It’s Been How Long? (Part 2 of 2)

Here’s some more updates to catch you up to speed.

As is in this blog, in January of 2015 we did a cruise with Beth and Anne.  We had an awesome time!  Beth has severe motion sickness issues; she wore one of those patches.  Unfortunately, when we returned home, she ended up in the hospital for a few days due to dehydration.  It’s unsure of if the patch played a big role in that or not.  Anyway, a year later, we set out for another cruise.  This time on one of the world’s largest ships, Oasis of the Seas.  Just like the prior year, we were chased out of Charlotte a day early due to an ice storm.  So on 1/6/2017, we left Charlotte and got a hotel in Hinesville, GA. At 4:30am, Jim woke me up.  Pains.  Off to the Emergency Room we went.

1/7/17, an emergency appendectomy was needed.  Although modern day appendectomies are easy, we still didn’t want to risk any recovery issues on the boat.  He’d also be in pain and doped up so a cruise wouldn’t be ideal.  We canceled our cruise and sent Ann and Beth on without us.

The worst part?  No trip insurance.  Not even from the credit card.  The whole situation sucked.

1/8/17, Beth and Anne left Hinesville and headed for the ship.  A day or 2 into the cruise and Beth was very ill – motion sickness.  She didn’t have patches (she didn’t trust them anymore) and they had to leave the ship in St. Thomas.  They got a hotel room and flew to Miami.  They rented a car, drove to Port Canaveral to pick up the other rental and drove to Charlotte.  They got home a few days after us. 

Nope, they didn’t have insurance either.  It was a lesson learned.  There you go.  All caught up.

3-21-15 Saturday (Test Fails)

This wasn’t a good week.  Monday I went for a physical/check up.  As typical, I had my blood drawn for a cholesterol test.  The nurse also pricked my finger and took a little more blood.  A few minutes later the Physician’s Assistant comes back and says “you have diabetes”.  He’s got an Indian accent but not very thick.   I asked “what?”  He repeated.  I was very, very, very shocked.  In fact, I was speechless.  I said, “I don’t understand.  How’d we get to this?”  He said he told me at my last check that I was heading this way.  He prescribed a med, and said the front desk had literature for me.

Now I have to tell you.  I don’t remember anything serious like this.  Yeah, I remember being told to lose weight.  Maybe the word diabetes was mentioned?  But if it was, it certainly wasn’t made to sound important or scary.

I got my 10 or so page report and left.  I was upset.  Later, I looked at the report and saw where it said my A1C was at 6.7%  I also says, normal range is between 3.9 – 7.0.  OK, so I’m high but how is that diabetic?

I did some Googling and checked reputable sources like WebMD, American Diabetes Association, etc.  So I read that if my test is 6.5% or higher 2 times in a row, even if it’s below 7%, it’s still considered diabetic.  I call the doctor’s office and a day later retrieve my previous result.  5.9% 15 months ago (1/2014).  ??????  First off, I’m very annoyed that if this was bad back then, then why’d we wait 15 months to check it again?  Meanwhile, another source says > 6.5% = diabetic.

Above: Per American Diabetes Association

Alternatively,

“When the A1C test is used to diagnose diabetes, an A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests indicates you have diabetes. A result between 5.7 and 6.4 percent is considered prediabetes, which indicates a high risk of developing diabetes.”

-Mayo Clinic

Here’s what I know.  Diabetic or not, what a wakeup call.  Pretty much immediately I signed up for Weight Watchers.  This time, I won’t be rewarding myself with Weight Watchers snack cakes and ice cream bars every night.  Complex carbs aren’t too hard for me since we already eat whole wheat pasta and brown rice.  I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to take those meds.

I also feel like the Physician’s Assistant failed me.  I was scheduled for a follow-up with him in a month but have called and rescheduled with my regular doctor.  AND if my regular doctor continues not to be available, I’ll need to look for a new doctor.

I said at the start, it wasn’t a good week.  Maybe having this issue is just the motivation I needed.  Wish me luck!

  In other news, my boss gave his notice.  He’s staying with the company but going to a different department.  I’m bummed.   He’s a great manager.  He gets stuff done.  I’m going to miss him.

