Return of the Flank Pain... bad enough these past couple of days that I've taken ibuprofen (helped) or Aleve (didn't) to make it go away. It has been bothering me on and off since November, but lately it has stepped up a bit in intensity.
The first time I had flank pain, I was torquing my back getting DS2 into and out of his car seat, so that was about 7 years ago. I did a round of physical therapy and learned stretches for my quadratus lumborum, as well as strengthening exercises. The stretches aren't helping. I just looked at them again and realized the pain is up higher, tucked up under the rib cage, so it's a different thing altogether.
That said, I can never distinguish between musculo-skeletal pain and gut pain. I'd like it to go away so I can forget about it, but I'm making a note of it here so I can keep track of when it started to get worse.
I had my thyroid panel run today along with an A1C test to see how my blood sugar's doing. I think I need to step my meds down just a bit, and I hope my insulin metabolism isn't shot by the dietary changes I've had to make since the gastroparesis started late last year. (About the same time as the flank pain... hmmm.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
about that new profile photo
I once had occasion to refer to a particular portrayal of my patron saint as a psychotic teen, and I admit that at times I had problems with her life story. But as I get older I am better at appreciating what it took to do the things she did, and I regret ever dismissing her so lightly.
The original photo, from this post by Ann Althouse, is of a toy crusader she photographed at Ted's Toys in Cincinnati. Frequent Althouse commenter (and photoshopper) Chip Ahoy (read the profile, you'll be glad you did) modified the original image to create my very own Maid of Orleans. Yes, I know the real Jeanne d'Arc didn't use a war hammer, but out here in the blogosphere, I think a hammer-like approach is sometimes called for.
This comment thread is in the spirit of St. Jeanne d'Arc, aka St. Joan of Arc, my patron saint. ("quieti" is me.)
a bitter lesson, learned too soon
DD's beloved little hamster died in her sleep Saturday evening.
We are all very sad.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
... and done!
Overall, the Biology AEPA was an easier test than the Professional Knowledge - Secondary test, because there was a lot fewer (none, actually) fuzzy-thinking "best practices" questions. Also, only one essay, although it was 3+ pages (handwritten).
That said, I still had to outright guess on a few questions. The DNA replication diagram one in particular made absolutely no sense to me, I'd never seen anything like them before. Ah, well. Overall I feel pretty good about it, but I still need to look up phagocytosis and pinocytosis.
I found it odd that there wasn't a single question about photosynthesis, but there was a question about the sodium-potassium ion pumps in neurons. Jiminy Crickett, that's getting down to the atomic level, isn't it? I'm not saying I shouldn't know that stuff (I guessed on that one, too, since I remembered reading about it but none of the important details). Also, I'm not exactly sure how knowing what's caused air pollution in the eastern and midwestern parts of the country versus the western parts is immediately relevant to biology.
Overall, many fewer guesses than last time, and last time I did just fine. I can't imagine I didn't pass, and dread the idea of ever having to take this again. For now I'm just going to put it out of my head, because I won't get my score for another month.
That said, I still had to outright guess on a few questions. The DNA replication diagram one in particular made absolutely no sense to me, I'd never seen anything like them before. Ah, well. Overall I feel pretty good about it, but I still need to look up phagocytosis and pinocytosis.
I found it odd that there wasn't a single question about photosynthesis, but there was a question about the sodium-potassium ion pumps in neurons. Jiminy Crickett, that's getting down to the atomic level, isn't it? I'm not saying I shouldn't know that stuff (I guessed on that one, too, since I remembered reading about it but none of the important details). Also, I'm not exactly sure how knowing what's caused air pollution in the eastern and midwestern parts of the country versus the western parts is immediately relevant to biology.
Overall, many fewer guesses than last time, and last time I did just fine. I can't imagine I didn't pass, and dread the idea of ever having to take this again. For now I'm just going to put it out of my head, because I won't get my score for another month.
Friday, March 27, 2009
pending...
Tomorrow morning is my AEPA Biology test. I took the practice test and choked on a number of human physiology questions, so I just crammed a bit there. I also realized that my lab experiences have been rather slight and I could get totally hammered there, so I did some reading up there, also, but probably not enough.
It will have to do, and by lunch tomorrow, it will all be over. I'm looking forward to that!
My pencils are sharpened, my ticket printed, and my eraser is at the ready. Now, to get some sleep!
It will have to do, and by lunch tomorrow, it will all be over. I'm looking forward to that!
My pencils are sharpened, my ticket printed, and my eraser is at the ready. Now, to get some sleep!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
every so often, I get lucky
Hummingbird drinking ocotillo nectar, Desert Botanical Garden.
Foreground: Floats. Background: Red reeds. Both Chihuly 2008, at the DBG through May.
Then again, it's true that we make our own luck.
for Nina
Ocean colors -- or should I say Ocean's author's favorite colors -- at the Desert Botanical Garden. This picture was one among dozens I snapped today, of Chihuly glasswork, butterflies, and children. It is impossible for me to see bright blue and yellow together and not think, "Nina's colors!"
Unlike me, Nina keeps mum about anything that belies her claim to sturdy Polish peasant stock. (My own Polish peasant stock is apparently locked in full-time battle with my Scots-Irish potato-famine-weakened stock). Regardless: today is a good day to send her digital flowers and good thoughts.
Monday, March 16, 2009
generational wisdom
I'm old enough now where it's going to happen more and more often -- someone I know, or know of, is going to die. Today, it was Ron Silver, the formerly liberal actor who had a Road to Damascus moment after 9/11, and spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Silver died from a cancer he had been battling for two years. I hope that his family and friends can gain some comfort, knowing that his suffering is over now.
I'm reminded of a hospital conversation I had with my Dad: Nothing lasts forever. Knowing that, you can savor the sweet moments attentively and endure the bad ones with grace. His suffering ended, too.
That life lesson reminded me of another, from my Nana, my father's mother. We were living in Dorchester, and she was staying with us. I may have been around 7 or 8 years old. I saw her stoop down to pick up something from the floor of the hall, a piece of thread or scrap of paper that didn't belong there. I asked her why she had done that -- she was there for a visit, not to clean the house, why did she bother? If I don't do it, who will? she said. To me, this was an entirely new attitude towards something that needed to be done: the idea of taking responsibility. When you're a little kid, it doesn't occur to you that you have that kind of power, or that kind of obligation. Nana had it down cold. If she could do it, she would, and not leave it for someone else to do -- nor would she ever make work for someone else if she could avoid it.
I am not as diligent or observant as I should be in following Nana's example, but I still remember it, going on forty years later. The real trick is teaching it to my own kids. I haven't quite figured that out yet.
Silver died from a cancer he had been battling for two years. I hope that his family and friends can gain some comfort, knowing that his suffering is over now.
I'm reminded of a hospital conversation I had with my Dad: Nothing lasts forever. Knowing that, you can savor the sweet moments attentively and endure the bad ones with grace. His suffering ended, too.
That life lesson reminded me of another, from my Nana, my father's mother. We were living in Dorchester, and she was staying with us. I may have been around 7 or 8 years old. I saw her stoop down to pick up something from the floor of the hall, a piece of thread or scrap of paper that didn't belong there. I asked her why she had done that -- she was there for a visit, not to clean the house, why did she bother? If I don't do it, who will? she said. To me, this was an entirely new attitude towards something that needed to be done: the idea of taking responsibility. When you're a little kid, it doesn't occur to you that you have that kind of power, or that kind of obligation. Nana had it down cold. If she could do it, she would, and not leave it for someone else to do -- nor would she ever make work for someone else if she could avoid it.
I am not as diligent or observant as I should be in following Nana's example, but I still remember it, going on forty years later. The real trick is teaching it to my own kids. I haven't quite figured that out yet.
Friday, March 13, 2009
44 ounces
That ovarian cyst-ish feeling I blogged about a while ago still hasn't gone away, although it's not causing me extreme pain anymore. There's just a dull ache that sometimes ratchets up to more but is generally constant. After 5 weeks of this nonsense I caved and went to my gynecologist, who felt what he thought was scar tissue but sent me for a pelvic ultrasound to check things out more thoroughly.
Monday, I'll be drinking 44 ounces of water in a half-hour period ending one hour before my appointment time. This procedure hugely inflates the bladder and so displaces the intestines so the ultrasound can more easily see what's going on in there. As far as I'm concerned, this prep qualifies as torture, especially to a woman whose main symptom is feeling like she needs to pee all the time.
I discussed with the scheduler whether or not I needed to do it. I actually went back in to ask the doctor about it, and he was sympathetic but insisted that I really do.
Now I have half a mind to just blow it off but that's irresponsible. I'll only be miserable for a couple of hours, and no lasting damage will be inflicted. I'm trying hard not to create some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, but it's not easy.
I'll be spending all weekend trying not to think about it.
Update: It wasn't so bad. This was the first post-hysterectomy pelvic ultrasound I've had, and it turns out that not having a uterus makes it easier on two fronts: first, there's more room for all that liquid, and second, the ultrasound itself is much less complex since there's no need to examine that major organ.
The right ovary looked a lot bigger than the left ovary, but that could have been because of zooming or the angle/perspective. I was able to watch the scan but I was not attentive enough to remember how big the two ovaries were while the tech was measuring them. It will be 3-5 days before I hear anything, which means it could go to next week.
Monday, I'll be drinking 44 ounces of water in a half-hour period ending one hour before my appointment time. This procedure hugely inflates the bladder and so displaces the intestines so the ultrasound can more easily see what's going on in there. As far as I'm concerned, this prep qualifies as torture, especially to a woman whose main symptom is feeling like she needs to pee all the time.
I discussed with the scheduler whether or not I needed to do it. I actually went back in to ask the doctor about it, and he was sympathetic but insisted that I really do.
Now I have half a mind to just blow it off but that's irresponsible. I'll only be miserable for a couple of hours, and no lasting damage will be inflicted. I'm trying hard not to create some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, but it's not easy.
I'll be spending all weekend trying not to think about it.
Update: It wasn't so bad. This was the first post-hysterectomy pelvic ultrasound I've had, and it turns out that not having a uterus makes it easier on two fronts: first, there's more room for all that liquid, and second, the ultrasound itself is much less complex since there's no need to examine that major organ.
The right ovary looked a lot bigger than the left ovary, but that could have been because of zooming or the angle/perspective. I was able to watch the scan but I was not attentive enough to remember how big the two ovaries were while the tech was measuring them. It will be 3-5 days before I hear anything, which means it could go to next week.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
bio labs
The introductory biology course I'm taking is designated BIO100. Instead of being a 14-week semester, it's compressed into 8 weeks. Over the course of this 8 weeks there are 6 labs, 5 essay assignments, 2 take-home tests, a mid-term, and a final exam -- that last is coming up quickly, March 21.
I will be so happy when this class is over. I happy to confirm that I do, in fact, love the material. I came into it thinking it would be mostly review, but it has been years (decades, really) since I took a formal bio course, and there have been lots of changes. Last time I studied taxonomy, for example, there were only two kingdoms, not five. It's very cool, learning all this new stuff. It's all very cool studying this stuff at a college level (getting into the nitty-gritty of cellular metabolism reactions, for example) rather than a high school or AP course level. But still, it's a grind, and since I worked three days this week and then went on an all-day field trip on Friday, I was scurrying today to do my lab.
