Scary

Had a bit of a scare yesterday as the lower part of my face and jaw went numb on the drive from work. I couldn't smile properly, but it was on both sides, not just on one like a stroke. Fortunately my roommate used to work in orthopaedics/neurology in a hospital years ago. He checked my pupils, grip, etc. We finally decided that it was a pinched nerve in my neck, as I'd been jostled badly while on the shuttle when it hit a bump in the road. It hurt all along my spine, and my neck has been bothering me lately anyway. I feel fine today, didn't need to go to the ER or anything, thankfully, but man, that was a very troubling hour or so, and it wasn't back to normal till later that night.

I need to get off the phone

Quickly and go to bed.  The muscle relaxer makes it hard to focus and swipe the correct letters. I've nearly dropped the phone, several times. I was on Habitica and Goodreads and was not really making much sense.  Now it is seriously time for bed.  Good night. Oops,  there went the phone.  At least I grabbed the charging cord before if for the carpet.  This morning I dropped my wallet and my phone pad out and feel on the asphalt face down,  but didn't break, miraculously,  and I was cold sober.  If I had let my insurance lapse when I paid it off,  it might have been an issue. Now,  I'm sitting in my living room loopy as hell. Off to bed. Good night!

PS This post took almost an hour to compose, because I kept hitting the wrong button, opening or closing applications, and dropping or nearly doing so throughout all that. Wow. These things are more powerful than I thought; they're just 12 mg. But I think they're really helping with my neck; I can almost feel my hands again, and my left arm only hurts after an entire day now; it doesn't hurt at all when I wake up. Okay, I can't touch type on the keyboard well, either. I'll just go to sleep.

But first

Okay,  I decided to put the heating pad on for about 30 minutes before tackling the clothes.  If I can't take meds for the spasms,  then some heat should help.  I must work on the clothes though,  as I almost fell badly when I closed the blinds.  So for now I'm listening to Mumford & Sons and not putting on the CPAP in the hopes that I won't fall asleep.

Hurting too much tonight to really write

Therapy: Excellent.  My therapist had good suggestions and was pleased with my progress.

Dinner at YKWIA's: Very nice,  yummy,  with good companionship.

Pain: Neck and shoulders in spasm,  couldn't get comfortable.  Once home,  slathered on muscle rub,  took Tylenol Arthritis and muscle relaxer.  Listening to music and am stretched out on the bed.

That's a brief update.  Good night!

Closet before

An hour and a half of diligent effort. My plan originally was to start with the books. When I was over at YKWIA's earlier he pointed out that since I had been in intense pain for several days, this would be stuipid, and my therapist would understand if I didn't do repetitive lifting of anything heavy. He has a point. Instead I concentrated on the clothes, stuffed animals, bags, and various stuff. I filled up a 13-gallon bag with clothes, filled three boxes with shoes, toys, stuffed animals, belts, etc., threw away some things that were just not something you give away (dying underwear, old CPAP masques, etc.) There was a small bag of medication I missed for the Med Toss, but most of it was stuff they couldn't take, like nasal sprays. I just went ahead and threw those in the trash bag with the other things. I want them out of the house. I went through the rest of the clothes and purses and decided what to keep, all of which is in good repair except for one dress, which needs some attention, but is quite lovely and I wasn't going to part with it just yet, as it's totally fixable. I left my Sandman and Mummy shirts out of the pile to go, because I want to see if YKWIA wants them. I seem to recall taking them over before and he didn't, but they are his size, so I want to be sure.

So right now the top of the closet is completely taken care of. The bookshelf had some things that went, that weren't heavy, such as ankle braces, etc. Yes, the camel with the fez went, too. The stuffed animals are actually the hardest. Some things, not so much--the Rainbrow Brite horse is okay, because I didn't bond with it in childhood and actually when I got it the horse was part of some things set out, and I had no idea what it was till someone told me, as I never watched the show. But I managed to give a large elephant and several smaller stuffed animals away. Now I just have to load the trunk of my car with everything. The boxes are purposefully light. I'm not sure I want to actually take them to Goodwill right now, though--YKWIA pressed on my shoulders and back, causing me much pain but releasing a lot of the tension being held there. He suggested taking one of my muscle relaxants (I'm supposed to take three at night, so it was only 4 mg), when I got home, as it would wear off by the time I have to get A tonight, as I was worried about that. I then took a nap with the heating pad on and woke up feeling much better. I don't feel groggy or anything from the medicine and I've been working steadily without feeling sleepy.

