Saturday Shopping

We had signed up for flowers for today at church in honor of our 29th anniversary which was last Monday. Scroll down for Pink Saturday post about that last week. Anyway, last time we did flowers we had done plants in pots which worked out very nice as an alternative to a vase of flowers. Besides I did not feel like arranging flowers this time and we forgot to call the florist on time for a nice arrangement from there.

So off to Home Depot we go. I had a $25 gift card for Home Depot that was burning a hole in my pocket. When we visited a few weeks ago I saw this Garden Rocker seat and decided I needed that to make it easier on my back when working in the yard. Notice the price in the corner $24.95. So I figured my gift card would take care of that.

I also spotted this portable potting tray and saw that it was on sale for $6.00. Because we live in a mobile home in a park, we are not supposed to have a lot of extra stuff around the outside of the house except for garden related things and patio furniture. Not everyone adheres to that though. But we as good citizens try to do the best we can. So I thought this portable potting tray would be very helpful in giving me a place to repot and what ever. I can put it on one of the side tables on the deck and sit in a chair to work with it. Another way to ease my back. After all the pain I had been going through earlier, I need to be more conscious of what I am doing to prevent my back from getting so bad again. Physical Therapy sessions helped me to heal.
Below are the plants we decided to get along with the two new blue pots. Here is how they look in the altar area. We were very pleased with the effect. The first picture is to the left side of the altar.
And this second one is to the right side. The dark fabric you see on the edges of the photos are banners that hang to the outside of these shelves. After the service we take the plants home. Now I all I need to do is keep them alive. I saved the care tags to help me know what to do.
Now for the fun part. After we checked out I looked closely at the sales tag and realized I had gotten the Garden Rocker for $18 something. That means both the Garden Rocker and the Portable Potting Tray were covered by my gift card. How cool is that?

Happy and Blessed Sunday to you!

My MRI Experience

This was my first time ever to have an MRI. I really did not know what to expect. Well, I sort of did, but not really. As if that makes sense. Anyway I was nervous all day yesterday. One of my co-workers noticed that I was, because she asked if I was okay and whether I was nervous.

It was a long day. I started the day working 4 hours. Then it was to my Physical Therapy appointment. I was happy to report that I had no low back pain for two days in a row after work. We are getting there for that part. Plus I now know what to do when I do feel the pain. Stop and rest for one, plus I have a repertoire of stretches and strengthening things to do to help relieve the pain. That is working for me right now. Hooray!!

From there I drove home. About a 1/2 drive. That gave me time to do a potty stop and to pick up the directions to get to the Imagining Center I was going to for the MRI. And discover it is 104 degrees outside. Yuck!! I allow myself 50 minutes to get there. Good thing I did, what is normally about a 35 minute drive did take me 50 minutes. Traffic!! And heat!! My car wants to stall when I idle in the heat too long. So I turn off the air conditioner which helps the car, but then I start roasting without the air conditioner. Blech! At first I could not figure out what caused the horrendous traffic back up other than it being the beginning of a Holiday weekend (Labor Day). Turns out one of the traffic lights was flashing red so it had to be treated like a stop sign. Boy oh boy, did that create a pile up. It was worse for the people going the other way, or so it seemed. Of course I could not see how bad it was piled up behind me either. After that traffic moves a little smoother with some sitting two or three times for a light change. With the air conditioner off to prevent the stalling.

Along the way I saw a bad sight. There had been a fatality accident of some kind. There was a covered body along the road side which definitely cues you in that some one died. There were a lot of cars stopped on the other side of the road. Looked like several cars rear ended each other. My first thought a pedestrian had been hit. But when I looked online for local news, the one who died was inside a car. Details not listed yet, so I am not sure how it happened. It was sad to see that.

I pull into the parking lot at exactly 5:05 pm. The time was supposed to be there. Good thing I gave myself extra time or I would have been late with the bad traffic. The Imagining Center is new and looks very nice. A pleasant waiting room. Cool inside, yay I could cool off! I filled out my paperwork and then shortly I was led to the women's dressing room. I had to take off all metal things, my rings, watch, barrette in my hair etc. Oh and yes I did remember to take off my bra. The person doing the imaging asked me about that. She was happy I realized that I needed to do that. I was given a set of scrubs to wear. They had lockers with keys which allowed me to lock everything up. All I had with me were my glasses, hearing aids and my book to read while I wait for my turn. I'm still reading the Margaret Truman book.

