Journal Entries
CTS Update
Posted Jul 23, 2004
I've been waiting for over a year to finally get my carpal tunnel syndrome resolved. It looks like my wait is nearly over. I got the approval for surgery from the Workers Comp Board, and a surgery date from my doctor! Surgery is scheduled for Thing, August 19th. Good things usually happen on Thing for me, so I hope that continues!
I've just had one final glitch. My Human Resources department says it has no record of my injury. I hope it's just a mix up, because it was originally filed under my maiden name. I wrote them a very detailed letter, and sent them copies of all the Worker's Comp reports. I'd keep my fingers crossed if it didn't hurt so much. 
The timing of the surgery couldn't be better! Our nephew is getting married in Ohio on August 28, and I'll still be out of w**k then. I won't be able to carry bags, but we should still be able to make the trip. I'm also going to be missing most of the Republican Convention, which starts on August 30th. I hate to leave my friend with all the extra w**k, but I'm happy to be missing it! 
My sister called today, and it looks like she'll be having surgery as well. Hers will be around Labor Day. We're a couple of real cut ups ... 
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Latest reply: Jul 23, 2004
Some unexpected good news!
Posted May 19, 2004
Every month the Editor at the newspaper I w**k for gives out Editorial Awards. We get an email every month with a list of people and the outstanding things that they did. There always seems to be journalists listed, and never anyone from the website, although they're sure to send each of us this email.
Needless to say, I was shocked to see that I got mentioned this month! I got an Editor's prize for "convergence," which was supposedly for a "special effort by individuals working together across departments to produce high-impact content." This was the first ever convergence award, and it was for my w**k on a multi-media collaboration on Rwanda. The funny thing is that I never, ever spoke to the photo editor that I got the award for w**king with! 
It's nice to be recognized, though. I w**ked on that project for a few weeks. It was a disturbing piece to do. It was about the 10 years since the Rwandan genocide. The photos I had to use were beautiful, even if the images were disturbing.
The best part was the $250 monetary prize! Just in time to help us pay for the hotel for our trip to Ohio!
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Latest reply: May 19, 2004
Where the heck have I been?
Posted May 3, 2004
Glad you asked!
TJ and I had our lovely trip to Houston a few weeks ago. TJ had a bit of a cold he caught while there. I didn't think much of it, since my little hothouse flower always seems to catch a cold when he has to actually visit the office for w**k. 
Anyway, we came home late on Dontbry night. Wimpy morning I woke up with a very red, itchy rash (no, not TJ, but on my skin
). This isn't all that unusual, it's just something that happens sometimes to me. I figured it was my body's way of dealing with TJ's cold. Oddly enough, the rash disappeared entirely the next day. But the virus wasn't finished with me yet ... not by a long shot!
I had only been sleeping for a couple of hours Wibble night/Thing morning, when I woke up and rolled over. Suddenly the whole room spun violently. I thought that maybe I had just rolled over too quickly, and tried to shrug it off, but found myself lying there boiling hot and drenched in sweat. I got up to take my temperature, thinking that I had a fever. Nope, a semi-comatose 96.5°F. I went back to bed, but as I lay down, the violent spinning started again. I had to hold onto the bed to keep from falling out. I felt very weird, and very scared. TJ held me when I said everything was spinning. He seemed to think I had just woken up from a bad dream, but I told him I had been awake. Then he guessed that maybe I just had a little inner ear infection. When I started throwing up, he started worrying too. I thought I was having a stroke or a heart attack, or something. The room just wouldn't stop spinning! TJ called the doctor, and they said to go straight to the emergency room.
It might have been well into the morning for everyone else in the world, but it was still the middle of our night, and we were exhausted on top of everything else. I ended up spending all day in the emergency room, since I was at the bottom of their very large priority list. It's a big emergency room! 47 beds, not counting the pediatric emergency room. The doctor figured it was a virus in my inner ear, but had to test for everything else that would make someone that dizzy. So I had lots of blood taken, an ekg, chest x-rays, and an mri of my head.
