Today I went back for my second physical therapy appointment.

When I got there, the ladies behind the counter asked me if I’d seen the MTV music awards, I hadn’t, do they still show music videos? And all anyone can talk about is Miley Cyrus and the “twerking”, even CKM asked me about the controversy and what twerking was. (You can find the news stories on your own, I won’t be responsible if you see this and you are irrevocably damaged!

Unfortunately, DCM had introduced me to twerking through a video on YouTube and let’s just say..I’m scarred for life. I would never subject anyone to this torture and since I was subjected for quite a while and every once in a while, I look at him and say “twerk it! Twerk it!” Take that!

I waited a few minutes for my turn and then we went into one of the therapy rooms. I hung my head and said I hadn’t done my homework, I apologized and said that I would do it going forward. She laughed and said, “Well at least you admitted it”.

We started with heat, a warm towel wrapped around something and placed on my left neck and shoulder. That was for about ten minutes, I checked Facebook, my email, I may have dozed off. Then it was time for massage, the torture begins.

I told her about blogging about what she said last week, she laughed. Let’s just say, this time, way more painful, not sure why, but it was and…get this, she told me I was THE WORST case she had ever encountered! There were a few spots that she dug into that I felt in my toes and my fingers were tingling, definitely not fun.

She apologized and I told her it was fine, she had to do what she had to do, but unfortunately, I might throw out an expletive or two, I apologized as well. I did ask her if anyone laughed or made her laugh as much!

I also asked if this problem was going to clear up in 4-6 weeks, because that’s what the prescription was for. Um…

She also asked if I had ever been to a massage therapist, I said no, should I? She recommended it after the PT was done, said I would be a massage therapists best and worst, a challenge; you know me, always a challenge!

After massage, it was electrodes, fun! I think I may have fallen asleep that time. After electrons, she wanted to do some traction, so I laid down on the table, my feet propped up on a stool, my head in a vise that would pull and hold for 40 seconds, oh what joy! She started and left for about 7 minutes when she came back, she said I had a frown on my face, nope, I had actually dozed off, that was my confused face.

We were done and on the way out, I promised to do my exercises. A little sore, but none the worse for wear.

Lets see what happens on Thursday, my next appointment.

I don’t do this often and I don’t like to, but I am going to ask you to beg my pardon. Something I ate today is not sitting well with me this evening and I am going to instruct myself to get some rest and everything should be better tomorrow.

I hope you all had a great Sunday and I will tell you about The World’s End tomorrow.

Today, we had an adventure.

If I haven’t told you before, DCM is an avid poker player and fan of the game. He hosted monthly games when we were still in Atlanta and he has started the tradition here in Colorado with his co-workers.

In addition to playing in “live” tournaments, he also plays online…individual games as well as online tournaments. So, now the bug has hit, he needs to play in a tournament. He went online to find some places to play and some people have told him about Błackhawk.

It’s about an hour from here and casino city! I lost track of all the casinos! I can tell you that the city was better looking on the outside than the inside of most of the casinos! You can tell they spend more money on the machines and tables than anything else. The town reminded us of Helen, Ga, maybe even the town of Blue Ridge, Ga, very cute.

There are definitely a lot of choices, if you gamble, you’d never be bored, but for those of us who don’t, you would be. There are very few restaurants in the casinos, a lot of them have just a counter with some food, some of the bigger ones have a restaurant and a buffet. I can tell you that none of these restaurants cater to non meant eaters.

Ameristar is the newest of the casinos and it was the nicest on the inside, had very nice stone accents and decor, there is a large hotel above the casino with a spa, a few restaurant options and of course, a buffet. When we walked in, this is what I expected, a more Las Vegas feel, the other casinos didn’t have that at all.

I did ask someone about things to do and restaurants. Apparently there used to be a restaurant outside the casinos, but they shut it down because no one went, people only go there to gamble and nothing else. I asked about other things to do, no shops or restaurants or theaters, but you could go to other towns, like Capital City, only a few miles away, they have more casinos, smaller, but more and some restaurants, then you could drive to Idaho Spring, not too far, for more outdoor activities.

Needless to say, unless DCM is going to be in a weekend tournament, he will probably go up there by himself to play for a few hours. It would be fun to get away for the weekend as the area is beautiful and while he’s playing, I would play tourist and maybe even hiker.

