It's my baby's birthday!

Today marks my little chickadee's 38th birthday.   (Yes, I'm allowed to admit that I have a 38 year old daughter, although I myself am still only 29!)

My daughter entered the world at 1:16 pm on this date back in 1975, and what a terrific addition to this world she has proven to be.

She has grown to be a marvelous young woman of whom I am extremely proud.

She is a terrific daughter and a truly fabulous mother.

But most of all, my daughter has become a wonderful friend.

She was an early talker, and has been bending my ear non-stop ever since.  In her early years, I can remember wishing she had never learned to talk, she did so much of it!  Now, I look forward to her daily telephone calls, and miss the days that we can't fit one in. One would think we'd run out of things to talk about but somehow, that never seems to happen.

She grew from an adorable toddler ...

... blossomed into a truly stunning young lady ...

... and matured into a beautiful woman, inside and out.

I'm so proud to call her my daughter.
Happy birthday Natalie, my beautiful one! 

My Cryogenic Surgery

Last Friday, John had an appointment with our dermatologist for his six-month full body check-up.  (I only need an annual check-up because I'm "boring" as they say in the business -- which is a good thing.)

Once he was finished and had received a clean bill of health -- he's to have another once-over in six months and if that too is clear he will also be moved to annual check-ups -- I asked the doctor to take a look at a spot on my arm that was causing me some concern.

I had originally thought it was a mosquito bite but it didn't go away.

She took a look and at first glance she said it was nothing.

Until I explained that every so often, it would be bleeding when I got out of the shower.

"Oops, shades of that spot on my nose," I thought.

So she took a closer look and decided to zap it with her handy dandy freezing tool. ("Cryogenic surgery" it's called.)

She had just used it on two spots on John, and she said it's her "go-to" answer for everything.  If she's not sure, she freezes it.

She didn't give us any special instructions or tell us what to expect as a result of having had this procedure done.  (John has had it done numerous times in the past, both by his family doctor and by our dermatologist.)

Fast forward to Sunday, and this is what my arm is sporting:

Now this is located right in the fold of my arm in line with my elbow.

Never has John had this kind of a response.  I don't know what to think of this development.

Fortunately, it finally broke late yesterday afternoon (a few hours after the above photo was taken).  I can only assume that it broke from its own internal pressure.

I have no idea if this is a "normal" response to cryogenic treatment, but we're going to take a copy of the photo to our next visit with the doctor.

Just in case she has difficulty believing what we will be trying to tell her.

My Aspirin Desensitization Experiment

So I saw the allergist last Monday morning.

Most interesting visit.

His office was jam-packed when I arrived for my 9:00 am appointment.  I thought it might be hours before I got in to see him.

By 9:05 am I was sitting in the inner examination room, talking with the good doctor.

Unbelievable!

While the office was full of patients, (and noisy as hell!), it is obviously run very efficiently.

Anyway, the doctor took my history and asked if I had time to do the desensitization that morning.

I had the time but I must admit I was a bit taken aback by the approach.  So different from the first allergist I had seen.  He also explained that he would use the drug Celebrex because that's the safest one for this purpose.

He's the doctor!

He sent me off to be instructed on the use of a Peak Flow Meter, and the EpiPen (just in case!).  Once I was armed with both, I was back in the room with the doctor and he gave me a quarter dose of Celebrex and sent me back to the waiting room.

Fifteen minutes later he called me back and had me check my lung function.

Still good.  

He gave me a half dose of Celebrex and again sent me back to the waiting room.

Another fifteen minutes later he called me back to again check my lung function.

Still good.

I reported to him that I was feeling light-headed and slightly disoriented (which is my usual response to Aspirin, along with vomiting).  He wasn't concerned about that -- his concern was my breathing.  So I sucked it up and decided that he could concern himself with my breathing but if the disorientation continued or worsened with use of the drug, I would terminate the experiment.  Regardless to what his concerns might be.

This time he gave me the full dose of Celebrex and returned me to the waiting room.

After another fifteen minute wait, I was called back into the inner sanctum where my lung function was again found to be good.

