the_rck

I've got the laundry all washed, and one load is dry and upstairs.

I very much want to nap, but I need to be ready to leave here in less than two hours, and I don't think there's time. I also think that I'm too stressed to sleep. I'm delaying taking Ativan because I think that I will need it more for our nephew's graduation which starts seven hours from now than I do for the appointment.

I've had four cups of black tea so far today and 12 oz of Coca-Cola.

I'm trying to figure out whether or not to dress up before going to my appointment. I'm not sure I'll have time to change after. Of course, I'm also not sure I have anything even remotely dressy that fits and has short sleeves.

Also, it's kind of wet outside, and, depending on timing, I may have to take the bus home. I don't think it's currently raining, but it's threatening, and everything out there is wet from earlier rain. Our concrete front steps, which are usually grayish, are kind of brown right now.

I'm also not sure that I'll get dinner tonight. It will depend on when my appointment ends and how long it takes me to get home. I'm tired enough right now, that I'm having trouble figuring out what to eat for lunch. I've had some saltines, four almonds, and two slices of cheese.

I made two phone calls yesterday but also added more calls to my to do list. I think that one of them is going to be manageable today because I'm probably going to get voicemail. Maybe I can manage calling Medequip, too, but I'm not going to get upset with myself if I don't.

Cordelia enjoyed Greenfield Village but was annoyed by the gift shop because nothing had any sort of price tag. The only way to find out what things cost was to take them up to the register and ask, so the line was very, very long the entire time her class was shopping.

The concert only lasted about forty minutes. The eighth graders were obviously more experienced than the seventh graders, even to my ear. Cordelia says that they all know that most of the seventh graders just don't practice. The eighth graders do practice, but there are only nine kids in the orchestra class, three violins, three violas, two cellos, and a bass. Some of the songs the eighth graders did sounded to me like they were-- How to put it? Thin, maybe. As if they'd sound better with more instruments playing. Some of them also didn't sound right with just strings. The best number, in my opinion, was the 'honors orchestra' number. All the eighth graders, about half the seventh graders, and a handful of sixth graders put in practice time during lunch hours all term to work on just that one piece, and it worked.

Cordelia's friend, the one with the concussion, was at the concert. According to her mother, she's still having fairly bad headaches and still has some memory gaps. She has, for example, no memory at all of the class trip to Cedar Point. The day of the injury, she couldn't remember the names of any of her friends and, when asked to name her teacher, gave the name of the teacher they had in fifth grade. She's also not allowed to use any of the online textbooks yet which is a problem because they simply don't have paper copies available.

Cordelia got her assignments for science center camp volunteering, and they scheduled her for the week of choir camp, so she's trying to get that changed. It looks like they're trying to schedule her for every week in August which isn't going to be great because that's when she's due for her annual physical. I really don't want to push that into September given how difficult it will be to retrieve her from Skyline for appointments. Also, I want to consult her doctor about whether or not we should ask for some sort of accommodations with regard to gym class in order to minimize the risk of another dislocation. I'm pretty worried about that happening in gym, but the class is mandatory, and the only choice about it is whether to take it single sex or coed (I have no idea how they sort the genderqueer kids. The schools do acknowledge that such kids exist, but I don't think there's an option for them to be in a class only with each other).

I called the choir director as Skyline yesterday, as she'd asked me to, and got her voicemail. I left a message and haven't heard back. I waited until after the school day was over because I assumed that she wouldn't answer her phone while teaching.

Cordelia decided that she was close enough to done with her big project (all that's left is eight more illustrations) that we could celebrate last night after all, so we went to dinner at Saica. She tried something new. Actual raw fish sushi, a tray with a variety of different things. I got a bento and brought most of it home; that fed me and Cordelia for breakfast this morning.

Cordelia liked her presents. We mostly got her books. I watched her wishlist for months and jumped on books when good used copies came up. There were two Funko Pop figures, too. General Leia and Finn, if I recall correctly. She says that Baby Groot is still her favorite. She also thought that General Leia looks weird because of not having a mouth.

