Trip To The City and OOPS!
It has been about 1 year that I have been dealing with doctors and nurses about the pain I get in my arms. In one year we have manage to do one clinic test, an MRI and recently an EMG (electromyography), a test to see for carpel tunnel. It took over half the year just to get that test, and I have argued with the doctor, telling her it is not carpel tunnel but I decided to entertain her in hopes that she can now entertain me in the next test that I want to get done. Well, I was right, it is not carpel tunnel so we will see what happens next.
This site here, where the picture is from, explains more about the tests, if you are interested in knowing what it is about. I thought I would share this as when I first looked into it, I read that there would be needles inserted hand and arms and even saw the pictures for it. Well, not at all what happened. It wasn't painful, although it did hurt a bit when he would zap stronger at the end but definitely tolerable.
I had to drive to the next big city, Sudbury, a 4 hour drive to find out that I was right. What sucked is I waited so long for this darn test and had to drive far just to get it done. But it turned out to be a fun time!
I had my friend, Tammy, come with me to help me with the drive but it also made a girls night full of laughs. I rented a cheap motel that was closest to the hospital since I didn't know my way around the city, but was yet cozy and clean. We ordered pizza, bought snacks and pigged out while we chatted away and watched tv.
OMG TV! I haven't had service in so many years and I still don't want it nor do I miss it. Sooooo many commercials! And they last forever! More commercials than the time the show plays for. It was really annoying, especially the McDonalds breakfast one where cracking an egg, dropping it into the round cooker thingy and into a sandwich looks like the freakin' Olympics!
The funny part....
I started my moon time on Monday, the day we left for Sudbury and I was getting bad pain in my back and belly. Tammy warmed up a towel for me in the microwave to help and it did. A while later, I went to warm up the towel again and serve myself something to drink. 1 minute went by. Only one minute. It started to smell like something burning. OMG the towel! The towel was not turning in the microwave and was starting to burn!
I quickly took it out and ran to the bathroom to run it under water, all the while stressing out, hoping to God the smoke alarm doesn't go off. How embarrassing it would be that everyone in the motel has to go outside over some stupid thing I did. My face flushed red, I was laughing my ass off as all the emotions of stress, worry and embarrassment washed over me.
Soooooo, that's my towel. It actually burned a little more than I thought....through a couple layers. I swear it was only one minute! And what to do with the evidence? BAG IT! Bag it and take it home, throw it out at home, if anyone asks, no there wasn't an extra towel, never seen it.
You all now have a secret to keep.
SHHHHHH!
Onto other things....
I forgot what it was like to drive in cities, even though city driving is how where I learned to drive, 10+ years is enough time to forget. So driving downtown I hear a lot of people honking, usually honking the horns is bad right, like usually it means there's something wrong. I felt a slight bit panicky thinking people might be honking at me but I was at a red light, there's nothing I could do. Once it was green, I kind of rushed out of there. Turns out, teachers were striking, people were honking at them to encourage them. Silly me... Hey I honked at some as I was on my way out of the city the next day. Just like riding a bike eh :D
It was good to leave the city actually, too many people for my likes, not for me. Good thing though is on the way out we stopped at this fantastic store that we don't have back at home. iBeads! A big store full of beads and traditional items. I walked in there and my jaw dropped. Furs, moccasin making kits, mitt making kits, animal hides, bead medallions, feathers and horns and and and and!
I bought myself a few items to start. I grabbed a rabbit pelt, loom beading kit and items to be able to make traditional bracelets to start. Once I get the hang of it, I'll be making more things like necklaces and maybe even belts and medallions, who knows! It will be fun, I'm excited!
Medallions like that one, I'm sure, will require patience, but definitely a goal to achieve. That is just one of few that they sell at the store. ibeadscanada.com is the website.
