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Ocular migraines, ever heard of them?  I hadn’t either…until today.  I signed off of here earlier last night because I got a headache that just was not going away and I was starting to get dizzy from focusing on my laptop.  I watched some TV (Biggest Loser), took a bath, and went to bed.  I woke up this morning with a lesser version of the headache.

About an hour after waking up, I started getting these circles that would flash and stream across my vision and out into the periphery.  I checked each eye to see if only one of them was doing it but they were both doing it.  Then, the flashes started getting worse and worse.  At first I only got off my laptop, then I shut off the TV, closed the blinds and started at myself in the mirror trying to figure out what was going on.  I didn’t have any eye trauma recently and my headache surely couldn’t be the cause of this.  Or so I thought.  I started doubting my ability to care for Brady and the implications of this vision thing so I called Casey and asked him to come home.  He told me to schedule an appointment with our primary care doctor and he’d take me when he got home.  From the time the flashes started and my vision started blurring until they ended it was between 15 and 20 minutes.

I went to the PCP who said she thought I was experiencing ocular migraines.  She called me in a prescription of Imitrex and gave me orders to see have an ultrasound done of my carotid artery, an MRI to check for any vascular problems or tumors, and a referral for an opthamologist exam. Since Casey was already working from home for the day, I decided to try and get everything scheduled for today if it was possible.

I managed to schedule the ultrasound and MRI appointments back to back for 45 minutes from when I called.  On my way to the appointment, the scheduling office called to update me saying they hadn’t received a pre-authorization from my insurance yet for the MRI but they were still working on it and to keep my appointment.    I made it to the office on time (they have you arrive 30 minutes early for paperwork that takes 5 minutes, but isn’t that how it always is?) and while filling out the paperwork someone from the billing department came over to tell me they hadn’t received the pre-auth yet and I’d need to reschedule the MRI.  I told her about the call from scheduling on the way over and asked if there was anything I could do to speed up the process.  She suggested calling my doctor’s office (the one requesting the exam) and following up with them.  When I called, the receptionist said they were already working on it but the doctor was busy and they’d have to get back to me.

The ultrasound wen very smoothly and the tech didn’t see any problems there.  She also told me that she had two ocular migraines in the past as well and they scared her just as much.  Before taking me back for the MRI, she checked to see if the pre-auth had been received yet and it hadn’t so I was asked to reschedule.  I rescheduled for Friday evening when Casey would be off work but I’d still have to fight rush hour (the alternative was tomorrow night at 8:30 – no thanks) and then headed home.

On my way home I decided there was still a couple of business hours left in the day and I’d try scheduling my opthamologist appointment.  I scheduled my appointment but when getting directions found out the doctor had not given me the number of the referral we talked about that was only 3 miles away, but instead gave me one that was 20-something miles away.  I went ahead and made the appointment but was getting ready to call my doctor’s office again when the nurse called me.  She said they had received the pre-auth and wanted to know when my appointment was and where to send it.  I told her the appointment had to be rescheduled because it should have started 20 minutes ago and gave her the updated information.  I also told her about the opthamologist office and asked for the referral that I was supposed to get.

When I got home I talked to Casey and decided that regardless of when the doctor’s office called back, I wasn’t going to go to the referral that was so far away.  I called and canceled (to a not so thrilled receptionist, even though she knew I thought her office was located elsewhere) with the opthamologist’s office and as I was hanging up, the nurse called back again.  She gave me the correct information and said she was faxing the referrals for the MRI then.  Apparently this office does not have a sense of urgency (another reason we have considered switching PCPs).  The opthamologist’s office asked me to come right over for the exam and although I was there for an hour (including vision and glaucoma testing, as well as pupil dilation) I got the all clear that my eyes were looking just fine and the opinion that I was having ocular migraines and did not need to be seen again (or in her opinion require an MRI).

If I thought my blood work (which I still haven’t gotten the results of) last week through my day off, this completely flipped my world upside down.  I didn’t get anything done today and felt guilty for all of this testing for something that’s going away on it’s own (well, with a little help from Excedrin).  Hopefully tomorrow will end up the way I envisioned today, filled with productivity and not leaving the house!

