Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!
Santa's been to my place and we must have been really good this year as he brought us some wonderful things!
From Christopher I have a BEAUTIFUL framed photo of the Saginaw Water Works building lit up for Christmas. Here's a link to I think the photo that was used for it - but this one has text on it saying what it is, when it was taken, and of course Chris' copyright on it: (LINK) It is absolutely stunning, and it's now hanging in my front hallway, along with the framed sketch Kerstin did of me last year when I visited. So now my entrance way is a gallery of my kids work. When my grandson gets here, his photo will be Terry's 'artistic' addition when I put a photo up of the baby. :-)
Kerstin made me a gorgeous make up bag that fits my diabetes glucose meter and supplies PERFECTLY. You can see it at: (LINK) - and it's waterproof, so my meter will stay safe if my antibacterial hand gel accidentally spills. Good thinking!
Terry and Jennifer sent a really pretty silver bracelet with a blue stone that was tucked inside the bag. I'm wearing it now!
From Terry, I have photos from his wedding and a CD with MORE photos that I can't wait to have a look at. :-)
Rod gave me a big box with a little stick of memory in it that says its a placeholder... because ... my prezzie from him (which I asked for) is a faster motherboard & CPU. The one we ordered only comes with 1 gig memory, so the stick I opened is a place holder for another 1 gig. I am going to really enjoy the new computer guts. It's a Gigabyte Intel 945 chipset Mother Board, plus an Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140(1.6Ghz X 2). Yes that's right, Drez, it's a DUAL CORE! Unfortunately it won't be here until Thursday, but meanwhile, we'll be enjoying Rod's gift that I've spent ages working on...
Santa brought Rod the full Married with Children complete box set including specials, which was cool, but I added to that a book that I compiled and edited: The Complete Guide to Married with Children. It includes cast bios, trivia, a list of DVD edits, and the episode guides that include notes, trivia, guest and recurring stars, plus listings of goofs. It literally is a book, and I might just make a PDF of it and add it to our online store. Oh, and thanks to all the work I put into it, I'm now a Married with Children expert! LOL.
I had two secret Santa's this year through Bookcrossing and both sent me the same book! One sent some butterfly stickers, Australian dried dragon fruit and some natural soap, and the other sent Bookcrossing post-it notes and bookmarks. I'm looking forward to reading the book, 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' as I read the authors first book, 'The Kite Runner' and really thought it was so well written. The other copy will naturally be bookcrossed - that's what bookcrossing is all about! :-)
We opened gifts in the office this year (since that's where the tree is) and I set the webcams to record movies. So once I edit them down, I'll put them online. I might wait until the new motherboard and CPU is here though - it'll make the job a LOT easier. :-) :-)
So our plans for the day now are to enjoy some prawns for lunch, do a few Instant scratchies, watch some Married with Children and then for tea tonight we have a lovely Turkey roll we're looking forward to.
I hope everyone enjoys their gifts from me, and a big thank you for sending me gifts - it's been really nice to share Christmas with you!! BIG HUGS, and lots of love!
25 December 2007
14 December 2007
Checking in
I've been 'unwell' for days now, and I'm so tired of it. Last Friday I saw my GP and he diagnosed bronchitis and changed my antibiotics from Keflex (which I still have about a months supply of) to Vibramycin (2 wks worth). He said to go back on the Keflex as soon as I finished the other antibiotics.
Thing is, the fevers I've been having (and accompanying high BGLs) are actually worse this week than they were last week. Amazingly, I can now seem to 'almost' function normally at 37 which I've never been able to in the past. But I've had 37.1 and 37.2 temps in the last few days too, and always seem to match with a high glucose reading. These are underarm temps, so I suppose a degree should be added. My baseline 'normal' underarm temp is 36.4. I ordered an ear thermometer one day this week. It'd be nice if it arrives tomorrow.
All my lovely low glucose readings and great averages have slipped away. I saw an add for a 'Glucoboy' which is a glucose meter for kids that will also play Nintendo Gameboy Advance games and has various incentives for regular checks and good readings. At the time I read the ad, I thought what a great idea. Now after days of high BGLs through no fault of anything I'm eating or doing, I'm not so sure withholding the ability to play certain levels is fair to kids who happen to be ill and have high readings. Otherwise, what an incredibly cool concept. Just my thoughts.
Was feeling OK enough on Sunday to take my walk. Monday I also went for my walk, but probably shouldn't have. On the bright side of that, I got my hair trimmed. Love those pensioner discounts. Last night was the computer club's annual Christmas dinner at the Flagstaff hotel. I was OK while there (napped in the afternoon beforehand), felt really rough in the car on way home. Had a fever spike.
We were out a little while tonight doing weekly shopping. We found a kettle that will boil water, and then keep at whatever temperature you set it for, so you can have perfect temp for being able to drink coffee or tea without waiting for it to cool down enough for it. We both are really happy with it.
Sunday I also uploaded the scans I've done recently to Flickr. The link is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/
Thats about it for now. Just thought I'd do a check in.
Thing is, the fevers I've been having (and accompanying high BGLs) are actually worse this week than they were last week. Amazingly, I can now seem to 'almost' function normally at 37 which I've never been able to in the past. But I've had 37.1 and 37.2 temps in the last few days too, and always seem to match with a high glucose reading. These are underarm temps, so I suppose a degree should be added. My baseline 'normal' underarm temp is 36.4. I ordered an ear thermometer one day this week. It'd be nice if it arrives tomorrow.
All my lovely low glucose readings and great averages have slipped away. I saw an add for a 'Glucoboy' which is a glucose meter for kids that will also play Nintendo Gameboy Advance games and has various incentives for regular checks and good readings. At the time I read the ad, I thought what a great idea. Now after days of high BGLs through no fault of anything I'm eating or doing, I'm not so sure withholding the ability to play certain levels is fair to kids who happen to be ill and have high readings. Otherwise, what an incredibly cool concept. Just my thoughts.
Was feeling OK enough on Sunday to take my walk. Monday I also went for my walk, but probably shouldn't have. On the bright side of that, I got my hair trimmed. Love those pensioner discounts. Last night was the computer club's annual Christmas dinner at the Flagstaff hotel. I was OK while there (napped in the afternoon beforehand), felt really rough in the car on way home. Had a fever spike.
We were out a little while tonight doing weekly shopping. We found a kettle that will boil water, and then keep at whatever temperature you set it for, so you can have perfect temp for being able to drink coffee or tea without waiting for it to cool down enough for it. We both are really happy with it.
Sunday I also uploaded the scans I've done recently to Flickr. The link is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/
Thats about it for now. Just thought I'd do a check in.
06 December 2007
Three Quarters of a Year
Three Quarters of a Year
Today marks 9 months since I had surgery for an abscess in my back, and I'm still recovering from it, with a hole in my side that tracks 11cm deep. I still have regular dressing changes, and my back is a hodge podge of scars and odd swellings. I can't believe it's been this long and although the opening where packing is inserted and measurements are taken is smaller, it's still there, and not showing much sign of going away anytime soon. The depth of the track is actually DEEPER now than it was after the original surgery, but the last time I saw the 'specialist' they weren't too particularly concerned about it. My GP on the other hand, has been quite concerned and has contacted the clinic at the hospital that I have to deal with, but didn't really get too far either.
Here's the situation...
I had breast cancer in 2001 and had a mastectomy on the right side. In August 2005, I had reconstructive surgery, moving muscle and other tissue from my back to my right side to re-create my right breast. It's not the best reconstructed breast I've seen, but I'm happy to no longer have to wear a bra and prosthesis. The end of February this year, my BGLs got really strange and I felt very ill for a couple of weeks. I'd seen the doctor, was on antibiotics, but just couldn't shake whatever it was. And then I developed cellulitis (a skin tissue infection) that tracked in the area of one of the major scars on my back. The entire right side of my middle back was swollen, very red, and very hot. Blood tests were ordered that confirmed that I was 'septic' (the infection had reached my blood stream and was systemic). I was sent to the ER and consequently seen by the department that did the reconstruction - the plastics team. They determined I had an abscess and immediately scheduled me for emergency surgery. The goal was to allow it to heal from the inside out, and that is still the goal, but now a large section of it is a cavity on its own and separated from the area the top portion that is the deep 11cm track that is dressed on a regular basis. This area swells and becomes quite 'full' and painful feeling. We think part of the swelling, fullness and pain is due to lymphedema -- my lymph nodes were removed from under my arm when I had the mastectomy so this system that removes lymph fluid from my right side doesn't work as well as a normal persons. As a visual description, imagine a regular ruler sitting above a dinner plate. The ruler is the 'hole' or track that goes from my side to my spine and is 11cm deep. The dinner plate is the area underneath that is a hole inside - a cavity that is just there, going nowhere, and certainly not going away.
Due to the swelling and the fact the other track actually became deeper than it had originally, my GP ordered an ultrasound, which showed that this cavity was 'detached' from the other track and inflammed. So my GP sent a fax off to the plastics treatment team at the hospital requesting that I be seen sooner than my scheduled appointment, which at that time was about 4 weeks away. In the interim, I had my regular yearly mammogram and appointment with the breast cancer center. I showed my breast surgeon my back and his first reaction was 'what the heck is THAT?' (it's not pretty). When I explained what it was from, he suggested I get in to see the plastics treatment team earlier than my scheduled appointment (now about 3 weeks away). So this was three professionals - my GP, my breast surgeon, and my visiting nurse - who all felt that I needed this area checked out. When I finally heard from the plastics treatment people, my new appointment was a whole week earlier than my scheduled one. The appointment turned out to be rather surreal. The doctor more or less sentenced me to life with this cavity with shrug of her shoulders. As to expectations, she said they have none as they already gave up all their guesses on how long this would take to heal. She thinks the main track will probably eventually heal and I'll just have the cavity left permanently and it will be susceptible to infection. And then she shrugged. She didn't even seem too concerned that the depth of the track is now deeper than it was start with. One of her comments was that that they couldn't do any further surgery on it because obviously I don't heal so further surgery isn't an option - basically there's nothing more that they can do for me.
That was in October. Here we are in December and I'm not even sure when my next appointment will be (it was to be 4 months and they will send me a card. In the mean time, my GP is trying to find out who can see me for another opinion. As I'm a 'public' patient in Australia, this gets a bit tricky. If I were a 'private' patient and had my own insurance, I would have lots of choices. As a public patient, I don't seem to have any choices really. My GP can't refer me to another hospital treatment centre as he would get in trouble for not following protocol. He has spoken to the head nurse of the plastics department and they didn't have any alternative suggestions and were less than helpful. His next step is to talk to my breast surgeon, and I haven't heard the results of that conversation, but based on his observations and suggestions in late September, I think he has the same problem as he would have to deal with the consequences of the politics of seeing me for this problem rather than letting the plastics department handle it. Personally, I've come to think that we need for me NOT to be seeing surgeons for advice if surgery isn't going to be an option.
For the last couple of weeks, I've been having some really good and really bad days. The good days I'm able to nearly have a normal life, do extra walking, take care of my house, keep up with stuff on the computer. On the bad days, it starts with a fever in the morning and high BGLs both of which are intermittent for the rest of the day, despite following the same routines and meals as I usually have for breakfast and lunch... so I know it's not what I'm eating that's causing the higher BGLs. I also feel tired and can't keep up with stuff, needing to nap in the afternoon and sometimes falling asleep watching TV or at the computer in the evening. As I'm already on antibiotics, I talked to my GP about the fever when it first started and he felt it might be a virus, and I should wait a few days and watch for any new symptoms, but if I start getting worse to come in and see him. Well I haven't really gotten better or worse. At any rate, I probably do need to get back and see him -- and find out if anything is to become of his talk with the breast surgeon.
So this blog entry marks approximately 270 days of this. Most of the time I cope quite well and have a good sense of humour, but there are times when I wonder what next? Especially on the days I'm running a fever and my BGLs are higher than normal... it just seems like there's something else waiting around the corner to ambush me, and it worries me. Yet I don't want to be the type who's continually looking behind me in fear either. ((sigh))
Thanks for listening.
Today marks 9 months since I had surgery for an abscess in my back, and I'm still recovering from it, with a hole in my side that tracks 11cm deep. I still have regular dressing changes, and my back is a hodge podge of scars and odd swellings. I can't believe it's been this long and although the opening where packing is inserted and measurements are taken is smaller, it's still there, and not showing much sign of going away anytime soon. The depth of the track is actually DEEPER now than it was after the original surgery, but the last time I saw the 'specialist' they weren't too particularly concerned about it. My GP on the other hand, has been quite concerned and has contacted the clinic at the hospital that I have to deal with, but didn't really get too far either.
Here's the situation...
I had breast cancer in 2001 and had a mastectomy on the right side. In August 2005, I had reconstructive surgery, moving muscle and other tissue from my back to my right side to re-create my right breast. It's not the best reconstructed breast I've seen, but I'm happy to no longer have to wear a bra and prosthesis. The end of February this year, my BGLs got really strange and I felt very ill for a couple of weeks. I'd seen the doctor, was on antibiotics, but just couldn't shake whatever it was. And then I developed cellulitis (a skin tissue infection) that tracked in the area of one of the major scars on my back. The entire right side of my middle back was swollen, very red, and very hot. Blood tests were ordered that confirmed that I was 'septic' (the infection had reached my blood stream and was systemic). I was sent to the ER and consequently seen by the department that did the reconstruction - the plastics team. They determined I had an abscess and immediately scheduled me for emergency surgery. The goal was to allow it to heal from the inside out, and that is still the goal, but now a large section of it is a cavity on its own and separated from the area the top portion that is the deep 11cm track that is dressed on a regular basis. This area swells and becomes quite 'full' and painful feeling. We think part of the swelling, fullness and pain is due to lymphedema -- my lymph nodes were removed from under my arm when I had the mastectomy so this system that removes lymph fluid from my right side doesn't work as well as a normal persons. As a visual description, imagine a regular ruler sitting above a dinner plate. The ruler is the 'hole' or track that goes from my side to my spine and is 11cm deep. The dinner plate is the area underneath that is a hole inside - a cavity that is just there, going nowhere, and certainly not going away.
Due to the swelling and the fact the other track actually became deeper than it had originally, my GP ordered an ultrasound, which showed that this cavity was 'detached' from the other track and inflammed. So my GP sent a fax off to the plastics treatment team at the hospital requesting that I be seen sooner than my scheduled appointment, which at that time was about 4 weeks away. In the interim, I had my regular yearly mammogram and appointment with the breast cancer center. I showed my breast surgeon my back and his first reaction was 'what the heck is THAT?' (it's not pretty). When I explained what it was from, he suggested I get in to see the plastics treatment team earlier than my scheduled appointment (now about 3 weeks away). So this was three professionals - my GP, my breast surgeon, and my visiting nurse - who all felt that I needed this area checked out. When I finally heard from the plastics treatment people, my new appointment was a whole week earlier than my scheduled one. The appointment turned out to be rather surreal. The doctor more or less sentenced me to life with this cavity with shrug of her shoulders. As to expectations, she said they have none as they already gave up all their guesses on how long this would take to heal. She thinks the main track will probably eventually heal and I'll just have the cavity left permanently and it will be susceptible to infection. And then she shrugged. She didn't even seem too concerned that the depth of the track is now deeper than it was start with. One of her comments was that that they couldn't do any further surgery on it because obviously I don't heal so further surgery isn't an option - basically there's nothing more that they can do for me.