  Back update… It’s made a lot of improvement.  The pain is very tolerable.  I hope it will all be gone soon.  Maybe those pounds I lose will ease up that issue as well.  No doubt.

  I started Weight Watchers on Wednesday, 3/18/15.  My Mom asked, “why’d you start it midweek?”  It felt good to tell her that putting it off until Monday wasn’t beneficial.  Starting the diet was a “sooner the better” situation.

  On Saturday I had to work.  I hate working Saturdays.  It kills our weekend plans.

  Coming up this Monday, Jim’s hours change from 9:30 – 6:30 with 1 even later night in the week to 8-5, no late nights.  After a year of a craptastic schedule, he’s back to a better one that will enable us to get to Augusta earlier on Friday.  Now he has to get used to getting up earlier!

  We picked up season passes for Carowinds.  Strangely, we’ve lived here 5 years and have never been there.  It’s only 45 minutes away from us.  We drive past it on the way to Augusta.   

  On Sunday we met Jaime and Ruby for brunch at On The Border (Mexican chain).  I resisted a Bloody Mary (5 points).  I didn’t eat a single tortilla chip.  I ordered a grilled chicken, rice, veggie thing on their “Border Smart” menu.  It was delicious. 

That’s all I’ve got.  Any dieting/diabetic tips?

3-8-15 Sunday (Incubation)

What a week.  It’s over.  I had my panel interview (2/23/15) for that Underwriter 2 position.  It went well.  I guess it went well enough that the next day they called and made me a sizeable offer.  I have an issue with the hours though.  Every Saturday to most every Saturday doesn’t appeal to me.  Unfortunately, I’m not willing to give up my Saturdays for any price.  I stalled the recruiter and negotiated with my current department.    Negotiations went into the following week.

On Thursday (2/26/15) we suffered through Snowmaggedon.  It started Wednesday evening.  Big, fluffy white flakes.  This time, no ice storm, just snow.  We were all set for a 2 hour delayed started so that was nice.  I slept in and then off to work we went.  The roads were slushy; that’s about it.  It was great snowman snow.

I didn’t pass my first 5 income case studies so that sucked.  I got 3 out of 5 right.  4 out of 5 is required to pass.  They were stupid, stupid mistakes. 

Friday night?  Off to Augusta for the weekend we went.  On Saturday, 2 different guys were supposed to come out and give us estimates on terra-forming our site, well building it up, for a future roof over.  One missed the appointment time and the other “called in sick”. 

The next week was weather-uneventful.  I did pass my next set of income case studies so that’s a relief.  I passed 5 out of 5 this time.  I was extra careful.

I did get my promotion to an Underwriter 2 so that was nice.   With a promotion, I got a raise but wasn’t able to get nearly the amount I was offered. Go me, somewhat.  I turned down the other position and received a “glad you can stay hug” from my boss’ boss and her boss.  It was really, really nice to be wanted and appreciated.  I wished it was more financially appreciated, but a hug is nice.

On Wednesday (3/4/15) I went to OrthoCarolina for a look at my leg/back/spine/whatever. I was X-Ray’d and then examined.  The doctor said I have a bulging disc (already known since MRI 1/2/14) and a pinched nerve.  I need a shot into the spine which is done at another office.  I think it’s Cortisone.   After the shot, I have a followup appointment 3 weeks later.  If I still have pain, I’d need a disc removed.  I’m so freaked.  I don’t even want to talk about it.  As soon as I mention things like this to people I start hearing the good and the bad stories.  It just makes me upset.

My shot is scheduled for Monday and Jim has to take me. I guess some people feel sick or whatever so they don’t want me to to drive.  I’m so excited to get rid of the pain, it’s like Christmas or something.

I’m worried about Dasher.  Aside from the cancer/age spots on him, and a cyst on his back hind area, and Insulinoma (insulin secreting tumor of the pancreas, he peed in the bed Friday morning.  Yep, at 5:59am (my alarm is set for 6am), he stood at the foot of the bed and peed.  Right on through to the comforter, sheets and mattress pad.  He’s never done that, especially in front of us.  I guess he really had to go but wondering if it’s a sign of something else.  We’ll see what happens this weekend.

