More than a pain in the neck

I seem to experience pains and circumstances like no one else that I personally know.  There are the simple dairy issues, the more complex back problems, and the even more worrisome cancer scares.  More recently, I have had a lupus scare lending itself to some skin issues that are going to be with me permanently and have forever changed the way I will do my hair.

About a month and a half ago I was out eating a lovely sushi meal with my local sister and my brother from another mother and father and noticed a small bump on my neck.  I thought it was a pimple and made a note to look at it when I got home.  I didn't.  I remembered it a couple days later.  It was way larger and felt nothing like a pimple.  But I wasn't too worried.  Then it got larger and harder.  I went to the dermatologist.  He said he couldn't deal with it since it was too far under the skin.  I went to a general surgeon who sent me to get an ultrasound.

All in all, this lead to some incredible worrying.  And a lot of sub plan writing - one of the truly annoying things about being a teacher is that you can't just take a day off.  There has to be a plan for every hour and you have to write it all down for the person who will cover your classes for you.  It takes way longer to do sub plans than to actually stick out sicknesses and go to work.  Unfortunately, doctors don't work around my school day.

But, back to my neck.  The lump was growing.  It was becoming a nuisance when I swallowed, yawned, accidentally put the toothbrush too far and gagged when I was cleaning my tongue - it was really annoying. And becoming more and more scary!  What was this growth?!?!?!

The surgeon said it was likely a thyroglossal duct cyst - which he said usually develop in early childhood.  This added more to my confusion.  I know I can be immature at times, but WTF?  Am I a mutant?  Why is this happening to me?

He said it could be removed easily.  I set up a surgery date for two and a half weeks from that appointment.  And that began two and a half weeks of worry.

I have several doctors in the family, but I also watch a lot of doctor shows.  I have seen simple surgery turn into a life-long nightmare.  I have seen doctors leave items in body cavities and seen doctors operate on the wrong portion of a patient.

I went in this past Tuesday for the procedure.  Fortunately, my siblings were kind of sympathetic when I called and told them that I had had enough and that I was going to slit my throat.  One of them was really worried and thought I was actually suicidal.  But when I offered her my nice tv, she seemed ok with it all.

Luckily the worst part was not eating after midnight prior to the surgery.  The procedure was scheduled for 1:45, but the doctor was an hour late.  I was so hungry that I was actually past hunger.  I assume that my insides were already digesting my body... that would explain why I was significantly lighter when I stepped on the scale than I have been for over four years.  Oh, and not being able to take headache medicine or any other medicine for a week before the surgery - great time for my sinus to become completely f-ed up (neti-pot is my new best friend).

Actually, the worst part was not not eating before surgery.  It has been trying to eat after surgery.  The tube used during anesthesia caused irritation afterward, then the fact that they cut portions of my throat muscles and throat bones out has caused significant pain during eating, chewing, drinking, and any activity that involves moving the tongue besides talking.  Also, my neck is swollen and sore when I try and lay down or turn over when in bed.  As soon as I finish writing this, I am going to go back and get the cold pack and lay it out on my neck.

Unfortunately, it took me two days to realize that I could be taking two pills for pain instead of just one at a time.  That made a huge difference.  I still don't see why people get addicted to these sort of pills, but I guess my demographics don't fit the usual suspects for prescription drug abuse.

I took the gauze off yesterday and am now looking like a black Mrs. Frankenstein.  The stitches stick out more than the actual incision - which should blend a bit with the natural neck folds when they unsew my neck in a little over a week.  I guess there go my chances of showing a lot of neck when I finally get a chance on Tyra's modeling show.

Hopefully, this is the last of my medical ailments for a long time.

Oh, yeah.  All this happened after a massive tornado impacted my school district and made several of my students and colleagues homeless.  I feel for them and the people in the southwest recovering from that devastation.

Oh, and while this was all happening, I was doing another cycle of SIOL for 30 days.  I even managed to wear my six to the hospital for the procedure since Tuesday was the last day of the project.  I will continue until the end of May with my Project 333 challenge.

Awesomely disturbing prank

I can't find a better video quality, but this is hilarious.



Check out his hang-time.

Wordless Wednesday: Hello?

Sent to me from my brother.  Lionel Richie always tickles me.

Near death experience

There's nothing to bring you into reality like some sort of major scares.

