now with less hermityness

It's going to be kind of a busy weekend. Friday evening I'll be having drinks with three women with names that are a variations on the historical name Maryām. I offered to temporarily borrow the name Marion from my grandmother, to minimize confusion.

Saturday is more of a mixed bag. At 10 we've got a memorial service to attend, for a dear friend who passed away this week. My heart is breaking for her family and friends, as we've lost a beautiful, vibrant woman in the prime of her life.

I'll be going from there to K's house. She's petsitting for several dogs, but has to be out for the day. So I'm coming to give the pups a break outside and some people company for a few hours. The pups won't mind if I'm in a quiet mood, after the memorial. They'll just be happy to have a person around. And pups are so full of life, it will be a happy way for me to reconnect to joy after saying goodbye to our friend.

Then dinner at the St. Paul Tea House with my Mister and some new friends who are curious about my Mister's favorite Szechuan dish, boiled fish in spicy Szechuan broth. We're always happy to introduce more folks to the Tea House. And the last get-together with one of these particular friends was a fun occasion.

Yes, folks, after being a virtual hermit over the last two years, I'm getting out and being social. Thank FSM for the current combo of medications and acupuncture.

Sunday will need to be a day of house chores and unpacking. I'm hoping this level of energy I'm rolling on stays consistent, so I can get at least one room presentable. I actually love the "nesting" aspect of unpacking. It's just been too exhausting to get much done. The ear stabby J stuck me with a week and a half ago is still doing well, and I've been sleeping better due to the lower pain levels.

For those of you playing along at home, my Mister has been doing job interviews, and getting promising feedback from several of them. All digits crossed for a good match, and preferably soon.

Speaking of the ASP needles (my ear stabbies) I've been getting so much relief from, here's an article I found via the NIH on their use in a trial in Nigeria. Fascinating stuff. I spoke to my local acupuncturist and she said she won't use them due to a fear of infection, since they stay in your ear when you're no longer under her observation. Fortunately, J gave my Mister the info he needs to be able to use them on me when needed.

But I'd like to find a good acupuncturist in the MN Twin Cities area who does use them, so I have someone to recommend people to. I've had a number of people ask me about my sudden improvement, and then follow up by asking where they - or a loved one - can try a the treatment. Sure, it doesn't work for everyone. But when it does work, Wow!

Ok... break's over. Back to the grindstone.

health care

Arizona has a proposed constitutional amendment (to be voted on in 2010) which would nullify a national health care system from operating in the state. - Wikipedia

Wow. I haven't looked further into the subject of this amendment of Arizona's, but I do have to assume they've got an exception for Medicare and Medicaid.

Found out today via Minnesota Public Radio that our (MN's) governor, Tim Pawlenty, is a Tenther. Wish that surprised me.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he may invoke state sovereignty to keep Minnesota from fully participating in a health care reform plan, if passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama.

"Depending on what the federal government comes out with here, asserting the 10th Amendment may be a viable option," Pawlenty said...

Pawlenty, who is considered a potential candidate for President in 2012, said Thursday he and other Republican governors will get more assertive about raising the 10th Amendment.

"I think we can see hopefully see a resurgence in claims and maybe even bring up lawsuits if need be," he added.

Full article here

On the home front, we just paid close to $1,000 to COBRA for getting our health insurance continued, now that my Mister is out of work. We're only paying $300 a month for our COBRA insurance, for the moment, thanks to it being subsidized. But we had to fork out the amount for the time that it took to get COBRA started, while the paperwork was still in limbo. During that time I had some expensive prescriptions to pay for, and an office visit. Eventually, those bills will be partially reimbursed. Hopefully. But it is frustrating that during the time when we most need insurance, we had more out of pocket medical expenses than ever.

I don't use my own employer's health insurance because it's expensive and not very good. Though, if the Mister gets offered a job that doesn't have adequate health insurance, I guess we'll go with me being covered by mine and him being covered by his, or something of the sort. Assuming whatever job he gets offers any.

I can't thank my family enough for the support they've given us while the Mister looks for a new job. This all came on the tail end of lots of repairs to both our house and the townhouse, so we were not in a good position to deal with it. Bad timing, but thanks to family, it could have been so much worse.

plans

Ok, so I'm on this new medicine. I'm transitioning from my old meds, to Cymbalta, for fibromyalgia. In theory, I should start to have some relief in a few weeks.

In the mean time, switching off of the old med, onto this new one, is wreaking havoc with my thinker. Thanks fsm for spell check, because concentrating is like navigating through a fog.

