Catching Up . . .
Again - large chunks of time between posts. Time continues to slip through my fingers.
Feeling pretty good and am very hopeful about the follow up tests regarding The Kidney Stone Incident. I haven't been perfect - which I know I've said already - but most days I have a good handle on my salt intake and my water. I'm doing another 24-hour urine collection test today, and then I have to have another CT scan on Thursday. Then, I'll see my urologist again on the 10th of July.
The 24-hour urine collection test will tell the tale. It is my hope that my "output" number will be way up, and my sodium number way down. I'm reasonably sure that if I'm successful with these two items, that all my other wonky numbers will fall into place. Crossing my fingers :-)
The CT Scan is to make sure that there are no other stone hanging around in my kidneys. I don't think there are, and - based on the ultrasound I had in March - my urologist did not see any shadows. However, apparently someone took another look at my March ultrasound and decided that I might or might not have some cysts hanging around inside of me. For this, the CT scan will tell the tale. I don't think it's anything serious.
I'm also down 15 pounds since the end of February, so that's a big plus, as well.
Then, a couple of weeks ago I saw my OB/GYN for my annual. He's been my doctor for more than two decades (hard to believe!) and I can't even tell you the number of people I've referred to him. I mention him and this visit because of what the urologist who performed my surgery said to me - in passing: Oh, BTW, your bladder has fallen, I can fix it if you want."
Seriously, that's what he said.
I spoke to my current urologist about this back in March and he said that yes, he could fix it, but to check with my OB/GYN when next I saw him because my OB/GYN has never said that I needed any kind of surgery. And sure enough, when I spoke to him, he said that unless it was really really bothering me that he didn't want to perform surgery on me, saying, "A, you've already had enough surgery this year." He also said that there were many other options to be explored before surgical repair, including pelvic floor physical therapy, and, possibly a pessary. I feel better about the whole thing. I've had the same OB/GYN for a really long time. Whatever he tells me, is what I'm going to go with. :-)
I have a follow up with my Retina Guy in early July, as well. All seems to be well except for the flashing that doesn't go away. I also had another ocular migraine - yesterday. It's so odd when it happens, and always in my left eye over to the outside. It's gone now - only lasted about 30 minutes or so. It's very hard to describe, but this photo is from Medical Treasure and it's a very good approximation of what I usually see:
It's jagged, and usually multicolored. Mine is usually all the way to outside of my field of vision, and it's only ever been in my left eye, but unlike this photo, they do not affect the clarity of the rest of my vision. They never last long, and usually my eye feels warm/hot after it's over. So, I guess I'll be telling the Retina Guy about it when I see him.
Enough about weird health stuff :-D
In the time that has passed since last I blogged, I have started to work with my plants again. I actually bought a few more. Some have arrived, some are still on their way. When all is said and done, I will have gone from 16 to 33 varieties again. Most of the new plants are semis and minis. Only time will tell how I do with them :-) My state organization is having a show in mid-November, and I wanted to be ready to hopefully have a few things to show. I also am already planning for national in 2018, which will be in Buffalo, New York.
Nearly all the plants were very neglected for the past year, but everything has been potted up now and I have a LOT of leaves down, this latter also in prep for the fall show. Hopefully some will be sold, and some will likely be used for table favors at the fall event.
Here's my Jersey Snowflakes before:
Here is it after grooming and repotting:
And here are all the leaves I took from it . . . I actually took more - but they weren't good to propagate. And yes, that's my hand. Really big leaves :-)
Here is a look at the stands. Stand 1:
Stand 2:
and Stand 3:
Here's a closer look at the current new babies:
I have to say, it was really nice to have my hands in the dirt again :-)
These days I can't stop listening to Dougie MacLean . . .
Feeling pretty good and am very hopeful about the follow up tests regarding The Kidney Stone Incident. I haven't been perfect - which I know I've said already - but most days I have a good handle on my salt intake and my water. I'm doing another 24-hour urine collection test today, and then I have to have another CT scan on Thursday. Then, I'll see my urologist again on the 10th of July.
The 24-hour urine collection test will tell the tale. It is my hope that my "output" number will be way up, and my sodium number way down. I'm reasonably sure that if I'm successful with these two items, that all my other wonky numbers will fall into place. Crossing my fingers :-)
The CT Scan is to make sure that there are no other stone hanging around in my kidneys. I don't think there are, and - based on the ultrasound I had in March - my urologist did not see any shadows. However, apparently someone took another look at my March ultrasound and decided that I might or might not have some cysts hanging around inside of me. For this, the CT scan will tell the tale. I don't think it's anything serious.
I'm also down 15 pounds since the end of February, so that's a big plus, as well.
Then, a couple of weeks ago I saw my OB/GYN for my annual. He's been my doctor for more than two decades (hard to believe!) and I can't even tell you the number of people I've referred to him. I mention him and this visit because of what the urologist who performed my surgery said to me - in passing: Oh, BTW, your bladder has fallen, I can fix it if you want."
Seriously, that's what he said.
I spoke to my current urologist about this back in March and he said that yes, he could fix it, but to check with my OB/GYN when next I saw him because my OB/GYN has never said that I needed any kind of surgery. And sure enough, when I spoke to him, he said that unless it was really really bothering me that he didn't want to perform surgery on me, saying, "A, you've already had enough surgery this year." He also said that there were many other options to be explored before surgical repair, including pelvic floor physical therapy, and, possibly a pessary. I feel better about the whole thing. I've had the same OB/GYN for a really long time. Whatever he tells me, is what I'm going to go with. :-)
I have a follow up with my Retina Guy in early July, as well. All seems to be well except for the flashing that doesn't go away. I also had another ocular migraine - yesterday. It's so odd when it happens, and always in my left eye over to the outside. It's gone now - only lasted about 30 minutes or so. It's very hard to describe, but this photo is from Medical Treasure and it's a very good approximation of what I usually see:
It's jagged, and usually multicolored. Mine is usually all the way to outside of my field of vision, and it's only ever been in my left eye, but unlike this photo, they do not affect the clarity of the rest of my vision. They never last long, and usually my eye feels warm/hot after it's over. So, I guess I'll be telling the Retina Guy about it when I see him.
Enough about weird health stuff :-D
In the time that has passed since last I blogged, I have started to work with my plants again. I actually bought a few more. Some have arrived, some are still on their way. When all is said and done, I will have gone from 16 to 33 varieties again. Most of the new plants are semis and minis. Only time will tell how I do with them :-) My state organization is having a show in mid-November, and I wanted to be ready to hopefully have a few things to show. I also am already planning for national in 2018, which will be in Buffalo, New York.
Nearly all the plants were very neglected for the past year, but everything has been potted up now and I have a LOT of leaves down, this latter also in prep for the fall show. Hopefully some will be sold, and some will likely be used for table favors at the fall event.
Here's my Jersey Snowflakes before:
Here is it after grooming and repotting:
And here are all the leaves I took from it . . . I actually took more - but they weren't good to propagate. And yes, that's my hand. Really big leaves :-)
Here is a look at the stands. Stand 1:
Stand 2:
Here's a closer look at the current new babies:
I have to say, it was really nice to have my hands in the dirt again :-)
These days I can't stop listening to Dougie MacLean . . .
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