Paging Dr. Barnes!

I think it was three years ago now that Steph made me sign-up for bootcamp at Weber State with her, and I hated everything about it. While doing crunches one day I developed a sharp pain in my lower right abdomen and it hasn't ever completely gone away. When it first started I talked to both my regular doctor and my gynecologist, and neither of them could figure out what the problem might be, so I've just been living with low grade pain. Last week it was hurting more than usual, so I decided to go back in and see if we could figure out what the problem might be.

I made an appointment last Friday and my doctor took blood and urine samples to rule out some sort of infection or kidney stones. He said that it could be a pinched nerve or some sort of musculoskeletal abnormality, and he prescribed an anti-inflammatory to see if that would help.

I took the anti-inflammatory Friday night and Saturday morning. I was blow drying my hair Saturday morning when suddenly I felt like I was having a hard time breathing. By the time I finished drying my hair I was dizzy and shaking and I felt like I was going to pass out. Luckily the clinic is just a few blocks from my house, so I made it there in one piece and got an epinephrine shot and a handful of antihistamine samples. I was told to throw away my anti-inflammatory medication and take it easy for the rest of the day.

On Monday I returned to my doctor's office to get the results of my test, which were perfectly normal. My doctor decided to schedule me for an abdominal CT to see if that would show any problem.

On Tuesday I went in for my CT scan. By Tuesday night I was really sick. I had a severe headache, sharp stabbing pains in my chest that felt like the pleurisy I had last summer, and unpleasant gastrointestinal upset.

By Wednesday I was feeling even worse. I really didn't want to go in for the fifth time in six days, but I was so sick I decided that I'd better do it. My doctor looked me over and said, "Well, it looks like you've got some sort of virus". At least he already had the results of my CT scan so it wasn't a completely wasted visit. Fortunately or unfortunately, the CT scan showed all of my internal organs to be perfectly normal, so I still have no answer as to what might be causing the abdominal pain. I promised my doctor that, no matter what happened, I would not return to see him this month, and hopefully I won't have to go in for at least another six months. I spent $140 in copays in one week in order to find out that my doctor can't find anything wrong with me.

On Thursday I woke up with a rash all over my neck and face, but I am sticking to my promise. I still have the rash and some discomfort in my chest, but my other symptoms have gone away. I can't tell you how glad I am to have two weeks off to just recuperate!

Winter Has Arrived

Although technically the first day of winter is still one day away, winter arrived in Utah with a bang this weekend.

Yesterday I recieved four inches of snow in my yard, I received an additional 7 inches over night for a total of 11 inches, and it is still snowing lightly. Since both of my next-door neighbors are elderly, and since no one had come to shovel their yards by the time I finished mine, I spent an hour and a half shoveling driveways and sidewalks this morning. I am ready for a break in the snow and a hot beverage.

Moon

The moon looked really cool last night, and I wanted to take a picture of it but I knew that my camera wouldn't work in the dark. I was pleased this morning to find that the DHS photography teacher had been appreciating the moon last night as well, and he e-mailed this picture to everyone. Unfortunately you can't see from the photograph how big it looked, but the halo around the moon is still cool.

Exploding Fish

I've been having a little trouble with my aquarium lately. My guppies died off a while ago, so about 2 weeks ago I decided to get some more fish. I picked up three tiny neon (blue and red) tetras, and 2 gold mollies, which look alot like my red fish. Within 2 days all of the tetras disappeared, and I assume that someone ate them. Then a couple of days after that I came home from church to find that one of my new mollies was dead. I fed them just before church, and it looked fine. When I got home it looked like it's head had exploded. There was a gaping hole in the head and the eyes were gone. A few days later the same thing happened to my other molly. I took it's frozen carcass back to the pet store to see if I could get any answers. They seemed stumped, as the fish didn't show any sign of disease, and the other fish in my tank are supposedly peaceful. Their only suggestion was that the fish had died for no apparent reason, and then once they were dead one or more of my supposedly peaceful fish sucked out the eyes and brain. I decided against getting any more mollies, so Ava helped me pick out a blue gourami, and so far it seems to be doing well.

Post Thanksgiving Hike

After Mom left for the airport this afternoon I decided to go on a hike to help counteract all of the feasting and grazing that went on this weekend.

I was planning to go to Farmington Canyon, but I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going and before I knew it I was on Mountain Road headed to Baer Canyon.

Of course at this time of year the major colors are shades of grey and brown, but they are pretty in their own way.

Once you get about a mile up the canyon there are evergreens on the south slope.

This shot was taken just after mile marker three. You should be able to see Francis Peak and the radar station right there, but the clouds were low enough to cover it. My spirit was willing to go on, but my feet were done at this point, so I turned around and headed home.

Thanksgiving Fun

So here are my random, candid photos from Thanksgiving at the Murray's.

This is Steph trying to eat a chip in a seductive manner. I don't think she looks that seductive.
This was supposed to be a photo of Steph slapping Jef away from the chips. They were not cooperating with me.
Matt, Dan and Joann "conversating". Mom was telling us that someone at her work uses the term "conversating" quite often, so Matt looked up the definition on urbandictionary.com. The definition is:

conversate

A word used by backwards, ignorant, illiterate inner city trash who mean to say 'converse'.
"Yo, I just needs to conversate witcha!"

The present and future Thompson family.

Mom and Joyce "conversating".

Jef and Grandpa "conversating".

Grandma and Dick enjoying their feast.

Jo grooming Colton's hair.

I took a picture of Brent and Cindy but it was too dark. Here you can see Cindy and a portion of Brent's head between Jeremy and Karen.

Henry, Matt, and Jef responding to something that was apparently humorous to Henry and Matt, but not to Jef.

The Murray's are the fun grandparents who have purchased a small bounce house for their grandchildren. Mom and I were tempted, but it didn't look quite as heavy-duty as the stuff at Classic Skating.

Afterwards some people congregated at Jo's house for drinks and snacks.

This is a random picture of my dog in a sweater because Ava was thrilled about it.

Nothing Much

I don't really have anything to write about, but since I haven't really had anything to write about for a while now I figured I might as well just check in.

I just finished making roll dough for my ward Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I am hoping that they will rise. Last time I made rolls for myself they didn't rise, so I bought new yeast and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I didn't go to the dinner last year, but the year before they ran out of food and apparently it is such a famous dinner that people who have no connection to the ward have been showing up in droves for the last few years, so this year there will be a bouncer (counsellor in the bishopric) standing at the one unlocked door to let people in. We will see how it goes.

My old Christmas lights were looking kind of sad and the colored coating on the glass was peeling off, so I decided to invest in some new outdoor lights. I decided to go with the Energy Star lights which advertise that they use 98% less energy than traditional lights. I believe the claim because they are certainly not very bright. However, they are supposed to last for up to 20 years, and you can connect up to 87 sets of lights to one outlet, so it's not all bad. If I could afford it I would connect 87 sets of lights to my outlet and light up the giant pine tree in my front yard just like the people who live next to the Farmington cemetary. I tried to take a picture of my lights but since they are not very bright and my camera is not fancy enough to take pictures in the dark it didn't turn out very well.

Cynthia and Alyssa stopped by my house yesterday while I was putting up my Christmas lights. That was a nice surprise.

I checked out the link on Jef's blog where you can go to make snowflakes on the computer and I am now completely obsessed. I may not be able to blog for a while because I will be too busy making snowflakes.