My Brain On Stress

You remember the old this is your brain and this is your brain on drugs commercial? Well the above (if this works) is my brain stressed. This is what happens every night when I go to bed and makes sleep near impossible.

I think I finally fell asleep last night at about 1am and up again at 5am. Yuck. Work all day, doctors appointment, home to meet people looking to buy stuff. Yippee. I've sold part of it. One guy kept trying to talk me down on my price for my couch (which I love and will miss but won't fit into the new apartment as it was huge) and it was like "no, I had 6 other calls for that and unless no one buys it I'm not going any lower." Some other girl was same with the dresser. I told her to call on Friday and if I still had it I would consider it. The people who came to look at my couch? LOVED my cats. Like sat here for close to an hour and played with them loved my cats.

Dr's appointment? Gave me more to think about (think hamster). I got the info I had been looking for and now it's back to my decision and I don't know what it is. I know which way I'm leaning. I think though I need to bounce it all around in my head a bit more. And it would be nice if I had something to set the computer on since typing is difficult without the computer being on the desk. It's on the file cabinet thing and it's just not comfortable. I will post more later when I have a few minutes more and can type it out. Right now my bed is calling me. Maybe the hamster will sleep.

Always Learning

I have a theory and or saying. It's "I learn something new every day whether I want to or not." It's pretty much true. I usually learn new stuff all the time. Often by keeping my eyes open and watching what others do. Today I learned several things. Scary I know. I learned how to do a 3 way call with a patient and another person if they need someone to translate for them. I also learned how to ask if there is a family member who speaks English. I learned that I am completely befuddled by a phone head set (hands free thingy) and that I have a difficult time writing and talking at the same time. I noted on one chart that I left a message with the shower as I was telling the family member to make sure the patient showered before coming in for surgery and often ended up saying to the person what I was trying to write down instead of what I meant to say. No jokes about walking and chewing gum now either. For the record I can walk and chew gum at the same time but choose not to. I'm hoping that all of this is a learned skill as every 7 days or so I will be the call nurse for the day which means I'm calling patients who haven't come in for their preop appointment. Today was ok although I had a couple of people who kept answering and then hanging up. Wouldn't it be funny if they showed up tomorrow to hear their surgery had been cancelled. Oh well.

Packing is going ok although I had an oh shit moment tonight. An oh shit I have stuff left to do and not much time to do it. I have faith though that it will get done. I've listed some more stuff on craigslist and hope to sell it all soon. I keep forgetting my meds every morning because I've left early every morning for the last week trying to do stuff before work. And I'm leaving early tomorrow morning too. And the morning after that and likely Thursday too. Hmm. Maybe I should try to go to sleep.

Standstill

I'm at that dreaded part of moving. I've got most things boxed up and much of it ready to go but much of what is left is either in the way (going bye-bye) or I will need up till the time to move. This will at least be easier than my city to city moves where I had to get everything out of the house and clean and drive all in one day. That said I'm thinking the big portion of the moving will happen next weekend instead of the weekend after. I detest living my life out of boxes. I've boxed up most of my kitchen, most of my other stuff and am left with the last minute things such as dishes and cookware to use and the food in the cupboard. I can't stand the thought of tripping over all these boxes for an extra week. I'm also going through things and trying to get rid of stuff. Stuff I don't use and likely never will (although there is that stupid little voice that says "but what if you need it later?"). That is a slow process. I've listed somethings on ebay and some on craigslist. Some may just end up at the goodwill.

Operation Move Is Under Way

So it's all official now and I'm getting ready to get started. The new complex has a special that basically I will get 12 days free if I move in right away. So as of Wednesday I can start moving. I'm going to sort of take my time a bit and move somethings over with my car myself and then get a truck for the last of the stuff around the 10th. Then I have a few days left to clean. I will pay rent on the house until the 15th and so will only be paying 2 rents for 3 days. Works for me. I'm very excited and started packing last night. Now I'm out of boxes. I know I can get tons at the hospital but I don't know if I can get them on the weekend. I'll try maybe tomorrow because I hate to not pack all weekend. I'm also listing things on craigs list and ebay to get rid of some of the unneeded junk I have. Stuff I will likely never use. I did sell the elliptical. For $30 less than what I bought it for so I wasn't out much. I hadn't used it very regularly and the apartment complex has a fitness room so no point in moving it. The cats are having a blast playing in all of the boxes. Sara so far seems to be tolerating her medicines ok her eye even seems to be getting better. I gave up on the squirting the water in her mouth though. I just catch her when she's drinking water and give her the antibiotic. The eye drops aren't too bad either.

