Z's Greek

I went to Sonora for my monthly visit.  It was uneventful--I got my blood drawn, temperature and blood pressure, pee in a cup, all the normal stuff.

I went Z's Greek for lunch and had chicken with rice, potatoes, and salad.  They left off the feta and pita, and switched out the dressing for a non-dairy dressing.  It was very good.  I'm not sure if it disagreed with me or something else is making me feel blah.

Agility class

So many jumps, so little time.

We had three exercises.  First was tic, tac, toe.  There is an inside and outside box of jumps.  For the most part, the handler stays inside while the dog jumps the outside jumps.  We did this in both directions, sometimes starting or stopping with the inside jumps for flow.  This is great "out" practice.

Bright lights, crazy weave entry

The second exercise was a difficult weave entry and exit.  Starting at the jump pictured on the right side, go into the weaves.  I used the command "out" for this.  Coming out of the weaves, go into the right end of the tunnel, come out of the left, and come around to the jump on the left.  Great weave entry practice.

Dog's view at the start line

The last exercise was to practice discrimination--choosing between options.  Since most dogs are sucked into the tunnel, this started with the jump to the A-frame.

Then to the jump, onto the dog walk, then a kind of dance turn around to go into the end of the tunnel that is under the dog walk.  (The other end of the tunnel would be a flip.)  End with the jump.  This could have a lot of variations.

mini course

Dbacks!

Great game!

It's urgent! Nope, it's not.

I got a call on Friday that my lab results came back and I needed to come in as soon as possible to have my medication adjusted.  I have an appointment scheduled in a couple weeks, but she said I should come in right away.  The best part was that I asked if she was cancelling my other appointment or if I would still need to come in for the appointment in a couple of weeks and she said that was up to me.

So today, I go, and I see (another) PA.  She handles the appointment like a normal follow-up appointment, so I ask why it was so urgent I come in.  Although she did not give me the test results (she said I would get a copy), she attributed the call to the fact that my numbers are (always) out of whack, and someone overreacted without looking at my previous tests.  So my meds are not adjusted, I did not have to be stressed out all weekend, I did not have to take several hours away from my workday, and I don't have to go back in a couple weeks.

During the course of our conversation, the PA was checking her computer for my history and said a couple of things that made me perk up and ask questions.  She referred to my "Grave's" and "Hashimoto's."  I'm aware of these separate diseases since I've been reading my friend's copy of "Living Well with Hypothyroidism."  But this is the first I am hearing about me having them.  So she backs up a little and says that my history indicates the conditions but it doesn't look like I've been diagnosed with either.  She says I could swing between them, with Graves showing TSI positive and Hashimotos showing high TSH.  And I did not test as having either in July of 2010.  So I am going for another blood draw to get tested.  If I am positive for Graves, I will also need an eye exam.

She also asked about my Vitamin D and she was hinting that it was a little high until I told her I have MS.  How is that not the first thing someone sees in my chart?!  So annoying...

She also mentioned that I have a slight heart murmur.  I am so fabulous.  My next labs and appointment will be in about 3 months and I will have the next ultrasound later in 2012.

The Parlor

I went to lunch with the girls from work.  We went to a pizzeria.  I was not too excited.  But we got there and I saw this beautiful garden, so there was hope.

Featuring eggplant, pineapple mint, and catnip.  Yep, catnip.

Everyone got pizzas to share, along with some salads.  I had a salad that had some chunky chicken and spiced pecans--they make them there, just with spices.  The salad was supposed to have feta so I asked for a substitute of goat cheese; it came without either, which is better than the alternative.  It was a good lunch salad.  The girls raved about the pizza.

I did not overreact. I acted badly.

And now, it's Sunday.  I still don't feel well, and we're 4 days into it.  WTF, body?  W.  T.  F.  This morning, I had this dull ache all the way around the area I hurt last night, where the body meets the legs.  I'm not in as much pain as last night, but....

After bowling (very badly, I felt so lopsided and off balance and TIGHT), we went to Majerle's for lunch.  Someone in our group wanted to watch the games.  They were packed, really busy, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to take some time with the waitress, but she seemed to be understanding.  I ordered a chicken sandwich without the bun or cheese, and salad for the side.

The sandwich came with an herb dressing which she assured me had no wheat or dairy.  When I got my lunch (from another server), there were a dozen croutons on top of my salad.  A couple of people suggested I take them off, so I started to, but they were very crumbly, so there were crumbs on my salad.  I flicked the croutons onto the table, quickly followed by the top layer of my salad.  Then I ate everything left on my plate--a large piece of chicken and a small salad.

