Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Today at 1:36 pm, it officially becomes Summer here in NJ.  We are supposed to have 15+ hours of sunlight but since the forecast calls for rain, that may not be quite true.  In fact. although it's light outside, it's cloudy and it was sprinkling as I walked into work an hour ago.  I made sure to get here early since I promised to help set up the computer/projector for a guest speaker this morning.  It went well and she is now speaking on Chronic Pain.  I had a momentary thought that I might like to attend but passed.

We had a nice picnic for Father's Day on Sunday.  Pk got to spend the afternoon with his girls.  He played chess with Jim on his ipad (which he absolutely loves) and laughed as we had some fond remembrances of the girls and their antics growing up.

Kate and I brought our wheels and I spun some roving called Hydrangea and the name suits it well.  It's green and purple.  (looks better spun up than it does as a roving).  As usual, it drew notice from others in the park.  I don't mind, especially when children ask.  A few women came up and asked questions and we had come conversation.  But then a group of men came up.  They didn't speak English but stood around me speaking a language I didn't understand and I was vaguely uncomfortable.  I wasn't sure if they were talking about me or just making conversation amongst themselves.  It was odd. 

I am getting myself caught up on doctors appointments which I let slide during all of the many funerals and such we have had in the last 2 years.  I saw the dentist (and got a tooth filled, funfunfun) and of course I see my primary care for my blood pressure control.  Last night I saw the gyn for the first time in 2 years.  I don't usually play around with this because I don't want any troubles.  I had some questions about perimenopause and wanted reassurance that I wasn't going to be the oldest living woman who still gets a period every month.

And now for a bit of TMI.

She assured me that I'm still in the normal range and ordered some blood tests to check on hormone levels to see if my body is indeed going toward menopause.  And then we talked about the fact that my last period was so heavy for 3 days that I really felt tired from blood loss.  There's a condition called hyperplasia which happens to women in my age group who are overweight.  It has to do with the thickness of the buildup in the uterus and it not shedding properly.  She then said the part that was very sobering.  She said the C word (as in "this condition if left untreated can lead to uterine cancer") and that the treatment involves hormones.  I will be having an ultrasound to check the state of the  uterine tissue and then we move onto biopsy and "discuss other options" if necessary. 

A lot depends on what next month's period is like.  I have generally light periods which is good but not good if things are not doing what they're supposed to do.  I want to run out and get the blood test done and schedule the ultrasound but I have to wait on my body.  I'm not good at waiting. 

You know, we all have self images that are based on our experiences of life inside our bodies.  My body has been good to me.  I don't treat it as well as I should.  I have let it get too fat and I'm working on being better to it.  (today is a gym day).  My self image is a little shaken today, that's all.  It's a bit disconcerting to discover that things are not necessarily what you thought they were.  I have strong feelings that everything will come out fine and I'll be fine but it's disconcerting nonetheless.  I'm feeling a bit cloudy headed today and hopefully the feeling will pass soon.

In other news,  the knitting group may not be overflowing but I have been spreading the crafting joy among my regular clients.  I gave a bag of cotton yarn and a pattern for a market bag to a woman who would like to sell them at craft fairs.  I wanted her to see how easy/difficult it would be to make so she could decide if it was worth it to her.  She likes to crochet and if she is doing it anyway in her spare time, she could make bags and sell them for enough to buy more yarn. 

We're planning to go to Atlantic City for dinner on Friday.  The weather is supposed to be iffy.  We all enjoy a good buffet and like to walk the boardwalk.  Kate remarked that we're all finally old enough to gamble.  I think with our collective luck with money, we'd be broke within a half hour.  I like the smell of the ocean and the feel of the salty air.  I'm looking forward to it.  A family outing where all of the family shows up is a rare thing and always full of laughter. 

I hope you are all having a good week.  We're in for real summer weather, chances of thunderstorms and sunshine and humidity.  Gotta love summer.

8 comments:

amy said...

I DO love summer. ;)

Good luck with the gyn stuff. I'd be unsettled too but hopefully it's an overabundance of caution and you have nothing to worry about in the long run.

Kaye said...

She also said another C word that you probably didn't pay as much attention to after the first one: "can."
I think they're just covering their butts.
If it were me I'd have to decline the hormones since my mom had the breast cancer that loves hormones.
My favorite was the medication they gave her to help prevent the breast cancer from coming back--the major side effect of it? Uterine cancer!
Damned if you do, damned if you don't!!! ;-)

Louiz said...

Hope the gyn stuff is fine. If they're aware of a potential problem, fingers crossed it's just caution (another "c" word!)

Saren Johnson said...

Enjoy Atlantic City! You might have my luck with money and walk out with enough $$ to buy everyone iPads.

Rose Red said...

Ugh re the gyn stuff. I know what you mean about things not being the way you feel they should be. I had a similar feeling about my own body. And I am not very good to my body either. And have a big zero birthday this year (starting with a 4). Better start being kind to the body before it is too late.

And in the meantime, enjoy the summer! (or in our case, the knitwear enabling winter!)

Anonymous said...

it is easy to just meander along letting things take care of themselves isnt it, especially if everything seems ok. but its true, that older we get the less likely it is that things will look after themselves. its good youre being proactive, and that means its less likely that bad things will happen. but we live in an awful lot of medical fear these days dont we? its not fun. i hope the walk along the ocean helps clear the head and the summer sun makes you feel nice and cheery and healthy.

Bells said...

oh that all sounds very sobering and unpleasant. I hope you get god advice and results - things do start to fall apart a bit don't they!

I think I might have felt uncomfortable in the park too - if they were gesturing and smiling about what you were doing but still speaking their language that might have been different!

Amy Lane said...

You're right-- we have this faith that our bodies will be good to us--after all, they never failed us as kids. Good luck with your body stuff--you're so good to the rest of the world, I hope your body is good back to you:-) (My friend has alpacas now. I want to learn to spin just because she has access to fleece!)

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...