Good News

Monday was different

It was dive 20

I didn't know what was going to happen after today.

I got a huge hug from Maria and a lot of well wishes

Though Dr. King didn't share my enthusiasm about being close to done.

Shane had his 50mile race but he turned his ankle at mile 32:(

I wanted to hear more about it but he was kicked out of the sub so we could get started.

Wanda was missing but Dave was back.

Matt snagged my hair again in the helmet.

We finished watching Hope Springs- that was cute-and awkward 

*spoiler alert*

Meryl Streep tries to give Tommy Lee Jones a BJ in a movie theater

anyway second movie was Due Date

I love Robert Downey Jr.

And that guy from the Hangover-wolfpack of one guy, I don't care who you are, if you don't think he is funny you have no sense of humor.

I felt a big sneeze coming on and that is not something you want to do in that apparatus!

I managed to stave it off but my nose burned like a MoFo.

I headed over to Emory after the dive to finally get some news.

Mom could not make it this time.

One of the unfamiliar faces came in to check on me.

He did see me once before. He stuck a swap in my hole and cleaned out some of the loose bone. I was bleeding...which is awesome. it means it's alive not dead

I no longer see or feel exposed bone in my mouth.

Now Dr. Roser and Dr. Funny came in. they checked me out and were both ecstatic about what they saw.

I was told 10 more dives and I should be done.

no surgery! Just one follow up appointment when I am done.

I celebrated by stopping by the Camera Doctor on my way back to work to pick up some infrared 120 film.

Luck must be on my side today because I forgot they are closed on Monday. When I pulled up, the owner was unlocking the door, I walked in behind him, he was startled and told me they were closed. I apologized. he asked what I wanted and he sold it to me anyway.

Took a minute because he had to turn everything on. That was super cool. Some people say he is a jerk but every time I have every came into his shop he has been nothing but great, helpful and we usually talk for a while.

I then walked over to Wuxtry Records. I was so tempted to buy an old Jazz LP but I really need to get a turntable first lol. It's been on the wish list for a while. I am just not spending a ton of money on one...damn hipsters 

When I came back to HYOX today the first thing out of Shane's mouth was "when is your surgery"? and I said no surgery and we high fived.

Dr. King asked what all he said and did and I told him. he still thinks I will need at least 20 more dives due to my history.

Maria is not here today. She had her surgery

I haven't stopped thinking about her all day. She is losing all of her teeth due to the cancer.

Wanda is back. She missed yesterday because her son and grandchild were moving to Boston.

She was very sad. Sucks too because you can't fly during treatments or after for a little while, something to do with the pressure.

We finished Due Date. yep it was funny. Now we are watching zero dark 30. I saw the other Bin Laden movie on Netflix and it was excellent...this one seems way too Hollywood but it's interesting enough.

Anything 9/11 strikes a cord. The beginning of this movie almost threw me into a complete tailspin. Not cool when you can't get away (I left my book)

After the dive I was told  it was my 2 week check up so I had to go get my eyes checked again. My vision has changed dramatically. Oxygen effects the eyes because the are absorbing it directly. I pretty much can't see at all without my glasses now, but it is only temporary.

I have lost 2.4 lbs since I started the treatments.

Dr. King said he wishes he had 100 patients like me. he still doesn't believe I am 40. Perfect BMI

Great skin. I could hear that all day long, especially from a Doctor.

The hole in the bone has healed 50%

there is no infection at all anymore

New bone and tissue is growing 

total I have healed 25% but I feel like is have healed 75%.

he said I can't quit until the tissue has grown up and over the hole.

Here is hoping it's sooner rather than later.

The gangs all here... Well almost

So I wasn't the only one who thought you, me and Dupree was stupid. We told Shane we preferred action so he said he'd switch the movie and put in something we would like. I read the first couple of chapters of On The Road by Kerouac. Then the Last 3 days with Russell Crowe came on. I was sucked in.
Maria (MP) wasn't there . I missed her but luckily the movie kept my interest pretty much the whole time. So much that I didn't even notice the door was open and I could leave, lol.
Today is dive #19. It is supposed to be Dave's last day. I wanted to take a group picture. Unfortunately Dave wasn't there but I did get one of the rest of us!

left to right then down and right

T-something...he's the new guy from Bosnia, Wanda, Maria (MP) Mary (M2) Me then below me is Phillip aka Cip Or Mr. Inappropriate then Madeline (stinky)

Now you can put a face with the name.

