Not Another Homeschool Blog

Unlike last time, I got a letter back from the women's center saying my mammogram is all clear. "No abnormalties that indicate breast cancer. The last time THEY acted completely freaked out, called me back in, did another mammogram while making no eye contact, then left me laying on a table for over an hour while a doctor went around looking at women's results, doing a hands-on exam and telling them whether or not they had cancer.  I lay on that table for over an hour listening to women crying... I started planning my will.  Fortunately, I had some pearl-cysts he said... not cancer...  but what an ordeal.  To rub more salt in the would, they completely messed up my billing ( hence the experience this time ).  But the cysts eventually went away, I poked them daily for like a year until I could not feel them anymore, and I am all good. I don't know about this FitBit. Maybe I'm nuts, but I think I can feel the sensors... I am very aware of my wrist the whole time...

I have a horrible fixation with having the first appointment of the morning. I hate the idea of being behind whatever could possibly go wrong during the day. A previous appointment who is late. The doctor (or whoever the appointment is with) having a bad sandwich... whatever could affect the course of one's day.... I don't want it to affect mine. So if the mammogram office tells me that there is a 7:30 AM appointment, I am taking it. Yes. I am crazy. First, I didn't sleep well not wanting to miss my appointment and worried that I would not wake up with the 6am alarm (as I had to be there at 7)  so I was cranky and tired. Second, It was for a mammogram, so I had high anxiety. Third, I hadn't had a mammogram in 4 years because the hospital messed up my bill the last time, and it took 3 years to straighten it out, I didn't want to deal with them again.   Also, they scared me to death and inconvenienced me thinking something was wrong for the doctor to decide it was...

I got a FitBit for my 49th birthday. I like it. My husband got the newest model which tracks heart rate... and it is sleek and looks really nice, especially with the new rose-gold band I got for it as the original one was bordering on too small. Perhaps it will fit in a couple months.  I have been tracking my steps wallked, daily calories expended, and my food intake through the handy-dandy iphone app. This is making me aware of the things I mindlessly put in my mouth, and in the long-run, I believe it will help me lose weight.  I want to want to lose 2 pounds a week on average this next year so I will be in good shape by my 50th birthday because I may be knocking of 50's door right now, but next year I am kicking it in.  Wish me luck.

I went to the orthopedist today... that's the doctor who takes care of spine and joints. My primary care doctor sent me there a couple months ago. Last time I went the doctor said the problem was not weight related, which is strange because they all say it is weight related. He said that physical therapy would help the problem which he felt was caused in my back... but affecting my leg. I went back to day for follow up and met with a new doctor. The previous doctor was no longer there. I actually did not see the doctor, but the physicians assistant.  He didn't touch me. He just said that it was time for an MRI and possible injection and then maybe surgery.  I was like... excuse me?  You're not sticking me and you're not cutting me. My leg numbness is getting better and I just want you to address the fact that physical therapy is focusing on a quadrant of my back, and now causing the rest of that side pain... the whole right side to the neck needs addressing. He was ...

I have been using a cane for just under a month now. It is interesting to see how much is confuses some people and calls other's to action. The confusion I am sure is because of my face. No one believes that I am 48, turning 49 in about 10 days. But the cane instantly ages a person so they look at the cane, look at my face, and look at the cane again... then I am sure they decide it is weight related, and they move on. Other's jump into action. As I am working on my vintage booth/business, moving furniture from time to time men and younger women jump in and take over.  It is sweet, but they don't handle my furniture as carefully as I would, so sometimes I leave the cane in the car until I am done with my work.... and then I really, really need it. Oh, the cane... why?  Numbness and tripping... so I need it for balance.  The physical therapist is working to fix the issue, and I am working do drop a few pounds because I am sure that will help.

So apparently, my vitamin D level is very, very, very low.  That would explain the exhaustion and weakness.  I am taking supplements.  I have to follow up with a battery of other doctors I have been avoiding... yay.  I did get to the orthopedist who doesn't really know why my leg goes numb, but we will try physical therapy and see if there is a change.  (I have good insurance, so we can monkey around for a while, I guess). Meanwhile, I really, really, really, really need to get this homeschool book done.  So many people are calling me for advice... and it seems black people are leaving the schools en-mass.  They are figuring out what I figured out a dozen or so years ago.  No child's best interest will ever be looked after... it is for the good of the group, which rarely serves individual.... and if you're black, it serves you even less. Read: Y oung, Gifted, and Black, Prepare to fight for your education. 

