Crazy Life

Lately life has been a bit hectic. One crazy thing after another.  Lots of work, writing proposals for new work, MRIs, tax prep, a friend over for dinner, neighborhood watch meeting, and I was asked to be on a board of a nonprofit.  It has been a looney few weeks.

Now this surgery thing has thrown a wrench in the works.  Brenda and I have begun making a plan already.  Since Brenda doesn't drive, we will need to make sure we have supplies for at least a week just in case I am laid up.  We do have a store that has a van that will drive you home if you spend a certain amount.  My last stay in the hospital made it clear that we need to make a plan in advance.  A plan with a lot of "what ifs".  What if I have to stay overnight?  What if I am in the hospital all day and we need someone to let the dogs out?  What if I end up being laid up for a week?  What if I need a prescription filled?  Having a plan in place in advance is the key to a stress-free time.

I bought a pair of slippers!  A super dupper pair of slippers.  A pair of Giesswein slippers.  A blue pair.  They are not stylish but they are comfy.  They are really comfortable to walk in.  I highly recommend Giesswein slippers for anyone with foot problems.  They cost a bit (although I got them on sale at Zappos) but after wearing them for three days, they are worth it.

I Told You So

At what point can you say "I told you so"?  Is it when the MRI states there is evidence that you had a stress fracture in your ANKLE all along?  I will take a step back for those of you who are new to my ankle story.

Last April I had a mishap with my ankle.  Okay, maybe it should be called a misstep with my ankle.  I hurt it getting out of a hotel bed at some ungodly hour in the morning in order to go on a balloon ride.  After hurting it did I go on the balloon ride?  H*ll yeah!  I was not missing the best balloon ride ever.  Even if I had to stand on one foot.

I went to a doctor, we will call him Dr. Bozo, and he put me in a brace thing for MONTHS.  I asked him to get an MRI and he told me that it would be denied.  He said he would not push for it because I didn't need it.  It was not fractured but just a pulled ligament.  Blah, blah, blah.

It has been almost a year now and I am still in pain.  Today I got a MRI thanks to my lovely podiatrist and already got the report.  Have you ever read a MRI report?  I am not sure many of the words are even English.  I had to Google 40% of them.  Finally the doctor called and deciphered the report for me.

Adrienne - get to the bottom line!  Some would say it is good news and others would say it is bad.  Depends on your outlook, glass half full or half empty.  I am neither on this issue.  In a bit I will explain why.  The bottom line is I need surgery to repair a severely torn anteroinferior tibiofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament.   It will be a Modified Brostrom Gould procedure.  There is also fluid within the sinus tarsi and bone marrow edema of the cuboid.  Sounds so appetizing.  (See badly marked diagram)

Luckily it is not an emergency surgery so I can take my time and plan this out.  I will be in a cast for 6 weeks and then 6 weeks more for physical therapy.   I hear it takes 3-6 months to have a full recovery.  Such wonderful things to look forward to.  Of course the surgery will make the pain go away so that is a good thing, right?!  It will make the pain go away after some much more intense pain.  But it also means that my chances of having to get an ankle replacement years down the road lessens.  That is good news.

So, I still ask when can I say "I told you so"?  Can I call the doctor up and say, "See, I was right!  You missed it."?  I know it is enough that I am getting my ankle fixed.  I just have this need to say it.

Surprised to Learn

Okay, here is something you would be surprised to learn about me, I like to watch car racing.  I guess since you really don't know me, it may not be such a surprise but my friends and family would probably be surprised to know this fact.  It would be a great factoid to use in that fun-filled ice breaker: tell us something about yourself that no one knows. 

I grew up always watching the Indy 500.  I tried not to ever miss it since I have all brothers, it never seemed weird that it was on TV on Memorial Day.  I just love watching the cars go around the track and the anticipation of which car will finish first.  You just never know until the final second.

