road to recovery

God antibiotics are wonderful. I feel like a million bucks. This week I've even been to the gym! Twice!

No I'm not running. The doc didn't want me to until my vitamin D levels were normal. Besides, I need to build up some good ole' muscle strength before starting all that pounding on the joints again.

One interesting thing is that my hearing isn't quite all back yet. I keep noticing how much quieter everything is - my shower running in the morning, the atmosphere at the gym, whatever. Then I remember it is because I'm still blocked. It only really gets annoying when there is no noise around me at all. Then I hear very loud ringing in my ears.

Luckily I live in NYC, so silence happens for a total of about six minutes cumulatively in any given day.

Best part about healing for reals though? Finally I get to have a birthday party!!! This Friday at the Irish Rogue. Exactly what the doctor ordered, lots of friends, alcohol, and laughs to help me forget that time is a bastard that just won't stop.

Yes, I promise that I’ll take pictures. :)

amen

Goddamn I love Tina Fey. Bitch is the new black!!

wha? huh?

Because nothing in my life can be normal I had some extra fun with my little virus.

As per norm my doctor hadn't wanted to give me antibiotics because of the whole virus vs superbug issue. Which means I get to come up with new complications.

Last night as I was walking across the room while blowing my nose all of a sudden I felt pain in my left ear. And I got really, really, REALLY dizzy.

Well, being a halfway informed person I immediately assumed I blew something in my inner ear, probably my eardrum. Which is no biggie. People do this all the time, people prone to ear infections have it done on purpose.

Unfortunately when I awoke this morning my ear was taking in no sound and felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Oh, my my left eye also was glued shut with some nice light green seepage. Deaf in one ear and blind in one eye. Sweet.

All this did not alarm me. Because I know what this leads to. Antibiotics!! Finally!!

So sadly I had to miss trapeze lessons (Thighs went without me and promised to join whenever I reschedule) which I had wanted to do in order to celebrate my bday in lieu of a quick visit to the doctor. Who cares though when I can finally get healed!! How else am I going to get to Goal F using Goal S by the end of March?

viral

For the last three days I have been laid up sick. Seems I went and caught myself the flu and then tagged on a sinus infection to boot.

Never had a sinus infection before. You know what it feels like? Like your head is going to explode. But really slowly so that it will build pressure and then ooze out of somewhere a bit but still not relieve pressure and then ooze out somewhere else...

Guess that isn't a pretty picture.

In a perverse kind of way I always kind of enjoy getting a fever. When you are in it you of course are miserable, but it is such an interesting thing to go through with all the heat and cold synapses misfiring. Oh, and the dreams.

Know what my fever dreams were? That I was Amy Winehouse and Clinton and Obama were desperately trying to get me out of bed to go vote for one of them. All night, a recurring theme. I think at some point around 5am, probably when my fever broke, I realized I wasn't Amy Wineshouse and didn't need to worry. It isn't like she is an American citizen anyway.

Ah well, back to a drug-laden sleep for me.

happy bday to me

So as a little birthday gift to myself I treated myself to some new slippers. See, tweedle de and tweedle dum are a little worse for wear...


It was a spontaneous purchase. I saw them and fell in love. Cute little bunnies. Awwwwww.


But wait a minute. Something is strange about these rabbits.


Oh my god....they are rabbits with very pointy teeth!!


Hours upon hours of self-entertainment. Brilliant.

remember kung fu hustle?

New movie from Stephen Chow...

foiled again

So while running Saturday doing the one-minute on then one minute off series I started to feel something.

Pain in my knee.

Aaaaaaaaargh!! Talk about jinxing myself. My knee has just stopped hurting today, three days later. What is weird is that it hurts in a different way than before. That was unexpected.

On a more interesting note my rheumatologist called yesterday to let me know she found something in my blood work. Seems I'm deficient in Vitamin D. My levels were low. To quote "Really really low"

Whoa, don't blow me away with all that technical talk.

She said not to run until I am fully juiced again, and prescribed prescription strength Vitamin D tablets. Did you know that Vitamin D is the only nutrient you can't gleam naturally from food? Seems all my healthy eating doesn't mean a damn when it comes to this stupid vitamin.

Sure I could absorb it naturally from sunlight, but have you seen my skin? Are you aware of the city I live in? Aren't I supposed to be worrying about skin cancer?

Thus I am relegated to eating plenty of vitamin D fortified foods and beverages and taking a vitamin Daily. Not exactly torture, just a funny thing to add to the list of things to do.

And hopefully it will prove a cure for the pseudogout. We'll know in another two months.

runner's dreams

As I mentioned before, earlier in the week I finally saw my rheumatologist. The day I have been waiting for, patiently not engaging in any activity that may cause my knee to degenerate.

Know what she said? "Well, you knee isn't swollen."

...

Okay. That was it. When I asked if I could therefore run she said sure. Just start slow.

MOTHER OF GOD THIS IS WHAT I WAITED FOR??

Basically she believes that the pseudogout was a fluke, chemical imbalance or some such. So had four vials of blood send to a lab and got me the before mentioned bone density scan.

So here I am, ready to get back on track. Wednesday I did some preliminary running on the treadmill, one minute stints interrupted by walking. No pain during or after, thank heaven.

