I'm Gonna Have A Hard Time Explaining This To My HMO.

For about a month I've been having this terrible soreness in my left shoulder. The terrible soreness seemed to accompany my entire left arm, especially my hand, going completely numb whist doing tedious household chores. This issue with my arm has also disrupted my sleep as I have been waking up several times during the night - again with the sore shoulder and pins and needles in my entire arm.

I'd finally had enough of this affliction and made an appointment with my Primary Care Dr. I'd explained the whole shoulder brouhaha to her and she in turn diagnosed me with Cervical Radiculopothy. Say that three times fast.....and no, it is not a condition that is afflicting my cooter.

Cervical Radiculopothy is wherein the nerves in ones neck become inflamed and irritated and in turn affect all the nerves attached to said inflamed nerve and create a nice little downhill path of malfeasance in its wake. ( Does that make sense ?? )

Anyway, my Dr. referred me to physical therapy and gave me a referral to a neurologist - apparently Cervical Radiculopothy is more a neurological condition rather than a primary care Dr. condition.

I saw the Neurologist on Monday. He did all the standard tests....you know.....close your eyes, don't let me push/pull your arms/hands/fingers, turn your head, etc, etc, etc.
He also asked me a series of questions about how I came to acquire this diagnosis. According to him folks don't just appear with CR out of the blue. It is usually caused by some traumatic physical event ( car accidents....falls.....you get the idea...). I really had no memory of any recent traumatic experience. Knock on wood I've been relatively Biff-free for quite some time now.....

He suggested I try the PT and make another appointment to see him if things do not improve.
I've yet to make an appointment with the PT folks, but am planning on giving them a call on Monday.

Still I was plauged by how it was I came to acquire CR. I thought and thought and thought and kept coming up with nothing.
Then it hit me...........

The Mister and I have a very active and ahem.....ahhhh.....athletic....sex life. ( Remember my post about sex after 30.....). Currently we seem to be favoring a position that puts quite a bit of stress on my neck and left shoulder.
Who knew our sex life could be considered traumatic from a Neuro / PT perspective ?

So right after it hit me that our sex life has sent me to PT, I called The Mister. He claims to have no responsibilty in causing my current condition. I feel he should at least accept 50% responsibilty.....or perhaps this should be considered " no fault " as it is 50/50 ???

The Mister felt I should have titled this post " No Boundries with Bunny " - kinda sounds like a show on the Travel Channel, doesn't it ?

Hey, guess where I'm going for the weekend ??????? Three whole days of shopping, drinking, eating and museum-ing HERE. Woo Hoo !!!
I'm sure I'll have many a tale to tell upon my return.

XOXOXO
Bunny

Retro Music Friday - Getting Back On Track.

To say that I've been burning the mental, emotional and physical candle at both ends for more than a few weeks would be the understatement of the millennium.

It started with the never ending cold sometime in February that took me over a month to get rid of....

then,

I thought one of my clients had cancer ( they don't....whew ! ) and it took FOR.EV.ER. to get the test results back. That shaved about five years off my life.......

then,

my Grandma went into hospice care......

then,

we pulled our file out of China.........

then,

my Grandma died......

then,

we had her funeral another five days after that.

And just to add insult to injury........I had my period THREE TIMES between the beginning of February and today....March 22nd. Yep, three times. And.......two different people asked me last week when I was going to have a baby. HA HA HA HA !!!! Can you detect my sarcasm ??

March has been a blur. One day has just seemed to meld into another. So much so that by the time I went back to work on Wednesday I had no clue what the day or date was. Although when I did return to work my co-workers had many kind words for me and were more than compassionate. Which is more than I can say for some of my family members.

And you all read that correctly....we pulled our file from China two weeks ago. Brock and I had many, many discussions about the continued wait in China and our decision to remove our file was not made on the fly. Friday would have been our two year Log In Date Anniversary. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel with China as the current wait is already three years plus. We were still so far back in LIDs that we weren't even going to get preference with regard to the waiting children list.