We left work early on Friday and headed to Augusta.  Nothing special, we just thought a little extra time would be nice.

Walmart is a great source for strange photos.  Here’s a couple from Saturday. It’s an incubator just sitting there.  No signs, just a trophy on the top of it that could somewhat, loosely, be associated with an incubator.  My brain went into overload, thinking of scenarios of why it’s there. 

“No time to shop with a preemie at home?  Bring it in and incubate while you shop.   Now at Walmart.”

-- “Ever since our dog ate my last preemie, it’s just not safe for our little Jimmy to stay home by his self.  Now I can take him along, throw him in that ink-u-thing and get my shoppin’ done reaaaaaal fast like.”   -- Eunice Ann (A real Walmart customer from the trailer park behind the store)

It was a fun and relaxing weekend.

2-22-15 Sunday (Chiropractic Flashbacks)

It’s been a long week even though I didn’t work a full week.  Let’s see, Monday, I had a phone interview with my company for an Underwriter 2 position in the personal lines and loans department.  I’m currently a level one in the Home Equity department.  I’ve mentioned how I’ve been passed up for a promotion previously due to budgets and layoffs.  As a side note, now my department is hiring for positions we laid off in August and October.  I shake my head.  Anyway, the phone interview went so well that he immediately scheduled me for an in-person “panel interview” which means 2 people will interview me.  That’s for this upcoming Monday.  I have a lot of questions.  There’s so many rumors circulating that make this position seem like a bad move.  I’ll find out for myself.

Also on this glorious Monday, Icemagedon 2015 started.  At midday it was snowing, sleeting and raining.  Not just rain but freezing rain.  On my drive home, my windshield was icing up.  It was remarkable.  I’m glad the car was warmed up enough to throw the defroster on.  When I made it home, the car was covered in ice.  It was amazing.  It rained and froze all through the night.  I didn’t take any typical frozen patio furniture photos.

On Tuesday, I called in to our work’s weather line and the recording said a late start for 10am.  Looking at everything covered in sheets of ice, I thought, no thanks and stayed home.  I’ll get paid 2 hours and take the other 6 in PTO.  It was worth it to me.  Too nasty out there.  Meanwhile, Jim has a work laptop and had to work from home.  I did like 92 loads of laundry to celebrate the day off.  Go me.

Wednesday at work was all about catching up with the work load.  We were behind.  Overtime was opened up and “encouraged” by management. 

I’m still having this hamstring/glutes pain issue.  Thursday I went to the Chiropractor.  Not the guy who recommended the expensive machine treatment but rather my previous Chiropractor.  I only stopped going to him because there was a Chiro in my building.  Oh, and not the Chiro who wanted to schedule all 26 insurance approved adjustments right away and then during treatment showed me a nature video that was tragic.  I got measures, examined, adjusted and then therapy and given a treatment plan.  He said I will likely feel an improvement after 3 visits.

Chiropractic visit #2 on Friday for an adjustment and therapy.  I told him I felt slightly worse and got the “it will get worse before it gets better story” and I’m hopeful that he’s going to work his magic.  Although, by Friday night I felt like it was worse.  Getting into bed and trying to move more toward the center of the bed was tragically painful.  I winced, yelped, cried out and had my eyes roll back in my head on several moves.  I hate this shit.  AND while I’m whining, I still have a cough.  Depending on my position at the time of the cough, it hurts my leg like a mother. 

Unrelated.  I love Amazon.  I order a lot from there.  I’ve got a Prime Membership (now it’s like a $100 a year).  On a previous post I’ve mentioned that we ordered an auto-propane tank switching valve thingy.  I was alerted via my phone that it had been delivered; it was left at the door.  Not uncommon at all.  Well, it wasn’t there.  I checked all over and even walked to the neighbor’s house on either side of us and didn’t see it there either.  I gave it an extra day to allow time for a neighbor to come forth.  Nope.  So I went on line to file a claim.  I had this “they better ship me another ASAP and not make me wait” attitude as I navigated the site.  Easiest ever.  I pulled up the order, clicked on “where’s my order” and then clicked “replace”.  3 seconds later, bam, an email.

