Medical Me

I am diabetic, and I hate it. I hate having to check my blood every so many hours, and I hate having to watch everything I put in my mouth. I especially hate having to check in with my Doctor every 3 months–it makes me feel as if she thinks I need a babysitter. It makes me want to rebel, if I’m honest, and I have never really been a rebellious person.

And now, it seems I have another medical problem to address. In a routine physical, my Doctor found a lump on my throat near my thyroid. She had me get an ultrasound done, and when the results showed that there is indeed something that’s not supposed to be there, she ordered me to get another ultrasound, have more blood work done, and start taking a very high dose of Vitamin D.

I don’t want to worry about it, but the high amount of the vitamin leads me to suspect she wants to prevent cancer, if whatever it is could be leaning towards the malignant. That does worry me.

In all, my recommendation to my younger readers is this: don’t get old. Seriously. Once you hit 40, it is all downhill. What has previously stayed up will finally succumb to gravity, and what was once painless will become twinge-y and achy. Don’t believe me? Ask your older friends and relatives.

Disney Madness (A Trip Report)

Last Sunday, I returned from an 8-day trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. I went with my youngest sister, C, my niece, B Normal, and (for a couple of days) her Mom, my sister, P.

This trip was over a year in the making. If you have ever gone to WDW, you will know that the complex is immense, complicated, and overwhelming. At minimum, you should start planning about 7 months before your trip dates, especially if any of the signature restaurants look appealing to you. I mean, sure, you can throw a pretty satisfying trip together in less time if you just want to “be” there, and don’t have any specific ideas of what you want to experience, but if you want to do something special, you need to research and plan–particularly if it’s popular!

We stayed at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside, one of the “moderate” resorts. More than a basic room, it was an experience. We booked a “Royal Room,” one of Disney’s story rooms themed on the Princess and the Frog movie with “princess” touches, and it was super fun. The faucets were shaped like the magic lamp in Aladdin, our headboards lit up with fiber optic fireworks with the press of a button, and we were literally steps from a quiet pool.

One of my many challenges while on this trip was getting my sister and niece out the door in the mornings. They didn’t seem to understand the concept of being there even a few moments before the parks opened. The one day we did get to a park before “Rope Drop,” we managed to get through 6 rides in 2 hours. That extra 15-30 minutes really made a huge difference. Other days, we were lucky to get through 4 or 5 attractions all day.

By far, however, the most challenging part of the entire trip was dealing with my sister, P. She couldn’t manage to even save enough money for her airfare, so C and I spent about C$5000  EACH on this trip, and was P grateful for our efforts? NOPE. In fact, when it turned out she was only going to get 2 days for the trip, she was furious, and even though we worked it out to make it possible for her to a) have time alone with her kid at Universal’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and b) spend time on her favourite attractions at the Magic Kingdom, AND see EPCOT’s IllumiNations fireworks, she whined and moaned that 2 days was not enough and she was going to miss out on everything. She tried to blame me for the timing of the trip (had originally told me January was not a problem), and then blamed her boss for being a … well, a lady doesn’t utter such a word in public, let alone apply it to another woman.

So, while there were elements of the trip that I loved, I have to call it a mixed result. I would go back–Disney’s reputation is well-deserved as a vacation spot–but I think I will not be travelling with my sisters again.