It’s Friday, hooray! Let’s all get a hot, caffeinated beverage and talk about the week.
On each weekly page of my planner, there’s a “to-do” section, and I’m pleased to say that ALL my nagging tasks were crossed off this week! These included: ordering new contacts, canceling my old gym membership (it only cost a $10 cancelation fee and 45 minutes on the phone- I’ll never get those minutes back) and, the most tedious one… getting a mammogram.
I’m VERY glad to get that last one taken care of, although I discovered, to my great displeasure, Rayus no longer does a mammogram and ultrasound on the same visit. That’s how I usually do it, because I apparently have dense breast tissue. Even though my doctor ordered both, and I ALWAYS get the ultrasound right after the mammogram, they told me that now I have to wait for the results of the mammogram- which will tell me that I need an ultrasound- and THEN make another appointment. Grr.
Let’s move on. If we were having coffee together, I would ask if you’re making any summer travel plans. I know people are going exciting places like California and Canada… I will be making two trips to Waco, Texas. The first will be for my son’s graduation in May, and the second will be mid-July, to help him pack all his things and then he and I will drive back to Florida.
We’re able to make these plans fairly confidently, because it looks like he’ll be going to grad school either 1) in Florida, or 2) NOT in Florida, but the Not Florida option wouldn’t start until mid-September (oooh! a clue! What school is on the quarter system?) Either way, we know he’ll be coming back home for at least a couple months in the summer.
Other than getting mammograms and canceling gym memberships (btw this was my OLD gym, which I canceled because I now go to a newer, shinier gym) I’ve been reading feverishly all week. I’m getting close to finishing this book:
It’s a strange and magical book! The parts that deal with actual magic are mesmerizing. I always read before bed, and I’ve noticed that I’m actually sleeping better. The spells in the book somehow lull me into a dream-like state, and I fall asleep easily. I may have to keep it next to my bed even when I’ve finished it, as a cure for insomnia.
Do you have summer travel plans?
What should I read next???
Top photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash
17 Responses
I floated the idea of summer travel, but got shot down by my family who feel like this is a good time to save money. We live in the Bay Area and there is a lot to do here, though, so maybe we’ll do a staycation. Sigh.
I have my mammogram scheduled for a couple of weeks from now. I asked for a 3D mammogram, since I also have very dense breast tissue. I always have to wait for them to decide whether I need an ultrasound or not.
I just finished The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, really good.
Well- you do live in an amazing area. You could even do a short driving trip and see some pretty cool places, right? I mean not as cool as Waco, obviously ; )
Our summer plan is likely to include a visit to the snow town in argentina, got LA for blackpink concert, and maybe canada depending on if husband gets his visa.
I don’t like mammogram, dense breast issues, so often I do ultrasound instead, if needed add a mammogram.
Now wait a minute! I asked if I could JUST do an ultrasound and they said no. It doesn’t seem like it makes sense to do both, if the mammogram doesn’t show everything. I’m going to ask again.
I always do both at once! Not sure how well a mammogram will work on me now bc of the implanted ICD shoved in my L chest area but I guess I will find out. I am tempted to move my mammogram forward indefinitely (after all I can’t possibly get cancer now right?!) but it’s already really late so I’ll try to be responsible.
Ha ha, yes I think you’ve already had your share of disasters for the year. I’m also wondering how they’ll do a mammogram for you now- maybe they can just do the ultrasound?
Oh I have to tell you my mammogram story. Buckle in!
So I have been getting annual mammograms since I was 38, due to the lumpy and dense nature of my breasts, and because they are lumpy, I always would get an ultrasound as well. The ultrasound would always be in the same place as the mammogram, same day, etc. So no big deal, I was used to this. Then we moved to Kelowna in summer of 2023, and I would have been due to have my mammogram in the fall of that year, but because there is a three month period between provincial health care, I wasn’t able to (unless I had driven back to Calgary to do it). But then I kind of forgot to schedule it, until I was in Italy in fall 2024. I was listening to the Girls Next Door and Erica announced her breast cancer, and I thought oh oh, I forgot to schedule. I’ll do that when I get back. And at this point I think four YOUNG podcasters I listened to had breast cancer. So I call when I get back (this is November) and they say, great, we are scheduling for next JULY unless you want to be on the cancellation list. So I do that and lo and behold, three weeks later I get a mammogram. But here they only do mammograms, but no big deal, I don’t think much about it.
