Light At The End Of The Tunnel

It's there. I can finally see it again. Hope or whatever you want to call it. Thank you everyone for all your kind words, support and stories shared.

My heart still breaks a bit at seeing Sara sit so quiet and lonely without her sissy there but she does seem to be warming up to Lizzie (a bit) more. Whether it's out of loneliness or that Lizzie likes to sit in her chosen spot who knows but I've found them sitting next to each other several times lately. This one was one of my favorites even though Sara isn't looking at the camera. She was actually touching Lizzie and didn't seem to mind. We're all hanging in here though and I even made it through the work week without crying which was a plus.

Lizzie is still adjusting and I find myself wondering frequently what this poor little dogs story is. She's truly adorable and she seems to want so much to play and come to me etc. However fear seems too to be a very big part of her life. She will let me walk up to her if she's sitting on my chair in the living room but not otherwise. If I sit down there she will crawl all over me loving on me and so excited. She's super excited to see me come home in the mornings. However she still will not come up to me anywhere else in the house and still seems to be absolutely terrified of being on a leash or going outside. She just sits and trembles. So much for a walking partner. Hopefully we will eventually get there and I know it's only been 2 weeks so far but I just am not sure how to go about working with her more. I do try to work with the leash in the house with treats. She'll do a bit of a belly crawl for the treats but still doesn't actually walk. Thank goodness though she's paper trained as I don't know what I'd do otherwise. Between her and my kooky cat though I'm going through a lot of puppy potty pads. Here's a couple of more pictures though of my timid little cutie.

Not So Ok

Just as a warning if you're not in a great place emotionally, you may want to skip over this.

I'm struggling. Really badly. Getting out of bed is a monumental task. Functioning feels near impossible as does interacting with others. Thursday night I was incredibly thankful that my shift got canceled because of low census. Friday night I called in sick. Taking care of others felt so utterly beyond me. Last night I wanted badly to call in sick but felt that if it was known that I was calling in because my cat died it would be viewed badly. So I went to work. And spent the first half of the shift barely being able to control my tears. I'm guessing nurses who are crying don't inspire much confidence in their patients. I was reminded several times that had I called in, it still would have only been considered one absence/occurrence. However by that time I was already there and a bit late to leave. It did get a bit better by morning but I still feel like I'm just drowning in sadness without any light in sight. I feel like a really bad week without my happy pills (yes I am still taking my happy pills).

I'm also struggling a bit with being angry. I'm angry this happened. I don't really know how to explain that and I know that to some people it will seem stupid and I know that in so many ways it doesn't come close to comparing to other peoples grief. We all have grief to bear at times during our lives. I think part of it is that I've spent the last 8 months or so sort of coming to terms with or attempting to come to terms with the very real possibility that I may never be a parent. Realizing that has been difficult but I've been telling myself I'll be ok, I've still got my furbabies. Then to lose 2 of them in less than a months time feels so completely overwhelming, unfair, unreal and ridiculous.

Losing Sadie made me sad but I knew it was coming. I had been fairly sure for close to a month that it was coming. By the time I said good-bye it was painful for me but it was also a relief sort of because I had spent a week watching her rapidly decline and at least to my perception suffer. I knew I was doing the right thing even though I knew I would miss her horribly.

I've also known for a while that I would lose my girlies at some point. I've known since they were a year old that they had a heart condition that would shorten their life span. I had been told that they would likely go into heart failure at some point, what signs and symptoms to watch for and what the end would likely look like. I knew that Luna's heart was a bit worse than Sara's and that she had been slowing down a bit the last 6 months or so. I figured I would lose her first. However I also figured I would have some warning. I thought there would be a visible decline in her overall health and that when the time came it would be a well thought out decision. None of that ended up being true for Luna. Thursday morning Luna was fine. Luna was herself. I came home from grocery shopping and was unloading and I saw her sitting there by the bags but didn't pay a lot of attention. After I finished I noticed her walking funny, dragging her back legs. I went to investigate further and she laid down and cried, she cried when I picked her up and it was obvious that it hurt. It was close to 4:30 in the afternoon and I was worried about getting her to my regular vet and not an emergency clinic. I called and was told to bring her right out, that I could always come as a walk in. My only specification was to not see the vet who I had problems with at the end with Sadie. The girl on the phone seemed surprised but was understanding and said it was fine, I could see someone else although the vet that usually sees the cats (and the one who put Sadie down) was off that day. By the time I got there I was pretty much sobbing hysterically. Note to people in the waiting room, if you're at a vets office and there is someone sobbing and holding their animal, they probably don't want to make small talk.

We were seen right away and it only took the vet a few minutes to come back and tell me the grim news, her feet were cold, she had no pulses in her back legs, no movement or sensation. He stated they could try to treat it but that he had never seen a cat survive this. I asked him what he would do if it was his cat and his response was a well worded and fully explained, let her go. I did spend about 30-45 minutes holding her and saying good bye to her before the injection was given. She had been sedated a bit but was still awake and I'm thankful for the time I got to say good-bye and to hold her. I held her until she was gone.

I think I knew as soon as I had seen Luna trying to walk that this would be the end result. It was so sudden and unexpected though. It was so damn soon after losing Sadie. No it wouldn't have been easy no matter when it happened but this has just felt so damn overwhelming. It makes me so sad to see Sara walking around looking for her or sitting around moping because she can't find her. It seems so strange to not have her sitting on my desk right now shoving things off the desk or chewing on the computer because she wants my attention. I miss her warm body in bed with me when I go to sleep. I miss my beautiful kitty.

I know this will all get better eventually but right now it just feels so damn hard and so fucking unfair.

Good Bye Again

Goodbye my sweet Luna Lulubelle. I'll miss you so very much. Keep Sadie company.

When I came home from grocery shopping today Luna couldn't walk. Her back legs weren't working. I took her to the vet and was told that it was a blood clot related to her heart condition that was paralyzing her back legs and that her chances of survival were very small even with treatment. So I made yet again the most difficult choice to say good bye to one of my babies.

Behind Again

Yes. Yes, I am. Behind on blog reading. I've had a hard time lately with just wanting to sit down and spend time at the computer. I know strange for me but there it is. I've been reading and sewing quite a bit. So I'm slowly catching up on my reader. Very slowly.

Doggy is doing pretty good. Turns out the name Molly didn't really seem to stick, possibly because I couldn't find anything that went with it that I liked. See Sara is Sara bera and Luna is lulu or wuwu (don't ask I don't even know myself), Sadie was Sadie sunshine and there just didn't seem like anything else went with Molly. So I've settled on Lizzie. To which I can do busy lizzie or dizzy lizzie. She's settling in pretty good. Still very timid and I wonder if there has ever been abuse in her past. She hates leashes and going outside. Totally freaks out and she pulls her head out of a collar or harness. We've been working on it some inside with treats but I think it will be a while. The other day I finally stuck her in the pet stroller and took her out for a walk which she still didn't love but she did ok. She's still afraid of the cats and won't let me walk up to her but if I'm sitting she will climb all over me loving on me. I worked a short shift today and left her home and out free and came home to no damage or problems. She did great. She also still uses the potty pads which is great.

I still miss Sadie. I'll be reading something or talking about something and remember things she used to do and get wistful thinking about her and how much I miss her. I still know I did the right thing and that she isn't in pain anymore. I also truly don't think she would have lived through that last weekend. I think it's quite possible she would have died as she was declining so quickly and wasn't really eating etc. I will also say though that my exercise habits with her gone have went to hell and I really need to get back to walking or something. It will help with the nicer weather coming. Saturday it was so nice I went out for a nice long bike ride and felt great. Now of course it's raining and cold again but I guess that's ok since I'm back to work tomorrow night.

I'm having tons of fun with my various quilting projects and blankets that I'm making. I have several in various stages of completion that I will post when I get them closer to being done.

I'm having a hard time with posting pics of myself. One part is the whole camera thing of no one really knows how to work my camera very well and the pictures never come out looking right (it's a manual focus one not point and shoot). I will also admit that the anonymous comment I got a while back was a pretty good direct hit to my confidence and it's hard to put myself out there as much knowing that this person whoever they are is still out there reading etc. Yes I know it shouldn't matter but words can hurt too.

Otherwise, life is just moving along. Not much of significance happening. Just work and enjoying my time off when I have it and having fun with Lizzie and the cats. Things and life are good.