That was in October. Here we are in December and I'm not even sure when my next appointment will be (it was to be 4 months and they will send me a card. In the mean time, my GP is trying to find out who can see me for another opinion. As I'm a 'public' patient in Australia, this gets a bit tricky. If I were a 'private' patient and had my own insurance, I would have lots of choices. As a public patient, I don't seem to have any choices really. My GP can't refer me to another hospital treatment centre as he would get in trouble for not following protocol. He has spoken to the head nurse of the plastics department and they didn't have any alternative suggestions and were less than helpful. His next step is to talk to my breast surgeon, and I haven't heard the results of that conversation, but based on his observations and suggestions in late September, I think he has the same problem as he would have to deal with the consequences of the politics of seeing me for this problem rather than letting the plastics department handle it. Personally, I've come to think that we need for me NOT to be seeing surgeons for advice if surgery isn't going to be an option.
For the last couple of weeks, I've been having some really good and really bad days. The good days I'm able to nearly have a normal life, do extra walking, take care of my house, keep up with stuff on the computer. On the bad days, it starts with a fever in the morning and high BGLs both of which are intermittent for the rest of the day, despite following the same routines and meals as I usually have for breakfast and lunch... so I know it's not what I'm eating that's causing the higher BGLs. I also feel tired and can't keep up with stuff, needing to nap in the afternoon and sometimes falling asleep watching TV or at the computer in the evening. As I'm already on antibiotics, I talked to my GP about the fever when it first started and he felt it might be a virus, and I should wait a few days and watch for any new symptoms, but if I start getting worse to come in and see him. Well I haven't really gotten better or worse. At any rate, I probably do need to get back and see him -- and find out if anything is to become of his talk with the breast surgeon.
So this blog entry marks approximately 270 days of this. Most of the time I cope quite well and have a good sense of humour, but there are times when I wonder what next? Especially on the days I'm running a fever and my BGLs are higher than normal... it just seems like there's something else waiting around the corner to ambush me, and it worries me. Yet I don't want to be the type who's continually looking behind me in fear either. ((sigh))
Thanks for listening.
28 November 2007
Writing Gig! (or Not)
I have a gig writing a few reviews of webcams for a Linux magazine. Whoo Hoo! It's great to have work of this kind again.
... Edit ... (6 Dec)
I never heard back from the editor, so needless to say, I haven't written anything. Damn.
... /Edit ...
I have a viral thing at the moment. It'll pass, I'm sure.
I've been scanning old pics to put on Flickr and will share them once I have them online. First I'll have to meet a deadline though... (teehee!)
Jennifer's due date is 18 January.
Cheers!
... Edit ... (6 Dec)
I never heard back from the editor, so needless to say, I haven't written anything. Damn.
... /Edit ...
I have a viral thing at the moment. It'll pass, I'm sure.
I've been scanning old pics to put on Flickr and will share them once I have them online. First I'll have to meet a deadline though... (teehee!)
Jennifer's due date is 18 January.
Cheers!
21 November 2007
Giving Thanks ... Thanksgiving 2007
Giving Thanks ... Thanksgiving 2007
I don't often write enough about the GOOD things in my life, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to stop and be grateful for the big and little things that make my life so much better than it could be.
I have a wonderful husband, who loves me as much as I love him. His love and caring can pull me through the darkest of days, his sense of humour and silliness brings me giggles any time.
That family and friends are mostly just an Email or instant message away. We may be on the other side of the world to each other, but our contact keeps us part of each others lives.
For good friends. Earlier this year when I was down because of my health, one of my friends organised to have postcards sent to me from around the world. These cards bring me a smile every time I see them - which is often!
For kind strangers. I sometimes receive a postcard out of the blue from one or two of the people who sent me postcards earlier this year - always a lovely surprise to my day.
That our neighbour's cat has decided she likes our back garden better than her own and visits frequently but doesn't make a pest of herself. That she likes me, lets me pet her and tell her how gorgeous she is.
That my GP cares and listens to me, scheduling my appointments for extra time to cover my full gamut.
For RDNS nurses that come do my dressings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - with a sense of humour and great rapport.
My diabetes is still managed by diet and exercise.
The breast cancer I had in 2001 has not returned.
That even though I have osteo-arthritis, lymphedema, diabetes and a chronic abscess, that this is all I have - so many have so much worse.
For my smile. I went without teeth for a year and finally had dentures fitted last January.
That I can choose what operating system I use on my computer, and while I'd still like something a little faster, I'm glad I have the computer I do have.
The Internet - what an amazing fantastic thing to be able to communicate with my family and meet so many people who understand some of the trials and tribulations I've been going through. These are people I'd never meet in 'real life' because we live all over the world.
For online communities like Tu Diabetes, SugarStats, DevArt and Flickr and sites like my Random Experiments blog and personal website where I can share whatever, whenever, and others can too.
That finger lancing devices in this century are so much gentler than those I used way back in the 80's. And that glucose monitors are so much more advanced than matching colour swatches on the side of a bottle after minutes of waiting.
That we have a roof over our heads, with amenities like ADSL, heating and a/c.
That my kids have turned out to be amazing adults, and that there's a little guy on the way who will be my first grandson.
Howard finally called the election, and that it will finish on Saturday. Whoo Hoo! Bring on the new 'regime'!
To live in the best country in the world, where people are good to each other and the views are incredible.
To have a good pair of glasses that fit, look good, and most of all, give me better sight.
For things like being able to find great recipes online. For the 2nd year in a row, I've made a pumpkin pie that's diabetes friendly and tastes yummy. Only a few years ago making pumpkin pie was a mystery to me and something I'd never tried before. Then I didn't know how to cope with having to source pumpkin for it as all I'd ever done in the past was open a can. Today at least I know how to cook a butternut squash in the oven, scoop out the cooked inside and measure it up to use in pie. And it tastes great!
To have the ability to bring a smile to other people. Today I told two people they looked great and it was a delight to see their faces light up.
I may not have health or wealth, but I do have good people in my life, and my days are full and fullfilling.
I don't often write enough about the GOOD things in my life, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to stop and be grateful for the big and little things that make my life so much better than it could be.
I have a wonderful husband, who loves me as much as I love him. His love and caring can pull me through the darkest of days, his sense of humour and silliness brings me giggles any time.
That family and friends are mostly just an Email or instant message away. We may be on the other side of the world to each other, but our contact keeps us part of each others lives.
For good friends. Earlier this year when I was down because of my health, one of my friends organised to have postcards sent to me from around the world. These cards bring me a smile every time I see them - which is often!
For kind strangers. I sometimes receive a postcard out of the blue from one or two of the people who sent me postcards earlier this year - always a lovely surprise to my day.
That our neighbour's cat has decided she likes our back garden better than her own and visits frequently but doesn't make a pest of herself. That she likes me, lets me pet her and tell her how gorgeous she is.
That my GP cares and listens to me, scheduling my appointments for extra time to cover my full gamut.
For RDNS nurses that come do my dressings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - with a sense of humour and great rapport.
My diabetes is still managed by diet and exercise.
The breast cancer I had in 2001 has not returned.
That even though I have osteo-arthritis, lymphedema, diabetes and a chronic abscess, that this is all I have - so many have so much worse.
For my smile. I went without teeth for a year and finally had dentures fitted last January.
That I can choose what operating system I use on my computer, and while I'd still like something a little faster, I'm glad I have the computer I do have.
The Internet - what an amazing fantastic thing to be able to communicate with my family and meet so many people who understand some of the trials and tribulations I've been going through. These are people I'd never meet in 'real life' because we live all over the world.
For online communities like Tu Diabetes, SugarStats, DevArt and Flickr and sites like my Random Experiments blog and personal website where I can share whatever, whenever, and others can too.
That finger lancing devices in this century are so much gentler than those I used way back in the 80's. And that glucose monitors are so much more advanced than matching colour swatches on the side of a bottle after minutes of waiting.
That we have a roof over our heads, with amenities like ADSL, heating and a/c.
That my kids have turned out to be amazing adults, and that there's a little guy on the way who will be my first grandson.
Howard finally called the election, and that it will finish on Saturday. Whoo Hoo! Bring on the new 'regime'!
To live in the best country in the world, where people are good to each other and the views are incredible.
To have a good pair of glasses that fit, look good, and most of all, give me better sight.
For things like being able to find great recipes online. For the 2nd year in a row, I've made a pumpkin pie that's diabetes friendly and tastes yummy. Only a few years ago making pumpkin pie was a mystery to me and something I'd never tried before. Then I didn't know how to cope with having to source pumpkin for it as all I'd ever done in the past was open a can. Today at least I know how to cook a butternut squash in the oven, scoop out the cooked inside and measure it up to use in pie. And it tastes great!
To have the ability to bring a smile to other people. Today I told two people they looked great and it was a delight to see their faces light up.
I may not have health or wealth, but I do have good people in my life, and my days are full and fullfilling.
31 October 2007
Gambling with my health, in a good way
Wow, I didn't intend for it to be so long between updates. I'm pleased to say I seem to be feeling a bit better - not so much physically, but mentally and spiritually.
When I last wrote, it was about the whole fiasco with getting some actual real treatment for the huge cavity in my back (11cm by 4cm by 6cm). My GP was not too pleased to that my problem in back wasn't really given much more than a shrug. He will be making contact with various people so I can perhaps get a 2nd opinion. He also faxed off a referral for me to the Lymphedema Clinic.
I've had a realisation about myself... sure I'm a procrastinator, but worse than that, I also put off enjoyable things I LIKE to do. For instance, I get a bunch of comics in Email everyday. These are filtered into a folder, and usually I hold off on reading these until I have done a bit of work. This is fine, but they tend to really grow in number (36 arrive each day) and I do love reading them so it's not like I'm willing to stop receiving them. They build up while I procrastinate reading them because somewhere along the line I've taken the 'Don't Play until your work is finished' ethos. Same with other small pleasures, such as updating this journal. I put it off till so late in the day that by time I start it, my eyes are glazing over and I fall asleep at the keyboard.
Here's something cool... Rod and I were both given Honorary Lifetime Memberships by our computer club, SDCUCI (Southern Districts Computer Users Club Inc) in recognition for services to the club. One of things we do for the club is their website, and keeping it updated each month with the latest newsletter. This apparently was a unanimous decision by the board, and we really feel quite honoured. We were each given a framed certificate, a permanent 'Lifetime Member' name badge, and a really nice plaque.
I didn't receive any phone calls or birthday cards (not even from Rod!) on my birthday, but I did receive a lovely gift from Rod that has already been used a LOT. He didn't have time to wrap it, so he hid it in the washing machine (dry, thankfully), which always has a blue gingham tea towel on it, so you could say he was being clever and wrapped it in a really big reusable box. (grin). It turned out to be something that really surprised me as it was something I'd sorta wanted, but figured I'd wait until the price came down to something reasonable, which apparently it did. It's a really neat 7inch digital photo frame. We both expected it would just sit and show pics, but it does more. It plays mp3 (music) files, can do random images while playing music, and is also an LCD AVI video player. It has no internal memory, but it can use every kind of memory card out there, as well as USB flash drives. The display on it is amazing. It's very sharp to view. Pam sent me some money for my birthday via PayPal, so I bought a 4gig flash drive to go with it. I've used it to watch some of my favourite shows while sitting on the patio. I love it!
My latest diabetes experiment is a real winner. You could say I'm "Gambling with my Health, in a Good Way". I can't do a lot of exercise, but one thing I can do is walk, so I've started walking up to the newsagents everyday I can and getting a scratchy lottery ticket. I even wrote out a whole synopsis on it's purpose and some rules to 'play' by ...
------------------------------------------------
The Scratchy Walk Exercise Plan
Concept:
Walking up to Newsagents to buy a $1 or $2 instant scratchy.
I need to walk more for exercise.
I prefer to have a purpose for taking a walk.
The Newsagents is just under 1/2 kilometre from home.
If I walk there and back, it makes for a nearly kilometre walk.
Goal:
Exercise by walking more.
Accumulate up to 7 scratchies in a week, purchased singly one walk at a time.
Even 'non-winning' scratchies are 'winners' in that I had some exercise.
Rewards:
Going for a walk / exercise.
Lower glucose readings.
Having a scratchy to play.
Randomly winning scratchy.
A kitty towards misc luxury items from any winnings over $10.
A bundle/bundles of scratchies that gives a visual view of the accumulation of walks.
Rules:
Any winnings under $10 are to be recycled into funds for the Scratchies Walk.
Winnings over $10 are to be set aside for luxury items: new clothes, home decor items, movie or concert tickets, etc.
Each non-winning scratchy should have the date and if I've worn a pedometer, the number of steps for that walk.
These are to be placed in bundles of 1 week, 1 month etc so I can visually see how many times
I've been out for a walk.
For winning scratchies, a separate piece of paper should include the date, number of steps and
the winning amount to be placed in the same stack with the other scratchy bundles.
Running errands such as picking up groceries, prescriptions etc is allowed.
I can walk anywhere before or after scratchy purchase, as long as scratchy is purchased during my walk.
No buying a scratchy if not out for a walk.
Buying contraband (IE anything that's not helpful/healthful to eat) is not allowed.
If Rod wants to join in, he can walk at his own pace and buy his own scratchy.
Rod's scratchy and any winnings are his for whatever purpose he chooses.
Gaelyne does not have to keep up with Rod's pace.
---------
Oh yea, and as of last Thursday, I've qualified for disability. This wasn't really a surprise, though.
When I last wrote, it was about the whole fiasco with getting some actual real treatment for the huge cavity in my back (11cm by 4cm by 6cm). My GP was not too pleased to that my problem in back wasn't really given much more than a shrug. He will be making contact with various people so I can perhaps get a 2nd opinion. He also faxed off a referral for me to the Lymphedema Clinic.
I've had a realisation about myself... sure I'm a procrastinator, but worse than that, I also put off enjoyable things I LIKE to do. For instance, I get a bunch of comics in Email everyday. These are filtered into a folder, and usually I hold off on reading these until I have done a bit of work. This is fine, but they tend to really grow in number (36 arrive each day) and I do love reading them so it's not like I'm willing to stop receiving them. They build up while I procrastinate reading them because somewhere along the line I've taken the 'Don't Play until your work is finished' ethos. Same with other small pleasures, such as updating this journal. I put it off till so late in the day that by time I start it, my eyes are glazing over and I fall asleep at the keyboard.
Here's something cool... Rod and I were both given Honorary Lifetime Memberships by our computer club, SDCUCI (Southern Districts Computer Users Club Inc) in recognition for services to the club. One of things we do for the club is their website, and keeping it updated each month with the latest newsletter. This apparently was a unanimous decision by the board, and we really feel quite honoured. We were each given a framed certificate, a permanent 'Lifetime Member' name badge, and a really nice plaque. I didn't receive any phone calls or birthday cards (not even from Rod!) on my birthday, but I did receive a lovely gift from Rod that has already been used a LOT. He didn't have time to wrap it, so he hid it in the washing machine (dry, thankfully), which always has a blue gingham tea towel on it, so you could say he was being clever and wrapped it in a really big reusable box. (grin). It turned out to be something that really surprised me as it was something I'd sorta wanted, but figured I'd wait until the price came down to something reasonable, which apparently it did. It's a really neat 7inch digital photo frame. We both expected it would just sit and show pics, but it does more. It plays mp3 (music) files, can do random images while playing music, and is also an LCD AVI video player. It has no internal memory, but it can use every kind of memory card out there, as well as USB flash drives. The display on it is amazing. It's very sharp to view. Pam sent me some money for my birthday via PayPal, so I bought a 4gig flash drive to go with it. I've used it to watch some of my favourite shows while sitting on the patio. I love it!
My latest diabetes experiment is a real winner. You could say I'm "Gambling with my Health, in a Good Way". I can't do a lot of exercise, but one thing I can do is walk, so I've started walking up to the newsagents everyday I can and getting a scratchy lottery ticket. I even wrote out a whole synopsis on it's purpose and some rules to 'play' by ...
