Another Great Weekend

My aunt is visiting my folks, so J and I drove up to see them. We had a great time. When we got there we all went for a trail ride on the new trails Mom just finished, and Dad took us on a little hayride around the lake. That night Aunt J. taught us play pinochle, we had so much fun. Friday we went up to the Salmon La Sac area and did a little hike toward Hyas Lake. The fields were just full of wildflowers and the weather was perfect. We took a few pictures... of course, so here they are. J and I also went fishing at the ranch and each caught a couple little trout. It was just an awesome weekend for us and seeing my Aunt (who is just so much fun) was beyond great.

Blood Work, Electromyography, and Nerve Conduction Studies! OH MY!

Thursday was a day like no other... thank goodness! Two words: electrodiagnostic testing. Lets just say I was not psyched going into it, in fact I had been trying to block it out so completely that I did not even look to see what time my appointment was at until the day before. As a kid growing up with horses and cows, I did not relish the thought of going in for a test that they told me would feel just like touching an hot wire fence, I already knew all too well what that felt like and did not need a reminder! The second part however I was dreading even more. "Why?" you might ask? (I shudder to even think as I type it now) NEEDLES. AAAhhh. First I think I must back track however so that you all can have a little laugh at my silliness. And I do now think the whole thing is funny. So I get to the office and check in and am finally taken back to one of the room where the doctor's assistant says, "So you have carpal tunnel huh?" Was he joking? I looked at him a moment a little confused and said, "Nnooo." He says, "Ankle problem?" Is this a joke, hadn't I been in before and gone through all of this? Stare... "Nnooo." A little more confused and not quite so lightly he asks, "You don't have numbness or tingling across your shoulders?" Seriously now, "Um, NO." I actually think that at that point he figured I was messing with HIM. He said, "Well this can't be right, (NO KIDDING!) You are Mrs. B aren't you?" "Yes I am, you must have the wrong papers." His reply, "Oh, I don't think so......... I will be right back!" I RAN out of there screaming!

OK, no I didn't, but I did turn to Jason (The darling was there at my side, of course, through the whole thing) in utter shock and we had a silent laugh in sheer disbelief. Seriously glad this came up BEFORE the procedures. He comes back in with the Dr. and they have the right file this time and precede to tell me that I need to go do blood work right then.

This does not bode well.

I go down stairs to the lab to check in and the lady at the desk asks what labs I want done. "None" I told her and walked out.

OK, no I didn't... tempting. "I am not sure, he said he would send the info down to you." "Well there is a lot here, do you know what you need done?" Yeah, why is she asking me this? I told her I was not sure, and after a few hums, ha's and questions I suggested she call the Dr. "I think I will do that" she says. Now I am real nervous, you know, with all these competent people working on me. I figure to read a little in the book I brought along to quiet my sense of complete doom. I am reading the Twilight series again before the last book comes out. (AUGUST 2ND!) I thought "Great, if ever there was a book that could distract me this would be it." Little problem... It is a book about vampires... and I was at the worst spot possible. So much for that. Finally the phlebotomist comes out and I go back. I am already shaking at my knees, feeling short of breath and sure the room is actually getting smaller around me... the panic attack is comin' on. At exactly that moment this little young gal asks me to take a seat in a CHAIR and asks Jason to go sit in the other room. My response? "THAT is not happening!" She looked up at me a little confused. I nervously laughed! I explained to her that I tend to pass out and have panic attacks. There was no way this girl could hold me up if I lost consciousness. At this point I was just trying to prevent a concussion from topping my day off. She says okay, and points me to the cot, and Jason to the other room. I chuckled again and told her that she did not understand, and that HE HAD to be with me. She said no and that it was policy. Chuckle. Yeah right!!! He has come with me EVERY-other-time I have had blood work done! She still refused and at this point I just wanted it to be over with so I silently gave in. As I am laying on the cot, trying to not freak out, (I know it is silly of me, but I can't help it!) she starts treating me like I am two, trying to reassure me I guess. She pulls my arm out to look at the vein. Fine. Well my elbow was off the bed so it was hyper extending. When she was done and had turned her back I moved it a few inches back onto the cot. She actually snapped at me! "You need to leave your arm where I put it!" That was it, I sat up, punched her in the nose, and I ran out of there!