Adjusting

So new doggy is adjusting. She is very timid. We've had a repeat of her getting off the leash, the collar popped open and she was free. Took me about 10 minutes to catch her which freaked me out to the point where I'm afraid to take her outside again. Upside is that she seems to be mostly paper trained. Yay! She is very cute and very timid but she is warming up to me. If I sit still in one spot she will come sit on my lap but if I move to suddenly she will shy away or cringe. She also growls at the cats if they get too close. I'm thinking though that all of this will improve as she gets to know us all. I can't decide if the name Molly works for her. I had decided that was what I would name her but now I just don't know if it fits. We'll see. Otherwise not a lot going on. Just trying to clean house and keep things here calm. Later today I've got some of my sewing projects to work on. Plus I want to get outside for a bit. The weather continues to be nice although a bit chilly. I love having the sun out though.

Spring? Maybe

It's finally starting to look a bit like spring here. Yes I know. It's February and we're sure to have ups and downs in the weather. However it's been sunny the last week or so and today it's close to 70 outside which is so wonderful. I should have slept most of the day and I didn't but oh well. I had errands to run and a doggy to visit.

Last week I started looking at various shelter and rescue groups and the dogs they had. It's just so lonely without a dog here. I was looking for a smaller dog since I don't see myself moving out of apartments in a while yet so a dog that would be more of an indoor sort of dog. Granted Sadie was a mostly indoor dog too and she wasn't much "smaller." I had found several dogs that I liked and had applied at a local shelter for one of a couple different dogs. Then I waited. Something I don't necessarily do well. Finally Thursday of last week I found out I had been approved but the dog that was my first choice I was second in line so it was a matter of waiting a bit more. This morning they called and told me that the other person who had applied for her had fallen through and so she's mine! I'm so excited. I went out and paid her adoption fee and visited her for a while. And almost lost her. I went to put her down on the grass and they had one of those slip leash things on her and I apparently had grabbed the wrong end. And she got off the leash. And I couldn't catch her. Yikes. Finally I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called back the number of the person who had called me to say that I could adopt her and told them where I was and what had happened. Quickly I had a couple more people out to help and we caught her. After that I opted to just sit on a bench and hold her which she seemed fine with. She's a little timid but I'm guessing she will warm right up fine. I felt like such a goof though. I worried they would tell me nope, you screwed up and now you can't have her.

She's a chihuahua mix (possibly with papillion) and is about 2 years old, weighs probably less than my cats. I did post a pic on facebook and will post pics here eventually. She'll go in Wednesday to be fixed and then I can bring her home Thursday or Friday. Then we get to learn how to walk on a leash etc. It will be fun though learning all about her.

I stopped at Tar*get on the way home from the shelter and they have some really cute clothes. I'd love to get some spring like stuff but I keep telling myself to wait a bit longer. I'm still changing sizes sort of quickly and I'd hate to buy a bunch of stuff and have it not fit by late spring. As it is the jeans I bought a couple of weeks before Christmas are already too big and I had to go get a new pair last week. Tar*get also has swim suits which is still a sort of scary thought. Even with the weight loss I still have an awful lot of extra, saggy, wrinkly skin that won't be covered up by a swim suit unless I buy one that fits from neck to knee. Not to mention that tank tops may be totally out this summer too.

I'm Ok

I am. Still sad but I know Sadie's better now. Last week was really emotional leading up to the whole thing and I'm sort of thankful it's over although I wish it hadn't come to that. I had taken Sadie in Monday, sort of expecting to not bring her home. Instead the vet did the "here let's try this medicine and this, and lets do a urine culture to see what the infection looks like to see if we can start her again on steroids." I agreed even though this left me over drawn and took her home again with more medicines. She seemed however to get worse every day. I finally heard from the vet on Friday morning and he kept going on and on about her urine culture and should we treat it etc and I finally sort of lost it. I started crying and said that I didn't care about the infection (she was still on antibiotics anyways) but wanted to know if she could go back on the steroids. I explained that she was having a lot of difficulty walking and seemed to be in a LOT of pain, she wasn't eating as she didn't want to walk into the food dish. He said yes he supposed we could but it might make the urine infection worse and that we could also try several other types of pain medications. I was crying pretty hard when I finished talking to him and got a call right away from my chosen parents in Spokane. I told J what was going on and basically after talking it out I knew that in my heart I knew it was time to put Sadie to sleep. I hated it but I knew it was time. I called the vet back to ask about the cost of putting her to sleep since I was overdrawn and they told me they would have the vet call me back. A few minutes later the clinic called me back and said that the vet wanted me to bring Sadie in for a complimentary laser treatment. I have no idea what the laser treatment was supposed to do but I really lost it at this point. I told them that I no longer had faith in this doctor and that I couldn't keep torturing my dog. I also told them I was considering either bringing her in to see the doc that usually sees my cats or going to a completely different vet. They offered to get me in right away with the other doctor who sees the cats.

