Time Keeps on Slipping ...

away from me, apparently.  Aye!  What a week ~ another crazy busy one, it seems.  Every time I had good intentions on sitting down to post a blog update, something came up.  However, I'm at "lunch" now, so I figured it's as good a time as any to get caught up.

ENT Update:

I had my sinus "surgery" in the office last Tuesday.  Not an experience I care to repeat.  The actual procedure (revising scar tissue and removing polyps from my frontal sinuses) wasn't terrible in and of itself because I was numb from my eyes to my teeth, but the process of a) getting numb from my eyes to my teeth and b) recovering AFTER being numb from my eyes to my teeth was not so thrilling.

(If you don't want to read all the juicy details, skip the next few paragraphs)

After getting settled in the chair of torture exam chair, things got underway by spraying lidocaine up my nose. Next, a squirt of pentacaine in both nares. Step 3 involved taking a piece of cotton drenched in pentacaine and shoving it way, way, way up my left nostril (up to the frontal sinuses).  After marinating for about five minutes, the fun really started.  If you call fun having a 3-inch needle filled with lidocaine poked up your nose and said lidocaine being squirted into your frontal nasal cavities.

Have you ever noticed the similarity between all things ENT and medieval torture devices?  I have.

To give my ENT full credit, my sinuses were completely numb.  There was no "pain" involved while he was digging around in my frontal sinuses.  I could feel pressure and hear the scrape, scrape, scraping sounds of instruments inside my head.  It was definitely a mind game.  As long as I could keep my mental hamster wheel spinning and not focus on the aforementioned, I could keep myself from crawling over the back of the chair.

The total time (from numb to done) was about 45 minutes.  Not that I relish the thought of ever doing it again, but for future reference, it is possible.

And although I could have driven myself home, I was glad that my dad (thanks, Dad!) picked me up and dropped me off.  Once home, especially after the -Caine sisters started wearing off, my head was ready to implode.  Thanks be to Tylenol, my bed, and some kitteh love, I survived the rest of the day.

I did return to work on Wednesday (although I can't honestly say I accomplished much) and was pretty much back to normal on Thursday with only a lingering headache and some sinus pain.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I go back for my one week post-op exam.  Stay tuned for more.

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On Wednesday night I enjoyed my weekly dinner with the fam.  We changed things up this week by having Mexican and it was fabulous!

Thursday night was our first CFF Young Professionals meeting.  I think (I hope!) this is going to be a very interesting group to be involved in.  Although this week's gathering (dinner and drinks) was more of a "meet and greet" rather than an actual meeting, I think the group has the potential to do some great things.  At our first meeting we had two adult CF patients (myself and a 39 year old fibro), two CF spouses, one CF aunt, and several other people who know or have known somebody with CF and are inspired to help.  I know not everybody could be at our first meeting, so I'm looking forward to seeing who attends the next meeting.

This weekend went by FAR to fast (don't they always?).  My super amazing hair stylist called me and I was able to get my hair done ... no major changes this time, although I did change the light silvery-blue from before to an indigo blue.  I was planning on going next Saturday, but it was nice to be able to get it done early.

I also had an appointment at Best Buy to get my new iPod adapter installed in my car.  This is an after market piece that is hardwired to play your iPod through the radio without using an FM transmitter.  LOVE.  Even if the installation took twice as long as it should have (a very long 3.5 hours).  

But it was worth it ... no more heinous FM transmitter!!!  No lie, I have been through at least five FM transmitters and not a single one would play my iPod without horrible static or interference.  The nice thing about this particular transmitter is that it is completely transferable - if (or rather, when) I sell my car, I can have it removed and installed in my new vehicle.

On Saturday night my family and I celebrated our birthday extravaganza (this celebration was for Alex [22], myself [32], Cheryl [52], and my grandmother [29]) at Bonefish Grill.  Excellent food.  Excellent fun.  As always.

And last, but certainly not least, on Sunday we went to the season finale of the Birmingham Broadway Series to see The Wizard of Oz.

Fantastic performance!  I can't wait to find out what will be here for the 2010 - 2011 season.  In July, you'll find me at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta enjoying this:

Obsessed?  It's only my eighth (ninth?) show.  I'm far from obsessed.

And in November (hopefully), you will find me under the lights of Broadway:

and

Weekend Update

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this week has gone by. I've finished up my first full week back at work and things have definitely been busy in the Compliance world. Fortunately I'm not doing any testing right now and I'm back to work writing and re-writing responses to the Federal Reserve and State Banking Dept. This week I had a case where a guy was asking us to try to find accounts that he had TWENTY-TWO years ago that were held with a bank that has since merged four times (most recently when State National and Compass came together in 2008). I also got to work on my first complaint dealing with Reg H (Flood).