On the other hand, I still need to do something with the clothes that are the bed. Some can be hung up, and I've cleared the chest of drawers, too. But I have to also work on the game notes, which shouldn't take too long, as we didn't play for very long because of Brenda's son's work schedule--maybe three hours, and it was down time. Still, I'm supposed to finish it by midnight on Saturday so I don't stay up till all hours. On the other hand, I'll be up till about 1:30 am anyway, getting A. But I think I'll work on the notes for awhile and then go back to the clothes, as I won't be able to sleep otherwise (most are on the bed).

On a 1 to 10 scale

where 10 is the highest, I've been having pain at about the 7 or 8 range. Despite this, and the difficulties concentrating, I soldiered on through work and doing some things for YKWIA and A. So now I've used the heating pad and am somewhat, just a tiny bit, better. Now I'm going to take the muscle relaxer my doctor prescribed and some pain reliever, and head to bed. I have been doing my exercises faithfully. I hope this flare-up ends soon. I'll go months without any trouble whatsoever and then have this happen, although this is worse than I remember. I don't have physical therapy until next Friday, I think. It's going to be a long week. And I had my allergy shots today, so I was itchy and in pain. Joy. Oh, well, I'm sure things will be better soon. In the meantime, I'll just keep soldiering on.

I've been stuck three times today

Good news: I probably don't have cellulitis,  although my nurse practitioner did take a couple of cultures just in case.  She had to take a picture with her phone and blow it up to see the fang marks; since I haven't been out in the woods,  where I could pick up a tick,  the most likely culprit is a spider.  For some reason (probably the hydrocortisone cream), the redness had gone down,  leaving the dark red mark but not the lighter red,  and you could see a raised red bite this afternoon.

Because I am at risk for an infection,  though,  she took blood work and had an assistant give me a shot in my butt (an antibiotic) and put me on an oral one as well.  I was kind of embarrassed that it was just a bite,  but she said I absolutely should have come in,  because it could have been cellulitis,  and it's an easy thing to take care of if you catch early,  but can be serious if not. While I was there,  I told her about my neck pain flare-up,  and she's sending me back to PT.  Yay.  It has been better today.  I'd say on a scale of 1-10, it was about a 4 or 5, whereas it has been about an 8 this past week most days.

The third stick was this morning's flu shot.  I always get them; they're free at work.  Since I've been getting them,  I haven't had the flu; the last time I did have it,  I was out for four days.  Let's hope it works great this year.

After my appointment,  I decided to stop by the apartment for some water and food,  then went over to my friend's and did some shopping and some other small things for him.  I got home about 8, and now I'm listening to music and I may do some reading.  Tomorrow I have my first appointment with my new therapist,  after work.  I'm glad he has evening hours.  Wednesday I have a gynaecology appointment.  There were a couple of late appointments my friend needed to have me take him to,  but he's going to reschedule them,  so my week just got a little quieter.  That means I can go Wednesday to the pharmacy for the antibiotic.  Today would have been pushing it; they're a great independent pharmacy,  but they're clear across town and close at 6; I got out of the appointment after 5. But the injection should help in the meantime.  I had thought to get my allergy shots today,  but I've been poked enough today,  and I figured it would be bad to do a shot in my right arm on the same day as the flu vaccination,  as I get two allergy shots,  one in each arm.  So I'll try to do that some other day this week.

Okay,  I think I'll sign off for now.  Hope you're having a good day.

