Pinktober is Coming to an End

It's Halloween. I think that Paul has decided to be a Zombie this year.

NaBloPoMo starts on Saturday. I looked at the prompts on Blogher and none of them really interested me very much. I wish they had alternative prompts. I never have really finished one of these. I've tried a few years.

Speaking of not finishing, I had planned on reposting blogs about breast cancer this month, and even though I found a couple that I felt were really good, most of them came off as waa waa, I hate pinktober. I found it pretty amazing that so many people living with or beyond breast cancer feel so disenfranchised with pink. There are a lot of reasons for that. For me it's the total commercialization of the month. It's seems like a pink nightmare before Christmas. I'll put on a pink tee shirt and a pink tutu to raise funds, but I really don't want to walk around in a pink hoodie carrying a pink travel mug all year (or even all month) long. I've heard others claim that all that money isn't really going toward research, and that there is no research for better treatments for stage 4. I have heard people even claim that nobody is really getting free mammograms. A quick web search pretty much refutes all that. Research is being funded. Women are given mammograms and services are being provided for survivors. Still, I am kind of glad when the frenzy is over every year.

I did score on pink this year. Komen for the Cure Atlanta and the Buckhead Hotel Consortium were giving away weekend packages to two survivors every week this months. I had to like their Facebook page and send in my story to enter the contest. I did and I won one of the packages. I have a weekend stay at the Marriott Hotel in Alpharetta and a visit to The American Doll store. Since I don't have a granddaughter and Mollie is too old and definitely not interested I have arranged to have Sweet Caroline visit the store with me. She  will be able to pick out a doll to take home and I will get to spend some fun time with her. I'll bet that she will be surprised to find out that I exist outside of church. I'm looking forward to getting the voucher for all this.

Happy Halloween!

Dr. General's Report

Shamika from Dr. General's office called yesterday.The labs came back and yes, My sodium levels are up a bit, but my magnesium levels are still in the toilet. He wants me to add a fourth magnesium pill everyday. Two thousand milligrams of magnesium a day. My gut is already having a field day.

Kate called yesterday. She talks too much and doesn't me finish explaining what is happening so she twists everything. She frustrates me. I needed help, but she isn't helping.

The pharmacy called this morning to tell me that they are going to have to order the magnesium for me. That isn't an unusual happening with them. It happens every month with the magnesium, buproprion and metoprolol. I guess they are popular medications.

I only have 3 more appointments for the remainder of this year. They are a device check next week and then appointments with Dr. Oncology and Dr. Endocrinology. I already have 9 appointments lined up for next year.#splinteredcare.

Check Up

I saw Dr. R yesterday. I think that to avoid confusion I'm going to start naming them what I see them for, so I saw Dr. General yesterday. He wanted to check my electrolytes again. If they are still unbalanced, he wants me to go off the omeprazole and try something else. Of course I had to Google what else there was. Besides over the counter stuff, everything else does the same thing as omeprazole. Besides, I don't think that omeprazole is the whole problem. I have hyperaldosteronism. That has been confirmed by 3 doctors so far. I have to take something to keep from having a low potassium level. So I take spironolactone. It works, but it works a bit too well. I have normal potassium levels, but then my kidneys don't filter enough sodium and magnesium. Then I have low sodium and magnesium levels. I've been on the seesaw for years.

thepinkteeshirt is temporarily put away for the winter

I had to close thepinkteeshirt. Those who followed it hopefully will understand. I may be as hysterical as those who demand that we suspend flights from West Africa. But  the world is full of angry people who have no respect for the sanctity of life. That they as a group are acting individually makes it impossible to predict when and where they will attack.

I started this blog back in February. I'm not sure why. I know that I had intended it to remain private, but then I didn't really make an effort to write in it. It is coming in handy now. So this winter I will hang out here. Maybe by the spring I will feel safe enough to pull thepinkteeshirt out of the closet and wear it again. Until then, maybe my followers will find me here.