the screaming pages

The meds are starting to kick in and I’m pretty sure my ear infection is beginning to disappear.  Moving my head right and left no longer results in waves of dizziness.  I do still have some balance issues when it comes to bending or standing/sitting too quickly but they’re not as severe as they used to be.  Of course, now that the dizziness is diminishing the sinus pain really seems to be kicking in.  I don’t remember my head and eyes hurting this much when I was dizzy.  I’m sure it did. I was just distracted by the *wheeeee* factor associated with the world spinning whenever I moved.

What I’m really looking forward to next week – and will attend even if I really AM dying – is the evening edition of the Breakfast Bloggers group that Joy occasionally writes about.  I’ve been wanting to attend a gathering for months but could never make it due to work schedules. Since I apparently don’t know how to take vacation days – well, I do, but I use them up to go and write exams. – I’ve never managed to make it to a breakfast meeting.  This always made me sad as I’ve built up a nice blogging friendship with Joy and have wanted to meet her for some time.  Oh, and Dawn.  And Sirdar. And a bunch more new to me bloggers too.

I’m bringing Drew along to the dinner so Sirdar doesn’t feel overwhelmed with all the women.  Hey, it’s a valid reason.  I’m also bringing him along for the heavy lifting (so I can finally hand over my old mac to Dawn and Sirdar), driving instructions (so I don’t get lost), and to keep me from running screaming from the parking lot before dinner.  My poor little introverted self gets nervous meeting new people.  Large bunches of new people is going to be a challenge.  Drew, on the other hand, is a huge extrovert and can break the ice and get along with almost anyone.  He’s my security blanket.

See y’all soon.

Apparently I have ear and sinus infections.  My dizziness is due to the ear infection and the pain should *knock wood* go away once the two infections are cleared up.  Many prescriptions later (approx 2 weeks to complete) I should be good as new.  I figured I should ask a few other medical questions while I was in the room and had a captive doctor at hand.  After a brief question and answer session, I got ordered to find myself a family doctor (easier said than done around here) since apparently I need a bunch of blood work and other tests to rule out a condition that is running rampant through my genetic tree.  Lucky me.  I’m taking tomorrow off as well since I’m actually worse now than I was this morning. Hours spent in a small room with screaming sick kids made my head feel like it was going to explode. Go figure.  I’m going to load myself up with sprays and pills (per el doctore) and head to bed.

Haven’t had much chance to write this week.  On Monday morning I woke up with a dull headache – being a 20+ year migraine sufferer, I didn’t think much of it – that seemed to be explained away by the massive electrical storm we had later that day.  Of course, since my knee didn’t start aching until later that morning, I didn’t immediately make the connection between head pain and barometric pressure/oncoming storm.

It’s weird how often we rely on our bodies to tell us what the weather will be like…

As the day progressed, my dull headache learned a new trick.  If I moved my head or swiveled my eyes around (i.e. glanced down or to the side) I’d experience sharp pains and a wave of dizziness.  Tylenol and Excedrine Migraine – which does wonders offsetting a migraine if I take it early enough – didn’t make a dent in the pain, so I toddled off to bed.  As long as I was sitting or lying quietly the pain was bearable.

Tuesday I woke to find my friend the headache was still in full swing.  As the day progressed, my eyes began to hurt.  No pretty light show or pulsing/throbbing like I’d be expecting from a migraine – just dull pain surrounding my eye sockets.  When sitting still the pain was at a constant low ebb.  Standing up or walking seemed to be a bit of a challenge.  Oh, and stringing a coherent thought together…

By now you’re probably asking why I hadn’t high tailed it to a doctor’s office.  There’s a myriad of reasons but I can boil it down to two pretty simple ones.

