Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Okay! Finally feeling better!

I realize I have not yet posted, but...I haven't been feeling quite like a million bucks. I feel like at least $10 today, so I thought I would post!

The surgery went well, it was reported to me that the tumor was lemon sized (no word on whether that was a large or small lemon) and that they got it all out. Lovely little self contained Burl! No word on the pathology yet, and the doctor's office won't tell me over the phone. I have my followup appointment on the 30th, so we will see then. The incision is massive and ugly, looks like railroad tracks. When the staples came out, I got to have stitches! But that's out too, so I am feeling much better. The surgery was on the 30th, and the hospital stay was...pretty awful. I was in a room for the first few days with a demented lady who threatened to kill me because I wouldn't give her water, never mind that I had just had surgery! She had just had hip surgery, though, so it wasn't like she could get up to kill me, it is just pretty stressful to have someone keeping you awake all the time threatening you. I think she was part vampire, because she only slept after the sun came up. I was changed to a new room on Monday, and my next roommate was sweet and nice, didn't threaten to kill me once.

On Tuesday I got my pain pump taken out, and then was abandoned for about 7 hours because my nurse call button was apparently not working. Previous to that, I had a special call button because of the pain pump. I begged the doctor to let me go home, but he wasn't having any of it. On Thursday, I begged my way out of there. You don't want to know what I had to do to get out, (It was GI system related) but as soon as I did it I announced it to the world! Mom came and drove me home, and all the plans I had for what to wear home were promptly chucked - I wore my pyjama pants instead. I had planned on a loose skirt and leggings, but that was NOT happening! On Sunday of that week I wrestled Mom for my truck keys, and had a couple good days - I couldn't do much for long, but I was feeling okay. On Wednesday I started feeling bad, and went to the Emerg, saw cousin Tom and got an antibiotic for what he thought was an abcess/infection near the bowel. Now, after five days on the antibiotics, I am feeling better again and have a bit more energy. Still not as much as I'd like, and I move pretty slowly, but...I can move!

So that's the good news, onward and upward from here, right?
Love you all!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Howdy y'all!

Well, today is the day to go to the hospital. Can't say I am looking forward to it, really! I think the fear of the unknown is probably the biggest issue for me at this point. Not that I am a control freak or anything! Well, maybe a little. I have to call between 9 and 10 to find out when the room is ready. Sort of like a bad hotel.

I have nothing profound to say. Keep up the prayers, they help so much! I am pretty sure I won't be posting for a while, but, know that I'm giving the doctors and nurses a hard time, and I am probably going to be annoyed because my hair is messy. See you in 7 to 10 days!

Love to all,
Ande, Andrene, 'Drene, 'Drenie

PS - I figured out the secret meaning of life - it's just what Jesus said - Love One Another.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Surgery Date!

My surgery will be October 30th - seems very very soon, even though it is what I have been waiting for! Now I just have to Vitamin C this cold to death and get ready to kick some butt!
a

Monday, October 19, 2009

Update!

My appointment, which was supposed to be today, was changed, at the last minute to last Wednesday. And here I am just updating you now! Imagine!

I went to Dr. Mowatt's office for the appointment and met with he and Dr. Morriss. I don't know that I mentioned that Dr. Mowatt's receptionist didn't know about the magic Canadian citizen no-need-to-pay form, and after talking to him about it last time, she told me that appointment was free, but if I didn't get my Medicare straightened out before this one, I would have to pay for it. Well, all mention of that went out the window at this appointment. Dr. Mowatt said keep working on Medicare because it will be easier in the long run, but everything is covered.

The verdict is: I will be having surgery. We still don't know what it is. They were sort of even disagreeing about it in front of me! LOL! Dr. Morriss was leaning towards paraganglioma, but Dr. Mowatt towards sarcoma. Doesn't really matter, cancer is cancer at this point. Interestingly, Dr. Mowatt perfectly described my own opinion of biopsies when he said "It has to come out regardless, why open it up into the retroperitoneal cavity?"

