Tag: health

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Fluid Loss

I woke up super early on Saturday so I could get home to shower before taking Eaddie and a couple of her classmates to Conway for National History Day. We barely got everything loaded up into the car because it was so wide, but we managed. I dropped the girls off at the UCA College of Business building and then left to find some breakfast. I ended up at McDonald’s for a cheap breakfast sandwich and coffee, and then started toward Little Rock to see Gary. He had three hours of physical therapy though, which meant I had to kill about half of my morning before I could actually see him.

I ended up going to Walmart, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Target, and Home Depot before Gary finally texted that he was all done. For all the walking around and shopping I had done, I really only picked up a couple packages of nuts for him as a snack, and then a really nice feeling pen flashlight as a cheeky gift. I also found a cover for the Masterbuilt Gravity 800 that was on clearance, so I picked it up figuring that I might just flip it on eBay since I already have a cover for mine.

I made my way across town to the rehab clinic where they moved Gary, and visited with him for a couple hours. He thought he was ready to pass out pretty early, but by the time I got there he said he was feeling alright. It’ll be another couple weeks before he can go into surgery to reconstruct his knee, but they already worked on his elbow. Eventually I was ready for a late lunch, and headed back toward Conway to eat before I had to get the girls.

I decided on Long John Silvers since I could actually get it fresh and eat there. The entire hour I was in the restaurant, I only saw a couple other people show up. The employees always outnumbered me, and none of them looked super excited to be there. The food was super good though, and tasted really fresh. Some guy rolled in on a knee scooter with a bum, or possibly missing leg, and sat at a table next to be in a fully open restaurant. He kept trying to sell me a couple deep well sockets that he said were his only possessions.

Eaddie finally texted me that they were done just as I was leaving the restaurant, which was a relief since she had somehow turned on airplane mode a few hours earlier, and I wasn’t able to see her location. I got the girls home, and by that time had started to feel a little sick to the stomach, but I had no clue what I was about to experience.

I took a bath after not feeling so great, but then once I tried to go to bed, I had trouble sleeping and had to get up about every hour to go to the bathroom again. During one of my earlier visits, I felt an inkling that throwing up might help me feel better, and I probably lost about a gallon of fluids that way. Overnight, I had lost about six pounds.

Summer let me lay around in bed all day, and went to Walmart to get a bunch of Pedialyte and Gatorade. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that I felt well enough to make some rice and egg. I finished watching Nope and then fell asleep again for a while. Summer had spent the day resting on the couch, and Eaddie had left for most of the day to watch a band concert and then help her grandmother with some gardening. Joshua texted to prompt me to schedule an interview, so I booked that for Thursday to make sure I’ll be completely over whatever killed my weekend. Summer was in bed by the time Eaddie made it back home, and then everyone was off to sleep again.

Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!

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Hang Low

Summer asked me to stop by Superfast this morning to check out their computer, but they figured out how to hook up a new monitor on their own before I got there. I stopped for a couple breakfast burritos from Taco John’s and met up with her to eat, and then continued on home and got cleaned up so I could jump right into job hunting. I had a few that I had saved from the night before, so today was for submitting applications. In the middle of a bunch of confirmation emails, I actually got one for an interview, so I’ll schedule that for next week.

Summer ended up going to Morrilton, but came back so we could go out for a late lunch or early dinner. We ended up at Wendy’s for a relatively poor experience. They didn’t have the stuff to make the bourbon burger she wanted, and they didn’t add my requested vegetables to my pretzel pub burger. It was also just really dry and unsatisfying.

We made it up to her house and sat around for a while. Autumn eventually showed up after mooching some dinner off of her grandparents. Eventually I had to get Eaddie from her classmate’s house, where they were practicing for their National History Day competition tomorrow. When we got back, I started watching NOPE on a complete whim, but didn’t get very far before we had to go to the depot for the 5k Glow Run.

We arrived at the depot a little early, but didn’t have a whole lot to do. Cindy walked by us and stopped long enough for me to give her a hug. She has always been so friendly, and was always so encouraging about the work I did on the CPPC. I couldn’t help but feel a little like I let her down, but that’s why I have to fight.