The labs have been fun. Today's was on plant pigment chromatography.
Preparing the chromatography paper with drops of plant pigment
I was happy they gave us enough material to do this lab twice. The first run I used regular red-leaf lettuce which didn't have enough red pigment in it to be at all distinguished from the spinach. The photo above shows my second attempt using red oak lettuce which is totally purple and perfect for this lab. I was sure to use more plant material and more acetone on my second round, and covered the bowls while the pigment was steeping so the acetone wouldn't evaporate as it had in my first attempt. (One thing I didn't like about this lab was the loosey-goosey directions. I would've preferred "cut a two-inch square piece of plant material and cover with 20 mL acetone", then I'd know I was going to get a good amount of pigment in the solution.)
Capillary action at work. This jar contained the acetone solvent.
Results were pretty cool. I should've done the reading first because then I wouldn't have been surprised by how much chlorophyll was in the red oak lettuce. Note the abundance of green pigment on all four strips (2 were spinach, 2 were red oak lettuce; one of each was dipped in water, one of each was dipped in acetone).
Results that look like they came from an actual lab experiment!
Kitchen counter labs have an aura of weirdness about them, at least to me. I think my favorite was the one where I got to see the effect of a recessive gene for sickle cell anemia among a population where malaria was prevalent.
Playing God.
I'd choose a pair of "alleles" (beans) at random from a bag, and if I got two dominant hemoglobin A genes, I'd have to flip a coin to see if the individual got malaria and died. I felt sad every time I had to put a pair of beans into the "non-surviving alleles" bowl. It was sad. The whole exercise didn't even take 15 minutes but it was instructive.
Meanwhile, I'm gardening:
Interesting crop selection, yes?
This was taken a couple of weeks ago -- everything is growing and is at least 2 inches tall by now. It's a shame, really, because I'm about to spray half of them with a selective herbicide for my last lab. After 2-3 weeks of nurturing and hoping the cats don't eat them, I don't really want to kill half of them off, but in science, we have to be tough about these things.
I will be so happy when this class is over. I happy to confirm that I do, in fact, love the material. I came into it thinking it would be mostly review, but it has been years (decades, really) since I took a formal bio course, and there have been lots of changes. Last time I studied taxonomy, for example, there were only two kingdoms, not five. It's very cool, learning all this new stuff. It's all very cool studying this stuff at a college level (getting into the nitty-gritty of cellular metabolism reactions, for example) rather than a high school or AP course level. But still, it's a grind, and since I worked three days this week and then went on an all-day field trip on Friday, I was scurrying today to do my lab.
The labs have been fun. Today's was on plant pigment chromatography.
I was happy they gave us enough material to do this lab twice. The first run I used regular red-leaf lettuce which didn't have enough red pigment in it to be at all distinguished from the spinach. The photo above shows my second attempt using red oak lettuce which is totally purple and perfect for this lab. I was sure to use more plant material and more acetone on my second round, and covered the bowls while the pigment was steeping so the acetone wouldn't evaporate as it had in my first attempt. (One thing I didn't like about this lab was the loosey-goosey directions. I would've preferred "cut a two-inch square piece of plant material and cover with 20 mL acetone", then I'd know I was going to get a good amount of pigment in the solution.)
Results were pretty cool. I should've done the reading first because then I wouldn't have been surprised by how much chlorophyll was in the red oak lettuce. Note the abundance of green pigment on all four strips (2 were spinach, 2 were red oak lettuce; one of each was dipped in water, one of each was dipped in acetone).
Kitchen counter labs have an aura of weirdness about them, at least to me. I think my favorite was the one where I got to see the effect of a recessive gene for sickle cell anemia among a population where malaria was prevalent.
I'd choose a pair of "alleles" (beans) at random from a bag, and if I got two dominant hemoglobin A genes, I'd have to flip a coin to see if the individual got malaria and died. I felt sad every time I had to put a pair of beans into the "non-surviving alleles" bowl. It was sad. The whole exercise didn't even take 15 minutes but it was instructive.
Meanwhile, I'm gardening:
This was taken a couple of weeks ago -- everything is growing and is at least 2 inches tall by now. It's a shame, really, because I'm about to spray half of them with a selective herbicide for my last lab. After 2-3 weeks of nurturing and hoping the cats don't eat them, I don't really want to kill half of them off, but in science, we have to be tough about these things.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
cleared that hurdle
I passed my Professional Knowledge - Secondary Education exam.
Yay!
I'm almost halfway through my Bio class and it's crushing me. Just a tremendous amount of work in a very short period of time. Midterm on Friday, or Saturday if my studying does not go well. Whee!
So, where does this leave me in my pursuit of teaching certification?
Well, to get a provisional certificate, you need:
1. application
2. fee (of course)
3. a valid fingerprint clearance card
4. a bachelor's degree from an accredited university
5. completion of an accredited education program, or, for Secondary (middle and high school), 30 hours of education-related courses. Either one must include at least 8 semester hours of practicum (student) teaching, or you can work full time for two years instead of doing the practicum.
6. Professional Knowledge test
7. Subject matter test (in my case, biology, test day March 28)
8. Verification of 3 semester hours of SEI training (structured English immersion, my last horribly painful class)
9. US constitution
10. AZ constitution
Fortunately for me, 1 & 2 aren't at issue right now, 3,4,6 & 8 are now done, and 7 will be finished by April. I'll actually get a few years to complete 9 & 10 -- it's #5 that's the big stickler at this point. I have 3 1-credit courses, 2 3-credit courses, and 2 2-credit courses to go as far as classwork, then 8 credits of student teaching.
I still have to apply to the program, though. It would be so great if MIT could send Rio my transcript in such a way that Rio would know what to do with it.