Both doctors kept saying I was young and otherwise healthy, like an annoying number of times. (I kept wanting to insert "attractive" as well, but I held back.) They can see the blood flow to the kidney and it doesn't look attached, so I may not lose that. Dr. Morriss said if it is not malignant, it is pre-malignant, so it needs to go. Dr. Mowatt said "We'll schedule you for surgery as soon as possible." I asked him to define the timeline a little further for me, and he said two to four weeks. Behind him, Dr. Morriss was mouthing "A month!". Seeing me looking at Dr. Morriss and trying not to laugh, Dr. Mowatt repeated himself. Dr. Morriss said "You must be doing surgery overtime, I won't be able to schedule this in for a month." Since we have two surgeons (Mowatt and Morriss) plus the neuro and cardiology who will have to be on standby, I think it is more than reasonable for it to be a month. I will be in the hospital 7 to 10 days unless there are complications. I asked about work and suggested I would be off for 2-4 weeks, but he said 6-8 weeks. Ewwww. I will get massive amounts of scrapbooking done, I guess. I will need more channels on the TV! I swear we got TLC and HGTV this summer but they no longer come in now. I have a stockpile of To Be Read books for the hospital.

I had to do a catecholamines/VMA test, which Dr. Morriss said should indicate if it were a pheochromocytoma (what Mom had, they changed the name, it was physiochromocytoma when she had it.) Said Dr. Morriss, theoretically the pheo would come with blood pressure changes that could be an issue during surgery, and when he said that, I said "That's what Mom had." and he said "He didn't tell me that. Did I know that?" And I said "I think so, maybe that's why you think paraganglioma." He gave me an appraising look. :) Mom didn't have any BP changes, I found out later, so I probably won't need to worry. I do need to do some more research though, since I thought pheo was no longer an option based on location. I am nothing if not curious.

I like Dr. Morriss, and I feel good about this. He has a sense of humor, and gets my stupid jokes, for which I am grateful. I was less comfortable with Dr. Mowatt last visit just because he seemed not to have a sense of humor (but then again, how many oncological surgery patients are looking for a sense of humor?) but in his defense he had a rotten cold and I am a complex case. In many ways!

So, after Laboratory Receiving finally determined which specimen jug I needed, I took my sample collection jugs home. When she gave it to me, it was a 3 l jug, and I asked for 2. She looked at me askance, but...I really did need two! It was no problem, although I couldn't go to the gravesite at Jerry's funeral because I had to run home to pee. I had to work Friday night, so I intended to finish up Friday morning (24 hour collection) and drop it off Friday before work. Due to overwhelming tiredness, I waited and dropped it off Saturday morning. I also went to Zellers, the Thrift store (scored two biggish pots! Yay! Now I have a pot big enough for potatoes for a Mosher family dinner!) and Deluxe Fish and Chips while I was in the City. I got home at noon and decided to cut kindling, since I would be able to sleep that night.... and of course I got called in to work. So I worked Saturday night.

This week, I have to work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday days, and then Friday night. Next week will be all nights. I may be too old for this! LOL! Even after a three hour nap yesterday (and believe me I nap at work) I had very little strength in my legs to walk in to work with today. Not so much of an issue that I am more than slowed down by it, but enough that I notice and am annoyed by it. I just kind of feel that I am walking through knee deep water. Other than that, the back pain is consistent, I have to sit down to tie my work boots and it is difficult to shave my legs in the shower. Mom and Jessie are going to get me one of those little old lady shower chairs, and for the boots, my chair was moved out of the entry way when I was moving stuff, so once I put that back, all will be well. I still fall over a little bit when I stand up too fast, and I am a little bit slow at getting up. Other than that, no issues.

That's the update!
a

Monday, September 28, 2009

???

Dr. Mowatt wanted another CT. He said that would take 7-10 days to schedule, then schedule the appointment for 2 weeks later. I went downstairs and sucked up to the nice lady at CT, then went back upstairs and waited for Dr. Mowatt's nurse to come back from lunch, got a copy of the orders, went back downstairs and she fit me in right then instead of coming back tomorrow, which she originally thought she had to do. So I saved 7-10 days. Done, $977 later, but the radiologist here wouldn't use contrast either, so we are no further ahead. He and Dr. Morriss (the urologist) will consult and decide what to do next. My appointment is for the 19th to review the results. Hope someone at work will change shifts with me!

He said if it is lymphoma they will do radiation (not sure how they would differentiate), they may decide to do a biopsy but not likely, I will probably lose a kidney because of the blood flow issue, and that was about it. He did think surgery was still the most likely.

Now I am off to Texas to load up a truck and list the house with a realtor.
a

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Irritated - and someone may have to be harmed.

