Joe’s Surgery

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Earlier this year Joe noticed a lump under his left arm. His primary care sent him for an ultrasound which was inconclusive so he had an MRI done. That was inconclusive as well, so he referred him to a surgeon.

I went with him to the appointment. The surgeon walked in, felt the area and said “yea, it’s a lipoma” (not to be confused with a lymphoma). He went on to explain it wasn’t cancerous, but would continue to grow, so he’d have to schedule surgery to have it removed. He remarked that he wished Joe’s doctor had sent him over before having all the unnecessary scans done. Luckily our insurance is very good and the ultrasound was $45 and the MRI was $100, so it could have been worse. But that’s still $145 we didn’t need to spend.

Joe’s surgery was scheduled for November 18th since we knew he’d need time off work to recover and two of the days would be covered by Thanksgiving. The day of surgery we got to the hospital at 5:35 am to check-in for his 7:30 am procedure. We’ve never had a procedure at this particular hospital (Central DuPage) before but I liked how organized they were. Not only is there a screen in the waiting room updating the status of each patient (using a number they give you at check-in to keep everyone’s privacy), but they also text you updates. Unfortunately those updates tend to be delayed. By the time I got the one stating Joe was in surgery and doing well I was being led back to a consultation room to talk to the surgeon. That part freaked me out a little but luckily he was just telling me everything went well.

Everyone was really nice, everyone except one douchebag in the waiting room were wearing their masks properly, and all things considered it was uneventful. We were home by 10:30 am.

One snag was when I was talking to the surgeon I realized no one had ever scheduled Joe’s follow-up visit he’d need before being released back to work. We were under the impression it would be on November 29th so he could go back on the 30th but when I called the office (from Joe’s recovery room), they had no appointments available so he had to wait until December 1st with a return to work on the 2nd (assuming no complications).

Update 12/6/22 – He was cleared for work and returned on December 2nd. Everyone missed him as they fell behind without him there and also having people out sick. He got his biopsy results on the 1st and they confirmed the growth was benign. It had almost doubled in size between when he first saw the surgeon in mid September, though.

Refrigerator Organization

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I wanted our new refrigerator to be more organized than the last one and just so happened to come across two perfect items at Costco back in late September.

It took a little convincing to get Joe on board with the egg holders, but now that we’ve been using them for awhile he really likes them. I like how they, along with our fresh fruit and yogurt, are all contained in one space giving more room for other things.

I liked our old fruit containers but they were too large and didn’t stack well. The Rubbermaid containers solved that issue and I haven’t noticed any difference in how long before the fruit spoils.

Our fridge is now laid out as follows:

Top shelf – pre-packaged items for future meals, such as soups or meal kits
Second shelf – leftovers
Third shelf – eggs, yogurt, cream cheese, and fruit
Fourth shelf – milk, creamer, juice
Produce Drawer – fruits & veggies, plus extra butter (we buy in bulk)
Meat Drawer – tortillas, sour cream, and cheeses (block, shredded, and cottage)

Haunted Trail Walk & Halloween

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Saturday, October 29th

Our local park district offered a haunted trail walk for $5 per person this year, so we signed up with our friend, D. We had attempted to attend the event last year but it was cancelled due to rain. This year it was just very cold outside. The park they chose to hold it in was one we’ve never been to before but was close by which was nice. But that’s where our luck runs out.

This park had a small building they were using as a staging area for each group but you had to wait outside for your turn and like I had mentioned, it was really cold out! In addition, even though there were lights on the exterior of the building, they weren’t on, so it was pretty dark. The person checking people in had to use a flashlight and even then couldn’t find us on the list until another person intervened. The whole thing was very disorganized.

In fact, they were running behind, so we had to wait about twenty minutes past our scheduled time in that freezing cold. This one lady was smoking and no matter how far away we stood, I could still smell it. I thought it was pretty rude of her to be smoking at all considering how many kids were in the area. Plus she was with kids! Of course she ended up in our group and even though she wasn’t smoking on the actual walk, the damage had already been done and my hair smelled like smoke when we got home.

I’d like to be able to say all the annoyances were worth it in the end, but sadly, they were not. They had stations set up along a walking path that were like chapters in a scary story about an escaped kid or something (it was so lame I wasn’t even paying attention) and you could tell the people involved hadn’t participated in such a thing before so they weren’t very good at acting or scaring people. Needless to say, it wasn’t scary in the least (and I’m a wuss), or fun, and I couldn’t wait until it was over so I could get back into the warm car. We definitely won’t be signing up for that in the future.

Monday, October 31st – Halloween

On Halloween we got about 10 kids or so which worked out well since I had put together 9 treat bags from the large bag of candy we got from Walmart.

Look at the uneven distribution of flavors, though! I think I might just hand out full sized candy bars next year.

Mums The Word

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I love mums in the fall! Every year it’s a challenge, however, to find the best ones without spending a fortune because I like to get a few different colors. It’s also a delicate balance between picking the correct time to buy and finding quality plants that will produce big blooms. Well, this year we achieved the trifecta and not at the place you’d expect. I got three 8″ mums from Meijer on September 25th for only $6 each.

I dropped the pots they came in into another larger pot with soil in it and I think this has kept them draining well (and I only water them occasionally).

Here’s what they looked like on October 6th.

Since then they’ve gotten fuller and are still looking good because I also brought them inside twice when there was a frost advisory.

Compare that to the big $18 mums our neighbor bought, never maintained, and now look like rotted death, which you’ll have to take my word for since I didn’t get a picture of them.

Brookfield Zoo

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I thought it would be fun to visit Brookfield Zoo on our anniversary Sunday (10/23) since it’s been six years since our last visit. I was wrong. So very very wrong. The parking lot was filling up quickly when we arrived which was before the zoo even opened. We paid $15 for parking and had free passes I got from the library. We waited in the car until we saw the huge line start moving and even then we were caught in this massive crowd trying to get into the zoo. From there we went straight to the giraffe area before it got too crowded.

To get away from all the people we explored the relatively deserted nature area around swan lake. I’d say that’s the most peaceful area of the zoo hands down.

We avoided going into most exhibit buildings except for the penguins because I cannot pass up the opportunity to see them!

This photo didn’t come out great but makes me laugh.

We didn’t get to see any tigers which was disappointing, but the lions were very photogenic!

Overall we were only at the zoo for two hours before leaving because the crowds just kept increasing. You should have seen the line of cars waiting to get in at noon! It was a beautiful day out and they were doing Boo at the Zoo (lots of kids in costumes) which was a recipe for overcrowding. I get the feeling they don’t limit how many people they let in either. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people there before, and I hope to never again.