2020 Life Logs, Day 166: Day of Dilemmas
Date: Monday, June 15, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 64, Low 52 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today turned out to be a series of dilemmas. The first dilemma was solved early when I figured out how to send a birthday gift to Jo in Puerto Rico. When I tried yesterday, the website said it couldn’t send to her address. But sometime during the night, it dawned on me that I had used the address for USPS, which is how I thought the company shipped. But this morning I read the fine print and found they ship via UPS. I put in the address for that, and it went through immediately. I don’t think it will arrive in time for her birthday, but hopefully it will be there soon. The next dilemma arose when I drove to the U Pick strawberry farm to check out availability for afternoon picking and found out that so many people picked over the weekend that they are closed for picking until next weekend. Bummer. What to do? I drove to the Goldstones and announced that we wouldn’t be picking strawberries. Instead we would go buy a couple of quarts to make a strawberry syrup for them to use in the Soda Stream and that we would spend the afternoon washing cars. Dilemma number 2 solved. We had to move fast to drive Heather’s car to my house to wash it, drive back to their house so I could get my 3:30 call from the neurosurgeon and so that Jonah could have his 4 pm music lesson. The boys cleaned the inside of Heather’s car and checked it off the list and cleaned the inside of the van. We’ll hope to have time tomorrow to wash it on the outside. We are trying to avoid washing cars in their driveway right now as the water all drains down toward the garage doors and the drainage system is blocked. Water is left standing which makes for a bit of a mess, so it is just easier to do the washing at my house for now. The last dilemma today was that the first two wetsuits I ordered for Ollie were TOO SMALL and the third wetsuit that arrived this evening is TOO BIG. I ordered another one tonight, but it was the only one that is available until July. I kept searching and found one wetsuit in a sports store near Boston that looks to be his size. I ordered it for curbside pickup. If I get confirmation by morning, I am going to drive to pick it up. Hopefully that will solve that dilemma.
I did have my online visit with the neurosurgeon this afternoon to go over my MRI results. He says my back is operable due to the severe stenosis in the lower section, but he is not recommending surgery at this time. He thinks the main problem is the herniated disc in the lower lumbar area. But after listening to the chain of events, he feels it might be reabsorbing and healing itself. That’s the best case scenario. He recommends no more physical therapy for few weeks while I continue to take it easy and give the back more time to heal. Right now I am not having the pain. If that is still the case once I finish the current 12-day round of Prednisone, he suggests I then very slowly start walking more and doing a few stretches and strengthening exercises. If the pain returns, however, he suggests I try a cortisone shot. We shall wait and see.
Tomorrow afternoon friend Meghan Hannawalt is bringing her goats to Heather and Jed’s to get rid of some unwanted poison ivy. Depending on timing, I might just hang out at Heather and Jed’s with the boys to watch the goats do their magic. If time allows, we might work in a trip to my house to wash the van. Then tomorrow late afternoon I get together with my dining-in group.
