It's time for more HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes (what is it with these November babies, anyway?). This time around they go tojennyagain and boston_princess -- here's hoping that both of you have fabulous days filled with your hearts' desires!

As for me, I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night but, for the moment at least, lying down for 9-1/2 hours seems to have rejuvenated me and shooed away the weakness I was feeling yesterday. So...I'm hopeful that I'll make it through a full work day and do my desperately needed grocery shopping this evening. It's all about the pacing, I guess.

Time for a breathing treatment, then it's full speed ahead towards the ginormous pile of work that awaits me...

FIRST: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
SECOND: Tag eight sexy people. Don't refuse to do that like a pansy.

Tagged by lissa_ann

Say something to the person who tagged you.

lissa_ann : I'm so glad that you friended me – it was an unexpected pleasure out of the blue. I especially enjoy reading your personal posts. You're an intelligent and very courageous person, and I wish you all the best of everything in your life!

Tag: Eight people...1863_project boston_princess hanachan01 horsecrazyliza lovinbecks19 mstieforlife payoffpitch queen_dream

Just because I feel like it. He's just such a happy-looking guy. What a joyous grin! I tinkered with it on Picnik to obliterate the uniform because he played for You-Know-Where at the time and I don't want to upset my fellow Red Sox fans. Incidentally, there are a whole bunch of fun new effects available on Picnik just waiting to be used for iconage. :::evil grin:::

It's about getting to the point where I just have to laugh at my merry-go-round of medical catastrophes because the alternative would be to get really, really depressed.

I was sicker than I thought. Not only did I have bronchitis, it was "headed for pneumonia," according to the allergist. I was shocked o.O that it came on so fast, seeing as how I felt just FINE three days ago. I also was really grateful that my instincts told me to make an appointment for today and not try to tough it out through the weekend.

So now I'm armed with antibiotics, steroids (low dose this time, so I won't go through what I did a few weeks ago), and nebulizer treatments, which basically involve breathing bronchodilator solution that is converted into mist by an air compressor. They're more or less a mega-version of an asthma inhaler. So far so good. It goes without saying that I *STILL* won't be doing any decluttering this weekend, dammit. I'll get to catch up on e-mails and watch MLBN and good stuff like that, though.

But don't be surprised if I'm a bit scarce over the next few days, as self-care of this blasted ankle needs to take priority for a bit.

Long story short, I got worked in yesterday with our very wonderful physician assistant, who said it's NOT infected, that I'm still in the acute phase of the injury, and that my current symptoms are just part of the normal healing process.  What I should be doing is aggressive RICE therapy (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) in order to speed things along, so that's what I've been doing.  Soaking it in ice water multiple times a day, propping it at work (on an overturned wastebasket topped with a pillow) and at home (on three pillows while watching TV, and on two pillows while sleeping).  I've also ditched the air cast in favor of an Ace wrap, which the physician assistant said works much better because now that the immediate injury is over, I don't need as much stabilization, just some compression.  I'm also still using the cane for stabilization and balance if I walk more than across the room.

By doing all this over the past day or so, I've been able to get the swelling down from something resembling a balloon (which was really scaring me) to the point where hey, I can actually see the veins and arteries in the top of my foot.  YAY!

However, elevating it while at home means being away from my computer (makes me wish I had a laptop), so I'll probably be on line a little less for awhile, just in case I get really-really-really behind on comment replies and such.  First things first, KWIM?

