Looks Like I Might Live...For Now Anyway :-)

(Taken whilst tidying up the costume storeroom....)

So this is me looking happy, which has been a bit of a rare occurrence in the last three months or so. Today I'm happy because, following the advice of Prof J and my other school friend Sailor Gal, I went and had a thorough medical. The good news is:

My blood pressure is normal ( no impending stroke then....)
My glucose is normal (not diabetes....)
My Liver and Kidney functions were normal....much to the surprise of my doctor when she heard of my Sav Blanc habit!
My Cholesterol is on the upper border (5.5) but still within normal range
My pap smear was normal and in a strange but procedural test pairing,
I do not have any STDs

The bad news is that I am 4kg over weight and Vitamin D deficient. Again. Last time I was Vitamin D deficient I worked in this basement. Those windows at the top opened onto yet another basement room. The school used to be a wine cellar and our classrooms were in the champagne cellars...(so I am reasonably informed by Himself whose first holiday job involved turning the champagne bottles 15 deg every hour....)

But anyway....that doesn't explain why I am Vitamin D deficient now! At the Wine School, all my 'duties' were in under cover areas and in winter I arrived and left in the dark. But now, I have three outdoor duties a week, I try to drink my coffee in the sun at least once a week...and summer is coming. So why am I still deficient? Sunscreen? General avoidance of the sun? Whatever. I'll take the pills and give the sunburn a miss  thanks....

So apart from being 4kg overweight I have a bit to smile about. I've booked my ticket to the UK, leaving December 16th! I'll be there for the entire school holiday, returning around Australia Day (Jan 26th) in time for the new school year. Just :-) ) And the BA has booked her ticket too! She's a little quicker off the mark and will depart October 1st.

This leaves Himself and his collection of Neanderthal sons to maintain a semblence of order whilst we are away.

I am considering Nanny Cam.
;-D

To Complain or Not To Complain: THAT Is the Question

OK. So now I'm going to tell you the story of 'Bad Doctor'.

My Baby Angel is incredibly robust. She rarely visits the doctor. In fact, so unaccustomed is she to illness that she was about 9 before she had to stay off school with a bad cold for the first time.  In obvious distress and confusion she was heard to wail, "Muuuum, I can't breathe!!!" Recently, she's had the occasional flu/cough thing as her diet and bed times move increasingly out of the sphere of my control but nothing warranting a surgery trip. Which is why, as she complained yet again about the heat rash on the back of her legs, I was faced with the prospect of finding her a doctor.

I was mindful of the fact that, at 16 and a half, she is going to want to start visiting the doctor under her own steam. Perhaps not straight away but certainly in the near future, the idea of being taken to the doctors by Mum is bound to become anathema. So, obviously, we had to pick a surgery nearby and easily accessible by public transport. Check.

I called the surgery to book an appointment and got the standard "Which doctor would you like to see?" Well, call me coy but I only see lady doctors so that was my first request. After that, I told the receptionist it was for my daughter and she suggested Dr HNB. A quick check of the surgery's website informed me that Dr HNB had a certificate (and special interest in) adolescent and children's health. Bingo! We thought.

It was a cheerful BA and I who fronted to the surgery that sunny morning. We had a list of 'little things' that we wanted to ask about: the heat rash of course, a nasty dark mole on her neck, her non-meat eating diet and tiredness.....but I figured we could knock them off pretty quickly. Imagine our confusion when Dr HNB stalked out of her office and called our name with the withering tones of someone who wished to God she had put down Law instead of Medicine on that fateful uni application form.

In typical addictive personality fashion, I tried to work out later if it was something we had done from the outset. I mean, we were a bit late but she wasn't standing out in the foyer waiting for us so..... ??? Whatever it was, she was snippy from the get go. She marched us in and sat us down, then rolled her eyes as we did that familiar mother/daughter dance:
"Tell, the doctor why you're here.."
"Well, it's nothing really, I mean, it's like, well there's not much to see, it's probably nothing.."
"Oh for God's sake...she gets a heat rash on the back of her legs."
"Muuuuuuuuum" (spoken through clenched teeth)....
I mean, I know it's pathetic but surely we're not the first pair to air our changing relationship in public? And not even in public! In the seclusion of the surgery no less! Surely, that's what adolescent health care is all about???? Well, at least partly about?