So I’ve been thinking that Brady isn’t ready for potty training after all. She still doesn’t want to sit on her potty but would rather stand in it or wear it as a hat. I’ve heard from people that a baby will potty train when they’re ready not when you force them to be ready. Well after today, I think Brady is definitely inching closer to being ready.

I laid her down around noon as I usually do for her nap. She usually will only cry for 15 minutes or so but today cried for an hour. She was a little fussy before I put her down so I thought she was still in a bad room and not yet tired (I’m thinking about pushing her nap back some). Around 3:30 she woke up and was crying for a little bit before I went and got her. Normally she cries and fusses for 5-10 minutes as she’s waking up and working herself out and then will start talking and playing. Today it didn’t happen and she was just crying. I went up to get her and noticed her pants were laying in her crib (first time she’s taken them off by herself ever), then I noticed she didn’t have a diaper on. It wasn’t in her crib but was flung on the floor in front of her crib and full of poop. Fortunately for me, it was poop side up. This girl hates poop and did not want to be in her crib any longer with poop on the sheets (and her feet).

After taking her downstairs and cleaning her up and putting a new diaper on her, she was still crying. I guess she was traumatized by the whole thing. I asked her if she pooped and she started saying no and fussing again. This might be a sign in the right direction. Now if only she’d tell me before she pooped or would be willing to sit on the toilet without freaking out. All in good time I guess.

This is the opposite of what I wanted to post about today.  I expected to take Brady to the doctor and have her say that her ears were looking better.  And while she did say her ears looked better and were now shiny (dull = fluid build up), they were also still red.  The doctor started asking whether or not I thought she had allergies and different symptoms.  I told her that I had been suspecting that she did have allergies and that she had been rubbing her eyes and had dark circles under them.  She said she didn’t want to keep giving her antibiotics and prescribed Brady Singulair granules to see if clearing up the allergy symptoms will also clear up the ear infection.

I don’t know what the deal is with my luck when going to the pharmacy.  This is prescription number three for Brady in the last three weeks and each time I’ve chosen a different pharmacy.  And each time something prevents me from being able to just pick up the prescription and go.  After the last two times of going straight from the office to the pharmacy and it not being ready, I waited until late afternoon to try and pick it up.  I went through the drive thru not expecting any problems but the tech said it wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow morning.  Why is that?  I can’t imagine the doctor calling in the prescription saying they’ll pick it up the next day when we’re expecting it right then and want to get a move on making Brady feel better.  She told me that if I wanted to get it then that I could come back in 30 minutes.  I had planned on getting gas and going to Target (next door luckily) anyway so I went ahead and did that before trying to get my prescription.  When I went back to pick it up I was still in the drive thru for 20 minutes.  Argh – I just can’t win!  I know it’ll all be worth it if the Singulair does the trick and Brady’s ear infection clears up completely.  We’ll find out in four weeks when we go back for a recheck.

It really was a beautiful day today! It’s the end of January and we hit 80 degrees! Casey got the Christmas lights down and we all went for a long walk today. The only thing that would have been better is if we had grilled something but we still had some tasty fish tacos for dinner! Now we’re just finishing up Psych season 2 and then I’ll start getting coffee for the morning and Casey’s lunch ready. Brady has her doctor’s appointment in the morning so I’m hoping her ear infection is cleared up and we can be done with the medication. Hopefully the warm weather today is a sign of the weather to come!

Tonight we went to dinner at Iguana Grill.  It’s a little Mexican restaurant less than a mile from us and overlooking Lake Travis.  We had heard from James and Lana that the food wasn’t great but when a Groupon came along I figured this was our opportunity to try it and if it sucked, we’d at least have saved a little money.  As expected the food wasn’t great.  Edible and not bad, but not great.  They had nothing on tap, except for soda (the waiter’s attempt at a joke) and the chips, salsa, and queso were just OK.  Casey was pretty disappointed there weren’t crispy tacos on the menu and when our food was delivered it was just OK again, but the rice was weird (peas in Mexican rice?).  All in all, it wasn’t terrible but I don’t know that we’d go back except for happy hour to watch a sunset (we left just as the sun was setting) and hopefully with another Groupon.  I tried taking a couple of pics of Casey and Brady with my phone with the water in the background but Brady was so squirmy they turned out blurry.  🙁

Is everyone ready for the Pro Bowl tomorrow?!

