One Of Those Days/Weeks

This past weekend was pretty uneventful.  Saturday I spent all day babysitting my nephew.  The weather kind of sucked so we didn't get to go outside, but we had fun anyway.  His schedule had been off the few days before meaning he wouldn't go down for a nap until about 4pm then he wouldn't go to bed until 11pm and he would wake up at 9am.  Usually nap starts between 11 and 12, bed is at 8 or 8:30 and he wakes up around 8 or so.  I was prepared to have to put up with a cranky/whiny baby.  After I dropped my sister off at work at 9, we went home and had breakfast.  Usually he loves when I make him eggs so I made some for him and some for me, but he didn't want his.  He ate some strawberries and grapes and that was it.  He walked around all morning occasionally looking out the window saying "mama" and then he would get cuddly which is weird for him.  At around 11:45 he just walked upstairs which was weird and I followed him.  We went into the room where his pack-n-play was and sat on the bed and read three books.  I could tell he was ready for a nap so I put him in has pack-n-play knowing he would scream but hoping he would fall asleep.  He did and slept until about 2.  He woke up, we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, then played and colored until it was time to go pick my sister back up.

Saturday night I went to Blue in the FACE's concert in West Chester and go to see some of my friends again.  It was awesome and It was so nice to see them all.

Work this week has been pretty boring because I'm done with almost all of my projects and am not going to get anymore because I only have a few weeks left.  Yesterday it was all I could do to stay awake all day because I didn't sleep well the night before.

Monday night and Tuesday were not too great.  I ended up thinking about a lot of stuff and having a breakdown and calling my friend Emily who helped cheer me up.  I still didn't sleep well that night, but it was better than if I hadn't talked to her.  Tuesday day I was just so tired that I didn't know what to do with myself.  Honestly my head and body were not in the same place and everyone was pissing me off just by existing.  I also ended up failing a quiz that I should have done well on and then going to bed at 8.  I slept well last night though.

Tomorrow I go back to the orthopedist to see if he knows what is going on with my knee and what the next step is.  I'm hoping that I get answers.  I'm really nervous but I can't let it get to me.

MRI Nerves

Yesterday morning I went to my regular doctor again about my knee.  He sent me for an x-ray and referred me to an orthopedist.  He gave me two names to call and said to go to whoever could get me in first.  Now, I'm expecting to have to wait a few weeks to get in.  I call the first place and get their earliest appointment - April 5.  I call the second and they say "How about tomorrow afternoon?"

So off to the orthopedist I went this afternoon.  He said surgery is a possibility but to do an MRI first.  I got a referral for the MRI, called them up prepared to wait another week before getting in.  The response "Can you be here by 3:45 this afternoon?"  It was 2:55 by this point, my mom needs to leave for the airport at 4 and we are in the same car 40 mins from home.  The hospital was approximately halfway between the doctor's and home so we said yes.  I told her I would call my dad and she could drop me off, take my car and go home and I would have my dad drive me back to my mom's house to get my car.  She said no and so we drove her home then I drove back to the hospital.  I got there at 3:40.

So now I go to the MRI.  I've never had an MRI before and have only read/hear stories about them.  I was put into the machine feet first and went in up to my shoulders.  I had on headphones and the tech asked me what radio station I wanted to listen to.  I chose country because it is comforting for me.  The songs that played were some of my favorite songs and could not have been more perfect for the situation.  The first song was "Little Miss" by Sugarland and part of the refrain is "I'm alright, I'm ok."  It definitely relaxed me.  A few songs later was a song called "Mayberry"  which is one of my favorite songs.  I don't really remember the other songs because I was too focused on not moving.  Anyone that knows me knows that I can't sit still.  Some part of my body is always moving.  Well, I had to remain completely still for 20 minutes.  I couldn't move my head, arms, and especially my legs.  A lot of people have an issue with being in a confined space during an MRI.  Not me.  My issue was not being able to move and I freaked out.  It got to the point where I had to close my eyes and imagine I was at school with friends doing things so I would keep my mind off of where I actually was.  I had a breakdown in my car afterward before I drove home.