------------------------------------------------
The Scratchy Walk Exercise Plan
Concept:
Walking up to Newsagents to buy a $1 or $2 instant scratchy.
I need to walk more for exercise.
I prefer to have a purpose for taking a walk.
The Newsagents is just under 1/2 kilometre from home.
If I walk there and back, it makes for a nearly kilometre walk.
Goal:
Exercise by walking more.
Accumulate up to 7 scratchies in a week, purchased singly one walk at a time.
Even 'non-winning' scratchies are 'winners' in that I had some exercise.
Rewards:
Going for a walk / exercise.
Lower glucose readings.
Having a scratchy to play.
Randomly winning scratchy.
A kitty towards misc luxury items from any winnings over $10.
A bundle/bundles of scratchies that gives a visual view of the accumulation of walks.
Rules:
Any winnings under $10 are to be recycled into funds for the Scratchies Walk.
Winnings over $10 are to be set aside for luxury items: new clothes, home decor items, movie or concert tickets, etc.
Each non-winning scratchy should have the date and if I've worn a pedometer, the number of steps for that walk.
These are to be placed in bundles of 1 week, 1 month etc so I can visually see how many times
I've been out for a walk.
For winning scratchies, a separate piece of paper should include the date, number of steps and
the winning amount to be placed in the same stack with the other scratchy bundles.
Running errands such as picking up groceries, prescriptions etc is allowed.
I can walk anywhere before or after scratchy purchase, as long as scratchy is purchased during my walk.
No buying a scratchy if not out for a walk.
Buying contraband (IE anything that's not helpful/healthful to eat) is not allowed.
If Rod wants to join in, he can walk at his own pace and buy his own scratchy.
Rod's scratchy and any winnings are his for whatever purpose he chooses.
Gaelyne does not have to keep up with Rod's pace.
---------
Oh yea, and as of last Thursday, I've qualified for disability. This wasn't really a surprise, though.
15 October 2007
Happy 7th Anniversary to Us
www.flickr.com
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Today is our 7th wedding anniversary, and to celebrate we went out and visited a couple of places we'd heard about in the Adelaide hills but had never been to - Morialta Conservation Park to see the Morialta Falls (apparently there are several, but we only went to the first one) and Waterfall Gully. We had reservations at Kublai Khan Mongolian BBQ Restaurant and the places we visited weren't too far (15 minutes or so) away so it worked out really well. Click on the above image to see the photos we took yesterday.
11 October 2007
Spluttering
Well I've no idea where to begin tonight. As covered previously, my RDNS nurse and my GP have been increasingly concerned about the large swelling on my back, which is a cavity left over from the abscess that I developed back in March (now 7 months ago). My GP faxed off a letter to the plastics treatment team asking that I been seen sooner than my scheduled appointment on the 22nd, and the nurse has been coaching me to ask about what they're expectations are about this. I had the appointment today, and you know what? The doctor more or less sentenced me to life with this cavity with shrug of her shoulders. As to expectations, she said they have none as they already gave up all their guesses on how long this would take to heal. She thinks the main track will probably eventually heal and I'll just have the cavity left permanently and it will be susceptible to infection. And then she shrugged.
The instructions for RDNS are to continue dressing it as they have been but to pack it lighter, and that light massage (Lymphedema massage) is OK. We did talk about the lymphedema and she feels light massage for it would be OK. As she also implied that this hole and cavity shouldn't impact at all on my daily life - as in I can resume work and normal activities, I'm not all that confident, as she obviously doesn't really have have a clue as to what life with this is like. She measured and got the same results as the RDNS nurse, but I'm still in pain from the probing. She didn't even seem too concerned that the depth of the track is now deeper than it was start with.
I was left alone for a little while and was really missing Rod for moral support (and indignation!) - the treatment rooms are quite small so relatives aren't allowed in, so I had him drop me off today. I did, however, have 'Mom' with me. In the package my sister recently sent me, was a watch my Mom always wore, and I now wear it whenever I go out. It brought me a lot of comfort that Mom was with me when I had my recent mammogram, and today I just felt her reminding me that I had to stand up for myself and be my own advocate. So when the nurse came in to do up my dressing, I explained to her about the conversation I'd just had had with the doctor and asked if she could arrange for me to have another chat with her as things just weren't sitting right. Without actually saying so, by her other comments and quiet actions, I felt like the nurse actually agreed with me, and she did have the the doctor come back and I sat up and showed her the back with me in sitting position in case she couldn't quite see it when I was on my side, and told her every time I try to live normally - shopping, doing housework like vacuuming, etc it'd take a week to recover from it because the wound would have much more exudate for the next week, not to mention the pain I deal with. I didn't get any further with her beyond a recommendation that I get a referral to the Lymphedema clinic. She seemed to think that the excess fluid was mainly lymph fluid as opposed to exudate and it's both. Honest, she really didn't seem to care a bit. Considering the concern both my GP and the RDNS nurse have had, I know I'm not just being over sensitive and silly.
When Rod picked me up, we went to pick up groceries and I was still feeling grumpy and angry about today, so I bought myself a large chocolate bar and ate half of it after lunch ... while reading the diabetes magazine. This, for me, was a temper tantrum. Sure it was a quiet little rebellion, but it felt satisfying and got some of the agro out of my system. And it also felt NAUGHTY, and I felt like being naughty. Like it doesn't matter what I do because nothing is working anyway. I let Rod have the other half of the Mars bar later in the afternoon.
Tomorrow my RDNS nurse comes, and I just know she's going to be incredulous. If I could sum up my entire appointment this morning, I'd say it left me spluttering. When I next see my GP I'll see if he can refer me to another hospital treatment centre such as one of the Adelaide city hospitals. I know it's a bit more travel time, but I would feel better if I had a second opinion, and I suspect that he'll agree with me. I think at this point, I'd also be willing to pay for a consult with a private doctor for a second opinion as so many things just don't add up.
I have to be out again in the afternoon for another appointment tomorrow morning. This will be the 3rd day this week I've been out, and it's definitely wearing on me, especially as I'm not sleeping all that well at the moment either.
Anyway, on some brighter topics, Rod's birthday was yesterday. I was able to find him some cute prezzies to surprise him with during the day yesterday, starting at midnight with a card and a new torch (flashlight). This one is cool - it doesn't use batteries or need a bulb as it's an LED light and the power for it is based on Michael Faraday's "electro-magnetic induction" principle - all you have to do is shake it for 20 seconds and you're supposed to get 5 minutes of bright light. Well, Rod gave it a shake and set it down and more than 24 hours later (nearly 48 now), it's still light. Given he has a habit of setting down flashlights and leaving them on, this thing is perfect for him. I also left a box wrapped up right where we make coffee/tea everyday. Most people would guess it would be a coffee mug and open it before making a cuppa, but not Rod. Then once he had it opened, it was inside a box, and he couldn't figure out how to get it out of the box. Well I knew it had chocolates inside the mug, so I said (half a dozen times even), before you open the flap on the box, make sure the cup is upright. Did he listen? Noooo.... so little foil wrapped chocolates spilled out everywhere like he'd just cracked open a pinata. Actually it was quite funny. I wish I'd of taped it! Later in the day I have him his last set of gifts, explaining I couldn't get him the cool ready made ones but that he'd probably have more fun making his own.... the first was a set of small white plastic disposable bowls. This was mainly to confuse him, as I knew the next item would be the clincher, and he'd know. The second thing was a small plunger, like you'd use for unclogging a sink. WELL, any fan of Dr Who would know what to do with that -- make you're own Dalek! Heehee! We have a bird house in the back garden that has been overgrown with ivy and every time we uncover the bird house portion we comment on how much like a big green Dalek it looks like. So I've given him a project. The bowls are the little silver circles that go down the 'skirting' on the Dalek. How/If he can attach them is up to him. Meanwhile, he's had a ton of fun 'playing' with the little $1 plunger. What a kid. :-)
I've also found the most darling little Geek tshirts for the little guy (my grandson who's still being "compiled" and will have his big release in January) . Here's a few links:
Newbie
TCP/IP
For Jennifer
v2.0 (there's also a v1.0 for parents)
The instructions for RDNS are to continue dressing it as they have been but to pack it lighter, and that light massage (Lymphedema massage) is OK. We did talk about the lymphedema and she feels light massage for it would be OK. As she also implied that this hole and cavity shouldn't impact at all on my daily life - as in I can resume work and normal activities, I'm not all that confident, as she obviously doesn't really have have a clue as to what life with this is like. She measured and got the same results as the RDNS nurse, but I'm still in pain from the probing. She didn't even seem too concerned that the depth of the track is now deeper than it was start with.
I was left alone for a little while and was really missing Rod for moral support (and indignation!) - the treatment rooms are quite small so relatives aren't allowed in, so I had him drop me off today. I did, however, have 'Mom' with me. In the package my sister recently sent me, was a watch my Mom always wore, and I now wear it whenever I go out. It brought me a lot of comfort that Mom was with me when I had my recent mammogram, and today I just felt her reminding me that I had to stand up for myself and be my own advocate. So when the nurse came in to do up my dressing, I explained to her about the conversation I'd just had had with the doctor and asked if she could arrange for me to have another chat with her as things just weren't sitting right. Without actually saying so, by her other comments and quiet actions, I felt like the nurse actually agreed with me, and she did have the the doctor come back and I sat up and showed her the back with me in sitting position in case she couldn't quite see it when I was on my side, and told her every time I try to live normally - shopping, doing housework like vacuuming, etc it'd take a week to recover from it because the wound would have much more exudate for the next week, not to mention the pain I deal with. I didn't get any further with her beyond a recommendation that I get a referral to the Lymphedema clinic. She seemed to think that the excess fluid was mainly lymph fluid as opposed to exudate and it's both. Honest, she really didn't seem to care a bit. Considering the concern both my GP and the RDNS nurse have had, I know I'm not just being over sensitive and silly.
When Rod picked me up, we went to pick up groceries and I was still feeling grumpy and angry about today, so I bought myself a large chocolate bar and ate half of it after lunch ... while reading the diabetes magazine. This, for me, was a temper tantrum. Sure it was a quiet little rebellion, but it felt satisfying and got some of the agro out of my system. And it also felt NAUGHTY, and I felt like being naughty. Like it doesn't matter what I do because nothing is working anyway. I let Rod have the other half of the Mars bar later in the afternoon.
Tomorrow my RDNS nurse comes, and I just know she's going to be incredulous. If I could sum up my entire appointment this morning, I'd say it left me spluttering. When I next see my GP I'll see if he can refer me to another hospital treatment centre such as one of the Adelaide city hospitals. I know it's a bit more travel time, but I would feel better if I had a second opinion, and I suspect that he'll agree with me. I think at this point, I'd also be willing to pay for a consult with a private doctor for a second opinion as so many things just don't add up.
I have to be out again in the afternoon for another appointment tomorrow morning. This will be the 3rd day this week I've been out, and it's definitely wearing on me, especially as I'm not sleeping all that well at the moment either.
Anyway, on some brighter topics, Rod's birthday was yesterday. I was able to find him some cute prezzies to surprise him with during the day yesterday, starting at midnight with a card and a new torch (flashlight). This one is cool - it doesn't use batteries or need a bulb as it's an LED light and the power for it is based on Michael Faraday's "electro-magnetic induction" principle - all you have to do is shake it for 20 seconds and you're supposed to get 5 minutes of bright light. Well, Rod gave it a shake and set it down and more than 24 hours later (nearly 48 now), it's still light. Given he has a habit of setting down flashlights and leaving them on, this thing is perfect for him. I also left a box wrapped up right where we make coffee/tea everyday. Most people would guess it would be a coffee mug and open it before making a cuppa, but not Rod. Then once he had it opened, it was inside a box, and he couldn't figure out how to get it out of the box. Well I knew it had chocolates inside the mug, so I said (half a dozen times even), before you open the flap on the box, make sure the cup is upright. Did he listen? Noooo.... so little foil wrapped chocolates spilled out everywhere like he'd just cracked open a pinata. Actually it was quite funny. I wish I'd of taped it! Later in the day I have him his last set of gifts, explaining I couldn't get him the cool ready made ones but that he'd probably have more fun making his own.... the first was a set of small white plastic disposable bowls. This was mainly to confuse him, as I knew the next item would be the clincher, and he'd know. The second thing was a small plunger, like you'd use for unclogging a sink. WELL, any fan of Dr Who would know what to do with that -- make you're own Dalek! Heehee! We have a bird house in the back garden that has been overgrown with ivy and every time we uncover the bird house portion we comment on how much like a big green Dalek it looks like. So I've given him a project. The bowls are the little silver circles that go down the 'skirting' on the Dalek. How/If he can attach them is up to him. Meanwhile, he's had a ton of fun 'playing' with the little $1 plunger. What a kid. :-)
I've also found the most darling little Geek tshirts for the little guy (my grandson who's still being "compiled" and will have his big release in January) . Here's a few links:
Newbie
TCP/IP
For Jennifer
v2.0 (there's also a v1.0 for parents)
09 October 2007
Friday: Out with Vicki
Last Friday Vicki and I went to see her sister Jennifer take part in the 2007 Australasian Masters Games for Judo. We took a few snaps while there, and Jennifer took this one of Vicki and I.
Jennifer and Vicki at the Judo masters event.
Vicki's sister Jennifer and I at the Judo masters event.
Gold Medal won by Vicki's sister Jennifer and her Judo partner Janet at the 2007 Australasian Masters Games for Judo
Jennifer and Vicki at the Judo masters event.
Vicki's sister Jennifer and I at the Judo masters event.
Gold Medal won by Vicki's sister Jennifer and her Judo partner Janet at the 2007 Australasian Masters Games for Judo
28 September 2007
It's a big cavity
The ultrasound was interesting. The doctor who would be writing the final report was brought in so he could see the areas being scanned and to ask me a zillion questions. He determined that the area in question is a cavity. Here's the report:
I was OK with that as a result (I read it before seeing the doctor), but he was most unhappy about it. He was hoping it was a lipoma as that would mean it wasn't anything to worry about. He was really impressed with the RDNS report and mentioned that it was excellent to have such great communication amongst medical teams. He made copies of both reports and gave me them in an envelope to give to the doctor I see at Flinders. He then sent a 'semi-urgent' referral fax to the Plastics team at Flinders outlining the problem as asking them to please see me before my regular scheduled appt (22 October) and giving them the details of the current situation. With added little stars and underlines. He told me that basically I was going to need to be in the care of surgeons as this was way beyond his capabilities. And that they may decide to do further surgery on the area. {{Great. Deep sigh}}.
Monday is a public holiday so the soonest I'd hear back from Flinders is Tuesday. Meanwhile, he prescribed another round of antibiotics and got approval for a months supply (again).
Well I'm off to find something else to do and think about. No point in dwelling on it.
"The patient's palpable lump extends posteriorly from the sinus which is currently covered by gauze swab. There is a hypoechoic layer within the posterior lumbar region which is not present on the opposite side. This appears to be a contiguous layer which is most likely the current healing abscess cavity. There is no fluid collection within this cavity but there is a small amount of air and the palpable thickening is most likely due to granulation tissue within the wall of the cavity. Its overall dimensions were approximately 7x8cm with a depth of 0.7cm. There is no other mass lesion identified within the soft tissues of the back and in particular there was no evidence of a lipoma."
I was OK with that as a result (I read it before seeing the doctor), but he was most unhappy about it. He was hoping it was a lipoma as that would mean it wasn't anything to worry about. He was really impressed with the RDNS report and mentioned that it was excellent to have such great communication amongst medical teams. He made copies of both reports and gave me them in an envelope to give to the doctor I see at Flinders. He then sent a 'semi-urgent' referral fax to the Plastics team at Flinders outlining the problem as asking them to please see me before my regular scheduled appt (22 October) and giving them the details of the current situation. With added little stars and underlines. He told me that basically I was going to need to be in the care of surgeons as this was way beyond his capabilities. And that they may decide to do further surgery on the area. {{Great. Deep sigh}}.
