July 23rd was the day I expected to find out whether there was an end in sight for my sickness, painkillers, and uncharacteristically sad Moggy behaviour of the last two years or so.

And guess what? There is! At least there's hope...I love hope. I'll do almost anything as long as there's hope.

What I'm trying to say is this: New Doctor Day went well*. New doctor** has actually and literally written the paper on chronic pain and endometriosis. He told me to be honest about the pain levels, he reassured me that I wasn't whining (I hate whining), he had a plan all worked out before I even walked into his office, and his receptionist had looked at my file and held me a surgery date after a cancellation yesterday.

I could've cried. Really. Isn't it amazing how much of an effect kindness can have on you when you're half-expecting to be brushed off?

Anyways, November 6 is the date to end all dates. It'll be a more complex surgery than March, it'll be a few hours, it'll have a little more recovery time...but it could be a lot worse and, hopefully when I'm back on my feet, the old Moggy will be back, too. I'm surrounded by a wonderful group of friends, family, and co-workers...not one person has ever accused me of whining...but I'm aware of feeling sorry for myself a lot about my health. I've felt increasingly frail lately and I won't miss that feeling.

It's funny, I never wanted to get into such personal health details on this blog but the support has been really nice...really, really nice. Who knew the LJ world would become so important to me? Thank you...you're a good bunch and I hope you know that.

Moggy


*I had texted several people complaining about the wait...about an hour...but I regretted it later. The wait was worth every second.

**Dr. Hassan Shenassa, if you're in Ottawa.

Hello, hello!

So...I was off having an adventure on Sunday and Monday. A big adventure. With a little friend named Paul McCartney. And it was a BLAST!

Standing in line and then standing for the show was pretty painful (and when I say "pretty painful," I mean "excruciatingly painful" and I thanked my lucky stars for drugs) but once Paul came on, it was all worth it. Really, really worth it!

What? You want pictures? Oh, I got pictures.

Dad and Sister and I left at 8:30ish and headed for Quebec...it was a good, uneventful drive. With some silliness on the way. Here's where we pulled over to have lunch, a place that calls itself "Le 4 Saisons." I loved the road sign so much, I had to have a picture with it:



( More pictures under here... )

And, finally, I love sky shots...I can't help it.



It was a wonderful trip. Really, really wonderful.

And tomorrow is ND-Day (New Doctor Day)....cross your fingers for me.

Please.

Moggy

Hi, remember me? Nice to see you...you folks haven't changed that much...no, wait, that haircut looks really nice on you! Oh and you had a baby! And so did you! (Actually, both ku_zu_no_ha and sassy_red_head have had babies lately...and, as moms go, they're both awesome.) And you got engaged...and you're off in Turkey with you and and and...

Crap...I was away too long, wasn't I? Ah well...no point in blogging over spilled milk. I'll just have to get my act together.

I don't know what's wrong with me lately, normally I talk too much and lately I just haven't been able to find anything to talk about here. I saw a few memes but I figured it would be cheating to just stick those up, if I wasn't at least putting up the proper post occasionally.

So, anyways...a list.

1) The best news of the week is that someone Von and I both like a bunch, who shall remain nameless because I suspect he'd prefer the privacy, is doing better after having suffered a serious stroke back in May. He's back online, which means he's able to type. This is wonderful, trust me. I almost cried.

2) I've been feeling crappier and crappier lately, which is not a good thing...however, my new doctor's appointment is this coming Wednesday. WEDNESDAY! And if he helps me, I just might have to dedicate something to him...you know, like a castle or a mountain or a bridge. I don't really have a plan yet but I'll come up with one, and fast, if he's helpful. I'm a little tired of being feeble and pathetic, even if I do manage to cover pretty well to friends and co-workers most of the time...Von sees it and I know he's been worried. And nobody likes to worry a loved one.

3) Tomorrow I'm off to Quebec City with my father and sister to see Paul McCartney...I know, it's pretty nuts. It'll be just us and 197,000 others, apparently. I was iffy about going because I can only stand for maybe 20 minutes before I'm really sore (stupid innards) and chairs are forbidden, but dad found me a tiny inflatable cushion. Won't I look cute perched on my little cushion in a crowd of 200,000? In the rain? You better believe there'll be pictures!

4) If you want an excellent, if fancy, breakfast in Ottawa...Sunflower Cafe on Rideau Street (yes, sort of in an odd neighbourhood...transitional? Permanently? But worth the visit!). Because the sweetheart of an owner also does this gluten-free cake!



5) So, I'm a little behind on my friends list...tell me something that's happened in the last two weeks. If you have nothing to tell me, make something up...it's Saturday night and I wants e-mail, dammit! *stomps foot...while grinning*

Moggy

Post this in the comments with the blanks filled in and I'll answer:

1. What do you think of _____________ ?

2. When did you last ____________?

3. __________ or ___________ and why?

