Hello May

[nightdog_barks]

And goodbye April. I'd say I'm sorry to see you go, but I'd be lying. After all, you were the month in which:

1) I had a huge health scare.
2) Layla broke two (2!) of her leashes.
3) My trusty old Toshiba laptop became a big old paperweight.
4) My camera malfunctioned and I can't find the USB cable that fits it.
5) There was more, but thankfully I've managed to BLOCK IT FROM MY MIND.

So I'm hoping May is better. :-P

There are some good things:

1) The health scare seems to be getting better.
2) I bought a nice new leash and a new harness for Layla.
3) I bought a tiny Samsung Chromebook (using it right now).
4) Well, 4 isn't solved yet.
5) What?

Read John Preston's The Dig and loved it. Now reading Nell Irvin Painter's The History of White People.

Comments

[silverjackal]

I'm so sorry to hear about the health scare. Hopefully you will get better completely and promptly. Hopefully May will be better for everyone.

[nightdog_barks]

It has to be, seeing as how April was such a blast. ;-P

[silverjackal]

Sometimes it seems like it just won't fucking quit, either, no matter how much it might be "Enough already!".

[nightdog_barks]

THAT WAS EXACTLY IT. First my scare (I was concerned that I might be having a heart attack, BUT I WASN'T), and after that it was all these little things -- the laptop, the leashes breaking (which scared me more than anything else), the camera, the vacuum cleaner stopped working -- but taken one right after the other, it was just A CUMULATIVE MESS. I was reminded of the line from the movie History Boys -- "It's just one fuckin' thing after another."

Oh my god. :-P

[silverjackal]

As long as you had the heart thing checked out then the rest (as horrifying and frustrating as it is) is all manageable. Not that you don't have my profound sympathies on the subject, but I am vastly relieved you're O.K., and the rest is readily fixable, if infuriating to cope with.

I know this particular thing well -- with acid reflux if it hits a particular spot in the oesophagus it causes all the same symptoms as a heart attack: chest and arm pain, shortness of breath, etc. Except it's actually heart burn. Because I have that particular form (very rarely now, my reflux is well contained and so much better that I'm tapering off the Omeprazole) I'm also well aware that I could at some point have real heart attack symptoms and brush them off as "just heartburn" *face palm*. When it was at its' worst it was like having lightening flashes in my chest. Scary shit, yes, even to a certain extent when you know what's causing it.

[nightdog_barks]

What I was having were premature atrial contractions (PACs). I know that womens' heart attacks can present differently than mens', and plus I'd had shoulder pains the day before, all of which was making me tremendously anxious. So I really didn't want to be one of those people who says "OH IT'LL GO AWAY ON ITS OWN" and then drop dead of a massive coronary a day later. :D

I did get them to show me my EKG, which was pretty interesting. You could actually see the PAC happening! Amazing. I love science.

[silverjackal]

I am glad to hear that what you have is benign. It's always better safe than sorry with potential cardiac symptoms. I obviously agree with you about how cool science is. ;D