Monday is a public holiday so the soonest I'd hear back from Flinders is Tuesday. Meanwhile, he prescribed another round of antibiotics and got approval for a months supply (again).
Well I'm off to find something else to do and think about. No point in dwelling on it.
Well this can't be good....
As I'll be having an ultrasound on my back today because of a rather large area of unusual swelling, my RDNS nurse took measurements of my wound cavity. Would you believe, the cavity is actually increased in depth in 23 days? It's now 11cm deep. Where the swelling is just touches the end of the cavity, so she wrote up a report for me to take with me for the ultrasound and for my GP.
Feelings: Frustration, anger, bewilderment, gobsmacked, confused, a little scared, questioning.
This just really sucks.
Will post results of ultrasound and GP visit later today. Must also remember to get a prescription for antibiotics again too.
What is the deal, why is this happening? Damn!
Feelings: Frustration, anger, bewilderment, gobsmacked, confused, a little scared, questioning.
This just really sucks.
Will post results of ultrasound and GP visit later today. Must also remember to get a prescription for antibiotics again too.
What is the deal, why is this happening? Damn!
26 September 2007
Mammo Went Well, So What is it? Glasses, Just Peachy
It's been a busy couple of days. On Monday I had the mammogram and annual check up with the breast cancer clinic. All went well, no surprises, all OK. The registrar that saw me didn't know anything about lymphoedema, but was amazed at the swelling in my back, as was the breast surgeon. He asked who was treating me for it (the plastics department) and said I should get them to look at it ASAP. Tuesday I saw my GP and he ordered an ultra sound of the area which is scheduled for Friday. I will take the results back to him afterwards. He agreed with my theory about the other swelling in the back side, underarm, neck shoulder and chest as being lymphoedema. When I go back on Friday for results, I'll ask for a referral to the Lymphoedema clinic. I'll also get the antibiotics restarted as I forgot to ask about that yesterday and the usual complaints are creeping back again. Frustrating, that. Today the RDNS nurse was pleased to know I'd be having an ultrasound done and will do a measurement on my wound and write a bit of a cover letter to go to the ultrasound people. The swelled area is mainly against my spine and right at the end of where the wound ends, so its a bit of a concern all around. But, it's not hot, it's not red, so it's not likely to be an infection. What the heck it is though is any ones guess.
My glucose levels are still weird - high in the mornings and better in the day. It just seems to be one of those things as nothing I do as far as diet seems to make a difference. Not even lots of green tea. Of course, no telling how much higher it might be without the tea and with it being wonky, I'm still not about to rock the boat and go without the green tea to see what happens. I'll just stay the current course that's worked for me the last several months and put the morning readings up to something happening with my body (and obviously somethings going on - that swelling on my back is a bit hard to ignore).
In other news, my new glasses arrived last week. I ended up not buying them on-line as I wanted them to be progressive (also known as multi-focal), and these are not really the kind of thing you can buy on-line as there are measurements that need to be taken so they're set properly. I ended up with two pair, one being for reading only, and other pair are the all in one multi-focal, anti-reflective transitional lenses. The frames are VERY similar to my old pair, but the sides are pink/purple. Here's a couple links to what they look like: Elle EL 18524 #1, and Elle EL 18524 #2. They're very comfortable, and I've had very few problems getting used to them. I got dizzy one day reading a newsletter, but after Rod reminded me I needed to move either the page or my head to keep the print in focus, I've been fine since. Last year, they only gave me half a prescription as otherwise I'd be too disorientated. So this year I have the full prescription that I need. And wow, I thought I could see before, but these are amazing. And I love not having to lift my glasses up just to read text on labels any more. I asked to have them be anti-reflective so the webcam will show my eyes rather than a reflection of the monitor. Is that being vain? (Shrug) I just figure if the webcam is there, it may as well give the best view possible.
Just Peachy. 'Just peachy' was one of my Mom's phrases when things weren't going that great, which is funny now I think about it because that's being sarcastic and I never actually thought of my mother as having a sarcastic bone in her body. Huh. Anyway, the kitty you see to the right is my friend Peach. Good lord, I didn't name him. He'd have a much better name if I did, that's for sure. Peach belongs to one of my neighbours in back, and comes over to play in my back garden and now also visits me and we have a mutual little love fest routine. He's not allowed in the house, but he does occasionally hang out waiting for us at the patio door. He's a black and peach Ragdoll kitty, and even though he's a boy, he's gorgeous. He's not quite adult, and loves to chase bugs in the yard. His owners have given him two collars - one with a bell and one that's a beautiful series of beads that clink together. This is good, as it gives all the birds fair warning. He's also been registered and tagged. One of his tags is a cute pink heart that has his name on one side and the other has the phrase "It's all about ME" in lovely script. I laughed when I first read it.
We started our 'relationship' by ignoring each other, sort of. I just knew if I called to him or walked up to him, he'd run away and probably never come back. So I went about my business and tried not to scare him away. He'd take note of me and pretend to clean himself. We'd both steal glances at each other though. I noticed that he'd take to sleeping a little bit closer to the patio on every visit. Then one Friday night, he walked up to ROD and they made friends! I was a bit shocked! But happy that they seemed to like each other. The same night, he came up to me for the first time, and then decided to sleep on the mat in front of the sliding door. When I went outside late that night, he'd curled up in an empty planter and just looked at me as if he belonged, and who was I to argue as long as he didn't want in the house. So now when Peach visits (which isn't every day - I think he makes the rounds of the neighbourhood) - if he's in the middle of the yard, he comes running up to me and we have a little pet and cuddle then off he goes. He's exactly what I've wanted -- someone else's nice kitty to visit me and let me love and watch, if only for a few minutes every day or so.
I ordered a pair of noise cancelling headphones last week, and wow, are they ever nice. I use them when I need to 'chain' myself to the computer to either work on websites or to write. They really help with avoiding distractions and letting me think easier. Beautiful sound, and quite comfortable. This was one of the recent 'Catch of the Day''s and only $24 which is a great price.
I think that's about me for catching up at the moment. I'll write more once I've had the ultrasound if we're any more the wiser.
My glucose levels are still weird - high in the mornings and better in the day. It just seems to be one of those things as nothing I do as far as diet seems to make a difference. Not even lots of green tea. Of course, no telling how much higher it might be without the tea and with it being wonky, I'm still not about to rock the boat and go without the green tea to see what happens. I'll just stay the current course that's worked for me the last several months and put the morning readings up to something happening with my body (and obviously somethings going on - that swelling on my back is a bit hard to ignore).
In other news, my new glasses arrived last week. I ended up not buying them on-line as I wanted them to be progressive (also known as multi-focal), and these are not really the kind of thing you can buy on-line as there are measurements that need to be taken so they're set properly. I ended up with two pair, one being for reading only, and other pair are the all in one multi-focal, anti-reflective transitional lenses. The frames are VERY similar to my old pair, but the sides are pink/purple. Here's a couple links to what they look like: Elle EL 18524 #1, and Elle EL 18524 #2. They're very comfortable, and I've had very few problems getting used to them. I got dizzy one day reading a newsletter, but after Rod reminded me I needed to move either the page or my head to keep the print in focus, I've been fine since. Last year, they only gave me half a prescription as otherwise I'd be too disorientated. So this year I have the full prescription that I need. And wow, I thought I could see before, but these are amazing. And I love not having to lift my glasses up just to read text on labels any more. I asked to have them be anti-reflective so the webcam will show my eyes rather than a reflection of the monitor. Is that being vain? (Shrug) I just figure if the webcam is there, it may as well give the best view possible.
Just Peachy. 'Just peachy' was one of my Mom's phrases when things weren't going that great, which is funny now I think about it because that's being sarcastic and I never actually thought of my mother as having a sarcastic bone in her body. Huh. Anyway, the kitty you see to the right is my friend Peach. Good lord, I didn't name him. He'd have a much better name if I did, that's for sure. Peach belongs to one of my neighbours in back, and comes over to play in my back garden and now also visits me and we have a mutual little love fest routine. He's not allowed in the house, but he does occasionally hang out waiting for us at the patio door. He's a black and peach Ragdoll kitty, and even though he's a boy, he's gorgeous. He's not quite adult, and loves to chase bugs in the yard. His owners have given him two collars - one with a bell and one that's a beautiful series of beads that clink together. This is good, as it gives all the birds fair warning. He's also been registered and tagged. One of his tags is a cute pink heart that has his name on one side and the other has the phrase "It's all about ME" in lovely script. I laughed when I first read it. We started our 'relationship' by ignoring each other, sort of. I just knew if I called to him or walked up to him, he'd run away and probably never come back. So I went about my business and tried not to scare him away. He'd take note of me and pretend to clean himself. We'd both steal glances at each other though. I noticed that he'd take to sleeping a little bit closer to the patio on every visit. Then one Friday night, he walked up to ROD and they made friends! I was a bit shocked! But happy that they seemed to like each other. The same night, he came up to me for the first time, and then decided to sleep on the mat in front of the sliding door. When I went outside late that night, he'd curled up in an empty planter and just looked at me as if he belonged, and who was I to argue as long as he didn't want in the house. So now when Peach visits (which isn't every day - I think he makes the rounds of the neighbourhood) - if he's in the middle of the yard, he comes running up to me and we have a little pet and cuddle then off he goes. He's exactly what I've wanted -- someone else's nice kitty to visit me and let me love and watch, if only for a few minutes every day or so.
I ordered a pair of noise cancelling headphones last week, and wow, are they ever nice. I use them when I need to 'chain' myself to the computer to either work on websites or to write. They really help with avoiding distractions and letting me think easier. Beautiful sound, and quite comfortable. This was one of the recent 'Catch of the Day''s and only $24 which is a great price.
I think that's about me for catching up at the moment. I'll write more once I've had the ultrasound if we're any more the wiser.
22 September 2007
Fear and Answers ... and a wedding too
It's that time of year again. Every year since I had breast cancer, like millions of other women, it's time for my annual mammogram and check up. It's a hard time. Often we're reminded of the anniversary of when our lives were turned upside down, and there's always worry, fear, holding our breath, hoping the other shoe isn't going to drop. Some women really have a struggle as the time to the next annual check up looms near. All kinds of things play on our minds.
It isn't something we look forward to much, but I've found in the last few days that I do look forward to getting it over and done with for another year. And I'm hoping for answers. Or validation of my recent hunches.
I have a new theory about how I managed to get this hole in my side with it's deep 9cm cavity. The more I look at and consider this theory from various different angles, the more sound and rational it seems. And while most normal doctors wouldn't know or understand it, the breast clinic, especially since the Lymphoedema clinic is attached to it, should recognise.
In the last couple of weeks, my RDNS nurse and I have been noticing that my back has these areas with pockets of fluid that are firm and only on the the side where I've had the reconstruction surgery and the hole is. The thing is, I haven't been too worried about this, as I've been experiencing this since the reconstruction surgery. The odd swellings stop at my spine, like there's a dividing line, but it sometimes extends around my right side to the front to my chest. I've already been diagnosed with lymphoedema in my right arm, and my hunch is that I have it in my trunk too, which is what the odd pockets of fluid in my back are all about.
Lymphoedema is one of the not so well known consequences of having had life saving surgery for cancer, when lymph nodes are removed in order to help stop the spread of cancer, and to access if it's already spread into the lymph nodes. This affects breast cancer patients as the nodes are removed from under the arm. It also affects men who've had prostate cancer surgery as the lymph nodes are removed from where the leg meets the groin area. These nodes are used to help circulate lymph fluid which is something that's just under the skin and helps us fight infections. When the nodes aren't there, the lymph fluid has a harder time getting channeled out and accumulates. It can stagnate and fluid simply continues to build up, causing painful swelling and this can become permanent. Along with the swelling, it can also cause serious infections as it's a breeding ground for bacteria. And of course an infection or in my case, an abscess can cause additional fluid to build up, causing chain reactions like I've experienced with the abscess and now the very slow healing.
I didn't piece all this together though until yesterday. I got to thinking about the random swellings that I've had and how they come and go (and tend to last awhile when they're here). I suppose the fact that it's very uncomfortable and makes it hard to move when half your back is tight and swollen can lead you to think about why it's that way. So I went in search of information and found a web site that is extremely well informed and things like the abscess and recurring infections all fell into place for me. I do have an advantage of sorts if this is the original cause of the abscess and will be an ongoing thing for me to deal with. The Lymphoedema clinic here has Professor Neil Piller, who is a world expert on the subject. I've taken part in a clinical study the clinic did studying the effect of Tai Chi exercise and arm lymphoedema, so it's not like I'm a new patient either.
Anyway, the web site where I found the most interesting information was: http://www.lymphedemapeople.com
This particular page, in fact a lot of web sites, don't discuss truncal lymphoedema much (it's not as common as the type that affects limbs), but it does talk about some of the side effects that I've definitely had too much experience with.
It's not that I want to have this problem... but it would explain and answer so much. I'd much rather be able to put a name to the events I've had to deal with over the last 6 months than to think it was just some weird mysterious random event. I want an answer.
-------------------
Well. Gosh. My son got married in the USA today. I'm so sad I wasn't there, but so happy for him and my dear DIL. They are a wonderful couple and I'm just so proud of both of them.
It isn't something we look forward to much, but I've found in the last few days that I do look forward to getting it over and done with for another year. And I'm hoping for answers. Or validation of my recent hunches.
I have a new theory about how I managed to get this hole in my side with it's deep 9cm cavity. The more I look at and consider this theory from various different angles, the more sound and rational it seems. And while most normal doctors wouldn't know or understand it, the breast clinic, especially since the Lymphoedema clinic is attached to it, should recognise.
In the last couple of weeks, my RDNS nurse and I have been noticing that my back has these areas with pockets of fluid that are firm and only on the the side where I've had the reconstruction surgery and the hole is. The thing is, I haven't been too worried about this, as I've been experiencing this since the reconstruction surgery. The odd swellings stop at my spine, like there's a dividing line, but it sometimes extends around my right side to the front to my chest. I've already been diagnosed with lymphoedema in my right arm, and my hunch is that I have it in my trunk too, which is what the odd pockets of fluid in my back are all about.
Lymphoedema is one of the not so well known consequences of having had life saving surgery for cancer, when lymph nodes are removed in order to help stop the spread of cancer, and to access if it's already spread into the lymph nodes. This affects breast cancer patients as the nodes are removed from under the arm. It also affects men who've had prostate cancer surgery as the lymph nodes are removed from where the leg meets the groin area. These nodes are used to help circulate lymph fluid which is something that's just under the skin and helps us fight infections. When the nodes aren't there, the lymph fluid has a harder time getting channeled out and accumulates. It can stagnate and fluid simply continues to build up, causing painful swelling and this can become permanent. Along with the swelling, it can also cause serious infections as it's a breeding ground for bacteria. And of course an infection or in my case, an abscess can cause additional fluid to build up, causing chain reactions like I've experienced with the abscess and now the very slow healing.
I didn't piece all this together though until yesterday. I got to thinking about the random swellings that I've had and how they come and go (and tend to last awhile when they're here). I suppose the fact that it's very uncomfortable and makes it hard to move when half your back is tight and swollen can lead you to think about why it's that way. So I went in search of information and found a web site that is extremely well informed and things like the abscess and recurring infections all fell into place for me. I do have an advantage of sorts if this is the original cause of the abscess and will be an ongoing thing for me to deal with. The Lymphoedema clinic here has Professor Neil Piller, who is a world expert on the subject. I've taken part in a clinical study the clinic did studying the effect of Tai Chi exercise and arm lymphoedema, so it's not like I'm a new patient either.
