Tales of an Under-Active Thyroid

Two days ago I went to the doctor for a weird heart palpitation. After doing an EKG, and finding nothing weird, he decided to run a series of blood tests to rule out other causes. I got the results back yesterday, and apparently I have hypothyroidism.

Being me, I jumped on the internet and started doing my research, I found a list of symptoms that made me want to cry with relief. Everything I've been feeling for the past 2-3 years (really more like 5, but I can't totally prove that) all makes sense suddenly: the extreme fatigue, irritability, depression, lack of concentration, weight gain (or in my case, weight gain then difficulty getting it off), feeling constantly cold....it's all there, described by this one little thing. Amazing!

But, as with most good things, there's a catch. The catch for me: I'll be on meds for the rest of my life. It's kind of weird to think that at the age of 27 (which I don't feel is very old at all), that I'm already joining the ranks of those who have to have those pill cases that they carry around with them everywhere. This catch is where, despite feeling relief that there really IS something wrong with me, I start to freak out a little. It's a lifelong commitment now. Now I have to go to the doctor regularly to get blood work done, where before I'd only go in for anything out of the ordinary, like a toe nail infection or an ear ache.

Yes, it's annoying, but I'm still happy to have answers. I'll be sure to keep updated how it all works out. I'm hoping in a couple of months I'll start feeling a little better!

NaNo Fail and a New Beginning

Yeah, so NaNoWriMo '09 was a huge fail on my part. I dropped the ball again, and did awful. I can use any number of my ready-made excuses, but I refuse to, I will own my failed attempt this year, as part of a character flaw that I have always had: I don't finish things that I start.

BUT! Wino and I are the proud owners of shiny new home! We've been in for just over a month. As I type that, I'm amazed because it really feels like we've been in longer than just 35 days. At the same time, though, it still feels weird coming and going from this place. Everytime we leave, we sigh and say "we own this place..." in disbelief.

It's been a busy month though, the move went smoothly, and we've unpacked most of the boxes. Only a few things got lost (and are still unaccounted for).

El Diablo and I squared off again this weekend. I threatened to throw him out of the window. The thread kept bunching up in the bobbin and, being unskilled at domestic things, I could not figure out how to keep it from doing that. After my threat though (and a good shouting match), he recognized defeat and on we went sewing. I'm nearly done with the top of the quilt for my oldest niece (which was meant to be a gift for this Christmas, but will actually be for next). The best laid plans....right?! When I started the quilt, buying a house had not even occured to me or Wino, so once we moved to the intirim place my sewing supplies got misplaced. All for the better, I suppose, it'll give me a year to get it finished (and I WILL finish!).

Day Three

Oof! I got a decent head start on Sunday, and I wrote as much as I could yesterday during lunch, but when I got home, I collapsed on the couch and fell asleep almost immediatly. NaNoWriMo falls in the worst possible month for me stress-wise. I'm an academic advisor at a university and November is when we advise students for the spring semester. I've only been doing this job over a year and this is the first time I've had to deal with seniors about to get their degrees, so I'm encountering tons of unique problems and they are (quite frankly) stressing me out!

But enough wah, wahing: I did write some yesterday (about 1000 words) and I managed to eek out around 800 words today when I found a spare moment. My intent is to go home (after going to an insurance appointment after work--yay! we found a company to go with!) and eat a quick dinner, then disappear into my "writing room."

I put that in quotes because I'm writing at Salt's old desk that she left at the house after she and Pepper moved out into their new house (gotta love living in the "interim house"), which is surrounded by mountains of mine and Wino's boxes (the "kitchen" boxes bump me in the elbow as I type, no kidding). It's not the most ideal situation, but it has to do for this year.

Next year though...oh next year. I will have my lovely tech center in the hall with a recessed light and a window out to the porch. I will be surounded by our wonderful new home and have an actual place to write that is mine alone. *Sigh* The countdown is 41 days until we get the keys, and I'm soooo ready!

Day One

I had a rough start at midnight, but with help from the FresNoWriMo write-in this afternoon I managed to get over 3500 words logged today! Here's hoping that I keep up this momentum!

