I went to Vegas for a break from responsibility and to hang out with my sister who was there for the Western Veterinarian Conference. They put on a free concert for the conference each year on the Tuesday night and this year it was Kool and the Gang! Holy crap, was I ever excited!!
The venue was a conference ball room in the Mandalay Bay and we were pretty much right in the front row on the dance floor. I had no idea what to expect because the opening "act" was a pretty bad Tom Jones impersonator. He was all skeezy and lame with his chest hair sticking out and sang "What's New, Pussy Cat" like 4 times. Some people thought he was actually the one and only (they announced him that way several times) but there is just no freakin' way that he was truly opening for Kool and the Gang for a lame-o pre-concert dance contest. We joked that we should have thrown our panties at him but then almost barfed in our mouths at that thought. I decided he was more than likely the one and only "Thom Jones" from Alabama or something.
Once that awkward and strange opener was done they introduced the headliner. I had no idea what to expect as we all know that Kool and the Gang was really popular well over 30 years ago. The bulk of the group were the originals with a couple of young(er) pups in there mostly for lead vocals. They were high energy for the whole show and it was actually quite impressive considering a few of them MUST be at LEAST 60+ years old. The horn line was a trombone, trumpet and alto sax - all original players! They did all their great stuff (Celebration, Jungle Boogie, Too Hot, Ladies Night, Hollywood Swinging, etc.) as well as some James Brown, Michael Jackson and other classics. I was dancing the whole show and had a hard time taking video for too long because I didn't want to stand still to record!! Best show I've seen in a LONG time :-) Here's a 2:22 video of Jungle Boogie complete with trumpet solo.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Somebody feed me something safe: Vegas Style
I settled in to the hotel around lunch time today and went on a mission for food. Celiac safe food that is relatively healthy and easy for me to dose for insulin. I was starting to get hungry, not in a good way and needed something close by. Not an easy task, as it turns out. I went to the buffet at the Excalibur and asked the hostess about food safety for Celiacs. She had never heard this word before and suggested I speak to the "chef". He walked me through the buffet pointing out things that were "safe" (I know buffets are dangerous areas for cross contamination but I was focusing on ingredients for this expedition). He pointed out several things but some items he declared "safe" had either soy sauce or worchestershire or other sauce types in them. The more I spoke with him the less safe I felt. He even suggested I go to a restaurant as they would be better at making me a safe meal. So I took his advice and got the H outta there.
Fast food is out of the question as it would likely be more dangerous than a buffet. There was a Marble Slab BUT I didn't want to have to take a shwack of insulin and that really isn't a meal anyway. I ended up at Starbucks with a soy latte feeling quite sorry for myself and wondering what I was going to do for food over the next 4 days. I decided that the Italian restuarant nearby was unlikely to have a hot meal for me but they MUST have safe salad.
Buca di Beppo has a lovely Apple Gargonzola salad that is apparently safe. I had a small for $15 but it really could have fed 3 people (at least) for their entire meal. When I was done the bowl was still mostly full. I sat at the bar and the bartender happens to also be a Billy Idol impersonator from Seattle now living in Vegas to try and get his show sold here. Nice guy. Good salad. Crisis averted.
Fast food is out of the question as it would likely be more dangerous than a buffet. There was a Marble Slab BUT I didn't want to have to take a shwack of insulin and that really isn't a meal anyway. I ended up at Starbucks with a soy latte feeling quite sorry for myself and wondering what I was going to do for food over the next 4 days. I decided that the Italian restuarant nearby was unlikely to have a hot meal for me but they MUST have safe salad.
Buca di Beppo has a lovely Apple Gargonzola salad that is apparently safe. I had a small for $15 but it really could have fed 3 people (at least) for their entire meal. When I was done the bowl was still mostly full. I sat at the bar and the bartender happens to also be a Billy Idol impersonator from Seattle now living in Vegas to try and get his show sold here. Nice guy. Good salad. Crisis averted.
Feral Children
The conversations I have had with my husband in recent days have been quite comical. I have felt the need to specifically request for him to do certain things while I am away. It isn’t that I think he can’t handle it – I know he can – but we parent a bit differently and I don’t want our kids to feel like something in missing in my absence.
Some requests I have made this week:
“Please feed the cats”. It sounds like a no brainer but my husband hates them more than I do and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more were no longer with us when I return.“Please put Em’s hair in a high pony”. I don’t want to come home to a girl that has a permanent kink in her neck from craning to see out from under her hair.
“I don’t care what this place looks like from now until 11 on Saturday night but it would really be best for everyone if when I get home the kitchen is clean, laundry is done and the toys are put away”. Enough said.“Encourage the babies to use words when they want something. I really don’t want to return to home full of children that grunt, groan, whine and cry instead of using language to communicate”.
