Number Nine

Surgery number nine was yesterday. I thought the surgeon was going to clean out my knee arthroscopically so it would no longer catch and lock up. That was a good idea.

Everything went as planned - including me being STARVING by the time we got there at 1pm after not eating since the night before - until I woke up after surgery. That's when I found out the bad news.

Well its a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the surgeon fixed my knee so it will no longer catch - which is amazingly painful when it happens. The bad news is the repair is more complicated than the original plan. Instead of a clean out, he repaired my meniscus. This surgery is not usually done on people over 25 but I think since the tear was where it was repair was better than removal. However, recovery is four to five MONTHS instead of four to five WEEKS. A 'minor' difference.

And I have a giant brace I need to keep on all the time except when showering (and I can't shower until tomorrow). This brace is so big it doesn't tighten up around my leg except near my knee. And, and, and, and, and, and,.....

This isn't the best picture but I took it lying in bed with my leg out straight in front of me. You will notice the TED stocking I am supposed to wear every day as well. Its still drying from when I washed it last night. It might take a few more hours to dry.

I will say this is the first surgery that I woke up to a 'surprise' since Number One in 1981 where it turned out it wasn't a 'goiter' and was 'thyroid cancer'. But that doesn't matter. This just sucks.

However, there is plenty of ice cream in my freezer. My husband is home for the next four days straight to take care of me. I can weight bear because of the stupid ass brace and my cane so I can get around pretty easily on the one floor of our house. The cat even slept on my knee last night (as he likes too) which was okay because of the brace so he didn't squish me.

Can you hear me being grumpy already? I have to double check when I can drive because its my right knee. And the pain level is fine. I already have pain meds and can take them when I want but I only needed one last night and am okay so far today. I think I need to get more ice to put on my knee. Crabbiness may prevail for the next few days.

Call me Ms. Grumpy

I am very grumpy these days. I think part of it is juggling my medical issues. But its also that I have been dealing with a lot of pain, and in new body parts. I am still on that never ending roller coaster of 'wait its another doctor appointment' each week. Also, my stupid CPAP machine doesn't help me. I have given up even using it because the mask doesn't work for me.

Last night I almost cancelled all my plans for today to stay home and pout. But I realize pouting never got anyone anything so I ditched that. I did get some good sleep last night which helps. And my reward today is getting my nails done this afternoon after I go to the gym.

This just goes to show the strain of living with chronic ailments (two cancer diagnoses, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple problems with my back) and conditions (pain, discomfort, depression). You go to the doctor to get treated but having to keep going to the doctor gets depressing. I think I have served my seven year tenure and deserve a year sabbatical from all medical appointments and medications (as if that would ever happen).

So today I am grumpy. I can't find my phone and know it isn't charged so maybe I'll just be phoneless today. That might not be a bad idea. I'll go to the gym and take my grumpiness with me and burn it out during cardio.

Life with chronic conditions

I may whine complain about a lot of the crap I deal with in my life. I also may be a tad cranky about getting my meds so I don't hurt all the time.

I have a therapist for talking about stuff and I have a meds therapist who keeps me on an even keel. So any issues with depression are held back. I have people to talk things out with. And I know my ailments are not in my head.

I get exercise to help maintain my body as much as I can before my ailments compromise it further. Its not age that is doing this to me.

But so many people just don't get it.

I have a friend with a chronically bad back who has a fair amount of pain. But she doesn't see a doctor about it. She does occasionally see a physical therapist. She has no prescriptions for pain meds because she gets her sister's prescription. She doesn't exercise regularly. And she doesn't understand how I live in pain and have to beg off on group events or leave early. Since she's there and in pain she doesn't understand why I can't stick around.

I also have friends who want to go out at night to do things. Since not much is allowed to get between me and my 930 pm self imposed curfew, I don't go out much. If I do, it needs to have a comfy chair that provides good support. And it can't include any amount of walking or standing.

Finally I have an expiration period. If I am out too long, I spend a long time recovering. So if a friend is late and I spend time waiting around for them, especially if I am standing, I don't get to fully enjoy my time out and end up leaving early to go home and rest before I need to spend a couple days recovering. Therefore I don't spend time with friends who are late.

My husband does understand me. He claims that if I do things I shouldn't or for too long, I am crabby for a day or two. Apparently he doesn't like me when I am crabby. Maybe I should rip off that fake smile and let my inner crabbiness show and then more people might get it.