1. I’m used to headaches and eye strain and on a scale of 1 to normal migraine, this didn’t seem all that bad.
2. I don’t have a family doctor.  I know.  Shocking.  Doctor shortages in this wondrous Canadian medical system we live with.  I’ve lived in Edmonton for 5 years now and still don’t have a family doctor.  This means that everytime I need a new epi-pen (I’m allergic to peanuts) or anti-malarials (for travel to India), bust up my foot (broken more times that I can count) or am sick, I have to find an open walk-in clinic.  I tend to go to the same one every time.  It’s easier when someone has a semi-stable record of your medical history.  Anywho, going to a clinic means that you sit in a stuffy room for hours on end (I average 4) while you wait to be called.  Then you go into an exam room and sit for another 15-30 minutes waiting to see a doctor.  Then you spew out your complaint and hope for a fix.  If you take out all the waiting, my experience with treatment has always been pretty decent.  But – if you know you’ve got a headache and will be spending 4 hours sitting in an echo chamber with screaming babies and children – heading to a medical clinic for help becomes a last resort…

Yesterday the headache continued.  It was pretty painful at work but seemed to get better as the day went on.  Perhaps it was the trip to the dentist that did it.  Yes.  Ironies of irony, I don’t have a family doctor but I do have a dentist and physiotherapist.  Go figure.  By the time I got home from work I was back to dull ache in the head and eyes with no dizziness.  Wheee!

Apparently I celebrated too soon.  This morning I woke up with my old friend Mr. Headache and his sidekicks Eye Pain, Motion Induced Dizziness, and Swooshy Jello Head.  I’ve finally given in.  I’m taking the day off work, grabbing a good book, and plonking my ass down in a chair at the medical clinic.  I need to figure out what’s going on with my head – or eyes – or whatever is the underlying cause of the pain.

Yesterday I spent the day completing my readings for my Enviro Chem class so I could begin working on my paper.  Despite the trial run on the EIA I completed in paper #2 (based on a case study) I’m still not confident that I actually know what I’m supposed to include in my full EIA that was assigned for paper #3.  I guess I’ll just have to plod through it and hope for the best.  This morning I completed my assignment for my Psych class and I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to complete the Psych paper with no major concerns before it’s due on Friday.

While I’m typing away in the basement, L is making me a planter for my back yard.  My flower bed had to be dug up for the new garage and my lilies were all transplanted into a small wooden box L made months ago.  At the beginning of the summer, L made a beautiful planter for J’s flowers and I’ve been drooling over it for a few months now.  I’d mentioned that I’d wanted Drew to make me a smaller one a while back.  Drew began digging up the soil for the garage cribbing this weekend and L decided that it’s great soil for plants and shouldn’t go to waste so he’s off in his garage building the planter as Drew digs.

I’m not sure if we’ll be transplanting the lilies again this summer (into the new planter) or wait until fall when the plants have died back and are more likely to survive another transplant.  Since I have a black thumb with most plants the decision should not be left to me to make.

Drew’s birthday present came a week early.  He wanted an old beater pickup truck that he can tool around in until we can afford to buy him a brand spankin’ new vehicle.  The car has been on it’s last legs for well over a year and it was well past retirement age.  It was a good car that served us well over the years but it’s time has come and it’s headed to the kidney car foundation scrap-yard in the sky.

After spending some time perusing used truck ads, last night he drove around and looked at a few.  He quickly found one he figured he could nurse for a year or two wanted.  I don’t have my new garage up yet, but I now have a BRIGHT shiny blue 1/2 tonne where the concrete is going to be poured.  Due to it’s advanced age (1994), we’ll have to take it in to get a safety inspection done before we can insure it. I have a feeling that Drew might have used his day off (today) to get a lot of the necessary repairs completed.

Of course, the bonus of Drew having a new (to him) truck is that I get my baby truck back.  No more sharing.  No more Drew choosing my truck over the car and leaving me stranded at home.  w00t!

It almost makes up for the dent in the pocket book and the fact that I have to spend the weekend locked in the basement working on two papers!

UPPERDATE: Yep, I was right. While I was at work he was busy as a beaver getting his truck all sorted out. Safety is done. Registration and insurance obtained. New plates installed and new parking sticker on the windshield. He filled the tank and picked me up at work in it.  All in all he’s a pretty happy camper.