We're right on the precipice. I'm starting my new night shift at work, though it's not my schedule (the actual days on and days off). We'll find out soon how that affects my life on the days I don't work.
Health
The protriptyline worked wonders on the brain fog. Unfortunately it brought a large swath of side effects. It's particularly bad because it mixes with Paxil and makes the effects worse than normal. These side effects are called anticholinergic and I've always thought of them as 'slowing down' parts of your system. So I get urinary retention and constipation. I get dry mouth and stomach issues. I get muscle tremors and night sweats. The problem with all these side effects is that I already had all of them from other drugs. The protriptyline just made them all worse. I also tried the Fioricet a few more times with no effect good or bad.
I saw my neurologist Dr. C and he said that sometimes the effort of stopping episodes of brain fog are more difficult than maintaining a lack of it. So, since they're gone for now he d/c'd the protriptyline. If within a week the brain fog returns, I'm to just go back on it and let him know. He also d/c'd the Fioicet and prescribed a new med called Elyxyb. It's a liquid (about an ounce) that you take when a migraine comes on and is supposed to work within an hour. We'll see if my new insurance covers it.
My mental health has continued to get better. I'm at full on "Feeling Good" with only rare 'down' moments. I'm hoping that wasn't from adding the protriptyline. I'll see my psych NP tomorrow morning and discuss it with her.
Finally I got the prescription of the Emgality back. Because Dr. W is gone, the prescriber didn't know my history and didn't look closely at why it was denied in the first place. The next prescriber looked closer when the Ajovy was denied, but that was because they'd only do that or Quilipta. When I was at my lowest, two multi day migraines within a two week period that cost me days at work, I considered buying the drug outright. When I called the pharmacy to see how fast I could get it, I of course spoke to one of their pharmacy techs. She performed the miracle. She looked at the reason the Emgality had been denied and it was because I hadn't attempted several other drugs before going to the Emgality. Problem being, I HAVE tried those drugs without success. If Dr. W were there, he'd have known that and caught it.
I got one of Dr. W's replacement prescribers to appeal the denial from back in January and it went through without problem. I picked it up the next day at the pharmacy and gave myself the injection that same day. No migraines since.
Other than those issues, I haven't had any problems.
Finances
I got another pay check but they still haven't made any deductions so it makes it hard t plan. I made an arrangement with Mom and R. If I can't afford Mom's monthly bills (the 'Rent', Netflix, and part of the cable bill that I've paid her every month for several years), along with paying R double what I'm paying now, I'll stop paying Mom. Then it's a matter of how much I'll pay R. It probably won't be this check as they'll only be taking out a week's worth of deductions at most. Next payday, the 23rd should be the firs time I get a properly sorted check.
Meanwhile, I'm doing fine.
Family/Friends
B is doing better. He's made it back to work for several days now. He hasn't shared much more than that so I assume he's not completely even keeled yet. But any improvement is good.
Mom, R, and everybody else are doing fine.
Work
So I have the basic process of admissions down at work. That's from receiving the patient information to the initial patient visit, to getting the orders set, to walking the patient back to the unit and filing away all the paperwork. There's still the process of checking on insurance but that's my focus once I move to nights (starting tomorrow night!). Once I have that down, I'm ready to work on my own. I'll of course not know everything. Nurses that have been there over a year don't know everything. But I'll know enough that I can do a good job and only pause or slow down for a non standard issue.
There is only one night admissions nurse, so to orient, I have to move to her shift. That's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday on one week and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the next. All of those shifts are 7pm to 7am.
The problem isn't going to be the 12 hour shifts. Those go by fast enough. It's not going to be three 12 hour shifts in a row. While I'm certainly tired after that last day, I've done worse. It's not even going tob e the hour long commute to and from work as Tatiana does most of the driving. No, the problem is going to be transitioning between a work schedule and a non-work schedule. For instance, I leave for work at 6pm tomorrow evening. I get back at 8am. By 9am, I've eaten and calmed down enough to slip into bed and go to sleep. I'll sleep likely seven or eight hours meaning I'll get up at 4pm or 5pm. 4pm means an hour of internet, then shower at 5. 5pm means straight to the shower. Rince and repeat until I'm waking up Saturday evening at 4 or 5. Then what? Do I just stay up a few hours then go back to bed and get up at a more 'normal' hour like 10am?
