People always accuse me of being negative and never accept the reason I am is because the shittiest things seem to happen to me. I try to be a “good” person and do the “right” thing but year after year I am dealt challenges.
Remember my concern on Friday when I posted this photo?
I would love life if that’s the way my face looked today and won’t subject you to the horror that I saw in the mirror just before I started typing this at 5:00am.
Nope, as with everything in my life things have gotten worse.
On Saturday morning the bubbling was slightly larger and there was noticeable swelling under my eye again. I managed to knock back the swelling with ice. When getting ready to go out and get a haircut my shirt rubbed up against the bubble and popped it, I was able to press out all of their liquid with a tissue. While chatting with the woman who cuts my hair she mentioned a walk-in clinic on Ponce to which she’s taken her kids, given that my doctor has no hours on the weekend I figured that it couldn’t hurt to have someone look at the situation.
The doctor at the clinic diagnosed the irritation as shingles (yes, I had Chicken Pox as a child) and prescribed medication. I still have my doubts about this, but then again I am no doctor. I stopped by Target to fill the prescription ($47) and pretty much spent the rest of Saturday at home, either sleeping or applying ice packs to my face.
Imagine my dismay when things were even worse on Sunday; the swelling was larger and I was unable to knock it back completely with ice any longer. Sunday turned into another day completely on the couch either sleep, watching videos on my computer or iPad, and attempting to understand some code for work.
Today things are worse still. I can only hope that today’s doctor visit solves this mysterious outbreak, which by the way also has generated some swelling on the left side of my face near my jaw now.
Needless to say my weekend (remember just a week ago when I boasted about how much I was enjoying the weekends?) was absolutely ruined — I skipped the concert on Friday night, I didn’t go to the concert in Athens on Saturday night, I neither went to the beer festival nor met my boss for lunch on Sunday. The outlook for today, though I had nothing but going to work planned, doesn’t look great either.
Sorry, I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist. Shitty things don’t happen to me because I am negative, I am negative because shitty things keep happening to me. I was proud of myself for working out and abstaining from beer on Wednesday night and then this occurred.
Things could always be worse, of that I am certain but be thankful you are not living my life.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Review the warning signs of a heart attack.
Heart attack is a leading killer of both men and women, and getting help fast can save your life and limit damage to the heart. Recognizing the symptoms is critical, however – and they aren’t always limited to chest pain and discomfort. By familiarizing yourself with these signs and symptoms, you make it more likely that you’ll know when to call for help.
Nope, not going to give a shit about that today.
Today’s Personal Project
I don’t really care about anything.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad, if this whole eye issue wasn’t bad enough, I’ve not been able to work out since last Wednesday, and my “opportunity” dried up on Friday
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – Couch time has given me the chance to catch up on The Ricky Gervais Show.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – n/a
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Oops, I failed to check. Let’s say 215 pounds.
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~18.6 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 5 (2 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
January Goals
– clean my basement to the point where I could have people over
– hire a plumber to fix all of the sinks at the ITP Estate
– walk no fewer than 75 miles
– have European trip plans in place, if not carved in stone
2014 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
– Sell the ITP Estate (tentative)
2014 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Continue to Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2014
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Shingles = bad.
Don’t mess around.
Eye Physicians and Surgeons
(Right on Scott, just past Clairemont)
http://www.atlantaeye.com/
Dr. (Charles) McDowell is super experienced and easy to see.
Dr. (Laura) Bealer is also good.
These guys are the real deal, surgeons, etc.
BTW: Stuff happens to everybody, good and bad.
Nobody gets out alive.
It’s not what happens that defines us, it’s how we choose to deal with it.
The single thing you have total control over is how you (re)act.
JG/HamWithCam
Shingles? yikes, I hope it isn’t really that. So you are going to your real doctor today?
We had an interesting weekend.
Went out for what I thought was going to be sushi friday night with condo, it ended up really being wild & crazy japanese foods. And, it cost a fortune for what we got, I’m glad we did it, but won’t be doing that again anytime soon.
