Saturday, November 11, 2006

Snow, lights, and shots

Well, I don't know how much snow we ended up getting yesterday. Do any of you Rochester-residents know? It seemed to me that what we ended up with was a worse storm than what was forecasted. Apparently, most of the snow accidents of the year occur during the first big snow of the year. The story is that people forgot how to drive in the snow. And maybe all the Rochester-newbies are just lost and cursing their reason for coming here in the first place! I'm not sure. But I do know it snowed HARD all day. Whenever it snows during the day, the plows are unable to keep up on it. I had, foolishly, not worn boots to work and so on my way home at noon, had no choice but to walk through ankle deep snow which left my feet soaking wet. At least it wasn't a long walk.

Here are a few pictures of the snow. These pictures were taken at about 4:30. You can see that the sun was just getting ready to set. Sunset yesterday? 4:51!




JB told me that each day of this two week wait, we are going to try to do something relaxing and distracting to enjoy the days as we wait to get confirmation of my pregnancy results. I have decided that since we those sticky babies dropped in me and that they were alive, I am going to assume I am pregnant until told otherwise. It's a fairly fun feeling actually! And it keeps my spirits much higher!

Last night he took me to a light show about thirty minutes from Rochester. He said he had heard about this place and wanted to wait until it snowed before we went.

Okay, first of all, we had a GREAT time. It was wonderful to drive after the roads had been cleared and see the fresh snow and TONS of deer. We probably saw over 20 deer during our 30 minute ride.

The experience at the light show itself was, quite interesting. Here are a few pictures:




I think the thing is, for JB and I, we have been ruined by living in a big city. When you live in a huge city, and then you go to events like these in small, rural towns, you just can't help but be a little confused as to what all the fuss was about.

It's like going to a parade in New York City and then going to a parade in Rochester. You are confused if what you actually saw in Rochester would qualify as a parade? If you got candy, I guess it is considered a parade.

We drove around about ten different light displays sponsored by different businesses. Then we went inside and had a country buffet and watched a high school group perform a series of songs and dances. All we could say when it was over was that "Gracie (our niece) would have loved this." The shiny dresses and vests would thrill any young child, but for us, thirty minutes was quite enough, and we couldn't get some of the unfortunate songs out of our heads.

We also went through the world's only "light maze" which really wasn't much of a maze since all you had to do was follow people's footprints in the snow to find your way out! We passed on the lazer mini golf as it was basically covered with snow, but we did play foozball with a gumball which was quite entertaining. JB won both times, but he let me have the second gumball. I'm not sure how I felt about eating a gumball after playing foozball with it, but I decided to give it a go. It tasted like any other gumball and I am still alive so I guess I made the right decision.

Bara, remember the country fair Ronnie took you too? This was the same type of thing. The type of thing that reminds you America is a very big place, and there are some very different people living there! Very different people than the "city folks" which dominate television and the media.

We actually could have stayed until 9pm when they were showing the movie Cars in their auditorium, but I was getting tired. I really felt drugged yesterday. My boss at Mayo even said so, and when I told him how much Valium they gave me on Thursday, commented that I probably had a pretty good doozy of a Valium hangover.

Instead we came home, JB gave me my shot, and we went to bed.

Now I want to pause briefly to talk about my progesterone shots. I'm going to talk about this one time, and then, I am going to refrain from complaining about them again.

The progesterone shots hurt worse this time than they EVER have before! My only deduction as to the reason why is because the clumps of progesterone from my September cycle are still present. JB actually said he saw an interview with a woman who NINE MONTHS after she took the shots still felt the clumps! Yikes! I know this could be possible because even a few weeks ago when I would jog, I would have to wear spandex to attempt to keep the clumps from shaking too much when I run. They hurt so badly.

Now, the problem is, I am taking shots on top of the old clumps. John is forced to practically sit on my legs when he gives me the shots to prevent me from jumping! They stink.

I put a post about this on Hannah's Prayer, my online discussion board. Here's what I wrote:

This is now my third time with progesterone shots. However, these are MUCH worse than previously. I am wondering if this is due to the close proximity to which I last took shots? The first set were in May, then September and now November. Do you think the leftover "clumps" are the problem?

I received two replies that seemed to echo my "theory".

Yes. Having "been there", I can tell you that it can take A LONG TIME for that area to heal...definitely months and months. I found that the lumps/rashes/etc. came much more easily with each new cycle. And it took awhile before the "itching" stopped and I had full sensation again. My progesterone schedule was May (only 5 days since transfer was cancelled), July (full 2ww), September (only a couple days since transfer was cancelled), November (only 5 days of it then since my transfer was cancelled), March to June.

-----

I think you might be right. After my transfer in May I felt residual pains either in my mind or real for months. This time some shots are better than others. I really think when they hurt it is because they went through a 'clump'. Today both sides are sore so I'm going to spend the evening alternating the heat pad side to side and have dh try to massage the area ( sounds funny!). Each morning I get the ice out and stand in front of the mirror backwards to pick the spot...I depress the spot with my thumb to see if it hurts, and if not ice it there....sometimes it's hard to find a spot. Then I climb in bed either on my side with my right hip exposed or on my stomach mostly for my left hip and try to breathe and relax! Do other people do shots lieing down?

So these two comments encouraged me that I am not out of my mind! I guess I am not the only one who finds these annoying.

Okay, that's it. I refuse to complain anymore about the shots. You know I am taking them every evening, and you know they stink. I'll leave it at that.

Right now it is Saturday morning, and JB is back in the hospital working on some other women's procedures. We plan to lay low today. My house is absolutely trashed, but I am trying not to worry about it so that I continue to lay low.

See you all tomorrow!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

According to www.wunderground.com:

"An early season snow storm dumped 10.5 inches of new snow at the
Rochester international Airport on November 10th. This broke the old
record of 1.8 inches of snow for this date that was set back in
1946."

So there you have it.

Anonymous said...

i'm really amazed by the snow pictures! woow!

maybe this is natural for you, but now i'm able to tell whether someone i meet at the hospital is from the country side or city guy! I agree! they are totally different in the way they approach people! both are fun i must say!

Wendi Kitsteiner said...

10.5 inches!!!!!

Are you kidding?!

Gabbi, are you a secret meterologist?!

Anonymous said...

wendi...thanks for posting those pictures. we got ZERO inches here in the cities. my parents said they had a good foot at their house in rochester. yikes...i'm not sure i'm even ready for this. winter is long enough as it is. i'd prefer it would snow on dec. 20th, so we'd have it for christmas and not any earlier! :-)

Gabbs said...

And its supposed to be an El Nino, which is supposed to mean a milder winter for y'all, but so far it doesn't seem like that.

And no, I am not a secret meteorologist. Everyone knows about my meteorological skills. I don't hide it. Ha ha! JK. Man if only I had the time to get TWO degrees!