OKLAHOMA & SINCE

It's been a while since I've posted. Just so much has happened I guess I didn't know where to start.
We made it to Oklahoma safely. We went to my oldest grandson Johnathon's basketball games. I ran into one of my high school classmates at the games. I was there to watch my grandson & he was there watching his daughter! On Saturday we went to G'ma's. Her & my mom were both asleep when we came in but were so glad to see us. My Mom goes out on Friday afternoon after she gets off work & stays til Sunday. Her sisters take turns the rest of the week. It was so good to sit in the house & reminisce! Saturday evening another classmate came over the the kids' house & we had a nice visit. Had planned to get together again before we came home but he had to work! He's had some health issues & I wanted an update. On Sunday we went to the little country church I grew up in (well from 4th grade on, I was in a Quaker church before that). We watched a dvd on missions that was very good! Nice to see some of my old church friends there. On Sunday afternoon Angela (my oldest daughter) & her family & I went out to eat pizza before Johnathon's birthday party. At his party I sat & visited with friends & my Mom while the others bowled. On Monday we decided to get pedicures. I hadn't brought any short pants for that so had to borrow some from Angela. She had this pair of capris that were like t-shirt material & were pink cammo. Then the flip-flops. We had to stop at the Cowboy Tack Shop & take one of Justin's (my youngest grandson) boots in to see if they could be fixed. Their English bulldog Mia decided the boot made a good chew toy! Anyway, so here I go into the tack shop with pink cammo capris on!!! Mia's such a beautiful dog & loves to lay her head on your lap with this oh so sad look on her face, while you're eating. Deedee, the other dog is a small dog & such a lovable little thing. Tuesday morning I went to see a class mate who has pancreatic cancer. She lives WAY out in the sticks. I knew I'd probly have a hard time finding her house so I asked her if she'd like to meet at the cafe in Vici. I ended up going to her house. For a while I thought I was lost & was praying I wasn't driving in someones driveway! People out there have guns!!! LOL!
I didn't get lost, it wasn't a driveway & I had a wonderful time visiting with her! Tuesday night there were 10 of us I think ate at JB'S Steakhouse. We'd gone there because Dwayne has never had calf fries & JB'S is the only place in Woodward that has them. We got there, ordered our drinks & then found out that they fry their shrimp in the same fryer that they fry the calf fries in. What a bummer! Dwayne has a severe shellfish allergy! Thursday I went to another friends house. Johnathon went with me. This lady is the same age as my dad but is almost like an older sister. Oh, the things she did when hanging out with us while we were in high school! I won't name names but her & her sister have fried skunks & stolen watermelons! Love you girl! I think there were 12 of us that went to Mazzio's on Thurs. night. My great niece Timber was the entertainment for that dinner! I stayed at Mom's the rest of the time. I had Friday all to myself & enjoyed the peace & quiet. Went back out to G'ma's on Saturday & took some pictures of the place & visited with an old friend & my cousin. Sunday was Johnathon's baptism, 5 generation pictures & then 16 of us went to the cafe in Vici for lunch. We went to Angela's after lunch & changed into our traveling clothes. We had a beautiful trip home. No bad weather, no traffic.
I just thank the Lord for the visits during the week.
Now for Steve, he got his MRI results yesterday & it's definitely a torn tendon. He can't lift anything over 4 pounds & can't grip anything. He's to take more physical therapy. The company he works for is bound & determined he's coming back to work, hurt or not. So we would appreciate any prayers over that mess.

ANXIOUS

My physical therapy is moving right along. I'm on my 3rd week. Tomorrow is my last one til I get back from Oklahoma. Now Steve is having to take it at the same place I am. He blew up a machine while he was in PT this morning! He was on a machine that stimulates muscle growth. He wanted a magazine so I took one back to his room & while I was in there the machine gave him quite a shock. It set of an alarm that one of the wires had come loose. The therapist said he had too much iron in his system & she'd never seen anyone blow up a machine before.Now Steve is having to take it at the same place I am. He tore a tendon in his elbow last week & now has therapy for 6 weeks & may end up having to have surgery. Now the trip to Oklahoma doesn't seem so exciting. Steve is off work due to his injury but because workman's comp is involved he can't go with us. He's not going to be able to stay at the house as friends of the kids had already been promised it while they were gone. The company he works for is coming for the truck probably this weekend or he could have stayed in it. Not the best accommodations tho. I'd stay home with him but since we can't stay here that won't work. So I feel very torn. My need to be with my husband who is hurting & being with family in Oklahoma. You know the saying, 'I'm damned if I do, & damned if I don't'? That's me right now. Either way I've let someone down & that's very hard as I'm addicted to approval. So, this is kind of an emergency prayer request. Am I being selfish?