If Dave is there on Monday I will snap one of him and I'll try to get the staff too but that is different every day

Matt (the dweeb) is not a dweeb.  He grew on me. I never did see the hot guy again :(

So we finished the movie. It was good, I recommend it.

When it came around to snack time Matt gave me my AJ without asking and there were not any goldfish or cheezits in the snack been so he had them sent in.

There is this little hole that has its own seal that they can do a super quick pressurization in to send in things we might need, sometimes it a blood sugar kit, coke, pillow or blanket. Today Matt had them send me some Goldfish. When the came out of the hole they looked like they were freeze dried. Couldn't get them open the were vacuum packed so tight. He had scissors sent in. He made sure I got to eat my damn goldfish.

of course since it was a production I did not get to finish them.

for the first time today my hair did get caught in the helmet and get pulled out a bit. Guess I need to go back to the pony tail.

It never fails either that as soon as the helmet goes on I have to itch somewhere.

The second movie we started was Hope Springs.

Another chick flick but has Tommy Lee Jones in it so it makes it watchable.

Maria said she had seen it before and it was ok.

her itch is back with a vengeance today :(

Monday is a big day.

It's dive 20 and I go back to Emory to see Dr. Roser.

I should know the next step soon.

fingers crossed

The Dive Inn

the weekend was busy and productive. I "over" celebrated St. Patricks Day...let's just say I don't have a tolerance anymore so a few beers = wasted

that was friday, Saturday was re-coop and over eat

Sunday was yard work, clean the house, do laundry and the Amazing Race with Brody at the school. We were Zombie Leprechauns and we won the costume contest.

I also won "chamber champ" at HYOX. 

It is a weekly trivia contest they do at the oxygen chamber.

Both contests I won movie tickets.

Brody, Shane, Ariana and I will go see Iron Man 3

and Shane and I will got see Evil Dead

win for the whole family

Mondays movie was a chick flick, One for the Money

Tuesdays move was a chick flick, The Descendants

Wednesdays movie was a chick flick, All About Steve

And for Thursday we started another chick flick, You, me and Dupree

I am not a fan of Chick Flicks

They all sucked

I finished World War Z

I will be beginning On The Road by Jack Kerouac tomorrow

M2 is now highly medicated, in the corner behind Cip with head phones on.

MP finally got some sleep and her itch is gone.

Wanda got some promising news about her toes, she may not lose them!

Dave is on his last week, he was not there yesterday because he had some plumbing installed (IV port)

His insurance runs out Friday. He is a sweet old man.

I have been managing to finish my snacks without pain.

Actually have have been eating virtually pain free this week. I did have an apple that was a little tough to bite into but I did get to finish eating it (sliced up of course)

Cip was singing and dancing today

he has spent some time telling me how beautiful I am

I had to duck and dodge him on the way out today

ahhhh Freak Out... Le freak...so shiek

I got into the dressing room a bit early. Got dressed. Today they gave us all beads for St. Patty's day to give us a little luck of the Irish.

Cip had his shirt off to show me how manly he was with his beads on. He asked me if I was Irish and was excited because he is Irish too. 

We have a new older man joining us, he has not visible ailments. M2 (the other Mary) was back again today. She cowered in the corner until Becky, the main Nurse, came and coaxed her to sit down next to Wanda. I just knew I was going to get moved away from Ms. Portugal. To my excitement, when I stepped inside  my Helmet was in my old seat. I actually said out loud, YAY! And MP and I agreed as long as we sit together all is fine. She is less itchy today. Her new allergy meds are working. She told me her cancer had spread to her bones but it is a slow cancer and she will always have it but she could still live another 20 years. I asked her about the pain and she said she is always in pain from the rod in her back. I am really growing fond of this woman and I am saddened by this.

So the Movie of the day is Fools Gold...lame...I am glad I am in my spot to read. M2 hovers at the door until the very last minute when Shane finally get her to come sit down. She complained about not sitting where I was sitting but was told I was a reader, she said she was too. I can see the writing on the wall :(

I am probably 2 dives away from finishing World War Z.

We are slow to dive down today. One because of the newbies and Two because the newbie had ear pain.

Halfway through the dive, just before break time Shane checked on M2 and she asked to stand up. He said when we take our masks off for the 15 minute break, for snacks and drinks, she could.

