The Not So Fun Part of 40

Two words:  pap and mammogram.  ON THE SAME DAY.  That was LOADS of fun!! First was fondled by the nice x-ray tech lady as my boobies were smashed flat like pancakes.  Then had pap with my primary care doc who also did a breast exam.  More fondling!  The good news is I got paid to get felt up!  My disability insurance gives 50 bucks a pop for paps and mammos, so I'll make out with a cool hundred.  Does that make me a dirty hooker?? :-P

I've been having lower back pain that makes me feel like a crumpled old lady at times. It comes and goes.  This time, it's come and won't go!  I mentioned it to my doc on Tuesday.  She asked if it was radiating and it wasn't.  The pain was lower, dead center.  However, on Thursday night when I went to bed, it had shifted to the left side and the pain was radiating into my left butt cheek and down my leg.  Seriously, do I have frickin' sciatica???  I'm just falling apart here! It really, really hurts.  Tylenol doesn't help.  Aleve helps a bit.  Aleve combined with vicodin really takes the edge off. The past couple of nights I've had a heating pad strapped on.  I sent a message to my doc to see what she suggests. I'm also going to see a chiropractor.  My insurance covers it, so what could it hurt?

Another part of being older in general.....I went to another funeral yesterday.  This one was for the father of my oldest friend. I remember thinking my friend's dad and his wife were oh so glamorous when I was a kid. As an adult, he, Jack, passed on sage advice.  Mostly to try to help me understand the male psyche.  I remember before HB, I was dating this knucklehead who had "issues". He kinda dropped off the radar for awhile.  I discussed the whole deal with Jack and he said, "He'll be back.  They ALWAYS come back." I remember laughing my head off, but sure enough, knucklehead resurfaced on multiple occasions.  Everything Jack ever told me about men turned out to be true.  So wise.

The service was wonderful.  So many people had so many great stories about Jack.  Mostly hilarious stories. He was an extremely funny guy.  There was so much laughter thru the tears. It was a packed house and the love in that room was palpable.  His daughter, my dear friend, did such a wonderful job putting everything together and the service really represented who her dad was. I am so incredibly proud of her, her strength and the dedication she had to her dad until the very end. She was his Angel of Mercy.  He told her so and truer words were never spoken.

Of course, this all got me thinking about my Dad.  My heart still aches when I think of him.  There have been some situations in the past couple of months where I would've gone to him for advice. I felt such emptiness, like I had nowhere to turn.  ::::sigh:::::  Okay, I gotta stop because I'm about to lose it. 
Keep you fingers crossed for me and hope this back issue doesn't end up interfering with the timing of round 2.