Anyway, the web site where I found the most interesting information was: http://www.lymphedemapeople.com
This particular page, in fact a lot of web sites, don't discuss truncal lymphoedema much (it's not as common as the type that affects limbs), but it does talk about some of the side effects that I've definitely had too much experience with.
It's not that I want to have this problem... but it would explain and answer so much. I'd much rather be able to put a name to the events I've had to deal with over the last 6 months than to think it was just some weird mysterious random event. I want an answer.
-------------------
Well. Gosh. My son got married in the USA today. I'm so sad I wasn't there, but so happy for him and my dear DIL. They are a wonderful couple and I'm just so proud of both of them.
19 September 2007
Finally! I'm reachable again!
Last time I wrote about the problems I had with switching to Dodo post paid for my mobile and finally gave up with them and went to a new company named Savvytel (savvytel.com.au).
I made the switch last Thursday night, but getting my old number ported to the new one proved problematic even for the nice people at Savvytel.
It all boiled down to more poor customer service from Dodo. When I had switched to Dodo (pre-paid) sometime last year, everything had to be done through Rod because he had a driver's license and I didn't have any photo ID at all. A few months later when I got my passport, I went through the procedure to have the phone account transferred to my name. Apparently when Dodo made this change, all they did was change the NAME, not the date of birth. It's the date of birth that's used for comparison purposes when a phone number is ported from one mobile company to another. On a hunch, after thinking about the ownership issues, I gave Savvytel Rod's birth date to try and ... tonight, after nearly a week of not being able to be reached via my personal phone number, I *finally* have it back.
Kudos to Savvytel too - I've talked to them on the phone twice and both times the person I spoke with had also read my Emails -- one of which had my hunch about the birth date and gave them Rod's to try. They had already put that in motion before I rang them today.
In other news, the parcel my sister sent me last week arrived today too. I found a few extra goodies that I wasn't expecting - some butterfly notelets and a bag of OMG, SUGAR FREE Mini Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!! Yum! Other goodies included Celestial Seasonings tea for myself and my friend Vicki, my mothers watch, which I wore my entire trip to the states... until one of Diane's kitties used it as a play toy and managed to lose it under an end table. It wasn't found until after I returned to Australia. And something I'd really been wanting - two sticks of Benydryl anti-itch stuff. There's nothing here in Australia like it and it really works quite well. I came back with a stick last year, but sadly it didn't last long as it's a liquid and anything liquid tends to evaporate here. Not this time. I'm keeping these in the fridge!
There's tons of other things I'd like to write about, but for now I better get going on some items I'd like to tick off my to-do list.
I made the switch last Thursday night, but getting my old number ported to the new one proved problematic even for the nice people at Savvytel.
It all boiled down to more poor customer service from Dodo. When I had switched to Dodo (pre-paid) sometime last year, everything had to be done through Rod because he had a driver's license and I didn't have any photo ID at all. A few months later when I got my passport, I went through the procedure to have the phone account transferred to my name. Apparently when Dodo made this change, all they did was change the NAME, not the date of birth. It's the date of birth that's used for comparison purposes when a phone number is ported from one mobile company to another. On a hunch, after thinking about the ownership issues, I gave Savvytel Rod's birth date to try and ... tonight, after nearly a week of not being able to be reached via my personal phone number, I *finally* have it back.
Kudos to Savvytel too - I've talked to them on the phone twice and both times the person I spoke with had also read my Emails -- one of which had my hunch about the birth date and gave them Rod's to try. They had already put that in motion before I rang them today.
In other news, the parcel my sister sent me last week arrived today too. I found a few extra goodies that I wasn't expecting - some butterfly notelets and a bag of OMG, SUGAR FREE Mini Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!! Yum! Other goodies included Celestial Seasonings tea for myself and my friend Vicki, my mothers watch, which I wore my entire trip to the states... until one of Diane's kitties used it as a play toy and managed to lose it under an end table. It wasn't found until after I returned to Australia. And something I'd really been wanting - two sticks of Benydryl anti-itch stuff. There's nothing here in Australia like it and it really works quite well. I came back with a stick last year, but sadly it didn't last long as it's a liquid and anything liquid tends to evaporate here. Not this time. I'm keeping these in the fridge!
There's tons of other things I'd like to write about, but for now I better get going on some items I'd like to tick off my to-do list.
16 September 2007
Procrastination, Blogging software, Dodo idiots, Savvytel
Procrastination is a funny thing. Last night, once I finally got caught up with all the things I was behind on from being out with a cold last week, I decided I'd do a blog update. I was looking forward to it. I put a couple of albums into my music player and had just the right mood going... and then decided to find a 'blog utility' for my computer so I wouldn't have to use the web browser just to add a blog entry. This led to a long series of installing 'dev' packages so I could install the latest version of 'kicker-kblogger' - a KDE based blog utility for the panel. In the end it took all evening and I still wasn't finished so it had to wait until today. Once it was all installed, it didn't work. Oh, it'd run, but the 'update' button to send any text I'd written was greyed out. I looked on the web, made sure it had all the right info, and still no go. So I ditched that and tried a couple of other applications. I've finally settled on one named 'Drivel'. Great name! It's not to fancy but does the job and I can even edit previous posts.
What annoys me though is that Blogger.com / Blogspot.com made a switch about the time I started the Random Experiments blog to a new 'Api' (way of working) and that was AGES ago, and yet there doesn't seem to be any Linux/Ubuntu blogging applications that use the new api. For me, this means that if I use Drivel to upload a blog entry, I still have to go edit the entry with my web browser if I want it to have a title. It's just a little thing, really, but that's the annoyance. It IS a little thing. It shouldn't need me to go and fix it. Ah well.
I last wrote on Tuesday, and I complained about the cold that I had. It got much worse on Wednesday, and I spent most of the day in bed. Well, not really in bed, but certainly not doing much. My whole day pretty much centred around finding interesting games to add to my mobile phone and then installing them. The plan being that I'd top up my phone with fun things to play with, then go lie down and play games. Aside from the fact it took me all afternoon to find, download to my computer and then install the games, my plan worked. I didn't get to the 'playing' stage until around 6pm or so.
Wednesday's are Rod's long day at school so he didn't get home with until around 8pm. By that time I was feeling especially crook. All day I'd been quite dizzy whenever I got up, but by this stage, my head was spinning even though I was lying down in bed. We normally get KFC's hot wings for tea on Wednesdays, and I only managed to eat two of them and a handful of chips. Eventually the head spins got so bad, I lost my cookies... quite a rare thing for me. However from that point on I felt a bit better.
Both the RDNS nurse who'd been in early in the morning and Rod urged me to make a doctor appointment, so first thing Thursday morning I rang and got an appt for 5:40pm the same day. I definitely felt better, but I really felt that my ears should be checked considering how dizzy I'd been feeling.
One of my little 'projects' for Thursday was dealing with Dodo. Dodo was my mobile phone company, and are actually rated the worst when it comes to customer service and satisfaction. I had a pre-paid phone account, and the only problem I've had with them until recently was when I wanted International Roaming put on my phone for when I went to the USA last year. I got to the states and didn't have roaming turned on as I'd requested so I had to buy a different sim card to use over there for my phone. I've stayed with them because they had the cheapest call rates. This changed recently to a stupid plan where the rates went up to about the same as what most other places charge and the 'special' they offered was free hours when you talked to other Dodo users. I ended up with 11 free hours I'd never use, and certainly wasn't getting value for money with the newer rates. I'd shopped around and decided to go with their post-paid, $9.90 a month cap plan where I'd have $50 in credit to use each month.
One of the most annoying things about Dodo is that they outsource their customer support to people in India. There's something just so off-putting when your call (finally) gets answered and the person on the other end says in a really thick Indian accent 'Hello, my name is Glen. How can I help you today'. Nothing wrong with that, aside from the accent being so thick you have to think hard to understand what was said, and 'my name is Glen' is obviously a moniker. It's more likely to be something 20 syllables long that'd be unpronounceable. This of course after being on hold for several minutes while a recording interrupts painful sounding 'music' to remind you that your call is important to them. Which is after having had the call drop out about 4 times before finally getting far enough to be on hold.
On the 24th of August, I rang Dodo to get a post-paid account. I was told that there was about a 15 minute wait to speak with a sales person, but that I could leave my name and number and someone would ring me back. Nope, they never rang me back. So I called again the next day and ordered the post-paid account. Because this is a completely different plan, I'd need a new SIM card for my phone, and was told it should arrive in 5-7 days. Time passed, and when I had only received a 'terms of service' letter from them instead of the new SIM, I rang them again on the 5th of September. I was told that the reason I hadn't received the SIM yet was because there was some confusion about my date of birth, in particular the year. For some reason they had '51' instead of '61'. Now they had the correct info from me, I should have the SIM within 5-7 days. More time passed, and Thursday I decided I'd had enough. Dodo had charged our credit card for the first month's use, but I still didn't have the new SIM. Meanwhile, I only had about $4 left in my pre-paid account so from the end of August I'd had to be especially careful not to use up my phone credits. I'd found a company that offered the same rates I had been paying in the past, and decided I'd go with them. But first I had to get the idiots at Dodo to cancel the post-paid account order and refund our card. So Thursday, still not feeling that great, I rang them to cancel the account and was told the reason I hadn't received the SIM this time was because they had a problem porting my phone number to it. Right. In every previous conversation with them, I'd told them I was already a pre-paid customer. So they needed to port it from Dodo Pre-Paid to Dodo Post-Paid. I reckon this was a load of bunk anyway as you don't port a phone number before sending out the SIM. This is always done after the new account is set up and working... ie with the new SIM in the phone. I told 'Glen' this was rather irrelevant as I wanted to cancel the processing of the post-paid account and have my card refunded. It took several tries before he understood this (or so I thought) and he passed me off to someone else who was supposed to do the cancellation. This guy had an even thicker accent and was very hard for me to understand. I had to have him repeat a sentence about 3 times before I finally understood that he wasn't talking about the cancellation of my account, but instead was trying to tell me that he'd make it so I'd receive the SIM card 'quicker'. I blew my top. I had to use poor English, short syllables and repeat myself several times, loudly: "Cancel Account! Bad Service!". Hey, he finally got the point. I was then left on hold for several more minutes and when he came back he told me my credit card had been reversed and that the post-paid account process was can canceled. Phew!
So my next call was to the new company I'd found, named Savvytel. I wasn't planning to order a new SIM to be mailed to me, I just wanted to know if they had outlets where I could buy a starter pack which would include SIM card and a bit of credit. My first impression was one of glee - the person on the other end was Australian, and she spoke english. Amen! She was able to direct me to a local shop that had the starter kits without any problems. What a breath of fresh air.
As I'm telling Rod about the whole saga, my phone beeped a reminder that my Dodo pre-paid account was going to need a recharge by Friday if I didn't want to loose the credits I had in there. Well the plan was to use up my $4 in credit and then switch over to the new Savvytel account. So that meant we had to get the starter pack as soon as possible. We did that, and the man at the counter gave me good solid advice - he told me once I had the SIM and working to delete a couple of the 'support' phone numbers as those are where the 'catch' is with this company. It's better to call them on a landline for support. That's OK, because that's what I normally do anyway. I was impressed with him for offering the information though.
Later in the evening, it was time for me to use up my $4 in credits with Dodo pre-paid so I could make the switch to Savvytel. The reason for the wait was so my sister Diane was awake in Atlanta so I could talk with her. It took 15 minutes to use up the $4, though, which I was pretty impressed with. It should be even cheaper to ring the USA with my new account. This is good, because I'll be a granny soon and will need to be able to ring the USA without going broke.
The Savvytel website said it would take 24-48 hours for my old phone number to be ported to the new account, and it hadn't happened by the end of Friday so I sent Email on Saturday to ask if this would take place on the weekend or if it'd be Monday. Having never had a reply back from a telecoms company Email query to date, I didn't really expect an answer, but a couple hours later I had a reply from 'David' letting me know they'd received the port request and that it would take place on Monday. Really. A reply to my query... on the SAME DAY! I'm amazed!
Well I have a lot more to write about but I really feel like this is probably enough for now as it's getting near bedtime. Tomorrow I'll write about my doctor appointment and a few other things I have jotted down.
What annoys me though is that Blogger.com / Blogspot.com made a switch about the time I started the Random Experiments blog to a new 'Api' (way of working) and that was AGES ago, and yet there doesn't seem to be any Linux/Ubuntu blogging applications that use the new api. For me, this means that if I use Drivel to upload a blog entry, I still have to go edit the entry with my web browser if I want it to have a title. It's just a little thing, really, but that's the annoyance. It IS a little thing. It shouldn't need me to go and fix it. Ah well.
I last wrote on Tuesday, and I complained about the cold that I had. It got much worse on Wednesday, and I spent most of the day in bed. Well, not really in bed, but certainly not doing much. My whole day pretty much centred around finding interesting games to add to my mobile phone and then installing them. The plan being that I'd top up my phone with fun things to play with, then go lie down and play games. Aside from the fact it took me all afternoon to find, download to my computer and then install the games, my plan worked. I didn't get to the 'playing' stage until around 6pm or so.
Wednesday's are Rod's long day at school so he didn't get home with until around 8pm. By that time I was feeling especially crook. All day I'd been quite dizzy whenever I got up, but by this stage, my head was spinning even though I was lying down in bed. We normally get KFC's hot wings for tea on Wednesdays, and I only managed to eat two of them and a handful of chips. Eventually the head spins got so bad, I lost my cookies... quite a rare thing for me. However from that point on I felt a bit better.
Both the RDNS nurse who'd been in early in the morning and Rod urged me to make a doctor appointment, so first thing Thursday morning I rang and got an appt for 5:40pm the same day. I definitely felt better, but I really felt that my ears should be checked considering how dizzy I'd been feeling.
One of my little 'projects' for Thursday was dealing with Dodo. Dodo was my mobile phone company, and are actually rated the worst when it comes to customer service and satisfaction. I had a pre-paid phone account, and the only problem I've had with them until recently was when I wanted International Roaming put on my phone for when I went to the USA last year. I got to the states and didn't have roaming turned on as I'd requested so I had to buy a different sim card to use over there for my phone. I've stayed with them because they had the cheapest call rates. This changed recently to a stupid plan where the rates went up to about the same as what most other places charge and the 'special' they offered was free hours when you talked to other Dodo users. I ended up with 11 free hours I'd never use, and certainly wasn't getting value for money with the newer rates. I'd shopped around and decided to go with their post-paid, $9.90 a month cap plan where I'd have $50 in credit to use each month.
One of the most annoying things about Dodo is that they outsource their customer support to people in India. There's something just so off-putting when your call (finally) gets answered and the person on the other end says in a really thick Indian accent 'Hello, my name is Glen. How can I help you today'. Nothing wrong with that, aside from the accent being so thick you have to think hard to understand what was said, and 'my name is Glen' is obviously a moniker. It's more likely to be something 20 syllables long that'd be unpronounceable. This of course after being on hold for several minutes while a recording interrupts painful sounding 'music' to remind you that your call is important to them. Which is after having had the call drop out about 4 times before finally getting far enough to be on hold.
