Strange Few Days

On Wednesday Morning I went in for the followup on my shoulder. As I expected, without the MRI, there wasn't much he could tell me that was new. He did the standard "don't let me push your arms" tests and while 2 out of the three are either normal or almost normal, there is still one test that I am failing miserably. We discussed the recent increase in pain, and how it was affecting my sleep. He decided that a good interim step until we can get the MRI (as of 845 this morning, my case is still under review) is an xray, so he ordered an xray of my shoulder. He checked for some dent in my shoulder that would indicate a dislocation, but I told him, that I have had a dislocated elbow and I remember that pain and didn't think it was the case here. He agreed, especially since there was no dent in my shoulder. We discussed pain management, and he has somehow managed to talk me into taking both ibuprofen and tylenol, even though we previously discussed avoiding tylenol because of its potential interaction with my birth control that could increase my chances of breast cancer. He said it isn't a high chance and I am only taking it if the pain is keeping me awake. So far I have managed to avoid taking any, and I hope to keep it that way.

Extra Update: I just this very second got off the phone with my doctor's assistant. Have I mentioned how much I adore her lately? My xray shows nothing causing the current issues, but does indicate an old injury that was never treated and has left a bone fragment in a weird place. I have my theories on how that happened, but I think that needs to be hashed out in therapy, not on my blog. We also discussed the issues I have been having with getting my physical therapy started at the new referral place and I told her I was irritated and that they honestly don't seem that interested in treating me. There are a couple of alternatives available, and I am going to work on getting it sorted today. I miss my old PT and wish I could afford to just pay for it myself.

Other than that, I had him check out my left ear, which has been feeling weird lately. I was afraid I either had a bug or some Shrek level wax buildup going on. But no, I had a piece of hair that was tickling my eardrum. It seriously felt weird. My ear has been irrigated and I no longer feel as though there is something weird in my ear. Also, after I mentioned my fear of the Shrek wax I was told I have really clean ears. Ha!

Yesterday (and today) I had cereal for breakfast. I forgot how much I missed cereal. I hadn't had any since my diagnosis because I was afraid of the carb counts, but I found that I can have Special K and a half cup of milk for under 30 carbs! This is a total win, because we all know how much I hate eggs. I could even add a slice of my froofy bread and some pb and come in with an acceptable carb count.

Yesterday, I did something stupid and am pretty sure I had my first real low blood sugar reaction because of it. I used my lunch break to get my xray and so all I had eaten until 630 at night was that bowl of cereal, a clementine, and about 8 Jelly Beans (eaten when I realized I needed some sugar). I took my pills and then had a fairly active day at work too. It was not my intention to skip lunch, it just happened. I will make sure not to do that again. I ate almost a hundred carbs at dinner, forgot my evening pills and my morning blood sugar was still in a good range (signs it was really low the night before) I didn't bother going home to test, because I was hungry, and because there were people waiting for me at the restaurant. I am always afraid I will lose my meter (and more importantly my vial of test strips), so I don't like to carry it around, but maybe I need to risk it.

I have a friend staying with me on and off again for a little bit while his housing situation gets sorted. I feel bad because he is basically crashing on my living room floor. It is a sign that my guest room needs a bed, and to not have craft supplies, purses, stuffed animals, and souvenirs scattered all over it. That is something for me to work on today, after I make a bajilliony phone calls to try to get my MRI, and go on a lunch date with my favorite person :) I am super excited about that last part.

Anyhow, I have no other thoughts at this time, the next week or so is busy, but I am happiest when busy, because then I am at least not bored. And because I am getting it sorted, my guest room will be ready for when people come visit me, or if my other friend needs to stay closer to work because her commute sucks.

Short and angsty

Yesterday kinda sucked.... a lot. But it wasn't really anything super negative towards me, I just hate it when my friends go through deep stuff.

I work the next three days and I am supposed to go in for a follow up on my shoulder tomorrow morning, but since I haven't been able to get an MRI yet, don't really know what is up on that front. I do know it still hurts and I would like it to stop now.

I did not sleep well last night and I am already feeling it this morning, but I just gotta keep going until today is done. I am almost ready to head out the door, but seriously just want to crawl back in bed.

Adventures in Burgerland

Today, my amigos and I were supposed to go to Lunchbox Laboratory for lunch after work. One of them had a last minute thing come up and asked if we could go later in the day. At the point when it became "later" everyone was too hungry to drive all the way to Gig Harbor, so we ended up at Red Robin. I have been there three times in the last 8 days. :/ I like it okay, and since I wasn't paying two of the times I am not complaining, but I could honestly use a break.