“We've placed a new order for the item(s) and we'll ship it to the same address as soon as possible. There is no charge for this replacement order. We have also upgraded the shipping method at no additional charge.”

I am so impressed.  I wonder if they have an algorithm that compares how long I’ve had an account, that I’m a Prime member, my total purchases, and weigh in the price of the item that’s lost to come up with how they should handle it.  If I just created a new account and ordered 1 item for $200, would I have gotten the same handling situation?  If not, smart of them.

We’ve decided to stay home this weekend.  I’ve had this cough + the hamstring issue + worked late Friday night.  We’ll enjoy hanging around the house and maybe getting some stuff done too.  No promises.

Saturday night we had dinner with friends George and David.  George was once a resident at the Augusta campground.  He eventually moved to Aiken and then later to Charlotte to move in with David.  We went to a Mexican restaurant. The food and the company were great!

Sunday we went to lunch at Fuddrucker’s  and did some shopping.  Fuddrucker’s was quite tasty.  We’ve been to one years ago and weren’t impressed and then again a year or 2 ago and liked it but we don’t have one all that close to us.  Well, it’s a half hour away.  This particular time I was very impressed; the burger was juicy and not greasy.  Well done.  The patty’s are freshly made and the buns baked in house.  Yeah, I know it’s a chain.  But we like chain burgers like Red Robin and Five Guys.  Back off!

That’s all I got!

1-12-15 Monday (Queened)

It was a fairly low-key weekend.  That’s fine with me.  We started packing for the cruise and came up with a list of last minute items so off to the store(s) we went.  Nothing major.

Saturday we met with the dog sitter, Nikki, and went over what we’d need her to do while she was here.  The most important is to take care of Dasher.  We need to keep him fed and his sugar up.  The most recent issue is his pickiness.  What we give him to eat now seems to not interest him for the next meal.  It’s crazy.  We’ve even purchased a ton of different dog food.  He’s just crazy and got us trained.  Whatever it takes I guess.

Sunday was a laid back sort of day.  We had dinner at Beth’s house.  She totally called me out on the blog.  A mutual friend told her.

Monday was a short day at work.  I had a dentist appointment to get a temporary crown. 

I posted crown me on Facebook with this picture:

And in turn, received this picture from Norma and/or Josh:

Love it!

Then later, a visit to the dermatologist.  there’s no photos of that and trust me, no body wants to see that.

Saturday is the wedding…  Sunday is the honeymoon…  I’ll most likely get the posts ready while on the ship but won’t be able to upload them until we get back.  Just like the Alaska cruise. I’ll pretty much be incognito for a week.

10-12-12 Friday (Intoxicating Paints)

Health:

I have back issues from time to time.  I’ve been to chiropractors throughout the years and it’s nothing more than adjustments.  No ruptured discs, herniated this or that, just out of alignment.  I’m happy with that!  While Mom was here, I was having my typical back pain.  After she left, the pain changed to my right hip lower back region.  Not typical for me and the pain increased.  I’ve just been putting off going to a chiropractor since I haven’t found one I like and trust just yet.  My last few visits to one was, well to summarize, left me with scarring animal deaths and their need to schedule me for every last bit of insurance approved visits totally wiping me out of insurance coverage. 

On Thursday, the pain was terrible so on a friend’s (Ja-Nessa) recommendation, off I went to Anderson Family Chiropractic.  I felt instant relief but it will take a few visits.  Later in the day, as expected, it started to hurt again, hence why the other visits are needed.  I checked-in to the chiropractor’s office and my friend and dentist, David, replied that he too used that chiro with much success.  This makes me happy.  Especially when a medical professional personally uses another medical professional. 