The best part was the drive, it was absolutely beautiful driving up through the mountains, truly breathtaking and I’m looking forward to our next adventure into the mountains,

http://www.blackhawkcolorado.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk,_Colorado

Today I went for my first physical therapy session.

After discussing what the issues are and what the course of actions were going to be, massage, a little heat and electrodes (pulses), I laid down on the table on my back. She put one of those cylinder pillows under my knees so they would be bent.

So you know I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, it’s issues with my neck and pecs, basically, tension, lets get to working that out!

First thing was going to be massage and when she started on my neck she said, oh! And wow! And oh boy! She said I was a rare case, awe gee shucks, I’m rare! She rarely has experienced muscles that tight and this was probably going to be painful. I said maybe I should wear headphones so I don’t hear her! It’s ok I told her, just do what you have to.

I told her about having knots in my shoulders since I was a kid and how a friend of mine in college, JB, used to work the knots, it would take a long time and then get upset because the knots would be back the next day, not my fault!

So, there was about 10 minutes of massage, and…for anyone that knows me, I don’t enjoy massages, and then she put four square pads on my back and pecs and then the was about 20 minutes of little electrodes sending pulses.

After it was all done, I got some exercises to work on at home and set up my next appointments. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long process.

I’m just glad that the healing process can begin. I’ll keep you posted.

I had a great post all planned but then I got some very sad news and it’s all I can think about.

I’m not going to go into a long diatribe or say very much tonight. I was on Facebook tonight and saw a post by a friend about another friend who lost her life this weekend. She was visiting friends, fell down a flight of stairs and never regained consciousness. I do want to tell you a little about her.

She has been an educator for 13 years and an assistant principal for the past five years. She was a joy to everyone who knew her, was a great influence to her students and had an infectious smile. I know people who taught with her and said she was a great teacher.

I met her about 7 or 8 years ago at a party, we used to laugh remembering that party, it was a redneck party and we met over a drunken watermelon, she said I did a great job! Later, when I got into direct sales, she became a great hostess and a friend when we would get to see each other and catch up. She was very happily married and has two amazing little boys that she dotted on. I remember when she was pregnant with both boys, soooo excited! And what a great mom, 36 is way too young.

Thank you for listening and if you could send some good vibes to her family and maybe a virtual hug to me, I would be so appreciative. My life is better just for having known her.

That is my serious question…what has happened to customer service?

There was a time that people enjoyed their jobs and even if they didn’t, the customer never knew. I have always said, if you don’t like your job, get another one…and please don’t take it out on me, it’s not my fault you have this job, it’s yours, make the most of it.

I work with customers every day and there are times I’m not happy, I might be in a bad mood, they may have pissed me off, but you/they would never know it, because I would never let them see it.
Enough on that rant.

I know I could probably go on for hours and so could you, but I’m not going to on the bad attitude, what I want to talk about next is attention to detail.

One of my jobs is as a writer, I write here on my blog, I don’t get paid for it (oh how I wish) and I know there have been typos, but professionally, I am a technical writer. I write process documents, procedures and training materials, I am incredibly detailed (which is way contradictory to my desk!) in my writing, which is one reason I am good at it and I get hired to do it (its also something most people don’t like to do, more work for me!).

In college, I majored in Communications, TV studio production. During one of my film classes, I was I charge of continuity, that thing in movies where you catch the things that could really trip a movie or TV show up. For example, you end the day shooting a scene, you come back to it the next day or even next week, I was the person who made sure the clothes were the same, the makeup the same, the bruises, etc. I paid attention to detail and even to this day, if I can watch a movie and not pick out flaws, it was really good.

I waited tables for a while, and I was good at it, people would wait to sit in my station because I listened, I paid attention to what they wanted and I even remembered the next time. There are times I have a really low tolerance for bad service, I will put up with a lot because I know how hard it is for a server. What gets me is when they don’t listen. When you start at any restaurant, you are given an order pad, hopefully, and it’s given to you for a reason, so you get the order right. Of course we are impressed when a server remembers our entire order or the entire table’s order, good for you, but I’m more impressed when the order is correct and the food is good.

I know some of my friends think I’m picky, there are times I am and there a times I want to try new things. I’m also a vegetarian with certain restrictions due to dietary issues, so I have to be careful of what I eat and how much. When I say I have dietary restrictions, I mean that if I eat something I shouldn’t I’m going to pay for it later (and sometimes it’s worth it!)