Yeah, this is going to take a while.
Yay!
I'm almost halfway through my Bio class and it's crushing me. Just a tremendous amount of work in a very short period of time. Midterm on Friday, or Saturday if my studying does not go well. Whee!
So, where does this leave me in my pursuit of teaching certification?
Well, to get a provisional certificate, you need:
1. application
2. fee (of course)
3. a valid fingerprint clearance card
4. a bachelor's degree from an accredited university
5. completion of an accredited education program, or, for Secondary (middle and high school), 30 hours of education-related courses. Either one must include at least 8 semester hours of practicum (student) teaching, or you can work full time for two years instead of doing the practicum.
6. Professional Knowledge test
7. Subject matter test (in my case, biology, test day March 28)
8. Verification of 3 semester hours of SEI training (structured English immersion, my last horribly painful class)
9. US constitution
10. AZ constitution
Fortunately for me, 1 & 2 aren't at issue right now, 3,4,6 & 8 are now done, and 7 will be finished by April. I'll actually get a few years to complete 9 & 10 -- it's #5 that's the big stickler at this point. I have 3 1-credit courses, 2 3-credit courses, and 2 2-credit courses to go as far as classwork, then 8 credits of student teaching.
I still have to apply to the program, though. It would be so great if MIT could send Rio my transcript in such a way that Rio would know what to do with it.
Yeah, this is going to take a while.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
field trip!
DS1's class, studying the Medieval Period of European history, took a field trip to the Renaissance Festival today, and I went along as a chaperone. We had a blast.
Dextre Tripp, fabulous showman
We did a lot of walking in the four hours we had, and saw jousts and jugglers, tried archery, walked through the dungeon museum, saw birds of prey and a fabulous whip-cracker.
DS1 and his best friend, with lunch
After escaping the maze and displaying feats of strength, the boys were fortified by smoked turkey legs, roasted corn, and anachronistic french fries. Shopping? Sure: they bought bows from Bows of the Risen Son (note the spelling there), while I chose a basic contact juggling kit from Sphereplay. I still can't manage regular juggling (so much for my 2008 New Year's resolution) but this looks amazingly cool and strangely relaxing, so I thought I'd try it. Why shouldn't Mom buy herself a new toy every now and then?
An exhausting but really great day.
We did a lot of walking in the four hours we had, and saw jousts and jugglers, tried archery, walked through the dungeon museum, saw birds of prey and a fabulous whip-cracker.
After escaping the maze and displaying feats of strength, the boys were fortified by smoked turkey legs, roasted corn, and anachronistic french fries. Shopping? Sure: they bought bows from Bows of the Risen Son (note the spelling there), while I chose a basic contact juggling kit from Sphereplay. I still can't manage regular juggling (so much for my 2008 New Year's resolution) but this looks amazingly cool and strangely relaxing, so I thought I'd try it. Why shouldn't Mom buy herself a new toy every now and then?
An exhausting but really great day.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
so much
I can scarcely believe so many days have gone by since I last posted. Two birthdays, hours and hours of biology, substitute teaching, field trips, shopping, cooking, ferrying, another ThyCa meeting --
I've been really good about not staying up too late, because I've been so busy, until today.
Healthwise, briefly: RA is moderately bad, the twinge in my left Achilles was doing better until today when I re-tweaked it at Bounce U (DS2's party), I started on 137 mcg Levoxyl (actuall, the generic, there was a screw-up) on Feb 11. Also, I've had symptoms of an ovarian cyst since last Saturday (Feb 7), I'm giving it a bit more time to see if it goes away. It seems better today but that may be just because I'm eating much smaller quantities in an effort to stave off intense abdominal pain.
The ovarian cyst, if that's really what's going on, could be the un-thought-of consequence of the big shift back to carbohydrates my diet has suffered. I can't digest vegetables or fruit in any significant quantity; gone are the days when I could have a big, delicious salad for lunch. Even soup gives me problems! And I don't do that great with fats and only moderately well with proteins, and I have to eat something, so I eat more carbs. I'd completely forgotten that I have PCOS because when I limit my carbs, I don't. (Also, the hysterectomy I had in 2003 makes it easy for me to forget about ovary-related issues, until something bad happens.) Apparently, that remission was conditional.
At least both the internet and my car are working reliably these days, knock on wood, and it sure would be nice to know why but I am not complaining. Plus, school is going well despite my feeling as if I am constantly behind, and the ThyCa meeting went well also. Everything's pretty much OK or better than OK with us and I wish I felt better so I could enjoy it more.
I've been really good about not staying up too late, because I've been so busy, until today.
Healthwise, briefly: RA is moderately bad, the twinge in my left Achilles was doing better until today when I re-tweaked it at Bounce U (DS2's party), I started on 137 mcg Levoxyl (actuall, the generic, there was a screw-up) on Feb 11. Also, I've had symptoms of an ovarian cyst since last Saturday (Feb 7), I'm giving it a bit more time to see if it goes away. It seems better today but that may be just because I'm eating much smaller quantities in an effort to stave off intense abdominal pain.
The ovarian cyst, if that's really what's going on, could be the un-thought-of consequence of the big shift back to carbohydrates my diet has suffered. I can't digest vegetables or fruit in any significant quantity; gone are the days when I could have a big, delicious salad for lunch. Even soup gives me problems! And I don't do that great with fats and only moderately well with proteins, and I have to eat something, so I eat more carbs. I'd completely forgotten that I have PCOS because when I limit my carbs, I don't. (Also, the hysterectomy I had in 2003 makes it easy for me to forget about ovary-related issues, until something bad happens.) Apparently, that remission was conditional.
