Vertigo

I have a beloved iPod that I’ve had for years. It’s a green iPod mini, they don’t even make those anymore…why I don’t know–it was one of their best ones. Over the last couple of months I’ve noticed that it doesn’t hold it’s charge that long and today I took it along with me when I took Presley for a walk. Well it didn’t even last 5 minutes before the battery was completely dead! What am I going to do, they don’t make these anymore and honestly, I can think of many more things I’d rather spend $150 on than a new, not as good, iPod. Sure mine doesn’t had a touch screen or even color screen, and it doesn’t do videos or whatever but it’s the best one…it holds 1000 songs and like I would ever fill that up anyway. It’s green and compact and my iPod–and now it’s broken, almost. I can still listen to it when it’s plugged in but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of an mp3 player? I restored the settings and updated the software this afternoon so we’ll see if that helps my beloved iPod. If not, i’m gonna have to take it to the mac store and walk up to the genius bar and say “I need a Dr. my iPod is sick…please help it, do everything you can to save it!” and they will probably say, lady this is an old outdated iPod–Buy another one! But I don’t want to, its my old, outdated iPod and I want it working again. We’ll see what happens, I’ll keep you updated because I know all of you are just on edge about my iPod issue

Jonathan and I went to the Transiberian Orchestra concert last night along with Tim and kara and some friends. This was my 4th year to go and I still love it! I don’t think I could ever get sick of going to that show…it has become a fun tradition around Christmas time. The first half of the show is a Christmas story told with rock music and a narrator telling the story. The second half of the show is just an awesome rock concert with lights and a piro show. It’s awesome! They have two of the best pianists in the world in the group–well, at least i think so. They also have an AWESOME violinist from London, England. If you’ve never heard of them or been to a show I highly suggest recommend them. They said they might start a summer tour–not the Christmas show, obviously. Hopefully they’ll be back summer of ‘08.

Jonathan and I have been on a search for a Wii gaming system so we could get Guitar Hero and be rock stars! Well we’ve had no luck–we almost had one on Wednesday but someone else decided they needed the one that was up at customer service for us, so no such luck. Last night we just decided to get a sony playstation 2 instead, they have just as many games that we would play anyway. So we got the PS2 that came with sing along rock star or whatever–its like a karaoke machine basically. But we also got Guitar Hero III and played it for a good while last night. It’s hard to get the hang of it at first but then I figured it out and Rocked Out!!! It is soo much fun.
Now we just need to get another guitar so we can have duals and play eachother!

Okay so it wasn’t the BEST Christmas ever—Now let me explain this. I woke up Saturday morning with a migraine and all that entails–yes, even bowing before the porcelain god. Eventually about 3:00 I started feeling better and Jonathan and I went to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping. Sunday we went to church and had a great service. Our friend Mary led worship and sang beautifully, as usual, and the Encounter band played the infamous Christmas Eve Seriavo. After church Jonathan and I decided to try this mexican food restaraunt that we’d been wanting to go to for a while. This is where it went downhill. We went to Amaya’s–yes I’m saying the name of the restaraunt so no one will ever go there–Amaya’s in Red Oak!! STAY AWAY. Anyway, we ate lunch and the food wasn’t anything to write home about, it was okay but not great. I just had two beef tacos and Jonathan had a beef enchilada. Well, we went home and I finished wrapping the Christmas gifts and got ready to go to his grandparents for Christmas with his family. On our way there I started feeling a little queasy and not right so we stopped and got some tums. They didn’t help–at this point Jonathan wasn’t feeling that well either. A couple of hours went by and I couldn’t take it anymore, I told him we had to go, which I felt horrible because I didn’t want to make him leave…we don’t get to see his cousins that often. Well, it’s a good thing we left because it was over when we got home. I was sick all night and then had to get up and go to work the next day. I finally stopped getting sick but I was VERY dehydrated and my blood pressure was extremely low which made work pretty difficult. I came straight home from work and went back to bed. The rest of the day (which was Christmas Eve) was just worthless, Jonathan and I were both dehydrated and worn out. Let me tell you, Pedialyte isn’t just for kids anymore….We spent our Christmas Eve on the couch drinking Pedialyte–Yippee! We were supposed to go to our parents church for the Christmas Eve service and then maybe stop by my aunts house to see my cousins and their kids. Well, that didn’t happen. Then Christmas day, my family was supposed to all come over but that wasn’t going to happen because I was about to clean the house–I could barely stand without feeling like I was going to pass out. So Christmas morning we woke up and felt better but still a little worn out and dehydrated. We opened our gifts from eachother and then went to Jonathan’s sisters house for breakfast with his family. We had a good time and then went to my parents house for lunch with my family. We had a good Christmas but probably would have enjoyed it better if we felt better. Maybe we’ll have a good New Year’s!

