PCP F/U

For anyone who doesn’t already know, the title of this post is Primary Care Provider Follow-Up (in its elongated form 😂)

It went well! My condition stable 👍🏽 It was a chance to catch up with my doctor 😂 For anyone who knows me, I’m chatty 😂 And I chatted with her 😁

In 👩‍⚕️ checklist, I talked all about involving a checklist in your care… I did 😂 Before my appointment I messaged my checklist over to my PCP. At the appointment today, I love how she printed out the list and we followed/addressed EVERY point on the list! I felt genuinely involved in my care, not in the least disregarded! 👏🏽

Most of the items on my list was preventive. 🤔 That’s another important aspect to your care. You want it to anticipate potential problems, not just react to them!

Not much may have happened (and that’s a good thing!) but I feel like it strengthened our communication as provider and patient! 👏🏽

My aim with these kinds of posts is to encourage better and more efficient communication (and self-advocacy too!). I don’t want to just say these things, but also employ them in MY care! 🤗

The Demon In The Woods Reading Blog

So at my neuro f/u, my neurologist suggested I get back into reading books 📚 I was all for it! I like audiobooks but lately I’ve been seeing where it needs work.. Namely availability! Some books don’t currently have an audiobook… But ebooks can revolutionize my reading! I was excited to think I can finally get a Kindle! Ever since then, I’ve been doing research, into divices, Kinle Unlimited (KU) books I’d LOVE to read… The appeal of ebooks to me is I don’t have to worry about storage 😂 An added benign is that I can make font larger, they currently have 3 spacing options, and it’s waterproof 👏🏽 Still don’t have one… But already reading The Demon In The Woods by Leigh Bardugo! It’s the orgin story of the Darkling from Shadow And Bone!

For this novella (and shorter formats) I’ll update before and after! Currently have 2 reading blogs going! 😂. Under my current settings (on my phone 📱) this novella is 112 pages, novellas are typically less than 300 pages.

I’m going to only (try to read ebooks after lunch to dinner…) in an effort to minimize eye strain… I noticed at night things take longer to come into focus… The blog structure is still a work in progress (WIP) 🤞🏽 so hopefully it will flow ok 👌🏼😂

In Eryk’s world, it’s dangerous ⚠️ to be a Grisha… As a result, 13 year old Eryk and his mom escape from the south to the north… Its normal for them to be constantly on the move…

Don’t read many novellas… But I like a full story… Ended kind of abruptly, in my opinion.. It wasn’t what I expected… For one, it went hurther back than expected… By the time they were done introducing Eryk’s world, it was done ✅😂

The novella was a good way to reorient my eyes 👀 to reading though! For that reason alone, this was worthwhile! 😂 It was short so I didn’t lose anything from reading it

So I just realized I read the sample edition… 🤦‍♀️ Full novella available on Amazon for $0.99! Look what I’ll be reading tomorrow 😅

Bought the Kindle ebook! Now it shows it as 71 pages 🤷🏽‍♀️ Just hope 🤞🏽 I get a more complete this time around 😂

I’ll start from page 1! The sample only goes to page 9 😂

We ended upon meeting the Ulle…

Read pages 1-23 👏🏽 I had to stop for dinner 🥘 I’m trying to adhere to reading with my eyes from lunch to dinner, afterwards I’ll listen 😛

So the full novella is definitely more interesting than the sample version 😂 So to expand on what I previously read. I have to admit, I love stories with kids and pets, about kids and/or pets 😊

The novella left me feeling satisfied 👍🏽 The story is way more than I thought 💭😂 There was a character zo was confused 🤷🏽‍♀️ about from the show to novella: Annika… She is someone different from the books and show…

#listenwithprecious

The Cross Of Gilded Bones Book Review

The Cross Of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

#3 in From Blood And Ash

Read: April 29, 2021 – May 2, 2021

Star Rating (of 5): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trigger warnings: Birth secrets 🤫

Prevalent Tropes: Birth secrets 🤫

3-word Summary: Secret lineage revealed!

The set-up: 3rd book with Poppy and Cas ❤️ They’re married, are due to be the King and Queen of Atlantia…

Thoughts 💭:

  • How would you react to revelations?
  • Predictions for book 4?