I like the flavor of foods, but I don’t like to be overwhelmed by certain things. I will order salads with the dressing on the side so I can moderate the amount I get, pasta with the sauce on the side, as long as the kitchen says they will do it, I try to order it that way. Why is it so hard to get what I asked for?

Case in point…I do not like ice in my water, I ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS order my water with no ice and no lemon, how often do you think I get my water the way I want it? I have taken to ordering my water naked, (no ice, no lemon) that seems to work (95% of the time) feel free to borrow it!

The other day at breakfast, I ordered my omelet with the hollandaise sauce on the side, no dice, and it totally overpowered the meal. At dinner the other night, I ordered Caesar salad with the dressing on the side, guess what…

Last night, we went down to Pearl Street in Boulder and if you’ve been there, you know how charming it is, lots of shops and restaurants, some galleries, pubs, several blocks, lots of street performers, artists, magicians, musicians, even a string quartet! A really pleasant place!

I ordered Caesar salad with the dressing on the side and no anchovy on top. I know…I am a vegetarian and there is anchovy in the dressing…as I gave up fish about 8 years ago, I am ok on occasion, eating fish, if I’m in the mood, or if it’s in the dressing. I got the salad with a great big anchovy (relatively speaking as anchovies are not that big!) which led to a good portion of the salad being fishy from the oil. (I couldn’t finish the salad, so I got it to go, guess what they forgot to pack with the salad!) Then I ordered gnocchi with a sauce from another pasta dish, I get my food and it was good, the sauce was very tasty and the vegetables I wanted were in it and very good, I couldn’t finish it, so I got it to go.

Here’s where you are free to laugh at me because I did and I didn’t get mad until today when I was talking to CKM and realized that I didn’t get gnocchi, I got the other pasta! Yes, I had forgotten what I ordered by the time it arrived, but that is not the point. I made a change to my order and it was not followed as I ordered it, I think I was so annoyed by the anchovy I lost track.

Whenever my order is wrong, I always look at DCM and ask…didn’t I say this…didn’t I order that? Yes I did.

I apologize if my making changes is frustrating, but you are in the customer service business and if it’s not possible, please tell me. All I ask is that you place the order that I asked for and don’t try to impress me by not writing it down, get it right, from my experience, tips are bigger when you get the order right!

Thank you for letting me rant! (And if there is a typo…sorry!)

So first…as I told you before, I don’t have carpel or cubital tunnel syndrome! Wahoo! Wait, s what do I have?

What I have, I had to write to down, is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, TOS, for short. Wahoo, it has a name (there was a Golden Girls episode like that, “at least it had a name!”), but what does it mean?

Thoracic outlet syndrome is a rare condition that involves pain in the neck and shoulder, numbness and tingling of the fingers, and a weak grip. The thoracic outlet is the area between the rib cage and collar bone.
(See, told you I was special!) (it’s ok GES, I have a real pain in the neck, it’s not just you!)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/DS00800

So, I drive 45 minutes to go see the doctor who did the EMG because Dr. S. said that since it wasn’t cubital or carpel tunnel, there was nothing more he could do for me (I hope you remember that discussion). After my 45 minute drive, I get in to an exam room pretty quickly and about 10 minutes later (I studied the posters of the body thoroughly), Dr. R. comes in and after pleasantries, he actually asks “Was I supposed to see you again?” Really?

I said yes because Dr. S. suggested I see you since it wasn’t cubital or carpel tunnel. He agreed, especially since it was no longer an issue for a surgeon. Now we’re on the same page, the doctor and I and after that, a successful visit going forward.

Now that we know what’s wrong, it’s a muscle issue instead of a nerve issue (and still workers comp), he decided I would need physical therapy, he left to get me a list of places near me that I could contact for PT (really, I drove all the way in so he could tell me I need therapy and then I leave?)

I saw Dr. S first June 24, EMG with Dr. R scheduled on July 12, then it wasn’t until July 29th that I got a follow up with Dr. S, couldn’t get an appointment with Dr. R until today. I get that schedules at tough, but here it is almost two months later and I’m still in pain and would like to start feeling better.

Dr. R is a very nice person, he remembered me and what I did, we talked about work and posture and what would be included in the PT. Twenty minutes later, list of PT locations in hand and I am back in the car to drive an hour home (traffic). Did I really have to go in for him to tell me I needed PT?

I’ll keep you posted on the PT and my progress, thanks for keeping up with me and worrying.

Ok, I know this was a bit of a rant on top of an update on my “condition”, thanks for listening.