wants

It seems I have a good many wants these days. In ascending order:

• I want my arm to stop hurting.
• I want my Pom girls to do okay tomorrow in their first performance.
• I want Buns to get the job at my school cause she'd be awesome and a perfect fit.
• I want you all to put yourselves on the Bone Marrow registry.
  
• Most importantly I want Erica to be well, to know we're thinking of her, to find a donor - life is so f'ing unfair to the most amazing people.

happier

I survived shingles.  Technically I still have them, but I am done with the anti-viral medication and things are generally looking much better.  The shingles themselves have scabbed over, and have returned to a much less aggressive shade of pale pink.  For awhile I thought I was dealing with some severe blood poisoning/infection issues - pretty!  This process was hella itchy.  Itchy pain is an interesting combination - on one hand, it's itchy!  and painful!  but on the other hand, you don't scratch and make things bleed because of the hurting.  I'm crossing my fingers this has prevented pretty scars from forming.

I decided to today was the day I was considering myself better not just because most of the icky is gone, but because it is the first day in over a week and a half I have been able to bear wearing a real bra.  This is what I measure progress by!

I still have at least a week of nerve medication to take, I'm going to decrease dosage then and see if life is grand of if there is that lovely residual stabbiness following me around.  For right now, ignorance is bliss!

not for your house

After sitting through my final this morning I realised I couldn't handle the pain til tomorrow morning. I mean, the constant pain wasn't so bad, but the random but very regular intervals where someone was stabbing me just weren't working out for me. I started calling around, looking for a walk-in clinic with the shortest waiting time. Somehow, though I'd talked to them yesterday and they suggested waiting til Thursday, this was my regular doctor's office (not my doctor).

The doctor took all of 2.5 seconds to make a diagnosis. I have shingles. The doctor asked me what I'd like to do for the pain. "I'd like it to go away." was my answer. I'm not sure if this was the right answer, or what exactly he was looking for in an answer, but seriously, little man stabbing me, you need to die. Thank god teachers have prescription coverage. I left with 4 different prescriptions - one for the virus, and three for different kinds of pain. If you're hurting in the next month or so, I've likely got something that can help you.

My biggest issue is I'm not allowed to take any of them til later tonight - apparently there's a good chance the nerve pain one will mess me up properly until my body gets used to it. Mess me up more than the lightening bolts in my side? I'm not sure about that.

good thing i'm not dying

It has come to my attention that there may be a few problems with our health care system. I have a health issue - no need to go into details here - but suffice to say, it's painful and is starting to definitely feel like it merits the attention of a doctor. Family, it is not serious, just uncomfortable and I'm hoping they're not going to say something crazy like "you have shingles!"

So, I call my doctor's office and request an appointment with my physician. The receptionist cheerily lets me know that the first available appointment, at any time of day, is February 5th. Seriously people? I squawked at her. You know, that high pitched incredulous "What?!" Waiting 15 days to see a doctor is simple not acceptable. I mean, either I'm going to be dead by then or I'm not going to have an issue any more.

I politely informed the receptionist that it was sort of a pain/severe discomfort issue. She suggested I see one of the walk in doctors. Last time I saw one of their walk in doctors he asked me "What I thought we should do about my illness and treatment?" so I wasn't feeling particularly keen on this thought. I like decisive answers and treatments from my doctors. No worries, even the walk in doctors are booked for the next few days. What is the point of a walk in doctor if they take appointments and are full?

Somehow, she created me an appointment on Wednesday. Chances are this is going to involve a 3 hour wait in a waiting room full of Norovirus. Awesome.

2007 resolutions in review

All of a sudden it's 2008!  Happy New Year everyone.  I thought it might be fun to see how I fared with last year's resolutions before I even consider making new ones.

1. Consume less and consume more intelligently.
I think I did pretty well here.  Honestly, I really kept purchases to a minimum last year.  What I did purchase was clothes and shoes, and most recently my macbook (but it was becoming very needed).  One success!

2. Moisturize more often.
If we look at the year as a whole, I failed.  If we look at November/December, I'm rocking this one.  As the new assessment practices are teaching me, it's only most current behaviour that should be assessed however, and that means I get to say I succeeded with this one.  2 down!

3. Drink more wine.
I said this was going to be my attainable resolution and it most certainly was.  2007 saw the arrival of a wine drinking Chelle.  I now drink wine because I enjoy it, not because I'm trying to make myself like it.  The arrival of Invisible Roommate and her extensive knowledge of good, reasonably priced wine has not hurt my cause any.  3/6!

4. See Nelly Furtado.
I failed.  Miserably.  But not because I didn't try, because I somehow slept in and missed my flight.  A big shout out to Westjet who managed to get me to Montreal on April 5th anyway.  A big boo on me for being in transit during the show.  Sigh.

5. Revamp the way I teach Math 10.
I am happy to say I have more love for Math 10.  I met some fabulous resources and was given some pretty fantastic opportunities this last year in the means of professional development.  I have definitely changed the way I approach the course in a much more concrete way - an I anticipate doing a much better job of marrying my new knowledge and my teaching style when repeat the course next year.  I think it means good things that my grade 11s have been a little jealous that they didn't get to do some of the things this year's 10s are doing.

6. Get out more often.
Just a meh here.  I did alright, but there is certainly room for improvement.  I do have more friends in the city now, and that was a year long project in itself, so I suppose there are small successes here.  I'm looking forward to my new semester (no core french!) and the return of Rach and Jeff to be sure.  JJ and her boy are also moving to the queen city, so I anticipate monthly visits in at least one direction to be sure.

All in all, I'd say 2007 was pretty successful and 2008 is shaping up to be even better.