IT'S THE END OF NOVEMBER??!!!???

How did this happen?! Is it seriously almost the end of 2008? I'm afraid I've gone back to my old trick of putting the blinders on and trudging forward with whatever life throws at me, only keeping in touch with those that are right in front of my face. Sorry for the extreme neglect of my blog. I'm sure you can imagine the same sorry state of my personal journal. So anywhoo, where to begin? I guess I'll give the extremely shortened, highlights version. It actually should be pretty short since we are really not all that interesting. I must mention, since I spoke of it in a previous post, that I did finally finish organizing my stupid file cabinet, and have even kept it organized these many months and kept the infernal piles at bay! Little Bella was extremely helpful with this process. This is hardly noteworthy news, but an accomplishment for me anyway.

As far as the summer goes, it was mostly spent studying. I studied pretty much every night after work for the CNSC exam, which stands for Certified Nutrition Support Clinician. It is a test for doctors, nurses, and dietitians that certifies that you are specialized in IV nutrition and tube feedings, with all of the associated complications and management concerns. This is useful to me as I pretty much work exclusively in the ICU and it looks good on a resume. Studying was tough, but I really learned a lot and it was all applicable to what I do every day. I got a few study breaks here and there with Ian's family visiting and of course a wonderful visit from my dear sister. The weekend with Jess was definitely my best weekend EVER! We had a blast. She treated me to way more than I deserved and we had so much fun just hanging together. We had a great laugh in the fancy hotel bathroom where you could actually see through the glass to the person next to you. If I had been doing my business next to anyone but my sister I would have been mighty uncomfortable!

So with visits and studying, that pretty much rounded out the summer. I took the actual test mid-September. Then I had to wait 6 weeks for my results. And the verdict was.......Ta Da!!! I Passed!!!! I actually did pretty well on the test and was super happy to be done with it. I'm now certified for five years. Yea!! So now I've been super busy at work and have actually been recently promoted to Lead Clinical Dietitian. It sounds more official than it really is, but it will provide some new opportunities and learning experiences for me. In fact, my manager will be leaving for maternity leave in a few months, and I will be filling in during her absence. I can't imagine how I'm going to fill her shoes, but I'm sure the experience of trying to do just that will be good for me. Now that I have a new position at work, I feel it is a good time to get some new work clothes. I asked Ian his opinion on the matter and he very wisely agreed that some new work clothes were definitely in order.

Other than that, there is really not much of interest to report. After my test, I've spent the months trying to catch back up on the rest of my life (obviously haven't caught up so well as you can tell by my blog). I made a long to-do list after my test that I'm afraid I'm still working on. The problem is I keep starting over on the first three items: clean, laundry, grocery shopping. I never seem to get to the rest of the list once I get home from work and get those things done! It is so darn frustrating! I love to imagine a day where I actually do everything I mean to, exercise, go to work, make dinner, practice violin, study scriptures, do some project around home--meanwhile keeping everything clean and laundry done and folded. Oh will there ever be such a day? I despair of it ever occurring. I'm afraid my motivation begins to dwindle about the time I hit the snooze button for the third time. Aaach! Save me from myself and my to-do list! Oh the frustration!

As for Ian, since I'm sure you're wondering, he is doing pretty well. He's still a bit underweight, but he's up over thirty pounds from his lowest, which is a huge improvement. He's still riding the same old roller coaster with health concerns, just different hills, but he manages well and is working full time and keeping very busy.

So now the official kick-off of holiday season begins and we're gearing up for the big Turkey day at our apartment. We are so grateful for the blessings we have, especially for each other and our families. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you come back and visit the blog again. I'm determined to be a better correspondent! Love to all. I'm finally going to bed now. I've got stuff to do tomorrow....er today.

Hmmmmm

That's me trying to think of something to blog about. Yep, you heard it here first, we are officially BORING! Ok so let me give you the update. Me--well I work. Yep, I think that's about it. Ok, so I am trying to get in a little more running again finally, and though violin has slipped horribly down on the priority scale, I'm still trying I guess. Oh, and I think I'm entering the third month or so in my saga of trying to reorganize my file cabinet. My shredder can only take so much you know. We both get overheated very quickly. Enough about me. As for Ian, he is doing pretty darn good. He is up about 25 pounds or so from his lowest point and making progress. He's working again and eating real food which is certainly a plus! All in all I'd say life is about normal, well normal for us anyway. How uninteresting is that!

So I will say a little about this weekend. Some of you may know about the U.S. Open? That big golf tournament right? Yeah, I know nothing about golf, but anyway, the Open is happening just down the road from us. Everyone is all abuzz about it. We went out to dinner on Friday and saw all these people in their cool golf hats that had obviously just come off the golf course. They were all in town just for the big event. When we were leaving the restaurant there was a large group of them out front visiting. As we passed them I got the strongest urge to yell:

"I live here! I live here! Hah, hah! You all have to fly here to visit Torrey Pines, but I can go whenever I want to. I'm not a tourist, I live here!"

