Sunday, April 6, 2008

Do you have it too???

We all suffer from it I think so admit it! Cyberchondria that is. What is it you say? Its using the internet to look up your medical conditions and diagnose yourself. Forget needing to go to medical school and having formal training, we can all be doctors now. It is a form of hypochondria that uses online resources. Face it, there is a lot of medical information on the internet and your latest symptoms must clearly be that of a fatal disease or the common cold, or somewhere in between. Did you break your leg or do you have bone cancer? Is it a headache or a brain tumor? Is it a rash or is it an reaction? You get the gist of it. Apparently, it is fairly common. So common that if you google cyberchondria, it comes up on medical websites!

So as I wait to go to the doctor for a biopsy on Monday, I get to look up skin rashes. There are lots of them and they can mean all sorts of things from an allergy to cancer. But wait, I already have that! I don't need to worry about getting cancer! I can worry about allergies and viruses and all sorts of fun stuff.

Yesterday I opted not to worry about much and went out to lunch with a friend. We had another very nutritional meal of chicken nachos. They are a balanced diet: refried beans, chicken, lettuce, tomato, corn, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes. That includes grains, protein, vegetables, and fat and calories with probably a little cholesterol thrown in... It hit all the food groups. (I also had a salad, sauteed vegetables and salmon for dinner so I was healthier later to counteract it.)

We also went for a long walk. Walter calls these death marches. Today we will go for another one. They are good for him. He gets to run home. I walk home and talk on my cell phone. Multitasking in the great outdoors.

Yesterday we ran in to a giant math problem. I want to get some compost to cover the gardens with an inch or less. I measured the garden area we have and it is about 418 sq ft in 7 separate sections. So how much compost do you need to cover that much area 1" thick? Compost is sold by the cubic foot. The guy at the garden center told us we would need 28 bags for 324 sq ft and if the compost costs $8/bag (organic of course is more expensive) that equals a lot more money than we want to pay. So we didn't buy any but I came home and tried to figure this out. 1 cubic foot is how many cubic inches which at a layer 1" thick would cover how many square feet? I woke up this morning and knew the answer: We have seven little garden areas so I need seven bags. I will use one per garden area. Forget about converting cubic inches to square feet and square yards. Its much easier this way. I couldn't find my calculator and was getting a headache. (Or was it a brain tumor?)

1 comment:

Susan said...

I, too, have a medical degree via the Internet. Maybe it's contact dermatitis? I had a rash after the lumpectomy and if it didn't go away, my surgeon was going to biopsy it to see if was contact dermatitis. It cleared up not too long after that, thank goodness. I'm praying it's something minor in your case and easy to clear up!

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