Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Archives for October 2010

Beautiful October Day

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Even though it’s late October, we’ve been having fairly warm weather here in Toronto this week.

I think it got up to 21 C (70 F) earlier today. It was windy though. We had severe wind warnings this afternoon. Good thing the wind was warmish and not freezing cold!

I didn’t really notice any really bad winds in my area so I took the dog out for a long walk in the afternoon. It was just too nice a day not to get outside and enjoy. I mean – in a month or so it will be cold here and there might even be some snow on the ground by then … so I might as well take advantage of a decent day. Right?

I bumped into a neighbor that I hadn’t seen for several weeks while I was out and I guess she noticed that I’ve been losing some weight. My clothes are getting baggy! She actually asked me if I’ve been using weight loss pills but as my regular readers know – my weight loss is all due to the migraine medication I’m taking.

How was the weather in your area today? Was it a little warmer than normal?





Bumps and Bruises

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I just noticed a bruise on my arm that I can’t for the life of me remember getting. Isn’t that bad?

I mean, the bruise is pretty big – you’d think I’d remember bumping into something or maybe my dog jumping at me, but no, I can’t think of any reason as to why I’d have a bruise on my arm.

Now that I think of it I have a few bruises on my body. I can remember how I got a few of them – I’m kind of clumsy so it’s not uncommon for me to bump into things or to trip on my dogs toys since she leaves them scattered on the floor, usually right in a doorway.

One of the medications I take is made up of a derivative of salicylic acid so I guess you could say it’s kind of like aspirin. Certainly it’s properties are similar. It’s an anti-inflammatory for Crohns and yes – it can also thin your blood like Aspirin can. This medication doesn’t usually cause problems for me, but maybe it’s why I’m bruising more than usual lately.

Do you ever get bruises or scrapes that you just can’t remember getting?

An Update – Still not smoking!

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I quit smoking on October 12th after having smoked for more than 25 years. It was hard, but I’ve reached the two week point and I’m still not smoking.

I’m proud of myself.

Most days are fairly easy to get through, but every few days I’ll have a day where I get cravings several times and it puts me more on edge.

I’m still taking Zyban (Wellbutrin) to help control the cravings. I think it makes walking by people who are smoking out side stores and malls a lot easier. I certainly don’t like the smell as I pass by smokers.

I don’t think my body likes me quitting smoking though. I have Crohn’s and it’s actually supposed to be better for me if I quit, but I think the transition from smoker to non-smoker is wreaking havoc with my digestive tract. To put it mildly I had a couple of days where it was almost like I’d had a delivery from www.coloncleansingpills.net if you know what I mean. Luckily that side effect seems to be settling down, although my abdomen is still quite painful.

Any other former smokers reading this? Did your body rebel on you for a week or two or maybe longer after you quit?

Changing doctors

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Earlier this year I got a letter from my family doctors office stating that she was taking a leave of absence from her practice. The letter made me believe that the other doctors at the clinic would take over my care until she returned or else one of them would permanently take over my care.

Uh huh … wrong!

Luckily I only had to go to the family doctor once since I got that letter and then two months later I got a call from the head doctor at the clinic and she told me that it didn’t look like my old doctor was coming back and that none of the other doctors there could take new patients. Nice treatment for someone who’d been seeing that doctor for 12 years.

So I kind of feel like I’ve been abandoned by my family doctor and the clinic she assumed would take over my care. Oh and get this – My family doctor had made a movie two years ago – one that she tried very hard to get into the 2009 Toronto film Festival – I think she left her practice to keep trying to get her movie into smaller film festivals and fringe festivals. I even found some information on the internet that makes it look like she’s now turning her movie into a play. No wonder I feel abandoned.

So … I asked my pain doctor to be my family doctor. It works well for me since I see her pretty much once a month anyway and even better it’s walking distance from my home. The only problem is that now I have to get my medical records transferred over from the old doctors office. Naturally their going to charge me for document scanning and it won’t be cheap. Since my doctor pretty much abandoned me and the clinic that was supposed to take over my care refused I don’t think I (and my husband too since he was a patient there as well) should have to pay a fee to have my chart transferred to another doctor.

Do you think that’s fair?

It’s my wedding anniversary today

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It’s hard to believe, but my husband and I have been married for 16 years! It doesn’t seem like 16 years. Actually, my husband and I were together for close to 6 years before we got married so we’ve really been together for almost 22 years.

I guess it’s a good sign that it does feel like all that long?

Earlier this week we talked about going out for a nice dinner, but I’m not feeling very good today so I think we’re going to stay in tonight. What we might do is, or rather what I might have my husband do is, go to this great Fish and Chips place to get take out and then eat it at home. Yummy. It’s probably not the best meal for my upset stomach, but I know it will taste good.

If I feel better tomorrow I’d love to go out for a steak dinner. We haven’t had steak for a while and I know this might sound weird, but my Crohn’s, when it’s acting up, seems to do better when I eat red meat Strange, but it seems to slow my digestive tract down.

I think the in-laws might be coming down tomorrow though so I don’t know if my dinner plans will survive or not. If I know my in-laws they’ll be hitting the organics store for their vitamins, organic foods and all natural diet pills for my mother in laws neighbor. Then who knows what they’ll want to do.

I guess it doesn’t sound like a very exciting wedding anniversary, but it suits me just fine.

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