After lots of questions it was time to go. Of course the glasses and hearing aids had to come off. The gal who did the imaging was wonderful. She spoke clearly so I could understand her and was very gentle and calming. She is probably used to seeing very nervous people go through this. She warned me what it would sound like, but I said most likely I would not hear it without my hearing aids on.

It was a strange feeling to be sort of immobilized. My head and shoulders were what needed to be very still since that was the main area that was being scanned. She said no coughing or moving. Just breathe normally and she gave me an alarm button in case I had problems and needed to get out of that thing. I decided I would just close my eyes rather than have a cloth over them. I was good, I kept them closed. I started to panic a little at the start and had to work to get myself breathing normally. I decided I would count to stay in control. That worked really well for me. As I expected I could not hear the machine at all, but I could feel the vibrations. I discovered I felt a lot more calm when ever I could feel the machine working. When it was between things and quiet then it got scary for me. I felt like I was floating in space or something. Very strange feeling. Then when it started up again, I relaxed. The gal touched my foot to let me know she was coming back in and pulled me out of the machine. Turns out that was the first part and I had to go in again. Ack! She asked if I was ok. I told her yes and in I went again. Oh, I counted to 400 the first time in and the second time in I counted to over 200. So the second time through was not as long. Counting really helped me get through it and kept my mind from wandering too much.

They were very curious how it was for me as a very hearing impaired person and asked me to describe how much I could hear. Like I said before, I told her mainly I was feeling the vibrations. The experience was not as scary overall as I was afraid it would be. Should I ever have to go through this again, I will not be as scared. Won't find out the results until after the long holiday weekend. I am hoping for good results. Of course.

So Far So Good

Everytime I say that phrase I'm using as a title, I think of a patient we had at work that would say that nearly everytime we did therapy with her. I think of her frequently now. But I can't remember her name. Oh well. But anyway, I'm hanging in there pain wise. The shoulder area has been doing fine with very little pain. However, today as I was pushing a wheelchair with a heavy patient in it, I could feel it starting to tight up and kind of burn. So the rest of the way I was careful how I positioned myself behind the wheelchair for the least amount of stress in the shoulder area and went slow. Right now I feel kind of tight there. I am hoping I don't have another painful muscle spasm like I did last week. My MRI is now scheduled for next Friday. Not looking forward to it. But on the other hand it will be good to see if there is a problem or not. Of course I hope it is the "or not" option. But then I probably would not know why the pain happened in the first place.

Yesterday I went to my weekly strength training I do every Thursday. Except last week I had to skip it do to the extreme pain. Well, it was extreme to me. Plus I was at the doctor during the time I normally do the workout. Because of the doctor's orders to not lift more than 10 pounds, we did not do any arm things. The focus was legs, abs and neck and a light workout for the lower back. Lower back doing much better today. Hooray!! It would be nice if this keeps up. I went to my Physical Therapy today. Currently I have 4 more sessions to go. It would be good if my back is doing well enough to not need any more therapy after that. In the meantime I have been taught several stretching and strengthening exercises to do that should help my back in the long run. If I want to be able to keep doing my job, I need to get my back healthy again. I can now sympathize with sports stars who complain of muscle spasms, definitely not a fun thing.

Weather wise we had a couple of cool days, but now it is warmer again. In the upper 80's, low 90's. I am noticing the days getting shorter. Around here the sun sets before 8 pm now. I am looking forward to the cooler weather. I am not comfortable in hot weather. And with the onset of hot flashes, the hot weather is even more uncomfortable. Yucko!

Have a Good Weekend. TGIF!

Made It Through the Day

Today I was assisting minister at church. Edward does it too sometimes. We weren't sure if I was going to do it as scheduled or if we were going to have him do it. I decided I would go ahead and do it. But I did feel sore by the end of the service in my lower back. Upper back doing okay so far. But I did have a headache all day and yesterday too. But by this evening I started to feel that tight pain in the upper back. Managable. Took some ibruprophen which I hope helps as well as helping the headache. The doctor did prescribe the Vicodin. But I discovered it makes me so sleepy. I don't think I will take it unless I am at home and the pain is extreme. On Friday I took one just as I was leaving to drive home. I thought I wouldn't feel the affects until I got home which is about a 30 minute drive. Well, I could tell I was getting sleepy before I got home. I found that kind of scary, so now I know to wait until I know I will not be driving.

