Medical stuff

I've been trying to decide how much to say in my blog about the medical stuff. I guess I've already said too much not to say more. The bone and CT scans have indicated some cancer in my bones. Since primary bone cancer is almost exclusively found in young people who are still growing (as my friend Shirley said, that lets me out), and since I have no personal history of cancer, they are trying to determine where the stuff has migrated from. I went to a gynecologist on Thursday and will see a surgeon tomorrow. Once the source is found, a treatment plan can be devised.

I can move my left arm more than I could three weeks ago, and my left knee is better.

Oh! I hadn't said anything yet about my knee, had I? On Sunday 1/14 we went into Mayfield to Big Lots and WalMart. While in Big Lots, I had to visit the ladies room. As I sat down, my left knee felt like it exploded and/or crumbled. I managed to get up and walking through the store was not too bad, but getting into the car was terribly painful. When I tried to get out at WalMart, I couldn't. So I wrote down the short list and sent Dominic in. When he returned, I asked him to take me to the emergency room. They did x-rays, said nothing was broken or out of place, wrapped it in an Ace bandage, gave me prescriptions for steriods and pain pills, and sent me home.

At home, I had Dominic bring in and clean up one of the walkers (non-folding type) that I have been using in the yard like tomato cages. Fortunately, the house is only 1/2 step up from ground level at the back (the entrance we always use). However my 'master suite' was formerly a carport at the end of the house, two short steps down from the house. Whoever transformed it did not raise the floor, so those two short steps are still there between the weaving room and my bedroom. Of course they had to raise the bathroom floor to have space for the pipes, so there is a step up from my bedroom there. I use the walker to give me better support when negotiating those steps. I need it for more than that for several days after the knee thing, but now I can walk unaided, although slowly and painfully.

On Monday 1/15, the ER doctor called to say that when the radiologist reviewed the x-rays, he noted something strange in the bone above the knee, and that I needed to see my regular doctor that afternoon. About fifteen minutes later, my doctor called to say I did not need to see her that afternoon, since I had just seen her a week before. However, she had set up an appointment for a bone scan the next day, and was expanding the order for the CT scan, which she had ordered initially because of the same 'strangeness' in the left clavicle.

So that's where things are now. I'm making a small dent in my stash. The things I haven't photographed are two watchcaps and a scarf for Seamen's Church Institute. They're not that interesting - basic, using the patterns SCI prefers.