Alas, poor Pluto....

or... And then there were 8 (planets, that is)

My first impression was the use of mnemonics to remember the previous 9:

• Men Very Easily Make Jugs Serve Useful Nocturnal Purpose
• My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
• My Very Easy Method-Just Set Up Nine Planets
• Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights Praying
• Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights, Period.
• My Very Energetic Mother Just Sat Upon (the) North Pole
• My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Porcupines
• My very educated mother just sent us nine pickles.
• My very educated mother just served us nine peas.
• My very excellent memory just served up nine planets.
• Man very early made jars stand up nearly perpendicular.

(thanks, to Amanda for this list!)

Poor kids, missing out on that pizza! Can't wait to see what the new mnemonics will be!

Wednesday, already?

We've been so busy lately! Work is incredibly hectic as usual, and it feels like we're about 5 steps away from utter chaos. But it's nice to be appreciated and it's nice to keep busy.

We're helping Jodi with a rummage sale this weekend (go away, rain!), but we haven't yet begun hauling our items to the garage yet! Thankfully it's going to be held at Jodi's house. (whew!)

Joe's busy with work, finishing up a few projects, and planning the "Bachelor Party of the Year". Egads. I'm opting for the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I really don't think I will want to know what's going to happen during the 3 day festival!

Maddy is busy growing up quickly. She's definitely behaving as a 2-going-on-3 year old, and vacillates between "I can do it" and "Mommy/Daddy, you do it!". Parenthood is NOT for the weak of heart/stomach/head/patience!

just breath....

Surgery has been scheduled. October 5th. 48 days. The waiting begins.

The decision

The date hasn't been set yet, but we are going through with the surgery to transpose the ulna nerve being compressed by the scar tissue. It's probably going to be early October so hopefully I've healed a bit healed by the holidays. I feel pretty, well, ok. As well as I can be, I suppose.

I'm glad I can do something about the discomfort, the pain, the lack of full recovery from the original injury. I'm freaked out about the prospect of surgery. I only have been "under" twice that I remember: once in the dentist's chair getting stubborn teeth out and once only a few years ago when I had my tonsils taken out. I'm frustrated that I feel like I'm going back to square one as I recuperate from the surgery (no lifting for 6-8 weeks). Therapy won't be fun, but I've been there before in April, so I kind of know what to expect.

I'm ok. I know it's temporary and I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Worries - part 3

My friend Jodi has introduced me to Reiki. I'm not a novice to trying alternative medicine. I've studied yoga in the past and hope to in the future after my arm heals. I've had acupuncture done, which was amazing. I believe in the power of the mind and the power of meditation (though I've never seriously practiced meditation).

I've heard of Reiki, but figured it hokie. . No one could give me proof that Reiki worked. But when one is not feeling 100%, you tend to try almost anything to feel better. So I invited Jodi to show me what she knows. Last week, she practiced on me.

I'm not sure I can describe the pure bliss I enjoyed when she practiced on me. I'm not sure what happened, but whatever it was, I've been contemplating upon it since then. In my research of Reiki and Reiki practice, I have decided to attempt to live by this famous quote by Dr. Mikao Usui, the originator of Reiki as it is today. Many of you might now it.

Just for today, do not worry.
Just for today, do not anger.
Honor your parents, teachers and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to everything.

                   Dr. Mikao Usui

Maybe it will help me stop becoming such a chronic worrier. Couldn't hurt!

Worries - part 2

Maddy isn't feeling well. For the first time in a very long time, she has a pretty nasty productive cough. She's clingy, which she rarely is, and she's just feeling punky. *sigh* All I would like to do today is crawl into bed with her and comfort her. But alas, she doesn't have a fever, she's in a fairly decent mood despite it, and I have to save up my personal days at work for if/when I have surgery. They never taught me how to handle these feelings in parenting school.

Worries - part 1

Everytime I hear about some sort of airplane disaster, my very first thought is "Where is Dad?!". No different this morning. Especially this morning.

As my sisters and I were growing up, my father traveled internationally for business. I got used to figuring out the planet Earth by following my father's travels around the globe. When the PanAm flight was bombed in Lockerbie , Scotland, we were living in Skipton. My father flew often between England and the US.

I keep forgetting that though my father travels, he doesn't travel internationally much anymore. But I'll always worry.

Diagnosis

In regards to my elbow...I have nerve compression/entrapment of the ulna nerve at the elbow. It's probably scar tissue from the fracture in February.

