Today is my first day of Copyediting I, through the UC San Diego Extension course. I already did one of my assignments, which was to introduce myself on the classroom discussion board. There are several readings for me to complete before the end of the week. I can’t even believe I’m back in school again, even if it is an online course. There will even be quizzes and a midterm. Oh Lord, help me.

Update on the sore throat situation:

Friday, my doctor’s office called and said that he wanted me to get a CAT scan. A CAT scan. Eek. I would have been okay with it, except my insurance has a $500 deductibe and then they only cover 80% of the cost. He also wanted me to see an ENT (ear/nose/throat) specialist. It just so happens that my co-worker’s father happens to be one of the most respected ENTs in the city. She called him and told him my situation. They got me an appointment for today. In the meantime, my doctor was kind enough to give me a prescription for Darvocet once he found out how much ibuprofen I was taking to edge off the pain.

The ENT told me to hold off on the CAT scan. If I was all swollen and stuff, it wouldn’t do any good and would be a waste of my money. That was a relief, and I need to call my doctor and tell him that.

I took three Darvocet Friday night over the course of about six hours or so. I slept and slept and slept on Saturday. There were points that my throat felt like–okay, you know how it is when you want to cry and you’re trying not to? That pressure? That’s how I felt. My ears, too. Ouch. Three more Darvocet kept me feeling pretty sleepy Saturday, and I woke up Saturday night, at around 730 or so. It felt like there was a gigantic cotton ball in my throat. I knew that if I could somehow pull that cotton ball out, I’d start to feel better.

Sunday morning, I woke up and realized I was able to swallow. SWALLOW! There was virtually no pain, and I was just.. amazed. I’d forgotten how it felt to feel somewhat normal. I’d been eating very little lately because it’s just been too miserable to get anything past my fiery throat, so when my friend Angelo bought me dinner at Ponderosa last night, I kinda sorta pigged out. It was SO nice to talk without pain, to eat without pain. It still kind of hurts when I yawn, or if I swallow too hard, but it’s not like I’m yawning or dramatically swallowing all the time, right?

Today, I went to the ENT. After listening to me describe my symptoms and examining me, he said that although I am starting to feel better, he was going to put me on acute status. That means that the second I start to feel anything like I have the past several weeks (If that happens, it’s possible that I am actually healting, but time will tell), save today and yesterday, to call and he’d see me right away. He also said that he is concerned about my tonsils, but not to the point where we need to talk surgery. He did say that tonsils and wreck havoc on the entire head system, including ears. He mentioned that I could be healing–and that at the early stages, my symptoms could be going away but the tissue won’t be healed for a long time–or things could be quieting down just for a bit and could flare up really badly again. And as I said, the pain is not completely gone. I know I’m not out of the woods yet, so I’m keeping his business card close, just in case.

I’ve been making it through the day with no painkillers at all, but I am still taking a Darvocet at night, because I don’t want to take any chances and be awakened by crazy pain. So, that’ s the update so far.

Oh yeah…. I really hate it when big pills decide to go CROSSWAYS down my throat. OUCH.

Aidan is still up North. I called today and he was being REALLY naughty! My mom had to put him in time out and at one point, Aidan got mad and started yelling “I WANT MOMMY I WANT MOMMY.” I’m thinking “Um, sure, but if I was there, you’d be staying in time out because you were not acting nice!” Lots of drama, especially when he is tired.

My appetite has been sufficiently supressed. The Psuedovent is doing it. There is a warning in the patient info thingy that says DO NOT TAKE APPETITE SUPPRESSANTS WHILE TAKING THIS MEDICATION or something like that. And when I asked my pharmacist friend Angelo last night at dinner, he said something about there being some appetite suppressing agents in the Psuedovent. So, in addition to not eating much due to being in pain, I also haven’t had much appetite. I got on the scale tonight before my bath and in clothes, I weighed 107.

I haven’t been below 110 since the summer of 2006. I wonder if I can keep this up? Last year this time I was definitely bigger. My jeans are falling off of me these days. I’m not complaining.

Friday, I won a $20 gift certificate to amazon.com from the Wise Bread Forums! Now I have $45 to spend there, and no clue what I want to spend it on. Well, I have some ideas, but I haven’t decided which one(s) to go with yet.

I find myself once again addicted to that damn Poppit game on pogo.com. Son of a bitch. I won’t even bother linking it because then I’ll GO there and end up playing for another two hours. Argh. Stupid fun pointless cute games.

I should go to bed. I was up late last night, had a horrible time finding my way to the doctor’s office today (wasted so much gas, grrr), and I just need more rest. I definitely don’t want to relapse and go back into that horrible pain again.

Good night.