A post in which it is a Tuesday

Work settled in today, and it looks as if the month is going to come along nicely.

I reviewed my vacation days today so I could mark my calendar accordingly.  I'm really looking forward to having the week between Christmas and New Year's Day off.  That has kind of  become a tradition now.  It's one of the perks of being a department unto myself - I don't have to work around anyone else's schedule since it comes at the end of the month anyway.  Also looking forward to going to the beach next week.  I kind of wish I had taken Thursday off too, but Mom seemed to want some beach time to herself before I got there.

I put my foot down with the doctor today.  I continue to have problems with the Crestor they've had me on, and I'm just at my limits of patience with it.  I basically called them today to ask them how to go off of it, because I've decided to quit taking it.  The bottle has dire warnings about discontinuing it without consulting with a doctor, and since I know there are possible psychological side-effects from the medication I was being careful.  It turns out that the dire consequences only apply to heart patients.  My nurse told me to just go ahead and stop taking it.  On the one hand, I don't want to have a heart attack.  On the other hand, my quality of life has suffered under this drug.  Also statins are a relatively new family of drugs, and I'm not sure I trust them.  They're always suddenly discovering that some new drug has horrible side-effects in long-term studies that no one knew about.  Third, my cholesterol, though high, is not out of control, is stable, and I have a pretty good HDL to LDL ratio.  After weighing all the pros and cons, I just decided that the side-effects aren't worth the prophylaxis.  I may feel differently later, but for now I've made the decision.

I heard from a friend in Atlanta today.  He's going to be in town this weekend visiting his family, and we're trying to work out a visit.  I hope that works out.  I'd like to see him. 

Tonight was dinner with Dad and Eve.  She ordered out from Portofino's.  For some reason, I wanted manicotti today.  I don't usually eat it there, but it was surprisingly good.  A lot of times it is doomed to blandness, but the sauce they use is quite zippy with spices. 

Dinner was good, despite Dad's annoying habit of taking business calls during the meal.  He feels some moral imperative to answer the phone whenever it rings, and he seems to receive an inordinate amount of calls at mealtime.  After supper we adjourned to the den to catch them up on my weekend with Lisa.  We all worried about Cole for a while, and briefly segued into Cindy long enough for Eve to cry before I could make my escape.  I was there late tonight.  For the most part it was a good visit though. 

I drove home worried that my throat was sore.  I don't have any sick time left (I used most of it for chemo earlier in the year), and I've scheduled most of my vacation time now.  Ava is perpetually sick, and she and Lisa were both on antibiotics for the latest infection last weekend.  I don't get sick a lot now (well, not in the usual way anyway) - getting all that sinus surgery done made a huge difference in my health - but I really can't afford to get sick before the first of the year.  I hope I'm not getting strep.  I haven't had it in years, but I used to be very susceptible.  Lisa still is.  I wonder if her getting it would make me more inclined to be vulnerable to it since we're related?  Hmmm...