(no subject)

[anigo]

So here we are... Me sitting here eating almond Hershey Kisses and drinking caesars while watching Big Bang Theory (and talking to you, of course!)

Dickie's working tonight and the kid is home from university for the Christmas break, but she's been out visiting with friends quite a bit - which she's doing now. Tomorrow's New Year's Eve and I'm anticipating a repeat of tonight. I'm not too bothered. I like my down time!

I've been working from home all week working on some sales training. It's wonderful. I love my team, even though they're all on vacation. Everybody's back Monday. I'm in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week then I'm off for about a month and a half for some surgery. I'm not too worried about it, I was seriously looking forward to the break when I was working for my last boss, but now I'd much rather be in the thick of things. Still, I won't mind the rest. I'm not too concerned about the surgery, but I've never been under general anesthetic, so I'm a bit concerned about not waking up from that.

I also had an appointment with a rheumatologist last week. For the past 6 months or so I've been having some wicked problems with my joints. My knees, shoulders, wrists, elbows... they hate me. It was good news/bad news. The good news is there was nothing wrong - some early stage osteoarthritis (nothing unusual for a person of my age) and nothing else. So it's good I don't appear to have rheumatoid arthritis, nor do I have advanced osteoarthritis. She asked me lots of questions and the best thing she could come up with was that perhaps I have sleep apnea, which would result in my morning headaches (which I have a lot of, which aren't always a result of caesars and Fallout) and could precipitate aches and pains. Meh. The fact that I can't move my elbows after a walk because I have kept them in the same position for more than 20 minutes doesn't seem to be related to snoring in my brain, but I haven't finished my residency yet. So yeah, the good news is there's nothing wrong. The bad news is, there's nothing wrong. I wouldn't want lupis or lyme or cancer or the sprouting of a third head, but it would be nice to have had her say "hey, it looks like you have Great Googlie Mooglie syndrome. It sucks but at least we know, and sometimes a good stimpak will fix you right up (obscure Fallout reference.) Still, according to the rheumatologist, I won't be injuring myself if I push through the owies, so that's the plan. (Or at least it will be the plan once my surgery is over and I've got the ok to push. Really, it's a good combo. Two or three weeks of rest and then a couple more weeks of low impact shit then a couple weeks of light resistance shit... Lucky for me I have a good go-to person for that kind of stuff and she'll pull together a good (and ability appropriate) program for me.

I've been binge watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. It's addictive, fer sure. I'm not 100% confident that the defendant isn't guilty or that his nephew didn't participate, however I am 100% sure (based on my binge watching and the research I've done since) that there was enough doubt that, if nothing else, there should have been a mistrial. If you've been watching it too, I'd be interested in your opinion. (Assuming you've followed this post this long.)

Um... we had a nice Christmas. I got a tv for my media room which doubles as a monitor (magnificent for playing Fallout 4) and also streams Netflix directly from the interwebs, which allows me to continue to binge watch Making a Murderer or Big Bang Theory while playing fallout on the smaller monitor. My inner geek rejoices.

Ok, that's all I got.

Happy New Year if I'm not talking to you before then!

**Edit - I don't think I mentioned this - I got Fallout 4 for my birthday earlier in December - hence all the Fallout references. It's fantastic, except for the motion sickness it brings. I'm such a geek**

Comments

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

So if it is not arthritis did she have any other suggestions? Low Vit D for instance can cause joint aches, but so can a host of other things.

[anigo.livejournal.com]

She suggested it was sleep apnea, suggested I go to a sleep specialist to get tested and suggested glucosamine.

The thing is, the pain is fairly inconsistent. Today it's about a 4/10, maybe a 3/10. Yesterday it was closer to a 5. A couple of months ago I couldn't get up out of my desk to walk down the hall to get coffee. When I was in to see the rheumatologist it was only about a 2/10 (of course!)

For some reason negative blood tests, inconclusive xrays and a lack of pain seemed to overrule "but it really HURRRRRRRRRTS sometimes, it really DOOOOOOOOOES!!"

[fyremaven.livejournal.com]

The early morning headaches could be related to the slight sleep apnea/snoring issue. Also, it might be dry in your area as far as humidity in the air. You could try a humidifier or (conversely) take sinus medicine to help with the headaches. Sometimes our sinuses take very little stimulation to cause headaches, but if they go away after the morning (usually) they are just sinuses and once you are up and moving and coughing, sneezing, etc. (clearing your sinuses) it goes away PLUS you are drinking tea or coffee and rehydrating as well. Worth a try at least.

I feel for you on the osteo arthritis front. Since my big knee injury when I was 18 I've had some level of it and as I age..as you know...it worsens. Moderate exercise, warm compresses, elevating, icing occasionally, staying out of the damp weather (hah!) and not standing up at work for 12 hours straight helps. Ibuprofen helps too, and for when it is so bad you cry, the hard stuff.

Most people having minor surgery wake up from general anesthesia unless they were silly and ate the morning of the surgery. Then they might accidentally aspirate and not wake up. But you are going to follow all the instructions and not eat from midnight before on, right?? I'll keep you in my prayers anyway but I'm sure you'll be fine. Text me when you are awake. :D

Oh, and Happy New Year!! I'll be sleeping because I'm working the next few days and plan on drinking my sparkling cider toast somewhere around 8:30 right before my warm shower and bed. :D

*big hugs*

[anigo.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that. One of my biggest concerns, aside form not waking up (oh and having them totally feck up my bladder, but I'm not even thinking about that) is the caffeine withdraw headache by the time my surgery happens at noon. I was thinking that if I got up reaaaly early and had a quick 2 oz shot of espresso (no milk!) that nobody would be any the wiser.

No, huh. ;)