Getting better, slowly

Last week my post was so cheerful, so hopeful! And so wrong! I was not all better, I was getting worse, descending into the misery of a UTI probably complicated by the opioid painkiller. There were some really bad days last week. But it's now been nine days since my surgery (and three days since I started antibiotics) and I think I can truly say I am getting better. Slowly.

I do understand now why they recommended 7-10 days off work, though. If I had a regular job, I might be able to go back to it tomorrow, but a few more days off might be a good idea too. (Of course, I wasn't supposed to get a UTI.)

I think my incision is looking a little better, although it's still more swollen than I thought it would be. I basically leave it alone, except to cup my hand over it when Baby Kitty is giving me love. Otherwise I ignore it, though when it's hot and humid, I feel sweat around the lump and try to lean my head back to be more comfortable. I don't know whether it's supposed to still be swollen like this -- no one told me. Later this month I will see my primary care physician, so I will ask her about that if it hasn't improved.

I don't know if I want to write about last week! It was pretty terrible -- I never get UTIs and this one was awful, with intense bladder spasms and multiple accidents -- and it was complicated by the fact that Teen B was having medical problems of his own. I don't think I mentioned that he was having some issues on our trip to St. Louis (overshadowed by his father's medical problems, of course) and we even took him to Urgent Care, the day before Rocket Boy went to the hospital. I was supposed to follow up with his doctor when we got back to Boulder, but his new braces (and teeth pulling) and my surgery preparations ended up using all the oxygen in the room and I didn't do it. So it kind of makes sense that his problems would surface again, whether or not I was ready for them to do so. Suffice it to say that last Wednesday I had to make two trips to the Boulder Medical Center, one for me (the lab, to diagnose my UTI finally) and one for him (Urgent Care, again). 

Now he and I are both on antibiotics, and while I'm feeling better, he isn't, really. Maybe a little. This might be in part because he has to take his pills every 6 hours (mine are every 12 hours) and we haven't yet come close to getting that right -- because, come on, I'm supposed to wake him up at 4 in the morning (after first waking myself up at 4 in the morning) to take a pill that has to be taken with food? I haven't even tried to get that right. I have a call in to a specialist -- they were supposed to call me back but didn't, I'll have to call again on Monday. More unpleasant stuff may be in our future. I can hardly wait.

But I keep reminding myself to be grateful for three things:

1. We have pretty good health insurance (I say "pretty" because we've started getting the bills for Rocket Boy's adventures back in June and they're exciting, but so far RB has been able to work things out with Blue Cross and Medicare).
2. There are lots of good doctors in our area (if you define "our area" to include Aurora, sigh).
3. Because I'm not working, I have time to arrange and attend all the medical and dental appointments we have needed recently.
   

Before the surgery, I told everyone that it was going to make me feel a lot better. As I start to recover from it, I am wondering whether that is true. Am I feeling better?

Maybe. 

To review, here are some symptoms of hyperparathyroidism, aka hypercalcemia (from various websites): fatigue, back pain and joint pain, muscle aches and weakness, increased urine output and thirst, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, constipation, depression, anxiety, headaches, forgetfulness, lethargy.

I have had several of these symptoms, but they could be attributed to other things as well. For instance, I was first diagnosed with a "nervous stomach," "spastic colon" (an older term), and "irritable bowel syndrome" when I was a teenager. I'm also taking Metformin, which has well-known gastrointestinal effects. I've dealt with chronic depression since I was a teenager. I'm fat, which certainly contributes to my aches and pains. And I'm 61, which might have something to do with the forgetfulness and fatigue.

Still, I've felt worse than I should have for the last few years. So maybe I'll start feeling a little better. I already feel like I have a bit more energy, and there's a layer of calm over my usual anxiety that wasn't there before, as if someone laid a blanket over it. Interesting. Of course, I could be feeling better simply because I think I ought to feel better. But, you know what? I'd take that. Surgery, the power of suggestion -- I don't really care what makes me feel better, as long as I feel better.

I wouldn't mind losing a little of my constant nausea, but at the same time, I don't want my weight loss to slow. As of today, I am down 15.6 pounds from January 1st of this year, roughly 2 pounds per month, without a shred of dieting and with pretty minimal exercise. I do try to take a walk every night, now, but the walks are less than 30 minutes, usually more like 20 minutes. This past week they've been about 10 minutes each, as I try to get my strength back. I credit the Metformin for the weight loss, but what if hypercalcemia has been a contributing factor? We'll have to see.