I have the appointment Tuesday with the surgeon about the gastric bypass. I'm still torn. I know I want to be healthy but now that I know there are embryos I really don't want to wait a year to use them. I guess I'll wait and see what happens Tuesday. I also e-mailed my RE and asked him some questions about pregnancy after gastric bypass etc. Other than that, not much is going on. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!

Ok so I am totally (damnit I can't figure out how to spell the freaking word wait while I go to the freaking dictionary) wound up. Still looks wrong. Anyways, I'm so wound up I am guessing sleep might be a bit difficult tonight. So many good things happened today.

First off the people who looked at the house last night liked it and are planning on signing the lease. Yippee I get to move out. Last night they were saying it would be like the beginning of November but I guess now they are saying they may be interested sooner. That would be awesome as I would love to not have to pay a full month rent here. I went to look at the other apartment today and it was nice and the W/D were inside but it was a lot smaller. There was no fireplace and the parking spot wasn't close at all and the patio was way smaller. So other than the W/D and the fact that the rent was a little less I didn't care for it. I went back and looked at the other place and still really like it better. I'm leaning that direction right now. I do have one other to look at tomorrow morning. So, out of my lease and nice new apartment.

This afternoon I was interviewing a patient and my phone which was in my desk drawer kept ringing. It rang 3 times in like 15 minutes. I was a bit worried that it was an emergency but it turns out it was 3 different callers. Funny since first you would hear a muted ring, then you'd hear frogs croaking which is my notifier that I have a message. The second call pretty much ruined my concentration for the day. It was my RE's office. I am at the top of the list for donor embryos. They have embryos for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now it's just a question of when. Part of me wants to just go for it and do it now. However I know that my weight truly is an issue and I'm scared that I would have a really difficult pregnancy. I know others have done it but I also know that I also have other factors that would make it more difficult. I have been planning on doing gastric bypass which means waiting a year. The coordinator told me that if I waited it wouldn't be a problem that she will leave me at the top of the list etc. Losing a hundred plus pounds before trying to get pregnant would be awesome. I would worry a whole lot less. But then there is the impatient part of me that wants to just try to crash diet and see if I can drop 50 pounds in the next couple of months and by January try to do an FET. Right now I'm waiting for my appointment with the surgeon which is next Tuesday. All of the sudden though I'm in this absolutely freaking amazing place of seeing the possibility of being a mom within a year or so all while coming from the place I've inhabited for the last few months where that dream seemed so far away it was near impossible. I have donor embryos. OH MY GOD!

Falling Behind

My reader currently has like 29 things in it and that's just from today and a few left over from yesterday. Tomorrow I'm sure it will be worse. I've been leaving early in the mornings and not getting to all my reading. Then today I had to come home and clean some because someone was coming to look at the house. They really liked the house and want to move in although they are thinking around Nov. 1st. I was hoping for sooner but that may have to work. I'm also going to look at one other apartment tomorrow. This one has the W/D indoors I think and I really liked the look from the outside. We'll see what the inside is like. Hopefully though I will be able to move soon.

Sara is fine, she just has a goopy eye and I need to treat it. I've had to do this several times before but I think this is going to be one of the worst. See she already takes a heart pill daily. Now I have to give her an antibiotic twice a day. For six weeks. Then the eye drops. Which are 5 times a day. Poor kitty is going to hate me. Oh and there is the water I have to shoot down her throat with a syringe with the antibiotic. And the vet wants me to put her on some other stuff to boost her immune system. Poor cat. She is as active as ever though. This evening I heard her howling and making a horrible sounds. I jumped up to see what was wrong but turns out she had succeeded in killing the couch arm cover (again) and was bringing it to me to show off. Goofy cat.

