The $500 Headache
1st
It all began with a throbbing at the back of my head. It started in the evening time, and I didn’t think much of it since I have gotten migraines in the past; probably not the most severe of cases, but enough to make me miserable. So, I took an Excedrin (my weapon of choice) and went to bed, a remedy that has worked flawlessly for me in the past.
The throbbing never went away. I laid awake feeling what seemed like every beat of my heart in the back of my skull. I couldn’t get comfortable, and it wouldn’t cease. I slept very fitfully, oftentimes waking up to that inceassant pounding.
Nathalie said, “You’re not going to work; you’re staying home.” I said, “yes, dear.” I’ve learned that when she gets that way, she’s usually right. A few hours later with the pounding as loud as ever she drove me to the doctor’s office. We both figured that it must be something greater than the traditional headache, because it just wouldn’t go away no matter how much acetaminophen or asprin we threw at it.
The doc checked me out and said, “Sounds like a bad migraine.” He had a shot he was going to give me which would knock it out easily. He also gave me a sample of a perscription medicine which is designed to prevent migraines. The shot, he said, would probably knock me out as well, so I should call in and cancel the rest of my day. Well, we left the doctor’s office and headed home. I tried to fall asleep, but the pounding just wouldn’t go away.
Later that day, it still refused to quit. We called the office back and re-scheduled another appointment for the next morning. I took both of the perscription samplers, still to no avail. The constant drumming on the back of my skull remained.
The look on the doctor’s face the next morning said he was as confused as we were. The shot did nothing, the medicine did nothing. So, Oxygen therapy was next. He hooked me up to a tank with a mask, and I had to sit and “breathe deeply” for 20 minutes of mostly pure oxygen. Halfway through, he came in and switched the tank out for a bigger one and a more impressive looking mask. He wanted to “up the dosage” and get a heavier concentration of oxygen. The theory being the extra oxygen content will relieve any inflammation of the blood vessels.
Nothing. Now, I’m worried. So the doctor goes out to have a consultation with his neuologist friend. Meanwhile they schedule a CAT scan to ensure there are no aneurysms or clots or other bad things. Now I get to sit in a machine while it spins around my head. But first, they inject me with a dye. The weirdest feeling in the world is when this dye gets into your bloodstream. Forget about it, I couldn’t describe it if I wanted to. I’ll leave it at this: your whole body feels like it is warming up from the inside-out, and heating up much too quickly. Oh, and you can taste your toes… or so it seems.
The good news? No problems anywhere. The bad news? The headache still persists. Although, “persists” isn’t quite strong enough of a word.
Finally he decides that a beta-blocker might help. Thankfully it does. So, now I’m on the same medicne they give to heart-attack patients. But, it works. That’s the important part. Right?
Here’s the kicker… I can still feel the headache, tiny, waiting in the back of my head, as if it is about to come back any minute.
We make an appointment with that neurologist whose idea it was to try the Beta-blockers. In his office, he puts me through a routine of questions and small physical actions to ensure there is no stroke or heart attack or weird brain things. He is confident that I’m fine, and that this is just a migraine. I tell him it doesn’t feel like anything I’ve ever felt before. He says that they can present themselves in different ways.
So, here I am. I’m on beta-blockers to prevent a migraine that feels like it could back at any time. I’m always slightly afraid anytime I do anything strenuous that THIS time, THIS will be what triggers it to come back.
And all I’ve accomplished is to give the doctors’ offices roughly $500 in the process.
Videos of Baby Michael
19th
Not long after Dominic and Cassidy leave baby Michael at our house, he and Naty begin to have some fun. I came home from work to find two smiling and laughing faces, although Naty seemed to be running out of energy much faster than Michael. 
Here are three short videos from my cell phone, so while the quality might not be great, the content is the good stuff.
Video #1: Not long after I get home, he starts the “search for mommy”. He quickly figures out that she’s not around, but his expression is just so great.
http://jpdimaggio.com/video/Michael-1.flvVideo #2) Aunt Naty plays a new game with Michael. He loves it! What you don’t see is the dozens of times he plops his head into her lap so that she’ll play the game again. It becomes obvious that he can keep it up much longer than she can.
