Hi there
I realize I've been really lax on posting lately. Sorry about that. Maybe I should add to my Lenten discipline at least a post every few days... Hmm.
First, Lent. I've decided to give up a couple of things. One, sleeping in on Sundays, and going to church instead. That one went awesome day before yesterday. I got to see Father Todd, who is so sweet and awesome. He and I talked once about all of my history with Dad and such. He's a great listener and incredibly funny and compassionate. (He's also rather cute.) The other one is more difficult: I've decided to also give up drinking soda. Since I practically LIVE on Coke, it's been SO HARD OMG. I bought a water bottle, and propel mix, and have been doing well (I had half a glass of sprite with the stir-fry on Sunday, but that's been it so far). It's better for me in the long run. In the short run, it's torture.
Second, my nose. I basically got no relief from what the ENT and I had decided to do first - Flonase made me crazy, the Afrin made things worse, and the constant use of Breathe Right strips caused my nose to bruise. So, when I went back for my follow-up yesterday, we talked surgery. It's tentatively scheduled for April 19, though the doc said that it was possible that the date might get moved up if they had enough cancellations, which they see pretty frequently. I get my pre-op workup stuff done on the 6th, and see the anesthesiologist for his consult on the 11th. I'm nervous, yet hopeful that this will really work. I trust the resident that's the main surgeon on my case, so that's a good thing. He laughed at my list of questions I brought. I knew that I'd be asking for them to do the surgery, so I had Mom write out a list of questions I should ask, since she's not only a nurse but a former nasal surgery patient, herself. They're operating under general anesthesia, which, while that means I won't remember a damn thing, is a little more involved and dangerous. The procedure itself isn't supposed to take more than about 20 minutes. Basically, they go in, straighten out my septum and remove part of the inside on the right (called the middle turbinate). There should be absolutely no change to the look of my nose on the outside, just structural changes that will allow me to breathe. I'll look like hell for the first week or so post-op, since they're doing some serious work up in there. Black eyes, face swelling, splints, etc. But it should all be worth it in the end.
Third, the shuttle. I watched Discovery come back home a couple of weeks ago. Robonaut2 was unpacked today! ISS Commander Scott Kelly (Mark Kelly's brother) is coming home on Soyuz today. Endeavour's already on the launch pad and is set to launch on April 19. Yep, the same day as my surgery. This is actually annoying for me. I'm hoping that the launch window will be late enough in the day that I can get home in time to watch. Or, I'm hoping that my surgery will be moved up and I'll be home all day. Yes, I have strange priorities. If things don't work out, I'm going to want Mom to tell me how the launch went as, like, the second thing she says behind "hi, everything went well."
Finally, blech stuff. I didn't get to see Monica last Friday, because I didn't get put in to her schedule for some reason. She's off for spring break this Friday, so I don't see her for another two weeks. Three weeks without her while dealing with stressful stuff like surgery is NOT COOL. I really REALLY hate that the powers-that-be don't let her have control of her own schedule. She has to ask someone in the clinic to put me in her schedule every week. They also don't allow her to schedule out a full hour for some patients. 30 minutes of therapy is USELESS. No one can drop into deep stuff and then get back out in 30 minutes. A therapy session is like a plane ride: it takes a while to reach cruising altitude, you stay there a little while, and then you slowly drop back down to earth. If you do anything else, it's too difficult. Because I haven't seen her, I'm having a harder time coping with stress. Mom, Sis, and I had a major fight Sunday, since I was seriously anxious about my appointment with the ENT, and didn't realize just how anxious I was. I got mad at Sis for scheduling a doctor appointment at the same time as mine, since it was going to complicate things. (She promised that she'd never schedule anything without first looking at the calendar in the kitchen so we wouldn't ever have a problem with car scheduling.) This meant that I'd have to take Mom's POS while Sis got the good car - since Sis can't drive Mom's POS due to insurance issues. I also didn't realize that i really wanted someone to go with me to the appointment in order to ease my nerves and help keep me calm during the really stressful experience of heading to the hospital and dealing with the serious stupidity and ridiculous inefficiency. I figured Sis would be coming with me, since she always does, but she didn't think about it. Mom couldn't come with me because she was working. It was finally decided, after much screaming, that Mom would go in late to work so she could go with me. This ended up not happening because Mom didn't sleep at all. I had to drive the POS by myself, in the worst rain we've had in months, to and from the hospital yesterday. I escaped intact only by the skin of my teeth. My shoulders, arms, hands, and lower legs are all sore because I was gripping the steering wheel so hard and doing so much speed changing when driving yesterday. I would have LOVED the weather (we got thunder and lightning FINALLY) if I hadn't had to go out in it.
