Day 197, Monday
Checked in with my folks and finally started to feel motivated enough to return to a work-related research project I’ve put off for an embarrassingly long time.
Day 198, Tuesday
And the hormonal migraine came back with a vengeance…
Day 199, Wednesday
What happened on Wednesday? I can’t even remember…
Day 200, Thursday
Wow. 200 days of Working from Home and trying not to lose my head every time I need to go somewhere.
Had an ultrasound this morning to look into a weird pain I’ve been having… preliminary review by the tech showed no lumps, so fingers crossed for the radiologist’s report. I didn’t want to take the risk and “wait and see”.
That said, waking up an hour earlier only made my migraine worse and I needed to lie down when I got home. I would call it rest, but there’s no rest, just an all-consuming need to lay down, slap a heating pad behind my head, a cold pack on my forehead, and a black-out mask over my eyes and lay as still as possible. I felt some relief, but I’m working in the dark now.
Day 201, Friday
Dr. called with my results. Ultrasound was all clear, but they can refer me to a specialist if the pain continues. I’m starting to think the pain is muscular, as it started when I was going to the vet on a nearly weekly basis… heavy cats, already injured, not a good combination. I’m going to try to get to the local orthopedic center to see if it’s muscular. No sense in seeing a breast specialist if it’s a muscular issue. I’d rather rule it out first, if it’s not. (really hoping it’s a simple strain, that would be the best case scenario).
Meetings in the morning, followed by a dentist appointment that I could put off no longer. I have TMJ and my teeth have been experiencing sensitivity. I’ve needed a cleaning since March and have been dreading it. This feels like the safest time to go (cases are down, but not staying down).
More news! The ortho believes I may have torn/sprained my Teres Minor, one of the four muscles that assist in shoulder mobility. He found the spot right away and the description that I found matches what I’m feeling. To err on the side of caution, he ordered an MRI, so I’ll be scheduling that as soon as I hear back from the imaging center. fingers crossed the pain will be the result of carrying too many fat cats with bad form and no worse.
While I was at the Dr’s, I received an appointment to another very important university committee… my second one this week. I like serving, but it’s getting to the point where I’m averaging 7-9 hours of meetings a week and it’s starting to affect my ability to do my regular duties. I requested a meeting with my dean to lay out some realistic expectations going forward, because I can’t see myself doing it all without crashing and burning.
I should also point out that these meetings are not the result of Zoom. TBH, Zoom is an improvement over the uncomfortable seating and lighting arrangements that generally trigger the tightness in my shoulders that starts my headaches.
Day 202, Saturday
Back to writing. I took about a week and half to prep and plan for round three of edits, now that the major developmental/revision round is complete. I started the morning with a migraine, so it wasn’t as productive as I would have liked, but I’m also willing to give myself grace. I worked for two and half hours and managed to stick to my plan, which is a a win.
Completed my vote-by-mail ballot, now I have to find some time to take it to the elections office between the 7.5 hours of meetings I have scheduled this week (so far).
Had a Netflix and tea night and was completely charmed by the Enola Holmes movie. I want more! And I want to read all the books!
Day 203, Sunday
Trying to shift my writing a bit earlier in the morning, so I started at 8 and pomodoro-ed my way through a 3 hour block with 10 minute breaks. I calculated how much time it will take to finish this round if I maintain this pace and it’s not bad. Obviously, that’s an idealized situation. Realistically, there will be at least one week a month when I’m knocked out by a migraine and there will be days when I’m too tired to write after a day of staring at Zoom, but allowing for a few days off, it’s still promising.
Took a quick trip to see mom and gran. We’re seeing a slight rise in cases, but still less than we’ve seen in months. I’m worried about the holiday season and trying to take the time I can to see them before we have to quarantine again. The drop in cases is the only reason I felt “safe” enough to get he care I needed this week without immediately locking myself down.
I made espresso for the first time in a couple of months… that may have been a tactical error.
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marginalia and such 
I hadn’t realize we’d hit day 200 of this mess until I read this. It sounds like we’re in roughly the same place right now – cases down but probably not staying down, time to focus on all those backlogged medical appointments! I’m way overdue for the dentist so I just had my initial appointment (for some reason, they decided to break the exam and cleaning into separate appointments ugh) and the next one this week. I’ve had my women’s exam and yearly physical (though the latter was all teledoc except the actual lab work), and soon I need a mammo and to see a specialist for possible surgery (blah). I hope I can get it to it all before we go all “third wave” (a misnomer if I’ve ever heard one).
We don’t qualify for mail-in ballots here, so we have to go vote in person starting the 13th. Texas only expanded the early voting by one week, and even then, some of the top politicians are trying to sue the governor for doing that, to try to take that extra week away. GRR!!
I saw a report about a county in Texas that got rid of something like 90% of it’s voting sites, which is such a move. I can’t believe they’re getting away with it. One of the bright sides to the infamous Florida mess was that it led to an increase in early voting and even more access to mail-in ballots. I’ve been voting since 2002, with my first presidential in 2004, and I’ve never voted on election day.