She went in for a physical shortly before Christmas and there were a few issues that the primary care doctor noticed. She had a spot on her lung, her cholesterol was high, and he heard a sound in her carotid artery (it’s in your neck, thanks Dr. WebMD). Further tests showed that the spot on her lung was nothing to be concerned about (YAY) but she had at least a 50% blockage in her carotid artery and would need to see a vascular surgeon.

That visit was this past week and a subsequent scan showed that the blockage was actually 90-99% and would require a carotid endarterectomy – essentially she is walking around with a 20% chance of stroke. To further complicate things (of course) my Dad asked me to check out which hospital would be better for the surgery…I work at a hospital and have access to co-workers who know these things. Luckily I had a meeting that afternoon with a lady who used to work in one of the hospitals as their legal counsel so when I arrived I explained what type of procedure my Mom was getting. The first words out of her mouth were ‘just tell me it’s not Dr. NAME REDACTED’…at which I checked my iPhone and noted it WAS Dr. NAME REDACTED . She explained when she had been working at this hospital, that doc had his license decredentialed for awhile, had multiple medical board actions, multiple malpractice lawsuits – she had to represent the hospital twice, and a lot of complaints from his patients. She immediately gave me 5 names of other vascular surgeons she knew that were exceptionally good and I called my Dad when the meeting was over. Now they’re working on getting a 2nd visit with a new doc. I don’t think I’ve EVER been so happy to go to my ethics meeting – this information was invaluable and most of it isn’t online (at least in sites to which I have access).

Anyway, we feel better to have a solid referral now but it’s still been a stressful week…and I deal with stress by hibernating. I’ve been asleep by 7 or 8, I wake up at 6 AM exhausted and am a zombie through the workday. I just want everything to happen already.

For YOUR information, because you may not have an opportunity to get personal recommendations from former hospital legal counsels, here are some links my co-worker told me about that can help with research. If you’re in the Tucson area and want specific names just email me and I can tell you all about vascular surgeons.

AZ Medical Board (for other states – there should be something similar if you google):

Joint Commission (find out how hospitals stack up)

Also – several real life people have expressed surprise that my Mom has such a severe blockage, she’s so skinny, she eats healthy foods, exercises daily, doesn’t drink…however she has been a life-long smoker. She quit on January 1, 2010 but those years of smoking add up and can’t be “undone”. So if you smoke please, PLEASE think about the long-term effects. It doesn’t make sense to give yourself a stroke when you’re in your 50′s…plus it will stress your kids out:)

This tradition may have been inspired from when we lived in Puerto Rico. My brother wasn’t born yet but there Three Kings Day is an EVENT. You can visit them and have your picture taken (with a LIVE CAMEL) not unlike Santa. And kids there leave hay out for the camels and the Kings leave gifts in return …no not THOSE kinds of gifts! It’s a shame we didn’t keep that part of the tradition!

In any case, it’s one of my favorite things to do during the holidays and January 6th represents the end of the season to me more than New Year’s Day.

Anyway, as you may remember I make a list of things I want to do around my birthday (in September) which is also a poignant time of year as the end of September is the end of the fiscal year for me and kind of a bigger deal than 12/31 in my day to day life. However I thought I’d make some more generalized resolutions at the beginning of this new decade…so here we go!

10 Resolutions in ’10

1. Be more organized – I’ve already started with the great paper purge of my office in the last week of 2009…I’m terrible with holding on to stuff I MIGHT need and I end up having so much stuff I couldn’t find it if I DID need it! This applies to work and home!

2. Run 400 miles – I’m already 2.1 miles into this! Sadly my running program hit a major snag in Oct with lots of unexpected travel and flu-like illnesses. I’ve finally admitted I won’t be able to run in the Half Marathon I signed up to do (it’s in TWO WEEKS) and as much as the pinchpenny in me hates to waste the nonrefundable sign up fee it’s just not in the cards.

3. Speaking of money – SPEND LESS. We started tracking our spending, down to every transaction, and we’re cutting corners and trying to reduce the useless stuff we spend money on.

4. Pay Down Debt – we could potentially have almost all the revolving debt (including cars) paid off by the end of this year, however I realize things come up like dog surgeries, car repairs, etc. So I want to pay down at least half the debt and if we make it all the way BONUS!

5. One Grocery Trip a Week – this gets it’s own line item because we are HORRIBLE about making multiple trips for 1 more thing, or because we don’t like what we planned for dinner. You know how much this adds up to? A LOT.

6. Spend More Time With Friends – Hey a fun resolution! This past year I made a lot of new friends in real life and via blog/twitter…I even got to meet a bloggy friend in person! So I want to make an effort to keep up with all my friends, no matter what time zone they’re in.

7. See More Movies – We missed so many movies last year (like HARRY POTTER OMG) and there wasn’t a real reason…just got lazy and didn’t want to drive to town to go to the theater! So this year I resolved not to miss out on movies just because of a little 45 minute drive.

8. Home Improvements – I’ve been compiling ideas and samples for awhile and in the two+ years we’ve lived in our house I’ve hung exactly 1 picture and 2 shelves. It’s time to get busy with the decorating.

9. Belle Time – we want to try and walk Belle every day and make sure she’s getting all the attention she needs – sometimes we get home from work and just crash out rather than walking her. Belle deserves a daily constitutional!

