Just a Flesh Wound

My near pneumonia cleared up nicely and Thanksgiving with Lydia and her family was great. Zoe came running by, and I, forgetting she’s gotten bigger, scooped her up and swung her around. Friday morning my hip was killing me and I chalked it up to out of shape, but had to cancel on Don for the concert that night when the hip and coughing proved too mucg. There was just no way I could take the car ride to AC and then do standing for the concert. Saturday I forced myself to the Rabbit Habit to clean with Lynn. I really shouldn’t have. After throwing up about 30 minutes in I rallied and made it through the shift, even lugging a bail of hay up the steps. Dumb. Saturday was the last day of my steroid.

Sunday night the real pain hit. Both hips and lower back. I couldn’t find a comfortable position and I think I passed out from the pain more than fell asleep for 2 hours. I even tried sleeping pills, nothing. Monday I stretched things out, was careful with my lifting and took a leisurely walk to work things out. This really seemed to help. Early bedtime, and lots of pain. Codeine didn’t even help. Tuesday same thing, nice walk with Jill, stretched out at home, early bedtime….and pain so bad I wanted to end it all….or kill the next person I saw.

I got an appointment with the nurse practitioner Wednesday morning. She gave me mega doses of Advil and a prescription for a muscle relaxant, Flexoril, and sent me for x-rays. Then I was back to work. The Advil let me get around, but after 10 minutes on my feet my butt and the back of my thighs would fall asleep. I’d sit for a bit and it would pass, so I just took it easy. Wednesday night was bad, for I had a reaction to the Flexoril. Agitated and pacing while in amazing pain. Took Thursday off and called the NP back. She prescribed bed rest and another relaxant, which Connie was nice enough to pick it up for me. It did nothing, but Monie was a sweetie and came over to watch a movie with me. Of course I had a dinner date that night which I had to call and cancel because I was broken. Felt so stupid, but he was very sweet about it.

I went to bed hoping for a miracle.

Too Much Adventure

I've been told I need to blog, but a lot has happened since my last entry so I thought I'd warn you that the chronology will be off. Long story short for those who want to skip ahead:

Herniated a disc in my back
Had sugery on Sunday
Am staying with Lydia and Ralph until I can navigate my place
I have the most amazing people in my life.

For the long version, read on!

But before I let you do that, I have to say again how lucky I am. I have friends who will not only tell me they are there to help, but go all Mom on me and insist. They have supported me, taken care of me and put up with me and taken care of my little zoo at home. And taken off gross bandages. And while I was in the hospital I don't think I spent more than an hour alone when I was awake. There is no way I can really thank everyone for all they have done, but know that I think you are amazing.

Bummer

I was supposed to go to a concert tonight, but between coughing and such I had to cancel. I'm so very bummed to be missing Brian Setzer...and now I fear I may own Don all the lasagne he can eat!

Adopted for Thanksgiving

So with Mom and Dad in New Mexico I was trying to decide if I was going to spend Thanksgiving on my own or take someone up on the generous invitation to spend the holiday with their family. Lydia had invited me to her home and Monie had invited me to her parents. But then I found out Connie's family was going to Pittsburgh and she was staying behind. We hatched a plan for Chinese food on turkey day. Then Monie realized her parents would be in Germany...glad I hadn't taken her up on her offer! Sadly Monie doesn't do Chinese, so the three of us were adopted by Lydia.

While I waited for Connie to get to my place I pulled out Christmas decorations and tried to get up the enthusiasm for decking the halls. Happily Connie arrived before I had to dwell on that one. We headed to Lydia's, giving Monie directions along the way. The house was warm and smelled of yummy things. I kicked off my shoes because 1) they were a little muddy and 2) I wanted to check out the heated floor in the family room! Oh it was nice! I took Lydia up on her offer of a beer and was about a quarter of the way through it before I remembered I shouldn't be drinking while medicated...oops!

There were little ones running around, parts of Lydia's family I hadn't seen since the wedding and most of Ralph's family as well. I caught Zoe mid-run, much to the unhappiness of my back. When will I learn that kids get heavier as they get older? Connie, Monie and I ended up at our own little table-I liked the way there were multiple places to eat, much more casual and relaxed-with an extra seat for a rotating conversation. Lydia told us the story of Ralph's Turkey Roast (which was possibly the best turkey I've ever had) and Ralph's sister Rachel stopped over to catch us up on her life.

I was quite the sleepy camper by the pumpkin pie, so I was very happy when Connie and Monie said they would come with me to the shelter for the evening feeding. Connie and Monie took care of celery duty while I did water, food and meds. We left them quietly chewing and took ourselves home.

Say No to Drugs

You know I'm happy not to be coughing and all...but life is way more amusing than it should be. So I've been quiet at work, or at least I've tried to be. The meds for this bug are definitely making me goofier than normal...and the dreams about Armageddon are getting a bit old!

Constructive Insomnia

Okay, it isn't really insomnia. I got coughing so hard I couldn't sleep, so at 5:30 I gave up and got up. I was productive. I did the dishes, made breakfast and lunch, tidied up a bit and then popped online. On a hunch I decided to check flight prices for flying to see my Mom and Dad for Christmas.

I'd pretty much resigned myself to another sad Christmas in PA missing my parents, but as Thanksgiving approached I was beginning to dread it. Another friend was in the same boat over Thanksgiving but found it much cheaper to fly on the holiday. I figured it was worth checking. It turns out to be very true, I saved about $200. Then I sent a note to my dad asking if he'd be able to pick me up at the airport Christmas Day. Dad was delighted.

