Dumped

I'd been seeing someone since Jan. Things were going well, not fabulously but well. He was sending some mixed signals but stress could've explained that. Until what I thought was our Thursday date night turned out to be me getting dumped.

As far as dumpings go it was ok. There was focus on it not being due to my poor health, his emotional baggage is the issue. Ironically, I'm the healthy one in that respect. But it's been a hard couple weeks. The same night I also heard about a family member's health issue, that's still pending.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my future. It's scary. We're having a beautiful weekend in Seattle and all those thoughts are chasing themselves around my brain. Maybe I can still shower and get out in the sun a little this afternoon. That would be a pleasant distraction.

Summer Does Serotonin Syndrome

Well, mild serotonin toxicity is more accurate, but it lacks alliteration. Regardless of the name, still not fun.

A nice simple diagram

On Thursday I got terrible nausea and thought, "hmm, maybe I'm getting a migraine." So I took Compazine and Imitrex, went to neck PT, felt better and went about my day. That evening at a friend's I started to feel weird: stomach-twitchy-butterflies, fuzzy headed, trouble focusing my eyes, and akathisia. I took some meds, slept soundly, all better. Right? Not right.

So Fri and today I still felt weird. Yesterday I slept, then today I finally figured out what the heck was going on. Good news: this is not a new autoimmune symptom. Bad news: it's going to take a bit to wear off. Because a bunch of my meds act synergistically and make each other more toxic (isn't science fun?). And dumping two serotonin-happy meds into the mix is a Bad Idea.

Now I've crossed another unpleasant experience that off my chronic illness bucket list. So that's something ;)

Another Blanket

I finished this blanket before New Year's, but my photos were bad. The recipients were kind enough to take more pictures in their non-blue drenched home and I present: 

New Rings Grow Warm

I worked on this pretty consistently for four months, not-so-cleverly beginning a month before the wedding. The edging, while gorgeous, was grueling: it's patterned on every row and is almost impossible to memorize. This was nicknamed the Hell Blanket before it was done, but once blocked it sat there looking so pretty and impressive that all was forgiven. And they loved it :D

A new sense of pride

Yesterday I finished another Mini Med School series. I attended all six lectures this year, in spite of pain and overwhelming fatigue. We receive certificates at the end, given with the joke that we can frame them. In previous years they had only served as a reminder of how much I've lost to illness so I filed them out of sight. 

But this winter I began to see these certificates with new eyes: I worked tremendously hard to earn them. The merit lies in what I overcame, not in what was achieved.  I refuse to let illness crush me and this is proof.

I will be framing and hanging this year's "diploma" near the others from 2013 and 2015. They demonstrate that the seemingly mundane can be remarkable.

Road Trip

In late Feb I took a short trip to Centralia to visit an internet friend. It's a pretty short drive, 1.5 hours, but that still took a toll on me. I planned two days for the visit and got a motel room, an excellent plan.

We had a tea party the first afternoon, then sat and talked for hours. It's so nice to meet and talk in person with someone you have so much in common with. We're both knitters and also have chronic health issues.

The next day we walked around historic Centralia, it's a cool place. There was a little park full of blooming crocuses!

Her husband was hospitalized a couple days before my visit, so before I left town I stopped to say hi. Thankfully he's feeling better and is back home now. I'll just have to make another trip to see them both at home :)