Plumbing Signs

A few years ago, when I was in graduate school, I woke up in the morning and went to brush my teeth. As I turned the cold water handle it shot off at about 70 mph, missing my eye by an inch, hit the ceiling and thudded to the floor. An "Old Faithful"-worthy geyser streamed steadily into the air, rapidly flooding my bathroom, pouring into the hallway and kitchen. Somehow I summoned some common sense and figured out how to turn the water off before my entire apartment flooded, but it was nonetheless an ominous start to my day. After I cleaned up the mess and shook off the fact that I nearly just lost an eye, I went to the kitchen where I proceeded to attempt to "unlock" my refrigerator, not once, but twice, with my automatic car key. That should have been another warning that I wasn't fit to leave the safety of my home, but alas, I did. Over the course of that day I fail a huge exam, my phone died, my car was towed, I had to walk two miles deep into the New Orleans projects in order to spend my last $200 to get my car out of the impound. Some days we should listen to the warnings being subtly conveyed, put our pajamas back on, call in sick, and get back into the safety of our beds.
Today was that day.
It all began with what I am now convinced is God's form of communication with me, plumbing. We woke up to no hot water, but I didn't think much of it since I showered last night. I wished Julian luck on his ice-cold shower and headed off to work. Ten minutes later I was in a car accident on an overpass of I-10. Let me preface this by saying, I have been convinced for weeks that, having lived in the madness of New Orleans for four years without having been in a wreck, my time was coming. People just don't pay attention here, and even if they did, there isn't a good defensive driver for 60 miles. So as I puttered along in stop-n-go traffic, the car in front of me went from 30-0 in seconds flat. Luckily, I was far enough behind that I managed to stop without hitting them, but the woman behind me was not. As she plowed into the back of me, I plowed into the car in front of me, and experienced my head slamming so hard on my head rest I went dumb for a minute. As I pulled over, the car in front of me sped off! Your loss, I thought. They must have not been insured or thought it was their fault. Amazingly, my car survived with just scratches (officially OBSESSED with my Prius); I got her info and went on my way. I spent the rest of my day dealing with the world's most hormonal boss (ex. she uses the f-word in meetings...a lot), defending my work ethic because she is trying to deflect the fact that she has no idea what she's doing, and trying to explain to her that outliers is a real word. All the while I'm trying to decide if how much pain my head/neck/back are in since the accident is normal.
As I finally headed home I went over and over in my head all the things that sucked about today and got angrier as I thought about having to take a cold shower tonight, etc. etc., and it hit me what a brat I was being. I mean, how about NEVER having hot water? I started to think about all the things that made today a good day, like the fact that I live with the most wonderful man who brought home a heating pad for me with dinner. I have a comfortable bed to sleep this shitty day off in. My car and I survived a car wreck that could have been awful. Today really wasn't that bad. Still, the next time I wake up to a plumbing problem I'm getting back in bed and calling it a day.
Tomorrow I am going to pick up Ceci from Florida, and I want to make sure that I don't have any lingering negativity to send off bad vibes. I need to be as positive and as optimistic as I can to successfully get through the next two weeks and make the most of our little time with her. On that note, I am going to turn on my beloved Modern Family, and lay back on a heating pad!

Happy 2012! (Hope the Apocalypse isn't true...)

Well, it's been quite some time since I've blogged. Basically, life has been pretty busy, but here I find myself at work, sitting in front of the world's most useless PC, having waited over two hours for IT to show up. I am tempted to ask the secretary if they've called back, but she and her cronies are squawking about God knows what, and I've learned never to interrupt their hour long chats with anything as silly as work. Ah, the joys of working for the state!
So, I guess now is as good a time as any to catch up on my blogging...from my iPhone, one letter at a time...
Well, it seems that 2012 has brought the return of my IC symptoms, full force. I laid awake last night with that all too familiar pain of a pissy bladder that just couldn't be bothered with emptying. It wasn't until about 11 that I realized I'd let my medicine run out of my system. This new prescription seems to take longer than the samples from my doctor to kick in. In fact, it didn't take effect until about 3 a.m. So, resolution #1 of 2012 is to not let the meds in my system run out! Even as I write this, I realize I left them on my nightstand. Surprise, surprise, I can't keep resolutions very well!
In other news, yesterday I started studying for the dreaded MCAT. I organized my little desk and added some candles and pictures of J and his daughter Ceci to make it homier, since I will be there about 40 hours a week from now until May. I hung up a dry erase board for formula practice, and filled out a giant calendar with a crazy strict study schedule. It will be interesting to see how I juggle work, studying, and taking care of Ceci this month. We get her for a solid two weeks and I could not be more excited, although trepidacious. It will be a little test run for what life will be like when I am (God willing) a full time working mom.
I am flying to Ft. Lauderdale to pick her up, on my own for the first time, and we will have her until we leave for Colombia in late January (will blog on that excitement later!). I will be taking a triple dose of meds on travel day, since I can't leave her alone on the plane if I need to go. In fact, traveling with a 4 year old, I will probably need to hold it for the full 5-6 hours, something that sounds as daunting as a marathon! I haven't been on a plane since my diagnosis, let alone traveled with a little one. Any ICers out there have tips or strategies for surviving this without a diaper?!
Speaking of needing diapers, I am brought back to my preparations for the MCAT. I have been struggling with the decision to apply for accommodations. I am seriously concerned that I won't be able to hold it during the test (6 hours with 3 breaks), especially because stress exacerbates my IC symptoms. The MCAT approves extra time and permission to go to the bathroom during testing for those with IBS, so I assume IC would fall under the same understanding. However, they want to see a history of needing accommodations, which I don't have, considering the newness of my diagnosis. The application process looks about as daunting as applying for parole and I can't decide if it is worth it. Should I just take a mega-dose of meds and soldier through? I just don't know.
This new constant concern of how/when/where I will go to the bathroom when danger strikes is definitely less than awesome, but as the fantastic Tim Gunn says, I will just have to "make it work"! Life is only going to get more complicated, not less, so I will try to appreciate my IC as a tool for learning how to improvise, accommodate and problem solve. Here's to figuring out how to do that in 2012!