I hate it when things don't go my way...

And by that I mean how I pictured them in my head. Take last Friday, for instance. I had scheduled a Dr. appointment to discuss with my doctor decreasing some of my meds. In my mind, he was all, "sure, no problem. What a great idea." In real life it went more like this:

The nurse takes all my vitals (down another two pounds since I saw him in April), blood pressure and heart rate good. Unfortunately, I've managed to catch a really bad cold/sinus gunk. The doctor enters.

Me: Ironically, I'd scheduled this appointment to convince you of how healthy I am, but now I have a cold...

Him: Stop talking.

Me: My niece came home from camp with a cold and then my grandson caught it...

Him: Seriously, stop talking!

At this point I notice that he's taking out and donning a surgical mask as though I was typhoid Mary. It should have been a clue, maybe, that this wasn't going to be my best visit ever.

Him: Any drainage? What color? Blah, blah, blah...

And he prescribes me an antibiotic.

Me: Okay, so this bout of whatever not with standing, I've been really doing great. I've been eating healthier, slowly (excruciatingly slowly) losing weight, my check up was great, so what I've been considering is xxx (sorry, but this part is a secret unless it becomes a reality).

Him: That's a really bad idea. You have Fibromyalgia.

Me: Yeah, I know, but I'm feeling really good lately.

Him: That's because you take medicine. In order for your plan to work you'd have to stop taking most of the meds. Then you'll feel awful.

Me: No I won't. Because I'm being healthy.

Him: Yes. You will. My answer is no.

Me: Okay, so this isn't going the way I thought it would and you aren't giving me the answer I want so I'm just going to keep talking until I've coerced you...

Him: I'm not going to change my mind.

Me: But it's not like this will cause any lasting damage or be fatal.

Him: There's no way to predict that. And that's why the answer is no.

Me: Hmm. Well, let's say that hypothetically I do this against your better judgment, how would one go about cutting down my medication? I know you can't just stop cold turkey.

Him: Stop taking this, this, and this, and cut this down to half. The call the office when you can't take the pain and we'll put you back on the meds.

Me: Oh, Ye of very little faith. I think you're seriously underestimating my stubbornness and pain threshold.

Him: We'll see.


And that is how my doctor became an unwilling accomplice in what he seems to think is my craziest idea yet. Later, I relayed the news to Mike.

Me: So, Dr. L is so not on board with this idea.

Mike: I'm not sure why you thought he would be.

Me: Well I'm not giving up yet.

Mike: Of course you aren't. Because you are one of the most stubborn people I know.

Me: Hmph. Have you met your son, Sean?

Mike: Yes. Where do you think he gets it from?

Anyway, I decided to wait to cut down the meds until the grandkids go home to California, as they are a bit hard on my body. Then we'll see.

Also, apparently I can be allergic to every antibiotic they can prescribe as I broke out in a horrendous rash and had horrible stomach cramps from the one he gave me. Thank goodness the sinus gunk cleared up anyway. Now if I could get rid of the rash, I'd be a happy camper.

The moral of this story is, "I do what I want." It's kind of our family motto.


♥Stacey

Gifts from afar...

The lovely Vix Kirkpatrick, horror fan and Facebook friend extraordinaire, sent me a box a while back of scampi fries and English chocolates, things I'd mentioned I missed about England. And she did this just because she's a wonderful person, she wouldn't take anything in return. Well, the first box didn't arrive and didn't arrive, and after two months she decided to send me another one. As luck would have it, the first package showed up finally! And then the second package came as well! So lucky me, I was blessed with enough scampi fries to share with my sister. Although, I did tell her she had to be nice to me to get some.

Well, my family thinks I'm seriously odd in some of my eating habits and no one was on board to try them. And then we had this conversation the other evening. Mike, Sean, and Sean's friend Roaman were present at dinner that night.

Me: So will you try some scampi fries after dinner?

Sean: Why did this person you don't know send you food?

Me: I do know her, we've been Facebook friends for a long time.

