Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

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.

On Monday I was on a grocery run when I slipped on some oil in the parking lot and very badly wrenched my right knee. I didn’t feel anything pop, but I definitely went down and there was a lot of loud vocalizing about pain. On the upside, it’s a shopping center with an urgent care center, so after a bit of denial I leaned on a shopping cart and wheeled myself over to get checked out. I got a brace, crutches, instructions to go see an orthopedist.

Saw my old orthopedist’s office the next day (different doctor; the last guy specialized in shoulders, this one in knees). X-rays did not show anything broken, but did reveal that I have a bipartite patella on both knees, which is probably unrelated, but was an interesting conversation piece with the doc. Got a knee wrap and a stiffer, larger brace to hold things in place better (and boy have they improved since I last wore one back in 1986*). Instructions were to get an MRI and make a follow up appointment with the doc. First radiology place was going to take two weeks (!!!!) to get me in. I booked it, but then checked in with insurance to see where else was available and managed to get one a mere week later (this upcoming Wednesday the 13th, as opposed to the following Tuesday the 19th) a little further out. Definitely a sign that there’s too much demand and not enough supply in the DC radiology market.

In the meantime I’ve been sitting around playing lots of PS5, doing some reading, and a little bit of work. The collection of chargers next to the couch has slowly grown as I’ve needed to charge more devices like the kindle. The husband has been fantastic, fussing at me about letting him do more for me (I’m a terrible patient; I value my independence and hate asking for help). Thank heavens for the internet and videos for “best ways to get up and down stairs with crutches”, which we definitely did not have in 1986. Since this townhouse is a staircase with a couple rooms attached I’ve tried to minimize the amount of up and down each day to once each wherever possible. My neighbors have been good, too, with one graciously getting our car back from the parking lot to our garage, and another bringing a package in for me when the husband wasn’t going to be home until late. We have a slight problem with porch pirates, and I wanted to keep the cat food from disappearing, so I asked her to come drag it inside. The smart lock I installed a couple weeks back came in handy there, as I was able to unlock and lock the door from the couch so she could open the door.

And now I wait for appointments to see how badly I’ve messed this thing up. The swelling is down from the peak, but it’s still grapefruit sized and somewhat warm to the touch. Grateful we installed washlets on all the toilets, because when you only have one good leg to stand on wiping is not the easiest.

* Back in 1986 I was playing volleyball in gym class, went to hit the ball at the edge of the court, everyone yelled to let it go out as it was game point and we’d win, so I backed up quickly and in doing so chipped my thigh bone. I vaguely recalling yelling “shit” at the top of my lungs, and the whole gym was looking at me when I looked up. Teacher felt the knee, nothing broken, so ‘walk it off’ (Poor teacher; this was at the school where my mother was the librarian and I know she felt bad when it turned out to be worse than expected). Urgent care, orthopedist, arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips, and a massive leg brace to keep it all straight before and after surgery, which I recall being a pain in the ass to get on/off, with giant velcro tabs. This new one has velcro, but also has quick-release tabs that the velcro connects to, so is much, much easier to remove and put back on. Yay progress.

While I enjoyed seeing our guests over the weekend, I was also very glad to send them on their way back home this morning. Living with two other people in your apartment, which already feels cramped as it is, even when those two people are related to you, is draining as all fuck. Didn’t help when the 3.5 y/o would get cranky because her uncles wouldn’t put up with as much of her shit as her mother would.

Did get a little bit of sun out in a paddle boat in the Tidal Basin. That was fun, and it showed that the case of runner’s knee I developed back in March/April is finally well on the way to being healed (the boy and I were the paddlers). I’ve been taking it very easy the past few weeks, canceling this race season and letting the knee heal properly. Didn’t want to repeat 2008’s year of the plantar fasciitis goof but continuing to re-injure the knee again and again. While it’s definitely better, I’m still going to take this entire month off from swimming and running. I haven’t tried cycling yet, but I will do so soon on a trainer in the living room, to see how that does. In the meantime I’m doing weights and core strengthening to give myself a good base to come back to when I do start back up with tri training. It’s been annoying as all hell, and my hips are incredibly sore from the strengthening, but the knee’s healing, and that’s the important part.

Was on the way to the not-so-local comic shop that the boy has adopted when the back passenger tire decided to start making Very Loud Noises. Seems the thing had finally decided enough was enough and it was time for tire replacements. Visited a couple of places, everywhere had to order tires for the poor mini (none had them in stock), so we limped to the comic shop (thankfully I have a car-lighter-powered air pump in the car, so we were able to inflate the tires a couple of times), then to BJs where we ordered tires to be done some time this week. Had a bit of fun there trying to get a coupon printed off their web site ($70 off the set, so was worth the aggravation), ended up having to track down the boy’s zip code from three-plus living places ago to get into the site, but eventually got in and got the coupon. Shopped some at regular BJs, though not as much as we might have otherwise, then off to an auto parts store for some fix-a-flat. That seemed to work pretty well for the ride home, and I picked up an extra can to keep with the other emergency stuff in the back. But definitely the most expensive car trip I’ve taken in a while.

