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firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Apparently typing madly to keep your fingers doing absolutely anything other than scratching the affected skin and making it worse is an effective approach.

Then proceeding to fall back to sleep until it is way too late to try and get seen before work? Not so good.

*facepalm*

At least it's down to a dull roar now. Maybe the cream's finally working? And yes, I fully realize this is probably a stress-induced flare-up. No surprise there.

What'll be really fun will be to see what effect getting the Karuna Level 1 attunement tomorrow night will have. Attunements generally lead to some sort of cleansing process, often uncomfortable. (See last October, when it took me hours to work out that no, I didn't have food poisoning, I had just both passed and received a bunch of attunements in a very short time.)
firefly124: giles saying "bloody hell" (bloody hell giles)
I couldn't fall asleep until after four. I woke up before 7:30. I am about to scream bloody murder because the eczema on my feet is not responding to anything normal (i.e. steroid cream) and I want to take sandpaper to them. One foot and one toe in particular. I wonder if I've developed a tolerance to this particular cream.

Doctor's office isn't open for another hour. AAAAAAAAARGH!

As it is, I've somehow managed to add a 1.5cm long crack in one toe that looks about .25cm deep, maybe a little less, that I have no idea how it can ever heal, given where it is, right at the joint on the plantar side, but at a weird diagonal. I'm about a half second away from taking a Benadryl and not caring if it knocks me out for the day, except work might be the only thing that'd actually distract me from this insanity. Also, it'd be nice if I could be conscious in an hour to call the doc and beg to be seen.

*glares @ foot*

Developing an "alteration in skin integrity" was not on my to-do list, dammit!

/whine
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Originally posted by [personal profile] kikibug13 at The shaming room
Originally posted by [profile] bajoransmurf at Please take a seat in the shaming room...
Originally posted by [personal profile] denorios at Please take a seat in the shaming room...
Since a number of US newspapers have refused to republish the latest Doonesbury cartoon strip which highlights the way Republicans are attempting to undermine a woman's right to choose, I feel it's important to make sure the message still gets across.

The shaming room awaits.

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(Note, I'm x-posting this from DW after copy-pasting the code from LJ once I hit the "post to your journal" button. Might as well boost the signal x3 if I'm going to do it at all. I'm not sure, though, how the "post to your journal" link will work from DW or IJ. If you try it, let me know, and I'll update so others will be aware. And the verdict is that the button code is too LJ-specific and doesn't even show up on DW or IJ. Sorry.)
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
... because I'm starting to loathe the acronym URI (upper respiratory infection).

It's still debatable whether we caught this round of bronchitis in time to avoid a long-term asthma exacerbation like the last round, but efforts have definitely been made. This was complicated by my PCP's office being closed for New Year's yesterday, but thankfully I was able to find a walk-in that was open and had a doc who would listen to me and believe me when I said, "No, I can't produce more verging-on-green phlegm on demand, but I swear that's why I'm here. I'm not stupid enough to want antibiotics for a plain old chest cold."

Antibiotics - check
Secondary inhaler to go with the rescue - check
Cough syrup so's I can sleep - check
Probiotics to offset the GI damage due to antibiotics - check
Garlic soup and hot toddies for general comfort and hopefully at least some killing of germs - check

Incidentally, I'm hugely grateful to [livejournal.com profile] lariopefic for introducing me to Firewhisky Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey at Aeternitas. It makes one hell of a great hot toddy. Now if only I could remember the ingredients for Pepper-up Potion. (It was not Fireball and Rumpleminze, which results in something tasting like the nastiest cough syrup imaginable.)

