Visits, Yard Work, Party Planning and Fenderbenders

Boy, the title to this post just about says it all regarding what's been going on with me lately. Here's a quick rundown, giving some more details!

1) This past weekend I drove to Gladwin and visited my old friend Mary at her home there. She and her baby were down from Hancock (in the UP, where Michigan Tech is) having a huge garage sale and getting their house ready to sell. It was so good to see Mary again, as we had sort of fallen out of touch since before I met Brian. She was having some stuff go on in her personal life, I was busy with law school, and she and Ted moved to Gladwin, so it just sort of happened. We reconnected via Facebook (the only person I've reconnected with on FB that I'm really happy about.) Mary is the same old Mary, in a good way. Still the most bad ass chick I've ever met, even as the mother of a super cute daughter named Elaine. I'm so glad to be back in touch with her.

2) Brian and I remulched the front of the house yesterday. It took 6 yards of mulch and it wasn't quite enough. We'll have to go get a few bags to finish it up, but all in all, it looks really good again. We did it a lot thicker this year than last year, and it is much better that way. Brian worked really hard, much harder than me, and deserves praise (which he got).

3) We've been working hard to get the final details of the party planned out. Tent ordered, drinks planned, plates and stuff mostly purchased. Headcount is mostly complete. Can't wait to see everyone!

4) Today on my way home from seeing Candace and Oliver, I went to Meijer to get groceries on the way home. As I was leaving, I carefully looked around and proceeded to back out of my spot, at the same time a crazy middle aged lady in a Chevy Impala who had passed behind me proceeded to slam on the brakes and back up at about 30 miles an hour to get that spot that's all of 5 feet closer to the store. And you know, in the process, backs right into me. Gee thanks. I probably need a new bumper. It's not that bad, but the way cars are built now, they have to replace the whole damn bumper for a minor injury. Argh! Just trust me when I say that this was not my day. It was sort of a rough morning, for reasons I'll keep private.

More updates later!

Fainting Update!

Miss April specifically asked me and others might be interested, so here's an update on what's up with my fainting.

Basically, I took some tests last Friday, namely a glucose tolerance test and a full thyroid panel. The thyroid panel was actually at my request, just to check it. My TSH is normal, but I've never had the full panel done, and thyroid issues can cause miscarriages and other problems, so for my peace of mind, I asked for it. My doctor is so cool, she had no issue with me asking and added the tests to my lab order. Of course she's cool, she went to Western too! (And she's only 2 years older than I am!).

My test results came in on Tuesday. And the grand verdict is..........There is nothing wrong with me! My sugar was normal and so was the thyroid. Apparently, I just like to faint for no reason. She said at this point, she didn't need to see me, and advised me to make sure I eat regularly (not a problem) and to eat more protein and less sugar (will be a challenge, as sugar is my favorite food group). She said if it happens again, come see her immediately, as there are other, more invasive things she can check me for (like heart stuff, etc). I did have an EKG in the ER, which came out normal. So, I guess, sometimes people just faint.

Also, just thought I'd throw in here that my dog bite bruise is healing well and looks a lot less gross. And I finally fixed my torn pants. But I'm really disappointed the owners of the dog never came to see me after their vacation, like they promised they would. The next time I ride by their house (very cautiously, I might add), if I see them, I'm going to stop and call them out on it.

That's all for now. Bye all!

Stress and Humiliation!

Okay, so most of you have heard this story already, but I'll tell it here in case anybody didn't and want to read the details.

As many of you know, Brian had to be gone for work since last Wednesday. He just got home today. I was by myself last weekend, doing fine, and on Sunday morning, it was totally gorgeous, so I decided to take my first bike ride of the season. I rode north up hacker Road and turned onto some dirt roads to take the route I typically take. I turned north onto Kellogg Road and was planning on riding all the way up to M-59 if I could (that's about 10 miles round trip). Well, I'm enjoying my ride and I came up a certain house I've ridden by every time on this route, probably 50 times (I ride my bike a lot in the summer). These people have horses and the pen is really close to the road, so I always make noises at the horses, and say hi to them, as I ride by. These folks also have dogs--3 of them. One is an old female yellow lab who tries to lick me to death, and the other two are German Wirehaired Pointers that are normally in a pen. I've vaguely noticed them before, they would bark at me, but not threateningly. I never thought the dogs were vicious.

So, last Sunday, I'm riding by the house, and make my normal horse-greeting noises, thinking nothing of it. Well, the two Pointers were NOT in their pen and they came after me as I rode by. They started barking and barking and ran right next to me. I obviously freaked out, and started pedaling harder, hoping they would fall back. They did not, and the female tried to take a chunk out of my leg. When I felt teeth, I started screaming. A woman ran out of the house and screamed at them, and the dogs let go of me, and she put them in their pen. She then starting profusely apologizing, asking me if I was okay, if I wanted her to call the police, etc. I looked down at my pants and they were ripped in 3 places. I lifted my pant leg, and my leg was bruised to hell and the skin had been broken, but not badly.

Anyway, the owners are out of town, and the woman that helped me was the housesitter. I decided she didn't need to call the cops, as I wasn't injured that seriously. And she was able to provide me immediate proof that the dogs were vaccinated. So, I let it go at that (the owners have called me and are going to visit the house when they get back from vacation).

Later, I had plans to go to dinner with a friend at the Olive Garden on Novi Road. We met at 6:30 and had a very nice dinner and had hung out about 2 hours at that point when she was going to order dessert. All of a sudden, I felt very very hot, and she told me to go get some air. At that point, I knew I couldn't, I would fall down trying to get outside. The next thing I know, I'm passed out in my chair. I'm not sure if I actually ever totally lost consciousness, because I was somewhat aware of what was going on around me, and could be somewhat responsive at times. But, to me, it felt like about a minute or two, but my friend tells me I was out of it 5 or 10 minutes. By the time I came to, the ambulance crew was getting there. It was so embarrassing to be taken out of the freaking Olive Garden on a stretcher. The EMTs insisted, even though by that point, I pretty much felt fine. Also, I scared a whole table full of children.

So, they took me to the ER at Providence Park about 3 miles away. Of course, the EMTs and all the ER staff had to ask me my medical history, so I had to get into my history of miscarriages, etc. Then, they would ask me if I was pregnant, and I'd say no, and tell them exactly how I knew that. I had to repeat all this about 5 times. They then started talking about blood clots, and I had to explain the MTHFR thing 5 times and no one had ever heard of it, and I think they thought I was nuts. So, the blood clot test they ran came back slightly elevated, so they had to check me for a pulmonary embolism. I had a CT scan of my chest, which came up totally normal. I finally got to go home after 3 and half hours. They didn't really find much, and recommended I follow up with my family doctor. I am, and am having some more testing tomorrow. Hopefully, they find something so I can prevent this from happening again. That was the most embarrassing thing to happen to me ever.