Not Over Till The Fat Lady Sings

Woke up this morning to sunshine and the possibility of a daytime temperature of 24C (75 Fahrenheit).    Maybe we will finally have summer.  The last few weeks have been cold, rainy and windy.  Last Thursday the temperature at 5:00 PM was only 9C (48 Fahrenheit).  In fact we had frost warnings every night last week.  With the prospect of some warm weather this afternoon, my husband put the pool heater on this morning.  I can hardly wait to swim.  Our warm weather usually begins in May and lasts until the second week in September.  Even though the daytime temperatures can be in the high 80’s in September, the nights cool off to near freezing.  What with the miserable weather this spring, we really only have eight weeks of summer left.

Last weekend I finally summoned up enough energy to fill 10 planters/pots with plants. These are the pedestal type plant pots. I have five standing on my back deck, two on each side of the driveway and two on either side of the front porch.  Since it was so late in the season I figured it was best to use red geraniums, white alyssum and purple lobelia in each of these pots.  I purchased four hanging planters.  The two hanging on the pole in the front yard are trailing geraniums in the most vivid magenta colour.

The one hanging on the pole next to the front porch is filled with red geraniums and trailing ivy.  I took the hanger off of the planter with the mauve petunias and put it on the bench in front of the garage.  The Mandevilla I purchased is gorgeous with beautiful pink flowers.  I put this one in front of the garage as well.

The mandevilla cannot be left outdoors during our cold winter months so I will take it in and hope it survives the winter.

During the winter months I had formulated these grandiose plans for my back yard.  My plans included a 40 foot flower bed along the fence in the back yard.  By the time June rolled around I realized that my plans were not realistic; I did not have the energy to weed the small areas in front of the house and along the side of the house.  Last weekend I had a brain wave.  My father had left a number of old fashioned tubs in the storage shed.  I decided to drill holes at the bottom of each tub for drainage and fill the tubs with potting soil.

Once I had planted a variety of flowers in each pot, the end result was really quite lovely.  Keeping the tubs weed free is so much easier than maintaining a 40 foot long flower bed.

Yesterday afternoon we finally planted the two crab apple trees I got for Mother’s Day from my son and daughter-in-law.  The two trees had been at the greenhouse waiting for decent planting conditions.

The average mature height of these trees is 15-20 feet tall and the average mature width is 15 feet.  I can hardly wait to see the blossoms next spring.  There are two other projects I would like to tackle this summer.  The first one is to plant a Rhodendrum, a Pembina Plum tree and a Fieling Plum tree.  The second project is to transplant several evergreen trees on the property.  The one my dad and husband moved from the old house to the new house last summer has done very well.

Last Thursday at noon I realized I was getting another nasty outer ear infection; the fourth one in a year.  My outer ear gets very itchy, then crusty and a day or two later the infection will set in.  By Thursday evening it had spread down my neck and on my face.  Thankfully I had an appointment scheduled for Friday morning and No Name prescribed antibiotics.  When I asked No Name why these infections happened he told me my immune system was compromised.  It certainly doesn’t take a mental giant to come to that conclusion.

Aside from receiving antibiotics and a refill for my thyroid medications, nothing else was accomplished at the appointment on Friday.  But then, I am past the point of expecting any great revelations concerning my health.  I get the feeling that No Name considers my symptoms to be an old, boring story that does not bear repeating.  How many times do you have to tell a so-called mental giant that you suffer from extreme fatigue, weird infections and spiking blood pressure that can crash as fast as it rises?  How often does a doctor have to hear about the bruising, the muscle weakness, the excruciating bone pain and the dizziness to the point of passing out?  How many times do you have to repeat the fact that when you get up from a supine position or when you bend over the whole world begins to spin?  How many times do you have to explain the adrenaline rushes and the sweating episodes that occur with any exertion?  How many times does a person have to repeat this sad, pathetic story before a dim memory of lessons taught in medical school begins to form?

It has been six years this June that the nightmare began.  I should be grateful I suppose, that six years ago I had no idea that I would still be begging for answers in 2004.  At that time I was so naïve and uninformed that I actually believed that the medical know-it-alls would soon find the reason for my debilitating symptoms.  I suppose this would be considered one of those times when ignorance is bliss.

Tomorrow is my grandson’s last day of school before summer vacation.  We will be attending the picnic at grandson’s school tomorrow.  The parents and grandparents are invited to bring lunch and join the students at noon tomorrow for this annual event.

Grandson and his friend will be joining me for a short vacation to a family resort on July 5th to July 8th.  The resort is only 20 miles from where we live so it is an easy drive for me.  The resort has three pools, waterslides, bikes trails, paddle boats, fishing pond, miniature golf course and a games room.  The restaurant at the pool area is open for lunch and supper.  Providing the weather co-operates, it should be a fun and relaxing couple of days.

