Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Fun with doctors

Well, that embarrassing butt problem I had last time I wrote? That got SO much worse last week. I woke up in the middle of the night and almost barfed, I hurt so much. And that’s saying a lot for me: I have a REALLY high pain tolerance for internal problems. My mom came up on Thursday to stay with me, and we got an appointment to see a Chinese doctor (well, an American doctor who practices Chinese medicine) on Friday. I literally lied in bed all day Thursday and tried not to cry. Mom took me to the doctor on Friday and she asked a million questions, looked at my tongue and took my pulse. I got some herbal Chinese remedy to help stimulate the chi in my digestive system, refresh my spleen, my stomach, my kidneys, my liver. It’s in a pill form, which I was grateful for. Sometimes they make you brew these nasty teas and drink them. :P The pills don’t smell too bad, though, and they seem to be helping. I also had some acupuncture, which was weird, but SO helpful, and I’m scheduled for 4 more treatments.

So . . . I’m still hurting, but I’m sort of functional. I’m at work for 4 hours today, after being out Thursday, Friday and Monday. (Although I told them I was in the hospital – people tend to treat that with more gravitas than when you tell them you’re seeing a Chinese doctor.)

But this is a short post, because I’m exhausted. Being in constant pain will do that to you. :P On the up side, I lost 8 pounds this week!! (Yeah, I know it’s fucked-up to be excited about that, but I’m trying to look on the bright side, here! LOL)

Saturday, August 05, 2006

What goes up, must come down

Ok, so the whole job thing that started out so well may not be going so well. I was supposed to start Monday in a permanent, part-time position, but apparently since I'm technically in a different job title, they can keep me as a full-time temporary employee for another 6 months. My supervisor delivered the news in such a cheerful, "Isn't that great?" manner that I was stunned and spluttered something like, "Well, um, ok, I think I could swing that . . . " Stupid, stupid. I need to learn the following words: "I need to think about it." Simple words, really. But not the ones I used.

My reasoning in the heat of the moment was that if they're really willing to let me go for auditions and such, that'd be great, but the job schedule is a schedule I HATE, and I know that last year when I was doing extra work one day a week, they got annoyed after a few weeks, even though I'd SAID I needed to do that going in. So I'm not holding out much hope that they'll be totally kosher with my taking off in the middle of the day to audition if I'm working 8 hours instead of 6. (See, if I work a total of 6, I can take off for 2 hours in the middle of the day to audition, and still work all the hours I'm "supposed" to. If I'm "supposed" to work 8 though, and I'm gone 2 hours in the middle of the day, I'm NOT working all the hours they want me to.)

So I'm going in on Monday to basically say that we're both changing the rules: the job they offered initially is NOT what they're saying now (and if they'd offered me the job on the contingency that I work for another 6 months full-time, I'd have turned it down), and I said I'd work full-time through January, but I can't. So the compromise I'll offer is to work full-time until the existing employee leaves, and have them switch me over after that. She's looking for work right now, so I'd guess I'll have a month, maybe two of working full-time, and then switch to part-time. I'll still have to audition, so that's not going to change, and they'll have to deal with that. Obviously I'll be a little more diplomatic, though. It won't get me very far to go in and rant uncontrollably. :P

In other news, I've managed to develop a rather painful, embarrassing butt condition. (I wouldn't even share this, but I think most of you who read this have kids and/or are old enough to have them, and God knows nothing's sacred after that! LOL) It's not hemorrhoids, but Mom tells me it's pretty much the same feeling. Great. I can't sit, I can't stand, and God forbid I go to the doctor. But I looked it up on the internet, and the main treatment is surgery, which is so NOT happening!!! So I've been laying around, taking homeopathy and using various over-the-counter medications ranging from toothache medicine (benzocaine to cut the pain) and aloe vera (to promote healing).

On the plus side, I haven't been eating solid food particularly (because the result of food is poo, and poo HURTS), which means that I've lost about 4 pounds in the last several days. I know it'll come back as soon as I start eating again, but in the meantime, it makes me feel better. I might as well get SOMETHING out of this fucking misery.

For cryin' out loud . . . . Just shoot me now.