Sunday

Every week is so busy. Hard to keep track of.

I got my haircut yesterday, and my regular person wasn't there, so I had a new woman.  I ended up having four inches cut off the back, to kind of even it out. Her professional opinion was that the layered look (which I was told would make my hair look fuller) actually was making it look "scraggly" on the bottom. Therefore, the four inches off. It wasn't very noticeable when I left the salon with completely wet hair, but by the time I got home 15 minutes later, it had completely dried--and whoa, it's definitely shorter. So I'm going with "Time for a new look!" instead of "Argghhh!!"

This week J has touched up all the kitchen cabinets and cupboards, as over the past year some of the blue has either been bleached, or stained; so the fresh coat looks wonderful.

Monday morning at work we had to attend a meeting. Something called "Active Killer Training".  Just like what it sounds: our HR person introduced it, the security guard then presented a power point session, including a video produced by Homeland Security called "Run, Hide, Fight" precisely for anyone, and everyone.  (It's on You-tube--I recommend it.)

 It goes on the premise that a madman with an agenda can walk in anywhere--a restaurant, a movie theater, a hospital, a shop -- and start shooting, or waving a knife, or blow himself up. What to do and when, was the theme. Basically: run away from the attacker if you can; hide if you can't get out, and then stay utterly silent; and finally if the attacker is coming for you, fight back with anything you can: a chair, a fire extinguisher, anything you can lift and throw.  Be committed to fighting back and realize that the attacker has no intention of living through this; he is planning on dying at the scene. You'll need to try to stop him. Scary, eh?

Watching this was kind of like being in high school again, watching the stupid phony scenarios in health class, or driver's ed . Except that in this life, in this world, you really have to think and plan for this eventuality. What a world.

Also, J had a bunch of lab work to do this week (which all had normal results) and a 24 hour Holter monitor-- just his  annual exams in preparation for his physical with the PCP and his cardiologist this week. He also got his denture repaired, at around $360. Ugh.  Necessary, but still.

Tuesday was Sis' lumpectomy. BIL was flying back home from his visit with his dad at the same time Sis was checking in at the hospital. SIL therefore brought Sis to the hospital and waited there with her. J meanwhile picked up BIL at the airport, brought him to the hospital, and waited there until it was time to come get me at work at 4:30; then  we raced back to the hospital and waited for Sis to be done with surgery. Around 6 we were able to see her in recovery; she did great, and was eating and drinking water like a champ, groggy but slowly coming out of it.

 At some point Bro arrived on his way home from his job, and stayed for a brief visit before he and SIL left.  Shortly after that Sis was able to leave, so J and I left then too, arriving home to find two very happy and excited yapping dogs; J had left them out of the kennel on the last trip, because they had been in the kennel the majority of the day. Poor things.

The next day J was utterly wiped out, so he stayed home, and did low key things. Meanwhile Wednesday was the day we celebrated my doc's birthday at work with a potluck.  A float helper was there for some reason, probably just to be trained in case RN or I call in sick. So she got to enjoy the potluck lunch and then the birthday cake and presents for the doc. I brought home a slice of cake for J, as it was very good.

The float person also told me about a yoga class on Monday and Wednesday nights, at a gym not far from my house. Since it's free to employees, I will probably plan to start attending. I have a lot of anxiety about going there alone, especially the first time. When I mentioned that to Sis today at Pilates, she instantly offered to go with me...so we have a tentative plan for Wednesday night this week.  I'm so grateful...thank god for sisters.

J and I also went to the gym two days a week this week after I got off work: he walks over there and meets me , we do our biking for half an hour, and then ride home together. So far this is working out well.

J has also almost finished the mulching along the western fence, and will buy a few more bags of mulch to complete the job. Fortunately it's fairly inexpensive. Then he's planning on building a low ramp into the shed; he has already moved a lot of the workroom stuff out there. Next will be building some shelves inside, and then some hooks for the pegboard he hung.  Slowly but surely the workroom is emptying. Yay!