Option 1: Wait and see if it gets better.
Option 2: Surgically decompress the nerve and possibly move the nerve to another place. (link is really a good link to UCLA's Neurosurgery Center).

Neither sounds fun. I've been pretty good about limiting the activities. I use the mouse at my computer with my left hand again. I conduct the band with my left hand (that was weird). I rinse dishes, weed, drive, hold the phone to my ear, etc. with my left hand. I still do all the fun nerve glides. I'm not overdoing it, but I'm definitely not exercising it. But rest alone MIGHT help.

But surgery might work. It would release it from the scar tissue, and the re-routing of the nerve to inside the forearm would decrease the tension. It would mean possible time off. It would mean trying to figure out a good time for surgery. It would mean going back to square one. But it also MIGHT help.

So there you have it. I asked my ortho-surgeon what he would do. He said he didn't know. Great. Joe and I meet with him on the 14th to discuss details, options, etc.

Bottomline, I just want to be feel healthy again. I want to play cello again. I want to be able to not wince when Maddy wants me to hold her. I want to be able to not have to gauge my activities, hoping that I have enough strength to make it through the day.

9/11 : The NORAD tapes

With yet another anniversary of 9/11 around the corner, I continue to be astounded by the horror of that day. We were way out of harms way, in Ashland WI, on the southern shore of Lake Superior, and yet I watched CNN with terror that WWIII were starting. I couldn't read all of this feature in Vanity Fair. com without feeling the horror or crying a bit for innocence lost, but I link this because it is well written and thought-provoking. I wonder if we are any wiser, any smarter, any more ready to deal with such a threat today. Somehow, I doubt it.

Our HOT Weekend

The three pirates! ARGHHH

Feeding the ducks!

The Tall Ships came to Green Bay!

Phew

I'm exhausted! Bullets of possible reasons why:

• It's 86 outside.
• It FEELS like 96 outside already.
  
• It's already 78 in my office, where I'm currently housing the printer, and there is NO ventilation cuz they are fixing the air ducts. (reminder to self....find a fan!)
  
• I'm still recuperating from the whirlwind that was our weekend with Haddy and William who came up to Green Bay to visit whilst Mom and Dad had a weekend in Chicago.
• I slept like crap cuz my "sweet little kitty" D'Argo decided that I needed to wake up to watch the birds with him. GRRRR

Thankfully we installed a new furnace and AC in March, so the house is a wonderful relief; the Jetta's AC was fixed, so Joe doesn't melt on his way to work; and we have not only our neighborhood pool to cool off in after work, but we have our little cute pool to cool off in!

Another reason to love Wisconsin....

Or maybe it's just that we are just "average"...

CNN's story "The most 'representative' state: Wisconsin" is another reason why Wisconsin shouldn't be considered solely a "fly-over land".

Looking for a state that is a microcosm of the whole country? You won't find it in Iowa or New Hampshire -- there are 25 states that come closer to average statewide measures on important characteristics such as race and income. ..... The Badger State comes closer than any other to state-by-state averages on 12 key measures, according to a new analysis by CNN Polling Director Keating Holland that takes a fresh look at U.S. Census data.

Freaking out

I've freaked out before. Like when I was in labor with Maddy, 36 hours cumulatively (thank you very much) with back labor and a fever, and was pushing for 2 hours. I freaked out. I was so sure there was never going to be an end.

Yesterday was different.

It wasn't like I hadn't had an MRI before. I don't remember whyI needed to have one, but it was right after Maddy was born. I did have meds to help me relax, and I was on my back - eyes closed, headphones on, listening to music. It wasn't horrible.

Yesterday was different.

I didn't have any time to really mentally prepare. I didn't have any meds to help me relax. I didn't think I needed them to have a scan of my elbow! And I wasn't on my back. I was as Superman - on my belly, right arm in a coil tube in front of me, head on a pillow to the left. Ok, it doesn't sound that bad, except my right arm doesn't easily extend out in front of me, the space inside the MRI machine was TINY TINY TINY and it was all I could do to find fresh air that was pumped inside the chamber. AND I couldn't have headphones on cuz they didn't fit inside the tube. So I had earplugs in, slightly dampening the noise of the monster machine.

I was told it was going to be about 40 minutes for the MRI to take the requisite scans. Ok. I told myself to start breathing slowly as I was inched into the space. I've studied yoga, practiced meditation, did lamaze, so I knew it was all mind over matter. I knew I could do it.