Phineas, the Cat with Graves’ Disease!!!

Yesterday we noticed that our cat was feeling poorly. He was very lethargic and refused to eat or drink. He seemed to be worse today so I made an appointment and took him to see the vet.  Phineas is known at the Vet Clinic as the “cat with an attitude”. During the initial exam he howled and growled like a cat ten times his size. The ultimate humiliation was when they stuck a thermometer up his rear end. The yell that emanated from that little throat was unbelievable. If looks could kill!

The vet decided it would be best for all if Phineas was anesthetized so they could do a proper exam, give him the fluids he needed and do blood work.  I left while this was going on; I couldn’t handle his howling and yowling.

I got a call about an hour later with the diagnosis; hyperthyroidism. Now there will two of us under the same roof with the same disease.  What a hoot!  Phineas will have to take medication every morning and hopefully we should see an improvement within a week.

Thankfully all his other tests came back normal.  According to the vet he is otherwise a very healthy 16 year old cat.  If that poor creature felt as badly as I do no wonder he has spent the last day and a half hiding under a coffee table. There are many days when I wish I could hide in a similar place.  Apparently he was very dehydrated and the IV fluids seem to have helped.  He is walking around the house letting me know that he is very ticked off with his trip to the “house of horrors” this afternoon.

My life in the last few weeks has been similar to my cat’s life.  I have been lethargic and miserable. I cannot get enough sleep and the bone pain has reached an all time high.

The weather has not improved much since my last entry on May 11th. The more than 12 inches of snow the blizzard dumped on us that day did not melt until the end of the week. Since May 11th we have had mostly cloudy days with intermittent rain showers. This past week we had frost warnings almost every evening; makes me wonder whether summer has passed us by this year. Mind you, this miserable weather has given me a reprieve from yard work. 

During the last two weeks I have spent most of my time working on the books for the business year end.  Since I am someone who hates numbers, I find this a task a nightmare.  Thankfully I have remote access to the office and can work in the comfort of my home.  Of course, the other thing to consider is that if I appeared at the office in the state I am in the customers would flee in droves.  Let’s just say that hell would freeze over before I would qualify for a beauty pageant.  I finished this horrendous job Thursday, May 20th at midnight and balanced to the penny.  The rest is the accountant’s problem.

The stress of this job has however played havoc with my body.  I slept all of two hours on Thursday night after finishing the books.  While shopping with my mom the next day I thought I was going to pass out in the store.  On the Saturday I was finally able to catch up on some sleep; sleeping on and off until 2:30 PM. Stress seems to aggravate the nausea, dizziness and bone pain. 

Last Wednesday morning, May 19th, I had an appointment with No Name.  My blood pressure was 190/100 even though I am now on three blood pressure medications. When I mentioned the weight loss he finally noticed and ordered some blood tests including Potassium, ESR, CA 125 and CEA.  The test results are not back and I suspect I will have to wait until my next appointment in June. 

Life goes on and the saga continues………

Pictures of the blizzard we had today.  As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Hopefully all moms reading this journal entry had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  Yesterday was one of those days that wonderful memories are made of.  My husband and I made a quick trip into the city at 11:00 AM to pick up supplies for the office. We were back home by 2:00 PM. I had made supper reservations for 4:30 PM at one of the local restaurants. We were joined by my parents, daughter, son-in-law and grandson. The Mother’s Day dinner buffet was “to die for.” After dinner we came back to our house for coffee and more dessert.

My son and daughter in law, who live in the US, called to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day. They sent me, via my husband, a gift certificate to purchase two crab apple trees from the local greenhouse.  I can hardly wait to get the trees planted – I love crab apples.

We were finally blessed with warm weather yesterday; the temperature during afternoon was 25C. Sadly, the weather forecaster is predicting freezing rain or a mixture or rain and snow for tomorrow. To make matters worse, we can expect an accumulation up to 20 millimeters. The wet weather will continue throughout the remainder of the week. We are usually swimming in our pool by the second week in May but that is obviously not going to happen this year.

No Name is back from his extended vacation and I had an appointment to see him last week Thursday. The nurse took my blood pressure during the appointment and even though I am on two hypertension medications my blood pressure was 180/100. No Name’s solution to this problem was to put me on a third medication. We discussed the plasma free metanephrine test and I informed No Name that this test was not available in Canada. I told No Name that I was contemplating a trip to the US and asked him if the results of a plasma free metanephrine test done in the US would be recognized in Canada. According to No Name, even though Canadian specialists agree to acknowledge tests done at the Mayo Clinic, more often than not they will insist on redoing the tests using Canadian testing criteria before they will accept the results. This makes it especially difficult if a test done at Mayo is not recognized in Canada.

