Quick Migraine Update--Medical Tests

Just returned from the doctor's office where I had two different medical tests. The first was called a TCD. In this test, I laid flat while the nurse injected fluid from two different syringes into my arm--alternating them to create micro-bubbles. I was wearing a weird helmet and I had to blow hard into a plastic device for ten seconds. It was uncomfortable. That's not me in the photograph, but I think the helmet looked something like this.

The second test was an MRA. This was similar to a regular MRI if you have ever had one of those done, but this one was of the arteries of my neck. I spent about a half an hour inside this large, noisy machine. There was an IV attached to the same arm used in the first test (but a different injection site).

After the tests, I met with the neurologist who said my heart and arteries looked normal. He had not yet received the results from the ten blood tests they had done last week, except for the one for cholesterol which was higher than normal. When he receives the remaining blood tests he will call me with the results to give me a prescription for cholesterol medicine and any other type of drug I may need based on the results of the remaining blood tests.

This has been an unpleasant experience that I was dreading. At least, it is over. Have you had any similar medical tests? What did you think of them?

(photo by DigitalForsyth @ www.flickr.com)

"But I Don't Want to Join the Spoon Club!"

Be careful when you send away for something free. I sent in a coupon for a "free book." I always like to get free books and this seemed innocuous enough. I guess I didn't realize when the free books arrived that somewhere in the small print I was signing myself up for an endless supply of them--along with extra "gifts."

Yesterday, more books arrived, along with this "lovely teaspoon." It was wrapped in a "velvet shawl." Wow! Seems I am now a member of some club and will be receiving these spoons along with my books into infinity and beyond. Just what I need--an itsy bitsy little decorated spoon!

Well, my husband and I searched through every accompanying piece of literature in the package and finally found (in the smallest of letters) how to cancel my membership in this club--after, of course, we paid for the "lovely teaspoon" and the books that came with it.

Buyer beware! You can't get something for nothing. I have learned my lesson. Have you learned yours?

My Migraines: Curiouser and Curiouser

I’m beginning to feel like Alice in Wonderland. Last month I had a very bad migraine headache. It’s been better since the beginning of March, but not totally gone. My regular doctor ordered an MRI and sent me to a neurologist. The results of the MRI indicated some “white matter.” I checked this term out on the Internet and didn’t find much, at least connected to migraines. I do remember my neurologist back in Louisiana pointing out some white “dandruff-like” stuff on a MRI that he had done of my head. He said it was common as people age. I went to my first meeting with my new neurologist here in Illinois the other day feeling reasonably confident that nothing much was wrong.

The new neurologist showed me the MRI photographs of my brain and pointed out a “white spot” which looked, to my eye, much larger than the “dandruff-like” stuff I remember seeing back in Louisiana. The neurologist thought it might indicate that I had had a “mini-stroke” although he said it could indicate all sorts of things, including lupus or lime disease. This was not what I was expecting.

The new neurologist ordered an array of blood tests (which I completed this morning--ten vials worth!). He has me scheduled to take two diagnostic tests on Monday. One is an MRA, similar to an MRI, but of my arteries. It will require an IV, which I don’t like at all. The second test is something to photograph my heart (I think like an echocardiogram, but I can’t remember the name) and it too requires an IV. The doctor says the IV fluid has “micro-bubbles” in it. I find this creepy. I don’t like the idea of bubbles in my bloodstream.

I’m not certain how much all of this extensive testing is because I am a new patient, or because the neurologist is very thorough, or because that’s how they do things in Illinois, or because I just really need these tests. It’s hard for patients to know if doctors are being too aggressive or not aggressive enough. I wish I knew, because I don’t like going through lots of medical tests if they don’t really need to be done.

Have any of you who have migraines ever had any tests like these done? Do you find any of this as curious as I do?

(photos by Alex.Robinson and Morgan Carpenter and MacRonin47 @ www.flickr.com)

Tabouli

Now that Spring is here, I decided to cook a nice main dish salad that my husband and I love that I have created. It uses packaged tabouli or tabbouleh which is a Middle Eastern grain (bulgar) with parsley and mint. It meets all the major criteria of a good Subjective Soup recipe: 1) easy, 2) cheap, and 3) tasty.