Once they started lining up for the race, I had to leave to get away from the loudspeakers. I headed home to swap cars, and then took Summer’s to the carwash before coming back to pick them up. Of course Summer and Eaddie had already finished for a little while, but we had to wait for Autumn to finish well below average.

The girls showered once we got back to the house, and I did my best to get to bed early so I could take a bunch of kids to Conway in the morning.

If you’re going to be rebellious for rebellion’s sake, then I recommend you continue being a complete twat.

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Psych!

I felt super sick to the stomach after I went to bed last night, but I slept pretty horribly. After just a few short hours of sleep, I got up and showered so we could get some breakfast before we had to get across town for Summer’s appointment. The hotel breakfast was about standard for what I’ve become accustomed to considering an upscale continental breakfast, but I’m not sure I’d consider it a “full breakfast” as advertised.

The trip across Little Rock wasn’t too bad, and the written directions were a great help. We made it underground and then back up to the parking garage, and upstairs into the psychiatric wing. We didn’t have to wait very long to get back, and the first part of the appointment was a bit more like therapy than I was expecting. Afterward, he had a bunch of tests for Summer to do that would take a couple more hours, so I had to get lost. I ran to the deli to get her some snacks, and then ended up in the car for a while. I thought Ben might be able to entertain me, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, I just sat in the car while it did a software update.

Eventually I started to feel a little ill being cramped up again, so I went back inside for the rest of the time. My phone was enough to keep me entertained, and eventually they came back out. The whole meet was way less formal than a normal doctor visit, so it was interesting. Hopefully it’ll help motivate Summer to take better care of her mental health.

We headed straight back to Conway, where Summer had to stop and work for a bit. We moved some stuff between cars, and then I headed toward home. Just past Plumerville, I ran into a dead stop in traffic on the interstate. Evidently there was a large semi wreck way ahead, and they just closed a large portion of the interstate between Morrilton and Blackwell. I ended up stopping at the first Morrilton exit once I got there, and had a Happy Meal before taking Highway 64 back to Blackwell.

As soon as I got home, I quickly unpacked and then met Summer at Shell for some gas. Then she went to Popeye’s for dinner while I headed up to the girls. She wasn’t terribly far behind me, and everyone had a little to eat before bed. Eaddie was up trying to get help with science homework, but I was exhausted from multiple nights of very poor sleep, so I made it to bed super early.

Shut It Down

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WHAT’S THE PASSWORD

I was several minutes late to work this morning because the D&R railroad was blocking both major roads I could take. I possibly could have driven around it, but I didn’t expect it to last as long as it did. Shortly after I got to the shop, we all headed to Crawford to deploy new docking stations. Since we actually had to wait for someone to get the docks, I stopped by McDonald’s for a coffee with the hopes that it would help me feel a little better.

Deploying the docks took all morning, and we made it back to the shop for lunch at La Chiquita. After lunch, I wanted to make it over to the high school to try and get the new virtual domain controller joined to the EAST domain. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I spun that VM up that I couldn’t remember the admin password I set. I spent the rest of the day trying to get in, but my mental state just got foggier in a pretty steep decline until we were let out an hour early.

I stopped by the tint shop on my way out, to try and schedule an install before Summer’s next big VIP night. The price I was quoted this time was less than half what I was given before, so I scheduled it for Thursday and continued home to get some paperwork for the DMV. Unfortunately they were closed for the holiday, so I stopped by Superfast to see Summer for a bit before going back home to rest.

I just felt worse and worse all night until I made it up to Summer’s for the evening. I made some ramen that helped me feel a little better for a bit, but then my head cold just got worse again until I made some Theraflu and went to bed.

Who nose?

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She’s a Brainiac, Brainiac on the Floor

I got a request to shuffle a bunch of stuff at Support Services yesterday, so first thing this morning, Gary, Zach, Greg, and I went over to take care of that. It ended up being way easier than I expected, and we knocked it out pretty quickly, even after we lost Zach to go watch his kid do a firefighter challenge at Sequoyah.

Afterward, I went back to my office and started in on my Network+ videos again until lunch time. It was Brody’s last day, so most of us got together and went to Cicis for lunch. While we were there, Aaron and a couple other guys from the bank came in, and he snuck up behind me to say, “hi.”