But soon, hopefully, I'll be seeing some of that relief.

Right now, the medicine combination I'm on gets me enough focus and energy to work. Either from home or - ideally - in the office. But there isn't much left of me once the work day is over. I come home and collapse. Joe's weekly game night was at our house two weeks ago, and I was in so much pain and so tired that I couldn't even muster the energy to go downstairs to say hello, much less join in. Weekends are catching up time. Sleep 12 to 14 hours. Get a few things done if I'm lucky. Sleep another 12 to 14 hours. Hello, Monday. Rinse, repeat.

My time when I'm not working is all recovering from having worked. If I have to run up and down the halls retrieving lots of pages from the printer all day, or to meetings, or if I have to park in the furthest reaches of the parking lot, the impact on my system is even heavier.

Today, the med transition clobbered me. Too foggy to think in a straight line most of the day. It's evening, and my Mister has brought me dinner. I'm scooping up some of the thoughts I've had today and dropping them here.

So, what do I most hope for from success with the new medication?

I'd really love to have a little bit of energy left at the end of each work day to do something fun. I miss knitting. I miss reading for pleasure, which the worst brain fog of exhaustion often robs me of. I miss quilting. Spring is here... I'd like to fly a kite again this year. I'd love to finish unpacking the boxes from our move- we moved in December, after all, and it's now almost April.

I'm not expecting to ever be able to go on hikes again. I don't expect I'll be flying my parafoil stunt kite in anything but light winds again. Standing all day at Disneyland is probably right out of the "ever going to happen again" set of options.

But I'd love to have the energy to walk around my yard and pick up the sticks that fell out of the trees over the winter. I'd like to be able to help my Mister to mow the lawn. And I desperately want to have the energy to crafts again.

I've got a bunch of craft projects in my "queue".

• The friend of a dear friend needs a knitted womb. Should be a one to two evening project if I can focus enough to knit in the round.
• Another dear friend sent me yarn he spun himself for a knitted Cthulhu. Another one to two day project if I can only get the energy to start.
• I've got a baby quilt stewing in my brain that needs bringing to fruition.
• I already have the yarn for a special baby hat for a friend's little bitty.
• I have frogged and restarted a project for my Grandmother several times, but my foggy brain keeps throwing wrenches into the pattern.
  
• There are several projects I'd love to knit for myself. I have the yarn already for most of them.
  
• There are several mixed media projects stewing in the back of my brain, waiting for a chance to escape.
• Did I mention all that unpacking that needs doing? It'll be lovely when it's done.

All projects aside, a few nights' sleep without waking up because of this pain or that would be bliss.

So I'm taking this new med. Wading through the fog and funk of the transition from old pharmaceutical to new. And have my fingers crossed that some of the things I've lost will be found again at the other end.

Long day. Nutshell version.

Went to doctor and had a suture removed. No, I haven't had another surgery since the big one in 2007. It's a long story and probably TMI for most. Making it be gone was not a pleasant thing. Should be feeling better tomorrow. Just glad it's gone now.

I've been randomized into the half of the clinical trial that gets to try the Flexitouch therapy, not the control group. That is awesome news. More doctor appointments to follow, though. Comes with the territory.

Two of our rats, Dureena and Delenn, have metastasized cancers. NOT awesome news. Meds will help keep them comfortable for a while yet, with luck. The vet and technician were both impressed with how loving and sweet the girlies were during their visit.

My Mister is awesome.

Heroes was very tense tonight. Black hat? White hat? How dark can a gray hat get before it's undeniably black? How can you tell if it's black or just covered in soot?

It's past my bedtime. Am clicking "publish post" and going to bed.

firefoks has crashed

more at icanhascheezburger

I really appreciated the first lol I saw at cheezburger this morning, so I'm sharing.

My computer was out of commission for much of the weekend. Got it fixed, but due to a broken hinge it still needs to get shipped back to HP. The good news is, the hinge in question is under recall, so I don't have to pay for that.

I'm getting some extra snuggle time from the cats this morning. I lost my footing in a brain fog this morning while going down the stairs. I took the last half of the steps in full, bumpy, limbs flailing, obey-gravity mode. Nothing broken. But now I've got the aches and pains of the fall on top of my normal daily pain. So right now, Missy Tash, who is usually reserved with me, has curled up on my lap and settled in to provide her services as a fuzzy, purring hot water bottle.