If for no other reason, I want the election done and over with so I can know how chaotic the next two months after that will be (transition to a new administration [high chaos] versus retention of the incumbent [mild chaos]). Add to the normal mess this whole “sequestration” thingey and I’m not making any travel plans for late December, much to the boy’s annoyance, since we’re supposed to go to Boston and then to the midwest for a wedding. It would be nice if we could count on Congress acting like adults, but they won’t, so in the meantime the rest of us are stuck.

Went in to get new orthoses from a new podiatrist this morning. Hoping these will be better. We talked a lot about the mechanics of the inserts and what did and didn’t work, so feeling pretty good about this set. Will be nice to be able to run again. Saw the dentist Tuesday, teeth are all good. Seeing a new allergist next week, which should be interesting, not least because I’m off allergy meds for the next week. The last time I got tested the only result was being told that I was pretty much allergic to everything, which was neither helpful nor illuminating. So I’m looking for a bit more precision this time, and a different treatment regimen. I’m just tired of taking sudafed daily to dry out my sinuses. Breathing normally without drugs would be a welcome change.

The boy and I are slowly fixing my apartment for his eventual move in. We both have plans this weekend, so can’t do the furniture move/painting we thought we could, so that’ll shift to the weekend after. It’s good that we have time to adapt it and don’t have to do it at once, I think that’s going to help me with the transition. I suspect it’ll be harder on me since we’re taking a space that I’ve had as a solo sanctuary and sticking two people in it. Not that it’ll be stress free for him, either, but hey, my blog, my feelings.

Haven’t updated in forever (duh). Been dealing with a lot of messes at work, and not felt terribly motivated to deal with most of them. It’s exhausting when you’re working your butt off, and at the same time (it feels like) the entire country is complaining about what it is you do, and your bosses (Congress and POTUS) are talking about cutting your pay & benefits, on top of already constructively cutting them by freezing your pay, but still piling on additional costs for things like health care and pensions. So, yeah, hard to feel motivated. I suspect there will be a lot more of that going around when and if they implement the plan to increase our share of our pension contributions, since that’ll mean a 5-6% (minimum) cut in take home pay. Blah.

So, yeah, frustrated at work.

Other than that, I’m gearing up for next year’s season for my newbies, and seeing how much more I need to be doing. Trying to catch up on reading (the list of materials never gets smaller!). Trying to tweak/fix my eating habits – I gained way, way too much weight over this past year, between bad eating and lack of regular, sustained training. I wish it weren’t so damned easy to eat badly in this country (and frequently so expensive to eat well, though the salad bar by weight at work has been a cheaper option than the local sandwich shop when I fill the large part of the plate with greens).

Things continue to go well with the boy. Met his family last month, made a good impression. I still spend most nights with him and his beagle up at his apartment, though not every night (do have to do laundry on occasion, after all). It’ll be interesting to see how I’m going to work this with training and my coaching stuff with the newbies. An adventure, as life should be. Made him a scarf, so he’s been deemed knit-worthy. If you want more details past that you have to check my Facebook profile.

The slow building back I wrote about last month is, well, slow. But that’s okay. Having the discipline to slow myself down, go for less distance at a lower heart rate, is paying off. I’m feeling better. I’m (mostly) sleeping better (more on that in a moment). And things are a bit calmer overall.

The course ended up being completely worth the time. It was a ton of information, which I’m still digesting, but again well worth it. Now I just need to finish reading the manual and fill in the quiz so I can finish that last part of the certification process. In the meantime, with the slow down in training, I’m also bailing on my first race. I’m just not ready for it, physically, so I’m aiming for the next one in June, a sprint here in downtown. I’m going to take the day after the May race off, however, as planned, so I can use that as a reading/quiz day and hopefully finish that up. It would be nice to be “Coach Moose” before the end of this year’s newbie program.

Sleep is mostly better, save when I’m sleeping over at the new boy’s place. Yup, seeing a new boy. He works for a local university as a resident director, so lives on campus, plus he has a dog, and no car (where I do have a car), so it’s just easier for me to stay over up there when we stay together. But that’s meant adjusting to a new bed, and a new person in said bed, and learning his/our sleeping patterns. I’m gradually learning it, but man those early mornings are tough. Thankfully the commute from his place in the morning is pretty smooth, so it’s been relatively easy to get up and get down here to SW to work out. When I don’t sleep in a bit, that is. Otherwise it’s going well. We’re taking thing slowly, trying not to rush into anything (though, yes, overnight stays are a part of that).

