Well, so I want to write about this big secret thing but I don't want to tell everybody about it just yet, so I'm going to write entries as I go along, and at some point in the future if I feel like it would be good to publish, then I'll publish them all at once. Ok? Ok.
Here it is: I'm PREGNANT!!! I had my IUD taken out on Monday, Dec 10th, and by the time I left for Boston on the 16th I was pregnant. Silly me. I'd been all worried about whether it was going to be difficult to get pregnant, what with the chemo and all. I had asked an OB friend of mine several years ago whether the chemo was likely to have caused sterility. She said, "Did you get your period back?" I said yes and she replied, "Oh, well then no problem." And I guess that was true. Because my period was a little late so I took a test yesterday and it came back positive. Woo hoo!!
It was a source of great speculation with my mom and sister over the holidays. I thought I was pregnant. Based on nothing except wishing to be. I did think my boobs were a unusually sore, and then I spotted very lightly on the 27th and thought, well this is it. I'm getting my period. And then it stopped. And then yesterday I took the test. Amazing. Of course I don't feel any different. I've been slightly nauseous ever since having the IUD removed, but I'm sure that was all in my head.
We told our parents, siblings, and I told Brandy and Steph G (who happens to be exactly 1 week ahead of me - she's 5 weeks along now!). Crazy. I can't believe it.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Christmas roundup
Boy, haven't written in awhile, huh? So, in Boston it turned out that we only got to see that one case so I spent a couple of days relaxing and ice skating and talking algorithms with Neal and eating good food and then came home early. Not so bad as far as business trips go.
Then on Saturday (the 22nd?) Chris and I took off for Idaho. Chris's sis was already there, and on Sunday we were joined by his brother, my sister and brother-in-law and nephew, and my mom. Sounds dangerous, huh? Except we already got all the families together last year around this time and everything went fine. We all went up to McCall (after I finally got to ski at the alleged Bogus Basin) and my family had rented a cabin right near Chris's parents' cabin. While there we ate good food and opened presents and skied some more and went snowshoeing... it was a nice balance of exciting and relaxing. You'd think that with so many people there would be chaos, but Chris's analysis was that the laid-backness of my family balanced out the potential extra chaos. I grabbed a bunch of photos from everyone, so the rest of the description of the holiday can be found here. Enjoy!
Then on Saturday (the 22nd?) Chris and I took off for Idaho. Chris's sis was already there, and on Sunday we were joined by his brother, my sister and brother-in-law and nephew, and my mom. Sounds dangerous, huh? Except we already got all the families together last year around this time and everything went fine. We all went up to McCall (after I finally got to ski at the alleged Bogus Basin) and my family had rented a cabin right near Chris's parents' cabin. While there we ate good food and opened presents and skied some more and went snowshoeing... it was a nice balance of exciting and relaxing. You'd think that with so many people there would be chaos, but Chris's analysis was that the laid-backness of my family balanced out the potential extra chaos. I grabbed a bunch of photos from everyone, so the rest of the description of the holiday can be found here. Enjoy!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Hello from Boston
So I haven't been saying much about what's been going on so I'm going try to catch up. I turned my thesis into my readers on Dec 2nd and then kept iterating with my advisor and stressing about when I was going to hear back from the other readers. I finally was able to get my first signature on Wednesday evening, then there was some panic because one of my readers was out of town and his admin wasn't even in town to sign for me, but he got another admin to sign for me on Thursday. Then finally on Thursday Chris helped me get everything printed out and my advisor signed and I stressed for the couple hours before I actually went to turn it in and then finally did. And they gave me this letter that said "It is anticipated that the student will be recommended for the degree of PhD to the academic board in January." Why are they so cagey about it? This is the final step. The thesis is in, I am a doctor. Wow. I can't even believe I made it.
Chris and I were discussing it the other day and we both kinda wish someone had let us know that there was an educational sweet spot. That's right after you finish your Masters. What you need is a masters degree and some good connections and that would get you the exact job I have now, only 6 years earlier. Possibly not paying as well though. And I likely wouldn't have had these connections without my years in grad school. Well, there's no going back now. And anyway I'm done so I should really stop whining about it.
