A rough end to 2011

Well I had a rough end to 2011 and have been dealing with some health issues.
In November I was diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma on my right cheek. Skin cancer? At 36? Really? Could I have any more worse luck. Wasn't enough to have pre-melanoma 5 years ago?
Being blonde haired, blue eyed and fair skinned is the pits sometimes. I have no idea what Hilter was thinking when he was saying that this is the perfect race. It has given me nothing but trouble. I burn so easily in the sun, my eyes water when its bright outside and my skin is also super sensitive to everything!
The spot on my face started out as nothing super spectacular. It looked like a pimple that wouldn't pop or go away (this spot has been there for a number of years now). Earlier in 2011, it changed shape a little and I headed to the dermatologist to get it checked out. He thought it looked like a cyst and was treating with freezing it. It would burn when he did it, scab over and then not change. After 2 freezing and no results, it was biopsied. My derm was skepitcal that it was anything serious, so it made me feel better and I didn't worry about it. After a week not hearing anything, I forgot about the test results. Surprise...I was called to come in. It was Skin Cancer...and my derm couldn't do anything about it in his office and refered me to another Dr.
Dr. Stiff was awesome. He is also a dermatologist, but couldn't get me in until early december. So on December 3rd, the misery began. I had to have MOHS surgery on my face. Its a local anestethic, with old fashioned lidocaine and a scapel, the only difference is, the derm is trained to look at the tissue under a microscope and decide if more skin needs to be taken in order to get all of the cancer. The surgery went well and I had a huge hole in my face.

Unexpected

Well I recently found out that I had Skin Cancer. I have had a spot on my cheek for about 5 years. It started out as just a small spot, similar to a pimple that wouldn't pop. I saw my dermatologist and thought it was a cyst and he lanced it and I was on my way. It never went away, but it wasn't something that seemed to be so obvious or even that noticeable, so I let it be. In the past year, it seemed to change. It got larger and seemed to turn inward and develop a perfect circular ring around it. I went to my dermatologist again, he thought it looked suspicious and starting freezing the area. It would scab over and peel off, still nothing. In November this year, he took a biopsy of the area, the result: basal cell carcinoma. I panicked. He told me this wasn't something he could do in his office and referred me to Dr. Stiff. Dr. Stiff is a Mohs trained dermatologist. Mohs surgery is basically microscopic surgery. They removed the area with a scapel and review it under a microscope to see if they got all of the cells. If they didn't they go back in and take more and more again if they need to. He was a great Doctor, but unfortunately, I am now left with a Large hole (or crater) in my cheek. But the good news is I am now Basal Cell Carcinoma free. yay!

Over the a store

In my 20's, I always thought that it would be super fun to live in small downtown area and live above a store. As I am getting older, I can't even imagine what it would be like now. Where to park? Where to take out the animal? The noise? Omg, I am turning into such an old lady!