I can tell you that the health club is taking up a lot of time that homeschooling used to... yay! I can also tell you that a certain contingent of health club life is just as annoying if not more so than the worst homeschool parent meeting where they are comparing curriculum and someone has decided to champion Math-U-See as if their life has depended on it... and woe to anyone who likes something else. So there is a large bunch of women (all of the same nationality) who like to take over the locker room with their saggy naked butts dangling about, sitting on the benches with nothing in between their Lee-la's and the benches that other people have to use.  The good news is that they have commandeered one of three sections of the locker room with vengeance, so at least we know that it might be safe to sit on the other two benches... but frankly, I'd rather stand in a pool of piranhas than put my tooshie anywhere near where they are all sitting nude as the day they were born. ...

I've decided that my doctor is an idiot. I was sent to her by the endocrinologist that is taking care of my daughter for PCOS and pre-diabetes.  I thought.. finally, some folks who know what they are doing, I want to go here... but NOOOOO  I needed a referral... go to this doctor first, and I landed in idiot town. So why is she an idiot? 1.  She looked me in the eye and said the only way to lose the weight is to gradually cut your calories to 1000 a day and stay on that for the rest of your life.  Uh-no.  Try typing that into Google, and you get a great big honking NO.  According to WebMD, Reducing calorie intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women and 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day for men. Women should not restrict themselves to fewer than 1,000 calories per day and men to fewer than 1,200 calories per day without medical supervision. 2.  The lab techs after my ultrasound said that I had no ovaries.  I know I have ovaries, a...

So I had my call back mammogram today.  I tried to not think of it much since I got my tests back a few days ago and was told that I had an indeterminate asymmetry, or in other words, something was wonky with one of my breasts. So they warned my that the visit would be 2-4 hours, and it was. Another mammogram, this time the technician was much more grim than the last, and avoided eye contact... great. Then I went in for an ultrasound.   I had one ultrasound. Then I had another ultrasound. Then I waited in an exam room on a table alone for a half hour for the doctor who did another ultrasound. All the time, I was staring at a spot on the screen that definately showed that there was something in my breast that did not necessarily belong there.  In the final exam with the doctor,  after he probed my breast using a lot of pressure with the ultrasound machine, then he told me not to worry, it didn't look like cancer, but he just wanted to look at the photos mo...

Water Aerobics is one of the things that has been filling my time as of late, especially since my kids are all grown up and in college.  Gotta get the ole body in shape if I plan to keep on keeping on. Today's class caused an interesting observation. We had a substitute teacher who claims that she has taught water aerobics before.  However, she was up on the platform, doing a zumba routine, and pretty much giving no instruction.  Meanwhile, all of us down in the water were pretty much flopping around like dying fish. You see, movement under water is very different than movement on dry land. Water makes you weightless, taking the stress of exercise off your legs, feet, and knees, which is why many people, both large and/or elderly don't exercise... because our feet swell up and our knees ache.  So here we are, doing our darndest to keep up, but she's bouncing on dry land, two of these moves, a wiggle, two of those moves, and jump, and eventually many of us began to...

So I got railroaded into going to Zumba today. FYI.  I have no rhythm, but in the spirit of taking care of myself, I went. While most of the women were kinda keeping up, and other's were twerking, I was pretty much jerking around like I had a physical ailment. My personal performance reminded me of this "tweaking" (not really twerking) video

I have seriously been neglecting my health. First, I was just sick of doctors telling me that losing weight was the answer to all my problems.  Second, there was always some homeschooling task or event more important and fun than a doctors appointment. There's that and the fact that it was hard to make doctors appointments while toting kids around and how the doctors staff used to glare at me for bringing them to appointments when they were younger.  When they were finally old enough to be left home, I missed a scheduled appointment and the self important doctor's office left me a message to not come back...  so... it's been about 5 years since seeing a Gyn and 3 years since seeing a general practitioner for anything So with no excuses left, I dragged my butt to the doctor yesterday.  I am not pleased. I decided to go because of a diagnosis my daughter got that I had been trying to get for myself for years (PCOS).  So I asked the endocrinologist if they ...