Salty Zebra

      Last Monday felt surreal. My husband and I kept saying it over and over the whole week.  I was supposed to have been undergoing brain surgery and then spending the week in the hospital, but instead I was home, with no idea what would happen next.  I had been told on Saturday at the Emergency room that I would receive a call from the Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic ( OMFSC) on Monday and they would schedule me to be seen that day or the next. I was also told that the Neurosurgery clinic would contact me sometime this week to reschedule my brain surgery.  I received the OMFSC call before 10 am (the time at which my husband had said he would call if they hadn't) and was given an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Yes, I asked, and no, they didn't have anything sooner.  More disturbing was the call I got from neuro saying they were looking at early May to reschedule the brain surgery.  That was really difficult to take.  First they tell me that the tumor is in a dangerous s

    The ten days leading up to my surgery date were full and challenging. We left very early Friday morning to drive across the state and share the news of my brain tumor with my brother and my middle son.  Our hope was to fly, but they were all full.  I think the drive was good for us though.  The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Snow, frozen waterfalls and lakes, everything seemed intensified, even more beautiful than usual.  As I sat in my brother's home that afternoon with him and his wife, knowing that I had to share soon, butterflies filled my stomach.  I couldn't believe how nervous I was. My heart was racing and I had trouble catching my breath. Finally my husband signaled me that I couldn't wait any longer and I needed to get it over with so I prefaced it with a request for secrecy regarding what I was about to share until all of my kids had been informed and then shared the news.  They were understandably shocked, but very loving and supportive.  We enjoyed th

      I came in here to start writing this post and thought that my app must not have updated because I couldn't believe that my post about the gastroenterologist was the last one I had uploaded. Turns out, when you hear certain things, a bookmark is placed in your life. I've heard about this concept in other arenas before, catalyst points. After them, you see your life as before x, and after x. I was surprised to not see any other posts because so much happened last week, and in my mind I had written several. I think I just felt like I couldn't actually post them here until after I had put them into context. It's funny, I have no readers for this blog at this point, but I was afraid that if I put my news up here before I shared it with my children they might hear about it the wrong way, and it was really important to me to not have that happen.      Last Tuesday I spoke on the phone with the dermatologist office about the results of my biopsy. I had fully expected it t

      Last night I wrapped up testing week with a sleep study.  I've been meaning to get around to doing one of these for a long time, decades really, but I never prioritized it.  When I saw the sleep doctor a few weeks ago, he ordered this home study for me.  My insurance, like most others, requires a home test to be done before they authorize an in person study.  The rigmarole I had to go through to get it checked out and picked up was quite extra in my opinion.  They were not able to send it via post, but I had to go into the office and pick it up, and then they wanted it returned first thing the next open morning.  Of course, they don't have any offices near me, so I chose one that I could detour to after my PT appointment yesterday, and by detour I mean adding a couple of extra hours of travel in :(.     When we got to the hospital we had a little trouble finding our way to the clinic, but a helpful staff person pointed us in the right direction.  I checked in and after a

     Yesterday I completed my Trio Smart Breath Test for SIBO. I was sent home with it by the ARNP I saw at the new GI office last month. We had some comically bad back and forth a over the phone where I was trying to get information about prepping for the test that delayed my being able to take it before my Palm Springs trip, but it's finally done. When I tested for SIBO in the past I used Genova Diagnostics, the same company I did my stool test with on Monday. I guess they are the preferred company by naturopaths, but this GI office had a different company they used.       Having done them both now, I can definitely say I prefer the Genova Diagnostics version from the patient end of things. Their instructions and user support are far more informative. The manual that came with this test was so oversimplified that made it difficult to know what to do.       The day before the test I had to observe a strict diet with only meat, eggs, rice, potatoes, oil, salt, and peppe

      This week I've set aside time to take care of all the tests that have piled up for me to do.  I would have done them sooner but between confusing directions and finding out at the last minute that I needed to be off certain medicine/supplements for 1-2 weeks before the test it got pushed out.  What I did do was schedule times/days this week for me to do the tests so that I didn't have to have them hanging over my head in the meantime.  This is one of my little hacks that helps me to relax.  As long as I have things lingering on my to-do list I feel overwhelmed, but if I simply schedule a time to do them, I can let it go until it's time.       Today is stool test day.  This is my fourth time taking a stool test through Genova Diagnostics , but it's been about four years since my last test so I'm curious what has changed.  I've been having increasing digestive problems and getting a new stool test in addition to bringing on board a Gastroenterologist are our