Listen when your body tells you something...

I have been having a lot of tests since December. In fact I think my MRI punchcard should be full at the end of the month when I have MRI’s and arthrograms of both shoulders. And no, I haven’t Googled the procedure. My new orthopedic doctor was kind enough to email me a link to watch videos of the procedure! Ugh! No, I haven’t watched them yet, I figure I’ll wait until the day before so I don’t ruminate on it. I’m hoping they partially sedate me because the MRI machines make me claustrophobic, and I’m sure getting a shot of dye into the shoulder joints is not going to be a day at the beach.

My point of this post is listen to your body, if you’re having pain, go to the doctor and have it checked out. I have. If you’ve got a cough or laryngitis for more than 2 weeks, go to the doctor. I did, turns out a medication I had taken for 20 years was the cause of the cough and laryngitis, so he switched me to something different. It did take almost a month to get that medication out of my system. My cough is gone, and so is my Brenda Vacaro voice.

A friend of ours has been dealing with terrible pain from being mauled by a pit bull at a shelter. The dog tried to tear her arm off, the arm she recently had rotator cuff surgery on. So she’s in a hella lot of pain. Her husband had been having abdominal pain and kept stealing her Norco. He stole so much that she would run out halfway through the month. This has gone on at least 2 months that we know of. He went to the doctor this week. He has a large mass in his colon. They were told it would be a couple weeks for biopsy results. It could be cancerous. Had he listened to his body, not self medicated, and seen a doctor at the onset of the pain...well...you know.

I guess you can call this post this month’s PSA.

Update: The today the husband was doubled over in the fetal position. He is now in the hospital on morphine. 

           Lola’s Diner  cc 2008-2018

Ah...memories

I belong to a Facebook group called Old Milwaukee. I grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee so seeing posts and photos is a real trip down memory lane.

Quite a bit of the photo’s are early 60’s and prior. I enjoy the photos and stories nonetheless.

Quite a bit of the posts are of restaurants no longer in business. The names and buildings are familiar, but most I’d never been to. 

The places I did frequent hold fond memories, not just the food, but the friends and family. Burger Chef and Whaler sandwiches on some Fridays during Lent, Sandy’s Burgers with their burgers as big as a plate, Shamrock Inn for some Friday fish fries, Wanda’s Pizza from a bar called Wanda’s that my Dad frequented on Friday nights. These places I went with my family or my Dad brought food home. 

After I got my first job I went out more often, Ling’s Chinese, Shakey’s Pizza with their pizza and Mojo potatoes, Howard Johnson’s, George Webb’s for breakfast or late night burgers and chili, Leon’s Custard, KMart lunch counter, Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips for fish and hush puppies or buckets of peel and eat shrimp (small buckets), Jerry’s Subs, Rocky Rococo, Chi Chi’s, Ponderosa Steak House, Sizzler’s.

When I read the posts of other people close to my age, it makes me think, all these places they went out to eat, their shopping trips. I always thought of my family as middle class. My Dad worked at AC Sparkplug, Delco, AC Delco (same place, different names over the years). My Mom was a stay at home Mom. When I see these posts it strikes me, we weren’t middle class. We weren’t poor, we had a home that was built for us in 1962, a decent car, not new, but reliable. We got clothing at the start of the school year and Christmas, that was it. Shoes at the start of the school year. My Mom never bought herself clothing, maybe a dress or 2 that I recall. Remember the polyester stretch pants with the a seam down the middle of each leg?  And the dusters! My Dad had his work clothes and shoes that were replaced when needed, and a suit. I guess we were lower-middle class. I’m not upset about it. My Mom was a great cook and always found a way to put nutritious meals on the table. Not a lot of variety, but good Italian, Irish, and American dishes that I still make to this day.

My family, when my kids were small, went out to eat all the time. Lots of Family restaurants, Chinese, pizza joints. I worked like a dog earning for the family while my now exhb (from another life) stayed at home and trashed the house I was killing myself to pay for. Long hours, I’d come home and no dinner (there was food, he knew how to cook, but....grrrr). I couldn’t come home late, make dinner, spend time with the kids, then get up before the crack of dawn. 

Now my kids are grown. I’ve taught myself to make all the types of cuisine we used to get take out or eat out. Chinese, Thai, Japanese/Sushi, Indian, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Greek, Jewish, Italian, Irish. Not because I want to show off, out of necessity, out of the need for variety, and to not feel deprived/depressed that we can’t buy take-out or eat out. We’ve had some long periods of reduced income, several months no income. Name a cuisine, I’m sure I’ve made a dish. 

My daughter got me an Instant Pot for Christmas. Best thing since sliced bread! Throw frozen food, spices and liquid and you’ve got a meal in a little under or over an hour and it’s a dinner that you don’t have to stand over or constantly check. My kids help a lot too.

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