Cutting It Close

Nothing like waiting until the very last minute. You know, my whole “I must write at least one post in a calendar month” thing. I have six hours and 16 minutes left in October so I need to write something stat!

So let’s just play a little game I like to call Holy Random Stories No One Cares About, Batman!

About The Knee

Four weeks of physical therapy and I’m good to go. I still have pain when I walk up and down the stairs, but I can deal with that. Every now and then I have pain where the meniscus is. Both the therapist and doctor think it’s a ligament getting “snagged” on the very small tear in the meniscus. That just makes me say ewwwww.  I spent a whole day limping around in fairly excruciating pain, only to have it stop as fast as it came. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often.

Long story not quite as long, I need to keep up with strengthening the muscles around the knee and stretching it out and no surgery. I’m good with that.

About The Boobs

Yes, you read that right. I have something to say about the girls.

I saw the White Russian in early October for my bi-annual checkup and it was a great appointment.  The last time I was there was supposed to be my last appointment for a year, but I went off my Arimidex – 3 years earlier than the newest protocol suggests – so he wanted to see me after I’d been off for six months to see if I noticed any changes. (You can read about that HERE)

Here is the latest.

I have shown significant relief from several side effects of the Arimidex so I don’t have to go back on. He also prescribed my annual breast MRI and I don’t go back to see him until next October. While that’s a great thing, it makes me a little sad. I love those people and I love chatting with him about our kids. Why should he care what my children want to do with their lives? I don’t know, but he’s always interested and I adore that.

He also told me that if waiting an entire year to see him makes me nervous I can come back in six months. He really did!

The only bad thing about the appointment? Valley Forge was closed due to the government shutdown so I didn’t make my customary drive through the park. Since I wasn’t able to do that I didn’t even bother with my customary White Chocolate Mocha with extra whip. *sigh*

The following day the White Russian called me – not an office assistant or nurse – when the insurance company declined my MRI. They would pay for a yearly mammogram, but not an MRI. Apparently it’s been determined that mammograms are okay for my kind of reconstruction, but I’m so not comfortable with that. Like Todd said, they spent 8 hours rerouting capillaries and veins from my stomach to my chest and throwing them into a vice just doesn’t seem very wise. He told me he would personally call the insurance company and talk to the insurance advocate at the hospital he’s associated with. Next thing I know, I’m scheduled for an MRI.

About The MRI

By now I’m a pro at breast MRIs. I don’t particularly look forward to them for a myriad of reasons, one of which is the hellacious headache I always end up with. My friend, Robin, had said when she last got an MRI with contrast they gave her a caffeinated soda afterwards to help with headaches. So I drank an iced tea on my way to the MRI and I took two Excedrin Migraines about 30 minutes before the MRI.

They were running a little behind so the nurse and I chatted about our kids. Her youngest is a freshman at Virginia Tech which is about 15 minutes from Katie’s school so we had a lot to talk about. I pretty much feel like we could be the best of friends under other circumstances.

Finally it was my turn so she walked me into the room, watched me climb onto the “massage table” and helped the technician position my fake girly parts into the “chambers”. Then she did something I’ll never forget. She grabbed the cuffs of my yoga pants and gently tugged down. Why? Because, in her words, there is nothing worse than a wedgie when you’re stuck in one position and can’t do anything about it for 45 minutes.

You see why I am fond of her.

Forty-five minutes later she helped me off the table, validated my parking coin and I was on my way. And guess what! I didn’t have a headache! At least not like I’ve had in the past. It was more of a nag, not a pain. Thank you, Robin!

About Wine

A few weeks ago I went to the Skippack Wine Festival with some girlfriends. There was cheese, there was wine, there was music, there was beer bacon jam. It was fun. But we all came to the same conclusion. Pennsylvania wines aren’t all that. Still, it was a great day and I did purchase some local cheeses and a bottle of Kog Hill Blue Merlot because it was somewhat good.

Still About Wine

Last night on the news there was a report about a wine shortage. Wait. Let me rephrase that. A GLOBAL wine shortage. Between more wine consumption and a few bad seasons in Europe, we’re looking to be 300 million barrels short this next year. I posted this fact on Facebook last night and this is the text I got from an unnamed source:

Here’s the thing. I can live without wine. I thoroughly enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner, but I don’t have one every night. Sometimes days or even weeks will go by without me having a glass. But when they say there will be a shortage I panic. As my friend, Kristin, said, it’s like knowing there’s a storm coming and thinking you need to stock up on bread, milk and eggs before it hits.

All I can say is Lord have mercy on me and everyone I associate with if there’s ever a coffee shortage. No. For real.

I stopped at the wine store on my way home tonight because I needed a nice red to go with dinner tonight and I’m not ready to open my Winefest purchase.  At 6:15 we still hadn’t had one trick or treater. We live in a small neighborhood full of kids so I thought that was odd. This was my Facebook Status:

I’ve got all this candy. Where are the little goblins?? I also have red wine, which goes very good with chocolate. So… never mind.

While it has received several likes, I don’t imagine one will be from my dietician. Don’t worry, Adrianne. The trick or treaters have started showing up. Drat.

About Wrapping Things Up

Since my last blog was over a month ago there is plenty for me to write about, but I need to save something for next month. Join me after Thanksgiving for my next round of Holy Random Stories No One Cares About, Batman!

And look! I still have three hours and 24 minutes left in October! I’m good.