Storms are Rolling In...

It's officially been summer for a few days and it has certainly felt like it. I made the mistake of going for a run yesterday afternoon in muggy 80 plus degree weather and actually got farther than I thought...had to give up during the fourth mile...too bloody hot and was beginning to feel a little nauseous. Today was worse, I think. I got my teeth cleaned then decided to go to the little Enfield beach area on Mascoma Lake and laid out for an hour and a half. Good thing the wind was blowing, otherwise I would have roasted much more than I did. My skin isn't like it used to be...despite my strict rotisserie method of turning every 15 minutes to color sans sunscreen, I'm burning this year. I still colored a bit too much today despite scorching myself on the 3rd. That unfortunate decision resulted in an excessive amount of peeling and eventually a tan.

Alright where did I leave off last time...mid May. So the last time I wrote marked the beginning of a rough couple of weeks but I won't go into great detail about that because it's all good now. The 18th was the annual bowling party in WRJ but I couldn't get my ass in gear to go because I took part of someone's call then I went for a run so by the time I drove into the parking lot at 630, pretty much everyone, as far as I could tell, had left. It's the thought that counts, right?

I had an impromptu vacation begin on the 23rd...a gift from out scheduler so I could burn up some earned time. Apparently I was getting close to maxing out and ceasing to earn more. I did the Color Vibe 5k in Loudon at the speedway on the 25th with a bunch of coworkers. I carpooled with Jaime, Bonnie, and Jessie and the traffic was so bad that despite leaving in a timely manner, we were an hour late. The weather was miserably cold and rainy. Parking was far away and we froze while being pelted by rain...our only moments of warmth came when we started running. The colored cornstarch they throw at you from various stations along the course had all but run out and they were encouraging people to stop running and roll on the ground at each station to become colored. We missed all our other OR peeps. The concept was fun and I'm glad I did it but there is no way I'd do it again under similar circumstances.

The rest of my vacation was fairly uneventful other than dealing with a sick lil' fluffy guy. So, as you know, Xander has had issues with sneezing and excessive nasal discharge for years. Well, in the past several months, it has steadily worsened. I took him to the vet a few months ago with this complaint and they thought it could be a URI so they sent me home with a regimen of oral antibiotics. I got halfway through the week and had to stop because it was giving him diarrhea and making him throw up. Sooo, I took him back not too long after with the belief that he had severe allergies. I went home with a regimen of lysine powder and an oral antihistamine. Tried that for a bit with no improvement. Well, I finally got fed up enough halfway through my vacation and made an appointment with an entirely different Vet (SAVES) for a second opinion...something I had been considering for a while and they came highly recommended. So I brought him in the following day, condensed his history into a brief conversation and ended up leaving him there for the day. They weren't messing around. He was anesthetized and they went in looking for a hole in his soft palate, polyps, took some xrays and did blood work. They also took a culture with ended up growing pseudomonas...a nasty bug. This bug is sensitive to certain injectable antibiotics which they did not want to prescribe due to serious side effects, such as kidney failure. We tried gentamicin nasal drops for a little bit which quickly turned into a miserable, futile experience. Shortly after nixing that, I started a tuna-flavored, compounded, liquid antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) that was shipped to me on ice from a pharmacy in Nashua. It proved to frustrating quickly because, initially, I couldn't shake it and the consistency got to the point where it was custardy so I couldn't draw it into the syringe to give to X. He got a few doses then I had to stop until they could send me more. We are currently on this regimen twice a day until the bottle is empty then his condition will be reevaluated. In the period of time since receiving anesthesia, he started losing weight because he stopped eating and drinking, he had little energy, he hid from me, he really didn't bathe. I combed him for the first time last night in a long time. His right eye hasn't fully recovered...his pupil isn't super reactive, an inner eyelid is partially closed all the time, and the outer eyelid doesn't blink simultaneously with the left. He is, however, eating and drinking and returning to his old self in terms of energy and mischief. The sneezing and snot has significantly decreased from baseline. I want my baby bear back.