Originally I was going to be the substitute organist today. But then we found out our former organist was going to be in the area from Minnesota, where he has been since 1987, and would be able to play today. Everyone really enjoys having him play when he is here, because he is really good. Having him here turned out to be a good thing for me, because I am sure I would have been very sore if I had to play. Sitting on that organ bench tires my back very quickly and I spend close to 2 hours sitting there on a Sunday morning. I don't even bother to get down for communion because it hurts to much to move that quickly. Sometimes communion is brought to me when I do play. He will be doing a concert next Sunday which he usually does he time he comes to visit. He gets together a great group of musicians for a very nice afternoon concert. Of course we always attend it. Besides Edward and my mom are both readers for various lessons during the concert. His concerts usually take a worship service format, so the readings are very appropriate and fit into the theme he develops for each concert.

He knew my kids when they were young. He always asks about them. He remembers my son holding on to his finger nearly every Sunday when he was a toddler. I guess that is a fond memory of his. When our daughter was in the area, she also had a chance to do readings for one of his concert. One year I even played my flute for one of his concerts. He has been doing them for a long time now. He always has the suggested donations go to some charity or other organization he wants to help. This time it will be the local Food Bank.

Our grapes are starting to taste good. We took a few bunches with us to church to share during fellowship time. I need to remember to take some with me to work tomorrow. Like I said before we have more than we can eat before they go bad. Probably should share some with a couple of our neighbors too.

Hope the week goes well for all.

Wish the Pain Away

I had another episode of intense pain on Thursday. I had to text my husband (I'm hearing impaired and don't talk on the phone) to call the doctor, let work know I was not coming in and to cancel my strength training workout. The pain was in my upper left back and traveling down my arm and around my rib cage to the front. The pain was strong in enough I was crying while texting. Edward came home from work to take me to the doctor. The doctor decided it is a pinched nerve and prescribed medication for pain as needed. It makes me so sleepy, I'm not going to take it unless I really need too. I will also have an MRI. Don't know when yet though. Also he gave me a note to take to work to inform that I am not to lift more than 10 pounds for 2 weeks. Kind of makes things difficult at work to not lift more than 10 pounds.

Yesterday I went to work, I really wanted to be there for the baby shower. Also I had very little pain compared to Thursday. Boy! What a difference! But all day I was careful what I did with that arm. On Thursday I could not put my arm up to comb and style my hair. It was agony just to pull it back into a pony tail. Today it was a lot easier to do a pony tail. But my lower back was sore most of the day. I did go to my Physical Therapy appointment before I went to work. I will have at least 6 more sessions of that, because my doctor has okayed orders for 6 more. I have a series of stretching and strengthening exercises I do now for my lower back. It is helping a lot, but I still have my bad days, just like I do with my upper back. The two pain areas are unrelated according to the doctor.

Today is okay so far. I can feel the upper back pain, but not as bad at Thursday. Lower back is okay at the moment. At this point, I just take it one day at a time. That is all I can do for right now, one day at a time. I am hoping I can manage to do a few things around the house that need doing. Have good Saturday!

Darn Back Pain

I am getting frustrated with this back problem. It seemed it was getting better and then something new comes up. Yesterday while I was sitting at the computer I suddenly got a pain and tightness in my left upper back. The original problem is in the lower right area. So we don't know if I moved wrong suddenly, or it tightened up from favoring the lower area or what happened. But it is very sore now. Last night Edward massaged it some and added that Mineral Ice stuff I think it is called. But the process of the massage hurt so much it brought tears to my eyes. Well, alright. It made me cry. I had a difficult night for various reasons and I am still quite sore today. I have used heat on it once so far. Now I am worried how I am going to get through work tomorrow. Very carefully probably. AAACKK!!!

So that was yesterday. We decided to stay home from church for several reason. My sore back, save gas (it is a 1/2 hour drive), to get more things done at home and neither one of us had a specific responsiblity at church today. Now next week we will go. I am assistant minister for one and secondly our former organist is playing and we always love hearing him play. It will be good to see him again as well. He is doing a concert the following Sunday so we go over that way again on the 24th.

Yesterday I did some sewing. Nearly finished with the baby gift I am working on currently. I plan to finish that today and start the next baby gift that I need finished by this Friday for a shower for a co-worker. Better get to it I guess. I am thinking of starting a second blog on craft and sewing projects I have finished, but I am not sure yet. Don't know if there are others out there like that. Hmmm.....