I have the worst luck with damn Doctor's.

So Hubby is TDY. Yippeeeeeee. He left 2 days ago & will be back next Friday. He just went to New Jersey for a training class so it is no big deal. Wish it could be longer though ....

When he gets back he will be putting in for orders. Can you believe it's been 2 years now that he has been stationed here? March will be 2 years for The Child & I. Where the hell did that time go? He's going to apply for an Instructor position so hopefully he'll have a better chance of getting out of here. I can only pray.

I have been reading my Harry Potter books that Hubby got me for Christmas. I am so enjoying them. The very 1st one I noticed writing in it and showed it to him - I wanted to make sure that he didn't think he paid for a brand new one and didn't get a brand new one. He said he knew so that confirmed that he bought used ones. I don't mind. They are in excellent condition aside from the 3 that have writing in them. One of them I found a book fair receipt. Today, in book 4 I found a pawn shop receipt for a place in Pa. and a Toys R Us receipt. And then I found 2 twenties. Yep. That's right. 2 twenties ... as in $40.00 cash. Holy Cow! The Child was sitting right there with me when they fell out of the book. We just looked at each other with huge eyes and then screamed in typical girl fashion. LOL And then we ran to the other 3 remaining books looking to see if there was more! LMAO No such luck. But still ... free money!! So we did what any normal girl would do and went to Walmart!! I bought some Emergen-C (a friend recommended it to me) and some orange juice and some soup and drain cleaner and gum. Then I bought me a venti frapp at Starbucks and her dinner at McDonald's complete with an apple pie. There is still a few dollars left but yep, in under an hour we spent the hell out of that $40.

So then I sent Hubby a text telling him about the $40 and now he is trying to take credit for it. He says he put it in the book for me before he left since he'll be gone for my birthday. He said it was Starbucks money. Doing something that sweet is not normally his style. Trying to take credit for something he didn't do *IS* his style lol.

But either way, I spent 40 unexpected dollars today. And it felt good. I could have saved it for my books that I have in my B & N wish list but since at the time I thought it was just left in the book - not for me specifically - I shared it with The Child. It was a nice outing for us.

Especially after the past 5 days I've had. I had the stomach bug going around. I got real close and personal with The Tidy Bowl Man Friday night. I hate that. I'll never understand how people can delibrately do that to themselves. The dry heaves are the worst. At one point I was convinced that my uterus was lodged behind my esophagus and that my 2 big toes had shrunk an inch because God knows it felt like I was trying to dry heave them up! My stomach muscles are still sore from it. And I'm still having problems with big people food. I'm sticking mainly to saltines, ginger ale and chicken and rice soup. My frapp today was a nice splurge but after a few sips, it was a bit rich on my weak stomach so I put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.

I finally got my new CPAP machine. It really hasn't made much of a difference in my sleeping habits. But I will say this, the new machine is so damn quiet! I kept waking up the first night lifting the mask off my face because I couldn't hear the machine or the mask and I thought it had turned off. But once I lifted the mask and heard the woosh of air, I settled back down and drifted back to sleep. And the machine is about 1/3 the size of my old one. Hubby wants me to put my old Machine on EBay since I don't need it anymore. It still works, but for how much longer I don't know. It is a $3000 machine that Tricare paid for so I guess I need to contact them to see what I should do with it.

Speaking of Tricare, them asswipes sent me a letter in the mail wanting me to participate in a survey about my last appointment so that they may better improve thier system. You know, the appointment that they scheduled me with the wrong damn doctor? Yeah, wait till I get done with that survey. They'll never send me another one ever again I'm sure. That still burns my butt.

