Saturday, November 29, 2014

Still no results

It is now ten days since I had my biopsy and although I have had the bill from the pathology laboratory I have not had the results.  The bill stated that my doctor would have the results already (that was typed on 24th November) but my doctor has taken a very long weekend and either didn't receive the report in time or she hasn't opened it.  She will be back to work in two days time and I have left a message for her to phone me but I can't get an appointment to see her until 11th December.  I assume that the findings did not turn up anything urgent because nothing can be done at this late stage of the year and I will have to wait until after the school holidays to board the cats if I need any surgery done, which is probable if I have a DCIS as the mammogram suggested.

This unforgivable delay has made me realise that  I am going to need a doctor who is there when needed and not just the three mornings per week which my current doctor seems to be working now.  All the women doctors in the area seem to work part time and up until now it hasn't been a problem but I have decided that I am going to need to transfer my allegiance to a male doctor and just visit my current doctor for girly things as it can be risky for men to do some procedures as they run a risk of being charged with assault if they do not have a chaperone. 

I have started spinning the BFL+silk which D3 gave me for my birthday and it is a whole new learning experience for me.  It is very soft and is spinning much finer than my usual singles but unless I keep a strong tension on it, it unwinds itself on the bobbin and fulls to a far thicker single than I had expected.  I will have to ply it with more twist than I usually use and it is going to be interesting to see what the final yarn will be like.

And I have almost finished the first sleeve of the 'Rosewood' sloppy jo sweater and am considering starting the shawl I am planning to knit with the pigtails which I have spun.  I still have one skein of pigtails to spin but the shawl will be a stop/start sort of project so that won't matter.

Below are 1) 'Jewel' colourway in BFL+silk and 2) Polwarth 'Pigtails'.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Last night I had my first bath for years

Yesterday I had my breast biopsy done and it wasn't a ball of fun but the staff were universally nice and helpful a I got through it, not without a degree of discomfort  -  not from the biopsy itself but from the position I had to maintain for about 30 minutes in which my breathing was severely restricted.  Thank goodness for my yoga practice which allowed me to utilise the small amount of ribcage which was moveable.  Now I just have to await the results.


I am not supposed to do any strenuous physical exercise for a few days and not allow the shower to pour water directly on the dressing so I used my bath for the first time.  When I lived in Cottesloe I had a huge spa bath which took ages to fill so I rarely used it and since I moved to this apartment over three years ago I have showered  -  the cats being the only ones to use the bath; they like me to turn on the tap so that they can play with the stream of water.  But last night I felt that the time had come when it would be best to bath rather than shower and ooops!


The drains are not all that efficient and eventually I experience what I call 'the plughole symphony' when the five drainage holes gurgle.  That happened last night when I emptied the bath and a lot of black sludge came up into one of the hand basins.  I poured top-strength Domestos down the drains and left it for 30 minutes, after which I ran hot water through.  It seems to have worked but I will probably need to send a brush down the central drain in the floor and remove any loose hair.  Such fun!


Anyway, I am feeling fine today; yesterday I was a bit spaced out.  Now I just have to wait until next week sometime when I will find out the results of the biopsy and where I need to go from there.  Hopefully there will be nothing suspicious but a positional clip has been inserted just in case and to enable subsequent accurate viewing of the spot.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Walking the cats

Every morning the babies sit by the front door and give me the eye  -  and ear  -  until I put on their harnesses and take them out into the passage.  They don't do much; Parsifal rolls himself up in his lead and Poppy can occasionally be persuaded to walk to the other end of the corridor as long as I go with her.  There is a warm patch of carpet at the other end where the sun comes in and they will sometimes walk up there and lie in the sun which gets a bit tiresome when I have better things to do.


However, this morning, having pumped up the tyres of the Kitty-carriage and since I needed to go over the road to the pet emporium to get some cat food, I loaded the cats in and took them with me.  Poppy climbed out and then decided that the kitty-carriage was a safe place and climbed back in again but Parsifal thought that he had landed up in cat heaven.  Cat toys, cat beds, cat scratching posts, cat food and endless new smells for him to experience.  Needless to say, he didn't want to come home again but we have reached a stage where I can harness them and load them quite quickly if there is a fire  -  and that is really the whole point of the exercise; to evacuate them if there is a fire.


Tomorrow I am having a breasts biopsy.  I can't say that I am looking forward to it but it is something which obviously has to be done so I will be turning up in the late morning 'sans' deodorant or talcum powder and get it over with.  I understand that the procedure is done under local anaesthetic so hopefully there will be no problem when I take a taxi home afterwards. 

Sunday, November 9, 2014

I didn't need this on a Fast Day #2

This morning I phoned the Women's Breast Clinic and ascertained that the films and report for my mammogram and ultrasound would be ready by this evening so I phoned to make an appointment for the biopsy which my doctor, presumably on the advice of the Breast Clinic has ordered, only to be told that until Perth Radiology receives both the referral from my GP and the films and report from the Breast Clinic, I can not make an appointment.  I assume that this is so that they can decide if I actually need the biopsy or not.


So I have been to the Post Office and faxed my GP's referral and arranged for the films and report to be couriered to Perth Radiology ... and I will try to make an appointment again in a couple of days, presumably if they deem it necessary.


If I was the worrying kind I would probably be climbing up the walls by now but since it is only two years since I had the last mammogram, whatever has developed is early stage and therefore either to be ignored or treatable.


To make my day even more frustrating I tried to pay my power bill but CustomStrata change the reference number every time and my bank does not seem to be able to cope with it and refuses to process the payment.  Something eventually went through but I can not be sure who or where it has gone.  I sent an email and have printed out the receipt so hopefully it will end up in the right place.  Next time I will try a direct bank transfer or write out a cheque and pay at the Post Office.


On a happier note, tomorrow I will be meeting a third cousin who is descended from my Great Great Uncle Charles (The black sheep of the family) and an unknown woman.  He and his wife are coming for coffee and to swap information.  I need to get my FTM up to date so that I can print off a descendant report for him.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Keeping abreast

Recently I looked at the file where I keep my medical records and noted that I hadn't had a mammogram since 2006 so I trotted off to the doctor and asked for a referral to the local breast clinic.  My doctor did an examination and found a small lump on the left side so I made an appointment for a scan.  Only when I made the appointment did I discover that I hadn't kept my records up-to-date because the clinic had my current address and I have only been here since 2011.  However, given that there was a possible lump I went ahead and had the scan and ultrasound.


The ultrasound was not a lot of fun; the machine had to be kept cool so the air conditioning was turned up to high and directed on the US machine  -  and onto me.  Then the US machine overheated and died so there I was, bare-breasted and cooling rapidly, waiting for the machine to cool down enough to be rebooted and it wasn't a speedy process.


Anyway, the upshot is that flakes of calcification were discovered on the right side and that just might mean early Ca. so I need a biopsy  -  when the clinic finally disgorges the films and report.  Watch this space ...


Then the next day I had a shot in the arm to protect me from shingles which was fine except that I am feeling very sluggish and disinclined to do anything so I am giving my Yoga a rest until next week to give my white cells a chance to do their stuff.


Nevertheless, I have pushed myself to finish spinning my Twilight fibre and it is done and ready to be plied tomorrow.  Then I might give myself a treat and spin some pigtails  -  always fun  -  before I start on the next big project, ten braids of BFL and Silk which D3 gave me for my birthday.  I am not sure that I will make from it  -  I'll see how it spins up.  The Twilight will be another jacket (I think) and I am knitting the first sleeve of the Rosewood Sloppy Joe.  I've done the front and back and the sleeves are raglan so they should be done quite quickly when I am not so tired.