'Cause it's so much easier to handle, All my problems if I'm too far out to sea

HAPPY NEWS

We got Koz's biopsy results back and he ONLY has a stomach infection and inflammatory bowel disease. While this does not sound great it is what we expected and is not cancer or anything else that would require surgery. I am going back next week b/c he will have to go on some new meds and I will meet with the vet (she emailed me the results yesterday) and get all the details. Needless to say we are all very happy and glad that our little bubba does not have anything life threatening going on!

I am still MAJORLY lacking motivation to get to the gym. I am working longer hours now which raises my appreciation for those of you who work full time and get TRI training in. I am having trouble getting any training in. I think that we discovered a bit of a solution this morning. There is a facility across the street from us called the Brainerd Crossroads (BX) that is part of the Baptist Church that is near our house. We went in and checked it out today and the facility is really nice. They open at 6:00, so I am thinking I might start trying to get there at 6 and getting 30 minutes of cardio in on the elliptical and then in the evenings I can swim or lift weights at the gym. This is such an easy decision because the church has decided to make the BX fitness area part of their ministry and instead of $300 a year, starting August 1st they will be charging $25 a year!

There is also a little coffee shop on the first floor that I could visit on my way out!



My knee is feeling 100% better. There can be no conclusions drawn though b/c I have had NO activity, as opposed to activity other than running, to test it.


My song today is Don't Go Back To Rockville by REM because I learned who the song is about on Friday. Apparently Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs) are friends and he is singing about her in this song. Apparently she was struggling at the beginning of her career and wanted to "go back to Rockville" Maryland. Pretty cool, huh? It is amazing who ends up being big a music buff, and I never knew it

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Take Care
Molly

Don't go back to Rockville,
don't go back to Rockville, don't go back to Rockville
And waste another year (REM)

Maybe we can sleep in, make you banana pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend now

I have been "diagnosed" as a people pleaser. Meaning that instead of expressing my own interests I will conform to the interest around me in order to confirm. Well, it is funny that I actually feel bad about the following post. You see, I made the Banana Republic order and I don't want those of you who offered an opinion to "feel bad" (my therapist calls this awfulizing...that I expect the worst before it happens, usually to an unrealistic extent) that I did not follow your suggestion. Enough blabbering...here are the results:

Things are going well at work, staying busy which keeps my mind moving and not worrying...all good!

On the sadder side of things I am still a sack of lazy bones...

Take Care!

Molly

But the telephone singing

ringing it's too early

don't pick it up

we don't need to we got everything

we need right here

and everything we need is enough

just so easy

when the whole world fits inside of your arms

do we really need to pay attention to the alarm? (Jack Johnson)

Am I right side up or upside down, and is this real, or am I dreaming?

When you walk into a bathroom and catch someone you work with standing on one leg making sure that she can still touch her finger to the tip of her nose...smile and walk on into the stall. She is just having a panic attack and trying to convince herself she is not about to die.

Whew...it was a bad day! Not sure what brought it on...I was panic stricken all day, convinced I had found an indention in my skull, which of course meant that I am about to die of a brain aneurysm. The good part was that I was SO busy that I had no choice but to push through (with a lot of little bathroom breaks!).

I do not have time to go to the mall and was disappointed to find that Express and The Limited do not have online stores! So, off with the Banana I go...which ones do you all like, I can to get three of these, please help me decide!:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

No excuses guys, I want to hear from you too!

Still no exercise...I feel like it too! I feel like a big ball of blah. I hope to get to the gym tomorrow. I will be ordering a size up on these shirts before too long!

Take Care
Molly

Its crazy, I'm thinking, just knowing that the world is round.
I'm here I'm dancing on the ground. (DMB)

Who's that lounging in my chair

Updates and Random Stuff:

Koz is doing a lot better. He seems to be getting his spark back. Still no biopsy results. I hope that we will know something early next week.

I have a plan for my knee. I am going to be really busy between now and November. So, what I plan to do is stick to the elliptical, bike and swimming through November and then try running again. If the knee pain returns once I start running again I'll go get a second opinion and see if I can find a Doc who will tell me what I should do. I am getting increasingly frustrated with the way the first doc left things...I feel like I paid $300 for an MRI and no answers!

On the same front it is time that I get moving. And to once again keep myself accountable I am going to post my workouts on a regular basis. I won't have any exciting charts or stats...but, the goal is to keep my aerobic level high so when I get back to running I won't have that hurdle to overcome.

I need to get some new tops for the new responsibilities that I am taking on with my job.I am a huge banana republic girl and I have found three tops from there that I really like. But, I want to step outside the Banana Republic box a little. Any of you ladies have any ideas for dressy, but a little different, work shirts?

I have a new favorite "cheap" wine. It is an R.H. Phillips Chardonnay. It is so nice and light but good (don't know ant fancy wine words for it). I would recommend giving it a try!

