Category Archives: health

That Boy Needs Therapy

 

I’ve written about my mental health in the past and how I talked to my doctor in early 2015 about the anxiety and depression I’ve experienced for a good part of my life. Since then I’ve been on a course of Prozac and Wellbutrin that has served me exceptionally well. When I started the medications, though, my doctor suggested (though didn’t insist) that I supplement the treatment with other assistance, like yoga, meditation, or therapy. I agreed it was a good idea, but never really followed up.

Now here we are two years later. I was a couple of weeks into grieving and feeling completely unmoored and drifting. My friends and family have provided an amazing amount of support, and that’s great and so appreciated. However, at night, when the lights are off and it was just me and the dogs, I was finding myself lying awake for hours. At work, the slightest thing was setting off a crying jag. The worst of all was that the last minutes of Dan’s life played in a loop in my mind, over and over, setting off a cascade of guilt and despair.

I finally realized I’d had enough. I thought I could be strong and endure the grief alone. I had to admit that I was wrong. Not only that, but I also had to come to terms with the fact that I was wrong and that was OK. I needed professional help.

This being the digital age, I started where one normally starts: Google. Even the slightest mention of finding counseling or therapy in my area pointed me to the Psychology Today database. Now, I can’t vouch for the quality of the contents of the database, but it is certainly easy to apply filters. I narrowed things down to someone within 10 miles of me, who specialized in grief counseling, and was LGBT-friendly. This gave me a handful of names to work from. I cross-referenced this with my health insurance provider’s in-network database and settled on a therapist ($20 co-pay per visit. I can deal with that). I called and was able to set up an appointment for two days later.

I showed up a little early and filled out the forms, and then Patti introduced herself. We chatted a bit and then got to the heart of the discussion. I provided some background about myself and Dan, and we shared a chuckle because she and her partner had the same experiences we did, going from commitment ceremony to civil union to marriage. I won’t get too specific about the rest of the conversation except to say that it included a very difficult recounting of what happened on Dan’s last day, and what had happened and how I felt since.

Patti sketched out the approach that she thought might be good for future sessions (acceptance and commitment therapy, for those who might know what that means). We had a good conversation about how I tend to think very logically (hey, I’m an engineer through and through) and overly emotional thoughts can seem odd and irrational to me. Part of future sessions will involve reconciling the logical and emotional parts of the brain, and finding some kind of a happy medium.

The most important part of our conversation for me was when we discussed the images and events that kept looping in my mind. Patti explained that this is something commonly seen in people who have experienced trauma, such as those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. What is fascinating to me is that this is actually a physical manifestation, not a mental one. The brain is physically changed by trauma, and the looping events are a common symptom of this.

What does this mean, and how do I deal with it? Well, that is part of the conversations still to come. In the meantime, knowing that this is something physical and not a mental aberration or weakness has helped me tremendously. When I start to experience this, I can identify it for what it is. I’m still working on how to cope with it, but even that much is a big step forward for me.

So that’s where I am right now, and all of that after just one appointment. Unfortunately, Patti is on vacation this week, but our next appointment will be next week and I’m looking forward to it. Just having gotten over the initial internal resistance to seeking help was a big deal for me. The fact that I seem to work well with Patti and found the first session useful just confirms that I made the right decision. I know that I’ve got a very long road ahead of me still, but having one more tool to help me cope will make it that much more bearable.

 

Day 6 Update

Fantastic start to the day! Dan got a shower and got to wash his hair. It’s amazing what a difference something small like that can make. There was 90 minutes of physical therapy this morning, consisting of “walking” motions while sitting in a wheelchair, moving his feet back and forth on a skateboard, and learning better ways to transfer from the wheelchair to the bed and wheelchair to the commode. The walking motions were great since he said he had more feeling in his feet than before, a tingling like the nerves are trying to wake up. The new transfer procedures are a huge improvement in getting around, too.

I came over after lunch, then we had a great visit with Linnaeus, sitting in the cafeteria, chatting and catching up. Unfortunately right after he left Dan was hit with another IBS attack, a quite painful one. He is currently skipping dinner to relax in bed and waiting for the pain and nausea to pass. Tonight will be a quiet one. I’m going to step away from a bit and get some dinner, then come back and just hang out and keep him company for a bit.

There’s a bit more going on tomorrow, according to his schedule. Occupational therapy from 9:00 AM – 10:30 PM, then physical therapy 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM then again 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. I expect Dan is going to be pretty worn out by Sunday night, but company is welcome during the day.

Also posted on Tumblr at: http://ift.tt/2lS82xA

Day 5 Update

Three hours of therapy this morning, mostly establishing a
baseline for comparison as Dan improves. He also got a better idea of what life
will be like here in the rehabilitation ward, and it’s certainly an improvement
over where he has spent the past few days.

