this week is better

this week is going better. my weight loss is up to 31.9 pounds. i lost 2 pounds last week! woohoo. must have been all of the stress or something. anyway this week is going way better than last week.

i got interviewed yesterday afternoon by a reporter from the Tonwanda News about leptospirosis and how I was exposed to it. (Please see my Sept. 26, 2004 entry for the details about my exposure.) The reporter also took my picture w/ a cute bulldog named Molly that happened to be at the clinic yesterday. So the article and my picture showed up today on the front page of the Tonawanda News...aaahhhh. Here is a link to a shortened version of the article on the Tonawanda News Website: http://www.tonawanda-news.com/story.asp?id=741

this is weird b/c i was on the front page of the paper 10 years ago, when i was 14. a reporter came to kiwanis park in lewiston when i was participating in the lewiston recreation program there. i was doing arts and crafts when a reporter came a took a picture of myself and one of the counselors. the counselor and i were also quoted in the article. it was pretty kewl. i think that i have gotten more than the standard "15 minutes of fame" already in my life...haha.

my birthday and stuff

so yeah today was my birthday. my grandparents, aunt, uncle and brother came over to eat dinner w/ my parents and i. it was fun and the food was great...i slipped a bit on my weight watchers...oops!

this past week has been really stressful though...here is why:
1) on monday my great aunt liz died of MERSA and on thursday right after work i had to go to her wake. i also weighed in on mon at weight watchers and found out that i only lost 0.6 lbs the week before. blah...at least it was not a gain.

2) on tuesday i came into work and i heard that one of the dogs i had treated the saturday
before had died on monday night, possibly from leptospirosis. this is the disease
that dogs in the area have been getting from rodents. this dog from saturday needed an
IV catheter and so i put it in and blood poured all over my hands which i have open cuts
on. so when i found this info out that the dog had died and that they sent out lepto titers
to cornell to test for lepto i flipped out. (FYI- Lepto is deadly to humans too) i called my
mom who called my doctor and he said that he wanted to see me that afternoon at 3:15.
my boss seemed kinda pissed that i needed to leave work and then come back (i was
working 7am-8:30pm), i left anyway. i wasn't taking a chance w/ this nasty disease! so
i went to the doctor and he prescribed doxycillin 100mg twice daily for a week. then
i had to drive back to work and finish my shitty day. these
pills have also kinda been making me sick. but anyway, on thursday the lepto titer came
back and the dog was positive for 3 strains of lepto so i'm glad that i'm on the antibiotics.

3) on wednesday physics was really bad...i can't understand anything in that damn class!
organic chem is getting harder too...BLAH. i also went to my friend cory's birthday party. it was outside w/ a bonfire and everything. it was very fun, but i had to leave early b/c i had work in the morning...blah...there were also some hot guys there and i couldn't stay long enough to get to know them...blah.

4) on thursday i was the first one into work at 6:50am. when i walked in i noticed that the
pump in the isolation area was beeping and the cage door was open, but there was no
dog. i read the cage tag and learned that the dog was a rottie and he had parvo, which is
a nasty disease that puppies get that causes lots of nasty and distinct smelling
diarrhea. so needless to say, the dog busted out of its kennel and had nasty diarrhea,
vomit and urine all over the hospital. i found the dog in the kitchen and i called him into
the isolation area and he came and i told him to get into his kennel and he did. by that
time another tech had came in and we started cleaning. blah. so then i was in surgery
that day and it went on forever. then after work i had my great aunt's wake. then i came
home and had to do homework! aahh! i was going to call into work that morning b/c i felt
barfy but i didn't...i will follow my gut feeling from now on b/c thurs sucked!

5) on friday i had school and then a physics tutoring session. blah. my dinner at applebees
with my parents was good though. i also went shopping w/ them for a new tv and dvd
recordable player for my room for my birthday...we didn't buy either yet...we are going to
compairison shop.

6) on saturday i was the first one into work again. when i got there at 6:50am i checked on
all of the animals on the dog side and was going to start drawing up the drugs for their
treatments. when i looked in on this one golden retriever she didn't look right. i opened
the cage checked her reflexes and asculted (listened to) her heart and lungs w/ my
stethoscope. she was dead. i flipped out, but then i realized that she was dead and
there was nothing that i could do. what a shitty way to start a morning. after work i went
to dsw shoes and got an $70 pair of adidas sneakers for like $40 after all my coupon
savings which was kewl. they are really comfortable.

7) now i am back to sunday...today. my birthday. i ended up throwing up after dinner b/c of
the damn antibiotics. blah. oh yeah and then last week my grandfather failed a stress test and had to go to buffalo general for an angiogram and then had surgery to put a stint in one of his arteries which was 99% blocked. he goes back next week for one stint in another artery that is 85% blocked. blah! and i wonder why i have been such a bitch lately (well more bitchy than usual i should say...lol). that's it for now though!

the big 2-9

yeah! i lost another 3 pounds!...i have now lost 29 lbs!

peach festival and more

so yeah i went to the peach festival in lewiston on saturday night. the peach pop was great as usual and the peach shortcake tasted different (it wasn't as sweet), but it was still good.

the whole park was still all muddy and smelled like dead fish, especially around the rides, since we had all of that flooding last thursday and that is when the carnies pulled in to set up the rides. they put down cedar chips to cut down on the smell and muddiness, but it was still a bit spongey in spots. by far the best ride this year (like it is every year) was the zipper. it rocks! the fireball was also there, but it should be called the claw since the whole thing looks like a giant claw...haha. after we were strapped into the fireball my brother noticed that one of the hydrolic bars wasn't connected...but we survived so i guess that part wasn't crucial. we also went on the tilt-a-whirl, which was good too.

the haunted house proved to be dangerous when my brother's friend kristen got scared and forgot that i was right behind her. she plowed right into me which tackled me down and then she fell on top of me...haha...then as i was getting up someone hit me in the nose. i never did like haunted houses.

but overall peach fest 2004 was an even to remember. i saw and talked to some people i know, hung out with my parents, my brother and his friends, went on rides, got hurt and ate and imbibed some traditional fare.

then today after dropping my brother off at canisius, i went to visit maureen (moe) who i used to live in kenmore. she recently sold her house and is moving to las vegas in november and already bought a house there. its a really nice house too, she showed me some pictures. her daughter kiera was also there so i got to visit with her too which was kewl. moe's dog, duke, the blind boston terrier is already in vegas living with her son, trey so i didn't get to see him, that was sad. i'm happy for moe, but i am sad too b/c i probably will never see her again after she moves. but who knows, maybe i'll visit vegas and stay with her. i'm glad that i visited though, i always had a good feeling living there and whenever i was there. i'll never forget my time there, moe, kiera or duke.

after moe's house i went to my cousin hub's house for his son ryan's 1st birthday. i actually got to go swimming...and on sept 12th! go figure.

weight watchers meeting tomorrow with the big weigh in...eeek! i hope i didn't gain!

eh...

so yeah...school started on august 31. it sucks. i'm taking organic chemistry and college physics. o chem isn't giving me a problem yet, but physics is kicking my ass! aaahhh! i already have a tutor to help me out...it is very frustrating!

in addition to taking these hard classes on Mon, Wed & Fri, i am working from 7am-8:30pm every Tues, 7am-6:30pm every Thurs and 7am-4:30pm every Sat. eek. and all for health insurance

i'm dealing with this schedule so far, but it fucking sucks.

on a good note i'm up to 25 lbs. lost! woohoo.