this month, the 28th, will be a year since this gladys goodfairy forgot to
use her wings, fell on her face and shattered her wrist.  after 2 surgeries
and 6 months of therapy, my wrist is about as good as its going to get, i'm
told, seeing that there are pieces of bone missing.  i would say its
probably around 97% functional (surgeon did good, didn't he?!).  there is
still pain, and will always be, but its tolerable.  will be having another
surgery on it, but a very minor one to release adhesions.

son moved out in march.  it was time.  poor dear thought he had to take care
of me and he and i  both felt he needed to move on with his life.  he's so
sweet.  still comes over once or twice a week to do things, like take the
trash to the curb and odd things i can't do for myself.

all my summer company has returned to their respective homes.  my grandson
is a delightful trip of a kid and taught me a lot during his month stay,
this summer!<smile>  calif. friend, did find a house, bought it and rented
it out (that took 3 months).  sil and bil breezed through for two weeks and
that was fun.

i've been taking bids for various household repairs and replacements.  a new
garage and spar-room 50-year guaranteed metal roof should be installed in
about a week or two.  new replacement windows, for the 60 year old windows,
on my entire house will hopefully installed in october.  i also took a bid
on finishing my downstairs bathroom.  but $7500 is a bit much for me to
handle this year, on top of the roof and windows costs.

my shoulder had been bothering me for over a year.  asked my pcp about it,
first, around january or feb.  she manipulated it and did nothing.

asked my rd about it in april.  she manipulated it; said she would do xrays,
then did not.  soooo, i embarrassed my rd at june's appmt, by suggesting she
"forgot" to follow through on the shoulder xrays, so she had an mri done,
instead.  then she didn't tell me a thing about it, didn't call, didn't
answer my calls.  said, at the next appmt. in august, she was going to tell
me about the mri, at that appmt. in august, a month after the mri was done.
she put me on 4, weekly doses of 50,000 units of vitamin D (that's 4 pills
in all), after blood tests, because my hand surgeon wanted her to
investigate why my wrist shattered so badly in a low impact fall.)

no luck with my rd.  so, i got the mri report myself and asked my hand
surgeon about it, first week of july.  he said i had an irritation, after
reading just one paragraph of the two paged report.

by the second week of july, i could barely lift my arm and sleeping was out
of the question for several days.  can you say major owies?--couldn't even
stand a crease in my bed linens under my shoulder, it was agony.  so, i
called my rd, but she was out of town and was supposed to be back the next
day.  so, i called the next day and she was still not back.  brandy bottle
was getting empty.

so, i called my pcp, who saw me that day and asked,  "what do you want me to
do?"  so, i told her i wanted help and relief.  so, she wrote me a 'script
for pain pills and told me to go see an orthopod.  then she said, "next
time, go to somebody who can help you."--this was after i had already told
her about what my hand surgeon said and about calling my rd, two days
running.

so, i went to the new ortho-- immediately-- because i had been in tears,
pain tears, before the 'script and i didn't want the 'script to be used up.
i gave him the mri report.  he sent me to get the mri films.  got them.  he
looked at the films immediately.  said i'm probably going to be needing
surgery to clean arthritis debris out of the joint and to repair the tear
and fraying of the major tendon that lifts my arm (maybe a year or two out,
maybe sooner).  said it doesn't have to be done now, but needs to be done
before the tendon is torn clear through. said i needed anti-inflammatories
(20 day course of 1000 mg doses of relafen) and a some cortisone shots in my
shoulder.  4 shots.  bless him, i'm much better now.  gave me a refillable
'script for the relafen.  told me to take it if it flares up again and if
the relafen doesn't work, to call him up for more injections.  i'm also
supposed to take the relafen before and when i know i'm going to overuse my
shoulder.  i'm still scratching my head about that instruction.

my dad scared the hell out of the whole family.  we thought he was having a
heart attack, but it was an anxiety attack.  thank goodness.  he has to have
vascular surgery on his neck and it upset him--understandably, he's been
very stressed with my mother's alzheimer's.

got my mammo done--good result.

 got my bone density done--osteopenia in my spine and i am "at increased
risk for fractures, than last year."--according to the report.

got another blood test done on the 23rd of this month, as per my rd, to see
if my vit. d levels have risen from 11 ng/ML (range of 20-57ng/ML).  still
haven't heard the results from her and i seem to keep calling at the wrong
time of day and/or day of the week.  guess she plans to tell me about it at
my next appmt. in december.<said with snideness and picque>

saw my neurologist on the 29th.  he wanted to know how i was doing.  so, i
told him.  he put me on neurontin, 300mg (refillable for a year), "just to
see if it helps".  then, he sent me to a pain management specialist.

saw the pain management specialist.  i soooo love him (same doc i saw for my
epidurals the last time, except he has his very own pain management practice
now).  very thorough exam and consult (exhausting for me and painful, to be
honest).  i go in for a full spine mri and however many epidurals he feels i
need on the morning of sept. 15th (neuro thought i might need injections at
3 or 4 sites).  the mri will take 2 hours and the epidurals about 2 more
hours and he tells me he doesn't want me to drive immediately afterwards.
so, i rest there for another 1 to 2 hours, until he's sure there will be no
complications.  i asked him if i should bring a lunch and he laughed, like i
probably won't feel like eating.  knowing me, i'll probably sleep
comfortably, for the first time in months and months and months.

go in for my eyes on the 11th.

go in for my pre-op appmt. on the 21st--waaay minor surgery, nothing that
the prayer machine has to crank up over.

it's been such a long time since i did an update that i know i forgot a slew
of stuff.  but i hope this update is ok with you, my loves.

kate