here is some good news! (bear with me!)

[bclapham]

well, not many people know, but 2004 has been a odd year for me- we had a family member killed by a car when we were back in the UK this summer- that took it out of me. then i had a old work friend die from cancer- i was only having a drink with the guy 12 months before he died and he was fit as a fiddle :(
only a couple of weeks ago, i raced at a memorial race for a young kid that died at my club. that was really hard.

then lets track back to July the 4th. 5am and my wife wakes up in agony, not good- i wont go into details, but it wasnt good. a few weeks later (Glen Helen weekend), i wheel her out of the hospital after a simple operation to get some ideas on whats up internally with her womb. few days after that, the Doc says, well, endimitreosis, fibroids and an ovarian cyst. you better had think about children, but its not looking too good, give it 6 months and we will put you on fertility treatment. yikes, we had always thought about kids, but it was on the back burner, now it was a new challenge.....

....three weeks later 6 am- i dont know whats wrong with this stupid test, i peeeed on it and there is a blue line-----eeeerrr, no you cant be, try again.....

yes, turns out i am gonna be a dad!!!! :yeehaw: due date, July 4th!

so, the circle ends there....or does it, the story aint done yet.

2 weeks later, i hear from a co-worker that i am gonna be fired! that was a really nice touch i thought.

a month later, the boss wants to talk with me. turns out that despite me raising $800K research cash over the last 3 years (all of my peers have raised $0) and publishing twice as many papers as them also, he wants me gone, ASAP. nice touch there, to be fair, i cant wait to get a job where my talents are realized, but i am holding out for my imigration status to change.- seems my competence and intelligence is a real problem with the grand whole sceheme of things at work, LOL!

couple of weeks later....come into the INS center, the FBI wants your fingerprints....

Dec 13th. your fingerprints are good, your green card is approved. :yeehaw: dont get too excited though since you need to get the stamp.

Dec 23th, we go to another INS center- 5 hours wait....10 mins later! yes, we are now permanant residents of the USA!!! :yeehaw: all that for a little stamp in the passport!!! hehehe.

Dec 24th. 10am the animal center calls up "your cat is really sick with diabetes, we need your permision to euthanize straight away.

Dec 24th 1.30pm. we arrive at the animal center- the vets have decided they think they can treat the cat- last minute reprieve, they have taken custody of her though so she can see out her life at the center.

other highlights,

also, despite my Boss constantly reminding me how unimportant my work is, ive spoken at companies, univerisities and conferences all over the world and they think my work is really good. the company that sponsored me also told me my project was the most productive and useful their company had ever had with my chemistry dept. and there have been a bunch!!!!

so where are we up to. well ive applied for about 20 jobs so far and it turns out i am too qualified for most apparently.

the only interview i get is out in west chester PA- its a great job, and it went well- i may well take it and move us east.

i am out of breath now. life is a funny ole thing. sorry to bore you all, but i feel really good for getting that off my chest!!

Thats all folks!! :cool:

 

[BSWIFT]

Your rollercoster ride sounds a bit like mine in 2002. The only certain things in life are death and taxes. Hope you just have the taxes from now on!

 

[Patman]

It seems like everybody either has had or will have a year like that. As wierd as it sounds it seems there is more good than bad with a litle one on the way! :aj:

Now about this legal status... nobody ever asked me if I was good with it ;)

Congrats! :cool:

 

[Green Horn]

Congrats on the future kid!! Sounds like you've got some things to look forward to for 2005. :)

 

[GETMETOCA]

Holy Cow! You've been though so much! 2005 will be all good, I just know it. Best Wishes!

 

[holeshot]

Dec 23th, we go to another INS center- 5 hours wait....10 mins later! yes, we are now permanant residents of the USA!!! :yeehaw: all that for a little stamp in the passport!!! hehehe.