No game today

We canceled a couple of hours before we were due to start,  and there won't be one next week,  as Brenda will be visiting relatives out of state.  But that's okay.  I've spent much of the weekend at my friend's house helping him and then running people around town.  I did get home by six last night,  but I had to do the game notes,  since the plan was to play Call of Cthulhu at that point. Today I cleaned his house,  but we also watched Netflix ('Star Trek: Deep Space Nine',  'Haven' ,  and 'Very British Problems')  and Hulu ('Ugly Betty').  He also fed me dinner.  So there was relaxation,  too.  My neck is doing a little better,  yay.  I got home a little before 9 pm and listened to music/rested before getting A from work at midnight.  Richmond Road is being paved at night and is down to one lane of traffic.  The flag worker had a sign that said 'slow' that also had lights on it.  So,  it took a little while to get there.  Fortunately I come home on Alumni.  Anyway,  that was my day.   I've got to get up in about five hours.  Good night.

Just got home

It's nearly 2 am.  I worked a half day,  then took a friend who was having minor surgery to his procedure, got him home, left him with another friend while I went for medicine and food,  took that friend home,  and then came back and stayed until now,  watching a show or two with him and reading to him. My neck has worsened over the course of the day.  My feet hurt from all the walking I did today. But now I'm home,  in bed,  with CPAP on and ready to get some sleep.  Also,  something (insect,  spider,  bug of some sort)  has bitten me and my leg is red,  itchy,  painful, and very hard to the touch,  which is a bit concerning.  It looks worse than the picture below...but hopefully it won't get worse.  I'm going back over to my friends' house early tomorrow and then to the pharmacy for three days in a row,  and while I'm there I'll try to get some cream for the bite. I also have to take a friend to an appointment by 11. So I should sign off and get some sleep.  Good night.

I'm at the library

I'm not sure how long I can sit up and type; after work and everything this afternoon I came home, laid down for about an hour, and my shoulders and neck finally unbunched to the point where I was no longer in pain. It was a bit better today, but still bad, and it's already bunched back up some in the hour I've been back up and gone out.

I wanted to get some books on job hunting, and as a special bonus prize I snagged the first season of 'Lou Grant', a show I really enjoyed as a kid, which was not available on video until recently. I also decided to pick up, on the recommendation of one of the staff (you know, on the shelf with a card saying, 'I couldn't put it down') a book by V.E. Schwab called A Darker Shade of Magic, which looked intriguing. In all, I checked out nine items, paid off a fine (I know, bad librarian), and now I'm sitting by the front window typing.

It's amazing how much I type these day, but rarely write anything by hand. I was working on a Greek lesson the other day (mainly because I wanted to stimulate the little grey cells, as Poirot always put it, and I've always been embarrassed that I only made it to the aorist in Ancient Greek, about a semester and a half). I don't have special software that writes out the language (including the diacritics, anyway), and so I was writing it out by hand, and my hand kept cramping up and sometimes I'd just sort of flail and fail to write a letter correctly. I must practice some more; I don't want to lose the ability to write for any length of time.

Today it was hard to be productive with the pain, but I got what I needed done, did some online searching, and then took a friend to get a shot and some blood work at two different offices. Afterwards we went to Captain D's, and I had a nice salmon salad. I shared my cheese sticks with him, and he gave me his hush puppies. :) Then I helped him with something at the house, came home, and it wasn't quite 6 pm. That's when I laid down, then got up at 7 pm, put some other clothes on (I got some cherry preserves on my skirt somehow), and came over here. I browsed the shelves for awhile. I've decided that I do like the new branch after all, even though it is no longer in walking distance (and if I took the bus, I'd have to go downtown and transfer to another one, even though they're not that far). Richmond Road was terribly backed up where they're doing some paving, but I was able to avoid it for the most part, just crossing straight across it. I need to get some gas, but I may have to wait until tomorrow since they're doing the work at night.

Okay, I guess I need to go ahead and go. The library's going to close in a little while and I'm really starting to hurt. I have pain just going down my left arm. Maybe one of my co-workers is right, and I should go back to physical therapy. Right now, though, I'm going to go home, take some ibuprofen and the tizanidine (but not that much, as last night it made me a little sick to my stomach), and lie back down. I hate that I'm not really doing much at home, but really, I guess what's important is that I function at work, can do my job well, and then come home and try to ease it up. Good night, if I don't write any more tonight.

