All is well that ends well

My patience with the cardiologist I was sent to was wearing very thin so I took matters into my own hands.

Yesterday was three weeks since my initial appointment with this doctor. First I waited for his notes from that visit to be transcribed. That shouldn't have taken two weeks, but it did. Is there no communication between the doctor and the transcriber I wondered?

Tuesday I was told we were just waiting for the doctor to sign the order for the tests he wanted, to make sure there was nothing wrong with my heart. Signing your name to a piece of paper shouldn't take two days. Yesterday marked three weeks since my visit. I had endured enough crap. I really don't care if he is a cardiologist or a general practitioner this is unacceptable! So I called my PA's nurse so see if she could find out when my tests are scheduled at our local hospital.

Within an hour I had a call from the radiation department at the hospital to set up the tests for next week. It's a good thing I don't expect anything earth shaking to show up in the results, but this waiting is making my blood pressure rise unnecessarily. I will have an echo cardiogram on Monday and a stress test on Thursday.

Since the tests have taken three weeks to get scheduled it has given me time to check in at the Future Foundations fitness room and use the treadmill as well as the other machines that are offered in preparation for the stress test. I don't anticipate any problems- I hope!

At least by next week it will all be in the past and I will continue to use my one year membership in the fitness room because I can already see the difference in body parts that needed to remember to move.

All is well that ends well. 

Ready to donate

Recently a very generous person donated a very large bag of baby yarn to Cibola General Hospital. I got a call from the OB Director who said  I could do anything I wanted to with it. I had been donating baby beanies for some time so the gift was very welcome.

Today I completed  my latest donation. I made four new born baby blankets each with their own matching beanie. I am suggesting that they give one to each of the first born babies at Cibola Hospital during the months of November, December, January and February.

It won't leave out the rest of the babies because they still have beanies left from my previous donations.I'm done for awhile!

It's your attitude that counts

Yesterday my primary care person, Ben, and I discussed the results of my recent spinal MRI. Considering the assessment I should be in a lot of pain. He said he has had patients with less problems than I have, crawling into his office. Sometimes I feel as if I should apologize for not being in pain. I have decided it is the attitude I choose to use.

Things are not what they were ten years ago or even ten months ago when I had a spinal CT scan, but that's life.When you age stuff happens.You can either accept it and do what you can to help the situation or feel sorry for yourself and drain the energy of everyone around you. Guess which one I choose?

I have never been a poor me person, but I know people who have and it sucks.

Both Ben and I decided before the results came in that surgery is way off and may not ever happen. He is suggesting pain injections, but I vetoed that for now. I am just not in a lot of pain. My thought is to accept what is at the moment and do everything I can to keep things from getting worse. With that thought I am going to push myself to go back to getting more regular exercise.Stretching and sitting in front of my computer just doesn't qualify.

So I renewed my membership in a local fitness room and I will soon be off to keep my promise to myself to keep moving. It is my attitude that counts after all.



    

Checking off the list

Yesterday I had a routine mammogram, which may be the last one for me. I haven't decided yet. In any case it will be the last one done by my favorite CGH technician who will retire in a few months. It made yesterday's appointment a little sad. To mark over twenty years of service I gave her one of my first published books, signed of course. I know she will enjoy the 30 stories in part two featuring the lives of local residents. I'm sure at least some of them might have been her patients.

Tomorrow I get to have the new experience of an open MRI to find out for sure what is going on with my lower back. I checked out the online site and watched the video and it doesn't look too intimidating. It only takes about 30 minutes. For some reason I keep picturing some of the contraptions I endured during radiation when I had cancer 28 years ago. I survived that so this should be nothing to worry about.The video said I could even watch a TV program during the procedure to help pass the time.

That reminds me of a surgery I had in 2011. I wasn't allowed to eat anything for almost two weeks. I kept watching the cooking programs during the afternoon. It was a great way to go on a diet!

The procedure I am really worried about is the possibility of an echo cardiogram and stress test, possibly next week, to make sure my heart is healthy. I know it's beating but that's not good enough for the new cardiologist I am seeing. In preparation for the test I just renewed my fitness room membership for another year so I will be able to use the treadmill. I have an exercise bike, but it hasn't been used much lately.

So that's the focus of my life for the present and near future. I'll let you know what happens.

Just for fun

Today I was thumbing through the pages of my first published  book, Wake Up! It is now out of print and only a few copies are still around. I found an excerpt that  was not only amusing but enlightening so I am going to share it just for fun.

Healing

On a beautiful September morning, after talking with a new friend, I had an urge to take a trip to a place I had never visited. I closed my eyes and felt a cool breeze pass by my face. I became weightless and seemed to move effortlessly through space and time.There was no up or down left or right, simply quiet space.

As I opened my eyes I saw I was on the softest of clouds in the middle of a magnificent intense blue sky. No other human was seen. I felt the presence of arms around me accompanied by a sense of powerful unconditional love. The air was clean and fresh and absent of earthly scents.

I was not afraid because I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be at this moment in time. Away from the distractions of human life and the interpretations of other people. Free to decide for myself what I would do about the condition of my current life.

I found a comfortable place and took off my shoes, dipping my toes in the middle of the cloud. I lay on my stomach and rested my head on my arms. I thought about the goals and desires I had set up for myself and wondered aloud if it was the best I could do or was I cheating myself.

As I rolled over on my back I was startled by the appearance of my friend and soulmate who was staring at me. Had I wished him there or did he come of his own free will? He smiled an impish smile and sat down in front of me dangling his feet over the edge of the cloud, removing his hat.

I sat up and once again felt the overwhelming spiritual love between the two of us. I massaged the back of his neck and temples as he had once done for me. I tried to remove the stress of his needing to be in constant control of himself. He relaxed as the negative energy began to leave his body.

I had once been there so I knew how he felt. Letting go of anger and hurt allows freedom to tear down the wall and trust again.

A quiet voice whispered in my ear, "Do for him what he did for you".

With no hesitation I gently pushed him off the edge of my cloud. It was time for him to take care of himself by himself. His negative energy was interfering with my positive growth.

Wishing him only the best, I trust he will fondly remember the bond of spiritual love between us. He will need it when we meet again in this life or the next. I heard the word peace floating in the breeze and felt the wings of an angel transporting me back to earth as I opened my eyes and went on with my day.


 

Looking inside without a scalpel

Modern technology has provided many ways to see what is going on inside of the body without the use of a scalpel. I'm all for that! The last time a doctor used a scalpel on my body I ended up being held a prisoner in our local hospital for two weeks.

I am actually pretty healthy for a person of my age as I  look around and compare what I know with what I see. Even the specialist I saw yesterday pointed that out to me. Since I will soon be 80 and feel like 60 I just need to keep on top of things that come up. This month is going to be an "electronic" test month with a couple of experiences that are brand new to me.

Because my blood pressure and pulse readings have been up and down lately I was sent to a cardiologist to see if my heart was working right. Since I had never been to one in my life I was a bit nervous, which I am sure made my BP higher than it should have been when the nurse took it.

When I heard a knock on the door a doctor entered. I was surprised to note that he was African American, which was also a new experience for me. As it turned out he seemed very knowledgeable about his chosen field and answered all of my questions. He did seem a bit nervous as he kept clipping and unclipping my papers on his clipboard and looking down instead of at me when he was talking. Oh well, I decided he just wasn't a people person and he focused more on his surgery skills. He discussed the findings of the EKG that had been done and noted it showed my heart has an extra beat now and then. I've known that for a couple of years. He said the beat is not coming from a normal place in the heart.

Admitting I was nervous, he stated that when a person first sees a cardiologist he/she is either admitted to the hospital or further tests are done. I'm writing my blog from my home computer! If he gets insurance approval I will be having a stress echo cardiogram soon to determine if my heart is healthy. If it is I will probably need to take a more appropriate blood pressure medication to keep things balanced. I'm voting for that approach. Everyone with me? Thank you!

Before I leave Dr. Woods I would like to pass on something he told me."The number one killer of older people is not cancer it is a heart attack. We need more cardiologists. It's easier to treat heart problems than to treat a person who has had a heart attack."

Now on to my next electronic no scalpel test. I am scheduled for a routine mammagraham next week with a technician who has been doing mine for twenty years. I do not expect anything unusual to show up.

Next Saturday I am also scheduled for an upright spinal MRI.. This one is also a new test that I am grateful is being offered. I have no desire to be encased in a closed machine for 45 minutes thank you. I had a CT scan about a year ago that showed I have spinal stenosis and the MRI will be a better diagnostic tool to pinpoint exactly where the problem is for future treatment. So far it is just something I know I have and is not causing too many problems. Apparently we all have to have something wrong as we get older!

I know this seems like a lot to deal with in a short time, but I am trying really hard to be positive and not worry about it. At least nobody is going to use a scalpel on my body. Been there done that and don't want to do it again. These are all non-invasive tests. I need to keep that in mind. I also found a great reminder on Facebook this morning. "When I'm worried It's usually because I'm trying to do everything myself. When I'm at peace, it's usually because I remember that God is in control."

  

A path to the past

Sometimes things happen that just make me shake my head in wonder. Something caused me to go to an old jewelry box today and look inside. The first thing I pulled out was a very old bracelet etched with the head of an Eskimo. I knew it had been engraved by my great uncle but I always thought he had made it for me. I have had it for years, but don't know how or why. Sort of like the huge family Bible that once belonged to my great grandmother, Clarissa, in Belgium. Why me?

Along with the bracelet I picked up another old piece of jewelry. It was a child's necklace containing a picture of my maternal grandfather William Johnston (1886-1918). That piece I knew had belonged to my mother, but how or why I have it I do not know.

Oh back to the Eskimo bracelet. I had never noticed that on the back was the name and address of my paternal grandmother, Beatrix Halverson (1884-1957).

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. Now I have to figure out what these two people, one on each side of my family tree, are trying to tell me .I will probably never know why I have the family history items.Oh and to add to this I also have my  grandmother's Hummel collection that she treasured all of her adult life.

Why me? I don't really know, but it is a lot like a path to the past. Possibly it is because someone knew I would never sell them.

Sharing

October is here and with it comes the beautiful fall colors and a bit of a chill in the air. It also reminds me of all the spirit photos I have taken over the last fifteen years or so. I know they are not mine to keep they are meant to be shared with others, especially those who do not believe. I refuse to call these images ghosts. They are spirits who chose to have their pictures taken so that I could share them.
A puppy.



 A cone head. Looks like my mother, sorry mom.

Flying angels.

                                                     

Happy Halloween everyone!