What else? I'm in Boston right now, as my title suggests. Work sent me here to observe cases and I'm learning that observing cases largely means sitting around waiting for patients to be ready and doctors to be ready and everyone to figure out who is doing what when. Boston was a shock. I arrived last night and there's snow on the ground. It feels so wrong for me to be in a city where I am not going to be skiing and there is snow everywhere. Coming in the cab yesterday I was really glad I didn't rent a car. I would be a danger to myself and others.
Did I mention that Chris and I were thinking about buying the house we rent? Well, that ended up not working out because there was too big of a price gap between what Chris and I wanted to pay and what the owners want for the house, so that was too bad. Now we'll have to figure out what to do with all those power tools I convinced people to buy for his birthday when we thought we would be doing remodeling. We're still making minor changes to the house to try and insulate it better. I've spent the past month freezing and then our heating bill arrived and it was clear we've just been warming the outdoors. So we have been on a draft search-and-destroy mission ever since. We've got towels under doors, added weather stripping around doors, used this plastic stuff on the windows that seals up drafts. I think we finally made a difference before I left - it actually felt warm in the house when I was packing for Boston. Hopefully this isn't just because I was running around trying to find stuff.
And in my free time? Not that there's been much of that. Bookclub, visiting Brandy and Amelia... actually, I babysat for Amelia the other day and Bran was worried I'd have trouble putting her to sleep. At 7:30 I asked, "Do you know what time it is?" She said "Time for bed." Walked in her room, instructed me: "Now we change my diaper. Now we put on my PJs. Now we read two books. Now I go to sleep." Perfect child. Brandy was amazed... I've discovered the Mountain View farmer's market which is even awesomer than Sunnyvale. Some guy there makes sandwich bread so yummy that I eat it by the slice. Yum. Also I've been knitting on my ski sweater some more. I've almost done the body. Then there will be sleeves and finishing.
And there's one more thing going on with me and Chris which I'm not going to talk about yet on a blog. But it's a good thing. And a thing which I'll talk about more extensively when there's actual news about it. Mysterious, eh?
Chris and I were discussing it the other day and we both kinda wish someone had let us know that there was an educational sweet spot. That's right after you finish your Masters. What you need is a masters degree and some good connections and that would get you the exact job I have now, only 6 years earlier. Possibly not paying as well though. And I likely wouldn't have had these connections without my years in grad school. Well, there's no going back now. And anyway I'm done so I should really stop whining about it.
What else? I'm in Boston right now, as my title suggests. Work sent me here to observe cases and I'm learning that observing cases largely means sitting around waiting for patients to be ready and doctors to be ready and everyone to figure out who is doing what when. Boston was a shock. I arrived last night and there's snow on the ground. It feels so wrong for me to be in a city where I am not going to be skiing and there is snow everywhere. Coming in the cab yesterday I was really glad I didn't rent a car. I would be a danger to myself and others.
Did I mention that Chris and I were thinking about buying the house we rent? Well, that ended up not working out because there was too big of a price gap between what Chris and I wanted to pay and what the owners want for the house, so that was too bad. Now we'll have to figure out what to do with all those power tools I convinced people to buy for his birthday when we thought we would be doing remodeling. We're still making minor changes to the house to try and insulate it better. I've spent the past month freezing and then our heating bill arrived and it was clear we've just been warming the outdoors. So we have been on a draft search-and-destroy mission ever since. We've got towels under doors, added weather stripping around doors, used this plastic stuff on the windows that seals up drafts. I think we finally made a difference before I left - it actually felt warm in the house when I was packing for Boston. Hopefully this isn't just because I was running around trying to find stuff.
