Tea Time

Oh No!  Is that the time?  Goodness, I'm so very late!  Hurry, Hurry now!  Let's get a move on!

Thank goodness, everything is ready just in time.  I'm so happy you could join me for tea today.  Please pull up a chair and have a seat. 

  Help yourself to some tea and treats.

 Cupcake?  Hmm, chocolate chip, mango, or blueberry lemon? 

 I'd offer to cut the cake but the Queen hasn't been by yet.  She insists on having the first piece. 

I hope she hurries, I would love a slice of that cake.  Oh, don't tell her I said that!  I really don't want to lose my head.

Must you go so soon?  Oh well, of course I understand, it is a busy day and there is lots to do.  I hope you've enjoyed your visit.  Please do come back to see me again. 

A huge thanks to Vanessa for her party hosting magnificence.  If you haven't already, head over to her site for her party and the blog list of those participating.

thanks for stopping by!

love & blessings

~*~

Part 3

Bullets, Bombshells and The Best Laid Plans...

I'm back today with part 3 of my round up of the events of this year, so far.  You can find part 1 at Bullets and Part 2 at Bombshells. 

The Best Laid Plans

If you've been reading here for a while, you'll know that I go through periods of hibernation.  Living with chronic pain every minute makes living a full life very difficult for me.  Last year, I spent most of the year in extreme hibernation and finally started to come out of it around the middle to end of summer.  

Emerging meant finding things to help me cope with the pain and finding things that I can enjoy and make me feel like I'm actually living as opposed to existing.  Activities such as drawing, painting, writing, blogging, taking pictures, baking, etc.

Sometime last August or September, I found myself with an overwhelming desire to be outside.  So I started taking walks.  When I started, I couldn't even walk a half mile.  But I kept at it, and each time I walked, I was able to go a little bit further.  Eventually, I'd built up to 3.5 miles. 

When the new year came around I was doing great.  Exercising, drawing/painting every day, knitting a lot, and in general just having a rather enjoyable time.  I became determined to keep that going and not let myself get sucked back into the deep dark pit.  I joined the local Y and signed up with a personal trainer.  I exercised at least six days a week and joined a couple of art challenges online.   I felt so good.  I was very proud of myself for my exercising (and all the weight I'd lost and stamina that I'd built up).  I was getting much better with my drawings and my art in general was much improved. 

And well...the best laid plans...

Yep, you guessed it.  With the events of part 1 and part 2, everything fell apart.  I couldn't hold a pen/pencil/paintbrush steady with all the trembling (emotional and prescription change induced), I couldn't find time to hit the gym between hospital trips and bedside tending.  Then the new prescriptions kicked in and I could barely get out of bed.  It all became a giant cluster f*%#.  So...

Here I sit, beginning AGAIN.  Sometimes I feel like all I do is try again, over and over.

I went for a walk this morning as soon as I woke up.  The sun wasn't quite above the tree line and I felt it might be safe.  I walked .86 miles and it took me almost 18 minutes.  Before I quit exercising back in March, I'd worked up to almost a 15 minute mile.  :-(

Oh well...

Now I'm moving forward.  There are lots of things to look forward to, including figuring out my new computer (which I'm currently typing on and having a bloody difficult time doing), tea parties, summer flowers and gardens, fresh fruits and veggies and more.

On to the fun!  It is once again time for the wonderful summer extravaganza that is the Mad Hatter Tea Party.  Vanessa announced the date last week and here is my formal announcement that I'll be joining in the fun.

If you'd like to join in, click the link here.  It will take you to the post on Vanessa's blog announcing the party. 

Come join us for the party, it will be loads of fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

love & blessings

~*~

Part 2

Bullets, Bombshells and the Best Laid Plans...

My last post was a round up of part 1, Bullets.  Today, I'll give another brief round up of part 2.

Bombshells

Way back in December, at my quarterly check-in with my Endo, he seemed concerned that my throat felt swollen.  He sent me off for an ultrasound of my thyroid.  I had also noticed that my throat felt larger and harder (weird to explain) and my usual difficulty swallowing was getting worse.  As I constantly feel like a hypochondriac with all my health issues, I didn't say anything to him about it. 

The ultrasound procedure was quick and she said they'd have the results to the doctor in a few days.  So, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Two weeks later and I get a call that there are some growths on my thyroid and they want to do a biopsy.  Of course, the use of the "b" word completely freaked me out.  But I stayed calm and said, okay.  I expected when the call came to schedule the procedure it would be set for maybe a week or soon as this isn't something you wait around on.  Well...you know what happens when one assumes.

So, first week in January they call to schedule the biopsy.  For the END of February.  That's right.  Make a person who is already freaked out about needing a freaking biopsy to wait almost two months before doing the actual test.  But...I held it together and then was distracted by Bullets. 

(Now a little aside here, I'd not told anyone, including my family, what was going on up until just before the procedure.  I'd also been very specific to ask those that I did tell to not share the information with anyone at all. I had my reasons, part of which have to do with that hyprochondriacness and other things.)

Come to the end of February, off to the doctors I go.   I was able to see my thyroid as he did the biopsy.  Seeing the growths he was talking about I made the comment that they didn't look small to me.  To which I got silence.  Complete crickets.  So, even more freaked out I stayed quiet so we could proceed.  The procedure was nerve wracking but I'd been through biopsies before so I did okay.  Although, having to hold my throat so very still was extremely difficult for some reason.

Afterwards, the doctor said he should have the results in about week.  A week goes by, my mum calls asking if I've heard.  Nope, I say.  She says to call the doctor.  Another week goes by, another call from my mum (of course by that point I was getting a call from her just to ask about this every other day).  Not only is she asking about it, but she's telling me about her friends asking her about it.  Huh?  Yeah, so much for my request for privacy.

I continue to be patient and wait.  

I am not known for my patience.  In fact, I'm know for being completely impatient especially when it comes to medical things.  I've been down this strange growths, biopsy road a number of times and it NEVER gets easier.  So, by the time I received a call from my doctor at the END of MARCH, I was completely undone.  Turns out he thought he'd already talked to me.  I'd sent him emails about it a few times asking for the results and he never replied to those.  Bottom line, the one growth he biopsied was not malignant.  However, he doesn't know what it is.  The lab couldn't identify it.  O....Kay.  

Somehow, I wasn't suprised.  I have strange, unknown growths inside me that the doctors can't figure out what it is.  Yeah, been there, done that.  At least this time they didn't just cut it out of me. 

So, basically the bombshell is that I have these unidentified growths on my thyroid and I get to just wait and see what they become.  The doctor said we'll do another ultrasound and possibly another biopsy in a year.   

Every once in a while, when my throat feels especially swollen or I'm having a hard time swallowing, I get an image in my head of the growths on my thyroid.  They look like the eggs from the Aliens movies and I keep waiting for one of those f&*kers to explode out of it.

Thus concludes my sort of brief round up of part 2 of why I've been silent since the beginning of the year.  Next up...The Best Laid Plans.

love & blessings
~*~


ps...thanks for sticking with me.  I promise to get to more fun stuff soon.  :-)