#1649 bad and good

Since I've been back from San Diego, I have had an emotional week culminating with some upsetting news from my knee doctor on Friday. I think I mentioned before that I had to go to University Hospital for a CT scan on my right knee. It turns out that I have a few cysts in the kneecap between the bone and the implant. The cysts are not causing me pain, and they haven't grown from September to March, so we plan to watch them and see what happens. I'll meet again with the surgeon in six months for another evaluation.

Removing the cysts would require surgery and the hospital where the surgeon practices is not covered as a primary provider by my insurance. I can still have the surgery there, but the out-of-pocket expenses will be higher. Also, my left knee has been causing me lots of pain lately; in fact, I had a steroid injection and liquid drained from the knee on Friday also.

It was a lot of shit to deal with on a Friday morning! I cried a whole bunch, even though I knew the tears were worthless. Stress relief, I suppose.

Today I felt better about life in general. My left knee felt good because of the steroid injection. At WW I stepped on the scale to find myself up 1.6 lbs. I wasn't surprised. I've been doing some emotional eating this week, plus I ate like I was on vacation while I was in San Diego. It was worth it. And bright side, when I weighed myself on Tuesday morning here at home, I was up about four pounds over my last WW weigh in, so I think I did a pretty good job of getting myself back in line before today's weigh in.

To get out of my dark mood, I was a giver today. I gave blood at the Red Cross. I do double reds which means I'm hooked up to a machine that takes out whole blood, filters out the red blood cells and puts everything else back in. The hospitals end up getting two pints of perfectly wonderful filtered red blood cells that are ready for use and I don't have to give again for 112 days.

After the blood giving, I headed up to Red Butte Garden to do a little volunteer work. I spent a couple of hours wandering with purpose around the Children's Garden recording everything that is in bloom. There are a lot more things in bloom this week than last week. It's really cool to see the changes. I like bloom recording because I have to stay focused and in the moment. My mind doesn't get to roam around and think about anything but the plants and trees that I'm looking at. I get completely caught up in the task at hand. I love that.

After thoroughly looking through the Children's Garden, I got my camera and walked around the whole garden taking photos. I don't know if they will find anything they will ever use, but I sure have fun. I just like to take photos of landscapes and colors and shapes that I find beautiful. Here are a few photos that I took today:

click on this photo and you'll see a duck on the left that came in for a landing

entrance to rose garden

I liked the look of this fluffy flowering plant

Texas scarlet flowering quince. First time I've seen it in bloom

view to the Oquirrhs

cute fish sculpture by the pond

LILACS!!

I love this Gambel oak covered with ivy

Just...ahh

this is the first time I've seen the flowering pears on the trellises

the path through the cherry blossoms

I am totally infatuated with Red Butte Garden! Every time I go there is something new to see. I wish you could smell some of these photos. The aroma up there is incredible. I have a personal goal to have 50 hours of volunteer time there this year. I'm pretty sure I can do it. I worry about getting burned out, but so far so good :)

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