Happy Holidays!

The season is well upon us, and life is full of distractions.  Went shopping with my Hillyard girls yesterday.  We've sort of created a tradition of going to park city, staying at the hampton inn, eating at Ruby Tuesday, & spending a whole day at the outlets.  This was our third...or possibly 4th...year & it was just as much fun as it always is.  I upgraded us to a suite (it was only 20 bucks more) and was very happy I had.  We had tons more space, another bed, and a fireplace!  I especially enjoyed the swimming pool this year.  It is so nice to be able to move & exercise without tremendous pain.  I rarely go shopping just for fun, and this annual trip with the girls is one of my favorite holiday treats.  This year I came home with fuzzy purple boots, feather earrings, and a purple purse, along with a pile of other things that are gifts.  My wallet is a bit grumpy, but I haven't been overcome with any buyers remorse so I'm calling it a success.

So the spine guy walked into my exam room with a very enthusiastic "You have a HUGE disc herniation!"  Not exactly good news but it was rather novel to have a doctor start right off by validating my complaint & offering solutions.  I've had so much experience with doctors treating my like a liar, or some sort of drug seeking addict, that this was rather refreshing.  Turns out that they didn't get a look at my whole spine when they did the MRI just the lumbar, so I'll be going in for another round in the bangy tube in order to get scans of the rest of my spine.  Not really excited about that, but I am interested to see what he says about the rest of my spine once he's seen it.  In January I'll be having corrective surgery to clean out the disc material that's pressing on my spinal cord.  It won't entirely eliminate my pain, but should do wonders for the nerve pain in my legs.  He says I'll likely need another surgery down the road to fuse my L5 & S1 vertebrae but feels that I'm awfully young to give up the mobility I'll loose with that surgery yet.  As long as I can manage the back pain I'm going to put that off as long as possible.

I had a bit of infection develop at one of the incisions from my gal bladder surgery.  Who on earth decided that putting an incision inside your belly button was a good idea?!?  I don't think it is.  The damn thing got infected, it's near impossible to keep a bandage on it, & I haven't been able to wear anything with a waistband that sits at my natural waist for 3 weeks.  Doc Preciado put me on antibiotics and then I promptly came up with a nasty 24 hour flu bug that nearly killed me.  But I seem to be doing better now, and the infection seems to be gone, just waiting for the wound to finish healing up.  I still sleep A LOT and have next to no energy, but even that is improving slowly. 

Scott started a low carb diet this week & I am so proud of him!  His self control & motivation are impressive to witness.  Especially with me having carbs in my diet still.  He's a very considerate & patient man.

We're getting ready for the holidays & starting to plan details for our annual winter vacation in Quartzsite.  This year we are taking the garage trailer & motorcycles.  Should be quite a bit of fun & rather useful to have them.

Speaking of the Q trip, now would be an excellent time to start making packing lists & put together a menu.  I believe I'll go do that now.

Live long & prosper.
~m