Turtle Speed

It is mid-afternoon and I haven't moved off my rock all day. Waiting for some sunshine but the earth around me is being watered today. This pic is of little feller I bought at the farmers' market last year.

I guess today was meant to be my recharge day. I anticipated a busy day but the friend I've been helping this week didn't need me today, the handyman who was scheduled to come today had a family emergency and I missed the phone call for lunch with a friend until it was too late. So I read blogs, thought about all the quilting and life events going on in every one's life and took a nap.

I've been very upset with a doctor who jumped to a conclusion that was wrong and caused so many people so much heartache. I can't believe he did it. My friend had a cancerous mass removed from her parotid gland 18 months ago. Due to her other health conditions, she decided not to take the option of radiation. The mass has not grown or spread. Then she got a rapidly growing mass in her other parotid gland. The MRI before surgery showed no other masses so everyone anticipated this was the same type cancer as she had before. After the operation, the surgeon told the family, and later my friend, that it was not the same type of cancer but a much more rapid growing and serious type. He told them if she didn't take radiation she would be dead in three months. I could not believe he had said that. Might say it looked very serious and he thought it was worse than her previous cancer, but to say "three months" was way out of bounds. Anyway, a week later my friend goes back to get stitches out and see the biopsy report. Guess what? It was the same type mass as her first one - not the more serious one he "guessed" it was. The doctor apologized for what he had said but.... Now they will do many more scans and doctors in the specialized cancer center will tell her what options she has. She feels good but due to the trauma of the surgery, the left side of her face is temporarily paralyzed. Tests showed no permanent nerve damage so just will need time to heal. The worst part is her eye that won't close. And just after the surgery she scrapped it. So along with her other friends, I have been treating it and changing bandages to keep the eye shut. Her incision is healing nicely. It goes all around the lower part of her ear and down her neck some. Any scar will not be noticeable. Oh, by the way this doctor was not some small town guy but a high status one at a major medical center. So lesson to anyone reading this - ask questions and get second opinions.

Have you ever had a floater in your eye? For the first time, I did this week. I thought I saw a fly or bug by my chair but nothing was there. Finally figured it out. I got it checked out and no sign of detached retina - just aging process. Oh, me.