She got out her torch and ordered the BA around to have a look at the back of her legs.
"Huhm," she snorted dismissively,"well, sit down, I'm not going to talk to your bottom."
Suddenly I have a distinctly uneasy feeling; this isn't going the way I imagined and yet, despite my intellect, strong character and usually forthright nature, I wonder if there is something I am missing? Perhaps this is part of the bedside manner recommended for adolescents?

The discussion around heat rash, wearing cotton clothing and 'there's not much I can suggest' went waaay longer than it needed to. In the end, bigmouth mother suggested some hydrocortisone,
Dr HNB agreed and we moved on to item no 2.

Again, the nasty black mole on the back of the BA's neck took longer than necessary to analyse. Apparently it was my fault that I didn't know the year, nay the month, nay the DAY it had appeared on her neck......as that may have made a difference to the treatment. Let's face it, we don't know if it's a melanoma, we could leave it there and see if it changes or we could make arrangements to chop it out. I get that. She gets that. Let's choose and move on!!

Next: diet and sleep.
Last year, one of the BA's teachers mentioned that she thought the BA may be iron deficient because she is very pale and she is often tired. Of course, she is pale because she is my daughter and we do not produce melanin (hence concern over mole), but she is a picky eater and not a great lover of protein so it did worry me vaguely that we weren't catering to her burgeoning adolescent need for nutrition.
Dr HNB: So, you're tired?
The BA: Well....yes....sometimes.....but...I....I mean I....
Dr HNB: What time do you go to bed?????
The BA: Well, sometimes it's quite late, I mean, on a weekend, and then some week nights I have 
                things on and home work and stuff so I...
Dr HNB: Do you get 10 hours sleep a night?
The BA: Errrrr no, I don't think so.
Dr HNB: Well then, there's your answer! It's not rocket science you know! If you're tired...get more
                 sleep!!!

At this point, my internal dialogue was having a raging debate with itself.
Me: Well she's right
Me: Yeah...but there must be a better way to say it
Me: Perhaps it a kind of tough love thing? That she learned at her adolescent health course?
Me: OK....and maybe the BA will actually take it on board since she's being so blunt.....
Me: Yeah but she's being so blunt!!!

At this point, foolishly in hindsight, I decided to let the BA have a chat to the Doc alone on the final, and perhaps most important issue. It was girly health thing and I thought I was doing the right thing by giving her some autonomy but even now, as I read back over the unfolding of events, I can see that leaving her alone with Dr HNB was a mistake. Firstly, as I announced I would leave them to it, the Doc pulled me up in no uncertain terms and told me that 'if I had a lot of things to discuss in the future, could I please book a double appointment'. A small gasp of surprise and I was apologising and assuring her that we would do that next time.
Oh the wisdom of hindsight.

Twenty minutes later the BA emerged from the surgery, weeping and broken. The doctor had told her that she was cross because we had made her 45 minutes behind schedule! But that was OK because
Dr HNB had also told her not to worry because she was the second teenage girl she'd made cry that day!!!!!!!!!!!!
A simple "please make another appointment, we've run out of time," would have sufficed!!

>:-( grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We will not be going back to Dr HNB.

So what am I trying to say by telling you this story? Well, the BA will not let me write a letter of complaint and I wonder whether that is right? Should this lady, whom I am sure is probably a fine doctor, be allowed to tout herself out there as specialising in adolescent health, whilst at the same time being almost the polar opposite of what a doctor of teenagers should be?? Should I be informing her that her bedside manner is lacking. Would she care? What do you think? Should I ignore the BA's social reticence to inform the woman of her effect on others??


To add insult to injury, she charged me $150.00 for an extra long consult and when the rebate cheque came back....it was made out to the BA!

*sigh*

(PS: Have you worked out what Dr HNB stands for????? Here's a hint. It's not complimentary).












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Sick

I'm sick.

I've been off work for three days, with one ill advised sojourn back into the World of the Working for Wednesday. (It was all those 'w's you see, I couldn't resist.)

I might have Swine Flu. Well.......I might! Some people in Adelaide do have it you know.

Such a shame it had to be 'Swine' Flu though, isn't it? I mean, I wouldn't mind getting 'Tiger Flu' or 'Gazelle Flu' or even cute little fluffy 'Kitten Flu'. Heck, I think I might even want to get 'Swan Flu'. But 'Swine Flu' is just not attractive.

Which just about sums me up at the moment.

So, what have I been doing with my forced R&R? Well, Monday I slept and watched 'The Sound of Music.' We had been to see Prof J's daughter performing in her annual school musical on Friday night. (Say, come to think of it, last time I saw you Prof J, I came down with a cold the next day!!!!! Hmmmm. Suspicious methinks.)