MID JANUARY I get a call from BC Breast Cancer clinic to say that I need to come in for a follow up. This also coincided with a weird lump that was painful in my left breast. So now I’m getting nervous.
I go in, and I have a weird, specific, and very painful (usually I don’t find them painful) mammogram. I have the ultrasound. It’s Friday. They say my doctor will have the results on Monday. Great! Monday comes and the receptionist calls to say the doctor will talk to me about my results…ten days from now.
At this point I’m mentally trying on wigs.
As you probably have figured out by this time, the doctor calls, says I have a weird cyst in my breast, and it’s nothing to worry about. Why I didn’t get this info immediately, who knows, but it all ended well.
As for summer plans, Kelowna is the best place to be in the summer and I never want to travel at that time! I’ll be soaking up the sun and enjoying my garden AND A VISIT FROM FRIENDS INCLUDING BIRCHY and that will be my summer!
Egads. That is quite a story!!! To have to wait ten days for that result… I mean I guess in a way it seemed like a good sign, since if it were cancer they would have felt more urgency? But still. Well, glad everything is okay. Are you going to get that cyst removed, or can it just stay there?
I didn’t know Birchie was going to Kelowna as well!!! She is really on a blogger binge!
Ha ha you figured out my summer plans. California in May and definitely BC later in the summer. I just need to figure out what to do between the two trips. Maybe a Michigan/Wisconsin lighthouse crawl? I will try to drag the Hubs out of the house to do some local stuff. Meanwhile I’m taking a long weekend and I am on one of my little trips. As soon as I get off the internets I will go for a run/walk to see more of the new city.
Going to see our friends and lighthouses is all very well, but going to Waco to graduate a kid and then move the kid is even better! I can’t wait for the big reveal on grad school – which I’m sure you are dying for as well.
Boo to having to make separate appointments for the mammo and ultrasound.
Yes, I’m pretty impatient to hear the final news from colleges. It will be SOON.
Your summer sounds amazing!!! You’re going to see Nicole! I can’t wait to hear all about it.
Why do they make it so hard to cancel a gym membership? When I canceled mine a couple of years ago, I had to call them too since I had moved away (apparently you could only do it in person or over the phone even though most things are done online now, sigh) and I had heard horror stories about how they didn’t actually cancel for some people, but luckily they did for me!
My summer plans are probably mostly going to be within Arizona, but we have a lot of cool places here so I’m not complaining. I’m taking some days off around my birthday at the end of July so I have to figure out what to do then, and it will probably be at a higher elevation since it’s way too hot in the desert that time of year!
For mine, they COULDN’T do it in person (I know this because I went to the gym twice, thinking I could.) I had to call and it was a huge pain.
i definitely wouldn’t mind spending the entire summer in AZ. Except for the heat- but it’ll be hot in Florida (and, Texas.)
Wow! Love hearing everyone’s summer plans… Jenny, you must be so ecstatic about having your oldest home for a couple of months before grad school. It’s going to be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.
I’m probably going to die of breast cancer because I hate mammos and haven’t had one in years.
“Emotional rollercoaster” because of graduation and then having to say goodbye again for grad school (in case that wasn’t clear).
Oh it was clear : )
Maya! You’re probably just fine (but I think you should get a mammogram anyway,)
Good for you for getting those nagging tasks off your list! But gah – 45 min to cancel a membership? sheesh!
I have dense breast tissue, too, but haven’t had to get an ultrasound! I feel like every woman I know has dense breast tissue. My friend just got dx’d with breast cancer. They found it when she had a breast reduction. The crazy thing is that she had had an ultrasound in the fall and had a mammogram a few weeks before surgery and yet it wasn’t caught! It is very early stages but she will get a mastectomy in May.
Like Nicole, summer is peak season here in Minnesota so we typically do not travel but I am planning to take Will to Chicago for a few days. He was very offended that he didn’t get to go to DC in the fall so this is his mommy/Will trip. My niece graduates from HS in May and his graduation is dang early – and it’s sandwiched between a week of travel in NYC/Cleveland followed by travel to DC, I think. So I just can’t add another trip to that span of days. So instead I plan to go to Chicago in June and will spend some time with my niece then.