Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Good News for a Change

It's day 364 of 2003 and I have finally gotten some good news. I received the results of my biopsy today (unfortunately the doctor left a message at my house so I didn't get to talk to him) and everything is OKAY. I'll call him on Friday to find out what is exactly going on. As long as there are no problems, I'm in no rush. I also want to find out if the fibroid is causing any of the pain in my back/hip because if it is, the fibroid is a goner.
If not, it's off to my PCP.

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Whatever Happened to Professionals Acting Like Professionals

As you know I received a copy of the appraisal on Monday and it came in lower then expected. I have looked at the appraisal more closely since then and have found there are errors with the report and things missing as far as I am concerned.
I have a copy of the revaluation assesement done by the town and it states the house has 8 rooms. The room count on the appraisal says 4 and where the appraisal breaks down the rooms by floor, the count comes up to 5. Something is fishy.
I also feel there are things that should have been at least commented on since I didn't see a place for them to be indicated anywhere else.
This means, I have to contact my lawyer with this information and I want the appraiser to re-do the appraisal. I want a corrected report and I want it in a timely manner (which of course is a joke).
I am not going to pay to have this one reviewed or pay for my own when the appraiser did a shoddy job to begin with.

For those of you that have been following any of my medical stuff, I received a call from my PCP yesterday. It seems that my TSH level was slightly high back in August when my shrink tested it and it is still high. I will be starting on Synthroid next week. Just what I need another medication. Most likely this is one that I'm going to have to take forever.

I am still waiting on the results of my biopsy. I don't do that well so with any luck, I will get them soon.

The New Year will be here soon and I am bringing into the New Year all of the crap that I am ending the old year with. There's something wrong with that picture.

Monday, December 22, 2003

A mircale of sorts has happened but it was short lived.

The long awaited appraisal has finally arrived. I guess the appraiser does know how to use a fax machine after all. He did not send it as he promised Friday afternoon but this morning.

Anyway, I am not a happy camper. The appraisal came in a lot lower then I thought it would based on some research that I had done. This means I have a few options and it also means that this will take more time. Everything takes more time. The appraisal was done on 11/10 and the report was completed on 11/17. The original appraisal should have been done 2 or 3 months before that.

My options are:
accept this appraisal as is
have my own appraisal done
have another appraiser review this appraisal and explain it to me (this would cost less then
having my own appraisal done), but could result in the appraiser recommending that a new
appraisal be done.

I will not accept this appraisal as it is. I feel the amount is way to low and I don't don't my sisters lawyer or the appraiser. Both of them have acted very unprofessonial.

I think my next best option would be to have another appraiser review the appraisal that I currently have on hand and explain it to me. I also have some questions since I don't feel certain things were taken into account.

I am sure that the inside condition of the house had an affect on the appraisal but according to my lawyer it shouldn't have been that much. What would affect it more would be if the plumbing and electrical have been updated. And as far as I know, it has been. At least most of it. The house was built in 1900 and most of the rooms have been redone.

So, now I have the task of finding an appraiser who works in the Windham area and who works on Saturday so I don't have to take time off from work to review the appraisal. I'll have to explain to them the layout of the house as I know it (who knows what they might have done to it) and what the garage looks like.

That is about it for now. I'm just really pissed about this whole thing. I'm sure that the appraiser was told to take his time doing this and getting it to my lawyer. I wouldn't be surprises if he was also told to come in with a low number.

Family just sucks!!!!!

Friday, December 19, 2003

I have received the name and number of the appraiser from my lawyer's office. The appraiser still has not returned any of the calls from my lawyer's office and they are happy to let me try to contact him. I don't really expect to get any further but it can't hurt to give it a shot.

I located the web site for the appraiser and even though I didn't need to request a new appraisal be done, I filled out the form and put in lots of comments. I made a point of stating that it wasn't a request for an appraisal but to get the report for an appraisal that was already done. Explaining that my lawyer had tried to contact him numerous times and had not received and returned calls. I told him the name of the lawyer that had requested the orignal appraisal and also told him that I felt the time frame that has taken place so far was unreasonable. That I would like to get the appraisal amount and to have the appraisal document either faxed to my lawyer or mailed to myself. I gave them my home email and phone number and also my work email and phone number just in case they contact me before 3:30 today (which I doubt). I thought I would attempt to contact them by email to see if it helps.

