trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Default)
I love how when I'm having a crappy week I can just ask people for icon community recommendations and lo and behold! I shall have many. (I love icons. Icons are awesome.)

I have just turned anonymous comments off on LJ because I was getting too much spam. For my two regular anony-commenters on LJ, I still have it on on DW. There's a link to my DW posts at the bottom of all of my LJ posts.

Don is doing much better than he was, although we've basically given up entirely on the NS medical system at this point. *sigh*

I've learned how to borrow ebooks from my local library (my tax dollars at work!) and I now have to remind myself that I don't have time to read ebooks right now, but later! The ebook revolution is pleasing to me.
trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Default)
I'm just popping my head up a bit to share some good news, in chronological rather than order of importance.

1) The Student Loan issue has been "solved" in that I now owe thousands of dollars to family and not to a collection agency that will randomly have my bank account frozen. We've also ending our banking relationship with the previous bank. Not because they froze my bank account on the 30th of the month. That bit I disagree with but understand. No, because I called them up to have them take money out of my account to apply to the loan, they took the money out of my account electronically and then froze my account for 10 days to see whether or not the money would clear. This was not what was discussed over the phone, and it makes no sense because the money was taken from my account before they froze it again. So, you know. I bank elsewhere now, and most of Don's investments have been moved as well. (The only things not moved are long-term investments that are locked in for another year, but those will go as well.)

2) Don's vocal cords are getting better! He saw the doctor, and this is what he says: "Whet he thinks is happening is that the nerves have come back but the ones that tell the cord to close and the ones that tell it to open are all firing at once. This is resulting in the chord mostly staying rigid which is why its worlds better but not 100% of pre surgery. The nerves might sort them out a bit more so that the chord starts to move a little more but the important thing is that its not going to get weaker." I know I've mentioned this before but having actual medical doctors say "yes, it's getting better, no, it's not a fluke, and it won't get worse" has been a huge weight off his mind.

3) My PhD apps are almost ready to go. I've got two more days for my UofA transcripts to arrive, but all of my letters of reference are packed and ready to go, as is my writing sample, CV, various bits of paperwork, thesis proposal, statement of intent, etc etc etc. The post office tells me I can have it shipped Priority Next Day AM if I get to the post office before 4pm Thursday. (The technical deadline for both universities is January 15th. [The last one is January 31st.] January 15th is a Saturday. *sigh*)

So, yay for me. Things are coming along nicely. Chapter 2 is doing really well. My sleep is a bit screwed up (I stayed up too late last night and thus couldn't get myself out of bed this morning to hit the Leg Library), but generally things are Good. My wee laptop is totally a goner, but I'm taking advantage of the university's computers. (Right now that's irritating me because there are many students here who have confused "quiet conversation" with "Make a lot of noise" but I just need to wait them out.) I'm a bit lonely (I misssssss youuuuu) but I've been working and reading a lot, so I guess that's good.

trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Default)
Near the end of July, Don started having very bad stomach problems. He's actually gotten to the point where he eats maybe about a meal's worth of food over the course of the day, and this is a vast improvement over not eating at all, which was happening for a while. (He was getting all his calories from ginger ale.)

So, let's see. There was the parasite theory. There was the cancer theory. (That was a fun month.) There was the infection theory. There was the ulcer theory. All of these theories have been dismissed. I don't know what the latest theory by irritating doctor is.

The biggest problem with this is that most of Don's meds need to be taken with food if they're taken orally. So, he hasn't been able to take most of his pain meds or his anti-depressants. Since August.

As you can imagine, Don's in a lot of pain, and is going through some serious depression-related episodes, mostly in the form of panic attacks and paranoia.

What Don wants is to spend a week or two getting all of his meds by injection because he thinks the problem is that he stakes several different types of meds every day and they've burned his stomach lining, which isn't getting the chance to recover. I have no idea, I'm not a doctor, and I don't take medications regularly. I do know that he's lost lots of weight off a body that really can't afford to, that he's listless and has difficulties following conversations, that he has dizzy spells.

I don't know what's going to happen here. When we talked yesterday, I suggested just chucking it all in and looking for a second opinion about his options. I hope he goes for that.

Updates

Oct. 6th, 2010 03:23 am
trouble: XKCD: Late? It's barely 3 a.m.! (3 a.m.)
Don Update:

First, Don has been sick, still or again or something, we're not really sure. He headed off to the throat doctor this morning about his frozen vocal cord, then came home and cancelled his other doctor's appointment and slept till almost 7. He's a bit better now.

Throat Doctor )

Wheelchair oh internet, the wheelchair )

Other wheelchair stuff )

Me Update:

clean all the things? :( )

Now I am drinking tea, and Don is reminding me that we're well after 3 a.m. here in Halifax so I should be an adult and go to bed. Sleep is like ice cream, tempting but a bit scary.
trouble: Picture of me and Don dressed as pirates (Great and Powerful Gods)
Don's home from Out West.

He looked like a cyclone hit him, some of which I have managed to repair but I suspect sleeping in his own bed and having a safer space in which to be sad will be helpful to the rest of his recovery. That I am incredibly unlikely to suggest a steak house for dinner (him being vegetarian and all) is also likely to be helpful. (Yes this actually happened, and yes everyone involved knew Don was a vegetarian, and no it wasn't the only food option even on the same block.)

[personal profile] lizbee linked to Wiki's take on the Australian History Wars, and although I've only so far managed to skim read the main points, I'm a bit distressed at how similar it is to the Canadian History Wars. I'm not surprised by any stretch. (If I felt like I was up to finding some sort of balanced discussion of them, I would link you to it, but since I have Opinions on this matter - and since Opinions on this matter are the sorts of things that Get One In Trouble and I will be looking for a job at some point in the future - I'm afraid you'll just have to believe me. Or ask a Canadian historian who killed Canadian history. Or wait until I get riled up about it again and throw caution to the wind. It should only take a few days.)

And [personal profile] bcholmes has reminded me & Don that, according to our current government, we are not classed under "Canadian". This makes perfect sense now that Don has renewed his Dutch passport. (Also, apparently the Conservatives do agree that most rapes go unreported and that this is a problem? That's awesome! They will, of course, immediately put more funding into programs that deal with that problem, yes? I should call someone up tomorrow and get them right on that.)

I'm exhausted. My husband is home. Life is better.
trouble: Cartoonish figure of a woman with "Anna doesn't care if he's evil, he's hot" (Anna Doesn't Care If He's Evil)
Don went into the hospital today for his scheduled Radioactive Iodine Treatment. This should be fine. There is a - get this, you'll love it - a small, previously-undiscussed chance that his lone working vocal cord will stop working due to swelling & inflammation caused by the treatment, and if that happens his voice will be "wispy" for a while. This is a) rare and b) temporary.

On the other hand, the chance that his one vocal cord would get frozen in the first place was a) rare and b) temporary.

I honestly just laughed at the doctor when he said that, because it is so obviously going to happen to Don because Don's body just does that. "Ooh, something can go wrong! Awesome! I'll get right on that!"

Anyway. I'm a bit punch drunk and really not up to normal conversation at this point, so a few details:
Read more... )

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