• There are the not-so-serious scares (beauty, societal issues, occupational, parenting issues)
• There are the more serious scares (familial, near-death instances, physical pain, fears of cancer) 

These were/are all scary for different reasons and to different intensity levels.

Thursday I experienced a new kind of scare.

After school, I went to practice (yes, track is back in session - I am back being sore demonstrating drills and trying to pretend in front of the kids that it doesn't hurt and is still easy for my ever-aging body, and I will soon be losing most of my free Saturday time).  Before practice, I decided to wipe down my dirty computer keyboard area.

When I came back in, I had to clean up and get ready for three hours of parent-teacher conferences.  Then I packed up and headed down to meet, greet, share information.

At various times during these conferences, there are lulls where I can either sit and stare out the door (I was seated RIGHT in front of the entry door.  Not sure if this was some sort of social justice move to let parents know that yes, there are some black women we hire as teachers, or just a coincidence), grade papers (which I had none on this second night), walk and talk with other teachers who are not meeting with parents, get a snack of pita chips and cheese (which would not turn out well for me or the parents), or I can get on my personal laptop and cruise through some of my favorite safe for work sites.

I pulled out the laptop and turned it on.

The light came on, but it took a while for the login screen to appear.  When it did appear, my keys were not typing anything.  I restarted it and then it did not come on at all.

It was dead or broken or about to implode or something.

I wanted to scream for fear of all the data I had put on in the past two weeks that I had not yet put onto a jump drive or my Time Machine.  I wanted to get up and make a bunch of phone calls to see what could be done.

Instead I had to sit there for another 2 hours talking to parents (mostly about how well their student is doing since the parents who need to kick their kids into shape are often the ones who cannot make it for various work, school, a lot of other kids, not really paying attention/caring reasons - maybe they haven't heard of the proposed jail time and conferences issue in Detroit).

I had way more pressing issues.

That night and into yesterday morning the computer would still not turn on.

I had to go to the dreaded Apple Store.  First, that meant I had to go into the mall.  In itself a scary time, but I was hoping that since I would be in there around 1 on a weekday that it wouldn't be too bad.  Then there is the Apple Store itself.  Fun gadgets to play with, but too many people - many of them crazed gadget-hounds who think life revolves around their desire to acquire/fix whatever Apple devise they currently are servicing.  I braved the lunch crowds, but would have to come back at 4:45 because there were too many people and I had to leave for practice.

Later came back and got to look at all the cool new computers with amazing mouse pads.  They said that everything on my hard drive could be saved.  Then one of the nice workers said that I was still under a warranty and that might cover fixing the power button.  (I guess when I got the computer three years ago I must have done the normally unthinkable for me and purchased an awesome extended warranty)

The computer is fixed.  Even have a new casing that they replaced, new keyboard, and new mouse pad.

I still have all of my information.  I don't have to spend over a thousand dollars American on a new computer.  And I can now stay out of the mall for a while longer.

Wordless Wednesday: Funny, but sad and sadly true

Two things for you mind and your funny bone.

Six Items or Less - No, undies don't count

Since January 10th, I have been participating in the Six Items or Less experiment.  Here is some information on it:

What do our clothes say about us? ...

The scope of the Six Items project expanded rapidly around the world, exposing individuals and even entire families to explore a life with less...

The experiment is simple: each participant gets to choose six (and only six) items of clothing and pledge to wear only these six items of clothing for a month...

Logistically, there are exceptions that don’t count towards the six: undergarments, swim wear, work-out clothes, work uniforms, outer wear (rain slicker, outdoor jacket), shoes and accessories. You can get multiples of the same item for laundry purposes, but different colors count as separate items.

For my six, I chose

1. Black dress
2. White button-up blouse
3. Jeans
4. Black cardigan
5. Black long-sleeved t-shirt
6. Gray sweater

These were really good choices for me.  I counted about 17 outfit options/combinations I could create with these six pieces (I only ended up wearing 7, but in different ways).  I was able to go to work and hang out and even attend the Lauryn Hill concert all with ease and without looking out of place.  The dress was something I have had for at least 8 years and have only probably worn about 5 times.

Initially I was worried about how hard this would be.  But, it turns out that it was way easier than I thought.  A couple years ago, I started getting rid of clothes that I didn't like.  Last year I got rid of some more.  When I decided to do SIOL in December, I got rid of even more.  I by no means am living super simple with clothes, but I have definitely pared down.  I also was worried about looking the same day in and day out.