The medical research I did in the last two weeks has not been a complete waste of time. A fellow Canadian who has been struggling to get a diagnosis contacted me a few weeks ago. She has shared with me some very interesting and pertinent information about Pheochromocytomas, has spoken to a west coast doctor on my behalf and has sent me some excellent spreadsheet templates I can use to track test results and blood pressure readings. Her efforts on my behalf are greatly appreciated. I posted some of my concerns on a Pheochromocytoma message board and received some very helpful replies. This information will be very useful when I proceed with further testing.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of Widebertha’s Message Board for their thoughtful, kind and helpful posts. You are a wonderful group and it is you who make Widebertha’s message board a pleasure to read.

The only description for this past month is miserable. The pain is relentless, the fatigue is debilitating, and the weight loss is bizarre.

Even though my body felt like I had been run over by a truck, I accompanied my daughter, son in law and grandson to the city at 10:00 AM on April 2nd.   Since it was Grandson’s birthday weekend, he took a friend with him. I had made arrangements with the hotel to check in early so the boys would have the afternoon to play at the pool.

My husband had planned to join us at the hotel after work.   He left home before 5:00 PM. We waited and waited for him and I tried to call him on his cell a number of times.  I finally got through at 7:00 PM and the poor man was fit to be tied. He had been in the city since 5:00 PM but couldn’t remember what hotel we were at. He finally arrived at the hotel at 7:30 PM; in time to join us for dinner.

We had a birthday cake in our hotel room that evening and Grandson opened his gifts. The new skateboard and X Box with three games were a hit. We all left the hotel at noon on Saturday and met at A&W for lunch before heading back  home. (A&W was the kids’ choice).

We got home at 2:00 PM on Saturday and by 3:30 PM two of the moms from the Ukrainian Dance Ensemble were in my kitchen helping me cut up fruit for the fruit platters. My grandson’s annual spring recital was scheduled for Sunday, April 4th. All the people attending are invited to join the dancers at a reception following the recital. As soon as the moms left I went back to printing programs. I couldn’t finalize the recital programs until Friday morning so I ended up printing programs until 2:30 AM Sunday morning.

Grandson and I were at the theatre by 10:30 AM on Sunday morning. The kids did several run throughs of their dances and the moms set up the displays and the lunch tables. The recital started at 2:00 PM. We were so proud of Grandson; he didn’t miss a dance step even though he woke up with a fever of 102 on Sunday morning. My husband and I didn’t get home until 5:00 PM since we stayed to help with the clean up.

When I finally got home I crashed. I was in so much pain I could not find a comfortable position in bed. My darling daughter made dinner for us so we went over there at 6:30 PM. After supper we watched the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” with them. As soon as the movie ended we went back home and I went straight to bed.

Monday I did a few things around the house and went out to pick up Grandson’s birthday cake. Since April 5th was Grandson’s actual birthday I had invited family over to my house for birthday cake and coffee at 7:00 PM. Had a lovely evening but I was beyond exhausted.

April 6th was a very disappointed morning. I had placed several calls to the hypertension specialist office trying to book the appointment I was to have six weeks from my first appointment on March 1. I also inquired about my lab results from the tests he had ordered and I had done on March 1. When I called on April 6th, I was told my appointment would be on Sept 1 and I would have to wait for my test results until that time. I told the receptionist that this was unacceptable so she said she would have someone call me this afternoon. What is their agenda? Are they waiting for me to croak so I will no longer bother them?

The Old Hippie finally called me back on April 15th. He told me that the few tests he took were normal and that he would see me again on September 1. He also told me he had no idea why I had so much pain and that I had normal blood pressure readings in his office. Of course I did! The man doesn’t seem understand the concept of intermittent spiking blood pressure. No Name had described my problem of spiking blood pressure in a letter he wrote to the Old Hippie.

The bottom line is that here I sit waiting for nothing. No Name is on an extended vacation and I will not see him again until May 7th. Even though I am on two blood pressure medications I continue to have blood pressure spikes as high as 220/120. The local hospital refuses to do a plasma free metanephrine. The lab director insists that it is too complicated. Even the Old Hippie has no clue about a plasma free metanephrine test which according to the information below has been available since November 1999.

