A quick update…

It’s been a while, so here’s an update:

The vertigo is gone, so my ear rocks are back in place, yay!

I was in New Orleans for the annual ASM conference.  Most years I have trouble understanding or staying awake at this conference, but this year was awesome, I hope to post about this soon with some pictures.

My gardens are doing very well and my lilac bushes are looking great, except for one that I may have pruned too much (can you do that?) and looks a little sparse.  Thanks Chris for the extra plants!

I made some more hamburger brownie cupcakes with sugar cookie fries for Juli's rummage/bake sale.  She said they sold really fast!  I’m even getting better at making them, but they still take 4 nights to make/assemble.  She has a good picture on her blog, which I’ve tried to steal, but my computer won’t let me.

Jamie, Jake and I are heading to the Dells for the weekend and we hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend :)

BPPV

Between the sinus/ear/eye infection and car accident I started getting these strange dizzy spells.  I would get dizzy when I bent over or laid down or rolled over in bed.  It felt like the room was spinning or like I was drunk.  I was having these issues for about 2 weeks before I mentioned it to a doctor.  She said I have BPPV or Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo and said physical therapy can help (which I’ve been going to anyways for neck and back pain). 

Apparently there are otoconia or commonly known as ear rocks that can get dislodged and start floating around in your inner ear.  These cause imbalance and misinformation is sent to the brain causing vertigo.

On Monday I had my physical therapy appointment.  She had me put on a mask (like a snorkel mask) that let her see my eye while she maneuvered me into different positions.  She would ask when I felt dizzy and she was able to see my eyes moving really fast trying to compensate for the dizziness.  She then put me in the positions shown in the picture to try and get the ear rocks back into place.

When the procedure finished she told me I had to keep my eyes on the horizon for the next two days as well as not lay down flat.  I have to sleep at a 45 degree angle for 2 nights and then for the rest of the week I have to sleep on at least two pillows and not roll onto my right side (the bad ear). 

If this treatment doesn’t work (only works for 80% of people) then there are some other at home exercises I can do to try to get things back in position.  I hope it works, but it is very hard to keep your eyes on the horizon constantly and not tilt your head up or down.

What’s on TV?

I have no idea!

Jamie and I cut out cable back in late-February and we now have only about 20 channels.  No DVR, not even a VCR to record any tv.  We don’t even have a tv guide channel to find out what’s on or what’s coming up.

Actually, it has been okay.  We rarely had much time as it was to watch the 200+ channels we had and the DVR had recordings from over a year before that went unwatched.  We do have a subscription to Hulu which I blogged about earlier and that allows us to keep up with the tv shows we want to watch.  Mostly though we watch the news or channel 10 so Jake can watch Thomas the Train on the weekends.  We bought a couple movies for Jake and we still use Redbox to rent a movie about once a week for us.  It works for us and since the weather is getting warmer we won’t even be inside much anyways.

Easter 2011

Sorry, this is a little late, but here is how we spent Easter this year.

This was the first year we let Jake dye eggs.  He was a little impatient, but they turned out great!

We hosted Easter dinner this year with Debbie, Dave, Chris, Andie, Lance, Trenton & Ethan.  We bought large candy filled eggs and David hid them in our yard for the kids to find.  Debbie & Dave brought up champagne, heavenly hash (a fruit/marshmallow dish), chocolate chip cheesecake with a brownie crust and she helped with the fruit platter.  Jamie was in charge of the ham and soup.  I took care of the green bean casserole, twice-baked potatoes, deviled eggs, bread and of course the cake.

 

For the cake this year I wanted to try a new ruffle technique for the frosting.  I saw a two-tiered pink ruffle cake on Bakerella’s blog and there is also a youtube tutorial.  I decided on a lemon poppy seed cake with raspberry filling.  It was very yummy and work ate up the remainder seen above in about 2 hours.  It got rave reviews all around.

