June 25 - Just a quickie:
The MRI has been scheduled! It's this Friday at 2:00. I e-mailed my inside contact at Dr. C's office and asked her if it was normal for 2.5 weeks to go by without hearing from Borg Imaging. She told me to go ahead and contact them myself. My paperwork was faxed over to them the same day I had my appointment so there wasn't any reason for the appointment to not have been made. I guess things got lost in the shuffle once again. The medical world is pretty inefficient if you ask me. They need to hire an OCD Quinn type person to kick them in the pants and get things cleaned up and clicking along smoothly!
I was stressed for a week about those stupid molds being taken of my teeth. I have no idea how Dr. L at the hospital managed to make it such an unpleasant activity last summer. The TMJ chick at the dentist office yesterday had me in and out in 20 minutes with no problems at all!! My guards will be ready next Tuesday. I go in for a fitting. Then TMJ chick said that she's going to monitor me carefully and if I'm not getting any relief within 2 weeks she can refit the guards and if that still doesn't do it, she's going to put me in touch with a chiropractor and a massage therapist. I didn't have the heart to tell her that there's no way I'm going to let a stranger give me a massage. I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about a stranger laying hands on me! Ewwww! I also bought a heating pad yesterday to use on my neck and jaw for 20 minutes every night like Dr. K suggested. Unfortunately I got so wrapped up in watching the premiere of Under the Dome that I forgot about it. So tonight I'll give it a try and see if it helps.
That's all I have to report. I'm feeling guilty about the huge lapse between blogs so now you're getting some mini blogs a few days apart. :-)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
June 23 - I know, I know. I'm a total slacker. In my defense, I don't really have much to report.
The MRI still hasn't been scheduled. I'm probably going to have to make a follow up phone call about that, which thrills me to no end. <---sarcasm
I saw my dentist. She refuses to use the molds I had taken less that a year ago (bitch) so I now have an appointment tomorrow to get those re-done. That's going to traumatize the hell out of me.
I saw Dr. K last week for an annual check up and received a third opinion. She wants me to start putting a heating pad on my neck for 15-20 minutes before I go to sleep. She also thinks the night guard for the teeth grinding is a good first step but she said if I don't get relief from the pain within a couple of months of using it that I need to come see her again. She said there are other avenues to investigate for solutions and she doesn't want me to become resigned to living with chronic pain. Have I mentioned I love her?
I talked to her about the thrush medicine. I decided that I'm going to continue with the two pill dose as needed rather than taking a pill every week to prevent it in the first place. I kind of want to know if and when I'm still getting it. It's a control thing, I'm sure.
One of the cool things about the annual checkup was that we could go through my list of 'ailments' and talk about where I'm at. We were able to mark a bunch of them as 'resolved' in my file. Hair loss is no longer an issue. The numbness in two of my fingers of my left hand magically went away after I lost all the weight. The birth control implant is working well. I no longer have a weight problem. There seemed to be a lot of pluses going on which was a huge mood booster! :-)
Improvements:
- Thrush comes and goes.
- Spit production probably around 50% at this point.
- Bullfrog effect still happening.
- Garbled talking. Swollen throat.
- Partial taste buds - Sweet is around 15% right now.
Fun stuff:
I finished my golf lessons. Unfortunately I haven't noticed any improvement in my game yet. I definitely need to go get fitted for a new driver though. I'm holding on to the hope that it will help. :-)
Went to Florida to see Dad. Fun! We golfed, toured a castle, saw alligators, played cards, and basically just had a really good visit. I'm heading back in December to do it again!
Yesterday Scott and I participated in something called CitySolve which is like The Amazing Race TV show but it's here in Rochester. We spent the afternoon solving puzzles and walking around the city to capture our answers with a camera. We had a blast! We're already plotting our strategy for next year's race.
Today I spent the afternoon at Sea Breeze with my friend Elvisa and her ankle biter, Evan (1 1/2 years old). He was a little cranky so it was a pretty soggy outing for a good 2 1/2 hours. He finally perked up the last 1/2 hour we were there. I got some really good pics for her though so it was a good outing in my book!
Busy week coming up. Scott and I are having dinner with Kit and Fran on Wednesday night, Thursday night I scored free tickets to a cocktail party at the Jazz Fest, and then Friday night Scott and I signed up to play a Scotch (golf) at the Woodcliff hotel. Amazingly, I have zero plans for the actual weekend. I think I'm going to kick back and enjoy the hell out of some down time!