But back to 'The Sound of Music': an ambitious project for a High School Musical, especially an all-girls school.
Prof J's very beautiful and talented daughter (let's call her J Jnr) was, slightly to her chagrin, cast in the role of 'Rolf' the telegram boy. She had wanted Leisl. You see kid, being five foot eight never got you anywhere in the world of show business!

She took the stage confidently and flawlessly delivered a beautifully sweet version of 'You Are Sixteen' etc etc etc. During this time I fumbled for my camera and got a few fuzzy still shots before I remembered that I had video capability; just in time to record the entire performance of the other girl.

.......Who turned out to be a 'belter'! Shame they couldn't have swapped voices for the roles actually. Or height.

I kept my camera at the ready however, remembering the powerful scene at the end of the movie where the Captain and Rolf 'face off' in the churchyard. I was determined to capture her performance for posterity.

Well, I did.



Unfortunately, the stage show and the movie vary on this point, amongst others. I guess you don't get the nuances of the emotional interchange from a distance....

All in all though, it was a fine effort for a school production. You had a whole family of beautifully attired Von Trapp children, you had hills (look, up there behind them!),
you had a wedding,you had politics,


and of course you had nuns. Something for everyone.

Speaking of which:

The Baby Angel and I were fascinated to see a note from Maria Von Trapp in the program! Apparently, someone on the school board knew someone who knew the lady in question and so an email was sent and a congratulatory telegram received wishing the girls 'good luck' with their production and thanking them for keeping alive the Von Trapp family name. Now, I had thought she was dead......and the BA hadn't known she was a real person at all.....so we were intrigued by this. The BA spent most of the show whispering "Did this really happen? What about this bit? Did THIS really happen?"

Of course my nosy, 'history geek' streak took over and when we got home I hauled out my 40th Anniversary DVD Edition of the Sound of Music (now with MORE special features!). Sure enough there was a Von Trapp Family documentary. It turns out there was a daughter called Maria (nicknamed Mitzi) in the family. It was this Maria who had written to J Jnr's school.

Now, for those of you just as interested in these movie/real life things as I am:

• Maria married the Captain at 22, he was 47.

• They were married in 1927.

• It was not a marriage of love initially on her part although she' grew to love him' over time.

• The family lost all their money in 1935 in the collapse of an Austrian bank.

• Performing as a family choir was initially a way of making a living.

• The Von Trapps did not flee Austria over the mountains but rather quietly took a train out to Italy in 1938. They had been asked to sing at Hitler's birthday party and declined. The eldest boy had been offered a job as a doctor in a position left vacant by the sacking of a Jewish doctor. The family saw what was coming and chose to leave before things got worse.
• None of the children had the names assigned to them in the musical
• Maria was reputedly a bossy, domineering woman with a quick temper while the Captain was a quiet, depressive man who whilst never working again after the end of WWI, somehow kept the family together with his gentle nature. He died of lung cancer in 1947.
• Maria Von Trapp sold the rights to her book and story for a mere $9000 when the family were in financial straits. She was given a small percentage of royalties as 'goodwill' by the film makers. She always regretted having given away creative control of the story.

There now, you see what you learn when you are sitting at home sick?

My second day at home involved ironing. A LOT of ironing.

And today I have been sorting photos and playing on the internet.

At some point I will have to do some marking......

Ultra Sounds and X Rays

I used to work in a path lab many years ago and to this day aspects of the medical world enthrall me. Perhaps I should have applied for Medicine as my father so dearly wished? Seriously though, who can make career decisions at 17? At the time I thought I didn't like blood so I didn't want to be a doctor. Little did I know that a short 6 years later I would be up to my elbows in blood, faeces, urine, pieces of flesh and the dreaded sputum (I never have got over my revulsion when it comes to phlegm).

Anyway, the point is I am fascinated by the workings of the body and the ease with which technology can take a peek inside nowadays. In fact, I was slightly horrified to learn recently that part of the middle class pregnancy experience nowadays involves having 3D ultra sound portraits of your unborn child taken by a company which specialises in this sort of thing. I found the idea slightly offensive, don't know why. However, I digress. My interest in me ensures that I always ask to see my X rays once they're taken; in fact, I remember diagnosing my own injury or at least being involved in the diagnosis way back in Booligal days.