I'll log in and work from home a bit later, when the aches subside to a dull roar. Then out for a regularly scheduled doc appt across town.

For now, I'll indulge in "cat gravity" therapy.

Two Years

Two years ago today I went in for the surgery that cured my cancer.

A lot has happened since then. Some good. Some not so good. A lot of awesome. Some decidedly not awesome.

"Normal" is different now than it was then, but assuming one doesn't live in a vacuum, two years passing brings change to everyone. "Normal" is as impermanent as everything else.

Two years later, I've got new things to deal with, but none of them are cancer. I'll take that.

For the third year, my goal is to get a better grip on how I handle what the more difficult changes in my life have brought with them.

* * *

When you see a truck bearing down on you, by all means jump out of the way. But spend some time in meditation, too. Learning to deal with discomfort is the only way you'll be ready to handle the truck you didn't see.
~Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Space Invaders Beer Cozy

Space Invaders Beer Cozy

The space invaders beer cozy is finally finished. I conquered my fear of stranded two color knitting and, while its not perfect, even I think it came out pretty spiffy looking. The bottom is crocheted and the rest is knitted.

My Mister is home and on the mend, minus a gallbladder that had passed its warranty. He won't be allowed to actually put the beer cozy to work for a while longer yet, though. So it's up on the shelf, holding a practice beer.

Time for me to get some chores done, errands run, and generally get caught up on things that got left undone while my guy was in the hospital.

sleep, perchance to wake rested

No accounting for the things that seem exciting these days. I slept a little long last night (my Mister woke me after 10 hours) but for the first time in ages I woke up this morning feeling rested.

I remember dreaming, but they were normal dreams that vanished to vague impressions of themselves as soon as I woke. I've become accustomed to waking from dreams that stay with me so thoroughly that for the first few minutes my groggy brain has a hard time separating the details of the dream from real life.

I had a lousy day on Friday, fatigue-wise, though I was running a low fever and wasn't feeling well in general. I don't expect that one day of waking up and feeling refreshed means I'm always going to from here on out. But it's a great start. I'd been afraid that the meds I'm on to handle the fatigue would make my sleep situation worse. But so far so good. And in September I've got an appointment with an endocrinologist to try to figure out what's causing it in the first place.

hero for a day

My hero for today is a guy named Mitch.

We lost our air conditioning yesterday while we were out watching Dark Knight. It's been in the mid 80's F in the house since we got home. I made some calls last night and then more this morning, looking for someone to come defend us from the Heat Miser.

Yeah, I'm a wimp.

I have in-laws in Arizona who would laugh at me like we do when they tell us it's getting cold there, when it's still above 50°F there and it's in the single digits here. But I start wilting at about 80°F. I got severely overheated as a tween during a visit to Phoenix, AZ in the summer, in a car without air conditioning. If I'm never that sick again it will be too soon. But more to the point of this post, I haven't tolerated heat well since.

Heat doesn't just make me tired or cranky. It can knock me flat. I once walked out of an over-air-conditioned building into a So. Cal. 90°F day and the transition hit me with tunnel vision and dropped me straight onto my butt on the ground in a matter of minutes.

So after being told by several AC repair companies that they couldn't get anyone out to us to do a repair for three days or more (though they could sure get someone to come give us an estimate on a new unit today or tomorrow) I found a locally based company called Pronto that sent someone out an hour after my call. That someone was a nice fellow named Mitch who found the problem and fixed our AC unit in just a few minutes, despite getting stung by an angry paper wasp from one of two nests that were hidden in our AC enclosure. (More of these wasps were nesting in a new spot.)

So, Mitch from Pronto is my hero for the day. He defeated the dreaded Heat Miser and restored our cooling (it's still 82° in here but cooling, finally), was attacked by unhappy stinging insects, and the rest of his day will be spent in houses that are too hot, or outside in the sun and heat, and yet he was as pleasant as can be.

After being hot for the previous 20 hours, and then hotter outside in the sun while Mitch finished up the repairs - wimp that I am - as soon as Mitch left I came inside and nearly fainted. I went from hot but fine to full blown pre-migraine aura, sweating hard, and headache and dizzy in just a minute or two. My mister was here, so he quickly got me some (more) water and a cold pack from the freezer.

Did I mention I'm a wimp?

I'm feeling much better after an hour of laying down with the cold pack, though I'm running a low fever and the headache is still throbbing in the left side of my head. More water, some tylenol, and parking myself right next to the AC vent are in order. The cats are all flopped and snoring. The ratties are asleep. And I'm going to log off the computer and rustle up that ice pack again. I'll make up the missed work hours later in the week.

