Now that I've managed to scare the shit out of myself and quite a few of my friends and my parents, I figured I should share with the rest of you my wonderfun trip to the ER.

Oh, yes. I said the Emergency Room.

So, okay, here's the deal. I've been sick with a cold for a while, right?  Everyone has the plague at work, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before I got it. So I had the usual slew of of symptoms: congestion everywhere, sneezing, tons of coughing, mucous, ears popping, feeling like I was tired all the time, headache. The works. I did not have a fever, and my only stomach upset was from coughing too much and throwing up from it (not fun at all.) So, I've been sick for maybe a week and a half. Missed a few days of work here and there, going home early, stuff like that. I did go see a clinic doctor (it was too late to see my Primary Care Doc, and I had to work open the next few days) and she said I had a virus, that it was in the bronchial tubes and not my lungs, and prescribed me a big pill that had prescription sudafed and mucinex combined, told me to take a lot of hot, steamy showers to break up the congestion, gargle salt water, and take an anti-inflammatory. So I was doing that since Tuesday. Yesterday rolled around, and I was closing at work. I kept feeling worse and worse as the day progressed, and only managed to take the decongestant pill by nearly crushing it, and decided against taking the Aleve because my throat felt so raw and closed up.

So I went to work, and it was hard to do anything. I was so tired trying to do everything, and was getting out of breath. And more out of breath. And then I was so out of breath that it was hard to talk and walk, and it was hurting to breathe. I called my mom, and a few other people, and finally decided to go to an Urgent Care place to see what was up. I told my manager, and had Trevor and Karen come get me, since I was really light headed and driving was a bad idea. Unfortunatly, the Urgent Care place closed at 8, and took their last patient at 7, which I learned when I called them at 7:05 to figure out exactly where they were. Suuuuuck. My last option was the ER, so off we went.

It was a long wait, and the ER I went to had these restaraunt-style pagers that they give you for waiting for every procedure while you were still in triage, and I went through three of them. I sent Karen and Trevor off to get dinner after I had been triaged and was waiting for an EKG. And EKG, you ask? Yeah, that's standard when you present with shortness of breath and pain in your chest. By the way, I was still pulling the lead points off of me when I woke today. They stick tons of the things on you! Also, since I was having trouble reading my book cause I was all woozy, I decided to entertain myself by texting my friends and letting them know I was bored and breathless in the ER waiting room. 

Finally it was my turn, and I got shuffled into a bed back in the ER, all huffing and puffing and coughing like mad. They stuck an IV in me and drew blood, which didn't help my breathing, since I am TERRIFIED of needles. I damn near passed out, although I didn't jump. And they had to draw blood twice, since the first time it drew so slowly that the hemoglobin went too thick or something, which throws off all the counts. Then they gave me a chest x-ray. Sometime in there they gave me a squirt of this crazy cough syrup, and then, since I had presented with shortness of breath and chest pain (I pretty much had pulled a muscle coughing, but you know) they gave me a CT scan of my chest to make sure I hadn't thrown a clot or something. So, I've been sick, right? And I can't sleep for shit, right? So I've been watching a lot of tv... like House. Yeah. Don't watch House and then go to the ER, where they scare you with the words CT Scan. Not fun.

Then I had a 45 minute wait for the test results to come back, so I sat there on the bed and chatted with Karen and Trevor. As the time passed, I started to feel much better. My breathing eased, and all of the muscle-cramping and tingling of my body and the elephant stomping on my chest got better. I still felt heavy in my chest, but nothing like before. So the doctor came, and told me all my test came back great, and they concluded that I had a virus (sound familiar?) and that I was to get a prescription for the awesome cough syrup and go home and rest. So I pretty much had inflamed my tubes, and couldn't breathe, and the awesome cough med eased that a lot.

And why is the awesome cough syrup so awesome? Cause it had Codine in it. Yeaaaaaah. So we nabbed my Rx from a 24 hour pharmacy, went home, and I went to bed. Set my alarm for 10ish in the morning to take my meds. I think i managed to crawl out of bed at 10:30, took the Rx, and rolled back into bed again. Woke up about 3pm. So now I am just sitting here. I'm going to play a bit of Wow, maybe, although I am starting to get sleepy again. I'm off this weekend, so I'm pretty much sleeping for two days solid. Wee!

