Pause

Sorry about that. I get the feeling that my pause in blogging was being interpreted as rather dramatic. I didn't intend for that to happen.

So much to catch up on. I guess the first thing that I'll clear off my plate is an explanation of where I've been for the past two weeks. I'm not sure exactly how to answer that, other than a basic outline. I was in the hospital in Galveston for four days following Thanksgiving and discharged on Monday, November 30th. I worked at Pier 1 that night, to avoid missing even more shifts there. The rest of that week is a blur from trying to write a couple of grant requests, complete the 2010 Development Plan for my "department" (which is me, managing me, and forecasting on my productivity), trying to prepare for an accounting test on Friday, sitting in school for 9 hours on Sunday, and working for five hours at Pier 1 on Sunday. That brings us to today. If you ask me, as many people so kindly have, if I'm "OK", my answer will change depending on the day or time. After work on Sunday, I was most definitely not OK. I've been really down today at work today as well and I called in sick to Pier 1 tonight. Am I likely to go back to the hospital in the next 24 hours? No. Should I be in an inpatient or intensive outpatient program somewhere? Possibly.

What else? Well, I did see the Infectious Disease doctor. She thinks that the acineobacter in my mouth is a red herring and that I've probably had it for sometime. The fact that I've never known that I've had it can be attributed to the fact that nobody has ever cultured me for it before. In her opinion, you tend to find what you go looking for. She thinks my mouth problems are caused by my sudden weight gain (+35lbs in less than six months, that has to be a record), sleep walking, and sleep eating as a result of sleep apnea. She's ordered a sleep study for me, which I hope to complete by the end of this week. I'll go into the sleep study at 7:30pm, hang out while they hook me up, watch tv until 10pm or so, go to sleep (Ambien aided, which surprised me), and get woken up at 6am - sharp. I can shower or leave at 6am. I was also told that my nasal passages are almost completely closed and that I should be using a steroid nasal spray. So, there's that.

Big surprise! My back didn't hurt at all while I was in the hospital...unlike the days during the weekend where I would hurt from lying on the couch or in my bed too long. Nope, not like at all. I had no pain. Now that I'm back to typing and sitting upright in a potentially non-ergonomic office chair, I'm in all kinds of pain. My forearm and my wrist hurt. My ribs hurt. I generally hate life in this position, yet this is where I find myself 8-10 hours a day.

I have one more accounting test to complete before the end of this module of grad school. I have a week to complete it, so here's hoping that I can do it this weekend. Until then, I'll try to make my pauses a little less dramatic and shorter in length.