lillian13: (human stupidity)
So, I'm on meds for depression. Doctor13 (who happens to be my brother), prescribes drug #2. (Drug #1 is helping, just not a lot.) I took Drug #2  ("may cause some grogginess).

Upshot? I have a vague memory of calling in sick this morning. And I slept until 1:30. I still have that post-op dullness and it's 4:30 now. Doctor13 did call me back after I texted him about the 14.5 hour sleep marathon, and now I'm trying Drug #3 tomorrow. Tune in for more exciting news!

Currently watching Jeopardy! and drinking lemonade from Chik-Fil-A and hoping I'll be able to sleep tonight.
lillian13: (teddy bear)

Saw Brother the Doctor this afternoon. He thinks I have labyrinthitis, and I may be in the very early stages of an ear infection. Yay me.

Two pluses: I'm down 4 pounds from the last time I was in there, and my BP is holding at a nice low normal--what used to be normal for me before I was diagnosed.

I will be hearing from Blue Genie about whether or not I'm in their big Christmas show in a day or so. They were running behind.

It's a gorgeous day and I feel really crappy. *sigh*
lillian13: (average Carter)

Left work early. when I realized that this vaguely dizzy/off-center feeling, combined with an almost boneless lack of energy wasn't going to go away. I have a doctor's appointment late this afternoon. I was feeling fine when I got up; packed my water aerobics gym bag and everything.

Clogged ears? My high blood pressure meds? Just tired? Dunno. Gotta work on my presentation and hope I feel well enough to go in tomorrow. I have a show on Saturday, and I hope this doesn't screw it up.

....and just as I predicted, I didn't get into the Cherrywood Art Show. Again. *sigh*


Cheer me up?
lillian13: (Default)

Stitches came out last Wednesday, and the dried dead skin around the incision is coming off. *squints* Looks like a Wraith hand. *contemplates drawing teeth on my palm*

Will post glass pictures tonight or tomorrow.

The Sweet Charity lanyard I sent to the UK in early May? Finally got there. The book I ordered from Amazon.co.uk? Arrived here in 5 days. *is boggled*

Off to glass-blowing class.

lillian13: (Default)
 The off-hand glass blowing class continues to be made of awesome. I have now made a total of 2 bowls, the Enormous Cup (which is a bowl, really) and, finally, a real glass. I want to make myself several drinking glasses.

The instructor showed us how to put handles on cups, and then said he didn't expect us to do that. I'm glad, because it looked really hard. He also showed us how to "draw" on glass using a long thin cane and a blowtorch. We get to do that next week. I can hardly wait.

I managed to drop molten glass all over the floor yesterday. *facepalm* I'm not used to handling it when it's fresh out of the furnace--seriously, that stuff is gloopy and hard to keep on the end of the blowpipe. But the instructor just picked it up with the pipe and dropped it into the bucket we put the hot blowpipes in after we're done with them--did you know that Very Hot Glass + water equals bubbles...made of glass? (They did not float, alas, they simply formed in the bucket.) They were very cool. I love physics. 

I managed to gather all my colored glass correctly and make the Real Glass--you lay out your colored glass in a small kiln and let it get hot. Then you take your gather of hot glass (which was cooler and easier to handle than the time I dripped it on the floor), and rooollll it across the pretty colored glass to make a pattern. I picked up the entire pattern, and when I was done it looked great. I'll have pictures next week, after the next class, I promise. I'm going to pick up some colored glass from a store the instructor recommended, since I know what I want to do for the World's Best Niece. I promise not to go too overboard, really...

This is a really great video that shows the basics of glassblowing. This one shows how they make glass canes, though our classroom isn't nearly so nice. Or air-conditioned.

State of the Hand: Well, I definitely overdid it Sunday and Monday. The hand is a bit swollen and stiff, though the incision is fine. Have lost another stitch; this makes three. I'm sure I'll get yelled at tomorrow when the stitches get taken out(!), but...glass blowing!
lillian13: (Default)
So, I've had my first two glass-blowing classes. And it's just as much fun as I thought it would be.
 
The classes are held in an big outdoor workshop, made out of that corrugated metal, with lots of gaps for breezes. No AC, but with the breeze we normally get, the fans, and the shade, even with the furnaces going it's...bearable. In other words, it's still very very hot--I'd say about 90-95F, but the humidity is low, so I only notice that the water level in my big container keeps going down. The nice thing? As long as we're in the workshop, the mosquitoes don't bother us. The stitches are holding up well--I'm taking off the splint and sleeve when I'm not actually working, which helps.

This class is...seriously cool. And fun. We're learning how to shape hot glass, add color, and do all sorts of interesting things. The instructor is being nice about my half-hand, and I can hardly wait until I can do the pipe work. We have to take turns, and we immediately began encouraging each other, helping each other out, and applauding at the end, when the instructor takes the piece to put in the oven to temper. 

I've made a big heavy drinking glass (I mean, Fred Flintstone could drink out of it, and use it to club dinosaurs afterwards) and a smallish blue-and-white striped bowl. I'm going to make some nice things for my sister-in-law and the World's Best Niece (who has a serious thing for glass and glass artists), and some things for me, of course. 