The back story: The company I work for, Skymedical, is subcontracted to NBPower to provide emergency medical 24/7 for the refurbishment. Skymedical provides a paramedic 24/7. During normal conditions, there is an occupational health nurse here Monday-Thursday and a ??? (guy we'll call Al - his qualifications are questionable) here Tues-Fri, both of these are during office hours. For some reason, the guy we'll call Al hates Skymedical. My first day, he ran down the company and my immediate supervisor, and even took a few potshots at the Skymedical owner. Being a person who doesn't give a crap, I didn't pay much attention. Someone said he wanted to work for the company, and wasn't hired. Someone else said he had a friend who was supposed to get the contract and didn't. He is a little little man, and all very short men have issues, in my experience. So, I ignored it. Who really cares? However, then Al gave my chest pain patient Pepto-Bismol and told him he didn't have to go to the hospital. And that was when I realized, this guy can be very dangerous.

Last week, an email came out to all Skymedical employees saying that a new schedule password would be issued because non-employees had access to the pswd, and that this password must be guarded with one's life, the schedule could no longer be viewed from the Health Unit computer, so this guy we call Al would not be able to access it. Apparently this annoyed him.

So, when Dr. Mowatt called for me at this number (why? Not sure The only reason they would have this number is because I called Dr. Wheelock's office from here...) He took a message. And then he took a little black book and put a sticker on the front that said "All skymedical employees must read this every day and initial to show that they have received the message." And then proceeded to write in there four pages of random things including "July 25: All employees must leave this book on the desk. Red book is to be put in cabinet." Until finally, at the bottom, the last message says:

"2009/09/25
Hi Ande, Dr. Mowatt's office called. Needed to get a hold of you before Monday. I don't have a list of Skymedical employee #s. I don't even know the password to know when your next shift is. Al."

Perhaps, then, dumbass, you could say - "No, I am sorry, she isn't working today, why don't you call her at home? Or on her cell phone? Or call her referring doctor?" But no, he takes full responsibility for something he has no intention of doing, getting the message to me. There was no call to my cell or my home phone from the doctor. Why? Because I am certain the "kind" gentleman at the HEALTH UNIT said he would take care of it. And we assume that other people will behave as professionals. Instead, this guy would prefer to inconvenience me and possibly impact my health, by making certain I have no way to get his message, just so that he can make the point to someone somewhere that his feelings are hurt for not being included with the new password to the schedule.

So, now, back to the most important part of this - why does Dr. Mowatt's office want me to call them before Monday? The options are not positive, with the worst being that my appointment has been cancelled. But hey, how would I know? Maybe they want me to fast for bloodwork? Maybe I am supposed to bring something else? No idea. :(

Ande

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I have a report!

I have an appointment with Dr. Mowatt (James!) next Monday at 11 AM. Then I am theoretically off to Texas to pack up a U-haul (Actually a Penske, because Robert said they are far far better!) and list the house with an agent, finished or not.

Everyone comoing into the health unit is sick! Which, of course, stands to reason, I suppose. Today alone we went through a 40 pill bottle of cold and sinus, a 24 pack of the same, TWO boxes of immodium (you know that's for diarrhea, right?) and one whole thing of Pepto-Bismol. YUCK! I am being very careful about handwashing, not touching my face, and I am eating tons of Vitamin C. I also read a very interesting article that has convinced me I should also be eating more vitamin D!

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/05/16/f-health-vitamin-d.html

I am a fan of these vitamin things. :)
Love to all
Drene



And......Kelly - I am so sorry I have not yet returned your sweet message! I will do so soon, I promise, Friday is my day off this week. YAY!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Nothing to report

Called the doctor (Wheelock) today about the appointment with the next doctor (Mowatt), they have been out of the office since Wednesday, according to their message. I left a message and will follow up again on Monday.
a

Friday, September 11, 2009

Waiting

Dr. Wheelock says he isn't the man for me. :(

I have to see Dr. Mowatt, a general surgeon with hepatobiliary system/liver/pancreas as a 'specialty' and oncology 'experience'. He should be joined for surgery by a Dr. Morris, (a urologist I believe) and apparently other characters as well to deal with the vein and artery from the kidney and the inferior vena cava, as well as the duodenum. Par-tay!

So I am waiting for Lori from Dr. Wheelock's office to make me a "fairly urgent" appointment, I am to follow up next Friday if I haven't heard from her by then.

I'm feeling a bit hateful right now, since my lovely new job can't figure out how to pay me, or at least not a consistent dollar value, and my phone died in the middle of talking to Andrene. So, I won't subject y'all to my pissyness, since everything will look better in the morning. God, I hope so anyways!
a

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Appointment time!

On Thursday afternoon, I called the doctor's office and got....no answer.

