Our Week - The One with a Neurologist Appointment and a Day Date

Last week was a week full of catching up and planning for several upcoming events, so it was hectic! 

Monday, December 4

Monday, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed straight to Starbucks to get a Peppermint Mocha.  I had been craving one the whole time we were in New York City, but I never got one, so I decided Monday it was time.  When I got to Starbucks, they informed me that they were all out of Peppermint Mocha (WHAT?!) so I had to settle for a Caramel Broule.  While it was pretty good, it did not satisfy my craving, so I that was a bummer.

After I left there, I went home to work all day, finish unpacking, and do tons of laundry.  I also got dinner in the slow cooker early in the day so I wouldn’t have to worry about cooking Monday night.  Olivia had asked me to watch over her little puppy, Penelope, all day, so she kept me company while I worked.  ;o)

 

I had an appointment with my therapist in the afternoon, and then when I was done there, it was time to head straight to the school to pick up the kids. 

We had nowhere to be Monday evening, so we headed straight home, and I did all the things while the kids did their homework and played outside for a bit. 

We had the ranch chicken pasta that I’d made in the slow cooker along with some steamed green beans and garlic cheesy bread, and then after dinner, the kids played for a bit before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. 

While they got ready for bed, I did a stair stepper workout, and finished the last of my to-do list, and then we all watched Lego Masters before sending the kids to bed.  After they went to bed, B and I finished watching The Golden Bachelor.  Unfortunately, I’d had the ending spoiled for me on social media, but that’s what happens when you have to wait a few days to watch a finale!

Tuesday, December 5

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I headed back home to do more laundry and more blog work.  I also spent a good chunk of the day working on the kids’ class fundraiser baskets and the Reindeer Run that I’m chairing again later this week. 

I had an appointment with the neurologist for my vertigo on Tuesday, and I was not impressed.  At all.  I had already done a video appointment with his PA a couple of months prior just to establish myself as a patient and to explain what all has been going on, and I was very impressed with the PA as she asked a ton of questions and was very informative.  I never laid eyes on the actual doctor during that video chat, though. 

They ordered a CT angiogram for me at that video chat appointment, and I did that about a month ago, so I received the results from that on Tuesday at my appointment.  The PA came in first, told me the results were totally normal (the test shows blood vessel activity in the back of the neck and head), and then she ran some basic balance tests and she also tested all of my reflexes including scraping some hard thing on the bottom of my feet.  She told me everything looked good and that she was going to get the doctor.

When the doctor (the neurologist) came in, he said, “Since all of your tests looked normal, you’re just going to have to wait for this to go away on its own.  We’re going to prescribe some medicine you can take in the meantime.” And then he started to walk out of the room like he was done.  WHAT.

I told him to hold on and then I asked a bunch of questions, and he was dismissive and basically acted like he couldn’t care less about my situation and then he was out the door.  I think he spent all of 2-3 minutes in my room with me and it would have been less than that if I hadn’t called him back in.

After he left, I asked the PA a million questions about the medication and other alternatives and she was really great yet again, but the overall visit put a bad taste in my mouth since the neurologist was such a jerk.

All other doctors had told me that the neurologist was where I needed to be, so now that I’ve been told by him that there’s nothing he can do, I pretty much feel like I’m screwed.  While it would be nice to have medication that helps with the dizziness and issues I’m still having, I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to take it.  The medication is not going to solve the vertigo, it’s only going to mask it, so I’m trying to decide if it’s really worth it.  I’m already on several medications for my allergies and asthma plus the other meds that they have me on for vertigo, so I really don’t want to add yet another medication to my long list.  I mean, my gosh, I’m only 41 years old and I’m taking a ton of medication.  I’m going to do some research, weigh the pros and cons, and then decide if I want to take the medicine or just live with the dizziness.  Sigh.

After my appointment, I had enough time to go drop a package at UPS for an Amazon return, and then I got in the car line a bit early and got some work done from there.

After school, we headed home so the kids could tackle homework, and then Jacob and I took Olivia to dance.  Three of the screws had randomly fallen out of the taps on her tap shoes, and we tried everything to get them fixed – we tried to contact the company, we tried to search for tap shoe screws all over the internet – and we couldn’t find any solutions.  I took them to the office at the dance school with the hope that they would know what to do, and Mrs. Pam in the office told me to leave them with her and she’d see what she could do.  Olivia didn’t have tap until Wednesday, so she didn’t need them that day anyway.

After that was done, Jacob and I headed home, and he read for a while and then did some YouTube.  He also got showered before Brian and Olivia got home, since Tuesday is her late dance night.

While he did all of that, I wrapped up my to-do list, and I got in a mixed cardio workout.  Then I headed downstairs to make sausage, peppers, and onions tacos for dinner. 

When B and Olivia got home, we had dinner, and then she headed upstairs to shower and get ready for bed.  While she did that, I got not one, but two Bible studies done, and then we got the kiddos in the bed.

B and I watched some of an episode of Shark Tank, and then we headed off to bed, too.

Wednesday, December 6

Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I met one of the other seventh grade parents up the road after dropoff so she could give me a few bar signs for our auction basket.  We’re doing a bar cart theme for seventh grade this year, and she and her husband own one of the local restaurants here in town, so they donated a Budweiser neon sign and a Creature Comforts neon sign + four other random metal signs for various other liquors.  Creature Comforts is, hands down, the absolute best brewery and the best beer of all-time, so I totally swooned over that bar sign and I’m going to be trying to bid on it at the auction.  Haha. 

After that, I headed home to work for a while, and then I went to an appointment.  B was off Wednesday, so we picked up Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and then it was back to work for me. 

After school, we dropped Olivia at dance, and Mrs. Pam had come through for us and she had repaired Olivia’s tap shoes!  She just happened to have a pair of old shoes in the office that used the exact same screws and she was able to remove the screws from those and fix Olivia’s. 

After we dropped Olivia, Jacob and I swung by CVS to pick up a prescription, and then when we got home, I did some more work on the school fundraisers. 

Brian picked Olivia up from dance, and then we had leftover ranch chicken pasta with steamed broccoli and garlic cheese bread, and then the kids did their shower/bedtime routine while I did a strength training session.

 

Olivia had some homework to do after her shower, and then we finally finished watching the Rockefeller Center tree lighting.  Brian put a fire in the fireplace – our first one of the season! – and then we started an episode of The Amazing Race before sending the kids to bed.

B and I started a new show Wednesday night called The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and even though we only watched the first half of it, I was hooked from the beginning.

Thursday, December 7

Thursday morning, Maui started the day out with a quick bath in the sink because she'd gotten all dirty outside.

I dropped the kids at school and then I hung around for their National Blue Ribbon School Ceremony.  Our school was recently recognized as being one of the top schools in the nation, and they had a schoolwide parade (babies – seniors in high school) to celebrate.  All of the kids got special t-shirts, and then they lined up on the football field to spell out the school name, and our Digital Media Director got a drone shot to make a really cool time lapse video and photo.  The whole ceremony was really sweet, and it’s such an honor to be given this award, and it just reaffirmed for the gazillionth time why we have our kiddos there.

After that was done, I headed home to work for the whole day.  I did lots of blog work and I also worked on class auction baskets and the Reindeer Run.  I also made a detailed schedule of all of the errands I needed to run on Friday and things that we needed from each place. 

After school, the kids and I headed to music, and then after music, we went home where I made one pan chicken and cheesy rice with green beans for dinner.  I got in a stair stepper workout after dinner, and then we watched the rest of The Amazing Race with the kiddos before sending them to bed.  B and I watched some more of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and then we headed to bed, too.