He wrote a prescription for Celebrex, which I am to take daily.  I am to monitor my lung function morning and evening.  If it drops below a certain level, I am to call his office.  If I go into anaphylaxis I am to use the EpiPen and go straight to the hospital.  See him again in one or two months.  (I opted for two months, not wanting to subject myself to his zoo-like atmosphere waiting room any time sooner than I have to.) 

I drove home, arriving much later than I had anticipated, had lunch and called my physiotherapist's office to cancel my appointment for the next day.  I knew there was no way I could face the round trip to the city again after the morning I had just put in.  Then I promptly crashed for the rest of the afternoon.

The next day I again crashed all afternoon.  Very unlike me.  And that evening, I battled nausea to the point where I wondered if I should prepare a bucket beside the bed.  "Just in case."

On Wednesday again I slept all afternoon and battled nausea in the evening, although it was slightly lessened from the evening before.

On Thursday, I saw my family doctor and she urged me to stick with it.  It sounded like the effects were lessening and hopefully the benefits would kick in soon.  (I wasn't yet feeling any benefit from the drug.)

By Friday I was feeling almost normal.  We were out most of the day so I obviously didn't sleep all afternoon, but I didn't feel any compelling need to sleep either.  I did however, experience horrid nausea that evening.  In fact, it was worse that any of the previous episodes.

Yesterday, I again didn't sleep through the day so I guess that effect has run its course.  And there was no nausea last night so perhaps that's the end of the ill effects.

I'm still waiting for the benefits.  I'll know when that happens when I can raise my arms above my head without pain (shampooing my hair, blow drying my hair, using the curling brush -- basically "getting beautiful").

Bottom line:  I guess I am now among the many who take Celebrex for their arthritis.  That makes my doctor really really happy.  I will join her in her elation when the benefits become obvious.

My awesome Sunday

Had a wonderful Sunday, this past weekend.

Got up early (OK, not quite as early as I should have, but ...) and drove into the big city to meet my little chickadee et al to accompany them to my striking young man's soccer 'festival' in outlying Kemptville.  (Not allowed to call these events tournaments any longer, but that's what they are!)

I stayed and watched the first of his three games, which his team 'won.'  (They also don't keep score, but everyone knows who wins.)

After the first game, we went to visit my sister (and best friend) and her husband who have a vacation trailer in the area.  If one wants to see them on a weekend or during their holidays any time from May to October, that is where they will be.

I hadn't been to see their site since some time before 2005 so it was nice to go and check out their digs again.  They really do have a lovely home away from home.

We spent a fabulous four hours visiting while the younger gang returned to the soccer field (and MSYM's team kicked butt for the other two games!).  Then they came back to get me for the return trip to their place, where I stayed overnight.  The following morning, MSYM and I had breakfast at our usual hang-out before going on about our respective days.

Close as damnit!

That's what John says my weight loss progress is.

I am now down 19.8 pounds.  My little chickadee says I could call that 20 pounds.

But until my scale reads an actual 20 pound loss, and until the numbers relate to an actual 20 pound loss, it's only 19.8 pounds.

But "only" is quite satisfactory indeed.

This 19.8 pounds is since April 11th.

And it's 9.8 pounds since July 4th, when my "fat class" finished.

I'll take it.

Another 3.8 pounds and I will be down to what I was prior to my hip replacement surgery, following which I went up again.

I will be working very hard NOT to repeat that pattern.

It's almost time now to set my next weight loss goal -- another 20 pounds.  Wonder if I can do it, or if my body thinks this is my comfort zone?

My "no-party"

OMG that was good!

That first glass of wine after six weeks' abstention was interesting indeed!  The wine I drink is very dry and one must acquire a taste for it.  After six weeks away from it, I had to learn all over again that I really like the stuff!  (It didn't take long.)

My little chickadee came through with large wine glasses, and she brought me a pair so that if one breaks, I have a spare.  (They are actually red wine glasses but we don't stand on ceremony around here.  Whatever works!)

I know, I know, the photo actually looks more like beer than wine -- but it really is wine, I promise.  What looks like the "head of beer" is simply the reflection of light from the camera flash.  Honest!

The cake wasn't quite what we ordered and it certainly wasn't decorated to Baker Bob's standards.  The message was what we requested, and the wine glass is obvious (that was John's idea and was a surprise to me -- I quite enjoyed it!).