I can’t believe this boy is 7 years old today! My favorite nephew is growing up soooo fast. I rememeber the day he was born! We are having a birthday party for him tonight with family for “his special day”.

I don’t want to bore you guys with medical info but for those who want to know more about IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia) which is what my Dr. said I have. So bascially this is for my family who wants to know more. IST is an uncommon type of cardiac arrhythmia, within the category of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)–which I have. The mechanism of the arrhythmia primarily involves the Sinus Node and peri-nodal tissue and treatments are in the form of pharmacological therapy or Catheter ablation are available, although it is currently difficult to treat successfully. So basically it’s a condition in which an individual’s resting heart rate is abnormally high (greater than 100 beats per minute), their heart rate increases rapidly with minimal exertion, and their rapid heart rate is accompanied by symptoms of palpitations, fatigue, and exercise intolerance. IST is not associated with an abnormal electrical pattern on the ECG. The heart rhythm in IST appears to arise from within the sinus node, the cardiac structure that generates the normal heart rhythm. Patients with IST are hypersensitive to adrenaline, such that a little bit of adrenaline (like a little bit of exertion) causes a marked rise in heart rate. There is evidence that the sinus node itself has structureal changes. But much other evidence suggests that a more general dysautonomia is present in these patients. (This would explain why symptoms most often seem out of proportion to the increase in heart rate.) It is the notion that the sinus node itself is intrinsically abnormal that has led electrophysiologists to resort to ablation of the sinus node as a treatment for IST.

I hope that wasn’t to medical for you but it’s a synopsis of what it is.

A while back I wrote a post about Jonathan doing the laundry and how I asked him kindly to never to the laundry again because I ended up with a pink shirt that was white and another shirt that had a blue tint to it. I had to explain that women’s clothing is different than men’s clothing and you can’t wash some of them the same. I thought we had an understanding. He has been trying to do more around the house to help me out even though I tell him he doesn’t need to b/c I can still do it. I know he was just trying to help and he didn’t malliciously do laundry to ruin clothes. He did laundry last night for me, and I do appreciate his help, but what he didn’t realize is that I had some jeans in there I just got and hadn’t been washed yet. These jeans needed to be washed by themselves because they will bleed and they also needed to be laid flat to dry because they will shrink. Anyway, I didn’ tknow what he washed last night, I was thinking it was the whites because you really can’t screw them up unless you put a red sock mixed in. well this morning I stuck my scrubs in the dryer to iron them-ha-and when I opened the door I saw these jeans and then saw my favorite white sweater. I pulled the sweater out and it is now a light gray-blue color along with some other white shirts I have. And for the jeans, they are now too small to wear…so the new jeans I have never worn will never be worn.

But to be fair I went out and mowed the backyard and a good part of the front yard yesterday when I got home after he told me to rest and not do anything. I think he was a little mad when I told him and I feel bad for that. I know he worries about me but at the same time I know my limitations and because I felt bad to begin with doing certain things doesn’t necessarily make it worse. I’d feel bad either way and I might as well get stuff done that needs it. But I will admit I probably shouldn’t have mowed the yard because it did wear me out and I didn’t feel great afterwards. So that being said we are even, he did the laundry and I mowed the yard.

