Seeking Camelot: Doctor Visits & Other Unpleasantries

Happy Birthday Wishes...and What's New

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:54:40 GMT

Happy Birthday, GP!

I'm sorry that you're so sad today missing your mom, but isn't it fitting that you remember her and focus your sweet memories on the anniversary of your birth? My heart and prayers are with you today!

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Honestly, I wish I could say that a birthday wish for GP was all I had to post today, but alas, that isn't the case. I've been absent the last few days because I've been sick. Yes, sick yet again! Argh.

On Wed. morning at about 3 am, I woke up with both of my ears aching! I've had ear aches before, but never in both ears at once. Let me tell you, it's NOT fun at all! Well, I got up and took some ibuprofen thinking that if I could handle it until the dr.'s office opened, then I'd just call and get in later in the morning.

That wasn't going to be how it played out. By 4:30, I couldn't stand it anymore and was practically in tears. So, I woke M and told him that he was going to need to take me to the ER. I HAD to do SOMEthing.

We got there and, of course, they made me wait for what seemed like ages (but, in fact, was only about 10 mins...thank God for slow nights!). The dr. came in and asked me what was going on, then proceeded to ask me a ton of questions along these lines:

Do you smoke?

Do you have a history of ear problems?

Have you been sick the last couple of days?

All of which I answered no to. He looked kind of stumped. When he finally looked in my ears, (and I'm not making this up) he said,

"Wow. They are really pissed off!"

I would've laughed if I'd not been in PAIN.

It turned out that I had an ear infection in BOTH ears!!! No wonder they HURT!!!

He prescribed some antibiotics, some pain relieving ear drops, and some Vicodin. Ok. We stopped at the pharmacy next door and picked up the prescriptions, then went home. M put the drops in my ears, then got ready for work and left.

At about 8:30, the pressure in my ears was BAD...esp. my left ear. It got to the point that it felt like someone was jamming an ice pick in my ear. All I could do was lay there all curled up (with my fists and toes clenched) whimpering, "Ow ow ow ow ow ow..." There was a really sharp pain, then, all of a sudden, it just drained away and the pressure let up.

But then my ear started bleeding. I got up and got something to put on my pillow to protect it, then crawled back in bed for a few minutes. At 9:30, I got up and called my dr. I talked to the nurse and told her what had happened and she said that, yes, my ear drum probably ruptured, but if I was on antibiotics, there probably wasn't any real reason for me to come in and see the dr. that day...unless the pain got worse instead of better.

So, I wait. My left ear feels like it's full of cotton and is ringing...so I can't hear out of it very well at all. And my right ear is muffled too because of the infection, so I feel like I'm living in a vacuum tunnel or something. It sucks.

So, I've been muddling through the last few days. Yesterday afternoon, I finally got to the point where I felt decent...except for the cotton-in-the-ear feeling. A and I went to the library and I picked up a couple of Masterpiece Theater movies. The only problem was I had to have the volume so loud on the tv so that I could hear them that I was sure M and the kids would yell at me to turn them down! lol

Ah well...

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! And 'cheers' to a couple of new blog friends that I've had the pleasure of getting to know this week.

Guinevere

Purple Ankle Biters

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:21:04 GMT

Well, my ankle is only slightly swollen now and PURPLE. There is a mild bruise from about an inch above my ankle bone to the bottom of my foot....along which is an inch wide strip running most of the length of my foot that is dark purple...like eggplant purple. I noticed tonight that I also have a relatively dark purple bruise across the top of my foot along my toes.

Ugly.

But, the ankle is feeling much better...itching like mad...and I've been able to get around pretty well today. We'll see what tomorrow's like. (I went back to work today.)

As it turned out, yesterday was a GREAT day to take off work. The wind blew fiercely all night Monday. It even woke me up a few times! Then, sometime early morning, it started snowing. First it was light, but eventually, it turned into big flakes and the wind blew it horizontally! It was like a blizzard out there for awhile.

Yesterday was trash day too...in the morning...and our across-the-street neighbor's garbage cans were getting blown down the middle of the street. One of them eventually ended up in our driveway...I think someone must've thought it was ours and "returned" it. M put it in their driveway when he got home. I'm not sure what happened to the other two...I never saw them again.