Friday, December 8

Friday morning, Brian and I dropped the kids at school and then he and I went on a day date!  I had missed our anniversary while I was in New York City, so we wanted to spend the day together. 

First on our list was Starbucks so I could grab a Peppermint Mocha since I’d been craving one, and then we had a cozy little breakfast at a new donut shop that just opened downtown inside a new market that just opened as well. 

After that, we headed to one of the hotels downtown so I could get in touch with somebody about getting a gift card for a one-night stay there for our fourth-grade auction basket (we’re doing a parents night out themed basket), but that was a bust because their marketing manager wasn’t in at the time. 

Once that was done, we hit up aaaallll the stores to do all the shopping for Christmas, class auction baskets, and the Reindeer Run – Walmart, Kohl’s, Kirklands, Chick-Fil-A (for teacher gift cards), the bank, Hobby Lobby, Staples, Target, and the liquor store.  It was a VERY successful day, and it was fun because I got to hang with B rather than do it all alone.

Meanwhile, Olivia was singing during Mass.  I hated to miss it, but B and I had already planned our day date before we found out she was singing.  Thankfully, my friend, Heather, was sweet enough to snap a picture of our girl for me.  

We had just enough time to get home, unload all of the bags and hide them in my office, and eat a quick lunch before I had to turn right back around to pick the kids up from school.

When we got home, the kids played video games for a bit, and I spent the next couple of hours getting all of the stuff put away that we’d bought.  I also updated my Christmas gift spreadsheet that I keep so we can keep track of our spending, and I looked to see what all we had left to purchase.  Olivia popped in my office to show me the biggest bubble that she'd ever blown.  Haha.

Brian stepped out to grab dinner from our favorite barbecue place for dinner, and then we all snuggled up on the couch to watch Elf after the kids had showered.  I also had time to squeeze in another Bible study while they got ready for bed.  We had another fire in the fireplace, so it was the ultimate cozy evening in.

After the kids went to bed, Brian surprised me with a video that he’d made of our first 20 years together and it was an hour long, so we watched that before heading to bed.  He had literally gone through all of our pictures and videos from the last 20 years and compiled them into an hour-long movie, and it was the cutest thing ever.  I can’t even imagine how long it took him to make it.  He said he’s been working on it for months.

Saturday, December 9

Saturday morning, we slept in (finally… my first time in two weeks!) and it was much needed.  I made homemade waffles for breakfast, and then I spent some time in my office getting organized.  Mid-morning, I showed the kids all of our pictures and videos from New York City, and then I got in a mixed cardio workout.  Jacob was super excited because he'd gotten some rare gold Pokemon card in his Advent calendar that day.  Lucky boy!

 

We had a light lunch Saturday afternoon, and Brian and I got the bar cart put together for the school auction.  I also spent some time organizing all of the items I have for both so far. 

Saturday evening, we went to 5:30 Mass, and then we went to one of our favorite local pizza places for dinner with my parents and my Uncle Billy.  We ended up staying there forever just chatting, and then we swung by DQ to grab Blizzards for Brian and the kids.

By the time we got home, it was time to get the kids in the bed, and then B and I finished the episode of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart that we’d started a couple of nights before that. 

 

Sunday, December 10

Sunday morning, we woke up to storms, and it was dreary all day.  A cold front moved in all day, too, so it was a cold, dark, dreary, windy, rainy day.

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I watched my weekly sermon, did yoga, and prepped my planner for the week ahead.  By the time all that was done, it was time to get ready for the day. 

 

We headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch, and we celebrated my nephew’s birthday.  We ended up hanging out over there later than usual, and by the time we got home we only had a couple of hours before it was time to leave for my parents’ house.  I used the time to finish up a blog post, organize some pictures, and get my meal plan and grocery list ready for Monday.

We had our usual Sunday dinner at my parents’ house after that, and it was a cozy evening in since it had gotten so cold outside.  When we got home, the kids got into bed, and then B and I watched another episode of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.  And that was our week!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!