On Friday morning I called and..... got an appointment! The receptionist was very nice, she said that they wanted to fit me in next week, but had no appointments left on Wednesday, the day they normally saw patients. But, she was going to see if the doc would see me on Friday. She would ask him and call me back. I gave her my number at work so she could call back and explained that I worked shifts. She said...you work in Lepreau? Why yes! She knew the prefix because she lives in Musquash! We're like sisters now. :)

She called me back with a 10:30 next Friday, September 11th, appointment time. Woohoo!

Interesting notes:
1. One guy I work with, his wife is my fifth cousin, and they were at the reunion in Caraquet last month as well. In fact, he was sitting two rows ahead of us, and heard me translating to Olive. He also noted the freakishly small chair I fell into. He also thought the speaker (who happened to be his father in law) went on far too long, and said that even if you were a francophone it was still boring.
2. One girl I work with, she is the cousin of the next door neighbor/childhood friend of my oldest nephew, and she hung out with the daughter of my cousin MM, who is not currently working for NRF but is working in Rad Control, and he was here last night. In my very office.

Tiny little world, or what?

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Last thing before bed...

So....
Now, theoretically, they are going to call me and my appointment will be within a week. More tomorrow, I am sleepy. But.... kind of tiresome still. :)
a

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Dooodeedodo....

Whenever I am thinking things, I think, "I should blog that." Then I get to the blog page, and I think....what was that again? Forgetful!

Sometimes, I get to this page, and I think...wow, I can't post that, that's very negative! Interestingly enough, I think that maybe I have been wrong to not post negative things. The past few days have been very stressful for me. I have been trying to make all the people in my life happy, but the conflicting demands make that difficult. In the end, I made myself happy and no one was hurt too too much. I don't think. :)

Last night we got together and had a bonfire, Mom, Loretta, Charlene, Kathy and Kevin and the kids. We had fun, even including Mom thinking a bear might come eat us. :) But this is the crappy part - several times during the night I found myself thinking - will this be the last time I get to do this? And I am not even SICK! Very annoying. It is kind of like there is something hanging over my head, but I can't tell what it is. Might hurt, might not.

It is almost as if, I can't be my usual annoying busy body self with my nieces and nephews because I want them to remember me as different than that. And that is kind of what I have been doing with everyine else too, trying to have a bit of a "nice" persona that really doesn't fit all that well sometimes. My lesson from the last few days is that trying to make everyone happy just makes me unhappy.

I haven't been feeling well ever since my night shift on Thursday. I am not sure if I am too old or just too stressed but...ick. I must confess I am not looking forward to the family picture tomorrow... I intended to go to Clothesline today to look for a new shirt, but that didn't happen. I will be more excited when I know what I will wear, perhaps. I think It is time to go sit in my chair with the light out and pretend I am reading.
:)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Which reminds me...

The guy I work with here if I am on weekdays has a nickname. Guess what it is?


BERT.

Good thing we re-named Bert to be Burl.
:)
a

AN UPDATE! (well, sort of!)

Today was the day I was allowed to call and check in with June (the very nice reception person at Dr. Debertin's office) if the doc hadn't called me yet.... So I did.

She called and the temporary receptionist (the usual one is on vacation) could not find a record of me. She will be back on Tuesday and June will call her again. :(

How embarrassing since I keep telling all my Texas friends how much more awesome Canadian healthcare is!

On a related note, I had another long conversation about Paramedic care in NB with another Paramedic. One interesting comment was "We used to have the highest save rate in the country. (Referring to the SJ area) Now I can't remember the last save." Since the big change, they no longer have cardiac drugs. :( Sadly, the leveling that occurred in the province meant better care for some, but lesser care for others. And Joe Q. Public has no way of knowing! This Joan Q. Public is finding out way too much.

Not all paramedics are allowed to carry Valium. They have "Diazepam Intercepts" to stop patients from seizing. What the f? Who loses brain cells from seizures? Why, children, of course.

From another source, I found out that there are still areas in the province with BLS ambulances. Notably, they are also in areas where native Canadians live. First Nations get lesser care? Wonder why. Very saddened about this, the more I learn about the systems the more I see the broke parts. :(

So, I think I am going to sit quietly for a while and learn more. I may have to try to save the world after all. *Sigh*

A Super Hero's job is never done.
Ande

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Anonymous Cousin

Above the Happy Baker? This sounds interesting!!!!
a

Waiting

LOVELY! :)
Still waiting for the neurosurgeon. Just so you know!
a

Sunday, August 16, 2009

And the Update is....

There really isn't one. :)

Nothing to see here. Move along......