I'm still not sleeping well with the c-PAP. I'm waking more often. It used to be that I could sleep about six hours without needing the bathroom, but now it's a maximum of about three hours. At that point, I wake fully and won't get back to sleep unless I empty my bladder. I think that, on school nights, I'm getting about five hours of sleep. No wonder my legs ache and I'm starting to get headaches a lot.

Generally, by the time I'm ready to nap, it's lunch time, and then there's not enough time after lunch to actually sleep before Cordelia gets home. She doesn't like me napping when she's home and will come in to check on me every twenty minutes.

The lab test results from my ER trip were released to me today. I have no idea what most of the things tested for are, but I think there's at least one thing I want to ask my primary care doctor about when I see her next week. The chest x-ray showed a 'slightly elevated left hemidiaphragm,' and that's not something that's ever been mentioned on any previous chest x-ray. Dr Google gives scary information about that that I really think doesn't apply here because they wouldn't have let me leave the ER as casually as they did if they thought I had, say, an abdominal tumor.

I've turned on the air conditioner now. I need to schedule a tune up for the system. It was 85F in here when I checked the thermostat last night, and we try to keep it a bit cooler than that, especially since I'm still having problems with feeling overheated in spite of having stopped the Tamoxifen.

Scott meant to wrap Cordelia's birthday presents last night while she was at an orientation meeting for one of her summer volunteer things, but it completely slipped both of our minds. I guess she'll have to deal with gift bags, because I really don't want to deal with how my hands will feel if I try to do the wrapping. Last night was the last chance for Scott to do anything before her birthday while she wasn't home.

She's asked to celebrate her birthday on Saturday instead of tomorrow because of a big school project that's due Friday. She's been asking me repeatedly what part of speech certain things are, and I answer and then second guess and triple guess. Is 'most' in 'most are red' a noun or a pronoun? If it was 'most apples are red,' it would be an adjective. Is it still one when the noun is implied? Is 'that' in 'this is the thing that we decided' a conjunction or a pronoun or something else entirely?

My Fandom5K recipient hasn't given me any sort of feedback on my fic. Those went public at midnight, Eastern, Saturday/Sunday, and my recipient didn't put a comment on the AFK post in the community, so I don't know what's up there.

I finished one library book yesterday, an actual novel aimed at adults, and got about a third of the way into a second one (which can't be renewed and is due Sunday). I stopped because I hit a point where I'm pretty sure something I don't want to watch is about to happen.

I've had three zits in the last two days, so I'm wondering if my body's gearing up for a period. I don't want one and haven't had one since early October. If I get one, it resets the clock on menopause and, of course, will just generally be a PITA. I turn 50 on the 26th, so it's sort of early for full on menopause (plus my hormone levels don't support me being there quite yet), but... It would be so nice not to have to deal with that again.

My to do list for today is to shower and to get the trash and recycling out. After that, I have things to read, watch, and write. I'd kind of like to nap, too. I had an awful time getting to sleep last night because I was kind of keyed up.

Yesterday was my last OT appointment, and it was shorter than my scheduled time because we'd covered everything on my list by forty minutes in. I got advice on a couple of things that are not currently problems but were big issues when my hands were at their worst. I thought I'd ask just in case they're ever issues again.

Blue Cab seems to be doing a better job of running the A-Ride than Yellow Cab ever did. Every pick up was within five minutes of the start of the scheduled time (they set a half an hour window), and the cabbies were all friendly. The policy has changed from the drivers having no obligation to help passengers reach the cab to them being required to provide assistance from door to door if it's needed. They're not allowed to go inside, but they're not dumping mobility impaired passengers in awkward places.

Today, I have what might be my last PT appointment but also might not. I rather suspect not. My current intention is to take a cab there and the bus back. I think that I'll take the inbound #23 and transfer to the outbound #22. The stop for the #22 is about 2/3 the distance from the house as the stop for the #23 and doesn't require climbing a steep hill to get home. It'll add about half an hour to my trip, but as long as things don't change, I think I can handle that.

