(no subject)
I keep putting off updating, because there is a lot to cover, but the longer I wait the more it piles up, so I'm just going to give you guys a glossy overview of what's been going on.
Health: It's been... OK. I got allergy tested and I'm allergic to a lot of things. Fortunately, none of these things are dogs or horses (yay!). Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that I'm allergic to that are associated with horses -- namely several types of grasses (including Timothy and Bermuda), a couple of trees, some molds, and both types of dust mites. I've been working on minimizing my exposure to the "indoor" allergens as much as possible (we have an air purifier for the bedroom, a bed encasement, I've been washing the sheets weekly and vacuuming weekly), but it's obviously difficult to do the same with the "outdoor" allergens that I undoubtedly come into contact with on a daily basis at work. I've been keeping up with my usual routine (Neti Pot, Flonase, Azestaline, Zyrtec daily, with Mucinex and Benadryl as needed) and I have good days and bad days. I try to take it easy when I can, which basically means I don't do much of anything other than sleep, eat, shower, laundry and work. I learned my lesson after the Chicago trip about trying to have too much fun. I've started doing allergy injections, in which they inject increasingly higher concentrations of allergens into me on a weekly basis. This should hopefully provide me with some lesser symptoms in the long run, but the injections are typically done for 2-3 years on a weekly basis until they can be done less frequently or even stopped. My doc has also mentioned the possibility of a nasal polyp hidden in my sinuses that could be contributing to all of this misery, but the diagnostic test for that is a CT Scan, and I'm kind of putting that off for now. Mostly due to what a CT Scan would cost me.
Work: I've really been trying to accelerate my job search and have applied to a few jobs recently. Job searching is a full-time job in and of itself, and I have so little free time in which I have the energy to sit down and work on a productive application, but I'm doing what I can. It's become ever more apparent that in order for me to get healthy I'm going to have to start working an inside job. It's heartbreaking to have to give up what is essentially my dream job because my body is betraying me, but I also really have very little energy left at the end of the workday and I basically can only muster the strength to work, go home, sleep and work. Working at the barn on weekends would ideally also go by the wayside ASAP. My symptoms are especially bad on the weekends after I've done barn work, and, again, I do the barn work, come home, fall asleep on the couch, wake up, eat dinner, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat on the daily.
Ringo: Sigh. The big bay gelding has certainly taken a backseat to everything recently. I feel like I have the energy to ride after work maybe once or twice a week these days, and only sometimes does that coincide with a schedule that would allow me to ride. So, I'm lucky to get to ride once a week. This wouldn't bother me so much except for the fact that I'm working so damn hard just to be able to own the horse, and keep him in a place where I wholeheartedly trust he's getting top-notch care. Eventing trainer still doesn't have an opening, and I'm getting closer and closer to putting Ringo up for sale at a bargain price. I told myself I'd give it until the end of April, and see how I was feeling and if the warmer weather sparked more desire to ride regularly again. I DO have that desire mentally, and was near tears looking at photos on FB of friends' rides at a clinic this weekend, because I want to be able to do THAT, but no matter how hard I work and try I just can't seem to make it happen. I will say that the rides I have had have been pretty good, all things considered, and I do think that the time away from riding has given me a fresher outlook on my riding. I think in the fall I was really starting to get way into overthinking everything and letting my frustration and perfectionism get the best of me. Now that I've let some of the air out of the balloon I've been able to have much more relaxed rides. Even when Ringo's spooking for the sake of spooking in the indoor.
I think that about covers it, in the most general way possible. I'll try to start updating more regularly, but, again, time and energy are few and far between these days. Here's hoping a new job is in my future soon (only kinda though, because I really do love my current job)!
Health: It's been... OK. I got allergy tested and I'm allergic to a lot of things. Fortunately, none of these things are dogs or horses (yay!). Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that I'm allergic to that are associated with horses -- namely several types of grasses (including Timothy and Bermuda), a couple of trees, some molds, and both types of dust mites. I've been working on minimizing my exposure to the "indoor" allergens as much as possible (we have an air purifier for the bedroom, a bed encasement, I've been washing the sheets weekly and vacuuming weekly), but it's obviously difficult to do the same with the "outdoor" allergens that I undoubtedly come into contact with on a daily basis at work. I've been keeping up with my usual routine (Neti Pot, Flonase, Azestaline, Zyrtec daily, with Mucinex and Benadryl as needed) and I have good days and bad days. I try to take it easy when I can, which basically means I don't do much of anything other than sleep, eat, shower, laundry and work. I learned my lesson after the Chicago trip about trying to have too much fun. I've started doing allergy injections, in which they inject increasingly higher concentrations of allergens into me on a weekly basis. This should hopefully provide me with some lesser symptoms in the long run, but the injections are typically done for 2-3 years on a weekly basis until they can be done less frequently or even stopped. My doc has also mentioned the possibility of a nasal polyp hidden in my sinuses that could be contributing to all of this misery, but the diagnostic test for that is a CT Scan, and I'm kind of putting that off for now. Mostly due to what a CT Scan would cost me.
Work: I've really been trying to accelerate my job search and have applied to a few jobs recently. Job searching is a full-time job in and of itself, and I have so little free time in which I have the energy to sit down and work on a productive application, but I'm doing what I can. It's become ever more apparent that in order for me to get healthy I'm going to have to start working an inside job. It's heartbreaking to have to give up what is essentially my dream job because my body is betraying me, but I also really have very little energy left at the end of the workday and I basically can only muster the strength to work, go home, sleep and work. Working at the barn on weekends would ideally also go by the wayside ASAP. My symptoms are especially bad on the weekends after I've done barn work, and, again, I do the barn work, come home, fall asleep on the couch, wake up, eat dinner, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat on the daily.
Ringo: Sigh. The big bay gelding has certainly taken a backseat to everything recently. I feel like I have the energy to ride after work maybe once or twice a week these days, and only sometimes does that coincide with a schedule that would allow me to ride. So, I'm lucky to get to ride once a week. This wouldn't bother me so much except for the fact that I'm working so damn hard just to be able to own the horse, and keep him in a place where I wholeheartedly trust he's getting top-notch care. Eventing trainer still doesn't have an opening, and I'm getting closer and closer to putting Ringo up for sale at a bargain price. I told myself I'd give it until the end of April, and see how I was feeling and if the warmer weather sparked more desire to ride regularly again. I DO have that desire mentally, and was near tears looking at photos on FB of friends' rides at a clinic this weekend, because I want to be able to do THAT, but no matter how hard I work and try I just can't seem to make it happen. I will say that the rides I have had have been pretty good, all things considered, and I do think that the time away from riding has given me a fresher outlook on my riding. I think in the fall I was really starting to get way into overthinking everything and letting my frustration and perfectionism get the best of me. Now that I've let some of the air out of the balloon I've been able to have much more relaxed rides. Even when Ringo's spooking for the sake of spooking in the indoor.
I think that about covers it, in the most general way possible. I'll try to start updating more regularly, but, again, time and energy are few and far between these days. Here's hoping a new job is in my future soon (only kinda though, because I really do love my current job)!