Dan has the afternoon off and is sitting comfortably in a
wheelchair next to me as I type this (he was sitting up for four hours
straight!). He didn’t sleep well last night due to thunderstorms and nurses
going in and out of the room, though as he heals more that should decrease. We went
for a nice wander around the hospital (with him in a wheelchair of course,
though with no input from me) so he could see more than just the usual area
around his room, too.

Dan is showing great mobility in the wheelchair (good
upper-body strength!) though hopefully he won’t be relying on that long-term.
Every day more feeling is coming back to his feet, though it’s still
incremental improvements. He did a great job of going from sitting in the
wheelchair to standing in the walker, though is definitely unsteady on his
feet. He can lock his knees and stay upright, but for heaven’s sake don’t try
to move those feet!

All in all, a great first day in rehab. Things only go up
from here!

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Day 4 Update

Dan was moved over to the rehab ward of the hospital today. This is going to be a big improvement for him. It will include daily hygiene routines, like taking a shower and brushing your teeth, putting on and wearing normal clothes, and communal meals with the other patients in the middle of the ward. Initially, he is scheduled for 90 minutes of occupational therapy and 90 minutes of physical therapy. The therapy is done at a gym several floors down, so he will get to go out and about around the hospital, though in a wheelchair.

Dan received some lovely and thoughtful gifts today from Perro & Mahoney and Mwako (silly lion!). Thanks to Lex for an absolutely gorgeous walking cane! It may be a while before he can use it, but it will be extremely useful down the line.

So here is where we’re at: likely 2-3 weeks in the rehab ward, then 4 weeks of in-home therapy, and outpatient therapy thereafter. The reality is that this is some serious nerve damage. It will take 12-18 months of recovery, and some things may not come back at all. Right now, standing unaided is impossible and walking is out of the question. But that is just right now. Every day that goes by brings improvement, large and small. Dan is a fighter, and I know he is going to work his ass off every possible moment to beat this.

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duncandahusky:Nothing like stress-testing the “in sickness and in health” part of our wedding vows. …

duncandahusky:

Nothing like stress-testing the “in sickness and in health” part of our wedding vows. I’m at his side no matter what happens.

So, to be somewhat less cryptic: My husband (40 years old) collapsed yesterday after losing feeling and control in his lower extremities. It turned out to be congenital spinal stenosis – an abnormally narrow channel for the spinal cord between the vertebrae. Basically, the bone was growing into his spinal cord. This has been going on all along and was a ticking time bomb. I guess it’s good that he was at home, but I got to learn what it’s like to call 911 and have the ambulance come to your house (the EMT’s were awesome, by the way).

Off to the hospital we went, and late last night he had emergency spinal surgery: lumbar laminectomy from L2 to S1. There was a good bit of trauma to the nerves in his lower back, and nerves don’t bounce back quickly. We are looking at 12-18 months of recovery, a good portion of which is going to be learning how to walk again.

I’m not going to lie. This is fucking terrifying. It is going to change our lives completely, but this is the new normal and we have to deal with it. The important thing is that I still have the man I love, and god dammit together we will make this work! The support we have received from our friends and family near and far has been overwhelming and immensely gratifying. We are not alone in this, and for this I will be eternally grateful.

Also posted on Tumblr at: http://ift.tt/2kG0L4z

LASIK + 7 Days: A Status Report

Seven days ago I underwent LASIK surgery. Here is an update on how things have gone since. (A report of my initial experiences can be found here.)

I wisely chose to spend most of last weekend indoors. Although I’m not having a lot of light sensitivity, I decided to err on the side of caution. I picked up a pair of cheap wraparound sunglasses from Amazon and those served me reasonably well when I ventured out to walk Buddy. For the most part, though, I stayed inside and took it easy.

On Monday I returned to the doctor’s office for a checkup again, as my distance vision had been good, but not quite where it should be on the Friday before. This was much better. Interestingly, although things were a trifle blurry when I covered one eye and tried to read the smaller print on the eye chart, when a diffraction grid (piece of plastic was many small pinholes) was placed over my eye, everything snapped into focus nicely. This is how the doctor differentiates between problems due to an inaccurate prescription cu into the corneal flap and deficiencies due to the eye needing to heal more. In this case, my prescription is perfect, my eye just needs more healing time.

At work, things have been pretty good. I haven’t had to expand fonts or zoom in on documents. I have a 22″ monitor that I have about 18″ away from my face right now (I’ll be moving that back as things progress). My 14″ laptop screen is about 30″ away from my face and I need to lean in to read that still. My friend Jet had an excellent suggestion, though – once an hour (or so) I try to turn my attention away from the computer and let my eyes relax some – walk to the bathroom, get a drink of water, or just close my eyes for a few minutes.

