Friday, October 7, 2011

Tumors.

After 7.5 years of MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, blood tests, ultrasounds, EMGs, EKGs, and more I finally found a doctor who found something significant. I had gone to a podiatrist previously and she agreed that my legs were tight. She did X-rays on my feet and told me the tightness in my legs was causing tendons to be pulled which moved bones in my feet. It was good to hear that there was proof that something was wrong, since most people don't believe me. If a doctor can't diagnose anything, especially for years, the person complaining of ailments seems like a liar. OBVIOUSLY if you went to a doctor they would find out what's wrong, right?

I went to an orthopaedic doctor weeks ago who did a lower back MRI to search for spinal stenosis. He thought the burning in my legs might be caused by a tightened area of my spine. As it turns out, there are fat tumors on or in my spine. Of course Dr. N refused to tell me where, how large, or how many there were. He said it wasn't his area and I needed to see a neurosurgeon.

I had a giant breakdown and went to McDonald's. Emotional eaters like me need things like cheeseburgers to combat tumors. I let friends and family know what was going on and they were extremely supportive and caring. A lot of people said they were praying for me, which made me feel better.

Instead of going to a neurosurgeon I went to a spine doctor. Dr. K asked me a lot of questions and did an X-ray. He told me I was fine and sent me away. I told him I had been having upper back problems and needed an MRI there too but he didn't seem to think it was a big deal. I couldn't believe it. I am sure doctor N would not tell me I needed to see a neurosurgeon if I was fine. I am going to get a second opinion whenever I feel more upbeat about it. If Dr. K is right and the tumors aren't causing problems, WHAT IS?!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Maine

Hurricane Irene traveled up the East Coast last week. It hit my area around Saturday and Sunday August 27th and 28th. Thankfully we didn't have damages where we were. The worst parts of the hurricane seemed to skip over my town but areas like Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Vermont had bad flooding. We were very blessed to have been spared.

My grandmother and I waited a couple of days to see how the hurricane would affect our trip to Maine. We also didn't want to burden my cousin and her fiancé by overstaying our visit.

We left Thursday and the GPS had us going on and off of 95 several times. We got there in 10 hours. Mom Mom was upset about that so on the way back we took 95 straight down and it took us 13 grueling hours full of traffic jams and rain to get home. We arrived home late Tuesday night.

We ate at DiMillo's, a floating restaurant

*Update: Since so many people are finding this blog while searching for DiMillo's: It was a beautiful restaurant. Don't order the crab cakes! Too much breading. I've had better crab cakes at Ruby Tuesday's. The chowder however was wonderful.

The view from DiMillo's upper deck was stunning

The Portland Headlight. The last time I was here was probably 14 years ago.



Stacey was a great hostess. She took us to Cabella's where we looked at stuffed mountain goats and camping gear. They also had a fun arcade area. Her fiancé Adam's family was amazing. They took us out on their boat and we played dice together and had dinner at their home. They also gave us unrefined honey from their son's hive. We ate fresh lobster, went swimming, but most importantly we spent time with Stacey. I hadn't seen her much in the past 16 years. Maine is beautiful and I will try to go back much sooner.