Still waiting for the very busy (see, he must be good) Dr. WHEELOCK (We remembered - thanks Olive!) to call with an appointment. Neurosurgery must be Booming!
a

Friday, August 14, 2009

Waiting

Mom, Olive and I went to Fredericton today for coffee with Margot, Bronwyn, Angie and the kids. Good coffee, good conversation! Still waiting. :) But my face hasn't leaked all day. Good times.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Update - Bert is now Burl!

Bert has been renamed Burl! Why...because of the song, Goodbye Earl! Sing it with me....Goodbye, Burl! That was Olive's idea yesterday!

My wonderful Dr. Debertin has already sent my information to the neurosurgeon, we should have an appointment time call back next week, he thinks. It was actually nice to see Dr. Debertin again, he looks just like I remember, with just maybe a few new grey hair, and what a fabulous sense of humor he has. I didn't remember how funny he is!

I enjoyed the opprortunity to kind of recap 20 years of my life fairly quick. :)

***This post was temporarily suspended so that I could run to get a printer at Cox. It is now MUCH MUCH later.***

While I was at Cox asking to see Maggie, who had just stepped out to lunch, the guy had to get the phone....it was for me. :) Have to love a small town. It was Olive, Dr. Debertin's office had called and wanted me to call them before 4. I decided to just drive over there, since I had an hour to kill until Maggie got back.

Since I am clearly tired, I can't remember the name of the neurosurgeon...even though I have been saying it all day. Dr. Debertin said their office would call me within the next couple weeks with an appointment, and not to worry about the medicare, they have a special form and blah blah blah. WOW, huh? Thank you Canada oh great land of love and free healthcare! Thank you taxpayers! Dr. D said he had never heard of the form but it meant no 90 day wait for reinstatement of coverage, because I am a CANADIAN! Love it! That means my money worries are much much relieved.

He did present an interesting way of looking at the possibility of a biopsy, which everyone knows I am 100% against (or, at least I was.) He said, if you onlyhave four months to live, do you want to spend two of them recovering from surgery? Good point. Made me rethink a bit. However, as we are all aware, there is nothing I can't kick, and this will be no different. I will live to be the crazy cat lady. Woohoo!

I went to see Ella's play this evening, the Faery's Kiss, and it was wonderful. It is so fun to go somewhere and have half the audience wave when you walk in. Wooh, it was hot in there though! She mentioned that Dr. Tom had been to Dr. W - the neurosurgeon with no name - the day prior and had mentioned me so when Dr. D called, he was a tiny bit familiar. I very much appreciate the love everyone is showing me. Blessings, falling from the sky.

After the play we came home for Mom's homemade ice cream and a lively raspberry filled cake she had made. She also made us an amazing dinner tonight, Chicken Salad Piccata from the Rachel Ray recipes I absconded with from the doctor's office in Texas. Funny moment: I confessed to ripping them out of the magazine and my doctor said "This isn't the time to be worried about that!" to which I replied "Great, hand me the rest of the magazine then!"

In honor of the evening's entertainment:
Cast Of Characters: (since some readers are not in the full Mosher family loopage...)
Olive: Amazing sister whom I love
Maggie: Beautiful nice, daughter of Jessie, amazing sister whom I love. Maggie works at Cox, an electronics store, and has been voted "Family IT person."
Dr. Debertin: Childhood doctor (technically teenhood), with amazing sense of humor. Smart, AND funny!
Ella: Cousin from my mother's father's side... geesh. Cousin somehow, anyways, whom I love. Hooked me back up with Dr. D, who accepted me back as a patient thanks to this wonderful woman, who also is an amazing Actor. I practically lived at Ella's house as a teen. Tuesdays were at Ella's!
Dr. Tom: Ella's husband, kind intelligent surgeon who is rather stuck with a lot of random family bits like me by marriage and yet accepts it all with grace.
Dr. W: The as yet unknown neurosurgeon.
Mom: Somewhat self explanatory!

As a final act to the evening's post, I need mention that my cat can open doors. Even without opposable thumbs. So she is now no longer confined to my bedroom, and is wandering the house. Stacey saw her in the fireplace earlier this evening! She is on a chair near me looking quite happy and self sufficient. Hopefully she'll catch a mouse or something to prove her worth.
:)
Please keep praying, y'all!
a

(Insert theme from Sesame Street here)

Sunny days, chasing the clouds away....

It has been sunny every day since I have gotten here! The weather is beautiful and I have been having a blast with Olive and Stacey messing about with jacking up the house, and various other fun projects.

