Souvenirs

We are all getting a lot of souvenirs from Justin and Sarah's travels.  Today, we are going down to visit Justin and pick up souvenirs that they have for Jessica and Pat and for the boys.  We will also see their trip photos and hear about their adventures.  We're taking the dogs and will go to the Huntington Beach Dog Beach, have dinner with Justin and Sarah, watch Survivor and then come back home.  When we picked them up at the airport, they gave us our souvenir that they bought in Venice.  They are Comedy and Tragedy Masks.  I put them on my console table in the living room.  Here's a photo.

The little silver compact in the photo is a gift from their trip last year to Istanbul.  I have placemats and coasters from Sarah's Vietnam/Thailand trip and a wine bottle holder from their Costa Rica trip last August.  We also have refrigerator magnets from exotic places they've visited.  Since they only travel with carry-on luggage, they have to keep their souvenirs small.

I saw my Orthopedic doctor on Monday and told him that, unfortunately, the cortisone shot didn't really help much.  He'd like me to have microsurgery because he's concerned about nerve damage if this herniated disk keeps pressing on my nerve.  The last three toes on my right foot tingle all the time like they're asleep which is a sign that it's affecting the nerve.  I'd like to give it more time to see if it gets better on it's own because it often does after 6 months or so and it's only been 3 months.  I'll try and wait until after summer before I consider surgery.  In the meantime, I'm going for physical therapy and I begin that on Friday.  Besides what they want to do for the disk, I want them to tell me what exercises I can safely do because I'm used to exercising 3 times a week and have been afraid to do that for fear of further injuring my back.  I'm not happy losing the muscle tone I've worked hard to maintain.