Retail therapy and Monday

After the dental appt., my mom and I did a little shopping in town. She had brought down a full size bed for me on Friday. Ever since I've lived here, I've always had a twin size bed. Well, when you have three large dogs, that can be tough to find space for yourself. Actually, Baxter and Hank are usually the only one that sleep consistently with me. Daphne sleeps on the sofa but I do catch her on the bed in the mornings when one of them is off.

As soon as my mom put the new mattress on the bed, the dogs tested it out immediately and thoroughly enjoyed. Since I did not have the proper size bedspread for it, they have easily been taking off the covers of my bed for the last two days. Needless to say, this does not make me happy as I do not like dog hair in the bed. On the cover on top of the bedspread is okay though. I can live with that.

Today, we found some pretty sheets and bedspread. I got some new pillows to replace my old, raggy ones. Then we just shopped for miscellaneous items I needed or she wanted. In mid afternoon, I had my first physical therapy appt. There, I got scolded, because I was not wearing shorts nor my actual running shoes. The physical therapist assigned to me ended up being the one I had talked to last week wanting information on the physical therapists. It was ironic since I was not fully prepared. Oh well.

She did a lot of strength assessments for my legs. I was really surprised, because my legs were really weak. There was a significant difference in my right leg which is where the hamstring strain is. She made the comment to me that she couldn't believe I was a runner, because my legs were so weak. It was truly bizarre as I've always thought I had strong legs, but they did feel very weak in general today. Hmmm. She had me do some exercises and showed me ones to do at home. There are like six or seven of them to do everyday. Yippee! But I think of it this way, it's better to be able to strengthen some muscles around my leg than face having a hamstring tear. She also said I could not run hills. This is a toughie as I am surrounded by hills here. I told her I'd try to do the flattest route possible. I also promised to wear my shorts and my running shoes at the next appt. which is on Friday. Overall, I liked her though.

After that, my mom and I came home to check on the dogs. It rained off and on all day. That means that all the dogs had to be wiped off, including their paws which is just my rule to any dog who lives in my house even if only as a guest. Jake, my friend's American Eskimo dog, however, was not thrilled with that one.

Later, we went into town and dropped off Jake and Foxy. They were happy to see their dad and vice versa. My mom and I went to a few stores. It was weird, because when I was trying on some running gear, my cell phone rang a few times. First, it was a friend of mine. I called her on Sat. when I was in excruciating tooth pain asking her if she knew how much medication I could take without causing an overdose. She felt bad for not calling back, but I was just glad to hear from her. We basically agreed that yes, I took a lot of medication and could possibly be in trouble. All day, I had waves of upper right quadrant pain, aka liver pain presumably. I did think acute liver failure but I wasn't having those type of symptoms, so I think I just inflamed and enlarged my liver a bit. The second call was my dad just checking up on me. I do admit, it was a little difficult trying on clothes and talking to them at the same time, but I did manage to do so.

After all that, my mom and I headed back home, and went out to eat at an Asian Buffet place where we had take out two nights ago. It was nice overall, though I still had my waves of pain. Hopefully, that will clear up as the pain medications all go out of my system. My tooth, however, is still sore, especially since it's been over 12 hours since I've had any pain medications at all. I hope the antibiotic kicks in soon and nips this infection in the bud. I really hate being on antibiotics, and it seems like I've been on them a lot the last two years. But at the same time, I don't really have a choice here. Out of all the various ailments I've had, tooth pain is the worst. I guess maybe I'm a wimp, but I just can't deal with it well as it effects everything. This also means that I have not run since Thursday due to the tooth pain and my mom's visit. I'm itching to go run tomorrow even if the temperatures are cold. I hope my tooth just holds up.

Okay, so that's the nutshell of the weekend. I hate feeling like I'm complaining, but I was pretty miserable with this tooth pain. The one good thing out of all this is that I did continue to eat. I could have easily not, but I did make sure I ate okay, still not enough but decent.

I hope the rest of the week goes off without a hitch. Heading off to bed now.

Productive day

I knew today was going to be a busyday, but it ended up being fairly productive. In the early morning, I had a dermatology appt. Nothing major, just a check up on things. The verdict for my cracked, dry hands is to change my hand washing habits. Hmm, that's a hard one. I do not consider myself OCD about hand washing, however, I am really weird about not liking things on my hands. I know it seems weird being around dogs all day and being that way. I *tolerate* a lot in my job, including dog kisses and slobber. Really though, it's not my favorite at all. Even my own dogs know not to lick me. The worse is coming in after a run and Baxter wanting to lick my sweat. I give him a leave it and let him air lick instead which seems to suffice for him.

Anyway, my dermatologist gave me suggestions to try to help alleviate t his problem as well as some steroid topical for when my hands get severely cracked and dry. Last winter, there were a few times like that, and they just felt like they were on fire if anything touched them. I used to think it was a water consumption problem, but I've learned no matter how much water I drink, I still get this tendency. The one great thing about my dermatologist is that she gives me lots of samples. I got a whole box of samples of this other med to try on my face.

After that, my original plan was to go buy some dog treats and then pick up the house guests for this week, aka my friend's dogs. Instead, I decided to see if I could make an appt. with my physiatrist about my leg problem which I'm positive stemmed from the last dog bite. I walked in and told the receptionist/nurse what happened. She asked if I had time today since I'd have to wait 2-3 weeks otherwise. My Dr. walks in from the back and gets the info. from the receptionist/nurse and then tells me "we just need to get you some kevlar to run in." I chuckled since it does seem true at times. I had her take a look, write a diagnosis and go with a treatment plan. Since she knows I'm not big into medications, she suggested trying some physical therapy for a short time to at least see if I can get that hamstring stretched out. The one thing I do not want is a hamstring tear. I've heard horror stories on that. A groin pull ten years ago was bad enough, so I don't want to have to go through a similar problem. I'll start PT next week, see my doctor in about six weeks and then go from there.

After that, I picked up some dog treats and went to my friend's apartment. We talked for a good bit of time which was really nice. Then I headed back in the late afternoon. The rest of the day spent with just the usual of feeding the dogs, eating something for dinner, then watching some tv and falling asleep while watching tv.

Tomorrow, the weather here is supposed to be crazy at like 70+ degrees at the end of November! Then it'll drop 20-25 degrees. I hate how nature does that sometimes and tempts you with such nice weather. No real plans for tomorrow other than to go by the bank and stop at the store in the evening. On Wed., I need to go by the postal office to send my father his malted pancaked mix. I'll have to stop by the library by Thurs. to drop off a book as well. My mom comes in on Friday. Hopefully, she'll be in a good mood.

All right, going to head to bed now. I think I have my game plan for the week.