The joys of allegedly being sued for butthurt

I went to the doctor yesterday to see what we can do about all my stress related symptoms which have cropped up in the last month since my favorite internet based troll announced that he was going to sue everyone whose IRL particulars he knew for his butthurt. He has since announced that I am on the list although I have not yet been served.

Since this announcement my sleep has been terrible (see the last post); most nights I'm lucky if I can get four or five hours, usually broken. I'm also finding that I'm short tempered, totally uninterested in all my usual hobbies, and easily started on hour long crying jags; all classic signs of depression. I'm also either eating a lot or not at all, neither of which is good for losing weight.

The PA I saw at my primary care practice recommended that I try melatonin (which I forgot to pick up yesterday, memory issues also related to depression), as well as starting me on Prozac. I haven't had to take that in years, and the last time I went to a therapist (except for some support group sessions for parents of children with depression/anxiety issues) was at least six or seven years ago. But I've got an appointment with one next week and we'll see how it goes. I go back to my PCP in three weeks and we'll make plans from there. There is a local psychiatrist who is also trained in functional medicine so I may see if he takes my insurance.

Spring semester starts next Thursday, so that should help distract me. I will never understand why most colleges and universities, if they only offer the class on federal taxes once a year insist on doing it in the spring. Fall semester would make far more sense, so that the students who work for CPAs and tax preparation firms already have the new stuff under their belt before they start work.

Sleep

is good, and I want a lot more of it.

I would also love a day or two when I'm not putting over 50 miles on my car. Please Lord let the husband's car repairs be finished soon!

Today, unless the weather turns nasty sooner than anticipated, I'm driving four teenagers 60 miles to the zoo for younger daughter's birthday. Then I drive them home, and do a 20+ mile round trip to get them dinner. At least the sleepover is at my parents' home. My father was trying to convince my mother yesterday that she had to hide all the liquour. My daughter just shook her head, since she and one of the other girls will take small sips occasionally and the other kids can't stand the stuff. As my mother says, they're not exactly party animals. Their idea of a wild night is pizza and videos.

But at least I can sleep in tomorrow, and then my husband and I are going to have a slightly belated anniversary dinner out. 22 years, and we haven't tried to kill each other once. We haven't considered divorce even once. Is it a perfect fairy tale marriage? No, but then I don't think those exist. It's a good one, and I'm glad for it.

The semester is over!

The semester is over, and grades should be out in the next day or two. I know I've got As in three of the classes, likely As or A-s in two of the others, and really not much clue on the sixth, though hopefully at least a B+.

Now I just have to start madly reviewing for next semester since my last accounting class ended 8 months ago. If I had realized that I wouldn't be able to take Intermediate II until spring, I probably wouldn't have taken Intermediate I last spring. I also have work to deal with, perhaps even a full time gig through April.  Funny how going back to school is so much busier than just working, even if you aren't working while taking classes. Working and taking classes? Don't expect to see much in the way of updates, except perhaps during spring break, and maybe not then either.

My how time flies.

It's been a very busy two months.  I've survived school thus far, but now that we're in the second half of the semester, the work for a lot of the classes is picking up.

I also was on the ballot for the local Representative Town Meeting, and without doing a single bit of campaigning, came in 4th of 9, and the top 7 get seats.  The Republicans swept pretty much everything, even in areas of town which never, ever go Republican.  I guess the average voter is getting really pissed at how the Dems are running the state right now.

So, I'll probably be really quiet until closer to Christmas and the end of the semester, unless something really interesting comes up that just demands that I blog about it.  My guess is that that is very unlikely.

9/11 - Never forget

http://attacked911.tripod.com/

If that won't play, it's on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkuVKm4oNZw

One week down...

and fourteen more to go (more or less).

I have survived my first week of a 19 credit semester. So far it looks like my MWF classes will be easy, and not horribly time consuming.  I do indeed seem to have most of the background for Human Biology, so at least I already have the basic framework to hang everything on.  Macroeconomics is being taught the same way as Micro was, and I already know what the project is, so I'll probably try to get that mostly done in the next week or so.  And Business Computer Applications doesn't look like it should take much time outside of class either.

And then there is TTH....

