go away sickness...exciting things await tomorrow

unfortunately i had to use my last pto day until may and spend the day at home...sick! i haven't been feeling well all week, but last night it got the best of me. i woke up at 2 am coughing and not able to sleep, and then finally fell back to sleep around 4. i was just biding my time until i could call the doctor this morning to get some meds. i called in sick to work because a) i don't think i could have gotten ready and made it to work without coughing up a lung and b) i know that nobody at work wants to get sick just because i didn't want to use my last day off until may!

i slept on and off all morning and the doctor finally got my medicine called in around 2. i got out of bed long enough to go get my meds and do a few things around the house...and the highlight of my day was going to dinner with the girls tonight. i did not want to miss out on that because i'd been looking forward to it all week, and i didn't think i could survive if i stayed in the house by myself all day and night! i finally started feeling a little better around the time i headed to dinner, and i think i'm on the mend and will be able to make it to work tomorrow....thank goodness because i definitely didn't want to take a day off without pay!

i'm super excited about tomorrow because a) jon will be pulling up in our driveway (after a long trip from dallas!) with our new car (it's a 2004, but it's new to us!) - a bmw 745 (jon's dream car and one that i certainly won't mind getting to drive)!!!! and b) my dad and stepmom are coming to visit for the weekend! we haven't seen them since christmas (and that was only for one night), so it will be really nice having them here with us for the weekend!

now it's time for me to say night night and get some rest so i can continue feeling better and enjoy all the excitement of tomorrow...

hopefully an answer to my problem...

for the past eight to tenth months, i've slowly noticed strange things going on with my body! it all started with gaining weight (about 15-20 pounds in the last 8-10 months), and not to say that i don't eat my fair share of treats (especially chocolate), but it still seemed strange since i was continuing to work out. then i started noticing that my energy level seemed a lot lower than it had been...i just didn't have the energy to go to the gym after work which was strange. within the last 2-3 months, my appetite has been ravenous...i eat all day (healthy snacks though!) and when i eat a meal, i'm starving 2 hours later. last week i woke up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat and realized that this had been happening for a few months, a couple times a week, but i just hadn't been paying attention to it because i was so tired when i would wake up in the middle of the night.

after deciding that there really should be an explanation for all of this, i finally made a doctor's appointment last week. it was a family doctor that i hadn't been to before, but my friend amy recommended her...and i loved her! she took the time to talk to me about all of my symptoms and go over some different possibilities and options!

yesterday the nurse called me with the results of my lab work, and they discovered that i have a vitamin d (the sunshine vitamin!) deficiency...which the doctor told me is also related to hormones (hence the increased appetite and night sweats). they want me to try some vitamin d therapy for a month and see if that helps. i certainly hope it does because this eating all the time thing is not working out well for my body! the summer is approaching (which will hopefully help the deficiency since i will be out in the sun...i'm ready for the winter to be long gone this year!), and i definitely want to get this problem under control before bathing suit weather (not to mention the 3 weddings we are going to in May and June)! i have so many cute dresses and bathing suits to wear this summer, but as of right now i don't think i could get my hips into any of them! time to hit the gym really hard and keep my fingers crossed that the vitamin d therapy helps!

it's a sickness time of year...

so after all of the windmueller family christmas festivities this weekend, i ended up sick monday night! i started feeling bad in the afternoon and got worse as the night went on...i knew it was bad when i woke up at 5:45 am with a really sore throat! unfortunately i had to take my first sick day ever from work (i usually get sick on vacation or when i'm already scheduled to be off!), so i went to the doctor first thing yesterday morning! luckily it was a 20 minute doctor visit and then on to walmart i went for prescriptions. i relaxed and slept all day yesterday (except for some baking and laundry last night!), and i felt so much better this morning!

it seems like this is the time of year for sickness...anne and reese were sick this weekend, kris woke up sick yesterday, jon was sick last week, and there have been several people at work who have been out sick recently! i'm hoping since i got it this week and jon was sick last week that we will have a healthy vacation in new york and boston next week!!!!

christmas eve eve party tonight....2 days until christmas....4 days until new york city!!! love this time of year....

i hope i'm not getting sick....

so it seems to happen that every time jon and i go on vacation, one of us gets sick! we were both sick at some point when we were in utah in february, and the last few days my nose has been running like crazy! i haven't had any type of sickness since our trip in february, but of course, the few days before we leave for indiana i've got something going on in the sickness department! i hope it's just allergies, but i've been taking vitamin c pills, drinking orange juice (as much as i hate it, i've been attempting to get down at least a small glass each morning), and using zicam in an attempt to ward off any type of illness that may be trying to form!

