Month: March 2012

Off colour for several weeks – at the end of my tether and in tears in the consulting rooms – off I go for a CT scan on my Lumbar Spine.

‘So we can see whats really going on’ says the GP.

Then you see words like:

Degenerative changes
Spondylosis with anterior osteophyte formation
Reduction in dimensions of thecal sac
Significant spinal stenosis

And you wonder
What does it all mean??

Basically Osteoarthritis of the Spine can be a pain – literally – thats when I get angry and the self pity party erupts.  What did I do to deserve it – ‘what did I do this time’ when the joints become inflammed.  Its all very well saying many people develop osteophytes (bony spurs) its the ones I have that are causing me grief!

The other pain (as in nuisance) is the way the little things have been suffering – sitting on a chair can be awkward as it squashes the spine, standing at the sink washing the dishes sees you lifting one leg then the other as you try to relieve the pressure in your back, not being able to move comfortably at Yoga, having a leg and foot that occasionally tingles then goes numb can be down right scary ( luckily it only  happens when I’m walking and not driving) – those sorts of things.  There are more.  They aren’t life threatening – just inconvenient.

I do know what the medical terms mean – its the effect they will have on my life I’m wondering about.  Now it’s there in black and white will I let the big words influence how I feel and live?   Do I eckers like – Not bl…..dy likely!!

At the moment things have calmed down – in fact I find it quite amusing that here I am two weeks after the scan almost pain free.  You know how when you lose something, you go and buy a new one and then find the lost one – well its almost like that.  Intolerable pain – scan to find out how severe the findings are – within a few days pain goes away.

‘We’ll continue managing it conservatively’ says the GP ‘See the chiropractor when you feel the need, keep up the exercise and try to lose a little more weight, if you feel they help take your vitamins, fish oil and glucosamine.’ This visit he did however offer me a script – an anti inflammatory – ‘for when you feel you really need it’.

In other words, there’s no magic wand available, learn to live with it – its not going to go away.

Well I’m still in need of a bit of FUN so heres another of those delicious time wasters – very much like the one I found in January where you waited till the man stopped running and then held the curser over his head.

That one I called The Curser Catcher

Today you need to wave (hover) the curser in front of the man’s face and see what he does.

This one I called The Nose Swatter

And I know you’ll go back again and again just to annoy him.

Browsing around the internet I found this article on the BBC site
titled ‘When I grow up I’ll be’
it’s a follow up on a study done with 11 year olds in 1969.
I found it an interesting read.

And I had to laugh as just by chance this cartoon arrived by email the same day
– ‘When I grow up I want to be like Mommy’ –
not sure how long it’s been doing the rounds but it rang a bell with me.

Did any of you have the child that wanted to be a Mum because they stayed home all day and did nothing?

I wonder if they remembered that wish when they became first time parents and stayed at home ‘doing nothing’ except clean and wash and iron and nurse and feed a babe?

When I’m out walking I occasionally see a little boy and his younger brother playing in front of their house.  Well actually its more like the bigger one is playing and the other is hanging around watching lol

The Mum says the younger one wants to do everything his older brother does
‘Me too, Me too’ is his catch phrase.

The bigger boy tells me that ‘When I grow up I’m going to make swings that go down to the ground so that younger brothers can climb straight into their swings just like he does and not have to wait for Mums to lift them up and complain because they are getting too heavy!!

Sounds good to me – wonder if he’ll ever do it?
Has your life been the way you thought it would be when you were a youngster?

So who do you think I’d be using that phrase about??

I’ll give you two guesses –
and as my Mum would say
you’re either right or you’re wrong 🙂It would seem that while I was turning
this

Into this

She
– Kiera, The Brown Beauty herself –
was doing this lol

As I said above
Its all right for some – nothing to do and all day to do it in
Able to sleep the day away – not a care in the world
Some people have all the luck!

I don’t know about you but next time round I’m coming back as a Cat lol

now linked to Camera Critters

After last weekend’s session on the floor you would think I’d had enough of family photos.  Not so indeed:)
Look at this beauty that arrived by email on Sunday evening – Taken 1905 in Dublin showing Four Generations of Women.
Four generatons of women who form part of my family tree.

My Great Grandmother Jane Muir  – whom I’ve written about before.
Reminisce here

My  Great Great Grandmother Jane Gatherer – who I wondered about in the same post

My Great Aunt Lilly Doyle and her new born daughter Gladys Patton

Jane Gatherer is three generations back from my Mother – and I can see Mum in her eyes

They are Irish Eyes and they certainly were smiling that day  – same as they are today as I look at that photo and wonder.

Its an old game (meme) that has been doing the rounds for a few years now (I think the latest version is on facebook) – it’s one that has people looking at books – not necessarily the ones they are reading but ones that are closest to hand.

Now there are supposed to be rules to this game which is a bit of a bummer because I don’t always like to play by the rules – the amount of detentions I got a school will vouch for that lol

On a side note, schools here have only been back for a few weeks since the long summer break and already we have a young female grandchild of ours trying to break the record for rule breaking, detention getting and sending her parents round the bend at the same time.

‘What has wearing the proper school uniform and no make up got to do with learning?’

I’m glad I’m not the one having to answer that one !

Ok back to the game – now I mentioned the book is supposed to be close at hand: it doesn’t have to be the one you are actually reading at the moment but there is nothing to say it can’t be.  So as a rule breaker this time I felt the need to actually use the book I’m reading at the moment.  To do what I hear you ask – to find out what were the words of the 5th sentence on page 56 I answer

Oh yes, and another rule was not to disclose the name of the book.  Now what kind of rule is that!

Yes it’s fun to see sentences taken out of context but how are people going to feel when they read the words I write (or rather those that the author has written) and find that those very words wets their appetite and makes them want to hunt out the book to find out more than what’s happening on page 56 – and then they can’t because I haven’t told them the title and the author??

So I’ll start the ball rolling with a book closest at hand – because I just finished reading it:)
Here goes – this one’s short and sweet and is from Australia Street by Anne Whitehead:

‘But I don’t think thats what he was worried about’

And another short and sweet one – this is from the one I’m ploughing through at the moment.  Born of the Empire by Simon Brown

‘Why should he profit by their sacrifice?’

So is anyone else game to have a go?.  Post on your blog and leave a comment here so I can come visit and then try to link back so others can see.