I know that some of you may be waiting to hear how my anniversary weekend went, but I'm afraid that I first have to blog about my ferret.

Eomer went in yesterday for surgery to remove tumors in his pancreas...which causes his insulinoma....and a possible tumor on his adrenal gland....which causes the dreaded adrenal cancer. I dropped him off at 7:45am yesterday morning and went on to work.

In the late morning, the vet tech called to say that the surgery was going well, but they found Eomer's spleen to be greatly enlarged and terribly inflamed. In fact, Dr D suspected that it would have ruptured in the coming weeks and my sweet boy would have bled out. Needless to say, we gave our consent for them to remove it. As expected they removed about 1/2 of his pancreas and a nodule out of the remaining half. His liver was an abnormal mustard color which may be the fact that he's been on steriods, but only the biopsy will tell. Meanwhile, the adrenals looked fine to Dr D. She hated to keep Eomer under for any longer without an obvious reason to dig further around the adrenals. However, she did say that usually she can palpate the adrenals and tell if they are cancerous. Eomer's adrenals felt fine so they closed him up. 86 minutes of surgery on a little fellow that doesn't even weigh 2 lbs.

Dr D called in the afternoon to talk about Eomer's surgery and ongoing recovery. She wanted him to stay at the vet until at least 6pm for them to monitor him. Plus, she wanted to see him today for a post-surg checkup. Then, she suggested that we could come at 7pm when he gets his next pain med dose and observe how to give it.

At 7pm, both Andrew & I arrived at the vet to pick up Eomer. He was terribly groggy and shaved in 3 places. Oh, the inhumanity! He had worked so hard to grow back his belly fur after the ultrasound, and now he was even more bare. Plus, he was shaved around his ear where they took blood and his tail where they.....oh, I can't remember. He seemed to rouse a bit at the sound of our voices, but he was so out of it. We got to see the spleen, and it was unbelieveable! I was expecting something about the size of your thumb, but it was about 2 fingers wide and 5 inches long! The end that was about to rupture was probably the size of a small plum!

At home, we set up a pallet on the floor and watched him into the night. He drank water from his water bottle that we held for him, and he did eat some Nutri-cal (aka ferret crack). Mostly though, he slept. Unfortunately, he couldn't really get up to go to the bathroom which really upset him. He thrashed around a bit, and you could tell that he was trying to go. We comforted him and told him it was okay. Finally, he let loose and we simply moved him a way from the mess, cleaned him up, and he went back to sleep.

About 2am, we finally went to bed. We set up his temporary cage in the bedroom, and even my ornery old cat didn't mind. It was like she knew that he wasn't feeling well. I didn't hear a peep from him all night until about 6am when he wet his bed. I was happy to find him a bit more coherent when I moved him out of the cage to clean up.

I took today off to be his nurse, and it's really a good thing considering the poop/pee laying down thing. At 9am, I took him to his post-surg checkup with Dr D, and she was pleased with how he looked. They weighed him, and he lost 100 grams from the surgery!!!! Andrew & I are quite flattered that she trusts our abilities as ferretparents to send him home in the state that he was in. She always tells us that we aren't your typical pet owners. (No, duh! We aren't pet owners; we're pet parents. =^..^= )

Since it was time for his morning pain meds, I took them with me to the vet. Amusingly, I did the injection while Dr D, the vet tech, and the vet assistant looked on. They were impressed, and, for a moment, it was fun to pretend that I was working as a vet tech......but that's another topic for another post.

Unfortunately, they asked if they could keep him for a few hours to give him some fluids since he was a little dehydrated. Plus, they wanted to check his glucose level. So I'm at home until I can go pick him up at 1:30pm.

Hopefully, this surgery has greatly reduced or eliminated his insulinoma symptoms. Also, it is a damn good thing that we opted for this surgery because we would have lost him when the spleen ruptured. (We lost Max in 2004 when an ulcer burst in his intestine, and he bled out. It was awful. One minute he was fine, the next minute he was sick/unresponsive, and he died at the emergency clinic.) Also, hopefully, his adrenal glands really are okay, but we still may have to face adrenal cancer down the road. It's just so common in ferts. As for his liver, only the biopsy will tell why it was mustard colored. I sure hope it's not another disease.

Cross your fingers for my little boy. He's just the sweetest thing, a poster child for ferrets, so-to-speak. He charms the hell out of everyone.