Today's Pilates class was much easier for me to get through. I had to get to a place in my mind where I determined to do only what I could do, and not beat myself up for the stuff I can't do. Sis also decided to incorporate more class choice, and also do more of the yoga ball work. There are some moves I just cannot do. I realized I might not ever be able to do them--and that's okay. I just need to be there and do what I can.

Ok. Dinner is ready, and I need to catch up on the news. Not that I enjoy that at all, ever. I'm too frustrated and scared, and talk about anxiety-producing!  I really need three day weekends...

Oh, and here's a photo of my 4th granddaughter, Crimson.  Look at those eyes! She is 10 months old.

Sunday

So, one: my previous mammograms were sent here already, and now they are at my new imaging center. I'm waiting for the results. The disc was sent to my primary care's office instead of my address. Thankfully they hadn't known what to do with it, so they held onto it. Thankfully I remembered to call them and ask if it had gone there by mistake...then J hand carried the disc to the imaging center and dropped it off for them to compare results.

Two: I saw my doc because for about 10 days my lips have been sore and burning and peeling, despite all possible treatments. I threw out all lipsticks, and Chapsticks, and toothbrushes, and bought all new, just in case something was suddenly causing a reaction. Wednesday morning I remembered I'd been using a sample of a lipstick made by the cosmetics company Mary Kay, given to me by my friend Jennie at her wedding. These symptoms started two days after the wedding, and haven't stopped yet. So I called and was able to get into my dr  at the end of the day. (I haven't been able to figure out how to tell Jennie yet. She's sold this line for years, and loves it.)

My doc confirmed it was probably a severe reaction to the sample. I now have a steroid cream to use on my lips twice a day, and am only allowed to use plain ol' Vaseline on my lips, as often as I want. Nothing else.   The blistering and peeling have decreased since then, but the healing process can take up to six weeks according to my doc...yeesh.

Three: the PA who was to start next month decided not to take the job after all. Boo.  So the search starts again. Our previous PA came to the office Friday afternoon with his wife who is a regular patient; it was wonderful to see him looking so tanned and happy and relaxed.

Four: J had his follow up dr appt after the cortisone injection, and all is well. He goes back in 6 more weeks. So far the pain level has dramatically improved there.  He has trimmed the bougainvillea since the baby mockingbirds have left the nest, he's cleaned out the gutters, he has painted the shed, he's done more clean up work around the yard. He washed both dogs Friday, and I gave them both grooming sessions and hair cuts.

Five: Sis and BIL gave us a screen door they are no longer using, and so that will be wonderful for the workroom door. Despite our best intentions, this has turned out to be the main entrance. It leads directly into the worst part of the house... but it's very convenient. When the work room is emptied and all that stuff stowed in the shed, that will make a big difference.

Six: We've had a lot of rain since Monday, every afternoon. So much that the pool is almost overflowing!  We definitely need the rain, so that's a good thing. We weren't even able to use the pool until Saturday afternoon, due to the rain and storms every day. By the time I would get home from work there was too much thunder and lightning to risk being outside. Getting in yesterday and today was wonderful. Both times Sis was here with us.

Seven: BIL left yesterday morning, visiting his dad before Sis' surgery Tuesday afternoon. BIL gets back Tuesday. J will pick him up at the airport, take him up to the hospital,  and then come and get me after work. We'll go back directly to the hospital and wait.

 The overflowing pool: the little duck is actually a thermometer to measure the temp of the water (80 degrees). The bigger duck carries a chlorine dispenser.

 The replacement shed, painted. Same as the old one, but of course better looking, new. Some of the new fencing is visible too, behind it.

I like this photo because it shows the first morning light; and it also shows the shed and a tiny bit of the fence on the eastern side. Plus of course, the overflowing pool. Our neighbor Louise said she had never seen it that full, ever.