PS (another one)

According to MedlinePlus, tizanidine can cause an upset stomach, which seems to be the case with me right now. So, I'm hurting and am nauseous. Lovely. I'm going to bed and hope it passes. I don't need any more tonight. I just hope it helps with the tense muscles. After all, that's why my doctor prescribed it. Good night.

Moral of the story, I suppose

Is not to shift twelve shelving units (72 shelves) of heavy medical books and bound journals (some of which are six inches wide!) by yourself, especially if you are in you 40s and have some neck/shoulder/back issues anyway (as many people in their 40s do). The problem being, of course, that I am the only library staff--I don't have a tech or volunteer to work with. Volunteers have really been needed in other parts of the hospital of late, and no one, I'm sure, wants to move a lot of books. If I were actually moving the library I'd box up books with the help of volunteers, and then probably materials management, environmental services, or plant operations would make sure they made it to the loading dock and then on their own home.

But we're not moving, Blanche.

Instead, I'm looking at the daunting task of shuttering a library. The only good thing about going through this is I might be able to write about it, get an article published. But it doesn't make it less heartbreaking to know that the library I cared for for nearly 20 years will be (at best) parceled out to departments and other hospitals and libraries. It's not a big library at all, about 15 by 30 feet, and some of that is occupied by cubicles that were put in a few years ago for another department. But it's home. Let me show it to you, at least in part:

Book collection (with unbound journals in foreground)

Bound journals (and some things I'm working on)

I won't show the rest, but I took a set of pictures all around the room to remember it by. I will so miss this place!

Okay, the muscle relaxer is kicking in (very tiny doses, but still), I feel a little better, but sleepy, too. Good night!

Ahhh

I'm finally home,  and I'm stretched out with my neck and back straight and it feels much better,  although I've got numbness and tingling going down my sides where the pressure is temporarily off the nerves.  I've been wanting to lie down all day because I knew it would help.  I've taken arthritis Tylenol,  but it didn't really touch it.  I need an anti-inflammatory,  like ibuprofen or naproxen,  even though they're not great for the kidneys.  I think I still have a little ibuprofen somewhere,  although I gave my big bottle to A. I've also used muscle rub,  which helped just a bit.  I took my preliminary dose of tizanidine a little while ago,  which is a mild muscle relaxant.  That will probably help more. I'll take the rest before actually going to bed.

Because of the flare-up,  I emptied my backpack of every little thing I could. It's not very heavy,  really,  mostly medicine and toiletries.  I don't even have a book in it now, just my Kindle and a single-subject notebook  for taking notes along with a couple of Kindle books on ancient Greek.

Today I had my teeth cleaned and then went to YKWIA's and went to the grocery for a few items he needed. Now I'm home listening to Pandora. Think I'll set an alarm and lie here in a darkened room stretched out for a little while.  The plan is to blog on the computer later (I'm on my phone right now).  And I found a job I can apply for and want to learn a little more about writing a curriculum vitae,  as it is academic and requires one,  so I need probably need to tweak mine.

Okay,  that's all for now.

I'm officially online again

1. Modem received, connected, and activated? Check!
2. Wireless router connected, configured, and working? Check!
3. Vonage router connected and phone working? Check!
4. Computer works either with Ethernet or Wi-Fi connexion? Check!
5. Printer connected via Wi-Fi? Check!
6. Printer printing? Check!

So it took awhile, but I got all my ducks in a row, finally. I had specifically asked for the same level of Internet I had before, which was 20 Mbps and came with a wireless modem all-in-one. Instead, I got standard Internet (which, granted, is cheaper by $10), which is 15 Mbps, has a wired-only modem, etc. Fortunately I still had my old wireless router, and was able to find the cord for it as well (they had become separated). Everything else was still in place, so I hooked it all back up to the modem in the correct order, reconfigured the connexion on the laptop and the printer. I couldn't get the printer to print via the USB, but it will wirelessly, so I'll worry about that when I get the desktop back. Besides, I think I had that set up via Ethernet anyway. I had expressly asked them to FedEx my cable modem to my workplace rather than my home, since I've hardly ever been able to get packages via post or UPS at my apartment, and I figured this would be no different. Apparently they sent it to my home address anyway, but they took it to the leasing office, and when I checked if it had been delivered (which was a conundrum, as the truck had already been to work and it hadn't arrived), I noticed our leasing agent's name on the signature rather than anyone from materials management at work. So I went by and got it.

