Bits & Pieces #24

Since I’ve got about fifty balls in the air this week and since I can’t seem to catch any good clouds lately and since I’m trying hard not to bore you with medical stuff every single day, I thought this would be a good time to share some bits and pieces I’ve been saving up. So, let your hair down, take off your shoes and let’s just chat!

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The oval office re-do – Well, President Obama, as the Presidents before him, decided to put his own particular touch to the Oval Office and ended up with this.

So, what do you think?  I think it looks comfortable, very much like a conference room in a Howard Johnson’s motor inn.  Therein lies the problem for me.  I think it looks far too casual for the formal office of a head of state.  I’ve had friends whose family rooms were classier than this.  I think President Bush’s Oval Office had far more dignity.  And his rug was way cooler.  But that’s just my opinion.  What’s yours?

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American Idol – Over the weekend we got confirmation that Kara DioGuardi  was joining the exodus from the Judges’ table.  She was someone I could take or leave, so that’s okay.  And Ellen DeGeneres’ decision to leave was one I supported.  I love Ellen, but that job was not a good fit for her.  She was just too nice.  But then there’s Simon Cowell, the judgiest of judges who is also gone.  And for me, that’s a loss from which the show won’t recover.  Say what you will about Simon, but he was the only judge who always spoke the truth.  Sure, he could be cruel, but often his cruelty was, in reality, a kindness.  He didn’t believe in giving people false hope.  If you sucked and even your best friend wouldn’t tell you before you humiliated yourself in auditions, Simon would set you straight real fast.  I actually have no interest in watching the show now that he’s gone.

I might feel differently if this past season had had some real standout talent, but, let’s face it, this past group was pathetic.  Lee DeWyze?  Really?  He’s the American Idol?  That’s just sad.  But then, I might be prejudiced.  After this boy – everybody is going to be boring!

Even if you didn’t like Adam Lambert, you’ve got to admit, American Idol has never had a contestant so creative, flexible, talented and intriguing.  So, that’s one more show I won’t be watching this season.  Will you?

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Dancing Merengue Dog – Have you seen it?  Because if you haven’t, I’m going to fix that.  I’m not even particularly a dog person, but I’m in love with this dancing dog.  She’s amazing!  And I love how she smiles through the whole thing.  I can’t think of a better way to end this post!

Peace, people!

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Marcel the Shell

Sometimes I run across a video so unexpectedly delightful and amusing that I find myself playing it over and over.  So it is with “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp and written and voiced by SNL’s Jenny Slate.

Knowing that I find this so adorably touching will tell you something about the kind of person I am.  Its simple childlike innocence makes me want to learn how to make little movies like this myself.   Who knows?  Maybe I will sometime.

Without further ado, enjoy!

If that didn’t give you a smile, you’re just not trying!

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Lost In The Medical Maze

Today I’m questioning so many things.  This double vision problem is making me feel more and more like I’m some sort of freak in a world of normal people.  I have to drive with one side of my sunglasses covered with dark paper or I wouldn’t be able to drive at all.  And I still feel very vulnerable.  I’m not seeing my friends as often and I worry that it’s getting harder to focus  and wonder if that means my eyes are getting worse.  Last night I asked myself how I got into this mess and whether or not I’ve done everything right.  I felt so sure my eyes would be back to normal by now.  So I sat down and went over the steps I’ve taken and this is what the situation looks like.

Friday, July 26th – I woke up with double vision, but, since I’d had it once before years ago, decided it would go away in a few days like it did back then.  It didn’t.

Tuesday, August 3rd – Went to see my ophthalmologist.  She found no visible injuries or disease of the eye.  Upon my telling her about a new medication I was on that had double vision as a side effect, she called my doctor and they decided that I should stop it.  It would take ten days to leave my system.  It did.  The double vision didn’t.

Thursday, August 19th – Had a head and orbits MRI scheduled by the ophthalmologist.

Friday, August 20th – Eye doctor diagnoses Graves’ Disease and Graves Ophthalmopathy, due to enlarged muscles behind the eyes.  She suggests I see my Internist.

Monday, August 23rd – Saw my doctor (after waiting for an hour!) who wouldn’t make a diagnosis without thyroid blood tests, which I had.

Tuesday, August 24th – Doctor had his nurse call to confirm the Graves’ Disease diagnosis.  He called in a low-dose thyroid prescription and referred me to an endocrinologist.  I call the endocrinologist’s office and the soonest he can see me is September 16th!

