The flood of 2015

So Charleston flooded a week ago and there are still areas where there's standing water. Thankfully our apartment didn't have any problems. 

The college closed on that Friday and the following Monday so I had a long weekend, but of course there was nothing to do cause roads were closed and the news was asking everyone to stay home and not travel for any reason unless you absolutely had to. Well of course Chris and I absolutely had to see what was going on around our area. lol. So on Saturday we went out around the neighborhood to see how people were doing. There weren't even puddles forming in our parking lot but that was because it was all running down hill across the street into the neighbors yards.

people who live across the street from the apartments. However within and hour after this photo the water had moved on and there was no water in their yard.

it was strange to see the flooding. I'm so use to flooding in Albany where water just sits. But here it runs. It's constantly moving. It was like little streams crossing roads and yards. It could flood someone's yard for a few hours and then be gone having moved on down the street to the next neighborhood.

road in a neighborhood behind us

This is Wapoo, the street we live off of. We drove down to where it crosses the Wapoo Creek and the water was even with the road. Driving back the water was lapping up over the road. (TIME TO GET HOME)

A lot of people lost power but ours only flickered a couple of times. We never lost it completely. Also a lot of people went with out water for a while but we never did. We were very lucky. Our apartment is in an ideal location truly.

One of my co-workers was trapped in their house for several days because their street had turned into a river. Her husband and daughters cars were both flooded sitting out in their front yard.
Another co-worker was trapped in their house for a day or two because all 4 streets surrounding their block were flooded.
The college survived with minimal damage. Some leakage here and there but nothing too bad. They're pretty good about sandbagging the buildings during a regular storm I can't imagine what they had blocking doors during the flood. lol.

So we made it through the flood with no damage and no suffering (other than being out of work for two days with out pay). It's a lot better than many other people can say. They are in my prayers. 

Update on psoriasis/eczema

So if you didn't read my post a while back about my psoriasis I'll quickly catch you up.

Went to a new dermatologist here in Charleston and she said I don't have psoriasis I have eczema. She gave me new lotion to use, I switched soap and she gave me a medicine to help with the scars that my previous medicine caused.

So what has happened since . . .  I went for a follow up appointment and my legs had improved a little bitty bit. I told her that I think that this treatment would work if I could get my legs back to normal but I doing this treatment isn't good enough to get them there. I itch ALLLL the time! It's horrible. So she gave me some medicine to use that didn't have steroids in it for the itching. I used it a couple of days and then all the sudden WHAM hives! It was aweful! Obviously I stopped using everything, medicine, lotion. They covered my legs, after a few days it had spread to my stomach, then my arms, then my back. She gave me some allergy (hydroxizine) medicine to help with the hives and a new medicine with steroids to help the itchiness of the hives. It took over a month for it to complete clear up. In which time I discovered that the hydroxizine makes my hair slowly fall out. So that was great.

Hives covering my legs

Spread to my stomach

Anyways I decided that the lotion the doctor wanted me to use is stupid so I went back to the lotion I was using. I also tried out some different things to see if anything irritates my skin. Different detergent, shaving cream, milk, bread. Nothing. Changing or cutting those things out made any difference. I a currently use CeraVe lotion, CeraVe in the shower and that's all I'm doing. The more I get out in the sun the better things are.

I went to see a different dermatologist just to get a 3rd opinion lol even though I agree with the eczema diagnosis I don't really like the treatment she thought I should use. The new dermatologist agreed with me. It is eczema and the other doctor here in Charleston was suggesting a weird treatment for it. He told me what I'm doing is about all I can do. And that I'm doing a good job but that he thinks I should have a steroid cream to use occasionally. That my eczema is bad enough that I'll need steroid medicine occasionally. There's just no way around it. Which I agree with. I really liked the newest doctor and I will be seeing him from now on for dermatology. lol.

So that's it. CeraVe lotion and soap, prescription medicine with the lowest dose of steroid I can have for those moments I want to have my legs removed cause they itch so bad. But my legs are doing pretty well now. I've adjusted pretty well to not using medicine and having to live with things the way they are. If I keep it up I should have pretty normal looking legs the majority of the time like I did with the psoriasis medicine I had used.