I think my actions made my friends uncomfortable, and I feel badly about that, but I am 4 days into this horrible thing and I don't know when it will end or how I can make it end.  I was trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) not to cry, find a way to laugh about this, and flinging food off my plate was, while impulsive, a way to vent.  This is the first time we've been to Majerle's since I changed my diet.  I'm sure we'll go there again but I'm not pleased with today's debacle.  I left a note on the bottom of the receipt that said: "Croutons are wheat.  Please educate your staff about food allergies."

Everybody poops. And other breaking news!

Fair warning: I discuss some bodily functions in this post.


I bought some wild salmon, about enough for 3 portions.  I had the first piece Sunday night, the second piece Monday night.  I threw out the third piece.  I'm not completely certain that it wasn't something else I ate, but it seemed too coincidental that I had a "cowpie" the next morning after both meals.  Fortunately, I felt fine; it was just disgusting.

Tuesday, I got a new chair at work.  I hope it helps with my posture.  I also got some special treatment.  We had a catered lunch.  I knew I couldn't eat the pulled pork sandwiches and I wasn't sure I could eat the chicken (also pulled, seasoned with I don't know what) or anything else, so someone got me a salad from a place I like.  In retrospect, I'm not sure it was completely okay.  I don't think there were allergens but I wonder if there was dairy--there was pesto (which sometimes has Parmesan cheese).

Thursday morning, I woke up not feeling so well.  It was that kind of "it can go either way" feeling, so I did my elliptical time and got the day started.  And it did not resolve itself--although I went to the bathroom and got rid of some almost solid stuff, I was not feeling better.  I started thinking about what I ate the day before.  I knew what I ate was okay, with the exception of some tortilla chips I ate with salsa and guacamole at a social hour networking event--I was so hungry and had already eaten my snacks I carry and those are all things that should be okay.  Is it possible that the chips were messed up (for me)?  Am I going to have to blame myself every time I feel like crap?  Will I have to second guess every decision?  Could it have been from the day before?  Is it totally unrelated to my diet?  I don't know!

Friday was actually worse.  I had several times with serious pain, although, again, I made my deposit in the bathroom.  I'm pretty stressed out about my health, my work, my to-do list at home that seems like a to-keep-on-a-list.  *sigh*  And I get a call from my endocrinologist's office saying that they need me to come in right away because they got my lab results.  I have an appointment in two weeks--no, they want me to come Monday to see the PA and make adjustments to my medication.  Really?!  That's what you want to tell me?  So now I'm wondering if I'm doing something else wrong that is messing up my medication.  I'm taking it early, waiting an hour to eat, dairy is obviously not an issue now--what else can I do?  And why do I feel so crappy?

I realized this week that I will never eat another egg salad sandwich or fried egg sandwich.  Ever again for the rest of my life.  It's so final.  It's so damn depressing that my "comfort" foods are disappearing.  I can't believe that I actually came to tears when I mentioned that realization to someone.

Today, Saturday, started out well enough.  We went shopping for some new clothing and shoes for my husband.  I ate my leftover chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, and green beans with TJ glazed pecans.  I knew we were going to a pizza party for a club event, so I packed a Larabar and a Trio bar.  I ate both during the event, although one was probably sufficient--it seems that I feel hungrier when I'm around food that smells good.  By the time we left and headed home, I knew I was headed to some pain.  I spent the evening in some level 10 pain alternated with some keep-as-still-as-possible-it-doesn't-hurt-now moments.  That did not lead to a particularly productive evening.  I noticed that I was having (throbbing-ish?) pain in my right hip area, where the leg meets the body, especially in the front.

I am really annoyed with this opinion article that says restaurants do not have to accommodate food allergies. If I understand the author's view (and several commenters appear to agree), food allergies shouldn't be taken seriously because some people say they are allergic when they aren't.  In addition, he seems to think that a food intolerance is no big deal.  I think he's asking for one--then he can decide if he wants to spend a couple days with a "digestive reaction" since that is so awesome; compared to life-threatening allergies, I guess it is, but really, it is still life-impacting.  I have to say that his differentiation between allergies and tolerances confused me.  I'm allergic to wheat, bakers yeast, and eggs, but I've never ended up in the hospital because of them.  At worst, I've vomited, but usually it's a lot of pain and waiting for it to come out the other end.

Listen, if someone doesn't want to eat a certain ingredient, they shouldn't have to eat it.  I'm not saying that the restaurant should have to change their menu, but if some items can be modified to accommodate the customers' wishes, why wouldn't they want to do that?  It's a SERVICE industry.  As one comment said:
Allergies are really hard. They're limiting. You constantly have to work around them. I love food. I want to eat out.