So my parents are getting me for Christmas, and yes I intend on slapping a bow on my head as I come off the plane!

Gee...I thought I was getting better

Who goes to the doctor with a cough? Apparently me. I managed to cough until I gagged Sunday night and I needed to renew some perscriptions anyway so I called my doctor's office yesterday to see if he had any evening appointments this week. He didn't but his partner did. Now, his partner is a nice and very good doctor, but I really wanted to see my doctor so I told the receptionist that I could just make an appointment for the following week...then I coughed. While I was used to the donkey like cough I've aquired over the past few weeks, she was a bit startled and told me I should really come in. So I took the appointment and was pleasantly surprised when the office called later in the afternoon to tell me my doctor had a cancellation and could see me that night.

So I sat in the exam room reading and coughing. I should explain that I actually have 3 coughs: The baby or more normal cough, the mommy or donkey-bray like cough, and the daddy or gagging and gasping for air cough. Kinda like the 3 bears with phlegm. Anyhow Dr. R came in and his first words were, "Was that you making that god awful noise?" I told him he should hear the bad (daddy) cough. After a short discussion and some heavy breathing/coughing he wrote me 3 perscriptions for "the good shit" since I was a pneumonia's door apparently. Interestingly enough, yesterday was the first day I was feeling pretty good. Go figure.

So off I went to the pharmacy where I slapped down my scripts for azithromicin, z-pac methylPREDNISolone, and codine along with my 3 renewals. 20 minutes later I sashayed my way out of the store with the biggest bag of drugs I'd ever seen. I felt about 80.

Once home I called Monie to let her know that I anticipated being unconcious in an hour so I wouldn't be able to join her and Mary for dinner, downed a butt load of pills with my pot pie and called my Mom. Why? Because I found this story amusing and I also wanted to make sure Dad told her I'd be there for Christmas after all.

Then I took my teaspoon of codine (when the instructions are 1 teaspoon every 12 hours you KNOW it's good!) and passed out shortly after.

So, if you have a cough that lasts more than 2 weeks, go to the doctor. My little piece of advice for the day!

Disturbing Trend Observed

I've stumbled upon a new low in the dating pool drive/doesn't drive conundrum.

First there was the boy who didn't drive. His eyesight was poor so he took public transportation to get where he wanted to go. He also had a house he was fixing up quite nicely. So yes, having to pick him up most of the time was annoying, but that wasn't the death nell for the relationship.

Then there was the boy who could drive, but didn't have a car to drive. Compounded with the "living with his parents" thing and working for minimum wage. Not good. In fact, he now has company because another potential date just moved in with his parents, has no car and just got a job at Banana Republic. He also keeps getting arrested so he may actually be lower on the scale.

But now there is a new non-driving low: No car, no license and refuses to go anywhere he can't walk to even though he lives in the city. As an experiment I offered to kidnap him off his barstool and make him go bowling. He resisted until I offered to lay a trail of beer bottles to the door. Now that is just sad. And he wonders why he's single...and I do the happy dance that I have a screening process in place!

A fun Filled Wednesday

After some work excitement I left early for a visit to the gynocologist (I told my mother this was how I intended to celebrate her birthday). Monie and I had plans for a movie that evening and I was looking forward to seeing her even though I was still sick with cold #2, which managed to overlap cold #1.

Monie, being the superhero she is, arrived with meds and cough drops. Any wonder I love this girl? Then we headed out to see Invincible. I'm not a big football fan, but I loved this movie. It made me apprecial the sport more and I never realized how much grace could be found in catching a pass.

I shall now return to coughing up a lung.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love my mom. Today she turned 64...which apparently came as a bit of a surprise because she had been telling people she was 64 all year.

Go Mom on managing to actually get younger on a birthday!

And for the record, she's been doing this ever since I can remember. She subtracts her birth year from the current one and forgets to factor in whether her birthday has passed.

Why?

In my quest to learn more about the male of the species I have been confronted with another behavior I can't quite explain. I braved another date on Sunday, and had a pretty good evening. When dinner was over he walked me to my car, stood there a moment then said, "Open it!" Startled, I took out my keys and unlocked the door. It seems he wanted to be chivalrous and open my door for me (no clue why). He then hugged me OVER the door and we parted for the night.

So here is my question: Why do some men try to open women's car doors? It makes sense if the woman is getting into the man's car, but when she's getting into her car? Especially odd since she has to unlock the door herself anyway. And to hug with a car door between you? Maybe he was enjoying our conversation more than I realized, but did he really need to cover it up with car parts?

Just odd.

Pretzel seeking Massuer

I've been working 12-13 hour days this week. I have an 8 hour day today, but stupid here agreed to go out on a date. I have to work tomorrow. My back feels like it may actually snap. I am currently thinking of finding two horses, tying my ankles to one and my wrists to another and yelling "GO" to see if I can improve my posture.

If anyone has a better idea please let me know!

Not Dead Yet!

I have a cold. I sound horrible, but I'm actually feeling a lot better. This morning it was the chest congestion that was bugging me, so I decided to stop at CVS on my way to work and pick up a cold remedy. While there I thought I'd get vitamin C drops and some tissues with lotion-sometimes you just have to pamper your nose.

I walked up to the check out and placed these items on the counter. The nice clerk asked how I was and I said "fine". He looked at my purchases and looked back at me. "Okay, I have a cold, but other than that I'm fine!"

It was quite funny and we both laughed. So nice to meet someone who isn't a complete sour-pus

Vote!

As dad would say, if you don't vote then you can't complain and I can tell you to shut up! I think FDR was a little more elequint: