I realize that as I get older, I am getting more and more impatient and I don't tolerate fools very well. I never did, but it's worse now.
I went for my MRI on Thursday 01/03. We went back to work on 01/02 which means, after two weeks of vacation, I had to take a day off to go to the doctor. I suppose I could have waited longer, for a more convenient appointment that wouldn't force me to go during work hours, but my knee was hurting, and hurting badly.
The doctor took X-rays (well, his technician did). Then he recommended an MRI (the doctor, not the technician!).
Silly me, I assumed (yes, I know all about assuming!) that once he got the MRI results and the radiologist's report, he'd call me with results. Well, today is 01/15 and I haven't heard a thing so I called the office. "Oh, you have to make an appointment and come in and he'll go over the results with you."
Really? Then shouldn't you have told me on 01/03 that I should make a follow-up appointment with the doctor for a day after the MRI???? So, I say I'm off on Friday, do you have an appointment that day? Of course not, the first available is Thursday 01/24, a day I cannot take off from work or leave early because I'm going in late after my volunteer work. So the NEXT available date is Monday 01/28 at 3:30. So now I have to wait that much longer and leave work early again... I'm not a happy camper.
And here's some J news: I believe the diagnosis included something like this... "severe tear," "rotator cuff," "see an orthopedist," "possible surgery." Talk about a camper who is not very happy!!! We're waiting for the workman's comp people to call with the referral information and the doctor's name and if possible, I want him to go to Dr. M. in Montclair. They seem to be okay with us using our doctors as long as they're in network. The radiologist was; hopefully the ortho doctor will be, too. (Just for $hits and giggles, DD's fiance said his doctor told him with surgery on HIS rotator cuff, he could be out of work for 10 weeks!!!)
One of my customers mentioned that if we don't have a recliner, we should borrow or buy one because her friend who had similar surgery couldn't lay down post-surgery. We test drove some recliners at Bob's Discount Furniture yesterday, just for fun... We're married 13 years and haven't bought a single piece of furniture yet! A recliner? Perhaps two? Wow!!! That would be wild!!!
MUY IMPORTANTE: Is anyone else all of a sudden unable to upload photos from their computer into their blog posts? Apparently I can still upload from Picasa (isn't that over and done with?!?) but not from my My Pictures file... I don't know what the problem is... I'll try to do it from work tomorrow in case it's a laptop thing...
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Quick Health UpdateS
So I went to the orthopedist. He confirmed I have bursitis in my hips, and I guess I'm basically going to have to live with that. I had an MRI of my knee done. It went okay. The MRI tech was awesome!
I knew J was going to have to go to get one of his shoulder (more on that later) so I talked to the tech about the possibility of J getting a bit claustrophobic in the MRI tube. He assured me they'd just pull him out immediately...
On the first day back at school, J was pulling the volleyball standards out and something in his left shoulder went "ping." They suspect it might be a tear in his rotator cuff. So since it's a workman's comp injury, we had to wait for the immedicenter to contact us with approval for the MRI. They couldn't reach J at school so they called me. A STAT MRI? Guess what the earliest day was - Sunday at 7am! So we checked and Montclair Radiological in Nutley had a spot available THE SAME DAY for a STAT MRI. He did have a problem with the MRI machine but the tech, who we saw before J went up for the test, gave him glasses that helped him see the whole room behind him. End of panic!
While I was waiting for him, Stan came in with his son. His son needed a chest x-ray. Stan (who used to work with J at Watchung Shell) told me he had a heart scare late last year. I remember Cheryl mentioning he was in the hospital but she never said why, just that he was better. It turns out that after a severe bout of bronchitis, it settled around his heart. They actually had to shock his heart back to a regular beat!
On Friday we had a lunch for J's Aunt E, for her birthday. 23 of the cousins and aunts managed to come for the lunch at Terrazo's in Nutley. It was lovely and the food was pretty good.
That night we had a dinner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse in Edgewater. The dinner was okay, but the service was not too good. Salads and appetizers came out together, small plates were late and cold, they forgot plates, desserts, the coffee was HORRIBLE... All that for a $3K plus dinner. $3K!!!
Anyway, the Golden Globes are on and we're going to watch. Well, I am, and J is going to read Family Handyman... More later this week...