Movie/show rec: 🤷🏽‍♀️

Life Update 5/9/21

Mood: Happy 😊 😃

Currently Reading 📖: His At Night by Sherry Thomas 😊 About to start Shadow And Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Walk it out: 🚴 and walk 1 block at a time in preparation for my upcoming return to PT 😬

Events I’m excited for: 👨‍⚕️ appointments

Funny story 😂: Upcoming viewing of the last episode of Shadow And Bone 😬 My partner calls it Shadow And Boba 🧋😂

Something good: Return to normalcy.Changed Something Inspirational to Something Good! Just a (+) person! Never aspired to be inspirational…Trying to provide goodness! If people find my story inspirational… I’ll take it! 😂

The Crown Of Gilded Bones 👑 Reading Blog

I’ve read the 1st 2 books in the series 👏🏽 Really enjoyed the 1st one, need to reread the 2nd…. But alas… Time constraints 😂 Once again, find myself with too much to read… Either sleep or read 😂 

Just know the series is about Poppy and Cas ♥️ The first book was their bodyguard romance… The 2nd their journey to marriage 👰‍♀️ The 3tf book is about 🤷🏽‍♀️😂… Plan to keep it that way (trying to avoid spoilers)… The book was released 4/20 so the hype is real right now…. The internet is scary 👻 

Check-ins/Updates

Proud I didn’t succumb to the hype 👏🏽 This much anticipated release dropped 4/20, but I stuck to my TBR 👏🏽

I was confused 😂 Trying to get my bearings… Tried to look back on my reading notes 📝 from my initial read, but they didn’t help…

Things slowly coming into focuy… Maybe I should have reread A Kingdom Of Flesh And Fire 🤔 😂 Just to refresh my memory… Too late! 😂

Commander Jenson drama seems random… Trying to understand…

Already miss Cas’ prescence 😢 Arrow hit unexpected but glad he’s not dead 😰 I don’t know where the story is going… 🤷🏽‍♀️

Chapter 6

Inquisition Take 2? Bad men are influenced by bad motivations… Find Alistair’s motivations more believable than Jenson.. I can, though misdirected, Alistair’s motivation for his stint into villainry..

Chapter 17

Poppy’s self control reminds me of Bella Swan from Twilight 😂 This book is like Twilight  fanfiction 😂

Still learning background information 🤔 Especially about Poppy’s liniage… Excited to learn more of it!

Still getting background information, especially Poppy’s ancestry. 🤔

Noticed my attention wandering back in chapter 12… it might be me or the story 🤷🏽‍♀️

Chapter 28

Fell asleep sometime between chapter 17 & 29… The last thing I remember is the questions regarding Poppy’s ancestry… To go back and reread or proceed 🤔 Since my attention’s been scattered… Decided to just go on… Usually, I start to put 2 & 2 together…. Hopefully 🤞🏽 nothing eric happened 😂

Feel a little slumpy… Trying to finish this book and The Wallflower Wager… Just trying to meet my goals…

Discombobulated… 😂 Thought I was gurther into the book.. Realized I was in Chapter 24…

Poppy officially meets Cas’ parents… Mixture of Poppy’s anxiety, Cas’ mom’s disapproval… Not what people think of first meetings…Cas intends to gain insight to what Poppy is now…Cas’ mom apologizes 👍🏽

Poppy is getting reveal after reveal… She remains a mystery… 🤔 

Poppy and Cas want to find and free Maleck.. Plan to find Ian…

The books and sections of the books can be divided… From chapter 28-39 can be the “rule or NOT to rule section”… Poppy has been lead to this decision all series long… 🤔 

Still loving Poppy’s ralationships with Cas, Kirin, and all the Woven 👏🏽

The series is character-driven, focusing on Poppy and her relationships 👏🏽

Chapter 39

So I may be updating in between my chapter ranges 😂 Listening on audio so I’ve got my phone 📱 on hand 😂

Feel like the story is coming together 😄 Poppy understandable her family history more, her and Cas are king and queen of Atlantia, and they plan to free Maleck 👏🏽 Just feel satisfied with how things are being resolved 👍🏽

End of book 📖

Revenants would make up an ascendant army…

Poppy’s heritage revealed 😨 

All the reveals for Poppy’s family history unexplained… Just sat back and tried to absorb it…I understand Poppy’s reaction…I would be angry too! Poppy had a hard life then finds out and has to deal with all these reveals…

The intensity of Cas’ love for Poppy ❤️ He doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice to keep Poppy alive ❤️

End on a cliffhanger… another book in the series? According to Goodreads there will be another book… My interest is definitely piqued 🤔