Its like being back in chemo

I had no idea until well after I had chemo for breast cancer that chemo drugs are used for treating other illnesses. I have a friend with MS who has had chemo infusions to treat her illness.

Now I am on a chemo drug, Methotrexate, to treat my RA. It is primarily used to treat cancers as well as to treat RA or psoriasis.

I am told to avoid sick people and crowds, watch for infections, eat healthy, and cut back on drinking alcohol. Doesn't that sound like being back in chemo? I think I got these same warnings with chemo infusions.

Now its just an injection once a week. But I also have to take high doses of folic acid to reduce liver damage.

Blah, blah, blah. These warnings just annoy me at this point. My mother was on methotrexate orally for about 20 years. I refuse to live for 20 years and change my life for that long. I want to enjoy my life. I am NOT going to avoid crowds. I never did and I'm not going to now. Call me a rebel.

I really just want my life back. Sigh.

The big scary headline

The latest big scary headline from the pharmaceutical industry says that it will cost $2.5 billion to bring a new drug to market. That's a lot of hype over a little factoid. And this kind of thing pisses me off. Increasing drug prices are an increasing part of medical costs in recent years.

First of all, yes that is a hell of a lot of money. There is no denying that. Second of all, its not as big as it sounds in terms of how they will recoup their money. For example.

If a new drug is developed that will treat a mere 10,000 people each year and costs $5000 per month (not an unexpected amount), it will take the drug companies 4.17 years to recoup their expenses. 10,000x$5,000x12=$600,000,000. $600,000,000x4.17=$2,500,000,000.

And this is why I really have no patience with the drama from the pharmaceutical industry:

"Development costs are one factor companies use in determining how much they will charge for newly approved prescription drugs. But they also weigh demand, the competitive market in their therapeutic areas, and the value they believe a treatment can provide to patients."

So if you thought the so-called 'death panels' were going to put a dollar value on human life, you don't need to worry because the pharma industry already did when they include the 'value they believe a treatment can provide to patients'.

But I do understand the value the pharmaceutical industry brings to medical advancement. I just have a problem with the dollar amounts and drama.

Sleeping, or not

I have problems sleeping these days. On a good night, I get to sleep for a solid 12 hours. I'm not kidding. I hope to do this once a week at least. Not this weekend. If I can, I save my big sleeping nights for the weekend because I don't have to get up in the morning.

Friday night I slept from about 10-330. Then I dozed off and on until 6 when I gave up and got up. Last night, I slept from about 930 to 4. Then I couldn't sleep so I played games on my phone (because my phone was nagging me to get caught up on words with friends) for about half and hour and then dozed for a while and finally got back to sleep for a bit. I am feeling a bit sleep deprived as a result.

I have spoken with my many doctors about this and my PCP said she wants me to have a sleep test to figure out if I have apnea or other issues.

Sleep tests can determine other problems as well. According to Dr. Wikipedia:

"Polysomnography is used to diagnose, or rule out, many types of sleep disorders including narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), REM behavior disorder, parasomnias, and sleep apnea. Although it is not directly useful in diagnosing circadian rhythm sleep disorders, it may be used to rule out other sleep disorders."

My PCP said that now they do sleep tests where they send you the machine at home and you can sleep in your own bed. However the hospital set me up for an overnight sleep test there. They claim the room is like a motel room. I hate sleeping in motel or hotel rooms by myself. I want my husband there to protect me from intruders and scary monsters or zombies. I also want the cat. I'm not sure I can bring either.

I got the schedule in the mail late Friday afternoon when it was too late to call. Then I got the information brochure in yesterday's mail telling me all kinds of useful information. Dress in comfortable clothes - not pajamas. It doesn't sound like you can wear pjs. They do not have shower facilities either.

I like this part where it says if you drink every night you should do so before coming - but you can't bring any alcohol and you must have a driver bring you if you are drinking. LOL. I find it funny that they specify this. Obviously some have driven drunk to the sleep test or brought in a bottle or two.

But I don't think I can get sleep there which is the whole point of the test. And what if I want to gt up and pee in the middle of the night?

First thing Monday I will call my insurance company and make sure they cover the test at home instead of there. Then I will call the hospital and see about having a home test if I can and ask all my other questions - can I bring my tablet to read a book on before sleeping? What about PJs? What about bathroom visits? Lots of things to know.

