Category Archives: Health

Catching Up: April 11, 2024 Edition

Posted on by

So…

[+] I’ve been struggling with severe depression and COVID-related fatigue for the last 2 1/2 months. I didn’t know what was going on with the depression until I was supposed to have coffee with my former workwife Kim, and I was lying in bed trying to drag myself out. I didn’t know how seriously I needed that coffee date until she hugged me and I realized how much I missed seeing her and working with her. She and I get each other, and we bonded over our kids six years ago. I’m grateful that she had the time off from work and grad school for coffee.

[+] I just finished a prayer shawl on March 30th of which I’m really proud.

The whole shawl.

Segment 1.

Segment 2.

Segment 3.

I made it for Jay Bowen, a local artist and elder with the Upper Skagit Tribe, with whom my church has a relationship. He happened to be there the next morning on Easter when we blessed it, and I had the privilege of draping it across his shoulders. The idea was that each panel was an individual piece of stained glass.

[+] Daniel just turned 15 this past Sunday. Here’s a picture taken on Easter Sunday.

Daniel and me on Easter Sunday.

Why yes, he is quite a bit taller than I am. He passed me height-wise more than two years ago.

[+] I watch a lot of court cases on YouTube while I crochet, and a particularly maddening one was that of Rita Pangalangan who was convicted of murder along with her boyfriend of murder in the death of her daughter Cristina. Her boyfriend put Cristina in a hot car, where she sat for more than hours while he and Rita got high on meth. As the mom of a disabled child, I kinda want to slap her face repeatedly. I mean, how could she do something so selfish and stupid?!?!?!? I have a severely disabled kid, and my rear passenger doors have the child locks engaged so that Daniel can’t open them in traffic (which he hasn’t tried to do for years, but I have no trust). You better darn well believe that I know where Daniel is at all times, and I don’t leave him in the car, especially in the summer. Getting high on meth just adds a layer of horror to the situation. I can’t fathom putting myself knowingly in a position like that where I would lose the ability to care for myself, let alone my child, without another competent adult taking care of Daniel. As a single mom with sole custody, everything relating to Daniel falls on me.

Catching Up: November 2, 2023 Edition

Posted on by

So…

[+] COVID was hateful. I had two weeks of sinus infection/bronchitis symptoms and the fatigue has been insane. Last week, the asthma exacerbation kicked in. I got a chest x-ray at Urgent Care to rule out anything scary, and my lungs were clear. Cue a steroid inhaler. I’m not up to singing with the choir yet, but I’m reading the names of the deceased during Communion on Sunday.

[+] Daniel continues to adjust to high school. We found out at conferences that he prefers the male staff members to the females. He is getting really cranky toward the end of the school day, and we’re not sure why. Non-verbal kids are hard because of this. The hitting is also increasing, which is not making me happy.

[+] The job hunting has resumed. I had to suspend it during COVID, and I’m honestly kind of happy for the break. My tutoring job burned me out for the last two years, and it was nice to have the space to actually be sick and not have to be made to feel guilty for not being able to work through a migraine or have to turn off my phone to avoid students with no sense of boundaries.

Catching Up: COVID Edition

Posted on by

It was a nice 3 1/2 years avoiding COVID…

[+] After masking up, quarantining, and getting vaccinated, my turn for COVID finally came. I likely got it from Dad, who got it at a small family gathering. I knew I’d probably get it if someone in the house got it–my immune system is crappy. The test showed the COVID line almost immediately, and was brilliant red.

[+] We’ve been partaking of DoorDash and a local food delivery service since Dad got sick because quarantining while cooking is hard. Parishioners have promised food and chicken soup. I don’t really have an appetite though.

[+] What is this variant like? Well, it’s like a head cold, post-nasal drip, and a chest cold went speed-dating. I’m having to write down when I take meds so I don’t take anything that interacts. I’ve gotta say… if this is the mild version that vaxxed people get, I’d hate to have gotten the variant that was out there before the vaccines were developed!

[+] Just pray for me, y’all. I can’t sleep and it feels like I just tried to run through a brick wall.

Catching Up: Two and a Half Months Edition

Posted on by

Wow… two-and-a-half months of silence.

[+] Work. My contract with the college ended on June 30th. I knew it was coming, and I spent last quarter working on my LinkedIn profile as well as creating ones on Glassdoor and Indeed. I’ve got a couple of stop-gap temporary measures in place until I can find a a more permanent remote job, but I’m still living pretty modestly and I am getting a little frustrated with the amount of scammers out there posting positions. There are some days when I honestly feel like I’m playing “Scam or No Scam”, and I have other friends in similar situations.

[+] Health. My appointment with gastroenterology is next week, and it cannot come soon enough. My stomach is angry and eating is unpleasant. I’m willing to deal with an endoscopy and colonoscopy at this point if they can figure out what is happening.

[+] Daniel. Kiddo is at least five inches taller than me, and he is in the middle of puberty. The mood swings are epic. School starts again in a little more than a month, and I think both Daniel and I will be excited for that to happen.

Catching Up: April 13, 2023 Edition

Posted on by

It’s been real, y’all.

[+] Work. Most of my students dropped classes toward the end of the quarter, so I had a soft finish to Winter Quarter. I still slept through most of Spring Break, so the quarter definitely wore me out. I was online last week, so my students started up in earnest this week.

[+] Health. I went to Urgent Care for a UTI on Tuesday, but my UA was clear. I was definitely in pain and it was in the spot for diverticulosis, so my grand prize was lab work and a CT scan. (Just a head’s up to anyone local: the Comprehensive Imaging Center on Division Street is freaking *AWESOME* and got me worked in super fast.) I still feel like crap, and I slept for seven hours straight yesterday, which was very likely me sleeping off a fever because I was completely dead to the world during that time. I pre-emptively canceled out of choir practice tonight, and I’m going to start taking a fiber supplement to try and keep things from getting bad enough to send me to the ER.

[+] Cats. For those who have been reading this blog for long enough, you’ll know that I had a tabby patch monster named Freya while I was married. We had her from the time she was a teacup kitten, and she was a fuzzy little pitbull. Sadly, I couldn’t take her when I left my marriage in October 2015, so she stayed with my former in-laws. (They treat their cats like royalty, so this was a good arrangement.) My former mother-in-law kept me updated on her, and she sent me pictures to make sure I knew that Freya was in good hands. The little monster became my father-in-law’s guard kitty (because she loves men), and she even stared down some paramedics to keep them from taking him away. (My former mother-in-law had to close her off in another room and incurred Freya’s wrath. I had to talk to Jon about something that day, and I started the conversation with the words, “DO YOU *KNOW* WHAT YOUR CAT DID?!?!?”)

Anyway, I got a text from my former mother-in-law on Tuesday letting me know that Freya had headed to Valhalla (where all Viking warrior princesses go) and had died in her arms at the vet at the ripe old age of 19. Many tears were shed, but I know that Freya had a good life with lots of love.

Freya

Catching Up: January 27, 2023 Edition

Posted on by

Long time, no see!

[+] Grief. On January 14th, I learned about the death of my friend Dottie Evans. It wasn’t necessarily unexpected because she was 92, but I miss her terribly. She was one of the first two people to welcome me at the door of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church when I started attending in 2016, and the two of us bonded over being pastor’s wives and some other similar interests. She was always incredibly interested in what I was doing at the college, how my students were doing, and how Daniel was doing. Everyone who knew her was saddened by her passing.

[+] Work. I have Accounting students again! I also have a Business Math student this quarter, so I’m playing to my strengths.

[+] Health. I went to Urgent Care with a sinus infection two weeks ago, and the witchy doctor who saw me told me I couldn’t possibly have one, but she gave me a script for doxycycline in case it persisted. The doxycycline made me incredibly sick, and it has only been a few days since I’ve been off the antibiotics and able to eat again.

Catching Up: New Year’s Eve 2023 Edition

Posted on by

Wow. Where to start…

[+] Offline. Both of my parents have had health issues in the last 6 weeks with my dad actually being in the hospital for a couple of days at one point. I voluntold my brother to help me with stockings, and I think we did a good job? It’s been stressy to say the least.

[+] Snow. We finally got hit by a snowstorm in Mount Vernon with all the other storms bypassing us. We only got 5-6 inches at our house, but Bellingham got a foot or more of it. Seattle iced over, and TikTok was full of videos of people attempting to drive in it. I did something to my right hand (which is my seriously dominant hand) shoveling and clearing paths, and it’s getting aggravated almost daily because I can’t not use it.

[+] Wow. I found out that my Aunt Muggs passed away yesterday at age 104. She had been a widow for 31 years, so I think she was probably happy to be reunited with her husband. I only met him twice before he passed away, but they were very positive memories. I’ve been keeping up with Muggs through Christmas cards for years, and my parents used to go visit her when they’d be up in Washington visiting my grandma. They went to her 100th birthday 4 1/2 years ago, and I started getting to know her granddaughter who is around my age this year. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister, and she was the last of that generation left on both sides of my family. It’s 3 1/2-4 hours to where she lives on roads that are probably still snowy, so we most likely won’t make her funeral mass.

[+] Word of the Year. I did Jen Fulwiler’s Word of the Year generator and got steadfast. Given that my word for 2020 was “build” and I built a lot of framework for my church to do worship online, I’m kind of nervous about what that means for me this year.

[+] Saint Generator. I did Jen Fulwiler’s Saint’s Name Generator and got Ignatius of Antioch. He’s the patron saint against throat diseases, of the church in the eastern Mediterranean, and the church in North Africa. Does this mean thyroid issues or me bonding with the Coptic church more? Am I going to become Antiochian Orthodox?

[+] Resolutions. I think I’ll work on 2020’s resolutions again.