I go back to the orthopedist on Thursday to get the results of the MRI.  My x-rays are normal so hopefully this gives us something to work with.

Whoops

Blogging is failing this semester.  Sorry.  I'm not even going to try to pick up where I left off.  I'm just going to start with what I can think of right now.

 

Work - Everything is awesome!  Of my 9 projects, 5 of them are waiting for the product to come in, be fabricated, or be installed so all of those are out of my hands now.  Of the other 4, one is waiting for a tool to come in so we can continue and the other three are being worked on.  I actually feel like I have accomplished something this semester unlike over the summer.  I've gotten to design, test, investigate, and order things that are actually going to be useful to the manufacturing process.  My supervisor is finally back so everything is back to normal now.

 

I'll be going to Freeport, Texas this summer to do my 3rd rotation with Dow.  I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  I have a few friends who won't be too far from me so I'll have that level of comfort.  There will also be a lot of co-ops there because Freeport is the largets Dow plant in the US.

 

Life - life is always crazy.  After work is still boring because I'm the only one here.  It has been fairly nice weather here lately and I've wanted to go for runs outside, but I'm still not allowed to.  I've been up to school a few weekends to see friends and help out with things.  This past weekend I went up and got to see one of my friends from high school who I haven't seen in a while because she was visiting friends at Penn State. 

 

Family - My family is crazy as ever.  My step-dad had surgery end of last week so my mom's been trying to keep him from doing anything (very hard to do).  We celebrated a few birthdays over the past few weeks so I've gotten to see all of my step-siblings and nieces and nephews recently and that doesn't happen often.  This weekend my mom and step-dad are away so my step-sister Jenna is working in the store while I am babysitting my nephew for her.  Saturday should be interesting with a 2 year old for 8 hours and the only toys we have are blocks.  I'm hoping its nice and I can take him to the park for a bit. 

 

My step-brother Steve is home until Friday I think.  He's been home for the past week in a half on pre-deployment leave.  He leaves for Afghanistan the first week in April and is gone for probably about 8 months though that is subject to change.  His deployment hit me hard back in October when we first found out about it, but I haven't thought too much about it lately.  I'm sure when I know he's actually gone it will hit me again.  I'm just worried because I've already had two step-siblings be deployed (one to Afghanistan and one to the Persian Gulf area twice) and both have come back safe.  He's also only a few weeks older than me whereas Jay is 3 years older and Krissy is older than that.

 

Knee - I'm getting really frustrated with everything that's going on.  I have another doctor's appointment on Thursday morning.  The past two weeks were prescription anti-inflammatory and no brace while continuing to ice often and not do certain activities.  The first week or so it seemed to be getting better but all of a sudden in the middle of the second week it got worse and continuted to get worse through this past weekend to the point it was as bad as the week/weekend after THON.  The past few days it has been better but still isn't right.  Last time I went to the doctors it wasn't bothering me too much so I've been keeping a log of when/how it hurts for this time so maybe that will help us get somewhere.  I think we're still still trying to avoid surgery but who knows at this point.

 

One of the worst things is not being able to do things I would normally do.  For example, PSU Relay for Life is in a few weeks.  I have participated in this the past two year and am going to be at PSU that weekend this year even though I am on co-op.  I am still registered as a team member, but am going to have to make sure that I'm not walking more than a few laps and overdoing it.  That's definitely going to be hard for me because I'm one of those people who starts walking and talking to different people and realizes 5 hours later that I'm still walking.  The club I'm walking with is also being very accomodating and not requiring me to sign up for and walk the 5 hours that they will credit us for.

 

Even with everything going on, I still have my goal of running THON 5k this year.  I'm hoping that even if I need surgery this will motivate me and I will be able to do it.  I have a few friends who have already promised to run it with me so they will keep me going too.