Time To Start Packing?

I don't know. I texted the guy who owns the house I'm in now and he said if he rented the place out then I could move (and he has two possibles) but if not I would have to honor the lease. Not totally what I wanted to hear but understandable. Just hoping I hear something soon and am able to get one of the apartments I liked. In the meantime I suppose packing might be a good idea. I dread that part. Funny I used to really like moving. I was once accused of being ever mail carriers worst nightmare (he had just pushed my couch up over a balcony and I think maybe he lived in fear of me saying I was moving). I just have so much more stuff now than I used to. It's so much more work.

I had taken Sara to the vet on Saturday because her eye was all red and swollen. She had herpes (not the human kind) in her eye when she was really little and that eye has always been sort of watery. It has a couple of times gotten red like this but then gets better with eye drops. Saturday the vet pointed out again that a diet that was good food (unlike the costco brand) was important. So I went to buy better cat food at $19.00 for a 6 pound bag. Yikes. Then she called yesterday and had done some research on how to treat the eye stuff and had some suggestions. I'm getting an antibiotic and some more eye drops tomorrow that will hopefully help. I hate it when her eye hurts her. Makes me want to go thump the witch that bred a sick female cat all over again.

Otherwise, work is going well and not much else is going on. See, if it weren't for my patients and cats my life would be totally boring. Oh and I only have 11 books to go to reach my year goal I set for myself!

So Hot Outside

It is so hot out. It doesn't help either that my AC in the car seems to have pretty much just given up. My car is 4 years old and I've never had the AC recharged or whatever and I think it's seriously time. It seems to just sputter and laugh at the heat that is Fresno.

Yesterday I spent the morning driving around and looking at apartments. Just to get an idea of what's out there I guess. For places with a washer/dryer hookup it's still a little higher than I was hoping but I still think it would average out to be about $200 a month less. Not a huge amount but when you look at that over a years time frame it's still over $2000. That is largely because I wouldn't have to pay water/sewer/garbage and pest control in an apartment and my heating and cooling expenses would be much lower since it's a smaller space without the vaulted ceilings. I looked at a couple of places. One place I was interested in but they said small dogs were ok but no cats. So that's out. Another place was ok but a lot of kids running around without much supervision and I talked to a couple of people out front and they said it was an ok neighborhood but stated there were a couple of druggies on the cul-de-sac that "kept to themselves" Whatever. It still tends to bring less than desirables to the neighborhood. Granted it was close to and similar to the neighborhood that I'm in now. My neighborhood currently isn't totally ghetto but it isn't a nice neighborhood either.

There were a couple of other places I looked at too. Both were in really nice neighborhoods. Much nicer than where I currently live. Much nicer. The one apartment was really nice although I didn't' love the washer and dryer outside on the patio. That seems to be a thing here in California from around the late 70's to 80's. All the laundry hook ups were either outside or in the garage. Other than that and the glass shower doors (that most places have) I really liked it. The other place has a slightly better location but I couldn't get a hold of anyone to actually see one of the apartments. Hopefully tomorrow.

I also talked to the owner of my current house. I asked if he would consider letting me move out without losing my deposit a couple of months early. My lease ends the end of Nov but I pointed out to him that it might be difficult for him to find someone to move in right around Christmas. He said he'd think about it and get back to me. If not than I hold off on moving until November. Not the end of the world. It would be nicer to do it now but either way is doable.

I'm A Health Care Professional

Yes, I am. Because I am a health care professional people seem to often have no qualms in showing me stuff that I would really just as soon not see. Like the guy who wanted to draw his own blood but needed my help to switch the tubes? Yeah, pierced penis and all that was way more than I wanted to see. Men walking up and down the halls with their asses hanging out of their gown cause of course it's a hospital and we're all nurses and doctors. Sure but please cover your hiney cause I don't feel a need to look at your saggy drooping butt.

My current job is an office job. I interview people before surgical procedures. Yet the other day I had a patient feel the need to lift her shirt to show me her boob with the strange lump. Not really what I wanted to see. I was concerned at first by the appearance but once she had informed me that she had shown her doctor and they were going to check on things I couldn't help but wonder why she felt the need to show it to me too. Holy hell.

