To Hug or not to Hug?

Following in the footsteps of the Pledge of Allegiance, hugging is now on it's way out of schools in the US. Hugging is being banned in primary and secondary schools across the nation. This article from the Times actually mentions students feeling peer-pressure to hug! Wow! I was also surprised to find out that parents are sometimes very uncomfortable and concerned about their children hugging peers. Hmm...and I thought we had it a little rough in high school when "Five Dollar Fines" were handed out to students caught holding hands, kissing, or um, other things of that nature.

Here Kitty Kitty

A kitty in Chongqing, China, is getting some extra-special attention these days: The furry feline has developed wings! Though born looking completely normal, once the cat hit the age of 1, he began growing wing-shaped appendages on either side of his spine, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reports.

While some think the bony limbs may be a mutation of some kind — or even a Siamese twin growing inside the cat — others speculate it's a genetic change perhaps caused by chemicals ingested by the kitty's mother while she was pregnant.

According to the cat's owners, he doesn't seem to mind his new wings — and he’s loving the attention he's received because of them!

Strange as the case may sound, winged felines are not unheard of. Back in August 2008, the U.K. Telegraph reported that tomcats in China's Sichuan province developed wing-like growths on their backs.

Veterinary experts said then that despite the hard inner core, the "wings" don't harm cats' quality of life or safety. According to the Telegraph's report, scientists believe the appendages developed due to grooming habits, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition.

Oh Long Island Nights...

It has been many moons since I've had the pleasure of sipping on a Long Island Iced Tea. (What a sad statement...) It's likely my very favorite drink! Anyway, here's a recipe in case any of you want to enjoy one for me! And if any of my 303 girls are reading this, Long Island Nights were definitely way too much fun! I love and miss you, ladies!

Long Island Iced Tea Ingredients:

• .25 oz. Tanqueray London Dry
• .25 oz. Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka
• .25 oz. Captain Morgan Silver Spiced
• .25 oz. Cuervo Especial Gold
• .25 oz. triple sec
• 1 oz. sweet and sour mix
• 6 oz. cola
• 1 wedge lemon (optional)

Drink Recipe Preparation:

• Add Tanqueray London Dry, Smirnoff No.21 Vodka, Captain Morgan Silver Spiced, Cuervo Especial Gold, triple sec, and sweet and sour mix in ice-filled collins glass and stir.
• Top with cola.
• Garnish with lemon wedge (optional).

Emergency Room

I took a fun little 2:30 am jaunt to the Emergency Room the night before last. What I had presumed was a flare-up of my Behcet's lesions in my throat, turned out to be a peritonsillar abscess. Apparently they are sometimes life-threatening.

Anyway, the left side of my throat started to get sore on Tuesday evening, but was really sore and pretty swollen on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, I started choking on the little hangy-downy thingy (aka the uvula) in the back of my throat because it was so swollen. By Thursday evening, my whole throat was much more swollen than I had ever seen it and it was getting really hard to swallow. I even made a comment to one of my friends about being legitimately worried that my airway was going to close up during the night. I'm so intuitive! About 4 hours after I made that comment, I woke up in extreme pain and was having trouble breathing. I was afraid that, if I went back to sleep, my airway would close completely off within a couple of hours.

At that point, I started acting dumb. I tried to take some pictures of my throat to e-mail to my mom, to ask her if I needed to go to urgent care or the ER. The pictures didn't really turn out, so I gave up and called her. She told me to go to the ER, so I grabbed the dogs and jumped in the car. I drove myself, which was probably not the best choice, but hindsight's always 20/20, right? Anyway, I made it to the Emergency Room and called one of my friends from work to meet me there. After about 15 or 20 minutes, the doctor looked at me and said that he knew exactly what was going on. At this point, I realized that it wasn't my Behcet's acting up, but something else. The doctor told me that it was a peritonsillar abscess. After working at the vet clinic, the word "abscess," when used to refer to something in my throat, kinda grossed me out! At least they knew what it was though.

Next, they hooked me up to an IV and gave me some pain meds. These were not just any pain meds...they were THE pain meds. If you're ever in the hospital, you want Dilaudid. Don't forget that. It's also called Hydromorphone. It is both an opiate and a narcotic and is 8x stronger than morphine and 3x stronger than heroine on a per milligram basis. It can cross the blood-brain barrier so it is very fast-acting. Anyway, they gave me probably 1 ml, and it hit me in less than 5 seconds! I felt it on the outside of my hips first, then my shoulders, then my head. It was insane. I've been on lots of pretty hard-core pain meds, but that stuff definitely takes home the gold metal. Wow! The bad news is, that even after a second dose of dilaudid, I was still in a decent amount of pain.