Here is the recipe with step-by-step photographs. I’ve even shown you the Tabouli box like Jenn at Jenn Cooks does. I love how she always shows the ingredients in everything she cooks before she cooks it.

Step 1. Fry a pound of hamburger and drain.

Step 2. Cook one cup of instant rice.

Step 3. Fix packaged tabouli mix (usually adding boiling water and oil).

Step 4. Chop two tomatoes and add to tabouli mix

Step 5. Add hamburger and rice to tabouli tomato mix.

Step 6. Garnish with lemon slices and refrigerate several hours before serving.

Yummy! If you like you can add other vegetables—such as onions, capers, celery, or anything else you like in main dish salads. Tabouli has a unique minty flavor (must be the mint in it) which mixes really well with the meat and rice. This recipe makes a lot and it lasts forever! Not bad for a non-cook, don't you think?

Sunday, Sweet Virtual Sunday!

How I love Sundays! Slowly sipping my coffee. Reading the Sunday papers with those extra magazine inserts. Watching CBS's Sunday Morning (today's episode on the one-legged skier was great!). And to top it off--opening my blog and finding two lovely gifts from two of my favorite bloggers.

My new buddy Clara at Coming Back to Life has inspired me in many ways--particularly in getting me involved in the 100 push-up challenge. She sent me a Passionate Blogger Award which she had received from Sandee of Comedy Plus. Now, that is what I call high quality re-gifting!


My even newer buddy Crabby Blogging Lady has sent me a Let's Be Friends award. Absolutely, CBL! I love your honest, tell-it-like-it-is style! I will try to emulate your honesty in my blog.



I'd like to hang on to these two lovely awards and enjoy their sparkle, but as you know, in the world of Blog, the word of the day is "share." So, let me send them to new owners who I hope will enjoy them as much as I have. I hope you will enjoy their blogs too. They are all passionate bloggers and would make great friends too!

Terri of Truths of a Shy Writer
The Retired One of My Retirement Chronicles
Derek of I Will Not Die
Jo of Self Alchemy
Lynne of A Malaysian Abroad

Explaining Entrecard

How do I explain Entrecard to someone who is not a member? For those of you reading this post who are NOT members of Entrecard (I'm guessing maybe 2%--and I'd really like to hear how that 2% found my blog. Please know that I value you and your readership greatly, however you found me) Entrecard is a system that helps bloggers acquire readers by advertising on each other's blogs. For the remaining 98% of you who are Entrecard members, no explanations are necessary.

It's easy to create a blog. It's not easy to get readers. Is that important to me? Yes, to some extent. I spend a lot of time working on my two blogs (my other is Communication Exchange), posting every other day on each. It's very gratifying when my efforts are appreciated--or at least noticed. Writing my daily post takes me at most an hour a day. What takes up most of my blogging time is promoting (and I use that word in the broadest sense) my blog--which I do mostly on Entrecard.

Through the Entrecard site, I visit other blogs, particularly ones similar to mine. I make a point of visiting (or dropping) on Entrecard bloggers who have visited me. If it weren't for Entrecard I never would have found some of my favorite blogs and bloggers (such as Tiffany Aller who I have been missing and who just today sent me this great "KIck Ass" Blogger award. Thanks, Tiffany!). All of this visiting and reciprocating of visits can take many hours. In other words, Entrecard can become a JOB. In recent months, I have actually had to intentionally cut back the time I spent on Entrecard because I felt it was consuming too much of my time and I was becoming addicted to it and it was adversely affecting my health. It's one thing to spend many hours at a job when you are making a good salary, but when you are making NOTHING, it's hard to justify. Well, I was building traffic to my blogs and creating good will with other bloggers, but I was not making any money. Believe me, I am retired, and happily so. I do not NEED to make money. However, if I am going to spend 6-8 hours a day doing ANYTHING, it would be nice if I could make SOME money from my efforts.

Well, now Entrecard is going to be trying something new. I am not really sure how it will work, as I am never really sure how Entrecard's plans work when they announce them (witness the ill-fated Sez-Who debacle of several months ago). This plan will allow third party advertisers to post ads on our blogs, allowing bloggers and Entrecard to actually make money. This sounds like a good idea to me. However, the devil is in the details, and I will withhold final judgment until I see if it actually works.

