Friday, March 11, 2011

Worst Six Weeks Ever

Starting January 31st when I broke my leg in two places, began what I hope will be the worst six weeks of my life. Please allow me to share why it has been terrible in timeline form

Jan 31 - Broken leg, out of work for a week
Feb 7 - Surgery on broken leg, out of work for a week and a day
Feb 24 - After two days of pain in my calf, the doctor sent me to the hospital to look for a blood clot, and sure enough one formed. I started on aspirin twice a day to resolve that issue
Feb 26 - I developed what I thought was gas pain at dinner, and it would not go away. I thought I ate too many grapes
Feb 27 - I skipped church due to my lower right quadrant pain. Josh did some research and thought it sounded like appendicitis. I called my mom and she told me to go to the hospital. I called the doctor on call from my office, and he told me it sounded like appendicitis and told me to go to the hospital. A trip to the ER and CT scan confirmed that I would have an appendectomy that night.
Feb 28 - I was released from the hospital to go home and recover. The doctor encouraged me to be as mobile as possible with a broken leg and abdominal pain
March 1 - I was in a lot of pain in my shoulder, back and chest. During the appendectomy the doctor filled my abdomen with gas. He said that it would cause shoulder pain as the gas reabsorbed into my system. Well I thought was being a baby that couldn't handle the pain, and tried to sleep through it.
March 2 - I woke up at 1am (Wed am)in terrible pain, and could barely breathe. I had another hour before I could take more pain killers so I laid in bed squeezing Josh's hand and tried my best to breathe before I could take more medicine. At 2:30am the pain was diminished just enough for me to crutch upstairs and out to the car. We drove to the ER again simply because I needed something stronger for pain. They took my vitals and found my blood pressure to be 80/50 and temp was 96.0. They went through the whole process to hook me up to fluids, draw blood, and ordered another CT. The results showed blood clots in both lungs and pneumonia. They admitted me into the critical care unit of the hospital to monitor me closely. I begged and begged for more pain meeds, but the nurses in that department didn't seem to be bothered by how much I was hurting. The always ask out of 10 what is your pain level. There were many times it was at a 10.
March 2- (later), I met with the doctor and he wanted to get my pain under control. He ordered morphine which was nice when I would throw up my pain meeds and they wouldn't give me more. I was transferred to the medical floor and had much better nurses, that took good care of me.
March 4 - I was released from the hospital.

What this means?
I have been of work (again) until I am off narcotics, and will go back part time until I have my strength back.
I have been sleeping in a twin bed and Josh is on the couch so that I don't have to go up and down the stairs. My lung capacity is significantly diminished.
I am going to be on blood thinners for the next three to six months, with regular blood draws to test the clotting level of my blood.

I am praying that I will not experience any additional complications or health problems in the near future.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Not a fun week

Well I cannot blame my lack of posting on being too busy. Since Monday afternoon I have been out of bed very little. And this is why...
Monday morning I was heading out the door for work when my foot slipped out from under me with a twist and I landed flat on my back. After screaming for a little bit, one of my current roommates (landlord? I know this is a whole other post) heard me and came out to see what was wrong. I replied with "I need to go to the hospital." He went to get Josh and they worked together to get me into a car and I headed to urgent care for x-rays. They told me that indeed my tibia and fibula were both broken and sent me over to Orthopedics. The doctor there recommended surgery but said that I did not have to do it. He ordered me to lay down with my toes above my heart for at least one week and if I decided to have surgery it would be on Monday 2/7.

So this week I have been in bed, sleeping, resting, watching movies, doing some(very little) homework, playing with little boys, and hanging out with friends. The pain medicine makes me very sleepy and nauseated when I take it without food. This means that when I have woken up at 4am because the medication has worn off, Josh has gotten out of bed and heated up rice so that I have something in my stomach when I take the pills. He has done so much for me this week and I have been learning to rely on him and other people for to meet my needs. This has been a hard lesson for me and I have six more weeks of it.

Maybe next week I will post about the job I was doing for two days before my accident and will go back to a week after surgery.

Also, it is bothering me that the picture in my header is not centered, but I have tried and tried but do not know how to center it. If you know how, I would love a tip.

Friday, November 12, 2010

New York

For my sister’s five year anniversary at her job, her boss flew us both to NYC, paid for our hotel in time square for four nights, got us tickets to two Broadway shows, and paid for a few fabulous meals. It was awesome.