Patsfan wants to take me out for pizza. This may be better than having him cook, but I don't actually want to go out feeling like this. That and I'm down to one week to cough up (heh) 7500 words of rough draft for [livejournal.com profile] tw_classic_bb, of which I've just cut about a thousand words and rewritten them. That was probably not the best idea but the fic took a surprise left turn and leaving the old stuff in there that no longer fit was confusing me. Oh well, guess pizza's a good break food.
firefly124: hermione/snape - bit of romance (hgss bit of romance)
Most have already probably seen the updates on [livejournal.com profile] mischievous_t's situation and budding plans to offer support, but for those who haven't, [livejournal.com profile] machshefa has provided a synopsis of how T is doing as well as some insights into what are and are not likely to be helpful forms of support here and an update here.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Actually, first off, apologies to those who had commented on my last post that I just replied to. I didn't know they were there. *kicks LJ and Yahoo!Mail both, as either could be at fault*

TMI )

In other news, the semester's almost over. Had my stats final Friday, which seemed absurdly easy. Most of my tutees had their finals today or will do tomorrow. Then I'm off until at least Memorial Day, possibly June, depending on some budgeting decisions. I've registered for the 1-credit yoga course this summer to keep my student status. Only 5 in it so far, so it's debatable whether it'll run. *crossing fingers that either I get a nursing job before summer starts or the course runs* Stats made sense, as most post-ADN nursing degrees require it. Yoga is obviously just me sacrificing the equivalent of two weeks' pay for the potential to work another 10 weeks or until I (hopefully long before that point, FFS) find a damned job. Paying for more than a single credit, though, when the course doesn't count towards anything, would be kind of pointless.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
One of the things that's been bugging me lately is that my heart rate is already up when I first get on the treadmill. Like having it under 100 is a rarity.

Another thing that's been bugging me is how fast I run out of gas at night and just crash. I have stuff I need to get done, dammit!

So, I had a routine rheumatologist appt this week, and he did some bloodwork. Apparently I'm anemic. Yep, that'd do it. I'm hoping it's just low iron and I can correct it with some dietary changes. (I'd rather not *take* iron, as that tends to mess up my GI tract.) Redoing in a month, and if it's still bad, it'll be time to do a GI workup to see if there's a mini-bleed somewhere. (No way there's a major one and I haven't noticed.)

So, I suppose yay that it's a lack of red blood cells and not something wrong with my heart itself? *facepalm*
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
At least, my shoulder's current wonkiness is textbook supraspinatus tendon impingement syndrome according to my chiropractor. This would be why the line of sharp pain going from directly where my collarbone and shoulderblade meet down to a bit above the insertion point of the deltoid muscle feels almost exactly like plantar fasciitis except in my shoulder. I sincerely hope that doesn't mean there's a bone spur to match my heel spurs.

Inflammation's finally down enough that I have exercises to do. I hope that makes the difference, and quickly. It's already been about a month of this nonsense.

Meanwhile, not exactly related, but I missed the gym today. Woke up late, did remember to throw things into the gym bag, but failed to remember to actually *bring* the gym bag. And they won't let you even just use the treadmill in jeans. Tomorrow then.

In entirely unrelated news, I decided to check out Tumblr. So far as I can tell, it's mainly a source of lots of fannish macros. Amusing, but I still don't really get it.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
So, the goals I set for 2010 included a writing goal, physical goal, and spiritual goal, plus one big main goal.

I did manage to complete the main goal, which was to finish nursing school. Yay!

Other Old and New Goals )

And that's that for that.

Happy New Year, everybody!
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
This time, I brought music. I definitely need to plan better what I'm going to listen to, because a couple of songs got me going way too fast, and I shot my heart rate into the 160s, which is a bit too high. So, um, Chinese Burn is out until I'm in a bit better shape, for example.

This time I also used the machine correctly, but failed to bring anything to write down the data on. I also couldn't figure out how to create a note on my new-to-me phone. Didn't think I could text myself, so what brilliant idea did I have? Tweet it of course. *eyeroll* What? I was under pressure. The machine only gives you a minute or two before it wipes everything. Yeah, that was ridiculous. *headdesk*

But! I'm still proud of myself. I did the full hour this time and did almost 3 miles (2.88).

Other things accomplished: did some NCLEX studying with the Saunders book and (gasp!) some housework. Now to try and do some writing.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Sorry for the spammage. It seems to be feast or famine on this journal lately.

I'd meant to start last week but never got my act together. This week, I'm back to tutoring, so I finally made my way into the gym and used the treadmill. I'd intended to go for an hour, but I messed up the controls, ended up splitting my walk in half as a result, so I got about 45 minutes, which still isn't bad for a first go. Now that I know the machine a bit better, I'll (hopefully) use it correctly and have actual data. Data is good. I like numbers that show progress. I like non-weight-related numbers even better, because my goal really is to get my stamina and strength built back up. While my hips, knees, and ankles would no doubt benefit from carrying less of me around, that's not the primary goal.

One important number I do have is 153. That's the highest my heart rate got, and I slowed the machine back down once it got there. High 140s is fine. 150s is getting up there. Of course, having pre-medicated my asthma, my heart rate was already almost 110 when I first got on the damned thing, but that's to be expected. At least I only get tachy and not wonky with the albuterol these days. Oh, and the heart rate stayed in the 140s at 3 miles per hour but overshot once I took it up to 3.5.

I'm not sure I have a solid goal here. Ultimately, I'd like to walk up a couple of flights of stairs without getting winded and maybe even survive a bellydance class or fifty. For a short-term goal, mostly I want to increase the maximum speed I can tolerate and add at least a little incline by the end of the winter break. I'm also thinking I may alternate days between the treadmill and the recumbent bike that has the neat electronic race-course-looking thingy. For this week, it's all treadmill though. Walking is a good starting point. No strength training yet, alas, because the shoulder's still effed-up. Not sure if it's the way I'm sleeping on it or what, but something's continuing to aggravate it so that it's not getting better as it should.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Went to a family function last night. Once the DJ moved beyond disco into some rock and generic functiony dance music (attempted once again to get people to do the Electric Slide on beat, unsuccessfully), the dancing was fun. Until, y'know, the asthma decided to act up.

Grrr. You know, having to use the inhaler every so often has become less annoying as it has become more familiar. But when it interferes with dancing, I just get mad. Venting and trying to work out just what went wrong there. )

Ah well. Time to see if I can't move up that check-up, because clearly this has moved into the "we need to be doing more about this" zone. And "don't dance" is not, I repeat NOT an option. Dance more and build the stamina back up would be a far, far preferable verdict.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
So, the guy at Best Buy thinks a) I may be right that it's just a loose wire and b) that regardless, as it shows no evidence of being dropped, it should be covered by the warranty. However, it had to be shipped out, and the estimate he gave me was a month, even though there's a chance it could be less. I guess they can only handle software problems in-store.

But! One of the tutors I work with said her husband had a "little laptop" that they had been going to sell to someone who then didn't buy it, and I could probably borrow it. So I am typing this on a lovely ThinkPad! The compressed keyboard takes some getting used to, but other than that, I really like the compactness of it a lot. W00t!

No writing happened Wednesday or Thursday, as a result, which is kind of ridiculous. I had access to other computers and Google Docs. I'm just that attached to using a laptop to write? No, I've done my daily scribblings in a composition book when we've driven up to Boston. Also, I have no idea how much I exactly wrote Mon or Tues, but I did at least write 500 words, then 600+ yesterday, so I may keep the [profile] 5_for_five streak going.

In other news, I gave that Angel Food Ministries thing a try, like I said I was going to. I got very mixed reviews between here, FB, and RL. The RL ones were the most positive, so I wonder if it's a regional distribution thing or something. So far I haven't used any of the food, but the picking up and then going through the box left me pretty happy with it so far.

More detailed babble. )

Overall, then, I'd give it pretty good marks so far. We'll see how it goes as I get around to actually using the food.

