Let's fly again

- Next seat passenger had too many bags. Member of cabin crew asked him to store them under the seat. The bag was just too bulky to fit in anywhere! So he stored them on the window seat, then sat his even more bulky frame next to me. 3.5 hour flight was a struggle for survival of the fittest, i.e. who gains the armrest. At the end none of us did, but I got a taste of his elbow every time he adjusted seat belt, his position etc. A weird but wonderful fact of him was that he never really spoke, not a word. Quiet flight ahead I thought, until he requested a glass of water brought to him: "Sister, water!". Oh ok, he can talk then. He could talk ok, but he really could not figure out how to use the seat belt, so that gave me plenty of entertainment.
- At the end of the flight each and every passenger stood up, even before seat belt sign was switched off. ALL of them in a narrow corridor. I attempted to protect myself by holding onto laptop bag and managed then to avoid most of the elbows. Was I glad to get out of the aircraft.. Yes!! But at the same time have to be grateful I even got to fly- volcanic cloud kept most European airports closed for quite a while.

Stranded

Tomorrow is supposed to be the day when I fly to London, but it doesn't appear there is much hope of any flights departing.
Stranded, but not desperate (yet), but of course miss my hubby and the horse and will not travel without them ever again. Horse may not fit into suitcase, but I'll find a way :-)
One option I've been considering is carpooling to Central Europe, from there who knows.. Not sure how easy it is to get hotel rooms, book train/bus tickets etc, but I'll try. Aiming to Spain or Italy or Greece. Somewhere there.

Clean bill of health

Dentist: No cavities. Clean bill of health.
Ophthalmologist: Left eye is far-sighted and has astigmatism. Right eye normal. Left eye has a benign growth called pterygium. Wikipedia, ever so helpful, says: "Pterygium most often refers to a benign growth of the conjunctiva. A pterygium commonly grows from the nasal side of the sclera. It is associated with, and thought to be caused by ultraviolet-light exposure (e.g. sunlight), low humidity, and dust." So it is not melanoma or diabetic retinopathy.
It's not actually painful at all, I barely notice it, but it is there all right and made me wonder what alien growth I got in my eye. Treatment for the pterygium seems more complicated; Wikipedia talks about conjunctival auto-grafting, strontium therapy, mitomycin and amniotic membrane transplantation.
If anyone has any information about the treatment and/or can send me link to relevant website, I'd be most grateful.
Pterygium- a benign growth, but it is still somehow disturbing. The doc said it has "not invaded the optic area yet".. Not yet. What happens when it does?

Fun fun vacation fun

My latest post gave no credit to BA, and I swore I'd never ever fly with them. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way we'd like to think about it, my flight was a codeshare flight between BA and few other OneWorld airlines. So I had no choice, hop on aboard and fly. I arrived, my luggage arrived and I was happy. Yeah, I alomost forgot, it's strictly business, just one piece of luggage allowed to be checked-in, if you insist on checking in another one it will cost £35 per bag. Still, it is good bye BA, I'd look for other alternatives, even traveling on a boat would be a better option.. Besides, the alternative airline this time was cheaper! A lot cheaper.
Security was a hard chore, removed my boots and jacket and was I just imagining it, but the chap at the security checkpoint appeared disappointed when it turned out I was not carrying metal objects or weapons of any kind. Well, I am not clever enough to even think of inventing a shoe bomb or anything like that. So they had to let me and my bags go in peace.
Vacations are awesome, it takes few days to forget all about work etc but the brain finally gets the message and the vacation has begun!
It feels perfectly safe being in another environment, in different parts of the world and my vacation this time will take me in four countries, kind of a race against time.
All that's not part of this environment, stays away; insomnia, cancer, failed relationships, diet Pepsi, hoofbeats, scorching burning heat and the sun and many more. I've refrained from checking work e-mails.

Months ago me and hubby were watching Mrs Doubtfire, and so totally immersed in the movie that the rest of the world seemed so far away. Not just because me and Mrs D have few things in common, but because it was such fun and great entertainment. I feel a bit like living in Mrs Doubtfire world right now, rest of the world nowhere to be found, safe in a cocoon, nothing bad can happen.

Dedicated to the thyroid gland

Dear Thyroid,

It has been more than two years since you left me.
You were misbehaving for almost 10 years, if not more, so I needed to make arrangements for your "removal". It was not easy to make you leave me, but the decision of making that happen was veryyyy easy for me. Very much so. You grew bigger, smaller, huge, large, then shrank again and I had no neck. You simply were a nuisance! Your were no longer called "thyroid", you had become an alien: goiter.
For the first time in my life I have a neck! There is just a small scar as proof that you once existed.
I do not miss you, but at times, very rarely wonder where you ended up. Probably somewhere in the trash bin- kind of a sad end, but I assure you it was the way to go.
You were part of me for many years, you'd think I miss you, but I do not.

