Random 0dds & Ends
I'm not sure why - I think I get posts done, keep things up to date, then end up needing a break from the world of Online and hide out in a book or something, then sort of... forget... where I left off the tale.
Not that they are particularly thrilling tales, and there is even a good chance that I HAVE in fact finished with the punch line, ended the tale of Mirth and/or Woe, but forgotten I have done so... Which means that you could be reading the same information twice.
Shocking, I know. That's what happens to the sleep deprived.
Which leads me nicely to Point #1:
The Not-So-New Sleeping Patterns
As you may recall, I am a proper insomniac. Not someone that has a rough night and cries to the world how they had SUCH bad insomnia the night before.
I am talking days, weeks, months, years of getting by on snatches (heh) of sleep here and there, so at the start of January, I started Sleep Restriction Therapy. Basically, I FORCED my body to stay away until ungodly hours, then got up before the crack of dawn even started to crack. After a week of sleeping for the allotted time, I was allowed to add an hour. Then after a week, add an hour, and so on.
When I started on Midnight-0600, my body decided to start going a bit wobbly. For the most part, it didn't mind too much having six hours of sleep, but every few nights, I would wake up in the early hours, and stay awake. So far, I have YET to manage seven straight days of 0000-0600 and staying asleep.
Don't get me wrong, I am MOSTLY sleeping straight through every single night which is amazing for me, but I think my body Circadian Rhythm is pretty much happy on six hours a night for most nights.
In order to test this theory out, the last fortnight I have been surprising my body with extra sleep. OK granted, I've been poorly and exhausted on and off, but none the less... A nap during the day, going to bed at, say, half ten in the evening, sleeping till 7am...
For the most part with the ODD exception, my body goes to sleep and stays asleep. Compared to someone that would go to bed EVERY night, doze off, wake up for a few hours, doze off for twenty minutes, then be awake for the rest of the day...
Sleep Restriction DEFINITELY works. I am still staying up till midnight on MOST nights, and still get up at 6am pretty much every morning, but I know if I want an extra hour or two here and there, I can - AND I sleep!
The Finaceé And Her Medical Woes
Kellie is a poorly girl, but is an improving poorly girl. Waaay back when, you may remember she was having weird stuff go on with her heart, then her Triglycerides level went past high, past stupidly high, hit the stratosphere of WTF High, and kept going. Case in point: a "Normal" person with a "High" triglyceride reading would be looking at 5 or even 6. Kellie was rocking a reading of 20.8.
The doctor even asked how she hadn't keeled over dead from a Heart Attack or Stroke. Oops.
So they started her on meds, and every now and then, throw a battery of tests at her. She's had cardiac tests and Xrays and has a blood test every 4-6 weeks. The doctor started her on Statins which, as we are now learning, is a shitting horrible drug.
On the flip side, her levels have come waaay down, and now she's only... 8-9. Still in the realms of Stupidly High, but the doc has started her on a new stronger statin. The downside of this, is they are making her poorly - physically and mentally.
On top of this fun ride, Kellie also has problems with her Hands, Hips and Knees - pain that looks, sounds and reads like Arthritis, but no doctor has yet to say "It is Arthritis" and have only done a blood test to check for it.
She went to see the doctor last week, and he has given her another tablet to take which I THINK Is called Naproxin, maybe. It's sort of like a Super Ibuprofen. Downside? It will dissolve her stomach or something. So she has an additional tablet that will stop her insides melting. That one begins with an L. Oh here it is... Lansoprazole.
After one day, her hands hurt MUCH less. After a few days, only being busy made her hips and knees ache - ache, not hurt. So they are definitely a win.
However... This means that Kellie now takes enough tablets to choke a junkie. And more than me, which makes me chuckle no end.
She is, however, still having her funny heart turns, but we are pretty much convinced that is related to the high triglycerides in her body. One thing at a time. We're not happy with the statins (I say "we" but I mean "I") as they cause all sorts of nasty problems, but we're seeing how things go with her levels before we march back to the poor doctor and ask for new meds.
The Blinding of Yours Truly
Back last summer, my dear son tried to blind me, and if you read 0ddness back then, you may recall I was not a happy camper.. I spent ages trying to get a doctor to listen to me that there was something in my eye, then had to deal with needles, scraping the surface of the eye, drops, cream, fine pliers, rolled-back eyelids and eye-patches.
Not to mention the hilarity of everyone on the planet that I have ever taken the piss out of.
