Hermit Crabs Don't Have Fur

Organization is over rated...

2009-02-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

I've been promising myself that I would start to better organize my life. Not to be an organizational Super Woman, mind you. Just get rid of some of the clutter mountain, and maybe be able to find things when I want them without having to don hiking gear and hire a sherpa guide. I started with the computer desk. Bad idea. The desk is the most disorganized area in my apartment. I started by telling the family that it'll be a group project. No way was I tackling this on my own. I didn't mess it up on my own, I'm not cleanin' it on my own. Plus, there's safety in numbers. If something reached out and grabbed me, I wanted back up!

It's amazing how much clutter you can accumulate and we found things not seen in quite a while. Among the detritus, we found 6 letter openers, an old cell phone, several computer programs we forgot we had, 4 phone books, 5 tubes of lip balm, 2 eyeglass repair kits, my missing mp3 player, 3 small flashlights, 5 staplers (one of which needs to be returned to my mother), and enough sticky note pads to wall paper the living room. Not to mention the numerous pens, pencils, old bill statements, and bits of paper with phone numbers. No names, just phone numbers, so of course we have no idea who the numbers belong to.

Is that a sign we should clean the desk more often? Probably. Will we do it? Probably not.

That was easier than I thought it would be.

2009-02-05T00:54:00.004-05:00

Well, I worried for nothing on on the tilt table test. Turns out it really wasn't that bad and there was no fainting, so that was good! That means that I passed the test and don't have the blood pressure problem they were looking for. Yay for that! On the flip side though, it also means that still no answer for the vertigo.

I'm still hoping for the "It'll eventually go away on it's own" option. Time will tell.

Can't Wait For Tomorrow's Test!

2009-02-02T23:34:00.004-05:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about my health issues and my battle with vertigo. For the past several months, my primary doc has been sending me to specialists to try and find a reason for it. So far no luck, but we're still looking. One of the specialists was a neurologist, and while he couldn't find a neurological reason for the vertigo, he did want to do an EMG test based on some other symptoms unrelated to the vertigo.

An EMG (electromyogram) tests the electrical activity of the muscles. In my case, he was looking for diabetic neuropathy. This nifty test uses a series of shocks and then needles to test said electrical activity. Wooohaaa! The shock portion was techincally another test, a nerve conduction velocity test, but from what I understand they're often done together. I was told it would be uncomfortable. Um, yes. Yes it was. And yes, I do have the neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage caused by the diabetes. Fortunately, it's still mild right now and I can deal with it. It's the least of my worries at this point.

Back to the vertigo, primary doc sent me for an echocardiogram. Now that test was fun! No, really, I do mean it was fun. It's basically an ultrasound done on your heart. I could see the monitor, and got a neat view of my heart beating. I could make out the chambers and valves, very cool! And painless, yay! No results from that yet, hopefully I'll get the all clear on that test.

I was also sent to see the cardiologist, who did a ekg(normal) and had me scheduled to have a tilt table test. The tilt table test, as it was explained to me, is being done to rule out a blood pressure problem as the cause of the vertigo and I will be on a table that does actually tilt, hence the name of the test. I'm going to have that done tomorrow, no.... make that today. It's after midnight now. I'm still awake because I'm a little nervous about this one. Simply put, in order to test for this blood pressure condition, they are going to try to make me pass out under controlled conditions. Pass out. Faint. Go unconcious. Nope, not lookin' forward to that. Not at all. Wish me luck!

Mary

I Miss Mr. Hooper

2009-01-04T14:59:00.005-05:00

Sesame Street sometimes makes me feel a little old. Ok, I know...I'm only 40, far from old. That doesn't make me feel any better about it though. I think it's just because it seems like Sesame Street has been around forever and I tend to forget that the stuff I remember is new to younger people. Actually, Sesame Street is a year younger than me. Great, I'm older than Sesame Street. It still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling for all that, though.

I bring it up because my grandson got a couple of Elmo's World dvds for Christmas. In one of them was a clip of Mr. Hooper. Who remember's him? Most kid's now don't even realize there was a Mr. Hooper. I remember when he died, and they talked about it on the show. I don't remember particulars, but I remember it happening. I still miss Mr. Hooper. Seeing that made me feel all sad and nostalgic. *sigh* But it also brought back memories of the carefree days of childhood, and how something like a children's tv show can become a steady, yet ever changing part of it.