The doctor decided to drain the abscess. Ouch! I always forget how bad injected Lidocaine stings! Ahhhhh! I also had an audience at this point. Several nurses. I'm always such a spectacle when I'm ill... Anyway, he drained 2+ mls of yellow, bloody pus out of the abscess. So gross! The funny part was that the doctor was trying to hide the syringe of gunk from me! I was trying so hard to see, too! I'm assuming that most people don't want to see... Maybe I'm really odd. Anyway, after 2 liters of fluids, 2 doses of dilaudid, 40 mg of prednisone, and something like 4 and a half hours, I was well enough to be released. The doctor kept me there for so long because, apparently peritonsillar abscesses can be/are often life-threatening. When I asked him, he said that it's very possible that my throat would have closed up and that it was really good that I came in when I did. He even gave me his cell phone number before I left, in case I have any more problems or can't get in to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist early next week. He was a pretty cool guy. This might be a little stretch, but I'm pretty sure he saved my little life, too.

Anyway, it's about 36 hours later now, and I'm happy to say that I'm feeling MUCH, MUCH better. While I still feel decently crappy, I can actually swallow without my whole body tensing up and tears rolling down my face! I'm on some antibiotics for a week and am breathing quite well at this point in time.

I posted one of the photos I was gonna email to my mom below. You'll have to use your imagination here a bit. The black vertical line is where the center of my throat is supposed to be. As you can see, the left side of my throat, (which is actually on the right side of the photo) is swollen just past that vertical line, so over halfway across my throat. The red horizontal lines indicate the area that was actually open and allowing air in. Not much. I now understand why it was getting hard to breathe. Scary!
Oh yeah, and my finger is in my mouth, holding my tongue down in case you're wondering what's going on there!

No More Neck Brace!

On Friday, May 15th, the neck brace came off permanently! Oh yeah, and I started my immunosuppressants. The 15th of May, 2009, could become one of those days in my life that I'll never ever forget, because my life changed for the better that day. I'm trying not to get too excited, but I can finally turn my head after almost a year of being pretty much unable to do so. Also, if my Behcet's improves because of the Imuran, life will be fantastic! I'm hopeful, to say the least.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of the scar on my neck, which looks absolutely fantastic, and the one on my hip that's still recovering from an infection, so doesn't look so hot yet.

Happy Mom's Day! I Love You!

She's never pulled anyone from a burning building
She's never rocked Central Park to a half a million fans, screaming out her name
She's never hit a shot to win the game
She's never left her footprints on the moon
She's never made a solo hot air balloon ride, around the world,
No, she's just your everyday average girl

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her baby with a skinned up knee
A little kiss is all she needs
The keeper of the cheerios
The voice that brings Snow White to life
Bedtime stories every night
And that smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

She didn't get a check every week like a nine-to fiver
But she's been a waiter, and a cook and a taxi driver
For twenty years, there at home, until the day her girl was grown
Giving all her love to her was her life's ambition
But now her baby's movin' on, and she'll soon be missin' her
But not today, those are tears of joy runnin' down her face

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her daughter in her wedding dress
She gave her wings to leave the nest
It hurts to let her baby go down the aisle she walks right by
Looks back into her mother's eyes
And that smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

Thirty years have flown right past
Her daughters' starin' at all the photographs
Of her mother, and she wishes she could be like that
Oh, but she already is

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her mother in a rockin' chair
She runs a brush through her silver hair
The envy of the nursing home
She drops by every afternoon
Feeds her mama with a spoon
And that smile lets her know
Her mother's smile lets her know

She's somebody's hero

"Somebody's Hero"
~Jamie O'Neal~

Big Bang Theory Season 1 Quotes

For those of you who haven't yet watched an episode of "The Big Bang Theory," all I can really say at this point is Shame On You! It is ridiculously funny! Promise!





Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Season 1 as well. I hope you enjoy!

"Ah gravity, thou art a heartless bitch."

"I think that you have as much of a chance of having a sexual relationship with Penny as the Hubble Telescope does of discovering at the center of every black hole is little man with a flashlight searching for a circuit breaker."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I insult you? Is your body mass somehow tied into your self worth?"

"No, I’m going to ask him to choose between sex and Halo 3. As far as I know, sex has not been upgraded to include high-def graphics and enhanced weapon systems."

"Yes, well, I’m polymerized tree sap and you’re an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns to its original trajectory and adheres to you."

"What computer do you have? And please don't say 'a white one.'"

"I don't know how, but she is cheating! Nobody can be that attractive and this skilled at a videogame."

"The Homo habilis man discovering the opposable thumb says what..."

"Oh, we tried kissing, but the earth didn’t move… I mean any more than the 383 miles it was gonna move anyway."

The Lovely Neck Brace

Several people have asked to see a photo of me in my lovely and super-comfortable new fashion accessory-my neck brace. When you're wearing one, it becomes less an accessory and more the only thing people notice, though. Just as an fyi.

I would like to direct your attention to the chubby chipmunk cheeks it gives me! I hope those are only temporary :)

Feel free to laugh out loud if you'd like.

I only have to wear it for 2 more weeks!!!