Big doin's Went for my MRI last night. They took some shots and then injected dye to get high-contrast shots.

Today I went to vote PROUDLY...for Obama. Then I got Sandy up to go to see the nurse with me. Kathleen, the nurse, thinks there are a few things going on with me. She ordered bloodwork, including testing for Lyme, urine test and gave me orders to go get a colonoscopy ahead of my regular schedule (spring 09). She was checking the computer to see if my MRI results are in today..but I didn't hear from her, so I guess not. So I wait until tomorrow.

She is concerned about the bloating and doesn't want to mess around. My stomach is so distended I look like I'm about seven months pregnant. I have been having this for awhile (a bit of a gut)....but this is really bad now. It goes down for awhile and then back up again. It could be the thing on my ovary, it could be from the hernia, it could be both, or it could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, I'm sure she will help me find it.


I still feel like I have a sinus infection...but I can't take any antibiotics. She doesn't want them to mask anything else that might be going on. I agree. Unfortunately, I also have to D/C my antihistamines,in anticipation of my allergy testing next week.

I feel like I am a WRECK!

Oh, the good news. According to lab tests from Sept I'm no longer anemic. So, why am I still so tired? Kathleen says that could be from whatever is going on in my pelvis and she ordered another test for that.

So many questions...and maybe I don't want the answers. But that's not how life works, now, is it?

So, I'm just going to let it sit for awhile, until I get more information.

Right now I'm going to bask in the glow of a Democratic victory.

Imagine what Obama is going to be able to do with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate? George Bush's legacy...it's wonderful, isn't it???!!!!!

Well, I feel SO MUCH BETTER than I did this time last week. I took my last zithromax dose today and something tells me (and Sandy) that I need another round. Not for the sinus stuff, but there's something else going on.

I'm calling the MD tomorrow to get in there, let them know what's going on and to have a lyme test ordered. Call it a hunch.

Watching the Pats get schooled in the opening sequence by the Colts. How the times have changed, and doesn't it suck? I'm hoping the Pats can put it together. They are missing so many guys though.

We had a lot of kids come for Halloween, great costumes, great parents, except for the asshole who threw his ciggy butt in my garden pond.

We fared better than Mark and Carol, who had someone ring their bell insistently at 1:30 am...Carol was asleep in the chair with the tv on (which these idiots must have seen)...she jumped up, put on the light in the house and the outside light, then threw open the door. No one there...scared the crap out of her. In the am they found that someone had thrown an egg at the front window...the screen is wrecked. They found a bag of crushed eggs by the mailbox...probably dropped by the one who rang the bell, in their haste to get out of there.

A couple of other houses were egged. This is the second time Mark and Carol's got it. Next year we'll lie in wait for these idiots. I already have my observation post scoped out. It will be fun.

Sandy used her new leaf blower to blow big paths out back. She's going to blow leaves out from under the trees now and haul them to the compost out back. She likes the blower and how strong it is. She ran over the bulk of leaves with the lawnmower, doing the last mowing of the year....the vaccum picked up most of the leaves.

She hauled in all of the hoses except the one by the grill. That's in a protected spot and can stay out for awhile. We're well into our winterization goals here. I covered up the a/c units. Next up, put the umbrella away and put the cover on the patio table. I don't want to do that yet though...I still sit out there from time to time. I ate five meals out there last week...of course this week is going to be a bit cooler.

Okay, I have to concentrate on this game now.

Oh, I heard on the radio today that Fox is ending "King of the Hill." I know they haven't had too many new episodes lately, but I'm really going to miss Bobby. Oh well, they'll have it on reruns from here to eternity.

Oh....I forgot! Congrats to the Phillies on winning the World Series.

And congrats to Barack Obama for producing the first informercial that I've ever watched all the way through and enjoyed every minute. It was touching and informative, without becoming maudlin or preachy. Just right....like just about everything else he's done in this campaign.

And congratulations to Maria who starts her new job Monday!

I dragged myself to work yesterday AM, feeling sicker and sicker....fell on my shoelace in the parking lot walking in...and that was the last straw for me...started crying.

I went through the training session and had lunch with Dan, Charmine and the girls...and then called my doctor on the way home. I couldn't get them to answer their damned phones, so I drove right to the office. I asked for an appointment to see the nurse today (Thursday)...they said she wasn't going to be there and gave me an appointment for Monday..we I numbly accepted. As I was walking out I started crying again.

I got home and got the message from Olympia that she needed to talk to me about my pelvic ultrasound. I call her and start crying again...she takes pity on me and tells me to come right down and she will take care of me. So I get in the car and drive back down there...her office is right across the hall from my doctor' office.

She checks me out...I tell her that I feel like I have an infection SOMEWHERE...in my sinuses, my abdomen, somewhere. She gives me a prescription for my beloved friend, Zithromax, she gives me a big hug and off I go to the pharmacy.

I'm shivering and teary in the pharmacy..they see I need the meds and tell they'll do it right away. I go back out to the car and Howard keeps me distracted for an hour (otherwise I'd be crying in the parking lot, I swear!). I go back in, get the pills and out to the car. THANK GOD I open the packet to take the first two pills right away...they had screwed up! There was only one pill in the packet! I drag my ass back into the store, where they make it right. By the time I got home I was so wiped it took just about everything I had to climb out of the car and up into the house.

Sandy took over from there. I was bundled up on the recliner and fed a nice bowl of chili....I had chili for lunch too...but who cares? I'll have left-over chili for lunch today!

