Hiding in the dark (literally) and Clinic Escorting stuff
Although many things about this weekend have been awesome, being on Day 7 of the migraine really isn't. I was originally going to call in, see about going in a bit late after waiting for another dose of meds to kick in, but it's gotten bad enough I'm home for the day, hiding in a cool dark room with my laptop screen turned down. Unfortunately, quirk of my migraines is that they often get much worse if I fall asleep when they're still mid-level or higher. I wake up in blinding pain. So I'm waiting for the meds to kick in enough that I feel like I _can_ go to sleep without waking up worse. Thankfully, I've pretty much tuned my laptop and phone to adapt (the brightness widget I've installed on my phone is on my primary screen, for example). There's a reason my LJ default background is so dark, and I view all my friends' pages in my style, not in theirs. Also, handy that I can type relatively accurately without looking at the screen, and then only have to glance over to proof.
A few paste-overs from FB (still hoping in vain to manage to keep them mostly synchronized):
[Wednesday] Good maude I dearly love the "make everything darker goddamnit" button on my phone. /migrainesincemonday
[Wednesday Evening] Despite that, remarkably productive day off. Several big conversations with housemates resolving some long-simmering tensions and making practical plans for working on things. Also got more done on moving Grafton's studio to the back house, with help from Grafton and Chad. Not everything I meant to get done, but a damned good start, especially for a day that's involved wearing sunglasses outdoors after midnight for brainpain control. Also in the shower. At least there's the amusement value to counterbalance the annoyance factor.
[Thursday Morning] Hey, look: torrential thunderstorm. /migraineexplained
[Thursday] The more manic I am, the more delicious and fun I find it to curse like a motherfuckin' sailor. I'm finding this really funny right now for some reason. (I was reading back through my post yesterday to see exactly what I did, in fact, post)
[Thursday] Migraineonthetrain survival: earbuds make decent earplugs when the music is off. Dreading work today. Here goes.
[Thursday] Migraine seems to have almost entirely abated, thank maude. Still not exactly high-functioning in the brainmeats dept, but at least enough to go write stuff on the smutty-smut-smut filter. New posts there in a bit. If you didn't see this morning's invite about that, poke back on my wall and let me know if you want in.
[Friday] Well, between the migraine and the meds it's happening at a woozy/dreamy pace, I'm gradually getting through pre-kidlet weekend housecleaning and prep. Maybe we'll get to bubble experiments this weekend! Also, Kidlet's Momma sent us info on a Thomas the Tank Engine thing (kidlet is a big fan) up here. Also need to write over on moomin recs about prisms as awesome early science introduction, and some great cheap toys. Oh, and Caleb flies kites a lot, so we should take the chance to introduce Kidlet to that one of these days. Also the Sunday open-observation Taiko class!
[Friday] Argh! Notes and notes to my self about stuff I want to write or post, but migraine and busy day (we have a scheduled downtime tonight) are getting in the way. Migraine is getting better, though! Yay!
[Saturday Morning] Yay! Thyroid results from the ED visit the other night finally came in and look mostly normal! Graves disease less likely although not 100% ruled out yet.
[Saturday] There's worlds of difference between crazy and dysfunctional. I'll take crazy any day of the week. [meaning to write a full post about what this means to me]
[Saturday Night] *bounce* Currently watching Mary Poppins with Kidlet. It's a favorite of mine (and she's rather a role model of mine in dealing with kids), so I'm very excited that he's so entranced.
[Sunday Morning] To chad a few minutes ago: ...but I don't remember because I'm woozy-tired... "woozy" seems to be my day for the word, uh word for the day, uh word for the week... I can't talk because I'm WOOZY dammit!
[Sunday Afternoon] Awww... Kidlet is bringing me imaginary soup and ice cream to make me feel better! How could that not work?
[Sunday Afternoon] Almost time for work and still with the godawful migraine. Day 7. Decided to call off and try to truly defeat it, not just beat it into temporary submission. Even my typical multiday migraines don't usually last more than 4, but we've been having hellacious storms and weather shifts this week. I hope that's all it is. Some days I really resent the hell out of HR for pressuring me to get more treatment this year. It's helped in a few ways, but mostly had a pretty catastrophic effect on the delicate balancing act around my psych and physical health.
___________________________________________________
Clinic Escorting Stuff:
On my way to Preterm. Looking forward to escorting today, but it's going to be four hours of walking in circles around the building in the rain and damp on four hours of sleep. Hello invitation to fibro flare. *digs out meds*
Well fuck. Glass block wall in front of the clinic has been vandalized. Looks like someone took a tire iron or some other blunt implement to it, probably a bare minimum of 20 times. This piddling shit is part of the death by a thousand papercuts that drives clinics out of business all over the country, requires diverting funds from assisting needy patients and into repair and security. Makes me livid. And yes, I'll assume 'likes' on this mean you're pissed too, not that you're a raving douchecanoe.
(Comments: if you happen to have any spare fundage you can donate at www.preterm.org; they are the best clinic I've seen in my life, and thoroughly and wholeheartedly deserve the support.)
