Aaaaall Bettah

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I had a pleasant Saturday of less itching, minimal coughing, and almost-gone arthritic joint pain. My rash has cleared up and I took Advil only once today. I’d like to give a shout out to Dr. Z across the street, the almost-empty bottles of Advil and Tylenol, the almost-empty boxes of Claritin and Benadryl, my trusty inhaler, and my new cough medicine with codeine for getting me through the past week. Oh yeah, I also lost 5 pounds this week on the childhood disease diet. You should all try it! It rocks!

It’s not Chicken Pox.

I’ve been out sick since Monday and feeling 75%.  I went to see the doctor on Monday and she said that I had the flu.  But then, on Monday night, I broke out in a scary rash all over my neck, chest, abdomen, and back.  And then on Tuesday morning, it had spread to my arms and legs.  Yikes!  Well, I went back to see her on Tuesday and she told me that I have “Fifth Disease“, which is a childhood virus and has an eerily similar set of symptoms that I had.  It starts with a mild fever, aches all over, and headaches.  Then once the fever goes away, a rash appears from the center of the body and spreads out to the extremities.  Great.  Apparently once the rash appears, I’m no longer contagious…just really gross to look at.  Luckily it did not appear on my face and I am going back to work today with my neck covered up.  Ah, the hazards of working with sick kids.

25 Years of Service

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Despite a mild fever, body aches, and an annoying headache, I flew home for my mom’s retirement dinner. My mom retired on Wednesday after 25 years of service. When I got home, my mom couldn’t wait to show off her official certificate signed by the Governator himself.

It was nice to be home again even if it was for just a short time. It was great to see the family again and Katie was a doll. It’s too bad that I was too sick to hold her. Oh well, at least I had a zoom lens.

So, just like my dad did last year when he retired, they’re leaving for Thailand on Wednesday for a month-long trip. Take me with yooooooooou!

Here are photos from dinner.

Spunky Kiddo

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Last Sunday, we gathered at Jimmy and Eleen’s house for a post-wedding celebration. Yong and Helen brought their 2-year-old daughter, Cara, and she was a hoot! From the minute she arrived, she burst into the house and went straight for each an every one of the 4 dogs that were in the house.

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She’s quite a mover and loves to climb on people, crawl under tables, and give hugs to everyone including the dogs. She’s also quite a ham when it comes to taking photos, so I got lots of practice.

Oh, one more thing.  We took photos for the bet between Victor and Yong.  The person who loses the greatest percentage of weight by May will get a new iPhone with a full year of service paid for.

Here are more photos from the afternoon.

Guilty

Do you have a job where you’re given the biggest guilt trip EVAR when you call in sick?  Well I do.  It all started with a shallow cough yesterday at work, which got worse overnight and was coupled with some crazy aches and pains all over my body and head.  I called and left a message on my supervisor’s voicemail AND a detailed email about my schedule around 7:30 am and thought everything was taken care of.  That was, until I got a phone call a little later in the morning from my supervisor who scolded me for not calling her earlier at home or on her cell phone instead of her work voicemail.  I can see why that stressed her out since she wasn’t prepared for the schedule changes when she arrived at the hospital but I couldn’t help feeling so lousy after I hung up with her.

I certainly care about the welfare of my patients and they do deserve therapy but not from a possibly contagious therapist!  Because of the guilt-ridden day that I had at home today, I have decided to go to work tomorrow regardless of how I feel.  I currently have a 100.8-degree fever and chills.  Maybe tomorrow I can walk in with a fever and pass out in the middle of one of my sessions.  That would be awesome.

Goodbyes

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Three years ago, Jes and I went to the BMW dealership in hopes of finding a 3-series wagon. In the end, the X3 was a better deal so that’s what we took home.  Above is a photo of me at the dealership.

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Right off the lot, we headed up to Mammoth with the excitement of an awesome weekend in the snow and a new car to test out on the icy roads. I will never forget the time we were heading back down that Sunday with the “miles left” indicator blinking “0.0” and then “–“. Ah, the memories. To this day, we still salute Jaw Bone Station on our way up to Mammoth.

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Now it’s January 30, 2008 and our lease has ended. Last night, we went down to the garage to clean out the car and take down the racks. It sounds pretty silly but I’m going to miss our trusty Sport Activity Vehicle and also the convenience of driving. Jes returned the car this morning and now we are about to embark on a little experiment I will call “We Have No Car”. I’ll have to keep you posted on how that pans out.  What a funny coincidence that I’m wearing the same sweatshirt on my last night with the car.  Haha.

Today also marks another significant milestone. My mother has retired from her job of 20+ years at the DMV. Yep, no more cutting in line. And no more “Mommy, can you pay my registration and I’ll pay you back later?”. Bummer. I guess it’s pretty good timing for us though. We won’t need to worry about much besides renewing our licenses every 3 years.