They are located in Hebron and if this doesn't seem to do the trick, I will try calling that office directly, though why have an 800 number if you aren't going to respond to the messages that are left on it. I feel that my sister and her lawyer are somehow behind making this take so long. The longer they are able to drag this out, the longer my sister has to put off getting a loan or attempting to get a loan.

That's all for now.
Yesterday. Yes, yesterday was one day that goes down as very painful, physically and emotionally. I went to the GYN for a Vaginal Ultrasound. That by itself isn't so bad. If found it a little uncomfortable but some woman, don't feel anything at all. Then they did a Sonohistograph (or something like that, I can't find the paper I wrote the name on). Basically what they do is put sterile water into the uterus using a long tube. That part doesn't really hurt, it's just comffy. The pain, cramping (bad) comes when they do the ultrasound following that. This is the part I had a major problem with (physical pain and emotional pain). Since they found that the uterine wall was thicker then it should be, my GYN then took a sample of the uterine lining, which didn't hurt any where near as the ultrasound.
By this point I was in tears and having a real hard time. My GYN helped me up and could tell I wasn't doing well. He did ask what was going on and was willing to listen. At that point I just couldn't talk. All I wanted was to get out of there and get some air.

They also found a fibroid in my uterus, which is causing my irregular periods. It is up to me if I have that treated or not. I didn't ask him if it could be causing the pain in my hip and lower back, at the time I couldn't think. I'll call and see what he says. If it is at all possible that is what is causing the pain, then I'll have him remove it, otherwise, I just might leave it alone.

It will be a week to 10 days before they get the results of the biopsy back. So, it's time to sit and wait and we all know I don't do that very well. Most likely there is nothing wrong, but what he is doing is ruling out the bad stuff and I can't help but think there will be something wrong.
I just have to try to get through one day at a time. It's going to be hard, all the waiting.


As far as the appraisal goes, there is still no news. My lawyer's office was suppose to get me the number of the appraiser yesterday but the secretary didn't know where my chart was when I called her back, so my lawyer must have had it. I had asked him in the morning, if I would be out of line to call on my own, and he said no. Maybe he thought twice about it and called again on his own. He knows I'm really upset about all this. I'll call them later today and see what is going on and see if I can get the number.

Once I get the name of the appraiser, I'll list the name of my sisters lawyer and the appraiser's name. I know most of you are not in the area but, if anyone knows of anyone in the Windham area needing a lawyer or an appraiser, I want to make sure that this lawyer and appraiser don't get the business. They are very unprofessional. The best way to hurt them is to make sure they don't get work. My lawyers secretary told me yesterday, that my sisters lawyer did not like the attitude of my lawyer. I don't understand, this has been going on way to long and I don't think she is doing anything. I know she is working for my sister and doing what my sister is telling her. But where is the follow up on what is being done and where is the professionalism that is suppose to be there.

It will be a full year soon that I started this process and I have no more information then when I started. The only thing I do have is a lawyer bill (which I haven't seen yet).
Family really sucks.

The holidays are getting closer, which also means they will be over soon. I can't wait. I need them to be done and over with. Right now, what I really want to do is hide from the world until the holidays are over. That isn't possible, so I must force myself to get out there and pretend that things are okay when they really aren't.

As I get any news, I'll update you all.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

In a few weeks it will be one year since I started the process to have my sister buy out my half of the property which we hold jointly. To date, we are no further along then we were then except, the appraiser says he has done the appraisal. My lawyer said he must be chipping it out of granite because he can't seem to get us the few sheets of paper that the appraisal is printed on.
I wonder if this appraiser knows that fax machines work after normal business hours. We should have had the appraisal in our hands last week but the appraiser seems just as incompetent as the lawyer my sister has.

You would think I would be good at waiting by now, but it doesn't get any easier especially when you know that no one is pushing to get things done except on my end. And that doesn't really count if the other side doesn't do anything.

I am ready to go to the appraisers office and get the appraisal myself if that is what it will take. There is no reason we shouldn't have that in our hands. There is no reason this shouldn't be further along then it is except, that I'm sure my sister has told her lawyer not to push anything. And my sisters lawyer has a "so what's the rush" attitude, according to my lawyer. I am doing everything to keep this out of court which is why we are still sitting around and waiting for things to happen. If we go to court the only ones that win are the lawyers. My lawyer keeps telling me, that court is the last place we want to end up. I agree with him.