We are told by our government that we have a wonderful medical system. Everyone gets equal rights to medical care. They constantly stress that we do not have a two tier system. This is a blatant lie. We pay through the nose for our medical care. We pay a very high personal income tax; one of the highest in the world. The two tier system does exist in this country. The rich go to the US for their medical care. The others die. The perfect example of this is a friend of my husband’s whom I shall call Joe. About six weeks ago Joe was diagnosed with cancer. He was sent to the “city” for surgery. The surgeon opened him up; promptly closed him up again and sent him home to get his affairs in order. Well, Joe happens to be rich so he and a friend rented a plane and pilot and flew to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. After 5 days of tests at the Mayo Clinic he was told that there was hope and his situation was not terminal. He came home to regain his strength and will go back to the Mayo Clinic for his surgery. If Joe was a car salesman in Canada, he would be busy planning his funeral and saying his goodbyes to family and friends. If this isn’t a two tier system, what is?

Our hospitals apparently have the right to refuse to do a test that a doctor has ordered. They can get away with using a lame excuse such as “it is too complicated; we run an assembly line here.” We import doctors from South Africa and allow them to practice medicine for 5 years without a valid Canadian medical license. Our Canadian medical schools limit enrollment so our country has a shortage of qualified Canadian doctors. The few good doctors that Canada does produce head to the US as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Instead of working on keeping Canadian doctors in Canada we import them from countries overseas.

To make matters even worse, there is the stigma attached to women over fifty. As far as I am concerned, the medical profession considers women over 50 as “throw aways”. If we are thin we suffer from anorexia, menopause and depression. If we are overweight we suffer from over eating, menopause and depression. If we have low potassium levels we suffer from induced vomiting, menopause and depression. When No Name wrote to a well known kidney specialist on my behalf and cited my low potassium levels, the specialist’s assumption without ever seeing me was that the low levels were probably caused by self-induced vomiting and of course menopause and depression. If we suffer from bone pain it is from lack of exercise, menopause and depression. If we suffer from extreme fatigue and exhaustion we are lazy, menopausal and depressed. If we suffer from high blood pressure we are suffering from self-induced stress, menopause and depression. If we have sleep problems we suffer from sleep apnea, self-induced stress, menopause and depression. It really does not matter what the test results show. If an over 50 year old woman attends a sleep clinic and there is no sleep apnea, the doctor conveniently ignores the result. If her test result comes back lower than normal it is considered a fluke. If her test result comes back higher than normal it is most certainly something she ate to confuse the test result.

Who gives the doctors the right to presume that women over 50 are not interested in a decent quality of life? Who gives them the right to ignore symptoms for years? The doctors in this country have set themselves on a pedestal and consider themselves immune from criticism and accountability. The trouble is they are immune and they have the convenience of burying their mistakes. If my car mechanic messes up my car he is held accountable. If a physician messes up my diagnosis, he just goes on his merry way.

This is the information I received via email this week. According to the website below: Clinical testing for plasma metanephrines with a 2-day turn-around is available from the Mayo Clinic by calling 1-800-533-1510 or +1 (507) 266-5700. The published fee as of November 8th, 1999 was $122.50. CPT code 82491. Please ask for information on blood drawing, shipping instructions, and patient instructions.

Estimated shipping cost from Canada about $100 – $150. (The blood has to be shipped on dry ice.)

Finding Elusive Pheochromocytomas

Review of studies by Graeme Eisenhofer, Ph.D.

A newly developed blood test to detect potentially deadly tumors that form in the adrenal glands has been shown to be significantly more sensitive than traditional diagnostic tests. The new test provides earlier and more accurate diagnoses of these tumors in patients with an inherited predisposition to develop them, possibly preventing complications or death. The study, led by researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), appeared in the June 17, 1999, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

“Although rare, these tumors are clinically important because they must be excluded as a surgically curable cause of hypertension in many of the people who develop high blood pressure,” says Graeme Eisenhofer, Ph.D., a researcher in the Clinical Neurocardiology Section of the NINDS, and lead author of the study. “If the tumors are not diagnosed and removed, they can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the patient.”

The mainly benign tumors, called pheochromocytomas (pheos), are sometimes found in patients with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), a familial cancer syndrome with neurologic complications in which affected individuals inherit a predisposition to develop tumors in a number of organs, including the adrenal glands that sit atop the kidneys.

“Pheochromocytoma can occur in VHL patients as young as 4 years of age. Deaths from unsuspected adrenal gland tumors have been reported in young children in these families and it is important to make the diagnosis early so that surgical intervention can be performed,” said W. Marston Linehan, M.D., NCI’s Chief of Urologic Surgery.

A patient who develops pheos for any reason is at risk for dangerous and unpredictable surges in blood levels of certain adrenal gland hormones that regulate blood pressure and which are responsible for the so-called “fight or flight” responses to stress. The surges in hormones and resulting spikes in blood pressure put the patient at risk for heart attack, stroke, hemorrhage, or sudden death.