This weekend was supposed to be the Daytona 500.  I have never been a super fan of stock car racing but now my favorite driver switched from racing formula cars to racing stock cars: Danica Patrick.  I got up early on Sunday to watch the race but it was postponed due to rain.  The race was run tonight and it was exciting.  There was one crazy crash (everyone was okay) but it torn a hole in the race track.  They had to bondo the track back together.  It took forever.  I watched another show to pass the time.  In the end my Danica didn't win.  Matt Kenseth came out the winner. 

I have to wait until May for the Indy 500.  It won't be the same without my Danica but I will survive!  I may have to watch more Nascar.  

Just one Nascar story before I go: A few years ago Brenda and I won a trip to Las Vegas.  We carefully chose the weekend and thought it would not be very busy since there were no big conferences or activities that weekend in Vegas.  Oh, were we wrong!  We didn't know that it was NASCAR weekend at the Vegas raceway.  NASCAR folks are loads of fun.  They have to be at the race track real early and they bring their coolers of (I assume) beer with them.  Some of them start to drink before they head out!  There is a LOT of money in NASCAR gear.  Everyone was decked out in some sort of NASCAR T-shirt, leather coat, hat, beer cozy, seat cushion, shorts, sunglasses, etc. NASCAR puts there logo on everything!  The race is only a few hours on Sunday but the events go on for days.  There is the come visit the race car drivers and pit crew, come see the practice sessions, come get more stuff with the NASCAR logo.  It goes on forever!  It was overwhelming. Then the folks would gamble at night!  I don't know where they got the stamina.  Oh, and I would have thought it would be 20-35 year olds.  NO.  There were all ages.  The couple that was the most fun was a 65 year old retired couple with matching leather NASCAR jackets (she had NASCAR sunglasses that must have cost a fortune) who partied HARD.  They were a blast!  Gave me a new appreciation for race car folks!

Update: Going for an MRI on my ankle tomorrow morning. Fun!

Zzzzzz....

When I saw my physician she told me I needed to get more sleep. She thought my stress was exasterbated by a lack of sleep. I think I get enough sleep most nights. If I am tired I go to bed. I am just not a person who can usually go to sleep at 9 pm. I usually go to bed at 11:00 pm and then I have to let the dogs out, take my medicine, get ready for bed. I then either watch tv or blog depending on how my evening went.

How do you know of you need more sleep? Well, I know when I fall asleep when I am working or watching tv. That is a big clue!

I am not sure I will be going to bed earlier anytime soon but I am going to bed tonight. Good night!

Doctor Update

Went to the podiatrist today and had a check up on the foot.  Yeah the foot.  I have been in the hard soled shoes for two weeks now and still feel a twinge of a fire cracker when I step down sometimes.  Especially when I wake up.

At the appointment she showed me the x-rays and showed me the two stress fractures.  How cool is that?  I could actually see the fractures on the x-ray.  The one fracture is in my big toe under the toe nail.  The other fracture is between my toes two and three. It is a stress fracture that people commonly get when they do an exercise where you roll up on your toes repeatedly.   The doctor says the fractures are in such weird places.  Since I don't roll up and down on my toes, she says I must have dropped something on my foot or something.  I don't remember doing that.  Or I smashed my foot into something.  Okay, I may have done that.  She says it could have been in the last 6 months.  Well, who can remember if they smashed their foot against the coffee table in the last 6 months?  I don't know about you but I bang my foot against things all the time.  Not bad enough to go to the hospital but I jump up and down and wince and use swear words. We left that discussion until I go to the bone density scan and see what it says then we will reconvene.

I got slippers for Christmas that are slip-ons. They looked so comfortable at Costco but alas they are not.  Because of the issues with my feet, I can't clench my toes.  It is too painful.  So wearing slip-on slippers with a furry inside is not very comfortable due to the clenching of my toes to go up and down stairs or they slip off.  Now I need to buy another type of slippers.  I have been told of some very expensive German slippers...