The Entrecard staff have certainly been very responsive to initial complaints; I like that. I guess there will probably be other glitches that will surface as we see the plan implemented. Hopefully, the Entrecard staff will be able to handle whatever comes. If, as Entrecard says, their new plan will allow Entrecard members to actually make money from Entrecard ads on their blogs, I am willing to give it a try. If I make any more than the few cents a day I do from my Google Adsense or Project Wonderful ads, it would be great.

What do you think? Entrecard members? Non-members?

(photo by Bendzgerona @ www.flickr.com)

I'm Losing It!

I took my 88-year old mother to her doctor appointment this morning. At least, that's what I intended to do. I had it all planned. My husband would drive so he could drop us off at the main entrance to the office building and pick us up later after he had run his errands. Everything went as planned--at first. Mom was ready and waiting for me. It's a beautiful spring day so it was easy to get Mom and her walker into the car. My husband Milt drove us the short distance from my Mom's assisted living facility to the doctor's office and deposited us at the main entrance. So far, so good.

Mom and I went in the building and got on the elevator up to the fourth floor to the doctor's office. She sat in the waiting room while I went to check her in. Hmmm. The office looked the same as usual but the plaques with the doctors names on the front desk were different and I didn't see Mom's doctor's name among any of the plaques.

I gave the receptionist my Mom's name and her appointment time. Hmmm. She couldn't find Mom's name in her book. Ooops! "There she is!" announced the receptionist. "Listed for TOMORROW!" I quickly opened my appointment calendar and sure enough, her appointment is for THURSDAY--not today--WEDNESDAY! I had written it down correctly. I just brought her a day EARLY! What is wrong with me? How could I be so stupid? I am so embarassed!

Mom smiled sweetly. She's my mother after all; she will forgive me anything. However, she wasn't the one I was worried about. I called Milt on my cell phone and told him to turn around and come back and pick us up. Mom's appointment is tomorrow--not today I told him. I could hear him scream through the telephone!

Oh me, Oh my! This story will travel throughout my family. It will probably be worse than me reading a book at a Nebraska football game. It will probably be worse than the Thanksgiving dinner I cooked with raisins in every dish. I will never hear the end of it. I might as well reveal it on my blog because there's no way I will be able to keep it a secret.

Have you ever done anything quite so stupid? Have you ever been so embarassed?

(photo by blackfog @ www.flickr.com)

Meet Rosie!

After much deliberation (my husband and I looked at the list, argued about our favorites, and finally decided), I am proud to announce the name we have selected for our new Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner from iRobot--Rosie! I like this name because it is short, starts with an "R" like "Roomba" and sounds like a name for a pet. My husband likes it because it makes him think of "Rosie, the Riveter" and she was a powerhouse worker so that would be appropriate for our hard-working little Roomba.

The name was submitted by Da Old Man from Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars. I was surprised to discover that a man had submitted the winning name for a cleaning apparatus, but when I thought about it further, it made sense. My husband's favorite choices from the list of names were all women's names. I guess when men think about house cleaning they think of women. Hmmm.

Truly, everyone of you who submitted names, they were all great! I loved them all and your reasons for selecting them.

Crotchety, I will be sending you some EC credits as a little prize for your brilliance! Bravo and thank you for suggesting the perfect name for our little Rosie.

So, did I make the right pick? I can take the heat. Let me know.

(photo by benackerman @ www.flickr.com)

Clever Readers!

You guys are so clever! I am having a blast reading your suggestions for a name for my new iRobot Roomba.

If you haven't submitted a name for my Roomba yet, please look at my new automatic vacuum cleaner in action in my last post and drop me a comment with your name suggestion.

I will try to make a decision by Monday!

(photo byPollux @ www.flickr.com)

Name That Robot!

Introducing my beautiful, new, red iRobot Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner! I have been wanting one of these nifty devices for ages and finally got one yesterday on my birthday. It is fantastic and did a great job cleaning our upstairs. Right now it is working hard on the first floor.

I videotaped it doing its thing (my Pomeranian Coquette seems relatively nonplussed by the whole thing). Posting a video to my blog is totally new to me, so if there is any problem with viewing it, please let me know! I typically prefer still photos, but I felt you just couldn't get the complete picture of how this little fellow works unless you see it in action.