When we got there I had to carry Sadie in, her legs kept giving out on her. When we got in she laid down and pretty much didn't move. I was sitting on the floor with her when the doctor came in and she sat down on the floor with us and talked to me. She said she didn't think it was a slipped disc as she wasn't acting right for a slipped disc and that it had all happened too quickly. Her thought was that it was likely cancer of some type but she basically told me what I needed to hear. That it was time and it was ok to let go. I signed the necessary forms and the doctor sat and held Sadie's head and petted her while the tech did the injection. I was so thankful that she was there and helped with this.

I know that Sadie isn't hurting anymore. I had a dream about her last night and she was her old self and I couldn't even keep up with her. She was so happy. I'm still hurting and the house seems so dang empty without her. The cats have been more clingy and seem to miss her too. I know I did the right thing but dang I miss her. I'm just so glad that she came back to me last summer. I'm glad I got that last few months with her and that I was there for her at the end.

Thank you everyone for all your kind words. It has really meant a lot to know that you were all thinking of me and my beautiful Sadie.

Good Bye

Good bye my sweet Sadie girl. I will miss you so very much.

Always Learning

I figure that I learn something new every day. Whether I want to or not. Life is a learning experience. This last week at work has definitely been a learning experience. I survived it and actually did pretty good but wow. I learned that my time management skills have slipped a bit. I spent all 3 nights at working running almost non stop until midnight. Then trying to catch up the rest of the night. I've learned that I really need to see about learning more Spanish. At least enough to get through some basic assessment questions and answers. Right now my Spanish is limited too asking about pain, hot or cold, allergies to medications, when baby ate and did baby pee or poop. Oh and does the patient smoke. Yes I need some more. I re-learned that the whole diaper changing and such needs to be quick especially with the little boys. I was weighing (done in the nude for babies) a baby yesterday morning when I noticed wetness. Yes, I got peed on. Fun times. I learned that no matter how good I am at drawing blood, even on babies, I need to not be cocky about it and take the baby to the nursery for lab draws. It is naturally distressing to the parents when it takes a couple of pokes to get the needed blood from the baby and it sucks to be struggling in front of the parents. I've remembered that I like being a nurse and connecting with my patients.

It was a good week although there were some very interesting patients on the floor. There was one patient who had just delivered her first baby. She was still pretty much a baby herself, not even a teenager yet. Another patient with MTHFR who had had 6 miscarriages. Young moms who seemed like giving birth wasn't going to slow them down a bit and was just not a big deal. Moms who even though they were likely very lacking in parenting skills, very obviously loved their babies very much. That's the part I have to make myself remember when I start thinking "why can this person have a baby and I can't?"

Today I'm learning that I may have to let go soon. Let go of Sadie. This weekend has been a bit rough. She's hurting. From what I can tell she's hurting quite a bit. She hasn't been eating much at all for the last several days and she only gets up and moves if she really truly has to. Stepping down off the curb is difficult and she can no longer raise her tail. Walking is slow and getting into the car was near impossible. She can't jump up at all and to lift her hurts her bad and she shies away from allowing me to do it. My poor baby. My heart is just breaking seeing her in so much pain. This is with her taking medications also. We got some more medications from the vet today to try but basically if this doesn't work, I may be out of options. Or out of affordable options since spending a couple thousand dollars on surgery isn't an option. Yes, this is a lesson I really don't want to learn.

