Random 5 for June 18, 2023 – Directions, cats, medical protocols, aging, joy

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Getting lost – I had my mammogram check-up this week at our large hospital campus. If I go in the main entrance, I get around pretty well but my exam was in an auxiliary building with it’s own entrance and parking. I got to the right place easily (without dropping corn on the way) but coming out I was turned around. The lobby had two different exits to parking lots. I studied both and took what I thought was the correct one. It was not. I spent a good amount of time with my car fob in my hand trying to unlock every red car. I finally realized where I had gone wrong and walked completely around the building. I had already made my next year’s appointment but on the advice of a neighbor, I changed the location to a standalone clinic with ONE parking lot in a nearby mall. (I do much better finding my way in malls. Don’t ask!) Same exam but easier to manage.

A medical kind of week – The next day my cat Gracie had a vet appointment. (No, I didn’t get lost in the parking lot!) We are seeking solutions to her vomiting issue. The vet wanted to repeat a test we did twice in the past year with identical results. I was resistant but not resistant enough. Yep, we had the $$ test to get another set of identical results and no answers. Since she came home, she has not been vomiting as much. It defies logic. Maybe she doesn’t want to go back there.

While we’re on medical – I am a breast cancer survivor out twenty years. The protocols have changed over time. Last year I was released from “diagnostic” testing to “screening.” Same test but different ways of handling it. I get to go home right after the mammogram, and they email me the results. For the diagnostic version I was kept on site until the radiologist read the tests and I received the results immediately. If there were any questionable areas, they would do an ultrasound on the spot. At this point, I’m comfortable going home without the results. I love the medical portals (especially when the results are negative). I can go on-line to get the information without the back-and-forth anxiety-causing telephone calls.

A sense of overwhelming – Part of aging (at least in my case) is the overwhelming feeling I get when I have a lot of commitments. Especially when they are stacked together in a day or a week or a month. I’m going into a few weeks like that. I don’t plan it but things happen that are out of my control and wham, I’m one busy chick. The good news is that I don’t have time to focus on the minutia (which will go away by itself). The bad news is I’m just a little nuts (that’s a technical term).

And finally – I bellyache about the weather often. When you are retired you are more conscious of it. When I worked I was in the office for the bad weather days completely oblivious. When I came out the day was almost over. The same was true of a lovely day although I’d try to get out to at least do a lap around the building. The good news is that now, on a good weather day, I’m very conscious of it and try to enjoy it any way I can. (Ice cream? Stroll in the park? New pair of sneakers?)

So how was your week?

58 thoughts on “Random 5 for June 18, 2023 – Directions, cats, medical protocols, aging, joy”

  1. A little nuts will turn out to be the key to. long and happy life!
    (Poor Gracie. Hope this resolves without anything else)

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  3. I’ve become the same way about being overwhelmed by doing too much [more than one major thing] in a day. It’s odd considering how I used to bounce around from place to place without a care, but now I dread the idea. I wonder if this is a permanent change for me, or just a phase?

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  5. I’ve always gotten overwhelmed from a lot of commitments in a short period of time. There’s something about my psyche that gets discombobulated when too much is going on. Now that I’m aging, I not only have my own many doctors appointments, but my chronically ill 83-year-old mom needs to be chauffeured around for all of hers, too. It used to be only me having to take my mom, but my bro has finally started pitching in. Oh, and I’m not a fan of the patient portals, because I can’t keep up with all the passwords. There are way too many specialists. If it were just one doctor (like the olden days) who takes care of most health issues, it would be great.
    Good luck with your busy month.

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    • The sense of overwhelming is new for me. It started when I retired almost 12 years ago. It’s unnerving and I feel like a wuss but it is what it is. Too many docs? Yep. In July I have a follow-up with a rheumatologist. I don’t have any issues but have an autoimmune disorder (mild one) that statistically exhibits in arthritis (but not in me — no signs of arthritis yet). I would prefer to go back IF I get it. Check-ups to make sure I don’t have it is crazy to me. There are lots of things I don’t have and I don’t get them checked out.

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      • Welcome to my world of overwhelming. 😜 I have felt like a wuss at times, too. And other times I just figure, it is what it is. 🤷‍♀️ I have chronic pain (kinda like you with arthritis/auto-immune) that is really bad. I’ve been seeing alternative treatment doctors that took up a lot of my time over the last year. It finally seems to be improving so I can cut back on some appointments. Not as many as I’d like, but I’m getting there.
        Your schedule will eventually clear up again. Somehow we get through it.

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  6. I am a weather person… yesterday morning we got 4 inches of rain! We just sat and watched it, We haven’t had any measurable rain since right after Ian. Hoping this will kick off our rainy season.
    I get overwhelmed when the calendar is full. It’s definitely worse as I have aged. I just don’t want to be bothered anymore and doctors all want two appointments a year. I also get befuddled about where I am in a strange place but I know it’s nerves. Happy to hear Gracie is doing better!