We enjoyed everyone’s company and I was happy that we decided on an early 3pm dinner.  By 7:30 the dishes were done, everyone was gone and the three of us were in our pajamas. 

Spring Snow Car Crash

It was April 19th and the weather was this crazy snow/ice/rain mix.  The roads were just wet on the first half of my drive home, but the further north I traveled the more the roads turned to a slush/icy mix.  While on my drive I was thinking of a picture my Dad sent me the day before.  It was of the view from their patio while vacationing in FL.  I was looking forward to getting home so I could send him a picture of my view out my patio door.  I knew he would get a kick out of it. 

I was just getting into town when up ahead I saw a red pickup truck heading my way but the back end swung out while taking a turn around the bend.  He was trying to correct himself, but the roads were too icy.  I pushed hard on the brakes and they were pumping, but again, too icy and I just slid while the truck slid into my lane.  I closed my eyes just before impact.  I was wearing my glasses that day and the airbag pushed them off my face. 

 

When I realized what had just happened I looked around, I found my glasses and then found my purse on the floor and opened the door.  When I stepped out of the car my right knee was in a lot of pain.  The other driver opened his door at the same time and said something but I couldn’t figure out what he said.  I started walking away, but I couldn’t find my phone and realized it was in the cup holder.  I went back quickly and got it.  There was a lot of smoke, probably from the airbag, but I wasn’t sure and just wanted to get away from the scene.

 

A man had stopped and let me sit in his car while I made a phone call.  The first call was to Jamie to tell him that I was in a bad car crash and he needed to pick up Jake from daycare (since that was where I was headed).  I told him where the crash was but that he needed to leave and get Jake.  Then I called 911 and asked for an ambulance.  Then I called Debbie to tell her she needed to come up and help Jamie with Jake so he could come to the hospital.

 

Looking back at all these calls I realize I am such a Mom trying to get everyone and everything organized. 

 

I was alone for a while after that and started shaking and crying.  I looked back at the scene a couple times but I never went back to asses the damage.  A volunteer EMT came over and asked me some questions.  My back and neck were hurting which I hadn’t noticed at first because of the pain in my knee.  Then I noticed Jamie drove to the scene.  I was mad that he came.  He parked along the side of the road and came over by me.  He said Jake was locked in the car and I told him to go take him home, the roads were obviously not safe and he needed to get back. 

 

The ambulance came shortly after and they put me in a neck brace (a horrible contraption) and laid me on a back board.  I remember that it was raining ice or small hail at this time.  I was really cold and they covered me in a blanket and got me in the ambulance.  The EMTs wanted to start an IV and contemplated cutting my coat off, but I insisted I could get my arm out, which I did.

 

With the neck brace and back board I really couldn’t see much but I remember hearing the other driver in the ambulance.  He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.  He also had a cut on the bridge of his nose but that he refused any other medical treatment.  Then they took me to the ER.  I remember closing my eyes, I was really tired. 

 

They put me in a room but all I could see was the ceiling tiles, some monitors and a clock.  They got me off the back board and out of my coat but the neck brace had to stay on.  I had a nurse call Jamie to update him on the situation.  A sheriff came and asked some questions.  He was already 2 hours past his shift and had 5 more accidents to get to.  He was kind and assured me that it wasn’t my fault and that everything would be okay.

 

Before they could do x-rays and a CT scan they needed to take my bra off because of the metal hooks.   The nurses were trying to figure out who was more skilled in slipping a bra off and one of them was able to un-hook it and then we slipped it out of my sweater.  I thanked them for saving my sweater which I recently got on clearance for $5. 

 

During the CT scan they injected a dye which they said would make me feel hot, starting at my face and then travel down.  They said when the dye got to my pelvis it would feel like I was peeing my pants and yes it did.  The x-rays took a while but soon I was back in the room and Jamie was waiting. 

