A First for Everything

Most people look upon their first time of doing or completing something with fondness, but as for my recent experience, not so much. In fact, I don't even remember it. Early Thursday morning, Dustin witnessed me experiencing my first seizure. Around 4:30am on Thursday I let out a high pitched scream. Dustin thought I was having a bad dream so he cuddled up to me to try and sooth me, but before he knew what was going on, I started gasping for air and then convulsing for the next couple of minutes with my eyes rolled back in my head and foaming at the mouth (not a pretty picture). Once the seizure ended, my eyes remained rolled back and my body was stiff as a board. I was unresponsive to Dustin. This freaked him out and he called 911. The first thing that I remember is waking up in my bedroom with 4 paramedics surrounding me. I overheard Dustin say something about a seizure to one of the paramedic. As one of the EMTs is taking my vitals, I ask "seizure, who had a seizure?" They asked me who the President of the US was and I was like "duh of course it's... I can't remember...". This really freaked Dustin out and he blurted out"who am I... who am I?" I of course knew who he was, but I couldn't remember what day it was and I certainly couldn't remember anything that Dustin had just witnessed.

I had another first as I took the ambulance to the hospital. After arriving at the hospital, I started to put together what day it was and some of the other details of my life that I had forgotten previously. I had a CT Scan and a few more tests run at the hospital, but nothing conclusive as to why I had just endured a seizure. After a couple of hours at the hospital, I was finally released to go home. Of course I had no idea what was going on when I left my home because I walked out of the hospital in my robe and no shoes. By this point, I was very aware of what I was wearing or shall I say lack of what I was wearing.

Yesterday I was catching up on the Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy and there was a guy that started seizing. I asked Dustin if that looked like me and he was like, yeah but worse and you were foaming at the mouth. Poor Dustin! I can't even imagine how awful that must have been for him. I would have been hysterical if the roles were reversed.

So it looks like I probably won't be able to drive for the next 3 months which is really going to be a pain, but I am thankful that I seem to be okay. I see a Neurologist on Wednesday which will hopefully clear up some of what happened, but from what I've read thus far, most seizure cases have no diagnosis and don't happen again or happen many years later. It certainly was a reminder of how blessed I am for all that I do have. This is so insignificant to things that are going on in other people's lives and I was reminded of just how blessed I was that Dustin was there and how truly wonderful my life is and how much I love and appreciate my family and my friends. My life could be a lot worse than it is and sometimes these crappy things have to happen to remind us of just how blessed we are.

Dustin snapping a shot during my EEG on Friday (another first).

All Wrapped Up

So Sunday was my birthday. I swear they get more uneventful as you get older, but my mom bless her heart, can still make it fun even though I'm now 29 years old. She pretty much sent me on a wild goose chase. With a present she left downstairs a few weeks back during her visit (without me knowing) and multiple stops along the way, even involving April and then ending up at at a sewing store with a new sewing machine and some classes. No, I have no clue how to sew, but hopefully this will make me learn. Also, my dad and his wife, Cary came for the weekend so it was nice to spend time with them and go to one of my favorite restaurants... Cucina Toscana. Then a few of my neighbors came over for some cake and ice cream on my birthday, although for some reason they thought that they were supposed to bring the cake and ice cream. "Hey can do want to come over for my birthday for some cake and ice cream, oh and by the way, can you bring the cake and ice cream?" No I didn't say that, but April and Amy still managed to think that they were in charge of cake and ice cream. Do I have the greatest friends or what? So of course we end up with variety and way too much dessert, just the way I like it!

Anyway, the point of my story is that I thought that Sunday was the end of my celebration until I walked into work on Monday, here is a glimpse at my office (although the pictures don't even do it justice oh and excuse the lack of quality of text phone pics).

A view of my office... not only are the chairs and desk each saran wrapped, but the chairs are also saran wrapped to the desk.

My phone -

The phone is just an example that every single thing in my office was wrapped in saran wrap. My stapler, my book cases, my pictures. I just moved offices, so there was some extra stuff lying around and that was all saran wrapped as well. When I walked into my office there was a garbage bag full of toilet paper that dropped on my when I walked in. My team is way too creative. Luckily it was a hot day so my car was not saran wrapped and luckily they talked themselves out of putting all of my supplies in jello. I wasn't sure if it was a sign of love or vengeance, however they have assured me that if they didn't do anything, I should be worried. All in all, it was a great birthday and I am so grateful to my family and friends. It's days like this past week when you realize you are truly blessed.