Currently, the most reliable tests for pheos use imaging technologies, such as CT (computed tomoraphy) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), which can be time-consuming and expensive and which do not necessarily identify a tumor as a pheo. Confirmatory biochemical tests are required for accurate diagnosis. Several biochemical tests are available which measure blood and urine levels of the adrenal gland hormones. But in many cases these tests are not accurate, because some pheos do not release the adrenal hormones regularly or in significant amounts. These tests depend upon catching the pheo during an active episode.

Drs. Eisenhofer, Linehan, and their colleagues studied enzymes important in catecholamine production that may have altered activity in pheos in contrast to normal adrenal tissue. Metanephrines are produced mostly by pheos, not normal tissue. Dr. Eisenhofer and colleagues found that measurements of blood levels of these chemicals makes it easier to differentiate secretion of normal tissue versus pheo. Thus these measurements give a more accurate diagnosis of pheos. A person with a normal plasma concentration of metanephrine and normetanephrine can be fairly confident of not having a pheo. Because of the high reliability of this tests, additional tests are not needed to rule out a pheo, significantly reducing costs.

Altogether, they measured the amounts of normetanephrine and metanephrine in 26 patients with VHL and 9 patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2), another rare genetic disease characterized by pheochromocytomas. Use of the new test detected 97 percent of the tumors, whereas the other tests detected only 47 to 74 percent of tumors. Although particularly useful in diagnosis of tumors in VHL and MEN2, the test also shows promise for improved diagnosis of pheos in the much larger population of patients with high blood pressure where the tumor needs to be excluded.

Symptoms. Pheochromocytomas are usually benign. They may occur in or near the adrenal glands, or anywhere along the sympathetic nervous system roughly from the base of the skull to the bladder. The most apparent symptom, caused by the increased secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine, is hypertension, or high blood pressure. This hypertension may be constant or intermittent. Attacks may occur every few months or several times daily, and typically last less than five minutes. Physical and emotional stresses can initiate an attack. During severe attacks, patients may experience headache, sweating, apprehension, palpation, tremor, pallor or flushing of the face, nausea and vomiting, pain in the chest and abdomen. There may be a tingling, burning, or crawling sensation on the skin of arms or legs or urinary difficulties.

Testing options. The most commonly used test for a pheo is a 24-hour urine collection. All the urine is collected for a 24-hour period, kept refrigerated, and then analyzed for levels of catecholamines and epinephrine. Patients are asked to avoid caffeine, bananas, vanilla, chocolate and a lengthy list of other foods for two days before the test. Many foods can cause false positives, but caffeine is the most frequent cause of false negative results. The test is somewhat inconvenient, as you have to keep a jug of urine in the refrigerator, and you have to remember to save all urine for this period, even if you wake in the middle of the night. This test is even more difficult to perform reliably with a small child.

Pheos that occur in the adrenal glands themselves are usually the easiest to find. They usually appear quite clearly on a CT or MRI, even when they are quite small. CT and MRI are equally good at showing them. The hardest ones to find are those which occur outside the adrenal glands, in the tissue of the sympathetic nervous system, anywhere from the base of the skull to the bladder.

Dr. Eisenhofer and his colleagues compared the normetanephrine and metanephrine levels in the blood against the blood levels of catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine) and the levels of these and other chemicals in the urine. They found that the blood test was 97% accurate in detecting the presence of pheo tumors, while the other biochemical tests were only 47% to 74% accurate. All patients with MEN-2 had high blood concentrations of metanephrine, while the patients with VHL had almost exclusively high blood plasma concentrations of only normetanephrine. One person with VHL had a normal plasma level of normetanephrine. This patient had a very small adrenal tumor (less than 1 cm.) The higher the sensitivity of measurements of plasma normetanephrine and metanephrine, the more accurate the test in finding pheos.

The study recommends use of HPLC measurements of plasma free normetanephrine and metanephrine as the initial biochemical test of choice. To avoid false-positive results, a list of any drugs the patient may be taking should also be considered, and the patient must be cautioned not to take acetaminophen in any form (e.g. Tylenol, Excedrin, or as an ingredient in cold medications) for at least five days before the sample is drawn. It is best if the sample is obtained in the morning after an overnight fast (water and non-caffeinated soft drinks are permissible). Caffeinated or even decaffeinated coffee should be avoided for at least 24 hours before the test, and the doctorshould be told if these have been taken, as they can cause higher levels of dihydrocaffeic acid in the bloodstream and reduce the accuracy of the test.

If plasma free metanephrines have been run, and they are well within the normal range, then it is highly unlikely that the patient has a pheo and there is little need for further tests. On the other hand, blood or urine catecholamines, even when performed in combination, may yield normal results when there is in fact a pheo present.