I am off to the doctor this morning. Warning, in advance: Nothing new or interesting will be learned from this visit. All that will occur is a discussion of treatment to date, and where we shall send me. :)
a

Friday, July 31, 2009

Tom Tom and Bert

Answering questions left in comments:

Tom Tom does not include time for restroom breaks or, most importantly, FOOD, Angie! However, I think he'll easily restart. because we all know I am not a girl who misses meals!

It was Frances who thought up Bert for a name. Realistically, no one knows a Bert in person except Shane, and the Bert he knew was a jealous fella. Other than Bert on Sesame Street that is. So, can we call this THING Bert, or is that just wrong? I kind of already think of it as Bert. Since it is part of my body at the moment, I am kind of not wishing a whole lot of ill upon it. Come on, picture Bert... you know you want to...Now isn't that a much nicer image than a scary old tumor?

I must, however refrain from calling it Bert in front of the general public and any healthcare professionals. Just in case anyone gets any funny ideas about my sanity.

The cat is completely unprepared for our trip tomorrow, but... all her stuff is ready to go. I wonder if she wonders why her litter box is by the door? She was completely able to find it, in fact, she gave me a bit of a funny look, like "What, too lazy to bring it all the way back in after you clean it?"

Since I don't seem to be able to sleep now, do you think that means I will be able to drive and drive and drive....?
a

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Howdy!

I decided at 4:37 in the morning that it was foolish to stay up all night to get ready to drive all day, so I decided to leave tomorrow morning. What a relief! Olive sent me a wonderful email about stress and it included setting priorities and also modifying them. This is a modification moment.

Packing is so much more fun when you have enough time. :) I have a cooler, snacks, and lots more to do, but I am relaxed and not stressed. Mac dropped me off a Tom Tom, which tells me I will be there 34 hours after I leave. I need a snack, then I am off to finish cleaning out the truck (good opportunity to vacuum it! And then put the stuff in, ready to go in the morning.

Yay! A good day!
a

The THING

For anyone new to the topic, I have a THING. I promise to go back and fill in all the nitty gritty details, including all the interesting bits, but for now you get a brief recap and an update.

I had a body scan as part of a firefighter physical, and a mass was seen medial to the right kidney. A second, more detailed CT confirmed a baseball sized tumor (we prefer "mass") medial to the kidney, touching the duodenum and with slight mass effect on the inferior vena cava. Without the medical speak: Thingy in there. :)

My doc sent me to an oncologist - more on that later. Since I was unable to get an appointment, my doc sent me for an MRI. It was called in as a contrast CT - more on that later too. :) I managed to get a copy of the radiologist report (before my doc did, as usual) and....

THING has attached to the musculature near the spine. Not attached to the kidney or adrenal gland though! No adenopathy, no jacked up lymph nodes. (What!? The radiologist really said that! Ok, maybe not...) Considerations include schwanoma, paraganglioma, and sarcoma. We hate option 3, by the way, but the other two are nothing to pray for either. :)

So. if I were staying here, my doc would send me to a neurosurgeon to get that thing taken out. In fact, he said he would send me to one of the "Big Boys" at UT Southwestern in Dallas. I assume his use of the word "Big Boys" was not intended to infer that there are no adequate female neurosurgeons. *sigh*

I am happy about the neurosurgery thought because it seems to not involve an oncologist and therefore not involve the word "biopsy". We hate that word. (Unless otherwise specified, "we" refers to the cat and I. She generally has the same opinion as I do, whether it is because I feed her or because she genuinely agrees, I am not sure.)

We'll see what the docs in Canada think! I leave in the morning, pre-supposing of course, that I stop doing this and go pack. Might need clothes. Talk soon!
a

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Grosgrain: Baggu GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Baggu GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cheese - I may never do #2 again...

Dave Ramsey said to read the Cheese book again, so I went a few steps further, and did some Cheese Research.

iCheese

These are from the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

Change Happens
They Keep Moving the Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get Ready for the Cheese to Move
Monitor Change
Smell the Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt to Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move with the Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor the Adventure and the Taste of New Cheese!
Be Ready to Quickly Change Again and Again
They Keep Moving the Cheese

These are some real-life cheese rules.