I'm going to see Spamalot on Saturday! Co-workers posted on our company bulletin board with an extra ticket, so I'm using my ill-gotten survey money I made last night (I had to get excited about chewing gum, seriously) to go with them to San Antonio to the matinee. Wheeeeeeeee!

State of the Hand: Incision is healing nicely; I have been gently flexing my wrist, as instructed by the physical therapist.  Still can't grip strongly, and I know when I've overextended or done too much. Ouch. Heat rash on my arm is going away, thanks to calamine lotion. I can't wait to get the go-ahead to get back to work on my jewelry!

Dr. H. Jones' application for tenure denied. Hah!

 
lillian13: (Default)

I saw The Incredible Hulk (with

[personal profile] dremiel) today.

Go see it! If you liked Iron Man, you will like this too. They whip past the origin in a really nice flashback in the opening credits, leaving us with Bruce Banner on the run. Man, Edward Norton is amazing in this. I cannot get over the fact that he can simultaneously be an Everyman and yet smoking hot. Liv Tyler is a wonderful Betty Ross--not a doormat (the previous Hulk movie) or a harridan, as they have been depicting her in the Ultimates comics. The in-jokes fly thick and fast, and there are a lot of shout-outs to the Old-Skool comics...that being said, even if you aren't a Hulk fan (and I'm not, particularly), you will still find it entertaining and enjoyable. The world-building that they started with Iron Man continues here--lots of references to SHIELD, Nick Fury, Dr. Samson, the Super-Soldier program--and I, for one, really like it. They are building a cohesive universe, and if they keep it up with Thor and Captain America, I will be a very happy little fangirl. The fact that Zack Penn is screenwriter for all of them bodes well.

We sat all the way through the credits, and saw no spiffy extra scene (though one close to the end might count...). However, I was told  by someone in Dallas that they got a teaser for Captain America at the end of their showing, so stay past the credits, preferably with your camera phone! I expect that footage to be up on Youtube very soon. (looks expectantly at the Internets)

We saw a preview for something I really want to see right now: Righteous Kill. Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Brian Dennehy, Donnie Wahlberg, Carla Gugino....man. [personal profile] dremiel and I decided that We. Are. There. (We're also There for the new X-Files movie, but that goes without saying.)

State of the Hand: Am now typing without the brace, partially because I'm getting a frakkin' rash on my forearm from sweating in the damn thing. Ahhh, summer in Texas, how I hate you. Grip strength still very low. Starting to bend the wrist just a leetle bit. Still no pain in the incision (the area seems a little numb, which worries me a tad), and I'm working the hand more, to get it used to getting back to work. I have a show in August (ArmadilloCon), and I need to start building stock for Christmas. 

Off-hand glass-blowing class starts tomorrow. Whee!

 

 

lillian13: (Default)
 OK, I now have a reason to get HBO. Or, you know, just torrent the episodes.

I haz thumb/hand braces. They are custom made, and fit over the base of my hand and over my thumb, and they velcro across the back. They are very annoying and even with the little sleevies, get very sweaty. Inside. In air conditioning. (Am I wearing them to drive? Not when it's approaching 90F and 45% humidity, I'm not.) If anyone has suggestions to fix this, please let me know.

Also, I got the results of my fasting glucose test. My doctor is giving me 6 months to shape up--my lifetime of crappy eating and my pretty damn sedentary lifestyle are catching up with me. So, starting next week (post-Nebulas), I'm in the gym 4-5 days a week, and after classes end, it should be every day. Doing something, for an hour. I've let the bread/rice/pasta bus creep back into my life, so I need to cut down on that. As I am also pretty damn lactose intolerant, does anyone have recipes/resources/websites/cookbook recommendations?
lillian13: (Default)

I got in to see the hand surgeon this afternoon, and he sat me down and explained my problems. I do have carpal tunnel in both wrists, moreso in the right than in the left. What's been causing my actual pain is trapezial arthritis in both thumbs. Basically, the ligament between my thumb and index finger has gotten pretty loose, so my thumb metatarsal has started slipping off, outwards. Which puts strain on the tendons, which gets inflamed, and hurts. The new pain meds are working fine, but I do get a pretty bad ache sometimes.

....anyway. I need to have carpal tunnel surgery (which will have to be done in early June, due to classes and workload), and I'm getting a custom splint made for my left hand tomorrow. I already have a splint for my right hand; we'll see if I need a new one after I have the left one made. Hopefully, the surgery and splints will correct enough of the problem without having thumb surgery. 

The good news? I can have the surgery on a Saturday and be back at work on Tuesday. The bad news is that I can't do any jewelry work for about 3 weeks afterward, which means no summer jewelry classes for me. And if I want to do any fall shows, I may have to put off doing the left hand until next year. Hmmm. I do the majority of the work with my right hand....something else to ask the surgeon.

The surgeon is a great guy, who loves to draw out your problems on office stationary and really explain what's going on. According to the place next door that is doing my splint, he's one of the few surgeons they know who will send patients to other doctors if he can't do it.

So, there you have it. 

And here is one of my favorite grammar peeves, handled correctly. 

Profile

lillian13: (Default)
lillian13

September 2019

S M T W T F S
1234567
89 1011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 11:20 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios