And tomorrow will be an early morning. But we played games until far too late this evening. Holding off on stockings til the morning. Non-food stuff is sorted, but I need to split up the candy.
Good run to get comics, and lunch at the local Italian restaurant next to the comic shop. Brief nap mid-afternoon, but not quite enough. This is why I took Monday off as well, so I can catch up on sleep once they head out.
One more sleep ’til Xmas.
We went indoor skydiving this afternoon. The husband, his sister, and I all did it – 3 sessions each of about a minute and a half each session. Two stayed low, the last one we went “high” – maybe 10 feet up – with the instructor. They were very patient and explained things well, and I had a ton of fun doing it. The husband has been known to bungee jump and leap off of buildings for fun, so this was right up his alley. He of course bought another session for the two of us, which we can cash in whenever. Not something I ever expected to do, but I really enjoyed it.
Past that slept better last night, but still not quite enough. Trying to manage the female cat’s moods and movement as she gets crankier in her old age is tough. At least I managed not to trap myself under her and the comforter last night, just her and a thin blanket, which was quite warm enough.
Slept for shit last night, between eating too much Chinese food and the knee still setting down. So today was lots of video game grinding, then I watched a couple movies while finishing a dish cloth I was working on to try out some color work before I tackle a blanket in a similar pattern. But first I need to finish a shawl I’ve been working on.
Was sorely tempted to take advantage of Brooklyn Tweed’s going out of the yarn business sale, but I don’t need to spend the money right now, and I definitely don’t need any more yarn guilt.
Stomach’s calmer, so here’s hoping sleep will be easier. The husband is out of town with his sister to commemorate their Mom’s passing during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which leaves me plenty of knitting time.
I had taken this Friday off from work as the day after the end of the now-cancelled training. Then the husband and I decided to grab the last open tickets we could get for 9-to-5 the musical at one of our favorite dinner theaters for tomorrow, and given that it’s in the opposite side of the area from where I work I went ahead and took tomorrow off so we could get there on time. Then I remembered I have an ophthalmologist appointment Monday where they’ll dilate my eyes so I won’t be able to work after that, and took Monday off as well. So here I am with an inadvertent five day weekend. Go me. I look forward to some sleep. And the musical. And a clean bill of health from the ophthalmologist.
Did get to bed early last night, and up early this morning. Biked, even (in the trainer). Knee is tolerating both. However, I had dinner with a former coworker to catch up in person, and didn’t get home until 9ish, so I’ll not be in bed early (for me). ‘Twas worth the delay this evening, but I think I’ll be dragging more tomorrow.
The five bullet nonsense is back, and is now weekly, because my agency is wussing out and not telling us not to respond. I’m getting my eye exercises in just thinking about them. You know, because I keep rolling them so much.
And this is the last month in our performance review year (april to march). I did pick up a little book about giving feedback that was recommended at the first half of training, which arrived today. Hoping that helps with writing up my own stuff, and giving management some assistance with the folks I’m unofficially helping with.
Survived another week working for the chaos machine that is the US government these days. Go me.
Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up on some meaningful sleep this weekend. Because it sure wasn’t happening during the week. The Garmin watch I’ve been wearing since December gives you a “body battery” score based on how you’re recovering, sleep, dealing with stress, etc., and all this week it’s been in the low to mid 20s. Out of 100. Yikes.
Only plan I have for the weekend, other than sleep, is looking for some walking shoes at the local REI. And maybe some knitting.
Announced at staff meeting that I’m stepping into a team lead role, albeit informally. We don’t want anything formal because then I’d automatically be put into the new employee classification system (as someone who “supervises attorneys”), where otherwise it’s still up in the air whether any of our line attorneys would be placed there.
And I managed to get us a win for the agency with a good suggestion this morning, balancing us between complying with court orders, but also minimizing losses if we’re ever cleared to proceed with carrying out 47’s ridiculous exec. orders. That apparently broke a logjam of dithering upstairs and gave them a safe way to proceed that won’t make everyone happy, but gives the relevant parties something to claim as a partial win. Go me.
Hoping for some better sleep tonight, but not holding my breath.
First off, I’m fine. Don’t you love when an entry starts out that way?
Tuesday morning (December 5th, 2023) around 10:30 I was standing in my living room when I had a sudden bout of dizziness, followed by numbness in my right hand and some tingling on the fingertips. Almost felt like my blood sugar had dropped out (the dizziness) and like I’d pinched something so my hand fell asleep. Both passed very quickly, then the hand numbness came back less severely and stopped again. And then the inside of my mouth and tongue on the right side got numb, at which point I started googling stroke and heart attack symptoms, and drove myself over to the local urgent care center. The symptoms were all resolved at that point, in less than ten minutes, but I still wanted to get checked out. They took me back immediately and examined me, then advised me to go to an emergency room.
Drove home, grabbed some things in anticipation of a long wait, summoned an Uber ride, texted the husband to let him know what was up, and went to the ER at the hospital attached to the university he works at, even though it’s twice as far as the two closest. It also happens to be in the same network as the urgent care center, so they had all of my info from the earlier check in. The husband met me there, the team again jumped in on me pretty quickly – you say/describe “stroke symptoms” and medical professionals’ eyes get big and they immediately start doing things. CT scan that afternoon, then they checked me in that afternoon for an overnight stay for more tests and observation. The poor husband had to return home for the tools to get my piercings out so I could have an MRI, which happened around 12:30am (hospital corridors are much less busy at that hour). Echocardiogram with bubble contrast was late morning on Wednesday, plus constant EKG monitoring and more blood draws than I care to think about over the course of the day.
Tested, prodded, and evaluated, the verdict was that I probably had a “low-impact transient ischemic attack (TIA)”, a kind of stroke-like event that quickly resolved itself. No damage, tests all came back normal, not a stroke, but now I get some new medications (baby aspirin and a statin) and a longer discussion about all of this with my primary care physician at a pre-existing appointment on Monday, at which I was already going to be discussing slightly elevated blood pressure (which has not been helped by the lack of ability to do a lot of cardio because of my knee dislocation in September).
All-in-all I’m doing okay now. I feel fine, and other than needing some more sleep everything seems to have returned to status quo ante. I’m annoyed at the elevated blood pressure and adding yet another drug to the morning mix (I hate that I have to take pills to function), but the results came out well for what happened, and I’m glad I got it all checked out and will get an appropriate treatment plan. And maybe a new doctor to add to the deck? Because as you age doctors seem to be like Pokemon – gotta catch ’em all! Heh.
Afrin for the win, for sleep. I can’t do sleeping formula cold stuff, because my body always ends up fighting the sleepy part, and I sleep worse than if I’d just taken regular medication. The nasal spray, which can be used for a maximum of three days before you get a rebound effect and get even worse sinus grossness, is a good temporary “clear these up so I can sleep through the night while breathing through my nose” option. And it worked like a charm. First decent sleep in days. I still want a nap, but I think that’s just overall feeling run down from the virus now and not lack of sleep.
The latest trick of the little demons kittens is to decide to play with anything and everything that isn’t nailed down or might possibly make noise. At 3 in the morning. For the most part we’ve adjusted stuff in the bedroom to handle this – my wallet and coin dish live in a drawer now, for example – but last night Benjamin managed to find everything in the room that might possibly make noise. Belt buckles. Random paper. Electrical cords. Claws on the drywall (!!!). Ugh. So today is a low-sleep day, which should bode well (not) for meetings at work. Little monsters.