The other thing that I’ve noticed is that I am definitely having “good eye days” and “bad eye days,” as demonstrated by my consumption of eye drops. My doctor has been kind enough to supply me with 30 boxes of Refresh Optive eye drops (each box contains 5 plastic vials, and each vial is good for about 3 uses). On a “bad day” I’ve found that I may go through 10 vials, applying drops every 15-20 minutes. On a “good day” I’ll use half of that. Because the free samples will only last so long, I have ordered a couple of bottles of Systane Ultra eye drops from Amazon. The price is a little less than the Refresh Optive, but from my research it appears that Systane is slightly better at relieving dry eyes. I expect to continue to have good and bad days for the next 4-6 weeks, but it’s a minor annoyance compared to the overall improvement of vision I have after the surgery.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is the eye guard that I’ve had to wear each night while I sleep. Imagine something like goggles, held on by an elastic strap that goes over your head. For the last week I’ve slept rather poorly because this guard tends move around on my face and requires re-seating every so often. It’s been a minor annoyance, but nothing debilitating. The good news is that I only have to use that for a week, so tonight will be the last night with it, and then I’ll be done.

The purpose of the eye guard, of course, is to prevent you from rubbing your eyes while you sleep. I had a heart stopping moment a few days ago when I woke up, removed the eye guard, and rubbed my eyes. Waaaaugh! Fortunately, there was no harm done, but man that is an unpleasant way to wake up! It just goes to show that you have to think about what you’re doing whenever your hands go near your eyes, even if you’re only half-awake!

I have another follow-up appointment with the eye doctor on Monday, and I’m expecting to see even more improvements then. I’ll be sure to post more updates as time goes on!

Good Heavens! An Update? Can It Be?

Right, about time for a proper update I suppose.

Once again, takaza and I were able to celebrate the new year by hosting Wuffmeet New Year’s Eve (our fourth in a row). Once again, it was an awesome party as we welcome about 40 friends to the cozy confines of our usual hotel for three full days of hanging out, swimming, hot-tub-soaking, and just a wee bit of imbibing. I think we really did well on the food this year: the New Year’s Eve dinner from Brown’s Chicken was tasty, but Saturday night’s dinner catered by Smoque was definitely a home run. Add to that a very entertaining (and very inexpensive!) trip to Whirlyball, and I’d say that it was an excellent Wuffmeet all around. Thanks to all who could make it! A notable thing about this year: it’s the first Wuffmeet ever where we were in the black, even if it was just a little bit. That was a nice change, too.

Work has been crazy over the last few weeks, including having to work between Christmas and New Year’s for the first time in a few years. It was annoying, but not the end of the world, even if I did have to work until 2 PM on New Year’s Eve. I finally wrapped up the last bit of really high-pressure stuff yesterday, so it’s nice to actually have a chance to breathe again.

Things weren’t helped by the fact that both Dan and I got sick after Wuffmeet (only two of several folks who got sick, unfortunately). Dan’s getting over a sinus infection and mild bronchitis, and I think I need to see a doctor about my chronic bronchitis since I’m coughing a lot at night. This should be fun since at the first of the year I moved onto my employer’s health plan after having been on Dan’s plan for the last eight years. We had the distressing realization that with the tax penalties for domestic partners, we were losing about $1,300 per year by keeping me on his health plan. So, I don’t have a health insurance card or prescription card, but I’ll need to figure out how to see a doctor in the meantime. Fun!

Finally, we had the pleasure of spending the some time with girtygrin, nikvulper, and eddiddiums as they visited Chicago last weekend. After hanging out and chatting at their hotel on Friday (joined by daveqat, jimcyl, and tecknow as well as several locals who we saw fleetingly before they took off), we met up with them in time for brunch on Saturday, which we had at Wishbone (and were joined by linnaeus). The biscuits and gravy were transcendent, and my shrimp and grits were delicious.

We then walked up to Paulina Market where we picked up some tasty meats (and I got some duck fat, yum!), then it was over to Dave and Jim’s place to hang out and chat for a bit. We ventured into the cold to stop by Evil Squirrel Comics to say hi to woodychitwn and Ryan, then it was time for dinner. We wound up at The Curragh (yes, the Irish pub that was near Woodfield Mall – they finally re-opened in Norwood Park!). Dinner was excellent, and the Magner’s cider was much appreciated. It was a very fun day spent with some very cool folks – we definitely need to return the favor and see more of Ann Arbor soon.

On Sunday…well, on Sunday we rested. It was glorious – a quiet day at home, and after spending the morning doing not much, I took a nap in the afternoon. Unheard of! Dan got to sleep in untilt he crack of noon as well. It was just what we needed, I think.

So that’s about it right now. Oh, I did want to mention that yesterday marked the eighth anniversary of this journal. It’s been a crazy eight years, but I’m pretty happy with how everything has worked out.

