandering and exploring for nearly 10 minutes by this point and we thought surely the scooter would be gone.

But it wasn’t.

It was still sitting there all alone, just as we had left it.

We all just stopped and stared at it. Bob said that maybe we should call someone. The Brit thought we should get out of there before he came back. Just as she said that we heard a flush and we all screamed like little girls and went running down the hallway, practically diving back in to the cafeteria. We didn’t slow down until we were safely back in the Annex.

Not but an hour later, I would find myself unconscious on the bathroom floor. Coincidence? You tell me. Could it have been something I encountered in the Haunted Hallway? Was it from breathing in the harmful toxins that surely pollute the air back there? We will never know.  

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of Monday afternoon, I was out of work and unable to spend anymore time in the Annex this week. However, the Brit alerted me to the fact that on Tuesday afternoon, a water main broke in the area and all water to the building was shut down. It just keeps getting better and better! I can’t make this stuff up people!

Notice from Facilities (click to view in full size)

 
Thanks for tuning! Until next week, consider yourself, Annexed!!

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Faint of Heart

Posted in Health and Weightloss, Work and Professional Life by

Well this is not how I anticipated my week going.

I came down with a bad cold Saturday night, after getting home from a road trip to Ames. I had the worst body aches – you know, the kind where even your hair hurts. I went to bed early hoping it was just tiredness from the trip but I awoke on Sunday feeling just as crappy.

I rested as much as I could on Sunday – as much as a 1-year-old will let you. Took a nap in the morning and laid on the couch most of the day watching football. I was in bed immediately after Desperate Housewives was over – hey, a girl’s gotta have priorities!

I tossed and turned all night and knew that I should not go to work on Monday. But, my FIL was coming over to spend time with Munchkin and I figured I wouldn’t get much rest at home. Besides, I have a desk job – how taxing could that be? So I went in to work. That was my first mistake of the day.

Got to work and had a relatively quiet morning. I had taken some DayQuil and Ibuprofen which seemed to keep the aches at bay. Wasn’t congested or anything but my stomach was queasy most of the day and I did feel light-headed. I had an orange for a mid-morning snack and then some soup and crackers/cheese for lunch. That’s not as much as I normally eat but I was afraid I’d puke if I ate too much. Second mistake of the day.

I tried to push the fluids, and thought I was doing a good job. I’ve blogged before about how I am a slow drinker and have a hard time getting my water in for the day. Monday was no exception. So, I didn’t get enough to drink. Third mistake.

After eating, I went for a walk around the mall with some co-workers and we found some really fun new things (more on that in this Friday’s edition of Annexed). I was actually feeling fairly decent, aside from the heavy coat of “ickiness” that comes when you’re sick. I had a meeting at 1pm so I headed in there to get everything set up.  The room was hot and had almost no circulation. I had a fan going right next to me but it did nothing to cut the air.

As soon as we got started, I felt it. My stomach was really feeling nauseous and I started to get shaky. I was drinking a 7-Up and kept sipping it hoping that would help. It didn’t. I tried to lean my head back in the chair and get comfortable, praying that I would be able to make it through the next 3 hours of meeting – thank God I wasn’t the one facilitating. After about 20 minutes it started to get worse. I seriously thought I was going to throw up and did NOT want to do that in a conference room full of people.  So I casually got up and snuck out of the room, making a beeline for the bathroom. That was at about 1:20pm.

A cleaning lady was in there but I didn’t care. I ducked in the first stall and sat down. My whole body was shaking, my stomach was doing flips and my vision was starting to get blurry. I put my head between my knees because they always tell you to do that if you feel light-headed or dizzy. It didn’t help. I took off my glasses and set them aside. Then the dream started.

