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Thinking about going back to work

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I’ve been feeling a lot better over the last couple of weeks.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog or perhaps my main blog you’ll probably remember that I’ve been off work on (unpaid) medical leave for almost five years due to a severe Crohn’s flare up.

During my time off my back also started to act up – probably as a result of not being as physically active as I used to be, and last year my migraines suddenly came back – really bad, with extended visual auras, 24/7 dizziness, brain fog and massive pain.

The good news is that for most of this year my Crohn’s seems to have been settling down. My back has been a lot better as well.

Then in Mid August I saw a neurologist (after having an MRI) and he suggested that I take an anti-convulsive for my migraines – yes it sounded odd to me, but the drug is supposed to help those with migraines and tada … within a day of starting the new medication (Topamax) the constant migraine that I’d had for at least three straight months started to ease off.

The new medication has lots of side effects – I feel kind of dopey, my hands and feet tingle, and everything just tilts every once is a while … but the migraines have disappeared. I’m a little headachey here and there but I think this is going to work.

If the side effects would die down and if the migraines stay away, as well as the Crohns I might either be able to return to my old nursing job in the ER or if that doesn’t suit me anymore maybe try looking for a more suitable health care career that works with health issues.

Last year I didn’t really think I’d ever return to work. Now I have new hope that I might just be back to work by the end of the year or perhaps by the start of the new year. I’d be happy if that happened!





Saving money on our home and car insurance

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I guess I didn’t mention it on this blog, but near the beginning of August our car just up and died! My mother in law was driving it when a plug or something fell out of the transmission and all the transmission fluids came out in one big gush.

After having the car towed to the garage and trying to have it fixed we learned that the transmission casing was pitted and that we’d need a new transmission. Since our car was 14 years old we couldn’t see putting close to $3000 into the car so … we bit the bullet and decided to buy another car.

I guess we could have leased a new car or looked around for a really good financing deal on a new car, but we decided to get a used car.

The new used car is a 2006 Pontiac Pursuit – very similar to the Pontiac G5’s.

I guess we’ve had our new vehicle for about two weeks and so far so good. We love driving it and it seems to have great gas mileage.

Oh and when we called our insurance company to get our car insurance changed from the old car to the new car our rates actually went down a little bit. Not much … but a few dollars a month. I think when our new contract starts in January it will be about $10 a month lower.

Oh and when we were talking to our insurance agent he had some ideas for lowering our home insurance costs too (we have home and car insurance with the same company because combining the two offers a further discount at some insurance companies) so now we’re paying approximately $10 less a month on our home insurance as well.

So when everything kicks in next year we’ll be saving more than $20 a month on our car and home insurance thanks to

1. getting a newer car
2. having a clean driving record
3. never having made any claims on our car or house and
4. making a couple of simple changes like upping the deductible on our home insurance from $500 to $1000

My husband and I are smokers (yes shame on us), however, we’re planning on quitting in September. We mentioned this to our insurance agent and he said to let them know when we quit as they offer a smoke free discount. We can get an additional 3% off our home insurance.

It might be worth calling your home and or car insurance company to see if they have any ideas as to how you might save a few more dollars each month on your coverage. I know we’re happy with our additional savings because our bills just went way up what with the new (used) car payments we’re going to be making each month, so any way we can save money or cut costs – all the better!

More tests at the hospital today – oh joy!

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I had to go to the hospital today to have some tests done. Actually it was a test recall … yes, people get recalled too. LOL

About a month ago I had some tests done at the hospital – pelvic ultrasound, thyroid ultrasound and a mammogram and about a week after that I had an MRI of my head. All the tests other than the MRI had been ordered by my former family doctors office (my family doc was on medical leave by she’s not returning to the practice) as a result of a physical that I had done in May or early June.

I don’t think any of my tests were normal. The pelvic ultrasound showed some shadow or something but they weren’t concerned enough to call be back in to have it done again … maybe it was an ovarian cyst (yes I’m going to look into exactly what the report said). I knew the Thyroid ultrasound wouldn’t be normal because I know I have some tumors on my right thyroid. The growths are the same size as they were on the last ultrasounds so other than needing to have they biopsied again soon that’s fine for now.

The mammogram was the test that ended up having me called back in for more tests. I guess something showed up in my left breast. So I had to go in for a special cone mammogram and an ultrasound. The cone mammogram hurts a lot! They only squeeze part of your breast between the plates and if you can believe this that hurts even more (100x more) than having your whole breast squeezed between plates. I know they found something because the person doing the ultrasound went to show the doctor – and that almost never happens when you have a scheduled test in the xray department of the hospital. So well see what the report says this time.

I was smart this time when I registered for my test. I asked them to cc the report to my pain doctor. I know she’ll copy the reports for me so I can see exactly what’s up. Plus I’m thinking of asking her to take over as my family doctor since my previous one is not returning to her practice. The only thing I really don’t like about my pain doctor is that she makes me jump on the scales EVERY time I go in for a visit. I see her every month and my weight isn’t fluctuating so why all the weigh ins? Grrrr.

Oh and that MRI I had … that’s not normal either. I guess there are some non-specific changes – what that means I’m not sure – probably some white spots in my brain matter. So I’m seeing the neurologist next week to find out what the MRI report means … plus to also see what we can do about the migraines and constant dizziness that I’ve been having the last few months.

I have a feeling I’m going to have a few more doctor and hospital visits over the next month or so thanks to all these strange test results. Sigh.

A barbecue at our friends house in the Beaches

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This past weekend my husband and I went over to our friends house for a barbecue.

Our friends live in the beaches area of Toronto. Yes I’m jealous! There house is on the small side, it might even be smaller than ours, but it’s in a great location. Oh and they have a really nice size backyard.

We brought our dog over with us and let her loose in their nicely enclosed backyard. Our Lab loved it … wandering around in the darkened yard, chewing on twigs and playing for hours. Heaven for her since she can’t play in our yard as much as she’d like because 1. it’s small, and 2. we have a huge garden that she’s not allowed to play in because she’d destroy the plants.

The barbecue was really nice. My husband brought his guitar and after we ate we all sat around on our friends double deck, lounging on their wooden swing sets singing along with the songs he played. It was nice.

Chris brother and nephew were there too – they were visiting from Chicago. That was his last day in Toronto – the next day he drove back home to Chicago.

What did you do last weekend? Are you on vacation?

It’s too hot to exercise outdoors

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I’ve got to get back into shape – and soon!

It’s been so hot here in Toronto this summer and I haven’t been able to get outside as much as I’d like to. Normally, when the weather is nice I get out for walks or bike rides or put in hours and hours in my garden, but I’m avoiding the outdoors this summer. Today it was over 40 c with the humidity!

Hmmm maybe I should get one of those running treadmills or something so I can really workout indoors.

Anyone have a treadmill at home? Do you use it regularly or is it gathering dust in some corner of your house?

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