Hi! Remember me?

Wow. This may be the longest I’ve gone without a substantive public post to LiveJournal since I started this journal. What has happened since I last updated? Here’s the short version:

  • Midwest FurFest happened. It was a great convention, though it was the usual blur for me. It was my second and final year as convention chairman (MFF has a tradition of two-year terms for its chairmen). I didn’t accomplish everything I would have liked, but I feel that I was able to keep the convention on its upward trend and overall people seem to be very happy. How do I know? Well, we’ve got this nifty survey up, and if you take it you can win a free room night at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare! My biggest personal regret from the convention is that it sounds like there was one hell of a party in our suite on Sunday night but I was just so exhausted and done with socializing that I wound up taking a nice relaxing bath and going to bed early. Oh, and rest assured that I will not be disappearing from Midwest Furfest staff! I will be taking over the position of Hotel Liaison for MFF 2010, just as we’re going into a new hotel. Whee!
  • Thanksgiving happened. We were pleased to welcome Roho, Genet, Bander, Shawn, Shadowstalker, and Tarin over for Thanksgiving dinner, with a delicious turkey made by takaza‘s mom. The food was delicious, and the company was fantastic! Incidentally, if you were at Midwest FurFest, you might have met Dan’s mom – she was Staff Liaison, and her job was to go around the convention and make sure that folks who were stuck in one location got an occasional snack and drink and had everything they needed. She was a tremendous help during the convention and I’m so glad she was able to make it!
  • Dan’s birthday happened. We rounded up a bunch of folks and went out for dinner at Wildfire Restaurant, which was really excellent. Dan ordered the martini flight (!) and even drank a few of them. Great steaks, and really tasty desserts.
  • A doctor’s visit happened. I found out that what I thought was carpal tunnel is in fact tendonitis. This led to a nice cortisone shot (ow) and orders to wear an arm brace for two weeks. I’ll be living on Advil for a while, I think.
  • And finally, a brief visit down to Urbana happened. mirkowuff‘s neighborhood revived the “Candlestick Lane” tradition on short notice, so he threw a small short-notice party to celebrate. We had a lovely time and got to see some great old friends and meet some new folks as well. It was a very pleasant weekend.

So now we’re pretty much caught up. What’s coming up? Well, we’re going to dog-sit this weekend, and hopefully visit either Evanston or Milwaukee to go to The Spice House and do some restocking. We’re flying down to South Carolina for Christmas. And of course there’s Wuffmeet coming up, for which we really need to start making specific plans for food. December is a trainwreck, as always, and it doesn’t look like January will be much better! But we’re having fun and all is right with the world, regardless.

Better Living Through Chemistry

So after adventures in muscle spasms on Friday, I curled up with a nice combination of Valium and Vicodin. takaza stayed home as well because the weather was pretty lousy, with around 10″ of snow falling. I napped a good portion of the day and was quite grateful for the pharmaceutical assistance.

By Saturday the spasms had pretty much abated, though my neck was still stiff. I came in to work (which was mandatory, in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off) and puttered around a bit, then Dan and I went over to his mother’s to exchange Christmas gifts and enjoy a lovely dinner.

Sunday was much more relaxed, though we finally ventured into the high winds and blowing snow to do some Wuffmeet shopping. We did some price comparisons at GFS (and got some good ideas for food), picked up all of the bubbly we need for New Year’s at Trader Joes, and took advantage of a fantastic sale on sodas at Meijer to get $160 or so worth of soda for $90. Unfortunately, while moving all that soda, Dan torqued his back, which has left him somewhat the worse for wear today. As for me, my neck still is a little stiff and I still get occasional pain, but I’ve regained about 80% mobility, which is a huge improvement.

We’re supposed to drive down to St. Louis on Wednesday to spend Christmas with my parents and my sister’s family, but the weather is looking most unpleasant. The snow I could deal with, but the mention of freezing rain between here and there gives me pause. I’m hoping that, at worst, we’ll have to delay our departure until midday Wednesday, but if it’s bad enough we may have to drive down on Christmas morning. We’ll see how the weather works out. Alas, our visit down there will be brief, since Dan has to be back at work on Monday the 29th and I need to tend to all kinds of New Year’s preparations. The one spot of good news is that it looks like I won’t be called in during plant shutdown, which will leave me free to concentrate on party planning.

I hope everyone’s holiday planning is going well. Stay warm and safe!

Whoa…

So yesterday morning I woke up about 15 minutes before the alarm was to go off with a crick in my neck. Ow.