Summer had gotten a call from the neurologist that they could see her in the afternoon, which was way better than waiting for the middle of December, so she came back to town and picked me up after lunch. We went straight to their office and waited for them to open back up from lunch so we could fill out paperwork before talking to the doctor. The meeting actually went really well, and he put us at ease right away. The abnormality was some possible shrinkage of her frontal lobe that could possibly have been greater than average, but he didn’t feel like that had anything to do with the symptoms that brought her to the doctor in the first place.

Summer did a few cognitive tests with varying results, and he referred us to UAMS, which we’ll probably do at the start of next year after her deductible resets. She still felt a bit off with a headache, but I talked her into going to my house to clean up, since I had been gone from work long enough to take the remainder of the day off.

I poked around in the garage when I got home, and cleaned and organized a few more things. Summer befriended a beautiful white dog with white eyes, who I’d seen wander around the neighborhood in the past. We tested the couple of scrapped TVs I brought home, and one of them appeared to work without any trouble. The other was clearly physically broken on the left side, but it would be fine for someone that just needs one that works at all. We loaded up the better one to take to her house, and then I ran around looking for some feet. I thought I had some in my office, but I finally came back home and found them there.

Up at Summer’s house, Eaddie was already dressed down for the evening. Summer made Rice Krispies Treats, and eventually Autumn showed up from whatever she had going on. I had gotten a message that my VIN was assigned, so I hopped online to try and finalize my Progressive quote. Since the delivery is happening so late in the year, I’m actually getting a 2023 year model, which is pretty neat. I won’t have ultrasonic sensors, so I’m annoyed that some features may be temporarily disabled, but hopefully it won’t take long for that to be corrected. I had trouble making the insurance changes myself because the new year model wasn’t even in the system yet, so I had to spend quite a while chatting with support to get the changes made. My rate will be higher than I thought, but still only about half of what State Farm wanted for just one car.

The girls all wound down pretty quietly, so I surfed my nightly deals, got a little distracted, and eventually made it to bed.

We are so close to being able to speak of Tres!

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Not Much for Surprises

I had to go to Oakland a couple times this morning, but the work orders were easy fixes. I don’t think anyone else was super motivated around the office, but I kept fairly busy until lunch time. We went to Taco John’s as usual, and I ran into the Cochrans on their way out. We chatted for a little bit in the entryway about their retirement and my bikes. When everyone else showed up and we sat down to eat, Ben showed up. Evidently he had been around town meeting with some schools, and arranged to meet us for lunch.

I took the afternoon off and went by Superfast to check on Summer. She had a bit of work to do before her MRI, so I went home and waited for her to pick me up. As soon as she got there, we went to Saint Mary’s and filled out paperwork. We had to wait a little bit, but then she went to the back for the MRI while I waited in the lobby. The girls had dentist appointments after that, so we surprised them by showing up to pay their copays. Autumn was in a mood, and Eaddie just rolled her eyes about it. On the way out, Summer got a call about her MRI, which reportedly showed something odd about her frontal lobe. She spent the rest of the day Googling that, which would have been more upsetting if I hadn’t been present when her nurse did almost exactly the same thing.

We went to their house for a minute, but then left the girls to go back to their after-school activities. Then Summer and I headed to Conway for her work meeting. She couldn’t decide where to eat, so I tried the old trick where I told her I had the perfect place that she loved, but made her guess where we were going. She got super excited when she guessed Shark’s Fish and Chicken, but afterward changed her mind to Mexican. She really liked a place right off the highway called Los 3 Potrillos, so we went there. I’m not sure what made my parrillada so expensive, but all of the food was pretty good. The tortillas were so fresh that our server literally had to go make them for us after he brought out our food.

After we ate, we went to the shop and Summer got settled in. I waited around until I could show her how to make a Google Form for a sign-in sheet for the training she was giving. Then I went across town to Target to try and find a deal on some Google Nest mesh routers. They had one in stock that was marked at regular price, but they rang up for $80. I wished they had more than one, but I was happy with my find.

I made a quick run through the rest of the store, but nothing really jumped out at me. On the way out, I texted Ben to see what he was doing. He invited me over to his place, which was way out on the west end of town. It took me forever to get out there, and the neighborhood was a lot more tightly packed than I expected, but it was a nice place. The kids all came out to show out for company, and we eventually made it upstairs so he could show me his urinal and the bar, complete with a soda gun. He wanted to get rid of it, and offered it to me for half of what he might be able to get online. Prices seem to vary pretty wildly, but I figure I’ll probably end up with it eventually.