But it got COLD yesterday!!! We've had the strangest weather...on Monday, it hit 52º by early afternoon....then slowly started dropping off. By bedtime, it was only 8º!!! And the windchill pushed it down to -40º. Ugh! It was BRRRRRRRRRRR cold!

Maybe once it decides if it's going to get decent or get cold, then we can get past all these flus and colds that are going around??? All this up and down weather doesn't help matters any!

Guinevere

Klutz...Part 2

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:23:41 GMT

Forgot to share the rest of the story.

As I was laying on the driveway getting soaked and suffering from a twisted ankle, I realized I had NO IDEA how I was supposed to get back into the house or how to get anyone's attention to HELP me get back into the house.

As you come out of our house, you step down one step to the porch. Then there are 4 steps to a landing. Then, you turn and there are 5...or is it 6???...steps to the driveway. The last set of steps to the driveway have a railing. The first set don't...don't ask me why, I don't know.

So I was able to make it to the landing, then I just kind of stood there suffering, hanging on the railing, trying to figure out how to get up to the front door.

Oh, and did I mention that I was feeling the color drain out of my face, breaking out in a cold sweat while hyperventilating during this time???

I swear I was going to pass out from the pain in my ankle.

Finally, I CRAWLED up the front steps and pulled myself up to the glass next to the front door...and hit the doorbell.

M came up from downstairs to the entryway and saw me...propping myself up at the front door.

He called for N and they both managed to get me up the steps to the living room where I just PLOPPED down on the couch. M started pulling my sock off and grabbing some ice while I told the story about what happened....and trying to stay conscious...or not vomit. (I don't handle pain well....)

Anyway, that's where I stayed for the rest of the evening...until I decided that I could probably handle sleeping in our bed for the night. .........As that happened, I should've just stayed on the couch.

Anyway, now you know the rest of the story....

Guinevere

Yes, My Middle Name is Klutz

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:31:19 GMT

Well, I've finally done it.

And done it good.

At our new house, I seem to have this problem with seeing the bottom step in front of our house that connects to the driveway.

(You see where this is going already, don't you?)

I cannot tell you how many times I've missed it and hit the driveway running or caught it just in the nick of time...

until last night.

I needed to return a couple of movies to Blockbuster that we rented over the weekend. (Dragon Wars and Rescue Dawn) I grabbed the movies, my handbag, and my keys and headed out the door.

And I missed the last step.

Here is a recount of the thoughts that raced through my head as I was moving forward into the stepless beyond:

"Oh, crap! I missed the step again!"

"What a klutz!"

"OUCH!"

"Ok. I'm not going to fall down in the driveway."

"Oh, bugger! I'm falling down in the driveway!"

"I hope the neighbors aren't watching."

"How embarrassing!"

"OUCH!"

"When did it stinkin' rain???"

"Ah, man...."

"OUCH! My ankle HURTS!!!"

Yes, I sprained my ankle badly!!! The ankle bone on the outside of my right leg is swollen to the size of a tomato. I'm pretty sure I didn't break it, but we'll see how it feels by late this afternoon. I might end up having it x-rayed...we'll just see how the day goes. In any case, I'm home from work today. I couldn't get around AT ALL this morning. I was crawling around the house...yes, looking like a dweeb. And, of course, M was laughing at me. He found the crutches from his knee surgery so I would have those to use, but even on the lowest "setting", they're still too tall for me. I may be 5'9", but he's 6'1", so I guess he got the tall set! lol

I told him that if I find out the neighbors videotaped me, sent it in to AFHV, and win $10,000, I'm going to be really mad!

lol

Ouch.

Guinevere

The Time Has Come...

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:54:33 GMT

It's time to let go and move on.

Yes.

It's going to be hard...letting the past be past, but I have to do it.

I have to find a new chiropractor in our new location.

Today, I actually drove an hour to have my chiropractor in our old town adjust my back! It probably wasn't very good for my back to sit in the van on the trip back home, but...hey! It's just that he's such a great guy!

Actually, when I got there and was put in one of the back rooms, he asked me how I was doing when he came in the room and I said, "Fine."

