Beautiful Sunday Morning....

i didn't sleep any better than usual but my girlee has a job (trainee status, day 3) my Boy Scout is home from camp, my hot tub has been drained, cleaned and refilled and I have fresh bagels for breakfast.....I have to go with the flow. Last night I stopped at Mayne's farm for some fresh sweet corn....OMG, it was sooooo good!! They're in Adamstown, if you are up that way, it is worth a stop.
Everyone have a good weekend...XOXOXOXOX - AL

So, it's the weekend again

I am ready for some rest and relaxation...it's been a hard week. Not much bone growth
going on in the arm at Tuesday's check up, so I will be resting and taking it easy for the next 6 weeks so we can get something going.

On a lighter note, we saw Pat's nephew Joey, who came into town for a training seminar down by Ft. Meyer. Last time I saw him he was 14, the same age Sean is now.....and now he is a 1st Lieutenent in the Army, working on his Master's, married with a baby and another one on the way....time flies. We had some pizza and maybe a beer or two.....he is old enough now (I asked him for ID)......he just looks like a sweet baby faced boy.....

My boy scout is still up in the Pennsylvania woods with his peeps. Did he call his mother? Ease my fears or worries....NO!!! Not one text or call for the whole damn week, I don't care how old you are....you need to keep in touch with your Mother!!! Just wait until he gets home....

So, resting and trying to take it easy. Everyone have a good one...write soon. XOXOXOXO-AL

August 4th with Dr. Hottie and Friends...

Ok, here I am at the Doctor's office on August 4th. This is my regular post-op check up after surgery.....We had a guest Doctor come to hang out at the office today. That fine young MD-in-Training is Dr. Wilkerson, he is usually with Dr. Murthi, the other half of the Kernan Hospital World Renown Shoulder Team!! He is hanging with Dr. Stein while Dr. Murthi is taking some vacation time......Isn't my Doctor Hottie a nice guy....mentoring the young staff.....and always looking so darn jovial doing it.

Dr. Hottie is checking out the newest x-rays looking for bone growth and concentrating very hard on his assessment.....isn't he cute when he thinks?

You can see my x-ray on the screen but it is no different than the

one a few weeks ago, so I didn't do what I like to call "the traditional screen shot"...you'll have to wait until September when I go back again.

Nothing new to report this time. Filed an appeal with my insurance for the Bone Stimulator that he wants me to use and they are not satisfied that I have been without growth long enough.....so we will see if they come through in time to get some growth going before my next appointment.

My back and neck are tight and killing me....I got a refill on my muscle relaxer so I am hoping that I will feel a bit of relief tonight...I think I'm gonna have to head back to Dr. B to have him assess my neck/back.....I know the x-rays were negative but it hurts to get up and down and it is really killing me to use that little rental car....the seat is killing me. I called to complain to Enterprise Rent-a-Car. They were very responsive.....NOT.....didn't bother to call me back.

Perhaps this is enough whining for now....I love you all, pray for me to have patience and to persevere. XOXOXOXOXOXOX - AL

Seeing Dr. Hottie again tomorrow

It's been another week of sleepless crappy nights and pain in my neck, arm and back.....my shoulder is doing that stinging thing and I guess it does not bode well for my rotator cuff...I've been out of muscle relaxers for 4 days and miserable since...I am not sure that I am ready to talk to the Doc tomorrow...I think my 'bad news room' is all full up for this year already.

I do love the Doc though, he is the best. He ordered me a bone stimulator but the insurance company denied it....there hasn't been a long enough period of no bone growth....I guess 10 months doesn't cut it....I informed them that they were not the primary for the first two surgeries and they can pull those records to see that there has been no bone growth for all those long crappy months. My appeal has been filed with the Medical Review board....la-de-freakin'-da.......I am really tired, tired of the pain, tired of the stress, tired of the insurance, tired of the co-pays, and tired of it all. I believe that I am in need of prayer. I've been operating on the premise that this is God's plan and that there is some lesson I need to learn or some suffering that I need to endure to fulfill that plan but I am just a weak whiney human, not sure how much more I am supposed to endure......Now that was a colossal WAH, WAH, WAH!!!! XOXOXOXOXOX - AL

Our Time off in Virginia Beach

Ah, the beach....seems so long ago now that we were there and things were so relaxed and happy....The picture of Pat, Colleen and I was from Sunday, our last day, in the pool is at the SunSpree, our hotel









The kids are posing outside 'Catch 21' at the Hilton on 30th Street.
We didn't eat there but it is next to the Main bandstand and the big King Neptune statue.


