Good news/bad news

Good news: I went to physical therapy and feel much better. We decided I should come twice a week, since the pain has been so bad, I have unlimited visits, and I've met my out-of-pocket max till January. So, I'll go Monday and Wednesday next week. Yay!

Good news: I got the monitor hooked up, with the power cable, etc., and I've adjusted my chair and placed the monitor on its box. I've set the laptop to work when closed, and I'm using the ergonomic keyboard instead. Of course, even with adjusting the chair, while I'm good on the monitor, my keyboard and mouse were too low, so I moved them up onto the top of the desk rather than the tray, and in fact the keyboard is on top of the laptop, and it seems much better. It's not quite as nicely set up as it is at work, but it's better.

Good news: I applied for a job at the University of Kentucky (and one for the state a couple of weeks ago). Think good thoughts.

Bad news: I think my brakes are failing on the car. They've been a little mushy, and now I feel like they're going near the floor. There was a horrible sound from my rear passenger wheel last night which was repeated today, and it sounds like something (a caliper with pad?) is dragging on the wheel. I don't want to drive it any more until I can find out what is going on, so even though my friends have an appointment tomorrow, they are going to take the bus, and I am going to take the car in to the shop very early in the morning, so I will at least know what's going on. I'm not sure I can get it fixed, having just paid most of my bills, but I'll try. I'm just afraid of the brakes failing entirely. I don't think anyone wants that.

Okay, I'm going to go see what I can do tonight. I'm home and I may just try to relax; I've been tense over the car. Maybe some music and reading is in order. :)

I'm trying

to make things more ergonomic at home as well as work, to be better for my neck. To that end, I've hooked up an external keyboard to my laptop, and I went by YKWIA's and got one of my monitors (I have two, one with the desktop he has borrowed, and one that he had borrowed before his desktop tanked). I found a nice, sturdy box to elevate the monitor, which doesn't adjust normally, that my Bulova clock came in when I reached my ten-year anniversary at the hospital. (Yes, I have kept this box for nearly 10 years, without using it for anything. Have I mentioned I'm a hoarder?) Unfortunately, I forgot to get the power cord to the monitor, so I can't hook it up just yet, and I apparently didn't hoard an extra monitor power cord, and so I have the entire laptop up on the box, which does better for looking at the laptop screen. Just having my normal ergonomic keyboard on its tray should help.

Today my neck, shoulders, and arm have been pretty painful. I have taken ibuprofen, arthritis Tylenol (not at the same time), used the muscle rub--nothing has come close to taking it away. The muscle rub actually does best, because I think it actually gets to the nerves, as opposed to the oral medicine. I will have to go back and look at last night's post that I did while under the influence of the muscle relaxers. I remember it being damn difficult to type. I was also waiting for my bread to bake, and it had something like 12 minutes still on it, and I was trying to patiently wait while practically falling over. So the relaxers do make me loopy after all. I definitely cannot take them till bedtime tonight--I'm getting A, who is doing a special shift at work, at midnight, and I certainly can't drive if I take them.

Today was good. I was as productive at work as one in severe pain could be, and I got all sorts of things done. I found out that they can participate in DOCLINE (the National Network of Libraries of Medicine's interlibrary loan system) even after I'm gone and there is no longer a library, because they will have access to enough electronic journals that if they're willing to lend, they can borrow as well. That gives research and other clinical staff access to the information they need.

I also paid some bills, went to my allergist, got my shots, went to the grocery store, and took a care package over to YKWIA (and picked up the monitor, sans cord). I now have a Halloween costume to wear to work Monday. I'm going to wear my Miskatonic University School of Library Science t-shirt, with a headband I got at Kroger with light-up tentacles. Yes. A graduate student who has read too much, most likely. I have a box that looks like a large book, and I'm thinking of putting something on it (that's removable) that says Necronomicon. There's only one person at work that I know who has read HP Lovecraft, so most people really won't get it, but they'll like the headband, anyway. :) That's the second Cthulhoid costume I've worn to the hospital, the first being Great Cthulhu himself.

Alright, I've hooked up the keyboard, I've eaten. Now I am going to put away the rest of the groceries, queue up some music through the Bluetooth headphones, and start folding clothes, after rubbing some more of that stuff on my neck and shoulders. It really is the best option. I should have gotten some more while at Kroger's. Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day.