All I know is I need to sleep more. And this might help.

Lack of sleep causes both crabbiness and crankiness.

Living with in 'The Rule'

We have many not necessarily rules but guidelines and considerations by which we, my husband and I, live. There are the basics, I cook and he cleans up the kitchen. I do laundry and he carries it up and down the stairs. We are generally considerate to each other (except when we choose to annoy one another). And all sorts of other basics that help us live together peacefully for the most part.

However as my health has done its downward spiral, my husband has created 'The Rule'. It is a rule by which I am required to live. It actually has a lot of common sense built into it (so may be he is being smart here). 'The Rule' states that Caroline is not allowed to plan more than one event per day. This means I can't go to the beach and then go out to dinner the same evening. Or I can't go to a day long event and then go out in the evening. I need to plan accordingly.

The reason for creating the rule is to avoid crabbiness. For some reason, he doesn't like it when I get crabby. I just can't understand (insert smirk here).

I have come to realize that this is really about as much as I can do. I look at my calendar each month, I plan accordingly. I work three days a week and shift it around to accommodate doctor appointments and other events. I also go to the gym three days a week. If I work and then go to the gym, while technically being two events, I am okay but I really can't go out that night.

So today I am being sneaky. I met one friend for lunch about half an hour away and then another friend is coming over for dinner. this did not register with my husband as much because he didn't come with me to meet the first friend. So I am sneaking in the second event. But I am lying down now. Everything is ready but making the salad. But I am tired (don't tell him that). I will go to bed as soon as she leaves which won't be late because we have called it an early dinner.

Tomorrow work and then the gym. Tuesday work and the grocery store and to see my parents. Wednesday work and the gym. And so my week goes on. But I will heed the rule as best I can. I don't like being crabby any more than he does.

From avoidance to cranky

I am in such a cranky mood. Let this be a warning to those who cross my path today. Yesterday I started in avoidance mood and ended up crabby. That when to grumpy. This morning I am cranky.

So how did this happen. I was in avoidance mode because of my doctor appointment which went fine) as fine can be with an hour of unexplained wait due to rude nursing staff who preferred talking about their boy friends, cell phones, caller ID, and the weather forecast).  I ended up with blood tests in six months and blood tests, ultrasound, and follow up in one year. That's just fine.

Then I had to go to a meeting which started early to accommodate someone's understandable scheduling request but was full of unorganized and critical people who were happy to nitpick and and express opinions but not volunteering for much work at all. I heard a couple of times 'are we done yet'? I may need to  remove myself from the committee. Not over the nitpicking - we want to do things right but because of the lack of help they are providing. But I was already crabby so who am I to complain?

Next we have a tiny snow storm forecast for tomorrow and well into Saturday which will spoil all my Saturday socializing plans that I was looking forward to. Yesterday morning we were in the 3=6" range, by lunch time the double digit predictions were appearing and growing. And I can't really shovel snow or go out in play in it much - I might break out the snow shoes (unless my husband hid them on me) if we really get the predicted two feet of snow.

This morning I have to go to work after a meeting last night - which means I didn't get enough rest. And it doesn't help that after work I have to go to another work related networking event. I can come home after work and rest for a bit but it still means going out another night in a row - can you say extra crabby?


On top of all this, we are having windows replaced in the house. The plan was to be done by the end of the day tomorrow. They had a slow start but have been making great progress. Our current agreement is that we will talk this afternoon and see if they can finish before the storm (doubtful) and when they can return and finish which means rescheduling the carpet cleaning and the cleaning lady and the room  painting. Our house is in chaos as three of the six rooms have been construction zones for ten days already.
Finally tomorrow, unless it is blizzarding by 8am, I will go to the gym and then go whine at my therapist and be home by noon, ready to be snow bound for 24 hours. Maybe I can take naps and get caught up on my sleep and required rest. But I have work to do after last night's meeting.

Crankiness abounds, redux

Am I cranky or am I cranky. I had an entire blog post written about why I am cranky these days and posted it. I went back in to edit it, and DELETED THE ENTIRE THING without any help from the cat. I did this all by myself.