Physical Therapy

Friday I went for my third round of physical therapy. My usual therapist was off Friday so I had a sub. She, like Tammy, was good BUT... I wonder if I had the words 'Please Torture Me' written in ink on an me anywhere. I know I didn't see it written anywhere. Tammy, on Wed. last week had my crying during the stretching but my arm did feel a little better. My motto has been, "No pain, no gain". This time the stretching hurt but didn't make me cry. That is til I got home and relaxed. I hurt like I hurt the first time I messed my arm up in the first place. I kept telling both drs and the therapist that the pain meds I was taking wasn't working, but they just keep me on them. In fact the orthopedic doctor cut down the dosage. They take the edge off the pain but that's it. Anyway, the best part of physical therapy is when they put me in a room, prop my arm on a pillow and bring me this WONDERFUL cold pack wrapped in a towel. They put it on my shoulder and leave me in peace and quiet for 10 min. Sometimes I read and sometimes I use the quiet time for prayer. I go back in today for more therapy.
Yesterday at church while we were getting ready for the praise service a little 4 yr old friend (he may be 5 now) raised his hand and asked Pastor Porky when class started. We had praise time and then we did birthdays and little Paul again asked Porky when Sunday School class started. It was so cute. If only we'd all be so excited about going to Sunday School Class! Our class has been doing the Beth Moore book 'Believing God'. Our next book is 'The Frazzled Female". That sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to that one. Our last one was "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer. That one was my favorite so far as I suffer from anxiety attacks. I don't have them as much as I used to (thank goodness) or as strong as I used too. In fact, I think I've had maybe 2 since I've been here. Anyway, they're all good studies.

Hopefully I got answers this time

Went to the orthopedic dr this morning.. Steve only got to be home Saturday & part of Sunday this time :( , so Dwayne went with me. I could have gone by myself, but... Anyway the dr said I have adhesive capulitis (frozen shoulder in English). I have to take physical therapy 3 times a week for the next 6 weeks. I go back to see him March 23. The physical therapy should work but in the rare case that it doesn't I may have to have surgery. I asked him about the pain meds (because the lortabs don't seem to work for me, they take the edge off the pain but that's about it) & he left me on them, just decreased the dosage & told me to take them as needed, not every so many hours like my other prescription said. He told me to make sure to take one BEFORE I had physical therapy (that's always encouraging, LOL). He also gave me a cortisone shot in my shoulder. I guess my face turned white (I don't like needles & have had a cortisone shot before & it wasn't a good experience). He told me not to worry that he was good at giving them. Then he left the room & I actually sat there crying! He came back with that bbbbbiiiiiiggggg needle (get the impression I don't like needles? I DON'T. & this from a woman who's got a tattoo but it's on my shoulder blade & I couldn't see them using it). I almost freaked. He told me to look the other way. I have to say that this dr & my doctor in Ranson did a good job with the needles. This dr is very nice looking too. I think every woman I said something to about him told me that. I have a dear friend in her late 60's or early 70's tell me that he's good 'eye candy'!!! Anyway, I go for my first physical therapy Tues at 1:15p. So please pray with me that the therapy works & I won't have to have surgery.

