My week

This mild weather left me with an opportunity to turn the heat off only later to return to the thermostat after 4 days.

Tuesday I got my reject notice from the VA for hearing and tinnitus and filed an appeal the following day.

I got our TDIAV (Therapy Dog International Active Outstanding Volunteer) certificate and pin in the mail.  I am so proud to provide smiles to those who lover her but can not maintain a pet.  I share my Sophie.

Wednesday I had lunch with Michael at 11:30 at County Market and then later at Peases/Bun as a little "thank you" gathering for one of the parting board members of the Lincoln Monument Association.  That night, Sophie started barking in the dark about midnight.  She doesn't see well in the dark and something startled her and got me up.  Makes for nice small talk on TDI visits.

Thursday morning I had my appoint with Dr Watson at the Orthopedic Center of Illinois.  I explained that in addition to the pinched nerve down the back of my legs that I was feeling tingly in my feet now.  I was half expecting an injection for my back since I was told that I needed the MRI to make sure the injection wouldn't go into any cyst on my last visit.  Instead I was told that the MRI was worse than the x-ray.  He was surprised that I wasn't in tears more than I am.  Upon hearing that, I began to tear. Crap! I do have trouble sleeping and the first 2 hours after getting out of bed is worst with a pinched nerve. I use a cane during this time.   I was told to pick up an appointment with either Dr Williams or Dr VanFleet.  I started to get Dr VanFleet's next available appointment for like March 11th but when the clerk checked, she said Oh...we've already scheduled you for Dr Williams at 2pm on Mar 7th so you'd be in the line faster.  Double crap! I'm afraid now.

So far I've heard good things about Dr Williams.  Here's a pic from the MRI if you understand this stuff:

Who knows, this surgery could be scheduled months down the road considering how slow these appointments are moving along from primary care to specialist to MRI to surgeon.  Duh.
Well I need to make a checklist of things that need done or cancelled in my life.  I've cancelled my trip to Mississippi with with Civil War Round Table that I was to go on in the end of March.  They refunded my fee.  I put my Powerworks gym membership on a 3 month hiatus.  I canceled my church ministry schedule.
I need to make a list of questions like:
*What about the full moon on surgery.
http://www.moongiant.com/Full_Moon_New_Moon_Calendar.php
*hospital stay
*recovery time and walker
*exercise and physical therapy.
*will I need a handicap parking placard?
*will back surgery make me taller?
I have been pressured wit questions about when and where for which I haven't even met with the doctor till Mar 7th.  Perhaps I should call  his nurse.  I think I'd feel much better waking up in a coma after 3 months.

Here's the timeline:
Dec 30 ~ 9 of 10 out-of-pocket visits to a chiropractor(see blog)
Jan 19 ~ xray with primary care doctor and a referral
Feb 9 ~ Dr Watson Specialist
Feb 16 ~ MRI
Feb 23 ~ Expecting an injection but Dr Watson refers me to a surgeon
Mar 7 ~ Dr Williams who will perform the surgery


Friday I went to New Salem to turn over a period dress for a new volunteer to start up with and love.  Then I went to the funeral for "Tip",  a member of our AMVETS post. Two other members of our post were also there for him.
Afterward, Ann and I had lunch.  I ate lunch at Incredibly Delicious. They messed up our order with another table's order but with those fancy names on the menu, you wouldn't know what it looked like set in front of you.  We only noticed that soup came with the meal.  They corrected it after they discovered we ate it.   I got the right order to go and had it later.
Then I went to Aldi to pick up a few things.  I needed coffee and milk and hoped to find a walker that they used to have but it was gone.  Instead I got a bed rail for about $14.

Saturday I went to a reenactor swap meet.  I sold a hoop slip that was too big for me and a mourning bonnet since I had 2.  I had other bonnets available to sell too but they came home with me.

Sunday I was a reader at Mass.  Here's the audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/17_02_26.mp3
I used the railing to approach the alter.  It seems each day I feel more and more painful.  I rock back and forth in agony looking for a comfort spot.  I hope it wasn't psychological since I heard the news that I need surgery and the doctor told me how bad the MRI proved.  It seems like it's taking forever. 

My Week

Well I sold my trailer on Tuesday.  I lost the title so I had a penalty to pay.  The gentleman and I exchanged papers at the DMV so that the new name would be titled.  He picked it up on Sunday, luckily my son was here and helped.

Wednesday I went to exercise but as I put my coat in the locker,  I bent forward in pain and nausea. I went home.  I didn't sleep well and that could have been part of the problem.  Later I took Sophie to the hospice.  I slept a lot that evening.  I think it helped but I get nothing done.  I'm also thinking that coffee made me nauseous on an empty stomach. 

Thursday I had my MRI.  I gowned up and put my hearing aids in a locker.    It took about 20 minutes.  She put a headset on me and laid on the table.  She asked if I wanted music in the headset to cover the noise and I said it won't matter without hearing aids.  But boy I could still hear the noise without the hearing aids and through the headset so I can imagine what it would really be like to the hearing-abled.