  1. Never give your old cheese away in anticipation of finding new cheese.
  2. Never turn down cheese offered to you, even if you already have too much.
  3. Never turn down cheese offered to you just because you've never seen that kind before and have no idea what to do with it. When someone brings unfamiliar cheese to you, your response should be "I've done this many times."
  4. Don't let anyone else know you've found some cheese.
  5. Don't share your cheese.
  6. Cheese can go away at any time without notice, hence #5.
  7. Cheese can go bad at any time. When this happens, disregard #5 and go ahead and share your cheese. An added benefit of this is that it will appear as if you're finding cheese for others (Hey? isn't this what the managers are supposed to be doing?) and you'll be a hero.
  8. Do not ask for tools (e.g. software, or a computer that is at least as fast as the secretary's) that will help you bring in new cheese.
  9. Do not expect your head cheese (i.e. manager, but we wanted to use the word cheese as much as possible) to find you cheese. You are expected to find the cheese. (Just where did you think they get their overhead?)
  10. If you let your head cheese find you some cheese, it will be out in the desert*, or maybe even out of state (remember - out of state, out of mind. Umm, actually I just made that up).
  11. Be careful. Just because it looks like cheese and/or smells like cheese, it may not actually be cheese.1 (This reminds us of the Cheech2 and Chong3 dog story4. If you don't know who Cheech and Chong are then go to an antique store and try to find one of their records.5 Or you could look at their website. - editor)
  12. If you run out of cheese you'll be assigned to do self-assessments until you learn not to run out of cheese.
  13. The self-assessments will take all of your time so you will not be able to look for new cheese.
  14. Did you ever think that maybe they keep moving the cheese because they don't want you to find it?
  15. And finally,

  16. Never cut the cheese (oh come on, you were thinking this yourself).

Other Cheese-Related Thoughts

  • Always activate your screen-saver when you walk away from your computer. This will prevent others from entering your office while you're out and discovering that you actually have cheese.
  • Remember, cheese spelled backwards is eseehc.

*Okay. This is actually pretty specific, referring to a fictional business that is located near what is sometimes referred to as the desert. The point is no one really wants to go out there and if you don't find your own cheese they'll find you some so that you have to ride the bus 1½ hours each way, everyday, to your new job at this fictional business.
1 Submitted by Ron S.9 (Ron is now on the list of people who can’t report this website.)
2 Cheech Marin is on some show with Don Johnson, if anybody cares.8
3 Tommy Chong makes irregular appearances on That 70's Show.8
4 Okay. It goes something like this. "Looks like dog , smells like dog , feels like dog , tastes like dog , it must be dog . Good thing we didn't step in it." (Hey, come to think of it, this is exactly like some cheese I've come across.)
5 record (rêk’erd) n. a disc, usually made of vinyl, designed for playing on a phonograph6
6 phonograph (fo’ne-graf) n. An instrument that uses a vibrating needle to reproduce recorded sound from the grooves of a disc (i.e. a record). Commonly called a record player, (or turntable by an audiophile7).
7 audiophile (ô’dê-a-fïl) n. A person who calls a record player a turntable.
8 Cheech and Chong, neither of who (Or is it whom? Whom cares.) have provided any cheese-related quotes, both are still alive, and both make more money than you ever will.
9 Stewart

Friday, March 13, 2009

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Reading

Well... I was reading Through a Glass Darkly, but it sucked, and it fell in the toilet. :) So after it dries out, it goes in the recycling. I just finished Maeve Binchy's Whitethorn Woods, so many characters, and she tied tham all together so well at the end, took care of everyone!

I just got Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager from Paperback Swap - woohoo! So I guess those will be next. I have been PBS, DVDS and CDSing everything lately, just to lighten my load to get ready to move. fun fun fun

Monday, February 23, 2009



I was making a fun fruit bouquet for Tammie, since it's her birthday today, and I decided to do bananas in melted butterfingers bars.... sounds yummy, right? So I made them, and left them to cool...then when I went back into the kitchen, I started laughing so hard the cat had to come check on me. They looked like poo! Not just crappy looking, but real poo looking!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Crazy Pizza Dough Recipe

Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Dough Recipe

Heidi notes: Peter's recipe says the olive (or vegetable oil) is optional. I use it every time - always olive oil, not vegetable oil. I love the moisture and suppleness it adds to the dough, and it makes your hands soft too.

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.

3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)

4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Let rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method.

7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.

8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.

9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.