This looks to be a fun, but busy, weekend. Last night Katey and I had dinner at The Melting Pot in Birmingham. It was the first time for both of us and it was really good. I think we had the "Signature for Two" meal which basically gave us a combo plate of chicken, teriyaki steak, filet mignon, white shrimp and tuna. Everything was really good except the tuna ... I don't think I was cooking it right because I just wasn't impressed. The mushroom caps with a cream cheese sauce were to die for! Both the cheese fondue and salad that I had were really, really good. I even went so far as to dip a (small) piece of Granny Smith apple in the cheese fondue and try it. Can't say much for the apple, but cheese makes everything taste better. =)

After dinner last night, I met up with Angela and Julie at Black Market Bar for a few drinks. Seriously, this place has the frostiest beers I have ever seen in my life and they were tres excellent, given how hot and muggy (it was still in the 90's) when I got there after nine. My highlight of the night was Angela's "lighter-on-a-leash."

I plan on hanging around the house most of today and then tonight I'll be meeting up with several of my friends in Alabaster to have dinner and then see Pride & Prejudice at South City Theatre. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I think I'm going to the Pancake House in 5 Points with Dad tomorrow morning and then Angela, Julie, Katey and I are going to enjoy the afternoon at the pool. Tomorrow night is still up in the air, I am trying to find out if we are doing something over at ND and Papa's house. Either way, there is so much going on this weekend that I am afraid it is going to go by far to fast!

Katey and I are also trying to concoct a plan so that we can fly to San Francisco and participate in the CFRI CF Conference. This year's conference is titled "The Power of New Possibilities: Growing Stronger and Living Longer with cystic fibrosis." One of our doctors is presenting and there are several sessions that look interesting. And I've never been to San Fran, so this would be a chance to see a new place. It's all going to hinge on whether or not I can get a couple of (unpaid) days off at the end of July. We shall see! I am really excited about the opportunity and have my fingers crossed that everything will work out.

Whew! This has turned into the little update that could. Sorry that it is so long and if you've made it this far, then CONGRATS.

Laters ~

Week in Review

What a weekend! I truly didn't get much accomplished after our late Friday night, especially since I think I've got the beginnings of another cold. I don't usually complain about my sinuses too much, but this weekend they were particularly awful. I have a clinic appointment on Thursday, so *fingers crossed* that this will have cleared up by then.

My friend, Katey, had a rough weekend. She's feeling a little better now, but please keep her in your thoughts.

Other than that, last week was just another week. I did get in my three days of walking, but I've been a lazy Brandi since Thursday. I also really need to do some strength training, as I've put that off. I would say my excuse was studying, but I haven't really done much of that either. I slept ... A LOT!!!

The bedroom is at a stand still. It was supposed to have been done this weekend, but my contractor said that he had another emergency in Florida which prevented him from working since last Wednesday. I just have my fingers crossed that we can finish up this weekend.

The big day is Saturday. Please send those smart vibes my way ... I will need all that I can get!

Weekend Wrapup

Just a quick post to update my exercise journal. I walked on the treadmill three times this week, for 30 minutes each. The first day I did a manual program, just to kind of get used to the new treadmill. The second two sessions, I successfully (almost!) completed Program 2. The only part of the program that I have difficulty with is when the speed jumps up to 4.0 mph. So far, I have only managed a slow run @ 4.0 for one minute each time. I did bump up the O2 to 4L/per minute, just to keep my oxygen levels in the low-mid 90's (89 - 94). I feel like I was able to work harder and wasn't quite so tired at the end. Of course, doing a Ventolin aerosol right before I worked out helped too!

On Saturday, I also added some strength training exercises to my routine. I completed two sets of crunches, wall push-ups, forward lunges, lying leg lifts, isometric shoulder work, and modified planks. My goal is to work back up to going an hour or more of yoga at least twice a week.

I also got about three hours of study time in Saturday afternoon. My grandfather helped me out with a few of the math problems that I repeatedly get stuck on (usually those with geometry), but unfortunately the section that I worked on yesterday didn't have a lot of geometry in it. But, we worked through about twenty or thirty other math problems. One thing I noticed is that we tended to try and make things harder than they actually were. The hardest thing about the GRE math questions is the phrasing. And I've discovered that I. HATE. QUANT COMP. PROBLEMS. Quant Comp = Quantitative Computations, for those of you not in the ETS know.

That's all folks. Catch ya on the flip side. Katey - glad you are out of the hospital!!!