Epic Punch Biopsy

For anyone who has had a sebaceous cyst before, they are rather uncomfortable, for those of you who haven't a sebaceous cyst is a blocked gland under the skin's surface that can't drain. I used to have a pair that resembled little horns; one on the left and the other on the right side of my head. It was an extremely appealing characteristic of mine. =)

So about 5 years ago I had one removed cause it rubbed on my kayaking and hockey helmets. No problems! Doctor did a great job, had a few stitches for a week and then I was off to play. A year later it came back, maybe because a portion was left behind the year before, hard to know for sure. A resident doctor removed it that time and my doctor gave play by play commentary, it was rather interesting; I was only missing the video feed.

This fall after my kayaking bender it was time to remove the other one. Smartly I thought let's do it in between kayaking and hockey seasons. So into the doctor's office I went (same one as before), but instead of a scalpel she decided it would be better to do a punch biopsy. It's like the equivalent of taking an itty bitty cookie cutter to my head with my scalp being the dough. I'll admit, it's not my favourite sensation. But you know, medical technology is always progressing... well supposedly. I inspected the alleged cyst they removed and I couldn't see it, I said, "it's pretty small to be causing all that kerfuffle." To which they agreed and I started having deep philisophical thoughts about my seeming oversensitive hyperchondriac reaction to a bump in my head.

Well because it was a punch biopsy I had to leave the stitches in for 2 weeks. Come week 2 I went to get the stitches out and finally touched my head... you'll guess immediately what I found!!! They cyst!!! The target cyst was missed by 5mm. =( Of course I'm annoyed, but think I should go back to my doctor and let her know the problem.

Of course, she reassured me that they had in fact removed a cyst last time. Fine, I'm thinking, but I asked you to remove this other one. So a bigger punch was used this time. I just about spoke up to say that I thought perhaps the punch was not the most appropriate method, but really, my medical skills involve polysporin and bandaids. And really, how could they miss the cyst a second time?

So on with the procedure. I saw the cyst this time, and it was smaller than I expected, but it was there. They stitched me up, I was happy, and off I went. Two weeks later I am in Fond du Lac, SK about to get my stitches out and I feel my head again... WHAT THE HECK!!!! The cyst is still there, granted there is a little nick missing from it, but it's still there!!! How can this be possible? Even the nurse practitioner was dumbfounded. I'm concerned that I may soon be balding with all these punch biopsies!

As I am travelling all this week and on the suggestion of the nurse practitioner I went into the Stony hospital the next morning before my meeting to have it removed by a different doctor. After a 20 minute check in and a meander to the emerg section I got to sit in the waiting room for 2 minutes before being ushered to a bed. I gave the nurse a rundown of my purpose in Stony, the paramedic took my blood pressure, and the doctor asked about my case history.

Now we're ready, the doctor marks the cyst with a pen, shaves part of my hair off... it will grow back right??... and we begin again. The doctor was nice enough to comment that it wasn't that big and I felt a little silly making such a fuss, but really I like my kayaking helmet. So he cuts my head open and I hear a surprised remark, "oh this is a bit bigger than I expected". Well I saw the cyst and I am very disillusioned with my doctor - how could she possibly have missed the cyst? I now have a dint in my head and feel confident that it is gone. =)

And hopefully now, my helmet will fit my hornless head better. =)

A Dating Faux Pas

I love kayaking. We all know that though by my frequent drops off the earth. Now, if I date someone, I think I'd like them to kayak too. It's only logical or we would never see each other. Well I am not dating anyone in particular right now, but I am taking time to get to know a few men better...

Well two of them agreed without any hesitation to take a kayaking clinic... they both signed up for mine... oops #1. Solution - thankfully I convinced one to join another clinic.

Every week we have a kayaking session where members can come a practice or socialize. This week, three of them will be showing up... oops # 2. Solution - I tried to get one of them to come to a Monday session where I will be running an intro session for a few students... he's going to the shooting range with his dad that night. Sigh.