OK, no I didn't, but it was the only thought that kept me from passing out. Mean while she was trying to talk to me like I was two again, and asking me if I had any pets. Here I am having a panic attack, trying not to pass out, and she expected me to answer. Again she snaps at me, "You have to answer me!" ...I didn't... So she finishes and says much too sweetly, "alright you're done, not so bad hu?" No answer "You want to just lay there a sec?" At this I did nod my head. Jason came in and helped me up, I ripped the gauze off, wiped up the blood on my arm, (yes she did that bad a job) and left. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

I found a spot to sit and pull myself together before going back to the neurologist for the "real testing." Fine fine, so lets skip ahead to more of the "fun" stuff... SHOCK! The warning was great, but they should have giving it RIGHT before the shock, not 15 seconds before so I had time to anticipate its coming. I about jumped out of my skin. The thing seriously looked like a cattle prod! Two metal prongs and all. ZAP! And my favorite part was when they found a spot where my reflexes were not exactly what they wanted so they JUST KEPT SHOCKING IT! SNAP! That is when I swiped the electronic stimulator (cattle prod) out of the guys hand, kicking him back against the wall with my barefoot in this awesome maneuver I created in my head while lying there, then zapping him with it. I scream at him, "and how do YOU like it little man?!?!"

OK, so again I didn't, but can you believe I was actually thinking that??? Where did that rage come from?!?Lets... "skip to the end," this is getting wordy. I will leave out what all they were joking about while testing me. By the time the needle portion of the testing came around I was just trying to stay conscious and they figured I had had enough when I could no longer control my breathing and I realized I was doing a little too good a job blocking out what was going on. They stopped the test after only completing one of the test points. Now, as I look at the bruise on my arm where the phlebotomist maimed me, I can laugh. I really can. You know, I learned a little something about myself.... I am more imaginative, and more self disciplined than I give myself credit for. I also found that I get down right ticked off when people mess with me. Am I starting to sound a little bitter and unreasonable? OK, maybe I am a little, but I truly can't believe 1) that I am really this squeamish, and 2) that there are that many incompetent people aloud in medicine! And that I found them all in one day! I guess we are all human, but I prefer the ones without torture tools!

Latest Project

Since Mae has blogged about her dumpster diving efforts, I think I will share our new find, and my latest project. J found this gliding rocking chair by the dumpsters at our apartments, it was nasty! I will just say, the previous owners had cats. Anyway J thought it was something we could clean up, being wood and all, so we researched the cost of it. We found out that it was worth about $200 and that it would cost about $80 to redo it. We decided that was a little too much money and a lot of work, and figured if we wanted a chair we could get one just down the road at Ikea. So Saturday night J hauled the chair back out to the dumpster. Sunday in RS a woman announced that she had a whole car load of fabric she was giving away. Oh boy! I thought I will go check that out. She said the next morning she was going to be in the church parking lot. I found 5 yards of Ralph Lauren upholstery fabric! Along with some fleece that happened to be the same color that I could make a blanket out of. So we beat it home and drug the chair back to our patio. All we had to do was buy the $30 worth of foam and the upholstery thread. It was quite a project, I had never done upholstery before, but I think it came out pretty good for my first effort. We figure that if we decide not to keep it we could sell it for more than we put into it. So, even if our blessings do come from the general direction of the dumpster, I am still very grateful! This type of thing really does make me wonder "What's Next?!"

Ape Caves

J and I decided to do an overnight camp trip. He searched the map for a good fishing hole where camping was aloud, and I got the food and equipment ready. With map in hand we jumped in the rig and headed out. Unfortunately the lakes that we were aiming for were about three hours away and two and a half hours into our drive we hit snow and had to turn around. We backtracked to a designated camp area and finally got our tent pitched around 11pm. We made smores over our little one burner camp stove and then just enjoyed our surroundings. There was a very cute little mouse that was interested in what we were doing. In the morning we had breakfast, then packed up and hit the road. Here are a few pictures I took during breakfast of where we camped.Our next stop were the Ape Caves near Mt. St. Helens. Headlamps and J's especially bright flashlights in hand we descended into the lava tubes. It was truly amazing... for the first hour, then it was just neat and I had to remind my self to enjoy my surroundings. I kept focusing on the mounds of rocks to climb over and would get tunnel vision (no pun intended). By the time we reached the end the steps looked more like a stairway to heaven to me than just a way out. If I had not had so many muscle cramps I am sure I would have enjoyed it more, it really was an outstanding experience. Here is what the web page says about them.
"Explore the furthest reaches of a lava tube formed from an eruption of Mount St. Helens 1,900 years ago. Ape Cave, is a lava tube formed when the surface of a lava flow cooled and hardened, but the molten lava beneath the surface continued to flow. The cave opening can be entered with natural light, but for extended exploration, bring three sources of light, sturdy shoes and warm clothing, as the cave averages 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Ape Cave was named by members of an outdoor group called the Mount St. Helens Apes. This cave is the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States. Two different routes of exploration exist inside the cave and an above-ground trail connects the main and upper entrances. The lower cave is a relatively easy 0.75 mile hike that takes 1 hour round trip. The challenging upper cave is 1.5 miles long, requires climbing over large piles of rocks [cave ins] and takes 2.5 to 3 hours." We hiked both tubes and the above ground trail back to the car. Thanks to J's obsession to bright flashlights we were easily able to see what the cave had to offer and get some fairly good pictures. Since we were not able to fish where we camped the night before we looked for a spot on the way home, but there was either no good access or too many people so we just headed back. Even though our trip turned out totally different than we planed we did have a very nice time and really enjoyed the caves. Oh, and it is nice to know that I am not claustrophobic, but that I am prone to tunnel vision!

