"Hey, Mom, Do I Look Like Spiderman?"

Note to self: Never turn your back....Not even for a minute.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Alright, people, listen to this: I saw this quiz on Sharon's and Crystal's blogs and I made Andy take it. Look what he scored!!! (And no I probably shouldn't be bragging about this!!) :o)

-13 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Now go make your husbands take the quiz and report back to headquarters so I can make fun of Andy.

Who Am I Anyway???

Something has been bugging me lately....I don't know how in the world to introduce myself anymore!! Anyone who grew up with me probably calls me "Jenny"....(except my little brother who calls me "Jennifer" and my little sister who calls me "Jen"). When I switched from a little private middle school to a big public high school, I got sick of telling everyone to call me "Jenny" so people who met me during high school or college know me as "Jennifer" (except those who became close to my family or old friends from childhood over the years...they call me Jenny"...see the confusion?). When I meet someone new, I have to rack my brain for the people who connect us and then decide in half a second what to call myself. Its been bad enough taking on a whole new last name...can't I at least get a break with my first name? Maybe I should revert back to being strictly "Jenny" and throw everyone (including my husband who has never once called me that) a big curve ball? Or I could go with the infamous Forrest Gump nickname of "Jen-nay" ("You can sit hee-uh if you want to, Jen-nay") that has never quite gone away since the movie came out FOURTEEN YEARS AGO (I mean COME ON people!). Or I could use this opportunity to completely change things up and go with something that would really get some tongues flapping like "Busty Hart" from Stacey's blog (or "Misty Mounds...hee hee hee--either way, I soooo miss the mark with that one!)....Hmm...its food for thought!

Update

I didn't want to leave you all hanging after I announced I had gone to the emergency room fearing a blood clot...especially those of you who have been praying for me. (Thank you again for that!) The day after I went to the emergency room, I tried to use my little magic white paper to get in for an ultrasound as promised, but they couldn't get me in for two days. I was back where I started. So, I called my family doctor and asked them if they'd received my blood work from the hospital (which alone could have ruled out a blood clot). They told me they wouldn't have the results for 3-4 days (and yet, the nurse had wanted me to wait at the hospital for the results in the beginning...Right). I asked if they had called the radiologist yet to schedule an appointment for an ultrasound and they hadn't (as expected) so I asked if they could.....and--long story short(er)--I was at the vein specialist within forty-five minutes. Just before the ultrasound, I was really stressed out--partly due to the disasters I'd been watching on the weather channel while waiting for them to call my name, partly because of the sick people in wheelchairs around me (I was picturing being one of them), but mostly because I knew I couldn't possibly be imagining the pain that was going on in my leg and I so badly wanted that to be the case. The woman doing my scan (a doctor from Russia) was great, though. Most of the things she did to my leg hurt like the dickens, but she gave me better information and better explanations than anyone else who I'd seen about this problem. She did a very thorough exam--more detailed than the situation called for--and didn't see any signs of a DVT---HOORAY!!! She didn't even make me wait to hear that--She told me before she even forwarded the report on to my doctor! I was so relieved to find this out that I could have floated off of the floor. What a huge relief!!!

I wish this crappy pain would have disappeared with that DVT anxiety, but unfortunately, it's still here. I hope I can figure out what's going on...and that its not too serious (in the words of the lovely nurse practitioner!) The Russian lady recommended me to find a new doctor (she told me everything I had been through was badly managed an that some information I had been given was total crap), so maybe I'll start there. This is so exhausting, but the thing I feared the most has been ruled out--Praise the Lord for that! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I'll let you know how everything goes from here. I'm not even going to attempt to speculate at this point--LOL!

DEFINITELY Andy's Son

Landon: "Mom, let's play Orange Seller." (I was eating an orange--He wanted it.)

Me: "How do you play Orange Seller?"

Landon: "You sell my Pterodactyl your orange."

Me: "Okay, Mr. Pterodactyl, this orange costs $3.56 per slice"

Landon: (Waving his Pterodactyl in front of the fruit) "Hmmm...Ummmmmm, no I don't think I'm going to buy that orange. That's too 'spensive." (very matter-of-fact)

Then he just walked away.

Pinky

If this doesn't make you laugh, you can't be my friend. (PS: There's a bit o' profanity at the end for those of you who are sensitive about that...but he apologizes :o)

"He's a very loving cat."

Give Me a Break

So, guess where I spent most of the night last night? The emergency room--Yaaay! It was super fun and suuuuper helpful!!! :o(

My leg pain got progressively worse over the weekend and I really started thinking it could be stupid to "wait it out" as per doctor's orders in the case that there might be a clot (and I'd already been told three times it might be a clot). I was tired of the quacky advice I'd been getting. I was tired of doctors telling me they were scheduling tests for me and never hearing from them again....Sitting disgruntled on my couch with my leg propped up, I finally decided that having a pulmonary embolism while home alone with a three year old was not something I wanted on my agenda for the day and took matters into my own hands. Sure I felt dumb sitting in the emergency room until the middle of the night for mere leg pain when everyone else was bleeding or looking miserably ill, but I was finally going to have some answers and some peace of mind (I mean, where better to go to get answers than the hospital?), so it was worth it, right?....WRONG! It was a total and complete waste of time and money (even if it turns out I have the biggest DVT in world history). Here's what happened:

I got into the room, put on the little gown and sat talking to my mom until the nurse came in (yes, I said nurse--there was no doctor there, just a nurse)--She glanced at my leg for about two seconds and said it didn't look like a textbook DVT (swelling, bright redness, etc.), but that it didn't mean I didn't have one and that I definitely should have a scan done because of the red vein and pain. She then proceeded to tell me that they didn't do ultrasounds after hours or on weekends in the ER....SERIOUSLY??!! What was I there for then? And what happens to people who really do have DVTs? I just want to rule this problem out--why is that so difficult? ANYway, they ordered a blood test called a D-Dimer to check my blood for the existence of a clot, talked to me about Coumadin and Prednisone shots and then told me they were going to give me a slip of paper that would get me in for an ultrasound the next day. This was faster than how my family doctor was moving so I said okay and took the slip....On my way out, they said, "Well, if you're having an ultrasound tomorrow, then the bloodwork we just did was totally pointless!" So was my trip to the ER.