ok I'm back, kinda sorta

So I've been in the hospital, in a drug induced coma for the last 2 weeks. When I say I'm not feeling feelin good, I really mean it. I know there are winners to be announced and stuff, but I'm just not up to it right now.

Playing House: A Novel by Fredrica Wagman

When Playing House appeared in 1973, Publishers Weekly hailed it, "A probing descent into madness that will fascinate the same audience that appreciated I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." This nationally bestselling story of one woman's struggle with the lasting effects of a childhood sexual relationship with her brother shocked American readers, and is a literary work of enduring quality and value.

about the author (from Amazon):

My name is Fredrica Wagman, but it wasn't always. I started out as Riki Barris, "Riki" being short for Rita Fredrica, born in Philadelphia where I spent the first four years of my life in my grandparents home with my mother and father and my older brother. It was a great sprawling place where there were maids and my baby-nurse, big cars, a devoted chauffer by the name of I.J. Duckett, and the warmth of aunts and uncles and my grandparents all around us all the time whom I adored.
When I was four we moved into our own small house which was very hard on my mother who was used to all the space and all the help that everyone there could provide. My mother became quite depressed when we moved away from my grandparents and a hard time ensued after that for my brother and me. My father was a dentist, an oral surgeon who specialized in extracting teeth which was a kind of speciality in those days, although barbers were proported to have been doing it for years without all the training and all the honors my father collected at the University of Pennsylvania's dental school.
I attended schools first in the suburbs of Philadelphia and then in the city which was where we moved when I was eleven years old. I was married at a very early age, shamefully early, to Howard Wagman. Had five children, lost one, attended the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr College after the children were born, and was writing fiction and poetry for as long as I can remember.
Fredrica Wagman is the author of six novels -- Playing House, His Secret Little Wife, Mrs. Hornstien, Peachy, and Magic Man, Magic Man --and The Lie, just released in April 2009

my thoughts:

The first Fredrica Wagman book that I read was ‘The Lie’. As disturbing as that book was, ‘Playing House’ was more so. The book is told from the main characters POV, with the main character being involved in a non consensual incestuous relationship with her brother from a very early age. And of course this totally messes with her.
This book is not a quick & easy read. Yes, it is 176 pages long, but I could not sit and read it in one sitting. It was just too much. There were several parts that I had to just skip right over, I couldn’t read it. For me, this book was a dark story, with no happy ending.

Blog Tour & Giveaway~ Bo's Cafe

High-powered executive Steven Kerner is living the dream in southern California. But when his bottled pain ignites in anger one night, his wife kicks him out. Then an eccentric mystery man named Andy Monroe befriends Steven and begins unravelling his tightly wound world. Andy leads Steven through a series of frustrating and revealing encounters to repair his life through genuine friendship and the grace and love of a God who has been waiting for him to accept it. A story to challenge and encourage, BO'S CAFE is a model for all who struggle with unresolved problems and a performance-based life.




about the authors:
Bruce McNicol is president of Leadership Catalyst, Inc. and an international speaker and consultant. He holds a master's in theology and a doctorate in organizational and leadership development. Previously he served for ten years as president of the international church planting organization Interest Associates. Bill Thrall serves as vice-chair of Leadership Catalyst, mentor, and coauthor of the bestselling TrueFaced resources (http://www.truefaced.com/), The Ascent of a Leader, and Beyond Your Best. John Lynch is a national conference speaker and writer for LCI, holds a master's of theoology from Talbot Seminary, and has twenty years' experience as a teaching pastor of Open Door Fellowship. He's also cofounder and playwright of a theater troupe in Phoenix.

About the Contest:

Thanks to Miriam at Hachette Book Group

Five winners will be choosen

The Contest ends at midnight on October 16th

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.

To win:

Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)

Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)

Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

Tour Stop & Giveaway~ A Highlanders Temptation by Sue Ellen Welfonder

Darroc MacConacher spends sleepless nights dreaming of a raven-haired beauty who makes him ache with desire. Then his dream comes true: the lady with her lush curves and fair skin appears shipwrecked on his shores. Darroc is immediately drawn to her strength and beauty, and from the moment she lays eyes on this powerful, broad-shouldered warrior, Lady Arabella MacKenzie knows she'll never want another man.But theirs is a forbidden love. The MacKenzies drove the MacConachers from their lands and destroyed their honor. Now, Darroc can use this sapphire-eyed seductress to shatter his foes. Yet how can he deny the passion that burns between him and Arabella, and ruin the one woman who touches his very soul?

about the author:

Sue-Ellen Welfonder is a card-carrying Scotophile whose burning wish to make frequent (free) trips to the land of her dreams led her to a twenty year career with the airlines. Bi-lingual, she flew international all those years, working her flights as foreign language speaker. Her flying career allowed her to see the world, but it was always to Scotland that she returned.
Now a full-time writer, she's quick to admit that she much prefers wielding a pen to pushing tea and coffee. She spent fifteen years living in Europe and used that time to explore as many castle ruins, medieval abbeys, and stone circles as possible. Anything ancient, crumbling, or lichened caught her eye. She makes annual visits to Scotland, insisting they are a necessity as each trip gives her inspiration for new books.
Proud of her own Hebridean ancestry, she belongs to two clan societies: the MacFie Clan Society and the Clan MacAlpine Society. In addition to Scotland, her greatest passions are medieval history, the paranormal, and dogs. She never watches television, loves haggis, and writes at a four-hundred-and-fifty year old desk that once stood in a Bavarian castle.
Sue-Ellen is married and currently resides in Florida. Her life is ruled by the most adorable Jack Russell Terrier in the world. He's the only soul allowed to disrupt her when she's on deadline. For him, she'd walk across glass shards or jump through a burning hoop. She only wishes all dogs could be so loved and asks readers to consider rescue if they are thinking about getting a pet. We can't change the world, but it is possible to make a world of difference to a needy animal.
Sue-Ellen also writes Scottish-set paranormals for Penguin/NAL under her pen name, Allie Mackay http://www.alliemackay.com/.

About the Contest:

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group

Five winners will be choosen

The Contest ends at midnight on October 9th

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.

To win:

Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)

Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)

Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

And The Winner Is~ Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's by Jane Doiron

And the winner of:

Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

is:

budletsmom

Congratulations!

I will be emailing you for your

address today!

Waiting on Wednesday...

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill overat Breaking The Spine.

If you haven't visited her blog, you should! Thanks Jill!!

Shadowland by Alyson Noel

She always believed he was her destiny—but what if fate has other plans? Enter the realm of The Immortals—and experience the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestselling series that has taken the world by storm. Ever and Damen have traveled through countless past lives—and fought off the world's darkest enemies—so they could be together forever. But just as their long-awaited destiny is finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon Damen...one that could destroy everything. Now a single touch of their hands or a soft brush of their lips could mean sudden death—plunging Damen into a bleak afterlife in the Shadowland, an eternal abyss for lost souls. Desperate to break the curse and save Damen, Ever immerses herself in magick—and gets help from an unexpected source...Jude Knight. Although she and Jude have only just met, he feels startlingly familiar. Despite her fierce loyalty to Damen, Ever is drawn to Jude, a green-eyed golden boy with magical talents and a mysterious past. She's always believed Damen to be her soul mate and one true love—and she still believes it to be true. But as Damen pulls away to save them from the darkness inhabiting his soul, Ever's connection with Jude grows stronger—and tests her love for Damen like never before...

Book Info:
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (November 17, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031259044X
ISBN-13: 978-0312590444

AND THE WINNERS ARE...Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield

And the winners for

'Simon's Cat'

by Simon Tofield are:

RachieG

etirv

cqueen2

Carolsue

Belinda M

Congratulations!

I will be emailing you today

please reply with your address

withing 72 hours!

How do YOU plan a vacation?

We do not vacation much, but we've decided since Britt will be graduating in June that we should take one last family vacation and we've decided to hit Arizona. Yep. The Grand Canyon. Now I just have to plan the darn thing. I'm horrible at planning things. I wish I could just get everyone loaded into the car (yep, I think we're driving) and take off. No plans needed. But of course, that is just not possible! We are thinking of taking 9 days since we're driving. But I'm not sure how I should pick hotels and other things.

So, tell me...do you use a travel agent? Do everything online?

I'm not even sure where to start something like this!

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

And the winners for

'Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley'

are:

etirv

dina(your email bounced back to me!)

Heather

cherdon

Marjorie

Please email me within 72 hours with

your mailing address!

Congratulations!

In My Mailbox was started by The Story Siren.
If you haven't visited her blog, you should!

'The Code Of Destiny' by Sara Enochs

Ava Ballantyne has a unique and special gift. A gift so powerful that she's not even allowed to share it with her closest friends. She knows that if this information fell into the wrong hands, the consequences could be dire.
At every turn there are those who want to learn her secrets. It's only natural for them to be curious about a woman who is not only deeply connected to an age-old secret society, but who's also being pursued by a telepathic CIA agent.
Join Ava as she daydreams about the past and begins to understand our future by reinventing her own life story, in The Code of Destiny.