Oh, but before I forget - I mentioned a while back in another post that we knitters and crocheters will put a cozy on just about anything. Well, this item falls more into the sweaters for unexpected recipients category than a cozy, but I think it deserves some applause. Serious points for creativity and style. I'd've posted the photo here, but Squiddles has the blogging feature on the photo disabled.

Return of the Mummy

Return of the Mummy

Leg up and wrapped from foot to thigh to bring down the swelling from being up and around at work yesterday. Three inches of swelling around my knee and thigh goes beyond uncomfortable and crosses into painful as it puts pressure on my knee and makes it hurt to walk.

I brought it down a bunch overnight, then if the wrapping works it gets looser as the swelling goes down. So I have to rewrap to get more reduction since the bandages used for wrapping a lymphedema affected limb have very little stretch. So it's rewrapped now and elevated again.

The good news is my new compression stocking has arrived now so today, if I can get the swelling back down, I can wear that to work to prevent a repeat of yesterday's puffage. It's a higher level of compression than my previous stocking was, and it's full length, so I'm optimistic about having more freedom to get up and move.

I am due to get on a plane in 3 days, and flying aggravates my lymphedema, so I have to get the swelling down before hand. I'll be planning on sleeping in the bandages so any swelling that sneaks through my compression stocking can be brought back under control. That said, I'm hoping dearly that the stocking will do it's job and keep the swelling at bay.

I cannot brain today

more lolcats

I was doing pretty well today, almost feeling human, and that part of my brain that is in denial about how hard it really is to function when I'm having a bad day kicked in.

This isn't really so bad, my brain says to itself. Really, it's a matter of just putting my mind to it. Just get up and go. You'll feel better once you do. There are all these things that need doing at home after work. I blame myself for just not trying hard enough up until now, and start to become optimistic about what I can accomplish in one day, if I just apply myself.

That's where I was about an hour ago. Never mind that my test results show that something chemically unbalanced is happening system-wide that could certainly cause these symptoms. Don't know why they're messed up, but the fact that they are is measurable. But when I'm not feeling flattened I'd really rather just believe it's just a lack of discipline on my part.

Then the fatigue kicked in a few minutes ago, and it's like my brain has hit a wall. My eyes are watering and I'm yawning like I didn't sleep a wink last night. My brain is as thick as... well... something really thick and opaque (too tired to be creative) and wrapping my brain around my current task at work is do-able, but just.

I really, really, really don't want to be this clobbered by tired when I go to Jumpcon at the end of next week. I'm seeing some improvements with what the docs are trying, I think, since I am having 5 or 6 hour stretches when I almost feel like me. They said it could take a month or two to really kick in. Meanwhile, heat is still my arch enemy, and I cycle between hours of dumb and hours of mostly having it together. Which is better than sleeping for 14 hours and being near useless for the other 10. So I guess we're moving in the right direction.

Ok... Break's over. Back to work.

Grizzer

Grizzer, one of the wolves at the
IWC in Ely

I'm back from my roadtrip with my mom up to Northern Minnesota. Mom drove, and we kept the exercise to a moderate amount to balance heatlhy moving around and seeing sights with avoiding triggering my fatigue/lymphedema more than necessary. We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. It rained on the drive up, but the weather was sunny and mild for the rest of our visit.

Critter count for the trip:
Deer: 4 live, 2 dead, and a foreleg on it's own being gnawed on by wolf pups. Also one fox, tons of ravens, red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, a loon, assorted squished small mammals by the roadside, a coop full of chickens, and the wolves at the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN.

We stayed at the Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay, located right on Lake Superior. We had dinner there both nights and spent some quiet time moseying up and down their path along the water. We also visited the Two Harbors Lighthouse and the Splitrock Lighthouse, both of which were lovely. The Splitrock Lighthouse is especially beautiful, and has been restored - along with its keeper's house - so you can go inside and see what they'd've been like back in their operating days. (Photos of both will be posted eventually.)

Even though we took it easy I've spent the last two days at home bone-tired, groggy and achy. But I'm very glad we took the trip. The wolves alone were worth it, and gettting to see them with my mom, who hadn't had a chance to visit MN since my surgery, was a rare treat.

brains, bandages and robin hood

Did I mention that the only thing my brain MRI found was a brain? Happy news, that, even if it does mean we still can't explain my wacky test results and symptoms.