The machine started up the series of scans. Dear Barbara, the radiologist, let me know when each series started and for how long they were going to be. It was easy at first - one minute, 3 minutes, 2 1/2 minutes. Ok, I thought, not easy, in a bit of pain from the upper back to my finger tips, my head is not comfortable, and I'm face down into a pillow, trying to find a space to breath, but I'm ok. I was actually starting to enjoy myself, listening to the hums, the clicks, the whistles of the machine, finding the rhythm, enjoying the harmonics as they ascended and descended strange machine-made scales.

And then I freaked out. It happened during the longest of the series, a mere 6 minute scan. The wonderful rhythms and clicks changed drastically into a blanket of sound. I knew I was starting to lose it. I started to breath slowly, thinking to myself that it everything was alright, this set was about to end. Except it didn't end and I slowly found myself go crazy. I started crying silently, hoping for some miracle. And then it ended. Barbara asked if I was ok, and this time I said no. She and the nurse Dawn pulled me out for a breather. I was so amazed that I freaked out so, but Barbara and Dawn calmed me down, gave me some water and tissue or 3.

Dawn stayed in the room with me, at my side, touching my leg lightly. The power of touch grounded me and I finished with the next four scans.

So I freaked out. As I was laying in bed, trying to go to sleep, I had to push away that awful feeling in my head. It haunted me. I never want to do that again.

Now is the waiting game to hear from my doc to see about next steps. *sigh* I really don't want to go back to square one, but this pain is horrible. If they can do something about it now when I'm (relatively) young, then do it.

ZAP

The kind Dr. W*** made me feel as comfortable as I could with electrodes and needles zapping my forearm and hand. I felt like Dr. Frankenstein's monster as my arm jumped wildly after a jolt, though I willed it to stay still. Haven't talked with the ortho doc yet, but I am bracing myself for the possibility of going back to square one. There does seem to be something blocking the ulna nerve at the elbow, where I broke it in February. Have my MRI tonight to see what the ligament looks like.

Feeling kind of...

....apprehensive. Getting the nerve conduction test done tomorrow to see if I still have a healthy ulna nerve. MRI on Tuesday to see if I still have a healthy ligament. Wish me luck please!

What a week....

Although my high school grades say otherwise, I appreciate science, math, and get engrossed by television shows about quantum physics and quantum mechanics. I don't understand any of it, but I appreciate it.

"W" has had a busy week ... groping Chancellor Merkel, encouraging the escalation of events in Israel and Lebanon, and now, using his veto power for the first time.

Annie, Katie and Ann at inkycircus.com (life in a girl nerd world) is a great science blog for women. Their recent blog about "W" says it well:

But the thing is that scientists do think. They are not evil geniuses, they are smart, curious, well-trained people trying to give you and me a better life. Cutting off their funding at source doesn't help them to see the error of their ways. It limits their power to change things, and to find cures and solutions and treatments. And it makes people like me a little pissed off. more....

Indeed it does...

some garden pictures!

(For more pictures, check my flickr account!)

Daisies! I love daisies!













Do you see the spaghetti squash?

















The monstrosity that is our vegetable garden in July!

The ocean's depths

Anytime a tv show airs about the ocean's depths, I can't help but watch. I love watching humans witnessing the discovery of yet another species. The best part of our honeymoon in Negril, Jamaica, was participating in the scuba dive to 30'.

I just stumbled upon this link for the Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology" (SERPENT) project. There appears to be an Underwater Image Competition 2006. These pictures on the shortlist for 5 categories are absolutely beautiful! At first, I thought this particular image was fake.

Enjoy!

Summer reading

So far this summer, I've read:

• Anita Shreve's "The Pilot's Wife" (Well written - great story - reminded me of Desperate Housewives and Lost (he had a double life?!))
  
• Ann-Marie Macdonald's "Fall on Your Knees" (As beautifully written as it was disturbing)
  
• Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series (again) (My yearly fix of this amazing graphic novel. One of a few books I continually re-read over. So many layers, themes, characters!)
  

Currently, I just started Lisa Gardner's "The Other Daughter" and I get to go pick up from ILL tonight a long awaited "Y: The Last Man".

PHEW

• After two days in Madison and two days at the cottage, I'm POOPED! Maddy got a cold which thankfully lasted only 2 days with the ucky green nose goo, but is none-the-less chipper as usual!
• I'm back at work, busy trying to figure out what I was on my list of things to do a week ago, when I was last in the office! EEK! :)
• Heard about the asteroid that just missed Earth! Oh my! That was a bit close, huh?
  
• I'm anxiously patiently waiting next Friday when I can talk with the ortho surgeon about what next for the arm.