Back to 'normal' - whatever that is

So I'm home! Yep, back in Ontario, happy to be sleeping back in my same bed with my happy hubby.

Had a fantastic trip. It was very busy, very rushed, and somewhat frustrating at times, but I got to see/meet so many people and had an amazing time hanging out with some fan-fuckin-tastic women that I've been dying to meet for ages. Allllll good.

My only regret is that I never made it to Abbotsford to see my good pal who was a bridesmaid in our wedding. Sigh. Stupid weekend was so packed it just couldn't work. And that sucked.

Came in late Sunday evening and was met at the airport by a super smiley Hubs. We were both ridiculously mushy while I was away, and decided that five days is just too long for us to be apart. So lemme tell ya, every minute they made me wait for my luggage was one tick up on my Air Canada hate meter. Nobody keeps me away from my man any longer than need be!

The trip home was relatively okay, but a bit painful. I managed to wrench my back as I was checking out of the hotel on Sunday morning and hot daym did/does it hurt! I cried in the cab on the way to the airport....I just couldn't find a reasonably comfortable position. And the cabbie giving me advice on different yoga/stretching positions and their accompanying breathing techniques really didn't help much. I'm just not that kinda gal.

Worked from home yesterday 'cause I was just plum tuckered and my stupid back was still killing me. Thank goodness for remote connections and the ability to dial in to voice mail from afar!

Today I braved my twitchy back and headed back to the office. And I learned that my desk chair simply isn't suitable to strained backs. I found one comfy position and managed to hold it as long as was feasible. Only drawback? I was in super slouch position, facing slightly away from my computer, so it looked like I was slacking, surfing websites all day. But it was the only thing that worked!

Finally around 1 I went to see my boss who had, when I spoke to her yesterday, promised me Aleve upon my return to the office. I'd been taking Advil thus far and it seemed to take the edge off, but she swore up and down that nothing could touch Aleve where back pain was concerned.

Now, you can't buy this stuff in Canada.

That should have been my first clue.

So I hobble down the hall to get my expense report signed and fetch the good drugs. She greets me with a smile as always, and pulls out the container of magic pills. I've never taken them before, and she suggests that I take two to get started.

Happy white and yellow pills in hand, I trudge back to my office and slurp down my bounty with a swig of diet iced tea.

An hour later a colleague comes into my office and finds me almost asleep, sitting up in my chair. I could nap so hard at that moment...my eyelids were like lead weights! Simple words weren't coming to me and I was mixing up my syllables.

Methinks I'll stick to my Advil.

To make matters worse I had a meeting at 4 with two doctors and I had to keep it together. Fortunately (for me) only one could make it, so we chatted briefly and I headed on my merry way to catch the train home.

Where finally, without fear or concern, I could fall blissfully asleep. And did I ever. Slept all the way from downtown to my station. And am still so exhausted that as soon as this is proofed I'm hitting the sheets.

So that's my update. Maybe tomorrow if I have the energy I'll bring you up to speed on Sludge's latest hijinks. 'Cause rest assured, they are many, and they are outrageous.

Good times, good times.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Greetings from the west coast!

Yo.

It's me! I'm in Vancouver right now, typing this blog post overlooking the harbour. Boats everywhere, the mountains now invisible in the darkness. It's 11:13pm local time, but my body still kinda wants to believe that it's much, much later.

And to make matters worse, I have red wine teeth.

Yes, the dreaded grey pallor that takes over your teeth after a few too many glasses of red wine. Which is why I don't often drink the red. Well, that and the heartburn. But I digress.

Tonight was our conference banquet and there was wine on the table. They were serving beef (which makes perfect sense to me - everyone comes to Vancouver for the beef) so red seemed like the perfect choice. After the dinner itself a bunch of people bolted, so like the good scavengers we are, my colleague and I grabbed any bottles left on tables and made it our mission to ensure no bottle went undrunk.

Well come on - who wants to let good booze go to waste? Certainly not me. I mean, that has to be one of the advantages of not being pregnant, or even in the throws of trying to GET pregnant...me and booze can be friends again.

Last year at this time I was in Halifax for this same conference. I was right in the midst of our first medicated cycle at my first fertility clinic, so there was little to no drinking (and huge heaps of stress) for this diva during that conference.

I'm happy to report that I'm righting that balance this year.

It's weird...I remember being in Hali last year and seeing the booth promoting this year's conference in Vancouver. I took one look at the booth and thought, too bad! I love Vancouver. But I'm sure I'll be pregnant by then - or hey, might even have a child and be on mat leave! - so I won't be able to attend.

Every time I remembered that moment I topped up my glass.

So yeah, like I said, I've got red wine teeth.

It's been a good time so far. I had a fantastic dinner last night with two of my virtual 'friends' that I hadn't met before we chowed down together. Now, I'm increasingly saddened that these very cool women don't live closer to home, 'cause daym are they fantastic women. Sigh. But alas, despite the fact that we can't get together for cocktails more often, I'm so happy we did have the chance to connect while I was here. All good things...all good things.

The ride hasn't been smooth though. I got here yesterday morning and they didn't have my room ready. Fair enough - it was only noon and check in time is 3pm. Even though I had requested an early check in, I knew it wasn't a sure thing so I was relatively okay with it. I hauled my suitcase into the bathroom, got changed, and went to my first session.

