How Lucky I Am To Be A Baby Boomer - Holidays

It has always amazed me that when you plan well for the Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's time frame that more stuff always happens to throw a money wrench into the plans.  I have intended every week to get back to my "growing up" blogs.  I have mentally composed the start of high school several times only to have some interruption.

In order for me to sit down and write I guess all the stars have to be in alignment or it just doesn't happen.  This year between Thanksgiving and New Year's all of the stars jumbled up.  If anything could go wrong, it did.

Shortly after Thanksgiving there was an episode of family drama.  Wonder how many other families find that the holidays bring out the worst in people.  To be honest I have no idea what brought it on and probably never will. It was extremely upsetting but looking on the bright side I saved buying a bunch of presents, had an extra Christmas card and a lot less stress over travelling during the holidays.

A few months ago when I went to replace the eye glasses I lost last January I discovered that my vision was actually getting bad due to cataracts.  Whoa - I had to start looking around for young people who had them.  That can make you feel old very fast.  It is interesting how they sort of gradually creep up on you. Several months ago I thought I needed to have my upper and lower eyelids done again.  It seemed like I could not get my eyes open far enough to see. Then I noticed that I did not like driving or going places at night. Headlights and street lights looked like stars instead of circles. There was no problem in reading but things at a distance were blurry or not there at all.

So, off to the eye doctor and then off to see a surgeon.  When I could not read any eye chart they decided surgery was better sooner rather than later. We got everything scheduled for January and I was rather looking froward to being able to see again.  The stars were still out of alignment and I went the next day for a follow-up appointment with an ear, nose and throat doctor.

Back in the fall at a regular check up with my primary care doctor I mentioned that I seemed to have difficulty in swallowing.  His immediate reaction was I needed to go to a specialist as I probably had throat cancer from smoking.  Reminded me of what had happened two years ago when I had a horrible headache over one eye.  That time it was immediate CAT scans since I no doubt had a brain tumor or an aneurysm from smoking.  Turned out that I had Horner's syndrome from climbing a mountain in Colorado.  It cleared up before I got all the tests done.

When I tell these stories about mu doctor people tend to think he is terrible but, in fact, he is one of the best.  The first time I saw him was in the emergency room on Christmas Day of 2001.  He was a new doctor, just starting out.  After a pain shot I was ready to go home.  He announced to me that I had pancreatitis and that my pancreas could eat itself up any minute and then I would die. Marshell liked the way he talked to me and he has been our doctor ever since. He has kept Marshell and I healthy and I must say an appointment with him is really fun.

The day after finding out I had cataracts I was off to see the ear, nose and throat doctor. Great news was that I had an enlarged adenoid that needed to come out.  Did you know normally your tonsils and adenoids shrink and disappear in your late teen years?  My tonsils were nice and small but the adenoid had decided to grow which why I had trouble swallowing.  Swell. He did tell me that he normally takes adenoids out of 12 year old girls.  That made me feel a lot younger.

Christmas was actually very nice with a trip to western Oklahoma to see our son Wally and his family.  Christmas is really all about the kids and their two made it a special day.

New Year's brought about my yearly OCD or obsessive cleaning disorder. Every drawer and closet has to be gone through and every piece of furniture moved and all the windows washed.  Cleaning is good for the soul and takes your mind off of the fact you have to go through two surgeries.  Now I don't have to "deep" clean until the spring - or maybe next New Year's.

To top off the holidays Marshell discovered on New Year's Day that the Tesla had a flat tire.  One of the greatest things about owning a Tesla is that with an 8-year warranty the only things you will have to purchase are maybe brakes and tires. Oh, boy! I was really excited about purchasing a tire, a specially made tire, right after Christmas.  Marshell described my reaction to the flat tire as "she thinks I drove around looking for a nail in exactly the right position to puncture the sidewall". Hmm - I wonder?

The adenoid surgery was last Friday.  I must have gone through my medical history at least a dozen times before the surgery.  They could not believe at my decrypted age that I don't take any medicine and only have stupid things happen to me.  Having your adenoids out as an adult is supposed to be much harder on you than when you are young.  I believed it when we made the trip from Irving,Tx. to Wynnewood, Ok after the surgery. My throat,, neck, jaw, ears and the top of my head all hurt.  Good thing there are drugs for that. Woke up the next day feeling great and I can breathe better than I have in years.

Cataract surgery got moved to February since they didn't like the idea I was having the adenoid surgery.  Seems like they do not want you to sneeze, cough, throw up, bend over or lift anything for awhile after the new cataracts go in.  Oh well, maybe I can get the garage cleaned up and a few 'Off to high school" blogs written before then.

Glad the holidays are a year away again!