He said, with a huge smile, "Now, I know that's not the truth. You wouldn't be here if you were fine! I don't think you came in here just to visit me."

lol

Did I mention that he's a great guy? I like him alot.

Anyway, I told him that my back has been tight (esp. lower back and between my shoulder blades) since we moved.

He asked if we moved to somewhere else in Shenandoah (now I can tell you that since I don't live there anymore! lol) or if we moved out of town. When I told him we moved out of town, he said, "So you drove all the way down here just to have your back worked on?"

I said, "Yes."

He stretched his arms out wide and said with a big smile,

"You DO love me!"

lol

He's a crack up! He also said he was flattered that I made the trip down just for that. I asked him if he knew any of the chiropractors up here, but he didn't. He did tell me what questions to ask when I start making phone calls to find one. That will be a HUGE help!

Anyway, after he got done working on my back, he told me goodbye and wished me luck finding a new chiropractor. He even told me that if I don't find one soon and I need to come in, to let them know because he would be willing to stay a little late if I wanted to drive down again after work some night.

What a nice guy!

And he has really nice blue eyes!

hehe

Guinevere

I Feel Faint...

Tue, 23 May 2006 14:47:47 GMT

Last night was a first for me, and I’ll fill you in on that, but let me give you some brief history first…just so you know where I’m coming from.

I have triple major scoliosis, which means that I have 3 curves in my back that are all considered major curves. In addition to this situation, my spine is also twisted. As you can imagine, this makes for some serious back problems. Sooooooo…I visit a chiropractor about once every other month. If I don’t, I eventually get to where I can’t turn my head without pain and I’ll wake up with headaches every morning. At some point, I was also lucky enough to have twisted my lower back out of whack, so now I have to have it adjusted every so often too or I end up walking pretty stiff. I guess it would help if I didn’t have a job that involved sitting at a desk for most of the day. Oh well…

Anyway, the first for me occurred at the chiropractor’s office. He has got to be the best chiropractor in the entire world! He spends a large part of the visit just loosening up what’s tight before making any adjustments, so you don’t walk out of the office feeling like you’ve been beat up. I walk out feeling like someone’s turned my legs to jello….usually. Last night was different.

Everything was going normally until he had me get on the “table”. As soon as I was horizontal, my lower back was screaming. It has never hurt that bad. But it was so tight that I couldn’t think straight. Well, Dr. Jeff was checking things out and was like, “What have you been doing? Your lower back is really tight.” Well, all he was doing was trying to loosen things up and I just had this huge wave of nausea pass over me. I kept trying to breathe deep and relax, but it just wasn’t working. I asked him to raise me back up so I could get some air.

He raised up the table and aimed a fan at me. I could tell that I was as white as a ghost and sweating. Weird. I finally got over it and he was able to finish adjusting my back. (He uses a really non-abusive technique. Thank God.) I still felt kind of icky when he got done, but was fine by the time I got home. He walked me out of the office to make sure I was ok. He said I still looked really pale when he got done.

But, despite that very unpleasant experience, my back feels great today and I didn’t wake up with a headache. WooHoo!

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I just have to add something humorous to my blog entry today. I would hate to leave it on such a serious note…because you know, we can’t have that. This morning, on the way to work, M brought along some bacon he had fried up for breakfast…who am I kidding? He brought along a whole package he had fried up for breakfast. I’m telling you, the man loves meat! Anyway, he offered me a slice as we left town. Then about 10 miles later, he offered another slice. I was wondering if that was all I was going to get…because like I said, the man loves meat. About 30 miles later, he offers one more slice. I take that one too. And then I’m done. My limit when it comes to bacon is 3 slices max. It’s just way too greasy for me to eat very much. Anyway, as I’m finishing the last slice, he says, “I have to be honest. I didn’t want to give you that piece of bacon.” I looked at him and said, “Really?” He says, in kind of a whine, “Yeah, because it was mine.” So I ask him if his love language is “meat”. He says, “Yeah. I think so.” lol And then he laughs and says, “I just told you I love you three times!” Ahhh… I told him that if I want to do something really special for him to let him know that I love him, I’ll just fix him a big, fat slab of prime rib. He smiled at me and said, “Yeah…”

Guinevere