It seemed to us that the harder we " chased " trying to have a family the further away it got. We decided to be grateful for what we have and no worry about what we don't have. We have a beautiful home, great jobs, a beautiful niece and Godchildren, we're both happy and healthy. Really, what more could we ask for ?

So to the getting back on track part, I've been trying to get things back to normal around here. I actually bought groceries on Thursday night. Believe you me, our fridge was a sad state of affairs. My laundry is getting done. We're actually talking about landscaping to yard.

Normal is nice.

This is Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze. It is my favorite squeeze song. They used to play is on 92.9 BOS before they altered their format. Now sometimes if I'm lucky I can hear it on COOL102. It's really got nothing to do with the goings on of the past few weeks. I just happen to like this song.

This song was released in 1982. I was six. My Grandma was 56.

XO

Bunny

Please Forgive My Long Absence.

I've had a really, really shitty few weeks. I could go on and on, but I'll just get right to the point.

My Grandmother died last Thursday.
It was a long time coming so nobody was really surprised.
She had relentless, aggressive dementia for at least ten years that slowly and agonizingly robbed her of her mind and her body.
I am grieved beyond belief to see her go, but I know she is in a better place where she is free from the burdens of this life - and that is giving me a large measure of peace.

I thought about writing some long tribute to her, but I thought she'd like it if I were short and sweet. So here goes.......

I only had one Grandmother. I was her first, and by her own admission, favorite grandchild.
In her eyes I could do no wrong. Don't misunderstand. Whenever I was misbehaving she certainly put me back in line. But she was always, without question, in my corner and " batting for my team " if you will. She loved me and thought I was perfect just as I was.

For a few days after she died I had been saying that the only person that ever loved me unconditionally was gone. That statement was starting to offend my husband, who also claims to love me unconditionally.
So I've rephrased that statement, and here it is.......

Nobody loved me like she did.

Please enjoy this musical tribute to her.




This is her obituary....


ATTLEBORO - Edna N. Soares, 83 and of Brown Street, Attleboro, a retired bookkeeper, passed away Thursday, March 12, 2009 at home. She was the wife of Joseph Soares.

Born in Pawtucket on Oct. 14, 1925, she was the daughter of the late Joseph and Alice (Lemire) Surprenant. Edna was raised in Pawtucket and was a graduate of Pawtucket East High School, Class of 1944. Edna worked as a bookkeeper for several area businesses. She retired from the Department of Public Welfare in Attleboro years ago.

Joseph and Edna were avid square dancers for over 40 years. She also enjoyed bowling and working in her garden.

Edna is survived by her children: Susan Doty of North Attleboro and Christine Meyer of Smithfield, R.I.; a brother: Wilfred Surprenant of Tyngsboro; and her grandchildren: Erica and her husband Brock Rafferty of Woonsocket, R.I., Alyssa and her husband William Soderquist Jr. of Woonsocket, R.I., Nathan Meyer, Aaron Meyer, and Emma Meyer, all of Smithfield, R.I.

She was the sister of the late Bernard Surprenant.

Visiting hours Monday, March 16, 2009 from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Duffy-Poule Funeral Home, 20 Peck St., Attleboro. A funeral will be conducted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 10 a.m. from the Duffy-Poule Funeral Home, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. in St. Theresa's Church, 18 Baltic St. Attleboro, by Father James Fahey, Pastor.Edna will be laid to rest in Notre Dame Cemetery, Pawtucket.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in her memory may be made to: Bristol Elder Services, 1 Father Devalles Blvd., Suite 101, Fall River, MA 02720.

Retro Music Friday - What Little I Know.

We've got three videos this week. I know, where does the fun end here at ADITLOB ?

I used to think that I knew a lot about music. And really, I think I have better knowledge than most about particular genres of music.....by no means am I claiming to know everything. But I sort of got my ass handed to me this week by one of our clients. Not that I minded...I was actually kind of...ok, who am I kidding ?....I was REALLY impressed !