The MRI still hasn't been scheduled. I'm probably going to have to make a follow up phone call about that, which thrills me to no end. <---sarcasm
I saw my dentist. She refuses to use the molds I had taken less that a year ago (bitch) so I now have an appointment tomorrow to get those re-done. That's going to traumatize the hell out of me.
I saw Dr. K last week for an annual check up and received a third opinion. She wants me to start putting a heating pad on my neck for 15-20 minutes before I go to sleep. She also thinks the night guard for the teeth grinding is a good first step but she said if I don't get relief from the pain within a couple of months of using it that I need to come see her again. She said there are other avenues to investigate for solutions and she doesn't want me to become resigned to living with chronic pain. Have I mentioned I love her?
I talked to her about the thrush medicine. I decided that I'm going to continue with the two pill dose as needed rather than taking a pill every week to prevent it in the first place. I kind of want to know if and when I'm still getting it. It's a control thing, I'm sure.
One of the cool things about the annual checkup was that we could go through my list of 'ailments' and talk about where I'm at. We were able to mark a bunch of them as 'resolved' in my file. Hair loss is no longer an issue. The numbness in two of my fingers of my left hand magically went away after I lost all the weight. The birth control implant is working well. I no longer have a weight problem. There seemed to be a lot of pluses going on which was a huge mood booster! :-)
Improvements:
- Thrush comes and goes.
- Spit production probably around 50% at this point.
- Bullfrog effect still happening.
- Garbled talking. Swollen throat.
- Partial taste buds - Sweet is around 15% right now.
Fun stuff:
I finished my golf lessons. Unfortunately I haven't noticed any improvement in my game yet. I definitely need to go get fitted for a new driver though. I'm holding on to the hope that it will help. :-)
Went to Florida to see Dad. Fun! We golfed, toured a castle, saw alligators, played cards, and basically just had a really good visit. I'm heading back in December to do it again!
Yesterday Scott and I participated in something called CitySolve which is like The Amazing Race TV show but it's here in Rochester. We spent the afternoon solving puzzles and walking around the city to capture our answers with a camera. We had a blast! We're already plotting our strategy for next year's race.
Today I spent the afternoon at Sea Breeze with my friend Elvisa and her ankle biter, Evan (1 1/2 years old). He was a little cranky so it was a pretty soggy outing for a good 2 1/2 hours. He finally perked up the last 1/2 hour we were there. I got some really good pics for her though so it was a good outing in my book!
Busy week coming up. Scott and I are having dinner with Kit and Fran on Wednesday night, Thursday night I scored free tickets to a cocktail party at the Jazz Fest, and then Friday night Scott and I signed up to play a Scotch (golf) at the Woodcliff hotel. Amazingly, I have zero plans for the actual weekend. I think I'm going to kick back and enjoy the hell out of some down time!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
June 9 - Not a good week.
I decided that since the ear, jaw, neck thing is getting progressively worse, I had better call in the big guns. Actually, Leo called in the big guns. His sister-in-law works for Dr. C (the ENT cancer doctor) so he called her up, she rearranged some stuff and got me in to see a doc at 8:00 Wednesday morning. If I had waited until Thursday, I could have seen Dr. C himself but honestly, he intimidates the hell out of me, so I asked to see the female half of his practice, Dr. B. She doesn't know what's wrong with me either. She told me to continue with the Flonase because it really could be allergies. She also told me to get a night guard from my dentist (I have an appointment on Tuesday) because I might be grinding my teeth at night. She said she doesn't see or feel anything "bad", I can only assume "bad" is her euphemism for cancer, but she's scheduling an MRI for me so they (her and Dr. C) can take a look. She said the radiation may have caused my jawbone to deteriorate which could be causing trouble.
So, I'm still popping pain pills like a crazy woman. It's excruciating every morning when I wake up so I've been getting up, popping pills, and laying back down for 45 minutes until the pain is manageable again. On Thursday, I just couldn't do it. I got up, took the pills, and called into work. I spent the day laying in bed, medicating myself to the hilt. Then babydoll came over for dinner after work, around 8:30 pm. We grilled steak. I got a piece stuck in my throat. This actually happens fairly often, food getting stuck in my throat, and I either manage to wash it down with milk, or fish it out with my finger. Well, neither of those was working that night. We ended up at the emergency room around 9:30. While they were running around trying to find me a room, the stupid piece of meat finally dislodged. They made me stay for a bit anyway for 'observation'. I felt dumb for being there and commented that I should have just waited at home for it to resolve itself. The doctor admonished me and said it was a good thing I came in because it could have resolved itself in a bad way as well. That made me feel a little bit better.
