gypsymom

I usually take one day off in December and do all my Christmas shopping.  Today was that day.  I also had to have a whole body bone scan, so I was driving all over town.  From home to daycare to the other daycare to a meeting at work, then to Target and Borders.  Then to the radiologist, then over to Linens N Things, Toys R Us, the mall (JC Penney, and Bath and Body Works), and a quick sandwich, then back to the radiologist.  After that, Kohl’s and finally Wal-Mart.  A dash home to stash the Christmas presents and pick up the kids.  Whew.

Let me talk about the bone scan first.  The radiologist  took me back into the nuclear medicine room and injected me with radiation.  She said it was only a small amount of radiation–she said “Less than a CT Scan!” in a way that made me hope never to have a CT scan.  Then she told me to come back 3 hours later for the bone scan.  This gives the radiation time to absorb into my bones.  Did some Christmas shopping and came back.  I had to lay down in some sort of imaging contraption, where she strapped down my arms and rubberbanded my feet together to make sure I didn’t move.  This camera that didn’t really look anything at all like a camera very slowly took pictures of my whole body.  I looked at the picture of my bone scan, but I had no clue what I was looking at, so I know nothing more than I did this morning.

As far as the Christmas shopping, I’m pretty sure I’m done!  Linens N Things had great deals, and I cut out 3 people on my under-$10 Christmas list. Got another one at Kohl’s.  I agonized over what to get L, A, and the boys’ aunts who are 17 and 13.  It turns out I know nothing about young girls.  Wasn’t I one once? Anyway, I know one thing and that is that they all hate Hannah Montana, which, of course, was all over the place.  I finally found some gift sets at Bath and Body Works, and the neat Make your own Brownie kits, that come with everything you need, in a huge mug.  And if you can keep a secret–I got the boys bicycles!  They will be so excited.

As relieved as I am that I got my Christmas shopping done, it never occurred to me that Christmas shopping for hours on end, in my current condition, might be a bad idea.  By the time I left Wal-Mart I was limping quite noticably.  Every joint I have is screaming at me that maybe for next year, I should break up the Christmas shopping into several smaller trips.