Doctor

Sorry for skipping yesterday; I’ve had a few interrupted nights, and yesterday I just could not keep my eyes open after 1pm!  Thankfully my 3pm appointment cancelled early, so I went off to sleep, which helped a little, but it did mean that I was knocked out when I would normally have been updating here!  Jerry has now decided that he needs to sleep touching me, and he tries hard to burrow under me.  He’s been banned (it hurts) so instead he cuddles next to me and pats me on the tummy until he falls asleep; he’ll then startle himself awake, shake off, and climb on my belly to settle back down.  I move him, but he just rebounds… today he was a bit naughty and jumped out of the car in the grocery parking lot, wouldn’t come when called, and danced around just out of reach until he deigned to get back in the car, looking very proud of himself!  Luckily he stayed out of the driveway, and just barked loudly in the cart return area.  He climbed on Don’s lap (he was driving) and sat there looking smug.  (Don’t tell me that dogs can’t communicate!). Don’s been dealing with insomnia for a few days, and today mentioned that his gout has flared up again, so walking is very painful and unsteady.  The smoke haze has returned, complete with smell although the air quality is still not too bad.

We had a family doctor appointment today.  Thankfully Don likes the doctor, so he’s not giving as much trouble to go to appointments as he normally would!  Of course, it would be preferable if he did the tests in a timely fashion, but let’s not ask for too many changes all at once!  Anyway, the doctor was super polite in explaining to him that some of his issues are age-related (essentially that he’s old) and treated the non-old issues.  In my case, I’ve been referred to get an X-ray and ultrasound of my arm and shoulder, and for physiotherapy.  That was amusing; he sent in the referral, and before I got home from the doctor, they’d called and left a voicemail to try to schedule my first appointment.  The hiccup was that when I called back the number, it was a central help desk who referred me to their office in Montreal!  (They’ve got about 20 locations in Ottawa, so I don’t know why I got sent there.)  We’ll sort it out and eventually find my referral.

You know how TV shows have this warning about “mature language” that pops up?  I was first surprised when that showed up on a cooking show, not hosted by Gordon Ramsay! I listened to it, and came to the conclusion that perhaps preparing a chicken and using knives was probably “mature,” but I don’t know.  Disney now has those warnings at the start of many of its classic movies, with the notation that there were inappropriate and unacceptable racial stereotypes portrayed, but they’re continuing to show the movies in the hope of sparking open dialogue and effecting change.  I agree with that approach, rather than simply censoring the content.  Classic cartoons (like Looney Tunes) contain a warning of “cartoon violence” and I’ve seen some older comic books updated to remove the guns from villain’s hands, while they’re left looking like there’s something obviously missing.  Censorship is really a bane on civilization.   Someone had done a video where they opted to censor out words like “snow” and “frozen” and given that the normal practice is to blank out swear words, it led to some interesting readings of a children’s song!  In that line, I was dumbfounded to realize recently that a religious channel (of all possible choices) has opted to bleep out words like “God,” “Jesus,” “Bible” and other such words.  So when I’m watching a movie and “OMG” becomes “Oh my <bleep>” my mind fills in other words.  It’s utterly ridiculous, IMO, to do that.  Plus a number of other innocuous words that are used are added to the list, so watching some older shows, and suddenly men’s names are bleeped out, pets cease to exist and other such nonsense.  I don’t understand the logic behind this, I really don’t.  

Can’t we be adults?  I’m really gobsmacked (I’m unpacking some older words to express my feelings) that grown adults can’t hear the word “Dick,” without clutching their pearls and swooning.  Given the huge number of “kids swearing” videos that people have sent me, I find it hard to imagine that they’re not hearing the words you’re trying to block out.  Wouldn’t it be preferable to explain that some language is unkind, harsh or otherwise inappropriate and should not be used?  But blocking them just leads to trying to get a reaction.  I remember in French class (I was an adult at the time) when a student learnt the French for “seal” (le phoque) and kept chanting it.  She was in her late 30s, possibly 40s, and still had that stupid childish reaction; another student got flustered about “inappropriate language” and covered her ears.  Now, that might seem extreme, but really… just grow up!

I’m off to eat my pre-chemo meal, and hopefully be able to avoid a late-night snack.  Food, sadly, still has no taste, so I’m eating almost robotically and trying not to develop a dislike of anything.  I’m hoping that this phase is winding down, so I can be ready to enjoy my birthday dinner!  It would be sad if I can’t.  The boys are both dozing on the sofa, so I’m enjoying a puppy-free lap!  Good night!