New gutters were installed.  I was to have gutters put on my sun room but realized the whole house needed them and they had to have a leaf guard.  I used to climb on the roof and clean the gutters but now with a gabled sun room vs the old flat top, I won't be able to climb up and do that anymore.  And safer too.
In the evening  I went to an ABATE meeting.

Friday I met with nephew/niece Tom and Prazel and their baby in Champaign, IL.  We met at the Cracker Barrel. What a pleasure.  Carlea is sweet and social.
 
In the evening I helped sell tickets to our American Legion fish fry.  I like fish but I haven't had much fried food in awhile and I think it gave me the tummy trouble later.  Roy saved me some plain coleslaw.  I don't like the vinegar and sugar mixture they make and brought some home for my creamy style. I added onion and caraway seeds too.

Saturday I went to the AMVETS SEC meeting at the Crown Plaza.  I am the womens veterans advisor to the Illinois AMVETS State Commander and had to attend for my report which was published in the SEC booklet.   It started at 9AM and we had a break between 10:30 and 1PM.  That's when I went to a concurrent meeting of our Soldiers Aid Society Workshop at the Old State Capitol.  They were making travel bags and I had brought mine that I had bought years ago to show for examination.  Then we had our buisiness meeting and when we got close to 12:30 I asked to move up to one of the adgenda items that pertained to me and our website so that I could go back to the Crown Plaza meeting.  The afternoon session lasted until about till about 3PM.  I went home to get ready for the banquet which is held that evening.  The guest speaker(s) were from HOOAH Deer Hunt for Heroes.

 The military brass band played patriotic music

We stood and held hands for "God Bless America".  See the little veteran on the right?

Sunday I was a Eucharistic Minister.  When I got home from church, Sean was already there.  He had come to do laundry early so he could attend music practice.
4-IN-A-ROW! 4th straight day of record highs in Springfield!

Monday I had a double therapy dog visit at Regency and St John's Hospital.  I was told that Regency just came off a 2 week lock down after a flu epidemic and that would have been right after my last 2 week visit.  I also got a little squeaky toy that we left there last time.  Boy, Sophie leaves her toys all over the place.  Half of the joy going to the hospital is meeting people on the way to the destination.  The parking garage, hall and elevator are people who enjoy a good petting and distraction from health woes.  In the evening I went to a VFW meeting. 
Have a nice week.

My Week

This Wednesday we had our first snow of the year.  We also had a record high on Saturday.
NEW RECORD HIGH - Temperatures soar close to 70° today!  Previously 67. 

Tuesday morning I went for my ice back for my back out of the freezer and it fell on the floor.   I couldn't pick it up for the same reason it was needed.  To top it all off, later that day I stood in line to buy a grabber and realized my wallet was at home instead of my purse. 

Wednesday we had our post AmVets meeting and were graced with the Illinois State Commander Shae at our meeting.

Thursday I went to see Dr Watson.  As I expected, it turned out to be an appointment for another appointment.  While waiting alone for the x-ray, I took a picture of the monitor with the X-ray done on 1/19/17.  I didn't seen anything but he pointed out that the bottom vertebrae should look like the top and that is pinching my nerve.

I have the MRI the following Thursday. Then a week after that I get to go back and see Dr Watson after it is read.  Gee 2 weeks to get the shot but they need approval for insurance.  I still have tramadol for pain as needed but Advil seems more effective. They can't give me the shot without the MRI. Order of precedence so that they know the shot won't go into a cyst or something like that so I was told. I think Dr Watson will do it. After my appointment I went to Harbor Freight and bought a grabber. I was going to get one yesterday afternoon but after a therapy dog visit at St John's the snow was bad and slippery. Dr W had slight laryngitis. Made it difficult to understand with my hearing problem. However, small rooms really limit the background noise too.

Friday morning after exercise, I went to the Old State Capitol from 10Am- 2PM to help visitors and guests that arrived during the Naturalization ceremony.  New citizens are checking in at the desk.

View from the gallery.

After my shift, I headed over to the Abraham Lincoln Capitol Airport for the homecoming of Army PFC Maggie Bilyeu was critically injured in a suicide attack in Bagram Afghanistan on November 12, 2016.

 This young lady was putting "Merica" on the window at the last minute.

 On this video, you can see my flagged Nissan at 1:28



Here's the news video:
http://newschannel20.com/news/local/hometown-hero-returns-after-being-injured-overseas-02-11-2017

At first I thought the light on my salt rock went out. Then I thought the light in the junk room was out. I changed a bulb and it still didn't work so I noticed that the difusser's light is out too. Flipped every circuit breaker and still nothing.

On Saturday I went to the Lincoln Tom for the VFW wreath laying.  In the evening I went to the VFW banquet.