Saturday Allan & I decided to go to the Bonerzone hash. He let all uf us know that it was a total A to B hash, at least 5.5 miles. Head Nurse & I decided we didn’t want to be DFL, so we went to the end & decided to hash the trail backwards. I’ve gotta tell you, that is hard to do. We wandered & wandered until we ran into the FRBs, and finally got to turn around. I bet we did at least 3 miles.
Sunday I went for a hike at Sope Creek with Michelle & JoAnna. It was a gorgeous day, and there was a thin layer of ice on the pond. we decided to sit on this observation deck area & try to crack the ice with our feet. I’m not really sure what happened next, but somehow Michelle managed to fall completely into the water. It scared us, but the water was only maybe 3 feet deep, and once we got her out, we laughed & laughed. It really was almost fitting for the way Michelle’s life has been recently, with trying to sell the house, etc. Things are just not going smoothly. I’m still laughing, as it really made no sense how it happened.
So, moral to the story is, at least you didn’t fall into a ice cold pond too.
Isn’t that pretty much how Michelle got her hash name?
If it is shingles, it sounds like your are getting off lucky. Generally, there are more systemic issues (flu like symptoms, headaches, dizziness, etc.). Anyway, once you get shingles, it would be very rare that you get it again.
I really thought about heading to the Boner Zone but then I remembered the last time I went, I ended up with a pretty bad case of hypothermia…instead I went to the gym and then Stone Mountain with Sharon. We ended up with 6 miles under our belt.
Yesterday I relived my school days, I headed to Hodgepodge with my book bag and did statistics homework. I enjoyed a big cup of coffee and a tropical fruit parfait. It seemed like it would be ‘healthy’ but after eating it I’m pretty sure it wasn’t (but it was really, really tasty).
John is right, we’ve all have our share of ups and downs. We may not have the power to control all the thing around us, our power is in the choices we make to deal with it. Learning how to cope with the bad, well that comes to some easier than others.
yes Martha – I was wondering who would remember her hash name – when we thought about that, we laughed even more.
It really was a pretty nice day for Bonerzone, a little breezy, but not that bad. No wet feet, trail was just a nice run thru the woods for the most part, with a warm indoor ending at a mexian place.
Just finished with do row now, she too thinks it’s shingles. Weird. Anyway, I have been prescribed more drugs and given a referral to an optometrist.
Weeee!
Oh, being an early riser wins again– waiting room upon leaving was empty when I arrived, packed upon leaving.
Off to get food, then onto Target to fill scripts, then home.
I’ll second HamWithCam’s reccomendation of Eye Physicians and Sturgeons. I’ve been seeing Dr. Dingrah for years, and have also see Dr. McDowell. Good folks. Don’t F around. I remember Whiner had it for years…
I was pretty much flat on my back all day Saturday while Debbie went off to hunt foxes in S. GA. Feeling better Sunday, we took down the hot wire in preparation for a fence work day. While outside, we let the foxhouds loose to stretch their legs and everything was fine until we worked our way towards the open gate- So Long, See Ya’ said the foxhounds and it was off to the races! Debbie sent me to get the car while she called and called. A quick spin around the neighbors across the street, then south on Gordon. Seeing no sign, we turned around to go north on Gordon and saw the car ahead slow and change lanes… yep, out in the middle of the road without a care in the world were 2 idiot foxhounds. They hopped in the car and were quickly returned to their lodging.
Gonna have a blizzard tomorrow- good day to MARTA, Paulie.
-FP
Just spent another $150 on meds / eye drops ($116).
Gonna call eye doc when I get home.
are none of these prescriptions covered by your insurance?
I don’t have great insurance and u think there was no generic equivalent for the eye drops.
Related: I am terrible at putting eye drops in my eye.
stare straight ahead into the mirror & put them into the outside corner of your eye. you won’t waste much that way.
Will try that later. Thanks!
Appointment for 9:30am tomorrow with Dr McDowell made. Thanks for the referral, John and Steve.
When I had shingles a couple years ago, it was not so much the sensation of the searing hot knife in my abdomen that was bad; it was more that it felt like the searing knife was constantly twisting. That was a super fun way to spend a month.