Sunday Edition: Jan. 24, 2010

1. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

George Robitaille, the TTC worker made famous by his accidental catnap on the job, was apparently something of a hero to the department in 1994.

According to the Toronto Sun, way way back in ‘94 Robitaille was a Wheel-Trans driver, and saved a man who had fallen inside his house and was slowly hemorrhaging in his lungs.

In addition to this seriously Awesome story, all of Robitaille’s fellow works say he’s a really nice guy.

Man, talk about feeling guilty for laughing. Why couldn’t he just be a douche?

2. New theories are out trying to explain the mysterious disappearance of bees in North America over the last couple of years.

If anyone saw that The Nature of Things episode about it, you’d bee just as scared as I am — according to the Toronto Star, bees, thanks to pollination, are responsible for one in every three bites of food that we eat here in Canada.

New research indicates that the mystery can bee attributed not to M. Night Shyamaramalama, or terrorism, or evil radio waves, but rather to a tiny crab-like mite no bigger than a pen dot.

Raise your hand if you think that’s Even More Terrifying.

Bees started disappearing in large numbers two years ago, but luckily since most things freeze here in Canada, bee populations were still sticking around and available to bee researched.

Newer theories now include: Terrorism using tiny mites to kill our food supply. Or, Aliens.

Bee Prepared.

3. A bus driver in Nova Scotia who took his wheels for a wash in the Tracadie River Saturday apparently has a history of automotive swimming.

Acadian Lines, the company that owns the bus, revealed that this is the second time in a year that the same driver has gone off course to more aqueous terrain.

The driver, Kenneth Mitchell, is in hospital recovering from his injuries, which are not life-threatening.

Maybe his “skills” would be better served at a different company?

4. From the Abilities No One Wants department, it turns out that men can use their sense of smell to find a woman who is ready for baby-making.

A new Florida State University study, which had undergraduate men smelling t-shirts worn by women who were ovulating and women who weren’t, found that the shirts coated with Eau d’Ova increased the testosterone levels in males, and were rated the most pleasant smelling.

Fantastic.

[Via http://awesomenewsteam.wordpress.com]

Men, Women Respond to Stress Differently

Finding calls for gender-specific treatments for some diseases, researchers say

TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — The brains of men and women handle stress differently and that alters the way their bodies experience chronic diseases such as depression, cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders, U.S. researchers report.

The scientists used functional MRI to monitor the brain activity of healthy men and women viewing stress-triggering images. The women underwent brain scans twice, once at the start of their menstrual cycle and once during ovulation.

At the start of their menstrual cycle, the women’s brain activity in response to stress was similar to men. But the men’s response to stress was much higher when compared to women during ovulation.

“We found that women have been endowed with a natural hormone capacity to regulate the stress response in the brain that differs from men,” study author Jill Goldstein, director of research at the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release from the hospital.

The most significant differences were detected in brain regions that control the autonomic arousal response. The findings suggest that gender differences in stress response circuitry are hormonally regulated through the control of arousal.

“The results were striking given that men and women reported experiencing the stressful stimuli similarly even though their brains were activating differently,” Goldstein said.

She noted that diseases affected by stress often present differently in women and men.

“Therefore, understanding sex differences in stress regulation in the brain can provide clues to understanding the nature of these chronic medical disorders. Mapping out sex-specific physiology in the brain will also provide the basis for the development of sex-specific treatments for these diseases,” Goldstein said.

The study appears online Jan. 13 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_94004.html

[Via http://lonelydancer.wordpress.com]

Cycle Day 25 - No ovulation as yet

Today is CD25 and as yet, as the title says… no ovulation.

I had my pelvic scan on friday. They did the usual ultrasound through my tummy, then they did a transvaginal ultrasound which hurt quite a bit – I assume because my uterus  is retroverted.

She said I had polycystic ovaries… and I told her I already knew that – do people ever read notes anymore? I was diagnosed with PCOS 5 years ago FFS.

Anyway, she also said I have either small fibroids or adenomyosis, which is – I quote, a “condition characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrial tissue (the inner lining of the uterus) within the myometrium (the thick, muscular layer of the uterus)”. It’s not endometriosis – although it sounds the same, apparently it’s a different thing altogether. She couldn’t say if it was that or fibroids because she said they both present as abnormal lining texture on the ultrasound. Now I’ve researched a bit, I’ve read both can cause miscarriage so that might be the diagnosis I was ‘looking ‘ for. I’ll have to wait to see the Fertility Specialist to see what she plans to do.

I also asked if she could see what was happening with ovulation because I was on cycle day 23 and there had been nothing happening to suggest I had or was going to ovulate. She said there is a dominant follicle, but having pcos it might not mature. Hmph.

I also got my bloods done, and they tested everything…. so I’ll see what happens there.

In other news, my temps are still low, and I have bits of egg white cervical mucus, but it’s scant and there’s also alot of creamy with it. It’s not how it’s supposed to be I don’t think. On top of that we haven’t had sex in a week, so… not great.

[Via http://mrseffelle.wordpress.com]

so this thing works after all?

Finally, I got a peak reading on the monitor!  For a girl who’s never gotten a positive opk EVER, this is a big deal.

Even though my temps have always confirmed ovulation, I always felt slightly defective without getting confirmation of an LH surge.

So, whoohoo!

Now, off to find Hubby .

Is it weird that I’m telling the internet that I’m about to have sex?

[Via http://callmemama.wordpress.com]

estrogen sucks

I always seem to feel like complete crap before ovulation.  I can feel all of that estrogen building up and I am wavering between biting people’s heads off and feel just plain depressed.  Luckily, I haven’t had any crying jags, but I’m sure those will come.  Okay, I’m coming back to this post a couple hours later, and I have to report that tears have already made an appearance.  Damn it.

Going back to work was just peachy today.  (I know, the sarcasm probably isn’t coming across like I’d like it too…)  I think my boss’s New Year’s resolution was to BUG THE CRAP OUT OF ME as much as possible.  Ugh.  Luckily, he’ll be traveling Thursday and Friday, so I’ll get a break from his obnoxiousness.

Good news is I did get a couple bites on the resumes I sent out last week, and may have even lined up an interview for the end of this week.  Bad news is that DH is still negotiating with his hopefully future employer, but it may not work out after all.

I can’t really think about anything else except the fact that I’m super stressed, and that it’s cd13 and there is no indication (from cm anyway) that ovulation will happen soon.  That would just be lovely if I had another delayed ovulation because of stress.

AARGH!

And my temps have dropped again – into the 96’s again instead of the lovely (albeit still low) 97’s like last month.  Thank you stress.

Well, next week at least I get to see Dr. Jen again.  This is the doctor who does integrative medicine and who ordered all of the saliva tests/bloodwork/urine load test (for iodine).  I have the blood test results back, and am just hoping the others are finished before my appointment on the 13th.  I called the labs to check before making the appointment, and if they turn out not to be ready I’m going to have to reschedule.  I can’t afford to set two appointments, since I have to pay these out of pocket.  I did give myself a week buffer in case things were running late, so hopefully everything’s done…

I’m pretty sure there was something else I wanted to write about, but it escapes me at the moment.  Oh well, I need to go to bed anyway.  Nighty night everybody .

[Via http://callmemama.wordpress.com]