I am having family at the house tomorrow night. This is the first time this group has been together in a while so, my friend Matt is coming over to take some pictures. The work is done on the front of the house and it looks a lot better. In addition to trimming the trees we added three hostas, a knockout rose, a hydrangea and a bunch of black eyed susan's and purple cone flowers! I am going to get some hanging baskets in the morning to put the icing on the cake!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts about Koz and my knee situation.

Take Care

Molly

Who's that casting devious stares

In my direction

Mama this surely is a dream (Macy Playground)

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life

The Koz

Koz is sleeping soundly next to me as I write this. My bubba has had a tough couple of days. His lack of energy, poor eating habits and NASTY poops led us to decide, on Sunday, that he should get a scope done on his colon. We have been dealing with, and treating, these symptoms, for so long it is about time that we get a diagnosis. So, on Sunday we left him at the River Animal Hospital, expecting the procedure to happen Monday morning and we would pick him up Monday afternoon. Well, the internal medicine specialist, whom I have gotten to know well and really like, was not able to fit the procedure into her schedule until late Monday evening and she wanted Koz to spend another night, after the procedure, to be observed. I talked to the vet when I picked Koz up today at noon and she said that she could see in the scope that his small intestine and colon are very inflamed. Right now there are no answers beyond that, we have to wait until the biopsy results come back. He seems very happy to be home and has only woken up a couple of times.

The Knee

I never thought that I would walk out of the doctor's office with too many answers. Basically the MRI showed a tear in my medial meniscus, but the person (is that a radiologist?) who read it was not sure how severe. He also noted that my patella tendon had wear to it too and there is bono on bone action going on there. My Doc felt that this had more to do with overuse than an injury. He also noted that I have a lot of scar tissue from where the original meniscus surgery was done. From here it got pretty crazy. Basically, I have a decision to make. Do I want to keep running and have a scope done? Do I want to quit running and see if my symptoms improve? Do I want to get the scope and quit running to prolong the health of my knee? The Doc wants me to go for a run today or tomorrow and see how it goes; if there is pain, how much pain there is, where there is pain....and get back to him. I have no idea where we really left it. I learned an important lesson though, I am not going into that office again without someone else with me...At this point, I guess I will go for a run tomorrow and see how it goes!

Take Care

Molly

No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change,

but I'm here in my mold,

I am here with my mold

And I'm a million different people from one day to the next

I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no (The Verve)

You're faking a smile with the coffee you go

Yesterday was a pretty emotional day and I have to say that I am not ready to post about it yet. The short version is that the Tri was VERY hard to watch because I wanted to be participating SO bad. Then, as we were sitting down to get a bite afterwards I got a call from Scott that he was taking Koz to the emergency vet. He is getting some pretty extensive testing done today. More on that later too.

The picture above is a T Shirt that I had made for our team. I still feel guilty about being the reason that we did not participate. I thought it would be fun if we still felt like a team.

I get my MRI results back tomorrow afternoon. I just hope that there is a happy ending to all this knee mess coming sometime soon!

Take Care
Molly

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong (Daniel Powter)

I sit at my table and wage war on myself

This has been an interesting week.

Dr Matthews asked me to take it easy on my knee until my MRI yesterday. I now think that exercise is once again tattooed into my psyche b/c this week, with no exercise, did not feel good. I am looking forward to my appointment on Tuesday, where I will find out the plan for the future.

Wednesday Momma, Kim and I ate lunch at the Boathouse, overlooking the river that Momma would swim in, and decided that the team would not participate without me this year. We are all going to get together tomorrow morning and watch the Waterfront Triathlon and get the experience we need to kick some butt next year!

Thursday was a quite day at the office and then Scott and I went to a cocktail hour with his Leadership Chattanooga classmates. We went to a tapas place in town called Terra Nostra. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet some folks that I have not met before and we both had a great time. I had some pear walnut quesadilias and a piece of chocolate raspberry cake. Scott was so into talking to his buddies (and not liking the fact that tapas are expensive little bits of food) he ended up getting a sack full of Krystals on the way home.


Yesterday was my MRI. I have not done that since 2000 and I forgot how much I hate it. The idea of laying still is bad enough, add the noise and the fact that you are in a tube just sucks! I hated it! After I left the MRI I got a call about a new opportunity that totally flabbergasted me. I am very excited and can't wait to tell you more soon!

Last night Scott and I planned on cooking another one of the My Family Dinners that I made last week and ended up at our neighbors b/c they already had some coals going. We ended up hanging out with them a while and I made a BAD mistake. Folks, having a mango margarita (or two) after two glasses of wine is NOT a good idea! It was a really fun evening. I am just paying for it at the moment!

Today a friend of mine from High School is coming into town and we are going to hang out and catch up. Tonight we are heading to Kate's house for her third birthday with her little friends. She is doing a (pretend) sleepover party. They are all to wear their pajamas and are going to do all sorts of "big girl" things!


I promise to take and post a lot of pictures tomorrow. Maybe it will entice some of you to add the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri to your race list next year!

Take Care
Molly

I demand a rematch
I decree a stalemate
I divine my deeper motives
I recognize the weapons
I've practiced them well.
I fitted them myself. (REM)