Feliz Navidad

I'll be back in January, meanwhile I leave you with this.



To all my friends a very Happy Holidays...

Should I Or Shouldn't I???

That is my dilemma this morning and it concerns having a CT Scan. It has been widely reported in the news these past few days that CT Scans can cause cancer.

My doctor highly recommends I have the scan of my bile duct. The suspicion is that there is a gallstone stuck in there somewhere that wasn't seen when I had my gallbladder removed. The ultra sound only showed a dilated bile duct. He says it's important. Why am I worried and am I worried for nothing? That is the question of the day...

Getting Old Sucks - Big Time!!

It's been really hard to sit down and write something on this blog. There are many things I could write about and the usually come to me just as I'm about to drift off into blissful sleep. Of course getting up at that point is really not an option.

Point is, I seem to be unable to concentrate on anything other than health issues recently and that really pissses me off. When all you can talk about or write about is the crappy foot or the blind eyes maybe it's time to pack it in.

The good news of course was that I didn't have retinal detachment and the bad news is that both my eyes have cataracts, one worse than the other. I was warned about that back in March when I had the retinal surgery. I was told that the small cataract that was there would grow more quickly than normal and would probably have to be operated within a year. Well it didn't make it to a year. The eye started going fuzzy in early October while we were still in Greece and is probably the reason I fell. I just simply didn't see the curb. So next week I go for pre op and in early January I will have that surgery. Because this Ophthalmologist likes to do both eyes and because there is a small cataract on the other eye there will be another surgery in February. The good news here is if all works out I will be able to throw my glasses in the trash forever.

I also saw the foot surgeon and had a few choice words for him. I lay the blame sqarely on the technician who removed the pins from my toes for the infection. I blame the surgeon for messing up my foot so that my toes no longer bend. He says there's no reason the shouldn't and can't understand why they dont. I think I figure it out. He straightened them too much, pulled the tendons too tight and that's why they don't move. He also told me that they would probably never bend again. Hah... he doesn't know me. I have started a rigorous program of soaking the foot in hot water and manually bending them a couple of times a day. I'm at the stage now where I can pick up a pen off the floor with the toes. I dont give up easily. I did tell him that he should never touch another human being again, ever. He didn't book anymore follow up appointments with me.

Since I have become so deconditioned by not being able to walk properly for such a long time I've also devised an exercise program for myself which includes a few miles on my stationary bike, some dumbbells and some balance exercises. I am so determined that I will some day hike Mount Indefitigable in Alberta.

And then there's my abdominal pains, mustn't forget those. Since I had my gallbladder out two years ago I have had about six attacks that feel just like a gallbladder attack. It's bizarre and I asked my doc if maybe they'd made a mistake and it was still there. The suspicion at this point is that there might be a small stone hiding in the bile duct. I had an ultra sound last week and will know by the end of next week what the score is. Hope it's nothing bad, that darn ultra sound woman was totally non comittal.

So there you go. If you made it this far into my rant you deserve a medal. Hell, I deserve one for being able to see enough to type this. All my knitting is on hold, there's no reading happening and I don't spend a lot of time on line because it just bothers my eyes too much.

I am though, seriously looking forward to the trip to Calgary even though it's a freezing -27c there at the moment. I'm hoping for a chinook by the time we get there...

Soon!

Just 22 days until we leave for Calgary and I get to see not only my granddaughter Elliotte but also this group of guys below. The three amigos I call them and they are my three grandsons. From left to right are Jay, Cassidy and Bradyn.

They are going to help me climb my mountain next year. The offspring is helping too, just as soon as my foot heals and my eye get operated. They may have to carry me up, but I'm getting up there...