My striking young man helped me blow out the candles (it won't be long before he'll refuse to do that!).
Then I cut into the cake to serve it.
I wasn't really paying all that much attention as I placed the pieces on the plates but John was horrified.
"That's chocolate," he exclaimed in horror.  "I clearly ordered white cake with white icing -- absolutely NO chocolate!"
Then I looked and saw that I was serving up a chocolate cake with white icing and realized that the outer decoration should have been a clue -- it was all "chocolate" lettering.  Hmmmmmmm.
We'll be taking up the matter with Baker Bob -- the birthday girl gets a chocolate cake when the birthday girl doesn't eat chocolate?  Not a good scene!
So we have half a cake that I'm not going to eat.  Quite a disappointment to the day.  Fortunately it occurred at the end of an otherwise fabulous birthday.
It really is fun being 29!

As I turn 29 ...

... for the 35th time, finally, today I can have wine again.
Unfortunately, I have to wait until a respectable hour to do so.
Sigh.
But, wait I will.
I mean, really, what's another few hours when I've already waited 39 days?
My little chickadee should be arriving mid-afternoon (she's returning my car today, too!) and then ... let the party begin!

Busy day today

Today being Tuesday, it's into-the-big-city day for physiotherapy, a session I always enjoy.

John has to take me in today because my little chickadee has had my vehicle since last Thursday evening for their annual camping holiday.  She'll return it on Friday when she comes here for my birthday non-party.

After my physio session, we'll go to see my friends at the computer shop to pick up my birthday gift -- a webcam and headphones for my desktop computer.

Back in July I enjoyed a Skype call with my cousin who lives in Liverpool.  But I had to fire up the laptop to do it.  So I decided that it would be nice to be able to make or receive those calls from my computer and finally, after all these years, I identified a gift that John could get me for my birthday.  He was delighted, to say the least.

That first Skype call with my UK cousin was on July 1st so we could "toast" to Canada Day.  (It was also the day I resolved not to have any more wine until my birthday.)  We are planning to connect via Skype on my birthday and have a toast again -- my first glass of wine since July 1st!

I'm not sure who's more anxious for Friday to get here -- me or John.

Discouragement on the weight front

I'm getting really discouraged with my weight loss efforts.

There's been no movement in over a month -- other than up and back down, but no net loss.

I'm only just over half way to my original goal so I can't possibly have reached that dreaded plateau yet.

Although everyone tells me I look fabulous, this weight cannot possibly be my body's "comfort" zone.  I'm still, at the very least, ten pounds heavier than I should be (and about 18-28 pounds heavier than the "charts" indicate are my ideal weight).

Admittedly, if I were to get down to what the charts show I should weigh, I'd look a lot like Twiggy. Looking like Twiggy is certainly not my goal.

I simply want to get down to a healthy weight for me.

And I know that I'm almost there.  It's just taking forever to get there!

John keeps saying that "almost" counts.

Yeh, in horseshoes maybe.

One more week

Only a week to go until my birthday, and that coveted glass (bottle) of wine.   It's gonna taste soooooooooooooo good!

After a bit of a set back on the weight front, I'm back to within 5.8 pounds of my 'birthday' goal (but just 2.2 pounds of that tummy tuck doctor discussion goal).

I'll obviously not make the birthday goal.  But I guess the tummy tuck goal is still within range.

I have an August 15th appointment to see my doctor (she too is away on holidays right now) and I will discuss the hip surgery and the tummy tuck surgery with her then.

I'm guessing the tummy tuck will have to take a back seat to the hip.

Damn, maybe for my 65th birthday I'll treat myself to that tummy tuck.

What's another two years when I've already waited 30, right?

This cursed hip

My physiotherapist has determined that it's time for me to see my surgeon and step up plans for replacement of my right hip.  What brings her to that conclusion, you might ask?

Well, I've been having increasing difficulty of late.

Especially sleeping.

I still go to sleep on my left side and thankfully, I can do that now with little to no pain.  But at some point I flip onto my back, presumably because I can't tolerate the pressure on my left hip. (You know -- that bursitis that I don't have?)

After being on my back for only a short while (those breathing issues you know!), I switch to my right side.  (I wake up for that change, simply because I can't yet make the move without almost sitting up.)