I went ahead and showered and headed off to work, thinking nothing of it. But as the morning progressed, that crick in my neck progressed to a greater pain, then became full-fledged, stop-where-you-are-and-whimper muscle spasms. By 9:30 AM my boss took a look at me and told me to go home. So I came home, took some ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and tried to relax. Not a lot of help there – the slightest movement set off a muscle spasm and a world of pain. By the time takaza got home, I was a mess. I called my doctor and she (rather surprisingly) called in a prescription for Vicodin and Valium to the nearby pharmacy. That stuff knocked me out, and I was able to get a solid night’s sleep.

This morning the spasms were somewhat shorter in duration, but still there. Given the fact that I still can’t turn my head to the right, as well as the fact that we got ten inches of snow overnight and the roads weren’t plowed yet, I elected to call in (well, e-mail in) to work and stay home. I popped a Valium and a couple of Vicodin and got a very nice nap in. Dan has stayed home as well ( the roads truly do suck) and he’s watching out for me, bless him. Unfortunately, I’m supposed to be at work tomorrow (mandatory work day in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off), so I’ll probably go in no matter how I’m feeling. Hopefully the spasms will have abated by then, though.

Fun times!

Road trip to Cheeseland!

I’m still alive, and still around. Things are busy at work, where I’m juggling several projects, and at home, where it’s premiere season on the broadcast networks and finale season on cable, meaning there’s been lots of great stuff on like Burn Notice, Heroes, Eureka, and more. Still, I wanted to write about our amazing weekend.

On Saturday we drove up to Madison…

So that’s what it’s like to do nothing. How odd…

First off, thanks to everyone for their kind words in response to my last couple of posts. They are very much appreciated!

After a go-go-go summer with seemingly at least one day of every weekend busy, this has been a odd weekend. Yesterday was spent relaxing and watching football games. I also made a test install of Drupal on a spare laptop and tried to figure out how to configure it. Today was spent watching some movies* and napping in the afternoon. Through it all takaza has been a wonderful husband, making dinners and snuggling up with me on the sofa.

The bad news is that I have a strong suspicion that the strep throat has moved on and left me with bronchitis in its wake. That would explain the wracking coughing that leaves me breathless (what fun!). I intend to call the doctor tomorrow and see what, if anything, is to be done. In the meantime I’ll cuddle up with a nice dose of cough syrup and hopefully get a passable night’s sleep.

* Wilily Wonka with Johnny Depp – enjoyed it, even if they took significant liberties with the ending; Meet the Robinsons – hated it and turned it off 20 minutes in.

Sick at Home

Bleah. This cough is hard to shake, and it’s kicking my ass. The doctor has prescribed a teeny-tiny bottle of Hycodan, which is a good start. I’ll have to call tomorrow to get a refill on that to get me through the weekend. The syrup helps me get to sleep, though it tends to wear off by about 3 AM, which means I get to cough myself awake. Sleeping for the past few nights has been difficult. I left work at lunch today with the intention of relaxing at home, but I wound up just sleeping for four hours – a rarity for me, since I don’t usually nap during the day.

takaza is wonderful, of course. He bought a couple of teas for me to try, and now he’s making chicken and rice, which smells delicious.

I’m really glad that this weekend is going to be a quiet, relaxing couple of days at home. I need that.

Then Again, Maybe Not

Well, due to some last-minute illness and takaza‘s continuing health issues, we are going to postpone this weekend’s River Trip. I won’t say I’m not disappointed, but I’ll survive. We’ll probably try again come late April/early May of next year, and who knows? Maybe we can add to our caravan. As the time comes closer, we’ll spread the word around. It’s probably just as well, since Dan and I both have a lot of work to get done for Midwest FurFest, including almost 300 postcards to label, stamp, and mail out.

Meanwhile, I came across some interesting and fun links this morning. Mark over at BoingBoing TV (who has excellent taste in coffee beans) demonstrates a coffee gadget so nifty I bought one this morning (See the exhaustive discussion here as well). Also, Adam at The Amateur Gourmet gives us a nifty video tour of a cheese shop and discusses some cheese basics with the cheesemonger there. Finally, happy 40th birthday to LOGO, the first programming language I ever learned. And I’ll note that I’m a lousy programmer. Correlation? Who knows?

But What Happened After That?

So I suppose the last substantive post I made kind of left things off around the middle of last week. The rest of the week was pretty quiet; honestly, I was so darned tired all week long that actually doing anything would have been difficult. Also, it didn’t help that the cough that lingered through Anthrocon continued to haunt me, waking me up a couple of times each night and making catching up on sleep difficult.

Saturday we finally got around to being social again, catching Harry Potter and the Moneymaking Juggernaut on Saturday afternoon with roho and genet. Order of the Phoenix was my least favorite book, between Harry’s pubescent whining and interminable scenes at the Order headquarters filled with talking, talking, talking. The movie cured a lot of that by cutting out great chunks of the story (which was needed, I think, if only to make the run time manageable). For that alone I would have liked the movie, but the casting was fabulous as well. I always adore Emma Thompson, and her depiction of Professor Trelawney is always great. Evanna Lynch wasn’t quite the way I was picturing Luna Lovegood but I thought she was a good choice. And Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge was just delicious – how she gives you the willies with a girlish giggle. All in all, a good movie, and one I enjoyed a lot.

