Dr. Kutz, paging Dr Kutz

When I was a child, about ten to twelve years old, my mom and I spent a lot of time at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA.  We made frequent visits during those three years, the year before my surgery and the two years following my eye surgery.  It's a complex system, even then; with shuttles and multiple buildings, halls, suites, levels, and elevators.  We'd rush and get there early, so that we could allow time for everything from finding parking space to catching the shuttle to finding the right office, only to then wait for the doctor.

While waiting, we'd listen to the pages over the loud speakers {yes, they didn't even have "pagers" at that time, let alone cell phones; you young whipperschnappers you}.  We'd giggle over the names and whisper to each other what they probably did, based on those apropos names.  Dr Kutz, of course, was a surgeon.  So must Dr Butcher be.  We weren't sure what Dr Beatem did, but had I known about sports medicine, I would have said that s/he works with patients who play full contact sports.  But I was ten, or eleven, or twelve and not a huge sports fan.  We thought that perhaps Dr Pokem was a children's dr, but then again I didn't know about proctologists at that time and mom didn't tell me about that, THANK YOU mom, for not feeling a need to nibble away at my childhood innocence.

So fast forward to my recent adulthood...my husband is a HAHhuge Dr Who fan.  My brother was, I think, but I really don't remember a whole heaping lot about that as a child.  We didn't really watch much TV, if at all, for most of my childhood.  Then, I think there was a gap of time when the timelord was not featured on TV; during my twenties and into my thirties.  That was alright, cuz I was living my life and so TV was not a priority at all.  But now, if my husband's home, the TV's on and I may be listening or watching; and even when I am not, actively paying attention, it's babbling or cheering away in the background.  Depending if Jerry's watching football or Dr Who or FX or whatnot.

So I tend to pick up way more than I thought I would ever know about all sorts of stuff.  Like Tom Baker's scarves being iconic, but varied.  He was the 4th Doctor, and very Very VERY popular.  This generally isn't the scarf most folks think of if they know about "the Scarf", but it is ONE of the scarves he favored.  I saw it today, when watching one of the old episodes and thought, "aha!"

AHA! because what started out as a scarf turned into a wrap of sorts, that I've been knitting in a 5x5 rib for a friend of mine who is just now {or soon within the next hour or so} coming out of surgery {which is why I thought of the aforementioned Dr Kutz and Dr Butcher}.  Here's a picture of the current state of the wrap and it bears a striking, yet unintentional, resemblance to Dr Who's reddish scarf that I saw in today's "Breakfast with the Doctor" episode.  I'm finishing up the fourth of five small skeins of the ruby acrylic that is the base fiber for this project.  I anticipate that by the end of this week, I'll have finished this and it will be on its way to my friend, about six hundred miles away.

Speaking of which, I must get crackin' ~~ wrapping up the wrap!

my eyes, my eyes, my everlovin' eyes

About two months ago, my glasses flew off my face because I am tremendously klutzy and should probably wear one of those elasticized sports straps or the librarian chain to keep my glasses attached to me when I do things like trip over my own feet.  The glasses and my driveway's gravel met, fought, and the glasses were scarred.  The protective coating was gouged exactly in the spot that my right eye typically is lined up to view the most often.  So I tried a variety of methods to fix it, then began to tilt my head and look thru my lens at various angles.  This didn't really help.  So I switched to my old glasses which have a slightly different prescription and stopped by the iDoc for an appt.

He was really booked up so I made an appt for a month out {are ya noticing a trend here?}.  Monday is my appt and it is not a moment too soon.  My long distance viewing is ok, which means that driving is fine.  But my close up vision is badly blurred, which means that knitting, reading, computer stuffs, etc is not always an option.  Cuz my arms are not quite long enough for my eyes.

I do read, without my glasses, just holding the book very near my face.  Which probably is not good either, but I cannot not read.  I've tried, and it hurts.  I must read.  It's not an option to not do so.