Principles of Marketing will be a fair bit of reading, but at least as a "mature student", much of what they are talking about isn't totally new. Principles of Management will have more reading than that, and I don't know as much about it.  And Business Law? We've been warned to expect lots of reading, and flash cards, study groups, and alcohol are all recommended.

I don't think I'm going to get that much recreational reading done between now and December 21st.

Email equivalency.

I spent some time yesterday discussing the Hilary email situation with my younger sister. It started because she posted a bit on FaceBook about how you couldn't complain about her emails if you hadn't gotten all upset over Bush and Cheney (actually the RNC) deleting millions of emails back in 2007.

Here's the thing. I didn't hear about that. Which seems weird since that was when I read a lot of political blogs and news since work was really slow and there wasn't anything else for me to do.  And I find it even harder to believe that the MSM didn't find that and run with it, given that by that point both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats.

But in a lot of respects that's neither here nor there. Say those allegations are completely true, and then stipulate that there was classified info in the stuff that was on the RNC server.  Whether people got outraged about it then shouldn't dictate whether they can get upset about now. If you don't like something when it's done by the other side, if you think them doing it is criminal, you can't just say well they got away with it, so we should too, because then so should any one who ever does that in the future, and you are saying that you will have no right to be upset whenever it happens in the future. Likewise, you can't say it's OK for your political team to have some sort of power, or be allowed to act some way if you know you'd hate it if any other team was in the majority in the future and did the same things.

Baby Names - some un-PC thoughts

Over the years, I've semi-regularly stopped over to read a blog called "Baby's named a bad bad thing".  If you find some of the names we as a society are burdening some of our children with ridiculous, here is the place to go to read comments and snark from other like-minded souls.

We all want our children to be unique and special, but there are limits.  Naming the poor thing something that no one can spell or pronounce is not "unique" and definitely not "special". It more likely borders on child abuse.

We have the proliferation of "y"s inplace of every other vowel when said vowel has a generic ə sound. Madison becomes Madysyn, Katherine Kathyryn, etc., etc., etc.  You have the strange syllabic emphasis as in the (hopefully apocraphyl) tale of the woman who named her daughter "Female", pronounced to rhyme with tamale.  You have the "African" names, which probably have never been seen by any African tribe or nation.  You have children saddled with names like "Moon Unit" and "Pilot Inspektor".

You get the idea.

Today's OMG WTF were they thinking moment comes from I don't know where, because the new's outlet doesn't specify a state.  The tale itself is horrific - an illegal immigrant nephew kills his aunt, his cousin, and her husband in brutal fashion, so bad that the crime scene folks say it's about the worst they'd ever seen.

But the sister of the husband, who has the sensible, handsome name of Michael is called this: Derquiasha. The mind boggles.  I don't know her. She is probably a lovely woman. But I have absolutely no idea what her mother was thinking when she put that name down on the birth certificate.  I won't say I have no idea how to pronounce it, I do, but it's probably wrong.

Years ago when I worked for H&R Block, one of the other preparers had a regular customer who, every year, had his electronic filing rejected because his daughter's name wasn't spelled the way Social Security thought it was spelled. This happened even when they got a new card for her from SS and copied the name exactly.  It took at least two tries to file his return every. single. year.

One year the preparer asked him about the name. He said that his wife, who had walked out on them years ago never to be heard from again, had been "going through her African history phase" when the daughter was born.  The tax preparer asked if the daughter liked the name and he admitted that she didn't. The final decision was that he would take her to the court house after the return came in and let her choose a new, legal name.  I don't know but I bet it didn't have a "q" or an apostrophe in it.

It's amazing what you can learn from an X-ray

I had a visit to ortho last weekend because my knees still hurt from the five point landing I had when I tripped back two months ago.  They took x-rays to make sure that I hadn't chipped anything (I hadn't) and while looking at the pictures, the PA commented that they showed that I'd had Osgood-Schlatter disease.

Since no one has ever mentioned that to me, I asked what it was.  Apparently if your bones don't grow in sync with the soft tissue, the pull on the bones causes some very minor remodelling which shows on the films even much later in life.