After the movie, we retired back to our place where we were joined by colliedoc, who was crashing with us between weekend shifts at Bristol Renaissance Faire. Fajitas were consumed, as well as yummy artichoke dip and a caramel apple pie that was just divine. We watched some Flip This House and World Series of Pop Culture, and everyone had a great time.

Both takaza and I woke up before 8 AM on Sunday (!), so we saw Straif off for the day. After relaxing a bit and catching up on some Tivo, we headed out to meet up with justincheetah for a Top Secret Project. Not much I can say except that it was a pleasure to Mike (Calla), Cheetah’s boyfriend. Afterwards we headed home and had a quiet evening in.

On Monday, I finally got tired of the wretched cough and went to see the doctor. I explained that I had tried taking Tussin AC (guaifenesin + codeine, left over from a prescription from last year) but it didn’t really seem to help. She prescribed another cough syrup and told me to call if that didn’t help. I left a bit disgusted, hoping to have a bit more help than that, but oh well. I got out of the doctor’s in time to catch Dan on the way home on the train, so I picked him up at the Mundelein station (yay for Google Maps on my Motorola Q!) and we went shopping for the week’s groceries at Target using the $100 in gift cards we had gotten as thanks for helping out at Dan’s company picnic. While we were there, I had the cough syrup prescription filled, to the tune of $0.69. The groceries were a lot more, though we went a little nuts and bought some stuff we probably wouldn’t have otherwise, just to try out new brands and such.

That night, I took the cough syrup before going to bed and…I take back everything I said before. The doctor had prescribed Hydromet, which I thought was more of the same but is actually hydrocodone and homatropine. I knew hydrocodone affects me a lot more than codeine (following some fun in college with an abscessed tooth and Lorcet Plus; “Whoa, I think I’ll sit down now.”), but the homatropine is some serious stuff as well. Since I took that first dose I haven’t coughed. At all. Holy cats. And this after I was wracked a couple of times each day and night with a nasty, rasping cough. I took it again last night (earlier than I had Monday night, which was good since I didn’t feel quite as dopey this morning), but I’m thinking that should be all that’s necessary.

As for the rest of the week, there’s not too much going on. I have the Midwest FurFest registration database up to date now, and while we’re ahead of last year’s registrations I’m not seeing any insane explosions of growth. The fact that we’re selling out the Hyatt in July (as opposed to in October last year) is more a reflection of the fact that it costs nothing to reserve a hotel room, but actually costs money to register 🙂 Anyway, now that everything is caught up, I have about 70 or so confirmation postcards to send out, which I hope to do tonight. I don’t think we’re doing anything Friday night, but Saturday night we’re going to stay at the Amerisuites Schaumburg (thanks again, r_bear!), then on Sunday is the Midwest FurFest board meeting at 1 PM then the staff meeting at 2 PM. Lots to do before those meetings, so off I go!

Heavy cream, Chicken broth, 4-6 large lemons…

That’s from my shopping list, of course. Since I flaked yesterday and forgot a bunch of things when I went to the store, my penance is that I have to go back today. takaza‘s mom is coming over for dinner tomorrow so I need to get more pork chops, and I think I’m going to make a nice lemon sorbet for dessert.

Last night wasn’t so good. My back was killing me, even after a round of naproxen and some time on the heating pad. After waking up several times, I finally took some Tylenol 3 at about 2:30 AM to get some sound sleep and that did the trick. On the upside, last night’s episode of Heroes was quite excellent. You know it’s good when you have to pause the Tivo in the middle of the show and just stare and say, “Wow!”. One more episode to go, and it’s going to be a doozy.

Dan and I have talked a bit about FRAC (Furries Race Across Chicago) and it sounds like we’ve got some plans in place. It’s going to be on Saturday, October 13, and we’re going all-out this time. We’ll have a website for it, and we plan to have some players out at Anthrocon as well. Dan is going to set up a hotel room block for out-of-towners. For those veterans who are interested in working behind the scenes this time, we’re going to have some fun opportunities to help out, as well. We only have a very general idea of places we want to send people this time around, but we’re happy to take suggestions and also ideas for fun puzzles (privately, of course).