Locating the tumor. In most cases of positive biochemical results, CT or MRI scan of the entire abdomen will usually locate the tumor. However, in many cases it is also appropriate to follow up with MIBG scintigraphy — preferably using the 123-iodine labeled compound rather than the 131-iodine labeled compound — to establish more reliably that a located mass is a pheochromocytoma, or to locate an extra-adrenal pheo.123-iodine is ten times as sensitive as 131-iodine. It tends to be less available because it has a much shorter half-life and therefore has to be used within 24 hours of preparation. It is most available near large university centers where they are able to do the “labeling” process in their own research facilities. MIBG-131 finds only 60% of pheos in VHL; MIBG-123 finds in the range of 95%.

Treatment. The treatment of choice whenever possible is laparoscopic adrenal sparing surgery. Since VHL patients often have bilateral pheos in the course of their lifetime, it is important to retain as much adrenal function as possible even when dealing with a single pheo.

1. Eisenhofer, G.; Lenders, J.W.M.; Linehan, W.M.; Walther, M.M.; Goldstein, D.S.; Keiser, H.R. “Plasma normetanephrine and metanephrine for detecting pheochromocytoma in Von Hippel-Lindau disease and multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2.” N.E.J.M. 340:24 (1999) 1872-1879.

2. Eisenhofer, G; Walther, W.M., et al, “Plasma Metanephrines: Novel and Cost Effective Test for Pheochromocytoma,” Proceedings of the 1st International Meeting on Adrenal Diseases, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, September 7, 1999.

The following poem was written after many nasty attacks by a group of crazy women most with adrenal insufficiency.   They spend their time trying to destroy websites and malign the builders of these websites.

The Internet Spy

I am the nasty internet spy
I simply cannot tell a lie
I log in each and every day
The latest news I must relay.

My cohorts wait with baited breath
To hear the latest tale,
These sycophants depend on me
I know I must not fail.

Our daily goal is not quite clear
Incompetence our greatest fear,
We subversively encourage strife
The outcome havoc in another’s life.

It never rains; but pours. This was certainly the case yesterday evening. This weekend Grandson was playing in the last hockey tournament of the season. We went to the game at noon yesterday which by the way was a 6-6 tie. As we drove home from the noon game it began to rain. As the afternoon progressed the rain became a downpour. I had spent part of the afternoon reading and part of the afternoon having a much needed sleep.  When I woke up in time to leave for the hockey game at 5:45 PM I was feeling better than I had in a long time but this was soon to change.

I managed to go to the game without my cane. Grandson’s team lost this game; four of the players , including my grandson, were sick. Since grandson’s parents were going to a birthday party that evening, he came home with us. The plan was to order in pizza and watch a movie. When we got home at 7:15 PM, I had a strange feeling that I needed to check the basement. To my horror a portion of the carpet in the family room was flooded and the water was pouring in through the window.

My husband grabbed a bucket and began to bail the water out of the window well and stack sandbags. Just when we thought we had the problem under control, the sandbags gave way and a torrent of water came gushing into the basement through the open window.  I have never seen anything like it. There was literally a river of water pouring through the window into the basement. I thought my husband was going to have a heart attack in his desperation to try to stop the flow of water.  The ground was frozen solid; there were still banks of snow at that side of the house and he couldn’t see where the water was coming from.  So much water had collected in that part of the yard that he was in water up to his knees. Because the ground was frozen solid and there was a layer of ice underneath all that water he could not dig a trench to divert the water away from the window and the house. To make matters worse it was just above freezing and pouring rain. I placed a frantic phone call for help and thankfully help arrived in a matter of minutes,  With the added help and sandbags, they were finally able to stop the waterfall. We all heaved a sigh of relief thinking that the sandbags would stem the flow of water. Needless to say we were wrong.

With in ten minutes, even though the window was closed, the water began gushing in again.  It was then that we realized that we would have to keep bailing water out of the window well if we wanted to prevent further damage to the basement.  My husband came up with a brilliant plan; we would use our carpet shampooer to suck the water out of the window well. By 1:00 AM he was absolutely exhausted.  We decided that he would take an hour nap and I would continue draining the water from the window well every 7 minutes. (It took exactly seven minutes for the window well to fill up with water.) This is what I did every seven minutes from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM. Thankfully the sun rose at 6:15 AM and with great difficulty he was finally able to hack enough of a trench out of the frozen ground and build dirt barriers so the water could drain away from the house.

The flood restoration carpet cleaners were called this afternoon. I left a message on their answering machine. Hopefully they will call first thing tomorrow morning. Apparently we are not the only ones in town who experienced flooding last night.  In fact some homes had up to four inches of water in their basements so we consider ourselves fortunate. We have water damage in an area approximately 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep. Thankfully no furniture was damaged since we had just enough time to move it out of reach of the approaching water.