And in my free time? Not that there's been much of that. Bookclub, visiting Brandy and Amelia... actually, I babysat for Amelia the other day and Bran was worried I'd have trouble putting her to sleep. At 7:30 I asked, "Do you know what time it is?" She said "Time for bed." Walked in her room, instructed me: "Now we change my diaper. Now we put on my PJs. Now we read two books. Now I go to sleep." Perfect child. Brandy was amazed... I've discovered the Mountain View farmer's market which is even awesomer than Sunnyvale. Some guy there makes sandwich bread so yummy that I eat it by the slice. Yum. Also I've been knitting on my ski sweater some more. I've almost done the body. Then there will be sleeves and finishing.
And there's one more thing going on with me and Chris which I'm not going to talk about yet on a blog. But it's a good thing. And a thing which I'll talk about more extensively when there's actual news about it. Mysterious, eh?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
I AM DONE!!!!!
Where have I been recently? Why, finishing my thesis of course! And I turned it in today! With all the signatures!!! Meaning.... I'M DONE!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Happy hanukkah
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
How Leopard Saved My Butt
I should definitely be asleep right now. Somehow for the last couple of days I've had so much adrenaline going that I haven't been sleeping that much. I'm too wound up at night to fall asleep and then spring right out of bed at the crack of dawn. The reason? My thesis. It's due Dec 14. I have to give it to 3 readers, incorporate their comments, complete a huge checklist of things and get it turned in by then. One of my readers told me he had to have it by today (Sunday anyway) for him to have it back in time, so I've been working my butt off trying to get it done and finally gave it to him this evening. Whew!
So, how did Leopard save my butt? (That's the new mac operating system for those not in the know.) My hard drive has been making iffy noises for awhile, so when the new OS came out Chris went right out and bought it because it's supposed to have really good backup capabilities. He also bought an external hard drive that we pretty much just leave plugged into my computer and once an hour it backs everything up. So when I opened my computer today and it was making a noise a bit like a little chain saw, I slammed the lid shut and Chris started shopping for new hard drives. While I went to a craft fair and relaxed with Brandy. Because I had confidence that it would all be ok. Chris bought and installed the new hard drive this evening while I made edits on his computer to the backed up thesis. He restored my hard drive with a button click, and I turned in my thesis this evening. Granted it was made a lot easier by Chris having set up a bunch of stuff and been willing to install the new hard drive, but still. It pretty much couldn't have been any easier and I lost only the tiniest amount of stuff. Crisis averted.
Except I'm still awake.
When I was in college I remember junior year I had been so stressed at the end of the year with taking exams and stuff. Then I finished my last exam, when back to my dorm room, and announced to Enakshi that I didn't understand why but I still felt completely stressed! She said, "I know what you need!" and mixed me my first Cosmopolitan. It worked like a charm. Maybe I just need to raid the liquor cabinet tonight.
So, how did Leopard save my butt? (That's the new mac operating system for those not in the know.) My hard drive has been making iffy noises for awhile, so when the new OS came out Chris went right out and bought it because it's supposed to have really good backup capabilities. He also bought an external hard drive that we pretty much just leave plugged into my computer and once an hour it backs everything up. So when I opened my computer today and it was making a noise a bit like a little chain saw, I slammed the lid shut and Chris started shopping for new hard drives. While I went to a craft fair and relaxed with Brandy. Because I had confidence that it would all be ok. Chris bought and installed the new hard drive this evening while I made edits on his computer to the backed up thesis. He restored my hard drive with a button click, and I turned in my thesis this evening. Granted it was made a lot easier by Chris having set up a bunch of stuff and been willing to install the new hard drive, but still. It pretty much couldn't have been any easier and I lost only the tiniest amount of stuff. Crisis averted.
Except I'm still awake.
When I was in college I remember junior year I had been so stressed at the end of the year with taking exams and stuff. Then I finished my last exam, when back to my dorm room, and announced to Enakshi that I didn't understand why but I still felt completely stressed! She said, "I know what you need!" and mixed me my first Cosmopolitan. It worked like a charm. Maybe I just need to raid the liquor cabinet tonight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