Day One:
We arrived on Thursday at lunchtime, and took a bus and subway to our hotel. I knew it was close to time square, but until we got off the subway and walked up the stairs, I didn’t know how close to time square we were. It was right there. Our very first sight of New York city was Time Square, and it was awesome.

We checked into our hotel, which employed an odd number of attractive young men, and got to our room, which had a view of Time Square.
Then we headed over to Rockafeller Center, went to the top, and had an incredible view of the city. We saw the Empire State Building, The Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, and even the Statue of Liberty.

Then, after a brief walk down fifth avenue, we went back to our hotel to rest up for dinner (sushi, yum) and Wicked. I am now so in love with Wicked, I would marry it. Then ice cream after dinner and bed.

Day Two:
We got up and made our way to Bouchon Bakery (I have been to the one in Napa and Las Vegas, and now NY). Then ate breakfast in Central Park. Walked and walked around Central park, it was very nice. So pretty in the fall!

Next we made our way over to the Upper West Side and grabbed hot dogs at Gray’s Papaya. Both Angela and I were brave and tried one with sour kraut, an it was actually good!
Friday Evening we went to see Promises Promises. It was super cute. And since we skipped dinner, we grabbed cheesecake for dinner.

Day Thee:
We had breakfast at the local market at Union Square park. Then down to Chinatown. We did a little shopping then tried to make our way to the Brooklyn bridge. After a little wondering, we finally found a pizza place for lunch in Brooklyn. Then we got back to Manhattan and found Wall Street, the NY Stock Exchange, the place where George Washington took the oath of office, the Wall Street bull, and ground zero.

A quick run to our hotel to drop off our stuff and back downtown to eat dinner.

Day 4:
We took the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. After three days of walking a ton we decided to make our own bus tour of the city. We had to take pictures at Park Avenue, Grand Central Terminal, The Chrysler Building, NY public library, Bryant Park. Then we explored Soho.

Day 5:
We really took it easy this day. We did a little shopping at Rockafeller Center, and Macy’s. We had to leave for the airport at 4pm, and we slept late so not much time.

All in all we had a great time, and I already want to go back. Thanks John Black.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

How we got to Branson

Here is they story of how we ended up in Branson, MO. (These dates may be off by a day or two).

June 21st - Josh was in California and found out about a 2nd assistant superintendent job in the Monterey area. He interviewed for it, but found out it was only for a greenskeeper position.

June 28th - He was offered the job of greenskeeper. We decided to take the job. The employer agreed to give Josh the job knowing that he would be looking for a better job. He would start July 12th (the same day my classes started in SoCA)

July 1st - Josh got a call from the superintendent at Top of the Rock golf course near Branson, MO. He wanted to interview him for the assistant superintendent position.

July 5th - We drove down to Branson for the interview. Things sounded very promising.

July 6th - We drove back to Buhler

July 7th - We started driving to California. At this point we were discussing what would happen if he were offered the job in Branson, but did not really come up with any final plans.

July 11th - Josh dropped me off in SoCA for school and he drove up to Monterey.

July 12th - Josh went into the new job and explained the situation. They both agreed that it would not be a good idea to start work if he were not going to continue to work there.

July 13th - Josh got an official offer from Top of the Rock. He had to decide by Friday July 16th

July 14th - The golf course in California wanted to talk with Josh about a 2nd assistant superintendent position.

July 15th - Josh interviewed for the 2nd Assistant superintendent position and they offered it to him right then.

July 16th - Josh talked with the VP of golf at Pebble Beach about the possibility of working at Pebble in the near future. They had a good chat and he didn't believe that anyone would be moving on any time soon, but whenever someone did, the job was Josh's. Josh spoke with the people at Top of the Rock and explained the situation so they agreed to give him until Monday July 19th.

July 17th - I am at a conference pretty much all day so we really didn't have any time to discuss the jobs.

July 18th - Josh and I talked on the phone quite a bit and just barely leaned toward Branson.

July 19th - Josh called and accepted the job in Branson and turned down the job in California.

July 24th - I flew from LA to Monterey.

July 25th - We went to our old church in Monterey, and this was one of the hardest things to say good-bye to (except for our really good friends out there), but we both felt comfortable with our decision after that.

July 29th - We packed our stuff in a u haul trailer.

July 30th - We left Monterey and made it to Barstow, CA. Our Jeep was having a difficult time pulling the trailer through the mountains. The rear end had been making quite a bit of noise and when we were going over passes, it was really bad. We tried to call u haul locations and none of them had a truck to switch to. We decided that it would be a bad idea to go through the hottest part of the desert during the afternoon sun. We got a hotel room in Barstow and thought we would sleep then leave at midnight. Without any options really, Josh's dad called and said he would drive their Yukon out to Arizona and he would pull the trailer. So at 6:30pm central time, he got in the car and drove west.

