Monday, December 14, 2015

It's been an interesting few weeks....

Well, guess who just got out of the hospital last Friday?  Remember I was telling you that my back went "out"?  Well, apparently it went out more than I thought.  By a week ago Sunday I was only able to walk with a walker (thanks to the inheritance of dead relatives).  My daughter suggested that I contact a chiropractor, so on Monday I called a guy my husband used a few years ago and made two appointments.  One for Monday afternoon and one for Tuesday afternoon.  My husband had to drive me.  By the time the second one was over, I thought I was going to die from pain, so called my "real" doctor upon getting home and made an appointment for 6:45 that night.  He put me directly in the hospital to control the pain and hopefully get to the bottom of things.  I was immediately put on IV painkillers and oxygen because my levels were so low and had an MRI scheduled for the next day...(Wednesday).  My doctor told me on Wednesday morning (yes, he still does hospital visits...rare these days, I understand), that we'd see what happens there before going on.  Wednesday evening the back surgeon for the whole hospital comes in to see me, tells me there is no bulging disk, or pinched nerve and that he wished more 69 year old ladies would have the spines I have.  (Wonderful!!!  I thought that was going to be the answer).  My doctor immediately ordered a chest x-ray because my oxygen levels were playing such tricks.........(even though I have had COPD for the past 10 years, I've not needed oxygen until that point, and not especially since I lost over 45 lbs. since April 6th.)  He thought maybe a tumor developed and was moving......but, NO!  The next day I had an ultrasound to check for PAD........an artery disease, but nothing conclusive came from that either, but it still might be the answer, who knows?  My fanny is completely numb, my legs hurt, my feet are swollen and I came home with oxygen, and painkillers....UGH!  I DO have physical therapy scheduled....my first appointment is Friday, and was told NOT to go back to the chiropractor.  In the meantime, my doctor will give me an ECHO and EKG tomorrow because it could be my heart............holy cow!  I guess time will tell, but what a crummy time of year to have this happen.  Thankfully, my cookies are all baked and sorted, my house is decorated, the presents have all been wrapped, and I am now in a stupor trying to teach my husband to grocery shop and cook on a gas stove.......double ugh!

Anyway, that's my news of woe!  I did send out these envelopes to my sweet niece:




The 12 different kinds of cookies for 2015:


And, (up until last Monday night) the socks I have finished:



Those red ones are for ME!  All the gift socks have been made.....thank God!

So, that's my news.......Not fun by any stretch of the imagination, believe me!  I can't use a little portable oxygen tank yet because of the amount of "air" I need when moving around......and those big ones are close to 50 lbs.  Try puling one of those while walking with a walker and trying not to trip on the tubing......it's almost laughable, believe me!

I sure hope your past few weeks have been better than mine.  One of these days, I hope to knit again, which is more than my neighbor can say.  She is my knitting buddy, but fell on Friday and broke her wrist!  On top of that her blood pressure is off the charts......always something, I guess, huh?