My latest fear is that I'm going to burn a hole in my stomach with the copious amounts of pain meds that I'm taking. I'm not sure that's even a realistic fear but it's my latest Chicken Little moment.
Fun stuff:
Scott and I went to a free concert Friday night which was a lot of fun. Yesterday was jam packed. I sat at the grotto booth from 8:30 - 2:00. Then I took Scott out for his first taste of Korean food. He wasn't impressed. Ha! Then we went to his coworker's house from 3:30 - 5:30 for a pool party, then it was off to his niece's house from 6:30 - 9:30 for her graduation party. Phew! This morning I was up bright and early so that Sandi and I could go play 18 holes. It was an absolutely gorgeous day but man, those golf lessons I'm taking aren't doing diddly squat for me. I still had the score card from when Scott and I played the same course on Memorial Day and I scored one stroke higher today than I did two weeks ago!!
From here on out I'll be concentrating on life cleanup so that when I get on the plane Thursday morning to head to Florida, I can simply relax. With that in mind, I'm off to mow the lawn which has gotten ridiculously long with the past 4 days of rain we've had!
I decided that since the ear, jaw, neck thing is getting progressively worse, I had better call in the big guns. Actually, Leo called in the big guns. His sister-in-law works for Dr. C (the ENT cancer doctor) so he called her up, she rearranged some stuff and got me in to see a doc at 8:00 Wednesday morning. If I had waited until Thursday, I could have seen Dr. C himself but honestly, he intimidates the hell out of me, so I asked to see the female half of his practice, Dr. B. She doesn't know what's wrong with me either. She told me to continue with the Flonase because it really could be allergies. She also told me to get a night guard from my dentist (I have an appointment on Tuesday) because I might be grinding my teeth at night. She said she doesn't see or feel anything "bad", I can only assume "bad" is her euphemism for cancer, but she's scheduling an MRI for me so they (her and Dr. C) can take a look. She said the radiation may have caused my jawbone to deteriorate which could be causing trouble.
So, I'm still popping pain pills like a crazy woman. It's excruciating every morning when I wake up so I've been getting up, popping pills, and laying back down for 45 minutes until the pain is manageable again. On Thursday, I just couldn't do it. I got up, took the pills, and called into work. I spent the day laying in bed, medicating myself to the hilt. Then babydoll came over for dinner after work, around 8:30 pm. We grilled steak. I got a piece stuck in my throat. This actually happens fairly often, food getting stuck in my throat, and I either manage to wash it down with milk, or fish it out with my finger. Well, neither of those was working that night. We ended up at the emergency room around 9:30. While they were running around trying to find me a room, the stupid piece of meat finally dislodged. They made me stay for a bit anyway for 'observation'. I felt dumb for being there and commented that I should have just waited at home for it to resolve itself. The doctor admonished me and said it was a good thing I came in because it could have resolved itself in a bad way as well. That made me feel a little bit better.
My latest fear is that I'm going to burn a hole in my stomach with the copious amounts of pain meds that I'm taking. I'm not sure that's even a realistic fear but it's my latest Chicken Little moment.
Fun stuff:
Scott and I went to a free concert Friday night which was a lot of fun. Yesterday was jam packed. I sat at the grotto booth from 8:30 - 2:00. Then I took Scott out for his first taste of Korean food. He wasn't impressed. Ha! Then we went to his coworker's house from 3:30 - 5:30 for a pool party, then it was off to his niece's house from 6:30 - 9:30 for her graduation party. Phew! This morning I was up bright and early so that Sandi and I could go play 18 holes. It was an absolutely gorgeous day but man, those golf lessons I'm taking aren't doing diddly squat for me. I still had the score card from when Scott and I played the same course on Memorial Day and I scored one stroke higher today than I did two weeks ago!!
From here on out I'll be concentrating on life cleanup so that when I get on the plane Thursday morning to head to Florida, I can simply relax. With that in mind, I'm off to mow the lawn which has gotten ridiculously long with the past 4 days of rain we've had!
Monday, June 3, 2013
June 3 - I feel like I've been run over by a Mack truck. Not only is the nose spray not helping, but the entire side of my head and neck, on the right hand side, is now tender to the touch. On top of that, my neck and back are sore (like I slept wrong), I once again have bruises along my spinal column (guess it wasn't my mattress!), and my rib cage feels bruised (no idea what could cause that). WTH?? It's like I'm 80 something instead of 40 something.