Birthday Fun!

So I'm a little late on posting but here it is . . .

My parents came to visit during the week of my Birthday. While we worked they did lots of touristy things like visit the USS Yorktown, check out some of the historic houses, shop in the market, etc. My birthday was on Thursday of that week and I had to work but afterwards we went out to eat at Harborview Lounge at the top of the Holiday Inn which is right by the Ashley River. It was really great being able to look out over the river and marshy area.

 After dinner we went to the Black Fedora. It's a comedy mystery theatre that incorporates the audience into the action. We all had a great time! It was so funny.

A french maid flirting with dad! It was HILARIOUS!!!

Chris dancing in the conga-line! It was priceless!

 

 At the end of the night we came back to the apartment and ate cookie cake which my mom brought all the way from Albany and had kept in their hotel room all week not thinking that there could be an American Cookie Company at our mall here. LOL. It was delicious all the same!

 On that Friday I took off work and went to Magnolia Plantation with my parents. It was pretty hot and humid but it's rather pretty out there and interesting to hear the history about it. I took lots of pictures of course which I'll have to add to this later but here's a selfie.

 On Saturday Chris and my dad went golfing while my mom and I went shopping. The guys had a great time and my dad almost (probably) killed a goose! He was teeing up and just before Chris could say watch out for that goose sitting out there, my dad hit the ball and it made a line-drive toward the goose. And knocked it out briefly. Thankfully it got up and flew away before they could get to it to check on it. Chris said it flew over and sat under a tree near by (probably died of internal injuries later) but said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen golfing! They had a good time.

They left on Sunday after a great week visiting us. I had a great Birthday and would really recommend people going to the Black Fedora for a show.

New Car

So I got a new car. The Cavalier was becoming a problem. There was a weird rattling noise for a while and the air conditioner was acting crazy. I finally went to get it checked out and they had to replace the fan. Now if you haven't seen the fan it's rather shocking to see how large they when you have a small car. So I get a new fan and all seemed fine for like a second. I noticed that they car was vibrating more than usual. I could hear it, feel it in the steering wheel and see it in the mirrors. So I went back a week later and asked them to check it out, hoping that the new fan was just really powerful inside my older car and they would tell me sorry it's just going to vibrate now. Well it turns out I was right however it wasn't good news. The fan sits right in front on the engine (of course it does it cools the engine, I know this) but the new fan was too powerful for my old ENGINE MOUNTS and the front engine mount broke and was causing everything to shake about. Therefore vibration. So I had to have that replace which wasn't horrible but also wasn't cheap either! 

So with in 1 week I has spent over $1000 having major repairs done to the car just so it was safe to drive! I was so fed up with it. (in 2014 I had to have the catalytic converter and housing unit replaced) I left that day to go to Albany for Fathers Day and my dads birthday. We decided to go look at cars that weekend. Not buy anything just look and test drive. Get an idea of what I want and can afford. I had already done a lot of research online of a couple of cars I wanted. So dad and I went off to check out the cars I wanted. We checked out Ford and I test drove a Fiat and Focus. We checked out Chevrolet and I test drove something lol and a Sonic. And the Sonic won me over. I had never even heard of a Sonic. But it's a pretty great little car. It was on sale that weekend cause they needed to make room on the lot. So dad and I discussed it and I broke down and bought it! Brand new, 32miles on it. Dad helped with the down payment cause he's super awesome like that!

   

The big problem that we had was insurance. I had been listed under dad's insurance and didn't have my own. So I drove my brand new car back to the house with out insurance. (Thankfully we live pretty close to the dealership) I was going to go with what he had but we couldn't get anyone to answer the phone! So dad and I went online and researched insurance company's. I ended up with Progressive, simply because their website was working properly.

It was kind of funny going to church with them on Sunday and everyone was like "how did you end up getting a new car when it's his birthday?" Dad kept the Cavalier and has sold it to one of his renters. Anyways it was exciting and now I have a reliable great car.

