Complaints Dept.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Went to see my dentist yesterday to get my temporary crown put in and also a filling in another tooth. I was there for over 3 hours. I managed to watch The Wedding Planner 1.5 times. “Watch” meaning it was playing on the screen next to my chair and ran throughout the procedure of drilling and shots and drilling and shots. When I sat down I caught the last 10-15 minutes and the first 5-10 minutes of the movie. And then I was laid back and hung out that way for about 90 minutes of torture - I could hear the movie, but I couldn’t see it. Then, when he was done with the drilling I sat there watching the last 15 minutes and the first 5-10 minutes again while I waited for the temporary crown to be molded prior to insertion into my mouth.

It’s a little disconcerting to hear that drilling sound behind you when you’re at the dentist.

1.5 viewings of The Wedding Planner = way too much J.Lo. But it also = still not enough Matthew McConaghey. So does that make it a wash?

Anyhow, 3+ hours and 3 shots of novocaine later I spent the afternoon trying not to chew off the right side of my lower lip (somehow it got slightly mangled as the day went on). I go back in 2 weeks to get the permanent crown and then I’m done with the dentist for the rest of my life. No, that’s not true. I have been asked to go back in 3 months for a cleaning that didn’t get finished since it had been 8 years since my last trip to a dentist’s torture chamber.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Monday - somehow managed to scratch my right eye enough to generate pain for most of the day. Turns out it was just an irritation of the outer corner and not the cornea, but still. Missed a day of work and sported an eye patch until about 4pm. Not a cool black, pirate-type eye patch - just your every day gauze and tape patch.  But it did the trick and by late afternoon the eye was no longer painful.

Tuesday - Spent the morning at work and then went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Patriot Center. That is a very cool show. Both kids loved it. Yes, Molly Ann was enthralled and stayed cheerful and engaged until about the last 30 minutes. I took her up to the tunnel where I wore her and we watched the end. Throughout I felt the scratchy throat of an oncoming cold.

Wednesday - woke up with more intense scratchy sore throat, but went to work because I felt fine otherwise. By the time I got home, I was worn out and not feeling so hot. Went to bed early.

Thursday - started in the middle of the night when the congestion invaded my sinuses and interrupted my sleep. Spent a restless night fighting to breathe. “Woke up” in the morning convinced I was dying, called in to inform my boss** that I was staying home to save them from the plague. By the evening, the cough had settled in quite nicely and it was an effort to speak. I’m sure Beau appreciated this new aspect of my illness.

** My new boss is now Amazing One. She was promoted to that slot when My Boss retired this month. She is not to be confused with my real New Boss when I transfer to the New Job. That hasn’t happened yet. Are you all properly confused now? Good.

Friday - awoke this morning to the wracking cough. Interestingly, the congestion is much diminished although my sinuses still feel like each is about 10 lbs. I’m really hoping I don’t have a sinus infection. The barking cough is enough for now. I can speak, but it is an effort at times. Stayed home - again, for the good of the people at my office. No need to share my germs with them the week before Christmas.

I’ve spent the past two days hiding from my children. That part really sux, but I don’t want them to be sick at Christmas either. Jesse is a sweetheart - very concerned that I take my medicine and offering to sleep with me, although that is code for jumping on the bed. Where that boy got the gift of mercy is a mystery - although his father seems much more merciful than I.

And then we get to the snow part - we basically have a blizzard headed this way. I’m bummed because I have two Christmas parties this weekend that I was really looking forward to attending. I’m thinking the one for Sunday with my small group ladies will still happen since by that time the snow will have stopped falling. But the one for tomorrow night is a no-go, at least for me. I still have not gotten word from the hosts on any plans to cancel or reschedule - imho, it would be odd to expect people to show up at a party when we’ll be getting better than a foot of snow.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Woke up cranky again this morning - at 3am when Molly woke up crying. I was baffled because she hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night for a few weeks now. So I went in to see what was up and still couldn’t figure it out.

I changed her diaper - twice. She managed to wet the new one as I was attaching the sticky strips. All while she was still crying.

I walked with her - crying. I sat and tried to rock her - crying. I felt for teeth - no sign of anything, but still crying. And then I tried to nurse her - that ratcheted up the crying several notches.

At that point I put her in the crib to see about getting a bottle when Beau stumbled out of our room. He went to hold her while I made a 2 oz bottle. She grabbed at it in desperation and gulped it down pretty quickly. And then started crying as soon as it was empty and looking at the bottle as if it had betrayed her. So I went to make 2 more ounces, which she gulped down equally quickly. She started to cry again, but I burped her and then she started to rub her sleepy eyes. She was sound asleep by 3:30am.

But I was wide awake so I’ve been up since 3am. I’m armed with several teas today - both for the caffeine that I think I’ll need, but also for the warmth on this chilly, rainy day and for my diet.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

I’m cranky this afternoon.

