So.... What's new?

Time chugs along, whether I am keeping up or not. Whether I get enough sleep or not. Whether I want it to... or not...

Work is busy. New patients keep coming out of the woodwork. I have no idea where they spawn but someone please, stem the tide! It's crazy some days! I go in to the hospital and there are 10 names that I am not familiar with. And I am at that place almost everyday! We have been shuffling existing patients to other units in other hospitals to make room for the 'new starts'. Then there are days like today, where every face was familiar, and it was relatively quiet.

Go figure...

The coming and going of St. Patrick's Day was a total non-event for me, other than some of the banter in Bloggerland about what it is (or isn't) in certain parts of the world. I don't own any green clothing. I don't like green on me... most shades of it don't suit me, so I never wear it. I did, however, buy Zoë a new collar yesterday... and it is green. Green suits her to a T. But she's a redhead.

There is almost no snow in my yard now. Yahoo! There is almost no snow anywhere around here. It is filthy with the scum of salt and sand from winter covering the roads and boulevards. We need some good rain to wash it away... and the city cleanup crews to do there thing, sweeping the streets, sidewalks and surrounding grassy areas to get rid of the tons of sand and gravel that is spewed all over the city. (I need to get my bike out of the shed and get it all cleaned up... so when the streets are clean, I am ready to hit the road!) Rain to start the greenery sprouting forth. There are tiny buds on some of the trees. Haven't seen any flowers poking through the newly exposed earth yet... and I do have a few daffodils that popped up last spring, so I am expecting them any time now.

Well, perhaps not any time. We have an Alberta Clipper moving our way and the temperature has plummeted. At noon today, it was +7C. Right now (at 7:30 pm), it is -3C with a very gusty wind that is making it feel like -12!!! Apparently, we may be getting a 'dusting' of snow overnight. We were so lovely and warm and sunny just a day or so ago... *sigh* I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto... And these red shoes ain't doing a damn thing! *click, click*

I don't like red either...

On a more positive note, I am sporting a brand new Patellar Fixation device! No, that's not some new electronic gadget. It's a knee brace. Years ago, I used to run. I loved running. I ran almost every day. For me, it was effortless, despite the faster breathing and profuse sweating. I had rhythm, I had grace, I didn't have speed but who cares... I wasn't in a race. I zoned out almost instantly when I ran. Got that runner's high within minutes. It was lovely! It kept me fit. It kept me slim and allowed me to eat almost anything. And. It buggered up my knee... And now that knee keeps me awake at night with its throbbing ache. It prevents me from rising to my feet after squatting down. It causes me to occasionally hop down the stairs on one leg (the other one) because it suddenly decides it doesn't want to participate. So I got to see a lovely Sports Medicine doc who poked and prodded at my knee, twisted and turned my leg, had me stand on a stool and lay on a table, and groped around inside my shoes. He then gave me a script for a knee brace and said the office would make arrangements for an MRI of my knee... at the hospital I work at, no less, which is mighty convenient.

So right after he was done torturing me, I took my now quite sore and aching knee next door to the medical supplies place and got fitted with my spiffy state of the art patellar fixation brace. It has a fat wishbone shaped insert in the front to confine my kneecap, straps of velcro that run hither and yon to snug up and nifty little plastic 'hinges' on the sides to keep things from wobbling out of alignment. It's black. It's hot.... as in making my knee sweaty. But, most importantly... it works! The instant I put it on, I could tell it would help. I wore it to work today and it was fabulous to not have a horribly sore knee! It ached a bit. I won't deny there was no pain at all, but it was a huge improvement over most days.

Now I'm wondering how long it will take to get that MRI. Whatever those images show will tell the doc whether it's conservative medical management or surgical repair needed. I also got a script for some topical analgesic cream as it really bothers me at night when I'm lying in bed, trying to be all relaxed and such so that sleep with happen. I try to avoid taking pills for the discomfort so it can, at times, be very difficult to fall asleep. Will be getting that filled tomorrow.

A necessary but rather distasteful project piling up on my desk at the moment is my income tax return. I've started... and so far, the online tax prep software is telling me I am getting all of $127 back. But I have a mountain of receipts to sort through and tally up. For more deductions. I want that refund to grow! I want to to be significant!

I figure they don't really need 30% (or whatever it is) of my income... so they can damn well give some of it back!