Ok, so I don’t mean to only blog on the weekends, but it seems to be turning out that way. Not being able to do this sort of thing during the day at work really decreases blog productivity. At the same time I am happy I am not sitting there, bored out of my mind all day. However it would be very nice if I had any downtime at work. Very high stress job and lately, with all these health things, I have been thinking about how I might need to reevaluate my career. I would love to do other things, but you need those other things to be able to pay the bills, you know?

Just to update those who might have wondered, the dogs are both doing better. We starved them for a day to make sure they had nothing left in their systems, and then we introduced food back slowly and it seems to have helped. We bought the Purina Beneful soft food to mix in with the kibble, in case Annie was having teeth problems. We’ve kept it that way all week. They each get one half of the soft food container, and two scoops (rather than 3) of the ProPlan kibble. And as always, this wet Beneful makes us want stew. They look really good! Dogs are eating better than we are. heh.

And as for me? Well, I’ve got my MRI date set – this Wednesday afternoon. In fact, the lucky dog that I am, I get TWO MRIs in a row. Yep. That’s right! (I am so going to die of a massive panic attack.) Apparently what the doctor is having them do the MRI for involves two complete MRI exams at 50 minutes EACH. (And $650 each. Ick.) One is HEAD FIRST and OH MY GOD IT WILL KILL ME!!

In January 2007 I went for my first ever MRI when they needed to look at my liver. “Don’t worry,” they said. “Your head will be out of the machine, since it’s your liver,” they said. They of course didn’t take into account the fact that I am SHORT and the only part of my head that stuck out of the machine was the top of my HAIR. Of course I panicked and I did not like the experience at all even though I could turn my eyes up and see outside.  So the thought of going head-first into this machine for the first exam is terrifying me and the clinic already knows to drug me and I have a feeling I’m going to need something stronger than the last time. I am not looking forward to this. I’ll get a 40 minute break between MRI stints and then I am in for another 50 minutes where I go in feet first.

*panic* *shudder*

It doesn’t help that it looks like my insurance only seems to cover a maximum of $750 a year in MRI bills. At least it’s something and I am going private because I would much rather get to the bottom of all of this than have to wait 6-9 months or MORE for an appointment at the hospital. At least now, with the pain killers working, I don’t feel quite as desperate and despondent about my life. But I would still prefer to have answers sooner rather than later.

Oh, and these pills? They are miracle pills. Monday morning was the first time IN OVER A YEAR that I had NO pain. Nothing. I walked up stairs like I was a young, spry person and not a 90-year old woman. I didn’t feel like puking when I got to the top from the pain. I didn’t even need to use the railing! Wow! And this entire week has been pain-free. Only by the end of the week, well, now that the main pain is gone, my pills seem to have decided to tackle the rest of my body and my entire body is NUMB.

What isn’t fun are the sleepless nights, horrible night sweats and sort of vacant stoned feeling during the day. But I’m not in any pain, so I’ll deal. I ♥ my Naproxen.

Also this weekend – we finally put the nautilus gym together! Shawn is using it right now as I write this. It was taken apart after the fire, stuck in storage for a year and then just sat all apart in one of our empty rooms when we bought the house. This past Easter weekend we got around to cleaning out all the boxes and junk we still had in that room and the plan was to put the gym together before the summer. So that didn’t happen. But we did it today! I hope (now that I don’t hurt so much) to try and use it once in a while and I really should start using the elliptical machine again. Maybe when I watch TV at night? The problem is I don’t like doing something like that so close to bed time. Hmm. What to do? Getting up early in the morning to use it is so very, very much out of the question. I need to do something. Maybe now that I am not hurting as much I could go back to Curves? Of course not having to pay the $44 a month is better on my credit card, which is about to weigh an extra $1300 as of Wednesday. Sigh. I need to do something. I am starting to fit comfortably into my fat-pants. That is NOT good.

The highlight of this week will be the Girls’ Night on Tuesday. I’ll be going to see Fame with my wonderful work BFFs Maureen and Elise and Elise’s best friend Steph (whom I adore!). I am so happy! Dinner and a movie with 3 wonderful gals and I think I really need this. Next day – MRIx2 and then I might be off Thursday and Friday this week (because I have an amazing boss who knows I need some mental health time and to recover from the lack of mobility/strength/pain).

I’ll keep you posted on the MRI front!