I'm lying on the couch with my leg elevated right now and wrapped like a mummy because my lymphedema has gone nuts. I got a crash course today on lymphedema wound care when what should have been a tiny scratch became an big nuisance. Not infected, and I won't go into the gritty details here [edit: click the photo of the first aid kit if you want details], but suffice it to say I've got more layers of bandages on that little scratch now than I had for my laprascopic port incisions after my surgery.



I've been watching an episode of Robin Hood on BBC America - via my DVR - while my leg is elevated. The episode I have right now is "Get Carter" and I must say it's one of the better episodes in this series so far, IMHO.

The series has it's pros and cons. Notably, on the pro side, is Richard Armitage as Guy of Gisborne. Hubba hubba. (Wait, did I say that out loud?) Also, the Sheriff of Nottingham is ridiculously, selfishly, snivelingly evil (in a good way), and is well played by Keith Allen. The story lines for each show are entertaining and sometimes pretty creative.

On the down side, Marian's makeup, hair and costumes are often so modern as to make her fit in like a shoe vendor at a snake convention. Other random characters periodically wander through wearing equally out of place clothes. I mean, I'm not particular about the costumes being historically accurate for the period. It's a fantasy story, after all. But Marian frequently looks like she didn't get the memo about the theme of the party.

Lucy Griffiths as Marian, however, seems well suited to her role. I quite like Griffiths, and the rest of the cast, though I don't find Jonas Armstrong as Robin very compelling. He's growing on me in the role in the latest season, but he's still the weakest link in the cast for me. Maybe I'm being to hard on him? I think Michael Praed cemented himself in my brain as Robin of Loxley in the 1980's Robin of Sherwood series.

Suggested listening for this post: Re Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton and/or Oo-De-Lally by Roger Miller (as Alan-a-Dale in Disney's animated version of Robin Hood).

MRI done

Had the MRI of my head done last night. I had been warned by a lot of people that I was likely to discover a level of claustrophobia I hadn't been aware of before, but fortunately, I had no problems with it.

They had a little plastic nest for me to rest my head in, and a white cage kind of thing that went over my head, maybe an inch away from my face. Since it was my head they were scanning, I only needed to be slid into the MRI tube to just past my shoulders. I wore headphones playing music from an XM radio channel, and part way through they slid me out to inject some contrast liquid into my arm.

For once my fatigue came in handy. I just did some quick breathing meditation, and then let my mind wander until I drifted in and out of half-sleep, so it seemed to be over in no time.

I expect to hear something about the results this afternoon or Monday. Today is harder than the test itself. I hate the "not knowing". When we were planning and then doing the MRI I was at least doing something. Waiting with all the possible outcomes circling around like birds of prey around a prairie dog colony is much harder for me than laying in an MRI tube with my head in a cage. I can't just drowse through the day or 3 it will take to find out if we've even got answers or not. So my nerves nibble away at me and, along with my fatigue, sap away my ability to fucos.

ups and downs

Peter Murphy
in Minneapolis - 2008

Let him shout a rage so strong
A rage that knows no right or wrong
And take a little piece of you

~Peter Murphy, "A Strange Kind of Love", Deep

* * *

My friend and I went for a fabulous dinner at Nami before the Peter Murphy show on Monday at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.

I don't get out much lately. I got lucky and had a better than average day, health-speakingly-wise, and Peter Murphy is hands-down my favorite musician, so the evening had a celebratory feeling to it. And dinner was, in a word, splendid.

Even though I took it easy, I was a wreck the next day. But this was one of those events that was well worth it.

The audience was small but enthusiastic. The intimate setting allowed a lot of folks to be close to the stage without being squashed. There were people there from 18 to late middle age, in all sorts of modes of dress from goth to "just got off work at a 9-to-5", jeans & t-shirt, to miniskirt and combat boots. There were tables and chairs, dinner, cheesecake and drinks being served before the opening performer, Ali Eskandarian, started his set. Everyone watched from their tables or the bar while Eskandarian played, but abandoned their seats just before Peter took the stage.

When Peter performed "A Strange Kind of Love", there was nothing strange about the rapt expressions in the crowd.

The volume of the music overwhelmed Peter's voice just a bit from where I was standing, but it was wonderful being so close. And what a lovely voice he still has after all these years! We could easily see the blue of his eyes and his expressions as he sang.