We had a pretty entertaining evening, and although my blood sugar was on the high side so I avoided any non vegetable/ non dairy carbs, I still enjoyed my dinner.

My one friend and I went to Central Market while we were waiting for the third person, and we explored the Asian snack foods section. I found some Ramune flavored gummies which are 30 carbs for 8 of them. I love and miss both Ramune and gummies so I went ahead and picked some up. I am looking forward to trying them out. I also got some HiChews which are 4 carbs each, and some diet orange cream soda. I also scored some of my thin sliced whole wheat bread on sale so I can make sandwiches for lunch this week.

Work was standard for Amazon day, and I went to help my homie when I was done because he still had a bunch of parcels left. I got stupid lost trying to find some of these locations (on routes I don't know) and my GPS thought I was in the ocean. It was frustrating, but I finished them.

Tomorrow should be a good, but slightly stressful day. I, however will report on that later, as I didn't get enough sleep last night and I am now going to start getting ready for bed.

mostly work stuff, a small update on the MRI, some dietary musings

I am irritated. But not at TDC. They have been trying to get authorization for the last week. I love The Doctor's Clinic, they are a truly awesome group of medical professionals.

Well, it is an absolute pain in the you-know-what to have to deal with the worker's comp stuff. TDC contacted me this afternoon saying that they can't get authorization for an MRI because my case file is still "under review" They only have 30 days to review it and that ended yesterday. :| Of course, when I tried to call they were closed. I shall have to hope they have someone in the office tomorrow during their "normal operating hours" At this point I think my initial diagnosis of an acute rotator cuff sprain is probably accurate, but both the doctor and myself want to make sure, so that this doesn't come back to haunt me in the future should it be more than a sprain.

I went to a work potluck today, I ate pretty sensibly, although I really want some form of yummy cheesy baked pasta dish now. Serious amounts of cravings for pasta have been ensuing lately. But, I got to eat Chicken Katsu last night, which I have been wanting for weeks now. I only ate the salad and the chicken with some of the katsu sauce in an attempt to not consume as many carbs. It makes me nervous when I can't look up how many carbohydrates are in something. I could only find listings for katsu that included rice and since I wasn't eating rice, I had no clue. My blood sugar was okay both times I checked it after so not stressing it too much. I am a little nervous about what my blood sugar will be when I check it this evening, since I had no clue on what was in what that I ate this morning. It was all yummy too. (I seriously want more of that pasta) I should find out who made it and get the recipe. A huge shoutout to the coworker that made sure to bring a meat product to the "vegetarian" potluck (it was a farewell potluck for a coworker who is pescatarian, and that idea confused so many people, I had three people ask me what all she would eat, so many people thought pescatarian meant vegan lol) Most of my coworkers know I am diabetic at this point, so the coworker who organized the potluck made sure to bring meat and salad for me to eat, so I wouldn't look sadly at all of the carbs and be left out. (in a hilarious note, no one brought dessert this time and usually we have no food and all desserts, so I provided dessert, and when I walked in carrying a tray of cookies, a pie and some carrot cake, another coworker said "Why did you bring those? You can't eat them!" My response was very much along the lines of no one brought dessert and I AM going to eat a very small piece of carrot cake (I totally bought it just so I could have some LOL)

I have fun plans to hang out after work on Sunday with my amigos from work that involve things like cheeseburgers and a mini road trip! Only to Gig Harbor, but it is about 45 minutes away. We are going to Lunchbox Laboratory, a)because I have a coupon and b) because we can and c) I "owe" one of them a cheeseburger for saving my butt the other day.

Other than the potluck today and doing a whole route by myself yesterday (even the casing which is a first) Work is pretty uneventful. The "Matrix" has been redone and I am officially no longer the sub for the route that I was originally assigned to. This is partially awesome because that one was only guaranteed every other Saturday work, and because that route hates me. I now have one route on which I am the primary sub (once a week) One route on which I am the secondary sub (but the primary is going on Maternity leave, so that will be mine for a while as well) and two routes which am tertiary. I like all of those routes and there are at least 2 more routes I know well enough to carry in the event of an emergency. So, I know 6 of the 14 routes acceptably, although I need to learn them better to increase my delivery speed. (there are 5 additional routes that I could probably do in a pinch, but I would almost definitely need help with them. That leaves 3 for me to learn, eventually...

I am getting pretty hungry so I should check the blood sugar and explore my fridge for dinner options. (sadly that will not include cheesy pasta and more carrot cake)

Quack!

Today, I went for a walk, and it is still more cold than I prefer to walk in, I need to figure out a cold weather exercise solution. I also changed my route and walked towards the "duck pond" near my house. I love the ducks! They are fun to look at, although it is more of a roadside ditch filled with water than an actual duck pond.