Since you left, I have been replacing you with Synthroid, little white tablet. Hard to get the dose right, but I am surviving.
Fatigued, but surviving.

Arrivederci BA

Let that be the very last time I book any flights with British Airways.
They have just canceled my flight, and as a result all my other plans have been canceled too. Hotel bookings that cannot be canceled, are non refundable and altogether I have lost probably more than US$1000.
So it is good bye and adieu BA.

White tail and other stories

From time to time things and events from the past just surface, just like that. I guess same happens to many of us, we could be doing anything and all of a sudden something funny/painful/embarrassing/ -fill the gap- comes into mind.

Starting from yesterday.
Paradise on earth- even though it is man-made: Ritz-Carlton in Bahrain. I spent few wonderful days there, doing absolutely nothing. Well, I had massage and facial, but did not need to do anything myself. Then I had a walk along the beach, which is just so lonely. Big city around, but still it feels so tranquil and serene, it's like being on another planet. Pink beautiful flamingos bathing in a small lake (pond?).
The hotel itself is amazing. All the rooms, no matter which part of the world they face, are luxurious, but of course it is much more exciting to be facing the seaside.

When I was recovering from thyroidectomy, not particularly in pain, but nauseous, in the recovery room. Anesthetist passes by and says "Give her Metoclopramide" (= which must be one of the most well-known antiemetics AKA anti-nausea meds). Yep, good idea for some, but I am allergic to it, so advice to this healthcare professional is check patient's file and other relevant information first and don't just offer your opinion of a patient who is NOT even YOURS!
If I knew or even remembered him, I'd give him a piece of my mind.
Trust your doctor, but not blindly. I think us patients know something more about our condition than a passerby, never mind he might be an almighty anesthetist.

Cancer memories aren't always bad- without it I wouldn't have met many of the people I know today.

Once upon a time.. very very long time ago I was at home, preparing to go to work. I had sprained my wrist, but there and then decided I need a shower and unwrapped and removed the bandage. After the shower it felt fine, so I thought bandage is no longer necessary. I could always re-apply it later. Off I went to the metro station. 1/2 mile walk.
At the station, I felt uncomfortable and kind of weird, because some people were looking at me.
Finally, one lady approached me and said "Err, have you noticed that you have a tail?"
Tail? Dogs and cats have one, but surely not humans.
She was pointing at my backside. 'Something white.. like a tail.." Yes!!!!! IT was the BANDAGE. The one I had just left home, or so I thought. Sticky tape, which I had forgotten, which held the bandage in place was now stuck on my butt. Thank God for the kind lady who pointed out I had a tail. I had carried it with me for more than 1/2 a mile and no one along the way found it weird that I have a long white tail.
Well, I felt that the tail's tale had come to an end and threw it into trash bin.

RAI brain

While writing this I am enjoying a slice of blueberry cheesecake and wondering how am I going to lose few more pounds before my vacation.. I probably won't.
One day last week I ate crisps, whole bag of salty crispy tasty crisps..
Ice cream, Aero chocolate.
One day last month I realized I had been taking double dose of Synthroid, because I did not "read the label" or the small print. That was the time when I had severe insomnia, 4-5 hour of sleep at night and I was really suffering at work.
Yoga practice has dried up too- how do I get back to it? My last two yoga teachers have been excellent, motivating and inspiring bunch of people. I can't inspire and uplift myself enough right now..
RAI or radioactive iodine; how does it affect our brain? Could I blame fatigue, lack of motivation and boredom on the RAI?

Imagine

If human body was designed invincible, that no disease, misfortune, accident would strike him/her, then hospitals would be totally unnecessary. All the healthcare personnel would be instantly unemployed- that includes me!
No cancer, heart disease, depression, obesity etc.
No tablets, operations, needles!

I like the idea.

Nightmare

I am a sleep-walking zombie today.
Went to bed at 11pm last night, ended up reading horsey magazine for an hour and "slept" at midnight. Kept waking up almost every hour, and sometime in the early morning hours I had an awful nightmare: melanoma metastasized into brain. Was it me, I am not sure, but when I really woke up, feeling a bit fragile, at 11am, I had to check I have no extra scars or damage in my body. No, nothing.. Maybe I've seen enough craniotomies and such lately, and then the brain came in to my dream (nightmare)- uninvited, unwelcome.
I am off to see The Horse now, perhaps riding too if we both are in the mood.