On the 24th of August, I rang Dodo to get a post-paid account. I was told that there was about a 15 minute wait to speak with a sales person, but that I could leave my name and number and someone would ring me back. Nope, they never rang me back. So I called again the next day and ordered the post-paid account. Because this is a completely different plan, I'd need a new SIM card for my phone, and was told it should arrive in 5-7 days. Time passed, and when I had only received a 'terms of service' letter from them instead of the new SIM, I rang them again on the 5th of September. I was told that the reason I hadn't received the SIM yet was because there was some confusion about my date of birth, in particular the year. For some reason they had '51' instead of '61'. Now they had the correct info from me, I should have the SIM within 5-7 days. More time passed, and Thursday I decided I'd had enough. Dodo had charged our credit card for the first month's use, but I still didn't have the new SIM. Meanwhile, I only had about $4 left in my pre-paid account so from the end of August I'd had to be especially careful not to use up my phone credits. I'd found a company that offered the same rates I had been paying in the past, and decided I'd go with them. But first I had to get the idiots at Dodo to cancel the post-paid account order and refund our card. So Thursday, still not feeling that great, I rang them to cancel the account and was told the reason I hadn't received the SIM this time was because they had a problem porting my phone number to it. Right. In every previous conversation with them, I'd told them I was already a pre-paid customer. So they needed to port it from Dodo Pre-Paid to Dodo Post-Paid. I reckon this was a load of bunk anyway as you don't port a phone number before sending out the SIM. This is always done after the new account is set up and working... ie with the new SIM in the phone. I told 'Glen' this was rather irrelevant as I wanted to cancel the processing of the post-paid account and have my card refunded. It took several tries before he understood this (or so I thought) and he passed me off to someone else who was supposed to do the cancellation. This guy had an even thicker accent and was very hard for me to understand. I had to have him repeat a sentence about 3 times before I finally understood that he wasn't talking about the cancellation of my account, but instead was trying to tell me that he'd make it so I'd receive the SIM card 'quicker'. I blew my top. I had to use poor English, short syllables and repeat myself several times, loudly: "Cancel Account! Bad Service!". Hey, he finally got the point. I was then left on hold for several more minutes and when he came back he told me my credit card had been reversed and that the post-paid account process was can canceled. Phew!
So my next call was to the new company I'd found, named Savvytel. I wasn't planning to order a new SIM to be mailed to me, I just wanted to know if they had outlets where I could buy a starter pack which would include SIM card and a bit of credit. My first impression was one of glee - the person on the other end was Australian, and she spoke english. Amen! She was able to direct me to a local shop that had the starter kits without any problems. What a breath of fresh air.
As I'm telling Rod about the whole saga, my phone beeped a reminder that my Dodo pre-paid account was going to need a recharge by Friday if I didn't want to loose the credits I had in there. Well the plan was to use up my $4 in credit and then switch over to the new Savvytel account. So that meant we had to get the starter pack as soon as possible. We did that, and the man at the counter gave me good solid advice - he told me once I had the SIM and working to delete a couple of the 'support' phone numbers as those are where the 'catch' is with this company. It's better to call them on a landline for support. That's OK, because that's what I normally do anyway. I was impressed with him for offering the information though.
Later in the evening, it was time for me to use up my $4 in credits with Dodo pre-paid so I could make the switch to Savvytel. The reason for the wait was so my sister Diane was awake in Atlanta so I could talk with her. It took 15 minutes to use up the $4, though, which I was pretty impressed with. It should be even cheaper to ring the USA with my new account. This is good, because I'll be a granny soon and will need to be able to ring the USA without going broke.
The Savvytel website said it would take 24-48 hours for my old phone number to be ported to the new account, and it hadn't happened by the end of Friday so I sent Email on Saturday to ask if this would take place on the weekend or if it'd be Monday. Having never had a reply back from a telecoms company Email query to date, I didn't really expect an answer, but a couple hours later I had a reply from 'David' letting me know they'd received the port request and that it would take place on Monday. Really. A reply to my query... on the SAME DAY! I'm amazed!
Well I have a lot more to write about but I really feel like this is probably enough for now as it's getting near bedtime. Tomorrow I'll write about my doctor appointment and a few other things I have jotted down.
11 September 2007
Check in
I have a cold. Worse, I've had a bad sinus and chest infection for a few months now and now I have this cold on top of it. I have taken it easy since last Friday when I started coming down with it, but while my nose seems to have less to complain about, the cold has moved into my chest.
I had my eye exam today and have a prescription for bifocals.
Then I came straight home and lounged in bed watching TV.
You know it's bad when you feel almost OK sitting down at the computer or watching TV but when you get up and move about you realise you're really not well. I'm off balance due to my ears and the sinus thing plus the cold, and the bursitis in my hip has returned so my leg wants to give out, or disappear on me again -- really not a good combination.
Anyway, just thought I'd check in and moan a bit. Going to bed now. Nurse comes tomorrow. And if I'm well enough I'll go see about getting frames for my glasses. The on-line option turned out not to be a good choice for bifocals and also I couldn't find frames that matched the size of my current frames. Ah well, at least I tried.
I had my eye exam today and have a prescription for bifocals.
Then I came straight home and lounged in bed watching TV.
You know it's bad when you feel almost OK sitting down at the computer or watching TV but when you get up and move about you realise you're really not well. I'm off balance due to my ears and the sinus thing plus the cold, and the bursitis in my hip has returned so my leg wants to give out, or disappear on me again -- really not a good combination.
Anyway, just thought I'd check in and moan a bit. Going to bed now. Nurse comes tomorrow. And if I'm well enough I'll go see about getting frames for my glasses. The on-line option turned out not to be a good choice for bifocals and also I couldn't find frames that matched the size of my current frames. Ah well, at least I tried.
06 September 2007
Very Little Change
Today (6 September) marks 6 months since I've had this hole in my side... the links below give a bit of a history about how this started:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9
I think I've pretty much mentioned this in the journals after these days, but the above links have it from the very beginning.
I am still having RDNS nurses come in to change the dressing on my side, and today the wound was measured. It started out as being 10cm from my side to my spine. It's a very very deep wound. In the past, the RDNS nurses have measured while I've been sitting, whereas the clinic always does this while I'm on my side, which has always been a larger number than what the nurses get. So this time the nurse did the measurement while I was on my side. And the results? It's 9cm. Wow, that's a whole centimetre difference in SIX MONTHS. At this rate, I think I can call it a 'piercing' and expect to have nursing visits for the next five years. Sigh.
I didn't mope about it, but got on with my day. I was a bit more productive today as I worked rather hard at keeping myself busy... I really didn't want to dwell on the lack of healing progress. It is SO disheartening!
I did take time out in the afternoon and watched an episode of Neighbours. I have been trying to either have a half hour break watching TV or taking a nap in the afternoons lately just to give my body a chance to regroup and repair.
Speaking of regrouping and having some down time for repairs, it's time for bed.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9
I think I've pretty much mentioned this in the journals after these days, but the above links have it from the very beginning.
I am still having RDNS nurses come in to change the dressing on my side, and today the wound was measured. It started out as being 10cm from my side to my spine. It's a very very deep wound. In the past, the RDNS nurses have measured while I've been sitting, whereas the clinic always does this while I'm on my side, which has always been a larger number than what the nurses get. So this time the nurse did the measurement while I was on my side. And the results? It's 9cm. Wow, that's a whole centimetre difference in SIX MONTHS. At this rate, I think I can call it a 'piercing' and expect to have nursing visits for the next five years. Sigh.
I didn't mope about it, but got on with my day. I was a bit more productive today as I worked rather hard at keeping myself busy... I really didn't want to dwell on the lack of healing progress. It is SO disheartening!
I did take time out in the afternoon and watched an episode of Neighbours. I have been trying to either have a half hour break watching TV or taking a nap in the afternoons lately just to give my body a chance to regroup and repair.
Speaking of regrouping and having some down time for repairs, it's time for bed.
28 August 2007
WhooHoo! A day with good readings
Wow, I haven't had a full day of glucose readings that were in range since I had a cortisone shot a few weeks ago.
07:23:52 6.1 / 109 Fasting
11:07:06 6.9 / 124 Post-Bfast
14:07:05 4.6 / 83 Pre-Lunch
16:56:13 6.7 / 120 Post-Lunch
18:50:46 4.7 / 84 Pre-Tea
21:17:53 5.7 / 103 Post-Tea Roast beef, veggies, potatoes, gravy
I started the day early as I had to go with Rod today - every other week on Tuesdays I have to put a form in at Centrelink. In the the last several times I've done this, I've had a late fast food breakfast, but as I was up early today, I had breakfast before we left, which apparently set the tone for the rest of the day. Neat!
I also made tea tonight even though Rod is usually the one who does any cooking of roasts. It turned out great.
I had an appt with my GP last week, and I'm still mulling over it, but while I'm adding a blog entry I may as well cover the bases with what was discussed. My memory really sucks lately so I had typed up a list, which I'm including below. My comments from the appt start with "...".
-------------
How long do the wonky glucose levels last after having had cortisone?
... Quite awhile as it's a long acting cortisone.
Have finished course of Iron tablets.
... No new prescription. Will check iron levels at next diabetes checkup (Nov) to see if there's been any change. Currently (as of 3 August) my iron levels are back up to normal.
Finished antibiotics yesterday.
Still have sinus infection, ear pain and cough
Ears - have woken up several times with them 'wet'
... Checked ears - blocked, but not infected. Checked chest, still infected. Sinus' still infected. Gave me a new prescription for another month of antibiotics. Vibramycin this time.
Rib pain - could this be weather related?
... no comment, not covered or discussed.
Having skin reactions I normally only have in summer.
Over sensitive in forehead, nose and left eye area. Very itchy.
Blisters on fingers - normally only get when it's hot and I've been sweaty.
Usually I get these two annoyances together.
... This is probably due to being ill with a long term infection.
... (I have since discovered our water bed heater setting was higher than normal, which led to night time sweats, which probably/maybe was the cause. Has settled down now.
My eyes have been quite puffy lately and have been a bit on the sticky side.
Recently noticed that my eyelashes have sorta disappeared.
Started recovery from chemo 5yrs ago... could this be why eyelashes
have disappeared?
... No idea. Will keep an eye on it.
Hands quite swollen and sore even with voltaren gel and tablets. Sometimes
fingers don't work. Like for remote control. Can only seem to use
my right hand for the remote.
... No comment, or was back to the due to being ill with long term infection.
Background sounds - pulsating (stop/start) and weak knees at the same time.
Have noticed this for awhile, but it used to be only once in awhile,
such as when getting out of the car and walking, but it's happening
more often lately and even at home. Even the tea kettle now sounds
like it's a big wheel turning. I get weak in the knees at the same
time, but not light headed or dizzy.
... Probably from being ill lately.
Extremely Forgetful. Almost forgot to mention this, but it's the main reason
for having a list in the first place. Stupid things I've done in
last few weeks - (... list removed because they're rather embarrassing).
... Also probably due to being ill. Suggested I take extra care as some of the things on the list could have been pretty deadly. Others were just stupid.
... He looked at my diabetes log book and remarked that even though I had a few highs, I also had lows on the same day and reckoned that it evened out overall and that they weren't bad stats. I don't really agree with that assessment as anything over 7.8 (140) does damage, and I had plenty of readings over this mark. But I do agree that considering I've had a cortisone shot, my readings really aren't as bad as what they could be.
-------------
So I'm on Vibramycin now for the next 4 weeks, and if the infections and odd symptoms like the weird sounds don't go away/improve, the next step is to do a cat scan of my head - mostly for the sinus areas.
It's taken me a few days (nearly a week) to sort of 'get over' the discussion, as it left me feeling like I should go home and go to bed until I'm well again. Well considering I've had this hole in my side, along with the other infections for the last several months, I'd probably be a long time in coming good, so really there's no point in just going to bed and hope to feel better in a few days. I'm much better off doing what I can, but also realising that I do need to take it a bit easier and let my body do the work it needs to in order for me to get well. Yesterday I thought I'd have a nap, but ended up catching up on over a weeks worth of Neighbours episodes that I'd recorded but hadn't watched yet, but today I did manage to have a little nap in the early afternoon. I had one of those nasty sinus headaches that wouldn't go away. A 45 minute nap helped it a lot though.
For those of you in the USA, 'Neighbours' is an Aussie soap of sorts. It's been on the air for about 20yrs and I've learned a lot from it, culture-wise. It's not at all like American soaps. I got addicted to it while recovering from chemo a few years ago, and I think it's cool that the BCNA (Breast Cancer Network Australia) pink lady fridge magnets seem to move from household to household within the show.
Tomorrow I'm adding purple streaks to my hair... it's a mousse that washes out after 10 washes. It was marked down and I bought it on a whim. I don't even think Rod noticed it in the shopping last week. He has a long day at school so I figure it's a good day to do it. At least it's something a little adventurous, and since I've had a day with my glucose levels completely within range, I reckon it's time to treat myself. :-)
Cheers!
25 August 2007
Being a Granny in a modern world
I had the most delightful surprise on my computer this morning, my son sent me an instant message to tell me the results of the ultrasound his other half had yesterday. I've recently changed the software I use for instant messages, so was surprised to see a bubble comment in the lower portion of my screen...
Oh how exciting! I got a kick out of the fact that it asked me if I wanted to view or ignore it. Right... like I could ignore this kind of news!! So I clicked on the view box and it showed me... (you may have to click on it to go see the larger image)....
Oh wow. I had called Rod into the room to read the screen with me and get the news at the same time.
And while I'm showing off photos, I took this picture the other morning in my back garden...
The bird is a lorikeet, and so pretty. There are a few other new piccies on my flickr account, so have a mosey over there and take a look. The link is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/.
Meanwhile, it's a bit late, so I'm headed for bed. G'night all!
Oh how exciting! I got a kick out of the fact that it asked me if I wanted to view or ignore it. Right... like I could ignore this kind of news!! So I clicked on the view box and it showed me... (you may have to click on it to go see the larger image)....
Oh wow. I had called Rod into the room to read the screen with me and get the news at the same time.
And while I'm showing off photos, I took this picture the other morning in my back garden...
The bird is a lorikeet, and so pretty. There are a few other new piccies on my flickr account, so have a mosey over there and take a look. The link is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/.
Meanwhile, it's a bit late, so I'm headed for bed. G'night all!
20 August 2007
Well that didn't work....
The weekend experiment of using foam and opsite for my dressing didn't work. The nurse thinks it got a bit 'cooked' because there was a green tinge to the exudate on the foam and on the material they use to pack my wound. Green means infection, and in this case, green is definitely NOT good for me. Sigh. And since there was a lot of exudate this time, I'll be seen by a nurse again tomorrow (normally it's every other day) just to check it and make sure it's not still green. If it is, I'll have to go see my GP. The thing is, I'm already on antibiotics (been on them for a month now), and finish them up this week. I'll probably be seeing the GP anyway this week for other issues. On the brighter side, it'll be a full month since I last had to see him. Better than once a week like it had been. And, my heat experiment also didn't go well, because the opsite doesn't allow the area to breath, by adding heat to it over the weekend, I just made it so the environment was warm and dark, which is all that's needed to give it a dark, warm, un-breathing environment to cook an infection in. Great. I'm currently back to having alion as my dressing, temporarily, at least.
My eyelashes have disappeared. I've noticed that one eye has really puffy eyelids, but was really surprised to see that my eyelashes have just vanished. When I see the GP I'll mention it as it's pretty odd.
I have a new favourite green tea blend. I still drink green tea to help keep by blood glucose levels lower, and really I'd hate to see what the levels would be without it lately as that cortisone shot I had a few weeks ago is really showing up in my test results lately. A few weeks ago I bought myself a one litre tea pot, and have worked out I can have 6 or 7 green tea bags (or various flavours) and one regular tea tossed in for the caffeine. Last week a couple of green tea samples arrived from Lipton - they have two new flavours - apple and peach. Both are quite nice, but I'm more partial to the apple. It really have a nice taste. I've never been keen on peach, and that still holds, but if it's mixed with vanilla and chai green teas, it's pretty good. A bit like a liquid guilt free peach cobbler. My favourite blend of late is:
1 Regular black tea bag
2 plain green tea bags
1 New Deli brand Chai green tea (it's very strongly cinnamony tasting)
3 vanilla flavoured green tea
1 apple flavoured green tea
I let the mix brew and then to make a cup of tea, I pour half a cup of just boiled water in my cup with two equals, and then fill the cup the rest of the way with the brewed tea. It is VERY YUMMY. It's like an apple pie.
