Our Fun Weekend!

My New Workspace

I won't write much because I'm exhausted, but I've been trying to get something here for days, so I'll settle for some pictures to show you where I'm spending time these days. This is my new classroom space, which is much different from my old one! The first few days of school have gone pretty well. I'm generally completely worn out by the end of the day, and I often feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but then I also have moments where I'm really enjoying it too, so I'm not regretting it yet. The kids are cute for the most part, though a few are certainly challenging, and it's also refreshing to be doing something new. I am also enjoying getting to teach all the different subjects though they, too, present a challenge since I don't have any materials built up yet (can't use many of my old teaching materials these days :)). On a personal note, our next Dr. Appt is Sept 7, so we should have some updates after that.

Visit from California

We had a lovely visit this past weekend from Mike's parents. We enjoyed a brief trip to Estes Park Friday, and then went on an overnight trip to Colorado Springs Saturday/Sunday. We enjoyed wandering around old town, had a fun dinner at the Flying W Chuckwagon Dinner and Show, and then a fun ride on the Cog Railway to Pike's Peak on Sunday. The trip up was great and had some wonderful views, but then a storm rolled in just as we reached the top, so we didn't see much up there. It reminded me a lot of our visit to Alaska. Still, it was worth the experience. Then, Monday, we poked around in Loveland and Fort Collins and Marie and I spent an hour poking through my favorite scrapbook store. Unfortunately, our visit was cut short Monday when the doctor's office called and told me I needed to immediately return to Denver for a new medication because my Estradiol levels had skyrocketed. We were supposed to have dinner and play some games, and I was about half finished preparing dinner, when the phone rang, so we had to dash off...Still, the visit was fun overall. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

And the winner is....

Highest Salt Content in Chips:

Boulder Canyon Malt Vinegar and Salt Chips at 490mg salt for a 1 oz serving.

2nd place in chips, Cheetos at 290mg of salt in a 1 oz serving.

What has even more salt than chips? Beef Jerky has 590mg per 1 oz, and the overall winner...cup of Noodles at nearly 700mg for a 1 oz serving.

Why do I know this? I was literally walking through the grocery store looking for foods with high salt yesterday. My doctor wants me to eat a high sodium diet right now. I feel gross eating these types of foods, which I don't normally buy, but there's some absurd humor is salt shopping. It helped me to laugh instead of crying as I walked down the aisle reading the backs of the chip bags.

I have to eat salt because my Estradiol levels are extremely high! They went from 900 to 2000 from Saturday to Sunday, then shot up to 5427 by Monday morning, putting the whole deal in jeopardy. I had to stop all my meds and start taking another medication called Certrotide last night to stop a danger of ovulating early through my meds. I have to get my Estradiol levels under control or they won't complete the transfer, and sodium is all I can really do myself, so I've been eating salt. I must have eaten 300% of the usual salt intake yesterday and today, but it seems to be helping because today my levels were back down to 2500! I feel really ill and unhealthy with all the salt, but I've also been drinking gatorade, Pedialyte, and lots of water to counter balance as best I can. In addition, I have aches and pains all over, but it's coming time...

I've been directed to do my trigger shot at 2am tomorrow morning, which means my retrieval surgery will be at 1:00pm on Thursday! Hopefully, my Estradiol will be back to normal by then too so that we can continue with the day 5 transfer. After yesterday's scare, things seem to be going much better today.

Craftiness

I've been working on figuring out how to do a pop-up card today. I made this one for my dad. This is the front of the card:

And, here's the inside of the card:

It was a fun card to make. And, I'm sure my dad will get over the 5" tall announcement of his 50th birthday!

It's hot out here!

Aspen takes some time to cool off in her swimming pool, which she's decided she likes.

Update

It's been a hectic week. I've been working to get ready for school to start by designing math lessons and getting my classroom all set up. I'm starting to feel like the summer is winding down and school time will be here before you know it.

In addition, I've been doing my acupuncture twice a week in Fort Collins. The sessions aren't bad really. The only needles that hurt are the ones they put into my feet. The rest I don't really feel. However, I'm not sure I feel much different afterward either. I'm having more trouble with the injections, which are producing a whole list of side effects, including muscle aches and pains, headaches, itching feet, and an inability to sleep through the night. And, my sessions with the doctor are starting to pick up pace. I have one Friday, and then next week it will be Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon...and on daily until it's over. Of course, don't really know an exact date yet.

It hasn't been all work and medicine of course. I've been doing some scrapbooking and lots of cooking too. I'm looking forward to a visit from Mike's parents next week as well.