Since then, and waiting the "allotted" time of 5-6 weeks, I started using my contact lenses again, but for some reason, the "poorly" eye wouldn't settle with the lenses. I kept trying and trying, to no avail. Eventually, I gave up and waited till I could see the optician for his take on it.
So, with my appointment booked, I strode in and told him what the buggery my son had done to me, so after a normal eye test, he focuses on the bad eye.
Now, considering the eye was injured at the end of August, and "sorted" a week later in September, and then given 5-6 weeks of "getting better" time with drops and cream, I was a little surprised and equally miffed to be told that it was still healing - healing slowly, no less - and that it could still be a couple of months.
However, this is a tale of MY life, which means there's always a punchline.
If it is not healed within the next two-three months, I will have to go and have bloody surgery on it... They will remove the damaged area, and allow THAT to heal back over. EYE SURGERY. Because of my own flesh and blood.
Should it come to surgery, that is exactly all they will find of him too - a little flesh and blood.
On Achieving Gainful Employment
As seems to be the punch line for me, things never ever seem to go according to plan. Back in August/September, I enrolled in a training program in order to get a Work From Home type job. I would have meant a company route calls to my phone, I do the Customer Service for them, and put in X many hours per week on a flexible basis.
I had to pay out of my own pocket with ZERO help from the government, for exams, courses, background checks, a new birth certificate (as clever-bollocks that I am, I lost mine) and everything else. I was quite happy I could not only do it, but do it well.
I was delayed a few weeks thanks to the Blinding Incident, which meant I missed getting onto the course I needed, which meant I had to wait for another with evening slots to appear. Despite assurances from various "high ups" involved, no such course appeared. Christmas sailed by, New Year came and went, but no evening course.
Since mid-February, I've not even had my emails returned asking what is going on, when will a space open up. Which means that plan - to get BACK to working, to earn actual MONEY - is very rapidly dying and soon to be buried. Unless someone there actually replies to me.
I am not, however, holding my breath. I am also trying my hardest to not get angry over it. We couldn't really afford the outgoings to get the introductory courses, exams (which I passed with 95%) and all the other crap, but instead considered that we would get it back once I was working... So, because of that, we are out of pocket by a fair amount.
Water under the bridge, maybe, but it still pisses me right off.
The Roast Breakfast
Do NOT be fooled into thinking I have forgotten about this.
Despite being called Mad, Mental, Crazy and similar, I will be cooking AND eating a full roast dinner for breakfast, probably during the Easter Break now. The weekend I was going to perform this miracle was the weekend everyone decided to be ill.
Including me.
So I sort of skipped it and didn't bother with it in the end. It was all Kellie could do to eat a single slice of toast, and the thought of food entering my body made me want to heave, so I figured it would only go to waste ;)
Watch this space.
On De-Fattising Myself
Yes, I was on a diet. Yes, I was doing very very well on said-diet and, Yes, I lost an awful lot of weight on said-diet.
But.
Again we meet our old friend The Blinding Incident. After being spiked in the fricking EYE, I couldn't go out as, to be honest, for the most part I could see precisely sod-all. Plus with a sore, angry eye, I didn't want to go out and "be seen" with a gross, watering eye that I could hardly see out of.
Secondly, around this time, there was a lot of gross brown stuff hitting the fan - I never really went into it, because the parties involved are petty and childish and would have used my personal site as ammo and stuff - which while I don't care what people throw at me, it would have been others upset.
Couple with trying to work through a course to get a job (*mutter grumble*) my free time dropped away like that door on a gibbet. I ran myself down, and found myself exhausted cooking the healthy dinners, and shopping all the time for healthy stuff.
Then, my Birthday Weekend rode around, and all attempts at being a good dieter went straight out the window. And I never went back outside to pick them up. After the birthday, we were still trying to get into the Back to School routine, then Xmas was coming, and one thing after another rolled up to greet us.
Looking back, 2011 was pretty damn shit. The last thing on my mind was dieting.
So yes, the diet is "on hold" at present, which means, I am not dieting, which means the weight is creeping back on. But, once I have been to see the specialist, once I can get things better arranged for me medically, then I will be restarting. And losing the weight.
And becoming a slimmer sexy beast ;)
So there you have it... Several loose ends, tied up neat and tidy-like. I am sure there are more, and I am sure people will remind me when they think about them. But until then, I disappear!
Name: Dan English
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