I knew J was going to have to go to get one of his shoulder (more on that later) so I talked to the tech about the possibility of J getting a bit claustrophobic in the MRI tube. He assured me they'd just pull him out immediately...
On the first day back at school, J was pulling the volleyball standards out and something in his left shoulder went "ping." They suspect it might be a tear in his rotator cuff. So since it's a workman's comp injury, we had to wait for the immedicenter to contact us with approval for the MRI. They couldn't reach J at school so they called me. A STAT MRI? Guess what the earliest day was - Sunday at 7am! So we checked and Montclair Radiological in Nutley had a spot available THE SAME DAY for a STAT MRI. He did have a problem with the MRI machine but the tech, who we saw before J went up for the test, gave him glasses that helped him see the whole room behind him. End of panic!
While I was waiting for him, Stan came in with his son. His son needed a chest x-ray. Stan (who used to work with J at Watchung Shell) told me he had a heart scare late last year. I remember Cheryl mentioning he was in the hospital but she never said why, just that he was better. It turns out that after a severe bout of bronchitis, it settled around his heart. They actually had to shock his heart back to a regular beat!
On Friday we had a lunch for J's Aunt E, for her birthday. 23 of the cousins and aunts managed to come for the lunch at Terrazo's in Nutley. It was lovely and the food was pretty good.
That night we had a dinner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse in Edgewater. The dinner was okay, but the service was not too good. Salads and appetizers came out together, small plates were late and cold, they forgot plates, desserts, the coffee was HORRIBLE... All that for a $3K plus dinner. $3K!!!
Anyway, the Golden Globes are on and we're going to watch. Well, I am, and J is going to read Family Handyman... More later this week...
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
2013 Is Here!
I'm 52 years old. I've been married 13-1/2 years. My stepdaughter just bought her first house. Time is just flying along. IT'S 2013, for crying out loud!! 2013!!!
BUT, my hips hurt like I'm EIGHTY-two, my knee has kept me home-bound for days, I have an appointment with the orthopedist on Thursday, I walk like someone much older and have been walking like this for two years. I've tried accupuncture, physical therapy, a cortisone shot, anti-inflammatories, herbal remedies... I'm still taking some of the supplements. In general, I haven't felt better in years - I haven't had one of my horrid winter colds in two winters, and I credit the supplements I'm taking for that. I am still volunteering at the school and J is still a teacher, so I'm still exposed to the germs I was exposed to three years ago... But my hips, and now my knee, are getting harder and harder to live with, so it's time to try a doctor again.
So it's 2013. Am I supposed to be making resolutions? Okay, how about these?
1. My OLW (One Little Word) for 2013: Focus2. I chose "focus" for my OLW in 2012 and I got a necklace from Lisa Leonard to help keep me on track. Yea, right. On track. I LOST my focus this past year. I wanted to go to the gym more often. I did. For a while. But as time got tight, something had to give and guess what gave - yup, the gym.
2. Which brings me to the gym... I'm not going to announce that I'm going three times a week 'cause we all know that won't happen. But if I can go once or twice a week, maybe get back into the swing of things... Who knows? It takes 30 days to form a habit, I think I heard...
3. And I joined Cathy Zielske's Move More, Eat Well online class in January 2012. I started with a bang, like I always do. I created my binder, took my starting photo, actually posted it in the book... Yea. And I read the monthly blog posts and watched the monthly videos in December 2012. When I needed to thin out all the unread emails in my Hotmail inbox, not because I was feeling any great push to move more or eat well... But I'm feeling that way again... So perhaps... the gym a few times a month, ONE dessert on Monday instead of dessert on Monday, more water, walking more during the day which, btw, will certainly help my hips, yoga class on Fridays, and a second yoga class if it works with my schedule...
4. And I'd love to create a video about my scraproom and post it on one of those scrapping sites. I tried it once but I was so bad at video-ing, and so awkward on film even though I wasn't visible... I've been watching a YouTube channel, My Housewife Life. Jen posted over a month's worth of videos, just taking us along on her day, every day from Thanksgiving prep through New Year's Eve. Now I don't plan on becoming a YouTube sensation, believe me, but perhaps it's something I can learn to do, film a bit more steadily, at least good enough to post on TwoPeas or some other scrapping room gallery...
5. I want to really buckle down on my finances, and my budget. I want to spend less, save more, and learn more about my 401K investments.