I blame the lack of chocolate.

There is no opportunity for any either since the deli upstairs is now closed.

One more hour until I can go home. At least I am listening to a good book this week. It’s one of those books that you think about all the time when you can’t read it because you’re supposed to be working.

Why is it so impossible to get to a human?

You want your money? Then get a human to answer your phones.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Now that I am no longer The Food Source™ for Molly Ann, it’s time to shed the extra 50-60 pounds I’m carrying around post-childbirth of two babies.

I’m motivated by the clothes that don’t fit.

I’m unmotivated by the food I like to eat.

There’s also our budget, which is tighter than tight. So while I’d love the accountability of paying for Weight Watchers meetings or their online stuff, we just cannot afford that. So I’m trying to figure out how to do WW without the meetings and without knowing how they value foods to their points system. I hate counting calories, frankly. I don’t want to think of every morsel that goes into my mouth as points. How tedious. I hated doing that when I had the gestational diabetes, too.

Add the complication that Beau is our primary cook, and it means I have to remind him how not to cook. So I’m on the hunt for low cal/low fat recipes that will still taste good and won’t break our bank. I’m hoping this blog will help - I already found a recipe that has potential for the pork chops we have thawing in the frig.

[LATER]: Yes, I know. Exercise. Not happening. No time. For real - there are no extra minutes in my days to work in exercise.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

As things ramp up to the end of the fiscal year, the lack of posting will probably get worse here. And then there will be the transition to the new job, which means there will be even less posting. Sad.

I’m agitated and in a funk this week. And I’ve been fighting a cold for the better part of a week. It’s aggravating because it doesn’t get worse, but it isn’t getting better. I’m holding in that early stages of the cold where you have that fuzzy headed feeling but I have no other symptoms - no sniffles, no sore throat, no cough, no fever. Just the fuzz and general lethargy.

I look around my cluttered office and dread the clean up needed before I go. I already have a huge box of stuff to be shredded after clearing out one whole file drawer of policy memos that go back to the early 1990s. I never opened the drawer in the five years I’ve sat in this room so I figured I was safe to trash it all.

And that’s all I have to share at the moment. Scintillating, I know.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

As is usually the case, Jesse came home with a cold after spending the weekend at all three services at church. He started the snot on Tuesday. Beau started feeling poorly yesterday. Poor little Molly Ann was super snotty and snorty when I fed her overnight and worse this morning. And not to be left out, I woke up with the tickle in my throat that warns of the cold in me, too.

What makes it harder is that I’m on worship team this weekend. So I have band practice tonight. And then I’ll be at church from about 3:30pm to 6:30pm on Saturday and then from about 8am - 1pm on Sunday. Beau and kids will pretty much hang at home so as not to share their germs with the other kids. This means I’ll have to pump while at church both days in order to replace the bottles that would have been saved for Tuesday that MA will consume over the weekend instead. I’m kind of hoping that MA will be on the mend enough that I can take her with me on Sunday so that I can nurse her instead of pumping. We’ll just have to pray and see, I guess.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Because of the major overhaul of the Wilson bridge, the Beltway is being widened. This is a good thing, but the process is killing the commute. On Monday VDOT shut down the Eisenhower Avenue exit, which means that all of the folks who normally take that exit (me included because I stopped going down to Telegraph Road when the construction started down there - it’s an utter mess. I’ll have to bring my camera one day to take pictures of the mess and the traffic.) are now forced into taking the Telegraph Road exits. To make matters worse, there are no shoulders at all on either side of the highway, so the smallest fender bender becomes a major incident.

Like today, where there was a fender bender between a can, a taxi, and an 18-wheeler on the right just past the Eisenhower Ave exit. This resulted in a fender bender between Van Dorn and Eisenhower on the left. Imagine the back up.

*bangs head on desk*

It took me 45 minutes to drive a stretch of road that normally takes about 10-15 minutes.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Beau now has Jesse’s tummy bug. It was a rough night in the house. The good news is that Jesse is on the mend - he managed to keep down quite a bit of water overnight and had a very wet diaper this morning. I was relieved to see that. I think Beau will ease him into some food later today.

That is if Beau can manage in the kitchen. He was able to make my breakfast and then went upstairs to throw up. Poor guy.

I feel terrible to be at work while they suffer, but Beau insisted that I come in. I have to save the leave and I have a ton of work to do.

If you would, we appreciate your prayers. Also, I cannot get this bug - not only would it be bad for baby, but with the diabetes it would be worse.

*sigh*

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Again: I actually did pull over this morning because of my hypoglycemia. This on a half dose of the glyburide and double carbs. I can’t win. And I want to cry. I’m so tired of not feeling good. And just tired generally. I woke up super cranky this morning.