My $1000 dogs

After a lovely brunch outing on Sunday, my husband and I came home to something messy. The day before, we had just purchased some mouse poison to help us get rid of the mice that messing up my lower kitchen cupboards! Since our 2 cats have gotten lazy and decided to hideout upstairs we needed to do something.
Well to make a long story short. The little dog, Stewie is the "bad" one and I am sure he is the that got into the poison. He tore the box open with his little teeth and got out the cellophane wrapped block of poison. And I assume my older bigger dog Bella, who is the "piggy", saw that Stewie had something to eat and swooped in and ate the rest of it.
I saw the ripped package and little bits of the green colored poison on the carpet and I panicked a bit. They were both acting normally and we let them outside. I immediately got online and looked up the Tomcat company (the maker of the poison) and called them. They have a poison control. They stated that this is neurological poison and there is now Vitamin K antidote for it and that I needed to take them to the Vet. I first needed to find out which one ate the poison, of if they both did. I had to induce vomiting....that should be its own blog. 1 Tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide for Stewie and 3 for Bella. Not an easy feat I tell you. Within 10 minutes Stewie puked up "green" vomit. He ate the poison...as I suspected. Bella on the other hand took the peroxide like a champ and got super squirrelly. It took her a good 20 to 25 minutes to puke. Eww...lots of puke and it was bright green! So they both ate it.
Off to the emergency vet we go.
Upon arrival the 24 hour vet is gorgeous, nicer than most doctor's office's than I ever been in. We fill out the forms and wait to see the Dr. They individually take both dogs into the back and get "vitals" on them, which are normal. It was explained to us that they both had some hypersensitivity and dilated pupils. But both symptoms can be explained by the dogs being in a strange place. The Dr. explained the protocol for dogs eating this type of poison and it requires 3 doses of activated charcoal for each dog and 24 hours of monitoring for any signs and symptoms of any neurological changes, because this particular poison has no antidote. Feeling guilty and nervous, we agree. The vet techs bring in a "quote" for treatment and it was a whooping $1475 and that was the low end. The upper end was double that, and that was dependent on how the dogs were doing and if they required CPR or any IV fluids. We had to decided if we even wanted our dogs to have resuscitation? My thought was seriously? This is a dog were are talking about. We agreed to check "yes" though as these doggies are like my babies. A 75% down payment was required to even keep the dogs. Ouch! I was willing to put it on a credit card, but Dave said we should just pay for it with our savings. Bye Bye, wedding money. Thanks for the wedding gifts everyone...we just spent it on a ER visit for our dogs! Ugh!
The next day I received multiple calls from the Vet and other vets in the area. A different doctor stated that they did some more research with the ASPCA and they think that it would Be advisable to keep Stewie for another day just for monitoring and 3 more doses of activated charcoal. My heart and my pocketbook sank...I can't afford this. I called multiple vets in the area to see if they would be willing to do the activated charcoal treatment for Stewie and the one across the street agreed, but also explained how to do it and was willing to do the treatments if I had a problem. So I worried about my babies all day and explained my situation to my co-workers and my "boss" that day let me go home early to deal with my situation. o I was anxious and worried about the dogs and picked them up as soon as i could. When I arrived I had another surprise...an additional $400 charge. Shit! I paid it and got them out of there. Maybe with my $1845 they can buy a fish tank for their office!
I brought them both home excited...to have them back. They seemed just like they normally are. Stewie was a little more high strung than normal, but I think he just missed us. Bella too was a little clingy too. She was up on her hind legs trying to "hug" Dave when he got home from work. I called in off of work for Tuesday to be able to "monitor" the dogs and to give Stewie his medicine.
I am happy to report, they are both doing well and we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary from either animal. What an expensive lesson!

A $6500 wedding!

Well I had a budget and I did some research and more research and more research, to come up with some ideas on my upcoming wedding.
I have been creative and cut some corners in order to come under budget, but a $6500 wedding for 120 guests is possible. 2 weeks to go and I'll post the final details!
I hope my wedding centerpieces will bloom by the time the wedding gets here! Think sunshine! FYI...i am growing dwarf sunflowers.

Just say no to Bridezilla

If there was one thing that I learned from having being married before, it's being a Bridezilla is not worth it. I wasn't really a bridezilla in my 1st wedding planning trip, but I am really determined to not be one this time either.
Every little detail is not important and doesn't require a lot of stressing over. The only thing that i have been having a hard time is choosing a reception site. I don't want to be a cheap ass, but I also know that spending a lot of money is totally not worth it. Its a wedding, our wedding, not the party of the century. It should represent the people that we are. If we had a backyard large enough, we'd have a BBQ, that's the type of people we are, laidback/carefree. The only thing that is 100% and booked is the wedding chapel itself...so we are definitely getting married, but the reception is still up in the air.

Hush your mouth

Well this weekend at work was interesting. It was crazy busy. I have realized that I work WAY too hard at the nursing home compared to the work that I do at the hospital.
The worst part of my weekend was when I co-worker asked me "are you expecting?". Expecting what?, lol a baby. Geez, thanks, I know I have put on some weight, but seriously? Maybe its the wake up call that I need. Time to get my fat ass back to the gym...unless she is clairvoyant and knows something that I don't know.