And speaking of being pissed off, OMG my Endochronoligist is about to get a "what for" from me. Remember that when I saw her last (Dec. 1) she ordered me to do blood work every 4 - 6 weeks till March 2 when I see her again. That's it. That's all she did for me. So that day I did the blood work. The office calls a few days later and says that my blood work was normal. Huh? I asked the nurse what that meant and she said that it meant I didn't have hyperthyroidism. So I asked her, "Well then, what explains the cysyts on my thyroid? What explains all the symptoms of hyperthyroidism that I have?" The nurse said she wasn't sure but she'd have the Dr. call me. I told her don't bother. So skip forward to this month and I do my blood work again. 3 days later I get another call ... "Mrs. Sassy this is so and so with Dr. yadayadayada's office and she wanted me to call you and let you know that she got your bloodwork results and everything looked fine and to continue to take your medication and unless you have any problems, she'll see you in a year for a follow up." I just stood there and said, "Excuse me? You want to run that by me again?" And the nurse is all , " uh .... Ma'am?" and then she started all over again. So I stopped her and said, "You ARE kidding me right? You can't be serious." And she says, "I don't understand?" So then I grabbed a cigarette and walked out side, lit it and then proceeded to give that nurse a piece of my mind. "A) Dr. yadayadayada NEVER put me on any medication. She didn't put me on any, she didn't take me off of any, she didn't change any of my medication. So how can she sit there and tell me to continue to take medication that she never prescribed for me? Answer me that. B) Come back for a follow up in a year? What the hell am I supposed to do about the cysts on my thyroid? Cycts that have been biopsied and I have been told to keep an eye on? Am I just supposed to forget that they are there? Am I supposed to go back to my PCM on base and tell her that she has to monitor the cycsts because Dr. yadayadayada won't do it for a year? C) How do we explain the hyperthyroidism symptoms I have if my bloodwork is saying that I don't have hyperthyroidism? Is there something else wrong with me instead? D) And what? Do I now cancel my appointment with her on March 2? She told me on Dec. 1 to have my blood work done every 4 - 6 weeks and come back and see her in March. But then again if she had bothered to read my medical file first, she would have known that. And last but not least, you need to tell Dr. yadayadayada that before the next time she has you call me she best better read my medical file first and get the facts straight because I will not accept or tolerate this neglegence on her part again. If she had bothered to take a few minutes first, you and I would not be having this conversation right now." Then I let out a big huff of air and waited to hear the nurse's reply. Her response? "Ma'am, I'm just the nurse. Obviously you want to keep your appointment for March 2. In the meantime, I can have Dr. yadayadayada call you back if you would like to go over the rest of your concerns." No thank you. There is no way I can have a civilized conversation with that Dr. right now. I'll wait to see what she has to say in March and if need be, I'll file a formal complaint against her with Tricare.

So there is the main reason why I went off the BCP (birth control pills) aside from the roller coaster ride they had my body on. That is the only thing I can think of that would cause my thyroid levels to be normal with my blood work. Which is what the GYN had set out to do back in Oct. when I started taking them. So now that I am off them, when I go to do my blood work in another week, hopefully my bloodwork will be showing the hyperthyroidism or at least by the time I see her in March. And if not, well then hell, who wants to be the one to shoot me? Any takers? Because I sure as hell give up. LMAO At least I am back to feeling like crap on a daily basis again. I like consistency lol. No more highs one day and lows the next few days.

Please don't act like you didn't already know that I was crazy. Not half ass crazy but 100% full fledge certifiable crazy.

Well, I reckon I will call this a night and go crawl in bed with Harry Potter until the Melatonin kicks in. Till next time ....

Hell week ...

ATTEMPT NUMBER 2 TO WRITE THIS ENTRY - Hubby still needs to reformat my computer. Ugh!

In a nutshell ... this is my hell week. The week with no horomones from the BCP. The week I am on my period (not that I have started mind now). The week where I feel like complete and utter shit. So I have decided to go off the BCP and the Prozac. They aren't worth the roller coaster ride. It takes 10 - 12 days for the horomones to kick in and then by the time my body has adjusted to them, it is time to go back off them. No thank you. I'm done. I gave it a try. It's just not worth it.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll hear from my local medical supply company about picking up my new CPAP machine. I took mine in and in a nutshell, the bearings are going bad. Can't complain though. I've had it 6 years. After 45 mins. they got my level adjusted to the new level (just up one level) but yeah, I need a new machine. But I have to go through the Tricare red-tape. Joy of joys.