My first wedding anniversary is Sunday, and I just found out that husband is wisking me away to Atlanta for a long weekend. He talked to my boss and got me off work tomorrow & Monday. He arranged for someone that our vet recommended to petsit our ferret. She's coming in about an hour. He arranged for my parents to petsit my cat, and they'll be here in about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, this means that I won't be at practice for the whole weekend, and I'll miss Duncan's Fish Fry. :( Leadfoot, I'm sorry, but someone else will have to bring the 100 forks that I signed up to bring.

He's been planning this for a month and a half, and I had no freaking idea. He told me that we were going to dinner on Sunday, and that I should leave the entire weekend open so we could be together. Therefore, I already knew that I was going to miss the B'Earthday party. Now, I've found out that we're staying in the Westin Peachtree, dining in the rotating restaurant on top, and going to the Georgia Renaissance Faire all weekend!!! (We love ren faires!)

Frog, Faye, Krewe: Y'all have great birthdays and a great party!

I'll miss you all, but I'm so excited. I married my prince last year, and I'm glad to know that he still keeps me guessing.

I've been saying that I needed a different tool to change my wheels/bearings to skate outside. Today, my husband urged me to go to Vertical Urge to buy the Utilitool so I could change my wheels. He thought it would be fun to find a park for us to skate in....me in my quads, him in his ooooolddd in-lines.

Funny thing is that the nice guy at VU showed me how to pop the bearings out without a tool. Nifty, huh? So we went out the car and started the business of changing the wheels. During the process, it dawns on my husband that there is no reason to pop the bearings out. I purchased bearings at the time that I bought my outdoor wheels. Therefore, all that we needed to do was change the wheels. Duh. Very easy.

We went to the park across the street from our house where we found some fairly flat surfaces. Unfortunately, while Andrew was strapping on his old in-lines, the old plastic ankle fasteners broke on both skates! He took the shoelaces out of his shoes and tied them snugly around the top of the in-lines...which seemed to work just fine.

Meanwhile, I put my skates and my pads on, and I realized really quickly what it was like for the CRGers that skated in the St Patty's Day parade. (I walked, carrying the banner.) The wheels were slick as snot and took a bit to get used to. I felt like I had spaghetti legs.

"Do you want your helmet?" Andrew asked.

"Nah", I said. "I'll be fine."

Nonetheless, we left the car and set out for the park. Well, the first hill we came through wasn't too steep so I got in good derby form and coasted down it.....only at the bottom I wasn't sure how to stop. In a flash, somehow I did a "banana peel" and landed on my butt. Thankfully, I didn't smack my head on the concrete sidewalk. Hopefully, I got a cool bruise. Andrew was being much more careful on his in-lines so he used the grass to get him down hills.

We found a tiny parking lot with a median in the middle that provided somewhat of a "rink". My confidence grew the more that I skated, but I was surprised at how different it felt to skate outside.

I'm really excited because now I'll be able to skate before our next practice on Tuesday. Usually, I would have 2 1/2 hours of practice tomorrow, but it's canceled due to Easter. I think that I would die if I couldn't skate until Tuesday's practice!!!!!

When we got home, I skated down our street and back which was a lot smoother than the park had been. However, I still have to figure out how to stop. T-stopping wasn't happening.

Andrew's in-lines turned out to be a little on the small side, and, with the ankle fasteners broken, he went online and ordered some new ones from overstock.com. Yay....more outdoor skating with my hubby in my future.

Finally! I have seen a roller derby bout! Until yesterday, I had only seen bouts on "Rollergirls" (which I really miss).

Now, more than ever, I am dying to play. Dying. I have this amazing determination to become an asset to the Carolina Rollergirls. After not skating for 8 days, I am nearly about to lose my mind. I dreamed of skating last night in the warehouse at work! Ha!

The bout was magickal. I was so impressed with the bout production people. Everything seemed to run so smoothly from my rookie standpoint. I was blown away by how fast the Ranch was made bout-worthy. From the folks keeping the track lights burning & taped down to the amazing announcers to the refs & coaches to the stat folks (aka "calculators"...I was one!) to the door guards and the merch girls.....and the skaters. Pure performance! The costumes were incredible. I loved the opening number to explain the game. Hilarious! The game itself was awesome, but it really was hard to totally enjoy the game when I was trying like hell to help Hot D'Amazon with blocking stats for the Debs. It was so hard to focus on one person for very long. There were falls & spills into the audience, great whips & blocks, talented skating, and fierce determination on the faces of the players. I felt like I had ADD.