I can feel the Zithromax coursing through my body...making everything right. This AM I even had a great BM...something else that's been backed-up on me lately. That alone would make any Miller cry! We are so regular in that dept...let us get the least bit backed-up and we scream UNCLE!

Anyhoo...I'm still a bit teary...but only because that damned Bubbles has had me get up to let her out and then get up again to let her back into the bedroom three times already this AM! Just as I get comfy in the recliner..there she goes whining again! I don't know what her problem is this morning, but this is a bad habit she's developing!

So, I don't have to do a thing for the next five days...a little vacation. I will have the Trick or Treaters on Friday, but I already told Sandy that she may have to deal with them. When it's time for her to go to bed, the lights will get turned out...not many will dare to come down that dark driveway! That' another beauty of this neighborhood..IT IS DARK out there at night!

I do think that by Friday night I'll feel a lot better with the meds in me. They have never let me down in the past and I have every reason to think the same will hold true.

I hate sinus infections! I look forward to being ache-free....

Went to the allergist today. He is a great guy! They tested my breathing...which made me cough no end...so they gave me puffs from an inhaler (new experience for me) and then tested me again. I didn't cough after the inhaler...don't know what that means. She said I was normal, but the readings were low. I hope I don't have to start using an inhaler...but my chest did feel better after using it.


The doctor showed me how to do my Flonase...surprise surprise...no one ever showed me that before. The way I was administering it made it completely ineffective.

He sent me for bloodwork, I go back for two sessions of skin tests and then back to see him in early December.

I will have to continue to put up with this foolishness, but hopefully he will be able to come up with something to help me next Spring and Fall.

We have agility class tonight. I'm not looking forward to it, really....it's wet and windy. Bubbles does love it though...so I'll go.

Tomorrow I have to travel to work to be inserviced on the hip pain scenario...dunno why, I've only done it about a hundred times! Maybe they changed something...but I doubt it. Oh well...they have to pay more for training, so what the hell!

Well...I THOUGHT my appointment with the allergist was today...but something told me to go back downstairs last night and check my book before I went to bed. The appointment is for TOMORROW! I swear to whoever, my brain can't keep track of shit!

I got up and fed the pups...let Sandy sleep. She was pooped from the weekend and the long drive back from upstate NY. She and Truman had a successful weekend, but he didn't get the qualifying round they had hoped for...and need...to get the NATCH title.

Once again, my stomach got grouchy on me after breakfast (my protein drink) which I consumed out on the deck in the sun again. I took a nap on the recliner and Sandy got up finally around 11:30.

We putzed around the house, doing odds and ends. She took photos of my abdomen to send to Deb Valin for my tummy tuck surgery. I emailed them to her and she wrote back and told me she doesn't have a printer...I need to send prints. Oh well. She also advised me to get a "binder" for my stomach. Like the trusses from the old days.

I'm praying for another frost...I think that will help with the headache, blocked ears, burning eyes and nose and the lousy ache I feel 24/7.

On a good note...it looks like Obama has McSame on the ropes...and he's going down for the count. I have to find out where we are supposed to go to cast our votes...first time voting in the new town! How exciting!

I keep forgetting...the other night I awakened to the sound of coyotes yipping and howling off in the woods out back. I snuggled Bub up closer to me...glad she was in the house. Sandy said she saw one in broad daylight, right near the entrance ramp for the highway...trotting along (limping because it may have been hit by a car) in the field.

Bub killed a bird today and then Truman got a chipmunk. The back yard teems with wildlife, squirrels, chipmunks, birds and the neighbors dopey yellow boy cat...who insists on coming into the fenced area. We spotted a red squirrel the other day...the Russells almost caught it...this is the first time I've seen a red squirrel since we went to Nova Scotia several years ago. I love them...they are so bold and chatter all the time.

Worked in the yard yesterday...trimmed back the roses and packed leaves around them, pulled up some other dead stuff and generally cleaned things up. Cut b

ack the stuff in the pond, scooped leaves and other debris out of the pond..but I left the pumps in. I'll pull them later...maybe at the end of November.

I had a bad morning...didn't feel well at all and fell asleep in the recliner for about an hour around noon time. I took some of the medicine Kathleen the nurse got me and I felt better...was able to go out and work in the yard.

Last night was a bad one....the wind was whipping so Lily and Bubbles were all hinky...all night. At one point they were at the bedroom door wanting to go out. I got up and went in the bathroom to get my bathrobe, they followed me in there and wouldn't leave...so I left them in there (with the door open) and went back to bed. This seemed to do the trick! I think from now on they can stay in there when we have wind or thunderstorms (like we had for awhile last night) going on.

Today I'm in my shorts...go figure. I even ate my breakfast out on the deck....then the sun got too hot for me! I have eaten on the deck more these past few weeks than I did all summer...it's nice out there now, not too hot, but nice and warm in the sun, cool in the shade...the way I like it.

Hauled down the Halloween stuff from the attic and put some stuff out in the yard. Found a costume I can wear to scare the crap out of the little children. Too bad Sandy has to work Friday night...she will miss the hundreds of kids that will be showing up here...so I hear from the neighbors...it gets nuts here on Halloween.

Vaccumed upstairs and cleaned up the bathroom...now I'm settled in to watch the Pats play...but I still don't feel well...my stomach is heavy and I just don't feel right. I go to the allergist tomorrow...I have a feeling that hay fever features prominently in my discomfort these past few weeks.

GO PATS!!!!