Since overall it has been five months since I have been running I get to start over from scratch. Which means I bring out the tome, by running bible...



Honest to god without this book I never would have become a runner. I went from not being able to jog a quarter of a mile to eventually completing a marathon.

This marvelous piece of literature gave me the knowledge and motivation to get started and keep going. And I am totally stoked to bring it off the shelf to get going again.

revisit

Correction, I take it back. Once before I quoted "Harvey", the delightful Jimmy Stuart movie about an invisible six foot bunny.

In this movie he beautifully states:

"Years ago my mother used to say to me... She'd say 'In this world Elwood, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart; I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me"

Here I am now to correct you. Forget pleasant.

Be charming.

Not knocking the squeaky wheel. That only comes out on a need basis. To really get by in life takes more honey than vinegar.

wheels

Oh no, we're not just talking about any ordinary wheels here. We are talking about squeaky ones. You know - the kind that gets the grease.

This morning I went to get a bone density scan. Because my rheumatologist completely ignored my pseudogout knee because it wasn't swollen and decided my skeleton must be weak because of my crohns. See that leap? Yeah....

Anyhoo I got my sorry butt to the radiology lab at 8:15 am for my 8:30 appt. Forty-five minutes and two rounds of people who came and were helped ahead of me later I worked my way up to the counter to ask how much longer I would have to wait. Being that I have a JOB to get to and all. You know, the way I can afford such exciting tests.

The receptionist couldn't get anyone in radiology to answer the phone. So she told me to sit down and she'd let me know.

Ten minutes later I had sort of overheard they had an answer but didn't bother to inform me. So that was it, I let out my inner squeaky wheel.

Obviously frustrated I walked up to the counter again and asked how much longer I had to wait. The nurse said she had no idea. To which I asked, "What do you mean no idea? Like ten minutes or an hour? Did the radiologist not even show? Is the machine broken? Just let me know what is going on here and if I need to I'll reschedule. There has to be some time frame we can work with."

SQUEAK.

That got me in. They ushered me back to the testing area and I was scanned. And I hadn't even done anything but just ask for a little bit more info so I could make an informed decision.

Honestly I have to admit that I was a little amazed at how quickly they modified their behavior. Coming from the Midwest I was raised to be patient and polite. Sit back, wait, and don't complain. If you do, smile and nod and just take it. As I have gotten older I realize that speaking up is a good thing. Some people would even call it communication. As in if you don't tell someone that you don't like something then they will never have an opportunity to fix it. Your fault, not theirs.

So with this interesting turn of events methinks I'll work more on asking questions rather than just stockpiling impatience and frustration all inside. Seems I get more done.

dag nab it

For at least two months I have really been looking forward to this primary. Stupid me did not pick a side when I registered. Which in NYC means no vote. You can't vote in a primary if you are independent.

Dammit!!

On the interesting side, on my two mile walk home from yoga I saw no less than three groups of people waving Obama signs reminding others to vote. Any other candidate signs? Nope.

We'll see soon enough if it paid off!

rudy's brings the heat

Literally

If you can't quite read, they put a tent over the back area and brought in heaters.

Combine that with $7 pitchers and all you can eat free hot dogs? My god what more can one ask for?

the haves and the have nots

If you have been a loyal reader over the years you are familiar with the fact that most of my life I was broke. Most of my life I worked two jobs and even then just scraped by to make the rent. But I did so because I valued a life of adventure over a life of security.

After a long winding and surprising road, last year I found myself in a place of prosperity. For the first time I had cash in hand that was more than my bills. Disposable income.

To be completely honest it has been great. But not so much for the whole buying crazy things part. But for being able to give to others part.

Should you have been out and about with me in the past few months you may have noticed I have been buying a lot of rounds. A lot of shots. On occasion picking up a tab. I have been spending this money like crazy.

But I'm not doing it to show off or something crazy like that. It is because FINALLY I get to give back some of what has been given to me over the years. So many people were generous to me when I was low on funds. Every beer, every lunch meant SO MUCH to me. Knowing now that I can do that for other people is the best gift that I have been given. Ever.

Maybe also part of the joy of giving this away is because I feel like I don't deserve all the money I'm making. It was too easy to get here. Yes I know that I'm always working through lunch and after hours. But it is behind a desk in a climate-controlled office that provides free coffee and soda. We all know people who work way harder and don't get what they truly deserve.

So until they do I love to give them what someone once gave me.

That being said, finally after the last couple of years of fighting complacency and lack of inspiration I am ready to make my next big leap. Not this second, it will take some preparation. With this big step will come a sudden drop of income. As most leaps do.

One of my friends guessed my next venture. On the first try thank you very much. And when it was confirmed I was asked why I'm still spending this money on people instead of saving it.

Huh, that's a good one. Smart friend. So I'm giving myself until the end of the month to play the benefactor with buds, then I'll put the wallet away and go back to normal person spending mode. To save up so when I make my move I don’t have to go to hermit because of no money mode.

Now I just have to figure out when I can make the jump.

oh you silly football game

Recently I realized I was going to spend superbowl sunday with football fans.

Well, normally I do. But what I really mean is this year I will be spending it with ONLY football fans.

Uh oh.

Normally there is a non-fan or two present. Someone to talk to, in other words.

This year? Not so much.

At least I have this to look forward to....