I had anxiety issues yesterday afternoon and evening that I couldn't explain except that maybe I felt guilty for not managing to fit in all of my PT exercises. Some of those require lying on the floor, and I didn't want to do them within an hour or so after eating and really couldn't do them while the cleaning lady was here. I probably could have fit them in after she left and before dinner, but by then, I was having reflux issues that made lying down very unappealing. I did do most of the exercises that I could do sitting or standing, though.

I woke this morning with a headache, but food and caffeine seem to have gotten rid of it. I haven't done any of my PT yet because I want to have all of my energy for going out. I'm still very tired and kind of groggy. I don't think more food will help, and I don't have time to make more tea or coffee. I know there's a coffee kiosk somewhere in Taubman (or there used to be), but I don't want to do the walking required to see if I'm remembering correctly. Plus, there's no guarantee that more caffeine would do anything but make me need many visits to the bathroom which would be pretty inconvenient during an hour long PT appointment.

The GSA at Cordelia's school is doing a reading of I Am Jazz for the 4-8th grades today. It's a picture book, so the reading shouldn't take too long. They'll have a panel discussion afterwards. Cordelia's really looking forward to it. She'll be reading the book. I'm not sure if she'll be part of the panel or not. I don't know if any of the kids are out as trans, but with forty to eighty kids in each grade and nine grades, there's pretty sure to be a kid or three somewhere in the school who is trans even if they're not out. My guess is that the reason for having only 4th through 8th is a combination of space limitations and the attention span for the panel discussion and probably also that explanations that suit five year olds aren't going to work for thirteen year olds. That last probably could be dealt with by an experienced presenter, but this is all kids ages eleven to fourteen who've never done anything of the sort before.

And we have more snow today. There’s not a lot of it, just enough to coat everything. At least, Cordelia doesn’t need to walk to school today. If there’s ice on the sidewalks, it mostly shouldn’t affect her.

Cordelia was out for about four hours last night. She says they only watched about half an hour of the movie (the Studio Ghibli Earthsea adaptation) because it was boring. There were only three of them there because the others all had scheduling conflicts. Well, no. One of the girls had to stay home because her parents were worried that the (small amount of) snow would combine badly with drunk drivers due to St Patrick’s Day.

I haven’t made any progress on my Fandom5K story this week, and I’m starting to worry. I know I have enough time to do it; I just can’t seem to focus and find a way into the story.

I’ve been using loops of duct tape, sticky side out, to hold my laptop on place on the old stand. That’s actually working well enough that I’m not going to keep looking for a replacement. Everything I looked at was focused on the ergonomics of viewing rather than the ergonomics of typing, and I am vastly more interested in the typing side.

I tried to nap this morning but couldn’t get my mind to shut down. I was completely relaxed physically, though, so maybe those two hours weren’t entirely wasted.

Cordelia has gone to see Beauty and the Beast with her friends. Scott is going to drop them off and go do the grocery shopping nearby. It means he probably won’t pick up my prescription today, but I’ve got enough left to get through tomorrow, so that should be okay.

Grrr. The sports medicine people just called to say that, oops!, they hadn’t actually looked at the referral from orthopedics and that Cordelia needs to see a surgeon rather than a regular doctor and that we can’t do that until the 30th. I feel like banging my head on something.

The 30th is a Thursday which, from Cordelia’s point of view, is the absolute worst day to have an appointment because of GSA.

Oh, and that’s Expo night, too, I think. Damn it. I may have to reschedule the appointment because, if surgery is the verdict, Cordelia’s not going to be capable of going to Expo. I’ve emailed her teachers to explain the situation. I’m not sure I actually care one way or another about Expo.

And my gynecologist does want to see me ASAP. She says some time on the 20th and that someone will call me to schedule more specifically. I really hope that that ends up at a time when I can get a friend or relative to go with me for moral support. I want to get that nailed down before I arrange for Cordelia’s PT, but I don’t know that I should wait on the PT.

Cordelia slept in her own bed last night. She’s not up yet, though, so I’m a little worried that she’ll have trouble getting out of bed even though she practiced a couple of times yesterday. She did get to do a little bit with the laser tag party. They apparently set her up as a sniper. Cordelia was able to sit in the front seat of the car which is a big deal, too.