Whew!

Ok, so we've only had insurance drama with that one company; luckily we've had no issues with any other insurance place we've tried. Obviously that company wasn't right for us, so let them do what they do in peace, whatever (that and their rates are outlandish!).

On a more postive note: there are talks of a FresNoWriMo kick-off party tomorrow night. I'm pretty excited to be more involved with write-ins this year. I was too shy to attend many in years past, but I've come to realize that support from fellow writers is key when taking on this challenge. I've yet to convince anyone in my immediate circle to join me, but I do know of at least one friend who decided to join WriMo this year after I posted it on Facebook, hopefully that'll provide some well needed support/friendly competition for me to actually reach 50K this year.

Planning has virtually stopped on my novel. I'm afraid to fall out of interest if I continue much longer. I need to keep my creative juices ripe for Nov. 1. I planned about 7 chapters so that should be enough to get me rolling and I'll improvise the rest as I go.

I just noticed that my blog has gotten rather boring. My usual snappy quips flew out the window once October started (my excuse is the same as the previous paragraph--I'm saving my creative juices). Buh! If you're looking for funny during the month of November, I highly recommend the webcomic Sheldon. It's a good family friendly comic (but still edgy and relevant for adults) by the brilliant Dave Kellett. Or if you're on the look out for something "adult" I recommend Keith and the Girl a daily comedy podcast. Be warned though, this podcast can be very explicit and crude, not for the faint of heart.

Quotes Aplenty

On a brief non-NaNoWriMo rant I must express my frustration at being part of an unmarried couple trying to do anything in this world! We buy a house: we have to jump through hoops to do so; we are looked down upon; we are sneered at. We go to get insurance for said house (including car insurance on the same policy, 'cause why not?! You'll get discounts): "oh ma'am, we can't do that, our legal team would never approve that policy." WTF!!!! We've been in a freakin' committed relationship for going on 4 1/2 years, some marriages don't even last that long!!! So we choose not to follow the "norm" and decide to skip a few steps...so what?! I just don't get why our society loves to favor the married.

We're Getting Close Folks!

I just checked my calendar and it says 12 days until NaNoWriMo '09 begins! Yipee! I've been working hard on my outline notecards. It stalled for a bit because I had my wisdom teeth yanked out (that's how it felt anyway), and a rather painful recovery--stupid crappy teeth!

I'm all awash in this amazing excited feeling this year. It's almost November, which is time to start writing like a maniac, and we found out when our new house will be finished (before the winter holidays--which was what I had been hoping for). I'm all tingly to get this month started because the sooner NaNoWriMo is over, the sooner I can move into my new house! I'm still nervous that my anticipation of the house will overrule my drive for WriMo....but maybe all the pent up energy I'll have can be put to good use....we'll see :)

My plot this year is pretty intriguing....I'm excited to see where it leads...my MC wakes up in a mental institution with no idea how she got there, and the story is from her POV and her psychiatrist's as they both deal with what life has dealt them. There is a lot that can happen and a lot of twists I can take the plot so I'm really, really hoping for my first win this year.

As with last year, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is this coming weekend. A fitting way for me to remember my sister, before I try to forget and just write. I love the race, and we have a huge team this year....almost 20! It's great! I always get all choked up when the starting shot is fired, and I look around at all the people, there for the same reason. All of whom have their own story, or know someone else's. It's moving, really moving.

My NaNo Eve is going to be spent in my kitty costume passing out candy to the neighborhood kids. I'm so pumped that this year we're actually in a real house (our interim place until ours is finished) so we will get trick-or-treaters. I love passing out candy. Then (and this was someone's tradition from on the forums) I will take a shower as it gets closer to midnight...in hopes of waking myself up some. I will watch SNL with the gang, start chugging my Diet Mountain Dew, and pray to stay awake to start my novel at 12:00am Nov. 1. Plus I'd like to take advantage of the return to normal time from Daylight Savings Time...I'm totally not a night owl, but the crew is there for support (even if they did all bail on me last year in favor of sleep!).

Happy planning to all of the NaNo-ers out there!