This is one of those weeks that feel equally busy and full while at the same time feeling lazy and empty.
Health
I started the Depakote. So far no side effects. Nausea would be easy enough to notice and there hasn't been any of that. The tremors are harder to self diagnose. Try this... hold out your hands in front of you and see if they tremble. They probably do, at least a little. But is that more than normal? The first time I checked it was honest to Goddess trembling, but I'm fairly sure that was psychosomatic. I think, therefore I tremble. Thankfully I haven't noticed anything beyond that and the little bit of hopefully normal trembling when I hold my hands out. Another week and I should have the med up to full strength, and then it's wait and see.
Oh, and I had another migraine. I guess I sound different when I have a migraine. This was on Wednesday, and I knew by the time I got in my car that I was going to have a bad migraine. But I just can't stand calling in without even trying. I'd rather call in five miles down the road than call in from the comfort of my home. So, I went into work and as predicted it was pretty bad. I don't think I even turned the lights on when I first got there.
About an hour in and the HUM called. I don't remember why she called, but it happens most days. Either I have to call her for something or she has to call me. We discuss the topic that started the call but we 'catch up' on the previous day and plan out the day ahead. Anyway, I didn't say I was feeling bad or that I didn't think I'd make it through the day. I had to get several important tasks done and I knew if I mentioned I had a migraine, she'd have encouraged me to just go home then and leave the stuff for later.
I ended up getting the tasks I needed to get done done and I ended up getting the tasks I wanted to get done done. But I paid a price. The migraine was SCREAMING at that point. One of the tasks I did was our med count. The pharmacy tech and I have to count every pill and injectable in our doctor's box and emergency box. Obviously, counting required light so they were on. It also requires me to sign my name about 50 or 60 times. I swear, you could see the progression of the pain as my signature started off a little more shaky than normal and ended up barely a line.
This got me to 1115 and I didn't just want to go home, I needed to go home. The problem is that that's the same time my boss, the HUM, goes on her break. She, like me, smokes so she leaves the property to get her nicotine on. When she gets back she stops by the warden's office to do a check in and that can take between 5 minutes and an hour.
I couldn't wait an hour.
For the first time since I've worked here I left sick without direct voice permission from my boss. I called my fellow supervisor and told her that I was leaving and asked her to tell the HUM when she got back in the building (they work a couple doors down from each other while I'm all the way across the facility). I figured I'd call from the road, but that's me not thinking as I can't call from the road. Yes, I can make phone calls but this system doesn't let me use the key pad and I have to key in an extension number. Thinking about it now, I probably could have just picked up the phone and tried to do it that way instead of relying on the car interface but that's the migraine blocking normal thought. And thinking about it more, that probably would have taken more attention than I could muster while driving.
I did call her once I had the car parked though, and one thing she said was that it wasn't a problem because she suspected I'd be calling her and leaving. "You sounded pretty bad when we talked earlier". Huh, I guess I DO sound different when I have a migraine.
I had another dental first. My temporary crown came off. It was the same day of the migraine. One of the problems a migraine presents is not being able to think. Well, after dinner I was a little peckish and wanted a snack so I got a bite sized snickers and popped it in my mouth. No I KNOW better than to try and eat a candy with caramel and nuts on that side of my mouth. The nuts could crack the temporary crown and the caramel could pull it right off.
The caramel pulled it right off.
At first I thought I just had one of those petrified hard nuts you sometimes get in candy. Only then did my crown enter my mind, but not in the best way. Instead of wondering if this 'petrified nut' was in fact my crown, I thought to NOT bite down on it hard as it might hurt the crown. I swear to the Goddess, I almost swallowed it down whole! Thankfully I caught myself and spit it out instead. A rinsed it off and after reading a bit on the best thing to do, brushed it clean. I also brushed my now bare tooth. This was at 2000 so I was screwed on calling the dentist.
The next morning I called them on the way to work and got an appointment for that afternoon. Without the crown on, my tooth really started to ache with any stimulus. Cold, hot, pressure, moving air... anything. Between me brushing my tooth clean after the snicker incident and the hygenist gluing the temp back in, I hadn't eaten anything.
But, it's back in place and protecting the tooth just fine. I'm just now more worried than before that I'll need a root canal after the full crown is in.
The last health issue this past week was re-ordering some meds. Each week I put my meds into one of those pill boxes with individual spaces for morning and evening meds. This not only helps me prep for the week, it helps me count out my pills. After I've filled out my needs for the week, I count and if I can't fill ANOTHER weeks worth, I order a new supply.
Unless a doc orders me something to start 'now', I get it through my mail in pharmacy. They give me a 3 month supply and most meds cost me $20 for that or less. The only problem with the mail in pharmacy is re-ordering. If the prescription has run out, they say they can contact the doc for a renewal, but I've never found that to be true. It's just easier to go to my chart website and send a note in myself requesting a new prescription. Most of the time this is caught on our regular appointments, but sometimes they miss.
