Another Day at Another Hospital

I missed blogging yesterday as it was another day committed to going from home for another medical appointment and then doing errands in the same city. By the time I came home I was tapped out and needed a nap. When I awoke it was time t0 make some quick dinner and we watched part of a movie (a very good one) before I decided it was time to get going. Incidentally, I have not been able to watch a full movie (with exception of the final in Lord of the Rings trilogy) since I first came home. The past few days I have been able to sit thru and watch a single Stargate episode. I either fall asleep or I can't watch the captioning for that long (No it is not small. We have a huge tv.)

After the movie I spent a little time at the computer before I decided to write out some birthday cards. Although it takes a very long time, today I am able to legibly hand write out some cards. After writing out 5 and even taking Excedrin I got a horrible headache that made me sick. My vision became blurred and I even had a hard time deciphering the zip codes in my address book. Thus, I had to lie down and take another nap to get some sort of relief.

Not wanting to wake Harley with my moaning and rocking back and forth I went downstairs and feel asleep on the day bed waking a little while ago (just before 4 am). As a matter of fact I am dressed and have not done the nightly grooming yet. My mouth tastes really horrible (a concoction of spinnach feta pizza and orange sherbet for dinner).

Oh yeah.....the post title talks about the day.

Well Sunday I woke up with a mysterious tight soreness in my right calf (lower leg muscle) but I had not done anything to injure it. It was unlike a muscle cramp (charlie horse) which I have had on numerous occassions before from not walking regularily, low potassium, and dehydration. Stretching it did not seem to help and the muscle soreness continued through Monday and Tuesday.

Monday I emailed my surgeon and general internist (primary doctor) about it. Both were concerned that I could possibly have a blood clot and that I should get an ultrasound done of the leg. Seeing my general internist is way over in North Seattle and was not working on Tuesday, he arranged with my husband over the phone on Tuesday for me to have the ultrasound done closer to home at the nearby town of Kirkland at Evergreen Hospital. The soonest they could get me in was this morning. Thus Kirkland is where we spent today.

The ultrasound was kind of neat (a painless procedure where they just rub a handheld instrument over your body with gel). While doing so, the image of the inside of your body is viewed on a little tv monitor. I do indeed have a blood clot but fortunately it is very tiny. Tomorrow we will go to Seattle to see my general internist and find out the full scoop.

After the appointment we ran errands in Kirkland starting at doing some ethnic and specialty food shopping at Trader Joe's where one can find very unique things. I found some carrot zucchini bread, fibrous bran apple cranberry and also raspberry blueberry bran muffins, indian food, whole wheat and blue corn tortilla chips, dried unsweetened mangos and flat bananas, and specialty soups like apple butternut squash to name a few.

For lunch we treated ourselves to the Olive Garden (Kirkland is the closest location to us) which I cannot even remember was the last time we were there together. The last time I was at the Olive Garden is when my sister and I took a trip to Naples, Florida in March to visit our aunt. I had the new chicken and potatoe knocci dish which was wonderful and Harley's grilled steak and spinnach linguini was scrumptous as well. By the way, the salad bowl (even though I normally do not eat iceberg lettuce) hit the spot as I have terrible dry mouth right now. The crisp lettuce (like celery sticks that I have come to enjoy post cyberknife treatment) is very thirst quenching.

From there we went to Costco to do our stocking up. Normally I would go by myself and get these things but I am limited in lifting. We get our dog food at Costco which comes in 40 pound bags. I can only lift 10 lbs. so picking up the dog food or carrying anything heavy is out. We got two bags so we should be good until December. While we were there of course we stocked up on our other things too so we should be all set for our Costco shopping for the month.

By the time we made it back home it was already 4:30 pm and it was time for me to take a much needed nap. I don't do straight sleep yet. Instead, I sustain on a series of several naps which can be from an hour long to 3 0r 4 hours long. My body and head tell me when it is time to take another nap. I will take another one now as it is almost 5 am and I am scheduled for our walk at 8 am.

Have a great thursday and wish me a pain free day! ;o)