'The Art Of Meaningful Living'

by Christopher M. Brown


"Meaningful living is choosing your passions over your fears. It is accepting what you cannot control and focusing on what is in your power." Too often our meaningful lives and the things we are passionate about are buried under disappointments and lost dreams. Christopher F. Brown, LCSW, MBA, offers a powerful book combining psychological concepts with beautiful, provocative artwork done by John Palmer to help us move beyond the pain in our present lives to something more valuable and joyful. Divided into four stages, Brown has put together this thought-provoking guide to transform a life filled with dissatisfaction to a life filled with true meaning. Open to any page and begin your own journey toward a meaningful life.



'9 Dragons' by Michael Connelly

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store's owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation--not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li's life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.
And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch's life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he's lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city's Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad's ferocity.

Waiting on Wednesday...Knight Of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill overat Breaking The Spine.

If you haven't visited her blog, you should! Thanks Jill!!

THE GREATEST PASSION

Lady Isobel Hume is an expert swordswoman who knows how to choose her battles. When the king asks her to wed a French nobleman to form a political alliance, she agrees. But that's before the devilishly charming Sir Stephen Carleton captures her heart-and tempts her to betray her betrothed, her king, and her country.

IS WORTH THE GREATEST PERIL

Sir Stephen Carleton enjoys his many female admirers-until he dedicates himself to winning the lovely Isobel. So when a threat against the king leads Isobel into mortal danger, Stephen has a chance to prove that he is more than a knight of pleasure...and that love can conquer all.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Forever (November 24, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446553387
ISBN-13: 978-0446553384

Knight Of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory is the second book in her series, All The Kings Men.

Giveaway~Tall, Dark & Fangsome by Michelle Rowen

Sarah Dearly's vampire life is not all B-positive cocktails. A curse made her a nightwalker, the most vicious vamp there is; the charm she wears to curb her deadly tendencies is losing its juice; and a hunter from hell is turning up the heat. Gideon Chase will kill the ones she loves most if she doesn't obey his orders. That includes breaking up with master vampire Thierry and turning Gideon into an immortal vamp so he can escape a doom of eternal hellfire.Making things worse are Sarah's growing feelings for Gideon, a bad boy who keeps showing a vulnerable side . . . but is it for real? Will Sarah's dark side take over? Or can she cure herself of the nightwalker curse in time to stop Gideon and finally live happily ever after with Thierry . . . forever?

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group
Five winners will be choosen
The Contest ends at midnight on October 1st

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.
To win:
Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)
Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)
Your third comment, should you choose to do so,
should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

Teaser Tuesday...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme,

hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along!
Just do the following:Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!
You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add
the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

The tiny travel clock cast just enough of a glow for me to see that it was a little after two in the morning when Moth decided he was a mite peckish, and he'd just have a quick bit of tent before settling back to sleep.

"Cat, I swear to you by all that is holy, this had better be an emergency of 'Timmy fell down the well and is going to drown in five seconds unless you save him' importance, or else I will personally see to it that you wear those horns permanently."

Hard Days Knight by Katie MacAlister

I just want to go on record as saying this: Katie MacAlister's characters are a HOOT! They are just hillarious! I am so glad that I found her books!

Giveaway~Permission Slips by Sherri Shepherd

Covering topics such as "It's Jesus or Jail," "Marriage, the Hard Way," "Children: The Gift You Can't Give Back," and "All the Things I Don't Know...And All the Things I Definitely Do," stand-up comedienne, actress, and ABC's The View co-host Sherri Shepherd comically chronicles her struggles to keep up with the many roles-professional, wife, mother, daughter, and friend-that women must play in today's world. Sherri urges women to pursue their most important dreams and to never give up, but also let's readers know that it's okay to give themselves "permission slips" when things don't always work out the way they want them to.

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group

Five winners will be choosen

The Contest ends at midnight on September 30th

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.

To win:

Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)

Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)

Your third comment, should you choose to do so,

should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

Giveaway~Simons Cat by Simon Tofield

Simon Tofield's animations have taken YouTube by storm. Now, the feline Internet phenomenon makes his way onto the page in this first-ever book based on the popular animated series. SIMON'S CAT depicts and exaggerates the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. The daily escapades of this adorable pet, which always involve demanding more food, and his exasperated but doting owner come to life through Tofield's charming and hilarious illustrations.

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group
Five winners will be choosen
The Contest ends at midnight on September 28th
Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.
To win:
Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)
Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)
Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

AND THE WINNERS ARE...The Smart One and The Pretty One

And the winners are:

CrystalGB

RAnn

Heather

Belinda

nfmgirl

I will be emailing you today for your addresses!