So in the meantime, whilst waiting for the appt to roll around; I've visited zenni.com and perused their selection.  I've been getting my glasses from them for the last five or six years.  My husband and Daughter Donna both get their glasses thru Zenni now too.  I love Love LOVE them {my husband, Daughter Donna, and Zenni}.  I keep coming back to this style, available in two color combos.  I might do both options, one as sunglasses and one as regular wear.

Whacha think?

    Hmm?

not THAT kind of nose job

I love where I live so much so that I've chosen to make this my home.  It's not perfect, but it suits me well and fits just fine.  However, there are areas that Starkville could improve upon.  Our 'burg has ONE ENT.  The guy is booked way Way WAY far out,  It's a huge change from when I was there four years ago and there were NO other patients in the office at all.  My appt this morning was for 6:45a.  Yes, 6:45...not usually a time associated with doctor appts; but whenever works is whatever works.

Looking back over my blog for the past ten+ years, I've noticed there were lots of times when I was not well, feeling punky, blocked nose, upper respiratory infection, ear infection, strep throat, etc.  Given that I just got over a hellacious ear infection for which I ended up going to see said~Ear/Nose/Throat dude, reviewing the number of times I've had the crud seemed fitting.  Turns out, there is a good reason for my frequent fitlessness, one that doesn't involve me being all wimpy when it comes to illness.

A few weeks back, I had blood taken and sent off to a lab for allergy tests.  I take Zyrtec daily, and have been for awhile.  I knew that some pollens and spores irritate me, including the decay that occurs to the leaves and plants in the fall, when they go to seed.  I knew that I was allergic to cats {wish I would have known that as a child, but did eventually find out and that's what's important}.  Various molds and weeds made the list, and turns out that I've mild reactions to Oak and Birch/Alder trees.

I also had a CT scan of my facial sinuses done.  I thought that maybe they'd find a pea, bean, or slice of carrot that I'd passed from my mouth up into my sinuses as a child who could not complete a supper meal without choking on laughter, as my brother and his best friend told hilarious stories.  That's a long time to be harboring a pea or bean, but my grandfather always warned me that I'd grow a watermelon from swallowing the seeds, so I figured they might find an entire bonsai version of a garden camped out in my sinuses.  Kiddin'.  Tho that would have been interesting, I'm glad they didn't.

not me, generic sinuses

What they did find was a mess.  Apparently, my septum is deviated {whose isn't?}, polyps have grown, a bone spur grew in there, my meatuses {meati?} are clogged, and my turbinates are swollen and misformed.  Who knew?  A third of my lower left sinus cavity is blocked, my sinuses' lining has been irritated over the years and most of them are blocked.  So when I think that I am breathing freely thru my nose, it's because I can breathe directly from my lungs, up my throat, past the back of my tongue and soft palate, directly out my nose instead of letting that air swirl around in the sinuses like it should.  It most likely is for this reason that I do NOT have sleep apnea, the back of my soft palate is actually not all that soft, oh the things I take solace in...a strong soft palate that does not collapse and create sleep apnea, weee for me!

So this year, for my birthday, yea! in November, I get to have surgery, yea! That just happens to be when the next available appointment is for the procedure and I declined the waiting list route, because I can wait til then.  The surgery is outpatient, because there have been a ton of advancements in medicine, including surgical techniques.  Wahoo!

An endoscopic instrument will be inserted up my nose rather than peeling my face back to clean, scrape, trim, unblock, reopen, shape, remove the bone spur, and otherwise do what needs to be done. I like the endoscopic instrument and am considering procuring my own set.  Just seeing if you were paying attention.  It's called "Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery", including septoplasty {removal of the bone spur} and turbinoplasty.  Whilst they're tinkering with my sinuses, they are also going to place a tube in my right ear {tympanostomy~~cuz they slit the ear drum and insert a tiny tube into the Eustachian tube to help it stay open}.

I think the surgery will be pretty straight forward.  It's the after care that promises to be a bit long.  However, considering that these things didn't get this way overnight, I totally understand it taking awhile to heal up after surgery.

But!  I'll be able to breathe much better, hopefully have less sinus and ear infections, and taste things a bit better too.  Yea!!