Cruising the Mediterranean

It's been awhile, but that's mainly because Dustin and I treated ourselves to a Mediterranean Cruise that we just returned from this week! It was beautiful and relaxing (although trying to keep up with Dustin isn't always my idea of relaxing) but we were able to see so much! We started in Venice, Italy and then hit Bari, Italy; Kotokolon, Greece; Izmir and Istanbul, Turkey; and Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The most beautiful port was most definitely Dubrovnik, but I would have to say that the most surprising was Izmir, Turkey. We didn't spend much time in Izmir but drove to the ruins of Ephesus which were absolutely amazing!

Some Highlights:

The Costa Serena

• The Cruise ship had 3000 passengers and we were probably 2 of about 12 Americans on the ship which actually gave us the full multi-cultural experience.
• Food was pretty good, some dishes were excellent!
• We quickly learned that most Europeans have no concept of waiting in line. Apparently we just wait in line for our health and you can cut in front of whoever you want. At first it was comical, but when have a woman cutting in front of me in the bathroom, it quickly went to annoying.
• Families in the US are the same as families in Europe. No matter what language, whining sounds the same and teenagers are bugged and annoyed to be on vacation with their parents.
  

Olympia, Greece

• We actually rented a car and then drove 30 minutes or so to Olympia. Olympia was so interesting and we learned so much as we were able to see all of the ruins.
• The food was great (even though we didn’t have time to eat much) and the olives were amazing. We definitely want to go back to Greece so that we can see more of the country.

Dustin at the Marble starting line in the Stadium in Olympia.

Izmir, Turkey

• We actually did a private tour of Ephesus. This was where Paul spoke to the Ephesians in the New Testament. Our tour guide was Yelda and she was awesome! We learned so much and it was so fascinating to see how advanced this society was back in the centuries leading up to the birth of Christ and a few centuries after.

Dustin is sitting on one of the toilets that the Ephesians used. Apparently Romans ate a lot of meat and wine and therefore were quite constapated so they made quite an experience out of going to the bathroom (just for the men of course). The toilets are marble and running below was hot water which kept the marble warm when they sat down. The hole in front was used to put the brush in to "wipe" themselves. What you can't see is the center of the room which was open air (to help with venilation) and there were known to be violinists who would play for the men as they went to the bathroom. What an experience!


We're standing as you enter the main street of Ephesus where there were lots of shops and some housing as well. The streets were marble with some indentations in the marble for traction. Man were they smart!

Istanbul, Turkey

• I had a little bit of a melt down in Istanbul. This was the place where we were planning on doing a lot of shopping. We had run out of cash for the most part by this point so we were planning on getting some more, unfortunately we couldn’t get cash. Apparently due to security reasons our bank didn’t allow ATM withdrawls in Turkey so poor Dustin had to deal with a not so pleasant me because it put me in a sour mood.
• We hit the Blue Mosque (currently an active Mosque for the call for prayer which happens 5 times per day). The Hagia Sofia which was originally a Catholic church and then turned to a Mosque. Now it displays both Muslim and Christianity traits, very beautiful. And of course the Grand Bazaar, the oldest shopping mall in the world that is still in use.
  
• One of the store merchants asked me if I was from Japan, when I said no, he then asked me if I was from China. I was mistaken for being Italian and French, but Asian was not one that I’ve gotten before, who would have thought????
  

A pic with the Blue Mosque in the background.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

• By far the most beautiful port that we went to.
• I love Coca Light so that is one thing that I get excited about when going to Europe (except for the fact that it’s not out of a fountain, rarely served with ice and quite expensive) however in Croatia you couldn’t find Coca Light, it was either Coke or Coke Zero
  

A view of the Old City part of Dubrovnik with the city wall surrounding it. (You can walk the wall which is absolutely beautiful). As beautiful as this picture is, I don't even think it does it justice.

Some Grilled Squid and Seafood Risotto for lunch with some Marinated Anchovies to start it off... yummy!

Venice, Italy

• One of our favorite cities in the world.
• Last time we didn't have time to go to the Doge's Palace so this time we did and we actually got to walk across the Bridge of Sighs... so cool!
  

A view of St. Mark's Cathedral

I think that this is one of Dustin's best pictures overlooking the Grand Canal.

If you want to hit a few different cities that you wouldn’t normally travel to, a cruise is a great way to go so that you can see various cities. From this trip we will for sure go to Greece one day, we’d love to go to Turkey again and we’d certainly spend a few more days in Croatia. The next cruises on the list of must do's for us (although it probably won't be anytime soon) are the Northern Baltic Sea (Scandinavian cities, Ukraine and Russia) and Egypt, Israel and UAE. Although we'd want to spend a week or so in Jeruselam.

Update*** If you're bored, you can click here to view our album with all of our pics.