Frog and Goat

So you don’t think that F&G has turned into a medical journal, here’s a question:
Do you think people who park in hospital parking decks totally lose their minds? What is so hard to understand about two-way traffic? Wide turns and driving on the left side aren’t things you get to do, I don’t care if you have just been to the hospital/doctor’s office/whatever.

The biopsy went OK today although I’m sore, there’s swelling and bruising and I’m worn out. I guess when the body experiences any sort of trauma, or at least my body, the tiredness thing happens. If I didn’t know better the needle was inserted 1,452 times. If you’ve never had a needle biopsy of your thyroid, the needle goes in and then they move in and out of the site several times without extracting the needle. How does it feel? It’s bothersome, uncomfortable and it feels like there’s a metal rod in your neck–which is exactly what is in there. And, as thin as needles are, it doesn’t feel very thin after the second or third insert.

With an ultrasound guided biopsy the pathologist is right there and she indicated that she needed a new set of samples after the first group was collected. By this time the little nodule was hemorrhaging and making it difficult for the radiologist and techs to locate it. If you’d been pierced don’t you think you’d run and hide too? After much discussion and rolling around of the ultrasound transducer, they found the nodule again and pierced it directly. In all fairness, the nodule is small and I have serious scar tissue in there.

The pathologist said she had plenty of samples to look at but she didn’t see any thyroid tissue on first glance so they now are guessing that it is a glob of fat. Why it’s there is anyone’s guess. I should know definitively what the mass is and if I need another biopsy or ultrasound in the coming week. I’m sure this isn’t the end of this little story. Nothing is easy with this thyroid.

The good news of the day is that Once Upon a Vine, the Northside location, is selling Strongbow cider again. This is what was on the kitchen table when I got home today:

If you are in the Richmond area, go buy a six-pack and support the effort.

The other day I was in a doctor’s office explaining why I was there and the nurse called me a poor thing. Let’s get two things straight. I am not a poor thing and if that’s what the nurse says to me with my minor issue what does she say to the women with breast cancer who see this same doctor? Breast cancer surgery is one of his specialties. No, that’s not why I was there.

I didn’t say anything to her about not being a poor thing but I did give her the blank stare. I asked the better-half what he thought she said to the women with cancer and he said, “oh shit”. I know that the nurse probably says poor thing all the time and never thinks about it–it’s just part of her routine. Still, it kind of pissed me off.

This morning I went by a local hospital to have some blood work done, the suspense is killing you isn’t it, and the women working in the outpatient lab were anything but poor thing. They were cool and the woman drawing blood would have given me the “threw a fit” sticker if she hadn’t given them all out to kids. Walking around with a “threw a fit” sticker slapped on my band aid would have made my day.

Friday I get to have an ultrasound guided biopsy on what’s left of my thyroid. It’s lumpy, not behaving and the endocrinologist couldn’t get a sample when he tried. I told the surgeon the other day that my thyroid is special and that’s why it is acting this way. He didn’t really get the joke. I guess I shouldn’t take my comedy routine to the next AMA conference.

I don’t know why this work week seemed to stretch out longer than usual but it did. I had to attend two meetings this week where I basically said 2 things at the most. I attend these meetings on a regular basis to hear what people are saying about a software product so that some day when it is finally released I can write curricula for it. It’s been a long road and still nothing to write about. Yesterday’s meeting was 6 hours and it was conducted via a webinar. That’s a long time to stare at the computer and listen to conversation via speaker phone. I did get one tip that I will use whenever the product is released.

Next week two people are leaving our office as part of the layoff. This will bring the number of people who have left to 5 and we still have 2 to go. I’m empathetic to their plight but I really wish the end of the month would come so we can start getting on with it. Since May we’ve done nothing but talk about how much things suck and how royally screwed up our fearless leader is. I need a break from that and that’s not exactly something I can admit to at work.

On to better things…
This coming Wednesday we’re going to see Billy Joe Shaver perform. I’m going to have to bolt out of class that night to get to the show on time. I will try to contain myself when he does Georgia on a Fast Train. I will contain myself. I will. Really.

As Liz pointed out in the comment section on the previous entry, there may be more to the story, but there’s not. I read an article about a pickle war going on in NY city and the thought of yummy pickles just got the ball rolling for that last entry.

I would, however, like to vent a little about people’s assumption with me and kids. I like kids. Just ask The Niece and her sister (if her sister could answer with a complete sentence I’m sure she’d say something good about me and my views on kids). There are some other kids I could give as a reference check too.

I get a lot of grief in a backhanded way at work because I don’t have kids. I’m really the only one without them, except for one guy, but there are other issues going on with him that make it so no one ever questions his facility for liking kids. I think when people look at the better-half and me they assume we don’t like kids or that we’re selfish or something else must be wrong with us. Because how can you not have kids? As an aside, I think it is interesting that someone (Liz) I’ve never met in person “gets” it better than people who see me on a regular basis.

The truth is we talked about having kids when we first got married but things didn’t work out and so now we kick ass as aunt and uncle. When I tell people that they give me a sad little smile. Like they think I don’t mean it and that I sob myself to sleep every night. No.

We’ve embraced the no kids life and the aunt and uncle roles and, let me tell you, we are the KINGS of aunt- and uncle-dom. If it weren’t ridiculous we’d probably have superhero costumes and fly around in invisible jets, we’re that good at being aunt and uncle.