I registered tonight for my first 5k! I’ll be running with Adele in the Diploma Dash at UTSA in a little less than a month. I don’t know if I’m more nervous or excited about the whole thing. I’m pretty interested to see if (a) I can do it and (b) how fast I can do it. The weather has been cooperating the last few days so at least I’m getting some practice runs in!

I wrote this yesterday but apparently didn’t hit publish.

I feel the day has completely gotten away from me and I’m so behind on everything.  Yesterday, I went to the doctor under the impression I’d be getting blood work done.  Apparently, last time I was there the correct information was not entered into their system, and my appointment got listed as a preconception appointment.

Last week was when my original appointment was scheduled but the doctor was out and so I had to reschedule to this week with the midwife (even though their office canceled I would have had to wait another six weeks to get back into see the doctor). And really if you’re just getting lab orders, what does it matter who writes them?  Brady did really well while we were in the waiting room and had a fascination with seating in each of the chairs and pointing out different pieces of art.  When we got called back for the appointment, she completely flipped out when I put her down to get weighed.  She kept this up until we got in the room, then freaked out again when the midwife walked in.  The midwife didn’t want to scare her so she kept her distance and ending up laying on the exam table while we talked.  This helped but I don’t know why she did that.  My only thought is maybe she’s associating doctor’s offices with getting her ears probed (which she hates)?

The appointment started out with the midwife asking how long ago I miscarried and if we were interested in trying again.  I told her it had been six weeks and that yes (obviously), we wanted another baby.  She said since I had already completed one cycle and my “clock had reset” that we could go ahead and start trying again now.  When she asked if I had any questions, I told her I was a little confused by this because it contradicted what the doctor had told me at my last appointment which was to wait two cycles.  I told her I was supposed to be getting blood work at this appointment and wanted to talk about what they were looking for and what that might mean.

The midwife had no idea what I was talking about and left to go get my chart (why it was still in the hall, I don’t know).  When she returned she said she took back what she said and that I should wait until after my next cycle before trying to get pregnant again.  She gave me the paperwork for the tests and briefly explained they’d be looking for reasons my body might be throwing mini clots.  They don’t know that I have a clotting disorder at all (or if I do, what would be causing it) but they want to rule that out because a clotting disorder could explain my abruption with Brady and miscarriage last month.  The midwife told me they don’t expect to find anything and that if the results are normal I’ll be able to see the results on their patient portal in a few days but if they were abnormal I’d need to schedule with one of the doctors because “if you schedule with one of the midwives we’re going to be like, what?  And not know what to do.”  I’m already not feeling super confident about this practice and to hear things like that doesn’t help matters.  Basically, she said it’d be a wait and see type thing but most clotting disorders can be controlled with baby aspirin or blood thinners.  We finished up and she sent me over to the M.A. to get my blood drawn.  The M.A. said they were unable to do this type of testing in their office and directed me to another lab (upstairs) because they didn’t have the right type of tubes or a freezer (testing for coagulation?).

The doctor’s office/lab is about 20 miles from our house so I figured I’d try getting everything done at one time and Brady and I headed upstairs.  I’m shocked that there’s no line and start feeling confident they can get me in before finding out that I have to fast for 10-12 hours before they can draw blood.  So this morning after getting dressed and giving Brady breakfast (she gets car sick on an empty tummy), we headed back to the lab.  I waited a little while before heading over there (they open at 7) thinking that people would stop in on their way to work or want to get the blood work over and done with as early as possible so they could eat and get on with their day and that if I waited there wouldn’t be that many people there.  I was so wrong – the waiting room was packed (I counted 14 other people) and I expected to be there a long, long time.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait very long at all.  Brady wasn’t quite restless yet and was eating Goldfish and reading a book when they called us back.  I put her down so I could sit in the chair for the blood draw and she flipped out again.  Big ole tears were rolling down her faces and she kept saying bye.  I got out my phone and started playing a Sesame Street movie (Abby in Wonderland, I think) and tried talking to her while I was sitting there.  I was sitting there a little while because they took seven vials (although they were smaller) of blood.  Brady had calmed down by the time we were done (the other patient said something about separation anxiety while we were there) and was saying goodbye to everyone she saw along the way!