(We live in an apartment next to the building with the green roof.)

Rest assured that I did not actually make this announcement out loud, but I do have to say that I am incredibly fortunate to live in a place that so many people like to visit. Yeah, it can be crowded and the houses are built entirely too close together, but you can't beat the weather and the ocean, well, it's the ocean! We are truly very lucky. So come visit family! We live in San Diego!

40 Days and (a few less) Nights

Hospital days that is. Ian just got home last night from another 11 days in our nearby Scripps "health spa" rounding it out for an even 40 days total over the past month and a half. 40 days, 4 admissions, 3 surgeries, 3 different PICC lines for IV nutrition, 6 units of blood, 2 units of fresh frozen plasma, 2 ER visits, who knows how many pokes and prods, and I sure hope he is done for a while! This last visit was related to a problem with his pancreas that was caused by an antibiotic he was prescribed. (Or that's their theory anyway.) Ian has been a real trooper and though his weight dropped even more while in the hospital, he is on the way back up and doing much better. I'll be home from work just a little longer to make sure he stays on the road to recovery. He is back doing IV nutrition at night but eating during the day. He is now also on an appetite stimulant and an anabolic steroid to really get him gaining weight again. With 24 hour nutrition and some "juice," I think we are finally "gonna PUMP, [clap], him up!"

The bright spot in the last week and a half was the visit from my Dad and Shelley. They visited with Ian of course, then whisked me away for most of a day and took me shopping, fed me, and got me out in the sun for a while. It was so good to be with them, and though I felt sorry that Ian couldn't have such a break, it sure was refreshing for me at least. Thanks Dad and Shelley!

Now today, with Ian home, I just can't stop smiling when I see him eating or going through the pantry looking for snacks, lugging around the IV bag on his shoulder. With all the encouragement he gets to eat and chew his food well (so it doesn't get stuck in his intestine), I find myself doing the same. Hey, I help any way I can. Here's hoping for a ravenous husband and days of normalcy ahead!

Whoo-Hoo!!!!!

Ian is home at last! He has been home three days and so far so good. He's up walking around and eating solid food again. He's got a lot of recovering to do, but he's making great progress. I still get to play nurse with dressing changes and making sure he gets his meds, but no more IV's at least. We're so relieved to have him home! Thanks again for all the well wishes. Another 40 pounds or so and we can post pictures of Ian again! We'll keep you updated on his progress.

Update: Best of Three?

Well the saga continues I'm afraid. Here's a quick run-down of what's going on with Ian. I told you that he was initially in the hospital for a week to drain an infection and received blood transfusions. Then we were home for a brief respite with him on IV nutrition. He then went back into the hospital for the colon removal. His surgery went well and he was in the hospital for five days getting his pain under control and gradually moving up to a solid diet. We went home, but were only there 2 days when Ian's pain suddenly became worse and his belly looked much more swollen. We went back to the ER and Ian was admitted to drain some fluid from his abdomen and have a tube put into his stomach through his nose to drain his gut. We then were in "wait and see" mode for a while to see if his gut would start working again. They also restarted the IV nutrition. Then his pain got bad again and they had to take him to the OR in the evening over the weekend. They had to remove some scar tissue and untwist his small intestine. They also had to scrub out his abdominal incision and culture the wound. Now his wound cultures have come back positive for a resistant strain of bacteria. So as of yesterday he was starting treatment for this most recent infection and was receiving more blood to help with his anemia, continuing on the IV nutrition and still unable to eat or drink. Whew! I think that's mostly the gist of it! My heart aches for Ian in all that he has suffered, but I hope that things will improve soon. In all of this I must remain grateful for my dear husband, my wonderful family, good friends that do more for me than I do for them, good insurance, a good surgeon, and a good workplace that misses me but also lets me have plenty of time off. We continue to hope and pray for positive progress and to have Ian home again soon. Thanks to you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Dinner is served!