Then the fun starts!

I have no idea how long I actually stay on my right side.  But once the pain hits, it's excruciating.  No slow build up for me.  It's just right there.  Bang!

And the damned pain lingers -- for hours upon hours.

Driving too has become a problem again.  Since it's my right hip, I don't have to tell you how serious an issue that can be.  The movement of my foot from the gas to the brake sometimes causes intense pain in my groin.  (Pain on internal rotation -- indicative of the osteoarthritis.)

So, when I reported all this to my physiotherapist she encouraged me to contact my surgeon and get on the list for that next surgery.

Here we go again!

Ooops, Gotta get back on board

Somehow, my weight loss has fallen off the tracks.

All of a sudden, it's going the wrong way!

I'm starting to freak out.   (Well, OK, not really, but I'm not happy about the turn of events.)

Gonna have to eat nothing for a few days and get back on track.

This is situation serious I tell you.
I definitely won't be meeting my goal by my birthday!

My weight loss ...

... apparently isn't happening.

It seems to be at a standstill again.
There's been nothing for the past ten days, although my clothes are fitting me very differently.
I hate these periods of non-losses.

I know that one of these days I'll wake up, step on that scale, and I'll have dropped by as much as four pounds very suddenly.

But while I wait for that to happen, it gets very discouraging.

In any event, it looks like I won't be meeting my goal by my birthday.

*Sigh*

I guess I've had a busy week

What else could explain my absence from here?

Last weekend my little chickadee, Pauple, and my striking young man came out for the day on Saturday.  MSYM taught his father how to shoot the bow and arrow.  There's no opportunity for him to use the bow in the city so they will have to bring it out here for him to use it.  Tough luck that!  (Grandma's doing her happy dance.)

Then having done too much on Saturday, I suffered from "Mack truck" syndrome on Sunday so had to take it easy all day.

Sigh.

Apparently, I'll never learn.

Since I lost Sunday, I spent Monday catching up on household chores.  Hence, no time for playing on the computer.  (Blogging constitutes "playing" in my mind.)

Tuesday, I was out of the house all day.  That's my physiotherapy day and I had a few errands to run en route.  Seemed like an exceptionally long day out this time for some reason.  Perhaps I was still feeling the effects of those Mack trucks.

Wednesday was spent in the kitchen preparing for dinner with my step-son and a friend of his who wanted to talk cameras with John.  Normally, John is on dinner detail but I thought I should free up his time to concentrate on the task at hand so I took on the feeding task.  Good thing I did too because the three of them started talking right out of the car as they arrived, and the mouths never stopped -- until 10:30 pm!!!!

Obviously, I paced myself well though because I didn't suffer the Mack truck after-effect the next day.

*Phew.*

Thursday of course is my massage day.  Normally I don't do anything on that day.

But this time day different.

I got up in the morning and immediately started preparing a batch of baked beans.

Then I put to boiling a dozen eggs. We keep a supply of hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator and it needed replenishing.  (Later in the morning I would peel them all.)

Next on the agenda was a dozen and a half banana muffins.  (That supply too had to be restocked.)

While I was at it, why not refill our bread crumb supply.  It too was getting low.

Suffice to say, my entire morning was spent in the kitchen.

Eventually it was lunch time and I hadn't yet done my treadmill.

Oops.

I managed to get that in just under the wire, allowing myself enough time to shower before my massage therapist arrived.

The rest of the day was a write off because once I've had that massage, I just wallow in the wonderful after-effects of the therapy.

My weight loss progress

I don't know what's happening but I'll take it.

My weight is dropping like a bag of bricks all of a sudden.

I don't know if I'm sweating it off in this heat, or if my metabolism has been suddenly revved up since that cortisone injection.  (Lord knows I'm like the energizer bunny since the shot.)

Every morning I step on that scale and I'm down again.

I had been holding steady for a while and was getting a little discouraged, wondering if my body had given up  as much weight as it was going to.

But all of a sudden, something has kick-started the drop again and I'm loving it!  (Gawd I hope it's not a result of the "no wine" resolve.  That would be just awful.  I'm soooo looking forward to my birthday when I will reintroduce wine to my diet!)

In any event, I am now within five pounds of being able to contact the tummy tuck doctor.