So, once again, I'm ready to kill people. How do you get people to do things that they should be doing? What happened to professional curtosey (sp)? I know my sister is behind a good part of the "don't rush things". But, you would think, knowing that court is an option, they wouldn't let things drag out to long.

I can't take the waiting and all the people not doing their job the way that they should. I can't imagine how they make a living when they function like they do.


Thursday is fast approaching and I have to go to the GYN for my ultrasound. I'm not really nervous about the ultrasound itself. What makes me nervous is, they just might find something. I tend to thing the worst. If by change they do find something, he will do a biopsy right then.

My TSH blood test came back slightly high. My GYN faxed the results to my PCP. So, now I'm waiting to see if my PCP is going to call. My GYN said the test should be repeated and a free T4 and T3 should be done. If this is really a problem, it can be corrected with medication. Just what I want to do, take another pill.

Isn't life just grand.
My right hip and sometimes my lower back has been bothering me for months. No time and energy to get that checked out right now. One medical problem at a time. I just can't deal with any more then that. So, when all this stuff with my GYN is done and over with, I'll make an appt. with my PCP to see what is going on with my hip. In the mean time Aleve is my friend.

Stress is what my life is about right now. The holidays will be over soon and I will be glad. I need to get past New Years and some of the stress should subside, then maybe I can go back to working on things in therapy that I was working on before Thanksgiving came around.

If anything new happens (and please don't anyone hold their breath) I will update you.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

Things are pretty stressful for me right now, but when aren't they. I went to the GYN on Friday, not exactly one of my favorite things to do, but I've been having problems and my therapist has been pushing me to go. And, it's something I really needed to do.
Well, in 2 weeks I get to have an ultrasound, which really doesn't thrill me. If they find anything, which he doesn't expect at all, he will do a biopsy. So, even though he is telling me he is sure there is no problem, I get to worry about this for 2 weeks. He needs to rule out any problems before we discuss what to do next. If there are no problems and I can live with what's going on, then he can to. That is something I need to decide. There are a couple of options that I have if everything is okay. I deal with those at the time.

I had to cancel with my daughter this weekend because of the weather and she sounded very disappointed. I felt bad. She wasn't planning on coming next weekend but, we're going to see if we can work something out. Someone is going to have to pick her up on Saturday since she has to babysit for her step-brother and I won't be able to get her home on time.

On Wednesday I meet with my lawyer. We will decide what to do next. I only see 2 options: schedule the appraisal ourselves, send the results to my sisters lawyer the results and give them a time frame for my sister to get a loan or we will go to court. The second option is to go right to court.
I still want to do everything we can to stay out of court and I would think my sister would also want to do that since going to court means she loses the house and would have to move. Going to court also means it will cost more money for this whole process to happen and I have no idea how long the process will take. As far as I know she has no reasonable explaination as to why she isn't doing anything, it's just her being a pain in the ass. She probably figures if she waits long enough I'll give up but, that isn't going to happen. I don't care how miserable I make her life - she never cared how miserable she made my life.

Those of you who know I've been "seeing" Ray - things are on a fast downward spiral. All he wants to talk about sex. He thinks sex is the answer to everything. He feels if he comes over he is entitled to sex, even if I'm not in the mood. He doesn't get that I still have a choice even though we've had sex before. He also has been drinking more and more. I've told him a few times that he drinks too much and he has a problem. He doesn't seem to care. Lately, he gets pissed at me when we talk on the phone and hangs up, he is also usually drunk. As far as I'm concerned he has pushed me away and I've told me but he doesn't get that either. I'm not calling him any more and there really isn't anything for us to talk about. He's not going to get invited over here again.

All this stuff is on top of all the other things I'm suppose to be dealing with in therapy.
I spend a good part of my weekends sleeping when I'm able to since, I'm back to not sleeping during the night. Sleeping during the night lasted about 5 nights.

Things are going to be tough for the next couple of weeks so if you don't see me online it's just because I'm not up to talking much. I'll try to keep this updated as things move on.