One good thing about going off the Prozac ... I can take my Melatonion again. I tried that once ... taking the Prozac and Melatonin together. Oh hell no! Never again! So yes, I enjoy the Melatonin. My insomina is still in high gear and the Melatonin has me alseep super quick. In 10 mins. time I am drifting asleep. If I'm still not in bed after 20 mins., I am having to walk the furniture and walls to get into bed because I am so damn drowsy. And I don't wake up in the night as often as I would without the Melatonin. So at least one Doctor got it right by recommending I take that. The rest of the drugs have been a bust. Well except for the anitbiotic/valtrex for the stupid ass (for those that didn't know the location) / stupid (for those the DID know the location) ass shingles with a touch of staph infection I had back in November. And the best part of the Melatonin is that I have no drowsiness/hangover feeling in the mornings. The Prozac made my brain foggy while I was on it. I hate that. So now I am foggy brain free. LMAO

I got a $50 gift card to Barnes and Nobles for Christmas and decided to use it the other day. I fell in love with the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward and decided to buy those. But then last week I had picked up a book at Walmart that looked interesting. Then I get halfway through it and realize that it is #5 in a series. Ugh! I hate!Hate!hate! that. So of course the public library doesn't carry anything by that author so I decided to buy the first 4. Anyway, I thought I'd be smart and buy the *gently used* copies for cheaper so that I could get more books. And then I get to the checkout and they wanted almost $40 for shipping (each book was $3.86 each). Christ, I am crazy but I am not THAT. DAMN. CRAZY! So I ended up buying 8 brand new ones with free shipping. Of course I wasn't able to get the last 2 in the J.R. Ward series but I have a birthday coming up so I'll buy those then. And I'm not in a panic because I've read them already. But they are that good - in my opinion - so I will be reading them again.

Speaking of books ... I think my brain is warped. If someone had told me 6 months ago that I would fall in love with Vampire Series books ... and not the *Twilight* Vampire version but the *True Blood* Vampire version ... I would have laughed at them and then prayed for thier soul. But seriously, I am adicted. So much so that I was furious at the public library today because they don't carry the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Guess I'll be buying those with birthday money also. And then I have been stalking EBay looking for a good deal on on the Dark Hunter Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. There is like 20ish books in that series and the public library only carries a handful of them. But it would cost way too much money for me to buy them all brand new; and I'll be damned if I'll pay $3.86 per book shipping on B&N. Amazon has some decent prices on used ones but I'm hoping to score on EBay. I found a really good lot but yeah, the bidding has gone way out of my price range. So I'll keep looking.

I shouldn't be surprised that I'm liking this genre of books. I've always enjoyed books that were out of the norm. I have loved V.C. Andrews for 20 years. I've bought all of Nora Roberts books that were not your typical normal books. Her last Trilogy, Sign of Seven was good and I was there every release date buying the newest one. So I shouldn't be surprised that I've strayed from the traditional, typical, trashy romance novels.

And did I mention that Hubby bought me all 7 of the Harry Potter books for Christmas? I was on cloud nine! Now I just don't know what books I want to read! Decisions, decisions, decisions. My new books won't be in till next week so I can read my Harry Potter till then.

Oh, The Child's Brownie Troop is taking pre-orders for Girl Scout Cookies. Can we say fun? The Troop leader set a goal of 150 boxes. The Child is determined to sell 500. Ambitious little booger ain't she! We are up to 134 right now. We are still taking orders like crazy. We are taking orders till the 22. The cookies should be in around Feb. 5 - 7. Then the real fun will begin. If you are intersted, send me a private note and I'll send you my PayPal info. Please add Priority Shipping rates to your total (click here for rates http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm ). I will fit as many boxes as humanly possible into each Priority box for you so that you get the most for your money. The cookies are $3.50 per box. I will not ship any cookies until payment has been received. Sorry but I can't afford to buy cookies for everyone.

Well, I reckon I will call this a night. Gonna go take my Melatonin and crawl into bed. The Child is out of school until Tuesday. Pray for us. Pray hard for us. That reminds me, I need to buy more duct tape. Gonna go add that to my Walmart list right now ...

Till next time ....

I knew better ...

I'll be glad when this week is over. It has been a long one.

I have spent most of it glued to my computer and Photoshop program. See, I took some family pics while in Ohio for my SIL. I ended up doing a few of MIL & FIL also. Which I had told them NO WHITE! DO NOT WEAR WHITE for the pics. The Niece didn't get that message but the SIL? Ugh! MIL at least broke it up with black but still ... Anyway, the youngest nephew had a cut on his nose so I told his Mom not to worry, I'd just photoshop it out. Which is just fine. If I had just stuck to that one little edit in each of his pics.