Then I asked her about the pain I am having in my other foot; in my big toe to be exact. She poked and prodded and decided that it is a nerve that is being pinched.  FYI: there are nerves in your big toe.  Back to the slippers, wearing the slippers has made it worse because they were not the right slippers for me.  So I need to get a better pair of slippers.  I can no longer go barefoot or walk around just in socks anymore.

Since I have been wearing the Danskos, I have had more ankle pain from my ankle injury last April (the story can be read if you didn't read it before).  The ankle injury was diagnosed as a torn ligament.  The doctor really dismissed me and had me in the boot for about 3 months (maybe 4 months? I don't remember).  I asked many times to have a MRI but he told me the insurance company would never agree to one.  Today the new doctor looked at my ankle for 5 minutes and showed me how my hurt ankle is pliable and my other ankle is stiff.  She said that it looks like my ligament is torn.  She started to tell me things that can be done to fix it.  Something about making a flap with the ligament and 6 weeks in a cast!  Yuck!  She said let's get an MRI.  What?!  Let's get an MRI?  Imagine a doctor telling me to get an MRI. I have been begging to have an MRI forever.  Finally someone who understands and listens to me!  I love her!  The MRI is scheduled for next week (I could have had it today but I was too busy) and I am happy to finally get a definitive answer. 

The plan is to get new slippers that will help my feet and not hurt them, keep the Danskos on my feet outside the house, get the MRI and find out about my ankle and then follow up with the doctor.  I love a good plan!

Taking On Too Much

Do you ever think you are taking on too much? Sometimes I do. Especially when I feel good. Also when I am bored.

Right now I am feeling pretty good. It maybe fleeting but today I feel okay. I have also been doing the same stuff for quite some time so I am a bit bored. I need to do something new. Feel needed and wanted.

I do some things besides work already. I am an Arthritis Ambassador. I am a block captain for my Neighborhood Watch. I am a part of the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team. They are all small commitments.

Tonight I spoke to someone about the possibility of joining a board of a nonprofit organization. I have been on boards before, one I liked and one that didn't work out. So I will see how it shakes out. It is not health related. It is safety related. That is also something I am passionate about. I believe people need to be prepared for disasters. Fire, hurricane, flood, earthquake, etc.

So when do you know you are taking on too much?

Tax Prep: Part One

Well I started the yearly ritual called tax preparation. Or as I like to call it: reliving the past years expenses aka my own medical hell. This year has brought it's own extra special prize: I changed health plans mid-year. Half the year I had co-pays and the other half I had a deductible. And the cost of my plan changed three times. I spent all night just figuring out the doctor copays, parking costs and prescription costs for the year. I now know where $4,000 of my hard earned dollars went to! And I have not finished my calculations.

Don't you hate this time of the year? You have to drag out all this stuff that you had the best intentions of keeping in order at the beginning of the year. Then somewhere around May everything goes into disarray. Receipts get lost, you are finding parking receipts stuck in books and in the bottom of your bag. Then in November you are finding the receipts on the kitchen counter and realize January is coming and you better get your act together!

For the next week you know where I will be, chained to the table working on my taxes. Mondays deadline is coming fast!

Doing Things I Don't Want To Do

This weekend I had to do two projects I was not looking forward to. They are not horrible projects like picking up large amounts of dog poop or cleaning up after your hot water heater bursts but they are not fun. I had to write a detailed proposal for a new client and do my tax prep. The proposal took two days with a whole day to think and plan. I am a thinker. I have to think about big projects for a while before I write them. I mull it over in my mind for a while and then I can begin to plan it out.

I finished the proposal at 5 pm today. Yay!

Then this evening I began the tax prep. I set up my craft table (okay it is just a folding table but it works well for this project as well) and laid out my tax stuff. With a small business, it makes tax prep a part time job if I am not organized. I have medical expenses and business expenses. I also try to show up at my accountants as organized as possible. I have one week to get my prep completed. Tonight I organized doctors visit receipts and parking receipts.