Honey-bunny claims that he's secretly been beating up on me at night when I sleep. As much as I would love to have a concrete reason for feeling crappy, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep through something like that so he's likely fibbing to me. ;-)
I specifically didn't take any pain meds at all yesterday because the caffeine in the Excedrin has been causing me to still be wide awake at 1:30 am. Yeah, I know. I had just blogged about how I'm out like a light by 9:30 every night. Turns out that statement doesn't hold true if I'm taking Excedrin! Anyway, I fell asleep at a decent hour last night but woke up hurting all over the place so I am now back to taking the Excedrin.
I took the thrush medicine late last week. The fact that I choked on a pain pill is what drove me over the edge in deciding to take it. I'm happy to report that the bleeding has once again stopped, the swelling is down, and the sensitivity has been curbed.
A big thank you to my doctor friend, Karen, for explaining the difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I now feel better equipped to choose the correct pain meds based on whatever is going on with me.
Hairdresser Jen did not have any out of the box ideas for my hairstyle but she did have a really good tip about the alfalfa thing that I have going on. She showed me how to spray it with a little bit of hairspray and then use a toothbrush to brush it down into place. Works like a charm and doesn't leave me looking greasy!
Fun stuff:
The Summer Jam was fun although I think shooting the shit with Jamie for a couple of hours was more enjoyable than the actual music! Other than that, I didn't do much of anything this past weekend. I was mostly a lump although I did finish pulling together my new home office. Ahhhhh....it looks fantastic and I'm loving hanging out in there!
Tonight starts my 2 week golf clinic. Sandi is coming to see me on Sunday so that we can go play 18 holes. I'm doing whatever I can to prep so that I don't embarrass myself too bad in front of her!
This Saturday I'm going to be manning the caving booth at the ADK Outdoor Expo from 9:00 - 4:00 and then it's off to Scott's niece's house to celebrate a family birthday, anniversary, and graduation all rolled into one.
And it just hit me this morning that next week I will be in Florida visiting my dad for Father's Day! Holy crap that came up fast! I need to start looking at my flight details, and figure out what I need to pack! Woo hoo! I'm soon gonna be on vacation and drinking key lime pie martinis with the old man!
Honey-bunny claims that he's secretly been beating up on me at night when I sleep. As much as I would love to have a concrete reason for feeling crappy, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep through something like that so he's likely fibbing to me. ;-)
I specifically didn't take any pain meds at all yesterday because the caffeine in the Excedrin has been causing me to still be wide awake at 1:30 am. Yeah, I know. I had just blogged about how I'm out like a light by 9:30 every night. Turns out that statement doesn't hold true if I'm taking Excedrin! Anyway, I fell asleep at a decent hour last night but woke up hurting all over the place so I am now back to taking the Excedrin.
I took the thrush medicine late last week. The fact that I choked on a pain pill is what drove me over the edge in deciding to take it. I'm happy to report that the bleeding has once again stopped, the swelling is down, and the sensitivity has been curbed.
A big thank you to my doctor friend, Karen, for explaining the difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I now feel better equipped to choose the correct pain meds based on whatever is going on with me.
Hairdresser Jen did not have any out of the box ideas for my hairstyle but she did have a really good tip about the alfalfa thing that I have going on. She showed me how to spray it with a little bit of hairspray and then use a toothbrush to brush it down into place. Works like a charm and doesn't leave me looking greasy!
Fun stuff:
The Summer Jam was fun although I think shooting the shit with Jamie for a couple of hours was more enjoyable than the actual music! Other than that, I didn't do much of anything this past weekend. I was mostly a lump although I did finish pulling together my new home office. Ahhhhh....it looks fantastic and I'm loving hanging out in there!
Tonight starts my 2 week golf clinic. Sandi is coming to see me on Sunday so that we can go play 18 holes. I'm doing whatever I can to prep so that I don't embarrass myself too bad in front of her!
This Saturday I'm going to be manning the caving booth at the ADK Outdoor Expo from 9:00 - 4:00 and then it's off to Scott's niece's house to celebrate a family birthday, anniversary, and graduation all rolled into one.
And it just hit me this morning that next week I will be in Florida visiting my dad for Father's Day! Holy crap that came up fast! I need to start looking at my flight details, and figure out what I need to pack! Woo hoo! I'm soon gonna be on vacation and drinking key lime pie martinis with the old man!
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