As soon as he started describing it, I said, yes, indeed, I had had something like that. Starting when I was about 11 or 12, I had awful knee pain, especially after activity. Not that I was very good at it anyway, but I'd had to give up ballet lessons, because after one one hour class I wouldn't be able to straighten my leg for about three weeks.  I saw the ortho at St. Joe's (who also looked at the UofM football team's knees) and he poked and prodded, maybe there was an X-ray, and told us not to worry, it was just growing pains, and he described it exactly that way, as the bones growing first and the connective tissue having to catch up.  From then on, I always knew when I was having a growth spurt, even in my 20s, and during my last 1/4 inch just before my 31st birthday.

My knees have enough problems now, thankfully that's no longer one I have to worry about.

The political silly season

is starting earlier and earlier each election cycle. I guess the hope is that we'll all be so sick of it by the time the actual election rolls around that no one will turn out except for those bought and/or dead votes.

Since we don't have the cable hooked up to the TV and I didn't remember anyway, I missed the GOP debate on Thursday, but I've read a lot about it since.  It would seem that The Donald did what he does best, which is be supremely politically incorrect as well as extremely boorish.  I'll have to find it and watch the debate to be sure, but from what I've read and seen about him so far, this is by no means hard to believe.

So boorish? It won't get my vote.  But the un-PC is a good thing. Hopefully the rest of the candidates will realize that that's what fires up Trump's base (heck, I'd say most of the conservative base at this point) and start refusing to bow to the leftist media and the noisemakers on Twitter and other social media platforms. The noisemakers are just that, noise; their actual numbers are small and the more they attack dearly held positions on the right, the more folks get fired up to do something, anything about it. And that would include getting out and voting, if they are only given a candidate they can believe won't turn around the day after the election and throw his/her hat in with the business-as-usual crowd in DC.

I'm not dead yet

Things have been fairly quiet here lately. We have a boat picnic to go to tomorrow, so should see some friends we haven't seen in ages.

To fill more of the post for the few folks who stop here, some photos I've taken lately.

First, a butterfly that was wandering around the back steps and the raspberry bushes:

We're pretty sure it's a Great Spangled Fritillary.

And then some of our sleeping kitties. Especially amusing is the fat fuzzy one's hind toes which can be seen in the upper photo.

It is rather disturbing how much dreck in the carpet doesn't really show to the naked eye, but when you take a photo using the flash it pops.  Just proving why I want to tear the whole thing up. It's crap carpeting anyway, and I know the wood underneath is in fairly decent condition.  Worst comes to worst, and we can buy a few cheap area rugs, but anything to make it easier to clean up the cat hair and hair balls.

Independence Day

Somehow, this seems more appropriate with every passing year.

New cat

Last weekend we got a new cat, and after only a week she seems to be getting on with the other cats without much growling and no bloodshed.

She's about 6, and has come to us rather severely overweight.  Today she tried to get into the bay window which apparently involves standing on the Wii board, climing onto the paper shredder and then into the window.  This morning she fell off the paper shredder. Twice.  So when she tried to get up later you could see her spending time calculating whether it might not be easier leaping over the rabbit cage. Thankfully she figured out it wouldn't be, and this time she didn't fall.

The weather is iffy today, and the husband had to work, so we're going over to the parents' place for the barbeque tomorrow when the weather is better and no one is tired.

On the shoulder front, it still hurts like the dickens.  I am really, really looking forward to being able to sleep for more than 5 hours at a stretch.

The "T" in "PT" stands for....

supposedly, therapist.

Terrorist or torturer work just as well.

I got home from PT and a visit to the DMV to get my new handicapped tag and took a six hour nap.

This morning I woke up after only 5 hours sleep, having taken 800mg of ibuprofen right before I fell asleep, because I was in too much pain to stay asleep. It took several hours before I could move the shoulder.  I know it's improving, but the work to get it there isn't fun at all.

Post-Op Day 26

I had my three week check up today, and was cleared to drive. I probably could have done it earlier; as I suspected since it wasn't written on my instructions, my doctor was leaving it up to my discretion. But it's only in the last few days that moving my arm as you have to to drive hasn't been painful.

My mother and husband are happy that they don't have to drive me everywhere anymore.