These are all the pics of the cooling off at the SunSpree pool and looking out from our balconey. We were right over the lobby and had a great view of the pool and the 'Coconuts Bar' (their version of a Tiki Bar) .....our favorite bartender, Anna Marie, is in the top shot with Colleen and Sean. The only thing that could make it better was if you could swim up to it instead of having to get out......did I mention it was cold? Really, the water was cold and the nights were downright cool.....had to buy the brats sweatshirts when it dipped to the high 50's overnight. Is anyone sure it is July???


This is me shopping a the 'Good Sports Gear' store on 30th. I got Pat a Green Bay Packers flag for his car....like he needed anything else to hang on there with Green Bay written on it....but they have a great fan shop right there across from the Hilton and we found some Packer garb there last year and couldn't resist looking for some more for this year.....sort of his consolation prize for

"Hey, thanks for sharing your room with us....sorry you were working 10 or 12 hours days but we had a good time, Dad!"
Pat did get to go with us to dinner twice and he took Sunday off and hung at the pool with us, so we had a little quality time......we walked around on Monday, checked out of the hotel, took the trolley to 14th Street, got taffy and walked all the way back to 36th to get the car after stopping at 'North End Pizza' for lunch on the way out..... That covers the vacation.....you know what happened next (BOOM) and my car goes in the shop on Monday (finally). See ya XOXOXOX-AL

I was watching Letterman....

...and Dave is whining about having a cold and a 103.2 fever. He has been whining all week....just so you know I am not the only one out there whining at my age about my ills!! Since I'm watching Letterman you can deduce that I am not sleeping....~sigh~......so it goes. XOXOX - AL

Another Visit with Dr. Stein......July 21

Today I went to see Dr. Hottie and the staff at University of MD Orthopedics today. Dr. Stein wanted to be sure that all was still good with the repair work after the car accident.


That first picture is Hope from the Doc's College Park office. She is calling my loser insurance company to ask about a new treatment that the doctor wants to use.

Here's the 'A' Team working hard and updating my info. Dr. Hottie was looking fine in his light green shirt with green striped tie...musta worn that since I was coming and green is my favorite color...not to mention an homage to my Irish heritage....he's so thoughtful....

I don't want to leave out the x-ray crew, Beth and Russell....and my latest x-ray of hardware.




I assume I should stop the whining and suck it up but I am not feeling that yet. I have gone thru a muscle relaxer, sleeping tabs and now a new relaxer to get the cramp in my neck and shoulder blade to ease up....I'm not having any fun here.....

I'll let you know if anything new comes up but it has taken me over a week to get this posted...I am just not myself. I'll post a vacation picture or two next time....Wah, Wah, Wah......AL

Another date with Dr. Hottie

...Tomorrow I see the Doc to check on his handiwork. He's gonna double check all the hardware and make sure playing bumper cars in the Tunnel didn't undo any of his hard work. Hope to God the rotator cuff didn't let go.

I spoke to the claims adjuster today and explained my arm repair and that it needs to be checked. He didn't seem to like that much since I already went to the primary care doc and got a million x-rays. BUT then I don't understand about this personal injury protection stuff....they send me a check and I have to pay the doctor and the x-rays and stuff....huh? I am in the dark on this crap.....just sitting in my chair all day made my back hurt and I came home and took to my bed....maybe I'm just resting up for the doc, right?

