Tag: health

“Our Body” Documentary

I am just out of the screening of this movie. I really wanted to see it, and it was very difficult to fit it into my schedule (it’s three hours long!) The only way of doing it was to rush there directly from the train from Milauwakee, which I did. It’s not what I thought it would be, way more difficult to watch than I thought, and way more powerful.

I am not even sure what my takeaways are, except for “It’s hard to be a woman.” It’s almost unbearable to watch at some moments (I could not look at the screen for at least a quarter of the duration of the movie).

And another surprising fact: while following all these women at the most difficult moments of their lives and thinking about what I, as a woman, was through, I felt jealous: I was never treated with such respect by the doctors as these women were. I might have experienced only a small portion of all the physical suffering these women were through, but the humiliation and disrespect I had to live through were unimaginable. I am so glad that my daughter didn’t have to go through it, and my granddaughters won’t even know how bad it could be.

COVID Updates

Both Mom and I are negative, and since I had my second negative today, I am finally heading to the office (and now I need to pack two days in one for the observable future).

When You Stay At Home…

There are not that many things happening in your life.

COVID updates: My mom got it light; I’d say she didn’t have any symptoms, or they were so mild we didn’t register them. However, both she and I are still positive, and while I would expect it with her, I am really annoyed that nothing changes with me. I feel 100% fine; I go biking long distances, and I am not getting tired through the workday. But I really have to have this negative test! There are things happening next week for which I absolutely need to be in the office, not to mention a lot of other activities that are on hold at the moment. I am trying really hard not to be depressed by that.

As it always happens these days, a bulk of my emotions are work-related, and as always, I can say exactly zero about what’s going on. I did a couple of cool things I had never done before, which brought me aesthetic pleasure. Also, I happily resolved one personal conflict at work in the best possible way. Two more are in progress :). OK, I should stop even trying to talk about work here – it’s not much I can tell!

There was a ginormous effort with the book, and now submitting all the chapters by October 2 looks like a possibility.

And the last thing I wanted to mention is my volunteering activities. After long hesitations, I decided against returning to OMD and to try another mentoring program. Actually, two of them :). I will tell more about these programs when I actually start them, but I think both are better in terms I will be able to do more good.

Meanwhile – it smells like fall, the sunrise is later in the day, and I can barely catch it when I bike in the morning:

More Updates

I tried to stop by my mom today, explaining here in advance that I am just stopping by for five minutes (she is on day three of isolation). I have no idea whether reinfection may or may not happen, and I have no desire to experiment. She previously asked for Russian Rye bread, which meant that I had to wait until today to be able to go to the actual store. I didn’t find any Russian Rye, but I found a German Rye and some marmalade. When I came to her, I realized that she didn’t get the concept of “for a couple of minutes” and wanted me to look at what was not working on her phone and at the blood pressure monitor, and change the printer cartridge, and whatever else.

I yelled at her that this could wait until she was out of isolation, and she started to ask whether she would need a mask if she decided to go for a walk tomorrow morning. And she asked me at least twenty times whether she could use a KN95 mask more than once…

Also, it’s close to impossible to make her track her symptoms, and I am going to stop now because my rants won’t change anything.

The good part of today: I biked to the Mill and back. And there are going to be a couple more warm days. And I finished Chapter 13 🙂

Updates

Mom is still asymptomatic. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue that way – it would be close to a miracle!

I am finally symptom-free entirely, including not being completely exhausted by 8 PM every evening. Moreover, I did a massive cooking (I made some progress in cleaning up my freezer in the course of the previous couple of days, which was also good!). The tests are still positive, though, so I am not making any specific plans for the next couple of days, except that I can now officially go out wearing a mask. I didn’t lose any work time (almost), but the backlog on the book continues to grow, which really concerns me. I know that, objectively, there is very little left, because all of the remaining chapters were worked on, and some are “almost” done, but I also know how misleading this “almost” can be.

Life goes on 🙂

My Trip To London…

It is not going to happen after all, and that’s one of these situations when the universe tells me loud and clear that I should not. I feel fine, and I didn’t have any fever today, but my test was still positive (which was expected, to be honest).

I was thinking about whether I would still be able to go, having all the dates and guidelines, when I need to test, and so on, but today, my mom tested positive (which is in perfect alignment with when I think was my first day sick).

Having this, and having that she does not understand what the symptoms could be and she does not understand what isolation means, I am afraid to leave.

Oh, well. I hope that things will not be that bad with her.

So, I Had Grand Plans…

And the funny story is that I accomplished a huge portion of what I planned for this long weekend, except for – I tested positive today. The only reason I decided to test myself was that I had a fever, and I usually do not get it.

Now, I am wondering whether I have already had it on Sunday. I know it would be super weird if I did Bike the Dive with COVID, but I had a little bit of a runny nose for two days before that, and I felt a little bit not myself when I woke up for Bike the Drive, but then everything was perfect.