Well, you will always be alive in the memories of my generation of Sesame Street fans, Mr. Hooper!

Christmas Parties & Crazy Auctions

2008-12-16T18:29:00.007-05:00

Have you ever been to a crazy auction? What....you've never heard of a crazy auction?! You lead a sheltered life. Get yourself to one, pronto! My husband and I belong to the local volunteer fire company, and at the Christmas party for the members and their families, we have a crazy auction instead of a traditional gift exchange. Sometimes the money raised gets donated to the company, but usually we'll all agree on a worthy cause or needy family to donate it to.

They work like this. You bring a wrapped gift (or gifts, if you're feeling generous) to be donated to the auction. The gifts are all auctioned off to the highest bidder, just like a real auction. The thing is, you don't know what you are getting because all of the gifts are wrapped. It could be anything! It can be a "normal" gift, like a nice mug, dvds or whatever. There are lots of "normal" things every year. Where it deviates from the norm, however, are the "haha, sucker!" gifts that are brought. Things like a roll of toilet paper, a can of pet food, a toy from the dollar store, stuff like that.

One year someone wrapped up a big huge box, and boy was that sucker heavy! What the "lucky" bidder got was a box full of sand bags and a few bricks. I think they paid $15 for it. For some reason, I always seem to get the "sucker" gifts. This year was different! I got jewelry! and I only paid $6 for it! Here's a picture of my lovely neclace.....

That is my beautiful, $6 candy necklace. Oh well, I got of cheaper than the auctioneer did. Yes, we let the auctioneer bid, too. He ain't gettin' of any easier than the rest of us! You know those tins of popcorn you can get for $5 or $6 bucks? He paid $22 for one. Ha! Whose the sucker now?!

Icy weather, yay....

2008-12-14T18:00:00.006-05:00

Well, I suppose Old Man Winter was bound to rear his icy head at some point. Thursday evening into Friday here gave us our first ice storm of the season. Tree limbs and power lines were down all over. The picture to the right is part of a tree that came down in the yard to the apartment building I live in.

Power is still out in some of the surrounding areas, but we were lucky. We got it back about 12 hours later. It's only December, and one storm later and I'm already tired of the cold. I can't wait until summer, so I can complain that it's too hot and can't wait til winter gets here.

Geeze, I guess bifocals are a-comin'...

2008-12-11T20:52:00.004-05:00

When I was told I was diabetic, one of the first appointments I made was with the eye doctor. Diabetics are at risk for eye problems like diabetic retinitis , so I just wanted a check up. He did all of the that diabetics should get, but would'nt do the regular exam for my eye glasses, the reason being that as my blood glucose began to get regulated, my prescription would change. He said it would be a waste of time and money, since I would probably need new glasses after I got the BG under control. Ok, fine, I can live with that.

What he neglected to tell me was how fast the change could happen! I'm near sighted and I can still see fine far away with the glasses, but close up is another story. Close up looks like someone put put petroleum jelly in my eyes. And on my glasses. And the computer screen. And everything else, for that matter! I am now one of those people that has hold everything 10 feet away to see anything printed unless the font size is larger than 5000. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But it still sucks.

On the bright side my BG is is coming down, and my family is having fun at my expense watching me do my best Stretch Armstrong impression. Anyone else remember Stretch Armstrong? Only one of the coolest toys from the 70's! Or ever! Oh and the dog in the photo? Not mine, but I thought it was cute and there were glasses on the dog, so there's the tie in to this post. Yeah, I know they're sunglasses. Picky, picky

*Photo courtesy of Freerangestock.com, by Mara Denardo.

WTF? Christmas Reindeer?

2008-12-08T00:58:00.004-05:00

My 21 year old daughter went to her Grandma's house on Saturday for a "Christmas Craft Day". She made a painted wooden Christmas reindeer decoration. I know it's a Christmas reindeer because it has Christmas light bulb earrings, pretty sequins and glitter and a red heart that says "HO HO" on it.

And it's pink. Yes, I said pink! But that's the least of its oddities. It also has fishnet stockings, a garter belt, and pasties. If you look closely, you can see a little dollar bill peeking out of it's garter belt. You can't see it well in the photo, but the stars have a message written on them. Do you remember the Weather Girls and their song "It's Raining Men"? You guessed it, the stars say "It's raining men, hallajula".