I am cranky. Here are the reasons that I can remember that I wrote for being cranky:

• Not enough sleep. I get a lot of sleep but then alarm clocks, pets, and other annoyances wake me up.
• I get tired very easily and have had to limit my schedule and some people really annoy me in that they do not understand why I am not jumping up and down to go out and be social and to work on weekends like I used to be able. 
• I have an appointment with my rheumatologist to discuss progress/prognosis/treatment options etc. Maybe stressful
• I may be a little over scheduled but not as bad as previously.
• I have an upcoming ultrasound that will not be discussed until I am damn well ready to - so don't even think of asking me about it. It could be stressful.
• It is freezing cold out and I need to go to work asap - but am rewriting my blog in a less than witty fashion because of my severe lack of computer skills.
• And I am really annoyed at all the liars out there these days - Lance Armstrong, the foot ball player with the 'dying' girl friend who never existed, politicians, and other fools.

I should just stay in bed and hide from the world but will head out and share my crankiness with the world.

Crankiness, crabbiness, and general witchiness

I have been in a bad mood for the last few days. I know there have been some medication change which could cause some of this.I have also been under a lot of stress due to paid work and volunteer work. Why is it all volunteer works happens at the same time as important work deadlines? Add in some interactions with a cranky spouse and a few  rude, chronically late people, disastrous restaurant meals, and there you have the foundation for crankiness, crabbiness, and general witchiness. And maybe some upcoming medical misadventures to ponder.

My doctor appointments seem to have slowed down to one every two weeks or so. Next week I have two. This week I had a dentist appointment. Maybe 3 each month. This has reduced some stress levels so maybe my stress has moved on to other areas of my life giving me less patience with rude, chronically late people. Maybe my husband's crankiness is just a reaction to my crankiness.

We are all entitled to our bad moods, as long as you have good moods too. Maybe my good mood will return when my stress level goes down and I get through all my deadlines next Friday.

Time

The word of the day is 'time', or perhaps it should be 'sleep' or lack of it. This business of changing time twice a year is perplexing. I mean what is the point? All it does for us is mess up our sleep schedules for a few days. I did some research and found out a bunch of details on it:

The whole point of daylight savings time is to maximize the amount of sunlight later in the day and lessen the amount in the morning.  It was the rocket scientist idea (did they have rocket scientists them or were politicians just as smart then as they are now) when Congress approved the time zones that the train schedules had been following since the 1880's. Who knew mass transit would force time zones? It is optional now and was only mandatory in 1918 and during WWII - as it is supposed to save power. In 1966 it was introduced nationally but not everyone follows it. It was moved to its current 'optional' schedule in 2005 to save more electricity. But there has since been a study that says it only saves 1% at most. That shows what a smart idea it really was.

Gee that's a lot of interesting factoids but it does not help cope with reality. Since last night was 'fall back' I am supposed to be more rested today as I got an extra hour of sleep. But I slept really badly last night and am up early thanks to the (damn) cat who wants breakfast according to his stomach, not according to the clock. And have you ever tried to train a cat? Today I am not more rested which I can only assume is due to (ever-so) slightly overdoing things yesterday. Tomorrow I will move into crabby.

Tonight my body will say 'stay up until the old bedtime' which means instead of going to bed at 930 or so (I am an early bird) I will want to go to bed at 830 which is the bedtime for 8 year olds. This means I will force myself to stay up later than my body wants. Tomorrow morning I should get up at 530, according to yesterday's time, but that means I will wake up before the alarm. This will cause lack of sleep and I will end up being crabby - too bad I have to go to work all day tomorrow.

Small children and pets do not understand this business of time change. Explain that to any two year old who's nap and bed time are an hour later than they think they shall be. The two year olds turn into space aliens. The pets become annoying.

I will go spend my day looking at clocks and timers and try to figure out if they are on old time or new time. It used to be you had to reset everything, but now with atomic clocks, the internet, and DVRs which display the time, some things automatically reset themselves. And if your spouse goes around changing the time on some things and you do as well, do you actually end with clocks in the old time, the new time, and the 'turned back twice' time? Its as if you were living in three time zones.

I'm not really sure if we are on daylight saving's time or standard time. I never remember which is which. I just know I will be tired, crabby from lack of sleep, and not really sure what time it is for the next few days.

Yesterday was a bad day so apparently I am crabby

I had a bad day yesterday. It was long, eventful, stressful, and tiring. My husband keeps telling the cat to avoid me because I am being crabby - even though I fed the cat and made lunch for my husband.