I would like you all to keep me in your thoughts and no need to comment on reasons why I might be single still. =P

I hope you enjoy the irony of my situation as much as I do. TTFN

Corn in Pots

Well, I completed my first year of growing corn in pots. I even chose a short season corn and what do I have to show... senescing corn. They looked pretty when they were green, but now they are not. Didn't even get one ear of corn. Oh sigh.

Next year I will grow sunflowers in the pots. I think they will be happier. The corn I discovered is high maintenance, needs fertilizer, and water. I know water!!! Just kidding, I did water the corn, but I did not fertilize.

In fact, I still have to bring in the garden!!! I was going to do it this week, but now I'm travelling to Stony Rapids. I know, you're all surprised to hear I am travelling for work. Trust me I was surprised too. I have not travelled since February. Should be a good trip. Just getting everything together. Thankfully I didn't make any plans so I didn't have to bump anyone. =)

Watches

I finally bought myself a new watch at Superstore so that I would not get out of bed too early when I am camping... well I know this sounds odd, but I try to sleep in on camping weekends... but sometimes I wake up at weird hours 12:31, 3:22am, 4:08am... etc. and sometimes when there is no cell phone reception my cell phone dies or loses time... well my old cell phone. I bought a used phone on kijiji - new for me and it's great!! I can put it in airplane mode and it won't keep looking for a signal so the battery lasts and even though it doesn't have reception, it keeps time!! Hurray.

Back to the watch... Well water resistant definitely does not mean waterproof. So when I took my watch on the river as a good kayak leader should... although it seemed to work well on the first day, I am afraid that my upsteam lean lead to some serious underwater time and my watch face is now filled with a solid layer of condensation.

I am hoping that our dry Alberta climate will suck the moisture out of if quickly. =)

Sweet dreams.

State of Mind

I was looking through some photos from 1999 and I saw pictures of me learning to kayak and holding my neice as a baby... I had no grey hair!!!!

Why is this important you ask... here's how last Friday went down... (can someone remind me I have soup on upstairs???)

Friday morning I woke up with one goal on my mind - do yoga! As I was contemplating yoga my sister called so we had to chat for a bit... then I had to call my mom to say hello... an hour has now passed. Next I thought I'd best eat before yoga cause I was hungry. I walked downstairs and promptly went outside to check on my freshly planted Saskatoon berry shrubs. They look good, but need a bit of a soil top up. Then I walked around the yard and noticed that the raspberries needed to be picked... I thought I had time for raspberries before yoga. I walked into the house for a bowl and yes, I did pick raspberries... then saw that there were some peas... oh and a zucchini... might as well pull some weeds while I'm out I thought.

Then into the house I meandered. I had promised a friend and myself to make banana muffins for the folk festival that night and it was already 10:30ish... I think... I checked my email and then decided to make the muffins before yoga because they would take 20 minutes to bake... I could do yoga while they were baking. So I started making muffins. I was pretty hungry but then I chose not to take a break as I would have to test the muffins and they could be my breakfast. The first batch of muffins go into the oven and I realize that I only have one stoneware muffin pan... sigh. I make a loaf out of the remaining batter form batch #1. That's right I made two batches with different fill. =) YUM!!!

I ended up deciding that I had to eat som raspberries and whipped cream... or was it ice cream... might have been both. So I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV instead of doing yoga while the muffins baked. But really, They were the first batch and needed to be watched.

I put the banana bread loaf in and check the time... 11:30... I'm supposed to be at a friend's house at 1:30... it is highly unlikely in my current state of mind that I will get there. I called and thankfully Natlaie was pretty flexible with her plans... it was decided I would arrive at 2:30 instead. I finished my muffins and my thoughts returned to yoga. It was best for me to get all my folk festival stuff together so I was ready to go and then I would do yoga.