Why: Tatiana makes the wild card? Seriously? There were several other people I could think of that are much better options than that nutjob. Sheesh.

LOST was awesome last night.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Feeling hypoglycemia coming on when in your car in heavy rush hour traffic is not fun. I had passed all options for stopping to get some orange juice about 20 minutes earlier and still faced about 15-20 minutes to get to my office when I could feel my blood glucose drop like a rock. By the time I got to my office I was in bad shape. Fortunately, my back up ran upstairs to buy some OJ for me and I’ve been chomping on rice cakes and I’m doing better already.

But this is really getting old and now dangerous. It’s so frustrating because I followed the directions I was given yesterday - I kept to the whole dose of glyburide and doubled my carbs at breakfast. That didn’t work, clearly.

*huffy, weary sigh*

[UPDATE 5:00pm]: Finally talked to the lady at the diabetes center. She agreed that cutting the pill in half as well as continuing with increased carbs with breakfast will probably solve the problem. She wants me to call her on Friday if I still experience hypoglycemia at that point.

Friday, February 27, 2009

So I took the first dose of the glyburide with breakfast, as ordered. Less than two hours later I was not feeling well at all. Checking the documents that came with the meds revealed that I was having a hypoglycemic event. When I tested my blood glucose, it was 50. That seemed really low to me, so I called my OB to ask how low is too low.

Since it was my first dose, the doc asked me to track closely over the weekend and to bring my tracking booklet in with me on Monday. They’ll reevaluate the dosage at that point if the numbers continue to be really low.

It makes me wonder how borderline I am with the diabetes in the first place. And I’m still not feeling quite right, although I don’t think I’m going to pass out anymore.

*sigh*

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

1. This post was convicting. I shall cease and desist immediately. The truth is I really do love my job and I am grateful to have it, especially in this economy and given our family circumstances. God has blessed us and while there are certain aspects of my job that do drive me nuts, in the grand scheme they are relatively minor.

2. Related to item #1, I was struck by how the economy is impacting folks in ways that I wasn’t aware. Several in my small group expressed concerns - they are small business owners who aren’t being paid by clients despite having already received goods/services. What was surprising was whom the clients were - very large companies who should easily be able to pay.

3. I plan to skip the President’s speech tonight. I am not interested in hearing what he has to say. He’s said plenty already. If you ask me, the Dow should cover its ears, as well.

4. I’m on worship team for the final time this weekend. I won’t participate with that ministry again until well into the summer. I’m going to miss it.

5. In TV news, I have not seen an episode of the new season of The Amazing Race. Somehow I missed that it was starting a couple of weeks ago. I guess I’ll have to wait for the DVD. *lightbulb* Or maybe I should check for eps online that I missed and set the DVR to record the rest of the season. I can watch it while I’m on maternity leave.

Does anyone else think it’s odd that there’s way more traffic shown on 24 this season than when they were in LA? Not that DC doesn’t have horrendous traffic, but still…. Also, I have to quibble over the FBI mole dude swearing out warrants for Jack and Agent Walker - that would never happen. All law enforcement, be they local, state, or federal, must get a warrant from a judge. One last thing from last night’s ep: anyone else think that Agent Walker and Jack were going to kiss? I’m half relieved/half disappointed that they didn’t.

Friday, February 13, 2009

One thing I learned about the diabetes that I forgot to mention in my post at TG is that stress will increase your blood glucose. I’m convinced that the stresses I’ve dealt with the past couple of months at work contributed to my developing the diabetes. But that’s water under the bridge.

I’m letting go of my angst over the work issues. Not that I’m not going to continue to work toward resolution before my maternity leave (for the sake of my back up, bless her!), but I’m not going to continue to internalize the feud with Useless One.

I was talking with the Chief yesterday about myriad other things when he brought up the proposal/meeting of last week. He reiterated to me his gratitude for Amazing One’s and my work on our proposal and that he agreed that our idea seemed the best solution to the problem. And he also reiterated his understanding of the inequity of the workload that Useless One is doing considering her grade versus the other admins and that he is taking steps to rectify that problem. I’ll be interested to see what pans out, given the fact that my boss told me the other day that Useless One’s third proposal is basically to keep the status quo. Obviously that won’t fly and why he didn’t tell her that is a mystery. He also told me that she told him that she thinks I’m trying to pawn off work onto the admins, to which he said he laughed and told her that she has no clue what I do and that my workload doesn’t change no matter which proposal is agreed to. So there’s that, but she really has no clue what goes on in our office beyond her little corner because she hasn’t taken the time to learn anything beyond her little corner. And frankly, she barely knows that goes on in that little corner after being around for 2 years.

But enough of that. I’m washing my hands of it…I definitely do not need the stress in my condition.