 

Jamie and I talked about the fact we had just put 1K into the car last month hoping it would last another 2 years.  I also just filled up the tank that morning.  I would really like my $60.60 back.  We joked that the towing company probably siphoned out all the gas. 

 

The neck brace was still on and pushing into the back of my head which was very painful, but finally the nurse was able to take it off.  It was about 9:15 before we were able to leave with crutches and a prescription.

 

The next day I called the insurance company and then Jamie and I went to see the car.  When we got there the owner said “oh, you mean that little Nissan”?  I was thinking, well, it’s not that little, it’s a mid-size sedan, but when we got to the car I could see it was now a compact car. 

 

I thought I had hit straight on, but after seeing the damage, the truck slid from my left to right, so the right side of the car wasn’t affected, nor did the airbags go off on that side.

I didn’t even realize the truck had spun and hit the rear of my car, but I do remember that the truck was behind my car when I walked away. 

Windshield was only cracked a little, not as bad as I thought it would have.

We emptied out the car.  I found my bingo dabber which I’ve had for at least 10 years.  I always left it in the car so I would have it in case I found myself at Potawatomi :)

That morning I was finally able to take the picture from my patio door.

Even though I never really liked my Nissan, I knew it was a safe car.  I would be in a lot worse shape if not for the airbags and safety features.  I thank God that Jake wasn’t with me.  I thank the driver that stopped and let me sit in his warm car.  I thank the EMTs for being so kind and for the strong firemen that lifted me into the ambulance.  I thank the sheriff that took the extra couple minutes with me even though he had a long night ahead.  I thank the nurses that saved my $5 sweater.  I thank Debbie for coming up to watch Jake so Jamie could get to me.  I thank all my friends and co-workers for their kindness and support. 

4 guys and 2 grills

I just stumbled across a local blog that takes you into four guy's tailgating plans and events at Miller Park.  When they tailgate they cook everything at the ballpark, no pre-cooking allowed.  They also have some recipes for the grill and seem like they would enjoy it if anyone stopped by.  I added their blog to my list along the right side so you can see what they are up to. 

Career Fair

Yesterday I participated in a high school career fair.  I was really excited to be involved and get the kids excited about a career in Microbiology or even a general science career.  I asked around my company and was able to get brochures of other areas within the company, pens, samples of probiotic yogurt bears and even t-shirts.  I even got some little sharpie markers and pads of paper from Fisher Scientific.  I also hung some giant microbes under the table to try and draw the kid’s attention.  After looking around I think I had the most information and stuff on my table, but I didn’t know what to expect and how much I should bring.
 
I also made up a pamphlet on degrees and careers in microbiology and a little biography on myself with information on what I did after high school and how my career has changed since graduation.  I’m hoping the kids will give some of this information to their parents so they also understand all the great opportunities a microbiology degree can do for their children.  For the girls I had an article on women in science.
There were quite a few different careers represented at the fair.  There were firemen, an FBI agent, engineers, photographer, judge, dentist and Tony from Fox 6 was there.  There was also the obscure funeral home director and the vocation sisters and priests.  I don’t think those got too many visitors. 
My table became pretty popular once I handed out the t-shirts and probiotic bears (although I did have to caution all of them to only eat one bear/day not all 4 at one time or else they might find themselves in the bathroom).  At the end of the day I didn’t have a lot of t-shirts left, so I handed those out to anyone that seemed really interested or asked a really good question.  One student came up to me near the end and said that she was told to visit my table because it was awesome.  Gosh, I wasn’t even popular when I went to high school.
When it was all over we had lunch catered from Maxie’s (the head chef was at the career fair and also a Pius Alumi).  At lunch I sat with the dentist and funeral home director which were brothers actually.  They were quite comical.  Then there was a small after party at Maxie’s which I went to for about an hour and met more of the other participants.  It was a lot of fun and I hope to be invited back again.
One last note, after 4 hours of talking with the kids I had a headache and was exhausted.  I take back anything I ever said about teachers having it easy only having to work from 8-3.