Then I remembered that every summer I basically wear the same thing each day when I am not out coaching.  When Kid Sis #3 found out I was doing this, she asked, "Isn't that what you always do anyway?"  When I am not working, I am basically in similar clothes each day.

I was concerned that my students would notice my outfits and realize before anyone else what was going on.  I am in front of them and in the halls with them each and every day for long periods of time.

All of my fears were for nothing.

I loved the clothes I chose.  That dress that had seen so little wear in the past years has now become a favorite.

Scarves have become my favorite.  I have tried out so many different ways of wearing them around my neck and around my body that it is truly amazing.

I got so many compliments on so many days on my outfits.  Some one I don't normally see at work (outside of my coaching clothes) even asked me if I was going on interviews after school since I looked so nice.  The kids even complimented me on my outfits.  One girl compared another student to me as the after portion of "What Not To Wear" and the kid as the before.  The minimal items and the desire not to look the same each day made me really focus on looking put together each day.  It also made me use accessories, tights, and shoes to make my look different each time I wore something.  In these pictures you can see two examples of how I mixed up the dress.  In the first, I wore the black T on top with the scarf to break it up and make it look more like a skirt.  I wore ballet shoes that day.  In this picture I rocked my boots and just had the cardigan on top (the dress is short-sleeve, so I always had something on top.  I wore the dress with the white shirt on top, with the gray sweater on top, tucked in to the jeans to look like a shirt, and different colored tights and shoes and a lot of different jewelry.

I was really impressed by my creativity throughout this.  I have not seen myself as being really good with fashion, but perhaps with time and practice, that may be a calling of mine somehow.

I only told three people that I was doing SIOL, and no one else noticed (or at least said anything to my face about it).

I have always gotten my clothes ready for the week on Sunday nights, but with SIOL, it made it even easier to do so.

Today is the last day.

Next, I am going to up it to 15 items (no experiment, just doing it on my own) and continue to the end of February.  When I picked my 15 pieces, I started trying to figure out how many ways I could mix them and had to stop counting, because I was becoming overwhelmed with all the choices.

Through this experiment, I have come even closer to figuring out a few things:

• What type of clothes I really like and what I need to focus one when I go shopping for clothes - I know that quality is way better than cheap items that will only be ruined after a season of washing and wearing.  Each of my items were good quality and made it through a lot of washing and (most of them) three times a week wear.  
• I know that I can live off of very little - Again, no one noticed.  That is a credit to my creativity, but as many on the SIOL site have said, no one really cares what you wear.  It is really about wearing clothes that suit your body and lifestyle, and not looking out of place.  I have donated or sold even more clothes.
• I have started trying to travel with just a carry on - After this, I know that this will be even easier.  
• I love this six - With exception to the white shirt, and I don't totally love that because I feel like the arms aren't as long as I would like them to be.  They are by no means the MJ of sleeves, but I have long arms for a woman and like my sleeves to come to a certain point on my hands.  When I picked my 15 pieces, it was almost hard to get to 15 because I wanted to make sure that the pieces fit my style and that they would all look good together and be a decent quality.
• I am not easily bored with clothes - Not until this past Sunday did I get antsy about wearing something different.  That was when I was getting my clothes ready for the week and was getting excited/anxious about all the options for Thursday.  I stuck with my 6, and Thursday will wear something totally different.  Though, I did consider wearing the dress again since I like it so much.

During the experiment I even tried things out with my ever growing TWA.  I had my sister braid some of it and tried out some of those comb-thingies that you can slide into your hair.  It may be time for me to invest in some of PeaceImages hair combs - I have been looking forward to the day my hair is long enough to mess around with since I became natural (finally stopping the cutting has really helped out - who would have thought, right?)

So SIOL no more.

It is still rather likely that I will keep wearing some of the same outfits in the next few weeks.

The community on the website was really great - it was cool to read about their journeys, trials, and tribulations as well as to see some of the options they chose.  I may do one of these experiments some of them suggested next.  Each of which will be a breeze after limiting myself to 6 items for 31 days.

• Project 333
• 30 in 30

Or maybe something completely different that comes up or that I create - for now it will be 15IOL for the next 19 days.  Perhaps after that, I will be able to pare my wardrobe down even more.