Yesterday morning I woke up starving, wanting breakfast, and couldn't eat, even have coffee because I had a fasting blood test before my 830 doctor appointment. I got up, fed the cat and made lunch for my husband, and was starving. I finally took a shower before getting dressed. My big toe on my left foot has been bugging me for a few days so I took a look at it after getting out of the shower. It was infected. I mean there was (yucky) pus next to my toe nail. I don't consider that something one wants to see. Crap.

I went to the hospital for my blood test and grabbed coffee and a banana (as a crabbiness reduction attempt) and called my doctor's office to be seen the same day. I got a 915 am appointment which fit nicely after my previously scheduled 830 appointment. At my 830 appointment my meds therapist wanted to know why I didn't want to increase the dose of one of my meds. I said I prefer to take fewer instead of more medications and if I am doing fine at one dose then why change it? She thought I should increase it, I disagreed. Then I realized there were refills available at the original low dose that she had ordered previously. Call me cranky but I don't want more drugs.

Then I went off to see the doctor about my toe. Its infected - now that's news (I saw it). But she said I had gotten it before it went wild. So I have to soak it twice a day in warm water, keep it covered with bacitracin or something and a bandaid and take an antibiotic for the next 7 days. If its not better in a week, call back for a follow up with a podiatrist and he can cut away at my toe. Oh joy! That sounds like some much (not) fun!

On my way home from the hospital, I stopped at medical records to (stupidly) pick up my test results from all the tests I have had recently. They did have the results of my fasting blood test from that morning which was good. This is what I found out. My mammogram was fine - but I already knew that. My bone density scan shows that I am once again back in osteopenia land after successfully leaving it two years ago. I have lots of good cholesterol and only a little of bad cholesterol. I have my EKG but haven't deciphered it yet but my doctor said it was fine but fast. I want to figure out the notes from when they compared it to my last one.

Once I got home I realized that I had not received my full blood count test results. But since I have another appointment today I can stop by and get it - and then it showed up in the mail. That was full of all sorts of nice news such as my blood counts are finally returning to the pre-chemo levels. My thyroid levels are back into low normal but we are still adjusting them.

Then I worked from home, met a friend for coffee, stood in a giant line picking up three prescriptions and rushed to PT. After that I came home did more work and had a conference call for volunteer work for an hour when all I wanted to do was go to bed early.

So the result of yesterday is I have another prescription to take, 2 new issues - infected toe and osteopenia, and have a bruise from this week's blood test growing on top of the bruise from last week's blood test.

Maybe because it has now rained for 6 days in a row is why I am cranky. But I also would prefer to get healthy.

On crabbiness and being tempermental

Over this weekend I was told (by my mother) that I was out of line and being cranky and mad at people. She was right, I was out of line and I admit it. But I was mad at my sister (we were trying to watch olympics and she wouldn't shut up and I was tired and my back was hurting) and sometimes with siblings, its very easy to resort to five year old behaviors. Sometimes all the years of aging behind us, they just strip away and we become our five year old selves saying 'don't touch me', 'she's looking at me', etc.

I am trying to live my life but have certain constraints these days, some are new and some are old. I have never been able to stay up late at night. I struggle to reach 10pm on weekends, if ever. I was never the kid to stay up past their bedtime. And now its actually worse. I just run out of energy each day and need to just get to bed.

These days I have all sorts of issues going on. When my back acts up, I get cranky. When I am dealing with my health issues, I get cranky. When I am dealing with my husband's health issues, I get cranky. When I am dealing with my cat's health issues, I get cranky. This week, I am dealing with all three so I will probably be cranky. I am also over scheduled. I need to allow myself some downtime every day so I can rest my back. I also have to fit in two sets of ankle exercises and one set of back exercises daily.

To top everything off, here is my schedule for the week: Monday: cat to vet, work in am, dr apt, job interview, meeting, Tuesday: work all day 8-5, Wednesday: work in AM, Walter's CT scan in pm, Thursday: Walter's procedure and an evening meeting, Friday: my father gets out of rehab after breaking his leg and I might need to go back into work. I also have to do some work from home and meet a friend for a walk. And I just saw the weather forecast which calls for snow/rain all week long.

I sneak in my little bits of down time here and there. I hope to get out for walk this afternoon to relax and clear my head after the doctor and before my interview.

I know the causes of crankiness and temper tantrums. I am working on dealing with them but when continuing health issues keep invading my life, my inner evil bitch comes through. Its hard to be relaxed, perky and cheerful when in pain or stressed. Somewhere I know my normal cheerful, relatively nice personality still exists but it gets covered up by everything else.

