Clumsy Lovers

In our city, area businesses sponsor a weekly series of free outdoor concerts every Friday night during the summer months called Nightfall. Last night Eddie and I saw a very wonderful group called Clumsy Lovers. They are from Canada and they play bluegrass music with a Celtic twist to it. They were very, very good. We enjoyed the concert very much. It's the best concert we've had so far this summer. They played for about an hour and 45 minutes. It was very hot and humid here last night, so I'm sure they were worn out when it was over. They definitely played their hearts out.

In knitting news, I finished the baby raglan cardigan sweater and hat that I was working on. I'm planning to give them as gifts to a coworker who is expecting her first grandchild in September. We thought it would be fun to give her a grandmother's shower.


Baby Cardigan 

This morning I was reading my latest Nora Roberts' book Finding the Dream, and happened to look down and saw this.


Heckle 

He was so cute that I had to grab my camera and take a picture, but once he figured out he was having his picture taken he was ready to bolt and run.

On Wednesday I went to the orthopedic doctor about my shoulder and arm. I wasn't really happy with the way things went. They took x-rays and saw there weren't any tumors (I hadn't even thought of that), then after examining me she decided that she thought the problem was in my neck. I have two discs near the bottom of my neck that are more compressed than the others. I think I heard the word "degenerative". She also mentioned that it could be the onset of arthritis in these discs, but since she couldn't see the discs clearly enough on the x-ray, she wants me to have an MRI so she could see the discs more clearly. Since I'm claustrophobic (among other things), I would definitely have a problem lying in a tube for 40 minutes. She said she preferred the enclosed MRI's because they are more accurate and she prescribed a Valium for me to take 30 minutes before getting the MRI. A Valium among other prescriptions. She wrote me four prescriptions. She wanted to put a cortizone injection in my hip???, but I said no. So, she wrote me a prescription for a steriod pack to take instead, another prescription for muscle relaxers, and one for pain medicine. Then she made appointments for me to come back and see her in about 3 weeks and to see the regular orthopedic doctor in about 6 weeks.

I'm the type person that when it comes to my health I want as much complete information as I can get. When I asked her questions all I got were vague answers. Maybe I'm just beng stubborn, but I'm not taking all those drugs she gave me and I'm still not convinced that an MRI is necessary. So, I've decided to take another approach with treatment. I'm going to continue what I have been doing and start taking Glucosamine as a dietary supplement. Glucosamine helps to rebuild cartiledge between our bones. I have a cousin who used it and it really helped him. Plus, my cardiologist recommended it to me several years ago for a problem that I have with my ribs. I have something called costochrondritis, which is inflammation of the cartiledge between the ribs.

But, as long as I can keep knittng and sewing, I'm happy.