A picture montage from December (mostly)

Here are some pictures from the Holidays. I didn't take a whole lot, but here are some.

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than a big decorated tree! Such an improvement to our little 3 foot tree. I love my in-laws!

My mom made us this placque, which I have been asking for, and in a goofy moment, we decided to take mug shots with it. I would like to think we don't look this bad all the time.

I love Temple Square at Christmas time!

This was Brad's goatee he decided to grow during the winter break. His goal was to keep it until we visited my family, but I'm pretty sure he shaved it before Christmas. I thought it was funny looking and he hates how itchy facial hair is.

This deliciousness is the marble chocolate cheesecake I made for Valentines day! It was delightfully yummy! I got the recipe from my friend Anita Draney.

Stress, Its a Killer

On monday I went to for my check up/lab work with my doctor and we talked about things that could be causing my blood sugar to be low. We came to the decision that it was stress. I am stressed alot. I just feel like I have too much on my plate and am spreading myself too thin. Poor Brad only gets to see a worn out stressed version of his wife. But, since seeing the doctor, I decided to try and work harder to calm down, breathe, and not stress out at work or my class. Well, this week was just awful. At least twice this week I almost marched up to my office manager and told her I was quitting. I have been so overwhelmed and over worked this week with people being sick or having time off. It's just that my job is demanding. If the phone rings and a patient has a question, an MA has to take it. When someone needs a pill count, a UA, to be roomed, a provider needs a report, or a procedure to be scheduled, etc. that is all part of my job. So when there were never more than 2 MAs at work, it was nuts, to say the least.

Basically after starting out the week with a crazy busy presidents day (of doctors appointments and work) it only got worse. You know its bad when our slowest day (Thursday) never gets slow. So by the time Friday came around, and I was not getting a lunch break because I had too many questions to take care of and the phone wouldn't stop ringing, I was ready to quit. I had to go back and clean rooms and get control of my emotions cause I started crying from being so overwhelmed. Granted my blood sugar wasn't the greatest, so that probably aided in the break down of my emotions, but I was fried and couldn't take any more. Now, I didn't quit, cause I need my job. After I got my breathing under control I just went right back to my list of things to take care of and the rest of the day finished out okay, for the most part.

So this weekend Brad has been focusing on what will help me de-stress and relax. I got a lot of sleep, have watched a lot of olympics (which unfortunately has mostly been curling...how is that even considered a sport?) and we were able to hang out with a lot of friends this week as well. On wednesday, all of us Rocklin girls got together because my friend Katie had flown out to visit from California. So everyone and their spouses came over and we ate food and talked. The girls had so much to catch up on that we didn't even play games, we just talked and ate. Meanwhile, the boys watched the olympics together. It was so good to catch up and see everyone though. Then Friday, we went out to sushi with Brad's friends, Dan and Joni. We learned that Asukas no longer has all you can eat sushi, so we headed over to Sukuras. They actually have a bigger selection of sushi, waiters who speak english, and a better appearance overall, so Brad was happy. And I ate chicken teriyaki while everyone else enjoyed there uncooked fish and seaweed.

Saturday, we relaxed, went to Hilary's wedding reception, and went to Red Robin and bowling with Madison and Joni. It was so much fun, and I was once again a horribly inconsistent bowler, but we laughed and enjoyed seeing each other. Plus, we all got to eat a ton of fries and ranch! Yum! Plus, it was just fun to see our Ute friends and here how the wedding planning is going. So I have officially recovered from a crazy week, and I so hope that everyone is at work this week and that it is not as crazy otherwise I might just loose my head. I still would love to have a vacation though. A cruise would be so nice right now!

Sore Teeth and Narcotic Induced Nausea

So ever since I saw our last dentist, Dr. Moody, my teeth have been killing me to some degree. So we switched dentists to Dr. Payne, who all my co-workers recommended. Despite the name, Dr. Payne has been really good. Dr. Payne had me try sensitive toothpaste to see if that did the trick for my painful teeth. After this didn't work, and the pain only got worse, I went back in and he did an evaluation of the trouble area. After an x-ray and several different tests, Dr. Payne told me that he thought I had a tooth that would need a root canal. He explained that the filling in it was pretty close to the root, which can affect the root and cause it to be painful and start to die. As that tooth felt no cold when he did a temperature test, it seemed pretty clear that the molar was no good. He made some adjustments to my bite and then told me to see if that did the trick, otherwise I would probably need a root canal.

Well, the next week I unfortunately came down with a cold. All of the congestion caused a lot of nasal pressure, which in turn made my tooth hurt like the dickens. After a night of crying due to the agonizing pain, I called the dentist and went in again. Dr. Payne explained that congestion can put a lot of pressure onto the roots (and as the problem tooth was in my upper jaw, it probably was getting pressed on a lot). So he prescribed an antibiotic to help clear up my sinuses and some Lortab for the pain. And wonderful Dr. Payne told me to call him if it still hurt a ton and he would do the root canal over the weekend. Well, almost immediately the antibiotic helped! It was wonderful. Within a day of using it I was feeling much better, cold wise and tooth wise. However, I did notice that biting down was uncomfortable for 2 particular teeth : the problem tooth and the tooth right below it. So, after a week, the dentist office called to check up on me and I told them about my bottom jaw hurting now. So I went in again to have my other tooth looked at. And guess what?! After an x-ray, Dr. Payne showed me that there was an infection under the new problem tooth cause on the x-ray it was all dark under the root. He told me the only way to fix that was a root canal. Wonderful! So the upper problem tooth didn't hurt, but now the one right below had an infection.

So yesterday I went in to have the fabulous root canal. The actual root canal wasn't bad and Dr. Payne gave me an ipod with every type of music on it to listen to. During the root canal, while drilling, he told me that a healthy tooth will have a lot of blood. Then he told me that for my tooth there wasn't a single drop. That indicated to him that this tooth has been bad for a while. He was surprised I hadn't come in sooner. Well, after an hour of killing the root (which Dr. Payne told me aren't even really necessary or helpful to the teeth) Dr. Payne told me that I was good to go. He then prescribed me more Lortab because he was concerned I would be in a lot of pain due to the fact my tooth had been so rotted.

Well, I took a Lortab with lunch to help with the soreness as the numbing wore off. All yesterday my stomach was not feeling good and I thought I was going to toss my cookies two different times. I didn't think too much of it and today when my tooth was hurting again, I took another Lortab. Well, then I got a headache and just felt gross. I spoke with one of our nurse practioners and some of the girls at work, and found out that this was pretty normal. All the girls I work with don't like Lortab and don't think it works for anything (except maybe bone aches). Well, all I can say is I don't understand why some of our patients overdose on this stuff! There goes my career as a narcotics addict!

Oh well, hopefully this root canal does the trick and my teeth stop hurting.