Today I had the ergonomic assessment

One of the worst things about my desk/cubicle, is that it is set up to have a keyboard tray and mouse pad holder that utterly fails to work correctly when my body is interacting with it. It's too low, my chair could only go so low, I'd have to sit far back so as not to have my hands actually mousing and typing under the actual desk, and I had no arm support and was putting lots of effort into keeping my arms up, even though there were armrests on the chair, because they wouldn't work with the tray. I have short little arms, which meant almost everything was out of reach unless I put the tray in, which was difficult, as it tends to stick. So...

We moved the keyboard and mouse up on to the top of the desk and raised my chair, and the armrests. The chair itself, although pretty darn old (I'd say it's at least 15 years old--I've had it since before 2003 and it was our administrator's secretary's chair, who hasn't worked there in years, prior to being mine (it has her name on the bottom of it)), but it is still better than the newer ones we have in the library. Anyway, the occupational therapist went and got me some braces for my hands that work better than the gloves I was using, and then sewed extra length to the straps for me. We adjusted the monitor. I managed to bring my document holder to the correct height using a PDR, boxed book set, and an in/out box but still have it close enough to read and reach without strain. She is recommending an ergonomic keyboard such as the one I use at home, which will keep my hands and wrists supported and in a natural position, with my elbows firmly on the armrests. Right now I'm using a footrest I already had. My desk has been rearranged slightly so everything is in reach without straining. I'm closer to the screen, so I can read better. I have an old mousepad that's cover was frayed and rolling up back from the rest, which was exposed and and rubbed against my wrists, so I went by Office Depot today and got a mouse pad and support there (yes, I could have had them replace the other, but I don't mind, and this way I could choose something to brighten up the office. I'll just take it with me when I leave. It has a tree surrounded by lavender, and the beaded rest that I got is grey, but I put it in my laptop bag, replacing the purple one that is the same colour as the lavender on the mousepad that I'll move to the office.) She also gave me some exercises to help with my neck and shoulders, and encouraged me to continue the night splinting, but use the wrist braces during the part of the day (typically the afternoons, when I'm doing data entry) when I'm typing and clicking the most, so I don't over-brace and weaken the wrists and hands.

On that note, my wrists are really hurting. I think I'll break down and take some ibuprofen. Time to brace them and turn in for the night, now that my hiccups have finally stopped. :) Good night.

I fell asleep (imagine!)

at about 8 pm, and woke up feeling like it must be 2 am or later, when it was only 10:30 pm. My mouth was terribly dry so I got up for something to drink and I'm eating the last of the cereal and milk; I love cereal at night for some reason. I think it's because my grandfather always ate it then. Of course, he also put cornbread in buttermilk, and I despise buttermilk, so hey, go figure. We pick and choose our endearing moments, I guess.

The air conditioner is apparently completely fixed. They changed out the compressor motor, which was bad. So now it's set on 76 and it's 75 degrees in here and I'm comfortable. Amazing what a difference a couple of degrees makes, but more importantly, it's not humid or stuffy like it was. Since September has already been hotter on average than August was, this is a good thing. Still, cool weather must be on its way soon. I wore a dress today because 1) I didn't want to take the time to switch purses and it matches and 2) pretty soon I won't be wearing dresses at all. It is a pretty light dress with lots of purple, blue, and green splashes over a lavender shell, with a irregular hem that comes up in a slit on the front right. I get a lot of compliments on it. I probably spent $10-$12 on it at Gabriel Brothers last year. :) The only problem with wearing a dress, as opposed to a skirt, when you have diabetes is figuring out how best to give yourself a shot so you don't expose yourself. I hate going into the bathroom to do that--it doesn't seem very sterile. With a skirt or pants I can do it quite discreetly; today I just had to pick times when no one was looking, turn around, and use that slit to the dress well. Hey, it worked. The other thing I hate about wearing dresses, or skirts, for that matter, is that every time I get up from a seat, I'm afraid I'll get my dress hung up on my butt, or in the case of the bathroom, in my underwear. I did that once. I went out of Blimpie's restroom at Euclid and Rose, and walked all the way up the street past the fine arts building and up to the president of the University of Kentucky's house, when a nice lady pulled over her car and quietly informed me that my skirt was hiked up in my underwear. I was so embarrassed, yet so glad she stopped and told me. Really, after you've aired yourself down a major thoroughfare (and this was before they blocked off one end of the street, so it was even busier), you lose a certain amount of shame.

