(no subject)

Scott gave his cold to me and Delia both. I find a certain irony in Delia catching a cold from her father since that reverses the usual expectation. Pre-schoolers are supposed to catch everything, bring it all home and pass it on. Sadly, Delia's got it worse than either Scott or I do. Part of that is that she refuses to drink and still doesn't know how to blow her nose (we've tried to explain and demonstrate, but she doesn't want anything to do with it).

I'm concerned that she won't be well enough for pre-school tomorrow. It wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm scheduled to assist. If Delia's sick, I have to arrange for somebody else to take my place. Then I have to explain to Delia that she's not going. No fun all around.

Delia's been spending at least half of her time glued to my side. She denies feeling sick, but she keeps burrowing up against me and saying, "Snuggle!" Somehow, she manages to be both imperious and pathetic.

In spite of the cold, I'm actually feeling better than I have for a while. I saw the neurologist on Monday, and we decided to discontinue the lyrica. Three months should have been long enough for me to start seeing benefits if I was going to. Instead, I had dragging side effects and some very undesirable changes in my menstrual cycle. (Cramps and menstrual headaches should *not* last for two weeks of every cycle. The neurologist wasn't entirely convinced that it was the lyrica, but I pointed out that it started immediately after I started the lyrica and had never happened before. If it continues for more than one cycle after stopping, I will consider other causes, but right now, I lean toward calling it a medication side effect.)

So, I'm to start topamax. I've filled the prescription, but I'm not willing to start taking it until after I'm over this cold. I want to be able to feel the differences caused by the medication without confusing them with the cold symptoms. I'm a bit dubious about the topamax. I'm concerned that the side effects might be worse than the occasional migraines. I suppose I'll try it and see.

I'm also supposed to start taking magnesium supplements. I'm a bit more optimistic about that. Well, not so much optimistic as fairly sure that magnesium won't cause really nasty or peculiar side effects.

(no subject)

I'm behind on a lot of things this week. I have a lot of e-mails to answer (I've been lacking the mental wherewithal), and I have to get back to working on my Yuletide story. I still don't know what's supposed to happen next in it. Anything I add is going to alter the mood and direction. It needs more. I'm just not sure which alterations might add and which detract.

I'm still fiddling with other things in an effort to get my brain to shake something loose on the Yuletide story. I haven't written up my books read list since July. That's so daunting that I keep staring at it blankly then fiddling with the formatting.

I've worked more on the list of things I like and dislike in stories. Dislikes seem to be easier to identify than likes. I'll probably post the likes and dislikes separately whenever I actually complete them. I hesitate out of fear of freaking out my Yuletide writer. These lists include things that I hadn't thought of before and therefore didn't mention in my dear-Yuletide-writer letter. Right now, there's enough time before the deadline for writers to think that they *might* be able to gut a story and start over but not enough time for it to be a pleasant undertaking even if it's possible. Then again, I don't know if I want to keep the dratted thing pending until February or March. Stories having something in them that I don't care for doesn't make them bad stories. It doesn't even make me automatically dislike them. It just... skews things.

Still, late November seems like the wrong time to do the equivalent of suddenly announcing to someone who's knitting me a sweater that I'm allergic to wool and won't wear yellow, red or green.

I'm also working on that wishlist meme. That one has gotten a bit out of control and has turned into three lists-- stuff for Delia, stuff for me that's realistic (or at least not utterly unrealistic), and stuff for me that's utter fantasy.