On June 1st, I helped Sherry move then I headed to Claremont to go to Maddy's gymnastics recital. I had woken up with a sore throat and was planning on visiting Cora the following day but decided, wisely, to cancel because I developed a sickness over the next few days. Monday night, I felt super crappy but went to bed planning on getting up and going back to work post-vacation. I woke up with a high fever and threw up so I called out. I then moved through every cold and flu symptom out there and even to this day, my tonsils don't feel 100% right. During the day on the 11th, my sore throat came back and my tonsils looked like they were covered in strep. I went to my PCP the following day for a rapid strep test but it was negative. They put me on penicillin for a few days pending the results of a more formal throat culture. Negative. Just random viral crap.

Soooo, June 7th has come and gone. I am no longer in my 20s...and never will be again. I am not a fan, I don't want to get older, and it's ironic that I signed up for a Geriatric Boot Camp that has been taking place on 3 Tuesdays this month. Tomorrow is day 3 which means I return to my 3 days in the OR next week. My actual birthday was nice...I went for a run, got a pedicure, did some shopping, and got free 5 Guys from a coworker I randomly ran into there. That night, I was taken out by Jon, Dayna, Josh, and Lily. We went to Peking for Chinese food and of course scorpion bowls and was joined by Wale, Scuba Steve (lol...), some other friend of his, Karl and Lindsay, and Kantoro. I got pleasantly drunk which made for a very delightful rest of the evening ;)

The day after my birthday, Ashley planned a dinner for me at Stella's in Lyme. A lot of my friends on the list I gave to her couldn't come (no big surprise there) so it was me, Shley, Heather, Brandi, and Kelly. We all hung out at my place for a while beforehand then headed over for a 330 reservation. Ashley put a cover on my seat, a crown on my head, and made picture place settings for everyone. Oh, and she wrote on my car windows for the trek over. I got flowers and we had a bottle of champagne courtesy of Mamacita and Mike. I think the best part was the birthday cake made by the restaurant...one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had. Kelly went home and the rest of us went back to my place to hang out. Shortly after, we were joined by Jeff and JD. My boyfriend brought beautiful flowers and a really sweet card and Jeff brought a little gift of his own. All in all, it was a fun night. Brandi went back home after a filling breakfast at the Fort and I began getting back to reality. I did end up taking a little nap and going to Ctown to watch Kendall play Ursula in The Little Mermaid at Stevens. I'm still not a fan of being 30.

Faith graduated from high school on the 15th...speaking of feeling old. I documented the event (please refer to the album on facebook) with my brand new DLSR camera...a purchase (I forgot to mention earlier) I made right after I left Xander behind for his little procedure. I had been thinking about getting a nice camera for a while. Our trip to California is booked and we will be there July 21st for a week. We are planning on lots of stuff but I will wait until my next entry to elaborate :) The following day, Father's Day, I did Skip's Run in Lebanon for the first time. It was fun, but frustrating, because I had to stop twice due to painful stomach cramps. My time was 39:20...I wanted to keep it under 40 minutes but it would have been better if I hadn't stopped. Anyways...moving on. The food after the race was fantastic.

The Bruins gave up two goals last night at home during the very end of game 6 and gave the Stanley Cup to the opposition. I don't follow hockey but I was really hoping the B's would win the Cup to boost morale in Boston following the bombings. Bummer. I don't get that channel so the games I watched during this series was at the boy's house...he's officially moved back in. I was really nervous going there for the first time. And speaking of nervous...he came with me to Dave's birthday dinner at the Baron this past Friday and officially met Dave, Simone, and my mom. Big step. He already met Heather and Jeff at my place for my birthday. I wonder when it'll be my turn...whenever that is I'll be sure to avoid eating during the 24 hours prior to said moment...lol. Ashley had l4-5 fused last Wednesday at APD and according to her surgeon, it was a surgical success. She spent one night and has been home recovering, doing well.

Kendall's graduation party was Saturday up in Pomfret. Good food, good company, good rum punch, but the boy didn't get out of work early enough to join me. I think he's already met his quota of meeting people for the time being. Well, as evidenced by the length of this entry, my life has been slightly more eventful than normal as of late. I'm current, therefore, I will call it quits, especially since I'm tired and hungry. One quick random thought before I sign off...I recently discovered Daft Punk radio on Pandora and I highly recommend it. So fun.

Xander...be my thunder buddy!!!!