Bye Bye

Zombie Realization

Who told you you have psoriasis?

After months of horrible aggravation with a primary care doctor misdiagnosing me with rashes, allergic reaction, etc. I finally went to a dermatologist to find out what was going on with my legs. My legs looked awful and felt terrible (itching NONSTOP and when I say itching worse than a bug bite or poison ivy). It had gotten to the point I didn't want legs any more. If I had gotten in a wreck and had to have my legs amputated I would have been happy to be rid of them.

The dermatologist walks in, sits down on a stool in front of me, looks over my legs, looks at me and says, "You've got psoriasis". Simple as that! I was shocked. That after what I had been through this man diagnosed me with in seconds. I was so excited to finally know what was wrong. However I knew what the psoriasis diagnosis meant. FOREVER. He then said, "Now I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that psoriasis is not curable. It's very rare for psoriasis to go away. Most people have it forever. But the good news is that it is treatable. With the right medicine you can control it and won't even be able to see in on your legs." So I was crushed at the knowledge of having this forever but slightly comforted by the thought that I can use medicine to stop the itching and make my legs look normal again. I started using medicine called Vanos. It's a corticosteroid cream.

Now if you don't know anything about corticosteroid creams let me share a little piece of information. With long term use they can cause your skin to thin. Yes, THIN. Now obviously having your skin thin is not a good thing. I knew of the side effect and went on my merry way. After several years I developed two scars on my thighs, one on each leg, that looked very similar to stretch marks. I'm not talking about the tiny little bitty white lines you get on your hips when you have a growth spurt. I am talking about large purple scars like a morbidly obese person would have stretching across their ginormous belly! I showed them to my doctor thinking they were a concern and thinning of my skin from the long term use of my medicine. He brushed off this concern though and said it was merely caused from "life". I kid you not that it what he said. Now let me tell you a little about my physicality. At the age of 27 years old I currently weigh the most I have ever weighed in my life! At the time I got those scars I was around 21 years old and weighed about 120lbs. I was on the lower end of the average weight for someone my age and height. I was not a very active person. I didn't play any sports where my skin would have been pulled or tugged. I hadn't gotten in to an accident of any kind where I was injured. There was absolutely no part of my LIFE that could have caused these scars. But he's the doctor. And I am a pessimist when it comes to doctors.

I continued using my medicine because the horrible itching just wasn't worth giving up the medicine. And at the time the other medicine that was available were pills and shots and I really wasn't interesting in doing either of those.

It has now been 10 years since I was diagnosed with psoriasis. 10 years that I have been using this medicine. That is EXTREME long term use in most people's books. Well about a month ago a new scar showed up following right along with the old one. It looked like I had my leg sliced opened it was so dark purple. I made an appointment with a primary care doctor (cause my stupid crappy insurance I have now thanks to obama says I have to) to check out my legs. I tried cutting back on my medicine since I was sure that was causing it and had caused the old scars. I get to the doctor (who it wonderful btw, super sweet lady) and she confirms it. "WOW! That's really bad. That's your skin thinning for sure" Her eyes got huge when she saw the scars. She told me to stay away from my medicine as best as I could but understood if I couldn't take the itching and would need to use a tiny dab of it. She gave me a referral to see a dermatologist because of how bad it was she wanted a dermatologists expert opinion on it and how to deal with it and what medicine I need to change to.

So after a month I got in to see a dermatologist on Wednesday. I told her what was going on, she looked at my legs and she had the same reaction as my primary doctor did. Her eyes grew so large and she had this look on her face like if she thought it'd be appropriate she'd say, "OH MY GAH" Instead she just made noises. Mmmph, hmmm, ooww. To which I replied, "Yeah, this is why I'm here". She looked my legs over and then the words I never thought I'd hear came out of her mouth, "Who told you you had psoriasis?" I couldn't believe she just asked that. I told her that the dermatologist that I'd been going to for the past 10 years did. She made some more noises and then, "I don't think that's what you have". I'm thinking are you kidding me right now? You don't think I have psoriasis? So what do I have? Is there something worse that psoriasis? I simply asked her, "What do you think it is"? She said, "I think you've got eczema. I really do think that's what it is". I was still in shock. ECZEMA!