I'm glad we're over the hump towards a long weekend. Tomorrow I should have that ergonomic assessment and get a better idea of things I can do to help my hands, neck, and back. I downloaded some articles and put one through interlibrary loan (hey, I'm a patron, too, or more correctly, a patroness) on wrist bracing in carpal tunnel and arthritis. It apparently helps either. They're not sure exactly what's wrong with my hands--the EMG does read mild carpal tunnel, but whether it has returned after release surgery or if that's residual, it's hard to say. I did not get immediate relief from the cortisone injections, which should have helped if it was carpal tunnel. What is helping is the bracing. I didn't use the brace for the two and a half hours I 'napped' just now, and I can tell a difference. The night bracing, especially, is helping. I'm not so sure about the day bracing, when I'm using my hands. I'll ask the occupational therapist tomorrow if she thinks they're useful. It may be just having something like an ergonomic keyboard, such as the one I'm using now, would help at work. But during the day, my wrists really hurt. The compression of the Smart Glove does help a bit, and they hurt more when it's off, but on the other hand, I don't want to weaken my hands by bracing too much. I have a back brace, too, but wear it only when I'm doing something that requires a lot of back use, rather than all the time, because it can weaken the muscles. The same thing can happen to the hands. But I did find a set of exercises that help, too. (7 Hand Exercises to Ease Arthritis Pain)

I think I'll check on the news and see if there's anything good (is there ever? rarely). Then I'll head back to bed. Good night. But I leave you with this, a silly song that brings a smile to my face every time I hear it:

I know the idea of open letters is rather laughable

As it's not like the big companies ever read little blogs like mine, so what's the point of writing such a letter? So I won't. I'll just make a complaint.

Today I decided to get a new keyboard, one that is more ergonomically designed. I chose the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000, which includes a lot of programmable buttons that can be used for things like zooming, spell-check, calculator, opening mail, favourites, printing, various things. To use these features, you install a program called Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. I've used the same program when installing a friend's mouse, and didn't think twice about it. Turns out that in doing so, it reset my mouse buttons, on a non-Microsoft mouse (it's my original one that came with my computer to the default, so that it became a right-hand mouse. Now, although I am, indeed, right-handed, I use the mouse with left-handed settings both at work and at home in an effort to reduce strain on my wrists (hello, the main reason I bought an ergonomic keyboard, and since my right wrist is worse and the number pad is on the right, I balance with the mouse on the left). I thought, fine, I'll go back into the mouse settings and change them back. That is no longer possible, as any attempt to use the mouse settings through regular Windows 8 brings up a box that says 'change mouse settings' and it goes straight to the Mouse and Keyboard Center, which, since it is not a Microsoft mouse, is useless as the hardware does not appear as an option. So, it overrode the button settings I had, then took away my way to make things better. This leaves me with the choice of getting a Microsoft mouse, or reverting to right-handed use. The latter would not be particularly bad, except every other computer I use is set to left-handed use. On the other hand, at the moment, inconvenienced as I am, I'm not feeling the urge to go out and buy a Microsoft mouse. Now, I doubt Microsoft did this on purpose to irritate left-handers and righties who happen to be somewhat ambidextrous, but it still stinks. I've left a comment on one of their forums. Maybe if enough of us do, they'll update the software in some fashion to alleviate the issue. Unfortunately, I don't really believe that.

Yay for ergonomics!

I just rearranged my computer desk at home so that it is ergonomically more viable. I had my cable modem, router, and phone on a small table right behind where I sit. Now the cable modem is sitting on the floor, the phone and Vonage router are on the computer desk, the black box of doom (surge protector/battery backup) is under the desk on the left and the computer tower is under the desk to the right, leaving me room for my feet. This solves my cramped space problem and I don't have to type at an angle anymore. I still don't know what one cable goes to. My computer desk itself can't be moved; it's holding up two shelves of books. This is positively spacious!