Three Docs Down

I would have posted this last night but my internet connection was all kinds of faulty and fixing it was more than I had patience for because I was vewy, vewy sweepy. I did not sleep well sunday night and slept through my alarm. I called the acupuncturist but didn't get an appointment right away. I was tired yesterday and tried to go to bed early at 9:30 which is about 3 hours early.

The rest is TMI, so stop reading now if you're squeamish or just don't need to know this about me. Skip to the line ------- for weekend deets.

Last night I took my allergy meds so I could breathe at least a little. I slept fitfully for a bit then realized I had some abdominal pain (perhaps residual bladder infection, I have samples at the doc's for evaluation), so I got up and took some ibuprofen so I could sleep through the pain. That worked for an hour. Then I couldn't sleep so I tried reading until I realized my problem was that occasional side effect I get from ibuprofen - restless legs. Turns out one of the best things for RLS is quinine, and the best availability of quinine is in tonic water. Since my mom was here and we went on the quest for quinine, I knew I had some. (She gets restless legs from eating beef. Now I know.)

Even though they add some sugary substance to tonic water, it's still foul stuff, unless one adds the appropriate amount of gin. Sconome's SO can make a mean G&T. I can't. I've yet to determine that amount of gin to make a good gin and tonic. So I added half a lime to try and make it ok. That did help it go down and my legs stilled enough that I slept for about 90 minutes. At which time I woke up suddenly with bile in the back of my throat. Given that the last time this happened was after I had orange juice just before bed, I think it was the lime. But the allergies were not helping. It took about 15 minutes to clear out the bile and post nasal drip from the back of my throat and it burned like fire the whole time. I think I can still taste it. Ugh.

Everyone knows that crackers and tums and dry nothings help to settle stomachs. I don't keep tums around - I ran out of the ones my friend left in Boston - and it turns out I don't have crackers either. So I made some microwave popcorn. Between that and propping myself up for a while to settle the stomach, I was able to read some of Janet Evanovich's "Lean Mean 13" and LOL at the "squirrel bo.mb" until I was finally able to sleep around 3:30 or so AM. Then I slept through my alarm again. Sheesh.

So today I went to the acupuncturist for lunch, then after getting a recommendation from my boss, called her allergist at 4 and they could fit me in at 4:10 for an initial case history. The allergist is around the corner from the chiropractor so I made it in just before closing. He would be happy that I came home and did my neck exercise, but not so happy that I then passed out on the floor for 20 minutes. How did I get to be such a wreck?

I don't want to dwell, but whatever's going on is really intruding on my energy level. I slept a lot more than my visiting friend in an off time zone. I try to eat right. I still eat too much, but I'm working on portion sizes. The big problem is that I only have energy until I leave work and then I wilt. Literally can't lift myself off the floor. I'm hoping I can work out some deal where once I week I can go to the gym at lunch when I have energy. I'm hoping the acupuncture helps my sleep. I'm hoping the cortisol test tells me something I can use.

Ok, that's enough of the crap.
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The weekend was nice. I made a lot of vitamin D.

My friend and I had a good time, although I didn't realize I was so verbally critical of her driving until she told me she knew I wasn't "nice" but likes me anyway. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but hey, I got to see scenery for once. We saw a funny sign at a vendor booth at the strawberry festival that said, "I'm not bossy, I just know what you should be doing." She also said the sign would be redundant for me. I find this odd since it's so tough to be decisive about myself. Then I bought both a long and a short tie-dyed dress at the festival and took pictures of my friend trying on hats.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played at the festival. Big Bonus! I would say they rocked, but they're a swing band. I love me a stand up bass. And swing dancing too, but not in full sun in near 100F heat when 20oz of water costs $3. These people were nuts.


Did I mention it was sunny and hot hot hot? My sunscreen started to fail after 4 hours and I tucked a piece of newspaper into my hat to keep my neck from burning during the concert. To keep my toes from burning, I made them some origami hats.


The lady next to me volunteered to let me use her sunscreen...

And it turns out that even sharing this treat with my friend, it might have helped me to add the one pound I gained this week. Strawberries and funnel cake. Mmm. I would have eaten a LOT of bad food but everything cost $7 so we stopped after this and some fried artichoke hearts and switched to $7 strawberry daquiris and $6 half pints of beer. The prices made the $5 big gulp lemonade at the LA Festival of books look reasonable. At least this tasty treat was for charity.


We also managed to take in some cooler weather in the form of a Santa Barbara evening on friday. My friend took off on saturday night to have sunday to recover from driving me around. I did some errands, hit the library, and read by the pool. Despite the body going to hell in a handbasket, I'm enjoying myself out here in SoCal and can't help but love this weather. If you need me, I'll be drowning my sorrows with hand squeezed lemonade by the pool or at the beach.


Ok, really I'll be at work, or lately at the doctor, but it's still good.