I don’t remember what it was about but I know I had a dream. It was a nice one too. Suddenly I opened my eyes and for a second had no idea where I was. Then I saw the underside of the toilet and realized I had fainted and was on the floor of the stall. I managed to get myself up and sitting again. That’s when everyone came running in. Apparently the cleaning lady had run out to get help when I fainted. It was the folks from my meeting shouting my name and asking if I was ok. The co-dependent in my almost said “yes, I’m fine” but then I realized that was far from the truth so I eeked out a “No, I just fainted.”

My dear co-worker Vicki came in and asked if I could open the stall door and I did. She came in with cold clothes for my neck and head. I looked at my watch and it was 1:35pm. I remember asking how long I had been out and no one knew. It was a whirlwind then. People were taking my pulse. Everyone had an opinion on what happened and what should be done next. Eventually they all agreed I should go back to my desk and Vicki helped me get there.

Someone suggested calling Security so they did. I remember feeling a throbbing in my head and that’s when I realized I had hit it pretty hard on the floor. My knee and ankle hurt too (I would later realize that I had fallen forward and twisted to the right, hitting my upper back on the stall door and then my head and knee on the bathroom floor). Security got there pretty quick and started asking all kinds of questions. What happened? Had I been sick? Did I eat/drink enough today? Was I on any medication? They decided it was necessary to call 911 and get me to the hospital. The paramedics literally got there in less than 5 minutes.

They asked me all the same questions and then some more. They took my blood pressure (90 over something) then had me stand up and took it again (80 over something). They told me they were going to take me to the hospital and helped me on to the gurney. They strapped me down and whisked me away. Everyone was staring. The funny part is that one of the EMTs started talking to me about how hopping the mall was back in the day and how it seemed like a ghost town now. LOL. Tell me about it dude.

They loaded me in the ambulance and off we went (they didn’t use the sirens though, darn!). The head guy immediately hooked me up to an IV and started asking more questions. He also gave me something to keep me from throwing up. I was appreciative of that. We were at the hospital really quick and the docs were waiting. They zipped me off to a room, hooked me up to chest monitors, drew blood and then left me.

Vicki had followed us over there and kept me company in the room. I really appreciated that. Kept me from worrying and helped pass the time. We watched VH1 Behind The Music on Jennifer Hudson and then another one on Eve. We both agree that Eve needs to wear a bra more. Vicki took a few pics of me too.

Vicki says I look too healthy in this pic. LOL. Trust me, I was feeling crappy.

 

Close-up of the knot developing on my head

 
 The doc came in and said that my white blood cell count was low, as was my calcium. She wanted to do a CT Scan of my chest and an MRI of my head (apparently they need confirmation that I have a brain).  They also ordered a pregnancy test.

I was whisked off to the CT area but the preggo test results hadn’t come back yet and they couldn’t do the scan until they had that. I could have told them I wasn’t preggers but they had to check.  So I waited. And waited. A shift change happened and my gal left. I waited some more. Finally the results were back – no baby – and they took me in to do the scan. After that, I was carted off to have the MRI done. They took every possible angle of my head there could be. I was in the tube for 35 minutes. It was actually kind of nice because it gave me some quiet time to rest. Once that was done I went back to the room.

The results came back and low and behold, I do have a brain! Phew! 🙂 Everything checked out ok and gave them no further leads on the white blood cells or calcium readings. At that point, doc said they were going to let me go and suggested I follow-up with my regular doc in the morning. CJ was there by then and took me home.

Tuesday, I got in to my doc’s and he confirmed that I have a concussion from hitting my head on the floor. Must have whacked it pretty good to rattle my brain so! He said the low readings are probably due to the virus I have but he drew more blood just in case. I was told to stay home from work for a few more days.

So, that’s my story. Today I feel worse than yesterday. The concussion is intensifying the cold symptoms making the nausea and dizziness worse. My knee is doing better today though. I’m hoping that this is the “bottom” and tomorrow I will start feeling better.

A couple big lessons I’ve learned: 1) it’s ok to take it easy, 2) I need to ask for help when I need it and 3) I really do need to drink more than I do.  I’ve had a lot of friends send well wishes and I do appreciate all the love. It helps more than you know!