The radiographer only came to town (Hay) once a month and there was no real provision made for those of us who re-broke our kneecaps on a Thursday morning. After being driven down to Hay by the local district nurse, who just happened to be going 'on shift' when the break occurred, I was seen by the local GP who read the instruction manual on the X Ray machine in the hospital and then shuffled off to look at his handiwork.

"Did you see your X rays in Sydney?" he asked after a few moments.
"Sure," I replied, ever interested in the medical minutiae, especially if it related to me.
"Well, you'd better come and take a look at these then."

And so I was able to tell him that the floating piece of wire in my knee had once been a whole loop and that the break he could see was not the original break (I could point that bit out) after which we determined I had broken the kneecap in yet another spot. Fascinating.

So what has all this to do with today's ultra sound and X rays? Nothing much except that I asked to see them as usual and chatted to the pathologist when he came in to look at my shoulder at the radiologist's request. There is a little bit of something floating around there in the joint. And I have inflamed tendons. But no tear I am happy to report.

Sooooooo...........no excuse for slacking off now.

But first I'm off to a funeral. *sigh*. That's another story.

Getting Back To Normal

It is with great relief that I can report the cortisone injection worked a treat and I am no longer in pain. There are still tender bits but I am able to use the arm now and, most importantly, I can type quite comfortably. :-)

Also a thank you for the heads up from my much more sophisticated readers who spotted the risk I took in assigning the URL for my webquest. I have rectified this situation and asked the network man to change it over for me. Sheesh. Call me naive! The one slightly comforting thought is that most of my students are unaware of the existence of the address bar and rely totally on typing things into Google.

And now I must away and catch up on some undone schoolwork. I have tomorrow off for good measure so I can get some x-rays and ultra-sounds done but I'm hopeful that there will be no further problems and I can get back to normal by Tuesday.

Thanks again for all your well wishes and feedback on the webquest.

Update On Pain

Firstly, thank you for all your well wishes. I am overwhelmed!

I took Friday off. That always sounds like it was a bit gratuitous like, 'oh, I don't think I'll go in today' whereas I could no more have gone to work than flown. Lying on the sofa was an effort. Everything was an effort. There was nowhere to lie that didn't cause pain.

I have meds in the house so I took anti-inflammatories and pandeine forte, which enabled me to lie still with a dull ache rather than the blinding pain, and I phoned the doctor.

Driving to the docs was fun. NOT. Actually, before that, getting dressed was fun! This is a new doctor so I wasn't quite sure how I should feel about him helping me UNdress but it was relatively amusing between the tears.

He gave me a shot in the shoulder which has helped immensely (see how I type now?) but feels there is more to it than bursitis as the pain down the arm is atypical. The top of my bicep is extremely tender to touch and a lot of the discomfort now involves bending the elbow. I'm ok when the arm is straight and relatively ok when its bent at 90 degrees but the process of getting it to either of these positions is painful and leaves me with a nasty ache in my forearm or bicep, or both. I find lifting the right arm with the left is the best method.

Possible prognosis include a partially torn bicep ligament or some neck involvement which is pinching a nerve down the arm. Although some of the excruciating pain I felt before reminded me of nerve pain, this dull ache is more like someone has kicked me in the arm so I suspect there's some muscle or ligament damage. I have to go for X rays and ultra sound on Monday at 8.30am. Meanwhile I'm popping pills and it does seem relatively 'easier'. The arm I mean, not the pills.

So what has caused this untimely 'lay-off' is the $1,000 question. Well, I did go to the gym on Tuesday and do a light weights class which involved a lot of pumping and rowing movements. I wasn't sore on Weds though, which I thought I would be. I remember having a slight twinge in the biceps on Weds night but it was Thursday morning when I woke up and thought, Miss Clavell style, 'something is not right'.

The most frustrating thing is having enforced leisure time and insufficient limbs to do much with it. There is so much to be done around the house and any amount of school work to be prepared but I am coming to the end of my typing tolerance now.

I have started a webquest sort of thing for year 10 as we kept running into problems with the school's firewall blocking sites. I also needed to steer them towards user friendly sites as they get overwhelmed by the amount of text on some sites. It's a work in progress but I'd be interested in feedback and ideas.

http://year10roadtrip.wordpress.com
(yes, I've gone over to the opposition as they have 'pages' with top tabs. Maybe blogger has pages but I haven't worked out how to add them)
Please bear in mind that I was just getting going on this when my arm started playing up so it is nowhere near finished. Also I imported the word docs so the formatting is not right and there are colours where I didn't mean for there to be colours etc...

Anyway, you get the general idea.

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