#3) Finally, during our Christmas “Web-mas”, Michael starts to show off that he knows “Jingle Bells” but it quickly turns into a new, and hilarious nickname for his uncle “Doodoo”.
http://jpdimaggio.com/video/Michael-4.flvNew Video Feature
17th
Our baby boy, Po. Here he is in one of his puppy classes. This is at the end of the class, after a long productive hour, the puppies get a few moments to just socialize. It is good for the dogs, and it is good for us. The puppies just jump into a pile, and let me tell you, it is too cute.
http://jpdimaggio.com/video/Po_Puppy_Class_1.flvHave a little patience, as I still don’t have this whole video-upload thing worked out. It takes a while for it to load, but it should play after a moment.
And here are two more. I think this works.
http://jpdimaggio.com/video/Po_Puppy_Class_2.flv http://jpdimaggio.com/video/Po_Puppy_Class_3.flvPo, the Dragon Warrior Wonder Dog
8th
This little ball of fluff and fur has made a big difference in our lives in just a short while. He has shaken up our daily routine, forced us to rethink our sleeping schedule, and added profit to the stain remover’s bank account. [He's actually really well housebroken in such a short time, but he's still a puppy and as such, has puppy accidents.]
Named after a cartoon panda who eats more than his fair share, Po has enlightened both our lives. He’s our third rescue dog, and we are just so blessed to be in a position to have them in our home. This is our first puppy, though, and what a difference that makes! Maynard and Daisy took a little while to learn the rules of the house, but Po has to learn everything.
With Po, we are taking “formal” training classes. We signed up spur-of-the-moment, and are very glad we did. We have had 3 (and a half) classes (one cancelled due to bad weather was made up for during a quick private session). Sure, the classes are designed to help Po grow and mature as a dog. But, we all know that the classes are really to help Nathalie and I grow as dog owners [pet parents *snicker*].
We have learned a lot in animal training. Reward training vs. punishment training. Repetition, repetition, repetition. And how to properly time your praise and your commands. The timing seems to be the trick, helping Po (or any animal) learn what the word actually means. We don’t speak the same language, but we can learn associative behaviors. We learn what they mean with certain types of barks or motions, and they learn what we mean with certain types of phrases or hand motions.
Po is quickly becoming the best “trained” dog of the three. And we are using these new concepts to help Maynard and Daisy as well. Sit, Stay, and Here are pretty simple. But, proper manners when meeting a guest is going to be the BEST part of this whole experience. How great would it be to have dogs that sat patiently off to the side when a friend comes to the front door? Or when a strange dog wanders by? Currently, all they know to do is bark their heads off and jump. Sitting to great a guest instead of jumping would be a welcome change in the DiMaggio household.
It is also giving us a great distraction from any of life’s challenges. Instead of focusing on the stress in our lives, we get to focus on this sweet baby-bear. He’s too cute. It really is like living with your own little brown bear.
Hopefully, I’ll get some good pictures (if he ever slows down any) before he grows up too much.
Moving Along
4th
We’re getting there. This update is giving me the opportunity to upload new pictures along with some of the old ones. Check out the photo gallery to see what I mean. These are probably 2 years late getting posted, but hey: better late than never, right?
This is starting to be a fun trip down memory lane.
Photo Gallery
3rd
Somehow with the move/crash/deletion of my database came the loss of some of my photo galleries. The good news? I have tons of backups of pictures. It’s just a matter of time before they get all back online. The bad news? It’s a matter of time.
This does give me the opportunity to re-organize. I’m not going to make all the catagories I did before. I’m just going to let the galleries do their thing. This will make it simpler to know which are the most recently added as well as give you a kind of timeline into our lives.
I hope you like it.
Welcome Back
2nd
As you all probably already know, my site crashed. I don’t know how or why, but it looks like the database got moved, deleted, or corrupted. Either way, I lost my database and all my old posts.
I thought the information was stored in another location (wp-content.php) but it was not. It was stored on the server-side database. In any event, I have learned my lesson. I will be making copies of this database as part of my backup.
The layout has remained in tact, although I’m thinking it might be time for a change, anyway. I don’t like how the picture galleries are currently handled. I think I want to combine them all into one gallery, and then just re-organize by sub-gallery. Currently I use extra storage on the server to host multiple gallery installations. I worked fine, but I think it is wasteful.
Hello world!
1st
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!