Last week June 7th was also the five year anniversary of mom's death, and the 12 year anniversary of Gramma's death. Hard to believe. SO much has happened, so much has changed since then. I don't believe it's a coincidence that J and I ended up in FL, where my grandmother was so happy. I so wish she could have known J; she would have loved him, and been so happy for me.

Can't believe it's Sunday night already. This was a very quick weekend.  Every weekend is a quick one!

Sunday

Back to normal posting schedule. I've mostly recovered from the stress of travel, but I'm really surprised at how much of a toll my life takes each day. I feel I'm healthy enough that I "should have" more energy, but I just don't.  The headaches drain me, so maybe it's just dealing with those, and a stressful job. The combination is tough.

Life was good and busy this week. Back at work on Monday; my doc was back too, and just as wistful at the idea of being back as I was. Still he was in a wonderful mood, and that helps. The new PA came by Wednesday and shadowed all day, even though he doesn't start until next month. He earned major points that day.

He's  smart, too. He picked up on DrD's Type A personality right away, and saw what a contrast she is to my doc, who is much more laid back.  And at one point he was watching over RN's shoulder to see how she was documenting something, and she casually said, "By the way, how do you want us to address you?" (The previous PA was fine with calling him by his first name, but of course we don't call the docs by their first name.)  He looked at her and said calmly "Master."  There was a split second of silence, and then we all cracked up. He's going to be fun to work with. (We call him by his first name, which is the same as the initial I use here for my husband.)

So the search for an MA to join me and RN has ramped up, because there's no way RN and I can manage the work load for three providers. They both seemed fine to me. We'll see what happens.

The rest of the week was busy; some days there were a lot of computer issues and other days were just painless. The annual health inspection (of our department) came and went while I was gone, thankfully.  I didn't want to be a part of that!

Saturday morning I had my mammogram, which I was dreading as usual, but because of recent sisterly health events I really needed to do. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. However, they won't read it until my previous records arrive, so that they have something to compare it to! This seems totally ridiculous to me. Especially now. I had already requested my records be sent here prior to my appt, but I was informed they haven't arrived yet. So I called and left a message at my previous facility asking them to expedite this request again. Hopefully they have already sent them, and I won't have to do anything else.

J has been having trouble getting his annual Holter monitor authorized, so he has had to reschedule his appt with the heart doc, and continue waiting. Thankfully this is not being done because he has any symptoms, just to monitor where he is. Very frustrating waiting.  I'm not impressed so far with the way the office is run.

Thursday evening Sis and BIL came for a quick dinner get together, bringing pizza. They had met the medical oncologist, the leader of the team in charge of her care, and liked him.

Also got the notice that new my life insurance was approved: I'm now going to drop the previous policy which was for only $9500, for which we were paying $40 a month. This new one is for $100K, and the payment is $62. So if I die before J, he will get that money to pay off the house. This policy is in effect for the next 20 years. If both of us die together then the policy goes to my sister to distribute as she sees fit between payoff of the house, and any left over going to my children. I feel much better.

In other news, we received a totally unexpected check from OR as a refund of my State tax from 2016. Weird. Ok, thank you! With it we got the AC in the Caddy fixed, boosted, whatever-- now it runs much cooler. Then we also went and bought three new frying pans, as the cheapo ones we bought when we first arrived here were rapidly becoming unacceptable for use.

I guess that brings me up to date.  We have a lot of expenses coming up, but now that we've paid off the credit cards, we only have our regular monthly bills (mortgage, water, electricity, phones, cable/Internet) in addition to the line of credit. We are in good shape. I'm so grateful. TYG.

Monday

Jeez, I am so tired. I will make this short, because I need to fall into bed very soon. It's not even 8pm, Monday night, and I feel as though I've been on full-speed for days on end.

J and my wonderful BIL built the shed on Saturday. It's all done, and I think both are very tired!  This was all done while I was flying up to NJ and then attending the wedding; and then Sis had J over for dinner that night, bringing the dogs.