Happy mulligan to me...

mul-li-gan (noun): a free shot sometimes given a golfer when the previous shot was poorly played

Technically today may be my 46th birthday, but you'll understand if this year I have decided to take the proverbial mulligan and put off the celebration until my Cushing's condition has, at least, been mitigated.  I love my  yearly "Carol Palooza" as much if not more so than the next Princess.  I mean, what could be more suited to Royalty than a designated day that revolves solely around her birth?  But this year I'm tired, I don't fit into any clothes, my hair is a little patchy, I'm avoiding sugar, carbs and fat, and I'm still walking with the Fabulous Pink Cane.  I just don't feel like breaking out the Palooza today.  But I will soon...and then, be afraid - be very afraid!

On this, the dawn of my 47th year, I find I have no philosophic adages to impart, no sage advice to give.  I've got nothing else but what we all already know in the backs of our minds:

• Live life to your fullest capacity every day
• A pity party is OK every now and again as long as you get back up in the saddle of the horse that threw you
• Ice cream is good
• Never give up
• Accommodate your weaknesses
• When in doubt, put on a tiara
• Appreciate everything in your life as the gift it is
• Take time to really see what is around you
• Life is a freakin' strange ride

So, in honor of my mulligan, eat, drink and be merry.  Have some Halloween candy, sing "happy mulligan to you", smile, and don't forget to stop and appreciate.

GO GIANTS!

Normal? Seriously?

If it's one thing I don't feel these days it's normal.  Normal in a human sense, normal in a feel healthy sense and definitely normal in a Princess Carol sense.  There is no normal in Carol-ville.  But yesterday came close.

I woke up to yet another day of no pain from the nerve in my left hip/leg (that made it 3 in a row for those of you keeping track), and a pretty good energy level.  So I did my usual morning chores and tasks - laundry, clean up the kitchen, balance the checkbook, filing and shredding in the office, etc. - and decided to blow the doors off in the afternoon by undertaking a bigger project.  I have learned to lay out my days like this through experience.  The things I feel I have to get done must be tackled in the morning because my after lunch energy levels are unpredictable at best.  You can have the most detailed to do list in the world but if you can't lift your head off the sofa it doesn't really do any good!  Afternoons are wild cards but yesterday I figured I had a good shot and having the energy to do something a bit bigger than usual.

I cleared out and organized part of the basement!!  What?  You thought I was going to say "I built a new addition on the house" or something?  Not yesterday, maybe tomorrow.  Anyhow, there were several boxes and bins of things that haven't been touched since we moved in 5 years ago and that means, in the Princess world, that we probably don't need what's in them.  I was on a mission.  I won't bore you with the spidery, dirty (and not in a good way) details, but at a slow pace a garbage bag was filled, a donate-to-charity pile was created, bins were emptied, empty boxes were put in the recycling and space was made!  I didn't have to do any heavy lifting (still restricted due to that nutty back surgery of 3 weeks ago), and not too much walking either.  But I did get to organize and clean out which a) I LOVE and 2) makes me feel normal.

The even better part of this story is that I still felt good after the basement project.  Again, good is relative.  But no pain in my hip/leg, and no complete and utter limp-as-a-rag-doll exhaustion!  Winner!  However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I was in bed by 7:00. Oh come on!  Like I never did that before the Cushings!!!

So yesterday was a great day.  And today feels good so far.  Whether I'll feel normal remains to be seen, but a little taste of normal from yesterday can carry me for a while.  And I just have to make it to Thursday when I get on a plane for Maryland...unless something changes...again...  

Fall into fall

I love the fall.  It's my favorite season of them all.  The weather is perfect.  Not too hot, not too cold.  Not to humid, not too dry.  Not too much rain, no snow and ice.  Lots of sun, but no burns.  Awesome.  Some may deride the falling leaves as a personal affront perpetrated by the trees to fill weekends with raking rather than playing golf or watching football on the TV machine.  I do not share this view.  Raking is productive exercise!  If you rake, you don't have to go to the gym.  And your yard looks fabulous too!  What could be better than that? 

