still here

[topaz119]

Previously, in PandemicUnhingedTime...



It's always a tough thing when your company ends up in one of Those investigative, longform articles even before it only being a week after a prominent individual contributor went viral with their resignation tweet. The all-hands meetings have been cathartic, but exhausting. (Software: it's the industry that never stops giving. for certain definitions of the word.)

We're still trying to get a handle on D's muscle spasms (where 'getting a handle' includes ending up in the ER b/c of tipping a little too high on one of his 'let's try this' meds and ending up with serious disorientation, violent nausea, dehydration, and elevated blood pressure PLUS not really doing much on controlling the spasms.) So, he's not really sleeping and I've spent too much time half-sleeping next to him on the sectional.

And then I've been 'joking' about how I've either got something going on with my teeth or I've been grinding them at night b/c my back jaw has been hurting for months, and it turns out...BOTH. ftw.

Apparently, I managed to crack one of my lower molars long enough ago that the infection was just dancing along my jaw in the x-ray and when I said I didn't remember anything dramatic happening (the dentist was pretty sure it *would* have been dramatic given how low the crack was), she asked, 'well, do you grind your teeth?" Which... maybe? Anyway, so that had to be pulled (the crack was too low to have anything much left to work with) and I'm in the middle of TEN DAYS of antibiotics, which are killing my stomach.

On the flip side, my jaw actually doesn't hurt now, for the first time in 8 or 9 months (yes, I know, I really shouldn't have put it off, but it wasn't BAD until last week and we've been having this discussion about ignoring personal issues during Covid so I guess this is just another entry in that book of lived experiences. I can't decide if feeling semi-proud that I actually took off the rest of the day after they pulled the tooth is progress or just a sad admittance of how ridiculous my brain can be. )

I have a lot I want to talk about wrt Wandavision but I'll save that for when I have enough brainpower that I can string together a coherent paragraph outside of the office setting (where I *have* to.) The kids have also gotten me into Ted Lasso, about which I'll only say that it's as much about football as the first season of FNL was back in the day. (Totally loving it.)

I'll leave you with two links:

Beyond Burned Out (Harvard Business Report, not paywalled, I don't think) - I mean, on the one hand, duh? On the other, it's nice that somebody is calling out the systemic bullshit.

Obi Wan & Anakin from the School of Sabrefighting, with full symphonic accompaniment. Slightly less fraught than the first link.

bye, be safe, take care ♥

Comments

[colls]

I understand. And when I say I understand, I mean it's like we're twins or something. I am in to the endodontist on Monday for something I've been ignoring since Thanksgiving - which flared up last weekend. I hope they don't have to take my tooth!!

WandaVision has been pretty engaging! I don't have a lot of thinky-thoughts on it because I'm not as invested as some of my Friday night virtual-watch-party friends are, but I am enjoying it.
I have heard of Ted Lasso but it wasn't really on my radar until now with your mention of FNL. :/

[topaz119]

I swear, we need to have a secret handshake and fancy cocktail for our super-special club, sigh. I hope things turn out better for your mouth!

Even having had multiple people telling me I'd love TL, I am surprised by how much I actually do love it. It really is like FNL in that it's not really about the sport, despite being set deeply in that world (and my kids, who are all rabid EPL fans, tell me they hit everything right there, down to the songs that get played when various teams win/lose. It even manages to pass the Bechdel test.

[lilacsigil]

Sympathies to your mouth and your stomach! 2020 was the year where everyone put everything medical off, I think, and it's already starting to show this year. I work in pharmacy and there's been a lot of people who avoided an issue last year (for very good reason!) and have been hit very hard by it this year.

[topaz119]

So true. I mean, I'm terrible about that sort of thing anyway, but everything else about 2020 certainly didn't make it any easier. My only consolation is that the tooth was a goner even if I'd gone in when it first started hurting. Of course, I'd have missed all those months of minor aches, but oh well.

[rhoda_rants]

Ooooh no. I saw that resignation tweet. You have my sympathy. Yikes.

I've been clenching/grinding my teeth, too. I think a lot of people have. My dentist told me she's been seeing a lot this past year. Not surprisingly! I do have a mouth guard I'm supposed to wear at night, but I hate it so much, half the time I take it out in my sleep without even remembering I've done it when I wake up.

Glad you were able to get a handle on the jaw pain though! That is no fun.

I'm resisting WandaVision until the DVDs are out. At least hope there will be DVDs eventually... I just cannot do another streaming service. I'm maxed out on usernames.

[topaz119]

There were a lot of very blunt questions being asked at meetings. I guess we’ll see how things play out, if anything gets addressed for real.

Yeah, the whole grinding thing did not really come as a surprise but I’m happy that at least the chronic pain seems to have been b/c of the infection/cracked tooth and not something even more.

Wandavision has turned out a lot more interesting/emotional than I expected, but I know what you mean about streaming services. I’ve held the line with HBOMax but STARZ got me with Men in Kilts. Alllllll my buttons, right there in glorious color.

[destina]

zomg I would be the last person to say never put something off, I have not met the personal issue or difficult thing I cannot procrastinate! It is the source of most of my stress, and yet. I'm sorry you had to have the tooth pulled, tho. But glad for the good drugs that are handling the infection. Your stomach will forgive you.

Getting a handle on (insert issue here) should not feel so monumental, but so many obstacles and hills to climb and things that don't work, argh.

Sending a lot of sympathy and good vibes.

[topaz119]

My brother yelled at me when he heard how long it had been going on for, so I guess that's taken care of, :D.

Everything seems like this overwhelming ordeal these days and I know I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm just so tired of getting through the day.

[beanside]

I'm sorry things have been so rough! I know I've put off a lot of medical stuff because of covid, so no real shock there. But it sucks that they had to pull. Hopefully, despite their side effects, the antibiotics do their job and get rid of any infection.

[topaz119]

I was holding out only a mild hope for a good outcome for that tooth, but there really wasn't much else to do. It was an easy pull, though. Nothing gruesome and it seems to be healing well. It's just one more thing, I guess.

[turps]

I'm so sorry that you're still dealing with med issues for D.

Not the same as he's mostly fine, but it's why I'm a bit wary of James' visit to the pain management clinic as messing with meds is always a dicey thing.

So, I hope they find the balance soon so both of you can rest and maybe relax a little.