So, what do I do next? Anyone have some input?
XOXOXOXOX - AL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

No Rest for the Weary or Wicked

6 a.m. Sunday. Been tossing since 4. Back, neck, hips and knee are killing me. Is this the 'pain and suffering' portion of this car accident? It sucks...nobody but Starbucks and IHOP workers should be up at this time. I'm gonna have to break down and take a big P Pill to help with this pain!

Wah, Wah, Wah on Sunday. XOXOXOXO - AL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Weekend is Here!!!

Gonna lay in the bed and try to rest....smell like Ben Gay and have the heating pad attached to my neck.....I know, I know...15 on, 15 off. Waiting for the guys to rehab the hot tub so I can get a good soak on the back, neck and arm!!

The muscle relaxer is not doing anything. I take it at night, go to sleep for a couple hours, toss turn, whine and then drift off again for awhile but I am stiff as a board trying to get up in the morning....I feel like I'm a hundred....Dr. B said the bruises and swelling will likely go away within a week....he's not gonna send me to PT since I am not in PT for the arm yet and he doesn't want to mess with Dr. Hottie's area. SO, it's rest and heat and rest somemore....sounds like a quiet weekend for me. It started to rain on my way home so when I got here, I had to have Sean run out with the duct tape and cover the trunk. It can rain right into the trunk where the biggest part of the buckle is.

If you see my beautiful Buick Lacrosse, please look from the front....if you look from the back, you might think Jeff Foxworthy is driving it.....it has duct tape on it, that's like a Red Neck calling card.....maybe I could find a trailer to park it next to until it gets fixed....~sigh~

Have a good weekend.....XOXOXOXO - AL

....here comes insult to injury

I took my car to get an estimate today...ouch, $3905.50 and perhaps a little more once they pull the bumper and check the underneath....glad it's not going against my insurance. I got my x-rays back and there is no breakage or fractures....there is swelling and inflammation and oh man, am I sore.

Dr. B gave me the same meds that he gave Birdie after her car wreck and he told me it would help me relax and sleep. I asked Birdie, hey, how did that med work for you? I told her I got a 3 hour stretch of sleep before I was up again and she told me she slept for 12 hours.....WHAT?!?!? How does that work? I must be doing something wrong....

Out for tonight, the best thing to leave you with is....Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!! Yeah. XOXOXO - AL

Anyone need a light? 20 X-Rays later, I am glowing in the Dark!

Ok, I gave up this afternoon and went to see Dr. B to find out if I was going to die....he thinks not. I got stiffer and more crampy as the day wore on and I figured to be sure I needed a real medical opinion..... just because I seem to spend all my time at the doctor's offices, does not make me the expert...Dr. B wanted to be sure, so he poked and prodded (ouch) and said the inflammation and swelling are in the soft tissue and should pass but sent me for x-rays. Can't do PT because I still haven't started it for my arm. So x-rays......cervical spine, thoracic spine, right shoulder and right arm. I had the pleasure of being only the 2nd person x-rayed with SGRA's new digital equipment and if they took one x-ray, they took twenty. I had to keep telling the tech not to push on my shoulder and yank on my arm. I wanted to see the arm picture but they wouldn't let me look...I wanted to check for my 'white whispies' to make sure they didn't break off during the bumping and slamming...I've become quite attached to the little fellas....heal, baby, heal!

I have sore spots where I didn't know I had spots! I believe that getting old is hell, bad luck is hell and I need a break. Karma is kicking my ass and I am a pretty nice person....really, ask anyone! I have to soothe that freakin Murphy fella and get the little bastard off my back....

I have a new drug to try tonight, it's supposed to relax me and help me get some sleep. Dr B thinks less percocet is better and a full up muscle relaxer is too much....so, I will take one and let you know tomorrow if it worked....or maybe at 4 in the morning, if it doesn't. I guess I will get some feedback from the x-ray peeps too.