Flooding like this is not a common occurrence were we live. The huge amount of snow, the frozen ground, the temperature hovering just above freezing and torrential rains made the conditions just right for this disaster to happen.

This was not exactly how I had planned to celebrate my birthday. Quite frankly I am glad that we cannot see into the future.  I would have had a nervous breakdown yesterday morning if I had known what was in store for us.  My body feels like it has been run over by a truck.  I thought my bone pain was intolerable before the flood; today it is past intolerable.

My daughter had a lovely birthday party for me at her house this evening. She baked my favourite birthday cake; sponge cake with Seven Minute Frosting. We spent an enjoyable and relaxing evening with family.

Friday morning I had my appointment with No Name. His nurse had called me earlier in the week to tell me that No Name wanted to see me as soon as possible to discuss the letter he had received from the neurologist. I worried about the appointment all week since I had no idea what the neurologist would have written in his letter to No Name. As far as I was concerned, the appointment with the neurologist had been a complete waste of time.

My worries were unfounded. The neurologist had told me that he felt the pain in my head was caused by an inflammation. In the letter to No Name he wrote that he was convinced that the pain in my head was caused by muscle spasms. The neurologist suggested I switch from the pain medication I am taking to a sleeping pill at night to prevent the “adrenaline rushes” which he referred to as Restless Leg Syndrome.  No Name and I discussed my previous trial of sleeping pills and decided that I would stay with the pain medication. I have tried two different sleeping pills in the past and both times the pills made me so hyper that instead of sleeping I was rearranging furniture at 3:00 AM.  No Name told me that the sleeping pills would not alleviate the bone pain and I believe he is right.  The saying “and this too shall pass” certainly applies here. Hopefully the carpet cleaners/flood restoration people will arrive tomorrow morning and begin the clean up process. It does not take long for wet carpeting to smell. My grandson is on his spring break from school this week. I had promised him a sleep over party with friends at my house this week. Due to the flooding we will have to make other plans.  A trip to a hotel in the city sounds like a good idea.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”  ~Henry David Thoreau.

Yesterday was the first day of spring. This fact is hard to believe when you look out of my windows and see the amount of snow in my yard.  It did rain for a little while  Friday morning but by 11:45 PM the temperature was down at minus 11 with a wind chill of minus 14. The wind came out of the NNW at 52km/hr with gusts to 67 km/hr.  I could hear the wind howling around the corners of the house as I lay in bed reading.

I broke my resolve this week and let myself become frustrated and discouraged. This is such a silly thing to do since frustration and discouragement prevent me from thinking clearly and focusing on solving my problems.                                                                                   

My appointment with No Name on Wednesday accomplished nothing.  I had gone in with high expectations; certain that No Name would have received the follow up letter from the Old Hippie. This letter was going to outline the Old Hippie’s recommendations on how to deal with my high blood pressure and list the tests he wanted No Name to order on my behalf. I must back track for a moment to explain that the name I have chosen for the hypertension specialist is “Old Hippie”. The deciding factors in choice of this name were his age, his long hair and the earring in his ear. 

No Name gave me six week prescriptions for all of my medications. He is leaving at the end of the month for his second extended overseas holiday in a year. This was the reason for my panic when I discovered that No Name had not received a letter from the Old Hippie.  I am not sure I can wait two more months before a solution is found for my spiking blood pressure. I suppose I will have to take the “bull by the horns” and call the Old Hippie tomorrow to tell him that No Name is leaving on an extended vacation and will not be available to implement his recommendations and tests until the beginning of May.

Thursday morning I had my long awaited appointment with the neurologist. This was an appointment I had been looking forward to; absolutely certain that I would get some answers. The neurologist is the doctor I had seen for years about my premenstrual migraine headaches. The migrane treatment he recommended was both practical and helpful.  To say I was bitterly disappointed at the outcome of this appointment is an understatement. The neurologist was his usual friendly self and we talked about my symptoms. I mentioned the high blood pressure problems, my bone pain, the localized pain in my head and the inability to stay asleep at night. I was very careful to mention only these four problems. I learned a long time ago that doctor’s eyes tend to glaze over if you mention more than four problems at any given appointment. The neurologist looked in my eyes, had me follow his finger with my eyes, had me touch my nose with my eyes closed and put pressure on the location of the pain in my head. I was not expecting him to touch my head so I nearly jumped off the table when he did. He acknowledged that I had a tender spot and concluded that it was the result of an inflammation in my head. The neurologist told me he would write to No Name and tell him of his findings and that was the end of the appointment.