Bad Dog:

Dasher was naughty and peed on the living room area rug.  In one spot it warped the wood floor slightly.  Enough to infuriate me but not enough to leave the dog on someone else’s doorstep… yet.  I love that dog.  I did chase him around the house yelling at him without smacking him.  Jim and I have found that the best punishment for him is to ignore him and not allow him to lay with us or be near us.  He thrives on cuddle time.  Anyway this is the 2nd time this week.  No he doesn’t have an infection or bladder issues.  So this time we took the rug out into the garage so I could steam clean it.  This was at 11pm on a Friday night after painting.  Painting?  Yeah, I’ll talk about that later.  Stop interrupting me.  The rug will have to sit in the garage a few days lifted off the floor to allow air to circulate over and under it. I’m smart like that.

Electronics/Electrics/Gassy Things:

The carpet cleaner sound like the motor is gonna die.  It’s been like that ever since, well, I don’t even really remember.  Anyway, its newest issue is tripping a breaker or GFI.  It happened several times while using it and only added to my hissy fit with the dog.  So much so that once I finished I chased him around the house again.  Poor Dasher… my ass.  Little bastard.

I haven’t began troubleshooting just yet but the damn printer displays a printhead error. Luckily it still prints. I’ve Googled a little bit and found some steps to manually cleaning the printhead so I’ll try that at some point.

Last week while grilling, the flames went real low.  The tank had plenty of gas.  Jim disconnected the gauge part and it seemed to work fine.  It happened a few more times with the gauge disconnected during other grilling events this week.  We figured out that if you turn the gas off and restart then the flames are OK again.  Probably a regulator?  We bought one, Jim installed it and we’re hoping that with a few sacrifices of chicken to the grill Gods, they’ll ensure a smooth grilling process.

Ar-Teests:

A month or 2 or 3 ago, a few of us (friends at work) bought some drink-wine-at-an-art-studio-while-you-paint type of coupon for Cajun Canvas.  An excerpt from their website says:

Bring a bottle of wine or a few beers to enjoy as you follow along with the artist to create a ‘Painting By You‘. Everyone that visits Cajun Canvas begins with a blank canvas. You will receive step-by-step instructions which are designed for all skill levels. At the end of the class you have a completed painting to take home. Don’t worry, even if you’ve never taken a painting class before, you will be able to follow along. It is Fun and Relaxing.

There’s several of these businesses in our town so there’s bound to be at least one in yours.  Google “paint party” or “paint with wine” or “Paint while drinking wine”.  It’s fun!  We had such a great time.  Besides, all of the cool kids are doing it.  It was me and Jim, Jason and Ja-Nessa, and Shanda and Jason.

Above: Shanda and Ja-Nessa

Above: Ja-Nessa serves up some wine!

Above: Our art instructor.  Jason (shown below) says he was a stoner.  We all agreed.  He was fun though.

Above: Jim and Ja-Nessa’s Jason.

Above: Shanda and Ja-Nessa

Above: Jim

Above: Shanda and Ja-Nessa background.

Jason and Jason foreground.

Above: Shanda save some for us!

Above/Below: Shanda and Ja-Nessa.  I had fun with my camera OR you’re seeing this because you’ve had too much wine too?

Above: Ja-Nessa’s Jason

Above: Jason & Shanda, Jim & Garret, Ja-Nessa & Jason.

We totally rocked it and had a blast!

Workin’ It:

It’s almost a year ago that I applied for and was given a “promotion” or “step-up” into a “better” department.  Notice all those quotes.  It’s the same job (phone sales), different clients, selling one product more than I did previously.  It’s turned out that my department has actually had more restrictions than previous.  It also has been near impossible (but I still have managed) to achieve a quarterly incentive.  Recently, in both my previous and new positions, my company has stripped away our ability to send out emails and soon will cut off our external internet.  If we never had it before it wouldn’t be a big deal but since we have indeed had it, when they take it away, it will feel like punishment.  What’s next?  A common question.  90% of my department wants out.  Recently, management has said that they are aware of the issues, frustrations and such but things are going to change.  “Hold on”, it’s gonna get better.  I think it’s too late.  Sometime next week, we’ll lose 5 of our bankers to another department.  A department that promises less baby sitting, more pay, better advancement, and less junk coming through the phones.  I didn’t apply.  It’s still phone sales and the hours weren’t favorable.  My year in my department is almost up and I’ll be able to post outside of the sales department.  Right now, if under a year, I can post to some jobs within my group and I’m just not interested.  Well, there’s a few I was interested in so I applied.  One position was withdrawn (a training position that I really really wanted) and another I was turned down for.  So I’ll wait my turn.  I’ll wait for what I truly want.

