Author: Christine

All of my random thoughts, rolled in to one. What more could you ask for?

:: My Dad is still in the hospital. I went to see him after my test this morning; the doctor told him he will probably get out “maybe Friday”. Hopefully they got that right. His arm is looking better, but still not normal. It’s getting there though.

:: I had my arterial doppler this morning. The tech said that everything looks good. The doctor’s office should have the results by Friday.

:: I had a quick lunch today with Emily, Michelle, Natalie and Ashley. It was great to get to see them! We must do that again soon.

:: Did you know that BlogShares has closed down? I wish I knew how much I had had in my acocunt before the end.

:: Speaking of endings – did anyone else catch that most recent ER? With Dr. Romano? And the … ? I laughed. I laughed hard. He was such a jackmonkey – it was a fitting way to get rid of him, wasn’t it? It still amuses me. Is ER on tomorrow night? I wonder if anyone has finally figured out that Romano is missing? Wow. To end his character like that. Priceless.

:: Speaking of Emily – I’ve heard what the two names would be if they were hyphenated when she gets married. I can’t tell you what it would be, but I can tell you – it’s hysterical! No wonder she wants to change it!

:: Don’t you hate it when you think of things that you want to blog about, but by the time you can sit down to write about them you have nothing to say? Yeah, I know that feeling. I have several “unfinished” blog posts in my mind. I always wonder if other people do that too. Do you mentally compose blog posts hours before you can write them?

Yeah, I told you it was random…

I never used to be the type of person to get stressed out and worried over every little thing. Now, certain things can make me quite anxious. Most of the time I can figure out the path that has lead me to my new-found anxiety, which helps for some reason, but it still bothers me that I can be so paranoid at times. I think it’s a symptom for the most part of being a Dot Com Bomb victim in the past. Matter of fact, today marks the 1 year anniversary of the day I left my last Dot Com related job. But that’s not the point right now…

My Mom left me a voice mail message at work yesterday to let me know that they were admitting my Dad to the hospital to administer IV drugs. She wanted to know if I could take Jason to his Scout meeting (my Dad normally goes), but she didn’t leave any more details on the message.

I felt the waves of panic coming on as I tried to reach her or my Dad. I called every number I had, but had no luck getting ahold of anyone for 20 – 30 minutes.

My Dad has had problems with high blood pressure and diabetes since I was 10 – maybe even earlier, but that was when he was diagnosed. He is the first male in his direct family tree line to make it past 50 in 4 generations or so. My grandfather died in his 40s thanks to a stroke. My great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather also died in their 40s. So the reason for my worry over the past 25 years is pretty valid. It’s not something I think about often, but I think about it – especially after seeing a cardiologist myself last week.

I finally spoke to my Mom. It turned out that my Dad bumped his arm last Wednesday. On Friday he went in to see the doctor because it was red and inflamed. They put him on antibiotics, but yesterday he went to see an orthopedic about it. It still hurt, and he was worried that maybe he had broken his arm. He didn’t – but it is still red, inflamed, and really hot from his elbow to his wrist. Obviously, after 3 days on antibiotics, that shouldn’t have been the case.

So they admitted him to the hospital and are administering antibiotics via IV. I am sure that he will be ok. But I can’t help but worry that he won’t be. I’m angry because I know he doesn’t take good care of himself like he should – he’s on medicine for his blood pressure and insulin for his diabetes, but this morning when I told him I would be at the hospital tomorrow for my arterial doppler and we could “do breakfast” he said jokingly that I should bring him donuts and coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts. Yeah, sure, but we all know medicine is important and now a days there are treatments of regenerative medicine like ECM cues that can help with the health a lot.

I’ll bring a diabetic some donuts. No thanks – I’m not going to enable him to eat poorly. I know he was joking, but I know it’s not too far from the truth either.

More than being angry, I’m scared. I guess that’s part of growing up and being an adult – facing the reality that life doesn’t go on forever and your parents won’t always be around. I know he will come out of this just fine, I’m not worried about that. It’s just a reality I don’t like to think about, and it’s scary when life jars you and makes you realize the truth.

Today is World AIDS Day. You never know when or if AIDS will touch your life, if it hasn’t already – so Link and Think.

To quote Brad, where I first learned about Link and Think several years ago:

Learn more about Link and Think and, if you publish a personal website, consider participating this year.