If I want to get anything done on my days off (oil change, shopping, glasses, doctor's visits...) I need to be up at least some of the normal business hours.
I wish I had an answer, but I don't know. And once I know how to transition to my 'day off' schedule, I need to be able to transition back to a 'days on' schedule, meaning good sleep then waking up at 4 or 5 next Thursday.
I'll let you know when I get there.
I'll say quickly that I like most of the people I work with but there's a major chemistry issue at work. It's not quite toxic, but it's bad. Worse than the issues I had at the previous hospital. The work is mind numbingly easy, but I just keep in mind that it's a step in the door. I don't think the 'new' manager is going to work out so I'll get her job soon enough.
I think once I'm settled in to my shift and have my co-worker (another nurse that will have the same exact hours and days) working with me (she's about two weeks behind me in training), I'll make a single post to go over what I think about this job.
Entertainment
Last time I wrote here I mentioned a bunch of movies that I'd purchased and not watched. And then for whatever reason, I started watching the James Bond movies that I've purchased but haven't watched (or re-watched). I was watching them in order and was at 'On her Majesty's Secret Service' the lone George Lazenby Bond movie. Since that posting I've watched:
- On her Majesty's Secret Service
- Diamonds Are Forever
- Live and Let Die
- The Man with the Golden Gun
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Moonraker
- For Your Eyes Only
- Octopussy
- Never Say never AGain
- A View to a Kill
- The Living Daylights
- License to Kill
- GoldenEye
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The World is Not Enough
- Die Another Day
- Casino Royale
Some quick commentary. I always thought the Roger Moore James Bond sucked. And now after re-watching them, I don't know why I thought that. Sure, they were the silliest movies, but that was also the time period they were made in. Roger Moore did a fine job. I had a decent respect for Timothy Dalton, but have to pull him up higher as a Bond. Two great movies. And while I've watched all the Daniel Craig Bond movies before, this will be the first time I watched them all in order in a short period of time and I think that will make a difference as they're the only movies to flow into one another.
If I had to rank Bonds right now, before re-watching the Daniel Craig movies, it would go Pierce Bronson, Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby. Hey, I said I had more respect for him, just not more than anyone else besides George! And you know what, George gets most of his bad rap as he was in a bad movie overall. I'd bet if he did 4 or 5 movies he'd have shown better than Moore.
New Tech
It's not necessarily new tech, but I got new glasses. I went in for my annual exam with plans to buy two new pair of reading glasses. My old ones were three years old and the lenses were too scratched up. Then the doc told me that my prescription 'improved' a little bit. Damn it! That meant buying new every day glasses and new sunglasses. Thankfully, I kept the same frames for both of those.
I found two new frames for my readers as the old ones just never fit right. The new ones have metal ear pieces but a plastic front so it will sit on my nose more comfortably.
Stupidly, I ordered what I thought I'd ordered last time. Every day glasses are progressive lenses with all the coatings. Sunglasses are every coating except for polarization and progressive lenses. The readers are no special coatings and only my reading prescription. I was close... evidently I told the saleslady that I wanted the sunglasses how I USED to get them. I.e. only distance and not the progressives. Yeah, I've gotten used to being able to read with my sunglasses on and I want to keep that up. Instead of going back with my tail between my legs and buying new lenses at $300, I just popped the new lenses out and the new ones in. The prescription change wasn't big and I primarily only use them for driving. In other words, I shouldn't notice the difference when I switch between sets of glasses and I shouldn't 'miss' the new prescription while driving and such.
We'll see how it goes.
Writing
I actually got several chapters of You're Not The Boss Of Me out. The date with Art is done and I'm ready to start planting seeds for a Halloween party and the various trips. The main issue right now is finding the right time. The 'right time' used to be about an hour after I woke up. But that's not a great time now. I have a lot of time at night, but I'm still use to all the time after 10pm being mentally readying for bed... even if I'm not planning on going to bed until 5am.
I did have another idea for a story, but I think I'll talk about that in a post all its own later.
Michigan Football Basketball
GO BLUE!! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!
(okay, back to being interested in college football and only college football)
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