Friends:

Ja-Nessa has given her notice.  She’s moving back to Florida.  Her and her husband, Jason, has missed it so much.  They’ll be a going away party on Monday after work.  I’ll miss her.  Our department will miss her.  Our supervisor will miss her.

Closings:

Goodbye.

7-14-11 Thursday & 7-15-11 Friday

I’ve discovered that hot foods or liquids cause me the most pain.  Since a cold pack seemed to relieve my tooth pain I returned back to my regular dentist, reporting to him what had transpired thus far.  They called over to the Endodontist, Dr. Hutcheson and requested a hot test.  He was able to get me in a little later in the day so I went home and managed as best as I could in the meantime.

Eventually I was back in the chair, grunting, whining, and desperate for resolution.  I swished some hot water around in my mouth, the pain came, with ice in hand Dr. Hutcheson tried to diagnose.  He wasn’t very comfortable with the results.  I pushed to have the root canal performed with the logic that it would beat oral surgery.  I was right about one thing.  It would have beaten oral surgery.  He began numbing my mouth.  Oddly, I still felt a little pain pulsing.  He gave me more.  There was faint feeling and so we proceeded.  The root canal was done quickly, swiftly and wonderfully.  I felt so happy.  So relieved.  Now this is how a root canal should be, not like my previous 2 from someone I suspect had no idea what they were doing. 

I went into work a couple of hours late… at 2:30.  I had a little pain.  Hmmm, must be soreness.  2 hours later while on my lunch break, I had more pain so I used an ice pack.  There’s no roots/nerves.  Why am I feeling pain?  Wisdom tooth?  Can’t be.  At 7pm, the pain sucked.  I got it to subside but holy crap!  At 8pm I relapsed.  I left work an hour early.  I watched TV with Jim while icing it down, moaning, whining, complaining, and bitching.

---

Friday morning comes and the pain continues.  Ice won’t even help this bitch anymore.  I wonder if it’s a bottom tooth or something?  I take hot water, pour it into my mouth and leave my mouth open like a Muppet allowing the water to only touch the bottom teeth.  Owwwwwwww!  You gotta be kidding me.  It’s been the bottom tooth all along.  I could still swear it’s the top tooth.  Really!  I call the Endodontist, the office is closed on Fridays.  I didn’t leave an emergency message but rather decide that maybe I can make it through the weekend?  The pain is killing me though.  I started looking online at my insurance company to find another Endo who might be open today.  The problem with this is that they won’t have x-rays, they’ll think I’m nuts once I start going through the story (they’d be right), and it could end up a mess.  I called my Endo back, left a message asking for a referral to someone you might be open.  Dr. Hutcheson returned my call, listened to my craziness and said he’d come in to do it.  He’d have to call me back soon.  So I wait.  It was the worst 2 hours.  The pain was crazy.  I went to Rite-Aid for Orajel and hopes of getting the Vicodin script filled quickly just in case.  I was barely able to drive there.  I made it to and from successfully, the Orajel certainly helped. 

My Endo called me and had me come in. It was strange seeing him in shorts and alone.  He wasn’t able to get any assistants in but he did fine on his own.  We did the warm/cold tests on the bottom tooth.  He took x-rays, he numbed me, the pain went away quickly, root canal was performed, I thanked him profusely and went to work… still numb.  The numbness went away and all was good!  Yay!

I told him I felt dumb for not realizing which tooth truly hurt.  I told him I could even swear now that the upper tooth hurt.  He said that sometimes the nerves cross in the jaw and send mixed signals.  Maybe he said that to make me feel better?!  I’ll be sending him a thank you note either way!

Oh, and he also called me later to check on me!

7-13-11 Wednesday (Run Zebra, Run!)