4. What did you ______________?

5. What's your favorite ______________?

6. How would you ______________?

7. Who would you most like to ________ ?

Now...baseball and dinner.

Moggy

p.s.
I'm working on a plan of attack regarding yesterday's post...stay tuned.

The latest doctor and Moggy update, in 10 points.

Cursing about the medical system (yours, mine, whoever's) in the comments field is encouraged.

Colourful names for this whole situation most definitely encouraged...the more swear words the better.

Made-up swear words are just fine if you're not keen on regular swearing. Same with swear words in other languages...give me some tools here, folks!

Here goes nothing:

1) I saw my specialist almost a month ago.
2) She promised me a referral to a "more experienced" specialist within two weeks.
3) I called twice to check and was told both times that the doctor was on it and would call me.
4) Yes, when my health's involved, I'm a pain; I'm polite but I'm insistent.
5) They called me today to tell me my appointment with the new specialist is July 23rd.
6) No, they don't have a cancellation list.
7) Why don't they have a cancellation list? Because the doc only works one or two days a week.
8) Oh! And he only works every second week in the summer.
9) But he's cute! (The receptionist actually told me that.)
10) If I need more surgery (almost certainly), it's a nine month wait from the consultation date.

Isn't that fun?! Once it's all said and done, it'll have been more than two years and heading towards three.

Yay for being me!

*goes to find a drink...*

Moggy

1) On Tuesday evening, there was a fire in my neighbourhood. I took a picture because I was fascinated by the smoke and only later thought it was a little ghoulish that my first thought was to take a photograph...but since everyone appears to have been fine, here's the picture. See what I mean about the smoke? This fire was just on the roof and, I think, tar based...it could've been a lot worse. (Go! Check that you have batteries in your smoke detector! NOW!)



2) Here's the reason I'm slow getting out of bed most mornings...what a mama's boy, huh?



3) And today was nice...I went shopping with my parents this afternoon and got spoiled something awful. It's nice to be a kid again, sometimes.

4) Further to #3, guess where Von and I went earlier tonight? We had an ice cream date!



5) Which reminds me...Von is feeling better! Thank you for your good wishes...he had a rough week and a half.

6) There was some talk of travel...with summer almost here, I officially have the travel bug. On the horizon? Montreal, Boston/NYC, and some unnamed destination with Pickle. *goes off to pack bags*

To sum up: life is good.

Moggy (having one little glass of wine before takin' drugs...just one. Oh the decadent decadence!)

p.s.
Don't forget to vote for Von, please!

http://topwebcomics.com/vote/7140/default.aspx

p.p.s.
Stupid Bruins! Yay Red Sox! I'm so conflicted!

So, Von is still fighting off The Plague, I'm iffy eh meh blah (that should be accompanied by shoulder shrugs and a funny face), and all we wanted to do was lie on the couch and watch the baseball game.

Is that so much to ask?

So Mother Nature gave us a two hour rain delay...*sigh*

Yeah, I could've done laundry but I didn't...wanna make something of it? I surfed around online and watched some of the Bruins/Habs game instead. I'm incredibly useful! Also, I was afraid that I might fall down the stairs while carrying laundry and taking drugs. Yeah, that's it. Yeaaaaah *shifty eyes*.

Anyways...wait, where was I?

Oh yeah, the baseball game finally came back on, and I poured a little glass of wine and settled in to watch the last little bit. And then Detroit's Fox (WJBK) feed cut off the broadcast and switched to NASCAR...with only minutes to go! Stabby, stabby.

In other news, my RUWT? feed tells me the Red Sox won, which is good news at least. (Edited a short while later to say: Habs won too! Yay!)

Moggy

p.s.
In other, other news...check out the great pic I got from the most awesome tscheese after she asked for drawing suggestions. Hamster and a sunset!



p.p.s.
I don't get to see American commercials very much so I hadn't seen the new Burger King series with the robotic king mascot before today. Honest to god...who thought it was a good idea to take an already creepy character and make him creepier?!

p.p.p.s.

1) Poor Von is very sick. I'm guessing it's The Plague...and not the nice Plague that wiped out half of Europe, either. This is some Really Nasty Possibly Extraterrestrial or Maybe Germ Warfare Kind of Plague. And it comes with shivers and fever and sneezing and just general misery. I've so far mostly dodged it ::sneezes:: but I'm not sure how long my luck will hold out...I'm sort of hoping it's a flu-based Plague and I'm partially immune because of the flu shot I got last fall. *fingers crossed*

2) I went to the doc's this morning and I now have new drugs. At this rate I'll be able to open my own pharmacy soon! Doc was amused by my late night spooks; apparently it's very rare for folks to hallucinate on such a low dose of morphine. She agreed stress probably contributed to it. I now have something called Supeudol, which I keep wanting to call "Superman"...I hope it gives me powers. Flight would be nice. Hey, I'm sore and cranky and my sleep is all screwed up...flight would be nice! (It's actually a form of oxycodone, for those in the audience who are interested.)