Days Go By

Well tomorrow night is back to work for me. It has been so nice though having 5 days off work and knowing I didn't even have to use vacation time to get it. This is why I love 12 hour shifts. I've gotten a lot of reading done and some sewing. I have one baby blanket top done for a friend of mine at work who is pregnant and then I've got another one almost done. I've read like 3 books and just relaxed. So I work three nights, I'm off for two and then work three more. Then I'm off for six!! Somewhere in that six I think I'm going to venture to the coast and try to catch some sunshine and warm weather. All the dreary fog and clouds is making me a bit crazy here.

Last week I signed up for a quilting class. It starts this Sunday and I'm really excited about it. It's Quilting 101. I've done some self taught stuff with quilting but I figured it would still be a good experience to take a beginners class and learn from the start. I've been wanting to take a quilting class for years so I'm really looking forward to this.

Not a lot else going on right now. I continue to worry about Sadie and how she's doing. I'm worried that she's hurting. She just doesn't seem to have the energy that she did even a month ago. I've been extending our walks some because she gets moppy being in the house all the time but when we go farther by the end of the walk she just seems uncomfortable and like she's not enjoying it. She starts off fine but seems to really slow down and I think it's hard for her. I hate the idea of taking her back to the vet again as the doctor seems to want to "fix" it all and I think at this point it's more of a matter of symptom management and keeping her as comfortable as possible while balancing keeping her happy also. I worry too that I won't know when it's time to let go. Poor old girl.

Cousins

I read somewhere (another blog I think?) that cousins are our first best friends. When I was a kid and before school and friends and growing up and being an adult I used to spend so much time with my cousins. It makes me a little sad that I haven't kept in better contact with them in past years. Facebook though has been fabulous for reconnecting though. Yesterday as I was out walking my dog I was also walking along and laughing hysterically at a post my cousin sent me that was my dad's favorite "rant" when he was pissed off. It was so funny. It brought back so many other fabulous memories. Memories of weekends spent together building whole room tents and hiding out. Games of hide and seek and hot and cold. The adventures we took (the time we walked to downtown Tacoma comes to mind and my mom's major freak out when she found out). Time we spent talking on the phone and the threats of a hundred pigeons who hadn't pooped in a year being sent my way. Guess you had to be there. It's funny and strange to me though how much I remember my cousins being a part of my life up to a certain point and then how they just weren't so much after that. I find myself wondering what it was that changed. I also find myself wishing I could spend more time with them. See over the years I've let many of the relationships with family slip away. Part of it was influence from my mom as she started to really get over involved in her religion and while I was still in the phase of trying to please her. That whole keep yourself separate from those who didn't believe thing. Part of it maybe was fear. Fear of rejection or something. I'm not even totally sure. Other than I've spent years of my life fearing that no one wanted to be around me. It's nice to be able to move past some of those fears and to be in a place where I can reach out to them more than I used to and re-connect. It's even interesting (and nice) to me that their kids talk to me on facebook sometimes. Especially since I didn't really expect their kids to even remember me since I hadn't been around much.

It makes me feel like I wasn't quite as alone as I used to think I was, I was just to afraid to look at what was there, for fear that it wouldn't be there. Strange, I know. But it's baby steps and a work in progress. All I know is it's nice to have my cousins back.

My Week

Sorry about my little rant earlier this week. Mean people and bullies suck even if they are people who are just trying to hide what cowards they are. It also annoys me when people say shitty things but are too chicken shit to say it themselves and have to say it under the disguise of anonymity. It bothers me to think that the comment came from someone who is a regular reader since if you really dislike me that much, why bother reading my blog. Whatever though. Your issues anonymous, not mine.

Last week was a pretty good week but busy. Monday I had to update my NRP certification which I had to have for work. It's usually a type of course that you can't really flunk unless you really don't prepare at all. It went fine of course and I managed to get out of spending 5 hours with the unit clerk at the end of the shift. Then I worked day shift on Thursday and Friday. Those went ok too although they started awfully freaking early. I hate mornings. Funny how getting up at 4:30 in the afternoon doesn't bother me much but 4:30 in the morning just feels horribly early. The first day was fine and went great. The second day I was with a nurse who was very by the book and it felt very nit picky. Especially when I kept getting a lot of "I do it this way" in front of the patient which was basically interpreted by me as you need to do it this way too. I started feeling really prickly but finally decided that I'd be a mess by the end of the day if I kept that up. I tried to just let it go, get what I could from the experience and know that it was my last day of orientation. Now I'm done and I have 5 days off!!!! So nice being back to 12 hour shifts. I've got some sewing to work on this weekend and just stuff around the house.