To The Ranch For The Forth

We headed to the ranch to spend the fourth with my family. It was my dad's side that we were having the reunion for and I think about 40 people were there. I just can't begin to tell you how much fun it was. Since this is my blog I will list some of the goings on, and only give you details on the things that I did. To start with we had food, and lots of it. Multiple potlucks with yummy summer stuff and lots of homemade ice cream. Some of the happenings. Fireworks, fishing, campfires, singing, and tug-of-war. The kids did a talent show and skits, giant slip and slide, canoed, and went for nature walks. Some went up the climbing wall, played horse shoes, had a watermelon seed spitting contest. We roasted marshmallows and made smores. We also did a few family hay rides and trail rides. We had so much fun just hanging out chatting, and getting to know each other better. Sunday we all went to church, and that evening had a fireside with a guest speaker who talked about some miracles in his life. I really feel we are now a closer family.

I must divert to say that while there I did take time away from the family to continue with training a horse that Dad got last fall . He is a draft horse named Pete who was a competition puller. I have been saddle breaking him (I guess you would call it that). He is so sweet and willing to please, really I have been just getting him to accept having someone mount, dismount, and being on his back while giving commands. It has been a blast for me to work with a horse so willing and excited to learn compared to some of the dude horses there that I have tried to teach things to in the past. Pete is now ready to be ridden by a few others, and I feel that I have really accomplished something. The ranch will be able to make much more money off of a horse that can be ridden as well as driven.

OK, so back to the weekend events. The fourth was AWESOME! We went horseback riding, then when we got back my cousin took me for a ride on his Honda CBR 1000. Lets just say that J has been talking about getting a motorcycle for a while now and I while I certainly was not against it I was not excited about it either. If I needed any convincing this was the best way to do it. J, you can get a bike anytime you want as long as it has a second seat! My cousin would not say how fast we went, except that if we had been stopped the whole family could not pool enough money to bail us out. He was joking... I think. Oh, and once we slowed down we were only mildly flying past the other cars that were going 70. He also took Jul's for a ride. She continued for the next tree days to get an adrenalin rush every time she even thought about it, and probably still would get crazy excited if you had her explain the experience. (See her blog). So the only thing that I can even remotely relate this experience to... it is like riding a horse bareback at a full out dead run... perhaps with out rains. IT WAS AWESOME. I found a picture of Juls on the bike, since I don't have one of me I will add the one of her. So that night we had homemade ice cream, a family tug-a-war, and then a few of us went down by the lake to set off the fireworks. I have to say this year was not as exciting as past years, but a whole lot safer! Everything went very smooth. We even had torches that worked so the show was less sporadic. No one got hurt and I only aquired a few very minor ash burns, but it would not be the fourth with out those. Oh, but a cool little tidbit. The concussion of the launch blast coming out of the tube was enough to put out my torch two and a half feet away. The picture to the left is of a launch tube. I even took some time to look up and enjoy the show this year. J got some more awesome pictures... as you can see. And to finish off the night of the fourth a bunch of us played spades and beat the raining champion! So much fun!

And Then There Was The Zoo

Wednesday we went back to Washington Park to the Portland Zoo. We had a nice day and really just took our time and lots of pictures! I have not been to a zoo since I was a kid and really did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Either I am still a kid at heart or I just love animals, I guess it could be both! So here are more pictures.
I swear this orangutan was posing for me!

Powell's

This last week has been so full of fun I will have to post each event separately. Tuesday the first Mae flew in and we went strait from the airport to Powell's City of Books. If you know us at all you would not be surprised by this. Now a little info on Powell's. There is really only one thing that you need to know. IT IS THE BEST! It is a book store where they have both new and used books right next to each other on the shelf so you can find a used one at a good price. They also buy used books and will give you cash or in store credit for them. Oh, and the best part it is so big that you have to pick up a map at the door when you come in... No Joke! It takes up one whole city block. This place makes my list of top ten favorite places, and if you are ever in Portland this is a must see. You could literally spend days in there, and even if you don't generally like books there is a book for everyone at this place! Oh, and did I mention that this is just one of their stores? They have a separate building for technical literature just down the road! If you have been looking for a book and can't find it try Powell's! http://www.powells.com/