Monthly Archives: July 2011

just the mutterings of a hormonal woman

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My apologies to the men who read this. Perhaps you might want to just move along…but then again if you have ever once in your life said you just don’t get women…well. at least you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

A couple of years ago during one of those annual lady-parts exam I over-shared unloaded to my practitioner a long list of physical complaints that I had. It was then that I heard for the first time the word menopause rather than peri-menopause. But, but I am only in my forties, I sputtered. My Mommy Dearest was dealing with this in her fifties. I was still a young(ish) woman. Some of my patients mothers are the same age as me for pity’s sake…not that I was planning on having a baby. But lab work showed that along with other symptoms that I was complaining about I was definitely transitioning into menopause. The good news (?) was that this transition takes time…months…even years.

Ain’t it great being a girl?!

Thankfully my practitioner was all about helping me in managing and even alleviating some of the more annoying symptoms. Hurray for lifestyle adjustments and hormone therapy! I know my family has been thankful for them.

Then this year during my annual exam, the doc asks me when was my last menstrual period.

Um….last summer…?

She is surprised that I can’t remember. Shouldn’t I be keeping track of these things? Well, yes. I should. But then again there is no worry of getting pregnant or tracking my fertility. I guess I wasn’t keeping track. I remember having to buy tampons sometime last summer and needing them sometime then…like before Holly and Ben’s flash mob wedding and after BlogHer…

We women do keep track of things like periods this way.

Don’t judge. It works.

My practitioner takes in this information and being the mathematical wizard that she is tells me that I am thisclose to the end.

The end?

The end. She reminds me that menopause is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility, defined as occurring 12 months after your last menstrual period. With less than two months to go, she tells me that it looks like I am  winding down to the end of that phase in my life.

Well good then! I’m just ready for this phase, this peri-menopause stage to be over and done with. Oh, and the thought that I am definitely done buying feminine hygiene products for myself is pretty cool too.

Then today I received my gift from Mother Nature…

Damn you, Mother Nature and your stupid gift wrapped up in a pretty pink bow! Damn you to Hell!

of mothers, wives, daughters and friends

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A few weeks ago I blogged about trading places with a loved one as I headed off for my annual, routine mammogram because as important as it is, I just don’t find having body parts smashed between two metal plates all that fun. Still I make that appointment and I keep that appointment every year since I was 35 years old because it is that important. But then I don’t give it too much more thought until it is that time of year again. But this time there was some concern and the need to get a better look which meant more smashing then ultrasounds then some poking and prodding and examining. I tried not to think about it too much. I don’t have the time for this I told myself. I am the sole income under the Big Top. Still I kept the follow-up appointment and then made like Scarlett O’Hara as long as I could get away with. The good news, for me, is that there was good news earlier this week. With the all clear I heaved a big sigh of relief and began to focus on the usual juggling plus preparing to send the kids back to school and planning for a little fun “me” time next week because, frankly, I deserve it.

Sigh!

Then today I read this from the lovely Susan of Toddler Planet. I met her last year at BlogHer10 and all I can say is her presence in the room you are in is as bright as the stars she has studied over the years. There are no words I can offer except to agree cancer sucks. It really does.

I’m certainly counting my blessing but even more I am hoping and praying for even more for Susan…more grace, more time. I can’t imagine such a bright star ever going out.

not your average grandmother

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…make that not your average Mi-ma!

Most grandmothers when seeing their unborn grandbaby on ultrasound are amazed, astounded, tearful, thrilled, in awe of that fuzzy little fetus moving limbs and waving because it is pretty amazing to see your grandbaby that way before you get the chance to hold them.

I have to admit that those little arms and legs are pretty amazing. But her four chambered heart?

Wow!

Those kidneys, that bladder, the abdomen, the brain, that beautiful umbilical cord attached to that gorgeous placenta, the wonderful amniotic fluid…

…and that spine! That perfectly formed and intact spine is so amazing!