Suddenly, it was 1:45 and I had to go but I hadn't done yoga!!! ... oh well, I showered, changed and loaded up the car. I arrived at Natalie's house at 3:00... =)

It was a good day, and at least I put my yoga clothes on. Now I have to go check that soup. I really hope it turns out.

Green Thumb

I have really good news about my gardens! I have a plan for revamping the front yard that involves no grass! The neighbours are very interested, now I just need to price it out. I want to do a combination of paving stones with ground cover, like thyme. I'm very excited... but I think it's a next summer project.

My current project is to mow the grass... sigh... my flatmate who has been doing it this summer is away working in the field... good for him, bad for me. I won't mow it today cause I am home sick, but perhaps later this week.

I have good news about the dead shrubs in the front yard. My flatmate cut down the mostly dead tree and dug up the root ball, wire mesh and all!!! So I planted an Evan's Cherry tree! So far, it is still green. We had to meet the waste removal specialist and put the root ball in his truck because it was too heavy. I thought these specialists were supposed to be really strong!!??

In the back yard, some of you may already know, I had to dig up some of my yard and edging to erect a garden shed last fall. Well the garden shed is doing well, the dug up yard became a haven for weeds... so over my holidays a couple of weeks ago (I know, my blog should have been my first priority) I dug up more lawn... oh right, I aslo dug up lawn and edging earlier this summer so I could put in my corn pots. I found corn requires lots of fertilizer, so although they look good, if I don't fertilize them soon I'm not sure I'll have any corn. I want to use my worm compost, and I have some, it just needs to be extracted from the worm bin. Anyways, you can imagine the yard... smooth lawn and mulch with rubber edging sticking out at various intervals. =) So I dug out the lawn to reform it and put the edging back, I was going to leave the edging out, but really, then the grass roots would spread faster and that would mean more work. Now all that remains to to lay newspaper and wood mulch.

Oh and you may remember all that topsoil I had for give away last year!?! I kept some for my front yard plans that are still just a pipe dream... but they are getting closer, I have gathered numerous rocks for my rock garden wall... a few more trips to friends' farms and I should be good. Anyways, the topsoil was left under a tarp in my back yard as a temporary measure because it was covering the planned location of three saskatoon berry shrubs. Well over my holidays another accomplishment was to move the remaining dirt into roughneck rubbermaid containers... well I underestimated the amount of soil that was left and ended up scrounging bins... 9 in total!!! I used 3.75 to fix the lawn I dug up... that leaves 5.25 for the front yard. But the point is! I was able to plant the remaining three saskatoon berry shrubs and they are very happy... though I suppose I need to check on them. I am happy the shrubs are planted and the soil contained... I now have a number of not very decorative bins in the back yard that are too heavy to move. =)

Earth to Nicole

I received a few very encouraging emails over the last month inquiring, "What the heck is your problem Nicole!? Update your blog! No email, no blog, no phone call! Where are you and what are you doing?" Thank you for caring. =)

Since my last blog I started kayaking every weekend, except for two because I was really tired and had to do some yardwork and watch TV. Paddling has been wonderful this summer. I decided that it was about time I start challenging myself and paddling new rivers and playing on the river even if it meant I might have to roll or swim. I didn't end up swimming, but my roll is getting better. =) I'm having difficulties grasping the concept of don't lean upstream. My friend Brace told me it's a fundamental principle of physics... but really I think I didn't take physics after high school so one can't expect that to be common knowledge. hee hee.

My current favourite rivers that I want to run again are the Sheep River by Turner Valley and the Mistaya River by Saskatchewan Crossing (hwy 93 and 11). Now I hear you are supposed to run the Sheep and Mistaya in a big boat, but I only have my playboat... it just means I should check the water level... I think. =) If I can't paddle them again this summer, they'll be top of my list next year.

Here is a picture of me goofing off posing on my boat for a photo... when I tipped over. =)