Sadie is doing good and doesn't seem to be hurting much but seems to tire out more than she used to. I've been taking her for walks and she doesn't seem to want to go as far as we used to go. I feel bad for her and I hope that I can recognize when or if her quality of life seems to be declining too much.

My milestone of the week? Look at the pic.

For the first time in a very long time I weigh less than 200 pounds! This was a great feeling. This and shopping at Victoria's Secret last week for the first time ever. I even got myself a nice new fancy bra.

Anonymous

Gee Anonymous, why not grow a pair and stand behind what you say you fucking coward.

Some Improvement?

Thank you everyone for all your comments about Sadie. She is doing ok and even seems a bit better. Yesterday and today she has rolled over on her back and done her little self scratch thing she does. She hadn't done that in a good week or more so it makes me feel better. She has also been a bit more energetic which is nice too. I did go for a bit longer walk with her this morning and while she seemed to tire out sooner than usual she did ok. Right now my goal is to manage her symptoms and let her live life as much as possible. So we'll see how that goes. Not a lot else happening. I'm almost done with orientation at work which is nice. I'm sort of tired of having people follow me around all the time. I've had the last 3 days off work and have been cleaning house and putting away my Christmas stuff which has been a chore. I want to get my sewing out and start sewing more again. Right now though I'm thinking it's bed time. Trying to get myself switched around so that I can be at work bright and early Monday morning for a class I have to take. Yikes I hate mornings.

Expensive New Year

Well, my New Year has been a bit hectic so far. And expensive. On New Year's day Sadie cried out when the neighbor tried to pet her, and when I tried to pet her. I realized that her recent behavior was maybe not so much related to her extensive time indoors but possibly that she was in pain. Monday I loaded her up in the car to go to the vet. You all know where this is going right? Vet = EXPENSIVE, nothing is ever a simple visit with my animals. When the doctor picked her up to put her on the exam table she really made some noise and tried to bite him. He looked her over and took her to the back to draw some blood and some urine and to check the lumps. She came back and he said she had been fine, no further complaints from her. The lumps are fatty tumors. He said in the future he may recommend x-rays but for now we'd see what the lab work showed. When I took her out to the car she couldn't jump into the car. So back in the office we go. A general check of her back again elicited a response this time and the recommendation was for x-rays. I ended up leaving her for a few hours to come home and get some sleep. When I went back to get her the x-rays of her back didn't show anything but they won't show a slipped disc which is what he thinks the problem is. Her hips do have some osteo arthritis and hip dysplasia (how the heck is it that spell check can suggest dyspepsia and not know dysplasia?). There was talk of MRI's etc and we finally left close to $600 poorer and with a bunch of medicines and orders to keep her quiet, no running, jumping, long walks etc. Oh goody. At least she likes taking pills. So she seems to be doing a bit better. I still notice that she doesn't roll over like she used to and she definitely doesn't jump up on me anymore. We're supposed to go back next week for a re-check. I want her to be comfortable. I want her to enjoy life as much as possible but I have to admit that doing surgery or extensive treatments for this just isn't an option. It makes me feel bad to look at it from the perspective of her age etc but financially I don't have another option. I'm trying not to dwell on the fear that I'm going to lose all three of my animals this year. For now she's good. I'm just hoping she stays that way. Oh and she also still has a bladder infection (that's been there since at least August) and I'm now being told that she will likely be on antibiotics for the rest of her life. Yikes. So, that's my week so far.

Happy New Year!!!

Well I hope everyone has had a good New Year's Day. Mine was ok. New Year's Eve was nice. I went to my friends house and we watched movies, chatted and watched the ball drop. Right after midnight she asked what I wanted or hoped for in my New Year. My response? I'd like to get laid. It's been entirely too long since sex didn't require batteries. Yeah, probably TMI but it was good for a laugh and actually seems like something that might be attainable. The other things I think I would like for 2011 is I'd like to do more. I'd like to go more places. Whether it's more sight seeing in California or going other places I don't know. After watching "Letter's To Juliet" last night I'd really love to go to Italy sometime. I don't know if that's in the cards this year though. But there are other places I can go and I would like to work on that. I also want to continue to work on being kinder to myself.

