Tricia — Page 63 — You are in My World Now

One health crisis after another

March 26, 2009 by Tricia

This has been a busy week for me. I’ve had two doctors appointments, one medical test and a ton of computer work to do! I’m glad the week is almost over.

I guess it doesn’t help that I’m not feeling well. (As usual). My Crohn’s is just in a constant flare and my back … well that’s another story … it had been feeling a lot better over the last few weeks, but I must have done something to it yesterday morning before walking to one of my doctors appointments and the next thing I know my lower back is spasming and aching. It’s still acting up, but not as bad as yesterday.

For some reason my pain doctor weighs me every time I see her (usually once a month). I hate it, but for the first time in a while I got some god news when she did her weigh in – I’d lost 8 pounds since my last visit! Yeah! Maybe I’ll be back in fighting form by early summer. Yeah! I even ran into a nurse that I worked with in the ER and she asked me if I’d found a diet pill that works. LOL Nope – just eating healthy (as per normal) and trying to be a little more active. It’s probably the slight increase in activity that helped.

Of course I could be losing weight due to the Crohn’s disease. I once lost something like 35 pounds in one month and it was at a time when I didn’t need to lose an ounce! I could have also lost a few pounds because of my thyroid … I only have half my thyroid due to a precancerous tumor that I had removed – oh … 20 years ago, but the other day I noticed that the right side of my neck, where the remaining half of my thyroid is seems to be slightly swollen so when I went to see the doctor yesterday I asked her to take a look at my neck. She thought it was a little puffy too and sent me for an ultrasound.

The talkative ultrasound tech let me know that my remaining thyroid tissue has several nodules in it and that’s a kick in the ass ’cause I take synthetic thyroid replacement medicine and that’s supposed to help keep a tumor or nodules from reoccurring. So .. I’ve got new nodules in there … so now i might be looking at more precancerous or cancer growths and I might end up having to have surgery to have the rest of my thyroid removed. Fantastic. NOT.

It just seems that it’s once thing after another with my health this year- the constant Crohn’s flares, a slipped disc in my back and now growths in my thyroid that might mean I’ll have to have surgery. What else might happen?

I have a feeling that we’re going to need a new car soon

March 25, 2009 by Tricia

the other day, as Chris pulled out of the driveway to go to a store for me I noticed that our car was making spluttering sounds as he drove away. I gave him a call on the cellphone and asked him if he heard the car making funny noises but he didn’t think that it did … still … our car is getting kind of old. It’s a 1996 Ford Contour. So it’s 13 or 14 years old.

I’m actually amazed at how good it looks. It has a few tiny rust spots but other than that you’d never know the car was as old as it is.

I have a feeling, given it’s age and the spluttering sounds I heard the other day (no matter that my husband didn’t) that we’ll be looking for another car in a year or so. Hopefully not sooner! I mean it’s bound to start having some kind of serious problem – right?

Hmm maybe I’ll check online to find out which cars have the best safety ratings, best mileage etc. That’s what I did last time when we were getting our current car. I also spent some time looking for insurance online where I could compare or get quotes for car insurance prices for the cars we were interested in.

I’d love to get a Hybrid, maybe a Smart car … but I think they are too pricey for us right now unless we get a “mildly” used one. As it stands, unless Chris or I start making a ton of money our next car will probably be a used one, no matter what kind we get.

Are you driving an older car? Have you been thinking about getting a new or used car soon to replace your current one?

Time to do some yard work

March 22, 2009 by Tricia

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If you live in a northern climate you’re probably fairly excited that Spring has finally arrived. I know I am! We’ve actually had fairly nice weather most of the month, but I just got my first confirmation that Spring is truly here… I discovered my first crocus’ blooming in my backyard just a little while ago.

Crocus’ are usually the first flower to bloom in my garden each year so it’s a sign that my personal gardening season has begun.

Now I can’t wait to get out in the yard and start clearing the dead leaves and dead foliage out of the garden beds! I need to rake the lawn as well. I guess we didn’t rake it much in the fall and it has a matt of dead grass that I’m sure once we rake it off we’ll see some signs of life in the lawn below.

I’ll probably have to wait a few weeks for the Hyacinths to start to make an appearance, but I can’t wait to see them and smell their heavily scented blooms. Don’t you just love the heady scent of Hyacinth?

Do you garden? If you do, what’s waking up in your garden beds right now?

Why does my dog keep chewing on her dog bed?

March 19, 2009 by Tricia

There’s only one problem with having a dog that loves to chew … when she’s bored she starts to chew on her pet beds! What a pain … I’m trying to give my dog a comfortable place to rest and she repays me by chewing holes in her dog bed!

It’s not as bad now as it was when she was a little puppy. She chewed on everything she could back then. I swear it was worse than watching a toddler. Luckily she only chewed a few things (other than her bed) that she shouldn’t have – including the bottom of our upstairs staircase, the coffee table leg and the hood of my coat!

she has one smallish pet bed in her crate – she’s a Lab and she just fits in it if she curls up. Recently she’s started to chew on the pillow again. We also have a HUGE pet bed that sits on the living room floor and it’s made with a very thick canvas material. She’s chewed the center pillow in that a few times – I have a feeling that some of the chewing on that one was accidental when she was chewing one of her bones or her rawhide … but still, the holes look horrible!

I’ve hand sewn and patched her small pet bed a few times and that’s helped but it doesn’t
t make the pet bed look much better.

Midnight is about 19 months old now. She’s calmed down a lot in the last few months, but other Lab owners keep telling us that they don’t really start to calm down until they are about three. Some have also said the destructive chewing slows down around that time too, although others have older dogs that still chew a lot.

I guess we just have to keep her as active as possible so that she’s not bored and too tired to chew her bed.

Do any other dog owners have this problem?

BTW if anyone knows what to do about a possible mouse or other wild animal that seems to be in one of our walls please comment on the post I made on Tricia’s Musings. I’m getting freaked out by the weird sounds in the wall!

When kittens attack …

March 18, 2009 by Tricia

Wordless Wednesday

These kittens must be really really really hungry!

Look .. there’s five of them crawling up that woman’s leg, she must be preparing to feed them. Yep … kittens will attack when hungry, be careful! At least the adult cat, probably the mom, is waiting patiently.