I only work with this particular client ( for very short periods of time )twice a week. I only really had peripheral interactions with this client for a long time. Now that I am working with him on a regular basis I had to win him over, if you will. I need an " in " so to speak. Turns out this client is an OBSESSIVE music collector. I swear he was a Dj in a past life. He has a massive collection of CDs and Vinyl. Crazy massive. You name it and he's probably got it.....somewhere....( this client tends to run a bit on the messy side ). Just two weeks ago we had gotten into a very involved conversation about the merits of older vs. newer Mary J. Blige. So music was going to be my " in ".

Anyway....I had been wearing out my Carly Simon CD this week in the car. So on Monday I was driving this client to the destination of his choosing after we had finished up our To Do list and I was still playing my Carly Simon CD.

This was the conversation that followed;

Client: Carly Simon, huh ?

Me: Yeah, this is her Greatest Hits CD.

C:( puzzled look at the cd player ) This song isn't on her Greatest Hits CD.

M: You're right, I believe this CD is called Reflections.

C: Oh.

M: I love this song, it's my favorite one on here. ( taking my time to totally impress him with my expansive knowledge of 70's soft rock......) I believe this was on Boys In The Trees.

C: Yeah, ( long pause..........) This is a cover of a Doobie Brothers song.

M: ( in disbelief...) Whaa ?

C: Michael McDonald wrote this song.

M: ( continued disbelief ) Whaaaa ??

I made a brief stop in the office afterward and did a little research as I had a few minutes to spare.

Lo and behold he was right and I was blown away. I was sure to let him know later in the week that I was not worthy.

This is Carly Simon's version of You Belong To Me. After much consideration The Mister and I have decided that this is the best version of this song. Look closely at the blonde in the background.....I believe that is Carly's daughter Sally singing back up. This was released in 1978. I was two.

Please forgive the lame version of this video. I could not find a decent vid for this song. This was released in 1977. I was one.

I'm giving you a bonus vid this week too. This is Chaka Khan and Micheal McDonald doing You Belong To Me as a duet. I couldn't pass this up. Released 2007.

Enjoy them all.

XO

Bunny

Crushed.

I got a very unsettling diagnosis about one of my clients today. As the title of this posts points out, I am crushed.

Here I was expecting today to be like any other. As it seems any given day can flip on a dime.

I drove this person home from the Dr. today and they sat in the back seat of my car singing a Billy Joel song.

I was pale and nauseous.

Really, I felt like it might as well have been me getting this unsettling diagnosis.

This client has a very limited understanding of even the most basic of concepts, so they really have no clue as to what is going on.

I suppose this is where a disibility can be a blessing in disguise.

I suppose I'm so worried about this because they aren't able to be.

I guess I'm owning all the feelings they can't.

In a moment of clarity I thought that the Universe must have decided that if shit was going downhill I was the right person to see them through it.

Please pray.


XO
Bunny

An Open Letter To Mother Nature.

Dear Mother Nature,


First, I'd like to compliment you on the depths of your sheer awesomeness. The shit you can pull off is truly amazing. Like the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain, perfect orchids, chirping birds, the amber waves of grain......it's all cool. You got mad skills girlfriend.

But really, I am SO FLIPPIN' SICK OF THE COLD WEATHER. In case I've not expressed this to you lately, I really don't like being cold. This can be evidenced by my heated mattress pad, towel warmer and extensive collection of fleece pants and sweaters.

Granted, lately it's not the take-your-breath-away-as-soon-as-you-open-the-front-door cold of New Years Eve. Now it's the type of cold that is not quite cold enough to be painful, but it's just cold enough to be annoying. Damn annoying.

I'd also like to tell you too that you are a BIG TEASE. Don't think I've forgotten about those few days when it was almost 60. Yeah, and I saw those two cardinals the other day too. I nearly fainted....I couldn't remember the last time I saw A BIRD, let alone TWO BIRDS.

Normally I'd be trying to take off to some tropical destination by this time, you know, someplace like Bali, or Aruba....maybe Tucson.
But The Mister and I just bought a house and well, we're sort of short on fun-time funds these days.

So, if you could kindly pack it in already I'd really appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Bunny

Now That's A Group I'd Like To Join....

I wonder how much the dues are ?

XO

Bunny