Tuesday wrap-up

*First of all: It's Pancake Day! It's Pancake Day! It's P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Pancake Day!

A friend who lives in the UK reposted this on Bluesky. I had never seen it, now I kind of would like to see the (short) series of Maid Marian and Her Merry Man, it sounds funny.

And fans of Red Dwarf just might recognize Danny John-Jules (the singer dressed in medieval Rasta style) as "The Cat" from that show.

And yeah, it is Pancake Day. In the tradition closest to mine (British Isles Protestant Christianity) that's the day for Shrove Tuesday - not Mardi Gras, not Pączki Day (though those were common where I grew up; there were a fair few Polish immigrants there).

So most years, I make pancakes. I wasn't sure I had the energy after the appointment this afternoon (more about that later), but I ultimately did.

I used the recipe in the Paddington Cook Book my friend Lynn gave me for my birthday (? IIRC) a couple years back. I had to kind of fudge things; they ask for weights rather than measures and I didn't think to tare the cup I use to measure flour before filling it so I guessed. They came out fine, though.

They're very simple - more like crepes than the leavened American pancake - just flour, eggs, milk, and a little butter (and then fried in a lot of butter - you have to have the pan well greased or they're hard to turn. 

***

The appointment went fine. Nothing conclusive until after the MRI; the doctor seemed to doubt there was ligament damage (he pressed hard all around my knee, and since there was no pain, he figured there was nothing ruptured). He is concerned there might be cartilage involvement. Of course I'm hoping there is not but I think there are treatments to try BEFORE surgery. (if I have to have surgery, I very much want to postpone it until summer, when the couple weeks' downtime will be less horrible)

At least he didn't gasp or go "OMG you have to get this fixed NOW" or anything like that.

I will say getting to the appointment is weird and complicated and I wonder if it's a legacy of pandemic times and distancing - you go to the check in place (ground floor) first and, as a new patient, I had to fill out approximately 80 pages of background information, and then wait a bit - this was reception for several clinics, including (apparently) an obstetrics one (several women with small babies in carriers). Then you get told it's "time" for you to go up, and you take an elevator to the third floor, and you wind up the only person in the waiting room. You ring a bell, and then a nurse comes and lets you in to the warren of rooms. 

I didn't get weighed. I was expecting to, and get a finger wagged in my face for being heavy, because that's often been my experience at doctors' offices. (Ah, if weight loss could be achieved by shaming, far more of us would be slender). He was quite pleasant, in fact, and answered the questions I had written down ahead of time (I get intimidated in doctors' offices and often forget to ask questions I want answered).

The biggest one: it is fine for me to take stairs, so I can stop using the campus handicap parking tag. Which simplifies things: a shorter walk (even with the stairs) to my office, and I can just drop it off at the police station a day or so before it expires (I'll keep it tomorrow and Thursday in case I'm tired and don't want to navigate stairs). 

I did take them this afternoon when I had to go back to get the exams I forgot to carry home with me (I was anxious about the appointment) and it went fine and hurt less than the long walk down the halls of hard floors. And who knows, maybe the stairs will help strengthen the injured leg. I really only have to navigate them twice a day (once up, once down when I am going home) so I don't think I will overdo it.)

I still have SOME pain but it's far less than even a couple days ago; I hope that means I'm approaching fully healed and won't need anything else done. 

He also recommended "good, supportive shoes with an arch" so I guess I'm kind of limited in what I can wear for a bit, and I want to be fully healed before I wear the newest shoes (even just for a short time, which may have to be how I wear them for a while)

***

After retrieving my exams, I realized I needed a couple things from Walgreens and I contemplated getting a "treat" but knew that (a) something like a stuffie might not be the best, given that I've bought a couple very recently (Bruce the Hork, and the maned wolf whom I have decided is named Francisco - because that's fun to say! (*). Also figuring I was going to have pancakes for dinner I didn't want a sweet treat (and while I'm not *giving them up totally* for Lent, I do need to cut back, especially since I'm not yet cleared to exercise (though maybe next week I will be when I see the orthopedist again).

So I thought: well, my car IS dirty, and the "disco car wash" is near here, and I can't very comfortably wash it in the "cheap" way (feeding quarters into the self serve wash and spraying and soaping it down myself). So I went through that. And yeah, it is kind of fun, and it's certainly easier than doing it the old fashioned way even if it's expensive. 

And then on the way back into town I DID get the sweet treat of a peach iced tea at that HTeaO place.

But sometimes you need little treats, especially when you did something hard. And yes, I find going all by myself to a new doctor hard, and I didn't know walking in if I might get told "no you MUST arrange for surgery at the EARLIEST possible TIME or you will never be able to walk right again"

I may have to plan another small treat after the MRI Friday. I never have had one before and I'm apprehensive, they say it's very loud and claustrophobic though maybe they will just push me in it up to my waist, since they only need to see the knee? And yes, I know, don't wear anything metal (I am going to run home and change into an all-elastic sports bra before going there) and I am slightly worried that I could not clean every last bit of the glitter toenail polish off but maybe cosmetic glitter isn't metallic? Maybe it's mica? I hope; I don't want my nailbeds to get burned or something. 

Maybe I'll have to try again tomorrow. It's still a little hard to reach that foot comfortably on that side.

***

Maybe tomorrow, if I have time (Ash Wednesday service and also I Facetime with my mom), I'll snap and post a photo of the progress on Chalcedony - the left front is done and grafted at the shoulder seams, and the right front is up to the point where I decrease for the v-neck. I feel more motivated to finish this now even though the sleeves will take a while to do.