Sanatio

CWs: physical & dental health, alcohol, food

Earlier today I was looking at my work and personal calendars, which are oddly full of doctor’s appointments. I had my annual physical a couple of weeks ago. Mostly fine, although my doctor said I had randomyl elevated level of liver enzymes, which was unusual. So she wants me to come back for blood work a few weeks after that. The earliest I could make work was 01 Dec, so there we go. Hoping it was just a fluke; otherwise more tests will be needed. She said that if I’m having more alcohol, or acetaminophen, than usual, to cut back or eliminate it. Neither are an issue; I rarely use acetaminophen, and I have maybe 1-2 drinks on the weekend, if that, most weeks. So that’s odd. She also said my calcium was low, which is also weird, since I drink a lot of milk and eat cheese &c. I’m wondering if I try to take my multivitamin and D3 supplement more regularly, that will sort itself out.

So that’s on the docket, and I also have a couple of other appointments. I typically need to see my pulmonologist once a year, just to check in and yes, confirm that my CPAP is working and helping me not suffocate at night (it is working just fine). We met last in April or so. However, I got an email from my CPAP company, who said I’m eligible for a CPAP machine replacement, since it’s been 5 (!) years since I’ve been using it. They advised to set up an appointment with my pulmonologist to discuss machine replacement, so I set that up for a week from today. Hoping all goes smoothly with that, since the CPAP has been immensely helpful and I sleep much better with it, even if it is a pain sometimes.

I also had my dentist appointment yesterday. Mostly what I expected; I am doing the right things and brushing and flossing, and of course using my mouthguard (I grind my teeth at night, so the mouthguard definitely helps with that). However, my dentist said that a couple of my molars have a lot of wear on them, and that they should fill them with ceramic to protect against that. I didn’t set up an appointment yesterday, since I needed to confer with my spouse. One of the downsides of having only one car is that we need to confer a lot more about our schedules, but it’s fine. I called the dentist today to schedule it, in the room with my spouse, and we decided on a week from yesterday for that appointment. Thursdays are my “office day” (I am at home 4d/week), and my supervisor doesn’t love us scheduling appointments &c. on office days for that reason. I emailed my supervisor and let her know about it, and said it’s something I need to get done, and that was the first time that worked for me. It’s not ideal, but oh well.

Hence my confusion at seeing a bunch of doctor’s appointments in the next couple of weeks. I don’t usually see doctors that much, since everything is mostly fine, so I’m just not used to it. I’m OK with that. And it’s also OK to see people when there are issues, of course. I am very grateful that we have good health insurance – and we also have an employee clinic that we can go to with most things 100% covered under our insurance. Our insurance is changing at the start of the year, though, to a “zero deductible” plan, which will just involve a lot of copays, and I am not looking forward to it. Hoping for the best, though, with that. At least it’s insurance. I know, low bar, but I’ll take it. Hoping that we eventually have universal healthcare in my lifetime, but I am not holding my breath for that (ha).

In other news, my parents visited for a few days last week. We had a lovely time! We hadn’t seen them for about a year and a half, so it was nice to spend some time. My dad’s health has not been great lately, so I am glad he was feeling up to the trip, and glad that they flew instead of driving as they had originally planned. We took them to some fun restaurants, and also took them to a meadery downtown, which has become one of my favorite places. My dad isn’t much of a drinker, nor is my mom, but my mom was interested in the mead. They had a nice time, and we hung out on the cozy screened-in back patio which had blankets and pillows and space heaters. It was really cool! We also took my parents to Dinosaur Ridge, which is an open space with lots of dinosaur tracks, fossils, and other prehistoric artefacts. We’d taken my dad before, but my mom hadn’t been, so I really wanted her to go. We took the guided bus tour, mostly because I didn’t know if my dad would be up for the 1.5-2mi roundtrip walk, and I think that was the right call. We also had never done it, so it was cool to hear the stories about the exhibits &c. We went back home through the mountains, first stopping in Idaho Springs and going to the original BeauJo’s Pizza (they make a uniquely Colorado-style pizza with a honey wheat crust, and provide honey for the pizza). It was tasty! And my mom enjoyed the trip through the mountains, through the casino towns of Central City and Black Hawk, and a brief stop through Nederland as well.

We also did some house stuff, just enough, but there were still things I wanted to get done. Oh well. Ran out of time. It was nice though. I’m just glad my parents made it here flying, with all the airport cancellations and delays and such. Their flight out worked just fine as well. After we dropped them off, we decided to go to Aurora and the plaza where H-Mart (Korean supermarket) is. The plaza has a Japanese department (?) store called Ebisu, which is sorta like Daiso with more food items, and lots of restaurants. We ended up going to a Japanese buffet which also had sushi. It was pretty decent for what it was, but I think I am not really a buffet kind of guy. Afterwards, we got stuck in lots of traffic on the way back, reluctantly stopped by the grocery store, and picked up Xya’s meds from the vet on the way home. I love my parents, but I was happy to have the house (and my office) back, y’know? The cats were also happy to go back to normal routines, as they were pretty much perplexed by having company.

Ugh, I forgot, I wanted to take my mom to the sculpture garden! Oh well. Next time I’ll have to prioritize that. It’s nice having both of them together, but sometimes it’s also nice with one or the other. My mom is also usually up for more museums and other chill things. I’m a little surprised that we haven’t gotten our first snow yet; it was pretty warm while my parents were here, and is still a little warm, but the forecast is showing colder weather ahead (thank the gods above and below!).

I’ve been playing a lot of games lately. I mentioned awhile back that I finally beat Silksong. I was absolutely obsessed with it. I played Mouthwashing and now I just finished SOMA, which was kinda like an exploration version of BioShock. I saw people on the internet making the comparison, but also being angry at the comparison. To be sure, they are different games, with different themes and goals, but the undersea dystopian environment was largely similar. And what a hell of an ending (well, a twofold one, really). I think I’ll try out Moonlighter next; I bought it a little while back but have not yet played it. I’m also really interested in Rain World, which is apparently up there in difficulty with Silksong and the original Hollow Knight. I’m having difficulty swallowing the price ($25 for a game from uh, 2018?), but I also really want to play it, so I’ll probably get it soon.

It’s been curative to see family. To play games. To recharge. To spend time with my spouse and kitties. I just started reading Tricia Hersey’s Rest is Resistance and I am loving it. Trying to take more time to rest and take care of myself. I’ve long tried to empty my brain at night and relax and let myself just be, and sleep without worrying, but it’s hard. I also have my Calm subscription that I need to use more of; the sleep stories are really lovely, but I’ve just had a lot of podcasts lately to listen to at night. I just know I have a way better work/life balance at my job now than I ever did when I was a teacher, and that came long overdue. I’ve been out of teaching for 6 years now, and I’m better for it, sad as that thought is. I talked with my parents about that when they were here. I said I felt like they weren’t initially supportive of my career change. My dad explained that they had gone through my academic career (well, undergrad and grad school) cheering me on and excited for me to find a career in academia, and they were processing that that wasn’t my path going forward. I said I’d had time to grieve my lost dream, and agonized over it with my spouse a lot, so I had already processed everything by the time I changed careers (it was a slow death). So I think we just weren’t on the same page, and that’s OK. I am glad we had that conversation, it was useful.

Anyways, speaking of games, I think I am going to fire up Moonlighter and see how it goes. Just wanted to write a bit about what’s been going on lately in my life. Hope y’all are well and thanks, as always, for reading <3