Please respond within 72 hours!

Congratulations!

Giveaway~ Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley

President of the United States Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the guts to reject her -- Judge Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation's most popular reality show, Courtroom Six.Will Pepper, a straight-talking Texan, survive a confirmation battle in the Senate? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? And even if she can make it to the Supreme Court, how will she get along with her eight highly skeptical colleagues, including a floundering Chief Justice who, after legalizing gay marriage, learns that his wife has left him for another woman.Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature. Supreme Courtship is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule.

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette Book Group

Five winners will be choosen

The Contest ends at midnight on September 27th

Open to US & Canadian addresses. No PO Boxes please.

To win:

Your first comment should be your name & email address (1 entry)

Your second comment should be that you are a follower (but only if you are!) (1 entry)

Your third comment, should you choose to do so, should be a link where you have posted about the giveaway (this will count for 2 entries)

part 3~ I'm a Survivor!

Ok, so I'm going wrap this year & 1/2 long story up today.

There was not alot going on during that year, or if there was, I don't remember it. I know I'm still occasionaly teased that I would have the same conversation repeatedly with my kids. Mostly about a certain country music video and how everytime I saw it, it was brand new to me! haha! I worked everyday that I could, only taking off for treatment Fridays. Including the 8 day stay in the hospital, I only missed 30 days of work that whole year. I would go home, sit down and fall asleep. The kids would fix their own dinner and try to get me to eat. OH! Speaking of eating. Let me say that I've almost always been a chunky girl, especially after have the kids. That January I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer when I could scrape the money together and was loosing the pounds! I'd lost about 50 over a 6 month time. Of course, when you start chemo, you can't go to the gym (all those germs!). So I quit going. My rational was: Well, if anything good can come from having cancer, maybe I can loose the other 50-60 pounds I need to loose. Now before you say anything, I am fat. Not an, oh she's just a healthy girl fat. NO. So If I was to loose those extra 50-60 pounds, I would still be a little on the heavy side. Anyway. So I kept going to the docs each Friday and noticing that I wasn't losing any weitht, I was GAINING weight. They had forgotten to tell me that with the chemo that I was being given, people gain weight. It's been almost 3 years now since my treatments ended and I still get tired easily. I've gained back every pound I ever lost and can't seem to get rid of it now.

Here are some things that I found out to be true for me:

1. Being a bald woman got me out of a speeding ticket!
2. Chemo destroys your tastebuds. Do not attempt to eat anything even remotely spicy. Everything tastes alot like cardboard.
3. Even if you are only 36, after awhile, you start to walk stooped over. I still stoop when I am really tired.
4. The only clothes that are remotely comfortable are pj's & sweats.
5. Sleep was my best friend for awhile. I still occasionally will go home at 5:30, fall asleep and sleep until the next morning.
6. I have truly amazing kids. When I get sick now (like last week with Bronchitis) they do anything and everything they can for me.
7. I am much stronger than I really ever thought. I thought I was strong going through 2 divorces & the deaths of my parents. After cancer, I now know I can get through anything.
8. I have never participated in a breast cancer walk and I rarely tell anyone that doesn't already know that I've had breast cancer.
   
   Yes, having breast cancer is hard. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I wouldn't wish it on anyone in the whole wide world. BUT it isn't the death sentance it used to be. Take the time to do a self exam every month. Schedule your mammogram appointments today. And if you do get the call that every person dreads hearing, go ahead break down. But don't let it keep you down!
   
   

The Corset Diaries by Katie MacCallister

"I have to wear what?"

No woman in her right mind would consent to wearing a corset for a month. Especially a "skinny-challenged" woman like myself. But dreams of being debt-free danced in my head when I received the offer to appear on a reality TV show.
A Month in the Life of a Victorian Duke is about real people--people like me--pretending to live on an English estate, circa 1879. Sounds fun, no? Well, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We're talking no televisions, no cell phones, no PMS medication. And did I mention the corsets? No breathing for a full month. Luckily, when I met the real-life descendant of a duke who was to be my pretend husband, he took my breath away...
In a manor in which everyone must strictly follow the Victorian lifestyle, things were bound to go wrong. Like when some harmless lust turned into that other thing...
Love was definitely not in the contract!


about the author:
For as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn't think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialogue or love scenes in the software book, Katie swiftly resolved to switch to fiction, where she could indulge in world building, tormenting characters, and falling madly in love with all her heroes.
Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books later, her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and placed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell.
Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.

