I just got a call from my BIL. My sister is in the hospital facing surgery tomorrow as they found a spot on her lung. Keep her in your thoughts, please.
Saef, your doctor is truly an idiot if he's telling you to lose weight with numbers like those. Does he know you exercise daily? If he's open to data, you might try showing him any of the dozen articles demonstrating that exercise is a much stronger arbiter of health than body weight (even if you were actually an "unhealthy" weight, which 150 pounds is NOT).
I'm so jealous of those of you on the west coast right now it's not even funny. -10F here tonight. UGH.
I ended up going back to my sleep-over last night. Usually when I'm that tired, frustrated, and anxious (about the next day's weather) I eat. Sometimes it's good to be in a house with no snack food - I resisted the temptation to stop at a grocery and had 1/2 c. low fat yogurt instead. The dog and I retired at 9:30.
Don't know when my client got there - probably somewhere in the wee hours of the night. Meticulous man though - he had put the recycling bins out before going to bed, after what was a long, long, frustrating day for him.
I crept out @ 5:30 this morning. Poor dog - she can't figure out what's going on. I'm going back to "walk" her at around 8:15. During the drive back from their house (5 minutes) my hands started aching from the cold.
Long day today
Oh and they've upgraded the forecast - now it's only going to be minus 38 with the windchill. Such an improvement from minus 41
Sending supportive thoughts for your sister, Allison, and to you and all her family.
Wish I could email some warmth from the Boston area to the U.S. Midwest and to Canada. We're feeling the cold at about positive 15 F - just shudder to think of -38 F (even if up from -41 F).
Saef, 2014 should definitely be the year of the new doctor for you!
Dagmar, I wish I could push that cold air out of there faster. Cold is tolerable, but these winds! Brrrr!
We finally reached the end of our driveway about 4pm yesterday and I did make it in to work today. After all, somebody had to get the last of the Christmas cookies the heck out of the house! The freeway was clear and polished, which scares me more than snow-covered. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to feel the same way. The commute was slow, respectful, and fortunately uneventful. I will be very glad when the temps are up enough to let the salt work!
Allison, thinking of you and your sister and family. Scary stuff.
saef, does your doctor know of your weight and eating disorder history? What a condescending way to talk to a patient. I'm sure it won't be difficult to find a better PCP.
elleohelle who posts here sometimes is coming tonight because her flight to Toronto from Montreal was cancelled. Haven't seen her since we met in Osaka in 2011!
Sending supportive thoughts for your sister, Allison, and to you and all her family.
Wish I could email some warmth from the Boston area to the U.S. Midwest and to Canada. We're feeling the cold at about positive 15 F - just shudder to think of -38 F (even if up from -41 F).
Sorry Bill - I'm measuring in Celcius (not that much better) rather than Farenheit.
Please also think good thoughts about my Jozi if you're so inclined. She has been doing so well but all of a sudden she is in pain and miserable. I think she hurt her hip or back leg. She won't eat and can't go down the few stairs to go outside. I finally got her down and put up the baby gate so she doesn't get stuck up again. She is just shaking and unhappy. I gave her pain meds but they are supposed to be given with food so her tummy will likely rebel-- I got her to take a smidge of peanut butter but nothing else. I've gone to work but dd is still home. She's asleep but I sent her a message to let me know how my baby is doing. I'm hoping I don't have to take her to the vet because it will be very hard to get 100 plus pounds of dog into the car if she can't jump.
Michele, sorry to hear Jozi is out of sorts! Poor puppy - I hope it's something simple and quick to heal. Maybe you could use some plywood or something to give her a ramp if you need to take her in?