Now the biggest question is whether I am flying to London on Saturday. It would be five days since, but I am going to keep testing myself and see whether I will get any more symptoms.

Also, it’s my first anniversary at my company, so I was hoping to be at work, and it’s super sad that I won’t be there.

Well, it could definitely be worse!

Health Updates

After my biking accident and the doctor’s appointment a week later, the x-ray results came earlier than I expected – on Sunday. The results stated I had a fracture with minor displacement. On Monday (June 11), the doctor whom I saw on Friday called me with “I told you!” message and sent me to the orthopedic doctor. That doctor took yet another bunch of x -rays and said that he did not see any fracture and I did not need to wear a splinter, wait for this whole thing to heal, and come back in three weeks.

Because of my travel and the holidays, I ended up going back only today. Both my left thumb and the left index finger hurt to some degree when I was doing something with my left hand, including applauding at the concerts, and overall, I was not convinced that I didn’t have a fracture. But just a couple of days before this last visit to the doctor, I started to feel much better, so they said everything was fine and I do not need to come anymore unless I want some special hand therapy. I am not going to waste my time on that.

The last mom’s physical therapy session was at the beginning of June, and I told our physical therapist that I was going to do all the exercises he prescribed to my mom. So that’s what I am planning to do because my left thumb still bends only a halfway in comparison to the right one 🙂

Updates And How Is Life

By the end of the week, I went into another spiral of “everything goes wrong, and I am behind on everything!”

On Thursday, I decided to call my doctor and ask whether I should see her for my broken nail situation It turned out she just went on a long vacation, but her medical assistant suggested I see another doctor, just to make sure. I made an appointment for Friday afternoon since I was going to work from home because of another appointment.

Then the day went not as planned (and I already had a backlog of things, as it always happens by Friday.) My other appointment got canceled last minute, and when I went to the doctor, my appointment was delayed, and when the doctor finally came, she said she wanted to make sure there was no fracture (I still can’t bend the thumb). So she sent me for the x-rays, and it took me a long time to find where I needed to check in and where to get the xrays (people were sending me back and forth multiple times). Not worth going into the details, but I got increasingly frustrated that it took so long, and even though I took Uber both ways, I was at home only at 4-35, three hours after I left!

There is a high chance that I indeed have a fracture. In the beginning, I was focused on the nail and the pain around it and attributed all the discomfort to that problem. But now, when the wound is stabilized, I understand that the pain comes from the thumb itself and my attempt to use it.

Since the x-rays were taken at the very end of the day, I do not expect the result until the end of the day on Monday. I know that regardless, there is no specific treatment for the broken thumb if it’s indeed the case I am just extremely annoyed that everything takes twice longer than it should take.

No excuse for not finishing the next Red Gate article and not replying to a couple of emails asking for my professional advice.

The day is gorgeous; it should be a day at the beach, especially because Sunday will be cold and rainy. Oh, well…. Back to the tasks of the day!

And One More Accident

Just to complete the list of this week’s horror stories. On Saturday morning, I went on a relatively long bike ride. I had a long to-do list, and my cleaning person was going to come at 8 AM, and another contractor was going to show up at 8-30. I was determined to take advantage of an early sunrise and make it to the Mill and back within an hour or an hour and ten minutes.

Everything was perfect, including the weather. I was on my older bike and was moving very fast (I still need to figure out why the new bike is slower). I made it even a little bit past the Mill and was returning, and almost at the end of the Lakefront Trail, there was a lady suddenly walking with her bike between her legs, bypassing a heap of sand.

Since I had already passed this sand on the way forward, I knew it was fine to bike over it, and I decided to pass this lady on the left (and on the sand), which… didn’t end up well.

I didn’t ever realize at first that I had an injury: I didn’t hit my head at all, and the bike was fine, and then she started to yell at me that I shouldn’t have tried to pass her, and thee was a reason why she was walking and that I need to go to the emergency because I am bleeding.

I thought that it was just a scratch on my knee and waved her off. Only when I mounted on my bike again, I realized that the nail of my left thumb is barely hanging on a thin strip of skin and was bleeding. I tore it off completely (what else could I do?), took a tissue out of my pocket and wrapped it around my thumb, and then continued my ride home.

I didn’t even feel much pain. I came home, parked my bike, went upstairs and watered the flowers on the balcony, and set down to type a short email to Boris. Then suddenly, I felt that I had trouble breathing, and I started sweating, and everything around me went dark. I tried to stand up, and then I realized I needed to lie down on the floor because otherwise, I would fall down. Perhaps, I did fall down anyway because my watch asked me whether I had fallen!

Long story short: it is not fun, but 1) good thing it happened this weekend, not the previous one! 2) Good thing it does not prevent me from typing! 3) it will take a very long to heal, and the surface will continue to be very sensitive for a while 4) but it will grow back eventually!