What a Week

I cancelled my lab work for the second week in row. I'm still trying to shake this cold. The runny nose just seems to be hanging around. I had a bloody nose today at work and it was just lovely. Once I felt my nose start to drip I grabbed a tissue to wipe before it could drip  down to my mouth. To my surprise, blood was on the tissue after I wiped.  I rushed to the bathroom to clean myself up. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped with little effort on my part.

Today was the first Half-Day Friday at work. It's a new benefit that gives all office employees a half-day on the last Friday of every other month. After work, I tried calling my primary doctor about my nose, but he's on vacation and the receptionist recommended me to an urgent care. I don't feel like dropping money on an urgent care, so I'm just going to take extra care of my nose this weekend by using the expired ointment I have left over from the last time this bloody nose thing happened back in 2013. In 2013, the bloody nose was due to some infection that usually only occurs in infants; however, since I'm taking immune suppressants I might as well be an infant.  

I turned in my resume and cover letter and I scheduled my interview for the contracts/risk specialist position on Thursday, March 3rd @ 3pm. 3 is a lucky number right? I mean it's in my lucky number 13, so it must be. I am super motivated to practice my interview skills over the weekend so that I can shine my brightest on Thursday. Although I'm sure I'll have a nightmare over the weekend about getting a freakishly unstoppable bloody nose during the interview. Between practicing my interviewing skills I will be binge watching Fuller House on Netflix.

In other news, my credit card number was stolen yesterday. Thankfully, Chase caught the fraud right away. They caught it at the first fraudulent purchase on the same day the purchase was transacted. Chase is awesome at protecting me. It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's a pain to block the card and change my automatic bill payments that go on that card though. I was just thinking the other day that it had been a while since the last time it got stolen. 

Another Step Forward

Over the weekend, I updated my resume and wrote a cover letter. I gave my resume and cover letter to my supervisor to review and give me feedback before I submit it for the position I'm applying for. It was nerve wracking because I talked myself up real nicely on my cover letter and I wondered what would happen if she doesn't think as highly of me as I do. Although she has never said anything to back up that irrational fear. It turns out, she was really impressed with my resume and cover letter. She suggested a couple changes, but mostly she just had ideas of things I could add or re-word for consistency at my discretion. Thankfully, she seemed to agree with all of the fluff I wrote about myself. After all, I am pretty awesome. I'm proud of the cover letter I wrote, so if you want to peruse it, let me know and I'll send you a copy to read along with the job description for the position I'm applying for.

I plan to submit my resume and cover letter tomorrow, and then my goal this week is to start answering practice interview questions I found online so that I'll be prepared once I'm scheduled for an interview. I know my supervisor will be a solid reference for me, but I'm apprehensive since they will be interviewing people outside the company who perhaps have more experience.  Nonetheless, I will do my best to get it.

Details

I can finally tell you more about that opportunity I posted about. The contracts/risk administrator came up to the accounting department Thursday morning to make an announcement about a contracts/risk specialist position opening up that they were going to be posting a job listing online about. The job entails a lot of reading contracts and assessing risks to the company and will work closely with executive management. She invited anyone interested in the position to apply. The head lady in accounting said that if anyone was interested they should talk to her or the contracts/risk administrator for more details.

Right away, I was intrigued about the position. During my lunch break I contemplated what my next move should be. I decided to act.  It was really a no brainer. I went into my supervisor's office to get her opinion about me being interested in learning more about the open position. She encouraged me to go talk to the contracts/risk administrator and said that it would be a great opportunity for me. So, with her blessing I went to talk to the administrator. I learned more about it and was asked to submit a resume. Even though they will be taking outside interviews, they always like to consider employees inside the company for interviews for open positions, too.

I talked more with my supervisor and she let me know that if I don't end up getting the position that my current assistant payroll position will not be affected. She also advised that I should write a cover letter to showcase my writing ability and she even offered to review my resume and cover letter for me before I submit them. She was glad to know that I am looking to grow within the company and mentioned a project accounting position that they will start interviewing for in the next couple of weeks. The accounting position doesn't peak my interest as much as the contracts/risk specialist position does, but I will be considering applying for that position, too.

A New Opportunity

A very exciting opportunity came my way today. I can't post too many details about it yet. Although I can tell you it wasn't a nap. I am a little nervous to take the next step to pursue this opportunity. Success is not guaranteed, but I'd rather say I tried and failed than not have the guts to try at all. Hopefully, I'll know more in a few weeks. In the mean time, I hope I have good health to help me put my best foot forward.

From Bed to Work to Bed

I wake up, go to work, come home, and go to bed. That has been my routine this week as I fight a nasty bug that's been going around the office. No time to dream. No time to make plans. No time to live. No time to run. Things like showering and eating have taken a backseat. I've been so tired that I've been tempted to pull over at the rest stop on my way home to take a nap before I finish driving home. I finally mustered up enough energy to get a shower and now I'm about to head back to bed.