“Eat all of the gluten in the house. Eat as many gluten filled meals as you can think of and just get it out of our house”. I am actually pretty tired of cleaning the kitchen not just 3 times a day but sometimes 2 additional times so that I can have a safe meal.Am I going to come home to a house full of feral children? Will they be running around in dirty diaper shirts, unwashed faces, full diapers, no capability to use words to communicate with jam covered hair and sticky fingers?? Probably not. A few non-essential things may get missed while I am away but overall they will have a great time with their dad. Probably a better time than with me as the rules will be relaxed and he is more brave in taking them out to do things. He did say he might just cut open a bag of cheerios and put it on the floor for them to graze off of. And every time I reminded him to do something his response was one word: Feral.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Ready, Set, Go?
I'm getting prepared for a trip to Vegas that I have been looking forward to for months. My life has changed so much since I was there 9 years ago. I am now married and have 3 kids. I also now have Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease. This trip will be a little different than the last one!
I do plan to have a GREAT time with my sister. While I may be a little more annoying to wait staff in restaurants and I won't be drinking nearly as much as I did on my last trip, I do plan to have heaps of fun. I won't be partaking in yard long margaritas but I will carefully be having a few (dozen?) of my new drink of choice: vodka-soda with a twist of lime. Delicious!
Since I have 3 small children and we have all been sick this week I have spent most of my time staying on top of the never ending pile of laundry in our house so that I actually have something clean to take with me. But who am I kidding? I plan on shopping for new stuff the day I get there so I may pack light anyway.
So, my dilemma today has been to decide how on earth I am going to pack all of my "accessories" in a small enough "purse" so that night club staff won't think I am smuggling in a small child. My diabetic friends know what I talking about. I lined up all of the things I thought were important enough to pack in my purse and I came up with this:
I do plan to have a GREAT time with my sister. While I may be a little more annoying to wait staff in restaurants and I won't be drinking nearly as much as I did on my last trip, I do plan to have heaps of fun. I won't be partaking in yard long margaritas but I will carefully be having a few (dozen?) of my new drink of choice: vodka-soda with a twist of lime. Delicious!
Since I have 3 small children and we have all been sick this week I have spent most of my time staying on top of the never ending pile of laundry in our house so that I actually have something clean to take with me. But who am I kidding? I plan on shopping for new stuff the day I get there so I may pack light anyway.
- wallet
- camera
- cell phone
- lipstick and compact
- Lactaid
- Insulin pen and needles
- Blood glucose meter, test strips and lancet
- Glucose tabs
I decided this was all a little too much to be hauling around for several hours in the evenings. So I took a deep breath and made some adjustments. I clearly HAVE to take my testing supplies, insulin and glucose tabs. I also need ID, money and health info for emergencies. I decided the camera could stay behind (no one needs evidence of their time in Vegas anyway), and I could just cull my wallet for the necessities. The Lactaid isn't essential either as I can avoid dairy but it is small so I thought I could squeeze 2 in there. My lipstick and compact were also "optional" but I'd rather have them than not. I can't decide on the cell phone and may need to get creative with that one.
I managed to get almost all of it in this little bag!
I couldn't fit the glucose tabs so I put some single tabs (4X4g) in one of the small pockets. I figure I will always be within 10 feet of a bar and can get some sprite or juice if necessary so I have enough for an emergent situation until I can get someone to get me some juice/pop. The cell phone won't fit so I may just leave it behind. If I think about actually needing my phone to call 911 I wouldn't be in any state to call for myself anyway if paramedics became necessary. Plus, every person within 100 feet of me will have a cell phone if I really need one.
Tomorrow I plan to call to enquire about the Tournament of Kings menu at the Excalibur. It is extremely unlikely that their dessert is gluten free but I'm hoping that the soup, cornish hen and potatoes are. If not, we will have to eat somewhere else and then see the Thunder From Down Under instead! HAHA!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
The good news is I have a confirmed diagnosis of Celiac Disease. The bad news? I now have to go gluten free. And the ugly is that I have an endoscopy today. That was unpleasant.
I will say that they fire you through those procedures at the hospital like an assembly line. That GI clinic is like a well oiled machine; a revolving door of patients getting tubes put up or down various body cavities. I was "fortunate" enough to have mine down my throat today and not up somewhere else, if you know what I mean. There was a certain Calgary Stampede celebrity in there this morning too but I won't say who on here for privacy reasons. If you really want to know you will need to send me a gluten free offering for that kind of information.
