TuttleTree.com

Since I instituted the pass-phrase or sign-up rule to enter comments, the number of spam submissions has dropped to zero! Wonderful! Woo hoo!

However, I've still been plagued with spam bots creating fake user accounts with email addresses that don't really exist, and providing some website trying to sell Viagra or Mortgage/Refinancing services… and the list goes on. I've been getting 4 or 5 of these a day. Yesterday I took a few moments to add the same spam protection I have on the comments form to the account sign up form; and today is the first day in a month that I haven't had to go through and delete spam submissions.

Take that, evil spam bots!

Yesterday my allergies went from zero to sixty in a matter of hours. I think this may be the fastest onset of my seasonal allergies I can remember. After work I sat out in our back yard enjoying the sunshine, good weather, and a cool beer, and reading the book that Susan recommended for me. At this point all was well. The day was so nice that I opened every door and window with a screen around lunch time and we didn't close them until after seven or eight – and that may have been my undoing. By the end of House, my face, especially around my eyes, was puffy and red, and my eyes were itchy and watery.

This morning I took some Benadryl that expired last November, the only allergy medicine in the house, and I'll be stopping on my way home to pick up some OTC Claritin. Benadryl has never had much of an effect on me, other than helping with my allergy symptoms – but for some reason I'm lethargic and tired today.

I had problems sleeping again last night – a little bit of back pain kept waking me up. On Monday I saw a Rheumatologist that my PCP referred me to for treatment of my hip and back pains. So far I'm not a big fan of him on a personal level – he's kind of dismissive and gives me the feeling that he has somewhere better to be. He interrupted nearly every sentence I uttered, most of which were answers to his own questions. But on a professional level, he seemed intelligent. I may seek a second opinion even if only to find someone who I click with on both levels.

Part of me wanted to interrupt him after he interrupted me and say that if he had better places to be then I would be happy to see another doctor instead – otherwise he should practice listening… but when it comes to my own health I never have the guts to stand up to the professionals.

He measured a bunch of my movements – chest expansion, and flexibility of my neck and lower back – and in short he will probably want to get me started on Remicade soon. He seemed pretty convinced that I have Spondylitis – because I have the gene required, an inflammatory bowel disorder (common among spondylitis patients, I guess), I had Iritis, I'm in the age range that symptoms start showing up, and I'm complaining of several of the common symptoms: joint pain, and neck and back stiffness. He wants to see the films from my recent back x-rays, and may order an MRI of my SI-joints if the x-rays are inconclusive.

When I indicated to him that my GI and I had discussed the possibility of Remicade treatment for my Crohns, but that we were saving it as a sort of last resort, he seemed to get very stern and serious and very matter-of-factly said, "No." That it wasn't a last resort, and that I currently have a full range of motion in my legs, neck, and back – albeit with pain – and (assuming further tests indicate that it is in fact Spondylitis) if Remicade treatment works for me, then there's a good chance that I will continue to have my full range of motion, and without the pain; almost as if I were cured.

While the thought of pain free movement sounds so tempting right now, and I really do hope he's right and I can just start the treatment and be happy and relatively healthy, I don't think I am going to give myself a choice but to seek a second opinion. The seriousness of Remicade treatment necessitates it. I feel guilty doing it though, and I don't know why. It feels like cheating on a girlfriend (I'm assuming).

This weekend we picked up a canoe given to us by Susan and Ed, from the house of their friend who was holding on to it for them but no longer had the room.

I had planned on sitting on my butt all weekend playing video games and crocheting (really!) but once the canoe was in the garage I felt the need to put it up. I like feeling like a handy-man and this was a great opportunity to do just that.

The canoe turned out to be huge. It's a little older and just like an old Chevy, it weighs a ton and would probably come out clean as a whistle if it got into a head on collision.

Hanging it was a bit of a challenge because it was too long to fit across the garage sideways, and the garage door framing came back too far for it to hang straight back on one side. So it's hung at an angle. The other thing that made hanging it interesting was that there was no place on the canoe I felt was safe enough to hook onto, so I made a harness for each end out of some rope. I don't know why we didn't think of it at the time but I should have taken a picture of the cleats.

One of the best parts about doing this was that I finally got to use the Makita drill that Meg's parents gave to me for my birthday last year. I love that thing!

And while I was busy tying knots and putting up cleats, Megan was seeding the part of our yard that we re-sloped in the fall.

I put a bunch of pictures – mostly hanging the canoe – up on our flickr page.