That’s it for now! Back to wrestling this protocol into shape…

More Than You Ever Needed To Know About Donkey Shows

Traffic in Chicago on Friday afternoons sucks; traffic on Friday afternoons when it’s raining is just downright retarded. This would explain why it took us two hours to get from Mount Prospect to Naperville last Friday afternoon. The trip was worth it, though! We had an OK dinner at Famous Dave’s (thereby scratching my yen for BBQ – almost. Now I just want some good BBQ). The company was excellent, though, as we were joined by wyldekyttin, foxish, emrldgirrl, datahawk, and linnaeus. After dinner we headed over to the theater and saw Clerks 2, which was a lot funnier than I expected it to be. Like most of Smith’s movies, it’s very quotable, and educational, too (hence the title of this post 🙂

On Saturday we had a pleasant morning and early afternoon of bumming around the house, then headed out to Sheffield Walk to see Carbon Leaf. That was a heck of a lot more people in too small a space than I was prepared to deal with. The sound mix, alas, was abominable, and between the crowds and incoming rain, Dan and I bailed about halfway through the set. We retreated to Bobtail for tasty ice cream, and were joined there by Linnaeus. Devin and Data picked up Kyttin and met us in Lincoln Square, but we eventually opted to adjourn back to Linnaeus’ place for dinner from the taquiera on the corner nearby. Dinner was yummy, and it’s always fun to hang out with friends.

Sunday found us driving up to McHenry County to visit with Dan’s mom. Her Tivo wasn’t connecting and we suspected we knew the problem but had to be there to fix it. Sure enough, the Netgear wireless router had somehow completely reset itself; fixing it was a two-minute thing, very simple. We got a delicious lunch out of the deal, though, and a nice afternoon of familial socializing. We headed home and lazed around the house for the rest of the evening, watching a little more Tivo.

And here we are at today. Ever since Friday, I’ve had a pain in my right ear that has gotten worse and worse. I suspected I knew the problem, and I just got back from the doctor who confirmed it: Otitis Externa, or Swimmer’s Ear. A round of levofloxacin (a relative of Cipro) should take care of it, and the Tylenol with codeine to help the pain at night won’t hurt either 🙂 Having taken care of that, I’m off in a few minutes to pick up Dan and then we’ll wander our way down to Lombard to celebrate rustitobuck‘s birthday. Yay!

Oh, and for locals: if you haven’t seen it, there’s a coffee get-together in the city on Wednesday!

Medical fun and dinners with friends

Good news! I have too much blood in my cholesterol system. Or rather, I don’t have too much cholesterol in my blood system. Well, I do, but it’s not something I need to take meds for – I’m classified as “high borderline” on most counts, but compared to last year the numbers are declining, so all my work at the gym has paid off. My weight hasn’t really changed much, unfortunately; this means that in the diet-exercise balance, I need to work on improving my diet. The even better news is that everything else checked out, and I’m pretty healthy otherwise.

This week has gone by pretty quickly. Tuesday we helped woodychitwn pick up some shelving for his about-to-open comics store (they do mail-order, too!), and had a tasty dinner at Heartland Cafe. Last night siriuswolfstar and simbalion joined us for dinner, and tonight we’re going to have dinner with daveqat and jimcyl. I reckon we’ll have to have dinner with perro and prfanity at some point just to complete the apartment trifecta 🙂 Tonight should be fun, though – we’re going to check out Tweet, which gets good reviews from The Reader.

Planning continues apace for Wuffmeet. To those of you who are attending and have not yet made your hotel reservations: DO IT NOW! We’re being asked to give up some space because it appears (to them) that we don’t have many people in our room block. The sooner you reserve, the more bargaining leverage we’ll have. If you need the info again, just let me know.

Back to work now!

Thick Chocolatey Goodness

Man, am I dragging this afternoon. I don’t think I slept too well last night; takaza woke me (for the second night in a row) pointing out I was showing signs of apnea. Oh, dandy. Hmm, my blood pressure is high, my knee is crappy, and now sleep apnea? Maybe I’m way off base here, but I think maybe, just maybe, it’s time to get rid of some of this weight I’m carrying around. A gym membership is going to have to wait until we work out the cash flow nightmare that is Christmas and New Year’s.

Meanwhile, last night was pleasant. siriuswolfstar came over and joined us in a gourmet meal (snrrk), but he was also kind enough to bring some tasty caramel syrup from Starbucks and, more importantly, Chantico mix. If you haven’t had this “drinking chocolate” from Starbucks, and you enjoy dark, rich chocolate, I do have to say that you’re missing out. Yeah, it’s $2.60 a pop, and yeah they only give you a 6 oz. serving, but you’ll have to trust me when I say that 6 oz. is all you want of this – it’s that rich. Dan mixed up a batch and it was indeed delicious. We chatted for a bit and watched some Tivo, then Sirius took his leave and we went off to bed.

Tonight datahawk and posicat are coming over to watch the season finale of The Amazing Race with us (C’mon, anyone but the Weavers!). I think we’ll be cooking up some cheeseburgers for dinner. And then there’s tomorrow. According to the National Weather Service, we’re supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow, with the highest probability of snow falling occurring between 6 AM and 5 PM. Given that if I take the train I’m looking at leaving at 6:15 AM and not getting home until around 6:30 PM, I think I’m going to take my chances with driving. If I leave the house at 5:30 AM I can leave work by 2:30 PM, and if nothing else that puts me on the road earlier than the worst of the stupidity. Even if it takes me three hours to get home I’m still doing pretty good. We’ll see how successful this plan is tomorrow, though.

Looking way, WAY ahead, Dan and I are starting to make plans for the next Wuffmeet/Furries Race Across Chicago. Watch this space and keep Memorial Day weekend free, ’cause that’s when it’s going to be!

Run Silent, Run Deep?

I’ve been accused of running silent for the past few days (hi Mom!) so I guess it’s time to bring everyone up to speed on what’s going on in my life.

First and foremost, I’ve been worrying about my Dad. As I mentioned in my last entry, he’s in the hospital recovering from a repair of a repair of a repair to his back surgery. The good news is that he seems to be recovering nicely, and I’m hoping may be out of the hospital as early as next week. My mom and my sister have been busting their butts keeping him in good spirits, cooking dinners for him, and generally making sure he’s got the best possible care. It kills me that I can’t be there helping, but time and money and circumstances prohibit.

We actually had a pretty busy weekend. Takaza, Linnaeus and I spent Saturday walking around a whole lot in preparation for a event we’re working on in October. Preparations went well and I’m confident that folks will really have a good time. We had a lot of fun but unfortunately I’ve confirmed that I have weak arches or some such because my back was a complete mess by the end of the day (and my left knee wasn’t so hot either). I’m going to need to see a doctor about this sooner than later, and I’m hoping the resolution isn’t going to be more of the “Lose weight ya fat bastard” sort of thing.

I spent a good portion of the day Sunday resting my back, but Dan and I finally headed out late in the afternoon and spent the better part of four hours doing research for the Midwest FurFest Restaurant Guide. The idea was to pare the radius of restaurants listed from five miles down to two miles. Just lopping off the list at the two-mile mark cut about 20 restaurants, though a few were added back (Outback, Gameworks, etc.). We covered about 75% of the area (still need to do Woodfield Mall and its environs) and wound up crossing off 3 or 4 restaurants that closed and added a good 20-30 restaurants that hadn’t been listed before. Yikes! We’re going to have to take a hard look at that list and decide either to cut back the radius or be more selective about the restaurants we list (probably the latter – do we really need to list all four Quizno’s in the area?).

Last night was a nice change of pace. I got a call on the way home from daveqat informing me that I really needed to stop by their place to pick up something. That something turned out to be a belated birthday present, a very nice cheese board, a nice set of knives and little cheese label thingies. It was a lovely gift, and very thoughtful of them. We hung out and chatted at their place for a while, then were joined by tecknow. We all went out to Tom Yum, a little sushi/Thai restaurant a few blocks from our apartment (though Dan and Paul bowed out from dinner). The food was pretty good, the service appalling. A nice reminder of why I only get take-out from there. Fortunately, the dinner conversation was entertaining and I had a really nice time.

As for the rest of the week, we don’t have a lot planned. I might have to work late on Friday (yay overtime!) and Dan might have to work this weekend – we’ll see. I’m hoping to maybe hang out with friends, because I feel like I’ve been a bit of a hermit of late. Who knows? We might even show up at LAFF Bowling this month. And of course there’s also the Midwest FurFest staff meeting on Sunday – lots of fun to be had there!

Well, back to work I go…

A Pretty Good Week

It’s been a pretty good week. We got a new car, and he passed a huge hurdle once we got online registration up and running for MFF. Work has been steady and shows signs of getting even busier, which is not a bad thing.

The one down note was that my dad had to go back into the hospital Wednesday night because they found he was leaking cerebrospinal fluid – about 100-150 cc’s worth. Eek! The whole idea gives me the willies. The good news is that they were able to go in and fix the problem last night (there was a small laceration in the dura, or membrane around the spinal cord) They patched the hole with a surgical cyanoacrylate adhesive. Yep, super glue. Hmm, I wonder where that came from, eh, ladyinthetower? He’ll be in the hospital until Sunday, but I think that’s more to make sure that he stays flat on his back and doesn’t push himself quite as hard as he did initially after the surgery. Your thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated!

Tomorrow afternoon we’re off to the wilds of McHenry County once again to take takaza‘s mother to lunch for her 60th birthday. Sunday we’ll be gadding about Chicago on a top-secret mission! Woo!

Finally, and this is going to come a huge surprise to everyone, I know, but it’s true: Roger Ebert hated Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo. But it sure makes for quite the entertaining review!