Date:	2008-09-03 13:04
Subject:	Arm Update
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

Well. Went to my therapy-follow-up appointment with my arm specialist. We discussed the fact that my hand is feeling pretty close to okay, but my elbow has plateaued into "constant mild discomfort with pain if I do anything I normally would do with it." At which point I learned it can take up to a year for this to go away, during which time I need to continue resting it as much as possible, massage, ice, stretching, etc. So no clean bill here.

BUT I did do some quick 15-minute drawing stints recently - inking some sketches from a while back - and while my line control isn't quite what I wanted it to be, I think I managed to acquit myself okay without setting my recovery back. I am going to be doing some more gentle, short drawing sessions and see where I can get to. I am not worried about sketching, but I am definitely going to have to be careful about inking (my lines were getting serpentine after only 15 minutes) and I am very concerned about coloring, especially skintones and the colors that usually take a lot of blending and pressure. We will see where it goes.

Date:	2008-08-04 15:04
Subject:	famous last words
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted

Remember when I said I'd get to check my email for important ones? Yeah. That was before work exploded and I worked 5 12-hour days in a row, then came in both days of the weekend... I am waaaaaaaaaaay behind, and anything important is buried in mailing lists and spam. If you haven't heard back from me and it is important, try again in a bit and hopefully I'll see it this time.

Anyhow, busy but not bad. Therapy progresses, but was set back a bit when I locked the steering wheel of the rental car in Lordsburg on the way back from getting Rachel home from NM. However, now that Rachel can help me with lifting, writing, and such it is going better. Still not drawing. I have picked up a pencil a few times and it hasn't gone well.

I am still alive, and the therapy proceeds apace. Unfortunately, after giving me the okay for light sketching, my therapist(s) then proceeded to do all sorts of things that make me ache too much to do a darn thing. In a good, healing-is-progressing sort of way, but still 24-7 achy.

That being said, it has been a good week in a lot of ways. I feel like I'm always putting my down times in my LJ, but this week has had more up times than down, and it's a shame that I have so little time to update here or I would go on and on about the good stuff. Hopefully I'll get a chance later.

No internet at home at the moment, and for the immediate future. Still have internet at work, so can still check for important emails.

Well, it went over by a while and it was still almost all assessment. I have been given instructions for some stretches/massage/temperature therapy/etc. to do for homework, a foam thing to put around my pens, and some general instructions on how to do things to relieve stress on my elbow and hand. Per therapist the tendonitis is almost all elbow, and the hand pain is mostly radial from that. I have to go buy a tennis elbow band ASAP. I also got a sharp lecture about doing ANTHING repetitive for extended periods, whether it be cutting up sheet rubber, scooping ice cream, or

But GOOD NEWS - as long as I do it for very brief periods of time, with stretching breaks, with my foam thing on my pencil, and very lightly and gently, I can start sketching again. It will probably look like crap, but it's a start.

For your amusement: I did a pegs-in-holes test for manual dexterity, and scored at about 15th percentile with my right hand (15 pegs in 30 seconds). Then she had me do it with my left hand - and even graded for it being the off-hand, I was in the 5th %ile (12 pegs)! (In all other ways my left hand was much better than my right.) Yes, I am very severely righthanded.

The other amusing point was trying to list "everything I can't do with my right hand without pain now." Which is to say, everything I NORMALLY do with my right hand. Which was a long long list, my friends...

So, thanks to the bureaucracy of state insurance, my therapy appointment for today had to be rescheduled for Wednesday - IF the bureaucracy can get its paperwork together by then. All I want to know is:

--Can I start drawing again? (I have drawn NOTHING in months due to this, and while my commissioners have been super patient, *I* am impatient. Not to mention broke.)

--If not right now, WHEN can I start drawing again?

I had to stop dancing because of tendonitis - that still flares up regularly. I am scared stiff that the therapist is going to tell me I have to give up drawing as well.

Date:	2008-07-02 09:28
Subject:	doctor visit results
Security:	Public
Mood:	crushed

Mild carpal tunnel syndrome, most of problem is actually tendinitis. I have a new, more stylish wrist brace, and was given a steroid shot for the CTS, and have an appointment for therapy Monday. Orders are still to rest, and start taking ibuprofen regularly instead of intermittently.

Not happy about tendinitis. I haven't had a happy history with that.

As promised, here's a link to my thrill-a-minute translations journal, now that I've back-posted my whole 6 recent song translations:

Kanjigeek

Not a lot there, and updates will be rare, but you are welcome anyhow! I did one today just for Father's Day. I had forgotten just how much I loved digging through my various large and wieldy (also thick and well-used, though not hard-bound) Japanese dictionaries...

In other news... Went to see the Whiskey Bards perform last night, which was fabuloso, and spent some time with Steve this morning. Otherwise, cleaning and work were my weekend. One might expect that the house would look cleaner, but it really doesn't; on the bright side, certain of the back areas are much more organized and navigable.