This is what happens when your Mi-ma is a NICU nurse. All she seems to be focused on is parts, perfectly formed and functioning parts that show all is well thus far.

The little turkey looks great. She’s growing and thriving and during this ultrasound view was showing off how much she loved that Slurpee that her mama had right before the appointment. Ever seen a fetus on a sugar high?

We have.

CRAZY!

The little turkey would not show her face at all during the entire exam. Just like her mother when she doesn’t have her hair and makeup done right she wasn’t about to allow her picture to be taken. But it looks like we might get another look in a few weeks since the placenta is lying a little too low. Hopefully it will move up away from the cervix as Holly’s baby bump continues to grow.

state of the art antiquity

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After living here under the new Big Top for only seven weeks, I have finally unpacked and organized my closet. Doing so I discovered a few things.

I need another shoe rack. No really. I do. Of course I would then have to buy more shoes to fill it up because one can not have a half full shoe rack. It’s inconceivable!

Oh, and I found this. I bought this phone over thirty years ago when I was working for Pacific Bell as a 411 operator.

sidebar: I still have the 408 area code 500 frequently requested listings that were on the first page of our microfiche memorized.

Up until about five years ago, this phone sat on my bedside table. Then for some reason that I can’t recall, I packed it away in the back of my closet. When I emptied the last box marked “closet” last night, there it was. Now what am I going to do with this, I wondered? We gave up our land-line when we moved. Then I decided to put it in our sitting room. It seemed to be the perfect addition with the photo books and other conversation pieces even if it serves no other purpose.

Daniel noticed it and had much to say about it.

See? It’s a conversation piece.

Where did I get it?

It’s THAT old!

Were all phones made of wood in the olden days?

Why don’t I use it anymore?

What’s a land-line?

Why don’t we need a land-line?

But my favorite thing he had to say about it was when he noted that the technology of my phone must be really old…I mean it doesn’t support apps or take pictures and videos…it has to be really old technology.

Indeed.

getting ready

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School starts in two weeks for my two youngest circus clowns.

Sing with me now…oh happy day…

Yes, I am looking forward to sending the kids off to school. I look forward to the adventures that each new school year brings them. I don’t look forward to the reams of redundant paperwork that I have to fill out for each child. But it could be worse. It could be 2005 where I find myself filling out reams of paperwork for FIVE children.

…oh happy day…

We just received Daniel’s school assignment for third grade. Of course he will be attending a new school. I hate, hate, hate that due to the school district’s budget woes along with the expectation that they comply with Federal law in providing education for children with special needs, the school district now has consolidated the Special Day Class programs in the district which means Daniel  gets bussed away from his neighborhood school and his school assignment likely will change year to year as long as he is a student in the SDC program. At the same time I am very happy that he will not be bussed across town to a school in a neighborhood with known violent gang activity this year. He doesn’t get to return to his neighborhood school but he has been assigned to a school close to the Big Top. A school that year after year competes for top honors with our neighborhood school and a school that feeds into his big sisters’ high school. Just like last year, we hope to get a sneak peek at the campus.

Meanwhile, we have to get ready in other ways because it seems that this child of mine who grows at a snail’s pace and will likely be soon starting human growth hormone therapy has grown out of pants, shorts, shoes and shirts that fit him just fine as he finished up second grade a couple of months ago…yes, they are clothes that I bought for him a year ago.

So what?!

OMG, my 9½ year old son is now wearing boys’ size six!!!

…oh happy day…

Shopping for jeans (skinny jeans, naturally), shorts, polos, tees and his very first pair of Toms it is clear he is indeed a 9½ year old boy with very discerning tastes. What I liked and thought would look wonderful on him he would veto. But his selections proved to be exactly right. I guess my little man is truly growing up.

It is then that he solemnly informs me that he is ALMOST a teenager.

He’s trying to kill me.

I swear he is.

Thankfully I have 3½ more years before that reality hits me. Until then I am going to enjoy third grade with my boy.