I remember one of my grand mothers would always flirt with the male nurses and aides. She was in the hospital one time and I took her a clean gown. She saw one of the guys she liked in the hall and started stripping with the door open. Freaked me out like no one's business.

Yes I've seen it all. Mostly when I really didn't want to. I know that many of us in the IF community have been in positions where we've had all kinds of people looking at our girly bits or boy junk and to a point that's necessary but I simply do not feel a need to drop my pants and show my nurse or the phlebotomist my va-jay-jay. Really. They don't need to see that stuff. I'm also all for being comfortable in your own skin but again, time and a place. Why is it that some people feel the it's ok to show me whatever just because I wear scrubs?

What I Heard Today

Heard at work today:

Nurse: "Sir do you take any recreational drugs?"

Patient: "Does Via.gra count?"

OMG!

Did You Know

I've heard others talk about the feelings that arise in them when catching a glimpse of their medical chart and reading whatever the actual diagnosis is. The medical community has both a gift and a curse in the ability to tell it like it is and in "naming" a condition in such a true but yet brutal manner. I know the first time I saw morbid obesity on my chart I wanted to puke. Even seeing it on my RE's chart made me feel like I was undeserving, that I was too fat to have children. Yes, I'm aware that to a very large extent those feelings are my own psychosis or demons or whatever you want to call them. Today I saw a diagnosis in a chart that felt totally wounding to me and it wasn't even my chart. I'm sure the patient felt nothing other than relief that it would soon change. Diagnosis: Undesired fertility. Ouch. Of course after having 7 children maybe I'd feel that way too. Still I felt that ever present little stab of envy asking once again how some can have so much, even to the point of more than they want and yet others have none. The age old question that comes with no answers and even more with no logic or sense.

I Think I Need To Set My Alarm

I think for a while I maybe need to be setting my alarm on the weekends. I slept until 10 again this morning and here it is almost 10:30pm and I'm still wide awake. Granted I start my regular hours tomorrow which means I don't have to be there until 10am. I had hoped to get up early enough to go see if I could get my drivers license done but I guess we'll see how that goes.

I went to the movies this afternoon with a couple of co-workers. We went and saw Julie & Julia which was an absolutely fabulous movie. I loved it. Yes I did catch the couple of moments in the movie that quietly showed the IF aspect of her life. I knew they were going to be there but they still left me a little choked up. I did make it a point though not to mention much about my having a blog. I like these people but I don't know if I want them searching me out and reading about my CM, dates with the dildo cam or any of the other things that have gone on in the last 2+ years. Actually I think it's almost 3 years. Yikes. It's not that I mind talking about the IF as I don't and will usually talk to anyone about it but there are also other things on my blog. Things that are maybe a little bit easier to put out there to people I don't see every day at work.

This evening I watched one of the T*L*C shows about the really little girl. Funny thing is that I think I saw a child like this a few months ago at Target. I don't know if he had the same disorder but he was this super little tiny child who looked like he was about 3 months old maybe size wise but yet looked like a little man and acted much older than 3 months. He was in one of the baby seat things that the store attach to the carts and he was watching me. When I really stopped to look at him because he seemed so interested in me and was so small he waved to me. He was really cute. Even though I told his mom I thought he was really cute I didn't ask his age and I still wonder. At the time I thought maybe a really small 9 month old or so but I also thought he acted even older. Who knows.

