Over the weekend, I found out that someone I work with has H1N1 (swine flu). I just spoke with her last night to see how she's doing. She's on the mend now, but it sounds like it was hellish. She said that it hit her hard and fast. Her kids had it first--a milder case--so she when she felt tired, she thought it was just from taking care of them.

Then she was folding laundry on Wednesday and suddenly started to feel achy all over. She lay down on the couch, but decided that she'd better get her cell phone in case she had to call her husband and ask him to come home. When she tried to get up, she was too dizzy and light-headed to stand.

It was all downhill from there. She said that the all-over body aches got so bad that she couldn't bear to move or to be touched. When her fever got too high, her husband wanted to take her to the hospital, but she begged him in tears not to touch her because it hurt too much. And that was in addition to severe coughing, etc.

By the time I talked to her on Sunday night, she assured me--in between coughing fits--that she was feeling much better.

I think I'm going to make more of an effort to find and get the H1N1 vaccine; it's not easy to find right now, but if I can avoid getting that, it's so worth it. (I already had the seasonal flu vaccine this year.)

The day after I last posted, Daughter was admitted to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She'd developed an infection of the bile duct system (colangitis) and as a result of that, inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis). Colangitis is generally a result of a blockage of the bile ducts, something she is susceptible to because she was born with malformed bile ducts. (The malformation is also the root cause of her developing cirrhosis--the reason she is on the waiting list for a new liver.)

They put her on IV antibiotics to clear up the infection, and painkillers to get her through the pain in the meantime. Unfortunately, she didn't speak up about the pain to the doctors on the first night, so she spent a miserable first night unable to get comfortable enough to sleep. Then she got some lovely opiates and slept almost the entire next day and night.

As of right now, she is finally able to eat again without pain--a sign that the pancreatitis has cleared up--so they will probably discharge her tomorrow. I spent the first three nights with her while Hubby kept things going at home for our other two kids. Tonight, he's staying in the hospital while I'm home.

I tried to go online at the hospital, but CHOP's wireless network blocks "inappropriate" sites. Imagine my surprise to find that some of my favorite fanfic rec sites on LJ were not blocked, but my own LJ was blocked! I must be a naughty, naughty girl.

For third time in a month, my kid is sick. And not any of my kids, it's the one on the waiting list for a new liver. Up until now, she's actually been very healthy (for a kid with a life threatening disease). But this kind of forces me to wonder what's going on with her immune system. Is this it? The first sign that her liver is giving up the ghost?

(We'll know soon. She had blood tests today.)

And it's a weird illness too. She has fever, headache, and body aches, so everyone keeps saying, "Flu!" However, she has no respiratory symptoms: no cough, no stuffy nose, nada--so not flu. Doctor tested her for strep today, but it came back negative. Gotta love those almost instant strep tests; they're much better than the next day one we used to have to use.

Well, this is a stupidly worded question. How can I be "not superstitious" and still worry about broken mirrors and bad luck?

inner_justinhas this great photo of Hal Sparks posing for the No H8 campaign. I wasn't even aware of the campaign until I saw the photo of Hal on inner_justin's LJ.

But while I was scrolling through the No H8 site, I came across this one of Peter Paige:
 LOVE Peter.  (Though I do confess that I like Hal's photo better.)  Now, I'd love to find one of Randy. :D

A breastfeeding mom was recently made to feel unwelcome at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Florida. The manager came over and offered her a kitchen towel "to cover up"--even though she was already thoroughly covered by her clothes and her child. She, upset about it, told some friends. The friends then organized a breastfeeding "sit-in" at the same fast food restaurant.

My favorite part of the story: Throughout being interviewed in this news video clip, the mom feeds her baby! You go, girl!

PS-- Florida state law was on the mom's (and the baby's) side.

I'm going to be teaching nursery school three mornings a week! Yay!

I haven't worked for money for years--not since my twins were born, and they are now nine. I think that I've been ready to go back to work, but I haven't been ready to face that form of voluntary slow torture known as "the job interview". The entire thing is simply the stuff of which nightmares are made. Sweaty palms, buzz-word laden questions, hypothetical "What would you do if...?" and "How would you...?", mind going blank right when you need it to come up with something intelligent sounding.

Last night I submitted myself for torture. I'm a teacher, and the nursery school at my husband's church is hiring several people. Early childhood education is not my forte--I taught middle school and high school once upon a time--but I don't think I could get a job doing that without going back to school for a "refresher". (And I'm already over-educated to get a job in many school districts.)

It could have been worse--but it could have gone a lot better too. Ugh. I really suck at job interviews.

The best part about the whole nightmare: when I got home, my husband told me that he was proud of me for trying, no matter whether I get the job or not.

Stonewall--40 years ago. We (the USA) have come so far, and yet have so, so far to go.

OK, shameless begging here. See the cute kids in my icon. They are asking you to vote for their Uncle Tim's pizzeria in a "Best Pizza in Southwest Florida" contest. His place was in first place for a couple of weeks, but a pizza chain francisee knocked him down into second place last night.

I really want him to win. Tim was co-owner of another, bigger place a couple of years ago, but his business partners (related to each other) were cheating him by pocketing cash and under-reporting what the place made. He walked away from it, and with one of the cooks from the old place, he opened a new pizzeria within sight of the old place.

I know you've never eaten there, but pretty, pretty please--for me! For my cute kids dressed up for his wedding!

Vote for I Ragazzi Pizza here!

Vote once, or vote once per day! Thank you!!!!

HELP!

I was trying to teach 6frog how to save images onto her PC as a preliminary step to make an LJ userpic. I had her right-click on the chosen image and choose "Save Pictue As". In the next step, she is supposed to select a format in which to save it, and I told her to choose JPEG. However, her computer won't allow her to do so.

If anyone more tech minded than I would like to assist us, perhaps you could jump into the conversation thread?

Thank you!

Ever since I saw Adam Lambert sing "Ring of Fire" on American Idol, I've thought how much he reminds me of Freddie Mercury: the incredible vocal range, the great stage presence, and--oh,yes--the whole kissing boys thing. I kept thinking that he really needed to sing a Queen song on AI.

And now, here he is not only singing Queen, but singing with Queen. Yes!

(Just ignore the fact that Kris is on stage too. I like him fine, but this is rightfully Adam's moment.)