At least both the internet and my car are working reliably these days, knock on wood, and it sure would be nice to know why but I am not complaining. Plus, school is going well despite my feeling as if I am constantly behind, and the ThyCa meeting went well also. Everything's pretty much OK or better than OK with us and I wish I felt better so I could enjoy it more.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
phase 1 complete
I took my Professional Knowledge test today. It was a little more grueling than I expected -- 100 multiple choice questions instead of 80, and 2 short essays and one long essay, instead of 3 short ones. I had to erase my third short essay and expand it into a longer one. It wasn't the writing that troubled me, it was having to erase so bloody much of my miserable handwriting. It's legible, but the pencils were all getting pretty dull by then, and since I'm left-handed, it's hard enough to write with a pencil without smudging.
I have a blister on my thumb from all the writing today. I am not used to writing anything longer than a shopping list long-hand. I'm not about to start journaling with paper and pen again -- ever.
I studied yesterday by taking the practice test, which helped quite a bit. I'm not sure how they score these things but I will be very surprised if I don't pass, even though a lot of the questions were really annoying. So much of Ed Psych and "best teaching practices" are mushy-soft science that you're forced to take a best guess; I hate that.
Biology starts Monday, and by the end of March, the plan will be complete. After today's test, I'm looking forward to working in a hard science where there are right answers and wrong answers. It will be so nice not to have make so many judgment calls.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
day(s) of arg!
My car's electrical system is haunted -- it has been flaking out and not starting randomly for the past couple of weeks. It spent the entire day in the shop yesterday after dying at the orthodontist's office (tech found nothing) and again today after flaking out on DH (found a lose ground wire) and I'm hoping that the million+1 diagnostics they ran were accurate and that the lose ground wire was the cause of the problem. I like my service advisor just fine, but I'd like not to have to see her for a couple of months.
I spent >30 minutes on the phone with Rio's admissions, records, and advising departments to see if anyone could locate the transcript that MIT was supposed to have sent over. No luck, which means calling MIT and finding out if they did send it, and to whom, and did they by any chance put my current name on the thing? Sheesh.
The water softener isn't working properly and the shower water doesn't feel nearly as nice as it usually does. Service call on Friday morning.
The light in the stairwell works when it feels like it, which is not often. This has been going on for a few weeks now -- electrician's coming on Friday morning, too.
Our internet service has been extremely unreliable lately, and for such an extended period that I actually called the service provider. After the usual interminable wait, the tech told me that they are, for once, not having any issues, but that the modem is 9 years old and that may be the source of the problem. Ironically it has been working flawlessly since I called... but now that I've written that, I can expect catastrophic failure in the near future.
My web host inexplicably changed my password without any advance notification. I've had problems with these people before but I'm paid up for like the next three years and I'm too cheap to switch, but I'm seriously considering it now. This post was written on Tuesday, January 20. Let's see when I can actually get it to publish -- because when I requested a new password, the email didn't come through. Later: only 15 minutes on hold and I got through to a tech who emailed me the password directly. It's a string of gibberish which I will reset back to my old, strong password asap. Sheesh (again).
Got up at 6AM the past 2 days to take Mom to her tests at the hospital. They went fine and we are very pleased with the care she is receiving, but getting up at 6AM makes the days very long, especially with the extra driving (dropping DH off at work, picking him up again, going to get my car at the service center.)
Tomorrow, an early appointment with Dr. C, my TMD (the joint is TMJ, if it's messed up, you have TMD) doctor. My face hurts and there's definitely something going on with my salivaries, but I can't be sure it's not referred pain from teeth grinding. I know I've been grinding, I don't think I can not grind my teeth, which means I may be headed for an appliance I wear all the time. Ick.
All of these are piddly little things, nothing but inconveniences, really. Here's the worst: I spaced on ordering my meds from Canada, and now I'm down to about 24 Domperidone pills to get me through however long the next batch will take to get here. I think it's typically about 2 weeks but it can be longer. I let myself take a couple before bed so I don't feel like puking in the morning. If I had any ideas that I didn't really need to take this medication, this experience is showing me otherwise. I feel horrid in the evenings now, but I figure it's better to have the promise of relief at bedtime and stretch what I have as far as possible, rather than have to go completely cold turkey with none at all for who-knows-how-long. I really have to pay more attention to these things, it was just inattentiveness that led to this predicament.
My biology class starts Monday and will be a lot of work. Assignments are due Wed and Sat at midnight, and those hard deadlines will be a great incentive to get me to do the work. My teacher test is this Saturday! I'm excited and terrified at the same time, although that feeling in the pit of my stomach may have more to do with the lack of medication than anything else. (I am planning on taking a normal day's dosage on test day -- I can't go in there feeling as if I'm going to puke.)
Here's hoping that things get a little easier going forward -- even if that meant just that the car stopped being flaky, it would be a tremendous help.
I spent >30 minutes on the phone with Rio's admissions, records, and advising departments to see if anyone could locate the transcript that MIT was supposed to have sent over. No luck, which means calling MIT and finding out if they did send it, and to whom, and did they by any chance put my current name on the thing? Sheesh.
The water softener isn't working properly and the shower water doesn't feel nearly as nice as it usually does. Service call on Friday morning.
The light in the stairwell works when it feels like it, which is not often. This has been going on for a few weeks now -- electrician's coming on Friday morning, too.
Our internet service has been extremely unreliable lately, and for such an extended period that I actually called the service provider. After the usual interminable wait, the tech told me that they are, for once, not having any issues, but that the modem is 9 years old and that may be the source of the problem. Ironically it has been working flawlessly since I called... but now that I've written that, I can expect catastrophic failure in the near future.
