Digory's haircut

Unfortunately my dizziness [& headaches] returned Sunday afternoon and I'm back on the couch for a while, sleeping a lot and Drew is real busy working and taking care of me and the house. So, since we aren't all that interesting at the moment I will share something that is always a source of humor in our home... Digory dog. Here are the photos I've promised of the little guy's first haircut since he's been in our family. Clearly it was about time. .. he was starting to run into things.
I wasn't sure I was getting the right dog at the groomer, but he seemed to like me and they told me he was mine. So I took him home and he pouted a great deal that day as you can see in the photo, but he is now quite content to be short haired. It seems to give him an extra excuse to snuggle up on cold.. or not so cold days.

Digory has also decided that he likes my spot on the couch now that he has a fancy new haircut. Maybe my seat is warm. Every single time I get up, he takes my spot. Here is looking especially adorable as a seat-thief.

Drew and I like our slightly hairless dog, but we must admit we are looking forward to the day when he is our scruffy, scraggly, little Diggy again.

K

Updates on our life

To catch you up on our lives here I will say that things are going rather well. Drew is adjusted to his job and can finally access his schedule on his computer at work and will now know ahead of time [couple weeks or so] when he has days off. He also used for the first time that illusive thing called 'vacation' days which was exciting... for our bank account. He was able to use a week of paid comp-time and a couple vacation days to work a week for his last company on a show in Ohio and be paid twice. He was missed by me and Digory. On one of his recent trips he even got to hear Teller from 'Penn & Teller' speak. I didn't realize this was cool until he told me that Teller is the one that never ever ever says a word. Pretty nifty. Maybe Drew will elaborate when he has more time for blogging.
As for me, I have been somewhat officially diagnosed with a chronic illness, but my doctor [who really is great] isn't 100% sure it is chronic, but pretty sure. Good news, my current treatment is working well and for the first time in forever I left the doctors office today with no new prescriptions! So, we will stay with life as is for a couple months and then reevaluate. I have also been getting out of the house more this past month [thanks to the new treatment] and have made a couple of friends in my neighborhood and even started attending a second bible study with some women from our church. I've even driven on a few occasions when I didn't need to get out of the car much.
So there is our update. We are in a busy season. Drew is working hard, but will finally get a weekend Sunday and Monday and I have been doing a lot of reading (scriptures and medical research) when I can and walking Digory.

K

We are nerds

The real title of this post should be I'm a nerd because officially Drew doesn't like this chair. He thinks it is impractical. I suppose part of me agrees that I would be scared I might spill a drink on my books or that I would lean back and hit my head or the fact that this is incredibly heavy & a bit on the expensive side. Beyond that... doesn't it just make the bookworm inside of you drool with desire of how close you could snuggle up to your books? Aaah. The thought just makes me feel like a warm fire and a cozy sweatshirt-blanket have just been put before me. Ooh, some hot chocolate would go well with this fantasy.

K

The Office weigh-in

Did anyone catch the season premiere of the Office? It was pure comic genious. If you missed it, please do yourself a favor and watch it online on NBC.com. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it [or finished all but the last 15 minutes.. Drew, you are really putting a strain on communication in our marriage. please, finish it.] The episode was all about weight loss as an office and essentially that meant adopting a healthy lifestyle, but really the focus was on the pounds. Each person had some 'great' strategies for trying to shed the pounds.
As one of about five women in the US who wants to gain weight I am trying to brainstorm the opposite problem... how to put the pounds on. It's harder than it seems, well at least to do it in a way that is healthy, i.e. not just eating junk food. If anyone has any tips on how to gain weight feel free to pass them along. Otherwise, just don't hate me for asking and watch the Office for a good laugh to forget I even mentioned it.

K

Our Neighbor Skip

Digory and I made a new friend.. well, technically we made two. Skip and his dog Blue. Skip lives down the street and rules the neighborhood from his red truck or preferably from his riding lawn mower, which he frequently rides up and down our busy street. In either vehicle he prefers to be sans shirt and is accompanied by his shepherd mix dog with one blue eye. Blue walks leashed beside the mower proudly and Skip waves at everyone he sees. I wave too if I'm outside. It's a one-man, one-dog parade. He's probably in his sixties, retired and is extremely hospitable, honest, and kind. I have yet to meet his wife, but from the praises he speaks of her I am looking forward to it.