I usually hate getting my blood drawn (I still do) but part of it is the environment it’s being drawn in.  The entire building is newer and this office didn’t have the same type of feel as the strip mall type labs but was warmer and more welcoming.  And the staff seemed much more professional from the receptionist to the phlebotomist.  Hopefully the glucose challenge test will be a little less painful if I get it done in that office.

I had my 6 week follow up appointment at the OB/GYN today. Basically it ended up being her reiterating what was said the day I found out I miscarried and giving me orders for blood work (which I had to request because the midwife didn’t read my chart). Then, I couldn’t get the blood work done in their office because the didn’t have the right tubes and couldn’t freeze my blood. So I went to the lab upstairs from there looking to get it done and I have to fast for 10-12 hours beforehand. So at some point I’ll need to head back over there and get it done. 🙁

The lab will be looking to see if I have any ailments that would cause blood clotting (lupus, factor 5, etc). These clots or possibly micro clots could attribute to my abruption and miscarriage. So if something shows up in my blood work I’ll need to go in and meet with the doctor (the midwife says they won’t have a clue what to do or how to proceed if something is up) and possibly be put on blood thinners or baby aspirin for the duration of my pregnancy. The midwife says it’s a long shot that something will show up and I shouldn’t be concerned. But I am. I want answers and I want this whole waiting period over and done with.

Happy Birthday, Sally!  I hope you had a great day and many more birthdays to come!  We love you and hope you come and visit soon! 😉

So this is sort of random but a tweaker tried to follow my neighbor’s (Mike) girlfriend (Briana) into their garage last night.  I mean, who does that?!  I guess Briana was unloading some bags from her trunk last night and some guy just started following her up the driveway and into the garage like he was supposed to be there.  She freaked out, yelled for Mike and he came out with his pistol wielded ready to confront the creeper.  The guy took off up the block towards the school, but not before Mike got in his truck and went after him.  He caught up with the guy confronted the tweaker and asked him what he was doing there.  The guy said he was asking for a ride and seemed kind of out of it and when he asked for ID, the guy emptied his pockets and had nothing on him.  Mike offered the guy a chance to call the police before threatening him with death if he ever stepped foot around either of our houses again.  Who does this?!  Ugh, this does not make me feel safe and Mike’s advice to Casey was to keep the gun by door.  Guess we’re going to need another piece of furniture to store the gun on after all (that Brady can’t reach).  I’m definitely feeling more secure now that we have a gun (thanks again to Marvin and Sally for that) and can protect ourself if need be.  Make my day indeed.

I ran again today – this time 2.75 miles.  I didn’t have any problems, aside from a side cramp (I need to Google what causes those because I was average a 13.5 minute mile before this started).  I do admit that I’m missing sidewalks and flat areas more and more.  Who knew Texas was hillier than Colorado?!  I guess there’s not too much to say about the running in general since my times are staying the same, I can only complain about my body adapting to this new regime at this point.  Is anyone else out there still running?  What are your times?

We just finished up Pysch season 1 and will be starting on season 2 tomorrow.  Well, maybe not tomorrow since The Biggest Loser is on but this week.  Oh, and at Lana’s suggestion we started watching Heavy and oh my goodness.  (Side note: the fat camp they go to is the spa that we went to last year on our Girls Day – Lake Austin Spa.  And that grocery store they visit – is the grocery store I shop at all the time.)  These people are so much bigger than the contestants on The Biggest Loser and lose weight so much more slowly, my only thought is that they couldn’t pass the health exam on TBL?