Think I got some decent audio of what it sounds like at our clinic on a Saturday morning when a patient pulls in. If they turned out I'll post them this afternoon. I think even with my crapass phone locking up and losing several recordings I got a bit of speaking in tongues [also, on a theological level I think they haven't got a clue about what the gift of tongues was supposed to be about #grumpyministerskid].
(Comments: Also, tape-a-talk is an awesome little android app fwiw.
will do! I'll be uploading them to a public site as soon as I'm home from Thomas the Tank Engine, probably about 3pm. got hugh making threats about posting vids online, too.
didnt get any of the particularly hilarious stuff they sometimes say to us escorts sadly.
working on posting them now -- they're rough, and they often start with a bit of quiet, but I think I caught a lot of good stuff. Because my phone has been freezing up and requiring reboots randomly recently, they're mostly brief, so I didn't risk losing what was already recorded. Feel free to use in whatever ways you find helpful; as soon as I finish getting them up I'll post a link here to Soundcloud.
Also (with permission and great care not to get any pics of patients or interior layout of the clinic) got some great pics of some of the more concrete indicators of how incredibly awesome Preterm is (someone without FB, please verify you can see this link?), and why I am hugely proud to support them and volunteer here. And pics don't begin to capture the feeling of peace inside, or the rocktasticness of the entire staff. Love this place with a passion, wish every patient on the planet had access to this kind of amazing abortion care if they need it.
And the pics don't include all the art on the walls, the incredibly comfortable waiting rooms of various sorts, the open journals for patients and family to express their emotions, the adoption program, the financial assistance, and the wide range of other Reproductive health services. Or the really good coffee *grin* oh, the bag toys in the pics was my little contribution. Kids aren't allowed upstairs but sometimes childcare is an issue and a patient's support person will end up having to do childcare for a while down in lobby.
Argh. Migraine for 6th day in a row is making uploading from my phone to soundcloud more coomplicated and frustrating than it has any right to be. Sorry about the delay, but they'll be up soon. Also, for a 3 1/2 year old, Kidlet is really trying his best to be quiet and gentle with me. Not really successfully, but he's trying.
(Comments: Yeah, he and I have been talking about it, that he's not doing anything wrong, and hasn't been bad in any way, and that I really appreciate that he's trying so hard, even if it's not always perfect. And for a really active and rambunctious kid he's actually controlling himself amazingly well.)
Technology and migrainebrain are a bad combo, but in the process of trying to get those audio clips from this morning uploaded I've ended up doing a lot of other things that needed doing, like backing up my entire increasing unreliable microSD card to the laptop and clearing lots of space on the phone once I did.
Feel free to share. There are six recordings in the set, all pretty typical of an ordinary day at the clinic.
Random FYI -- I forgot about Soundcloud requiring app permissions [on FB]. If you'd like to check out either my attempts at getting over my singing phobia or the recordings from outside the clinic, you can get there directly, without FB fuckery, by going to http://soundcloud.com/sarah-young-24 [no, I have no idea why the URL is 24 and my username is 23]
A few paste-overs from FB (still hoping in vain to manage to keep them mostly synchronized):
[Wednesday] Good maude I dearly love the "make everything darker goddamnit" button on my phone. /migrainesincemonday
[Wednesday Evening] Despite that, remarkably productive day off. Several big conversations with housemates resolving some long-simmering tensions and making practical plans for working on things. Also got more done on moving Grafton's studio to the back house, with help from Grafton and Chad. Not everything I meant to get done, but a damned good start, especially for a day that's involved wearing sunglasses outdoors after midnight for brainpain control. Also in the shower. At least there's the amusement value to counterbalance the annoyance factor.
[Thursday Morning] Hey, look: torrential thunderstorm. /migraineexplained
[Thursday] The more manic I am, the more delicious and fun I find it to curse like a motherfuckin' sailor. I'm finding this really funny right now for some reason. (I was reading back through my post yesterday to see exactly what I did, in fact, post)
[Thursday] Migraineonthetrain survival: earbuds make decent earplugs when the music is off. Dreading work today. Here goes.
[Thursday] Migraine seems to have almost entirely abated, thank maude. Still not exactly high-functioning in the brainmeats dept, but at least enough to go write stuff on the smutty-smut-smut filter. New posts there in a bit. If you didn't see this morning's invite about that, poke back on my wall and let me know if you want in.
[Friday] Well, between the migraine and the meds it's happening at a woozy/dreamy pace, I'm gradually getting through pre-kidlet weekend housecleaning and prep. Maybe we'll get to bubble experiments this weekend! Also, Kidlet's Momma sent us info on a Thomas the Tank Engine thing (kidlet is a big fan) up here. Also need to write over on moomin recs about prisms as awesome early science introduction, and some great cheap toys. Oh, and Caleb flies kites a lot, so we should take the chance to introduce Kidlet to that one of these days. Also the Sunday open-observation Taiko class!
[Friday] Argh! Notes and notes to my self about stuff I want to write or post, but migraine and busy day (we have a scheduled downtime tonight) are getting in the way. Migraine is getting better, though! Yay!