After all the tests and blood work and everything we have an answer to why I’ve felt so bad. For those who haven’t heard anything I have had a rough week and a half or so. Since last Sunday (not this past one but the one before that) my heart has been going crazy. I woke up Sunday morning and my heart was pounding out of my chest which in turn made it really hard for me to breath and really tired. After a couple of days of this it started to make me feel lightheaded and dizzy and just overall weak feeling. So I called my Dr. and she oreder an Echocardiogram to check the status of my mitral valve prolapse and regurgitation and functionality of my heart. The ordered blood tests and an EKG to check the electrical aspect of my heart. Then finally yesterday morning she ordered a monitor to record my hearts activity that I wore for 24 hours. She called me this morning and said there had been no change in my echo and my heart was working just like it was a year ago–good news. My blood work was all normal except for a low potassium and for those who aren’t in the medical field, a low potassium affects your heart. It wasn’t extremely low or anything just lower than it should be. So I’m just eating more potassium rich foods. My EKG from yesterday morning showed a high heart rate–around 125-130 and I was just sitting there. The monitor from the last 24 hours showed a high heart rate as well and numerous PVC’s (premature ventricular contractions). The PVC’s we already knew I had and for that I’m alreaady on medication. The surgery I had last October was for the PVCs but was unsuccesful so that’s why I’m on medication. Anyway–all it comes down to is I have a pretty high heart rate and low potassium and that’s what has been causing all my issues the last week or two. I asked her why my heart rate was so high and she said “It’s just who you are–your body is in constant overdrive and it’s a part of your make up.” I have, or had before surgery, SVT which is where your heart rate shoots up to 300 beats per minute and that is an abnormal heart arythmia. She told me that people who have SVT are prone to have inapropriate sinus tachycardia…which is a normal heart rhythm but just fast and makes everything into overdrive. That along with my other syndrome makes my heart rate fast. When she first put me on medicaion a while back it helped my heart rate but over time my body has just gotten used to it and now we need to up my dose. So she doubled my medication and it should all be back to normal–for me! Oh ya and I’m definitely supposed to stop drinking caffiene now! DOH! I was drinking a monster when she called-HA. I don’t drink a whole lot of caffiene but I do drink some so I guess I’ll have to stop now. So that’s the news–thanks for your prayers and hopefully I’ll start feeling better within the next day or two.

I just recently got Carrie Underwood’s new CD Carnival Ride. I absolutely love it. It’s almost as good as her first album, if not better. This album is more country than her first with hints of banjos and foot stomping tempos. You know its a country album when there’s a song about being drunk at the alter and you don’t know your new last name. It’s similar to Alan Jackson’s song “I don’t even know your name”. Then there’s the song about how the more boys she meets the more she loves her dog. My brother didn’t seem to like that song but I love it. Beofre I met Jonathan, that’s how I felt. Over all it’s a great album and I’m already ready for her third!

I went to the cardiologist yesterday to get an echo of my heart and some blood work. I haven’t heard anything because the echo techs aren’t supposed to say anything and my blood work wasn’t going to be read until today. I’m not sure what all she tested for with the blood work but I do know she did a BNP test, which is what they use to asses heart failure. Now I don’t think she thinks I have that, she’s probably just ruling it out or something. So when I hear something from my Dr. I’ll post something.

Top 5 things that irritate me in no particular order:

1. Drivers who are idiots and think they own the road
2. Christmas shoppers who only care about themselves
3. People who talk LOUDLY on their cell phones
4. Smacking–gum, food, anything really
5. When I say I want to go to sleep at 9:00 and someone is still talking to me at 9:15

Top 5 things I love about this time of year:

1. The smell of cold cold weather
2. The possibility of snow–even though this is TX and I know theres like a 2% chance of the white stuff
3. Spending time with family
4. People seem to be in a better mood this time of year
5. Looking at all the Christmas lights and sometimes wondering why on earth they thought the way they put them up looked good.

This month has been crazy busy and it’s not over yet. Jonathan has a great blog describing all we’ve done so far this month and he said it better than I ever could. So check out his post “catch up” and maybe I’ll get around to posting one about Christmas and the New Year.

Where should I start? Well for starters, I’m just going to be selfish here and ask for prayers because since Sunday my heart has been going crazy and hasn’t made me feel that well. I called my cardiologist yesterday and I still haven’t heard back from her so pray she calls back today.

Well, some people have asked me what exactly is wrong with my heart, and to be honest with you, I can’t exactly tell you. There’s no one thing that’s wrong with it. There are several things and some that aren’t figured out yet. So this is what we know is wrong. About 5 years ago I started having problems with my heart, I started passing out for no reason, I would get lightheaded and dizzy and my heart would start racing (up to 300 beats per minute). After 3 years they finally figured out I had proxismal SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). Luckily there was a cure for this–a radio-frequency ablation. 2 years ago I had an ablation on my heart and during this they burned an extra pathway on my heart that was causing the tachycardia and my heart to race. Everything was great for about 6 months then it all started again, except my heart wasn’t racing, it was skipping beats and then throwing extra beats in when ever it felt like it. These are PVC’s (premature ventricular tachycardia) and PAC’s (premature atrial tachycardia). It’s very normal for people to occasionally have these, every one does every once in a while. Except I get them about every 5 mintues all throughout the day. This makes me feel horrible and makes me extremely tired. Well that’s one thing, the other issue I have is I have MVP (mitral valve prolapse) with regurgitation. MVP is where one of the valves or your herat leaks blood. Your blood goes through the valve into another part of the heart and the purpose of the valve is to keep blood from flowing back into the part it came from. MVP with regurgitation like I have is where the blood flows back so blood with oxygen is mixed with blood without oxygen. This is essentially harmless, for a while. Over time it has worn my heart out and is now not able to pump as efficiently as it should…because of this my hands and feet are always ice cold and blue. It’s fine now and hopefully it will stay the same and not get any worse. Thirdly I have vaso-vagal syncopy…I pass out for no apparent reason and with no warning. For no reason, that we know of, my blood pressure drops drastically and I pass out. It’s happened so much that now when it happens I just get right back up and go back to what I was doing! I think I freak people out. HAHA. I was recently told I have Cardiac Syndrome X….which is just a bunch of symptoms thrown together and given a name. There isn’t much research or literature done on this syndrome and we aren’t sure if all my other issues are a part of this and caused by this or seperate from it. Syndrome X is basically saying my body thinks my arteries are clogged and makes my body think I’m having a heart attack when in actuallity i’m not. It is a problem with the little blood vessels in your heart and body. It also causes headaches and migraines. This might describe it better: Cardiac Syndrome X
Lastly my cardiologist was thinking I might have a congenital (from birth) abnormality with my coronary arteries…they might not be in the right place so when I exercise they get squeezed and decrease blood flow to the heart and it doesn’t get enough oxygen. I doubt this is the case but she hasn’t ruled it out yet. Well I think this is long enough and way too much info so that’s it.

Okay, 4 parties in one weekend is just WAY TOO MANY! It was a fun weekend but just too busy and exhausting. It started out Friday night when we had our small group’s Christmas party. We had a fun time eating together and having a white elephant gift exchange. We got home pretty late Friday night and slept in until around 11:30 or 12:00 on Saturday–Just in time to get ready for another party. Our friends Richard and Amber had a birthday party for their wee one, Gracelynn, who turned 1. That was fun and we love spending time with the 3 of them. After the B-Day part we went to Desoto to take some pictures for our Christmas card and then on to Dallas. We grabbed a bite to eat at Pei Wei before heading to our friends Allison and Daniel’s house for a Christmas party. We got to see some old friends and catch up, it was a lot of fun. Then on Sunday we went to church and had a few more Baptisms, and our friends James and Mary’s son, Andrew, got baptized…or as he would say Babatized. After church we went to lunch with Matt and Kathryn and then just went home for a little while and did some much needed laundry and stuff around the house. A little while later headed back out the door but this time going to Rockwall for the CWF Christmas party, after that we headed over to Jonathan’s parents house to drop some stuff off and stayed a little while chatting with them. We eventually made it back home around 10:15 and headed to bed. A very very long, exhausting weekend, now I just need another one to unwind from this one!

Yesterday I wrote about Jonathan having to get dressed up and wear a tie to work now. Well for those of you who don’t believe it, here’s the evidence!

This is a little past due but I finished painting the dinning room and now we just need to paint the living room, but that can wait a while…I’m kind of tired of painting right now. Anyway, here are some pictures of the finished project.

Jonathan starts his new job today with Dallas County Community College District. Ever since college he has been used to wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work, with the occasional polo shirt, and sometimes even a baseball hat. Well, those days are over. This morning he was wearing a nice button up shirt and tie! yes, a tie. Although I’m a litttle scared because I left the house before him and at that point he didn’t have any shoes on so I don’t know what went on his feet. Girls, you know why this scares me…men don’t have the best fashion sense. I’ve told him before that eventually he will have to grow up and not be able to wear jeans and a t-shirt to work–the time has come, and he’s all grown up now.

Another good weekend at casa de blundell. Friday night Jonathan and I went to dinner at Chuy’s in Dallas with my best friend Jen and her fiance, Jed. It’s always great getting to catch up and have a good time with them. After dinner we headed over to my parents house to see my neice and nephew because my parents were watcing them. We also made it over to the Medlins and visited with them for a while. And, eventually we made it to our destination, my brother’s house to pick up my beloved oversized, comfy chair that he had been storing. Now that we have a house, we have room for my overly huge chair. It’s the best! Presley is glad to have it back too. She could sleep on it all day long. We also got a Christmas tree from a friend that was a lot bigger than the one we originally had. We put up our Christmas tree a week or two ago and it was just kind of skimpy, not a big tree by any means. So we got this new tree and I had to put it up so we took down the old tree and moved it all to the new tree. That’s when all the fun with the Christmas tree started. Below you will find a picture of the old tree–Jonathan is there to put it into perspective:

This is the new tree all decorated and after it was put back upright–more to come on that!

So we got the tree up on Friday night but not after some hassel. The tree stand that came with it was for a real tree so it didn’t really hold the artificial tree and the tree kept wanting to fall over. After a while we got it sturdy enough that if no one were to touch the tree it would be fine. HA! Well
Well, Saturday we woke up, after sleeping in-YEAH, and went to Lowes and Target…the usual stops on the weekend as of lately. We picked up the storm door we wanted to put on our front door and a new vaccum…my vaccum decided to stop working on us. Jonathan’s parents and grandparents came over Saturday afternoon and his dad installed the storm door for us. Later that night we all went to Cracker Barrel for dinner–soooo good. I basically got a plate full of starch-delicious. Good ‘ole chicken ‘n dumplins with mashed potatos and hashbrown caserole.
Oh I forgot about the tree on Saturday–okay, we the tree had been holding up nicely over the last 12 -18 hours until now….when Jonathan’s mom wanted to take a picture of us infront of the tree…..we were standing in front of the tree and all of a sudden–Bam, here comes the tree falling towards us and the ground. So here was our nice big Christmas tree laying on the ground with all our ornaments and everything. It was pretty funny to watch. We got the tree back in the right position and nothing broke believe it or not. After dinner we drove back to lowes and got a new artificial tree stand and now it’s all good–mainly because you can’t see the book under one side of the tree stand making it not lean–it’s our ghetto Christmas tree.
Sunday we went to church–i was in the nursery so I missed the mesage. After church we went to Whataburger with some friends and then I went to a baby shower for a friend in Richardson. Jonathan is still on his weekend–Lucky! He starts his new job tomorrow so I’m sure he’ll take advantage of this nice day off.