Loose ends...? Me?
Let's see, there's my visit to Dr. Kaleel (my psychiatrist) last Friday. The result was that we increased my dose of Effexor (though I'm having trouble remembering to take it twice a day) in hopes that that would lessen the depression. We also reiterated that I need to get back in touch with my main doctor (Dr. Ho) to work on decreasing my blood pressure some more, so that I can get back to taking Adderall.
I really like Dr. Kaleel, in that he works WITH me instead of trying to "do to" me. He is very open, non-patronizing, and actually reads up on my file before I arrive. However, he really understands very little about inattentive ADD and its repercussions in adults. So I find myself desperately trying to describe, in my 15-20 minute visit, the challenges and difficulties I encounter in my life every day. Very frustrating, but I want to keep trying.
WITS was a small group this month. Marilyn and I spent some time figuring out how to hook up and use MacNexus's projector that we would use on Sunday, and she ended up having to drive back home to get the right connection cord for her PowerBook. She left after the meeting to see her oldest grandson play soccer, and only four of us ended up at lunch (Marganne, Genevieve, Margaret, and me). I was not particularly in the mood to be with people, but managed to take part in the conversation pretty well. The small group really enhanced the others' feelings of connection with one another; it was gratifying to know that, at least.
Then Sunday was the Brownies "Computer Smarts" day. MacNexus shares some premises and equipment (in fact, the club bought a lot of it) with Access Sacramento at the Coloma Community Center. Wes Doak of Access came to Marilyn and asked if some of the WITS members would be interested in leading internet training sessions for some Brownies. We agreed. But the original plan kept kind of expanding; it went from "a couple of hours" to five and a half hours, and the limits on what we had to be responsible for kept increasing. I was reluctant to take part from the beginning; I feel very uncomfortable amidst groups of kids, and I was worried I would have to stand too long. But I thought it might be, well, good for me, and I wanted to support Marilyn.
It went mostly fine, really, but it was a looooong afternoon. Betsy and I were leading in one room (with Windoze computers), and JoEllen and Marilyn were in another (with Macs) on the other side of the building. I did the overhead projection stuff. The course outline had several problems that we managed to smooth out by the third hour-and-a-half session, and computers had to be taken out of usage one by one (we went from 13 to 7) because of various problems, mostly the absence of needed plug-ins. There was a bit of fun involved, but I was disappointed that it wasn't really possible to connect with any of the girls in any but a very superficial way. They did seem to mostly enjoy themselves, though.
The timing of the weekend turned out to be terrible for three of us. JoEllen had had a packed week. Marilyn's son and three of her grandsons arrived on Saturday and left on Sunday--she didn't get much chance to visit, and had to put up with chaos and kid noise at home AND at the Coloma Center. And I had to pass on a beach picnic with Heather and Peche and Dad.
So it goes.
I really like Dr. Kaleel, in that he works WITH me instead of trying to "do to" me. He is very open, non-patronizing, and actually reads up on my file before I arrive. However, he really understands very little about inattentive ADD and its repercussions in adults. So I find myself desperately trying to describe, in my 15-20 minute visit, the challenges and difficulties I encounter in my life every day. Very frustrating, but I want to keep trying.
WITS was a small group this month. Marilyn and I spent some time figuring out how to hook up and use MacNexus's projector that we would use on Sunday, and she ended up having to drive back home to get the right connection cord for her PowerBook. She left after the meeting to see her oldest grandson play soccer, and only four of us ended up at lunch (Marganne, Genevieve, Margaret, and me). I was not particularly in the mood to be with people, but managed to take part in the conversation pretty well. The small group really enhanced the others' feelings of connection with one another; it was gratifying to know that, at least.
Then Sunday was the Brownies "Computer Smarts" day. MacNexus shares some premises and equipment (in fact, the club bought a lot of it) with Access Sacramento at the Coloma Community Center. Wes Doak of Access came to Marilyn and asked if some of the WITS members would be interested in leading internet training sessions for some Brownies. We agreed. But the original plan kept kind of expanding; it went from "a couple of hours" to five and a half hours, and the limits on what we had to be responsible for kept increasing. I was reluctant to take part from the beginning; I feel very uncomfortable amidst groups of kids, and I was worried I would have to stand too long. But I thought it might be, well, good for me, and I wanted to support Marilyn.
It went mostly fine, really, but it was a looooong afternoon. Betsy and I were leading in one room (with Windoze computers), and JoEllen and Marilyn were in another (with Macs) on the other side of the building. I did the overhead projection stuff. The course outline had several problems that we managed to smooth out by the third hour-and-a-half session, and computers had to be taken out of usage one by one (we went from 13 to 7) because of various problems, mostly the absence of needed plug-ins. There was a bit of fun involved, but I was disappointed that it wasn't really possible to connect with any of the girls in any but a very superficial way. They did seem to mostly enjoy themselves, though.
The timing of the weekend turned out to be terrible for three of us. JoEllen had had a packed week. Marilyn's son and three of her grandsons arrived on Saturday and left on Sunday--she didn't get much chance to visit, and had to put up with chaos and kid noise at home AND at the Coloma Center. And I had to pass on a beach picnic with Heather and Peche and Dad.
So it goes.