Follow-up, selling goats, scheduling

Mama had a disappointing day at the conference she attended as both a participant and a vendor Tuesday. She did not make a single sale in the ten hours she was at the conference. Everyone seemed too busy keeping up with the very full agenda set for the conference. There was only a ten-to-fifteen-minute break between each presentation so most of that time was for bathroom runs and chatting among the attendees, not for shopping or looking over the offerings of the seven vendors staged at the center. There were a couple possible contacts generated from her interactions with the crowd, but even that was much more limited than hoped for. This weekend, Mama will participate in a craft fair trying to sell some of the items she has created. Maybe that will turn out better. Maybe not. Time will tell. I can tell you that she has put a good deal of effort into preparing for that sale.

I had a follow-up visit with the doctor this morning. I had already looked over the lab results from medical tests that were run Tuesday. All the outcomes were normal. I did not expect anything less. In reviewing those results with the doctor, she mentioned that what is reflected in those results is that there is no critical blockage indicated. Her advice going forward is to have get ultrasound that is scheduled for Tuesday of next week and to get an initial consult with a general surgeon to initiate that contact should we progress with removing my pained gallbladder. She is convinced that the gallbladder is the cause of my current malaise, but all the paperwork has to be in place to allow me the remedy of surgery. The issue is getting all the pieces in place in a more or less timely manner – such as that is. For instance, the surgeon cannot see me for a consultation until the 12^th of October. That is better than the 20^th, which was the first offering made by the surgeon’s scheduler. Meanwhile, I will continue to feel at least as poorly as I feel now for the next few weeks.

I am going to start a diet to specifically target my gallbladder, but I am not sure what the results will be. I am also going to try a gallbladder cleanse Friday night. Mama gags at the sight of the ingredients for the suspension I will have to drink before bed that night, but I have to try something. Fortunately, I am not as turned off by things like that, so I should be able to get the mixture down and keep it down. I have been warned that the exit of that solution from my system is dramatic. For that reason, I will make sure I keep near the bathroom Saturday. I do not know if that cleanse will produce enough of a remedy for me to postpone or avoid surgery, but I am hoping it will allow me to feel at least a little better. The diet I will follow will add bathroom requirements to my daily schedule, but not in an emergency fashion.

Mama and I have been praying for the sale of our recently born goats. To that end, Mama has made several contacts and we have a buyer coming to the farm today to look over both a girl and a boy and another waiting in the wing to buy at least one of our new little girls. We will keep our little runt, Dash, but that leaves us three other little boys to sell. One will sell quickly. He is, at three weeks old, a brute. Mama and I will advertise him separately. He is one that will clearly be a champion and we will market him to professional breeders. Paring down our herd is a necessity to lower our feed bill – or at least keep the price tag steady.

I teach a class tomorrow. It is a short class, but it is a very full class. Next week, I have classes scheduled for Monday and Friday. A coworker is taking the Wednesday class to allow me the time to complete a report I produce quarterly. Trying to squeeze the appointments into that schedule is challenging, but my company is very willing to work with me to make that happen. After the class is over tomorrow, I will probably spend the last part of my workday at the office. Since my laptop was reworked, I need to reconnect to the internet at the office and add back the printers available in the office. Those connections will take some time but it will be nice to have that done when we are called back to a regular work schedule in the office.

Thank you to all of you that contacted Mama on her birthday. The day was otherwise uneventful and perhaps a little disappointing. We will try to make next year a special birthday for her.