Dubious Start to the Week

Argh. Another week of work starts. Usually Mondays are busy and crazy, but today was just crappy. Two of our really good clients are going to be losing their pets in the very near future. One is already scheduled, the other is just a matter of time. It is crappy. I have posted about one of these little guys previously, the one I learned how to do jugular catheters on. He has hepatocutaneous syndrome and has developed diabetes. Things were going well and we were able to manage both diseases until recently. In the past two weeks he has developed avascular necrosis in all four of his feet and unlike humans we cannot simply amputate. His pain level is so high that he can not even be caged with or be near his litter -mate and lifelong pal because even the slightest bump or tumble makes him attack. It is just really hard to realize that we were able to do so much for him but in the end this is the thing that will be the final reason. The other is a really old pet that we have been seeing its entire life, literally since day one. It is getting to be time but it is never easy. Days like this sometimes leave me questioning, but I know tomorrow is a new day and sometimes that is all I need to get a better frame on things.

Weekend Ended

Sunday night and we are all settled in our house, relaxing and enjoying the last of the weekend. It was a busy one again, since I am not sick anymore. Don and his buddy went to a soccer game Friday night and ended up getting home pretty late. Then Saturday I talked on the phone with my friend in Kentucky and had a great chat ( I am so glad that she found me! I hope that we can build a great friendship again!), then we went over to our friends house in the afternoon for supper and college football. It was so nice to spend time with them. They are a married couple close in age to us and we all get along really well. It was just nice to talk to my friend again and also to get out of the house. She made these fantastic turkey meatball subs from scratch that were so tasty, I might have to steal her recipe! Today, I slept in and did laundry while Don went to the costco and ran some other errands. In the afternoon we visited our friend who has just had surgery for breast cancer and her husband. She is doing ok, mostly just painful and very tired. Her Drs will have a treatment plan for her later on this week after they get all the biopsy results back from her surgery. It was good to see them, but we didn't stay long so she didn't tire out too much. We brought over some bread and apple butters to share and for them to keep. Then back home to start supper. I made a really yummy spicy stir fry and also an apple-cranberry crisp. Now I am watching some football and hanging out. I have been feeling pretty out of sorts this whole weekend. Just sort of angry for no reason and hurt feeling easily too. I didn't realize that it is almost time for my period, so it makes sense, but it is still a battle to not be nastymean. Mostly I get to feeling like my partner doesn't want to be around me and that nothing I do is good enough. The truth is all of this is internal, my partner does not say or do things to relate these feelings to me and truthfully, when I am pissy, I don't want to be around me, so who can blame him. I know this is temporary and will settle soon enough, but it still stinks. Tomorrow back to work and back to the grind. Sometimes I think we need a vacation....

Non-Newtonian Day

Ok, I am purposely not talking about work today. Mostly because I am tired of always focusing on that part of my life and it was a pretty downer day. So, instead I am going to talk about something I saw on TV this week that has been stuck in my head. There is a show on Discovery called TimeWarp. My parents got me interested...basically it is two guys who use high speed cameras to capture things happening...some everyday things, some strange off the wall things. That is the basic idea...anyway, this week part of the show was devoted to "walking on water." (the other totally cool thing was that they showed how a hummingbird holds it's head steady while feeding...you'll never guess....it uses the nectar in its crop as a counter balance to it's wing beats...cool, huh?). What they started playing with was a mixture of cornstarch and water that falls into the classification of a Non-Newtonian fluid. Meaning that it doesn't follow the Newtonian law of viscosity (I don't know the "real" law, but that is my understanding of it....Newtonian Physics is not my forte). SO, while it appears to be a liquid, under the right circumstances it will react as if it is a solid. For example, if you gently push your hand into it, it acts like a fluid and will take your hand in, but if you punch it, it resists your hand and acts like a springy gel like solid. The coolest demo on the show was a high speed film slowed down of a guy scratching the surface of the cornstarch/water mix. As soon as it gets scratched it curls up as if one were scratching soft-ish wax and then immediately "softens" and turns back into a liquid. Pretty crazy! They also did a demo of "walking on water" using the cornstarch/water mix. As long as they "punched" their footsteps they were able to stay on the surface, but as soon as they slowed down, they would fall in to the liquid. I am sure there are some cool videos out there on the web somewhere to demo this (Neatorama had one a while back of cornstarch/water on a speaker, pretty strange) and it is quite possible that Discovery.com has a show link with some info. Anyway, it has gotten me thinking about whether or not there is any sort of real-world application for this (bullet proof-ish vests, or something like car bumpers) and what actually makes this specific mix ( I am sure there is a very specific proportion of cornstarch to water) behave this way. More to think about and learn, as they say on Discovery..."The world is just awesome"...boom-di-ada-boom-di-ada!

This...is not...a rodeo!...

Well, it is PBR finals time and that means lots and lots of buckin' bulls. I do enjoy watching and someday I would like to be able to go to the event. It is in Las Vegas, which is not my favorite place, but I would go there to see the cowboys and the super star buckin' bulls. It is sort of like the baseball world series in that it last for several days. There are prelim rounds and as the rounds go on the bulls get more rank. The last round features the "rank pen", the roughest, meanest, most bucking-est bulls of all. Several great riders are retiring this year making it even more exciting. Sunday is the final round and the world champ will be determined. The downside is that after that the season is over...but football season is just getting started!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Much improved! I am feeling so much better today. I was able to work all day today AND eat lunch!! My nausea never got more than a 2 on a 10 scale and I just feel over-all better. Yeay! I still feel sort of more tired than normal, but I know that will pass soon too. No more knock out meds for me! It felt good to be back at work today, being productive. It is also nice to be home now and relaxing. It has seriously turned to winter here, with lots of rain and very little sun. It is tough with daylight savings time ended, dark when I get up, dark when I get home. That is just the trade off though. Tomorrow is my regular day off and I think it will be good to have another little break to rest and get some of the stuff done around the house that didn't get done over the weekend. Then back to work. It is good to be well again.

Better

Well, finally I am feeling better. I ended up missing work yesterday and went to the Dr. I know what is going on and what I need to do, but for work I have to have a Dr's note. So I went, and the Dr told me what I already know ( stomach virus/flu, lots of fluids, rest, brat diet) and did some blood work just to rule out anything else (like appendicitis). The Dr also rx'd me an anti nausea med that really helps but knocks me out, so I can not take it and work. I took it twice yesterday and was able to eat well before falling asleep. I woke up today feeling much better and headed off to work. I got to feeling pretty queasy again but made it through most of the day. It was slow this afternoon, so I didn't feel too bad coming home. Now I am home and getting ready for supper and my pm meds. I am hoping that I can feel even better tomorrow and be done with this mess. I don't plan on taking any more meds after tonight if I can help it. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Sickies

Slow progress, but progress is being made. Yesterday I got up and made a good faith effort to go to work. I ended up throwing up again and my boss called Don to come and pick me up. I spent most of the day asleep. I got home and had some tea and slept until the afternoon, then we went out to deposit my paycheck. We came home and I went to sleep again until evening time. Then I managed to eat some soup, since I hadn't thrown up all day and went to bed. I got up late today still feeling punky. I ate a pancake and have not thrown up at all. I just feel crappy still and am planing on sleeping more. Don is helping to encourage me to drink fluids and eat a little. It is no fun. The worst part is that today he said his stomach is feeling a little off now too. Blargh.