On being nice

Yesterday, I don't think I was being nice. I mean I tried to be nice all day but lack of sleep, back pain, and too much to do contribute to relative crabbiness. But also I was confronted with sales help who are clueless. I met friends at a local bakery which has little yummy individual souffles for breakfast - which are awesome (and a secret addiction). But when I got to the register, there weren't any. I asked and they said they were in the oven and would be ready in five minutes. I said fine, I would get tea now and come back up when they were ready. 20 minutes later they were still not out - even though I saw them come out of the oven so I went back up to ask. Apparently, they were letting them cool and wanted me to wait another 15 minutes... I might burn myself on them if I got one too soon. If they weren't going to be ready for half an hour from when I first asked, why didn't she tell me.

Next I stopped into a local furniture store as I had 20 minutes or so before I had to go to work - long enough to window shop in a store but not long enough to do much else. I was looking around and a nice person asked if he could help me. I asked about a piece that was marked with a sale sign but not a sale price. He said he would get a sales person who could answer my questions because he was the visual display guy and didn't know detailed price info. Ten minutes later he was surprised to find me still wandering the store with no sales help so he said he would find someone to help me. Then another five minutes go by and the sales person tells me she will be right with me. Then I see her selecting stuff for another customer so I start walking towards the door.

Finally a sales person comes up to me as I am about to leave. I said to her 'I am looking for a love seat and/or twin sleeper but now have to go to work'. She said she would print some materials out for me to take with me. I said fine but I have to go to work now. She starts printing, and then answers questions for co-workers, and then prints some more and then talks to other co-workers. I said I have to go to work and don't have time. Finally I get information, go running out the door, and am late for work. So now I have furniture information, no desire to go back to that store, which did have really nice stuff and a sale starting this weekend, but their sales people don't get it. Customer service, hello!!!

I was a tad overscheduled because I had to take the cat to the vet in the AM and pick him at the end of the day, in addition to everything else I had on my calendar. They checked him out and he is better. His blood sugar levels are almost too low so we had to readjust his insulin intake and go back in a couple of weeks to check again. He has gained back a pound of weight so he is up to 12.5 which is good. There is a chance, we won't be able to stabilize his blood sugar levels, which would be very bad.

Yesterday my back was somewhat cooperative (meaning it didn't hurt badly all day) and I got a fair amount of sleep. I was exhausted by the end of the day and never got out for a walk.

In the meantime, I have to get moving today because it is pouring rain, there are accidents on the highway, and I have to get to work on time so I can leave on time so I can meet a friend for a walk on time.

Browsing in the Hallmark section

Apparently there are expanded Hallmark moments in life to include other significant life moments, like cancer! Yes! Last week I was in the card section of my local drug store and saw a 'coping with cancer' together greeting card showing a bald headed model - apparently representing someone going through chemotherapy - with a healthy person. Clearly there are tasteless people at Hallmark who don't get it.

If I am in treatment, I don't want to be sent a picture of someone supposedly going through chemo. There was no hint of ever present nausea and discomfort, just a healthy person without hair. If you want to send me a coping with cancer card, it should be cheery - while in treatment, you get to see people all the time with no hair who are sick. Send me a picture of something nice - or better yet - chocolate, ice cream, flowers, or a picture of a research lab which is decoding the gene pool finding a cure. You get the point. If you have cancer and aren't in treatment because you there isn't anything they can do, why do you want to get a picture of someone 'in treatment'? Helloo!! Yoohoo, Hallmark people - think about it - a picture of someone else who is faking having cancer doesn't cut it. This is my daily rant but I am not alone here, see this blog too.

Last night, I think I slept 5 hours, and then another 1.5 hours, so after 6.5 hours of sleep plus 5 hours the night before, or a total of 11 hours in two days, I am exceptionally perky (and crabby). Tonight I am going to bed early and not answering the phone so I can get some sleep. Before then I have an overscheduled day. 815 drop cat at vet, 930 meet friends for coffee, 11-12 walk, 12pm pick up tickets for movie, 12-5 work, 515pm pick up cat. (note: being in 3 places at 12pm) I have to eat lunch too... I'll have to pack that first, take a shower, eat breakfast, and finish waking up. Perhaps I should get off the internet and get moving????

PS My back hurts but I am not whiney or anything.