:cool:

You're in! All the rest (citizenship) is just a formality. Wait 'til your green (pink, actually) cards arrive in the mail with less fanfare than a Sears credit card. :joke:

 

[Chili]

Bruce sorry to hear of your loses and struggles in the past year. Congratulations on the pregnancy! Endometriosis is a nasty disease/condition that I would not wish on my most despised female enemy. I watched my wife struggle with Endo from a very young age through multiple surgeries, Steriod treatments and anything else the Doctors could think of or at least after they discovered the condition. We had one Doctor imply that Char was faking the condition for attention because he couldn't find anything wrong and wanted to send her for a psych assessment, I darn near ended up leaving his office in handcuffs. We were also told the chance of having a child was greatly reduced due to damage from the disease. We got lucky with LazyBoy and for a period of time after the pregnancy the Endo calmed down. We tried unsuccessfully for a while to have another and then settled on the fact we had been very lucky to have one child as Char's damage was fairly extensive by the time she got pregnant. After 18 months or so she started to see the return of symptoms and after a couple of more failed treatments and minor surgeries Char decided she had dealt with enough pain and suffering and at the age of 24 had a hysterectomy. While not a certain cure for Endo the hysterectomy has so far offered complete relief for the past 14 years, although it does introduce the joys of hormone therapy into her life. Your wife is going to need support and understanding in the years to come. Char found some local support groups to be helpful for different relief options (herbal tea's etc) so I would imagine in this day and age of the internet you will be able to find all sorts of useful info.

Once again congrats on the pregnancy and our best wishes for the future.

 

[Farmer John]

turns out i am gonna be a dad!!!! .

your green card is approved.

we are now permanant residents of the USA!!!

west chester PA

:cool:

Congrats on the pending ankle biter!
Congrats on the green card & permanant resident status. (I got to go through all the INS stuff with the wife unit)
West Chester, despite my own personal feelings for the place, would be a good place to start a family. Nothing makes you part of the neighborhood like a kid. :)

On all the other stuff, you have my condolences.... As stated above, I think every strong family has a year like this. I think how it is dealt with is what proves a person.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

yes, turns out i am gonna be a dad!!!! :yeehaw: due date, July 4th!

That date seems so fitting. Congratulations Bruce. :yeehaw:

 

[squeaky]

I'm so sorry to hear about all the bad things that happened this year, but CONGRATULATIONS on all the good stuff. Becoming a US resident is huge I'm sure, along with a new job, moving cross country, and a baby on the way! Good luck in the new year with everything.

 

[KiwiBird]

Congrats on the green card and expecting a child Bruce, I know it's been hard on you and Julia this last year but I hope it turns around in the new year.

Best wishes,
Kiwi

 

[Treejumper]

Congrats on the pregnancy and US citizenship! If you happen to make it out to PA look us up. Were not as weird as californians but pretty close. ;)

 

[Timr]

Congrats Bruce!!! Life here in the colonies is pretty nice and somewhat civilized. :)
Good luck with your job search and all of the decisions that go along with it.

Give our best to your wife.

 

[oldguy]

Bruce glad you are putting the bad stuff behind you in 2004 and can really look forward to starting over new in 05.
BTW I think that the Irony of a Brit giving life to a US citizen on July 4th is great. Congrats and remember you'll really have to celebrate the 4th of July forever

 

[dklink2000]

the only interview i get is out in west chester PA

Hey! I only live about 20 min away from west chester!

 

[RM_guy]

Hey Bruce, sory to hear about your troubles...but congrats on the baby :) Life can sure be a struggle at times but when good things come around it makes it all seem worth it. I do hope you make it out to the East though, we can show you a good time out on the trails! Just watch yourself around TreeJumper, he really is weird :ohmy:

 

[bclapham]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, thats really nice. I really am not feeling sorry for myself, since life is good. I do feel sorry for the parents of all the great young people that we have lost though- they were all really good kids.

we will see what the new year brings, we really like it in SoCal, but its always about taking the best opportunity. Its good to know that where ever i go, there will always be friends there!!! But it will be sad to leave many friends behind.

 

[CAL]

then lets track back to July the 4th. 5am and my wife wakes up in agony, not good- i wont go into details, but it wasnt good. a few weeks later (Glen Helen weekend), i wheel her out of the hospital after a simple operation to get some ideas on whats up internally with her womb. few days after that, the Doc says, well, endimitreosis, fibroids and an ovarian cyst. you better had think about children, but its not looking too good, give it 6 months and we will put you on fertility treatment. yikes, we had always thought about kids, but it was on the back burner, now it was a new challenge.....