On to the car....looks pretty awful in the daylight! OMG, and the insurance company from the dude that hit me, forget it.....I have to go to a shop that they have on payroll, they decide what it will cost and they will send me a check. Then I can take it anywhere I want to......what if the Buick dealer says it is more? Then I can only get the repairs done on a Monday or Tuesday and all the replacement parts must be ordered and in stock before I can drop my car off, if I want a rental car.....I have never heard of such a pile! Oh excuse me, young Mr. Navy Seal Man....you need an upgrade dude.....You hit me so hard the word 'Nissan' transferred onto my bumper....I'm thinking you were texting and smoking your ciggy and not paying attention when you should have...I'm lucky you weren't going any faster....

I'm taking my crabby sore ass to bed now to see if I can sleep tonight....Does anyone know if that "Boy in the Bubble" movie prop bubble is available? Not sure if I shouldn't start considering some alternate safety methods......no ladders....no driving in the tunnel.....etc, etc.

A lot of Wah, Wah, Wah and some love....XOXOXOXOXO - AL

Murphy's Law Bites...

I feel a little like Andy Rooney..."Didya ever wonder why.....Murphy's Law always seems to get you in the end?" Who the hell is Murphy and how is it that I seem to have pissed on his corn flakes? Is it the Irish in me? Is he out get one of his own? I'm a peace-loving, reasonable Irish-Catholic girl that plays by the rules, what the hell did I ever do to Murphy?

There are plenty of other natural enemies of the Irish....what happened Murph? Run out of ancestors of the British oppressors to wreak havoc upon? There would seem to be a quota that I should have met and/or exceeded by now....please check the records and move on.....can't get blood from a stone, canya?

The weather at the beach, perfect.....lunches, beers and maybe a shot or two of Patron at the Tiki bar.....$200......preps for the trip, new swim gear, shorts, #50 Sunscreen, etc......$350.......hotel bill for 7 glorious days at Virginia Beach....$1100......getting rear-ended in the Hampton Roads Tunnel on the way home in rush-hour traffic by a guy young enough to be my son? PRICELESS, just freakin priceless! (Dude did not apologize either, I need to call his mother to ask about his upbringing)

Thanks Murphy....woulda been perfect without you.... (oh and did I mention, my freakin arm hurts??? (Andy Rooney again) Didya ever have to stop short in traffic and as you are braking glance in the rear view mirror, realize the guy behind you is not going to stop in time? I think that is how most injuries happen....that last 2 seconds when you tense up to get hit.....'Oh, hello Dr. Hottie....it seems there's been a little accident with all your hard work....') Boo-freakin-hoo! OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX - AL

Short Week and Heading for the Beach

Quiet Sunday morning, just me and that guy on CBS "Sunday Morning" with the bowtie.... lots of snoring going on here.

We had a nice BBQ up at Birdie and Rich's house yesterday....good food and good weather. Since it was supposed to rain, we bailed on the Baker Park outing to see the Fireworks and hit the 270 display instead. As we drove home, we came into Gaithersburg right as their display started and watched from 270. People are crazy...there were cars driving 35 miles per hour on the freeway while they tried to watch....and find places to pull over. There had to be 300 cars illegally parked on the sides of the road...people out of their cars and sitting on the ground at NIST...talk about a traffic hazard!?!?!? We kept driving and could see the fireworks from the City of Rockville the rest of the way from 370 to Gude drive...got caught at the redlight and saw the finale....what's not to like?

Short week for me, heading to the beach on Wednesday with the kids. Pat is going down for work and we will take advantage of having the room by sitting at the Tiki Bar and hanging at the pool....it would be such a waste for him to go alone while we just sit at home, right? Carolyn will cover for me at work and I am looking forward to turning off my 'crackberry' for a few days....just wondering how sexy I'm gonna look with my sling on with my swim suit...at least it's black and should match but might get hot....could require me spending a lot of time under the Tiki Bar shade, hummmm, it gets thirsty under there...

That's it for this Sunday morning...be well and be happy....I'm trying XOXOXOXOXOXOXO - AL

Happy 4th of July

It's been a busy week and I have neglected the blog....I have been at work all week and I am getting used to the set-up with the laptop. It makes a huge difference not to have to reach up for the mouse and keyboard.....can't fault the bosses, they have done everything to make me comfortable. Still get pretty sore by the end of the day but Pat and the kids have been good about making dinner and helping clean up.....they probably think that they are earning points in heaven by being good to me.

