Quick update

I’m okay. I’m on spring break. Right now, I’m listening to Schoolhouse Rock on YouTube. I haven’t taken a shower yet, and I have some errands to run when I do. We need yogurt and cheese, and I need a sleeve for my new laptop.

Yes, I have a new computer to play with. Mine finally, permanently died. (There is no resurrection for the motherboard.) I got a new, lower-end HP, two days ago. Not super-snazzy, but it seems to be a workhorse. I like that about it. And I’m still learning my way around Vista.

Cherry-blossom rolls are the food of the gods. And I, again, am covered in cat fur.

I have some thoughts that sort of amble back to the Lenten theme, but am tapping this out as fast as I can right now. Will get to that, when I want to take the time.

I also have a pile of reading, that I need to get to sometime this week. Some for school (Dorothee Solle and field ed books) and some for me (hi, Jane). I also need to update my resume, for the first time in forever.

I found out on Sunday that I’m preaching on the street for the first time, the Sunday after Easter. Ten days later, I’m doing that for the last time, in the CDSP chapel.

I’m really excited about this—and I have no idea how I’ll do it. So if anybody has good tips for preaching outside, where manuscripts don’t work, and sirens go by, I’ll take them. :-)

Sick-ish

I have some sort of bug. My fever broke this morning, but my throat still hurts. Blah.

Have some thoughts about power and choice. I'll get to them, when I have the energy.

No sicker than usual

…but my wireless is. Our wireless at school could be out for two weeks. (I’m at a coffee shop now, before I head into the city for an all-day training.) So, please don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. If anything comes up that should be worried about, I’ll let someone know.

Had a blood test yesterday, in honor of Halloween. My numbers are great; my liver’s elevated, but not enough to alarm my doctor. Also got a flu shot, so now my arm hurts. Other than that, nothing more than the usual fatigue.

There are other things I’m thinking about and would like to post, but I don’t have time right now. Peace to all.

Eye update

I'm going in for surgery tomorrow; I'm due there at 10:30 (to be seen at noon). They'll put me under, and mess with my eye muscles. My doctor said last week that he may only need to work on my right eye. He'll leave strings in my eyes (knots around the muscles). I'll be in the recovery room for about an hour. When I wake up, he'll play clothesline with my eyeballs until they're as perfect as they come, untie me and let me go home.

I should be done about 5 or 5:30, and a friend is picking me up.

Caminante asked who would update everyone; I'm going to call Paul, and he'll post my news over there. I won't be good for much, the rest of the day.

Prayers are very welcome.

Playing health care catch-up

Since this is my last strictly-academic semester, and I don’t know how my health insurance will work next year (or even if I’ll have it), I’ve been playing catch-up. I’m having surgery on both eyes 4/24, to un-cross my eyes yet again. (I had it done three times when I was little. They drifted back in the past several years, and I’ve been putting off dealing with it.) The pre-op appointments are next Thursday.

Today, I went to the dermatologist because of a strange thing on the back of my left ear. I had a skin check about two years ago, because I have lots of little moles and just wanted to be certain. The resident noticed my ear thing, but said it was nothing serious. She didn’t bring up biopsy or removal. I think it’s been growing, though, and I’ve wanted it checked out again.

This doctor went right there. I showed it to him, and the first thing he said was, “It could be any number of things—one being a not-scary kind of cancer.” Biopsied it right then and there, and I’ll hear next week. They’ll remove it one way or the other—but if they know it’s cancerous, they’ll know how much skin to take around it.

Basal-cell carcinoma is not that big of a deal—once removed, it’s gone. I’m not terrified, but I am rattled a bit. And I’m trying not to be too nervous about the obvious possible complication of eye surgery. Pray, please.

Feeling better!

I’d stopped treating the cough, because I could either eat cough drops all day or take codeine and sleep. I took the cough syrup last night, slept lots, and woke up much more rested. Still tired/fatiguey (and coughing), but not sick to my stomach anymore. I’m creeping back to normal.

[Easter word], all around. Also got grace for a late paper, and found a sub to preach Friday. I love preaching and wanted to do it—I’d asked for that slot, when I was well—but had to let something go. My catch-up workload now is much more manageable. I can do two reflection papers, one sermon (for class next Tues.), and a Blackboard posting or two, over the next week. Not more.

It feels so good to be human. I’m interested in the world again, and other people. I’d forgotten that before I got the flu, I was more or less on top of most things, and felt possible. I’ll get that back again.

I'm planning to go to chapel at school this morning, for the first time in two weeks. I haven't been to church, either, in that time. I miss the Eucharist, and I'm finally well enough to be fed.
(I could have asked for it to be brought to me, from church, but I live in a secure building. There are three key-locks and a combination between me and outside. I'd have to have felt well enough to let somebody in.)

I miss the community too, and just being social. It's good to be closer to well.

A lot of my better-ness is because the worst of the pressure is off. I think I'm supposed to learn something about self-care in all of this. Hmm. I won't stop procrastinating entirely; I've done that since forever. But maybe I can balance things a bit better, from here.

Blah

Have to write a reflection paper; it was due a week ago. Want, to sleep.

It's not even that I still feel awful; I'm no longer acutely ill. It's that walking half a block for breakfast tired me out.

I haven't had the flu since... maybe once since college. I don't remember the recovery being this tedious. My fever's gone and my brain is awake; but I have the energy of a slug.

I need to rest, but I've got so much catch-up work to do. Not only that, but when I was well, I asked to preach in chapel this coming Friday. Normally I love it--but I wish now, I hadn't.

Still sick

I'm over the fever--but I feel about as green as this background. I've been staying out of class for contagion's sake, as I still have the cough (and not much in the way of endurance). Lo and behold, I just threw up at lunch.

Luckily, I managed neither to run nor to make a mess. What dignity I have, I maintain. But I'm feeling wiped out all over again. Back to bed I go.

I've been out with the flu

...which in itself wouldn't have been that bad, if my normally-controlled asthma hadn't necessitated an ER visit on Saturday. They gave me a breathing treatment and all kinds of meds, and a flu culture, which came back positive. I'm feeling better now; nothing left but the cough, really. But though I'm out of school until the gunk leaves my lungs, I'm not off of it. And it's not like I did much, when I was feeling miserable.

Got some catching up and keeping up to do. I'll be scarce here for a little while.

Blessings on all of you. Stay well.

Health update

I went to Kaiser Wednesday, to follow up from the ER in NOLA (when I was diagnosed with whiplash). Dr. Lai and I talked for awhile; she actually spent time listening to me. She gave me generic Flexeril (a muscle relaxant), and more monster-Motrin. And a referral to PT, when I asked if I needed it.

I forgot to call the physical therapy office; will try today, and if not, Monday. Flexeril makes me tired and loopy, and I really want my body (and head) back. Wednesday night, I was acting drunk, though I thought my head was clear. I was told I moved like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

I halved it, yesterday, and felt some better. Still, I’m really tired of being uncoordinated and sleepy. On meds, my back feels fine, but I’m drowsy and sluggish. Off them, I have a clear head—and it feels like someone’s grabbing my shoulder blade, not gently.

She did say I’d recover completely, though. And it should be quicker than the 2 ½ months the doc at Touro told me. (The one who showed me his neck-surgery scar, bless him, and panicked me so badly that they ended up doing a CT scan to appease me. It came out clear.)