Sunday I went to our Memorial Mass at the church of the Little Flower.  What a nice Mass.  Not only was it our Catholic War Veterans Memorial Mass, but the 7th graders did the choir and ushering.  Then there was a beautiful Baptism and the baby was so well behaved.  Also recognized were the catecumens

I came home just long enough to have pizza and change for the Lincoln Birthday dance. I was a little tender still and sat when I could.  Here I am with Peggy.

This dance is called the Gothic Dance that I took from the gallery.

 This is known as the broom dance.  Much like musical chairs.  When the music stops, you get a different partner and if you don't ....you got to dance with the broom.  I usually sit this out.

 We danced with visitors.  The short lady in blue is Marylin and she's a Navy veteran in our Womens Overseas Service League.

This is the photo from the newspaper and I understand there were tan gloves lost in the rest room.  I seem my sea green skirt in the upper left too. 

Have a nice week!

My Week

So far this has been a mild winter.  I haven't needed my shovel for snow.  Just for a little ice that was semi-melted to shove out of the way.  In fact it's been dry and I need rain for the bare spot to grow grass.  Looks like it will rain this week.

The other day, I was looking for Sophie and found her resting up in my electric blanket that I use to curl up on the couch with.  I had put the blanket on top of my wine cart and there she is. 

When her head is down and those big eyes are not staring at you, she blends right in with my blanket. 

Tuesday more pain.  I did the senior core exercise and another reminded me that there is a yoga class at 9:15 so I stayed for that.  Wow, the pain of the pinched nerve took this normally flexible body in a tight crab.

Wednesday I went to Powerworks for senior strength and senior Zumaba.  Only 2 of us for Zumba but I took it extra light.  I felt a little better because I slept a lot the night before.  I just didn't want to hop to much to put pressure on my hips. 
In the afternoon I went to  St John's Hospice on a Therapy Dog visit. There was only one patient there. The staff seemed a little disappointed because they don't know the future of the ward with a pending closure date unknown.   I thought that was a good thing that there was only one.  I had quality time however. I got the activity director to pet Sophie. It was the first time she pet a dog. She's been afraid of dogs and I had a double miracle between the activity director and patient.  I know I don't want to push the dog on anyone but this activity director was the one that I wanted to see the affection of a dog she was missing.  She'd never had a bad experience but just avoided dogs.  She even admits that the therapy dogs are gentler than the average dogs but had a hump to overcome. The patient had a visitor who took pictures which I can't do under HIPPA but she had a nice close up I would have liked and didn't violate HIPPA.  I gave her my card but still haven't seen the photo in my email.

Thursday I went to the Lutheran High School with the VFW post commander and quartermaster of our post to present checks to winners of our local Voice of Democracy winners. 

Our winner went on to win at the district level and the state level will be announced next weekend.

Wow, I can tell by my stance that there's pain compensation.

 The principle

 Cynda Strong was honored for her student support for our essays over the years.

I went to my Thursday afternoon therapy dog visit at Reflections and in the evening I went to the visitation of one of the members of our Catholic War Veterans.   Friday was his funeral at Camp Butler.  Dang then there's another funeral for a CWV next week. I did not go to the funeral Mass because I wasn't feeling that well in my lumbar and I was supposed to help out at the Lincoln Tomb afterward.  When I got to the tomb, I didn't stay because there were few visitors and they had hired seasonal workers so they were pretty well manned for the workload and I'll save myself for when it gets busy next week with Lincoln's Birthday.

I picked up son very nice inspirational statues at the Salvation Army to replace my nativity.  I still have to put Christmas in the attic but it will have a warm up next week.

Saturday I went to an open house in Chatham for our Memorial Express Care.  They sure did a lot of remodeling.  It's like a small scale emergency room that's got limited but longer hours til 10PM.  Great for those infections that need immediate attention.  I had my blood pressure checked and looks god at 110/70.

Sunday morning I was a Eucharistic Minister and had to make sure that the chalices and all were in place.  Before and after Mass, Father John gave the blessing of Saint Blaise.  Sunday's reading here:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/17_02_05.mp3
Well as many of you know, I am a fan President Lincoln and share what I know about him at our historic sites. Today he made our Sunday sermon with one of Lincoln's stories about the man in the thunderstorm. The point is we could all use a little more light and a little less noise in our lives. Reminded me of the bumper sticker that I saw "Bark less ~ Wag more". Words to live by. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/04/09/manvotional-more-light-and-less-noise/

I picked up a few statues at the Salvation Army. 
They have replaced my Nativity Scene. Well the Nativity is in the garage at the bottom of the steps to the attic waiting for a warmer day.

I also got a nice chair pad for the rocking chair that belonged to Frank's mom.

 As for the Superbowl, I watched it the first hour until Mercy Street, Victoria, and King Henry VIII is on at 9! Love all three! 

What can be learned from this year's Super Bowl?
1) never be overconfident
2) play till the end
3) experience matters in players and coaches
4) winners never quit
5) believe in yourself even if others give up