I just can't fathom the cold and those wind chill temperatures. So glad I live where I do now. I do remember a few super snow storms, though. One was on Christmas eve where it started and basically never stopped. DH owned a Honda Civic Si at the time and we drove 20+ miles from our house to my sister's on Christmas morning. The roads had not been paved, so the trip took a lot longer. It continued to snow all day. When we finally got home that night we had accumulated over 3 feel of snow in the valley. I think there was over 9 feet in the mountains. Driving into our driveway (which we had shoveled that morning) and into our garage meant pushing quite a bit of snow from the driveway into the garage. But it wasn't anywhere close to as cold as what you are all experiencing.
After talking to my BIL last night, I called my brother's wife. BIL thought I should call my dad, but my SIL and I agreed not to upset his sleep and I'll call him after I hear from my BIL this morning. My brother called my sister in the hospital and got a bit more info. BIL had said a spot on her lung but my sister indicated something far worse. She hasn't been able to swallow for a few days or weeks and there appears to be a problem with her esophagus. I'm hoping it is what my mom had (ulcer from taking Fosamax) which was kind of helped by medication. I hope it's that and not cancer.
Meanwhile an update on Chico. I called to report his progress to the vet--he still has diarrhea so we put him back on Imodium (prior dosage did nothing as he was so sick). Already I'm seeing an improvement. His appetite is back and we decided to give him three more days of subcutaneous fluids as he's been losing fluid via the diarrhea. I'm hoping he isn't experiencing problems from the prednisone. The vet said to look for 'roid rage as it can happen. I'm kind of worried as he growled at one of the cats on Sunday night and this morning went ballistic with barking at the front door (I think the paper was being delivered). He usually calms down with the barking when I tell him to but he didn't this morning.
Good thoughts for everyone having hard times right now - there is so much going on with us! Family & pet illness, weather issues, medical drama with providers, financial issues and stress. I just hope that everything clears up for everyone, I'm sending out good vibes out to all.
I did my fitness assessment for my new personal training plan last night, and I am still working on the personal info. I'm having a hugely hard time with the positivity piece. I will get that done today. Here's hoping that at the end of this I will be easier able to say nice things about myself. I'm not broken or damaged and I don't need to be repaired. I just need a little polish.
I just got a call from my BIL. My sister is in the hospital facing surgery tomorrow as they found a spot on her lung. Keep her in your thoughts, please.
I've got my workout for the day in! I spent the morning trudging in waders over sand flats, marsh, and frozen and slushy salt water (we don't see that very often) looking for cold stunned sea turtles. We didn't find any that had washed to shore but they are probably out there (at these water temps we know stunning must be occurring). We'll look again this afternoon after the tide rises and tomorrow. I google earthed my walk and discovered it was only 2 miles. It felt a lot further! I know my legs will be sore even from that short distance. The waders are heavy.
A buddy of BF's 40th surprise birthday party is tonight at our local watering hole. I really just want to go home, walk the dog, heat up my chili leftovers and curl up under blankets. At least it starts early at 6 and since BF is also working a lot right now he doesn't want to stay more than an hour. I'm still sitting at my desk with my hat on, hoodie and thermals from my morning marsh walk. Hopefully a hot shower will revive me.
Allison, I'll keep your sister in my thoughts. Please keep us updated. What the heck is dog steroid rage? I've never heard of this and now you've got me worried. Emma had been holding her own - not getting better or worse - since Thanksgiving. Now she's sliding into worse territory again. We're doing to try another week of the antibiotics that helped her somewhat before, but the next resort is steroids and I'm sort of ready to try them if there antib's don't help a lot bc this has gone on too long and she's so skinny. I'm glad Chico is eating again.
Michele, oh no, sorry Jozi is hurt. I hope she's feeling better today.
Becky, I'm glad your roads are clear and everyone is driving safely.
Dagmar, stay warm! I'm glad your owner got home and you can return to your own home to warm up and get comfortable tonight.
Saef, I've been a member of Silver's anti-Saef's-doctor-fan club for a while. I remember your stories of encounters with this doc and thought "what an idiot" many times. I hope this new doctor is in your network.
Maybe you could use some plywood or something to give her a ramp if you need to take her in?