I left after a little while, knowing that it would take me a bit to get back to the shop. I arrived just as Summer was finishing up, so it was great timing. I was really glad I didn’t wait for her to text. We made it home without any fuss, and then everyone was off to bed.

Life’s less disappointing if you always assume the worst, but then again I am the positive one of the bunch.

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Lawyer Show!

I took the R1 today, and made it to work pretty early. There wasn’t a whole lot going on that early, but I had stuff to pick at. Summer made an appointment to see a nurse about her headaches and numbness in her left side, and wanted me to go along with her. She picked me up from work a little before lunch time, and we went to the Millard-Henry Clinic. I was surprised by how quickly we got in, but unimpressed by our visit. Her nurse seemed to just be reading things off of UpToDate, which kind of sounded like WebMD behind a paywall. She asked a few questions, but it really seemed like she was taking a guided program to diagnose the issue.

In the end, we got some prescriptions called in, but then didn’t actually receive the new ones when we stopped by Rose Drug as we left. Summer decided she would just go back later, and instead we went to Stoby’s for lunch. A couple guys came in after us and seemed a bit rude in the way they spoke to our server. They were definitely not there to chit-chat, and ignored common courtesy to start immediately in on their orders. Summer and I finished up pretty quickly, and then went by her house to get her laptop. She decided she wanted to spend the day with me in my office, working from my couch.

I had to go to Oakland for a few things, but finished them up relatively quickly. Then I came back to the shop for a bit before having to wrap things up and go to the high school for our CPPC training. Summer took off and I ran upstairs to deliver some laptops, and then it was off to the new board room at the high school. I arrived early enough to avoid the traffic, and passed a bunch of administrators as they were leaving their own meeting. As I walked in, Ginni immediately called me out with a big smile and asked rhetorically if I was Autumn’s dad. I quipped back that it was only voluntary, and we went back and forth for a moment before I found a seat.

The training was short, and I think the administrators learned more than I did. The lawyer basically reiterated a bunch of the points I made last year, so at least now they’ll be less likely to break the law. It wasn’t a complete waste of time, but I still think we ultimately just need a committee of more rounded, learned individuals.

I rode back to the shop to finish out the day, but didn’t get into anything else. I made it home a little late and waited for Summer and Eaddie to come over. Then we went to my parents’ house for shrimp noodle soup. Autumn decided to go to the kid’s funeral with some of her friends, which annoyed Summer after Autumn went back and forth on how much any of that affected her. The soup was great, and then Dad made a pear cake that we thought was awesome.

The girls dropped me off back at home for the night since it was so late, and I didn’t want to have to get gas just to make it up to their house. My house was hot, which gave me a bit of a headache, so I didn’t get up to anything. Instead, I watched one more episode of She-Hulk and then went to bed.

Breaking all the walls.

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Rhoid Rhaige

Today was super uneventful, but I needed the break. We’ve been blocked out of everywhere we need to go, and are waiting on other work to be completed before we can complete our own jobs. What’s worse is that we’re made to work longer days for these three weeks, so we spend all week frustrated with busy work.

I hung around the office all day, and Thomas had a bunch of us help move furniture since he’s being made to clear out his office. The minimalism cult is clearing out anything of comfort for the sake of efficiency. Josh and Jacob brought a couple computer desks back to the shop, where they put them together in the hallway for use when having new users sign in or change passwords. The computers will be unused for most of the months of the year, but c’est la vie.

Brody, Thomas, and I went to Nonna Bella for lunch, and all three had the spaghetti and meatballs. We split an order of cheese bread, and we all left pretty stuffed. The food was good, but I was a little concerned by the amount of cheese on the bread.

The afternoon went by incredibly slowly. I spent most of the time just sitting with Jacob in my office, waiting for the clock to run out. Thomas came back for a bit and chatted with us, but even he knew there wasn’t much we could get up to.

After work, I went home to lie down for a bit before heading up to Summer’s for the evening. I started the lawn mower with a single pull, so Autumn came out obediently to finish mowing. I picked at some leftover coleslaw that was on its way out, and the girls watched TV until bedtime.

aLL tHE sTeARoIDs!