As soon as she got that helmet off she freaked.

She was pacing in the corner (next to me) teary eyed and scared to death. I could not hear everything, but I could hear that she wanted to move. She wanted my spot.

They put her in the corner with Cip.

I tried to ignore her the rest of the dive and read.

As soon as it was over I was out of there. Headed to the dressing room to beat M2, hoping MP would take the second one behind me, but she being the awesome lady she is, took her stuff to the bathroom to be considerate of M2. M2 came in and I could hear her sobbing. Becky was trying to comfort her. She asked if they had any single chambers, which they don't. She said she did not want to come back, she said something about if she had a gun and Becky stopped her and said she would talk to Shane. I told her Crawford long had a great single chamber set up.

hey, I understand, I freaked out myself, but geez, get it together and don't scare the shit out of everyone else.

If she is back on Monday I am sure I will be stuck with Cip. I just hope I get set next to MP.

new faces, new seat

Dive #12 pretty uneventful.

They started Skyfall again, I guess they forgot we watched that one already. I read the entire time. I actually got really sucked in and time flew by. Which was nice for a change. I went in having some pain. Was worried since it was not brought on by eating this morning. Maybe I just brushed my teeth too hard.
Only weird thing today was my helmet wasn't on tight enough and popped off. that was freaky.
We watched Argo and I was very involved in this movie so time flew by.

The door to the dressing area was closed today. I think that was for my benefit.

Managed to escape Cip's clutches again today. On a happier note, through sweaty palms and high anxiety, I signed up to run my first 1/2 marathon. I figure if I sign up and it's far enough away (November) that I won't have any choice but to do it. Until this happened my goal was to run the Publix 1/2 this weekend so I am kinda bummed I haven't been training. I did run today and froze my butt off!

Lucky #13

No pain today. Good, because that crappy Flagyl should be out of my system by tomorrow and I was worried that going off that antibiotic was the cause of my pain.

Today is Pi Day (3.14)

So naturally, I bought a pie for my work family.

yes, you can see I decorated it myself :)

and it's keylime, so I can eat it too.

We have another Mary in our little submarine

She took my seat :(

I was told she had to sit there because all new people have to sit there the first time because it is across from the attendant. She was very panicky.

Maria was in the middle of us, so at least I still got to sit next to her. She didn't like me having to move seats, she said it was too dark for me to read and that they need to put me back.

I love this woman. She reminds me of my grandma. When she is done with treatments she is moving to Maryland. She was complaining about T-mobile and her new cell phone today helping distract me from the fact that now I am across from Madeline...aka stinky and in direct contact with Cip, who now I can hear the kissy sound he makes trying to blow me kisses and get my attention. Oh and he told me I was "sexy as Hell" again and kept winking at me. Yeah, I hope I don't have to sit in this spot again tomorrow.

I also don't like the angle I have to be in to see the TV. We watched lawless today. Forest aka Tom Hardy is a hottie.

Now I am not first out of the chamber anymore. Maria told me to go to the other dressing area, she would use the bathroom, she knows I have to go back to work and I am in a hurry. The new girl throws a wrench in our groove and I can tell Maria doesn't like it. LOL. 

I did talk to the new lady while I was getting dressed. She said she was ok but she was nervous because she did not know what to expect. I told her about my panic attack and she said she was having one but didn't want to freak out in a room full of strangers. I told her it gets easier. Ugh, if she is freaking out they may stick me next to Cip again. Josh was not there today, I hope he moves me back when I see him again.

Halfway Point

The weekend was a full one.

Managed to get out of the house, see some friends play roller derby, eat fish tacos, pain free with some friends and got 2 runs and a trip to the Farmers Market in.

Did not take any pain meds all weekend!

Shane got new running shoes, they look pretty cool, he took then off so I could see how thick and light they were. He's a runner too. Dr. King told me everybody's pizza is closing in Decatur so he took his wife there. he was there for the opening when he was in college (Emory) so it was fitting that he closed it down. It's going to be an Irish Pub. Mr. Inappropriate chimed in that he liked Irish Beer. A short discussion was had by Shane, Josh, Dr. King and I about where to get cheap beer, old nickel nights back in the day and how the Hipsters have ruined cheap PBR in Atlanta for the rest of us.

Monday's dive I started to read but got sucked into the movie . Don't know why but my anxiety has been high. Managed to stave it off mostly by watching Water for Elephants. 