Doctor's

After finally getting the results from my xrays (just got them Thurs. after having had the xrays taken Jan. 26). There's nothing broken or fractured thank goodness. Tho I fell off the bed the other day head first and as I have very little strength in that arm I was in a real pickle. I was wedged between the bed and the wall! Come on now, I can hear you laughin! A 51 year old woman wedged like that. I didn't want to holler at Dwayne so I wiggled around and got all the way off the bed and got my good arm where I could push myself up. Have a nice BIG bruise on my right arm! Anyway, I was going on the truck with Steve to Houston. The nurse had FINALLY found my xrays and told me they were negative for breaks so I had packed and was ready to go. I was getting ready to start taking things to the truck when I noticed I had a voice mail. It was the drs. office and since I was still having issues with my arm they wanted me to make an appointment. So there went the trip to Houston. I went in today and was told I needed to see an orthopedic dr. My dr refilled the pain meds that I had told her didn't work and told me to make an appointment. I go the 23rd to see an orthopedic dr in Winchester. My problem has been that I took 2 of the pain meds on Saturday ( a week ago) morning and for once they at least took the edge off the pain. So, I thoroughly cleaned! BIG mistake. I missed church the next day. Then this last Saturday I did the same thing but only cleaned the bath and kitchen and didn't miss church. I don't like to miss Sunday morning church. Now Steve is in the Dallas area and the weather is VERY stormy. They're expecting high winds. A truck is NOT the place to be during high winds! A flatbed isn't as bad as a reefer or dry van tho. Maybe I'll get to go next time. Tho now we have another cat. She's a 6 month old tabby we named Selene. She's the opposite of Allie Rose! The do get along tho and Selene tries to get along with Aslan & Lilybet (Shasta & Dwayne's puppies). She rubs all over them. Lilybet will take it for a while and Aslan will run when Selene turns her back. My only problem with Selene is she bites my fingernails! Never had a cat do that!

Finally!

Thursday came with the results of the physical I got last week. Everything is good except my cholesterol. This for a person who LOVES Dairy Queen Blizzards and Cake Batter Ice Cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Don't get me wrong I don't go hog wild eating them. I may have one every other month and Cold Stone even less because there just aren't many stores around. Part of the problem is that I haven't been taking my fish oil. I know, sound discus ting, huh? So, now starts a new regimen of making sure I take them. Now I just need the results from the x-rays that were taken this past Monday (they said they'd be calling Friday with those and didn't). Have a mammogram in March and haven't scheduled the other test. But anyway, I can breath a little sigh of relief til then and thank the Lord for good results. My hubby made it in yesterday morning, FINALLY! He has doctor's and dentist appointments next week so prayers would be appreciated. He's having problems with his head and hand shaking and headaches. The weather has been nasty but beautiful (is that an oxymoron?). Snow, rain, sleet. I've been thru some real NASTY Oklahoma ice storms so am thankful that it didn't get that bad here. Other than a thunder & lightning storm I don't think anything is more beautiful than snow falling (except if you're out on the road in a big rig and the road is slick!). I really should start a blog about my adventures of being a truck driver's wife. I think that's what this started out as. Wanderings being my wanderings all over the United States. Wonderings being how many times I wondered where trails led and the lives of those following those trails. We've driven beside "The Oregon Trail" & oh the questions that came up on that trip. Maybe someday soon I'll go back on the road with a good camera and write a book (with pictures) of my adventures. Maybe!

Physicals, yuk!

Just got back from my physical. Because we've not had insurance I've not had a total physical in several years. I went in 2 weeks ago with a problem with my left arm and the doctor recommended a total physical. As most women do, I guess, I dreaded the female stuff. I hate needles too (figure that one out, I have a tattoo! lol), but having the blood work done wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. Thank goodness for nurses who hit the mark the first time! I've lost 1 pound since I was in last. Don't know the results of blood work tho. Kinda anxious about that as they're testing for diabetes. With Mom having it I felt I really needed to have that done. The colonoscopy wasn't even brought up and I didn't even think about it when I was in today, even tho the dr and I had discussed it earlier. I think that's probly more important than the diabetes test tho. My arm was still bothering me. I told the doctor the painkillers didn't work and the muscle relaxers relaxed everything but the muscle that hurt to start with! So she upped the painkillers. This time I think they're gonna do the job. I have to have my upper arm and shoulder x-rayed and the REALLY dreaded mammogram. Can't get in to get the mammogram done til March. The x-rays can be done any day, just walk in with my scrips. Now I gotta get up and find a recipe we need for supper tonite. Feels like a chili and cornbread night tonite but I think it's gonna be something else. Any night could be a chili night for me!