But nope. I have to go and borrow trouble. I knew better that to attempt my little project. But did I follow my own advice? Hell no. It started with the Niece and her teenage acne. Just a few little spots here and there. Nothing too major. A pain but liveable.

 

SIL however has Rosacea. Bad. And she hadn't take her meds in a while and her face showed it. So I decided to see if I could edit it. I have to say that I am impressed with what I was able to accomplish but dayhum ... I won't be doing that again. At least not for free. The next person will end up paying a pretty penny for a major edit like I did for these pics ....

 

I'm not happy how her nose turned out in the above pic but believe you me, that was my 3rd and final attempt on that pic. I started from scratch 3 times and then said the hell with it.

 

I didn't want BIL to feel left out so I edited his razor burns ...

 

 

I'm happy with most of SIL's edits but some of them I am not. I couldn't get rid of the red or at least all of the red. But *I* think it is a major improvement from the original. But if she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to print them out. At least I know that I can do that kind of project.

Here are some of my favorites from the rest of the pics...

 

 

 

And my favortie of them all ...

Now I just have to get them all loaded to a disc and put in the mail to them. I'm glad I no longer have these hanging over my head to hurry up and get done. There were a total of 72 pics I edited. Thank God not all of them had SIL in them.

Okay, I'm off to go take my Prozac and then to bed with my new (and updated) CPAP headgear and mask. This should be a fun night ....

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Till next time ...

Stupid effin' Military Healthcare System

OMG I am so livid!

I had a *follow up* appointment this morning with my GYN for issues I've been having with the BCP & Prozac.

Dec 4 I called for a phone consult.

Dec. 15 I call and schedule an actual appointment (for first available on Dec. 23) since no one can be bothered to return my phone call. I call again and request another phone consult. I actually got a call back! Through the nurse going back and forth between me & the Dr., the Dr. says to up the Prozac and if I'm still having problems, come in for my scheduled appointment the following week.

7:30 am on Dec. 23 they call to cancel my appointment due to the Dr. being sick.

Dec. 24 they call with a rescheduled appointment of Jan 7 ... Today.

So in comes the Dr. In the most pleasant voice I can find, I say, "Uhm. I need my Prozac adjusted because if I remember correctly, you are supposed to be a short, pudgy, white woman. Not a big, black, male linebacker."

OMG! They scheduled me with the WRONG DAMN DOCTOR! How does that happen?

So I wasted a complete hour of my time and the Doctor's time for no reason at all.

HIS recommendations: follow HER recommendations and follow up with HER next month. WTF? Seriously people, WTF?

Needless to say, I went to the front desk and gave the poor Woman sitting there a decent piece of my mind. And whoever else was in hearing distance of me. I guess I won't be surprised if I end up with a Tricare referral for a shrink in the mail in a few days.

But seriously, I was pissed. I told the poor woman sitting there that I would have had better success getting a prostrate exam. The woman's eyes bugged out and then she leaned over and in a soft voice says to me, "Ma'am, prostrate exams are for men only." I looked at her and said, "I know. Exactly my point." She then tried to place the blame on a new clerk they have and that she wasn't paying attention when she made the appointment and Whatever.

So now I have to call Central Appointments to reschedule a new appointment with the correct Dr. for next month. Which amazingly enough is when my PAP is due.

Wait now. It doesn't end there. I stop off at the AFB Pharmacy to pick up a Zocor refill that my PCM put into the system this past Friday. Yeah. It wasn't in the system. And my stupid yellow card was expired so I had to fill out another damn *proof of NO outside insurance* form. Then I had to walk over to the clinic to find out why my refill wasn't in the system. Then I had to go wait in line again so they could process the prescription. Then I had to wait for it to be filled.

Why do we put up with being treated this way by the Military? Is it too much to ask for decent healthcare and that when a person has a genuine complaint it is respected and all is done to get to the bottom of it instead of being constantly given the run around and blame put off on other people and so called *professionals* look at you like you are a hypochondriac and you are nothing but a waste of thier time? (Yes I'm still pissed at the Endochronologist's treatment - or lack of should I say- towards me.)

I'll be glad when this day is over.