...Not much to report on. I have an appointment to see about my hand/wrist/etc. on July 2nd. Work has kept me super busy. About the only thing I've done lately besides work, kids, and household chores is translate a few KAT-TUN songs for <lj comm="jone_records>. I thought about posting the translations here, but there's already so much stuff here - and so few of my regulars have any interest in Japanese boy-bands - that I ended up setting up a new LJ to post translations in. I'll post a link after I've had a chance to put some of the translations up. I'd like to think that sometime I'll have time to do more there, like reviews of jdrama adaptations of manga or such, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I keep thinking my wrist is doing much better, and then I try to do something simple like cut up some chicken for Maddie or stir a pot on the stove and am reminded that resting only works as long as I KEEP resting it, and as soon as I STOP resting it, the benefit ends.

Date:	2008-05-29 08:43
Subject:	it never rains but...
Security:	Public
Mood:	sick and injured
Music:	愛の華 - 上田竜也

SO Tuesday I started to develop a sore throat and felt feverish, but didn't stress over it much - sick I can work through. Wednesday morning my tonsils were looking infected, so I started thinking maybe I should go to urgent care after work.

Then when I was dropping off Maddie and Mark at daycare, I bent down to give Mark his 4th or 5th hug, and my back just went GIKKURI and I couldn't straighten up until I pushed myself up using the table. I could hardly walk.

I was hoping it might go away - once my back was supported in the car it didn't feel too bad - so I went on in to work. By noonish it was pretty clear that it wasn't going away, and furthermore while sitting in my computer chair wasn't that bad, I do a lot more moving around in my job than I had previously realized, which didn't feel good. So I signed out and went to urgent care around 1. Four hours later (holiday weeks are apparently pretty busy) I had my diagnosis: Strep throat AND a badly strained back.

So now I am at home. Someone from work is supposed to call me so I can talk them through what absolutely needs to be done TODAY, so I am sitting in my computer chair, but as soon as said call is over I will be dosing myself up with Vicodin (woo) and Flexeral (muscle relaxant) and lying down in bed with a couple of ice packs. I also have a script of an antibiotic I've never heard of. My throat is completely swollen all the way around, so I am hoping it starts kicking some strep butt pretty soon. I took the kids to their daytime places and am kid-free until 5, which is good because the Flexeral makes me pretty much completely unable to walk, and the Vicodin knocks me out.

As I am a language geek, my main thought right now is that the Japanese word for strained back, "gikkurigoshi." is wonderfully expressive of my current condition.

Date:	2008-05-25 08:34
Subject:	testing
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	イケナイ太陽 - ORANGE RANGE

Nothing to see here, just testing out Xjournal for posting.

I know where my towel is today.

Date:	2008-05-22 16:04
Subject:	Fun day
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic
Music:	MUSIQ, Otsuka Ai

Flat tire this morning, needed to replace 2 tires and also need to have alignment repaired. $350.

Date:	2008-05-21 20:48
Subject:	If I don't post, y'all think I'm dead!
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted
Music:	Ai no Hana, Ueda Tatsuya

...But I'm not.

Last week of school, so there is all sorts of fun going on.

Got my referral to the hand surgeon, so just need to get an appointment now. I don't feel like the wrist brace is doing much good, but I'm not sure how much of that is because there is a lower limit below which I can't rest my hand any more. I stopped drawing completely and have been refraining from unnecessary computer work, but in the end I have to work, which entails a lot of computer stuff, and I can only do so much with my left hand. A "rest only" cure isn't going to do me much good anyhow, because if I have to KEEP not drawing, it's going to cause serious budgetary issues, and my budget is miserable to begin with.

I tried drawing with the stupid brace on, and it was less than successful. If I try drawing loosely, the arc of my strokes is cut off by the upper edge of the brace - and if I try controlling the strokes more to avoid that, I still don't get good lines and it hurts more. I can sketch a bit with the brace off if I am careful, but I don't feel like I have control of what's going on. The results haven't been miserable, but at the same time it pretty much hurts all the time. I am going to see what happens with some gentle coloring so I can work on a few commission updates, though.

Date:	2008-05-10 17:52
Subject:	wrist update
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	KAT-TUN

Sorry not to post sooner, my internet was down (someone broke off my connection outside) & didn't have time at work to post. Now that Cox has come and gone, I am once again connected to the world.

Well, the appointment went about as expected. I said, "I think I might have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome." The doctor fiddled around with my hand for a while asking me questions, and said "Yes, you seem to have carpal tunnel syndrome." Color me not surprised. So now there is a referral for a specialist working its way through the system (though who knows how long it will take), and in the meantime I am wearing a wrist brace 24/7 to see if that helps any.

So far its primary effect has been to annoy me, 24/7. And to slow me down at work (though we are also adjusting certain tasks because of that). And to make even the most simple of tasks overly complicated. But since it is keeping me from doing things quickly-but-painfully, I probably shouldn't complain. I'm also going to give yoga a try again, as I've been meaning to do it to get back in shape anyhow. So we'll see where this takes me.