Sean: That's not "knowing" someone. She could be a 70 year old man for all you know. Don't you watch Catfish??

Me: Where do you get this paranoia from? This mistrust of strangers?

Sean: Well, certainly not from you, Mrs. Gullible.

Me: She just sent me them because she's nice.

Sean: They could be laced with acid.

Me: They're in sealed packages.

Sean: And you think that would stop someone?

Roaman: They do sell home sealers now. They could've resealed them.

Me: You're not helping. *shrugs* But even if, what's the harm? We'd all just take a little trip.

Sean: How am I going to explain the drugs in my system to the Air Force?

Me: Well I'd vouch for you.

Roaman: Yeah, me and your mom would explain what happened.

Sean: Mmm. And you are two highly credible witnesses. Not.

Me: I own a company.

Sean: Right. And dropping acid would totally ruin your reputation, I mean, wait, you're a horror writer, it would not hurt your work.

Me: Well, there is that. I've never done acid, but I might right a fabulous book, the best horror novel ever, while tripping.

Sean: Except that you'd write it in some language you completely made up because you were high and no one would be able to understand it.

Me: You're such a glass half full person. Some people like books they can't understand.

Mike wisely stayed out of this whole conversation. Roaman did, in fact, try my chips and loved them and they were not laced with acid (I knew they wouldn't be.) Mike did kiss me afterwards though and said:

Mike: Oh man, those don't even smell good.

Me: They smell like shrimp scampi, because they are shrimp flavored snacks.

Mike: That's just so gross.

But they aren't, they are delicious. And I will be forever in Vix's debt. And I don't know how I raised such skeptical, paranoid children. Must be Mike's fault.

Thank you, Vix!!

♥Stacey

Travel funnies

So, I'm in the process of changing over my blogging to this one blog. I'm going to combine what used to be my family life blog, What Passes for Sane on a Crazy Day, over to this blog. There may or may not be a book coming about from the other blog, but mostly I'm just too busy to do both (as anyone who reads my sporadic blog posts can easily confirm). I also prefer to read author blogs that contain snippets of their lives, not just writing advice and news. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a stalker, or maybe it's just more interesting. I like to know people I admire are just that--people. People a lot like me who are doing what they love while raising families and dealing with life. So, in the spirit of combining both, I give you the following post which would normally be on my other blog. Oh, and so as not to be confusing, I'll be using my children's real names this time.

During our rather long (3 day) car trip to California, Mo and I had this conversation:

Me: We have to stop listening to your iPod.

Mo: Why?

Me: *pointing to my lips, which are closed* What are my lips not doing?

Mo: Um...

Me: Singing. And if my lips are not singing, I'm not driving "happy." And trust me, you want me to be driving happy. I don't know most of these songs. Put in my CD. (I know, I'm old school like that, making CDs and all.)

Mo: *huge sigh* She puts in the CD and the first song is "Feel this Moment" by Pitbull featuring Christina Aguilera. If you don't know the song, you can find it here.

Me: This is my jam.

Mo: *laughing* 'Cause you're from the Dirty?

Me: No. Partially because it references Fifty Shades of Grey and even though I hate that book and all it's horrid grammar, any song that references what could loosely be termed "literature" in an intelligent manner is cool. But also because it's about living in the moment. That's what the chorus is talking about.

Mo: Is it?

Me: Don't you listen to the words?

Mo: I can't understand them.

Me: *singing rather loudly* Someday when the night is glowing, I'll be in my castle golden. But until the gates are open, I just want to feel this moment.

Mo: *and because she never believes a word I say, she Googles the lyrics* It's "Someday when the light is glowing."

Me: Oh, my bad. One freakin letter.

Mo: So it's your "YOLO" song?

Me: Yep. You know I was all about Yolo-ing before it was an acronym.

Mo: So she's talking about YOLO-ing before she dies.

Me: Um ... Mo ... you kind of have to YOLO before you die. It really doesn't work the other way around.

Some days I wonder about her...



♥Stacey