I also went to the doctor today and was told my wrist issues are not in my wrist at all, but stem from my neck, so he's given me an order to return to physical therapy and work on my core in an attempt to help my posture so my neck doesn't slip a bit and pinch nerves. Dr. Favetto is really big into posture. We have a new employee at work who came from there and when I mentioned I had an appointment, she said he'd tell me to work on my posture, which he did years ago when I went, and then repeated this time. :)

Anyway, I should be posting more now that I'm online more reliably. Okay, it's been a long and somewhat exhausting day. I think I'll go relax a bit. Good night!

Just a brief post before turning in

The physical therapy evaluation was very thorough, and I learned a lot. He thinks my pain is primarily muscular, although there is an issue with my thoracic spine in terms of degenerative discs, arthritis, and a bone spur, in addition to the degeneration in my cervical spine. Oddly enough, my lumbar spine is in good shape, although I have pain in it, so it's most likely in need of strengthening the muscles. I also found out that the tailbone fracture we thought had occurred when I was in my 20s definitely did happen, as my coccyx is off a bit. My neck issue is apparently the cause of the constant headache since last Wednesday as well. So we're going to work on getting the muscles loosened and relaxed so we can then strengthen them. Even though this was only an exam, I have to admit, I felt better than I had all day. Last night I'd decided not to take the tizanidine (the muscle relaxant), and that was a mistake, as the muscles were very tight and spasming a bit today still. So tonight I'll take my prednisone and tizanidine, and some ibuprofen, and hopefully it will be better tomorrow. The whole spine is still doing much better than last week, thankfully. I think the PT will help a great deal as well.

My family member's condition is unchanged. I'll check back tomorrow about her and see if anything improves.

I worked in scheduling today and then had my videoconference, which I did using my own cell phone, so I didn't have to pay a lot in long distance for the hospital (I have unlimited calling, including long distance). We used Zoom, which worked really well, and they could hear me fine. They're going to ask via the electronic list if the membership wants me to continue as our state representative, or if someone else is interested, if we'd like to give them the chance this coming term. I also got some feedback to take with me to Chicago.

I now have my hotel confirmation and, of course, the plane itinerary with confirmation. It's just a little over a week away. :) I've never flown Delta before, so this should be an experience, especially with the layovers and five different airports to navigate. I told my boss about it, and I think he thought it was insane. By the time it's all over, I think I'll agree.

Okay, I'm going to take my meds and go to bed. Good night!

Oh...ow...

Earlier this evening I hurt my neck, and spasms have gone down all the way to my lower back. At first I could barely move it at all. Now I'm mostly okay when going to the left, but moving it to the right sends pain through the muscles of the neck and down into my back. I was having pain and a little numbness in my foot and hand on the left side earlier; now I'm not sure. I did come home and immediately took a very low dose of tizanidine, a muscle relaxer, and half a Percocet that I had left over from my knee surgery last year. I almost never take anything stronger than ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but the pain was the type that took your breath away. I am having trouble bending down at all, because the spasms went down to my lower back and it's messed up as well. The midback muscles are tight and the pain reaches around to right under the shoulders into the sides and even into my pectoral muscles on the chest. So I'm pretty stiff and while not in the pain I was, I still hurt. I have cervical degenerative disc disease anyway, which translates to bulging discs in my neck, and my neck curvature is opposite of what it's supposed to be, on a straight and J-shaped spine rather than the normal S-curve. So it's easy to make it worse. If I still feel bad tomorrow, I'll try to get in to my doctor's office for an evaluation.

