Things are happening fast all of a sudden on the health care front!
Yesterday morning I got a call from the General Hospital lining up some radiation appointments. There was a CT-scan today, and a series of daily radiation treatments beginning on September 16th.
And then in the afternoon I got a call from the Civic Hospital, with a date for my back surgery: September 11th!
Someone got their wires crossed, because the back surgery was supposed to take place after the radiation treatments were completed. But you know what? I’m not telling them. I seized that September 11 date, and I’m not letting go.
From what I’ve read, a microdiscectomy is most likely to be successful if it’s performed within three to six months of the disk rupturing. It’s already a little over six months, and if I wait til after radiation, it’ll be eight months. The longer I wait, the greater the chance I’ll end up with permanent unfixable nerve damage, which would mean permanent pain, permanent painkillers and permanent disability.
I have my pre-op tomorrow.
This morning I went to the General Hospital and got five tattoos on my chest. They use these as markers for lining up the radiation beams. They’re permanent, but tiny – the size of freckles. The radiation therapist told me that heavily freckled women have to get much larger tattoos, so they stand out in the sea of real freckles.
Which reminds me – I used to have a room-mate who was a very heavily freckled flaming redhead. She had freckles everywhere, but they stopped abruptly at her wrists and ankles. When she was naked she looked like she was wearing polka-dotted pajamas! So cute. She had tea once with the Queen of England.
In other news, GC and I went to two parties last night. On a Tuesday! The first was a geocaching dinner party at Summerhayes Restaurant. They have them every month, but this was our first. There were about forty or fifty geocachers there. The second was a going-away party for the Sock Monkey Lady. She’s going away, back to the Sunshine Coast. Goodbye Sock Monkey Lady! We’ll miss you! Ottawa’s a better place because you were in it.
I’m so so glad that you have a date for the back surgery! I know you have waited a long, long time. I have no medical background but please make sure the radiation treatments (or side effects) won’t disrupt or impair your back while its healing.
Congratulations on your back surgery appt.. Pretty soon you’ll be back in your sneakers for a run.
Congrats on getting your surgery date soon.
But I must nitpick: the Queen of England is also the Queen of Canada. Kinda like referring to your dad as “my brother’s father” 😉
– RG>
I heard sock monkey lady was leaving. I never really got to know her…
Okay, I’ll ask — why did he polka dot pajama girl get to have tea with the queen?
Thanks for going first XUP. You ask the questions we all want answers to.
Mo, I don’t know about running…sometimes I wonder if that’s what started this whole thing!
RG, you may be technically correct, but she doesn’t FEEL like my queen.
XUP, Polka-Dot Pajama Girl got to have tea with the Queen because her father was the prime minister of Bermuda.
Grace, I waiting and waiting. You too?
Oh, that’s fantastic news! I’ll be sending all my positive energies your way on the 11th. Good luck!
It’s good to hear that you got a date that isn’t too far in the future. I hope it fixed the back problem and the pain goes away so you can sit up and walk comfortably.
Congrats on getting a quick surgery date, and best of luck.
Obligatory 9/11 NEVAR FORGET, of course…:D
Hey, good to hear that you’ve got a surgery date so soon. I was thinking the same thing as Mo. But I am sure you will find out when you go for the pre-op appointment.
I have other questions about this fabled ex-roommate of yours: if she was just your roommate how did you get to see her naked to notice she was completely covered with polka dots?…. I don’t remember ever walking around stark naked in front of any of my roommates…
Totally off-topic, Zoom, but I just stumbled across the
OttawaStart.com list of 30 essential Ottawa blogs (dated August 17, 2009)
http://tinyurl.com/ncmr2t
Knitnut.net is #12 – Congratulations!!
…and best wishes with your upcoming procedures, from Gilles and Annie!
Thanks everyone. I made a mistake and the pre-op is actually in about 40 minutes from now, not yesterday, so I’m just getting ready to go.
Lucy, you didn’t walk around stark naked in front of your room-mates? There were six of us in that house and I’m pretty sure I saw everybody naked. (Not only that, but one time another co-op came to visit our co-op and partied a little harder than intended, and they all spent the night passed out in our living room. When I woke up next morning they were all making chocolate pancakes, naked, in the kitchen.)
Gilles, not that I’m competitive or anything, but that list was alphabetical! lol.
Good luck today!!!!!
Haha! That’s funny. No, I never did that. In underwear perhaps, but not stark naked!
Good luck for your appointment today!
“making chocolate pancakes, naked, in the kitchen”
Clue would be such a better board game if this were one of the combinations.
– RG>