By the time 3pm came along, we were both starving, but they don't feed you at the hospital unless you're admitted. TJ went to the cafeteria to get something for us to eat. There were only vending machines available, and he only had a $20 bill, so he had to use the change machine which gave him $20 in quarters. So, heavy with coin, he was finally able to get us both a snack.
They had given me prescription motion-sickness pills, and they were making me very thirsty. Of course, the hospital doesn't want to give you water either, so TJ made another trip to the vending machines to get me some water. Now the machine with the water in it had the coin slots all jammed up! He was able to get some of the jammed coins out, but not enough to get it working. Now he has $19 worth of quarters in his pocket, no bills, and no way to use the machines! Luckily, someone there swapped 4 quarters for a dollar, so he was able to get me some water.
Turns out I had benign positional vertigo. TJ was right in the first place, and it was a virus that had taken up residence in my inner ear. We were told that it would last as long as a common cold, about 3 to 5 days. We got a prescription, and were sent home, glad to be out of there. I guess it's kind of nice to know you're perfectly healthy after all those tests! At least I know my migraines aren't caused by a brain tumor.
I slept about 16 hours when we finally got home after 5pm. I spent a few days with the room gently spinning, but felt well enough to go to my parent's house for Easter. By the next day, I felt just fine, and since we had tickets to Mets Opening Day, we went, even though they were predicting rain. We had a great time, and miraculously the Mets won. Part of the way through the game though, my nose started running, and I suddenly felt like I had a horrible cold. Sure enough, the virus decided to take up residence in my sinuses! We were able to squeeze in that ballgame, but I paid for it!
I was out sick for the next couple of days, and finally got back to w**k on Thing. By then, I had been out a week, after only being in for 2 days before that. The work was piled up. I've been on non-stop projects since then. I finished a very big project late on Poets, and finally have a chance to come here. All that w**k really did a number on my carpal tunnel syndrome, so I didn't go online at all in my free time, to give it a rest.
But there's some good news! I finally have a Workers Comp hearing to force the insurance company to make a decision on the carpal tunnel surgery. With any luck, they won't show up like last time, and I'll get the okay.
So ... what's new with you?
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Latest reply: May 3, 2004
Merry Christmas!
Posted Dec 20, 2003
Mr. Shea and I are going away on an Ohio Christmas adventure for the next week. We won't be back until Sodit the 29th.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, or just have a good week! 
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Latest reply: Dec 20, 2003
Langwich Skool uv Noo Yawk
Posted Dec 9, 2003
There's an article in the Long Island Press titled: "How We Tawk, Here on Lawn Guyland." TJ couldn't stop laughing at the Glossary of "Lawn Guylandisms" (on page 3)
http://www.longislandpress.com/v01/i44031113/coverstory_01.asp
Out of the "Lawn Guylandisms" I'm proud to say that I *don't* use them all! Just these:
• I only say "Gawuhd" when I'm imitating that woman in the bagel shop.
• "Suppose-ably" ... okay, I use this one. 
• "Laydah" ... and this. 
• "Mem-ba that?" I do!
• "Bawl" Basebawl's my favorite!
• "Sunt-uhm" ... I didn't think so, but TJ tells me otherwise.
• "Dactah" ... I have a good one! 
• "Jeet yet?" ... actually, we've gotten into the habit of say "Skeet" for "Let's go eat."
• "Cawl" ... guilty
• "I'm just sayin'..." ... I say this awl the time!
• "Yaw"
• "Muthah, fahthah, sistah, bruthah"
• "The Expressway" ... this is a big bone of contention between TJ and I. He insists on calling it the Interstate. Nobody ever knows what he's tawking about!
• "The Island" ... and if I visit my parents, I go "Out on the Island!"
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Latest reply: Dec 9, 2003
Shea the Sarcastic
Researcher U63974
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