On the computer side of things, since Rod told me all about it and showed me how cool it is, I installed a VMware server and added a Windows virtual machine so now I can have access to all the programs I've had to use my laptop for, such as my glucose meter, the Turbo Lister software for eBay sales, and of course Publisher for clients that send me files in this format. The neat thing is my linux box has far more memory and a faster cpu than my laptop so all these things run much smoother/faster, and I don't have to change position or keyboards to access my Windows computer.
If my eldest son is reading this.... vmware would certainly be the way to go if you want Mrs Eldest Son to use your computer and she wants to use Windows. It's much nicer than wine in that everything just works.
Well, I've been falling asleep typing this, so I better get it uploaded so I can get to bed. Tomorrow's another early day.
My eyelashes have disappeared. I've noticed that one eye has really puffy eyelids, but was really surprised to see that my eyelashes have just vanished. When I see the GP I'll mention it as it's pretty odd.
I have a new favourite green tea blend. I still drink green tea to help keep by blood glucose levels lower, and really I'd hate to see what the levels would be without it lately as that cortisone shot I had a few weeks ago is really showing up in my test results lately. A few weeks ago I bought myself a one litre tea pot, and have worked out I can have 6 or 7 green tea bags (or various flavours) and one regular tea tossed in for the caffeine. Last week a couple of green tea samples arrived from Lipton - they have two new flavours - apple and peach. Both are quite nice, but I'm more partial to the apple. It really have a nice taste. I've never been keen on peach, and that still holds, but if it's mixed with vanilla and chai green teas, it's pretty good. A bit like a liquid guilt free peach cobbler. My favourite blend of late is:
1 Regular black tea bag
2 plain green tea bags
1 New Deli brand Chai green tea (it's very strongly cinnamony tasting)
3 vanilla flavoured green tea
1 apple flavoured green tea
I let the mix brew and then to make a cup of tea, I pour half a cup of just boiled water in my cup with two equals, and then fill the cup the rest of the way with the brewed tea. It is VERY YUMMY. It's like an apple pie.
On the computer side of things, since Rod told me all about it and showed me how cool it is, I installed a VMware server and added a Windows virtual machine so now I can have access to all the programs I've had to use my laptop for, such as my glucose meter, the Turbo Lister software for eBay sales, and of course Publisher for clients that send me files in this format. The neat thing is my linux box has far more memory and a faster cpu than my laptop so all these things run much smoother/faster, and I don't have to change position or keyboards to access my Windows computer.
If my eldest son is reading this.... vmware would certainly be the way to go if you want Mrs Eldest Son to use your computer and she wants to use Windows. It's much nicer than wine in that everything just works.
Well, I've been falling asleep typing this, so I better get it uploaded so I can get to bed. Tomorrow's another early day.
18 August 2007
New Experiments, updates
I'm trying a new experiment. When I had my reconstruction, after I'd been returned to my room, they brought in a heater and made my room incredibly, uncomfortably warm. This was to help the blood vessels do their job in returning (or starting) blood flow into the reconstruction area. Over the course of the last 5 months, a couple of times the RDNS nurses have mentioned that whenever my dressings are changed, it cools the wound down, and it apparently takes several hours for it to get back up to the required temperature for healing to take place. I think I may have mentioned that I have either cracked my ribs again or the formerly broken ribs are now extremely sensitive to weather changes. Anyway, they hurt, and one of the things that helps make it feel better is keeping a heat pack on the area. The area where it hurts is just above where the wound is, so I'm thinking maybe the heat is helping both the ribs and the wound. I think after 5 months with this thing, if someone told me that standing on my head and singing Waltzing Matilda would make it heal faster - I'd try it!
My DDIL (Dearest Daughter in Law) will be having an ultrasound on the 23rd of the month and needs to decide whether or not to find out the sex of my grandchild. Oh, what a tough quandary. I didn't know the sex of my first child or my third, but middle son was a show off on not one, but two or three ultrasounds... and no one asked if I wanted to know or not, they just blurted out the news. So I've had it both ways. I think there's something special about not knowing, but in some ways it helped me to know a bit about who was kicking me from the inside... at least he had a real name!
I'm a bit wishy washy over which type of baby I'd like for my first grandchild. Happy and healthy would be the best kind! I'd just love a little girl to spoil, but a boy to spoil would be good too. The one thing that amazes me is this means my maiden name will live on in the USA for another generation. I've never had much thought about these things, but it's such a cool thing to realise. Like wow, a part of me, and all my family for generations behind me will be part of this new human being.
Rod needed more memory for his computer for some of the things he's studying right now, so we ordered him a couple gig... turns out the bios on his motherboard won't let him use it. So he gave it to me - and I've spent the last several days trying to work out why my CPU runs so high all the time. I've managed to get it down using some Tweaking Ubuntu sites I've found, but it still isn't right. I also lost my webcam for a day because Rod, who never seems to screw any computer component in, added a screw to my video capture card. It caused the opposite side of the card to not make contact with the board, so for a day or so my web cams weren't working. We managed to get it sorted in the end though, and he even apologized. I said I'm sure I send him around in far more circles and for far more time than what I spent trying to get it going. It's true, too.
So in the meantime, he's been working on getting settled with a newer motherboard and dealing with a corrupt partition, losing half his data (maybe), and of course in the midst of all this trying to actually study and do his homework. Ultimately the set up that he'll have is using Linux as his base system, and use VMware for Windows and any other linux flavours that he needs to work with for his classes.
I recently bought a new clock for in the bedroom. It's small, but the numbers display on it are huge, which is good, because I can see it without my glasses on. It has 8 alarm settings, but unfortunately the instructions don't really say how to disable the alarms without having to reset them completely when you want them again. So I'm just letting it tell me it's 8am every day and if nothing else, the early mornings help to keep my diet a bit more on track. As in breakfast in the morning etc. Both yesterday and today I've managed to miss seeing the frost on the trees by probably only minutes as the branches all had droplets of water but no frost. The grass was frosty though. Very pretty.
This weekend, I'm having a bit of a break from having the RDNS nurses. My skin has reacted again to the Alion dressing adhesive, so at the moment we're using a type of foam over the wound and using opsite tape to keep it in place. If you've ever had an IV, the clear plastic they use over top is what opsite is. It's a bit stretchable and for now at least my skin doesn't react to it. So by using the foam and opsite, it's giving my skin a rest from the adhesive in the Alion, and also allows 2 full days between changes. This in turn helps it stay warm and hopefully helps promote healing as well. It also means not having to worry about being up and dressed for the weekend nurse visit, but here I am up anyway.
My DDIL (Dearest Daughter in Law) will be having an ultrasound on the 23rd of the month and needs to decide whether or not to find out the sex of my grandchild. Oh, what a tough quandary. I didn't know the sex of my first child or my third, but middle son was a show off on not one, but two or three ultrasounds... and no one asked if I wanted to know or not, they just blurted out the news. So I've had it both ways. I think there's something special about not knowing, but in some ways it helped me to know a bit about who was kicking me from the inside... at least he had a real name!
I'm a bit wishy washy over which type of baby I'd like for my first grandchild. Happy and healthy would be the best kind! I'd just love a little girl to spoil, but a boy to spoil would be good too. The one thing that amazes me is this means my maiden name will live on in the USA for another generation. I've never had much thought about these things, but it's such a cool thing to realise. Like wow, a part of me, and all my family for generations behind me will be part of this new human being.
Rod needed more memory for his computer for some of the things he's studying right now, so we ordered him a couple gig... turns out the bios on his motherboard won't let him use it. So he gave it to me - and I've spent the last several days trying to work out why my CPU runs so high all the time. I've managed to get it down using some Tweaking Ubuntu sites I've found, but it still isn't right. I also lost my webcam for a day because Rod, who never seems to screw any computer component in, added a screw to my video capture card. It caused the opposite side of the card to not make contact with the board, so for a day or so my web cams weren't working. We managed to get it sorted in the end though, and he even apologized. I said I'm sure I send him around in far more circles and for far more time than what I spent trying to get it going. It's true, too.
So in the meantime, he's been working on getting settled with a newer motherboard and dealing with a corrupt partition, losing half his data (maybe), and of course in the midst of all this trying to actually study and do his homework. Ultimately the set up that he'll have is using Linux as his base system, and use VMware for Windows and any other linux flavours that he needs to work with for his classes.
I recently bought a new clock for in the bedroom. It's small, but the numbers display on it are huge, which is good, because I can see it without my glasses on. It has 8 alarm settings, but unfortunately the instructions don't really say how to disable the alarms without having to reset them completely when you want them again. So I'm just letting it tell me it's 8am every day and if nothing else, the early mornings help to keep my diet a bit more on track. As in breakfast in the morning etc. Both yesterday and today I've managed to miss seeing the frost on the trees by probably only minutes as the branches all had droplets of water but no frost. The grass was frosty though. Very pretty.
This weekend, I'm having a bit of a break from having the RDNS nurses. My skin has reacted again to the Alion dressing adhesive, so at the moment we're using a type of foam over the wound and using opsite tape to keep it in place. If you've ever had an IV, the clear plastic they use over top is what opsite is. It's a bit stretchable and for now at least my skin doesn't react to it. So by using the foam and opsite, it's giving my skin a rest from the adhesive in the Alion, and also allows 2 full days between changes. This in turn helps it stay warm and hopefully helps promote healing as well. It also means not having to worry about being up and dressed for the weekend nurse visit, but here I am up anyway.
09 August 2007
08 August 2007
Blood Test Results
Just a quick Whoo Hoo! Before I go to bed...
My iron is back to normal again.
My HBA1C was 6.2 ---- the same as it was in April!
I'm really thrilled with this news.
Cheers!!
My iron is back to normal again.
My HBA1C was 6.2 ---- the same as it was in April!
I'm really thrilled with this news.
Cheers!!
07 August 2007
Some Creative Therapy
Check out the new logo on the sidebar! I've joined a new diabetes community named Tu Diabetes. Someone described it as 'Like MySpace on insulin'... and there's a Flickr group for it with a challenge of "... write in your hand, a one-word feeling about being touched by diabetes and take a picture of yourself". I took 2 pics, which are shown below. When I did the second one, I thought what a neat idea for a logo for the Random Experiments blog, and so I created it. Took only a few minutes but I like it. The group on Flickr is "TuDiabetes.com" and really worth a look - there are some neat images and feelings there. It's a bit like PostSecret for diabetics. I found it very therapeutic and inspiring.
Here are my two entries:
Click on the images to view them on Flickr and read my descriptive text.
I saw the Gastro specialist last Friday, and am pleased to report that the polyp removed during the colonoscopy was benign. Yay! She had a few suggestions for adding fibre to my diet (since I take pain pills and these cause constipation), and then was curious why I haven't had a follow up blood test for my anemia. So she ordered one and tacked on the HBA1C test as well just to, in her words, get a bit of a snapshot. Good idea, I thought, mainly because it would be a good idea to find out if the anemia is any better or not. I suspect the 'or not' based on how I've been feeling, the constant infections and slow healing. I'll get the results of these tests hopefully tomorrow. I rang for them today but my GP had left for the day.
Last week I had a few days where the ribs just above where my wound is were hurting intensely. I thought maybe I'd cracked them again (these are in the same area as I kept breaking a few years ago - a result of having had radio thereapy). I kept heat on them for a couple of days, and after the weather cleared up, so did the pain. I think the ribs are sensitive to the weather, as if they were cracked again, I know it normally takes six weeks (for anyone not me) for them to heal.
One of the days I was using a heat pack (the type you boil for 10 minutes to liquefy it), I occidentally boiled the pan dry and wrecked the gel pack. Fortunately I didn't start a fire, and caught it in enough time that the pan was able to be saved. I've ordered two new gel packs and they should arrive tomorrow.
I've had a couple of good days in the last few weeks where I've probably over extended myself trying to catch up on things I haven't been able to do in awhile. So for the last two days I've started taking a nap around 3:30 for an hour or so. Hopefully this will help give my body some extra 'down time' so it can do the repairs for my side. It'd be nice. By the way, I've now had the hole in my side for 5 months now.
Next month I can get my prescription for my eye glasses updated -- last year the right eye was so vastly different they only gave me a half strength prescription, so this year I can get the proper prescription, and my eyes certainly have changed a bit. As this won't be covered at all by Medicare - they only pay for prescription glasses once every 2yrs - I have to pay for it myself. So today I was browsing online looking to get some pricing ideas and stumbled into Vision Direct Australia. Here's a link to the glasses I'll most likely be ordering. The frames are pink and quite similar to the pair I have now. Almost all of the things I planned on getting for the lenses (scratch and smudge proof coating, anti-reflective coating, and 100% UV Protection) are included in the price with the exception of transitions, which will only cost an additional $45 (instead of over $100). Total cost, including transitional and postage: AU$ 155.90 - considering the same would cost me well over $300-400, this is an excellent deal. They also accept PayPal, which is very very cool. And for those of you reading in the USA, they sell world wide and the shipping price is excellent.
Anyway, that's me. Rod is back at TAFE and we're back to keeping early morning hours again.
Here are my two entries:
Click on the images to view them on Flickr and read my descriptive text.
I saw the Gastro specialist last Friday, and am pleased to report that the polyp removed during the colonoscopy was benign. Yay! She had a few suggestions for adding fibre to my diet (since I take pain pills and these cause constipation), and then was curious why I haven't had a follow up blood test for my anemia. So she ordered one and tacked on the HBA1C test as well just to, in her words, get a bit of a snapshot. Good idea, I thought, mainly because it would be a good idea to find out if the anemia is any better or not. I suspect the 'or not' based on how I've been feeling, the constant infections and slow healing. I'll get the results of these tests hopefully tomorrow. I rang for them today but my GP had left for the day.
Last week I had a few days where the ribs just above where my wound is were hurting intensely. I thought maybe I'd cracked them again (these are in the same area as I kept breaking a few years ago - a result of having had radio thereapy). I kept heat on them for a couple of days, and after the weather cleared up, so did the pain. I think the ribs are sensitive to the weather, as if they were cracked again, I know it normally takes six weeks (for anyone not me) for them to heal.
One of the days I was using a heat pack (the type you boil for 10 minutes to liquefy it), I occidentally boiled the pan dry and wrecked the gel pack. Fortunately I didn't start a fire, and caught it in enough time that the pan was able to be saved. I've ordered two new gel packs and they should arrive tomorrow.
I've had a couple of good days in the last few weeks where I've probably over extended myself trying to catch up on things I haven't been able to do in awhile. So for the last two days I've started taking a nap around 3:30 for an hour or so. Hopefully this will help give my body some extra 'down time' so it can do the repairs for my side. It'd be nice. By the way, I've now had the hole in my side for 5 months now.
Next month I can get my prescription for my eye glasses updated -- last year the right eye was so vastly different they only gave me a half strength prescription, so this year I can get the proper prescription, and my eyes certainly have changed a bit. As this won't be covered at all by Medicare - they only pay for prescription glasses once every 2yrs - I have to pay for it myself. So today I was browsing online looking to get some pricing ideas and stumbled into Vision Direct Australia. Here's a link to the glasses I'll most likely be ordering. The frames are pink and quite similar to the pair I have now. Almost all of the things I planned on getting for the lenses (scratch and smudge proof coating, anti-reflective coating, and 100% UV Protection) are included in the price with the exception of transitions, which will only cost an additional $45 (instead of over $100). Total cost, including transitional and postage: AU$ 155.90 - considering the same would cost me well over $300-400, this is an excellent deal. They also accept PayPal, which is very very cool. And for those of you reading in the USA, they sell world wide and the shipping price is excellent.