My web host inexplicably changed my password without any advance notification. I've had problems with these people before but I'm paid up for like the next three years and I'm too cheap to switch, but I'm seriously considering it now. This post was written on Tuesday, January 20. Let's see when I can actually get it to publish -- because when I requested a new password, the email didn't come through. Later: only 15 minutes on hold and I got through to a tech who emailed me the password directly. It's a string of gibberish which I will reset back to my old, strong password asap. Sheesh (again).
Got up at 6AM the past 2 days to take Mom to her tests at the hospital. They went fine and we are very pleased with the care she is receiving, but getting up at 6AM makes the days very long, especially with the extra driving (dropping DH off at work, picking him up again, going to get my car at the service center.)
Tomorrow, an early appointment with Dr. C, my TMD (the joint is TMJ, if it's messed up, you have TMD) doctor. My face hurts and there's definitely something going on with my salivaries, but I can't be sure it's not referred pain from teeth grinding. I know I've been grinding, I don't think I can not grind my teeth, which means I may be headed for an appliance I wear all the time. Ick.
All of these are piddly little things, nothing but inconveniences, really. Here's the worst: I spaced on ordering my meds from Canada, and now I'm down to about 24 Domperidone pills to get me through however long the next batch will take to get here. I think it's typically about 2 weeks but it can be longer. I let myself take a couple before bed so I don't feel like puking in the morning. If I had any ideas that I didn't really need to take this medication, this experience is showing me otherwise. I feel horrid in the evenings now, but I figure it's better to have the promise of relief at bedtime and stretch what I have as far as possible, rather than have to go completely cold turkey with none at all for who-knows-how-long. I really have to pay more attention to these things, it was just inattentiveness that led to this predicament.
My biology class starts Monday and will be a lot of work. Assignments are due Wed and Sat at midnight, and those hard deadlines will be a great incentive to get me to do the work. My teacher test is this Saturday! I'm excited and terrified at the same time, although that feeling in the pit of my stomach may have more to do with the lack of medication than anything else. (I am planning on taking a normal day's dosage on test day -- I can't go in there feeling as if I'm going to puke.)
Here's hoping that things get a little easier going forward -- even if that meant just that the car stopped being flaky, it would be a tremendous help.
Monday, January 19, 2009
however unlikely --
The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. How weird is that?
I watched the good half of the game, but was spared from watching most of the frustrating half by a telephone call from an old and dear friend -- it was lovely, and the Cards won without my angst.
I watched the good half of the game, but was spared from watching most of the frustrating half by a telephone call from an old and dear friend -- it was lovely, and the Cards won without my angst.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
marking time
Turns out my class doesn't start for two more weeks.
I want to get on with it! I want to get those tests out of the way. I don't like that I have them looming over me, on the horizon but weeks away.
I also hate wishing my life away, wanting time to go by faster. I am not good at this, waiting. I'd much rather be working -- and will be, later this week. In the meantime, thrashing about as usual.
I want to get on with it! I want to get those tests out of the way. I don't like that I have them looming over me, on the horizon but weeks away.
I also hate wishing my life away, wanting time to go by faster. I am not good at this, waiting. I'd much rather be working -- and will be, later this week. In the meantime, thrashing about as usual.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
ThyCa East Valley
Tomorrow (technically, later today), I'll be facilitating the first meeting of the ThyCa East Valley Thyroid Cancer Support Group at the Cancer Center at Chandler Regional Hospital. We'll be meeting the second Thursday of each month (except July) from 6:30 to 8:30PM in the Education Room.
I'm oddly calm about this. Normally I would be bouncing off the wall with anxiety, sort of like, "What if I gave a party and no one came?" But I know people will come, and in reality, it would be easier if people didn't come. It's nice when fewer people come -- I rationalize -- because that means fewer people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. (There are, of course, many other explanations, but that's the one I'm sticking with.)
I had trepidations initially about working with the Hospital, as they have rules about what you can and can't say -- but the reality is, I've been working with those rules for years now. I'm not a doctor and I can't give medical advice. I can say, "The protocol says this." I can say, "I have experienced this, other patients have experienced this other thing." I can say, "That's a good question for your doctor." In other words, I have to be careful how I say things, but that has been true all along.
Tomorrow also will be my first orientation session to become a volunteer at the Hospital. I don't need to do that, it's just to make things a little easier on my end, and give me the ability to run a meeting without my hospital-employed co-facilitator present, if necessary. It would be a shame to have to cancel a meeting if she couldn't make it.
The last time I managed a group of adults was years ago, at Oracle. It was a small group but I dealt with many people, as we were responsible for communicating requirements from three different application groups to the tools guys, and then we had to wrap an interface around those tools to meet the UI requirements of the app guys. It was fun. This is entirely different, of course, but I like the idea of having my own group again. I also like that the goals are well-defined and I already know what to do -- that's a big help.
It's odd knowing exactly when a new baby will be born. I have no idea how quickly this one will grow, or what it's going to require of me in the long run. So far I've been able to manage the phone calls and emails, and admin tasks have been minimal. There are things I'd love to do, like a mailing to the area doctors announcing the group and our meeting schedule, and I still may be able to pull that off, but we'll have to see. My class starts Monday and my professional knowledge exam is the 24th -- things are going to get very, very busy.
I'm oddly calm about this. Normally I would be bouncing off the wall with anxiety, sort of like, "What if I gave a party and no one came?" But I know people will come, and in reality, it would be easier if people didn't come. It's nice when fewer people come -- I rationalize -- because that means fewer people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. (There are, of course, many other explanations, but that's the one I'm sticking with.)
I had trepidations initially about working with the Hospital, as they have rules about what you can and can't say -- but the reality is, I've been working with those rules for years now. I'm not a doctor and I can't give medical advice. I can say, "The protocol says this." I can say, "I have experienced this, other patients have experienced this other thing." I can say, "That's a good question for your doctor." In other words, I have to be careful how I say things, but that has been true all along.
