Dull Moments

The truth about PRK… it’s not… that bad. I have a high pain tolerance and everyone is different, so take it all with a grain of salt. Your PRK could be mind-crushingly painful. It hurts. I’m not going to lie. It hurts a lot. When I hit my wall, I knew this is “what they had been talking about”. This happened at about 20 hours post-op for me, early on Saturday afternoon. I excused myself and went upstairs to rest. However, no matter what I did, I found that everywhere was too bright for me to relax, even with sunglasses on top of other shades. Since lying in a bathroom that a 2 year uses was not appealing, I went to the only other place in our beautiful, window-filled home that was sealed from natural daylight – our walk-in closet in our master bedroom. If you house-hunt in the near future, walk into that master closet and think to yourself, “Hmm… could I sprawl out on the floor in pain if need be?” You’re welcome. I made a little nest for myself in our closet, and then I shoved things ...

So… I did it! I had PRK {laser vision corrective}surgery. This blog post contains medical descriptions. If you have a weak stomach, don’t read on. I am a medical over-sharer. I both share and ask other people to share way too much personal, medical information. Blame it on my dad. When my grandmother offered, out of the blue, to pay for LASIK for me, I was ecstatic. I was recovering from a bad cold when my mom told me the news, so my voice could barely peep a noise out, but I was screaming in my mind. I have wanted laser eye surgery to correct my vision since I could understand what it was. For the record, my right eye had a -5.50 and my left a -5.75 with a slight astigmatism before. If you don’t know what that means, I was freaking blind, ok? So, when I went to the vision center for my “free consultation” and they said, “You are not a candidate for LASIK” I just about had a mental breakdown… until they said, “You can get PRK!”. I had not heard about PRK, LASIK’s cousin that no one lik...

Whiner No, for real. I’m whiney. A lot. We are doing the study, “Lord Change My Attitude” for women’s Bible study this fall, and the whiner in me would like to whine about how hard it is not to whine. This week, my adorable/wonderful/awesome friend, Bridget, Facebook announced her pregnancy. I love her and Ian so much, and I’m so happy for them… and then I felt it: the small twinge of jealousy - jealousy for the excitement, for a defined stage in life, for a little baby, for knowing you should have a baby, for all of it. Granted it was a small twinge, but it was there, and it was wrong. I woke up this morning, early for a meeting at the clinic (a meeting at which I found out that one of my patients, who was weird but perfectly nice to me, had threatened to bomb our clinic and shoot anyone who survives – you know, normal meeting stuff). I was making coffee when Rick rushed down, running late. He called for a sleepy, not-really-awake 2 year old Emm to follow him. Dr...

I used to run all the time. Like it was no big deal, I'd go knock out 6, 7, 8 miles. I still "enjoy" running in a very casual, once-every-couple-of-months kind of thing. Lately, I've become an addict to my elliptical. So when a friend of mine was like, "Hey, I'm doing the Drumstick Dash, do it with me!" I don't know what possessed me to be all like, "Yes! I'm in!" and fill out a registration form last night. But I did it, and I committed myself to running 4.6 miles in public. I feel a panic attack coming on thinking about people watching me run. But I keep telling myself that if my friend (who has MS!) is doing this, I should be able to put on a brave face and get my butt moving. I’m a health coach, for crying out loud. To start training, I did exactly what you aren't supposed to do and ran 3.5 miles last night. If you've trained for anything, you know you are supposed to ease in it. Like a complete moron who had never ext...

I don't blog anymore. Sorry if that somehow disappoints you. Anyway. We threw Robert a birthday party last weekend! On Tuesday, Robert will turn 30. It's a big deal! Well, not really. We are pretending it's a big deal, but he's playing it pretty low key. Rob has all the photos, so bug him if you want pictures. We were very blessed to have family and friends show up on Saturday night to celebrate the big occasion. Rick made tacos, I made cake, and Robert made the best face ever when he found out his birthday surprise... New a rhino truck liner! If you are less than excited about that as a birthday gift, you and I are in the same boat. I don't quite get the "wow" factor of it, but at one point on Sunday Robert gently touched it and said in a soft voice, "It's just so pretty". I can only imagine this is how I would feel if handed a nice pair of heels or a new handbag. On our way to church on Sunday, I told Rick that I would have thou...

So guys, I have a list of posts to write about! I made curtains! I did my first food crawl! Everyone's getting married! Alas. I have no time. However, I was getting questions about these, so this is what I will blog out:  vegan cupcakes. Worst-sounding combination EVER, right? I work with a group of really healthy people, one of whom is a vegan. It's her birthday... so... I made her vegan cupcakes. You can love or hate that idea, and I don't care. It's her birthday, not yours. On your birthday, I will make you steak cupcakes with veal frosting, okay? Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes Ingredients:  * 2 cups flour * 2 TBSP chia seeds (as requested by my coworker instead of flax seed, and she provided them, so I didn't aruge) * 2/3 cup cocoa powder  * 1 tsp baking powder * 1 1/2 tsp baking soda * 1 tsp salt * 2 1/2 cups Libby's canned pumpkin * 1/2 cup safflower oil * 1 1/2 cup white sugar  * 2 tsp vanilla * 2 TB...

For those of you who want to know, this is what you need to understand about my new job... I use a very specific and very interesting form of behavior change counseling known as "motivational interviewing". It involves actively listening and helping the patient embrace both their ambivalence towards change and finding their own solutions to their health problems. It's amazing. It's like cheating.  I sit and listen, they solve their own problems, they embrace change. Granted, it's not that easy, but the technique is astoundingly simple and effective.  It's also very effective on your husband the guy who lives with you, until they figure out what you are doing and tell you that you aren't allowed to MI at home. However, MI is sneaky and effective, so I am secretly still doing it :). I do one and one counseling, support groups, group exercise, follow-up constantly with each patient, and a bunch of random administrative stuff.  That's what my day to ...