I've noticed that I compare myself to others. A lot. It's sort of funny really since when I was a kid it used to seriously piss me off when my mom would compare me to other kids. My cousins did more helping out around the house (cause my aunt threatened them with their lives) and this kid or that kid from church did more church related stuff etc. I hated that. Yet I seem to compare myself to others way more than I should. The recent ones have been an acquaintance who had weight loss surgery (different procedure) a few months after I did. She's lost more weight than I have and is a smaller size. She also was required to lose some of that weight pre-surgery and really what difference does it make. Other than I fear being one of those people that others talk about failing with this and gaining the weight back. I've also noticed myself comparing myself to a couple of post partum mom's at work. Mom's who were big girls and I've caught myself thinking "They did it, had babies successfully, why couldn't I?" Problem with that is that I don't know and I may never know. I don't know if it was my weight. Or my age. Or just lack of opportunity. Hell who knows. If I had been having sex regularly maybe I could have still managed to hit that one month that I had a good egg and managed one that stuck. I don't know and that has to be ok. Even if I did know it's not like I could go back and change it. So, no New Years resolutions but plans to have more fun and do more and plans to be kinder and gentler with myself. Cause really? I'm sort of fricking amazing.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone. Sending many wishes for a beautiful day and many hugs to all!

Sizes

Clothing sizes are seriously strange. Beyond strange. I'm still adjusting to this. For so many years whenever I bought a piece of clothing I simply found the biggest size possible and bought it. Usually it fit although some clothing even in the biggest size was too small. I also remember back when I was in high school. I weighed about 150lbs at the time (which is still 50lbs less than I weigh right now folks) and I usually wore an extra large although once in a while I could get away with a large. Pants were about a size 11 if I remember correctly. These sizes fit although they were a bit snug. Not snug like you see so many girls wearing now but snug. I never would have dreamed though of wearing something that left rolls of fat hanging out from underneath the shirt or something. Anyways, at that time I was about a size 11 and XL. So, here I am 24 (holy shit has it been that long?) or so years later and 200lbs. I'm wearing a size 14 pants and it possibly won't be long before I'm into a 12. I'm also wearing fairly comfortably a size large top in most all things. Today I went to see if I could get a couple pairs of scrub pants and actually was able to wear a medium in a few. Maybe not the most flattering although they didn't look horrible if the top covered my ass but they fit. And in some of those the large was too big. I'm dumb founded. Has my body shape changed that much or have the sizes seriously changed that much? I'm pretty sure when I was about this weight at say 20 I couldn't get into anything less than a size 18 or 20 pants. Now 14 on my way to 12? It's really weird. Also makes it a bit more difficult. Gone are the days where I could just go into a store and pick out the largest item and buy it. No, I'm not complaining. Really. Cause shopping for clothes is soooo much more fun these days than it ever used to be. But I have to try every. single. thing. on. since I have no idea what size I am in various items. I spent a lot of time in the dressing room this morning only to find 2 pairs of pants that fit now and one pair that will probably fit soon (those are the mediums). I came home and pulled all of the 2x stuff and 18/20 stuff out of my closet since it really doesn't fit any more. Also the last few 22/24 items that I had bought last summer and wore a few times if at all. Yes I had several things in the closet that I had NEVER worn. Luckily most all of it was purchased on clearance and cheap. It just seems so mind boggling to me that I can go into virtually any store and purchase a piece of clothing.

This is truly the best thing I have ever done for myself. It hasn't been easy and somedays it still isn't but I am so glad I did it.

Busy Week

I can't for the life of me figure out why I can't seem to get all my Christmas stuff mailed out on time. Every year I tell myself "This year I'll get everything shipped out on time." Every year I manage to not do that. My BFF Christmas gift and birthday gift (her birthday is today) is still sitting in a box on my living room floor. Yes, it's going to be late again this year.