Now, time to get some sleep. Have a lovely Saturday, all!
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
I was annoyed with myself earlier for picking up the Good Friday day shift, grousing that working 24 hours out of a span of 40 is dumb. Then I realized: I do nearly the same thing every Thursday evening through Saturday morning, just split across two jobs and two hours less, and usually with 8 hours of clinical first on Thursday. I really do have this mental block in which I think I'm still 19 and don't really need sleep. Ah well. Took the rest of the Thursday evening shifts off for April, because it was clearly getting to be too much, so that's something. Definitely have to remember when planning summer tutoring though: no Friday hours. Working during the day on Friday = badness. It was nice, though, if hectic and crazy-making, to work a day shift at my primary job, which I'd not done in probably over a year.

Side note re: clinical - I ended up calling out sick for it this week. Horrible cold + already sick patients = badness. This means I'll have a make-up to do in May, which is kind of a bummer, but also kind of unavoidable. I'm just glad that the class as a whole has worked around the other two make-up days already, so I should still be done with clinical before the final exam. Meanwhile, this cold is trying to turn into bronchitis, and I'm glad I went to the doc Thurs after all, even though I felt lame at the time. I just had a feeling it was going to go bad and didn't want to be stuck using the ER on a holiday weekend. She trusted me that I wasn't being ridiculous and really do know antibiotics are useless for a cold. In fact, I was only asking for a scrip (for antibiotics and an inhaler) to hold in case it turned into bronchitis over the weekend. Instead, I got told to just start the Z-pack immediately, because the cough was already starting, and in me that's usually a half-step away from bronchitis, so why not just make it unlikely for bacteria to set up housekeeping before they settle in. I still almost held off, but am glad I didn't, as it is moving down inexorably into my bronchi, as I'd sort of expected, creating a lovely environment for random bacteria to take over, except HA! they should not be able to do so. Since I was filling that, I went ahead and filled the inhaler too. Haven't needed it yet. Don't want to use it. (Because, dude, if caffeine makes my heart do the Macarena, can you just see what albuterol will do? PVC party!) But it's reassuring to have it just in case. She stuck a bunch of refills on it too. Guess she was getting antsy about me not routinely carrying one, which I'd kind of picked up on over past visits, even though I've yet to have a full-on "asthma attack." Probably just as well to stop tempting fate.

This may yet result in cancellation of Easter plans for the same reason I called out of clinical. My Dad is almost as compromised a cardiac patient as anyone on the floor at clinical, so even though I shouldn't be carrying any bacterial pathogens to pass around, what with the antibiotics, if I'm still sneezing and coughing, I have to assume I'm shedding cold viruses, which he doesn't need either. Not sure how I feel about that. Mixed, I guess, because there's family dysfunction and religious dissonance (I'd so much rather be doing Delphinia at HTAZP than celebrating a holiday that's no longer part of my faith) on the one hand and the definite sense that I may not get that many more visits with him on the other. Ah well. We'll see how it goes.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Photobucket

The ribbon is technically for the [profile] 5_for_five challenge to write at least 500 words at least 5 days out of the week. I had thought I might not make it last week, but TFTWSD gasped back to life. Again.

However, I also met another challenge. Curves had a "No Gain Campaign" challenge for the holidays, in which you had to weigh in before Thanksgiving and weigh out last week. Ten of us successfully did not gain either weight or body fat over the holidays, and some folks even managed to lose a bit. I'm just happy not to have gained! Weight loss isn't my main goal, but not gaining any more is definitely pretty high up there.
firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
Will resume trying to read flist after I finally get to see the second part of EoT, because even half the spoiler cuts in various comms are using spoilery text. Meanwhile, memery.

How I fared with 2009's goals and what I'm setting for 2010. )
The past decade in review. )
Okay, that's just about enough navel gazing. Happy new year, all!

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firefly124: charlie bradbury grooving in a glass elevator (Default)
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