**How can you care?** 'Because I choose to.' **You make it sound so simple.** 'That's because it is simple. Hard sometimes, but simple.'

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Had a blood draw this morning to check my levels, and the news wasn't as good as it could have been. It's gotten low (too thick), so they're upping the Coumadin to 7.5mg three times a week, and 5mg the rest of the week.

But in good news, I've started to take advantage of the free gym here at work. Right now I'm just walking or biking for 20 minutes a day, but I hope to increase that eventually. I just have to balance it with the arthritis and pain thereof, since I can't take any anti-inflammatory drugs (like Advil) while I'm on the blood thinners.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

You know the Bible 100%!
 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
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Considering both my grandfather and my mother were Lutheran pastors, and how well I remember what I read, I'm not surprised...

Saturday, January 20, 2007

What Fantasy Archetype Are you?



The Seasoned Veteran Friend
You are the Seasoned Veteran Friend! You resemble Aragorn (Lord of The Rings), Merlin (Arthurian Legend), Han Solo (Star Wars), The Marquis (Neverwhere), Sirius Black (Harry Potter) and Chase (Wizard's First Rule). You are exceedingly loyal, tricky and hardy. You regularly pull the Unlikely Hero, Mentor and Pillor-of-Strength Love Interest out of trouble and into safety. Beware The Traitor, who will make your job intensely difficult. And don't coddle the Unlikely Hero too much, he has to learn how to fend for himself. Anyway, everyone admires you and your resourcefullness / reliability - good going!
Take The Quiz Now!Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Saturday, January 13, 2007

I'm not normally one to embed, but this just has to get out to everyone possible. Olbermann make Bush his bitch.

Friday, January 12, 2007

So I'm sitting here at work, listening to music, and I'm wondering why my pacer seems to be slamming my heart a bit. It feels like when I'm at the clinic getting checked, when they put big magnets on my chest.

So then I look at the headphones.

Headphones use magnets.

*headdesk*

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Got there about 15 minutes early, despite my pulling into the wrong parking lot twice (there's about a ton of little doctor's office around the hospital, and a complete lack of street numbers on most of them). Filled out the paperwork and waited.

Not too long afterwards, they call me in to put my pacemaker through it's paces. The nurse puts a ring with a magnet in it over the pacemaker so the computer can read it, then she jacks my heart rate up to 100 for several minutes, then she purposely mis-fires the leads a couple of times. "Oh, most people don't feel anything." Well, I am not most people, and feel the two misfires VERY much. Not so much as pain, as just a very weird sensation that goes from my chest to my throat.

When that bit of torture is finally done, I go back to the waiting room to wait for a room to come available. Then it's move into the room and wait some more. A young female nurse comes in to get the info for my chart, then takes my blood pressure. She gives me a weird look and says, "I'm not hearing this right, let me get someone else in here." So I wait, and eventually an older female nurse comes in and tries again. "Do you normally have low blood pressure? It's 95 over 60." I answer yes, so she goes out and the previous nurse comes back in, and it's time for an EKG. It takes longer to put all the stickies on than it does to do the test, then it's time to rip them all off again. (sigh)

More waiting, then a nurse comes and says the doctor wants a chest X-ray, too. So off to the X-ray room for a couple of those. Then back to the room to wait.

About 4pm (appointment was at 2:30) I see Dr. Baugh, and we chat, he says I look great, he picks a bit of suture that's sticking out of the mostly-healed incision, he says he'll see me in a year.

Thankfully, this all was considered a post-operative follow-up visit, so I didn't have to pay a thing. I'll be getting a schedule in the mail of when to have my pacemaker phone their system, and when to come in for more checks.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Less stress in my life already... I'll be getting a full paycheck from work Friday. I was worried I'd get little or nothing, since the stupid hospital doctor's office took 10 fucking days to fill out 5 lines of a two-page form. :-p

I also cooked this weekend! Go me! ;-) A simple meat and cheese pie-like dish from off the BisQuick box, but still.

Back at work today... some things have changed, most have not. It's always interesting to see a place with new eyes, after being gone for a long time.

I go to the cardiologist in about 45 minutes... should be nothing. I keep saying that. :-p

Friday, January 05, 2007

Bush has said he will announce his new blueprint for the war in Iraq "sometime next week."

Well, the guy who thumbed his nose at his daddy is dead, so whatcha wanna bet it's time for us to leave? :-p

Thursday, January 04, 2007

4 entries in a row! Let's see if I can make this a habit...

After beating the incredibly disappointing .hack//G.U. early this week, I decided what I needed was to go visit old friends. So I grabbed my copy of Final Fantasy VIII and got reacquainted with the gang. I don't think I've actually played it through to the end since I had it for the PC 5 or so years ago. It's a wonderful story with a very unique playing style that is frowned upon by way too many people.

Up next is Vagrant Story, which I understand is set in the same world as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. I hated Tactics but consider XII the game of the year, so we'll see where this one falls.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Some people you just have to thank in person. So today, when I passed by the Urgent Care on my way to the post office, I thought, "I need to go tell Dr. Wingo he saved my life."

So I did. I went in, asked for him, went back to the nurse's station, and shook his hand. He was surprised to hear I ended up with a pacemaker. We chatted for a minute, then he had to get back to his work. I also talked to the nurse who put the IV line in my arm, which lasted for way longer than it had any right to.

Good works deserve rewards.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

After the past few days where the temperature never got below the mid 50's, it's actually fairly cold outside now. The climate changes are getting more pronounced... Mom has gold finches a couple steps removed from full mating color, and it's JANUARY.

A hope for the new year...

By this invocation of peace may peace bring peace!
With this peace the dreadful I now appease,
with this peace the cruel I now appease,
with this peace all evil I now appease,
so that peace may prevail, happiness prevail!
May everything for us be peaceful!

-Athara Veda

Monday, January 01, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

*punts 2006 out the door*

A couple small resolutions...

1) Stress less about money. It's impossible to never stress about it, but it doesn't need to be something I think about every single day.

2) Cook more. Now that I have a working range and oven, I need to get into the habit of cooking things on the weekend I can eat off of during the week. This will help with the money stress, since I won't be so tempted to eat out for lunch all the time.

Enjoy the day!