Definitely, the strangest reindeer I've ever seen, but I love it! It gave me a great fit of laughter and is hanging on my wall right now. I smile whenever I look at it. Here it is in all it's glory! I shall bask in your envy!

Well, duh, my health is important after all....

2008-12-05T22:55:00.004-05:00

I'm one of those people who tends worry about others and forgets to take care of my own health. I should know better, too. I work in the health care field as a phlebotomist and I used to be an EMT. I had back pain for years that I put off doing anything about only to end up having a spinal fusion 5 years ago. There is a strong family history of diabetes and cancer. I had already been diagnosed with insulin resistance(pre-diabetes). I can be very dense sometimes.

Well, I have finally learned in the past month something that has escaped me until now. Take care of yourself, stupid, because if you wait to long it might be too late! I think that I'm fortunate because I may have learned just in time to avoid disaster. It started with a sudden attack of vertigo, bad enough that I had to leave work and seek medical attention. It's been a month and no clear answer as to why I am having these vertigo attacks. It's extremely frustrating, but I'm learning to deal with it while going through various tests and seeing doctors who names all end in "ist". Way fun! I must tell you, though, that I am grateful for the vertigo.

The reason that I'm grateful is that if I hadn't got the first attack, I would still be putting going to the doctor. While I was at the followup visit to my primary doctor for the veritgo, he did a fingerstick on me. My blood glucose was 450! For those who don't know, that is bad. Granted I had eaten that day, but going by the standard, it shouldn't have been any higher for a non-fasting than about 140 or so. Crap. Normal fasting blood glucose should be under 100, fasting bloodwork showed that mine was 269. Double crap. So now I am a full-fleged diabetic.

I start treatment for that and go for an MRI because I'm still having vertigo. Could be the diabetes, but we've got to rule out other stuff. The MRI came back showing an "area of prominence". Translation: "You get to have another test! Won't that be fun?" So the next test is a CTA scan. That's a CT scan with an angiogram. So you get the IV with dye in it. The dye is great fun! It makes you feel very hot and gives you the sensation that you've wet yourself. I'm glad they warned me of that, because I would have sworn that my bladder had a party without me! You don't really pee, though, and the scan is quick so it's not so bad.

What the scan showed, however, was bad. I was informed that I have a small brain aneurysm. Triple crap!! Bad as that sounds, it could have been much worse. Because of the veritgo and the subsequent tests, they found the aneurysm while it's still very small and the risk of rupture, I'm told, is small. It's will be monitored and hopefully remain stable, but I could someday have to have surgery to repair it. Brain surgery isn't something anyone want's but I am beyond lucky, so many people with aneurysm never know until it's too late! They don't think it's the cause of the vertigo because it's so small.

So now I am learning to control the diabetes, get used to the vertigo, and to learn to live with the knowledge that I have this aneurysm. I am also going to start taking better care of myself! Oh, and I decided that since aneurysm is too scary of a word for me, I am going to call it "Melvin". I'm sure that makes me some kind of weirdo, naming my aneurysm, but it sounds better and if I gotta have this thing I'm darn well going to call it what I want! Melvin!

Ooooo...a new blog!

2008-12-04T22:23:00.004-05:00

Well, I've had my other (digital art) blog for about a month now; I actually have had the Blogger account for awhile, but never really did much with it. Now that I've stuck with it for a bit, I've realized how much fun blogging is! The only problem is, I've been feeling like I want more. Some place for my deep, well...maybe not so deep, thoughts.

I started with the other one just for something to do. I've been out of work for a while due to health issues, started playing around with making kaleidoscopic images out of boredom, then decided to put the dusty, unused blog account to use. And now here I am with blog number 2. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it yet. I'll just start posting and see what happens. I'll probably do some venting, due to the aforementioned health issues, but I'll try not to turn it into a whine-fest. Or if I do whine, I'll try to do it in an interesting an amusing way. Then you be able to laugh with me at my misfortunes, or laugh at me. Whichever you prefer.

Don't expect much about hermit crabs, though, or fur for that matter. So, why the title? I heard the phrase "Hermit crabs don't have fur" said somewhere and it struck me as kinda funny. I thought it needed to be a title for something, why not my blog? So no hermit crabs or fur. Unless I get a hermit crab. Or grow some fur.