Hey, I would much rather be watching a movie on my long weekend rather than doing things I don't want to do.

You Talk About Irony

A few weeks ago I had been sent an email from Williams-Sonoma inviting me to bring in a knife to be sharpened for free.  (At this point you are probably wondering where this post is going.  I promise it will make sense so stay tuned.)  I planned with my partner to bring two knives (one each) and get them sharpened.  I was excited because as you know I have been doing a lot of cooking and my knives are quite dull.  I only started cooking seriously in the past two years when I was diagnosed with Crohn's. 

This morning I woke up and my partner decided she didn't want to go with me.  I packed up my one knife and headed out.  Brenda wanted me to take two knives but the email said one knife per person.  I drove to the mall and went into Williams-Sonoma.  I noticed there was a demonstration going on.  I went up to the sales clerk and asked about the knife sharpening.  She said to get the knife sharpened, I had to attend the demonstration on knife techniques and safety.  The What? 

I explained that the email didn't say I had to attend any demonstration.  She said I could attend the demonstration that had already started or come back in 45 minutes when it was over.  I said I would stay for the demonstration.  I walked around the store and browsed while I listened.  I knew most of the information he was teaching: cutting boards and knife sharpeners.  When he got to the knife stones to sharpen the knives, that is when it all goes awry.

The guy is talking and sharpening the knife on the four strengths of stone.  He was not looking at the knife while he was answering questions and he sliced his hand.  (This is the place where any squeamish people should skip the rest of this paragraph) There was blood dripping everywhere. He was asking for a bandage from the sales clerk.  The bandage took a few minutes but when it arrived it was clear that even with the large bandage they brought, the slice was large and deep enough that no bandage was going to stop the bleeding.  He tried two bandages to no avail.  Then he tried to put the hand in a rubber glove and that was just horrible to watch!  Then he just wrapped it in a paper towel and it was bleeding through.

At this point, the people at the demonstration began turning away and telling the sales clerk they wanted to leave.  They told the teacher to go to the hospital and get it checked out. He probably needed stitches.  The store clerk finally called the demonstration and we all filled out the forms to leave our knives to be sharpened and we all left.  They also announced that they would sharpen two knives per person.  Of course I only brought one as directed!  I should have listened to Brenda.

The irony, if you have not figured it out, is that the class on knife techniques and safety ended with the teacher slicing his hand.  What not to do?!    Do as I say not as I do?   I walked by Williams-Sonoma about 20 minutes later and the teacher was still standing upright so I am sure he is okay.

Cheese Cake Factory Comments

Sweet Tamales

Sitting here at the Cheese Cake Factory (CCF) waiting for our appetizers. Have you ever been to the CCF? It is crazy! The lines are long (luckily there are benches to sit on) and the menu...it is a book. That menu is insane. I get lost trying to find the three vegetarian entrees! They do have quite a few veg appetizers to nosh on. My favorite is the Sweet Tamales. Yum. Tamale cakes with sauce, avocados, tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream. I am in heaven!

Then I had a big salad. Lots of veggies. Asparagus, edemame, beets, beans, cucumber and more.  Thought it would fill me up more but alas, I left hungry. I took two of the tamales home and will probably eat them later.  It seemed so filling but the stuff on top was just for show and the rest was a LOT of lettuce.  The dressing left a lot to be desired so it didn't add anything to the entree.  The stuff on top was chopped up the size of salsa so what looked so delectable ended up being a treasure hunt to get it on the fork.   I ended up eating a lot of bread and I don't usually eat the bread at all.  Note to self: Don't get the Big Salad again. I hate when something looks good and isn't satisfying. 

Big Salad

We also got some CHEESE CAKE! One lemon raspberry piece and one Oreo cookie. Can't wait to eat them later tonight. I took one bite and the cheese cake IS satisfying, especially since it was FREE!!!  We had a two free cheese cake slices gift certificate that make it taste even better! 

That was the big CCF experience today