And that was my wonderfun trip to the ER. I really never want to do that again.

ME: YAY BBC AMERICA! *watches*

6 PM
ME: BRITISH PEOPLE ARE TALKING. ME LIKEY THE ACCENT. SHAME THAT THE GUYS FROM TOP GEAR COULDN'T HAVE DONE THE COMMENTARY. LOL.

8 PM
ME: WEEE LOOKIE ALL THE BLUE STATES!

8:30 PM
ME: *WAITS TO SEE IF NORTH CAROLINA VOTES RED OR BLUE. HOPES BLUE*

9 PM
ME:*WATCHES PENDULUM OF NORTH CAROLINA VOTING*   DUDE NC. YOU WAFFLE MORE THAN A KID DECIDING CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA.

NORTH CAROLINA: MCCAIN. NO WAIT, OBAMA. NO... MCCAIN! OBAMA!

10 PM
NEWSGROUPS:  OBAMA WON!

AMERICA: OBAMA WON!

WHOLE WORLD: HOLY FUCK, OBAMA WON!

ME: YAY! *LOOKS AT NC*

NORTH CAROLINA: WAIT WAIT.... MCCAIN.  NO, OBAMA, NO...  DUDE, THIS IS HARD.

10:30 PM
MCCAIN: *GIVES DIGNIFIED SPEECH*

ME: *IMPRESSED*

PALIN: *CRIES*

ME: MMMMM, TEARS LIKE CANDY.

NORTH CAROLINA: OBAMA! NO....  CRAP....  MCCAIN.....  OBAMA!....  WE TAKE SWING STATE SERIOUSLY HERE.

ME: MAKE UP YOUR FRIKKIN MIND.

11:30 PM
OBAMA: *GIVES DIGNIFIED SPEECH*

ME: *IS IMPRESSED*

NORTH CAROLINA: *IS STILL INDECISIVE*

ME: FUCK THIS, I HAVE TO TAKE A SHOWER.

12:30 AM
NORTH CAROLINA: *FLIPS COIN. LANDS ON HEADS* OBAMA IT IS. YAY!

ME: ABOUT BLOODY TIME.

WHOLE WORLD: *STOPPED CARING WHEN OBAMA WON.*

It is HAPPY DANCE time now.  Obama has won the election. I am still waiting with baited breath to see if my own state, North Carolina, is going to be a blue state, and it is a very very very close race there, swinging back and forth every few minutes on the google election map.

Here is to a new term, here is to change,

Here is to NOT PALIN. She was practically crying up there. Awwww. Your tears taste like candy.

McCain's concession speech was nice though. Very dignified. I approve. Sad hugs to the loser. Sorry you picked Palin.

And MAN, did Obama inherit one FUCK-ALL mess. Lets hope this goes well.

*happydance*

Well, it was scrub day again today. Not just a quick litter change and some snuggles, no, today was the less-frequent Lets All Smell Nice Now While Momma Is Gross day. Ugh.

I bathe everything on Scrub Day. Everything, and everyone, excepting the two smallest babies, who are very very very Don't Touch Me Like That when it comes to outside of the cage activities. They are my antisocial ratties, and I love them anyways. But everyone else gets a bath, and the two boys whose tails have the scaling get the germicidal spray and some watered down lotion, l;ike they get every day. And yay for getting better! But scrub time happens about every three to four weeks. So, it isn't as if this is new. But oh, the drama.

The easiest  to bathe is Mamabear, who is my little smooshy-tummyied love muffin. Being that she is harness trained and has been in the wider world at large, she takes a ton of stuff in stride, including the Dreaded Bath. I swear, bathing my CATS is easier and less damaging. Course, I can clip the cats' nails...  The others do not like baths, though. AT ALL. I used to have  a few rats when I was much younger who loooved bath time,. They'd be all swimmy and everything, and push floaty toys about the sink or tub, depending on which I was using at the time. But not the Hoarde. Oh no. I get scratched and they scream and it's like bathing a toddler, only harder in some respects. Cause rat babies are fast, and even faster when slicked up with soap. Weeee, I run away! And then I catch the baby and sploosh a little water to get the soap off, and they pop through my fingers and the chase is on all over again. Drama. Momma is a tired Rattie Momma.