Got the whole movie in.

Ate my fig Newton and Apple Juice. I guess they know me by now because Josh didn't even ask he just handed it to me. He's cool. He told me the movie was sad but actually it had a happy ending so I am glad I watched it anyway.

After dressing and fixing my hair and makeup, I left the office but managed to catch up to Mr. Inappropriate on my exiting of the building itself. he was alone in the wheel chair while his Nurse was pulling the car up. he caught sight of me an immediately wheeled himself over my way. I tried to speed past but his arm caught me. I tried to be polite and smile and just shake his hand but he grabbed me and pulled me into a bear hug that ended with a grabbing of my ass. I managed to get free and just took off without looking bad. I feel bad for the guy but geez.

Today I had to go in early so I could meet with Dr. King for my 2 week evaluation. When I got there it was only me and the receptionist. She validating my parking and went and found me some scrubs to change into. She said they were short staffed today and that after I changed she would tell the Doc I was there. When I got out of the dressing room, Cip was there ( Cip= creepy Inappropriate)

As soon as I sat down he wheeled over to me. He told me I was a beautiful as ever. I tried to divert and smile and looked helplessly around for someone. Shane came in and he was trying to get things together. I just focused on him, meanwhile Cip started telling me over and over that I was "sexy as Hell". At this point I got up to go see the receptionist and Shane met me in the hallway and moved me to another room. He apologized and said they were short staffed and he was trying to get to me as soon as he could. he called Hector and told him to go babysit Cip because he was being inappropriate this morning.

Vitals were all good. Shane was shaking. his blood sugar was all messed up. he could barely write down my info. My vision has definitely changed. Side effect of diving. pain has gotten better. I have healed 50% in area and 17% in Volume but the Dr. thinks its more than that because he could not measure as deep last time due to my pain level. Also I have a big mouth...which is a good thing considering how many surgeries I have had. I am supposed to get neck massages but we shall see if that can be afforded later.

Even better news is I am off Flagyl as of today!

I will be able to have a drink by Friday-woo hoo!

Today was another full house. We watched Argo. I got really sucked into that one. Hector stayed for the whole dive this time. We talked about World War Z until I had to put my helmet on.

No fig newtons today so back to goldfish and AJ.

Not too bad today. I was too involved with the movie to pay anything else much attention. I did get dressed in a hurry and got ready in the car. I was out of the dressing room before Cip was even out of the chamber. 

Whew!

TGIF

Well at least the car started.

Today we celebrated Daniel's birthday at work, Marie made blueberry and banana pancakes so I went diving with a full belly.

Not a good idea.

It was Wanda, Phillip (he is Mr. Inappropriate) and Maria (Ms. Portugal) today.

The movie of the day was "The Time Travelers Wife"

I read mostly, I was in and out of the movie.

My ears had issues today. Then I got warm. maybe it was the full belly, maybe it was the long sleeve shirt I wore underneath, maybe both but toward then end of the dive I felt it. Like there was no air. Like when you are cold and under a blanket and trying to get warm but you can't quite breathe right. Then the warm spread in my chest, the flush in my face. I was starting to have a panic attack. I concentrated on my breathing and reading my book to get my mind off of it. I wanted to rip that damn helmet off but I knew I was close to the end. Mr. inappropriate had been telling me he loved me today. He also was showing me with sign language in the chamber that he loved me. I did not want to draw anymore attention to myself than I needed too.

Josh (the younger orderly) seemed like he was having a tough time clearing his ears too. When we were coming up, my left ear hurt. First time.

While I was in the dressing area (it is open to the chamber room but has curtains so you can change in private) I was finishing up getting dressed and fixing my hair and makeup, (you can't have any hair products, make up, lotion, etc on during) Shane (the head attendant) was standing between the dressing area and Phillip. I could here them and Josh talking but wasn't paying attention.When I went to leave Phillip's nurse was in front of me and Shane held the door open for them but told me to wait a minute before I left.

Apparently I got Mr. Inappropriate all worked up and he did not want me to feel any more uncomfortable than I had to, so he wanted to give me some time and space to get him out of there so he didn't try to grab me or say something to me. I thought it was sweet of him to look out for me but I felt bad for the poor kid. I told Shane I could handle it but thanks anyway.

I guess I have a brain damaged admirer.