Hanging in there

[torquill]

It's been a pretty rough week. It started with the tire foo on Sunday and Monday.

Sunday I had had a bit of a chemical reaction, not sure what from. When I started to have trouble on Monday my mom thought it was the tire store -- I don't think it was. It gave me difficulty concentrating that afternoon, to the point that I put off studying because I was so distractable. It was a bad gamble, as it got much worse that evening, and me with a midterm the next morning. I wrote to my prof and told her I'd try to make it.

I kept going, though I had trouble eating dinner. My fine motor skills had gone to hell, slurring my speech, and whatever it was had fogged my brain very badly and given me tremors. All classic neurological symptoms; I already knew that I have central nervous system damage. It's kind of scary to think about, but what are you gonna do?

It cleared up a bit after 10, and let me review my notes and at least print out the study sheet for Tuesday morning. I woke up okay, studied on the train, and was doing pretty well -- my reserves were really low, but I was thinking all right. That lasted until about halfway through my ride to the ARC, when I really started to tire and my brain fogged up. I was slurring a little when I got to SciLab, but took the exam anyway, trying very hard to focus. It cost me some tremors (not sure the TA noticed or not) but I think I did quite well, minus a bad few minutes when I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of a fusiform initial. I finished up (and yes I did name it correctly), thankful that Canington writes the questions in such a way as to practically give the answers away. She's almost begging us to read it closely because she's spelling it all out. Bless that woman.

I packed up and got a coffee, then rode to the ARC. Their terminals are cranky as hell -- whatever it is that's been making the X/lwm/Firefox combo unstable has gotten to the point where I can't tell the browser to go anywhere without having it crash and restart. Bah. I dragged myself to Olsen instead, and sat through Plant Prop, as I hate to miss the same class twice in two weeks. Then I bailed. Russ at the Disability Center had suggested I write to my Biochem prof, asking her if there was some way I could get the notes for that class, as it would be the last segment covered by the midterm Tuesday... I did that. Still haven't heard from her.

I took the 12:35 train home. By the time I pulled into the driveway and came inside, I pretty much didn't know where I was; I barely remember any of it. At least I was home, not somewhere else. I fogged around for a while, got something to eat, got some C and water and rested, and gradually it started to lift. I felt tired but together when I went down to knaveofhearts' place, driving carefully. We watched a few silly things, ate, and watched Torchwood (glee) and I still got home shortly after 11. I was feeling okay.

Today I felt all right, though my emotional reserves are low, and I made the mistake of immersing myself in thoughts of one of my bigger stressors. I broke down, called eyeofcanaan who made it all better, took a shower and a nap, and finally got up to start my day. I've finished both non-school things I meant to do, and I'll study for the lab exam on the train. Biochem can wait for the moment.

The non-school things were to fill and prep the hot tub, and to finish my other pair of jeans. The hot tub is now full, shocked, and sanitized, and I wiped down everything... the deck was already clean. Apparently while it was empty, though, an ant colony decided that the pleats of the filter would make a great home. Meh. At any rate, that was dealt with, and all that it needs to be fit for company is to be turned on.

My second pair of jeans is now fitted-leg as well. I haven't had the time to add the cargo pocket, though I really want to do that since my headset dislikes being across my body from my phone... if my phone is on my leg it'll have line-of-sight. Besides, I like that better than having the phone clipped to my belt, where any number of annoyances can ensue.

Not really sure I'm ready for school again, but I'll give it a shot. I get to go home early because biochem is a review session, with a TA who is (if possible) even less capable at explaining things than Prof. Leary. I'd do better spending the time working out the problem sets.

Oh, and those exposures? Given the timing and the characteristics (unlike anything I'm familiar with, but similar to ethers) I think it was a detox reaction. I've been exercising, and trimming up a little... and losing a little fat in the process. Fat loss is dangerous to the chemically injured, as chemicals get stored in it and are released during catabolism. And my bugaboo is a short-chain ether, which is non-polar and therefore fat (not water) soluble. Nothing I could have done to prevent that, and nothing I can do to prevent another round; not even eating more, as my weight loss is pegged mostly to activity rather than calorie intake. Sigh.

Comments

[amanda-nye.livejournal.com]

That sounds pretty nasty and annoying. I'm glad you're doing better now and hope that the cath-up on classes goes okay.