Playing catch up...

So where should I begin?

How about last Wednesday night?

Watched some TV next to my husband (not "with" my husband - I was watching, he was sleeping!) and fell asleep at 11pm - I know this because I saw the end of the show I was watching and I know it was 11:16pm when I woke up - with a sore throat. And when I say a "sore throat," I actually mean a throat that hurt so much I couldn't swallow. At all. And it took a solid 16 minutes for it to get that sore. From 11pm to 11:16pm. With no symptoms before I fell asleep.

I was up until about 1am-ish, and finally fell asleep again, but not into a restful sleep 'cause when I woke up again, at 4:48am, I woke up convinced I had throat cancer. Now, those of you that know me well know I'm truly NOT a hypochondriac. But my eventually-will-be-my-brother-in-law just went through a course of radiation and two types of chemo for some throat tumors he originally suspected were swollen glands from a cold... So of course, I had throat cancer.

I called out sick on Thursday, and then called the dr at 10:03am. Angela, the wonderful office manager at the dr's office, squeezed me in at 12:15 so I drove over there at noon. For I think the first time ever, I only waited about 5 minutes. (Great doctors, but terrible waits in the waiting room!) I was escorted into the examining room, and the nurse came in to take my vitals: BP 120/80 (okay), pulse okay, slight temperature (99.6). She asked me what was wrong.

"I have throat cancer."

She slowly looked up at me and said, "What?"

So I explained that my BIL had cancerous tumors in his throat and so when I woke up with a really bad sore throat, my first thought was throat cancer. Although, admittedly, when I started to get a stuffy head and a low-grade fever, I changed my diagnosis to a cold or to the flu. (I started heading toward swine flu, but the nurse didn't really look like she had a sense of humor).

She told me the doctor would be in soon.

And she left me sitting there. Without an audience.

Until Dr. R. came in. "So, you're not feeling well, are you?"

"No, Dr., I have throat cancer."

Dr. R. is a much better audience.

"What makes you think you have throat cancer? You don't smoke. It says here in your file you've never smoked."

So I proceded to explain how T had cancerous tumors in his throat just a few months ago, how he'd gone through the radiation and chemo concurrently, how when I started to get other symptoms, I sort of disregarded my initial diagnosis of throat cancer...

"Brother-in-law, right? Not related to you?" I concurred. "Not throat cancer, Krys, but it could be swine flu."

LOVE this doctor!!!

Ultimately the diagnosis was pharyngitis. According to Wikipedia, pharyngitis is commonly known as a sore throat. (Duh, I could have told you that!) They did a throat culture just to be sure I didn't have strep, and sent me on my way with a prescription for Z-pac.

My, when you don't take antibiotics very often, they really work wonders on you! I took my initial two pills as soon as I got home, and my sore throat was almost gone within a little over an hour!!! I dozed during the afternoon, woke up for Dr. Phil and a little bit of Oprah. Watched Grey's Anatomy with Jack (LOVED it!!). Went to sleep.

Woke up on Friday, and took Friday off as well, even though I really was feeling markedly better. The doctor recommended I take the day off, and I had a full day planned for Saturday so I decided rather than wait until November to try and squeeze in the remainder of my sick days so as not to lose them, I'd just take another! So I did.

Watched quite a bit of TLC and HGTV, some more Dr. Phil and Oprah, then packed for the lake. We went up to the lake Friday night, and on Saturday, I spent the day scrapping at an all-day crop in Rockaway. LOVED the venue! I had a 6' table all to myself! They had food and snacks all day long, breakfast and lunch and dinner were served. Prizes every hour on the hour.

I wasn't as productive as I'd have liked to have been, but now that I know the women I won't spend as much time talking next crop! I'll be able to be more creative, and complete a few more projects...

My daughter is supposed to have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy on Wednesday, followed by another of her iron infusions, but she woke up today with some cold/flu symptoms (NO, she did NOT get it from me; I haven't seen her since before Mother's Day!). Don't know if they'll be willing to do the procedures... She's waiting to hear from the drs. Please keep her in your prayers. We don't want them to find anything wrong, but on the flip side, what could be causing all her symptoms??? She's run down, low iron, low hemoglobin. They keep saying she's anemic.

Okay, but why????? She wasn't for 3/4 of her life, just the past few years. They're going to test her for gluten intolerance, just for sh-ts and giggles (which, btw, I recommended a year ago!!!). She already took a look at the diet and decided she can't follow it - she'd have to give up too many of her favorite foods.

NOT! I referred her to GlutenFreeGirl.com. I've been reading Shauna's blog for about three years now, even before I found out she was an author here at my company! She's a terrific writer, and her recipes are to die for!!!

Anyway, gotta run - more later!!!