Also, since it (he? she?) seems to have such a personality (it's red, round, and low to the ground--like a sleek sports car) I thought it might be fun to have a Name that Robot Contest. You select a name for my new Roomba and let me know, along with your reasons. I will pick a winner (if I like any of your choices) and make the announcement in the not too distant future. If the winner is an Entrecard member, I will award some EC credits (not sure how many).

So, guys, watch the video and put on your creative thinking caps. What's a good name for my new iRobot Roomba?

Dancing With Warren Buffet

Yesterday my husband was angst-ridden over billionaire Warren Buffet's public pronouncements of doom and gloom regarding the economy. I, on the other hand, was in heaven awaiting the opening night of the next season of Dancing With the Stars, which is one of the most positive experiences an American can have these days.

As Warren bemoans the nation's dire financial straits, business tycoons, sports stars, and other totally non-ballroom types are giving their hearts, minds, and bodies to conquer an obscure (at least until recently) activity with enthusiasm, cooperation, and positivity. In other words, they are showing what can be done with a true American spirit!

I know many men (my husband included) shun the whole concept of Dancing With the Stars as "women's fare." They don't like anything that forces them to wear spandex and sequins. But, those who have followed this amazing show since its inception (both men and women), know that there is so much more to it than the over-the-top costumes and flamboyant dance routines.

What makes Dancing With the Stars the perfect show for America right now is the attitude that it conveys to viewers. It presents a group of dance "misfits" and shows how they can--through courage, hard work, and sheer determination--accomplish a skill that involves intelligence, grace, artistry, endurance, and musicality. It also shows us a group of contestants who care about each other, who applaud each other's successes, and who genuinely want each other to succeed--something that is sorely lacking in our country today.

If politicians, business leaders, reporters, pundits, and the public would all work together and support our country and its economy--like the contestants on Dancing With the Stars--rather than looking for every little flaw, we could probably solve many of our country's problems.

Come on, Warren! Take a break from watching your investments decline and sign up for Dancing With the Stars! I'd partner you with Karina Smirnov--she'd whip you (and probably the economy) into shape in no time! What do you think? What "doom and gloomers" should get a dose of reality and become ballroom dancers? Who do you think should be contestants on Dancing With the Stars?

(photos by amante gatuno and wgor @ www.flickr.com)

Grand!

My dear friend Lola who is the Top Chef at Lola’s Diner has bestowed upon me the Ain’t Life Grand Award. If you crave some good home cooking and great talk, please stop by Lola’s site and enjoy.

Recipients of the award are to list at least FIVE reasons (the exact number of letters in the word "grand") why life is particularly GRAND for them. Here are my reasons:

G ----great girls at my gym (go Curves!)
R-----relaxing retirement (I love my freedom!)
A-----Americans (I believe my country and its citizens can solve our problems!)
N-----noses (How could we smell grand aromas or keep our glasses on without noses?)
D-----dainty, daffy dogs (like my silly little Pomeranian Coquette!)

I am passing the Ain’t Life Grand Award on to five GRAND bloggers I have found in my online travels. We certainly need more of their kind of enthusiasm in our world.

G-----Great Ordinary Happenings

R-----Retired and Restless

A-----Artist Victoria O-Neill

N-----News From NOLA

D-----Daisy the Cat

Have a GRAND day, everyone! What makes your life GRAND?

Back to School--A Memory

One of my favorite blogs is Back to School for Grown-Ups. Just today, its author, Flit, announced that she has been accepted to a multi-disciplinary doctoral program in Canadian Studies at Trent University in Ontario. Flit is definitely a grown-up and she has been documenting her life as a Masters' degree student on this blog for some time now. Now she is taking her education to the next level and I applaud her. I went through a similar situation.

I got my Bachelor's and Master's degree back to back and then spent a good fifteen years working, getting married, and having two kids before I even contemplated going back to school to work on a doctorate. I remember that my undergraduate advisor tried to talk me into going straight from my Master's program to a doctoral program. She hinted that if I left school, I would find it really hard to return after an absence. She was right. It was difficult, but not impossible.