July 31st - Josh and I decided to leave at 4am and meet Jack in Western Arizona. We of course got there before he did and had a little breakfast, went to a dog friendly museum, and got a few supplies from the store. About 11am Jack met us and we moved the trailer over to his car. We got on the road again and Jack kept driving. He drove from Buhler, KS to Kingman, AZ and on to Albuquerque, NM without sleeping, it was about 28 hours.

August 1st - In OK City we took the Yukon and kept heading east, while Jack took our Jeep and headed back to Buhler. Josh and I stayed in Joplin that night.

August 2nd - Josh and I made it to our new home. The first place of our own since we left Bhutan.

August 4th - We surprised my parents that happened to be vacationing in Branson and told them we moved there.

August 6th - We drove back to Buhler to get some of our things that we left there and to trade vehicles.

August 8th - We drove back to Branson.

August 9th - Josh started his new job.

It was an eventful couple of months and I am glad it is over. We are settling into our new place and Josh is working like a crazy man.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Resume and Cover Letter

Since we are now in the process of settling in the Branson area, I get to work on my resume and start applying for jobs. Yea me (sarcasm warning)! I HATE composing a resume and cover letter. The formatting and layout is fun, it is the content that I don't like coming up with. Last year our computer crashed and I don't have anything saved at all. The problem is that no one knows exactly what I did at most of my jobs except me. UGH! So today I did the formatting and am happy with how it turned out. I also drafted a sample cover letter, but probably won't send it out. Here it is...


To Whom It May Concern:

Please, please, please give me a job. You see, I like things. And thy only way I can continue to get things is to have a job. I am also trying to pay for school and want another car. I think we can only be a one car family for so long, and there are way too many hills, and it is way too hot here for riding a bike everywhere.

One thing you should know about me is that I am very particular about what I do. I am tired of hating my job and it has been a really long time since I have liked a job. So I guess what I am saying is that I prefer not to do something crappy. Another important aspect of a job is that the workplace is not crazy stressful. What I am saying is that unnecessary stress really annoys me. You don’t need to yell at me if the date hasn’t been updated on a document. You can calmly say, “Can you please change the date.” I am more likely to enjoy the daily aspects of work if it is okay to laugh occasionally.

If I sound like someone who would fit in your work place, contact me to discuss details of an interview.

Cordially,
Cassie Adrian

Coupon Adventure


One for sure thing is that I LOVE is getting a good deal. My mom is a bargain shopper and so am I. After reading several blogs on how to save money this is what I got from Walgreens today

The breakdown:
Nivia body wash - b1g1 free @ 5.99 on sale - $4 off 2 coupon = $1 a piece
Dial body wash - on sale for 3.99 - $1 coupon + $3 register rewards = free
Contact solution - on sale for $4.99 - $1 coupon + $4 register rewards = free
Aspirin - b1g1 free @ 3.49 - $2 off/1 -$2/1= $.50 money maker
pens - $1.99 - $1 in manufacturer coupon - $1 store coupon = free
( I needed batteries and they were $1 cheaper than wal-mart)

This makes my heart glad

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Returning to Normal

Today was Josh's third day of work at his new job. He has had quite the adjustment because of the heat. But we are here and have a place to ourselves. It has been nine months since we have had one place to call home. When we were staying with our parents communication was easier to always say "my parents" or "your parents." Now I find myself stumbling on what to call our home. I refer to it as "our place" or "our temporary house."

This is the fourth time we have made a major move four years. You would think we would be pros. You would think I would have a list of all the stuff I need to do, and all the places I need to change our address. Well you would be wrong. Each night I have laid in bed thinking "I've really got a lot done today" then the next thought is "Oh, I forgot about that, and that, and that." Even though I may feel a little overwhelmed, I praise the Lord that He has provided a job for Josh and a place to live. I praise Him for being merciful and not having us on that path any longer. And I am asking Him to let me grow to be more like Christ because of the past year.

I think the best part about our new location is that we have already seen my parents, my aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin's two daughters, Josh's best man an his wife, sister, and parents. And my whole family is coming down here for Labor Day. Our place, until the end of September, has 2 queen size beds, two pull out couches, and if needed another twin bed. If you need to get away for the weekend, we would welcome visitors (even if Josh has to work all the time).