It's almost Winter Solstice...

...wow....how did that happen?

Thursday was all about doctors.  I managed to get my orthopedic doctor appointment on the same day as my monthly trip to the cancer clinic.

My appointment with the orthopedic doc went well enough, I guess.  He said that it's impossible to determine if the cause of my "triggering joints" is work related or cancer treatment related, so he recommended against filing work comp.

He offered to do cortisone injections right then and there, but I didn't yet have permission from the oncologist to receive any kind of additional treatment, so I had to wait.

The great thing was that the ortho said I could come back later the same day if the oncologist said yes, since I was headed to the oncologist next!

I have been in so much discomfort that I was VERY happy to hear that offer!

So, I saw the ortho at 1:30, then went to my oncology nurse visit at 3, got my port flushed with my lab draw, had my usual monthly injections, and the nurse texted the doc, who was off on Thursday, and got permission for me to go back to the ortho and get cortisone shots!

(I was a pin cushion on Thursday...port access plus 5 injections...gah)

They did one at the base of my right thumb (that one hurt the worst), and one in my left wrist.

They seem to have helped.

The issues with the left wrist are MUCH improved, and the right thumb is somewhat improved.... to the point that I did chores and laundry all day yesterday, and had very little discomfort for the first time in months.

The ortho said that if the shots don't work, the only other option in surgery.  I tend to disagree with that, but we will just wait and see.

In other news, this coming week will be a three day work week for us.  I am looking forward to that.

I don't know if I posted anything here about the ridiculous policy at my work place regarding being allowed to use our days off....but, be that as it may, I DO have an extra day off this week, so that I can actually celebrate both of my holidays.

I've never taken a day off for Solstice before, and I am very happy to have wrangled it out of my employer.
(Here's the nut shell version, I had requested-- and been approved-- to take Dec. 22nd off back in MAY.
They revoked that approval at the end of Sept., based on a policy that states that we can only take THREE extra days off around ONE of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year holidays.

I already had my ONE day off for our trip at Thanksgiving, which I had scheduled last year, and somehow, they decided that the ONE extra day at Thanksgiving equated the limit of THREE extra days, and so they revoked my ONE day at Christmas.

They said it was revoked and under review, because I had taken a day at Thanksgiving.  They said they might re-approve it, but that I would have to wait and see.

I suggested that the policy then be re-written, if the REAL rule is that you can't take ANY days at one holiday, and expect to be allowed to take ANY days at another.

They did not re-write the policy, and just said they would let me know later if my December date had been re-approved.
They made me wait until November to find out if I was going to get it back, and I had to ASK, because it had been forgotten about.  ALL of this after praising me for my work ethic, my superior attendance, and my lack of abuse of the time off policies.  Yeah.)

We are having very cold weather for Oklahoma this weekend, but by Solstice night, it should be good weather to have a fire in the chiminea.

Since I don't have to get up at 5:45 the morning after the longest night, I can actually stay up and celebrate it in the way that usually only happens if Yule falls on a weekend.  It will be nice to stay up far into the longest night.

Then, we are getting our ducts cleaned on the 22nd...how festive!

Our Swiss friends are coming for Christmas Eve dinner to help us eat the ham.  That will be nice.

Happy holidays, gentle readers!