Work

Working in the mortgage industry sucks. For 2 weeks have just been sitting at my desk with very little to do. Our company told us that we need not worry, because we deal in only “A” grade paper, but it seems like there is less and less to do everyday. A couple of weeks ago I got into trouble for being on the Internet. When I explained that all of my work was finished, and that I had even taken all of the current classes available; I was told that I should go home with no pay if I ever ran out of work to do again. Thank goodness I have an iPhone. It saves me from compelete boredom, and I can search for a new job.

Dawnapadrewza 2007

Dax and I drove up to Wisconsin last month to celebrate Dawn’s Birthday from the “Dawn and Drew Show” the event was called, “Dawnapadrewza 2007” We arrived a day early to help out with any last minute cleaning and preparations. It was great seeing the farm, and being able to put a true visual with everything that is discussed on the show. We camped out in their back yard, and partied in their barn. We had beautiful weather on the first day and for most of the second day also; after that I think we had about 20 hours of rain and cold weather. Many people including ourselves had to make a trip up to Wal-Mart to purchase something warm to wear. In all, I was so amazed at all the thought, time, and preparation that went into this party. There was so much to do, and so much to drink. We met a bunch of great people and had so much fun. I can’t wait until the next meet-up. Check out all the pictures HERE.

I-Love My I-Phone

I managed to get an I-Phone on the 2^nd day of its release. Dax and I went up to the Apple store, and asked if they had any, and they did! They had about 40 phones still. We were extremely stoked that we did not have to waste any of our time standing in a line the night before. I’m really not sure what I can say about the I-Phone that hasn’t already been said in other blogs. It’s a beautiful phone and I love it!

New MacBook

I’m posting from my first Mac!  Dax picked up a black MacBook and I got a white MacBook.  This is also my first laptop.  I absolutely love it!  There are so many features that are little, but make such a big difference!

The MacBook has a built in camera so here’s one of the picture I took with it.

Halo3 Beta

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Halo 3 Beta. The game has so many more online elements than in Halo 2. Some of the newest things that Bungie has added to the game are; trip mines, grave lifts, and a bubble shield. My favorite had to be the trip mine. You could place the trip mines on your flag or near the bomb while playing a skirmish game; although they are easy to shoot from a distance and get rid of them, people still ran over them. I loved dropping them in the field when the enemy was approaching on a mongoose or warthog for an easy triple or double kill. There’s also a new badge system based on rank points. If you quit a match you lose 2 points. If you lose a match, I think you stay the same. If you win one you get a point towards your rank, and after so many points you can upgrade your badge. I was able to make it up to 100 points. On the last night of the beta I received the Lieutenant badge. Unfortunately but understandably all ranks were erased after the beta. I have a great group of XBL friends from Achievement Junkies and The Adult Gamer, and I can’t wait until Sept 25th, when the game is released so that I can play with them again.

Better News?

My grandmother has been released from the CCU.  They moved her to a normal hospital bed.  The nurses don’t really bother reading through her charts, and they do not seem to be as attentive as  the CCU nurses.  I am extremely disappointed in the are care she is now receiving.  I wish we could take her home.

Still in the Hospital

Not too much has been going on in the past couple of weeks. My grandmother is still in the hospital. Dax and I have been up to visit her almost every night. One day she seems a little better and the next day she isn’t. I just wish she was well enough, so that we could take her home. She doesn’t even look like my grandmother anymore, with all of the tubes, and machines hooked up to her. I often find myself wondering what she may be thinking when she looks at me with a blank stare. I wonder if she is screaming inside her head to get her out of there.

Vasculitis

I just got a call from my mother. The kidney doctor called, and said that he was pretty certain that my grandmother has vasculitis. They wanted my mother’s permission to test some of the fluids from my grandmother’s lungs. The doctor also wanted permission to start treatment which he called plasmapheresis. My understanding is that the treatment is similar or is chemotherapy. According to Web MD the treatment that the doctor was referring to would to be to give her chemotherapeutic drugs (steroids) to suppress the abnormal immune response that that has led to the blood vessel damage. My mother told him to proceed with the test but do not start the treatment until we know for sure. The good news is that Web MD has a section on the, “Outlook for People with Vasculitis.” It says that with treatment and careful follow ups, that people can live a normal life span.

My Grandmother

The doctors do not know what is causing my grandmother to be so ill. They can’t run any test because she is not stable enough. Her kidneys are failing, and her lungs are filling with fluids. When we went to visit the other night, they had her on forced air. Her heart rate was up to 120 to 123. She was struggling so hard to breath. The doctors explained to everyone that it’s like trying to run a marathon for her. She looked terrified. She kept throwing her hands into the air, and then back down as if she had no energy at all. The horrifying scene affected the entire family. I think we all broke down that night. We just didn’t understand how or why this could be happing, and we felt completely helpless. The doctors gave my grandmother some sort of medication to sedate her, and another to paralyze her. They inserted a breathing tube. The next night I went to the hospital she looked more peaceful. She wasn’t struggling to breathe, however they did have to insert a swan ganz heart catheter. The doctors said that she may be able to hear us talking but of course, she would be able to respond or move. I found out later on Friday after my last post, that my grandmother had an episode where she coded for 2 minutes. They were able to bring her back with simple chest compressions.

I called the hospital this morning to check on my grandmother. Her nurse told me that they are trying to take her off of some of the oxygen to see if she can maintain her stats. She also said that they are lowering her blood pressure medication. So far she has been able to keep her blood pressure stable. The chest x-rays are still showing fluid on the lungs. They are going to continue her on the dialysis prism machine until they get her blood pressure back up. They were able to pull some of the fluids out of her body; so that reduced some of her swelling. At this time they had no other plans to run any more test to try to find out where or what is causing this illness

Update

It’s been some time since my last post and I,m going to do my best to get all caught up. I’m currently posting from my blackberry that Dax gave to me, since he purchased a new white pearl. I love this phone! I’m having trouble going back through the paragraphs to get to a particular word, but I’m sure there is away to do it.

Ok, enough of my rambling. Dax and I recently went to see Captured by Robots. Awesome show! J-bot is very energetic and extremely talented. The show is hard to explain, it’s something that you really have too see for yourself.

I sprained my ankle 2 weeks ago. Dax and I were riding our bikes and a big horse fly tried to get me. Instead of letting him just bite me, I tried to waive him away, and ended up falling over. We were pretty far from home too. I almost fainted from the pain and shock. My foot and ankle has turned at least 3 shades of black, blue, and purple.

My grandmother became ill sometime last week. She went to see her doctor. The Doctor made nothing of it, and sent her off with some meds. My mom called me on Saturday morning to let me know that grandma was really sick. She wanted me to come over so that she could go home and freshen up. When I got there my grandmother expressed to me how bad she really felt. Early Sunday morning my dad called me to let me know that she was in the hospital, and it was real bad. Her liver and kidneys were failing. On top of that her heart had also started to have problems, and her lungs kept filling up with fluids. The doctors have been able to stabilize her for the past 2 days, so that’s a good sign. As soon as she becomes more stable they should be able to run some test to see what is causing her illness.

That’s all for now.