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    • Our rain was wonderful after our long dry spell. Right now the weather is close to perfect. Not too hot, cools off at night, mostly sunny with some showers now and then. All good. Getting overwhelmed is an age thing for me and I don’t know why. My job was hectic and I loved it. Now give me two or three things a week and I’m beside myself. I’m not sure if Gracie is doing better but she is barfing a lot less. She is also eating less. Seems happy so I’m going with that.

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  7. I’m also amazed at how very aware I am of the weather these days. I could spend hours just enjoying the nice weather outside. Bless Gracie, I hope she feels better soon. Maybe she just has a nervous stomach.

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  8. Love medical portals too – I love my doc but he’s not much of an “explainer” and my good old portal gives me the info in “non-doctor talk terms”. Very helpful. Congrats on 20 years clear. THAT is an exciting landmark. I am at 16 years – different kind of cancer than yours but I celebrate each year of “all clear” like it was the first. I hope Gracie’s barf-free days increase in number!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • For the first 10 years I would be nuts when I had to do a check-up. I had a few scares with follow up and biopsies but all turned out negative. Now it’s just another day (and chance to get lost at a medical facility!). I don’t know why some women with breast cancer die and some don’t. Technically I do, it’s the type but what governs what type you will get. All survivors of any cancer are lucky.

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    • In the past week she has had 2 very minor barfs. Compare that to the 5 a day before the vet visit although nothing is different. No meds. Wouldn’t eat the suggested diet. Go figure.

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  10. I know what you mean about wanting to take advantage of a beautiful day and feeling bad if I don’t. Now they have a term for that: FOMO, fear of missing out.

    I had a procedure a few months ago at a very large hospital in downtown Seattle. The parking was bad enough, but getting back to my car was worse. The building was actually several buildings with entrances and several streets. I took the wrong one and had to walk around to another street to find my car. Smaller facilities are so much better.

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    • Exact same thing that happened to me. Wished they would have had parking identification. If I went to security I had no way of explaining where I “may have” parked.

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  11. I do not have a good sense of direction at all and have always been like that – it is even worse as I get older. 🙂 I would like getting quicker results rather than having to wait. Since I work from home and don’t start work until late a.m., I try to be accommodating with contractors/handyman, maintenance for A/C, furnace, etc. and do it before work. Grrr. This means missing a walk and I don’t like going after work … too hot, just not the same as my morning walk with foraging critters and cooler weather.

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  12. Congrats on 20 years! I get the cat thing. I love my new vet, if 2 years is still new, but they send me lots of emails and texts about needed follow-ups and I feel pressured to do them even when I don’t think it’s worth it.

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    • I stopped doing routine check-ups. Hazel died of congestive heart disease and a massive abdominal tumor exactly 1 month after getting a “good” on an annual check-up. Mollie had a similar experience. They don’t pick up much at the yearlies so I stopped doing them. I also do the 3 year rabies (required by the state here) so there are less trips. It helps offset the $$ spent when something is really wrong.

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  13. Oh, the medical portals rock. I love getting my results and googling anything remotely abnormal to see just how abnormal it is–if I have an explanation to counter the doctor’s inevitable request for more tests. It’s not anemia, it’s a recent blood donation!

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  15. Congrats on being a survivor. That is good that you no longer have to wait for the results. I would get lost too in a place like that.

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  16. “All good” is a wonderful lab result. Busy with appointments is sometimes harder work than something physical so grab an extra Starbucks. I use to laugh when older women put ugly flowers on their car antenna, but now I get it. I try to remember where I park, but fail at least half the time unless it is a box store and I can park near a cart corral. 🙂

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    • I always look for a letter or number designation in a parking lot. Barring that I try to park near a landmark of some sort. None of that worked here. I didn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t find my car and perhaps it was stolen. Ugly flowers don’t seem like a bad idea! 🙂

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  18. Teddy barfs often. Vet can’t find a reason so thinks maybe he eats too fast. He does eats faster than the other two so maybe that’s reason.
    Great to hear your medical visit brought you good news!

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  19. I hope your mammogram was all good! I love the medical portals too. Large parking lots should be identified easier – maybe color coded or have cute names we could remember better. I never get lost in shopping malls either! Have a good week, Kate. May Gracie continue to have less vomiting and less visits to the vet.

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    • Malls are easier as you park near an entrance and there are number or letter designations. Nothing here to identify it. Mammogram was all good. Got results in 24 hours.

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  20. I really appreciate getting those results directly too. I sort of have to laugh at our GP because he insists on giving us copies of the labs even though the lab testing location (Quest) sent it to us days/weeks prior. 😆 One of the buildings for a doctor of mine, I never fail to exit out the wrong door. I can even remind myself when I’m coming down the elevator and I still make the same mistake! – Marty

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  21. Medical portal are the best! So much easier to communicate and get information. I get turned around at big complexes like that too 🙂 So sorry for both you and Gracie about the repeat testing! Hopefully it will get resolved sooner rather than later.

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  22. I love the medical portal as well, so I can easily and usually quickly check on the results. I used to have to wait on the results of my routine blood work twice a year, and now I know before I get to the follow up. Much less anxiety provoking. Weather has been unusually nice for summer…very little high heat and humidity so far. It is probably still to come, but I’ve been enjoying not needing the air conditioning so far.

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