Brain the size of a planet...
Jan. 30th, 2009 08:52![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillLet me tell you about my week.
I went to school on Monday. Between having to walk from the auxiliary lot to the platform at Amtrak, getting on a standing-room-only (as in, sardines) bus to ride to campus on the other end, walking from the stop to Hutchison, hobbling around while I was there, and having to walk back to my car at Martinez, I set my knee back by at least a day of healing. I did get my bicycle back into my possession, and discovered that while I don't have enough range of motion to ride it, sitting and single-pedaling it is a damn sight better than walking.
I stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday night I felt well enough to go to a discussion group in the evening. Wednesday, at least, I got in about five hours of work on my Master's proposal, so I finished the introduction and 95% of the references. That's half the work. Then I went down to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
knaveofhearts', where the worst part was simply the cold as I waited for the BART train home. The rest was as good as always.
Yesterday I went back, feeling pretty good about my knee. I didn't want to spend an entire day up there (8-6 plus commute), though, so I decided to go in later. To avoid the Amtrak parking issue, I drove up, which also allowed me to check in at work. Adib and I are on good terms, and I can't expect to have anything to work on there until either a) I can get out into the field to collect material or b) the accessions come in in the later half of the month. Dandy.
I stopped by the health center and waited 45 minutes to see an advice nurse, killing my lunch period. After she had made an appointment with a sports-med doctor in the middle of my class time, I drove into town to pick up a Chipotle order, then came back to campus. The closest parking garage to Hutchison is roughly a quarter-mile away, so I hobbled it, and ate lunch in class. Left early to hobble the quarter-mile to Cowell (I figured it wouldn't save me any walking to use my car instead). Saw the sports-med lady, who flexed my knee, told me "yeah, that's a sprain, I can't tell whether you tore a ligament because it's still too swollen," offered me an MRI now vs. later (later, please), and made a follow-up appointment for two weeks from now. She wrote me a note that could get me campus shuttle service from the Disability Center (that's of limited use to me), but otherwise the whole song and dance was entirely useless. I hobbled painfully back to Hutchison, did as much of lab as I could before finally starting to cry from exhaustion and pain, and gratefully accepted my teacher's generous offer of a ride back to my car. Bless George for that.
This morning my knee, ankle, and both hips were all complaining. I made lunch, came back upstairs, and was informed that my cat had brought in a rat and lost it in my room. Fucking brilliant. Just when I can't get down on my knees to catch it, and I'm already in enough pain that I'm thinking twice about taking a shower, and exhausted enough that I've run out of cope. I swear and melt down. So much for going to school today...
The young roof rat is behind the large dresser now. Charlotte occasionally goes and roots around under it, which I encourage, as it drives the rat upward. At the back of the dresser is a box, taped closed, where I cut a 1x2" flap, stuffed in a plastic bag for warm bedding, added a half-handful of rolled oats, and placed it close to the wall. When you can't be quick, be clever, and I hope that's clever enough to appeal to a tired, hungry rat, who will rustle the plastic bag as it roots for the food. Once it's caught, I'll deal with the things that I had to temporarily stuff into my closet to gain access to rat hiding places.
Greg really doesn't understand my soft spot for rats, even wild ones in my living space. Then again, he also doesn't know how to think like one. Patches would be proud of me.
My knee has healed most of the initial damage, and the biggest problem I have right now is that it's severely out of alignment. It keeps wanting to fold inward when I walk, straightening it hyperextends it, and it won't bend past about 80 degrees. Walking a lot causes things to swell again, though in different places than it did after the first injury. I'm counting the hours until Dr. J comes back from Florida, and I'm hoping he can get me in before Tuesday so that I don't have to miss any more class.
How do people cope with this when all they have is M.D.s who cluck and suggest ice/motrin? Stay home for however many weeks? Take strong painkillers and hobble around as best they can, until it gets less painful even if it always feels kind of weird and their lower back hurts? If the knee isn't misaligned, and I didn't tear the hell out of the tendons and ligaments, what the hell do the doctors think is preventing me from flexing it or walking on it? Evil spirits?