Okay. I'm lying back down now, since I'm really really tired.
First, Lent. I've decided to give up a couple of things. One, sleeping in on Sundays, and going to church instead. That one went awesome day before yesterday. I got to see Father Todd, who is so sweet and awesome. He and I talked once about all of my history with Dad and such. He's a great listener and incredibly funny and compassionate. (He's also rather cute.) The other one is more difficult: I've decided to also give up drinking soda. Since I practically LIVE on Coke, it's been SO HARD OMG. I bought a water bottle, and propel mix, and have been doing well (I had half a glass of sprite with the stir-fry on Sunday, but that's been it so far). It's better for me in the long run. In the short run, it's torture.
Second, my nose. I basically got no relief from what the ENT and I had decided to do first - Flonase made me crazy, the Afrin made things worse, and the constant use of Breathe Right strips caused my nose to bruise. So, when I went back for my follow-up yesterday, we talked surgery. It's tentatively scheduled for April 19, though the doc said that it was possible that the date might get moved up if they had enough cancellations, which they see pretty frequently. I get my pre-op workup stuff done on the 6th, and see the anesthesiologist for his consult on the 11th. I'm nervous, yet hopeful that this will really work. I trust the resident that's the main surgeon on my case, so that's a good thing. He laughed at my list of questions I brought. I knew that I'd be asking for them to do the surgery, so I had Mom write out a list of questions I should ask, since she's not only a nurse but a former nasal surgery patient, herself. They're operating under general anesthesia, which, while that means I won't remember a damn thing, is a little more involved and dangerous. The procedure itself isn't supposed to take more than about 20 minutes. Basically, they go in, straighten out my septum and remove part of the inside on the right (called the middle turbinate). There should be absolutely no change to the look of my nose on the outside, just structural changes that will allow me to breathe. I'll look like hell for the first week or so post-op, since they're doing some serious work up in there. Black eyes, face swelling, splints, etc. But it should all be worth it in the end.
Third, the shuttle. I watched Discovery come back home a couple of weeks ago. Robonaut2 was unpacked today! ISS Commander Scott Kelly (Mark Kelly's brother) is coming home on Soyuz today. Endeavour's already on the launch pad and is set to launch on April 19. Yep, the same day as my surgery. This is actually annoying for me. I'm hoping that the launch window will be late enough in the day that I can get home in time to watch. Or, I'm hoping that my surgery will be moved up and I'll be home all day. Yes, I have strange priorities. If things don't work out, I'm going to want Mom to tell me how the launch went as, like, the second thing she says behind "hi, everything went well."
Finally, blech stuff. I didn't get to see Monica last Friday, because I didn't get put in to her schedule for some reason. She's off for spring break this Friday, so I don't see her for another two weeks. Three weeks without her while dealing with stressful stuff like surgery is NOT COOL. I really REALLY hate that the powers-that-be don't let her have control of her own schedule. She has to ask someone in the clinic to put me in her schedule every week. They also don't allow her to schedule out a full hour for some patients. 30 minutes of therapy is USELESS. No one can drop into deep stuff and then get back out in 30 minutes. A therapy session is like a plane ride: it takes a while to reach cruising altitude, you stay there a little while, and then you slowly drop back down to earth. If you do anything else, it's too difficult. Because I haven't seen her, I'm having a harder time coping with stress. Mom, Sis, and I had a major fight Sunday, since I was seriously anxious about my appointment with the ENT, and didn't realize just how anxious I was. I got mad at Sis for scheduling a doctor appointment at the same time as mine, since it was going to complicate things. (She promised that she'd never schedule anything without first looking at the calendar in the kitchen so we wouldn't ever have a problem with car scheduling.) This meant that I'd have to take Mom's POS while Sis got the good car - since Sis can't drive Mom's POS due to insurance issues. I also didn't realize that i really wanted someone to go with me to the appointment in order to ease my nerves and help keep me calm during the really stressful experience of heading to the hospital and dealing with the serious stupidity and ridiculous inefficiency. I figured Sis would be coming with me, since she always does, but she didn't think about it. Mom couldn't come with me because she was working. It was finally decided, after much screaming, that Mom would go in late to work so she could go with me. This ended up not happening because Mom didn't sleep at all. I had to drive the POS by myself, in the worst rain we've had in months, to and from the hospital yesterday. I escaped intact only by the skin of my teeth. My shoulders, arms, hands, and lower legs are all sore because I was gripping the steering wheel so hard and doing so much speed changing when driving yesterday. I would have LOVED the weather (we got thunder and lightning FINALLY) if I hadn't had to go out in it.
Okay. I'm lying back down now, since I'm really really tired.