Our Going Ons...
Well, tomanywolves convinced me to make the post this time--which will be linked over at her journal. Apparently, in her words, I am "better at explaining things".
First off--I'm doing well, and I've lived in this house for over a full year now. It's... different. But I need a new job--rising gas prices are one thing--but the job itself is no longer fun. So I've been searching.
Allow me to spell out the past two weeks, however, as they've been eventful, and many of you have been wondering what's been happening to us:
Sun - June 8: Recovering from sickness earlier in the week, I start a coughing spell, but otherwise I feel great.
Mon - June 9: I go to work--and start coughing loudly. Co-workers voice their concern over me during phone calls. tomanywolves, however, begins to feel ill, and her stomach began bloating, just a little. I again tease her she needs to lose weight.
Tue - June 10: My coughing is loud enough to scare coworkers. An emergency server replacement is dropped on my lap, and must be performed TODAY. Half way through, however, I am SENT HOME by my boss. Apparently, my coughing was scaring co-workers and clients alike. In any case, I finish my work via VPN from the comfort of my home. I'm still convinced it'll go down.
Wed - June 11: Once again, I work from home, still coughing but I feel fine. On our way to lunch to join my coworkers--tomanywolves's car decides to stall, and break down. Now it's starting to backfire, and the revs are starting to flutter--considering this happened right over I-565, I nearly panicked.
Thu - June 12: Working from home, I perform my scheduled server replacements. tomanywolves is starting to feel under the weather, and is complaining about pain in her lower abdomen. Her car also manages to shut down completely on us--later, we get it running and find out it was due to the electrical wiring, it was coming loose.
Fri - June 13: I manage to work, and I feel great. However, I begin coughing--some people even took notice of my post-sickness cough. And it was getting worse. tomanywolves, meanwhile, becomes ill, and is diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Fun times.
Sat - June 14: My coughing is now even worse, and I'm starting to produce crud. tomanywolves's also not allowed in the heat--but her breaks need changing--pronto. We head over to budget breaks to get it done--they were under warranty. Whoops! Rotors are completely gone,a nd so are the CV joints. Time to change those! Our pockets are emptied. Still, we pass by Hobby Lobby and grab some flowers--which I place at my dad's grave for Father's Day.
Sun - June 15: The front and back yard is tackled with a borrowed lawnmower--and was defeated (barely). I've become convinced by tomanywolves to go see the Doctor for my cough--which is getting worse still. Monday is planned. I visit with tomanywolves's family for Father's day--and coughing becomes violently bad. In the evening, I attempt to assist tomanywolves with the jury-rigging of her car's electrical system. An hour's worth of work, and we fix up the cooling and electrical system.
Mon - June 16: I call in for half a day, and visit the doctor. At this point, my coughing spells have become violent--but I'm otherwise healthy. Bronchitis is suspected and found--but no Pneumonia. They give me enough medicine to knock a horse silly--and tell me to double my dose that first day. I work from home the rest of the day. tomanywolves's car, however, smokes and overheats on the way back from work--we think a head gasket was blown.
Tue - June 17: Down to one car, I let tomanywolves use mine, and carpool with a coworker, and begin making calls around different shops for quotes on engine repair, as well as fixing a long-standing oil leak. The numbers are NOT pretty. Meanwhile, tomanywolves is still under UTI medication. The evening after work is met with tomanywolves groaning in pain and doubling over--apparently a kidney stone was trying to play pong with her bladder. I spend the night (along with tomanywolves's parents) by her side, until she manages to sleep.
Wed - June 18: I carpool to work, and prepare for a server replacement on Friday. However, most of my work is distracted, as tomanywolves never passed the suspected kidney stone. She goes to ER that morning, and finds out she had an ovary cyst explosion, and had been hemorrhaging heavily for several days now (apparently, her body decided to one-up her car for blowing its gasket). One of the shops gives a price quote that we agree to. I finish up work, and AAA tows away tomanywolves's car that evening.
Thu - June 19: I work from home. tomanywolves, now bed-ridden, is under Doctor's Orders to be supervised at all times during recovery. The first part of the day is spent taking tomanywolves to the OB/GYN for a follow-up exam of ER's findings. Apparently the supposed "passing of a kidney stone" was the worst of the symptoms that tomanywolves would experience. She is to recover. Meanwhile, the shop begins inspection and work on tomanywolves's Camaro. I manage to barely get any work done, even from home--due to all the medicine, stress, work, and distractions. I think I feel asleep on my chair a few times.
Fri - June 20: Once again, I work from home, supervising over tomanywolves--who is still bedridden. Server replacement is performed nearly on schedule. tomanywolves is recovering, and needs less attention--but still requires supervision. The shop calls back about tomanywolves's car. It appears that the damage was not as bad as we though, and we only needed to pay $350 to fix it, rather than the $1300-$1800 we had originally estimated and suspected. On our way to arrange an Over-draft Protection Loan for tomanywolves, we find that her credit report has her mother's name attached to tomanywolves's SSN, which denies her any loan, even the automatic overdraft protection loans. I pay out-of-pocket to retrieve tomanywolves's car, with the help of her dad. Coughing spells have picked up, but otherwise subside when applied with hot tea.
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What happened to me?:
We're still not quite sure what I was sick with earlier, but the bronchitis had been bad and persistent--and I've been stubborn. I was coughing for a week straight before I would do anything about it--and even got sent home because of my cough. For the most part, I've been busy taking care of myself, doing my job in the Server Team, doing my REGULAR job, taking care of tomanywolves, and taking care of tomanywolves's car. I'm exhausted. The bronchitis medicine has been doing its job--and I should be fully recovered by Sunday.
What happened to tomanywolves?:
tomanywolves suffered UTI, as stated above. This general "not feeling well" was coupled with medicine that kept her away from alcohol, heat, and exposure to bright lights. This meant I had to do more of the work outside--including fixing her car, or getting it fixed. The "Kidney Stone" never was--it was simply the cyst bursting at that time, which was the cause of tomanywolves's pain. The bloating was a result of the hemorrhaging before and after the cyst burst. She should recover by Sunday, and will have a follow-up OB/GYN visit on Monday.
What happened to tomanywolves's car?
We thought a head gasket had blown. And that the engine needed to be resealed to address its oil leak. What REALLY happened was the fuel system had clogged up from the gunk of dirty gas (leading to smoke, stalling, and dropping revs). A hose between the engine and firewall had burst (leading to the overheating and moisture in the engine intakes), the jury-rigged wiring to the cooling system was constantly coming off the battery, and the breaks had worn out the rotors and CV joints. All of this had to be addressed--and it's all been fixed now. The fueling system should be clean in two more weeks of constant use and cleaning.
What happens now? The elf goes to sleep.