Tomorrow also will be my first orientation session to become a volunteer at the Hospital. I don't need to do that, it's just to make things a little easier on my end, and give me the ability to run a meeting without my hospital-employed co-facilitator present, if necessary. It would be a shame to have to cancel a meeting if she couldn't make it.
The last time I managed a group of adults was years ago, at Oracle. It was a small group but I dealt with many people, as we were responsible for communicating requirements from three different application groups to the tools guys, and then we had to wrap an interface around those tools to meet the UI requirements of the app guys. It was fun. This is entirely different, of course, but I like the idea of having my own group again. I also like that the goals are well-defined and I already know what to do -- that's a big help.
It's odd knowing exactly when a new baby will be born. I have no idea how quickly this one will grow, or what it's going to require of me in the long run. So far I've been able to manage the phone calls and emails, and admin tasks have been minimal. There are things I'd love to do, like a mailing to the area doctors announcing the group and our meeting schedule, and I still may be able to pull that off, but we'll have to see. My class starts Monday and my professional knowledge exam is the 24th -- things are going to get very, very busy.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
*whew*
Merry Christmas!
We have been very busy, like most everyone we know. There was quite a bit of shopping, some wrapping, the annual writing out of cards (along with the apparent mis-sending of checks!).
Here's a recap...
We've had an Advent Wreath for several years now, but until this year, it was just a decoration. I found some simple daily prayers and we enjoyed lighting the candles each night before dinner. On Christmas morning, the wreath is supposed to be transformed into a Christmas wreath with white candles and festive decorations; I was all set on the decorations but could only find two white candles! That will have to wait for next year, but this year we had a lovely daily reminder of the meaning of Advent, and the children learned how to safely light and handle matches.
DD had a "holiday culture" project, and she wrote about The Christmas Pickle, charmingly. The kids had the opportunity to earn extra points if they brought in a treat or snack to share, so she prevailed upon me to make a Christmas Tree cake. Our family tradition is to make a tree cake for Epiphany, and I didn't really want to have to make a cake in the middle of last week, but I caved (as usual). We ended up making a simple white cake from scratch (it was delicious, even though we had no cake flour and the King Arthur flour I use has too much protein to make a truly delicate cake), and instead of frosting or anything complicated, I topped it with my new fast favorite, vanilla glaze. I later used that same glaze on the cappuccino cakes I made for DS1's teachers, using up the extra on the gingerbread cookies we made just yesterday. (Yes, there has been a lot of baking. I made pumpkin spice muffins, too. There's more to come, as I have everything on hand to make fruitcake. Yay!)
DS2's class performed the charming Christmas at the OK Corral. While he didn't have a part, we all enjoyed the show tremendously, as the leads had both talent and enthusiasm, and DS2 loved dressing up for the occasion and really got into the songs and dances he did as part of the chorus. DD also had a performance of sorts, as Amelia Earhart, at the "dinner party" conclusion of the biography reports her class had been working on. I made her an aviator helmet from brown paper and goggles from pipecleaners wrapped with masking tape, and with my old white satin scarf, it was obvious who she was. She wasn't too happy with the helmet until she saw how everyone else loved it, but she did a great job on her presentation.
Sadly, we were rained out of Luminaria last week, so Tuesday night we dashed over to the Phoenix Zoo to see the Zoolights (video at the link). The Zoo lot was full, so we grabbed the free shuttle at the Muni parking lot, and enjoyed the light show. I have a video of synced-to-music tree lights that I'll upload if I can ever get my account on YouTube straightened out -- for now, this not-great shot will have to do. My camera has a night setting and I was using my mini tripod, but obviously my skills need work. I was impressed with how well-organized the zoo was; the shuttles were coming one right after another, and I think the kids enjoyed the bus rides as much as the lights. As usual, I ended up piggy-backing either DD or DS2 about half of the time, and my hip was really complaining by the end of the night.
Last Monday was our final RE class before Christmas break, and the teacher whose classroom I share had these huge paper snowflakes hung all over her room. They were so gorgeous I wanted to make some myself, so I googled "giant paper snowflake" and found this terrific set of directions via tings wot i have found on teh intarweb, a great site in itself. I love crafty things like this! It wasn't difficult or time-consuming to make at all, you just have to take care as you curl the pieces together. The boys have been using it for target practice with their Nerf dart tag guns (Santa brought a set for each of them; there was a minor blizzard of orange foam darts in here earlier) a good part of the day, and it has stood up to the abuse pretty well.
Last but not least, a good part of Christmas Eve was getting our webcams installed and trying them out with our family in Pennsylvania -- the kids are having a great time chatting with their cousins, and I'm thrilled they're not using up cell phone minutes. You can see we're not taking Christmas too seriously around here. We went to Mass last night, then out to dinner as usual, so today was very low key.
It is, in fact, even more low key than usual, since DH is en route to Connecticut to spend a few days with his parents. He was here for presents and breakfast, arguably the high points of the day anyway. (sigh) Since then, we've found that the XBox 360 does not come with wireless internet capability and that Dance Dance Revolution is hard! The Nerf guns remain a blast, however, and I think the kids are as happy with their Christmas as could be.
We have been very busy, like most everyone we know. There was quite a bit of shopping, some wrapping, the annual writing out of cards (along with the apparent mis-sending of checks!).
Here's a recap...
We've had an Advent Wreath for several years now, but until this year, it was just a decoration. I found some simple daily prayers and we enjoyed lighting the candles each night before dinner. On Christmas morning, the wreath is supposed to be transformed into a Christmas wreath with white candles and festive decorations; I was all set on the decorations but could only find two white candles! That will have to wait for next year, but this year we had a lovely daily reminder of the meaning of Advent, and the children learned how to safely light and handle matches.
