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!
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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.

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!
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(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. :)
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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....?
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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!
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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!
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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?

And finally,

15. 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 phonograph^6
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

Baggu Grosgrain Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

Baggu Grosgrain Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

These are very cool reusable shopping bags!

heheheheeh

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

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!

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

Our Australian Friends

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

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.

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.

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.
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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.