Friday, June 06, 2008
Vacation day
We're at Noni's now.

My vacation day began with an 8:00 a.m. doctor's appointment so he could get a look at my foot. Everything looked fine. My next follow-up is Wednesday. He said I could shower in about two days. In the meanwhile I could give the foot a soapy water bath.

Next we drove over to the Health Department so I could get my Tetanus/Pertussis shot. Most "public health" vaccinations are given there and not at the medical center. I have no idea why. The Tetanus shot was a breeze after the fiery hell of the lidocaine shots yesterday. So far the arm is feeling OK. I'm sure the pain medication I'm on helps.

Walking is no fun right now. I basically have to walk on the outside edge of my foot, limping along like an old lady.

M volunteered to drive Emma and I to Noni's and dump us off for the weekend. It would be nearly impossible for me to meet all of Emma's needs if I were at home by myself. We stopped by the store and then went home to pack. I took a shower, because I'm not waiting two damn days for that. I put my foot in a gallon ziplock bag and we taped it to my leg with stretchy packaging tape. It worked like a charm. M took his shower while I packed and by 11:15 we were on our way.

The drive was awful. I usually drive because I get queasy on the mountains if I'm a passenger. Since I had just taken a dose of the oxycodone I couldn't drive. So my head was loopy and my stomach was queasy at the same time. All I wanted to do was close my eyes but if I did that I immediately felt ten times as sick. It was a very very long trip over the mountains.

We stopped at McDonalds for lunch and then went to Costco to have my prescription filled. Meanwhile M shopped for the store. By about 3:00 p.m. we made it to Noni's and I was finally able to put my foot up and relax. I sat in the chair for about two and a half hours till suppertime. Sometimes being a gimp has it's plus side.

The pain comes and goes. The worst is when I'm walking. Then when I sit down and prop the foot the pain almost goes away. Until I get the surprise stabbing pain. Hate those.

Tomorrow I plan to attempt more shopping. I do have a list of things I need so I'm fairly motivated to get some stuff done. We'll see how it goes.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Hello, Handsome
I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Oxycodone. You see, I hate pain. I really really hate pain. The nice doctor put a severe hurtin' on me today and you and I are going to be fast friends for a little while.

I had the follow-up on my foot today. Which would actually be better described as the main event. The doc started with a shot of lidocaine. And let me tell you, that hurt like a SON-OF-A-BITCH!!! I'm a tenderfoot anyway. I never run around barefoot and my feet are very sensitive. That freakin' shot had me writhing around in pain on the table. I actually knocked my glasses and my Palm Pilot case onto the floor.

Then came the "operation." Basically he reamed out a hole in my foot. Looking for a foreign object which the cyst had grown around. Think of it like a grain of sand in an oyster. He never found anything he was sure of, but I'm left with a big hole in my foot, over a centimeter wide. He calls it an ulcer. He didn't stitch it because he said there was nothing there to stitch with. Gross. So now I just have an open wound which needs to be packed and carefully tended until it heals. Gross again.

I've been so repulsed all week about what's been going on with my foot that it was working on me psychologically. I was freaking out at what he was doing to me, to the point where I was sweating. I hate that numbing thing where you don't feel the pain but you can still feel the pressure and pulling of what they're doing. I first encountered that with my c-section. Freaky, and entirely undesirable.

Anyway, he asked me if I'd ever had any serious painkillers. I told him I took Darvocet when I had my c-section. He scoffed, "That's not a serious, painkiller." "Um, well then, no." He prescribed Tylox. Here's the kicker though. There's no pharmacy in our county. And there wasn't enough time in the day to drive over the mountains to get the prescription filled. Plus, before he was done he had told me fifteen times that I needed to get the foot elevated immediately. And, oh yeah, I needed to get a tetanus shot too.

I go for a follow-up at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow so the doc can see how the wound is doing. Then I'm supposed to go straight to the Health Department for my Tetanus w/Pertussis shot.

Blech. This whole situation blows because I have a vacation day tomorrow and I had planned to take Emma to see Noni and Popi. I had no idea this foot thing would be so serious. Anyway, right now I'm grooving on some leftover Tylox from M's last mega-toothache. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise I'd have been stuck with Tylenol until I could get my script filled tomorrow. Now I know what real painkillers feel like. Right now my foot feels neutral (still have some numbness wearing off) and the rest of me feels pretty groovy. Wish me luck getting through tonight!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Happy Anniversary, M!
Fourteen years and still going strong. Not too shabby.

You can see how it all began here, if you're interested.

Emma and I are loafing in town waiting for M to get back from his grocery run. Then we're going to the Inn for supper together. With Emma. How romantic, I know. Grandma is bowling tonight and we can't break our streak of never having hired an evening babysitter. We'll still enjoy it, trust me.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Quick hits
1. The pool is up, the front porch is cleared off, we're ready for summer. Any time now...

2. Emma is in an adversarial mood lately. I'm getting a lot of talking back. Blech. Which means we butt heads a lot. And then there are the completely irrational outbursts. Like this morning when she wanted me to turn the car around and drive home to get her different shoes because she didn't like her new sandals.

3. We've begun moving our starter plants to the garden. Most of our little starter cups came up so we'll have a nice head start.

4. I was off from work yesterday. I had a broken tooth and had to get an emergency dentist visit in. Thankfully I'm all repaired and ready to chew again.

5. I'll be off from work again Friday. I have some vacation days to burn up before the end of June. Emma and I will go see Noni and Popi. By the weekend it will have been three weeks since we've seen them.

6. I thought I lost my Palm Pilot today. I hate that ;)

7. I'm working on having my foot fixed. I've had something buried in it for five or six years now and it was finally getting to the point where it was painful. The doc froze off the first layer of skin last week. Thursday I go back for the digging. Fun! Can't wait! Pffffft. It sucks because I haven't been able to walk on my treadmill. Waaaaah. I just hope the thing heals nicely so I can resume my regular summer plans.
Answer to Kristie's questions...
"If given a whole day by yourself with unlimited funds what would you do?"

Assuming I'm supposed to use it for my amusement and not for lofty humanitarian reasons...

I might fly to Las Vegas to shop, gamble and eat until I keeled over.
Or...Fly to NYC and stay in a Tower Room at the Waldorf-Astoria, see some sites and eat.
Or...Buy a house.

But, even though you're giving me a day by myself, I'd want to take M.

"Do you have any hobbies?"

I've had a lot of hobbies. They've kind of waned now that I have so many computer projects.

Calligraphy
Counted cross-stitch
Reading
Watching movies

Activities...
Golf
Walking
Volleyball
I can't explain it...
Because I don't understand it myself. All I know is that is was all Emma's idea and she's sitting in a wagon. Something about going to the beach...