on a good note...jon got our guest bathroom painted last night, so we are getting closer and closer to finishing it! it's going to look awesome!

a day and a half of work and then off to indiana....

graduation and celebration...and the 3 am sickness that followed

last night in my self defense class was awesome! it was very intense and made you feel like you were really in a situation in which you must defend yourself to get away. they choked us, grabbed us from behind, and held us down...and we had to use our self defense moves to fight them off! the instructors/attackers were awesome and i know they have to be sore today after 15 women had to kick, hit, and knee them to get away! next week the co-ed class begins...a class that will build on the women's only class we just finished!

after class, a few of us headed to kickin' chicken for dinner and drinks. it was fun and a great way to celebrate the end of our ass kicking class!

...and then i started getting sick at 3 am this morning. obviously something in my buffalo chicken salad did not go over well in my belly last night. i felt like i'd reverted to being a child...moaning and groaning and basically wanting to die! jon was awesome though...he got right up and nursed me back to health! i finally started feeling normal about 9:00 this morning...thank goodness! unfortunately i think i will be taking a break from my favorite salad at my favorite restaurant for awhile though! :(

surgery went very well

surgery went very well...that's the news i got from the doctor about 45 minutes ago. so my mom is out of her hip replacement surgery and should be in recovery now. lots of good drugs will be getting her through the night and next couple of weeks. she was in a lot of pain before the surgery, and i know once she recovers from her surgery she will be extremely happy to be able to walk without pain. one never thinks about how many people are in surgery in one day, but there have probably been 5 to 6 families in the waiting room with me since i got here at 8:30 this morning. surgeons definitely have extremely busy days which, i can only imagine, must be very stressful!

today is day one of being "off" of work to take care of my mother. i use the word "off" lightly because i brought about 10 tax returns to prepare this week, so i definitely won't be off....but i won't have to use much, if any, sick or vacation time this week. that's after a hellacious week of trying to get all of the corporate returns on my desk finished before i left the office yesterday....which i succeeded at doing, although i'm exhausted and ready for some rest this week!

please continue the prayers, as my mom is going to be in a lot of pain when she wakes up from surgery. unfortunately because of her heart condition, they were not able to use the spinal anesthesia they prefer to use, so they had to use general anesthesia instead. which i guess means the pain will be worse at first. more later....

back to reality...

we arrived back to reality last night about midnight after an absolutely awesome vacation in utah! it was another long day of packing, cleaning up the condo, and traveling! last night also included running through the airport to catch our last flight! we stopped to get a couple drinks and a snack before getting on our flight from houston to charleston, and ended up being there a little too long because the service was terrible. fifteen minutes before our flight was supposed to take off, we begin running from the restaurant to our gate and made it just in time! one last funny memory from our trip!

i was a little sad for our vacation to come to an end, but we had a wonderful time and some amazing experiences while we were there. unfortunately now it's time to unpack, do laundry, and head back to work. i should be going to work today, but i'm still not feeling 100 percent after being sick this week...so the piles that i imagine are on my desk will have to wait until tomorrow. this week is going to be full of late nights and lots of catching up at the office! it will be well worth it though after our awesome vacation at the canyons in park city!

jon took some great pictures from the airplane as we were leaving salt lake city. the one i'm including with this entry is actually looking down on our resort! until next time...

i'm leaving on a jetplane...

i'm leaving on a jetplane....heading to utah! vacation in park city, utah has finally arrived, and it couldn't have gotten her at a better time! the week ahead is going to be awesome...i'm really excited about learning to ski with anne this week and hopefully we will all make it home without any broken bones!

yesterday turned out to be completely crazy. i got up very early and headed to the hospital to see charles (who is doing much better and looks great after his valve replacement surgery - he still needs many prayers though!) before getting on the road back to charleston. work was extremely frustrating, and jon and i didn't get to make it to the college of charleston/citadel basketball game. jon found out yesterday morning he had strep throat...happy valentine's day, baby....but luckily he caught it before we headed out this morning. when i finally got home from work, jon had an awesome valentine's day gift for me....new pajamas! they are adorable, and i can't wait to wear them! i got my stuff packed for the trip thanks to jon's help with laundry and getting my clothes out and folded for me...he's such an awesome husband! we headed to kris' house to hang out with him and anne and make sure we all got up and out the door at 4 this morning...4 is way too early for me!