I started my day off with a visit to the Endodontist which I picked off of my insurance website since the kind folks at Van Huss Endodontics haven’t returned my call from 7-11-11.  Did I mention they suck?  So I go to Dr. Hutcheson, an Endodontist, where he does some cold testing and x-rays.  Nothing happens during the cold testing so he recommends an oral surgeon for wisdom tooth extraction.  I can’t get in till 7-20-11, which is too long, so I stop back my regular dentist right up the block and they recommend the Charlotte Oral Surgery to see Dr. Moore later in the day.

In the meantime, I go to my chiropractor appointment to review x-rays from the other day.  Spine this, neck that, plan to correct this, etc.  Before an adjustment is made, I lay on a surface that does an aqua heated massage of sorts on my back while I watch TV on the ceiling mounted TV.  It’s National Geographic or in this case a bit too graphic.  Look at the feline (jaguar, cheetah or whatever it was) catch the pretty zebra and mangle it up neck first.  I’m pretty horrified.  I should be relaxing but now I’m feeling a little sick from the view on top of the motion this bed is creating.  I recover.  3 minutes later, it’s all about deer.  How cute.  See the deer run.  Run deer, run… right into barb wire.  Oh dear, deer can’t get out for a while.  I think I’m going to cry.  I’m sickened.  I told the doctor who jokes, “you must have gotten to the zebra”.  Really?  Really!  He says he really needs a new video and shares that thought with his receptionist.  Ya think?  Thanks Dr. Lyons (Beyond Wellness Chiropractic Center)!  We talked about my tooth issues and turns out he’s had wisdom teeth removed from the same doctor.

Hours later I’m off to the oral surgeon consultation.  I’m feeling queasy.  I’m mildly hyperventilating and trying to convince my self to relax.  I have a headache.  My mouth hurts.  I’m light headed.  I am called into a room and I speak to a nurse and have a panoramic set of dental x-rays taken.

After the x-rays I’m seated in a room to watch an educational video about wisdom teeth extraction/surgery.  Chance of this, chance of that.  Risks this, risk that.  Death, blah blah.  I’m in hyperventilation mode again and pacing around the room.  My blood pressure tests high.  I wonder why that is?  The oral surgeon comes in, examines and feels that its not the wisdom tooth (blue arrow).  He says it would hurt when applying pressure if it were a problem. He sees a dark spot at an existing crown (red arrow) and suggests I have that reexamined.  He said he’d be more than happy to extract the wisdom tooth to eliminate that possibility.  He tells me to think about it and I can get back to him on it.

Ugh.

7-12-10 Monday (Treasure Hunt – Beyond The Crown)

I went to Walmart again.  I picked out a cereal for Jim the last time and turns out he doesn’t like it.  I returned it.  I told them it tasted like cardboard with honey.  They gave me a refund.  Why not?  I bought a different healthy cereal for Jim to try.

I went to my new dentist today for a cleaning.  It went fine.  Gross – even though I flossed twice today she “found” popcorn.  She said popcorn loves to hide sometimes for days.  She found it twice under a lip or something from a crown.  I’m glad I could share that with you.

In other exciting news, Jim and I went to the gym today.  I did core (abs) exercises while I waited for him to get there.  After he changed we hit the stair climber machine for 45 minutes.  Grueling.    We’ve decided to go 3 times a week.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Since we can’t be motivated with 5 days a week, I suggested 3 for now.  

Here’s how my food choices broke down.  For some reason I ate a salad at like 10:30 this morning.  I was just in the mood for it.  I didn’t have enough ultra low cal balsamic vinaigrette so I used a light dressing I had available.  3 points for that sucks.  At lunch I ate what I’d normally have eaten for breakfast.  Later as a snack I had popcorn.  For dinner I grilled some chicken, paired it with fresh broccoli and brown rice with salsa.  Yum.  Dessert was a delicious fruit cocktail served on sugar free angel food cake and topped with a Coolwhip type topping.  Yum.  Jim later had cereal and I just had to have some too.  I skipped the milk and ate it like a snack.  It’s a real high fiber cereal that’s low in points and very tasty AND included a mail in rebate form to get the cereal for free!    