• Katie's page on Facebook.com
• Katie's page on Myspace.com
• Katie on Redroom
• Twitter Katie
• Katie on Shelfari
• Katie on GoodReads

my thoughts:

This was a Laugh Out Loud funny tale! It isn't everyday you come across a "skinny challenged" heroine, like you do Tessa. And to have, "Gark!" a hero like Max...yummy! Katie MacAlister is now one of the authors I reach for first if I want a quick & funny read! I loved 'The Corset Diaries' and plan on reading it again soon!

part 2~ a walk through hell...

So I went into surgery, had the port installed, celebrated Thanksgiving my family. My first round of chemo was scheduled. December 16, 2005. I remember I woke up that morning, feeling optimistic. Not completely terrified. I can and will beat this. Positive, positive, positive. If I lost my hair, so what? It's just hair. I'd slap some RED lipstick on, big hoopy earrings and wear it well. Until I actually walked into the room with the recliners (there's 2 in each treatment room) and sat down. One of the nurses came in and asked how I was doing. That was all it took. I broke. I cried like I've never cried before. I was so scared. They gave me the hugs and support I needed, brought in a woman that had been going through this for awhile, and got me started. I was going every other Friday, for 2 different kinds of chemo. One was so bad that it had to be manually pushed into my port. If it was accidentally spilt on skin, or was not in the vein properly, it would eat your tissue to the bone.
So I sat there for about 4 hours (maybe it was more) watching as I slowly allowed someone to poison my body. drip. drip. drip. But they used my port and it was working wonderfully! When I was finished with my first treatment, I went home and straight to bed. And slept for about the whole weekend. I went to work Monday, starting to feel run down. But not another treatment until after the holidays! Yay! I would sleep on my lunch hour. My appetite dwindled. I wasn't vomiting, no poopies, just tired. And during all this, I'm doing last minute Christmas shopping, preparations, etc.
* little backstory*Christmas Eve is spent with Jim's step-daughter (from the relationship before me) and her family. Tammy was the one who told me about her company hiring, set up the appt for me, everything. I had quit my job of 8 years to babysit Tammy's first baby, Taylor in 2001.

So that evening we head over to Tammy's to spend Christmas Eve with her family. I'm not feeling good, I had a little bit of a temp, just what I was told to expect, really. Run down. We have so much fun with Taylor, it's her first Christmas and it was magical! We go home, get our kids tucked in, because like all young teens, they will be up before the sun!
I wake up the next morning and can barely move. My temp is sky high. It's Christmas morning! The kids open their presents, we call their dad for him to come early to get them, Jim & I head to the ER. Something must wrong. I get there about 7:30 a.m. They take my temp and it's 103.7. They tell me they will be drawing blood to start some tests. I make sure they know to use the port (hey that is why its there!) so no vein poking! They come to draw blood, and NOTHING will come out. Ok, remember when I said it's attached to your artery? Yea, blood is supposed to be FLOWING through it. Nada. Zilch. Dry. Guess what? It turns out my port is infected. My infect port has now given me Sepsis. For those that don't know what sepsis is:

sep·sis
(sěp'sĭs) n. pl. sep·ses (-sēz)
1. The presence of pathogenic organisms or their toxins in the blood or tissues.
2. The poisoned condition resulting from the presence of pathogens or their toxins, as in septicemia.

It literally almost killed me. That night. I was admitted into the hospital, they forgot to turn the temp up in the room, by evening I had so many IV's attached. That evening I began to convulse (or so Jim has told me repeatedly) my blood pressure did its weird thing, my heart rate did it's weird thing. Then it just stopped and I was back.
By the time I left the hospital, it was New Years Day, the port had been removed, I had a large blue tube stuck in the side of my throat for an IV that I would have to attach several times a day. (It has left a small hickey looking scar on my neck. I still get teased! LOL!) I had a home nurse that would come in everyday, to check to ensure that I was getting better, that the infection was going away. Let me stop here and say this. I was MISERABLE in the hospital. The staff acted like I was putting them out by being sick during the holidays. Ok, so maybe it was. But come on, your a nurse for a reason. Your supposed to want to help those that are too sick to help themselves. Not only was the staff horrible, but about 5 days into my stay my hair started falling out. I was so sick I truly did NOT want to see anybody and there were times during that hospital stay that I was so sick that I really did wish that I would just go ahead and kick off. I've never been so sick in my life. On New Years Eve I point blank told the docs that they would figure out a way for me to get home to be with my kids (their dad had to go back to work) or I would walk myself out of the blankity blank blank hospital. My Daddy was a truck driver, I know lots of good ole boy cusses! I would never, ever, never recommend that hospital to anyone. It is forever referred to as the Veterinary Clinic around our house.

Well, that's it for part 2. Got to get some sleep!