we are now sitting in the houston airport waiting for our connecting flight to salt lake city, and then it's on to park city! here's to a week of excitement, learning to ski, and relaxation.....

hope and prayers

this week has been trying at times, but at this point i've at least made it through wednesday...so the weekend is in sight! my cousin seems to be stable right now, although there were some moments of panic earlier in the week. as of today the antibiotic is working, so the biggest hope now is that another piece of the infection does not break off and go to his brain. the neurologist says that he can understand what is being said to him. no matter what, there is going to be a tremendously long road ahead for him....many prayers are going to be needed.

i have almost made it through everything on my desk, which was my goal before leaving for utah. i get so overwhelmed in the beginning, but somehow i always manage to get through the work on my desk!

i am heading to myrtle beach friday night to see charles and my family one more time before boarding the plane to utah on sunday. it will be good to see them again after the ups and downs with him this week. saturday afternoon brings the college of charleston vs. the citadel basketball game, and saturday night may bring an all nighter with kris and anne complete with rock band. our flight is so early sunday morning that we are trying to decide if it's even worth going to bed saturday night. i guess the rest of the week and saturday will determine whether we get some sleep before getting on the plane!

the prayers for charles' improvement continue and are very much needed right now! time for some zzzzzzz's......

good and bad...the weekend

this past weekend was good and bad. bad because my cousin had a stroke friday night and good because jon and i had a great sunday together! my cousin is still in the hospital, but the doctors are optimistic they can treat the infection with antibiotics. there was some concern this morning that he'd had another stroke last night, but they have since determined that the stroke from friday night is an evolving stroke. the piece of infection that broke off from the valve in his heart and went to his brain to cause the stroke is wedged in his brain causing this evolving stroke. when we visited him saturday evening, he definitely did not seem like himself. he looked like he was gazing into space and sadly he did not know who I was by name....but he did know my dad by name. his answers to questions consisted of yes, no, and i don't know. i'm hoping and praying he was very tired saturday from all of the tests and x-rays, and that his memory will slowly return. when i talked to his brother a little while ago, he said his answers this morning to questions have only consisted of the shaking of his head and that he is not using the right side of his body. my prayers have become much greater in number since saturday morning and will continue....

on a happier note, jon and i had an awesome day together yesterday! we went to a movie together...which we haven't done in a very long time (because we usually prefer to watch them at home)! the weather was sunny and in the 70's, so we sat on his parents' dock and enjoyed the breeze and great temperature! then we decided to head downtown to hyman's seafood for all you can eat crab legs and shrimp! he thoroughly enjoyed the crab legs while i enjoyed the cajun shrimp. we ended our day with cookie dough and the end of season 4 of entourage! our sundays usually consist of doing nothing but sitting on the couch and watching movies (and me working more recently), so it was fun to get out of the house after a stressful saturday!

6 days until we board the plane for park city, utah!

importance of family

today i have been reminded of the importance of family...even if there are rifts that have kept you apart. my dad called me at 7:30 this morning to tell me that my cousin had a stroke last night. he called me an hour later to say that the neurologist determined that there is some brain damage, although they are not sure exactly to what extent. my cousin, charles, and i have not been very close over the last 5 years because of differences of opinion; however, as children we were very close and even in high school, i went to prom at his school with a good friend of his. jon and i are getting ready to head to myrtle beach to see him because i have certainly been reminded of how important my family is by the effect this news had on me this morning. it's scary also because he's only 28. please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as the doctors attempt to figure out why this may have happened.

even if you've grown apart from your family due to distance or rifts, always keep them close in your heart!

my first blog

my first blog....where do i begin? i decided to start this as a journal to hopefully look back on many years from now and know what i was doing in my life....and for others to know what in the world is going on with me!

i am very blessed with an awesome husband, awesome friends, and great family! speaking of family, i am heading to columbia this evening to stay with my mom and go to a doctor's appointment with her tomorrow. she found out on monday that she needs to have hip replacement surgery, so tomorrow we meet with the surgeon to possibly schedule it. prayers are definitely needed as she has been and will continue to be in a good bit of pain until she has the surgery!

also speaking of family, jon and i are heading to myrtle beach tomorrow to spend the weekend with my dad and diane. i'm looking forward to getting away, doing a little shopping (i'm still in need of some warm clothes for our trip to utah in 3 weeks!), and enjoying one last relaxing weekend before tax season gets into full swing! the joys of being an accountant! during the next few months, my life will be crazy and tiring due to working extremely long hours, but i'm going to do my best to update my new blog....and possibly let out a few frustrations on here as well! :)