Makes six 6-ounce pizza crusts.

from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (Ten Speed Press) - reprinted with permission

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Our Australian Friends

Volunteer Firefighters really DO, do it well. This picture is of a volunteer firefighter in Australia rescuing a koala.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Mega mega megamega Code

See, this is what you get when you are the only paramedic in an ACLS class full of nurses, and your instructors are paramedics. My patient walked in the station for a BP check, and died. He was in v-tach, went to v-fib, I converted him and hung a lidocaine drip, he went into PEA, had a medic alert bracelet that said DNR, no wait that was dia and there is a shunt, no wait that was diab...he was the most messed up patient evah! LOL. By the end we were all just thinking of things that could go wrong with this poor guy! And of course, I had to treat them all. He actually became diabetic because I couldn't remember what possible treatment I might have in my bag of tricks for a PEA dialysis patient. Score! LOL!

Now I have to look that up. :)

I passed, now I have a current CPR card and a current ACLS card again *phew!*. I need my criminal background check for Canada, and I need Dr. Ansohn to sign off for the US, and then I should be able to send everything off to both countries. I hope to get that done Friday - because I still feel poopy and want to rest tomorrow. In fact, I stopped at Wal-Mart for Nyquil/Dayquil and lotion tissues on my way to class, and have some Nyquil on board as we speak. Nice warm sleep.... yes....

I still can't taste anything, that makes eating so fun. But I was able to buy cheap hot chocolate at Wal-Mart, since I can't taste it anyways. My head is feeling rather...shall we say...cottony. Ready for bed.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Oh yeah

I believe that if I have a barn for God to fill he will fill it. And no, this isn't a reference to the crap in my barn. But God will fill my cup, or my barrel, or my barn, I just have to believe that he has the blessings to fill whatever vessel of praise I have to offer. I am increasing my capacity to receive. The praises go up, and grace like rain falls down to overflow my capacity to receive. Hooyah!

ook

I feel a little yucky, some kind of sinus thing. I took some kind of sinus decongestant, that has just upped my kleenex use so far. I am starting to look like that little kid on the commercial. Or Rudolph. Not cool. Off to do stuff, I swear.

Monday, February 02, 2009

YUP

Fully functional cooktop. Fully functional! Woohoo!

I will be making french onion soup tomorrow. I am so excited, I may start tiling tonight. Yee-haw! I think I need to TAPE newspaper to the counter first. Just in case, you know.
a

And today we have...

A working range hood.
A working wall oven.
Gas lines and electrical done to the cooktop.
Got the sink working last night.
It's almost like a real kitchen.
Only took two more visits to Lowe's and one more to Home Depot. I also have a working flashlight, soon to be two, and I picked up some more microfiber cloths. Pink, this time.

Ah, life is good.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

I have NOT been good about publishing to my blog lately. I have a lot of different foci in my life right now, and losing weight doesn't seem to be one of them! lol Oka, I haven't gained massive weight, but I have not really been using my time to my best advantage when it comes to that.

I have been focusing on the house and remodeling the kitchen, and I really haven't even been all that good with that. It seems to overwhelm me - in that I get to a stuck point and I have to go do something different. I have been working on two seemingly simple faucets for a week, for example. You don't even want to know how many trips to Home Depot and Lowe's I have been through! Tonight I actually got the HD guy to take a faucet similar to mine out of the box and connect a waterline to it, just to prove it could be done, LOL! So I bought new connections, since I already got a new faucet. If the tools aren't broken, the parts must be, right? This isn't rocket science. I have a fine brain. If someone else has successfully done this, I surely can figure it out. Just repeat that, over and over and over, and you'll have spent the last week with me. LOL.

In a good note, I managed to get $375 in faucets for $194 on ebay - and it would have been $174 but I didn't read the auction well enough and had to buy a single hole deckplate separately. Of course, the guy from Home Depot said if I had brought it to him, he could have called and got me one for free. Bummer! But I still saved mucho dollars.

I just had to get up because I smelled *gasp* fresh air. The front door was locked, and open. Not sure how I did that! But yes, I checked for boogeymen, and all is well. It must not have been shut all the way when I clicked the lock. Fooled it, I did the deadbolt too this time. I was outside cutting the diagonals in the tile earlier, wearing a garbage bag, of course, before I got too chilly. I am warmed up nicely now, and I have to get back to the faucet and the gas stove connection. I am looking forward to having a stove, oven and range hood! In fact, I bought the stuff to make lasagne because of it!

I have also been slowly and limpingly cleaning out the scrapbook room, fun. It really sucks because I know I am going to have to seriously cut down on the amount of "stuff" in order to move it. For now, I am getting rid of the obvious, putting it in the closet in the spare room for a yard sale. I may start trying to ebay some things, I ordered a new camera with my $75 Dell coupon to remove that excuse. Off to check twopeas before I get back to work...

JOY walks here... PEACE follows... COMFORT saves...

This is where life should be lived