My shoulder still hurts, but I am heading back to work tomorrow. Mostly so I won't be completely broke.

The pain combined with medicine induced extreme hunger led to me having a really high blood sugar reading last night. Highest I have had since my diagnosis, but not so high I need to notify my physician. That was one reason why I faced the cold (it is not that cold, but I am chilly) to take a walk today. I also made sure to eat more protein with my breakfast this morning to help keep me fuller longer. Then I was really not hungry again until dinner, although I had a clementine for a snack around lunch time. My blood sugar is back in its happy range and I had tacos for dinner. Mmmmm!

I hit a new low weight, which is nice since I gained some of my previous weight loss back. I am trying to keep any weight loss at a more moderate rate, but am still trying to find the happy medium between losing too quickly and gaining. At this point I would really like to lose at a rate of 1-2 lbs a week, but so far this week I have lost six without really trying. I have another week until I get weighed again and I am hoping I won't lose too much more before then, I don't want to get the "your rate of weight loss is concerning me" speech when I go to the doctor.

I am finding myself in the fun position of actually having friends up in Washington. I am, as usual significantly older than my friends, but that has been true for most of my life, so it is a familiar place to be. It has been a rough year or so since I moved up here, mostly because I haven't had many opportunities to be social, and it has been a bit lonely. I am enjoying more chances to get out and about and to have fun with varying people with different interests.

I was able to procure our tickets to see Five Iron Frenzy in March! I am super excited!

Still no news on the MRI, but am hoping to find out soon.

Pain in the...

Therapy was really productive yesterday, we looked at how different events from my past have influenced who I am now, and how I react to various situations. It was rough for me to admit to the fact that some things affected me way more than I ever pretend. We discussed how even long after something has happened and is no longer a gaping wound in your heart, there can be scars and just like scar tissue in the body, this can hinder the healthy function of your emotional health. But I am looking forward to continuing to work towards a healthier mental state by actively addressing issues, instead of trying to ignore them.

After therapy we (my love and I) went out to dinner and I had a grilled chicken salad, still trying to make better decisions but live a normal life.

After dinner we went to Trader Joes. It was fun getting to do something pretty mundane together. I found some mini ice cream mint sandwich cookie things that are amazing, and only 9 carbs each. I also grabbed some fig and olive crisps to enjoy with my bovre cheese and a salad to eat for a meal (it was planned for lunch today, but I ended up bringing it home, and will probably eat it for dinner.

I went into work today intending to carry a route that I was scheduled on, but after an hour or so, the pain in my shoulder made it very apparent that I shouldn't be working. I have been having difficulty sleeping for the last few days because of the pain, but I am seriously irritated that it is now interfering with my ability to work. Wanted to discuss the issue with my doctor but he is out of the office until next week. I am going to continue with my standing orders, until I can get in to see him. I have an appointment on Wednesday for a follow up so worst case, I just have to make it a week. :/ If the pain gets any worse I can call the clinic and one of his colleagues can prescribe something, but in reality I would like the person with the hands on knowledge of everything to make any calls on prescriptions.

I am still waiting to hear back about my MRI, but I know my doctor really wanted the results by next Wednesday. At this rate, I don't think that is going to happen.  I also haven't heard back from physical therapy. At this point I would love to know if it really is a tear or just a sprain. (Please be just a sprain!)

That's my today (and yesterday) and other than icing my shoulder and watching Criminal Minds, I have no plans for the rest of the day.

Reading Recap

So, I just read someone's blog post where she listed the top 20 books she has read in the last 10 years. I can't remember the top 20 books I have read in the past 10 years, but I do know I would like to read more than I have the last year or so.

I can admit that I only finally read The Hobbit a couple of years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I still prefer The Lord of the Rings.

My favorite read of the last decade is probably The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I've read it twice and may add it to the reread list when I finish my current book.

My most unexpected find is The Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger. It is a Victorian-era steampunk paranormal romance series that, at first seems like the last thing I would pick up to read, but I ended up really enjoying the first book, Soulless and immediately devoured the rest of the series.

My favorite kid's series that I discovered in the last decade is easily the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. I have read the entire series at least twice and it is easily my favorite since Percy Jackson and The Red Pyramid Series from Rick Riordan. I am currently reading the last book in Riordan's Lost Heroes series, and while enjoyable, find it to be less engaging than Percy Jackson, and honestly I preferred The Red Pyramid to both series.

This is just a fun little post to break up all the posts of my random life. But I do have another blog post coming about my last few days, and why I am home when I would infinitely rather be at work.