It was definitely nice to get out and spend time with a dear friend. Things like this should happen more often for everyone. It is refreshing and healing. I hope for you all to get the chance to take time off from busy lives and do just that. Well without burning a towel that is :P
Hopefully you'll get some answers to your painful issues soon. Sounds like you're one step closer now. It also sounds like you enjoyed a wonderful adventure in Ontario! I thought you were from BC. Or am i just confused!!?
Thank you. It was fun! But yes, I'm from Ontario, I don't get out much so even a trip like that is special like if I were in a different province :P
Sheesh! I remember you talking about this test - aaages ago. It scared me. I am glad it wasn't as scary and I am also glad it's not carpal tunnel. Then again, you still have to find out what it is.
And, on the bright side, you had a fun time away from the house - burned towel notwithstanding! That really did make me LOL!
I'm glad it's not carpel tunnel as well, as I don't want the surgeries to fix. Another long wait to see whats up I'm sure.
I'm glad you got a laugh out of it, we laughed for a long time that night and many jokes came from it. I didn't touch the microwave there since the towel incident.... O.O
I went to the BigNickle when I was a kid and drove through that city a few times.
Arms sure are handy.
I hope your arm is okay soon.
That city is confusing actually. Roads are windy and I've even seen a 5 way stop lights! I've lived in Montreal which is much bigger and it never had that. I don't think they new exactly what they were doing at times when they build that city lol.
Arms are definitely handy lol :D Thank you, I hope so too.
They were probably too focused on mining to care much about city planning. I haven't been to Sudbury recently, but I was in North Bay during the summer and that intersection where the the 4 lane highway ends drove me mad. 90 minutes to pass through.
Definitely avoid Seoul, Korea. 5 way intersections are popular here. Transportation in Montreal is great.
Ya I don't visit North Bay much either. Usually it's for hospital visits or having to drive through it to get to Ottawa. Although they have pretty cool stores, the mall kind of sucks, unless there's more, the only one I went to is when driving in by the McD's and other restaurants right off the highway.
I was in that mall at the grocery store. Never really stopped anywhere in North Bay asides from the places you can see from hwy 11.
I've been along 17 from there to Ottawa once. That was like 20 years ago and I still remember some minor details like taking a detour into Brent and talking to someone who operated the radio dish there. Such a nice drive.
Lot's of forestry in between the cities which is nice and is much needed. So are you living in Korea now? Northern Ontario to Korea is a big move!
Yeah, I'm in Korea. But I never lived in Northern Ontario, I just spent my summers there and the odd weekend during winter. Still, event Toronto seems like a small place compared to Seoul.
That's cool, and yeah, no doubt a small city in comparison! I think Ontario carries small cities in comparison to some other provinces like B.C. Not a bad thing though as I think I would go mad trying to get to where I need to be, by foot isn't so bad as there isn't traffic like driving and waiting still for hours lol.
The burning towel story is pretty darn funny. I can totally see myself doing something like that, too. Gotta love a good laugh to keep life light sometimes. I have a client who has some unexplained arm pain that's been really challenging for her lately, too. They thought it was tennis elbow at first, but that didn't make any sense to me given she doesn't play tennis or do any other repetitive motion that is usually linked. She's trying to be patient, but it really is uncomfortable, so I can only imagine how you've dealt with it for so long! Fingers crossed you can get some answers at some point!
:D
I hope your friend doesn't have to wait as long as I am to get answers. It is quite frustrating when trying to get help. Often enough they tell us to take tylenol or anti inflammatories and wrap and put ice and heat but rarely they want to help us find the cause of the pain to be able to heal from that. Well, it's how it goes here anyways in the north where population is small. I hope its not like that over there.
Thank you! Let me know if your friend gets any answers and proper help. Perhaps it's something I can bring to light to the health team to give them ideas lol.
Oh it's so frustrating to have ongoing issues you can't get to the bottom of. It must be reassuring at least to get a test. Glad you had a good time in the city regardless - and oops about the towel, funny!
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