Well I had thought after my last blog that I would be posting some pictures from my trip to Utah, however the trip turned out to be a little short! Instead, I figured many of you may be interested in our recent goings on, so I will fill you in. I arrived in Utah a week ago Wednesday. I got to visit for a little more than 24 hours before I had to turn around Thursday and rush home. Ian's health had unfortunately deteriorated once more, and he was admitted to the hospital that Thursday. Boy did that put new meaning to the phrase, "I'm packing my bags, 'cause I'm goin' on a guilt trip!" He was admitted for an infection related to his Crohn's and also ended up having some major bleeding from his colon. May I just say here how deflating it is as a dietitian to have his admitting diagnoses also include malnutrition? Oh the irony! But anyhoo, to make a long story short, Ian had a long week in the hospital, but after a number of blood transfusions and a quick drainage of his infection in the OR, he got to come home on Wednesday of this past week. I've been home with him making sure he gets all his meds around the clock and hooking up his nutrition that runs through his IV line every night. The up side? I have a week's worth of meals for Ian in my fridge:

(Doesn't that look good? I just slaved and slaved. )

He can't eat solid food anymore because his colon looks like this:

So we head back to the hospital this coming Tuesday and Ian will be having the left side of his colon removed. If all goes well he should be in the hospital just about another week. He then will eventually be going back for more surgery in about 3 months or so depending on how things heal. We are praying and are optimistic that all of this will make his life much better and that it may offer a somewhat more permanent solution to his health problems. So to share what has become our favorite quote over the last week or so, "We will just wait and see!" Thanks to you all for your love and concern. It is deeply felt. Oh, and just so there's a more uplifting picture than the last one, here's one of our kitties who are taking great advantage of the comfy set up we've got going for Ian in the living room. Love to you all!

Snow anyone?

So I've decided I just can't take anymore if these sunny days and ocean breezes, so I'm coming to Utah to freeze my patootey off! Anyone want to go skiing near the end of February?

A Night for Nostalgia

This last Thursday I got to have the most wonderful evening. I had the privilege of going to see violinist Pinchas Zukerman in concert with the San Diego Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (from London). I had been looking forward to the evening since I bought tickets in October. Zukerman has been my most favorite violinist since I first started playing. There is just something special in the way he plays. The sweetness he can coax out of a violin is incomparable and he makes it look effortless to boot. He is so much fun to watch! The last time I saw him in concert was when I was nine. Mom and Dad had given me tickets on my ninth birthday to see him play with the Utah Symphony. So to put it simply, this was a really big deal to me! It made me really excited and nostalgic all at once, and I have to thank my sweet husband for going with me and patiently smiling at all the right times when a little flick of the hand or bow made me especially excited. We got all dressed up and to add to the nostalgic theme, I pulled out my Mom's beautiful Pendleton coat I hadn't brought myself to wear since her passing, and we headed to symphony hall. We had great seats where I could easily see everything he was doing and the balance was perfect. The concert was just amazing. Pinchas played and conducted Beethoven's violin concerto and the two combined orchestras played Beethoven's Fifth, conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. His musicianship is incredible (he barely looked at the score for the symphony), and he seems to be very humble. He seems almost shy when accepting the applause. I do feel the need to mention the nice gentlemen sitting beside me for the concert. Picture a Santa-looking fellow, with beard and all, dressed very casually in black pants and a grey sweatshirt. He was also wearing a Jamaica style beanie cap with a large button pinned on it that read "Hot Chicks Dig Obama." As the concert began I unfortunately also happened to notice this man's feet. He was wearing those Indian-looking flip-flop sandals that have the jewels all over them (definitely feminine-looking I might add) and his toe nails were painted turquoise! What's more, he's apparently an authority on Beethoven, or so he led me to believe with his few comments during intermission. I think I said something like, "Huh" when he dazzled us with his Beethoven trivia. He also kept grunting during the concert. I considered looking his way during the concerto to see if he was breathing okay, but decided against it. He made it through the whole thing, so I guess he was okay. All in all though, it was an absolutely wonderful evening and I'm so so glad that I got to go and that I was able to spend it with Ian. Good music is good for the soul!

A little side note, I finally bought myself a new violin case after years of complaining about my old one! Yea! It's so pretty and you can even turn it into a backpack if you want. I feel so cool, now I just need somewhere to go!

(Do you like the crooked pictures in the background? That's my idea of decorating.)

Finally

Ok, so I finally read Twilight this week. I always come at these "must-read" types very late because I like to pretend that I came upon them myself, not that I'm jumping on the band wagon (doesn't make much sense I know, but whatever). I know I'm among fans, so I must tread carefully, but I have to say I was kind of over it by the middle of the book. I mean, yeah, of course I was hooked and all and couldn't put it down, yada, yada, but I found it all just a little over the top for my taste. I mean, did we really need to be reminded that often how gorgeous Edward was? It was almost like the book was saying, "Are you imagining Edward now? Well you're not imagining him good enough!" And I also have to admit that I just didn't find Bella's character to be unusual or complex enough to have been the love interest of Edward after almost a hundred years. (By the way, we named our new kitten Bella a while back, having no idea that was Stephenie Meyer's heroine. I'm a bit bitter by that!). Anyway, yes, I enjoyed it, but I was fine when it was over too. Are the next two worth it? What do ya think?