Work has been busy this week which has been nice. Monday night I got to work in the nursery with my preceptor and it was great. A nice boost for my self esteem as I feel like I did pretty darn good. It started off as a mostly calm not too dramatic night but towards the end of the shift we got a baby who needed to be on continuous pulse ox monitoring. So we got him all hooked up, I drew his blood and so on. A bit later all of the sudden babies oxygen started dropping. I jumped in and did what needed to be done and helped out until NICU came to pick him up. I realized later that I had taken care of the problem without freaking out or panicking. I was calm and I knew exactly what needed to be done. It was a nice feeling. I was also able to answer the questions of the nurse who came to pick him up without feeling like an utter idiot. This week I also took care of a fabulous couple who had delivered early. Babies were in the NICU so I didn't care for the babies but I really liked this couple and enjoyed talking to them and helping them. This is what I love about nursing. Feeling like I'm making a difference to someone. One more night (tonight) and then I'm off for 3 nights including Christmas. I don't really have any plans other than to watch movies and read. I hope everyone else has a Merry Christmas or great weekend or whatever.

Hello Again

I feel like I've been hardly posting lately but then when I think about needing to post I often feel like I don't have much to say. Like there hasn't been a lot going on in my life even though I guess there has been a lot going on.

Work is good. I'm liking the new position and my coworkers all seem really nice. I still miss my friends from my old position. I still find myself stopping by the office a couple of mornings a week to say hi to the wonderful ladies I used to work for. Yes, I have noticed a few "twinges" of pain at work when I'm holding someone's baby or something but mostly it's been ok. To some extent that feeling of longing for a baby of my own has returned a bit but it's not overwhelming. Yet anyways. I catch myself fantasizing about having a baby at some unknown point down the road but that's about the extent of it. I also find myself thinking about all the things I still would love to be able to do that would be much easier without children. I still also think of eventually getting back into NICU. I realize that I have things that I'm really good at. Like drawing blood which I did for 5 years before finishing nursing school. When I can help out a coworker and do the blood draw on an infant with minimal distress to the infant it's a really nice feeling. I also like working with the moms though too. For now, I'm in a good place. I'm loving being back to the 12 hour shifts and having 4 days a week off. I'm ok with the night shift again and am doing fine with sleeping during the day. I'm still feeling a bit of sadness at not getting the original position that I wanted in short stay. But as in all things, life goes on.

The weight loss continues to go well. I realize that I likely could be losing quicker if I did things maybe a bit differently but I also realize that I'm happy with where I'm at. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself and yet I'm continuing to lose at a fairly steady pace (although a bit slower pace than what my surgeon would prefer). I'm 2 pounds away from weighing less than 200 pounds. A weight I haven't seen since I was 21 which was a long fucking time ago. I feel better than I have felt in years. Yes I still have some aches and pains but so much less than I used to. My hips and back have been bugging me some lately but I think that it's related to me wearing the shape*ups from Ske*tchers. I also think that if I keep wearing them that my muscles will strengthen and I will eventually be better off for it. My knees on the other hand make me a bit nuts. They have been bugging me lately too. For the first time in YEARS or maybe ever I've been able to do stairs easily. I was a bit giddy with my ability to do several flights and not feel like I needed CPR when I got to the top. Then my knees started protesting. Now I'm back to elevators and feeling disappointed. However the falls I've had over the years (landing on my knees, yes I'm a bit of a klutz) and the years I've spent carting around close to or over 300 pounds have done some damage which isn't going to go away. So to some extent I need to be careful not to cause any further damage and realize that my knees will never be like they were at 21. Such is life.

I also can say that as much as I love to keep up with my friends from blog land I also feel a bit like I'm moving more towards living less of my life online. I don't know if that describes it right though. Mostly I had so many years where most of my friends were those I had met online. I didn't have friends that I spent time with outside of work or my computer. I do now and I'm loving it but I find that I'm tending to not blog as much. I think also that since I started this blog as a TTC blog and since I'm not TTC at this point and don't honestly know what the future holds for that I don't blog as much or as often. Sometimes I feel a little disloyal to all my blog friends who have been such a big part of my life for so long. It's hard to keep up sometimes.

Sadie is doing mostly ok although she is still having break through seizures fairly regularly. It sucks and I worry about her a lot. I still haven't taken her in to have the lumps checked out as I know that the next vet visit will likely be expensive as there are several tests that need to be done. So see, not much happening but yet lots happening.