I can't believe the Red Sox declined the option on Alex Gonzalez!  I had really taken a shine to the guy, and I thought he was doing a really nice job for us.   :::is all sadface:::

In other news, my ankle got REALLY sore after my last post; it was aching terribly (to the point of whimpering) even when I put no weight on it, which is a change from before.  I took a look at it and there's some redness and warmth.  There was a little bit of redness the day after I did it (the nurse practitioner commented on it), but the aching and warmth?  It reminded me of the way my "crankle" felt last year.  Now I'm wondering if I could possibly have a cellulitis on top of the sprain, or even a touch of arthritis or gout (both of which were mentioned as possibilities by my doctor during the crankle saga).  What I did for the short term was take half a Percocet (whiich knocked me for a loop as usual) and lie in bed with the leg propped.  I even napped a bit to whatever game was on MLBN, and although the pain is mostly gone I'm going to call for an appointment as soon as the office opens (even before I get to work) and have it looked at.  I'm also going to reschedule my two mental health appointments that I was supposed to have this week.  After all, both my therapist and my psychiatrist have offices on second floors of buildings with no elevators, and other than crawl up flights of stairs I don't think I can get there...

Time to bed:  11:20 and fell asleep immediately.

Time awoke with muscle spasms: 12:30.

Time finally fell back to sleep after taking several measures, including finally putting slipper on over cast to further immobilize foot:  Approximately 3:30.

Time finally woke up for good:  9:30.

So I managed to cobble together about 7 hours of sleep and am hoping to do even better tonight.  After all, I do have a long week of work to deal with.  I'm going to sleep with the slipper on again, or maybe even an athletic shoe, because the more my foot is forced to stay in place the less the spasms bother me.  I think in any case I'll be calling my neurologist tomorrow to see if there are any other measures I should be taking.  I'd like to avoid taking the maximum dose of my muscle relaxant, because my regular prescribed dose is 4 mg per night and I've been taking 6 mg and don't want to run out before my next fill date.

My foot is still very sore, so this will be another sedentary day for me.  I've got quiet stuff I can do on the computer, and small house chores that involve standing in one place (which doesn't hurt as much) or sitting.  This is going to get better, I swear it is.  Baby steps, as I like to say.

And now...brunch.

Well whaddya know, a positive post from me for a change!  I may be tired and sore, but I am EXTREMELY grateful to my mother, who made the drive up here today (she's just a half hour away, but she doesn't like to drive that far at her age) to help me out around the house.  We did the laundry, four washloads worth, then she fixed lunch, partly from my fridge, partly from stuff she had brought along, then afterwards she did the dishes.  She also cooked some asparagus for me to eat later.  Then she changed out my moldy shower curtain liner and vacuumed the part of the house that I live in day to day.  By then it was time for her to go home, because she won't drive after dark, but maaaaan, what a lot to get done.  I'm still pretty hobbled by my ankle, so needless to say her efforts were MUCH appreciated.  I tried to tell her I owe her one (or ten), and she said, "But that's what mommies are for!"  LOL...

Just puttering here for a while before bed.  I had trouble with foot spasms again last night, got maybe six hours of sleep, and am fervently hoping that tonight will be the charm.

Just had to send out congratulations to my favorite Muppetfaced Venezuelan (that would be Bobby Abreu) on being signed for two more years by the Angels.  There's a part of me that would have loved to see him in Boston if Jason Bay were not to return, but I also know that many Red Sox fans wouldn't be happy with that simply because he spent 2-1/2 years in pinstripes, so maybe it's for the best.

Based on all I've ever heard about Bobby, he's apparently a real student of the game, an excellent teacher, and oh yes, he's quite intelligent to boot.  A couple more years of being a role model for his teammates in Anaheim and he'll be 37 (turning 38 during Spring Training the following season), at which time I can absolutely see him moving into a coaching role.