The acoustics may have been better further back, but there's something more human about the experience up close. That said, I'm not one of those people who thinks celebrities owe it to everyone to be touchy-feely, probably because I'd hate being constantly grasped at by strangers. I know, price of fame, blah blah blah. IMHO, shaking hands upon being introduced is one thing, but just grabbing at a person who doesn't know you would be uncomfortable for me. And Peter Murphy is fairly well known by his long-time fans for being a private person. So I was impressed by how few people in the audience tried to take advantage of the lack of a barrier between us and Peter. One tall fellow pushed his way up in front of me, jumped up and down (squishing my toes - not my puffy foot, thankfully - a few times) spent some time trying to get Peter to touch his outstretched hand, and then drifted off to another spot after Peter finally did so. The few others who tried reaching for him were more willing to take the hint when Peter looked at them but did not reach back.

My favorite songs of the night: Huuvola, Crystal Wrists, and She's in Parties.

* * *

In other news I am scheduled for an MRI tomorrow evening. Results should be back from that on Friday afternoon or Monday.

Fatigue

fatigue
1669, from Fr. fatigue "weariness," from fatiguer "to tire," from L. fatigare, originally "to cause to break down," later, "to tire out," from reconstructed adj. *fati-agos "driving to the point of breakdown," from Old Latin *fatis (of unknown origin, related to adv. affatim "sufficiently" and to fatisci "crack, split") + root of agere "to drive" (see act). Fatigues appeared 1836, from sense of a soldier's non-military duties (1776).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Too tired to knit, much less go out for a ride, or to take photos and post them on the web. Too tired to cook dinner, or follow the plot while watching a movie. I can read for a bit, but the meaning gets tangled and I have to re-read every third paragraph to sort out who said what. Too tired to want to leave the house. Food is unexciting. Climbing the stairs is exhausting.

Had a good day the other day... got some dishes done, got some errands run. Today I feel like I slept under the mattress. The price of a good day is being so tired I ache. So tired my vision is blurred. Dark circles under my puffy eyes. I'm tired and cranky and frustrated.

Up and moving around, I start overheating. It's like being under one of those lamps where they stick fries until the rest of the food is done. Sleep comes too easily. But it doesn't refresh. Too tired to think straight. Too tired to focus.

What was I about to say?

I'm too tired to remember what it was.

no answers yet

Woke up aching from head to toe to day, like you would with the flu, but without the rest of the things that go with a flu. I feel like I'd slept under the mattress last night instead of on top of it. Joy.

My regular doc is booked until middle of next week so I went to see another doctor in her office.

This other doc had a few more blood tests taken that involved two tubes of blood - a thyroid test and I don't know what else. She told me I should see my shrink soon to rule out psychiatric causes for my symptoms, and said if I didn't feel better in two weeks I should see my regular GP.

So I've got the soonest possible appointment with my psychiatrist (in about a month) and I booked a follow up appointment with my regular GP for a week from now, just in case, and crossed my fingers that I'd get some answers before that.

A while after I got home I got a call from Dr. A's (my oncologist's) nurse, Joan. She touched bases, said I'd hear from Dr. A shortly, and then Dr. A called. He said he's playing phone tag with an endocrinologist because my last set of tests were so funky, and wanted me to know he's working on getting some answers for me. Bless both him and nurse Joan.

In the meantime, he's given me a prescription that should help with the symptoms.

Any word?

Any word?

Nope. No word yet. Still waiting to find out what, if any, tests my doc will request to follow up the last set.

This photo was taken in the parking lot at the doctor's office just before my physical therapy appointment.

blah

The cable guy came today to fix our internet tubes. We've had next to zero connectivity for the last several days. I've been flattened by a thundering herd of fatigue, so I'd've been mostly offline anyway. So the timing could've been worse.

The Mister was able to be home early when the cable guy arrived, which was good because my Honey speaks "cable". My own geek streak doesn't run toward hardware. Anyway, it turns out there were bad splitters out on the main hookup, and another indoors. I'm not sure about these "splitter" things, but it sounds to me like we must've had some kind of infestation of horrible cable-chewing mynocks. I guess cable guys carry mynock traps because it's all fixed now.

More Questions

Got my last set of blood tests back. My estradiol level is high... if I'm actually a man and we've just failed to notice that before now. Otherwise it's wayyy low. I'm right on the mark estrogen-wise for a post-menopausal woman. But apparently the previous test ruled out menopause.

If I'm doing the math correctly then: ((very low FSH) + (very low estradiol)) = WTF.

So, more tests yet in my future. Thyroid tests next? I'd very much like to get that WTF changed to an OIC* in the near future.



*"Oh. I see."