It’s OK to drink alcohol on the streets here.  We took another bus tour of this awesome city.  More characters.  More fun photos!  Vampires!  Check it out here.

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7-1-10 Thursday (Day Of Reductions)

For those of you on Facebook who have seen this info already – so what.  For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, I present you with another 5 pounds of weight loss.  What excites me so much is that I weighed myself Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (making this on Friday, not like a time travel thing silly) to see if my weight would vary much.  I’m happy to say the 5 pounds seems to have stuck wonderfully!  This milestone is so incredible to me because I stopped journaling (couldn’t keep up) in DC.

Above: 40 days = 15 pounds!

Once I recalculated my points target, it reduced it to 28 points.  What a surprise.  That’s OK though.  No problem.  I will comply.  I did get the whole losing weight too fast warning again.  Hmph.

I hit job hunting hard today.  I applied for several jobs.  Naturally I prefer some positions over others but while the descriptions aren’t 100% interesting, hopefully the job itself is.  Does that make sense?

I did have to stop by the RV for a couple things.  It looked all lonely in the storage lot.  I had to go to Walmart again.  When I went yesterday I totally forgot about picking up my prescription.  I hate when that happens.

Yesterday morning I had a doctor’s appointment to retest my cholesterol.  Today their office called with good news.  Finally the numbers were pretty good.  Liver function good.  Overall 137 (<200 good), Triglycerides = 100 (<150 good), LDL = 93 (<160 good) and HDL 24 (>40 good).  So most of it was good.

 

 

We had lunch at a whore house in the neighborhood of bath houses.  Our pets cuddle.  Jim rescues an animal.  We walk almost 2 miles.  See what I’m rambling on about here.

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6-11-10 Friday (More Yet Smaller)

I called my Dental Insurance company this morning.  Delta Dental.  As I discussed a few things with her, she spotted 2 errors:

1. The $148 from Dr. Taylor’s office (mentioned here) should not be paid.  As per an agreement between Esthetic Dental and Delta Dental, it was done within 3 months of the root planing and is considered “provider write-off”.  She told me to refer the dentist to them if they have any questions.
2. The Charlotte Root Canal Center indicated me as “other” instead of spouse which put me in as a child in Delta Dental’s records therefore kicking a claim.  I may have a refund coming back to me then.  I called the root canal place and explained. 

We’ll see what happens.  For now on I will call after every claim to check that it was submitted and paid properly.  The insurance rep said that many people do just that.  I’d like to think these weren’t “intentional errors”. 

I received a call from a senator’s staff confirming our White House tour!  Yay!

I ironed and then ironed some more and then even some more.  When I was “done”, I remembered the 8 other shirts in the closet that needed touch-ups.  Argh.  I switched the iron back on and tackled them.

It’s obvious that I don’t know how to snack appropriately.  By appropriately I mean with moderation.  Jim and I can never “stop at one”.  Inevitably, one of us will look at the other and ask “want another one?” It’s our weakness.  This is why we never have snack food in the house until recently.  I’ve always had that problem and I’m not real sure why I thought being on a diet would be any different.  Sure I’m losing weight but are my desserts and snacks out of control?  I ended the day today with 2 points but look at the snacks for the day.  Two lemon iced cakes.  Double fudge cake.  Fudge stripe cookies.  Not to mention, look at what I ate for dinner.  2 burgers.  Again – I’m within points values but maybe I should be consuming higher point foods?  Once all the snacks are gone in the house I won’t be replenishing them.  Maybe 1 thing like pudding or ice cream pops.  Having sundaes, cookies and cakes are probably dumb.  What do you think?  I’m losing weight.  I’m within points. 

PS: 100 calorie packs are funny.  Basically they make a mini version of the larger thing and fill a bag with a handful.  Maybe I get 6 minis but if they we full size it would have been 2-3.  The Weight Watcher’s Lemon Cream cake is good but also tiny.

 

We’ve relocated to a new city/state again.  The RV park is awesome.  We confirm plans for New Orleans.  Check it out here.

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