Thursday, August 26th, a.m. – My internist’s referral desk patient advocate somehow manages to get the appointment moved up to September 8th.

Thursday, August 26th, p.m. – Endocrinologist’s triage nurse calls to say that I need more blood tests and that  I need to call to schedule a two-day thyroid uptake and scan test at the hospital, which I do.

Friday, August 27th – Hospital calls and says the test will have to be delayed 7 days because of the thyroid pills my doctor gave me.  Test is rescheduled for this coming Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day.

Friday, September 3rd – Have still more blood drawn for tests.

So that brings me to today, Sunday, September 5.  Tomorrow will mark a full SIX WEEKS that I’ve had double vision without ANY treatment.  Six weeks may not sound like much to you, but trust me, it’s forever when it’s your EYES!  I’ve jumped through so many hoops, spent so many hours on the phone, given so much blood that a vampire would swoon, picked up a disease along the way, had my head and eyeballs scanned and will be tested Tuesday at 6:45 a.m. and 12:45p.m. and Wednesday at 6:45 a.m. again.  Wednesday I’ll also see the endocrinologist at 1:45 p.m. and then my doctor the next day.  ALL OF THAT and, as of today, my eyes are exactly the same, if not worse.

If, by the end of this coming week, no one has helped me,  I don’t know what I will do.  I’ve tried to be patient.  I’ve had faith.  I really have done my best to hang in there, but it’s getting harder and harder.

So, at this point, my question is – At what point do you just give up hope?

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A Cat Is Watching Me

This very cat is watching me,

And not just on this day.

He’s always somewhere close, you see.

I wish he’d go away!

It’s not that I am anti-cat.

Or I would tell you so.

It’s just that he is always there

Wherever I might go.

I step out front to do a chore,

And there, beside a tree,

Across the street, there sits The Cat,

Intently watching me.

I stand out on my balcony,

Just taking in the air,

And there he is, as usual,

With his unbroken stare.

What does he want?  What have I done?

HE certainly isn’t talking!

I only know I’m victim

Of his furtive, feline stalking!

If I should disappear and

No one knows where I am at,

Please tell the cops to question first

That solitary cat…

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Observations of a Morning

(Note:  This post was written in advance last week.  The humidity has since returned.)

As I write this, I’m sitting out on my balcony at 9:15 a.m.  It is 69 delicious degrees out.  I would be sitting in my lounger, but the sun has chosen to glare down at that corner for the moment so I’m at my umbrella table.  There is no humidity and I can feel the caress of a slight breeze on my arm.

As I look around, I see green leaves on all the trees with the exception of the Mulberry, which has quite a few yellow leaves that are dying.  I see two frantic flying insects chasing each other across the balcony, totally ignoring me.  This is their turf, I guess.  A blue jay flies in, landing on a bouncy branch.  He sits there looking around for about a minute and then suddenly takes to the air again.  I always wonder what birds are thinking.  Was that one meeting someone who didn’t show up?  Or does he just fly and rest, fly and rest all day long?  There are those who say that birds have too small a brain to think, but really, how do they know?  You’d have to be bird to really know.

The cicadas just started up, even though it is daylight.  As I sit here and concentrate on listening, I hear all sorts of insect chittering sounds, with a bird call thrown in here and there.  But the insects are definitely winning this Battle of the Bands.  Their calls swell in the air until they are really loud and then they die away.  Then another group with a slightly different melody takes their place.  I can also hear cars on the highway in the distance and a closer car which just honked two times.  Oh, and I just identified another noise.  Interesting.  One by one those yellow Mulberry leaves are falling off the tree much more loudly than you’d expect.  They appear to be the texture of leather and when one falls off, you can hear it hit branch after branch on the way down with a kind of “thump thump.”  And then there is actually a definite “clunk” sound as they hit the driveway.  These are very loud leaves.   I hear, but don’t see, geese honking overhead, perhaps heralding the beginning of the end of summer?

It’s funny.  It’s such a lovely peaceful morning and yet, when you listen, really listen, the air is filled with a non-stop cacophony of sound.  Most of us are so busy or preoccupied and we never notice.  The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there’s never an absence of sound in Nature.  The noises change, but there’s always something.

Anyway, this beautiful, cool morning, which I have been waiting for for so long, is all mine today.  Breathing in the fresh air, observing the pale blue sky, the trees, the birds, and listening to the symphony of the insects – all these things take me away, at least for the moment, from my troubles.

And that little reprieve, however brief it may be, is certainly welcome.

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