Mouse in the Library

louisadkins has been home from work for the past week. Work has gotten impossible for him, to the point that it's been affecting him physically. Headaches, back knotting to the point that driving was bad, nausea, etc, etc. He is currently seeking new employment.

He has also been helping with what he has named 'God's List' around the house. God's List is the huge list of stuff that needs to get done around the house that we haven't had the time or energy to get to. With an extra person home, we can. The side hallway has been cleared, the sunroom and laundry room have been cleared and organized, the kitchen no longer has piles of stuff waiting to go out to the watershed, we have confimed the existence of the kitchen table, Phooka's toys have been seriously weeded, and my room is no longer an obstacle course.

The local Goodwill now also knows the van on sight.

My room still needs more done with it, the kitchen needs to be better organized, and catchild's bedroom and bathroom still need work. And we need to set several pack-rat traps. When something has sat unused and in the way for a year, it's time to get rid of it.

My shoulder/neck area on the left side still hurts whenever I do anything that pulls on it. This has not been helping my mood any. I am doing my damndest to not give in to a case of the "Ah, fuckit"s, and just use the arm like there's nothing wrong with it, as that would make it worse.

So, being in a grumpy mood and being irritable at my family for all having two functional arms, drat their hides, I am of course plotting out stuff for the game I'm going to be running. The previous one sort of crumbled because I got seriously lost. I think I've ironed that problem out for this one. Setting is the Diablo II world and storyline. See also: A world that I know by heart 'cause I've been all bloody over, under, around, and through it.

We'll see if I've learned any from the last game. First lesson: Learn when to say no, and don't be afraid to say no when it really needs to be said.

The good mood has lasted for a little over five hours now. Not a maniac good mood, either. Just the steady warm glow of happy contentment. Almost like being held close by a dearly loved one.

The swings went through the other emotions faster today, and have been holding at my standard of general good cheer, content and friendly for longer. Still keeping a close watch on my emotions. I want to try and give the Levlite generic and my system at least the first three months to get used to each other.

'Cause, much as I don't like the mood swings, they're better than being unable to eat due to stomach revolt, which is what the orthotricycline that I was on a few years ago did.

Edited on 5/13/10, 14:33. -sigh- Sorry, realized that this next bit probably needs to go behind a TMI cut-tag. I apologize if I squicked someone; I suffer from a severe lack of modesty.


( Cut for sexual references. )

And I wound up going to a Doc-Inna-Box yesterday. Verdict? Throat infection (not tonsilitis, thank the gods) and pinkeye. The doc gave me a bunch of professional samples of an antibiotic and a decongestant, seeing as how I don't have any insurance. I also got a perscription for eye drops.

Nice doc. She was even friendly. I think I slightly surprised the nurse, though. When she asked what I was in for, my response was that I dealing with mucus discharge from my eyes. It was the simplest way I knew to describe it.

Do so few people use terms like that to describe ailments to their medical caregivers?

In other news, I am trying to keep up with bottemless pit that is pretending to be my stomach. I'm slowly gaining muscle, and it's starting to feel like I can't quite eat enough. Ever. Right now, part of that is my body's standard response to being sick, but I've been dealing with a milder version of this for the past few months.

And I've been healthier the past year or so than I have been for most of my life. Even with the crud I've got now. And now I need to go eat. Again.

Today started with me leaving the bed at high speeds to empty an already empty stomach. Between the paint fumes from the freshly painted bookcase, sinus drainage down my throat, and overheating during the night, I wound up with a nasty case of the heaves this morning. warinbear and louisadkins both deserve medals. warinbear was awake, out of bed, and holding my hair back within seconds. louisadkins showed up at the door shortly thereafter, and got a cool, damp washcloth onto the back of my neck. I spent most of the day dealing with a sinus headache and the shitty feeling of low blood-sugar. I really don't like the reaction of needing to eat badly enough that you feel sick to your stomach. It leads to a viscous circle.

About thirty or so minutes after I was showered and settled back into bed (with the cats on guard duty, I might add) louisadkins yelled loud enough that warinbear and I heard him in the bedroom. I staggered out to see what the problem was, and noticed the distinct scent of burnt electronics. His computer's power supply had burned out, and taken several other components with it. I crawled back into bed, and was dimly aware of the two bears snarling at Warin's computer. It couldn't see all the RAM that was there. It kept seeing everything except for about 64 megs. Last I heard, they hadn't fixed the problem.

And then, while they were doing this, the sunburn that Warin had picked up on Friday began to itch. He had Louis rub Solarcaine over it, in the hopes that that would help. Thirty seconds later, it was itching so badly that he couldn't concentrate on anything. He took a cool shower. I dozed during his shower, and woke up to the sounds of my husband crying in the bathroom. With Warin and Ebon both, crying is a sign of extreme distress, whether emotional or physical. Adreneline spiked, and I found myself out of bed and checking on Warin. The shower hadn't helped any, and he was fighting to not claw his shoulders open. Calomine lotion didn't help, and he was starting to rock and shake.

I called catchild up in NY, and told her what was going on. She reccomended covering the area in towels dipped in a half-and-half mixture of white vinegar and water. I also gave him Benadryl, in case it was an allergic reaction to the Solarcaine. The towels helped for a little bit. I called catchild back after about thirty or so minutes, because slightly raised white spots were starting to come up in the sunburn. She said to take him to the ER. Now.

So, off to the ER we went. It stopped itching while we were waiting for the doctor and started hurting instead. Then the Benadryl kicked him. They gave him some drugs on the spot, and gave us a sunburn treatment worksheet to take home with us. They also gave him a perscription for two different painkillers. We haven't filled them out yet. He's sleeping for now. We're going to give him the standard sunburn treatment, and see how that goes. He doesn't want to fill out the perscription unless the pain gets bad enough for him to need perscription strength painkillers.

On the good side, the adreneline spike stopped my nausea. I've eaten, the headache's gone, and I actually feel much better. I still wish that we hadn't had to take Warin to the ER.

All in all, it's been one hell of a day.

We went out and bought winter clothing for everyone who needed it about a month and a half ago. The jeans fit fine when I tried them on in the store.

A week ago, they started sliding off of my hips.

Okay. I got on the scale. No weight loss. The jeans are not stretched. I got on the scale again. No weight loss. Oookay.
They're sliding off of my hips even worse this week. Check scale. Still no weight loss. Jeans are still not stretched.

Okay, so I have been trying to eat somewhat more healthily. Housework has gotten more active lately, what with a bigger house to look after. I've been taking advantage of the size of Sanctuary and hiking more. Okay, so I've been walking down to pick the girls up from the bus-stop lately, and yes, it's a quarter-mile walk one-way. Yes, I've been walking around the house with the Phooka (the baby) in a sling or on my hip a *lot* lately. Okay, so she's 16.2 lbs now. Okay, so I've been getting more serious about the yoga.

I just didn't realize that a month could make this much difference. No, I haven't lost weight. Weight loss was never my goal. However, I have developed and am developing muscle and endurance. I don't get tired anywhere near as easily as I used to. The hike up and down the ridge leaves me feeling pleasantly buzzed, instead of wiped. I haven't been getting sick near as often as I used to. I *feel* stronger. And it feels good.

Thank you, Noel. Reading about your exercising and dieting is what kick-started me into working on taking better care of myself.

Next step once I'm in somewhat better shape: Learning how to stick-fight.