LJ (which I do still read daily) for some reason completely reset my theme today while I was at work. Found the one I was using and reapplied it, but that was annoying when I looked at my Fiends’ List this evening. Too few entries, and all the wrong colors. No thanks!

Left work, left DC, headed out to the midwest this weekend to get the training I need for my coaching certification from USA Triathlon. So far, it’s been really good. Lots of stuff to process and internalize, both for my newbies and for myself. The presenters have been good, though it was obvious the first was an educator as well as a coach, where the second was just a coach without so much of the educator vibe.

My back is complaining from the awful chairs they have us in, but some stretching tonight should help.

Getting to see my friend Troy this evening, part of the reason I chose this locale over Baltimore last month. He’s been out to see me a couple times in DC, so I’m returning the favor.

Debating a nap before we head out.

Work, with the shutdown drama, was absolutely nuts. The craziest I’ve ever seen it for my office. And it’s likely we’ll get to go through this in September/October again, unless Congress can get their collective act together and pass the bills on time, for the first time in well over a decade. Highly unlikely, so I imagine stress levels will rise again in 5 months. Plus we have to update all the old guidance we were forced to rely upon in the meantime, to reflect the new legal realities of the structure of the Big Gubm’nt Agency. Thank heavens we hired the 2nd appropriations attorney. I don’t think we could have done it all with just myself and my two supervisors.

Finished the 2nd book by Taubes, Why We Get Fat. More accessible than the first book, much less dense, but no less annoying in regard to bad dietary advice from much of the establishment. Not quite sure how to work in any of the changes, if at all, but I suspect I shall be modifying my diet a bit in the coming months. Again. In addition to modifying my training. Need to dial down my expectations, do some strength and flexibility work, and slowly build myself back up. Looking back now, I just wiped myself out with the IM, then backed off way too much without a recovery plan, didn’t modify my eating sufficiently, added all the work stress, and just killed my body. And then expected to pop back to “normal” runs and what not without any sort of base. Dumb, dumb, dumb. So, time to slow down, come back slowly, and build myself back properly.

The “bug” isn’t a bug, it’s just an ulcer. Caused by/exacerbated by stress. So the doc recommended a vacation. It took a lot of effort not to laugh. That definitely isn’t happening any time soon, unfortunately.

Work has been spastic all this past week. Shutdown mania hit, and while we may avoid that for a bit longer with the latest 2 week proposal, it’s been a tense time for most folks. I can survive one without too much pain if I cut back on things, but hopefully it won’t get to that. In the meantime, we’re getting a lot of planning done, and that’ll serve us well for the next one of these things. Which will come with the next big fight, over the debt limit.

The only thing that’s really held up personally is the septoplasty, which I’ve not yet scheduled. Understandably, I think. So it’ll wait until after the shutdown drama is done, until August with the break in the race schedule, or until after race season is over.

Hmph. I seem to have picked up another bug of some sort. This one just seems to be content with giving me a lovely sore throat. But only on the right side of my throat. No fever, no aches, just the one-sided sore throat. Most bizarre thing I’ve ever had. Went to urgent care on Saturday to see if it were strep, and I think I’m rapidly converting to the view that they’re practically useless, because both times I’ve tried them I’ve ended up going to see my primary care doc later anyway. Meh. Oh, and the quickie strep test came back negative. Ugh.

Other than that (which makes eating and talking loads of fun, let me tell you), work is slowly getting spun up with the possibility of a shut down after the current continuing resolution expires next Friday, the 4th. Both parties are playing chicken and government workers are stuck in the middle. You know, make some decisions, fund the damned government, be those levels up, down, or the status quo, but just fund us and let us do what we’re supposed to be doing – we’ll manage if you just give us some direction and let us run with it. The last time they did this back in 95/96 when large numbers of feds were furloughed Congress passed bills giving back pay to the workers sent home, but I just don’t see that happening this time around. Not a fun time, especially being the lead lawyer on fiscal issues. Oh, and bonus, it’s highly unlikely I’d be named as “essential personnel” so I wouldn’t be working or getting paid, either, if we shut down. Joy.

And all this is just a precursor to the fight over the debt ceiling later this winter/early this spring. That’s when the shit really hits the fan because even if an agency has multi-year or no-year funds and can keep operating without new money, the Treasury won’t be able to warrant out any funds to make payments, so it’s likely that at that point everyone will get shut down, period. No money to make tax refunds, to pay social security, make Medicare payments, etc. That’s when we’ll really see the shit hit the fan.

So, yeah, stress city right now. Can this winter be over yet?