At this rate, I should be able to do that by next week!

OMG, it's hot, hot, hot

This heat is absolutely unbearable!

The other night, (well, the wee hours of the morning) I woke in asthmatic distress as a result of the heat and humidity.  (We sleep with a fan going but all that does is blow the hot air around.)

It took me a while to figure out what was wrong with me.  The pain in my chest was new to me.  At first I wondered if I was having a heart attack.  I routinely take my meds as soon as I get up, and once I used my puffer the pain subsided.

"Aaaaaaah, it was just asthma," I thought.  I'm not used to having asthmatic trouble, it's so well controlled.

My emergency puffer now sits on the night table beside me.  Another resides in my purse.

I was up early again this morning -- 4:30 am.  Did my time on the treadmill before 6:00 am.  I really don't like missing that part of my routine but in this heat, it's sometimes difficult to endure.

Today, I plan to sit in front of the fan and read.

Nothing else to be done in this crazy extreme weather!

Was I ever productive yesterday!

I don't know what has caused this turn-around.

Be it the cortisone injection at work or the Synvisc injections finally kicked in, or both. I simply can't say.

But yesterday I was like the whirling dervish of household achievements.

It felt so good to be able to do.  So, being as how I am that kind of personality, I did!

After breakfast, I needed to go into Carleton Place to do some shopping.  Had to stop at three different shops before I could come home.  (Made it just one time to have lunch, which luckily I had prepared the day before.)

Then it was time for the ball game to start.  (Booooorrrrrrrring!)

While the boring game was on, I had to make our weekly contingent of morning muffins (why does it always happen on the hottest day of the year that we run out of muffins?)

Then, since I was baking anyway,  I made a most fabulous dessert, the Very Berry Galette which had caught my eye in this month's Chatelaine magazine.  

It was oh so good!  It intrigued me because it has so much fruit and very little added sugar.  (Rather than making the pastry, I used a Tenderflake Deep Dish pie shell which I thawed and rolled out -- it worked just fine.)

John declared the recipe a keeper!

Next up was dinner.

Earlier that morning, I had been cleaning up some computer files and came across a recipe that sounded fairly promising.  So the grocery trip had included buying what I needed to make Baked Chicken Parmesan with Roasted Summer Squash.

It too was declared a keeper.  Yum, it was good!

All in all, yesterday was a bang-up day for working in the kitchen.

It has to be that cortisone injection on Friday.

Me thinks I'm garnering benefit of wide spread systemic relief from it.

Wow, what an experience!

Already having had several cortisone injections in my hip joints, I was not prepared for yesterday's experience.

I had been somewhat anxious about the appointment because it was at a different hospital than I had received my other shots so I was not quite sure what to expect.  (The doctor at the original hospital was a true sweetheart, and a really nice guy too!)

Anyway, to start with, the other hospital had always been quite insistent that one must not take blood thinning medication, aspirin or any anti-inflammatory meds for one week before the procedure.  In fact, I had witnessed patients being sent home with instructions to rebook their procedures because they had taken an aspirin "three days earlier."  (A good friend of mine, who also gets shots at the same hospital, has been instructed to stop using a topical anti-inflammatory for a week before her procedure.)

But this hospital?  No such instruction was issued.  They had asked, at the time of booking, if I was on blood thinner meds.  That was it.  No discussion of aspirin or anti-inflammatories.

So when the intake nurse started the questions and only confirmed that I was not on a blood thinner, I broached to topic of aspirin and other anti-inflammatory meds.  Told her about my previous experience and my knowledge of the other hospital's procedure.  (Of course, it isn't an issue for me since I can't take any of them.)

"That's a bit of overkill," she said.  "We don't care if you take aspirin, or even if you take Celebrex.  At worst, you might get a bit of a bruise.  But that's all.  We're only concerned if you're on Coumadin or Warfarin -- an actual blood thinner.  Then we can't proceed."

Wow.  You'd think if it was dangerous at one hospital, it would be dangerous at another.  Or, if it wasn't dangerous at one hospital, it wouldn't be dangerous at another.  I mean, both hospitals are within the environs of the City of Ottawa!

Methinks the policy should not be that different from institution to institution.