I turned the calendar over to August this morning and whoa! What happened to summer? School starts on August 19th -- that's less than 3 weeks away! All of a sudden I'm filled with a sense of urgency -- so many things to do and so little time to do them. I got right on a couple of them: made a hair appointment for Teen B so he won't look so shaggy for Picture Day (August 17th) and ordered a new pair of shoes for Teen A, even though he claims his current shoes still fit. One morning he'll wake up and say they don't fit and we won't have a back-up pair -- except that we will, because I just ordered them.

He's also outgrowing his shorts, and since he wears shorts on all but the coldest days, I'm trying to stock up now (hard to find shorts in the stores in November). He's officially outgrown Carter's, so I ordered four pairs from Oshkosh, but he doesn't really like any of them, plus they're too big! (Size 14 from Carter's is too small, size 14 from Oshkosh is too big. Sigh.) He's wearing them, but grudgingly. Not sure if I should buy more or look at other stores. I have a little leeway with Teen B, because he can wear the shorts Teen A is in the process of outgrowing, at least for a while. But if Teen B suddenly has a growth spurt, I'll be in trouble.

I don't think either boy needs new shirts. Teen A wears almost exclusively gray shirts (once in a while black or navy) and Teen B has started to wear almost nothing but black shirts (occasionally gray or navy). I might as well give away most of their colorful shirts. If we run low on gray or black shirts, they should be findable in winter. Oh, but sweatshirts! I have to find Teen B a new sweatshirt to wear all day every day at school. At least there should be plenty of sweatshirts to choose from in the fall.

The Week Ahead

I am behind on a million different projects and I'm not going to get caught up on everything immediately. So I'll just jot down a random list, with the idea that they'll all fall into place eventually:

• Call a pest company to deal with our yellow jacket and paper wasp problem (I'll be sorry to see the paper wasp nest go, but since we're all afraid to go in the backyard, it probably needs to happen).
• Call Children's Hospital for Teen B; possibly call Blue Cross about it too and also ask them about the interesting bill I got last week...
  
• Work on the files -- organize a plan of attack and then attack!
  
• Plan meals for the week ahead, take stock (I haven't really cooked in the last few weeks).
• Read the next book for the Classics Challenge; read the Book Group book; read my Grant biography...
• Set up my new cell phone; OMG stop putting this off!
• Ask the kids what fun things they wish we'd done this summer; arrange to do some of them...
• Send cards: birthdays and our anniversary (I did order some See's for Rocket Boy a few days ago -- that'll be fun when he gets it).
  
• Take our vacuum cleaner to be repaired, also maybe my old sewing machine.
• Alternatively, learn how to use the new sewing machine and work on the doll clothes project.
• Study the two home repair problems we were going to deal with this summer (before medical issues trumped everything) and decide whether to go ahead with either one of them, which one first, and how to do that...
• Deal with the mess that is the backyard -- maybe hire someone to slash and burn? (not literally)
• Reevaluate my approach to cleaning the house; or hey, just clean it a little.
• Think about the overall clutter in the house, especially with an eye to creating study spaces for the kids (8th grade is when the homework gets more serious).
  
• Rearrange the messy biography bookshelves, cull them; make piles of books from there and other parts of the house to give to either the Bookworm or a Little Free Library.
• Find out what else I need to do to prepare for the start of school (school supplies? transportation if there's no bus this year? new masks? conveying the results of Teen B's testing last spring to his counselor?)
  
• Work on what I need to do to renew the rental license for next door (we're a year late, ack!).
• Start planning Rocket Boy's next visit out here, and possibly a Thanksgiving trip...

Yeah, OK, that list could go on and on, and just looking at it is scary. But I guess I'll start somewhere and see what happens. The cell phone, Teen B's appointment, meals, fun stuff, the files, and maybe the pest control people would probably be more than enough to grapple with in one week. I'll give it a shot.

August is a long month, a long hot month most likely. We got a little break from the heat yesterday, and some much-needed rain, with more coming in the next few days. But now we also have bad air, smoky from the western forest fires, and by next weekend it will be hot again. I'll need to pace myself. Try to enjoy what we have, not worry too much about what we don't -- after all, we live in the most desirable place in the country, according to USA Today. Try to appreciate it!