I laid down about 7 pm and woke up just before midnight, feeling pretty decent until I moved. Apparently in that time I moved over to my left side and got my pillow back (I had been keeping my neck straight on the mattress). When I moved to my right side, it was a different story. I went ahead and got up. I'm eating a breakfast sandwich and thought I'd post on my week so far. I know I haven't really done much writing the last few days. Sorry about that. Sunday was the game, of course, and I don't normally write then because, well, I'm usually pretty tired afterwards, especially when we play late, which we did, till about 9:30, and I got home around 10:30 pm, so I'd been over there about 13 and a half hours, and we played about seven.

I think I mentioned that I was feeling overwhelmed at work. If not, let me do so now. I'm working three positions in a standard 40-hour work week, and I'm non-exempt, meaning I clock in and out and should not have overtime. On Monday morning I was in scheduling from 9 am-noon, had lunch, and then my temporary boss asked me to come back from 2-3 pm since a couple of people were leaving at 2. I did so, but wound up there till 3:45 pm. Then I desperately started tackling the backlog of charge sheets I had to enter. I usually work on the same day or maybe the day after at the most. Monday I was working on a giant stack from last Wednesday, where we'd had a very crazy busy clinic. I couldn't work down a list like usual because it had been more than the same day or the day before, so I had to look each encounter up by financial number, which slowed me down, and also, some numbers had been punched through and I had to look them up by medical record number instead, which further slowed me down.

My regular boss came by to ask me about the referral queue, which normally has about 7 or so encounters on it in a 10-day period at the beginning of the week, and had 65 or so this time. I simply have not been able to work it down, and it has crept up each week that I've worked in scheduling, then jumped up this past week, with all the charge sheets I got. He found me sitting there attempting to get through my giant stack of charges, and we wound up having a long talk about how it's affecting my work. I was very candid. I also admitted that I'm not particularly assertive, and probably shouldn't have agreed to help extra when I was so far behind, but I hadn't expected to be there for almost an additional hour. I also told him that I've been having to use almost every moment I'm not in scheduling to try to keep up with the revenue cycle job. I'm even further behind on the library; I've done a few interlibrary loans and troubleshot the copiers or helped others with the computers, but otherwise, no, I haven't been doing much to keep the library going. I have a large stack of books that are stacked up about four feet tall behind my desk. I need to put out new journals, and have two large stacks of them. There are some donated books I was going to put out but haven't. The clinical early literacy programme cart hasn't been filled--that sort of thing. And I told him all this.

On Tuesday, I went in early and was finally able to, between the hour and a half I had in the quiet of the morning and then being able to work between phone calls in scheduling, I was able to get through Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday's charges, then picked up Monday's and did them. I also worked on the monthly audit, various reports, and caught up on the OR charge reconciliation. My temporary boss came by and we talked for awhile. Instead of working three days and 12-15 hours a week over in scheduling, we decided I wouldn't come in on Wednesday, and then each Friday for the next three weeks we'd decide on one day for me to come by and help depending on my schedule and workload and their clinic numbers and staffing. In about three weeks, they'll have more information about when or if the person I'm sitting in for will return, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I felt a lot better after I talked to her.

Today I went in and really hit the referral queue, and got some of it down. I'll do more tomorrow. I did the normal OR reconciliation (I do it every day, normally). I did the rest of the sheets from yesterday and the ones they had for today by about 2 pm. Then at 3:30 I needed to leave for a doctor's appointment. I went to it, got some refill prescriptions for my psych meds, and then went to the pharmacy and picked up a friend's medication. I went over there briefly, at which point the neck injury happened, and I came on home. Which bring us back around to the present. Tomorrow I hope to really bring the referral queue down, especially by Friday, as a report is run Monday. If I can do that, I'll be in better shape. The plan is to totally catch up and then be in good shape for when I go to Chicago later in the month, as I'll miss two days.