I have lab work scheduled for Saturday, but I'm probably going to cancel it because my upper respiratory infection will make the CBC test worse.  You know, that's the lab test that's going to tell me how much inflammation is in my body to know whether the increased Cimzia dose is working or not. So, I think I should wait until I'm healthier before I get the lab work done.

At my doctor's appointment on Friday I weighed in at 142lbs. That's 8lbs off my target weight. I started taking iron again this week as a last ditch effort to help my iron levels in my lab result and I'm already constipated, which means I've been "gaining weight." I hate that I'm going to postpone getting lab work because that means I'm going try to keep taking iron until I'm well enough to get the lab work done... so I won't be having a good poop for a while. Honestly, I don't know how long I'm going to last taking iron. Woah is me. I'm sick with a cold and I have no energy. Pity Party of One, your bed is now available.

This Ass-pect of My Life Sucks

I had another visit with my colorectal specialist yesterday. It was as terrible as my last visit. A painfully traumatizing experience. Once again I was in too much pain and the doc couldn't fully loosen my stricture with her finger, so we couldn't use the scope to see what's going on. I hate being weak and I hate not being able to handle the pain. My ass is going to be bleeding for days and I'm disappointed in myself because I couldn't handle more of the torture. Damn, my ass is so sore, yet I still think that I should have been able to be tougher. I feel like I failed.

At my specialist's request, next time I have to schedule my appointment at the surgery center because I need to be sedated in order to get my stricture fully loosened. To be kinder to myself, I have lasted over three years of appointments with my colorectal specialist before having to be put under. I guess that's kind of a win. The benefit of being sedated next time is that I won't feel the pain or the trauma in the heat of the moment. I'd much rather be violated when I'm knocked out for the count. The draw back of the doc being able to do more is that it can make the recovery time longer.

She only takes appointments at the surgery center on Tuesdays, which is an important day in my payroll week at work. I'll have to talk to my supervisor to figure out which Tuesday in May I can take off.  No one at work knows I have Crohn's, so I've never given too many details when I request a day off for Crohn's stuff. I feel like since I'll be sedated, I might need to give my supervisor more details in case something goes wrong. Nah, I'll just ask about taking a Tuesday off and hope my supervisor doesn't ask too many questions because talking about my butt issues at work doesn't seem very professional.

I'm 28 Going on 78

I am so loved! I got tons of birthday wishes from co-workers, friends, and family. My supervisor and co-workers really made me feel special on Friday. My supervisor decorated my office. The VP of Finance took everyone in the department (there were 14 of us) out for my birthday lunch at Olive Garden. We took a two hour lunch and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the part where everyone sang me happy birthday. Later in the afternoon, my supervisor called me out into the accounting area to teach one of the interns something about coding, which was just a ploy to get me out of my office. Everyone had gathered around the accounting area. She had an awesome cookie cake that said "Happy birthday Lauren" on it and gave me a card that everyone signed with their birthday wishes and another card with a gift card from Wharton-Smith. We spent another 45 minutes to an hour chatting about babies, potty training, pregnancy, and cats before returning back to work. Seriously, they went above and beyond to make me feel special on my birthday.

After work on Friday, I met Taylor, her boyfriend Kenny, and his best friend Trenton at The Thai Blossom Restaurant in Winter Garden. It was absolutely delicious! Kenny and Trenton have such a bromance that they ordered the exact same tea, the exact same entrée, and the exact same dessert. It was comical. I enjoyed catching up with Taylor and exploring winter garden after dinner. We all went back to Taylor and Kenny's hotel room where we played Poop, the card game Taylor got me for my birthday. Toilets were clogged and everyone had a crap load of fun. I also showed off the poo emoji socks, poo emoji coffee mug, and a book about "Mind Blowing Ways to Poop" that Taylor got me for my birthday.

Thanks to everyone that sent birthday wishes via technology like text, voice mail, or facebook.

I spent Saturday at Downtown Disney, nka, Disney Springs, which I think is a stupid name change so I still call it Downtown Disney. Kim and I hung out with Taylor, Kenny, and Trenton in the early afternoon before Kelly, Leigha, Mom, and Savanna arrived for our reservation at T-Rex. I was home and in bed by 8pm. The past 2 days had caught up to me and I was worn out.

It may have been something I ate, or it may have been Crohn's that caused me to visit the bathroom every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. It's hard to be mad at shitting that often when my bowel movements were as lovely as they were. I think they were about as perfect as they could get. Still, it's hard to feel rested after waking up so frequently in the middle of night. I spent most of the day in bed on Sunday, but I did get up to see the movie, 13 Hours with Kim. I saw Lady Gaga sing the National Anthem for the Super Bowl and then I took a bubble bath. I'm trying to get my ass ready for my appointment at the end of the week, but it's not cooperating. I have a rash on my cheek, and a zit, at least I'm convincing myself it's not another abscess, down below, in between my crack and close to the problem hole. I think it hurts, but maybe I'm just feeling ghost pain. It's not really there, right?  I'm so anxious about Friday that it's ridiculous. I have bitten all of my nails. I don't want to go. I'm hoping they call to reschedule again, but time's running out.