And the fashion choices.  Out come the turtlenecks and light jackets.  You don't have to bundle up like Nanook of the North just so that body parts don't freeze and fall off on the walk from the parking lot into the grocery store.  Pull on a sweater and a pair of jeans and you're good to go.  Love that! 

Even the food changes in the fall, and we know I'm all about the food.  I've got my Crock Pot loaded up with Red Beans and Rice as we speak!  Comfort food reigns during the fall months and Lordy Lordy I can use all the comfort I can get these days.  We don't feel the need to order a salad when we're out, Pinot is subbed for Chardonnay, and roasted root vegetables accompany lovely cuts of red meat and the boneless skinless chicken breast go the way of the salad made with spring greens for the time. 

I am very much going to enjoy today as the wind blows the leaves from our neighbor's trees into our yard.  While my red beans and rice bubbles away and fills the house with fabulous cajun comfort food smells, I'll get my chores done and maybe a few errands too.  I hope you enjoy the day as well!

GO GIANTS!

Hitch 'em up, move 'em out...

I realized this morning that it has been a few posts since I have mentioned my back.  Sometimes it amazes me that having an operation on my back, for a condition I didn't know I had that was creating a major physical problem requiring me to walk with a cane, scheduled within 2 days of flying back from the NIH, with a Neurosurgeon I hadn't met until less than 24 hours prior to surgery, isn't the biggest medical thing I'm dealing with this month!  Is this Universe crazy or what?

So here's the update.  I can feel the hitch in my giddy up becoming a thing of the past.  That feeling is based in part on the physical progress I'm making, and part on the mental aspects of just having my herniated disc fixed and the effected nerve starting to regenerate and learn how to function normally again. 

The physical progress I'm making with my hitch requires concentration on every step I take.  I  use the Fabulous Pink Cane instead of favoring my left leg even if I'm not having an "angry nerve day".  Those days come every few, especially if I've been doing alot of walking (relatively speaking).  It doesn't help that due to Cushing's induced muscle atrophy, my legs are so weak, they are slow to pick up the slack and re-learn how to hold me up correctly.  But as soon as the Cushing's is nipped I can return to the gym and rectify that problem.  Hopefully by then I will have taught my left leg how to walk correctly without thinking about it and my motion will just keep getting better and better. 

Mentally, finally getting something fixed and feeling better for it has been a HUGE positive for me.  I had gone for so long just feeling lousy.  Yes, we were ruling things out, and that is progress with the Cushing's.  And yet I was getting no closer to feeling any better - in fact, I was feeling worse as the days passed.  My left hip and leg were giving me alot of pain that I thought was part and parcel with all the other Cushing caused medical wheels that were falling off my cart.  It weighs  on you.  Pain makes you a little crazy.  And not being able to solve it makes you a little insane.  Now we solved something.  And despite the days that my left leg nerve revolts, I feel better.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I just have to get through it.  No matter how long that tunnel is, it's likely I will not emerge on the other side with a hitch in my giddy up!

GO GIANTS!  

I scream, you scream, we all scream...

...for Ice Cream!

Do you know how long it's been since I have had ice cream?  Longer than it's been since I've had a good (or bad for that matter) glass of chardonnay.  And that officially is way too long!  Why is it I don't just go to my local HyVee, plunk down my dinero, purchase a box of wine and gallon of frozen fabulousness and sit with my stemware and spoon until both are drained down to the cardboard?  Aside from the intestinal implications, there is a huge reason - control.

If we go back a few weeks, you'll remember that in one of my posts I mentioned that technically, according to one of the tests I had at the NIH, I am now a diabetic.  Cushing's effects the body's ability to breakdown sugars and the possibility of developing permanent diabetes is very real.  The trick is not to tax the body too much until the Cushing's is under control so that everything goes back to normal.  Luckily I read this very early on in this saga, and have been watching my diet.   The American Diabetes Association website is great for giving tips about things to eat/not eat, what things break down into sugar in your system faster than others (this is great for choosing which fruits and veggies to eat), and even recipes.  And since I actually like brussels sprouts, broccoli, bulgur wheat, brown rice, and other healthy stuff, and I have a  pretty good rudimentary knowledge of nutrition, it hasn't been too hard to stick to a diabetic diet better than, I suspect, most diabetics. 