Just hanging out and trying to get by, looking forward to the long weekend. XOXOXOXOX or Wah, wah, wah.....AL

Late at Night

When it is this late and I am still awake or awake again, I wonder what it is, in the Grand Cosmic Scheme of things, that I ever did or said to deserve this....? I just can't fathom......nor can I be thankful enough that I am getting great medical care, over and over. I have been pretty flip about it but I know that my Surgeon had his hands full and did a lot of work. But its 2:30 a.m. again.....and here I sit with the infomercials and wait for sleep to come back....~sigh~...

I think my new sign off has to be 'Wah, Wah, Wah' instead of XOXOXO - AL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Lesser of Two Evils?

Which is worse when you can't sleep? Waking up at 2:30 a.m. and then tossing and turning for a couple hours......or sleeping from 1 to 5:45 and then laying here awake in the wee hours watching a new day dawning?

There's only Sham-WoW commercials in the middle of the night but waking up before 6 makes for needing a nap around noon....ruins the whole day. Wah, Wah, Wah....I'm at it again.

XOXOXOXO - Anne
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Need a Rest

SO glad it is the weekend. My arm hurts, I have a headache and even though I have a laptop to work on, my back hurts from slumping over.....are you starting to get the feeling that I am just a whiner? (I am). XOXOXOXO - AL
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Back to Work.....

Went back to the office today. Carolyn hooked me up with a laptop that runs through my desktop and it seems to have worked out pretty well today.....I was a bit tired by about 1 and my arm started to ache pretty steady about 3....I made it all the way to 4 and I had to bail out. I got home at 4:25 and took a big pill and got an ice pack....ouch, ow, ouch! Needs a little time to kick in....

But wanted to say, I got back to work and hopefully, I will feel a little better every day. XOXOXOX- AL

oh....the Drama goes on

Today I went to see Dr. Stein, aka Dr. Hottie. Traffic was surprisingly light for all the warnings of mass confusion with the Metro wreck last night...BUT I forgot my camera so there are no new pictures for this visit...sniff...sniff

I had another very nice visit to College Park to see Dr. Hottie. We checked in with Hope and went to Exam Room 2, a new treat! We've always had Exam Room 1 before. Had a lovely new x-ray that shows some very thin whisps of white 'fluff' (highly technical terminology) that look to be propagating thru the gap to form new bone...the graft material is still hanging there around the 'fix' helping it along. I have to admit, I was hoping to see a more definitive connection....I guess I think I am still young enough to heal in that 6 to 8 week window that everyone seems to quote.

The term for the problem with the previous repair of the broken humerus work is called nonunion'....and no, that does not mean I haven't paid my teamsters dues, it means a failure of the bone to heal back together at the break. The titanium rod that I had installed on the 1st surgery, Sept 25, never really allowed the break to heal....and now....all these months later, I have a smaller piece of hardware with many more screws and a better shot at a solid repair,
if my old bones will just cooperate!

Dr. Hottie, he knows I love him...he's just so damn cute and even in the face of my taunting and teasing, he is professional and I have the utmost faith in his ability, I'm just worried I am too old and have crappy bones that won't heal. So, six more weeks in the sling, only allowed to work on this old laptop (much to Sean's chagrin-it's his), due to the mousepad instead of a regular mouse and a lower, smaller keyboard....I emailed Carolyn at work to see if there is one I can use at the
office so I can go back to the office even if I need to find a chair with a coffee table-style set up. I miss the kids the kids at work.....who knew? The office interaction is a big part of my day, plus I need to learn the new software for the sourcer/recruiters, so I can start helping more with that.

The long term prognosis is still good...but it may be as long as 6 months before we know if the surgery for the break was a complete success...Remember....I am a BIG SHOULDER SURGERY according to Dr. Hottie and Dr. Happy Hour!! As if there was any other way to be....!?!?!? XOXOXOXO - AL