Back to work!

I am back to work for this week, but not a clue on the planet as to whether or not I will still be employed next week. I am taking it one day at a time! I do not mind working and a new project means the brain has to actually engage in the thinking process.

I am putting this out there...all I want for my upcoming bday is a copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julie Child. I would prefer a hardcover and would not mind a used one.

Tis the season

I am loving having Ian home with me for a few days. This week he is staying at my sister's in Downers Grove and visiting his friends in Naperville. DG is much closer to Narnia then Edgewater and Mark has a huge TV and gaming system. Yeah, it was a tough call being forced to stay with Mark and Jean. Ian was a bit shocked by my appearance, but says I look pretty good for having battled breast cancer. His being here reminds me that I am grateful for my family and friends and also reminds me that I had to have done something right to have raised such a good kid.

OH NO HE DIDN'T!!!

After hitting the post office hard, I stopped by a few places to pick up a few things for the holidays. One of my stops was to the Card Party Outlet to pick up a gift bag for a bottle of wine. The price was $.99 and it was on sale 20% off. After he rung me up he took a further discount making the purchase a grand total of $.74 cents with tax. Go me, right? It was as I was leaving that I noticed a small sign by the register stating it was senior citizens discount day. When I got home I looked at my receipt. Oh yes he did! REALLY???!???

Hot flashes and a warm cat

That is how you survive a winter night in Chicago when the heat goes off! The building had boiler issues last night and it was chilly in my apartment. I took a hot shower and wore flannel jammies to bed and the inside temp was 57 deg. when I went to bed at 10. I was even a bit chilly during the hot flashes, but they served to warm me up. The heat was back on by the time I got up this morning and I awoke to find Miss Kitty wrapped around the radiator in my room, which apparently gets warm just at the base. I don't turn the radiator in my room on ever because the rest of the apartment is usually warm enough to keep the frost at bay and I like it a bit chilly.

My hands and feet seem to have returned to the numb and tingly phase I thought I was over, but it might just be the holiday workout they received for baking a gianormous amount of holiday baked goods!

My eyebrows

I must start off this post by saying it is nice to have hair again. My head is not as cold as it was while I was bald. I had hoped against hope it would come in the beautiful red color I had paid dearly for, but alas, it came back as grey as it was before. The weird thing is that it started out completely silver and it has changed to more of a grey color. Additionally, it seems there are more dark hairs in there then before and the pepper/salt ratio appears to be increasing, albeit slightly.

That said, my eyebrows have grown back as well. They are much lighter then they used to be, but it beats being bald and eyebrowless. The first hairs to grow back were actually the few black hairs on my chin. (Not even close to a TMI!) Now I appear to have a few black hairs growing in my eyebrows. It is almost noticeable in the mirror (as opposed to viewing through a magnification mirror in my hand) and I must say it is a little off puttng. I am glad to have hair for the winter, so we shall just have to see where it all winds up.

My toenails (TMI alert)

My fingernails are grown out enough to get a manicure, but my nails have always been crappy so it is almost a waste of money and I never seem to have 10 longish nails at the same time.

My toenails are not grown out enough to get a pedicure yet and MAN OH MAN I could use a pedicure. I know, wants and needs, but I realllllllllly need a pedicure.

I sit corrected.

In further reading, I came to realize that my blood pressure meds do not tend to effect my cholesterol, but rather, tend to elevate the blood sugar levels. So, as it stands, my anti-hormones are likely causing my cholesterol to spike and my blood pressure meds likely effect my blood sugar levels. So it begs the question, which is worse the disease or the cure?

I did not know...

On Monday, Dr. Murdock, my GP, took one look at my bloodwork and had a cow. My white and hemoglobin are within "normal" range, although my hemoglobin went down again, but my cholesteral was through the roof. It has always been a bit high, but this was off the charts. I received a 20 minute lecture on not eating right, during which time I swore up and down my diet had not changed and I was back on fruits and veggies. I went home questioning every bite I ate over the past 6 months.

Yesterday, in a weird twist of fate, I stumbled across an article which said that estrogen is, in part, responsible for regulating cholestral in women and that women in prime fertility years tend to have the lowest cholestral ratings in women. When the estrogen goes down, as in menopause or anti-hormone therapy, the cholesteral levels tend to shoot up. Also, my blood pressure meds may be contributing to it as well. Who knew???