Anyway, I needed a new prescription for my metformin. This is the most basic diabetic medication I take. Three pills a day. My main doc ordered this a year ago so I figured just send him the prescription renewal. Well, evidently that's not quite right. As they filled it with a short prescription and want me to call in for an appointment to check up on my diabetes. But I also have a follow up visit with my endocrinologist on May 7th.
If there was nothing else wrong, I'd probably call and see if my endocrinologist could take care of any future needs. My doc did prescribe a three month supply, so I'm good until after I see my endocrinologist. BUT... my back is still giving me issues, and realistically I should see my doc about that. It's not bad enough for me to call him... yet. But this would be a good excuse to check in with him.
I really don't want to have another appointment though. It feels like I'm using WAY to much sick time.
Finances
Last week I talked about my new mouse and it's still humming along. The only problem I have with it, besides getting used to its hand feel, is the lights. After I shut down the computer they will sometimes stay on. Even if they go off, they'll pop back on at the lightest touch. I think I fixed this by making an internal memory slot on the mouse that has no lights on. That way when the software isn't contoling it, it should default to that... but to be honest, I haven't noticed. I should probably pay attention to it or at least run a real test. In fact.... (saves post, and shuts down computer)
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Yup, it's fixed! I also went ahead and did the same thing for the keyboard. Evidently they keyboard doesn't go FULLY dark though. If it's bumped when it's 'off' the lightspeed button turns on. But that's a small light and hardly worth worrying about.
Anyway, the return. I went through the motions to return the mouse and found an odd snag. I imagine this will become more of the norm now that Amazon is the shipper and not just paying USPS or UPS or whomever. I was given several choices as how to get it back to Amazon. I could send it USPS and have them pick it up at my house for the low low price of $10. I could simply send it back via USPS and I'd be responsible for finding a drop off location. Or I could take it to a nearby Kohl's store and leave it with them. Seriously, Kohl's now accepts Amazon returns.
I guess that's a win for them? I have to walk halfway through their store and might find something interesting. Maybe inspire a purchase or two? I mean, it won't happen for me as they don't carry clothes in my size and they just don't offer products I'm looking for unless I'm SPECIFICALLY looking for them. But it might help with some people.
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Another quick aside, I paused writing this post to get my morning going and that includes heading out to do my shopping and return the mouse. Umm... since when is Kohl's closed on Sundays? If I'd known that I would have made sure to get that done yesterday!
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Speaking of returns, the shirts FINALLY arrived. Seriously people, I ordered these on March 20th and they didn't ship for 10 fucking days. I don't care how fast the shipping was after that (hint, it wasn't fast) it took to damned long. I get impatient with Amazon when it takes 2 or 3 days and you're going to make me wait 2 weeks when I PAY FOR SHIPPING!? But, at least they arrived.
With any new clothes, I wash them before wearing them. I had a bad experience with one that really itched so I don't bother with that any longer. The only thing I did with these shirts is check the length as I've had more than one recent shirt purchase be just a few inches short. Not too short to wear, but shorter than I liked. These were actually a couple inches LONGER than my best 'long' shirts. That should have been a sign to try them on.
After washing them and hanging them up, I put one on. It's a fun, bright orange, floral patterned with blues greens and purples, tropical flavored shirt. And it's FUCKING HUGE. If I pull out the front, I could fit another person in the shirt. Not just any person, I could fit another ME in this shirt. Now, I've worn baggy shirts before and they can be really comfortable, but the neck on this thing... Jesus Christ. I normally want the collars of my shirts to be open and extend about inch down from the sternal end of my clavicle (the center connection of my collar bones). The top button on these shirts are 4 inches BELOW that. I look like leisure suit larry except I don't have an option to button it up higher.
I checked out the catalog website and yes, they do accept exchanges. In fact, they shipped a return label inside package. But they specifically say clothes that have been tried on but not worn or washed can be returned or exchanged. Hmm. I figured I'm screwed, but I think I'll try to exchange them anyway. This company's shipping system has lost a lot of points with me, but they could get some back if they're flexible with returns/exchanges. I don't want my money back... I just want these in a size that fits.
I think I'll package them up and send them in for an exchange. If I get new, properly sized, shirts back then I can be happy. If I don't... well I was going to throw them away or donate them away anyway.
The only other 'purchase' issue was yesterday. I'll talk about that in another post though.
Family/Friends
There isn't much to report here. I haven't seen nor spoken to J, A, or E.
My brother R got his appointment for the first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination injection this coming week, and his second one three weeks later. We're 5 weeks away from having a complete vaccination shield on the house!
Mom went to her cardiologist for her standard follow up and her BP was elevated to 140 or so over 90 or so. Not TOO bad for you, me, or most people, but very bad for her as the cardiologist would be happy with her staying at 90 over 60. You know, a few points above the pressure when you start to pass out. So, she's taking her BP every day and will report them and he'll make a determination then.
Work
I seem to either be floating or drowning at work lately. Last week was drowning, but a lot of that was me being out on healthcare related appointments. The only thing was getting staffed up for this weekend. For today. In case you didn't know, today is Easter but that's not a state holiday. I think it's because the state doesn't look at holidays over the weekend and since Easter will always fall on a Sunday, it's left alone and leaves room for another 'Monday' holiday. Anyway, I got all but one of the overtime shifts filled. Yeah, I had to mandate one of my nurses to work on the Easter holiday and NOT get holiday pay.
I was of course afraid of call ins. If someone calls in for their morning shift, the midnight nurses get screwed. If someone calls in for the afternoon shift, the morning shift gets screwed. And no matter what when anybody calls in at any time, I (as the current on-call supervisor) get screwed. After not sleeping well, I went ahead and got up at 0500. As soon as I sat down with my coffee in hand, my phone rang. Someone didn't call in for the morning shift. Two people did. BOTH of my midnight nurses were screwed.
They already knew the parts they had to play and only called me as to how to arrange everybody else. There were some 12 hour nurses coming in at 0930 and I had to move nurses around to minimize the night nurse screwing. Oh, and did I mention that one of the nurses that called in ALSO worked the afternoon shift and had called in for that too?
Fuck
So I had to wait around until 0900 to make my calls. Well, I didn't HAVE to wait, but I wasn't going to get someone to volunteer to come in at 0530, so I waited. I called every single nurse before having to mandate a nurse for a 16 hour shift on a holiday withOUT holiday pay, but no one volunteered and I had to mandate away anyway. Thankfully a nurse ended up calling me back and picked it up. And as I write this now at 1342, all of my afternoon nurses have reported. There's no more worry about call ins.
Other than that, work has been fine. We should get overwhelmed with the 2nd wave of COVID-19 vaccinations starting this coming week but at least that will be a happy reason to be busy.
Entertainment
I hadn't included this before, but figured it would be a good place to write out what I'm reading/watching/listening to.
I started reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo' a few months back and it's a pretty interesting story so far. I'm about 1/3 the way through it. I pause it, however, so I could read the new Stephen King novel 'Later'. You know, for the past few years I've been trying to read 'the greats'. Those books that people always talk about. Books like The Call of the Wild, The Catcher in the Rye, Atlas Shrugged, The Crucible (hey, I thought it was a book and not a play!), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, To Kill a Mockingbird... books like that. And yes, those are all the books I've read in that 'the greats' genre so far.
Now, these books are supposed to be some of the best, most popular books ever. But none of them have caught my fancy. Stephen King, on the other hand, catches and keeps my fancy. I'm always wanting to read just one more page, or paragraph, or sentence. His books are literally hard to put down. Maybe some of my next books on this list will be better. Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote, Frankenstein, The Grapes of Wrath, Great Expectations, The great Gatsby, Gulliver's Travels, Jane Eyre, Little Women. Those few should take me the next few years.
You ever have one of those movies that you loved and want to re-watch but can never remember it when it's time to watch a movie? I've had one of those for a long LONG time. Three or four years. It doesn't help that I couldn't remember the title of the film, but I finally got it. Time after Time staring Malcolm McDowell. I bought it last night and am halfway through it. I'll either finish it tonight or tomorrow.
I also watched Kong vs Godzilla the other day. That one is simple to quantify... if you liked Godzilla, Godzilla King of Monsters, and/or Kong; Skull Island, then you'll like this. It doesn't stray from the formulatic plot of those movies. It's not art. But oh it's so much fun!
And then there's Disney's (Marvel's?) Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I like it so far. I watched the first two episodes and have the third available. I think it's a lot about someone that's trying to live up to his potential (Falcon) and someone who has severe PTSD (The Winter Soldier). I know eventually it will get to being just pure superhero funness, but until then they're telling a good story.
Music wise, it's been a dry few months. About the only song I've got recently that's worth mentioning is 'Anymore' by Lake Street Dive.
It's SUCH a good sad song.
Miscellaneous
So evidently President Biden is considering if he can cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt. I'm all for it as I owe LESS than that. He'd be zeroing out my student loans. At the same time, is this a one off deal? I think it's a good idea, but how do we make sure people don't need this again in a few years? I think there should be major restructuring going forward... but then again, good luck getting that through republicans in the senate.
I got Nina's 20 inch wheels on. Man, she just looks so much better with those wheels on. I mean, she looks good with the black 18 inch winter wheels and tires, but the 20s just really pop!
That's it. I'll have another post later today about Xfinity. Hopefully.
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