Scrubbing the cages is always a huge chore, and leaves me soaked and smelly, but they are all shiny clean and filled with new litter and fresh-laundered towels and hammocks. Which brings me to this:



This... this is my new nightmare. What you are looking at is three hammocks and two towels, fresh out of the dryer and snarled into a Gordian Knot of DEATH.



It took me 20 minutes and a sharp pair of shears to unravel this mess, and I managed to save two out of the three hammocks cordings. The towels were a total bust, but I have more. Dollar stores are my friend, So, since I am poor, and I do have sewing skills, I have dragged down my fabric and my felting, and I am going to make some homemade hammocks to replace the sad, chrewed, snarled messes that are hanging in thier cages right now. At least they are clean, I suppose. And so are my babies. I even managed to snap a few pics of Squigglebutt and Mamabear.

Mamabear, for the wet win. She always makes me feel better.



And two of Squigglebutt, who is always the most unhappy with baths and needs a bit of extra Momma time.




x-posted to  ratties 

So I've been tossing about the idea of getting a tattoo for a long time, and have finally decided my first must be a rattie. I sat down and wandered through the web, trying to find something I liked, and finally came to the conclusion that I really needed to draw my own. So here are the two drawings I did today. I intend to do more, but my wrist problems make extended art sessions painful and difficult, so I figured that I would stop while I still had function.



This was the first one I did, a simple line drawing from a picture I had of Mamabear in my hand when she was tiny. I like it, and think it is a good piece of line art, but not really quite the tattoo I had imagined. So I tried again, adding in a pentacle, since I am pagan and wanted to have that be part of a tattoo.

This will probably be the tattoo I get, unless I draw something I like even better. This just seems so perfect for me, though. The pentacle is a direct copy of the tiny one I wear around my neck, and the ratlet is Target, one of Mamabear's hooded babies. (She has a dot on her back instead of a line, and was the first baby to be named back when they were teeny and had no discernible personalities. She is also Ninja Rat. I must go cuddle her now.)

Anyways, just thought I'd share.


x-posted to
ratties 

I am at Dragon Con RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

*does Happy Dance*

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD SIT UP AND PAY ATTENTION. 

It has come to my attention that there is now legislation being drafted from the Health and Human Services branch of government that will severely restrict access to birth control, the morning-after pill, and sterilization procedures.  This document, currently under draft, is designed to cater to health care professionals who morally object to any procedure by denying hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and so forth federal funding if they prevent any employee from denying medical services on the grounds of personal moral objections.

This is insane. I have been reading articles about pharmacies refusing to fill birth control prescriptions on the grounds that contraceptives are morally wrong, since they prohibit fertilization of an egg or kill a fertilized egg (in the case of Plan B, the morning after pill.) While I fully support religious freedom and the right for anyone to believe as they wish, I do NOT support the idea that a doctor should be able to completely deny a woman options for her health and her body. If you morally object to writing or filling such a script, then you should be referring the patient to a doctor who will. (Of course, they see that as aiding and abetting...)

The worst part of this legislation is that they play fast and loose with the definition of abortion, modifying it  from it's current definition of "the termination of any fertilized egg implanted in the womb (i.e. viable and capable of growing) to this:

"Abortion" means any of the various procedures---including the prescription, dispensing, and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action---that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

Also, they have a part that notes that health care professions have the right to determine what constitutes abortion in their conscience "within the bounds of reason."

What that means is that if this legislation is somehow passed, any doctor can deny you health care services if it falls within the bounds of something they find morally objectionable, defined as abortion, and be given NO repercussions for this.

There are many states out there that currently have laws on the books that make birth control coverable by insurance, and that requires emergency-room personnel to offer the Plan B pill to a rape victim. This new legislation by the HHS would effective cut those state laws off at the knees. Keep in mind, this also applies to condoms, sterilization procedures such as tubal ligation and vasectomies, and other hormonal contraceptives, such as the IUD. This is the first step to taking away women's rights to their own bodies. No matter what your stand on abortion, contraceptives, and sterilization may be, in the end it is YOUR STAND. As in you singular. No one should have the right to make decisions about another person's body because it is against their religion or moral stance. They have the right to disapprove, and to practice passive resistance, but not to ride roughshod over anyone who does not share their particular world-view.  One of the problems with the HHS plan is that it takes the idea of passive resistance, a la Martin Luther King, Jr, which advocates the idea that one accepts punishments for their actions taken in the course of their resistance, and tosses  personal accountability right out the window.

