Aug. 1st, 2013

outsdr: (Dalek Longcat)
It's been an interesting week so far, almost a total opposite of last week.

My mood slowly improved over the weekend. Friday night was a dark, scary time for me, and I wasn't ready to face something like that again any time soon.

On Monday, one of the psychiatric doctors I contact left me a message to call them. I did so, and made an appointment to see them on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the other psychiatric doctor called me to make an appointment, just as I was arriving for my doctor appointment. I called them back later, and they wanted to schedule an appointment on the following Wednesday at 2 pm. I went ahead and made the appointment, which is good, because the first psychiatric doctor's office called me back and said they needed to reschedule, but they wanted to reschedule for Monday at 2 pm.

It's getting a little difficult to make sense of, to be honst, and I'll need to review my notes to make sure I go to the right place on Monday. And then I'll cancel the appointment at the other psychiatrist.

At the medical doctors office, he reviewed my blood work. I'm negative for STDs, my testosterone is normal, and for the most part everything is normal. Except my liver enzymes which are twice what they should be (no surprise. The SuperLiver doesn't take time off.) and my hemoglobin and red blood cell count are very high. They sent me for more bloodwork to double check the first results, and also ordered a cortisol check, apparently because of my exomorphic body structure. Or something.

My blood pressure and heart rate is also high, so they want me to check my blood pressure daily, reduce my sodium intake to 2 grams per day or less, and exercise. Joy. Today, my BP was 188 over 116, and my pulse was 120 bpm. Cause there's a freakin' disco in there, baby!

(I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill walking at 3 mph and burnt 100 calories. I thought I was going to die.)

I also fille dout a form to get my records from the sleep center I dealt with in Wyoming, so my new doctor can review them and possibly schedule a new sleep study, just to see how well the BiPAP is working. Like I told him, I think it's working, but then, I'm asleep, so who knows?

Went to get my bloodwork done, only to be told that cortisol had to be checked between 7 and 9 in the morning, and I'd need to come back the next day at 8 am when they opened! No big deal, really. It's not like I had anything better to do.

That afternoon, I received a call from a staffing agency in Illinois, of all places, that wanted to interview me for a contractual position with HP doing computer repairs onsite in the city. I scheduled a skype interview with them at 4 pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, I went and got my blood drawn, stopped for some breakfast at my favorite burrito place, and got home around 9 am. At 11 am, a local computer shop called me to schedule an interview, and had me come in at 1pm. I grabbed a quick shower, got dressed in my secondary interview clothes because the primary set was dirty (I still need to do laundry. Add it to the list!) and went to the interview.

And the interview went really well. I felt like he wanted to hire me right then and there, which is exciting. He said he had a few more interviews to do, and would call me the next day.

My skype interview at 4 went very well, as well. One of the company's HR reps also called me to go over some information, and to answer any questions I had. The job would pay $14 an hour, and while it was an open contract, when it did finally end HP has the option of hiring me directly ... for between $38k and $44k per year. I would be traveling around the city, doing repair work, being paid for my time on site and drive time, reimbursed for over 300 miles weekly, and with benefits. I'd also be learning more in areas I'm not as strong as like to be (printers, for instance).

This morning (Thursday) all metaphorical hell kinda broke lose. I got an email from Insight Global (the company in Illinois) saying that HP wanted to do a phone interview with me on Friday that was to be expected to last at least an hour, and that it looked very promising for me to get this job.

And then, I got an email from Kemtah, the company Andy works for, wanting to set up an interview for a desktop support position, which is what I wanted with them all along. Andy makes $16 an hour with immediate benefits.
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Guess I'll get back on the treadmill now, before I take a shower. Stupid treadmill. Stupid bloodpressure.
outsdr: (Dalek Longcat)
Friday night, during my dark mood, I wrote some words about depression.

I got good responses on tumblr and reddit, and Sunday I re-worked it a little and turned it into a column for October, especially in recognition of World Mental Health Day on October 10th.

This is a very large, very scary step for me. I titled the column Seriously, because there is absolutely nothing funny about the column. Not one joke. And that's a big change from what I normally write.

The other part that is scary is that this will be the first time I've really talked openly in my professional life about having mental illness. I don't know what the reaction will be.

But it feels like the right thing to do.

Breathless

Aug. 1st, 2013 11:26 pm
outsdr: (Default)

I accidentally discovered today that the wall plug for my BiPAP had come loose just enough so that whenever I'd rollover in my sleep, my bed was knocking it looser or pushing it back in.

I wonder how long I've been inadvertently turning the machine on and off in my sleep. :|

oh

Aug. 1st, 2013 11:31 pm
outsdr: (Default)

I also discovered the absolute wonderful ness that is frozen grapes.

I'm 43; why have I never known of this before?!


I've ... I've lost so much time.

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