Useless Western industrial medicine.
I went to school on Monday. Between having to walk from the auxiliary lot to the platform at Amtrak, getting on a standing-room-only (as in, sardines) bus to ride to campus on the other end, walking from the stop to Hutchison, hobbling around while I was there, and having to walk back to my car at Martinez, I set my knee back by at least a day of healing. I did get my bicycle back into my possession, and discovered that while I don't have enough range of motion to ride it, sitting and single-pedaling it is a damn sight better than walking.
I stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday night I felt well enough to go to a discussion group in the evening. Wednesday, at least, I got in about five hours of work on my Master's proposal, so I finished the introduction and 95% of the references. That's half the work. Then I went down to
knaveofhearts', where the worst part was simply the cold as I waited for the BART train home. The rest was as good as always.Yesterday I went back, feeling pretty good about my knee. I didn't want to spend an entire day up there (8-6 plus commute), though, so I decided to go in later. To avoid the Amtrak parking issue, I drove up, which also allowed me to check in at work. Adib and I are on good terms, and I can't expect to have anything to work on there until either a) I can get out into the field to collect material or b) the accessions come in in the later half of the month. Dandy.
I stopped by the health center and waited 45 minutes to see an advice nurse, killing my lunch period. After she had made an appointment with a sports-med doctor in the middle of my class time, I drove into town to pick up a Chipotle order, then came back to campus. The closest parking garage to Hutchison is roughly a quarter-mile away, so I hobbled it, and ate lunch in class. Left early to hobble the quarter-mile to Cowell (I figured it wouldn't save me any walking to use my car instead). Saw the sports-med lady, who flexed my knee, told me "yeah, that's a sprain, I can't tell whether you tore a ligament because it's still too swollen," offered me an MRI now vs. later (later, please), and made a follow-up appointment for two weeks from now. She wrote me a note that could get me campus shuttle service from the Disability Center (that's of limited use to me), but otherwise the whole song and dance was entirely useless. I hobbled painfully back to Hutchison, did as much of lab as I could before finally starting to cry from exhaustion and pain, and gratefully accepted my teacher's generous offer of a ride back to my car. Bless George for that.
This morning my knee, ankle, and both hips were all complaining. I made lunch, came back upstairs, and was informed that my cat had brought in a rat and lost it in my room. Fucking brilliant. Just when I can't get down on my knees to catch it, and I'm already in enough pain that I'm thinking twice about taking a shower, and exhausted enough that I've run out of cope. I swear and melt down. So much for going to school today...
The young roof rat is behind the large dresser now. Charlotte occasionally goes and roots around under it, which I encourage, as it drives the rat upward. At the back of the dresser is a box, taped closed, where I cut a 1x2" flap, stuffed in a plastic bag for warm bedding, added a half-handful of rolled oats, and placed it close to the wall. When you can't be quick, be clever, and I hope that's clever enough to appeal to a tired, hungry rat, who will rustle the plastic bag as it roots for the food. Once it's caught, I'll deal with the things that I had to temporarily stuff into my closet to gain access to rat hiding places.
Greg really doesn't understand my soft spot for rats, even wild ones in my living space. Then again, he also doesn't know how to think like one. Patches would be proud of me.
My knee has healed most of the initial damage, and the biggest problem I have right now is that it's severely out of alignment. It keeps wanting to fold inward when I walk, straightening it hyperextends it, and it won't bend past about 80 degrees. Walking a lot causes things to swell again, though in different places than it did after the first injury. I'm counting the hours until Dr. J comes back from Florida, and I'm hoping he can get me in before Tuesday so that I don't have to miss any more class.
How do people cope with this when all they have is M.D.s who cluck and suggest ice/motrin? Stay home for however many weeks? Take strong painkillers and hobble around as best they can, until it gets less painful even if it always feels kind of weird and their lower back hurts? If the knee isn't misaligned, and I didn't tear the hell out of the tendons and ligaments, what the hell do the doctors think is preventing me from flexing it or walking on it? Evil spirits?
Useless Western industrial medicine.
