Center pieces that take over the world

I have a high tolerance for plants that take over the world, or their little part of the world, as long as they are interesting. The variegated ivy in the first photo cracks me up because it was from a center piece my parents had for a party. There was a little ivy in with the flowers in the arrangement which was on my parent's dining room table. My two types of variegated ivy which now cover an entire bank on one side of my house are from that center piece. The large leaf form has grown through the gate to my back garden, up and over the deck and hangs on one corner of my deck wall. The other is growing around the corner and up the front of my house as well as the side of my house. All from a couple of sprigs to set off a flower arrangement. Makes me laugh.

I got in touch with my melanoma clinic's NP and I will see my oncologist next week after they get the slides from the MRI's that were done through my PCP. I'm not sure what will happen but I am going to try to listen to what they say. I am also guardedly optimistic, in terms of my overall health, that some of the new clinics I'm going to go to may help. In addition to the pain clinic referral, I have an rx from the PCP for an outpatient rehabilitation clinic and she checked - evaluate and treat under: physical therapy; back on track - back education program; balance and vestibular disorders; lymphedema. Lots of evaluating and treating to be done in a new environment. I like the physical therapist I was going to but she wasn't in a hospital rehab setup and my insurance didn't cover much so I couldn't keep it up forever. This will be covered by my insurance and will be more comprehensive.

I have to watch my knee jerk reaction to my weight being mentioned. My new PCP said that one of the things the rehab clinic will probably want to help me with is the fact that I've gained quite a bit of weight over the past year. My knee jerk response is that I gained the weight because the pain kept me from running or even walking fast most of the time. It's the chicken and the egg deal. That said, the fact that I have gained a lot of weight isn't helping matters at the moment. What I would like to do is lose the weight prior to going to these clinics because I think it's a total red herring but at this point I can barely walk around the block, and I don't see the weight coming off any time soon. I think while I wait for the oncology appointment next week and then for the lipoma to be excised and possibly for the groin biopsy, I should go ahead and at least make appointments for the new clincs. They probably can't schedule me in immediately anyway.

The PCP's office is handling the pain clinic referral and they will call me with that appointment. All I have to do for the rest is call and set up the evaluations. Since I have adequate pain meds for the moment, with the latest increase, I could probably handle going to these clinics now if they got me in right away. At least it would be a positive step forward. If I show up at the evaluations in bad shape, hey that's what I'm going for, to get better. It's so typical of me. I always want to make a lot of progress on my own before involving anyone else. I wouldn't ever go to aerobic classics back when I did some of that until I was already in pretty good shape. I started working with a trainer after I was already jogging 5 miles most mornings as well as swimming a few days a week. The trainer was to help me with weights to build upper body strength, primarily. That was right before my melanoma dx and the rest as they say is history, at least in my little universe.