The nurse did a great job getting a vein the first try (my veins are hard to get for some reason) and I was fully informed and gave consent to the specifics of this procedure. Everyone was very professional and caring and I did not feel like just another patient. They were kind and treated me with respect, even when at my most vulnerable.
Endoscopy is done to take a look at the small intestine and I now have 5 beautiful pictures of mine to keep forever (Yay). The gag reflex is pretty strong and I would say mine is even stronger than most. I gag when I have to touch raw meat or change the garbage. The procedure itself is fast (like 3-4 minutes) and from the time I was wheeled in to speak to the doctor and was wheeled out again it was maybe 20 minutes. Drive through endoscopy. Here's how this went today:
Nurse "Do you want to be sedated?"
Me "Yes, please, but please don't kill me."
Nurse *laughs* "Oh, I wouldn't do that." She places a mouth piece over my mouth to keep my teeth and mouth open and injects sedatives into my heplock. "It works really fast so close your eyes."
Me - I try to ask if I will throw up from the sedative but my mouth is inoperable and my world is spinning, everything goes black but I am still semi-conscious and somewhat aware of what is going on. Gag, gag, gag, gag. I am actually trying to swat away anything that is anywhere near my face. My face is wet and they are trying to wipe it while I swat at them and this tube is down my throat. I am thankful the procedure is done when you are on your side and I can now understand why.
Nurse (as she is trying to hold my arms down so the doctor can finish) "Just try to breath. You are ok. We're almost done." And the scope is out.
Me *crying*
Nurse "Are you ok? It's ok, hon. It's all over now."
Me *black out*
The sedatives they used today were Fentanyl and Versed. I felt like Will Ferrell in Old School when he nailed himself with a tranquilizer dart. I haven't been quite myself for the rest of the day.
(*Rant warning* Versed is used in early labour sometimes but I know that they give Fentanyl to some mothers later in labour and I am astounded that anyone thinks this is a good idea! You're not allowed to do much of anything for 24 hours after that stuff but new moms need to figure out how to take care of a new little person while all dizzy and disoriented?? Plus, if I feel this way, imagine how a newborn baby must feel after they get a shot of that via their mom *end rant*).
I will say that they fire you through those procedures at the hospital like an assembly line. That GI clinic is like a well oiled machine; a revolving door of patients getting tubes put up or down various body cavities. I was "fortunate" enough to have mine down my throat today and not up somewhere else, if you know what I mean. There was a certain Calgary Stampede celebrity in there this morning too but I won't say who on here for privacy reasons. If you really want to know you will need to send me a gluten free offering for that kind of information.
The nurse did a great job getting a vein the first try (my veins are hard to get for some reason) and I was fully informed and gave consent to the specifics of this procedure. Everyone was very professional and caring and I did not feel like just another patient. They were kind and treated me with respect, even when at my most vulnerable.
Endoscopy is done to take a look at the small intestine and I now have 5 beautiful pictures of mine to keep forever (Yay). The gag reflex is pretty strong and I would say mine is even stronger than most. I gag when I have to touch raw meat or change the garbage. The procedure itself is fast (like 3-4 minutes) and from the time I was wheeled in to speak to the doctor and was wheeled out again it was maybe 20 minutes. Drive through endoscopy. Here's how this went today:
Nurse "Do you want to be sedated?"
Me "Yes, please, but please don't kill me."
Nurse *laughs* "Oh, I wouldn't do that." She places a mouth piece over my mouth to keep my teeth and mouth open and injects sedatives into my heplock. "It works really fast so close your eyes."
Me - I try to ask if I will throw up from the sedative but my mouth is inoperable and my world is spinning, everything goes black but I am still semi-conscious and somewhat aware of what is going on. Gag, gag, gag, gag. I am actually trying to swat away anything that is anywhere near my face. My face is wet and they are trying to wipe it while I swat at them and this tube is down my throat. I am thankful the procedure is done when you are on your side and I can now understand why.
Nurse (as she is trying to hold my arms down so the doctor can finish) "Just try to breath. You are ok. We're almost done." And the scope is out.
Me *crying*
Nurse "Are you ok? It's ok, hon. It's all over now."
Me *black out*
The sedatives they used today were Fentanyl and Versed. I felt like Will Ferrell in Old School when he nailed himself with a tranquilizer dart. I haven't been quite myself for the rest of the day.
*foul language warning*
(*Rant warning* Versed is used in early labour sometimes but I know that they give Fentanyl to some mothers later in labour and I am astounded that anyone thinks this is a good idea! You're not allowed to do much of anything for 24 hours after that stuff but new moms need to figure out how to take care of a new little person while all dizzy and disoriented?? Plus, if I feel this way, imagine how a newborn baby must feel after they get a shot of that via their mom *end rant*).
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