Now for those of you who don't know the difference between psoriasis and eczema I'll share this little bit of information with you. Psoriasis is your immune system telling your skin to grow faster than it's suppose to. Psoriasis requires prescription shots, pills, or creams that cost thousands of dollars sometimes a combination of those things. Eczema is your immune system having a simple reaction to something causing an inflammation on the skin. Eczema might require you to change the soap you use in the shower, use a medicated lotion which is OTC, possible change your detergent. THAT'S IT!!! So simple.

So what am I currently doing? I have changed the body wash I use in the shower from Neutrogena to CeraVe and change the lotion that I use from CeraVe to Epionce which the doctor told me to use every day. Epionce will give my skin the moisture and whatever else it needs to keep from freaking out. That's it. Change my soap and change my lotion. Make sure I use the lotion every day. SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!!!! She did prescribe me a cream that hopefully will help restore those scars partially to normal. So that was pretty great news. I didn't think anything could be done for those. I had just considered those a lost cause. But she said she thinks that the cream can reduce their size and make them look more normal (skin color). So I am using that twice a day for who knows how long lol. She said it could take at least 3 months before I see a real change in them. Which I am happy about because I didn't think anything could be done for the scars. So we'll see.

Bomb Threat Craziness

On Tuesday February 10, 2015 there was a bomb threat at school.

abcnews4: No Bombs Found at College of Charleston

Post & Courier: Confused Chaos at College of Charleston

Charleston Regional Business Journal: CofC Buildings Locked Down

Now here's my experience on that day.

        On Tuesday around 10:50 I noticed a campus safety guy with two police officers standing at the door to my office (I work in a large office with other offices inside it, it's located at the front door to the building, and the fire alarm is outside the door to the office). I thought they were just checking the fire alarm because they kept looking at it. Maybe it's just a test, or maintenance, or some sort of alarm was set off with out it going off in the building. Then I hear the campus safety officer say, "bomb threat". BOMB THREAT are you kidding me right now? We've got a bomb threat? Then I hear one of the police officers say, "he said we was going to shoot everyone in the building". SO NOW THERE'S A SHOOTER? What is going on? Let me also mention that one of the police officers was holding a rifle. Not his small side arm but a very large rifle. 

        The campus safety officer is standing next to the fire alarm saying that he's waiting for confirmation to evacuate the building. A police officer says he doesn't care they have to evacuate the building with or without confirmation. (stupid campus safety, the police are over you and campus safety, what the police say is what you do!) 

        At this point I am standing up and standing in the door way of one of the ladies I work with telling her there's a bomb threat and there are police with rifles standing at the door. She steps out and that's when they turn on the fire alarm. It's blaring and their telling people to evacuate the building. Of course since I was sitting right there and heard what was happening I told all the ladies in our office that it's a bomb threat and we're evacuating. Now normally during a fire alarm we all evacuate and stand on the other side of the street until the fire department says we can enter the building again. Well not this time! We walk outside and the street is lined with police cars and there's a police officer standing in the street telling people to keep going they are closing the street. There was a firetruck blocking one end of the street and police vehicles blocking the other end (it's a very short street) So several of us went down King Street to Starbucks and hung out there waiting to find out whats going on. Luckily I remember that there's a webcam set up in our lobby so I pulled that up and we all watched that on my phone. Of course there was nothing going on, the building was empty. We finally started getting Cougar Alerts, the emergency call system the school has. The alerts were saying to be prepared to evacuate the area, follow directions given by the police, etc. A few minutes later we get another alert saying that a bomb was found. WOW we were all pretty shocked that they actually found one. We're getting alerts as phone calls, texts, and emails all saying a bomb was found.