Blue and Digory are officially best friends. Really, while I've tried to get Digs to befriend my friends' dogs he just hasn't quite bonded as quickly to them as he has to Blue. He and Blue are both boys and about the same age and they run and chase each other and just have a grand 'ol time. Some days I walk by Skip's house and he is sitting out front with Blue and Digory drags me across to play. Skip pulls up a chair and we talk about dogs, birds, churches, and of course the neighborhood. Skip really does rule the neighborhood in my opinion because he seems to know everyone and everyone knows him. He's a great resource. I now know the ethnicity of most of my neighbors. I also know that one of my neighbors has a temper and I should be careful of upsetting him. I learned not to pet a certain neighborhood dog because it bit Skip on the hand and there used to be chickens and roosters living across from Skip, but someone complained [not Skip] and they're gone now. Oh, and I also learned that souring milk isn't bad for dogs to drink... Skip had some out for Blue and Digory decided it was his. That was fine except Digory is very furry and food tends to stick around his face. You probably see where I'm going with this...

So, after a lovely visit with Skip yesterday I saw a hummingbird, some swallows, learned a lot, and I left with a tired dog, four very muddy paws, and a very sour smelling dog in desperate need of a bath.

K

Movies!

My latest hobby has been making myself dizzy while doing internet research on POTS. It is loads of fun as long as I don't have to get up afterwards. I may have even found a specialist in North Carolina today, but I have some phone calls to make to see if it is accepting of our insurance. So yippy skippy.

If you feel inclined to watch, this two-part video gives a pretty good description of my current life. If you want to understand me better, this is a short [approx. 10 minute] way to understand more about what I have so much trouble explaining. I didn't make them, but I'm glad "chronicallyKyli" did.

Part 1
Part 2

K

Mystery solved??

Maybe this will be the last 'medical' post for a while and we can get back to posting about more interesting things, like Drew's new job or our cute little dog. But, for now, since I don't want to explain what my doctor said several times over the phone because I am still napping a lot.. here goes. I have POTS. No, they, aren't just on the cool pot rack Drew built me for Christmas last year..

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome plus vestibular migraines. So, I was already being treated for the migraines, which can cause dizziness, but the POTS explains my low blood pressure, fatigue, inability to walk straight, and it also explains the randomness of the episodes. Well, that's the hope at least. I was told I had this a couple years ago, but then told maybe I don't, and once the migraines were treated it seemed a little clearer that I do have it. So I guess that makes me a winner. My prize? A new prescription AND just because I was so patient (pun intented), I also got a prescription for thigh high medical support hose. It is supposed to keep blood from pooling in my legs and help it flow to important places like my brain so I don't pass out. Fun. Feel free to google it yourself or check here for more info on POTS http://www.potsplace.com

I am really thankful that we are starting to get some answers and hopeful that this new treatment for POTS will work better than the last one I tried a couple years ago. My current doctor seems much more educated on POTS and willing to try the latest treatments for it. So, we will just continue to pray that I will be back to normal soon. Then I can stop posting about napping and start writing about looking for a job.

K

Naps

I don't like naps, but I took a two hour one today... a two and a half hour-er yesterday, a three hour-er on Saturday and on Sunday, the one day I think naps are pleasant, I had three. I don't know the duration of each, but I do know that I still am not sure if the US men won that water polo gold medal.
I'm not lazy... I'm just on drugs... prescription drugs to treat migraines. (If you really think I'm lazy & just want to fight or are curious, feel free to read a longer version of the story earlier in this blog labeled 'remembering normal'.) The naps happen to be a bit of an annoying side effect from the medicine I take which seems to help, but overall I've been feeling pretty crummy lately. Hopefully my naps will help me feel better, even if I don't like 'em.

K

We have a cute dog

Ever since I brought him home from the rescue place Digory has been especially attached to me. He likes Katie but he really likes me. If we both call him he comes to me. If she goes outside he wants to stay with me. When I leave he pouts. Now he has made lots of progress since she spends more time with him. He doesn't follow my every foot step around the house any more, not even to the kitchen. But he does follow me to the bathroom. There he sits on the mat by the tub and watches me pee. I still haven't decided how I feel about it. I'm just glad he's not tall enough to drink from the toilet.

D

Growing Veggies

The thing about growing your own veggies is scale. You need to grow enough so they actually make it inside to cook with. I tend to eat them pretty soon after picking (like before I get to the top of the steps). I bet my tomatoes would be great on a sandwich, but I guess I'll never know.

D