6. I want to cook more. THIS I can do. I did more cooking since Hurricane Sandy than ever before; since we lost all the food in our freezers and in our refrigerator, it was easier to buy what I could make, rather than make what I boughtyears, months, weeks ago. So when I bought an eggplant, I cooked an eggplant. When I bought chicken cutlets, I made chicken cutlets. When I bought a chicken, I made chicken soup. Hope I can keep this up in 2013...
7. I want to try to be more organized. I've tried calendars, Franklin Planners, and my latest, a Filofax. I bought it for 2012. Sort of lost focus on it... (Sensing a theme here?!) I've bought a 2013 insert and added all the birthdays and anniversaries and other big dates to it and I'm going to give it another shot this year... Keep your fingers crossed...
So for the time being, those are my plans. Not resolutions. If I call them resolutions, they're almost doomed to failure from the start, but plans? They take a while... They go on for a while... I'm big on trying to make things easier for myself, therefore more apt to be accomplished...
What are your plans for 2013?
BUT, my hips hurt like I'm EIGHTY-two, my knee has kept me home-bound for days, I have an appointment with the orthopedist on Thursday, I walk like someone much older and have been walking like this for two years. I've tried accupuncture, physical therapy, a cortisone shot, anti-inflammatories, herbal remedies... I'm still taking some of the supplements. In general, I haven't felt better in years - I haven't had one of my horrid winter colds in two winters, and I credit the supplements I'm taking for that. I am still volunteering at the school and J is still a teacher, so I'm still exposed to the germs I was exposed to three years ago... But my hips, and now my knee, are getting harder and harder to live with, so it's time to try a doctor again.
So it's 2013. Am I supposed to be making resolutions? Okay, how about these?
1. My OLW (One Little Word) for 2013: Focus2. I chose "focus" for my OLW in 2012 and I got a necklace from Lisa Leonard to help keep me on track. Yea, right. On track. I LOST my focus this past year. I wanted to go to the gym more often. I did. For a while. But as time got tight, something had to give and guess what gave - yup, the gym.
2. Which brings me to the gym... I'm not going to announce that I'm going three times a week 'cause we all know that won't happen. But if I can go once or twice a week, maybe get back into the swing of things... Who knows? It takes 30 days to form a habit, I think I heard...
3. And I joined Cathy Zielske's Move More, Eat Well online class in January 2012. I started with a bang, like I always do. I created my binder, took my starting photo, actually posted it in the book... Yea. And I read the monthly blog posts and watched the monthly videos in December 2012. When I needed to thin out all the unread emails in my Hotmail inbox, not because I was feeling any great push to move more or eat well... But I'm feeling that way again... So perhaps... the gym a few times a month, ONE dessert on Monday instead of dessert on Monday, more water, walking more during the day which, btw, will certainly help my hips, yoga class on Fridays, and a second yoga class if it works with my schedule...
4. And I'd love to create a video about my scraproom and post it on one of those scrapping sites. I tried it once but I was so bad at video-ing, and so awkward on film even though I wasn't visible... I've been watching a YouTube channel, My Housewife Life. Jen posted over a month's worth of videos, just taking us along on her day, every day from Thanksgiving prep through New Year's Eve. Now I don't plan on becoming a YouTube sensation, believe me, but perhaps it's something I can learn to do, film a bit more steadily, at least good enough to post on TwoPeas or some other scrapping room gallery...
5. I want to really buckle down on my finances, and my budget. I want to spend less, save more, and learn more about my 401K investments.
6. I want to cook more. THIS I can do. I did more cooking since Hurricane Sandy than ever before; since we lost all the food in our freezers and in our refrigerator, it was easier to buy what I could make, rather than make what I bought
7. I want to try to be more organized. I've tried calendars, Franklin Planners, and my latest, a Filofax. I bought it for 2012. Sort of lost focus on it... (Sensing a theme here?!) I've bought a 2013 insert and added all the birthdays and anniversaries and other big dates to it and I'm going to give it another shot this year... Keep your fingers crossed...
So for the time being, those are my plans. Not resolutions. If I call them resolutions, they're almost doomed to failure from the start, but plans? They take a while... They go on for a while... I'm big on trying to make things easier for myself, therefore more apt to be accomplished...
What are your plans for 2013?