10. Continue to improve my health – this is a “project” that started a few years ago when I finally got a Dr. to listen to my concerns about my stomach issues. This past year I’ve finally found relief for my chronic neck/shoulder pain through acupuncture. So in 2010 I want to maintain my health and work on the diet/exercise part (see Resolution #2).

So those are my resolutions, so to speak! Did you make any for 2010?

*For the grammar geeks (MOM) – don’t worry, the apostrophe was removed from the name prior to printing but I don’t have a digital image of the final product!

I LOVE my Clarisonic Brush. Clear skin has been a battle I’ve waged for a long time, and though I’ve forced my adult acne into submission with a deadly combo of prescription creams from my Dermatologist my skin was often dry and conjested. Until this magical brush! The only time my skin has felt this smooth was after a facial, and now I get that feeling twice a day. It’s addicting. My Mom actually tried out the brush on our wedding dress shopping trip to Scottsdale and loved it.

Even though her birthday is today, we’re actually celebrating tomorrow night with a steak dinner. And her new Clarisonic Brush!

How did YOU celebrate Oprah’s birthday today?

One of my favorite magazines, and definitely my favorite home decor magazine, is closing! I started reading Domino when they first began and just recently got a subscription for my Mom (OK, it was free with my renewal…but still!) This is my home decorating bible, and I just had to deal with Blueprint closing about a year ago.

Crazy! I mean, this is a SMALL town. At this point probably every citizen has either been a victim or is related to a victim. I’m not so sure an increased neighbor-hood watch association is really the answer.

I had a few holdover goals from the 1st week in addition to my 2nd week of goals:

1. Invitations – I submitted the order form and we received the contract today! I ALSO contacted the calligrapher and got information on her regarding timing, etc. So I plan to review the contract tomorrow and get that deposit in – we should have the invitation and calligraphied envelopes by mid to end of February.
2. Hair Trial – this will be a pending item for this week. In my defense I DID try to call the spa and didn’t get an answer so I’ll try again this week.
3. However I did succeed in making color/cut hair appointments for my Mom and me at my salon in Scottsdale for mid February. Still need to call the bridal salon and make a quick appointment to try on veils, etc. And maybe visit my dress:)
4. Organize inspirational photos of flowers/tablescapes…also pending! I should have more free time this weekend and hope to get that organized so I can set up a few meetings with florists and party-rental type places.

BONUS GOAL ACHIEVED:
1. I contacted and am in the process of meeting with a makeup artist.
2. I met with the wedding planner and the chef and he has made up a menu that is both delicious and safe for me to eat! I just received the initial sample menu today and will be reviewing that this week as well.

Goals for this week:
1. Take action on all the ‘pending’ items and GET ORGANIZED!

Anyone have any wedding planning advice? Did you find the knot checklists useful? (I find them annoying!)

I did make some resolutions this year. I don’t do this every year, or just limit my ‘goal’ making activities to once per year but there were some things I came up with and it seemed like a good time to implement a few…especially as they hadn’t made it on to my 30 by 31 list back in Sep:)

1. Stop drinking soda for a year. I actually got this idea from Dr. Oz when he was on Oprah and Bill and I both decided to challenge ourselves to give up Diet Coke and all other forms of soda for 2009. So far so good!

2. Floss my teeth every night. I “resolve” to do this after every trip to the dentist but that’s just because the hygienist made me feel guilty about my flossing habits. This time I’m challenging myself! I’ve forgotten a few nights but overall flossing activity is at an all time high!

3. Go around and talk to all the employees every morning. This is a ‘work’ resolution…and while it seems like a no-brainer I’m the type of person who likes to sit down and see what my email holds for me right away. And once I do that there’s no hope of me going around and saying ‘hello’. So even if it takes half an hour or longer I’ve managed to do this each morning since I began (it was a mid-month resolution).

So those are just a few small things I’ve been doing, really trying to change some bad habits (soda consumption) and start some good ones (tooth decay prevention and workplace happiness).

However I feel like I’ve plateaued, so as of this week I am increasing my Crossfit workouts to 3-4 a week and will start doing the Jillian Michaels “Shred” on the off days. I had just been going twice a week the past 3 weeks because of other commitments, meetings, working late, etc but it’s time to put my health first again.

I’ve also become lax in my diet. Now I haven’t started eating cupcakes or McDonalds but I HAVE been indulging in potato chips and my ‘special’ cookies to an extreme. This needs to stop, just because I’m not allergic doesn’t mean I get to eat it! At least until I reach my goals…which I’m about 7 lbs away from. So in addition to continuing my hypoallergenic diet I’m going to start utilizing the Zone method to balance the number of proteins/carbohydrates/fats. This also means no more cookies, even if they are soy/gluten/dairy/egg-free

The Zone diet is what the trainers at my gym recommend. I’m using information from The Crossfit Journal (Issue 21) and the Zone website to get started. In fact there are some handy journal printouts on the website I’m going to use. Tomorrow after my workout I’m going to go by Bed Bath & Beyond to pick up a food scale as well and plan on officially starting the Zone diet this Sunday.

I will include a small recap each day of the food I ate for the day. I am going to start with 11 blocks and see how that plus my increased workouts affect my weight after 2 weeks. If I can get down to my goal weight then I’ll probably loosen up on the regimen (i.e. not weigh each protein and measure each cup of grapes) but try to maintain the balance of protein/carbs/fats they recommend.

Has anyone here done the Zone diet? Or read the book?