      

        So now we're all wondering was it a student, a disgruntled faculty/staff member or a crazy ex out for revenge? We stayed at Starbucks till 11:30am when we all started getting hungry. The school still wasn't sure whether or not to send us all home so everyone stayed down town, close by encase they open the buildings back up. They had closed the Beatty Center (where I work), the JC Long Building and Tate Building due to the fact that they are attached to the Beatty Center. They also closed the School of Education, Health and Human Performance (which is sort of across the street from us). The Craig Residence Hall was also closed down the street. Of course any store that was on the street or backed up to the building had to be closed. They closed several of the streets around. 

      We leave Starbucks to go eat at a restaurant near by the building. We see the bomb squad vehicle pull up and there are police every where and many of them with rifles. Which we find kind of strange for a bomb threat. So we're thinking the possibility of a shooter might still be in the mix. Since my phone still has the live feed from the webcam in the building going the other ladies are looking up to see what the news is saying. They're reporting now that there hasn't been a bomb found. WHAT IS GOING ON? So the president of the college sends out an email saying

       So there was no bomb found and those messages were due to a mistyped emergency code. How stupid! Now there is still a bomb threat that they are taking very seriously. So the buildings are still closed as well as the streets. We can see police from our restaurant patrolling with their rifles we even saw them using the bomb detecting robot down a street. We ate a really great lunch and just hung out waiting to hear whether or not we could go home. We continued to receive alerts saying to shelter in place until further notice. Finally at 1:00 we got another email from the president saying

         So classes are canceled until 5:00 and the buildings are closed until further notice but hopefully will reopen before 5:00. Still nothing on whether faculty/staff should stay or go. Well the Dean of the Business School decided to tell us in an email from the assistant dean telling us if we feel we can work more effectively from home we can do that. So we all took that as go home. One of the ladies that I work with dropped me off at the mall where my car was because the express buses don't run during the middle of the day. 

         Now here's a really weird thing. I still had the webcam feed up on my phone and was watching it periodically during the afternoon. At one point though I saw there were 8-9 police officers in full gear were in the building walking around. I texted a couple of the ladies from work and told them to go check out the webcam, but they couldn't get on. It gave them a page not found error. I even tried on my laptop and got the same message. They had turned off the live feed but some how I was still seeing it on my phone. The only thing we can figure out is that because I had been on that web page for hours and never closed it I was still seeing it. I then saw they had two dogs walking around the building too. It was pretty cool to see them searching the building. Of course all I could see was the lobby and whenever they passed by but still it was neat. 

       We got a final email from the president around 4:40. 

       All the buildings were opened and no bomb had been found. He reported that it was unacceptable how poorly the alert system worked in a time of real need. He will be working with the emergency management task-force to sort out the issue and fix it. It was a very nice message and I believe he handled it well. 

      Over all it was a crazy weird day at work on Tuesday.


Charleston City Paper: Bomb Threat included a gun threat

Bomb Threat Audio

Christmas time

 Christmas this year was pretty nice. Chris and I were doing actual Christmas with our separate families so the two of us celebrated Christmas on Tuesday night sort of. lol. At Thanksgiving he bought me some new tennishoes and we bought a new mattress. So that was our big Christmas present to one another. I got him a beanie and a new wallet.  

I drove down to Albany on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day mom, dad and I had our Christmas together. That night we went to Dothan and had Christmas with my Aunt Darlene, Uncle Randy some of their kids and grand-kids and Gmommy. We drove back to Albany afterwards. Friday mom and I went to see my hairdresser, had lunch with Greg & Christy Ware, and went to Michaels crafts store. Then I met up with Brooke and did some shopping with her while we caught up on things. I had dinner with my girls, except for Betsy she couldn't make it. We all had a good time catching up on things that have happened this year.

 Saturday mom, dad and I drove up to Oakwood, Ga for another Christmas with the Smith side of the family. It was nice. A lot of them couldn't make it but there were still plenty of us. And my aunt brought her new puppy which was adorable.

After that was over we drove down to Atlanta and stayed the night in my old condo. They still own it. I left Sunday afternoon and headed back to Charleston. It was a lot of traveling in just a few days but it was a nice Christmas.

Chris thought it'd be neat if I made a wreath for our door so ... I did.

Gmommy's old Christmas tree she gave me since our apt. is small. It's the perfect Christmas tree.