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Exhail

I had a pulmonary function test this morning at Millard Henry, so I made it home early to get ready. A huge storm blew through pretty quickly, and I could hear hail pinging the rooftop. It had died down to a light rain by the time I had to drive across town. I was in and out of the clinic relatively quickly. I didn’t have the greatest confidence in the nurse that helped me, due to the way she kept making excuses for the apparatus. I did three puffs, and then another three after a couple shots of albuterol, and she said the results looked normal.

I stopped by to kill some time with Dad before having to go to work, but forgot he was heading out with his friend Dave to an old classmate’s celebration of life event. I started to go home, but then decided to go up to Summer’s to pick up my medication that I forgot to take with me in the morning.

When I got there, Eaddie was painting while Autumn slept on the couch. The power had gone out a few hours earlier, so I thought I might take them to my house for the day. They thought they might ride bikes, but I told them it was going to rain the entire day. After a little while, the power came back on, so I left them there to go to work.

I met up with the guys at Arby’s because I wanted to try their wagyu burger. It was pretty good, but I don’t think I’d ever actually go to Arby’s to order it again. I like too much of their regular menu to be bothered by ordering something they’re not known for. I still prefer a hot, fresh, Wendy’s burger to just about any other in town.

When I got to the shop, Gary had me image a couple laptops, and then walk across to Transportation to install Adobe on a couple computers. The laptops were done by the time I made it back, so I delivered them to Oakland before coming back to the shop for a group showing of how we were expected to take inventory the rest of the week. When we finished there, Gary wanted to take everyone to a building to show us live, so we went to the Oakland library where several things weren’t actually in the inventory system.

We filtered out a little early, and I headed home for the evening and started some laundry. A couple kids that had been by a few days ago showed back up and rang my doorbell again. I assumed they wanted to mow my lawn, but instead they asked about my Pontiac. The oldest one didn’t look like he was even close to driving age, but he said he would get his permit next year and wanted to buy it. I couldn’t help but laugh, and told him it would be a very poor choice for a first car for a multitude of reasons.

I poked around the rest of the evening, and tried not to go to bed too late. One of the things I poked around with was the succulent in the bathroom window. I cut it pretty low to the base with the hope that it would branch out, and then pulled a couple leaves off to see if they would sprout. It was just getting too tall and boring with its singular trunk.

What the hell do June showers bring?

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Facebook Medical Supplies

I slept in a little bit today since I took the morning off for my wellness exam. The girls stayed home since Summer was working in town. I went in for my visit, forgetting that I had filled out my medical form with my preferred first name of Captain Michael of HMSV Manatee. Keely came in wanting to know the story behind it, and we shared a few laughs. We decided to schedule a pulmonary test to make sure my lungs are back up to snuff after COVID, and then I got stuck in both arms looking for enough fluids to get my required bloodwork.

I was pretty hungry when I left, so I went by Superfast to see if Summer wanted to get lunch. She needed to run some errands anyway, so she took me to Harbor Freight, Walmart, and then Western Sizzlin to eat. When I made it to the shop, Gary was the only one there, and he was on his way out. They were shorthanded, so I was the only one in the shop all afternoon.

After a little bit of tinkering, Gary asked me to run over to the new maintenance building with a hotspot, since those guys already started moving computers before we even had internet run to the building. When I got there, they still didn’t even have all of the power run either. I ended up having to bring Chris’s computer back to the shop. I got it going, and then Gary showed up after letting everyone else leave a bit early. We worked out the day, and then I headed home.

Summer said we had an interview with someone from the state police right after work, so I ran home to change and then headed up. There was a wreck holding up traffic along the way, so I was a bit late, but I didn’t really miss anything. The girls were hanging out in the living room, and it was clear with the way Summer was talking that she was just closing things up. We shared some more stories, and then she left, saying the case should be completely closed within a couple days.

Summer left for the gym, and the girls wanted to hang out for a girl’s night, but I never left. They were watching Stranger Things and had Summer come back with some pizza, along with my blood pressure medication. Summer and Autumn went to bed first. Eaddie stayed up doing her paint-by-number, and I tried not to stay up too late.

Teenage girl drama