Whew!

IT IS HOT!  We've been at near-record highs all this week - in the 80's!  In FEBRUARY!   Can you imagine??!!

Finally decided yesterday to go ahead and get all the tests and x-rays my doctor prescribed before she sent someone to collect me since she has sent me "several" (ahem) reminders.  Headed over to the hospital at 7 AM so I wouldn't be too late for work.  Didn't exactly work out that way.  It ended up taking until almost noon to get it all done.  I've been having more and more trouble with my shoulders and hips and feet lately and I asked to be sent to a physical therapist so I could see if anything could be done about it.  But before Dr. T. would do that, she insisted I have it all x-rayed.  AND get my "annual" mammogram that I haven't had for a year and half or so.  AND all those blood tests she thinks she needs to see every year that require I have no bedtime snacks or morning coffee.  Yuk!   AND a dexascan to see if my bones are still intact.     

That Dexascan was the most interesting thing for me.  The woman who did it told me how it's very dangerous to take Fosamax, the osteoporosis medication I was on, for more than five years.  What!  I took the stuff for well over 15!!!   When I got home, I looked into it and from what I can tell, when osteoporosis is diagnosed, the bones have become less dense and thus weaker.  The medication causes them to fill in all those empty spaces and strengthen, but THEN it starts to make them TOO solid and they become brittle -- among other things.  Some of the problems that turn up after taking the stuff too long include "sudden fractures of the femur" and "osteonecrosis of the jaw" and "esophageal cancer."   Good grief! 

Hey - for once it's probably a GOOD thing I have such a horrible memory.  I often forgot to take the stuff over the last five years I was on it, since it was a once-a-week pill.  And I also forgot to refill the prescription regularly.  And the best part is that the year before last I was going to have one of those once-a-year shots instead of the pills, but the doctor my doctor sent me to was such a jerk (long story) that I walked out and never did get it.  I didn't tell my doctor about that, so I never got back on the pills either.  Like I said - for once, being a less-than-cooperative person with a bad memory turned out to be a GOOD thing.

Poor Joey's rash is back big time.  He took antibiotics for two weeks and the bumps faded to red spots (though they never actually went away).  But within a week after he finished the antibiotics, the rash got worse.  The rash started on on one back leg, then was on both back legs.  Then yesterday it showed up on his left front shoulder as well!  That was it.  I got our vet to call and refer him to an actual dermatologist at LSU.  He goes in next week.