I didn’t have a headache yesterday but do today. I think this is a separate thing from the headache Thursday and Friday because my period seems to be starting up. (Only time will tell if this is real or another occasion where it will go for an hour or two and stop.)

Scott went to a couple of places while Cordelia was at the party to see if he could find a bedside table for me and/or a chair for Cordelia to use at her desk. The current chair is quite large for the space, and Scott is hoping that a chair with a smaller footprint would make banging her knee again less likely. Sadly, he didn’t find anything he thought would work.

Scott’s currently cooking turkey bacon. We’re buying that rather than regular bacon because Cordelia likes chewy bacon rather than crisp. Turkey bacon is pretty much always chewy. It doesn’t taste at all the same, but it’s pretty good as its own thing. Turkey bacon does not work well for making bacon wrapped dates because those need more fat. I had some luck with adding butter when I experimented with using turkey bacon last Christmas, but I think it needed rather more butter than I put in.

Scott has made a Kung Fu Panda vid. I will link to it when he posts it. It’s his first vid ever, and he had a lot of fun making it. He’s been wanting to vid for many years but never got to the point of trying it before. I suspect he’ll end up making more.

Where are the best places to post vids?

I think they're sending us home soon. Crutches, brace, follow up with orthopedics, probably PT.

She'll miss out on a birthday party laser tag thing tomorrow.

Cordelia ended up spending the night at her friend’s house last night. She and her friend came over here by bus around noon. They stopped on the way (my best guess is the North Campus Commons) to pick up carryout from Panda Express. The food was only vaguely warm (and quite cold in spots) by the time they got here because they had to do a lot of walking. It was packaged in that sort of particle cardboard, and the packaging was kind of squishy.

The girls want to go downtown to buy bubble tea now. I have no objection, apart from how cold it is. They’re thirteen. Right now, they’re waiting for Cordelia’s phone to charge a bit. It had gotten down to about 15%. In the meantime, they’re watching episodes from season one of Arrow.

Scott and I did a little Ingress on the way home from taking Cordelia her overnight supplies (clothes, her Captain Cold Funko Pop thingy, her water bottle, her toiletries). We also got frosties at Wendy’s. We watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and some White Collar. P&P&Z was better than I expected, but my expectations were pretty rock bottom. I think it did best when it diverged most from Austen. The two parts simply didn’t fit together.

I want to finish the White Collar DVD because we’ve only got one Netflix return envelope right now. I’m holding off on returning another DVD until we either have something else we could mail the White Collar DVD back or have finished the White Collar DVD.

I ended up not doing the difficult phone calls yesterday because I didn’t want to do them while the cleaning lady was here. I managed several less challenging calls. There aren’t any cultural/philosophical issues between me and our cleaning lady on, for example, the subject of scheduling an eye exam so that I can get reading glasses. She thinks that, by making stressful calls to the insurance company, I’m damaging myself. Which… maybe I am, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need doing.

The cleaning lady’s daughter has a small business crocheting things to sell. I didn’t know that until I asked the cleaning lady if she knew anyone who might want my yarn. I collected all of that, filling two trash bags and one very large gift bag. We’ve got it in the basement until the cleaning lady can get her son to drive over to pick it up.

It’s hard to let it go, but I haven’t done any crocheting in years, and now it would hurt a lot to do it at all. It’s not important enough to me to spend the bit of hand use I have every day on it. I went back to my OTC splints yesterday. They aren’t great, but they’re a compromise that works better than the other options. I’m not wearing any of the three sets right now because it’s not worthwhile until I’m at the point where most activities hurt.

I found an unopened Christmas card from Scott’s sister’s family in 2010 that included school pictures of our niece and nephew. I found some peppermint gel stuff meant for rubbing on one’s feet that I kind of vaguely remember buying many, many years ago. I found two abandoned mouse nests including stashed food. I threw out everything contaminated that way, including some clothes that had been waiting to be mended for about five years.