Today was a great day. Things were so much better today with a lot of things. I got up at 11:30 today and went to an ENT. He told me that one of the reasons why my bad ear may be so sensitive is cuz I may have a skin growth that’s been building up. He mentioned some bone thing in the good ear, too, but said not to worry and that it won’t ever be a problem. Let’s hope not. He said he’d like to do a CT scan as well as some hearing tests and asked if I could try to get old records from Boston. He’d like to see the CT scans I had done in ‘87 or ‘88.

He’s also heard of Dr. Shutnik. He mentioned him before I ever did. I guess he was rather well known.

He said he didn’t know if the operation would be covered by our insurance or if the operation would be a big deal or not. He said there weren’t too many people around that did the type of surgery I’d need and that the operation would be about 5 hours and I could be in the hospital. Tom and I are going to at least check into it. It’s amazing how supportive and eager he is about this. No one else really wanted to get involved or take time out from their everyday lives. I can understand that, though, to a degree.

I’m not going to get my hopes up or make surefire plans. All I’m going to do is let Tom and I find out what we can and what all our options are, then take it from there.

Tomorrow I’ll call the Cigna pharmacy and ask if it’s OK to take an over-the-counter water pill with what I’m on.

Tom and I did a lot of work on the back room. Things are more organized than they’ve ever been since we lived here. It’s really coming along. Tom got some metal and some wooden shelves and he put up the 2 wooden wall shelves. He showed me how to set the timer on the 3 different things that are on it. The lamp in the back room, as well as the outside back and front light.

I just changed the screen saver as I like to do every now and then and I also chose more icons for stuff Tom just added to my “world.”

Right before we left to go out today I sure as hell got a surprise in the mail from my parents. When I saw their address label on the envelope as I pulled it out of the mail slot, I said to myself, how the hell could her letter get here in just a day? Well, it was a lovely wedding card that really nailed it to the point with what it said, as well as a check for $250! What a nice generous surprise.

After the doctor, we went to K-Mart where we almost got me a dresser. The damn things didn’t come disassembled in a box and we couldn’t fit it in the car.

Instead, I got a really cute birthday card for Sarah with live tigers on it. The envelope was nice too, with flowers and birds on the front left side of it. I signed it for us and wrote a check out for $10. Of course, I wrote it out to Tammy, but where it says “memo” I wrote: Sarah’s birthday.

I also hit word-search jackpot. I got 3 books. One small, one medium, and one big. They’ll keep me busy and last a while.

We also may get a portable dishwasher sooner than expected.

At the doctor’s office, the receptionist thought I was Tom’s “little daughter.”

Tom said, “No. She’s my little wife.”

I knew that’d happen sooner or later since I look younger than I am and he looks a little older. I’m just surprised it wasn’t sooner.