[Saturday Morning] Yay! Thyroid results from the ED visit the other night finally came in and look mostly normal! Graves disease less likely although not 100% ruled out yet.
[Saturday] There's worlds of difference between crazy and dysfunctional. I'll take crazy any day of the week. [meaning to write a full post about what this means to me]
[Saturday Night] *bounce* Currently watching Mary Poppins with Kidlet. It's a favorite of mine (and she's rather a role model of mine in dealing with kids), so I'm very excited that he's so entranced.
[Sunday Morning] To chad a few minutes ago: ...but I don't remember because I'm woozy-tired... "woozy" seems to be my day for the word, uh word for the day, uh word for the week... I can't talk because I'm WOOZY dammit!
[Sunday Afternoon] Awww... Kidlet is bringing me imaginary soup and ice cream to make me feel better! How could that not work?
[Sunday Afternoon] Almost time for work and still with the godawful migraine. Day 7. Decided to call off and try to truly defeat it, not just beat it into temporary submission. Even my typical multiday migraines don't usually last more than 4, but we've been having hellacious storms and weather shifts this week. I hope that's all it is. Some days I really resent the hell out of HR for pressuring me to get more treatment this year. It's helped in a few ways, but mostly had a pretty catastrophic effect on the delicate balancing act around my psych and physical health.
___________________________________________________
Clinic Escorting Stuff:
On my way to Preterm. Looking forward to escorting today, but it's going to be four hours of walking in circles around the building in the rain and damp on four hours of sleep. Hello invitation to fibro flare. *digs out meds*
Well fuck. Glass block wall in front of the clinic has been vandalized. Looks like someone took a tire iron or some other blunt implement to it, probably a bare minimum of 20 times. This piddling shit is part of the death by a thousand papercuts that drives clinics out of business all over the country, requires diverting funds from assisting needy patients and into repair and security. Makes me livid. And yes, I'll assume 'likes' on this mean you're pissed too, not that you're a raving douchecanoe.
(Comments: if you happen to have any spare fundage you can donate at www.preterm.org; they are the best clinic I've seen in my life, and thoroughly and wholeheartedly deserve the support.)
Think I got some decent audio of what it sounds like at our clinic on a Saturday morning when a patient pulls in. If they turned out I'll post them this afternoon. I think even with my crapass phone locking up and losing several recordings I got a bit of speaking in tongues [also, on a theological level I think they haven't got a clue about what the gift of tongues was supposed to be about #grumpyministerskid].
(Comments: Also, tape-a-talk is an awesome little android app fwiw.
will do! I'll be uploading them to a public site as soon as I'm home from Thomas the Tank Engine, probably about 3pm. got hugh making threats about posting vids online, too.
didnt get any of the particularly hilarious stuff they sometimes say to us escorts sadly.
working on posting them now -- they're rough, and they often start with a bit of quiet, but I think I caught a lot of good stuff. Because my phone has been freezing up and requiring reboots randomly recently, they're mostly brief, so I didn't risk losing what was already recorded. Feel free to use in whatever ways you find helpful; as soon as I finish getting them up I'll post a link here to Soundcloud.
Also (with permission and great care not to get any pics of patients or interior layout of the clinic) got some great pics of some of the more concrete indicators of how incredibly awesome Preterm is (someone without FB, please verify you can see this link?), and why I am hugely proud to support them and volunteer here. And pics don't begin to capture the feeling of peace inside, or the rocktasticness of the entire staff. Love this place with a passion, wish every patient on the planet had access to this kind of amazing abortion care if they need it.
And the pics don't include all the art on the walls, the incredibly comfortable waiting rooms of various sorts, the open journals for patients and family to express their emotions, the adoption program, the financial assistance, and the wide range of other Reproductive health services. Or the really good coffee *grin* oh, the bag toys in the pics was my little contribution. Kids aren't allowed upstairs but sometimes childcare is an issue and a patient's support person will end up having to do childcare for a while down in lobby.
Argh. Migraine for 6th day in a row is making uploading from my phone to soundcloud more coomplicated and frustrating than it has any right to be. Sorry about the delay, but they'll be up soon. Also, for a 3 1/2 year old, Kidlet is really trying his best to be quiet and gentle with me. Not really successfully, but he's trying.
(Comments: Yeah, he and I have been talking about it, that he's not doing anything wrong, and hasn't been bad in any way, and that I really appreciate that he's trying so hard, even if it's not always perfect. And for a really active and rambunctious kid he's actually controlling himself amazingly well.)
Technology and migrainebrain are a bad combo, but in the process of trying to get those audio clips from this morning uploaded I've ended up doing a lot of other things that needed doing, like backing up my entire increasing unreliable microSD card to the laptop and clearing lots of space on the phone once I did.
Feel free to share. There are six recordings in the set, all pretty typical of an ordinary day at the clinic.
Random FYI -- I forgot about Soundcloud requiring app permissions [on FB]. If you'd like to check out either my attempts at getting over my singing phobia or the recordings from outside the clinic, you can get there directly, without FB fuckery, by going to http://soundcloud.com/sarah-young-24 [no, I have no idea why the URL is 24 and my username is 23]