If this goes to the point of public debate and lawmaker scrutiny, I intend to be out there as LOUD as possible, arguing for the rights of all women (and men) to be the masters of their own bodies. And that health care professionals should always put the welfare of the patient above their own moral issues.

Links to things I have read:

A doctor's view.
The Washington Post Chimes In
So Does Seattle
And Minnesota

So it's been a bit since I have updated this thing, I know. Aside from the usual work-sleep-eat-read -draw scenario that is my usual routine at life, a few things have been going on, so I thought I would give everyone who doesn't talk to me on the phone on a semi-reasonable basis a run-down of my current situations.

One, Zephyr is gone. Yes, my poor beleaugered Taurus has finally been put to pasture. The thing had lost a/c (oh all right, it never had it working really in the first place...) heat, fan, had the check-engine light on permanent address, the starter motor was looking to die, there was a whine in the front wheel, and lets not even mention the body damage. So my parents decreed that it was time for a newer vehicle, and reminded me of the 5 grand my grandmother left me.

So last Thursday I picked up my new car:



Isn't she beautiful? She is a 2001 PT Cruiser Limited Edition. And she has ALL the bells and whistles, like tinted windows and leather upolstery and heated seats and chrome wheels and Cd/Tape player and etc. Her name is to be the Fairy Cruiser, since for Christmas I will be getting money to paint her. I won't be changing the red (it's called Inferno, hee.) Instead, I will be painting a black and white checkerboard along the runnerboards from wheel well to wheel well, with fairies with dice on the back, above the from wheels, and inside on the red-enameled passager air bag. I am doing something to the hood, but I keep changing my mind as to what. So come winter there will be TONS more pictures. I will document the process, and then I will have the car professionally clear-coated to protect everything.

The other big thing is that I got medical insurance and I am USING it. Namely, I've been having a lot of numbness and tingling in my hands, pain in my wrists (not unusual, but wait) and issues with dropping things and pain in my shoulder and stuff. So I went to the doctor, who referred me to an Orthopedic doctor, who had me to this test at 7am this morning. I was so NOT awake. It was a nerve conductivity study along the left side, which is arguably the worst side. (Btw, the test... not fun. Not fun at all. They test you by running a current through your nerves, first with this tiny-but-Frankenstienian shocker thingie, and then by sticking your muscles with a needle and moving it around. Guh. Hatehatehatehatehate needles. That sucked.)  Anyways, they were looking for carpal tunnel, but my nerves checked out completely normal, which is awesome since I had nightmares that I've been damaging my nerves. So, no carpal tunnel; I have been diagnosed with Myofascial Pain Syndrome, which has symptoms of pain, numbness, dropping things, tingling, etc. Basically all of my symptoms. So I go back to the Ortho on Monday and we will continue from there. The Myofascial thing is chronic and not-curable, but is treatable with massage, physical therapy, and other, more bizarre-sounding procedures. But, no surgery, so yay!

Last, but not least, I have PAID vacation time, so I am taking a nice long vacation for Dragoncon. ^____^  I will spend a little time in South Carolina beforehand, visiting my friends who can't go this year and my brother and his girlfriend (neither of whom are fen.) Then me and me rat (yes RAT) will be down for Dragon, having a blast. Please let me know if you will be there, and we can try to meet up.

Okay, so I'm totally tired and don't feel like typing anymore, so this will have to do.

*hugs you all*

And all I have to say is:

FOR PONY!!!!!*









* If you really want to know, email me and I will tell you, but beware, a small spoiler is involved. A spoiler for something that hardly anyone seems to be noticing.




PONY!

We have managed to home two of the baby ratlets to a very nice couple who are obviously very knowledgeable and loving towards ratties, which makes me so damned happy. Now to get homes for the other three (I am keeping two, the only male rat and a female to keep my beloved Mamabear (Athos) company. And I will be bringing Mamabear to Dragon, since she is doing fabulous in harness training and is very sweet and personable.