Anyway, that's me. Rod is back at TAFE and we're back to keeping early morning hours again.
27 July 2007
27 July: Catching up
I see I've got a bit behind in posting updates. I've had a very busy couple weeks along with being a bit focused on making changes on the blood glucose section of my website. Not so much the public side, but making it easier for me to use for adding information.
Things I've learned this week in regards diabetes and glucose levels --- not all brands/types of tortilla's have the same amount of carbs. I had tried some tortillas a few months ago and it gave me much better results than I have if I use bread. But the last few weeks I've noticed my Saturday night after tea readings have been abnormally high. Turns out the tortillas I've been using the last 3 weeks had about 3x the number of carbs as the other brand/type I was using. OH. That'll teach me to read labels!
Last week I had several medical appointments. Monday I saw the plastics team to check my wound, and it's still healing at the same rate (about a centimetre a month), and since there's nothing for them to do but wait, they made my next appointment in 3 months time. I still am to have RDNS change the dressing every other day (including weekends). Wednesday I had the endoscopy and colonoscopy. I don't remember much about it, except that the drugs they gave me lasted all day and I felt very mellow and lovely for the rest of the day. They found only one polyp and have sent that in for a pathology report. I won't know anything more until I see the Gastro specialist on Friday (3 August).
A week ago Friday I had the ultrasound to see if I had fluid in my bursa (hip). I did, so they did an ultrasound guided injection of a painkiller and cortisone (Celestone). I was a bit hyper for the rest of the day and the next, but fortunately it seems to have levelled off and I'm fine. It also seems to have worked as I've only had a couple incidences where my leg has just 'disappeared' out from under me.
I went to our local Breast Stroke meeting last Friday with Jen, and took along a pair of shorts and t-shirt. When it was time for the pool/spa, I sat on the edge of the spa and dangled my legs in the water. It was lovely. While I have this hole in my side, swimming is out of the question, but at least I can enjoy getting my feet and legs wet. Jen came for tea and that was nice - she always enthuses over Rod's chips and that of course makes him feel good. And they are nice chips too.
This week I saw the Diabetes Education Nurse and she said even though I've had a few highs here and there, the readings are excellent and much much better than what she anticipated they'd be with my having had a cortisone injection last week. She's pretty sure my next HBA1C readings should be around 6.3 or so, which is interesting because that's what my BGL section on my website says too, and I didn't get a chance to print out anything from my website. We discussed the possibility that it's been the green tea that I drink that have kept my levels from spiking up after the cortisone injection, and she thinks it's quite possible. Whatever it is she said, keep doing what you're doing because it's working. That was great.
On the way out of Noarlunga Hospital (where my appt with the diabetes nurse was), I noticed a used book sale being held - 10c to 20c a book, so I grabbed a few for Bookcrossing and added my coins to the box. Yesterday I had an appt with Centrelink and on the way home I had Rod stop at the hospital and I dropped off a bag of books for the sale that I've had in our boot for quite awhile. It felt good to 'give something back' since I haven't done a lot of Bookcrossing lately and that's another bag of books that are now out in the world and not in my way.
Wednesday this past week I went in to see my GP, prepared to have a blood test for my diabetes, cholesterol and anemia. I'd even fasted from Midnight the night before. He decided not to test me though, because I still have an infection and I'm not well enough to have the test as it'd give wonky results. A few weeks ago, I was given a 7 day prescription for antibiotics. This was followed with another 7 day supply of another type. When I returned after finishing though, he changed me to another type of antibiotic, this time for 2 weeks. These ended last week, and since then all the things that have been infected for the last two months or longer returned. This time it's a sinus, ear and chest infection. So now I have a 30 day supply of antibiotics. Hope it does the job!! My left ear is totally blocked (and very very painful) and the right one is partially blocked. So now I'm taking decongestants too. I'm really sick of this. The last time I had a whole winter of sinus infections was right before I was diagnosed with BC, but I'll bet that had to do with diabetes too.
After not having the blood test yesterday, as I'd been fasting from the night before, I was quite hungry so went to the shopping centre and bought a large mug of tea, and a spinach and cheese roll. I then wandered around the shopping centre while waiting for my prescriptions to be filled. I ended up buying myself a new wallet, and ... I didn't buy it, but I looked at baby clothes. I found the cutest little plain linen dress (?) that looked like the clothes I know I had when I was a baby as I inherited them for use on my dolls. I got just a little bit teary-eyed. Yes, that's right Granny Gaelyne is hoping for a girl, I guess. I think it's going to be very hard to be a long distance granny too. If my window shopping emotions are anything to go on.
Last, I have updated our Webcam page so it only updates the images on the page as well as the time and temperature every 15 seconds rather than refreshing the whole page. It works great, and it's something I sorted out how to do on my own. I found one example that worked with one image and did some changes and tweaks so I could use it for all 3 of our current cams. Rod also changed the Doorcam camera recently so that it uses the better colour night time camera. We still a USB cam I haven't tried since updating to Ubuntu, and also have an outside camera with a slight flaw (it seems to show a Martian landscape) that we haven't put into use yet.
Well I think I'm done catching up for the moment. I'm off to take a nap now... as I've been typing I've been getting more and more drowsy, in a good way. Cheers! ZZZzzzzzz
Things I've learned this week in regards diabetes and glucose levels --- not all brands/types of tortilla's have the same amount of carbs. I had tried some tortillas a few months ago and it gave me much better results than I have if I use bread. But the last few weeks I've noticed my Saturday night after tea readings have been abnormally high. Turns out the tortillas I've been using the last 3 weeks had about 3x the number of carbs as the other brand/type I was using. OH. That'll teach me to read labels!
Last week I had several medical appointments. Monday I saw the plastics team to check my wound, and it's still healing at the same rate (about a centimetre a month), and since there's nothing for them to do but wait, they made my next appointment in 3 months time. I still am to have RDNS change the dressing every other day (including weekends). Wednesday I had the endoscopy and colonoscopy. I don't remember much about it, except that the drugs they gave me lasted all day and I felt very mellow and lovely for the rest of the day. They found only one polyp and have sent that in for a pathology report. I won't know anything more until I see the Gastro specialist on Friday (3 August).
A week ago Friday I had the ultrasound to see if I had fluid in my bursa (hip). I did, so they did an ultrasound guided injection of a painkiller and cortisone (Celestone). I was a bit hyper for the rest of the day and the next, but fortunately it seems to have levelled off and I'm fine. It also seems to have worked as I've only had a couple incidences where my leg has just 'disappeared' out from under me.
I went to our local Breast Stroke meeting last Friday with Jen, and took along a pair of shorts and t-shirt. When it was time for the pool/spa, I sat on the edge of the spa and dangled my legs in the water. It was lovely. While I have this hole in my side, swimming is out of the question, but at least I can enjoy getting my feet and legs wet. Jen came for tea and that was nice - she always enthuses over Rod's chips and that of course makes him feel good. And they are nice chips too.
This week I saw the Diabetes Education Nurse and she said even though I've had a few highs here and there, the readings are excellent and much much better than what she anticipated they'd be with my having had a cortisone injection last week. She's pretty sure my next HBA1C readings should be around 6.3 or so, which is interesting because that's what my BGL section on my website says too, and I didn't get a chance to print out anything from my website. We discussed the possibility that it's been the green tea that I drink that have kept my levels from spiking up after the cortisone injection, and she thinks it's quite possible. Whatever it is she said, keep doing what you're doing because it's working.
On the way out of Noarlunga Hospital (where my appt with the diabetes nurse was), I noticed a used book sale being held - 10c to 20c a book, so I grabbed a few for Bookcrossing and added my coins to the box. Yesterday I had an appt with Centrelink and on the way home I had Rod stop at the hospital and I dropped off a bag of books for the sale that I've had in our boot for quite awhile. It felt good to 'give something back' since I haven't done a lot of Bookcrossing lately and that's another bag of books that are now out in the world and not in my way.
Wednesday this past week I went in to see my GP, prepared to have a blood test for my diabetes, cholesterol and anemia. I'd even fasted from Midnight the night before. He decided not to test me though, because I still have an infection and I'm not well enough to have the test as it'd give wonky results. A few weeks ago, I was given a 7 day prescription for antibiotics. This was followed with another 7 day supply of another type. When I returned after finishing though, he changed me to another type of antibiotic, this time for 2 weeks. These ended last week, and since then all the things that have been infected for the last two months or longer returned. This time it's a sinus, ear and chest infection. So now I have a 30 day supply of antibiotics. Hope it does the job!! My left ear is totally blocked (and very very painful) and the right one is partially blocked. So now I'm taking decongestants too. I'm really sick of this. The last time I had a whole winter of sinus infections was right before I was diagnosed with BC, but I'll bet that had to do with diabetes too.
After not having the blood test yesterday, as I'd been fasting from the night before, I was quite hungry so went to the shopping centre and bought a large mug of tea, and a spinach and cheese roll. I then wandered around the shopping centre while waiting for my prescriptions to be filled. I ended up buying myself a new wallet, and ... I didn't buy it, but I looked at baby clothes. I found the cutest little plain linen dress (?) that looked like the clothes I know I had when I was a baby as I inherited them for use on my dolls. I got just a little bit teary-eyed. Yes, that's right Granny Gaelyne is hoping for a girl, I guess. I think it's going to be very hard to be a long distance granny too. If my window shopping emotions are anything to go on.
Last, I have updated our Webcam page so it only updates the images on the page as well as the time and temperature every 15 seconds rather than refreshing the whole page. It works great, and it's something I sorted out how to do on my own. I found one example that worked with one image and did some changes and tweaks so I could use it for all 3 of our current cams. Rod also changed the Doorcam camera recently so that it uses the better colour night time camera. We still a USB cam I haven't tried since updating to Ubuntu, and also have an outside camera with a slight flaw (it seems to show a Martian landscape) that we haven't put into use yet.
Well I think I'm done catching up for the moment. I'm off to take a nap now... as I've been typing I've been getting more and more drowsy, in a good way. Cheers! ZZZzzzzzz
12 July 2007
12 July: Readings & Comments
This evening I tried a couple different experiments. First up, we had decided to have KFC tonight, and I was trying to find ways to accommodate it without it driving up my glucose levels. I wondered if it were possible to just get gravy instead of potatoes and gravy. I love KFC gravy, and mostly I use it to dip my chips (french fries) into it. So I went to their website and checked out their menu and found that yes, you can get just the gravy. Cool. So no more mashed potatoes AND chips from KFC. And I really enjoyed just the gravy too as it meant I could share with Rod and not feel greedy about it as the container was a little bigger than the small mashed potatoes and gravy.
5.5 / 99 Bedtime
6.0 / 108 Fasting
6.9 / 124 Post-Bfast 1x crumpet toast w/ liverwurst
5.5 / 99 Pre-Lunch
8.4 / 151 Post-Lunch Mac & Cheese
5.9 / 106 Post-Tea KFC. Plain gravy instead of potatoes & gravy.
Sprint-walked halls 5x
As I often slip up and enjoy watching telly after our evening meal, the last few days I've made my first cuppa green tea and have had it with my meal. I'm the type of person who doesn't really drink much during a meal, but after the meal, it's nice to have a sip of something. So having the green tea already there is a bonus.
My next experiment has to do with exercise. As my diabetes is 'Diet and Exercise' controlled, I probably should do something about the exercise side of things as I haven't been getting as much activity in, what with the hole still in my side and all. I can't use my stationary bike as the up and down movement of my legs aggravates the wound, but I can do some walking. The only problem is - it's winter and cold, wet and rainy, making going for a walk not that appealing. Recently I read an article about how studies have been done that prove that doing a few short bursts of 'fast, intense' exercise interspersed amongst regular paced exercise actually does more good than say riding the exercise bike for 30 minutes at a regular pace. Such as riding the bike at a normal pace for a minutes followed by a minute of really fast intense riding, and then back to normal pace, repeated for 20 minutes does more good (weight lost, etc) than 30 minutes of doing the same at a slower pace. The article I was reading suggested you could try this with walking as well, and that's where my idea of using my hallway for sprint walking came from. So every time I have to go to the loo, (which is near one end of the hallway), afterwards, I go to the laundry room and then sprint walk all the way down the hall to the window in our bedroom. We just measured the hall, and it's about 15 metres, so if I do the sprint walk twice, that's 30 metres, and so on. What with drinking my green tea all day, I tend to visit the loo at least once every hour or two, so even if I did the sprint walk thing twice each time, it could add up. One of the interesting things is I've found that doing this actually leaves me feeling refreshed and more energetic. I just tear down the hallway like I'm about to catch the bus and running late. It feels good, and just look at my reading tonight - even with having KFC, it was only 5.9! I can do this in any type of weather, and I don't need anything special for it and don't break a sweat or run out of breath. Cool. You can read a newspaper article about Interval training here.
Next week I go in for a check up with the clinic at Flinders for the hole in my side. That's Monday. And then on Wednesday I have the colonoscopy that was cancelled last month. Thursday I have an ultrasound on my hip, and if it has bursitis in it, I'll have a cortisone shot injected into it. I'm hoping that it's just arthritis and not bursitis as I really don't relish what cortisone can do to my mental health (I have several family members who are bi-polar and cortisone can make them manic), nor do I like the idea that it can make my glucose levels go haywire. I've barely got my levels under control at the moment so throwing a spanner in the works isn't my idea of fun. My doctor said that the good outweighs the bad as if my leg is giving out on me (which it was doing every day for a few weeks - but it hasn't since I saw the doctor about it), the pain and fear as it happens can also affect my glucose levels and falling over just really isn't a good thing either. Fair enough, but everything I've read on the subject suggests most doctors try other methods of dealing with the bursitis first before going to cortisone injections. So I'm a bit unsure on this. The potential diagnosis is Trochanteric Bursitis.
I've been working on updating the area of my website where I update my glucose levels, and it's coming along nicely. For a long time I wanted to have something similar to my Diabetes Record book where it just shows one day at a time in a neat orderly fashion. I have this working well now, with options to edit or delete records, and just added the ability to Email readings to my Sugarstats.com account. Tonight I added the 'blog format' so I can copy and paste the details into this blog easier. One of the things I still need to work are the links for the next and previous days so I can go from one day to the next without changing data in the drop down box. Once I have the Next/Previous links working right I'll copy the code to the public area of my website and remove the edit/delete/Email options from it. That way instead of showing a list of the last 30 entries, it will have the logbook format and only show one day at a time. Eventually I'll be adding in more graphs as well. In the process of working on this, I'm also teaching myself how to make use of session data which eventually will be used instead of using the methods I'm currently employing to keep bits of data going to the various functions of the program. OK, that was probably more 'geek' than you needed to know. Basically, every time I work on my personal website, I also try to learn new programming skills, and that's what I've been doing.
How am I doing/feeling? Some days I feel great. Other days not so hot. It's hard to put a finger on anything though. I'm still on antibiotics for a chest infection and having weird earraches that may be related to arthritis of my jaw. My glucose readings have been quite strange at times too. One day this week my after lunch reading was pretty normal, but then my reading before dinner was 13.9 - which made absolutely no sense to me. I hadn't snacked, and I'd been busy. So at this point, I'm just trying to get re-organised with being more strict with my diet and introducing some exercise so that maybe I can get my readings to stay back down in the 5-6 level (under 100 mg/dl) rather than spiking at various times of the day.
Well, my other half has retired for the evening so I think I will go join him.
Cheers!
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