Some Bobby trivia: Very early on, he played single-A ball right here in Asheville, I believe in 1992.  I went to plenty of Asheville Tourists games back then, and I'm pretty sure I remember him, mainly because I found his last name unusual.  I read a story some years ago about his season in Asheville.  It mentioned that the McCormick Field announcer thought his last name was "uh-BROO" and enjoyed saying it when he came up to bat, because it was fun to hear the "OO" echo against the ridges that surround the ballpark.  The story went on to say that at that point Bobby spoke virtually no English, so the season was nearly over before he was able to tell the announcer how his name was actually pronounced.   :D

I'm not and have never been the hatin' kind when it comes to being a baseball fan.  I already e-mailed my NYY fan cousins to congratulate them, and I'm hereby extending that congratulations to all the Yankees fans on my f-list.  I really was hoping for a Phillies miracle last night but alas, Matsui got in the way.  I must say, his homely self was very impressive.  I missed the last couple of innings because I was too tired to stay awake, but I did wake up during the postgame for just long enough to realize it was all over.  And now baseball is put to bed for the winter, and I am sad, but of course there'll be plenty of hot stove action and other related news to keep all of us going until Truck Day.  And doG knows I have enough other stuff to keep me busy anyway.
 

When it rains it pours, I swear.

Yesterday was very good up until round about suppertime.  The steroid nasties are nearly gone, and my mobility has improved, and I opted to walk around at work without my cane.  I did just fine, although I was limping some by late afternoon.  Came home and was in "kitchen stuff" mode and was THAT close to boiling up some whole wheat pasta, when I turned my left ankle under HARD.  Not sure if I heard a pop or it was just the shock to my system, but it didn't sound good.  I fell against the door to my furnace closet and knocked it off the hinges.  Then I started hollering, thinking I had probably broken something.  After a minute or two I was able to get up, not really able to bear weight on it, but I got myself onto my cane, opened the kitchen door, and started yelling for my neighbor Bob.  I started tottering across the yard, then dropped to the ground and started crawling towards Bob's apartment.  Thankfully, he heard me and came right outside, hoisted me up, and got me back in the house.  My first thought was that he needed to drive me to the ER, but when I called the doctor on call at my office, he said it sounded like I should wait for an x-ray at clinic this morning.  In the meantime he instructed me to take ibuprofen and some Percocet (I have a very few pills on hand from surgery two years ago), do ice baths, and prop it up.  So Bob went down the street to get a bag of ice, I called my office to tell them I'd be out today (AGAIN) because I needed to stay off my foot, and then Bob brought me some freshly stewed slow-cooker beef that was out of this world, and I stirred together some corn, beans, salsa, and sour cream that was intended for tacos, and that sufficed for dinner.  After that, I did the ice bath and went to bed, where I fell asleep during the 7th inning or thereabouts.

Damn ankle is swollen up like a goose egg.  I can bear weight, but I have to move v-e-r-y slowly and pay attention to how I place my foot.  I have an appointment for 11:30.  I thought Bob was going to drive me but it turns out that he can't.  I guess I'll take the back roads over there, because driving is going to be dicey at best, seeing as how I'm having trouble bending my ankle.

Oh, this is so much fun.  Not.

Sorry for the spam, y'all.  My decluttering efforts this evening involved sorting through some of my old cassette tapes (I have several hundred to go through, dating all the way back to the 1970s).  Prior to tonight I had been working on the noncommercial tapes that were unrelated to my many years as a fiddler; tonight I got started on a box of tapes recorded at festivals, parties, bar gigs, and of course a few commercial tapes put out by old friends over the years.  I had been dreading this with good reason.  I already knew that commercial tapes tend to disintegrate/mold/whatever more readily -- I guess the manufacturers use cheaper materials than what my my friends and I used for our private endeavors.  So tonight, as I had suspected, I had to throw out most of the stuff that my old pals recorded professionally, because the tapes were full of chalky white spots and fun stuff of that nature.  What upset me, though, was that a good percentage of the personal tapes were similarly ruined.  Not all of them, certainly, and there were some happy surprises, such as the pristine condition of the tape that I made the very first time I went to a bar gig by the band that literally changed my life.  That was back in 1980 and I recorded it on a freaking MEMOREX tape (!!!!), and it has held up all these years.  But for every "oh wow, it lives!" moment there was an "oh shit I have to throw this one out" moment.  So many memories...right into the trash.  It really sucks.