The appointment lasted all of 15 minutes which included the two times he left the consultation room I was in to confer with other patients. I have no idea if an inflammation in a person’s head is something to be concerned about.  I was so flabbergasted by the time the appointment came to an end I forgot to ask. I am beginning to believe that I must have a tattoo on my forehead, visible only to the esteemed medical professionals I see, that says, “I really don’t want a diagnosis; doctor appointments are my form of entertainment.”

My grandson’s hockey team played in the second last tournament of the season this weekend. The tournament was held in a little town about 30 minutes away. We attended the 4:00 PM game yesterday afternoon. Grandson’s team lost that game. We were back at the arena for the 1:30 PM game this afternoon. This time Grandson’s team won 7-0. The win made them contenders for the gold medal and of course we stayed to watch that game at 5:45 PM. Grandson’s team played a great game but did not win. The lose put them in second place and they went home with the silver medal.

This Nana won one of the silent auction prizes which included a black fold up sports chair in a bag, a Wood’s blow up mattress, an all purpose pump (great for bicycle tires and floating devices for the pool), Harley Davidson wrap around sun glasses, (now Papa just needs to get that bike), fishing tackle with over 100 lures and a smart looking rain resistant jacket.  All in all I think I did very well considering I only spend $15.00 on tickets.

Grandson’s Ukrainian Dance recital is on April 4th so I spent time this weekend designing and printing the tickets. This week I have to get the letters out to local businesses asking them to advertise in the recital program. Hopefully we will get as good a response this year as we did last year. I will also have to get the recital programs designed and ready for printing this week. I enjoy designing the tickets, programs and advertising inserts and and these items are my small contribution to the dance club.

This past week has been a mixed bag of joy and despair. As I have surely mentioned before, my grandson was picked to play on the hockey team that was participating in this year’s Provincial Hockey Tournament.  His dad, his papa and another dad drove out to Provincials with three very excited and hyper players. They left Thursday, March 4th at 4:30 PM and arrived at Provincials 5 hours later. The team played very well and came home with the bronze medal. My grandson phoned me from the arena late Sunday afternoon to tell me the good news. Papa and the two dads were beyond tired when they arrived home at 10:00 PM on Sunday night, March 7th.  Grandson wore his bronze medal to school the next day.

My daughter and I spent a lazy weekend at home while the guys were at the tournament. True to form, daughter made a fantastic fresh shrimp salad on Friday evening. She decided to bring her two cats to my house for the weekend so she didn’t have to run back and forth to feed them. This provided a bit of excitement for us. My cat was not impressed with his house guests.  After he established his boundaries with hissing and growling, the three cats co-existed for the remainder of the weekend. My daughter and I kept ourselves entertained with reading; sleeping, movies and watching the cats interact.

Yesterday afternoon my parents and I drove into the city to attend the wedding of our cousin and niece. The roads were good on the way into the city but coming home was another story. While we were at the reception it started to rain.  The temperature dropped so the roads were covered with ice on the drive home. To say we were relieved when we finally got home is an understatement.  I hate icy road conditions.

What I found very distressing yesterday was how difficult it was for me to get ready to go out to the wedding.  Simple things like putting on panty hose and make up become a real chore with this all consuming bone pain. By the time I was dressed the sweat was running down my face and neck. When I got up on Saturday morning I realized very quickly that I was having trouble keeping my balance just walking around in my house.  I swallowed my pride and took my cane to the wedding. 

To back track a bit, my grandson came over on Friday night for his weekly sleep over. Since I felt miserable that evening I promised him that I would watch a movie with him on Saturday morning. He woke me up at 8:30 AM with a big smile on his face and a cheery “Good morning, Nana.” I have to confess that his Nana was a supreme grump and I felt horribly guilty. This poor child should not have to face a grumpy Nana just because she feels like death warmed over.  I do try very hard to hide how miserable I feel but sometimes my acting abilities fail me.  After 20 minutes I managed to get this wretched body of mine moving and we drove to McDonalds to pick up breakfast which we ate while watching our movie. After the movie I showered and with much moaning and groaning got dressed for the wedding later that day. When I was done I walked into the computer room where that sweet child was playing computer games. He looked at me and said, “Nana you are beautiful.”  That precious grandson of mine always manages to brighten my day.

This coming week Wednesday I will see No Name to discuss the outcome of my appointment with the hypertension specialist. We also need to discuss the results of the tests No Name ordered on January 27th. Since I have a copy of the test results I know that my cortisol level and potassium level were low.  I do think that the low cortisol level and low potassium level are partly responsible for the extreme fatigue and pain I am experiencing. Dare I hope that No Name will have a sudden burst of inspiration and actually come up with some ideas?  If he does the shock might just be too much for both of us.

Since Seattle is experiencing much nicer weather than we are, I have decided to pack up my decrepit body and fly out there for a visit. I  am looking forward to spending time with my son and daughter-in-law.