DD had a "holiday culture" project, and she wrote about The Christmas Pickle, charmingly. The kids had the opportunity to earn extra points if they brought in a treat or snack to share, so she prevailed upon me to make a Christmas Tree cake. Our family tradition is to make a tree cake for Epiphany, and I didn't really want to have to make a cake in the middle of last week, but I caved (as usual). We ended up making a simple white cake from scratch (it was delicious, even though we had no cake flour and the King Arthur flour I use has too much protein to make a truly delicate cake), and instead of frosting or anything complicated, I topped it with my new fast favorite, vanilla glaze. I later used that same glaze on the cappuccino cakes I made for DS1's teachers, using up the extra on the gingerbread cookies we made just yesterday. (Yes, there has been a lot of baking. I made pumpkin spice muffins, too. There's more to come, as I have everything on hand to make fruitcake. Yay!)
DS2's class performed the charming Christmas at the OK Corral. While he didn't have a part, we all enjoyed the show tremendously, as the leads had both talent and enthusiasm, and DS2 loved dressing up for the occasion and really got into the songs and dances he did as part of the chorus. DD also had a performance of sorts, as Amelia Earhart, at the "dinner party" conclusion of the biography reports her class had been working on. I made her an aviator helmet from brown paper and goggles from pipecleaners wrapped with masking tape, and with my old white satin scarf, it was obvious who she was. She wasn't too happy with the helmet until she saw how everyone else loved it, but she did a great job on her presentation.
Sadly, we were rained out of Luminaria last week, so Tuesday night we dashed over to the Phoenix Zoo to see the Zoolights (video at the link). The Zoo lot was full, so we grabbed the free shuttle at the Muni parking lot, and enjoyed the light show. I have a video of synced-to-music tree lights that I'll upload if I can ever get my account on YouTube straightened out -- for now, this not-great shot will have to do. My camera has a night setting and I was using my mini tripod, but obviously my skills need work. I was impressed with how well-organized the zoo was; the shuttles were coming one right after another, and I think the kids enjoyed the bus rides as much as the lights. As usual, I ended up piggy-backing either DD or DS2 about half of the time, and my hip was really complaining by the end of the night.
Last Monday was our final RE class before Christmas break, and the teacher whose classroom I share had these huge paper snowflakes hung all over her room. They were so gorgeous I wanted to make some myself, so I googled "giant paper snowflake" and found this terrific set of directions via tings wot i have found on teh intarweb, a great site in itself. I love crafty things like this! It wasn't difficult or time-consuming to make at all, you just have to take care as you curl the pieces together. The boys have been using it for target practice with their Nerf dart tag guns (Santa brought a set for each of them; there was a minor blizzard of orange foam darts in here earlier) a good part of the day, and it has stood up to the abuse pretty well.
Last but not least, a good part of Christmas Eve was getting our webcams installed and trying them out with our family in Pennsylvania -- the kids are having a great time chatting with their cousins, and I'm thrilled they're not using up cell phone minutes. You can see we're not taking Christmas too seriously around here. We went to Mass last night, then out to dinner as usual, so today was very low key.
It is, in fact, even more low key than usual, since DH is en route to Connecticut to spend a few days with his parents. He was here for presents and breakfast, arguably the high points of the day anyway. (sigh) Since then, we've found that the XBox 360 does not come with wireless internet capability and that Dance Dance Revolution is hard! The Nerf guns remain a blast, however, and I think the kids are as happy with their Christmas as could be.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Domperidone, day 17
It's working!
Today, I actually felt hungry and was able to eat. I had "lunch" at DD's 4th-grade cultural fair, which was mostly carbs and a ton of sweets, but I didn't feel horrid afterwards at all.
One side effect, which may or may not be from the medication: any alcohol at all knocks me right out. I had a glass of wine this evening after dinner, and within an hour I was asleep on the couch. A 30-minute nap at 8PM isn't optimal, but it's not the worst thing, either. The question is, is it just me being exhausted from all the running around I've been doing, or is it the meds? I'd like to be able to have a drink every now and then without a sudden attack of narcolepsy.
In other news, everything hurts, everything still's drier than dry, and I'm worried that my gums are going to get diseased because my mouth gets so dry. The rheumatologist appointment can not come quickly enough. I have to accustom myself to the idea of going back on meds for the RA, and I want to make sure I'm using the best products to keep everything appropriately moist. This has been going on long enough that I don't think it's going to go away on its own, so it's good to ask for help.
The weather's not helping -- we're on day three of cold, gray downpours. Not what I signed up for, moving here, but I really can't complain. Tomorrow's supposed to be better.
Today, I actually felt hungry and was able to eat. I had "lunch" at DD's 4th-grade cultural fair, which was mostly carbs and a ton of sweets, but I didn't feel horrid afterwards at all.
One side effect, which may or may not be from the medication: any alcohol at all knocks me right out. I had a glass of wine this evening after dinner, and within an hour I was asleep on the couch. A 30-minute nap at 8PM isn't optimal, but it's not the worst thing, either. The question is, is it just me being exhausted from all the running around I've been doing, or is it the meds? I'd like to be able to have a drink every now and then without a sudden attack of narcolepsy.
In other news, everything hurts, everything still's drier than dry, and I'm worried that my gums are going to get diseased because my mouth gets so dry. The rheumatologist appointment can not come quickly enough. I have to accustom myself to the idea of going back on meds for the RA, and I want to make sure I'm using the best products to keep everything appropriately moist. This has been going on long enough that I don't think it's going to go away on its own, so it's good to ask for help.
The weather's not helping -- we're on day three of cold, gray downpours. Not what I signed up for, moving here, but I really can't complain. Tomorrow's supposed to be better.
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