Fishing

Oh... where to begin? My last post was just before my birthday so I will pick up the pieces from there. My birthday was very enjoyable, especially the cheesecake- I mean, especially my friends and family. Somehow I managed to have my camera with me the entire time and didn't take one picture. However, I took some adorable pictures of Keira the next day after church in a cute dress that Grandma bought her.









Keira's MRI was last Thursday. Knowing she would have to skip her morning bottle, I dressed her in her clothes containing to snaps or buttons the night before as to not disturb her more than necessary in the morning. Then when we got ready to go in the morning, I changed her diaper in the dark, very carefully, and without waking her, put her in her car seat and departed. I just have to mention the amazing fact that I then saw a skunk of all creatures running down the sidewalk by my apartments! It was crazy. So we got to Valley Children's Hospital about 6:30 and she started to wake up wondering where her breakfast was, but she was distracted enough by her strange new surroundings that she made very little complaint about her morning fast. In fact, she was playing with the nurses and smiling right up to her MRI.

They used a gas mask to put her to sleep, then put in a breathing tube and an IV. The scan was supposed to last about an hour and near the end, the technician came out and told us that they found a cyst on her spinal cord but that the cord itself didn't appear to be tied down abnormally low as in cases of tethered cord syndrome. He told us that they wanted to inject her with contrast dye to get better images of the cyst to save us from having to come back for a separate scan to investigate it.

When Keira woke up from the anesthesia, she was not a happy camper. The staff informed us that babies go through a strong neurological response when they come out of anesthesia that makes them freak out for a while. As soon as we got her in the car and started driving she calmed right down and was fine the rest of the day. Later that day when I was on my way home from work, I got a call from the pediatrician who had the results from the MRI already! I was amazed at how quickly they came in. He said that she doesn't appear to have actual tethered cord syndrome, but that she does have a cyst and possibly some connective tissue surrounding the cyst. He said NOT TO WORRY, that it is correctable. He put us in contact with UCSF, the children's hospital in San Francisco, and we made an appointment for April 27th to visit with a surgeon to discuss our options.

On another subject, I finally got an answer from my office as to whether I could work out a part time schedule and the answer in more or less words was, "Hell no." I told them I mentally/physically can't pull full time hours anymore and be a full time mom, so I have no choice but to find a part time job somewhere else. I started job searching this Monday and my prospects looked quite grim. With jobs being as scarce as they are, it is hard enough to get any job, let alone a part time mornings job in a field of my desire. I unenthusiastically applied for a few random jobs and attempted to wrap my head around the fact that likely I would not be able to find a job in law or real estate. Yesterday, the idea came to me that I should e-mail some local real estate companies and ask them if they have need of an hourly part time assistant. I really didn't expect to get any bites by fishing for jobs, but sure enough my phone rang that very afternoon. It was London Properties' recruiter who informed me that they have an agent in need of an assistant. I have an interview this afternoon at 4:30! I am hoping it will be a substantial hourly pay plus commission, but I'm not sure of the details yet.

It gets even better- right after I told my bosses, Gary and Liz, about my interview they told me that they heard from a girl named Becky who used to be a secretary at our firm long before I ever came along, who has been working part time for an attorney who also used to work here long ago. Becky is looking for a full time job, and since I need a part time job, it only makes sense that we could trade secretaries. So that is another opportunity in my line of work that emerged from the woods yesterday. I went from thinking it would take a year to get a job to thinking I'm going to have to make a decision this week!

Wish me luck at my interview today and keep praying for my little baby.