Updates

Monday I had my first PT appointment, so since I was supposed to get out of my chair, I finally started my period. Needless to say, I didn't get out of my chair. My therapist Sheryl is pretty awesome -- very thorough and very open. She started to have a fit about me not leaning against the back of my chair, but when I explained to her why I've never allowed anyone to build it out, she listened to me and conceded it was probably best for me. She took a lot of measurements, and we ended with her stretching my elbows and shoulders. I even got a bit of a shoulder and upper back massage as she was checking the tightness in my shoulders. AAAAHH!! ::grin:: When she was stretching and checking the contracture in my left elbow, I felt a burning which at the time I attributed to the muscle being stretched. Found out when I was getting ready for bed that night that she had actually accidentally torn the skin in the crook of my elbow. Whoops! You know, I never realized that skin tears can hurt SO BAD!

After PT, Mom and I got lunch at Mickey D's (and I remembered why I don't eat there very often -- UGH!) and then headed for Salina to check out a van I'd seen in Friday's "Wheels For You" paper. We'd called the sales rep I'd talked to on Saturday, so he had the van out front and open for us when we got there. I rolled up on the lift and raised myself up into it like I already owned it, then he grabbed a tag and we headed off for a test drive. We talked price after, Mom got a quote on tags, and I signed all the papers. Drove home, put my FEMA and Sept./Oct. stipend checks in the bank, drew up a cashier's check, and Mom and Dad went back to get the van.

Braved the frigid wind on Tuesday to go to Hutch to get insurance on my new van and go to the pulmonologist.

Got to the pulmonary function test fifteen minutes early. They got me right in, performed very few tests compared to the PFT I did in NOLA, and I was done an hour and fifteen minutes before my appointment with the doc. Turned out to be a good thing since there were labs and x-rays to do that no one had told me about. Labs always take forever on me because I'm a hard stick under the best of circumstances (my blood vessels are small and roll all over the place), but get me cold and you ain't gettin' ANY blood without at least one hot pack. When I came out, I literally looked like a human pin-cushion with bandages on both hands (the blood chem draw -- one miss and one success) and one wrist (the blood gas draw -- I always wonder how many people I pass on the street think I've attempted suicide). X-rays went quickly, then it was hurry up and wait for the doc.

Pulmonology appointment was fine -- for me. I learned I basically ventilate off my right lung only since about two thirds of my left lung is squished to invisibility. The bottom third is there and all expanded though. I don't need any extra asthma meds, but he gave me samples of Allegra to try to help with mucus if I get a lot, and he also told me to try OTC Mucinex. I really like this doc because he took the time to go through EVERYTHING -- WITH ME. I also liked when he said, "If you get a cold, I want to know about it. If you get a sinus infection, I want to know about it. If you start making more mucus, I want to know about it. If you feel like your asthma is changing, I want to know about it." He's thorough, he knows how serious pneumonia or ANY lung stuff can be for us (I suspect he knew even BEFORE he took care of P last year when he almost died twice), and he took the time to give me literature on asthma when I told him no one has ever educated me about it.

Yesterday I went on campus to get my toxicology quiz done. It was due by noon, I only had two of nine questions completed, and I just wasn't getting anything done at home. Got it done, had lunch with Lunarbabe (sans Kender since she was home sick -- ::waves at Kender::), and hung out with P for a while and watched an episode of "Numb3rs." When Mom got there, it was shower time (lots of hot water and the bedroom heater cranked -- poor Mom), then off to Wally World to buy heavy curtains for my room and a couple of convex mirrors for Moby (that's what I've decided to call the van, thanks to E). I splurged on a peace symbol keychain -- if I can't have the hippie '71 VW Westphalia I wanted, I'll get the hippie keychain!