I am going to see how sketching with the brace on works. I have had luck writing with a very loose grip, so for all I know this may add an interesting quality to my sketching... At least I'm hoping.

In a totally unrelated note, the kids are currently watching the video of Robot Carnival that mom and dad recorded off of TV back in the Clinton years. It is vastly entertaining, because all of the commercials are still there (including one featuring President Clinton, hence the dating). O how times have changed in just a decade or so...

Date:	2008-05-05 19:37
Subject:	Fun fun fun
Security:	Public
Mood:	frustrated

So, to round out our month or so of medical mayhem, I am going to see the doctor Friday to get checked out for carpal tunnel syndrome. I've had stress-pain in my wrists and elbow for so long I hardly noticed it anymore, but this weekend I spent some time cutting up rubber for the new dance floor shocks, and now some of my fingers (on my drawing hand, of course) are numb and weak, classic CTS symptoms. Wish me luck.

Rachel's knee, btw, is doing great. It only needed four stitches, and was over her kneecap, so just got skin and a bit of her infrapatellar pad of fat. She is still on antibiotics from being sick last week, so that's helping to keep infection at bay and it is healing well.

Date:	2008-05-03 22:15
Subject:	woo
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

So today was Rachel's first day back at dance after a week off for sick - so of course immediately after rehearsal, she managed to slash her knee with a box cutter, requiring 4 stitches. Woo.

Date:	2008-04-29 20:51
Subject:	sigh
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted

In the interest of fairness, Rachel and Madeline have acquired their own fevers, coughs, and antibiotic prescriptions now, though thankfully NOT their own pneumonia.

On a happier note, I got to see zippydclown today, when he came to my office for an interview! Alas, I suspect he is not likely to join the world of insurance any time soon, but it was still good to see a familiar face - once he spoke the magic word "SCA" and I realized where I knew his face from. It's been too long!

Date:	2008-04-27 00:03
Subject:	quick-n-dirty update
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted
Music:	Don't U Ever Stop, KAT-TUN

Just to let y'all know that Mark is doing much better - his follow-up doctor's visit went well Thursday, and while he is still coughing (and will be for some time, quoth the doctor) his fever is gone and he is otherwise well, if easily tired. We were lucky in that his blood oxygenation levels stayed good - it looked like the pneumonia was only in one lung and the other one was doing just peachy, so he did not have to be hospitalized. That being said, when you spend literally hours in Urgent Care while they test and retest your preschooler, then explain how he is just a hair away from instant hospitalization - and finish it up by saying "if he gets even the tiniest bit worst, take him straight to the emergency room!" -- let's just say it wasn't good for my stress levels and I was listening with paranoid ears to his every breath for days afterwards, even when it was clear he was improving. I am sooooooooo wiped out. We have to take him in for a followup chest X-ray in a month or so, but otherwise he is cleared for human contact.

There is, of course, other stuff going on, but I'm having trouble putting it coherently right now. I have laundry to wash and fold and general housecleaning to do tomorrow, but otherwise I am determined to draw. Life has been keeping me from that for too long, and I need to work on my backlog and get my groove back. Missing four days of work (though I did work from home a good deal) has not helped matters much.

Date:	2008-04-21 16:41
Subject:	How to have a super-duper day: a recipe
Security:	Public
Mood:	AGH!

Begin with one child exhausted from performance weekend, one doing just peachy, and the third with a light case of pneumonia. Call in to work.

1) Take child #2 to school while child #1 sleeps. Try to take child #3 in for the recommended chest x-ray, find out x-ray does not open until 12, go home for a bit.

2) Around noon, take child #3 back to urgent care for chest x-ray. Spend three hours getting chest x-rayed, pulse and oxygenation checked, doctor exam, fun inhaler treatment, more doctor exam, more pulse and oxygenation checking... Leave with scripts for increased amoxicillin dosage and inhaler, and instructions to take him to the pediatric ER "if he seems to get any worse" and to his doctor on Wednesday otherwise.

3) Learn that during the time spent in urgent care and while child #1 was cleaning her room, tub overflowed and apartment flooded and was dripping on the neighbors downstairs and child#1 was panicking. Boss was thankfully on his way to apartment and had talked to landlord.

4) Spend rest of day (so far, and probably from now on) wringing towels out into the tub and assessing the damage to anything that was on the floor in the bathroom, kitchen, dining room, or art area. For added bonus, fix fresh cup of relaxing hot tea and then kick it over on the carpet whilst sorting through wet things. Let's not forget the fun of children discovering the special properties of wet linoleum re: shoes.

Date:	2008-04-14 22:16
Subject:	Preschooler non-sequitur of the night
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted
Music:	Peak- KAT-TUN

MADDIE: I'm uber-cute!

MARK: I'm uber-cake!

ME: ...What exactly is uber-cake?

MARK: Like this! (sings) Happy birthday to you!

One line-item crossed off my to-do for the week - taxes filed. Now for the other three trillion...