Did I mention my itinerary for the Chicago trip? I think I may have. Anyway, I fly out of Lexington at 6 am on a Thursday to Atlanta, with an hour and a half to navigate through that nightmare of an airport, and then into Chicago O'Hare, travel by train to the Medical District, check into the hotel, and go to the meeting. The next day I leave the hotel, go by train to Midway, and then fly to Detroit, where I have an hour and a half layover, before getting into Lexington about 3 pm. So I'll be doing a lot of travelling, and I'll travel four states, five airports, that sort of thing, all for a four-hour meeting. :) Ah, well. I saw the forecast for Chicago that went right up to my trip, and it looks like it'll be in the upper 40s, low 50s while I'm there, although I don't know the rain chance yet--the day before is 20%. I did e-mail them today about the hotel--I hadn't heard anything yet, but they've reserved the block of rooms but are waiting for the confirmations from the hotel, so all is well. Tomorrow I need to e-mail the Kentucky Medical Library Association to get their input before the trip (they have a meeting on the 10th, and while I can't make it to Louisville, will attempt to join the meeting remotely), and also I need to ask them if they want me to continue being the state representative to this committee now that the University of Chicago at Illinois is in its last year of a five-year contract, or if they'd like to appoint someone else in the upcoming cycle. I've really enjoyed being able to participate and the travel has been wonderful, as I never have had a travel budget at work, have never gone to a major conference, that sort of thing. I did miss one year, the 2012 meeting, when I got hit by the car and broke my ankle, but I've been to Chicago now three times, and I'm about to go again. Last time I was able to stay an extra day at my own expense and experience a little more of the town, including going to the Field Museum. I can't do that this time, but still, I'm looking forward to it (although maybe not that many airports!) And this time I can mark Michigan off of the number of states I've been to. :) I think that makes just over half. Anyway, I'm grateful for the opportunity, but someone else might want a chance to do it, and it would be a good time to change, since either UIC or someone else will start the new contract cycle next year.

Okay, I think I'm going to go on back to bed. It's been an hour of sitting and I'm hurting a little. Good night!

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.

Home

So I got home about 8 pm and the first thing I did was take out the recyclables, and then I watered the outside plants. I gathered up the plastic bags into a plastic bag that I can take to recycle at Kroger. Now I'm at the computer with the little fan on because I feel hot and sticky. My neck's been bothering me quite a bit today, and it's gotten worse over the day, although I was able to stretch it a bit and that helped for awhile. I don't really want to lift anything tonight as a result. The items from the walk-in closet should go back, and mostly they're light, but the Christmas tree is in a big tub and while I would not need to lift it, there is bending and pushing to consider. It should go on the bottom, as it's a big tub, so that I hope to do tomorrow, maybe, after class. I'm a little hungry, so I'm mustering up the desire to make something. I think I'll keep it simple, a peanut butter and spreadable fruit sandwich. But mostly I just want to lie down and go to sleep, even though it's not even dark yet. But I will resist that.

Tomorrow morning I go to my psychiatrist and he'll decide whether to put me on medication for the attention-deficit disorder. That's early in the morning, so I have to get up about the same time I normally would for work. Then it's off to work, and then teaching class that evening.

I think I'm going to try to do something to improve the apartment each night, even the late ones, even if it's simple, on the theory that it will improve things over time. But tonight, having done a few things, I think I will try to relax and do something fun on my own. I spent some time watching things with YKWIA, including 'Wizards vs. Aliens' and a little 'Doctor Who'. I think now I'm going to listen to some relaxing music. I'm debating as whether to do something industrious such as going through clothes to give away or not. We'll see. But I'm definitely getting comfy first. Good night.

Came home from physical therapy

and took a bath and then laid down on a heating pad for a bit. Then YKWIA called and we talked for awhile. Now I think I'm going to take some ibuprofen and head on to bed. It's been a quiet night. Tomorrow will be much colder than it was. Our school system is on a two-hour delay due to the low temperatures, which is at least better than the week they were off last week (one day for Martin Luther King, Jr Day, the other four for weather). The wind is howling outside, and it's only 11 outside right now, with subzero temps forecast and wind chills of about -10 degrees possible. Brr...so tired of this!

Time for bed

I ache all over, especially my neck and lower back, but I accomplished much (it's amazing what a little incentive can do). The place is a mess, but the objective was met. I did a little cruising through Google News and now I'm quite ready for bed. Good night.