May 2021 TBR

So… 2 things… 1) this is late 🙏🏾 Necer finished my draft 😂 2) Just posted it but it didn’t post 🤦‍♀️ The one time I didn’t make a google doc.. My morning definitely interesting 😂 As with all monthly TBRs, start with my book club reads 

  1. After Midnight by Teresa Medairos
  2. His At Night by Sherry Thomas
  3. Along Came You by Lisa Kleypas
  4. Filthy by Serena Akeroyd

Then I prioritize my reading goals

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins

I’ve gotten into Shadow And Bone so…

  1. Shadow And Bone by Leigh Bardugo 
  2. Seige And Storm by Leigh Bardugo 
  3. Ruin And Rising by Leigh Bardugo 
  4. The Demon In The Wood by Leigh Bardugo 
  5. Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 
  6. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo 

This is just my idea 💡 May be subject to changes 😂

Shopping in a pandemic 😷

Today was the 1st day since the pandemic 😷 where I went to the mall! Going to the optometrist yesterday pushed me to! 👏🏽 They wrote me reading glasses 🤓 I was excited to get them!

My eye sight isn’t bad so my glassesvare meant to reduce eye stress by making things easier! 👏🏽 With the amount of reading I plan to do (see Neuro f/u post) thought it would be a good idea to! 💡

In addition to glasses, got masks (I have a small face 😂). On the way home, grabbed dinner and boba 🧋!

Tonight my partner and I plan to do Shadow And Boba 🧋! 😂

Re-establishing care with my providers in a pandemic 😷…

One of the hardest things about the pandemic 😷 is it makes an already fragmented healthcare system even more fragmented… When the pandemic 😷 began, I hadPhysical therapy (PT) 2 times per week AND doctor visits. Once the pandemic started (rightfully so), it all had to stop. In my household, we have 2 stroke survivors, a person with asthma, and a newborn… 😨 We knew we had to be careful!

Now that majority is vaccinated, maybe it’s time to go back… It required phone calls (placed during business hours), re-authorizations, and remembering 🤦‍♀️ all my providers…

I knew if I wanted to do this… I for sure need to see my 1) primary care provider (PCP) 2) neurologist 3) hematologist.

Your PCP is your regular doctor 👩‍⚕️, presumably they know you well… I only began seeing mines last year… So were still building our relationship!

Not everyone requires the attention of a neurologist, but my history (Hx) of strokes makes it do I NEED one. A neurologist is like a PCP with added expertise of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

A hematologist is like a PCP with added expertise on blood (especially blood disorders). I need to see 👩‍⚕️ since I’m hyper-coalaguble…

Luckily I got appointments with their offices, no problems 🙏🏾

After my appointments got dinner and boba 🧋 with a good friend to 1) let the traffic die down (and it did 😄) 2) Know he works in the area 🤗

Neuro Follow-Up (F/U)

Being a stroke survivor, your neurologist is an integral part of your care team… Having had my strokes in Boston, MA, I had a great neurologist! But I was so far from home… It wasn’t cost effective for my family and partner to keep flying cross country… I know me being so far was scary… 😨 But before I could come back home, my healthcare team needed to be in place…

Like I said, I had a great team in Boston! 👏🏽 And Boston is a healthcare mecca! I was able to receive treatment from some of the world’s best facilities and practitioners! 👏🏽

My old neurologist in Boston set me up with my current neurologist 👏🏽

Now that I’m vaccinated 🙌🏽 I wanted to see 👨‍⚕️!

These appointments are always a trek so I booked another appointment after! I’ll finally will be seeing an optometrist 👏🏽

Fortunately my condition is stable! He’d like to see me again in 3 months 👏🏽

He also recommends physically reading again 😉 a kindle?! 😂

Annual Eye 👁 Exam

Seeing a new doctor 🤞🏽

Ever since my stroke, I find it takes longer for my eyes to focus 🤔 They also get tired faster… That was always mysterious, even more important now… I feel once this is figured out, I may be able to physically read books again! 😍 That would be a game changer 😋

Saw neuro opthamalogists in Boston… Nothing was ever diagnosed 🤷🏽‍♀️ Its deficiency gotten better… Not wearing glasses anymore!

General eye health


1. Take rest breaks! Eye fatigue is real…


2. Blue light glasses 👍🏽 Especially for phone 📱 and TV exposure!


3. Yearly eye exam and perscription adjustments!

Updates Met with a new optometrist, and prescribed me 2 pairs of glasses! 1 reading and 1 long distance pair!