This "aspirin and anti-inflammatory" policy is significant for the patient.  People are going for these shots because they have osteoarthritis.  If they have to stop their pain medication for fully a week before the injection, they are being rendered almost cripple by the time they arrive for their procedure.  Craziness, if you ask me!

Then we got on the topic of Synvisc injections.  She told me that the hospital is no longer allowed to administer them.  Not covered by OHIP.  Cortisone injections are covered, but not Synvisc.  It seems that the province has decided that there is no demonstrated benefit for Synvisc over Cortisone treatment so, since April 1 of this year, they're not covering the administration of Synvisc injections.  Yet, I just had the shots administered by my doctor in June of this year.  (Have to check with my doctor about how that works!)

You learn something new every day.

But the real surprise came with the administration of the cortisone injection itself.  It was a totally different experience from the injections I had received at the other hospital.

The procedure was much the same.

Cleanse the area.

Freeze the area.

Find the way into the joint.

Inject Cortisone -- and Bob's your uncle.

But the comfort level was so much better.

The doctor cleaned the area.

He administered the freezing. ("You doing OK?"  he asked.)

I barely felt it.  (Previously, this part of the procedure was mildly painful.)

He inserted the syringe into my hip, finding his way into the joint.  As I felt the slight sensation of pressure, I steeled myself for the barrage of pain (intense pressure) that I knew was to follow.

"You doing OK?" the doctor asked again.

"Mmhmmm,"  I replied.

"Why are you so tense?" he asked.

"Because I felt the pressure and I know what's coming next," I replied.

"The worse part is over," he said.  "I'm in the joint."

And then it was done.

No more pressure.

No pain.

Nothing.

Just like that it was over.

"Wow," I said, "you're much better at this than the doctor at the other hospital!"

And I meant it!

Cortisone Injection Day

Today, I head into the big city again, this time to get a cortisone injection in my right hip joint.

Yes, it'll hurt. But the joint will feel so much better later. And it will continue to feel better for the rest of the summer and into the fall.

At least that's the plan.

En route, we'll stop at my physiotherapist's office to pick up my forgotten iPad.

Now THAT's a reason for making the trip into the big city.

I've sure missed having the convenience of that iPad.  Funny how you get used to technology!

My weight loss progress

I'm making slow but steady progress in my weight loss efforts.  (That's the kind that lasts, isn't it?)

Down 14.6 pounds as of today.  (The tracker on the side panel of this page rounds that up to 15 pounds -- I like the sound of that!)

According to the on-line program I'm using to 'keep me honest,' (www.MyFitnessPal.com) I should reach my first goal (lose 23.6 pounds) by about August 22nd -- 19 weeks after I embarked on this endeavour.  That suggests that I should have lost 20 pounds before my birthday (August 9th).

But the August 22nd date is what's important to me.  Because once I've lost that 23.6 pounds, I can start discussions with the tummy tuck doctor again (my own goal).  (John says I won't need the tummy tuck by then, my middle is shrinking so quickly.  He doesn't understand women!)

One of the most significant things that's happened for me during this process is that I have finally hit upon the required minimum 1200 calorie daily intake without using wine to reach that mark.

July 1st -- Canada Day -- was the first day it happened.  As I was tallying my intake for the day, I noticed that it was totalling 1200 calories -- and I hadn't yet factored in my wine.

"Wow," I said, "I don't need wine to make up my caloric intake today."  (I know, I know, wine is empty calories.  But until this point, if I didn't have wine at dinner time, I simply had not consumed enough calories for the day.)

Anyway, there was still a glass and a half of wine in the bottle from previous days so I decided to finish it.  (It was, after all, Canada Day!)  But I resolved not to have any more wine until the day of my birthday.  For no other reason than because my caloric intake hit the 1200 mark and it seemed like a good idea.  And my birthday seemed like a good marker to use; it was still five weeks away.

This should serve as an excellent test to demonstrate the impact that wine was having on my weight loss efforts.  (Even as bad a day as Tuesday was, I did not break my resolve and have a drink.)

Well, thus far -- ten days later -- it hasn't had any effect one way or the other. I'm still losing weight at the same rate I was when I used wine to make up those extra calories.

If this pattern continues for the next month, you know what changes I'll be making come August 9th!