Cedars Sinai is a really nice hospital (although thankfully I have nothing to compare it to), I got my own private room and all the nurses were really patient and helpful. The food was pretty good and my parents loved the cafeteria. Even so, 24 hours of bed rest is not much fun and neither is using the bedpan and as relatively good as the experience was it's not something I'd ever hope to repeat again. Definitely the most disconcerting part of the whole ordeal was the tube inserted into my wrist "in case of emergency" (I was actually glad when it was actually used to give me some saline solution when my blood pressure dropped a bit so it wasn't inserted for nothing at all). Having a tube in your wrist for over 24 hours is very strange, even more strange than the two needle pokes into my back to remove little pieces of my kidney.

Anyway, I seem to be recovering even though its a bit more sore and tender than my doctor had hoped it would be. I'll most likely be heading back to work tomorrow unless I wake up feeling really poopy. Sigh. Back to rowing with the rest of the slaves. Definitely happy that things went relatively well though, I'm sure all the prayers and thoughts helped!

Yesterday after my doctor's appointment Paul and I went to Pet Love in the Beverly Center (again) and played with this little two and a half month old shiba-inu in the puppy room. He was so adorable and very interested in this little ball and our toes. I wanted to bring him home with me but I think Taz would have a fit. (Not to mention the apartment manager and my roommates).

Last night I got a mild fever (100 degrees) and almost had a nervous breakdown. It kind of got to me, maybe I've just been suppressing it all this time, but I was finally like...why me? When is it going to get better? Is it going to get better? Or am I going to wake up every morning dreading the moment I have to get out of bed because my knees, ankles and hips hurt like I'm ninety and have advanced arthritis? Am I going to have to go on dialysis? How is this biopsy going to go?

I don't think people my age can ever appreciate how lucky they are to be able to move without pain. I'm tired all the time and when it rains I can't even get out of bed at all. Sometimes when I think about it my eyes tear up and I just want to start crying but I know I can't. There's no point. And I want to be positive and optimistic for everyone else too. My mom has high blood pressure and my dad has enough stress over my grandmother, their 22-year-old daughter isn't supposed to be adding to that strain with this freakish disease.

My job is also causing me so much stress. I wish I could just quit but I need to pay my bills, especially now that I'm probably going to have sizeable medical bills. My work environment is simply unacceptable, the stress levels, the hostility in the workplace, the ridiculously low pay...I can barely remember why I started working here in the first place, except that I wanted to contribute to President Bush winning the election in some way. Now that that's over why am I here? Just because I have no better alternative. Hopefully God will answer my prayers soon...Sigh.

Okay I'll quit being such a downer now.

Paul is amazing. He's making me chocolate-covered strawberries =)

As much as I want to go home, I feel like I have roots here now...well mostly Paul. I guess that's a dumb reason not to pursue an avenue that would most likely help my body start the healing process. Paul can move right? Bleh. I just hate not knowing what's going to happen. My joints are pretty bad tonight, not a good sign.

Reid looks like a big weenie. Why was he talking about his childhood? He sounds like Edwards. All I heard was "We think the President's plan sucks," but where's his alternative? Certainly didn't hear one of those.

Pelosi looks like she's trying to make some facial expressions but can't. Once again the woman has been over-botoxed...seems to be a big problem for Democrats. I love how the Democrats parrot Bush's exit strategy for Iraq and then pretend Bush has no exit strategy. "Train more Iraqi security forces..." who the hell do these people think were protecting the Iraqi voters on Sunday? Plastic action figures like the one "kidnapped" by terrorists? Oh and then they throw in, let's try to get the girly Frenchmen to join us...yeah that's the solution to Iraq >< Sigh. I still wonder how a Democrat from San Francisco, California got to be their minority leader when they're supposedly reaching out to the middle. Idiots.

They keep using the words "faith" and "values" like they're going to fool people into thinking they've suddenly sprouted some.

Okay, I guess that was my mini-live-blog =)

While I definitely agree that this is only the first step in a series of step, here's something to think about: If you don't take the first step then how can you take any of those that follow? Thus isn't the first step in many ways the most important? It is the foundation after all. This is something Democrats like John Kerry just refuse to acknowledge. Demarcation point my ass. Thank God the man isn't POTUS.

The bad news? After my visit to the doctor last Wednesday I ordered a book that is supposed to help me recover through lifestyle changes rather than medication. Unfortunately this includes becoming...*dun dun dun* a VEGAN. NOooooOo! On top of that I'm supposed to cut out white flour, sugar and salt...and processed foods, meaning I've gone a step beyond vegan and I'm not supposed to eat pastas either...Essentially I'm supposed to become a bunny rabbit for all intensive purposes. This does not bode well for me considering my newly refound appetite.

So I've decided to take it slow and start off by cutting out all dairy products because dairy is supposedly the worst offender, cut down on meat, salt, sugar and white flour (I prefer wheat bread anyway) and stick to mainly water (and possibly a Hansen's every now and then). This is all very sad news because as you all know this weekend is Super Bowl Sunday and my roommate is having a bbq and Paul was going to make me nachos with a yummy seven layer dip. I suppose I can enjoy the SuperBowl without all those toxic foods (but only if the Eagles win) but the question is do I really want to? I may have to make an exception even if I pay for it on Monday with some creaky joints.

Pray for me ><