But back to my point about control.  There isn't much about my Cushing's situation I can control these days.  My body is doing what it wants regardless of how much I will it to do otherwise and this is not a good situation for a classic obsessive/compulsive like myself!  I can control what I put in my mouth though, so I have latched onto that like a shark on a surfer.  So when you read that I am once again dreaming about a plate of nachos bigger than my head, know it is borne out of deprivation, but deprivation necessary on several levels - my body and my OCD brain's need to control. 

How does this relate to ice cream?  I let myself have some yesterday and it was GOOD!  A dear girlfriend who was exposed to my Wednesday meltdown surrounding the rescheduling of the surgery brought me my favorite ice cream and a very special (and very worthy of the Princess I am!) bowl out of which to eat it.  And I did.  And did I mention that it was good??  So the moral of this story (and perhaps yet another life lesson??) is even a control freak needs to relax and let a little joy in a fabulous Princess bowl into their lives every now and again!  So, my dear Readers, go forth and indulge in a little bit of your favorite thing this weekend in honor of the Princess.  And if you can do it while wearing a tiara, all the better!!

The Royal Bowl

Two weeks notice

Flexibility is a virtue, or so I hear.  The Universe is trying to teach me about virtues like this (read "the ones I don't have") and I gotta tell you, I'm on life-lesson overload!

Yesterday afternoon I received a call while I was throwing dog hair covered clothes into my bag for the today's trip back to Bethesda.  The call was from the Nurse of the pituitary surgeons who were scheduled to perform my exploratory surgery on Monday.  Hetty was telling me we have to reschedule the surgery for Monday 11/8/2010.  At least that's what I thought she said because all of a sudden things started getting a little fuzzy and if I wasn't already sitting on the floor of my office I would have ended up there.  I was already checked in for my flight (bless Southwest Airlines), Jason our trusty house/pup sitter needed to be cancelled/rescheduled, Keith needed to reschedule airline tix and a week off work, and most importantly, I was counting on finally getting an answer, whatever that answer is, and now I have to wait another 2 weeks.  Can't focus...room spinning...A voice in the distance saying "Carol, are you still there?"...

OK, back to reality.  The big hoo-ha NIH/UVA pituitary surgeon Dr. Oldfield has a conflict and needs to reschedule.  I know these things happen, and they happen to me enough that it shouldn't be surprising anymore.  So I am officially rescheduled to have surgery on November 8th.  I'll return to the NIH Clinical Center on November 4th.  At least that's the plan right now.  Lest you think there is no glass-half-full aspect to this, the new flights I booked are direct, at better times, and $2.50 cheaper than the ones I was going to take.  Winner!!

Yes, I'm disappointed that we are not getting this show on the road today.  Yes, the prospect of living on a diabetic diet for yet another 2 weeks makes me want to throw myself in front of an oncoming pastry cart.  Yes, I am desperate to get back to the life I had 1 1/2 years ago before Cushings symptoms started showing up and before I had and recovered from hip replacement surgery.  But it's two weeks not an eternity, and disappointment won't kill me.  So here I am in holding mode, but still a lucky Princess.  A Princess who is learning the virtue of flexibility...

GO GIANTS!! 

 

Winner!!!

I just got a Fed-X from the Neurosurgery team at the NIH with another "Consent to Participate in a Clinical Research Study".  I am racking these thing up like chips in a huge poker pot!  Basically I'm on board with giving anyone at the NIH permission to learn anything from anything they do to/for/with me during my Cushing's journey.  I am such an anomaly at this point that if no one learns anything it will be a monumental bummer!  Like I've been saying, it's a good thing that my ever burgeoning gaggle of medical professionals like a good challenge otherwise I'd be up a stinky creek!