Considering

So I'm sort of freaking out a bit about the whole money thing. I'm worried about being able to afford everything basically. The new job that I love and yes it was totally worth it, is still like a $700 a month difference in pay. That's not even including the night shift differential that I got as that likely mostly went to taxes. I haven't actually seen a check yet that is totally all 8 hour days so I don't know for sure what it's going to look like yet. But I'm worried. I'm still paying off IVF 1 & 2. Even though I managed to find a renter who pays on time and pays a bit more of the mortgage on my house I still have to pay $250 of it a month. I would love to buy a house in Fresno but it really isn't possible right now at all. Not with all my outstanding debt (mostly from IF). The house I'm renting in Fresno is ok. It suited my needs but I don't love it. It worked as it had a small little back yard for Sadie and the floors are all tile which means that my dear little kitty who hates the litter box has no where to potty other than the litter box(although lately she's taken up peeing in the tub which hey washes out quickly). I find myself thinking though about what if I could find a place to live that was cheaper and I wouldn't be putting out so much money in living expenses. I don't have a dog any more and while yes the yard is still nice it's not necessary. I would personally do just as well with a patio. I don't love this house. It's a decent enough price but I hate the floors (even if they are good for Sara) and the vaulted ceilings etc. It's got a lot of space which is nice but not a necessity. I have a lot of extras to pay here. I have to pay the water/sewer/garbage bill here. The electricity is pretty expensive because of the vaulted ceilings, I have to pay pest control here. The biggest down side is that I'm guessing that in going with something cheaper is that I will likely lose the washer dryer hook up and have to do laundry elsewhere which I HATE. The idea of moving is horrifying. I have so much stuff. There also is the expense of moving. I would have to come up with another deposit although I should get my deposit back from here.

Right now I'm just thinking. I haven't decided to do it and part of me really doesn't want to. I don't want to deal with it unless I'm moving into something that is mine. I doubt though that I will be able to afford to buy again for at least a couple of years and I am pretty much stuck with my house in Washington until the market recovers some which will likely also be a couple of years. Is it worth it to save a couple of hundred or so a month by moving somewhere cheaper? I don't know...

Invited

Today at work during lunch one of the nurses mentioned that a group of them were going out for dinner tonight at a local place and asked if I wanted to come along. I said sure I'd love to, figured out where and when etc. There were about 10 or so of us there and it was a great time. We all visited and laughed and had a lot of fun. They are a great group of women to work with. And it felt fabulous to be included. At the risk of sounding really high-schoolish lately I've been feeling really left out. Which to some extent I realize doesn't make much sense. In my previous position there were a lot of people from the recover area who got together to do stuff on a regular basis and they'd all be talking about going some where or something and it used to sort of bug me that no one ever invited me. There were some of the people from surgery who did invite me to breakfast and I do sometimes still go with them when it fits with my work schedule. I know that it is sort of stupid to feel bad about not being included since many of the ones who were getting together I really didn't like and didn't really want to be around any more than I had to. There were still those though who I did like and it just felt sometimes like I was always on the outside looking in. For the most part I didn't really focus on it and I'm pretty good at entertaining myself and so it's not like I was dying of loneliness but it just felt a bit like I didn't have much of anyone here. So being included today while it is a small thing felt really good. It's a group of women that I like working with. I also enjoyed their company outside of work. Plus it was nice to dress up a little (other than sitting home in my pajamas) and go doing something even if it did mean getting pink (pasta) sauce all over my shirt (damn).

Owww

So I went to my cardio water class tonight. Oh my God. Yeah, I'm feeling this work out in a great many muscles. It was a really good work out even if I'm not very coordinated. I liked it but would prefer it in the AM so I can shower after class and don't have to shower twice in one day. I think I may end up going to my later morning schedule next week as I think everyone is feeling fairly comfortable with me flying solo. I know enough to ask questions when I don't know the answer to something etc.

One funny thing at work today. I had an older gentleman and his wife in my office going over preop stuff like allergies. Part of the preop screening process is to check if patients have any allergies to anything, especially something they could come into contact with in the hospital. So I was asking this gentleman if he was allergic to any meds, foods, tape, iodine and then I asked about latex which can be a pretty significant allergy. He looked at me and smiled and said "I don't think so but I haven't had to use latex in a pretty long time." I of course had to stop for a minute and then explained that they do use latex to make other things too.

Well since I couldn't sleep worth beans last night I'm off to bed early. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Skipping Monday

Wow that work week is nice when you skip Monday. Of course it also helps if you work a nice traditional Mon-Fri schedule which I am doing right now for pretty much the first time in 8 years. I'm enjoying my job and my schedule.

I came home this evening after stopping at the gym and signing up for a water aerobics class tomorrow and picking up a September schedule and actually cooked dinner. I had cooked some chicken breasts last night and tonight I took them and shredded them up and made chicken and dumplings which turned out ok. It was a little overly salty (too many bullion cubes) but since I like salt (even if my blood pressure doesn't) I didn't mind much. Plus this time my dumplings were pretty much perfect. That's always nice too.

I also made an appointment today to see the surgeon (towards the end of the month) about the gastric bypass. I'm really feeling like I'm going to do this and go through with it. I know I've went back and forth a lot in the last several years but I am looking at this from the perspective now of planning to do it. My trip last week sort of worked to convince me. Outside of the discomfort of flying etc because of my size I ended up feeling very much like I missed out on things I really wanted to do because of my weight. My weight is such that made walking around very difficult on me physically (feet and knees) which limited what I was able to do. I don't want to feel like this anymore. I'm tired of hurting all the time and it affecting so much my day to day life. I don't know what hoops I may have to jump through to get to the point of surgery and if any obstacles will arise but I'm taking the forward steps. I know that my primary doc said something about needing to do 6 months of MD supervised diet plans before I qualified. No one else has said anything about it. It's not like I haven't tried every other diet out there at least once. Right now I'm also planning to do the actual bypass and not the banding. I know that many people have pretty strong feelings about the 2 different procedures and in the past I have been one who has said that I didn't want to drastically alter my GI tract like that but in looking at the two procedures I also can see why it would likely be the better procedure for me. With the banding you don't really get the dumping syndrome which means that you can eat (and drink) whatever in small amounts. Since I have a tendency to get a lot of calories from sugary drinks (I love Dr. Pepper and don't tolerate sugar substitutes very well). I also love and could somewhat happily live on sugary stuff (for at least a few days) and if I was able to eat stuff like that from the beginning I could see how it would be easy for me to fail. Yes this is sort of a punishment system for weight loss but I have failed at cutting back on or eliminating that stuff from my diet numerous times already. Yes with the bypass I may be able to someday eat very small amounts of sugary stuff but in the beginning I won't be able to and I'm hoping that my forced time away from it will give me the strength I need to be able to get into better shape and be able to exercise more (which is really difficult for me to do now when it hurts to walk etc) and mostly stay away from some of the really bad food choice I make now. For me it's not an education thing. I know how I need to be eating I just don't seem to be able to follow it. My dietary habits feel out of control and have for a really long time. So if I can have the surgery done and have my insurance cover 95% of it and it will help with lowering my blood pressure, decrease my risk of becoming diabetic and maybe even make it a little easier and safer to carry a baby to term, not to mention make me feel better physically and decrease some of my pain then it's worth it. I won't say I'm not scared because this is a huge decision but I'm feeling more confident with it all the time.

Happy

One thing I forgot to mention in my post about my trip was how great I was feeling when I first got there. I had just walked out of my hotel and was standing there trying to decide where to go first and I felt so fantastic. I was so happy that I was doing something fun for myself even if I had to do it by myself and I just felt empowered. I don't even know how else to describe it but I just felt fantastic.

This morning at work I went down to get some chips to go with my sandwich and ran into one of the nurses from surgery who I used to see at work occasionally. She looked at me and said "you're smiling, you look happy" and then comment that it was nice to see that change. She's right. I feel so much happier with my new job. I'm usually a fairly happy and up beat person anyways but when I start getting discouraged like I was with that job and the environment felt so hostile I started getting really depressed again and was trying so hard to just keep to myself since I didn't feel like I could trust anyone. It's so nice to be out of that environment.