When it was over, it seemed to have gone too fast. The funny thing was that I was fucking exhausted. Me? What did I do but stand and make marks on a clip board??? Oh, well...I did help with the chairs & tape a bit too. It must have been an emotional release for me. I had had a major, hormonal spike at home while trying to find something to wear. The outfit that I had planned to wear---but hadn't tried on----looked like crap when I put it on an hour before we had to leave. Panic! The funny thing is that once I got to the Ranch, I realized that every damn discarded outfit that I constructed before I left the house would have been fine. I guess that it's hard when you're a rookie to know *what* you should do *when* and *how* you should do it. I don't want to look out of place or act like an idiot, you know? It feels kind of like gym class in junior high sometimes. I don't mean that in a bad way; I'm never that uncomfortable but there is a little nagging buzz in the back of my mind. It lessens all the time though.

I have a few goals for myself as a skater:

I want to be as mean as Bruz.

I want to do my squats as low as Princess.

I want to block as frequent and as sucessfully as Kama.

I want to be as kind to rookies that come after me as Eris.

I want to skate as well and as fearlessly as Roxy does.



I love the women that I skate with. I have learned something from all of them in some way or another.

Derby. How did I ever live without it?

I haven't skated in 6 days, and I think it's very interesting the effect that it has had on me.

Last Sunday, I woke up feeling the beginnings of the Pollen Ick. I still made it to practice because I wasn't feeling bad. At practice, I had the opportunity to reduce my time for 20 laps. About a week after I started training, we did the 20 at practice, and I couldn't finish it without getting off the floor and sitting & drinking water. I did finish finally though and clocked in at about 12:48. Last Sunday, I had no problems skating the 20 and I stayed on Scoob's tail, and we both came in at 7:46. I was thrilled!

By Monday, I felt horrible, and, on Tuesday, I learned from the doctor that I had bronchitis. I was out of work Wednesday too which sux because I'm temp right now. No work; no $$. Ugh. Meanwhile, I stayed away from practice of course.

By Thursday, I was much better and planned to go to practice Friday night, but the girls at work talked me out of it. They thought that I shouldn't push it. Then, I started to worry that if I relapsed I'd miss the bout. Plus, Friday night is speed practice so if I went I wouldn't exactly take it easy. I decided to not go.

When my hubby came home, we ended up walking to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner. Of course, we sat outside because the weather was awesome. After we got back to the house, we sat on the porch and enjoyed the lovely evening. Bad idea. I woke up this morning feeling like I did early last week. Ugh. So I decided to not go to practice yet again, and I also missed the Derby Education Class. :(

Now, it's 1:00am Sunday morning, and I haven't done much all day. Andrew left around lunch time to go meet & play with his new D&D group. About the time that he left, my ferret Eomer crashed.....which is what we call it when his sugar drops dangerously low. I fixed up the syringe of dextrose fluids (sugar), and used the butterfly needle to load it in his back. Until he came to, I held him and kept him warm in a towel. Then, I took a nap for a few hours. Bad dreams, but that's another story. In the late afternoon, I decided to catch up on my neglected episodes of Eastenders (British soap on PBS). Believe it or not, Eomer crashed again. This time, I gave him hydrating fluids, thinking dehydration was the problem this time since I just given him dextrose earlier in the day. Sometimes his dehydration causes him as much trouble as his sugar dropping. The fluids had no effect which really scared the hell out of me. He always comes around after we give him fluids, and I reallly feared that we were going to lose him. Eventually, I fixed up a syringe of dextrose which did the trick. Within a few minutes, he was up trotting around making sure that his house was in order. (Note: in case you don't know---everything belongs to a ferret in his/her opinion.)

During the evening, I learned that stats folks aren't needed at practice in the morning. Only those vital to bout production are needed. Damn---I wanted an excuse to put my skates on tomorrow.

I think lack of exercise really does bring me down. Laying around the house brings me down. I should have gone somewhere today. Anywhere. I know better than to stay home when I feel blue.

On the bright side, tomorrow is the bout, and it's the first bout that I've ever been to!!! I'm so excited. I'm really, really happy to be part of this wonderful world of roller derby. I've needed something like this in my life for a while.

Well, this is a long first post and not a very chipper one, but it's my blog and this is how I'm feeling today. It's got to be all downhill from here.