I'm leaving for Bethesda on Thursday.  I'll have a bunch of pre-op tests done on Friday and pituitary surgery is scheduled at 8am on Monday morning.  Saturday I'm going to try to get out on the Metro and pick something in Washington DC to visit, but truth be told, my energy level has been in the crapper these days and I don't know if I'm going to make it.  But the Fabulous Pink Cane and I will do our best and you, my loyal readers, will be the first to know my sightseeing destination...or lack thereof. 

I have to keep this post short because the Giants just came on the TV and I must watch my hometown boys as they face the Phillies.  GO GIANTS!!

No photos, please!

A few have asked if the couple of pics I have of me on the blog are current.  Indeed they are not.  Not at all.  There hasn't been a picture of me taken since last December when, in the preliminary throes of Cushing's symptom development (although I didn't know it at the time), I succumbed under protest to the annual picture being taken for the Holiday card.  Actually, in the name of full disclosure, the photographer at the NIH in Bethesda did a whole photo shoot with me to document my condition and accompany my medical records in the Cushing's research study of which I'm a part.  But needless to say, those pictures will NOT be used in this year's Holiday missive.  Although I suppose it's as close as I'll get in my life to a Playboy pictorial...oh, sorry...those of you who drink may commence now to get that vision out of your mind...

In my mind, I currently look like a cross between Jabba-the-Hut and Shrek.  Not green, not drooly, but definitely in the body shape and form department.  My adorable husband disagrees with this analogy, and yet it's my blog and I'll say what I want to!  Anyhoo, one of the things Cushing's brings with it is fat build up in the torso, upper body and face, and distention of the stomach that makes me look like I swallowed the basketball instead of taking an 8-foot jumper with it.  As if that wasn't enough to send me running from any camera lens (plus mirrors, windows, and shiny reflective objects...) my hair has fallen out several times.  And not in a good way.  It comes out in patches all over my head.  And just when it starts growing back, another wave of random balding rolls in.  Send hair growth vibes because at this moment we are on a growth upswing and nothing much to speak of is falling out!  Yee-ha!

I do not consider myself a vain person.  I certainly have never gotten by on my looks.  But when you look in the mirror and you see someone staring back at you that you don't recognize, it hits you hard.  I am surprised at how it has effected me.  The biggest thing I am looking forward to when we get my Cushing's under control is my face and body going back to my own face and body!  Who knew when we started this whole thing that would even rate on the priority list at all?  I certainly didn't.  Then you all will be bombarded with pictures.  I don't know when that will be, but it will be.  So if this year's holiday card includes a picture of a random stranger, or of the pups and Keith without me, chalk it up to my vanity...that and no one needs a holiday card from Jabba or Shrek this year!

GO GIANTS!

A stitch in time saves nine.

What the heck does that even mean?  I suppose, now that I think about it, the implication is if you nip something in the bud, it saves a whole bunch of necessary and probably more painful nips later.  I think I need to work on getting to the stitch in time...nipping in the bud as it were.  I believe my current medical situation (pick a malady, any malady) illustrates beyond the shadow of any doubt, that nipping and stitching are not my forte.  Yet another life lesson to absorb from all this...

I got the stitches in my back out yesterday.  Did I mention how much I LOVE the neurosurgeon who performed this miraculous little bit of scalping/lasering/whatever-he-did?  I only had about 5 stitches in the small of my back, right in the center.  A far cry from last summer's 30 staples in my heine I must say.  The incision healed very quickly and I haven't had much of a reminder that I even had stitches back there except for the need to change the dressing on it so that my clothes didn't irritate the area.  Dr. Lovick did remind me that I could still pull the incision apart if I lifted too much, or was careless in my activity, but other than that, he sent me off sans stitches and with a clean bill of back health.