That sounds all too familiar here. My wife and I have been trying to have kids for about 3 years now and have gone through a miscarriage, fertility treatments, hormones, two surgeries for endometreosis, two other surguries determing a birth defect in my wife, years of physical pain, and many tears! Now we are on the path of adoption. So far we've gone through an international adoption that fell through and a private adoption that fell through due to the birth mother's dishonesty. But we are going through a great agency now, and could be getting "the call" any day now!

Congrats on the pregnancy! It's good to hear of success stories while dealing with endo!

After 18 months or so she started to see the return of symptoms and after a couple of more failed treatments and minor surgeries Char decided she had dealt with enough pain and suffering and at the age of 24 had a hysterectomy. While not a certain cure for Endo the hysterectomy has so far offered complete relief for the past 14 years, although it does introduce the joys of hormone therapy into her life.

My wife's symptoms returned within 6 months of the first surgery for endo. She is 24 and is considering a hysterectomy. Check your PM's Chili...I have some questions, if you don't mind.

 

[WaltCMoto]

Wow, thats a year full of up and downs. (I was kinda flat lined here in comparison).
Congrats on the most important one, a bun in the oven. Best of luck on the job front, if ya go east though, check the weather, its a bit chillier. My wife also went through the Endo, but luckily we had our kids before it hit hard. After the hysterectomy, the mood settled down to a more stable level. that was a good thing.

 

[a454elk]

Dang Bruce, 2005 HAS to be a more mellow year I hope. Good luck with it all and congrats on the US deal, glad to have you aboard and not abroad. ;)

 

[Michelle]

Bruce, congratulations on becoming a dad-to-be. :)

I was diagnosed with endo a couple of years back and had surgery for it. I've also stopped with medication (I'm hopeless as I never remember to take it anyway) and now just live with it. It's not fun, it's damned painful, but at least I know what's going on (I thought it was normal and didn't think anything of it). I was also told I've got a good chance of having kids (the gynaecologist was shocked when I told him I'm not interested). I have months when I think hysterectomy is the way to go but just can't face more surgery and to be honest, I can live with it. It took a couple of years to settle down to a bearable level, or else it's because of the dirtbiking helping. I don't know.
Henk's sister-in-law (his brother's wife) is pregnant with their 2nd - she had a 6lb (Henk thinks 6lb, I'm sure it's 6kg, like huge) cyst removed not long after having their first child - it was discovered when she was about 6 months pregnant, I remember being shocked they hadn't discovered it earlier as it was that big.

Cal, the good thing about your wife is the fact she knows what's going on at an early age (I wish I'd known when I was that young). I hope all goes well for you both. Try to remember things happen for a reason - the "perfect" little one might be just around the corner (here's hoping, I can't imagine what it must be like to be waiting but I know mum & dad often talk about when they got the call about me being up for adoption & how they thought I was a monkey rather than a human baby - yes, the jury is still out on that).

Best wishes for 2005 for all your families :)
Michelle

 

[dirty~d~]

Bruce, I see more silver lining than gray cloud in that post of yours. :cool: Congratulations on the baby and the green card!! Very awesome. The company that used you will miss you whether they are willing to admit it or not. Good for you for moving on. Good luck in your adventures out East... if that's where you do end up.

Life certainly keeps us on our toes at times, doesn't it? :)

 

[Tony Eeds]

Bruce:

I remember when you were home. :(
Congratulations on the perm residence status and your upcoming delivery. Children are a blessing from God and to have one on July 4th is a bonus around these parts.

Best of luck in your job search. Your boss shounds like he was afraid of you. PA isn't bad, cold like a oil platform in the North Sea, but not bad. :laugh:

 

[Treejumper]

Bruce:

PA isn't bad, cold like a oil platform in the North Sea, but not bad. :laugh:

What do you mean cold?? I had shorts on yesterday and might wear them today too since its almost 60 out. The neighbors keep telling me to put long pants on since my whiteness reminds them of winter. :)