There I was, in Montgomery, Alabama. My husband was in the Air Force. I had two children--one still an infant. I was, for all intents and purposes, a stay-at-home mom. I did some part-time teaching at a local university a few hours a week. It was there that I met a few colleagues who changed my life (Thank you, Gwen, George, Drew, and Marissa). They encouraged me to consider going back to school to get my doctorate and their arguments were very persuasive.

When my husband retired from the Air Force, he told me that he would go where I wanted to go and we would do what I wanted to do. (Do I not have a sweet guy?). I began investigating and applying and was eventually accepted to the doctoral program in Communication at the University of Arizona at Tucson. We pulled up stakes and moved--never looking back.

We spent five years there. The doctoral work was grueling but challenging and eye-opening. My husband also began work on a doctoral program in Education while we were there (he, however, never finished). When I finished my doctoral work and got my Ph.D., I was able to find a job that suited me really well at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. We moved again and remained there for thirteen happy years.

I loved my work at UL-Lafayette. I always knew that teaching was right for me, but I now discovered the joys of research and publishing. My colleagues became lifelong friends.

I remember reading in one of those advice columns (I think it was "Dear Abby") a query from a woman who wondered if she was too old to go back to school. She said, "Do you know how old I'll be when I graduate?" Dear Abby replied, "How old will you be if you don't graduate?" That's the way I look at older people returning to school. Why not? If my experience counts for anything--and if Flit's does too--what have you got to lose?

Have you ever thought of returning to school? Why? Why not? Did you? If not, what prevented it?

Do You Like Science Fiction?

My answer to the question, "Do you like science fiction?" would typically be a resounding "no!" However, thanks to Flit at Flitting on Fiction, I have discovered an award-winning Canadian novelist named Robert J. Sawyer who has expanded my exposure to science fiction and has provided me with some outstanding and thought-provoking reads recently.

I have always thought of science fiction as space ships, time travel, and aliens from other worlds--in the realm of Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Star Trek. My husband Milt has book cases devoted to hundreds of volumes of every variety of science fiction known to man. None of that has ever much interested me--until I discovered Robert J. Sawyer.

The closest I would typically come to reading science fiction would be the works of Dean Koontz, my favorite author. As I have discussed in other posts I love Koontz' realistic characters with just a hint of other-worldly-ness.

Now along comes Mr. Sawyer and I find that science fiction literature can be much more than spacecrafts and weird creatures. Sawyer asks "what if?" about many important scientific, philosophical, and religious questions. Then, he provides answers in heart-pounding, plot-driven stories that entertain and stimulate thought at the same time.

Take, for example, Flash Forward (which ABC just began filming for a forth-coming television series). Here, Sawyer wonders about the highly publicized Large Hadron Collider which is being used by physicists in Europe to test basic issues of physics such as relativity. Some critics have suggested that there is a potential for the Collider to cause a rift in the fabric of time. In Flash Forward, Sawyer imagines what might happen if the Collider went awry and everyone on the planet were zipped forward in time twenty years--for a few minutes--and then returned. What happens in the story is not exactly what you might imagine and the plot is riveting.

In Calculating God, Sawyer takes an overused premise--that of an alien appearing on earth and demanding to be taken to our leader--and moves it in a whole new direction. This novel is a mix of ET and Ben Hur, as an alien and his human counterpart compare their understandings of God and religion, and work together to find answers that all living beings--not just all humans--seek.

I think what truly makes Sawyer's novels unique, however, is their endings. There is nothing contrived, pat, or easy about his endings. I would call them expansive. Reading the final few pages of his novels is like feeling your heart, mind, and soul grow. I would compare it to listening to great music.

Even if you (like me) are not a science fiction fan, you might want to give Robert J. Sawyer a try. You just might discover that you like his brand of science fiction.

(photo by Looly Huheet @ www.flickr.com)

Thanks to all of you who visited Subjective Soup during February. My Top Ten Entrecard Droppers are listed below. Please do stop by their blogs and say “hello!”

Blog’s Name, Drops
Career Male Nurse 31
The Junk Drawer 31
Spicybugz World 30
Lola's Diner 30
Work At Home 29
The Way I See It 29
One Step Up 29
Coming Back to Life 28
Back to School for Grownups 28
MamaFlo's Place 27

My Top Ten Entrecard Droppers for my other blog Communication Exchange were posted yesterday.

(photo by Flickr @ www.flickr.com)