Fabulous

Well I'm home and other than a plane ride from hell and foot problems I had a fabulous time. I only wish I could have stayed another day. I flew out Monday afternoon and the plane was a bit scary. I think it had 34 seats total and it bounced around so bad before landing I was actually queasy. After I got off the plane I found an inexpensive shuttle and headed to my hotel. I had stayed at the Tropicana and it was pretty decent. The mirrors on the ceiling were a bit tacky (and definitely NOT a good view of myself) and the room was really far away from the check in desk but it was great for the price. After I got into my room I headed out to explore a bit and I was hoping to go to a show. The one I was hoping to go to wasn't playing on Monday night though. I managed to get across the street and could tell I was going to possibly have problems with my shoes (good expensive shoes, my birkenstocks)rubbing blisters. I had stopped and tightened them up and hoped that would fix the issue but it didn't. After eating a cheap dinner at New York New York and figuring out that the show I wanted to see wasn't playing I headed off down the strip. I made it as far as Bellagio and was had planned to go to Cesar's Palace and the Venetian but I already had a large blister on my foot. I headed back towards my hotel. I stopped in Planet Hollywood and found some flip flops that were a little better but not a lot. I then walked on and when I got to the Walgreens I stopped and got some cheap flip flops, band aid things and sun block. Of course I forgot the advil and for the rest of the trip I ended up paying $3 for 4 tablets at a time at the hotel. My feet were seriously hurting when I got back. I went down to the pool for a bit and then went back up and had my two free drinks at the bar. Those guys were pouring some major drinks that night and my two drinks left me pretty buzzed. I put $4 in a penny slot machine and played for an hour or two. I had at one point won 25.00 and then lost it all again.

The next morning I slept in and when I did get up I got ready and headed off in the opposite direction on the strip to Luxor to see the exhibits that I wanted to see. I started off with my other pair of birkenstocks that I had brought with me but they were hurting pretty bad rubbing on the blisters so I ended up switching to the flip flops which irritated the plantar fascitis. I did make it through the exhibits I wanted to see though. I saw the bodies exhibit which was great. They did an amazing job of preserving the bodies and you got to see the organs, muscles, nerves, veins and everything. It was really fascinating. Then I went through the Titanic exhibit which was great too. I wasn't sure what to expect as I had heard that it was actual items from the titanic but had also heard someone say they had Jack and Rose's clothes from the movie. They didn't. They had a lot of items that had been pulled up and then they had built replicas of what a 1st class and 3rd class room was like and also the grand staircase (like it looked in the movie) which I guess was pretty accurate. I loved the exhibit. After the exhibits I walked through some of the shops for Luxor and Mandalay bay and then headed back to my hotel to rest a bit and change for my show. I left a bit early so I could go out for a nice dinner and had a fabulous steak dinner at one of the restaurants. The waiter was fantastic. As I've mentioned a time or ten, I hate onions. HATE them. It drives me nuts when I go out to eat and make it a point to ask if something that typically has onions in it for them to be left out and yet the waiter or waitress fails to mention that some other portion of the meal has them. Like asking if they're in the cottage potatoes at breakfast and no one mentioning that oh, they're in the biscuits and gravy. Or they leave them off the meat but fail to mention that they are in the vegetables. Anyways I asked the waiter if there were onions in the potatoes and he said no but then stopped himself and mentioned they were in the vegetables and would I like to choose something else. I was so thankful for that and just the extra attention he provided that I left him a pretty good tip. Then off to my show. I've seen The Lion King before in San Jose about 3 years ago and loved it. This time I bought a better seat and was really excited to see it again. I was outstanding. I of course forgot Kleenex again and something about the opening scene always leave me a bit teary. The whole show though is just so fabulous. The music and costumes and acting are all so wonderful. I loved it all. It was over fairly late and I knew that any of the shops etc would be close so I just went back to my hotel and went to bed. By that time my feet hurt really bad from being on them most of the day again.

This morning I slept in a bit again and got up and got ready to leave. I got to the airport a bit earlier than necessary but it was ok. I didn't get to go see as much as I had hoped but I still got to do a lot and I did as much as my body would allow. I really don't think my feet would have tolerated much more walking and even with cabs or buses it was still a lot of walking to the shops etc. I did a little bit of shopping for myself and my sister and her daughter. I only lost $22 in gambling. I hate to spend much money on gambling. I had only spent $9 up until I got to the airport today and then I spent about $13 more there while I waited. I never won much. A little bit here and there but when you're playing the cheap slots you don't win much. Oh well. I still had fun. Now tomorrow I'm back to work for 2 days and then have a 3 day weekend. Hopefully in that time my feet will recover.