^___^

And I am going to get a Rat nation cage when they come out, and put the boys in it and move the girls to the purple cage (or I might just buy two cages... dunno yet. I'll be paying for them with my "economic stimulus" check. Stimulus. hee.)

So now that I am in a household of Pagans, I actually am somewhat practicing, and I am starting to learn more about our local community.

Anyways, today is Beltane, and we decided to do a private ritual. I am so very proud of this, and happy that we could do this.


Beltane Ritual



 And that's all she wrote, folks! Short and sweet, and we cleaned up afterwards and ate our picnic lunch (Subway sandwiches) and talked about food fights at our old schools. Cause we are weird. Normal is a setting on a laundry machine.   

I would totally take the biggest crowbar I can find to my register and computer at work. Framemagic is EVIL. Evil, evil, evil.

Once Bitten FINALLY has it's own website. Now I just have to keep drawing those darn comics and updating!

Clicky clicky on the linky!

or Yet Another Year of the Plague.

I did manage to get sick this year. It seemed a lot of people managed to stave off Con Crud with Emergen-C and that hand sanitizer stuff, but I am allergic to both, and as a result I got me a sore throat, headaches, and a fever that is currently trying to burn me a new forehead. *lesigh*

And suggestions for preventing this next year? Since I can't take most preventative measures, due to a nasty citrus allergy, and the few hand sanitizers that don't have citrus still give me rashes, I'm sorta screwed. I know taking vitamins should help, and my roomies suggested Airborne, but this is Frolicon. Airborne works against airborne stuff. And This Plague probably came from contact. Okay, more than probably.

Go immune system! Weee! This is for you!  

I'm on VACATION. Weeeeee!  I've been hanging out in Atlanta, seeing old friends. Work has been stressful, but vacation is always good. I've seen Kiltboy, Mike, and I'm going to see Pan tonight. I was hoping to see Tae and Puppy, but Tae was feeling not well, so no Tae and Puppy.  : (  But, oh well. I was hoping also to see K and Nikki and the baby,  but they've been busy all weekend.  Now we are going to be gaming tonight, and tomorrow I shall continue having a good vacation!

And my rat babies have their eyes open!  *dies from the cute*

Why do anything, when you can do it more?

Anyways, Porthos has now been joined by Athos and Aramis. Rats are social creatures, and he needed a friend. He got two, cause dammit the two we found we frelling adorable. So here are pics of the ratlets:

Porthos the Intrepid



Athos the Climber



and Aramis the Calm


And the cage is now where the Christmas tree was, downstairs in the living room, so now they all can have interaction a lot more.

^_________^

I have such a cute family!

*is all wet and stuff*

Well, the downstairs areas are clean. I did the dishes and mopped the kitchen floor. Today is so pretty out, and we have the windows open. I go to pick up the roomies from the respective workplaces at 4, and at 3 or so I need to start the meat for the Swedish Meatballs. I did make a quick and dirty lightbox out of an old scanner box, my bendy light, and a light bulb scavenged from upstairs. So I'm going to go play with my animation paper for a while. If i get anything worthwhile, ill try and scan it and post it.

Aside from chores and randomness, I am feeling better. Sunlight helps. I hate winter, but it is warmer out today. I've talked to the person I needed to talk to, and it's a start. Now if I could just get my monitor to stop having seizures.... I really don't think my graphics card can handle the new laptop screen's resolution. If I do too much, or have it on too long, it starts blinking.  : /  Just my luck, eh?  Which is why I am limiting my computer time. No long games, no long art sessions, and it goes off the minute I see blinkage. I just really have no luck with electronics.

Anyways, what do you all think about painted anime character glycerin soap to sell at Animazement? We were going to do chocolate, but you can't sell food in artist's alley, and damned if I have $300 to shell out for a dealer's table, even if there were any left. Which there are not. So what we are thinking is hand-painting soaps (making a white or lightly colored bottom, painting the character, then a layer of clear glycerin on top. Probably scent it with vanilla or sandalwood.) Does that sound like anything you would buy? They would be cute...

I feel so much lonelier in this moment than I have in a long while. Nothing that my logic tells me is helping with this...  I can't even describe it. I feel  so lost.

I think I might go to bed for a long while.