Fin.

So there goes my all-time favorite job so far this lifetime... I will miss everyone dearly! Below, I'll post a few photos for you to see the antics of my last 2 days here.

Yavapai County Community Health Services, I salute you.

Mo' betta!

yay!! Mb is just that: "Mo' betta." The LEEP went off yesterday, apparently, without a hitch. I was put under general anesthesia, which took me by surprise when I was informed of it; I'd assumed I'd be awake the whole time.

My final pre-op dialogue went like this:

Me: "Hey, Doc, would you give me the play-by-play with all this, so I know what to expect?"
Anesthesiologist: "Sure!"
Me: "Cool, thanks."
A: "Not a prob."
Me: "So, how long 'til I go unconscious?"
A: "I'll letcha know ASAP."
Me: "Cool... Whoa, I'm woozy-" and out!


I came to, and felt quite drunk. My dialogue with the recovery room nurse went like this:

Me: "Wow, you guys are efficient!"
Nurse: "Yeah, so they say."
Me: "I'm impressed. Thanks. By the way, do you like your line of work?"
Nurse: "Yeah, I do. Quite a bit."
Me: "Cool. I always thought it'd be interesting to be a nurse. Very noble."
Nurse: "Thanks! Have you ever taken any nursing classes?"
Me: [lying and woozy] "Oh, I took some A & P courses at some point." [Then it occurred to me I probably sounded drunk.] "Sorry for my slurred speech."
Nurse: "No prob!"


Anyway, now I'm feeling pretty good... despite extremely painful urination. They gave me some Tylenol "Number 3" (with codeine)... but I don't want to use it if I don't have to. Ibuprofen is more than sufficient at the time being, so I should be good.

So that's the update, kids. All is well... for now! :)

Eek!

So the time draws nearer for the LEEP procedure... (If you aren't up-to-date on the saga, see the last few entries.) I leave my office in 45 minutes, and then have to do a lot of driving & waiting. Joy.

Fortunately, I've got a lot of help. My awesome buddy, Fandrew, will be helping out today, and the next two days, my coworkers are gonna be available. Friday, I get to see Noah (the new man) for the weekend. I should be golden!

Anyway, after all the panicking and worrying I've been doing about this stuff, it'll all come to a close today (hopefully!). I'll write tomorrow, when I'm more coherent and less flustered!

Until then... peace out!

A 180

So, wow... things have completely turned around in a short period of time!! :) Here are the updates:

1.) My car will be fixed tomorrow, which means I have to give my beloved rental (a Pontaic G6) back... but it's cool.



2.) I will officially be moving to the Phoenix area during the next two weeks! I found an awesome roommate (thanks, roommates.com!!), and she's finishing up school to be a teacher, too! Which brings me to the next point...

3.) Pending a smooth meeting-of-the-administration tomorrow morning, I will be teaching 6th grade math at a Phoenix-area middle school!! :D I'm scared as hell, but I think it can also be awesome!! (One subject... 50-minute periods... one grade... Heaven!) I'll create a separate blog for that, fear not.

4.) My dysplasia's still kicking my cervix's butt (heh), but I'll be having that procedure done in a week, while I still have health insurance. Shouldn't be life-shattering.


So, in short, things are MUCH better! Thank you ALL so much for your kind thoughts; I think that helped me a great deal!

And now, back to packing...

fuck. (pardon my french)

it's just been a really crappy past few days... here are my recent trials and tribulations:

-i got in a car accident on sunday (a guy turned into me- his fault- but i wasn't able to stop in time and essentially drove right into him)... we were both ok, and i got a free rental car for the time being, but...

-my insurance people called today, saying that they may take my car as a "total loss," i guess which means they'll give me some money and not my car. (curses- i need a car, and i like the one i've got!!)

-my cervical dysplasia (essentially pre-cancer) is back in full force, worse than last time. the doctor wants to be more aggressive with it, so i'm gonna have the leep procedure done sometime in the next week or two. yuck.

-i have to be out of my house in less than 3 weeks now, and i don't know yet where i'm going or what i'm doing.

-i have no idea what i want to do with my life in general.

yuck!!

and here are some of the things i've read about the leep procedure which have sent me into tears:

-Risks
* After the surgery, a small number of women (less than 10%) may have significant bleeding that requires vaginal packing or a blood transfusion.
* Infection of the cervix or uterus may develop (rare).
* Narrowing of the cervix (cervical stenosis) that can cause infertility may occur (rare).
* Once a woman has had LEEP, she has a higher risk of delivering a baby early.


Fantastic... and here we are.

as an aside, i got accepted into ucla's paralegal program, which begins in about a month... i have to decide very quickly if i will be moving to the los angeles area to go back to school for 4.5 months... it's gonna be one heck of an adventure. for now, adieu.

And so it goes...

(Sorry, I'm totally hooked on that Billy Joel song at the moment.)

Well, I just finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. PHENOMENAL book... wow. Mr. Pausch has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and doesn't have much logner to live. He gave a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University and then had it turned into a book. Incredible!

Anyway, this dying fellow's story got me sort of re-examining my life and trying to appreciate the things I take for granted. Though I realize it's not anywhere *near* as intense as dying, I know that my days at this job are numbered (18 left, to be precise)... and I'm almost done living in Cottonwood. Thus, I'm trying to take everything in I can. That includes appreciating(among other things) the following:

*the myriad stars I can see each night
*the smell of Cottonwood and northern Arizona in general: delightful and clean!
*my 5-minute commute to work each day
*having a HUGE room, a really nice house, and an awesome roommate (who's now in Colorado for the summer)
*my lovely cat, Isaac, for whom I'll probably have to find a new home soon
*complete and utter independence (which I may temporarily lose if/when I move to L.A.)
*having amazing and fun coworkers
*being proficient at my job and having downtime at work to plan for my future
*feeling like a member of the community, frequently knowing people around town
*the LOVELY scenery around here!!!!

However, I now accept that it's time for me to move on. At this point, I'm 95% certain that I will be moving to L.A. in a few weeks. While I'm scared by this concept, I'm also excited for the new opportunity it brings. I toured UCLA last weekend, and I was completely charmed by it!! I find out next Wednesday if I'm in or not and if I am, I'm going! :)

Also, trying to keep things fun, I've created some lovely LOLCat-eqsue images for you!! :) Enjoy, and I'll catch you guys on the flipside!