3) Someone tagged me with an icon meme and I accidentally deleted the LJ notification and now I'm drawing a blank on who tagged me...I can probably pick out the icons that were tagged but it'd be nice if the tagger gave me a little smack upside the head so I remember who it was. I have a brain like a sieve these days!

4) There's nothing for #4.

5) Red Sox lost to the Yankees tonight. Boo. Here's hoping Saturday's and Sunday's games have better endings!

Happy weekend!

Moggy the extremely dull blogger

Look! Open water and broken ice! Hallelujah!



Also, did you know you're not allowed to take pictures inside government buildings?

Me: *takes picture of the food court, just for a silly, unimportant reason*
Security guard: "Are you taking pictures!?"
Me: *looking very guilty* "Umm...no."
Security guard: "Okay then."



*snicker*

Moggy

Dear everyone:

I am NOT listening to the Red Sox game on internet radio while resisting the urge to cheer when something good happens and being amused by the Boston-area commercials between innings.

Nope.

And definitely not while I'm doing work.

Nuh-uh.

*puts headphones back on while whistling innocently*

Moggy

p.s.
No "visitors" last night though I think I'm batting (hee hee) four hours sleep over the last two nights, so I'm not exactly myself today. More zombie than human being. Tonight I demand a good solid night's sleep. *stomps puny foot*

...and stared at me for a long while before vanishing abruptly.

Between him and my other "dreams," it was a long and sleepless night.

Cuz, that's right, I had morphine-induced night terrors and hallucinations last night! ::eyes the morphine nervously::

It seems it's a toss up between discomfort and 3am visitors...well, for now, anyways. The 3am visitors were neat, in a scary way, but I don't think I'd want to hang out with them very often.

Moggy

Edited to add: My mother has had night terrors her whole life...I've never had them and so I'm quite happy to blame last night on the morphine. If they're back tonight when I'm not on morphine, I'll be a lot less amused!

Comments are turned off here because you're all being so incredibly sweet on Von's post of earlier today...I don't want you all to feel like you have to comment twice.

Here we go...

The Good:

1) We know it's endometriosis...
2) ...and that means it's not something really terrible like cancer. And that's a good thing.
3) I got (gluten-free) pizza for supper from La Dolce Vita. With extra cheese and olives.
4) I have a nearly untouched bottle of wine...don't underestimate the blessing of a nearly untouched bottle of wine on the evening of a very irritating day.

The Bad:

1) We know it's endometriosis...but the problem wasn't fixed.
2) The endometriosis is mostly near delicate bits, which is why they didn't remove it when they had me under...it'll mean more complex surgery or drugs or both. But not the drugs that give me almost-strokes, because that'd be very bad. I like my brain, after all.
3) I hurt all over again and I'm whiny about it...just for tonight. I figure I'm allowed one night of petulance. *stomps foot petulantly*
4) This nearly untouched bottle of wine isn't bottomless. *stomps foot again*

The Ugly:

1) The breathing tube used in surgery temporarily screwed up my tiny and apparently fragile jaw so I can't eat crunchy food...and did I mention that the problem wasn't even fixed?
2) There's still 10 feet of snow out there. 10 freaking feet of freaking snow!
3) I won't look very pretty tomorrow after having a good cry tonight and then getting a little tipsy drunk. Just sayin'.
4) And did I mention this nearly untouched bottle of wine isn't bottomless?

Thanks again, folks...all the good thoughts are really appreciated. This whole thing isn't the end of the world but I won't lie...it's frustrating and disappointing. It's been over a year and it's hard to think that it's not solved, after all, when I thought it was.

But you know everything's going to be fine if my sense of humour is intact.

And it's intact for now. *pulls a funny face*

Thanks again for all your thoughts and suggestions and support...it means a lot to me us.

Moggy

We definitely had some indication that the surgery for Moggy's Endometriosis was not a success over the past two weeks, but we got the confirmation today. Fuck. I think the only piece of good news is that the Endometriosis diagnosis was confirmed. The doc just couldn't get very much of it out. So the pain problems continue in a big way.

More in a bit, but it's frustrating and discouraging news. Moggy will now be referred to a more experienced doctor and she'll be facing either a more complex surgery or some form of drug treatment (possibly made far trickier with her complex migraines).

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Von