So now it's off to job hunt in earnest, second shift and/or part time so I don't have to drop any of my classes for this fall.

Post-Op Day 12

I had my first post-op PT session yesterday. It wasn't as not-fun as I'd thought it might be, but it was not-fun.  I've lost some range of motion, though not as much as my PT guy had expected (probably because I'd already started doing some very gentle stretching on my own), and stretching it out hurts.  My PT guy has requested the op notes from the surgeon's office, which required me signing a release because his name wasn't specifically in their files.  Damn HIPAA, because he didn't need a release what with being one of my medical providers for this particular issue, but many providers have gone overboard on requiring patient releases because of that damned law.  He agreed that unless the op notes showed something very different from my understanding of what was done, avoiding using the sling as much as possible is the better plan.  I just find that the sling is actually more uncomfortable than no sling most of the time.

On a much lighter note, this means that there is a good chance I'll be able to drive by sometime in early July, so I can start job hunting again.

As it is, I'm sitting on the sofa listening to the sirens go by on the main road and watching my cat in the bay window as he loses it every time a bird goes by.  He has this hysterical little a-a-a-a noise he makes when they tease him. My husband has today off, so we're going to get caught up on dishes and laundry, most of which require the pushing, pulling and/or lifting I still can't do so, surprise, we've gotten a little behind. Once that's done, I'm going to make liver and onions and bacon with mash for dinner.  Which reminds me we need to order more Beef Roast seasoning from Penzey's.

Post-Op Day 9

I took the steri-strips off today and the incisions seem to be healing nicely. There are some very diffinite lumps under them which would be where the stiches are tied. Hopefully they will absorb properly, unlike the stiches when I had my deviated septum repaired last year.  I'd rather not have my surgeon have to make incisions in the incisions to remove them.

I'm definitely doing better, though I'm still using the sling, though not around the house (I'd like to keep my balance, thank you), and I'm being very careful about trying to remember to NOT "push, pull, or lift" with my left arm.  The doctor didn't say I should stop using the sling, but she didn't say I had to continue, and there is nothing in the post-op instructions about it, just the no "push, pull, lift" bit.  Since I think the sling can actually make things worse, I'll keep it handy, but not use it if I don't obviously need it.

I have my first day of PT on Monday, with a re-evaluation, so that will be interesting.  I can tell that the shoulder is a lot more frozen/stiff than it was before surgery.  I don't think PT will be fun. 

At least I feel that I can now start job hunting, since I should be driving well before the beginning of the fall semester. It just needs to be a second shift/weekend position.

Post-Op Day 6

I saw my doctor yesterday about the fall. She checked out the arm, and the verdict is that I didn't seem to have done any damage to it, so I don't need to go in on Friday for my post-op check, and I'll go back in three weeks, which will be after 2+ weeks of physical therapy. So I think the take-away from this is that, if it doesn't hurt, I might as well do it.

So I've stopped wearing the sling around the house, which allows me to move the elbow and hands much more easily, as well as keep my balance better.  I saw my GP today about the increase in my idiopathic peripheral edema, and the best advice she can give is that all my labs and other tests look fine, so I really just need to lose weight. Even if I don't lose weight, if I get more active the swelling should improve, which I did notice after walking to the local mini-mart. So I guess I need to find my Reeboks and start taking a daily walk as well as using the Wii.

I can already move almost as much without pain as before the surgery, so PT should now actually increase my movement and strength rather than have to just focus on keeping the joint from freezing. All told, so far at least, this is going much, much better than I feared it might.

Post-Op Day 5

I tripped over my own damn foot yesterday evening and made a five point landing inluding my face (didnt break my glasses and don't seem to have a black eye, but a bruised and swollen cheekbone) and of course extended the operated shoulder and landed on the elbow since it was in the sling. I go see the doctor after lunch to make sure I didn't do anything too horrid.

Ouch.

Post-Op Day 4

This is my shoulder. You can't see the little cross in the back over the third hole. You can see the incision. I'll find out on Friday exactly why the doctor had to make one, though I was warned it was a possibility. I suspect it's related to the bone shaving.

Quite sore this morning, but the sling loosened overnight and I think I shifted my arm in ways it wasn't really happy with. Today will be a take it very easy day.