Monday, April 11, 2005

The Sleeve Saga!

I'm finally running into the problem that I've read about on everyone else's blogs but never had encountered: sleeve length. Aargh! I'm getting oh-so-close to the end of the Apricot Jacket in Seafoam Blue, and the sleeves have decided to throw me for a loop. In the magazine, the sweater comes over the knuckles of the model. I don't want mine like that, so I decided to shorten the ribbing part. Somehow, however, when I finished my first sleeve last night (thanks to a car trip to Birmingham and back this past weekend!), it was WAAAAAY too long. When I held it up to my arm, it came down to my fingers. Aack. So I did the math, ripped out, reballed, and reknit. Somehow, now it looks like it's going to be too short. It may end up being 3/4 length, which most of the time I like but I'm not quite sure will look good on this particular sweater. Double Aack. So, I guess for now, I'm going to block the back and fronts, sew them up, then take everything into my LYS and ask for their help/opinions. I should've known that this sweater would give me heartache sometime during the process. The first time I did it, it about made me want to strangle myself with some Rowan Calmer.

On a non-knitting note: why do doctors have to be so much trouble? This could be a really long story, but I'll shorten it as much as I can. I have seen my PCP for the same problem 3 times in the last 3 years: I have had random bouts of chest pain while running. I've had a multitude of tests that prove it's not heart-related. This last time I saw him (St. Patrick's Day) he just wanted to tell me that it might be something that can never be fixed and I may never be able to run another marathon again. That's not an acceptable answer. Lots of people, including people not as fit as I, run marathons just fine. I've run several marathons in the past, and I've run for 12 hours straight. Something specific is causing this problem, but he's of the opinion that people shouldn't do endurance events, so he's not even trying to figure it out. The only thing he's done is rule out heart problems (which, of course, is great). This last time, he referred me to another doctor who runs marathons. I saw him 3/31, and I left there feeling very positive that he's going to get to the root of the problem. However, since he's an internist, and my PCP is an internist, insurance isn't covering it. So now I'm trying to switch the new guy to my PCP. I've got several more visits with him about this and lots of tests that he wants to run, so I've got to have insurance cover it. When I called this morning to make my follow-up appointment, they told me I could switch. However, his nurse called me back this afternoon and told me I couldn't switch. We went back and forth on the matter, and I cried a little, and now I'm waiting for a call from him personally. I want to hear from him that he won't take me as a new patient, b/c I really don't believe that he won't. His nurse, though, I'm sure doesn't think highly of me right now, and it's such a mess. I feel like Elaine on Seinfeld when she got labeled as being "difficult". Cross your fingers that Runner Doctor will take me on, b/c I really need him to.

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