I came back out at 3pm, the aforementioned check in time, and you guessed it...my room wasn't ready. Boo-urns. Me and the Westin were not getting along so well.

I return again at 5 and finally, my room she is ready. I haul my bags up, unpack my stuff, plug in my laptop...and nothing. It doesn't work.

Grrr. I had numerous conversations with the tech support folk and of course, they couldn't fix it. Double grrr.

Fast forward to today, and again...internet still not working. So I go to the front desk and they decide to switch my room. I get 'promoted' to the Starwood preferred floor with a king sized bed, a view of the ocean/mountains and, eventually, internet access.

Soooooo....I hope that explains my absence of the past few days if nothing else. I'm very happy to be back online...red wine teeth and all.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Free at last...

...free at last, thank gawd almighty I'm free at last!

That's right - she's gone! Waahooo!

Saturday night at 7pm we finally reclaimed our home as solely ours. Well, us and our remaining four legged kitty cat creatures, but they're no pain in the ass, ya know?

Let me backtrack a bit before we come to the end of our silly story...

Friday. Last weekday. Last sleep. All good things to come.

Until I stepped out of the shower.

Shooting pains in the general vicinity of my left ovary. Every breath hurts. I feel every bump in the road. I can't even bend over to put lotion on my legs.

Fuck.

I get on the train, go to work, hope it gets better. It doesn't. I send a physician friend of mine a facebook message asking for advice. She suggests I contact my fertility clinic to see if they can get me in for an ultrasound. Which I do as soon as I get to the office.

Sure enough, the clinic thinks I should get it checked - at the emergency room. They can't do the bloodwork necessary with the turn around time that's required, so they make the suggestion that I go and get it looked at. Now.

So off I trundle, book in hand, to the ER at Mt. Sinai. I arrive at 1:05 pm, and six hours later I'm discharged.

To summarize those six hours, I sat, I waited, I had blood taken, had my blood pressure taken a gazillion times (and it actually hurt and left bruises on my freakin arms), I waited, I finally wrangled an ultrasound, and sure enough, my physician friend was right - a ruptured ovarian cyst. Nothing they could do but give me pain pills, which I elected not to accept.

By now I know I'm not going to make the next train and I really don't want to wait another hour to get home. I'm tired, I'm peckish, and my feet hurt since I chose that day to break in new sandals. So instead of heading to Union and waiting forever, I took the subway up to Yorkdale and hooked up with Hubs and friends who were having dinner there.

Despite all the crap of the day it actually worked out quite well, 'cause I didn't have to spend a second with Sludge! By the time we got home they were already in bed and it was blissfully quiet.

Saturday we slept in a bit, but were awakened by a knock at the door. It was DeeDee, saying that Mom had asked her to ask us if Hubs was going to make breakfast.

Whu? I just laughed it off and shrugged...why change now? Yeesh.

Anyhoodle, the day went by rather quickly, all things considered. My sister in law came by to help out and was a huge huge help. She's the freakin energizer bunny - never stops for anything. I guess you could give some credit to the Red Bull. No one can pound one of those bad boys back faster than she can!

UHaul called and told us that the truck was ready early, so we made our way there and before you know it a 14' truck was in our driveway. Leaking oil. But whatever - it was my chariot of freedom...drip away.

So yeah - truck gets here at 3, load it all up, drive over to the new place, interrupt some kids playing with water balloons, unpack the truck, sweat to death, take the truck back. By 6pm. What a freaking fantastic feeling.

As we drove away from their new place I let out a whoop that even I didn't think was in me. Seriously - window shattering. Good thing ours were rolled down!

By 7 that night Hubs and I were all showered and clean, the pizza had been ordered, and Juno was popped into our DVD player.

Yes, despite the drama of the week, at that very moment I was actually mentally okay, ready to sit down and watch Juno for the very first time. We liked it - lots of laughs - but Hubs kept looking at me to see how I was doing, especially during the ultrasound scenes. But I managed...I mustered through.

Despite our intentions to run around the house naked and make out in every room we were both plum tuckered and headed to bed rather early that night.

Fret not...Sunday morning did not disappoint.

How blissful it was to sleep in without anyone knocking at the door and demanding food.

We still managed to get up in decent time and decided to treat ourselves with some breaky at Denny's and a flick. We are fortunate that our local movieplex only charges $6 for movies before noon on weekends, so we decided to take in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Good times - great flick! Laughed out loud a thousand times - highly recommend it.

The remainder of Sunday was spent doing small errands and just enjoying our home back to ourselves and the beautiful weather. We had a bbq for dinner and I extra splurged with a cooler or two to wash down my burgers.

Bring on spring. What a fantastic weekend.

Today was crazy busy. I leave for a business trip to Vancouver on Wednesday morning but will be staying near the airport tomorrow night since I leave so early, thus requiring me to pack tonight. All plans to head to the gym flew out the window thanks to just too much to do. Blech. Oh well...I'll hit the gym again when I get home.

So there ya go! I survived. I made it. Our home is intact and relatively free of damage. It's like a giant mental weight has been lifted from inside these four walls...you actually FEEL a difference.

And I couldn't imagine a more welcome feeling. Dats right - my house, bitch. See ya!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?