Link to cool sites. Think about how AIDS affects you. React to the threat of AIDS around the world. Act by getting involved with a local AIDS service organization. Focus on AIDS for one day — World AIDS Day — and help spread information about the disease, its treatment, those we have lost and those who survive. Because AIDS is not over and because you can make a difference.

Feel free to read my posts on this from last year and the year before. I think I’ve said all that I can personally on the subject, but I would be interested in hearing what you think. Feel free to ping me if you share on your site!

I went to the hospital this morning for my veneous and arterial doppler. I got there extra early, but fortunately they were able to move me through pretty fast. My first test was at 9:30, but I was ready for it by 9:05! When I went in to radialogy for the dopplers, I was informed that they can’t do both on the same day (insurance reasons), so I now I get to set up another appointment for the arterial doppler. Of course, the scheduling office is closed on Saturday, so I have to wait until Monday to do that.

Whenever I have blood drawn, the techs always comment on what small veins I have. I almost always end up having it drawn from my hand instead of my arm. I learned today that I also have small veins in my legs – she had a very hard time imaging them for the test. So small that even drinking a ton of water to make sure I am well hydrated doesn’t help.

Then I went over for the MRI. You are asked many times if you are claustrophobic, and I said no – I didn’t think I was. I can handle small rooms and small places just fine.

I can not handle the MRI machine.

The tech gave me earplugs and sent me in to the machine. She asked if I was ok, and at first I started to say that I was – and then I realized that I felt like I was trapped and I couldn’t breathe and my heart was racing and it was too tight and I couldn’t handle it ohmygodgetmeout! She brought me out, let me catch my breath, let me sit up so I felt better, and reassured me that it was ok and she would take as long as I needed. I decided to test it out with my eyes closed, and that did the trick for the most part. I didn’t like feeling the walls against my arms, but as long as I kept my eyes closed and breathed in and out slowly with long deep breaths, I was ok for the most part. I almost had her pull me out again before the last test, but decided to just stick it out through the last 4 minutes. The entire drive home I felt like my heart was racing though – not fun at all.

Next time I get to do an MRI, I think I’m going to get someone to drive me, and I’m going for the Xanax that she suggested.

They will be faxing the results to my doctor on Tuesday, if not sooner, so until then it’s just a matter of waiting. That, and trying to figure out where I’m going to come up with the money to cover my deductible. Ugh.

Mike’s parents came in to town on Wednesday, and we had dinner together that night at Josephine’s, then Thanksgiving Day was spent with them at my parent’s house, and yesterday we went to Galveston. Today they are visiting Rice and seeing some other sights while Jason and I are going to the downtown library to pick up books for his science fair project on catapults. Then we are all getting together this afternoon at the Museum of Natural Science to visit the butterfly exhibit. It’s been quite a nice holiday!

In addition to my recent disco injury, which effected my left leg last week, this week I’ve been having problems with my right leg. Earlier this week, I fell asleep sitting upright in my favorite Ikea chair – with the laptop on my lap – a skill I have mastered by taking the bus over the years. I slept there all night, and the next day I discovered that my right ankle and foot hurt. Again, I dismissed it to having “slept strange” and thought it would go away within a day or two.

It didn’t. And after Kymberlie’s battle with a pulminary embolisum a few months ago, I got worried. I am in a high enough risk factor category for a blood clot that I realized after two days of pain I needed to have it looked at by a doctor. Especially since the pain was running down my entire right leg and really bad in the ankle and foot area – I am in agony whenever I walk.

So this morning I spent an hour on the phone trying to find a doctor that could work me in to their schedule. I had called my Dad and asked if he thought I should go to his cardiovascular doctor, and he said he didn’t think so – turns out, that was exactly who I needed to go see. I was at their office by 9:30 and worked in to the schedule. Instead of a blood clot, it turns out that I have Sciatica, an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. However, just to be sure that is really the cause, I get to spend Saturday morning having a MRI of my lumbar spine and an arterial and veneous doppler done. Yes, just how I wanted to spend my Thanksgiving vacation… Hopefully, the anti-inflammatory meds they gave me should help with the pain. I am going to ask about exercises and so forth when I go in for my follow-up visit after the test results come in.

So first it was the disco injury, now it’s the Ikea injury. What next?!? Trust me, I’m not taking up breakdancing any time soon!