Since this little piece of life changing surgery, my left leg and foot are like different appendages.  Not even close to back to normal, but SO much improved I can hardly believe it.  I can flex my foot up further than I could before, and while I don't have total control over it, I have more than I did and it's getting a bit better every day.  The tingling in the foot is lessening every day, and the pain in my hip only rears it's ugly (very ugly) head to tell me I've walked a little too far and I need to take it easy.  My gait is coming back slowly, but I'm diligently working on making every step I take count in that respect.  It'll be a learned thing, and I don't want to learn it wrong.  I'm banishing that hitch in my giddy up!  Keith is patiently walking at my pace with the pups around the block at lunch which is sadly quite the workout for me.  Soon I'll be able to progress to maybe a block and a half without him to monitor my safety!  We all have to have goals!  And at about that time, it'll be next Thursday and I'll be on my way back to MD to try to find the bee-bee in the pea we call my pituitary gland.

This will be an October I'll never forget...although in some ways I'd like to...

So there you go.  My back, so far, is a huge victory.  I was due for one, and I got it - chalk up one for the Princess! 

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Part of what is keeping me cheerful and, quite frankly, going during some days is surrounding myself in things that make me happy.  These things are not huge things, nor are they valuable things, but they make me smile.  Sometimes that's the best medicine there is.

Because I know you are all interested...or are at least a captive audience right now...here are a few of my favorite things:

Sorry I couldn't include a picture of a plate of nachos bigger than my head, but that will come my friends, that will come.

Take a moment to recognize the little things in your life that make you smile.  Because that's really what life is - a bunch of little things all strung together to make a big thing.  Think of how much better life is if those little things include stuffed cows and sugar free vanilla pudding!

What is the overdraft fee on an energy checking account?

Because I bounced a bunch of checks yesterday. 

In Bethesda I talked such a good game about pacing myself, how it's ok to rest, and learning to set my activity expectations at a more realistic level for my current condition.  It all went to heck in a hand basket when I got home.  Yesterday I finally got the message loud and clear.  I am an utter and complete failure at pacing myself.  Is anyone out there but me SHOCKED??  Yeah, I didn't think so...

In my defense, I never realized that baking muffins (sugar free of course) would be so exhausting.  Or doing and folding laundry.  Or walking around the block.  Or balancing the checkbook.  Or taking out the recyclables.  Or trying to do all that plus in one day...with no nap...It still just doesn't occur to me that doing low activity things will wipe me out and I need to take breaks during the day so that I don't end up flat on my back comatose and feeling like I got hit by a bus. 

I suppose something can be said for not expecting oneself to have limitations, but a case could also be made that not doing so is delusional.  I need to find a happy medium.  I have never been a happy medium person, so this is new territory for me.  Today my priority is exploration of that new territory.  I'm going to concentrate on it.  And tomorrow and the next day I will concentrate on it.  I will have to concentrate on not overdrawing my energy checking account until it comes naturally.  Will it ever come naturally?  Who knows.  I may fall into bad habits again when this Cushing's ordeal is over purely because I can.  But I have to believe that a lesson is indeed learned here somewhere and it may be the most valuable one of all. 

Dude, where's my Asia?

Back in the day when, at least in the California public school system, we all believed that hunkering down under a 600 lb. solid steel desk would protect a person from nuclear annihilation, the lore of Columbus Day was pretty much cut and dried.  Christopher Columbus was a great visionary who, in the name of scientific exploration, set out to discover the New World and became a navigational hero in the process.  I could swear I cross checked and validated this view, as I usually did when I was in elementary school, with an episode of Schoolhouse Rock but I cannot find any SR reference to Columbus Day on line.  Does anyone else smell a conspiracy here?

After doing a bit of reading this morning in preparation for a fitting Columbus Day tribute blog post, I realize that Christopher Columbus was no more or less a flawed bumbler just like the rest of us on this round or flat(whichever you choose to go with) earth.  Curiously that gives me pause and confidence all at the same time.
He thought he discovered China and Japan, even though it was Haiti and Cuba.  Sr. Columbus collected specimens of men, gold, herbs, and animals to bring back to the King and Queen to claim in the name of Spain to expand it's wealth and influence.  Oh, and they wanted to convert everyone encountered in the exploration to Christianity by whatever means necessary.  I don't remember that being part of the deal that I learned in Mrs. LaRue's class...

Anyhoo, the guy had the balls to set off in a new direction from Spain, explore uncharted waters (literally), lead 3 ships worth of sailors that were getting a bit cranky by the time they found anything, and believe that his way of life was the way all people in all lands should live.  Oh, were I to have that kind of confidence.  Of course, Christopher Columbus was totally wrong about where he was, and America was already "discovered" by the Vikings, but who is going to argue those points when a day off school is at stake?

I give Christopher Columbus props for trying.  For getting out there and giving it a go.  Too many of us just let life and opportunity go by without taking it by the tail and shaking it for all it's worth, or getting dragged behind it for a distance.  Either way, you can't say you didn't try.  And if you call Cuba Japan, or Haiti China, in the process it's a small price to pay for living life to the fullest and not letting it live you. 

  

And we're walking...

Yesterday's big outing was a walk around the block with my Sweetie.  And it was one of the best walks ever!  The weather is on the perfect side of bearable here in KC right now and our neighbors were out working in their yards making our cute little hamlet of a block even cuter and hamletier.

The priority of the Fabulous Pink Cane and I is getting my gait relatively hitch free, so we all walked slowly and with purpose.  I tried not to think about the fact that I am physically challenged by walking around the block.  This too shall pass, and there are bigger fish to fry right now...and I seem to love fish these days...

I still marvel at the reduction in pain in my hip after my back surgery a little over a week ago.  It's like a miracle.  Now the real work starts so that I can take advantage of the benefits.  Just give me a project to work on and I'm good.  Waiting and uncertainty not so much.  Thus is the way my life divides these days though and I can't waste my energy on fighting it.  I just have to dive in and do what I can.

We will be making another pilgrimage around the block today and I am looking forward to it.  Again, trying not to think about how physically challenging it is, but instead focusing on the benefits.  Me without a hitch in my giddy up.  Who'd ever think that was possible?  I see the promised land and I'm on my way!!  One step with the Fabulous Pink Cane and my Sweetie at a time!

GO GIANTS!!

  

Life is like a box of nuts and chews...

There are days when I fail to find any humor in my situation, and yesterday was one of those days.  That doesn't mean that I don't recognize every day how fabulous my life is.  But sometimes even I need to have a little pity party.

Somewhere in between the 3X daily monitoring of blood pressure, taking of a handful of daily medication, watching my ankles swell over my shoes, trying to walk without a requisite hitch in my giddy up, sticking to a diabetic friendly diet, sticking to a low salt/low fat diet, walking for exercise, resting for, well, because I have to, trying to get my atrophied legs to get me up the stairs in the house, looking in the mirror and seeing a face and body that isn't my own, and giving myself blood thinner medication injections into my belly, I got a little cranky. 

My mama always said that life isn't fair, and I believe it.  I've always believed it which is probably why I don't get too hung up on "why me?".  But sometimes trying so hard to do all the right things in a bad situation gets a little overwhelming.  Especially when the bad situation drags on and on for an indeterminable period of time.  So yesterday I had  a pity party all to myself.  There was wallowing.  There was also dime store tiara wearing, stuffed cow hugging, and doggie snuggling with sloppy kisses.  And today, I'm back Baby!  The Princess has recharged her batteries and it's back to all good!

Bottom line here is, in my opinion, a good wallow in one's own puddle of self-pity isn't a bad thing every once in a while.  There is something to be said for just getting out the negative feelings.  But you have to get back on the horse, look for and appreciate the positive things in life, and gravitate to the things that bring strength and happiness.  Even if all you can muster is a tiara and a stuffed cow!

Go forth and appreciate.  Hug a friend.  Notice the brightness of the world around you.  Smile for no reason.  Or with good reason.  And be happy.    

And we're walking....

When you've had a hitch in your giddy up for as long as I have, how long does it take to re-learn how to walk without it?  After last Friday's back surgery, that is the million (Billion?  A million doesn't go as far as it used to...) dollar question these days. 

My gait is a conglomeration of accommodations.  Trying to mitigate pain and weakness has left me with something looking like a drunk, off balance, hobbler when I walk.  Some, at this point, may say "seems like what you look like when you're walking is the least of your problems".  They would be right, but this is me.  I can't fix much, can't control much when it comes to my medical condition these days.  But darn-it-all-to-heck, I can try to walk like I was sober!  And in case anyone was indeed wondering, I have been stone sober for way, way, WAY too long!  But I digress...

So my post-back surgery project is to walk slowly, and relearn symmetry.  The Fabulous Pink Cane is very much in use to keep me balanced and as little a hazard to myself and others as possible.  Cushing's induced muscle atrophy in my legs makes this project a little harder, but I will be even again!  As God is my witness, I will be even again!

I will be walking alot between now and when I go back to Bethesda for Pituitary Surgery.  Hopefully I'll be able to do it in a relatively straight line by the time I leave on the 21st.  Maybe you'll see a video here on the blog.  I hear I can include that...I just need to find a 6 year old to show me how!

The Bat Man Cometh

Those of you who have ever owned a house know that just when you need nothing to go wrong with it is exactly when a wing will fall off, a room will spontaneously combust, or the heat will run cold or the a/c will run hot.  Am I right or am I right? 

While I was at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Keith was forced onto the battlefield in the house against a fierce foe.  The evil home invader was a steroid induced BOUS (Bat of Unusual Size) that did much damage psychologically to my Wesley (Keith, for those of you who have not seen The Princess Bride), but thankfully none to the house itself.  It was bigger than a Clydesdale with a sour disposition and an ugly reputation.  It taunted Keith, flying just out of range of his swinging tennis racket.  Of course, I don't want to think what would have happened if he had actually made contact...Anyhoo, the BOUS disappeared into some crack or crevice of our old girl not to be seen again.  But the Josh, the Bat Man, was called.

There were several places and ways the BOUS could have gotten in, and we gladly paid Josh to deal with them so that a tennis racket would never again be swung against a living, breathing organism in this house.  Due to the rain that was pummeling KC while I was away, the bat plug of the chimney had to wait.  Lucky for us as it turns out...

So Josh, the Bat Man, and his trustee minion Kato (the trustee minion is always named Kato, isn't he?) came yesterday to finish the bat job, but we also had something new for them - a stench of death and decomposition emanating from somewhere in the basement.  Keith couldn't find the source of the smell, and quite frankly, bbq tongs, safety glasses and gardening gloves seemed inappropriate protection given the level of the stench.  So we added the challenge of finding and mitigating the source of the smell to Josh's task list.  He and Kato seemed to relish the opportunity.  Based on the smell, Josh was thinking possum or raccoon.  But as I looked at Kato, I stared into the eyes of someone who knew his future included a crawl space, a mask, and later in the evening, a large alcohol based beverage.  I struggled with the urge to offer him the bbq tongs, but felt that perhaps he would not find the humor in it.

Long possum short, Kato found the decomposing varmint wrapped in a pile of old insulation in the crawl space, while Josh, the Bat Man, was up on the roof performing the balance of the chimney work to prevent future bat entry.  It definitely pays to be the boss in this case.  They found what seemed to be the entry point for the possum superhighway and proceeded to formulate a plan to plug several trouble spots.  They'll be back at the end of the week to finish the job.  Keep your fingers crossed that nothing else comes in and dies by then.  I don't think we (nor Kato) could handle it!

Needless to say, I missed my nap yesterday afternoon.  A situation I fully intend to rectify this afternoon.  And yes, the stench is gone.  Winner!



   

Big trip to Target yesterday!

Wow, what a great time I had!  Don't get me wrong - I totally exhausted myself.  But my cart and I made it around every inch of that store.  I felt like I was on my way to getting back to doing what I usually do.  And there are times when a person needs to experience that feeling.  I can't say it enough.  You never really appreciate what is "normal" until there isn't much of it...

I filled my cart with soap, jersey pants, air fresheners, and miscellaneous items on my list.  I puttered up and down just about every aisle with a smile on my face.  The staff was starting to turn the store for fall, and loading up the new merchandise on the shelves and racks.  A new beginning.  Hopefully a new beginning for all of us.

As if that wasn't enough, then I went to the grocery store.  Not quite the same zen experience, but still a "normal" one.  Needless to say, there was a long nap taken yesterday afternoon!

My advise to you all after such a morning of adventure?  Appreciate and smile at the little things in your life.  And don't let your kids pick the shape of pasta you're going to buy at the grocery store - it can only lead to bad things!

I can't back out now!

I admit it.  I've been keeping something from you all, my faithful readers.  I said on Friday that it was a big day and that I would be filling you in this weekend.  So here it goes...

One of the things I have mentioned that I was dealing with is a left foot flop that was leading me to use my Fabulous Pink Cane in order not to trip and fall.  It was becoming more pronounced, as well as my entire left leg becoming much weaker than my right.  Preliminary testing while I was in Bethesda led to the conclusion that the situation was not Cushing's related.  Overall muscle atrophy is definitely a symptom of Cushing's, but the specific things that were going on in my left leg were not explained by that condition.  Neurologists were called in, tests were performed.  Low and behold, yet another medical malady was discovered.

I have been walking around with a herniated disc in my back that has done damage to the nerve controlling my left leg.  You may insert "duh, you idiot" here.  Be that as it may, it resulted in the excruciating pain in my left hip, radiating pain down the back of my leg, and eventually the inability to control my left foot.  The neurologists all agreed I needed to get the disc fixed as soon as possible in order to give the damaged nerve the best chance of regenerating.  But none of them would venture a guess on whether or not I would ever get full function back in the nerve.  Yeah, no pressure...

The neurosurgeon who will be performing my pituitary surgery on October 25th agreed with the diagnosis on my back, and also agreed that I needed to get it fixed as soon as possible.  He gave me the date of October 11th.  If I could have surgery done on or before October 11th, I'd be fine for him to operate on the 25th.  And so the race began.

My FABULOUS primary care physician, Dr. Anna Giocondo, came through for me yet again.  She made a call to a neurosurgeon who met with me on Thursday (yes, I flew home from Bethesda on Wednesday in case you were unclear on the timeline...) and I was in surgery at 7am on Friday morning.  After a night in St. Luke's hospital, I was home Saturday (yesterday) and here we are on Sunday.  Talk about moving at the speed of light.  But I cannot say enough about the motivating aspect of people in the know telling you that you need to take care of something or risk permanent damage that no amount of grit and determination will fix.  It kind of lights a fire under any ass if you know what I mean.

The good news is that I already feel better.  No real pain to speak of remains in my left hip, and I can already feel a slight improvement in the control of my left foot.  Of course I do feel like I had surgery on my back.  God bless oxycodone.  But I'm getting around quite well and in my glass half full world, it can only get better from here.  So chalk this one up as a victory.  It wasn't necessarily fun getting to this point, but now that I'm here, it's all good!

Be it ever so humble...

...there is definitely no place like home!

You have never met a girl who was happier puttering around the house and going to the grocery store yesterday.  I did laundry, unpacked, got organized, ate my NORMAL food, and generally basked in the glory of all that is my everyday life.  And it was good.

I have made my to do lists for the next week already!  It brings my OCD comfort to know what's on the agenda and that I control it.  Not that I don't love being on call for a mystery scan or two during the day.  Everybody needs a little excitement.  But I think for the next 2 1/2 weeks I'll revel in normal.  Or, should I say, normal for me...

Big doings on the calendar for today.  I'm not going to let you know what the plan is yet though.  You'll have to tune in this weekend to find out.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Have a great Friday everyone!!