Fish and Gall Bladders

This is a picture of our fish, Jermaine and Grover. Jermaine is the one on the bottom right, Grover top left. For Valentines day, Dave and I did cheap creative gifts for one another. His gift to me was this mini aquarium. I had told him a long time ago I wanted some fish, and since we can't get a puppy right now, fish are a great alternative. So he surprised me with this cute aquarium and then we went and picked out fish together. It was fun, and I was so thrilled to have a pet...even if I didn't get to interact with them at all. Well, alas, Jermaine and Grover are no more. They didn't even last as Norvells for a month. You see, as you can tell from the picture, Jermaine wasn't "all there" at times. He wasn't eating, and he just swam up and down at the corner of the tank. Dave and I began to refer to him as our "special" fish. The morning I took this photo, about 3 hours later as I was walking into the kitchen, I turned and looked to see Jermaine sinking to the bottom of the tank upside down. He would sink a few inches, then wiggle a little and move back up, then sink some more, then wiggle, until he finally sank to the bottom. As I watched this unfold, his eyes bugged out of the sockets right in front of me! He finally came to rest on the bottom of the tank. Sad day for Jermaine. Grover stared at him for a while. I refused to take him out of the tank, so I waited till Dave got him home to send him to his porcelain heaven. Well...a few days later, Grover picked up some of Jermaines habits. Not eating and swimming at the corner of the tank. I started to worry, of course. Monday morning I awoke to see he had met the same fate as Jermaine. Upside down at the bottom of the tank. Sigh...what can you do.

In other news....pray for me as I am going through some medical testing to determine the cause of some stomach pain I have been experiencing for about 7 years. It comes every 4-6 weeks or so, and is intense. Is usually lasts all day, sometimes a few days, and worsens if I eat. A few weekends ago it was so severe that Dave and I decided to go see a specialist to determine what was wrong. I had been to my regular family doctor, who had given me a few home remedies to try. But alas, no relief. The specialist took blood (and we all know how much I love getting that done), which all came back fairly normal except my inflammatory levels were a little high, which could suggest ulcers. They also did a sonogram of all my GI organs. Normal. Monday I am getting a CCK Hydascan to test the efficiency of my gall bladder. Basically,the give me an IV (another thing I just love) of fluid that causes my gall bladder to contract and release, fill and empty a few times to determine how efficiently it works. If it isn't working efficiently, alas...the cause of my pain. It's a two hour long procedure, so my sweet husband is taking the day off to help me and be my moral support. My immediate family will understand this. I am an absolute wimp when it comes to anything doctor related.
A prayer request would be that this Hydascan determines the cause of my pain. You see...we have a rather large deductible on our health care insurance, so we have to pay full price for this very very expensive test. I have a hard time justifying taking away from our savings for a house down payment to have a dumb medical test, but as Dave had to tell me numerous times, my health is more important then a house in a few years. But, in all seriousness, I really hope that it is my gall bladder and I can just have it out and be done with it. Pray that the test goes well, that I don't cry out of fear of the needle (a very probable possibility) and that the Lord has mercy on our bank account as we go through this "guess and check" method of determining my pain.

Addendum

This is Dave.

The candy proved to be too much of a temptation, so we threw it all away. : ) It was a sad day. You know..... it's still in the trash can! Maybe I can save something...

The benefits of being an elementary teacher

This is what Dave brought home yesterday from his students. Actually, there was more then this....two hearts full of chocolate and about five more of those Reeses and Snickers hearts. We ate our share throughout the evening. And yes....that gold thing in the back is a guitar molded out of chocolate from one of the parents.

2006 New Years Resolution...COMPLETE

Yes sirree! I just finished my new years resolution for 2006 last night. You see, last year at about this time I had made a resolution to myself to read more, and I laid out specific things I wanted to read. The Harry Potter Series, The Chronicles of Narnia series, Pride and Prejudice. That was my goal for 2006...to get through as many of those books as I could. January to April 2006 didn't leave much time for reading as most of my evenings were spent traveling back and forth to my then fiance's home and not caring about much but the wedding coming up. This past summer, however, when I was out of work and waiting on grad school admission, I started to read.
Reading has always been a bit difficult for me. I have been a slow reader ever since I learned how to read. I can remember in elementary school always being the last one done with reading assignments. I remember one time, too, when we were taking the TAAS reading test section. I looked up from my paper and I was the only one not finished cause I was a slow reader. The same thing happened on the SAT. I didn't finish any of the reading sections just cause I ran out of time and didn't read quick enough. I have always wanted to take a speed reading course, but never got around to it. Not only am I a slow reader, but I never really knew how to pick out a book either. I would find something at a book store, start to read it, and hate it about 2 chapters in. This left a shelf full of books from my childhood that I ended up selling to Half Price Books upon graduation from high school. Anyway, all this to say that making a resolution to read was a big deal to me. Because I wasn't very good at it, I had always told myself I hated to read, but secretly inside, my inner reader was screaming for attention. When I was in college my roommate loved to read, and she got me into Nicholas Sparks books (The Notebook , A Walk to Remember, Message in a bottle, etc). Again, I would read through her books, but then didn't know how to pick out a book of my own to enjoy.
Well...2006 turned out to be a wonderful year of enrichment for me in literature. In the summers I would go out to the pool around 10am before it got too hot,take my Harry Potter or whatever it was at the time, and stay for a few hours tanning and reading. Last night I finished The Last Battle, book 7 in the Chronicles of Narnia series (I actually shed a little tear). I can't imagine my life without a book by my bed now. I can actually say that I love to read now, and I think starting with some young adult books was a good way to get into it. When mom was moving I took a bunch of her books that I wanted to read, and am really excited about them. I started one last night, a book that was turned into a movie I always wanted to see...The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I am going to Netflix the movie after I finish the book. I also borrowed a bunch of novels by Anita Shreeve. I read her book The Pilots Wife after my roommate recommended it to me in college, so I am hoping to enjoy her other novels too. I also asked for The Devil Wears Prada for Christmas and am looking forward to tearing into that one too. I have always come from a family of readers....my mom reads novels, my sister and sister in law poetry and the classics, my brother is always expanding his mind by reading about philosophers....I think I am going to follow in the footsteps of my mom with some good novels. I can't wait to share how my new hobby will expand my world. And...if you have any recommendations, please let me know!

Read on!