Update-Palooza! ultimate long postie-poo

Damn, I think Blogger is going to blow up with all these freaking posts I have done tonight. I know I have not been keeping you all updated lately and I apologize. Working two jobs is kicking my ass. However, I had some free time after cleaning and before sleeping, so I thought I better get my ass to typing.

My new job (which I think I will permanently refer to as "that test grading thing") is going fantastic. Some of the people are a little ... odd. The first project didn't go so great, and thought "what the hell have I gotten myself into now?" I really didn't like my "team leader" and I was trying, with some failure, to adjust to the new way of grading and the new type of papers I was grading. I recently found in the bottom of my purse a scribbled rant wrote around that transitioning time about the people there:

"Dear susie sonofabitch,
I can't stand listening to you chomp and chew on your fucking Styrofoam rice cakes. Clicking and clacking your claw-like fake nails furiously on the computer keyboard like a pissed off wood pecker going to town on a tin roof. Hearing your nasally voice moving around the break room whining into your cellphone "can you hear me know?" like a bad parody of an even more annoying commercial.
love,
- Lo."

I feel better know though. I have met some really nice people and am working pretty steady. I think I will have projects to do until the end of July. Then ... I have no idea. I really don't know what I am going to do once I have to go back to full time at the store. I can barely stand showing up 3 times a week. By the way, I will announce it now: stand corrected! I can'tt work more than 23 hours. I should not have complained about not getting 30 hours. I barely want to show up now as it is. I Am glad I only got scheduled 23 hours a week. It's pretty nice not giving a shit, and not having to give a shit. I get to do the bare minimum and that's it. Not too shabby.

An update on my health:
I had a recent doctors appointment to get a prescription refilled. Yep, I have to make an appointment and go see her to get stuff refilled. ($$$) Anyway, while I was there I decided to do some "spring cleaning."

Remember the 'lady problem' I have been having lately? The never-ending lady problem? Yea. Last time I saw her, she told me I had to research what birth control pills I wanted to be on and find out the generic names of them before she would prescribe them to me. I did all that (with some help from Maggie).

Months later, at the appointment, she could have cared less what pill I wanted. I could have chosen any! Plus, I didn't need the generic name. All I needed to do was tell the pharmacist that I wanted generic and voila! $10! All these years being miserable because I couldn't afford $35, only to find out that generic has been available the whole time!!
Things haven't improved for me yet, (and I am sure I am not protected yet boys!) However, it hasn't quite been a month, so I am hoping this gets all cleared up soon.

Now for my spanking.
Have been with holding information from ya'll. I don't know why I haven't been open and telling about it, I just wished to keep it kind of quiet. I certainly wasn't trying to hide it, I was just tired of having "something wrong with me". I guess I figured that if I didn't tell anyone about it, maybe it wouldn't go badly.

See, for the past few years, I have had these ... heart palpitations. I will just be hanging out, working, trying to sleep, etc when all of a sudden my heart seems to skip a beat. I couldn't figure any cause of it (exertion, caffeine, stress), so I of course ignored it. I think my heart would have to be hanging out of my bellybutton before I would think to go to a doctor to see what was up!

Well, a couple of months ago the palps starting increasing in frequency. Then, one night at work I had a really bad episode and almost blacked out & passed out. Since I used to be a smoker, I am overweight, I have bad heart issues on both sides of the family, and my grandmother had to have a pacemaker to combat an irregular heartbeat, I figured it was time to mention it.

The doc sent me a cardiologist who took things really seriously. The short of a long story is: I have a really fast heart rate (around 100 bpm with the average being around 60-90 bpm) and pretty okay blood pressure. He ran some blood work and everything looked good (cholesterol, potassium, etc). I had to take a stress test that involved a (quite painful) ultrasound of my heart, followed by a monitored stint on the treadmill, followed by another (I mean, I have bruises!) painful ultrasound. The results looked good though, everything is structurally alright with my heart.

I have to wear an "event monitor" for 30 days. Basically it is this cool little machine that I wear 24-7. I put a little sticky on my chest, and one under my left breast. Then I snap little electrodes onto them and put the monitor in my pocket. Whenever I get a palpitation or feel my heart doing the funky chicken, I press record. It records for 60 seconds -- like a mini EKG. Once I get one or two recordings saved, I call a 1-800 number and talk to a tech who takes some info from me like what I was doing and what my symptoms were. Then, I put the phone to the monitor and press send. It screeches and beeps like a fax machine having sex with an internet connection. Then that is it! Pretty cool contraption.

I have only recorded one thing so far, and my skin is breaking out into hive-like blotches from having to wear those electrodes. I must be allergic to the adhesive. So wearing it is a pain in the ass, but if it shows something, then great. In 30 days, I just mail the thing and they will look at what I sent and let me know where to go from there.

In the meantime, he prescribed me a medication to lower my heart rate. For some reason, I am afraid to take it. So I am going to wait until after I send back the monitor to fill it. Apparently it makes you really tired for the first few weeks so I want to be done working the two jobs so that I am not dragging and doing really poor work.

Needless to say, I also need to lose some major weight. let's just say I was WELL over what I thought I weighed. I have always told myself that I would never panic about my weight unless I went over a particular number. I have blown past that number by about 15 pounds.

I am doing good though. I am starting to eat better, and exercising. I think I will buy an at-home exercise DVD (that I can tolerate without being really annoyed) and start doing workouts at home, as well as taking regular walks. I may even look into whether I can afford to join a health club again. I used to do water aerobics at a place that is now right across the street from me, and I loved it! I think it is only $15/month, so I might be able to swing it.

If anyone wants to start getting more active with me, I need all the help and motivation I can get. I hate exercise, I hate sweating, I hate hot summer days, and I love ice cream. However, I am ONLY doing this to be healthier. Weight-loss is only a nice side effect of keeping my heart and knees healthy. I think this mind frame is what will keep me going in all this. I need to feel young again because I AM YOUNG! DAMN IT!

Oh, and the hot dude that I work with is certainly motivation too! More about him in a later post...