Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Ah, this might explain it

The high blood pressure?

Perhaps my body was just anticipating the phone calls I was going to have today, where I deal with the insurance company and the billing department of the hospital and all of the related health care providers who are sending me big bills because somebody (who was not me) didn't file the right paperwork at the right time.

I suppose I could risk not paying the bills...I have a house and a car, so I'm not trying to get credit right now...or I could do as the insurance people suggest, and pay the bills and then get refunds from the hospital and the related health care providers, when they realize that I shouldn't have paid them so much money.

Y'know, I'm grateful that I'm not sick, and for a couple days, I really thought that trivial crap like this would never bother me again. But it only takes one frustrating call with a customer "service" person to bring me right back to the real world.

140/90

Stupid blood pressure.

Now I remember

Don't be too surprised if the blog goes blank. It just hasn't been striking me as necessary any more...maybe Facebook (with the simple 144-character status updates) is fulfilling my need to announce my existence to the world.

Meanwhile, here is this week's useless entry.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd been stringing beads like mad. I have made a couple of Christmas presents, but mostly I'm not satisfied enough with my skills to give away what I'm making. And with this gruesome scar on my throat right now, I'm not wearing necklaces. (Actually I'm pleased with the scar, but not enough to draw attention to it.)

Yesterday I made a bracelet: turquoise, coral, and silver, with what I thought was the best bracelet clasp ever, a rare earth magnet. I finished it up about a half an hour before the hockey game, my mom admired my work on the Metro downtown, and when I went to bed last night, I realized it was gone.

The beads I used were fairly inexpensive. The clasp was probably the most expensive component, and apparently the magnet wasn't as good as I thought. It isn't like I spent hours and hours sweating over the design, but I'm still a little bummed.

It just struck me, as I made my fifth futile search of the house hoping it would reappear, that this is why I don't wear jewelry...it doesn't stay attached to me.

I hope whoever finds it likes it, anyway.

No respect

(click for full size)

Or Jeff, as we liked to call him when he was in Washington...seeing as how that is his name.

Don't even ask why I'm reading the Tampa Bay sports page, 'kay?

I suppose I could become a clown on weekends. I do know how to twist balloon animals.

I needed a pair of red pants for my Halloween costume. Normally I wouldn't buy anything for a costume that doesn't come from the Dollar Store. Actually, normally I wouldn't even be wearing a costume on Halloween, but this year my cousin is getting married on November 1, and it is a costume reception.

So anyway: the local Salvation Army did not have red pants in my size. I was able to find a pair online, though. Full retail. They arrived today.

I was hoping that red is almost neutral enough that I could get away with wearing these as regular everyday pants. No way. They fit pretty well, they are comfortable, but they are...red.

I can not imagine a single circumstance outside of a Halloween costume where I can leave the house in these things.

Ding ding ding!

Back in August, I said: If I had to put down money, I'd place the bet on benign follicular adenoma.

I got the pathology report today: benign follicular adenoma.

The surgeon says everything is looking great and I can go back to work tomorrow.

I'm feeling somewhat less than great...kind of like somebody has a hand wrapped around my throat and I can't draw a full breath of air...but the doctor reminded me that they took a big chunk of stuff out of my throat, and it does still need some time to heal.

In light of the pathology, I'm going to try not to bitch so much about minor annoyances.

Pardon the snoring

I'm pretty sure that the day of the surgery, a lot of interesting or funny things happened, but I don't remember them any more. Stupid drugs.

Let's see...

The anti-emetics worked in that I did not actually throw up (hurray!), but lord did I feel like I was going to. It's funny, I'd rather have ten times the pain than feel any nausea.

To that end, I refused to take the Darvocet they prescribed. But, because I was afraid that in the middle of the night I would be in so much pain that I'd need the Darvocet, I didn't take Tylenol either. (Both drugs have acetaminophen, which you don't want to overdose if you like your liver.) So I went 24 hours post-op with no painkillers. (Not comfortable, but I've had cramps and migraines that were worse.)

I am more sore now, mostly the muscles in my neck. And my throat feels funny. But I can breathe ok and as long as I take small bites and chew, I can swallow food.

The thing that is getting me now is the absolute exhaustion. Every times I move, I require a nap. I hope this gets better soon, I had stuff I wanted to get done during my week off.