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kareinaThis week I had two appointments in town, and we still haven't made time to fix the issue with the breaks on Keldor's ca, so we decided to bring the cats in and spend the week at his dad's house.
We also brought my new work recliner and lap-keyboard desk thingie, my computer, and a second monitor. As a result, I have worked quite happily here. I am loving the new set up (though it is, of course, better with the even bigger external monitor at home), But having good posture while I work matters, and that is easy to achieve in a recliner, and with the keyboard on my lap, and my mouse or computer pen and tablet on the shelf we attached to the armrest of the recliner my shoulder doesn't hurt when working, because it is neither too high nor too low for my body. As a result I have created lots of figures for my thesis, worked out the figure number scheme for all of chapter 5 section 3 (the laser-ablation ICP-MS trace element composition maps which form the backbone of the thesis), and created the correctly labeled figure pages for all of them, ready to drop the images into. I have also written all of the figure captions for the figures that exist, and some other text that ties into all the above. Bringing the thesis itself to 21,368 words, plus 1,515 words in the figure captions.
Monday's appointment was for an x-ray which I hope wasn't really needed. Back in December I noticed a little bony lump on the top of my right foot (the light hit it just right whilst I was doing yoga, so I saw it, and then poked at it to determine that it really is a lump). It isn't in any way uncomfortable or painful, and I might not have ever noticed it if I hadn't been looking at my feet just then. But one isn't meant to have a lump just there, so, this being a country with medical care available for everyone, I called the local health clinic to ask for an appointment. I made it clear when I called that since it didn't hurt or cause problems they didn't need to try to find time to see me before Christmas, but if they could put me on the list I would appreciate it. As a result I went in to see them on 1 February, and the medical student who first saw me did all of the interview questions (yes, I am healthy, no it doesn't cause me any problems, but what is it, and should I be concerned?). He called in the actual doctor to have a look, and her first reaction was "if it doesn't cause a problem, it is probably nothing to worry about".
Then she pointed out the calluses on the sides of my big toe, and said that they can be a symptom of my toes shifting their position into bad alignment, and that one can buy corrective things to help straighten them back into place, and if left unchecked it can cause your shoes to no longer fit and become uncomfortable, at which point they recommend surgery to scrape away the excess bone that develops along the side of the joint at the base of the big toe, and she showed me the scar from her surgery for just that problem. My big toes haven't yet shifted out of position so much that they interfere with comfort wearing my sandals or my winter boots, but it does explain the calluses that had started to form on the inner edge of my big toes, which had never been there before about a year or two ago. I had been trying to eliminate those calluses by wearing five toe socks and trying to make a point of flexing my toes wide whenever I think about it. Perhaps strengthen my feet muscles will also solve the symptom she pointed out, especially as now I am more aware of it. If not, I can try one of the thingies to encourage them to go back to better alignment.
While I was talking to both the docs I remembered that my right foot had been x-rayed in october of 2021 (when I hurt my toes falling from an acroyoga balance and landing wrong), and wondered if the x-rays happened to show the part of my foot that has the lump? They couldn't look it up, as the x-rays were taken when I still lived in Norrbotten county, and the local health centers in Västerbotton county can't access my on-line health records from Norrbotten, so they asked me to call Norrbotten and request a copy of the Xrays. I did, and was given the choice being snail-mailed either a paper printout (at no cost), or a USB thumb drive (for 200 SEK, but which would have better resolution than the printout). I asked "how about email", and they said "we don't email medical records" (which I think is stupid, but they didn't make that rule, which is likely a side effect of GDPR).so I asked for the usb version.
In the meantime I got a call to the xray clinic in Skellefteå, which surprised me, since I thought we had only discussed obtaining a copy of the old xray to see if the lump existed already in 2021 and I just didn't notice. So I called the local health clinic, and the nurse said, yes, the doc really does want a new xray too.
Therefore I went in on Monday morning for that. I told the xray technician that I had the usb with the old xrays if they want to compare, but it turns out that while the local health clinics can't access my heath records across county lines, the xray departments of the hospital can access my old xrays across county lines. I guess that the doc will get back to me later about the results, and if either or both of the old and new xrays show the lump. But I just stuck a reminder on the calendar for mid April to call and ask if they haven't gotten back to me before then. (Given that I want to finish this thesis during March, April sounded like a good time to return to this question.)
My other appointment was with the hearing clinic at the hospital, to see how I like the new hearing aids they gave me a month ago and do they need any adjusting before we decide that they are keepers? I love them. They work much better than my last pair, and it is much easier to hear (the loudest loud setting is actually too loud for comfort for most things, so I mostly don't use it, unless I am trying to hear something quite quiet). They also connect directly to my telephone, and way faster than the external bluetooth adapter I needed for the last hearing aids. I had her make a minor change (turn down the volume when the hearing aids announces the name of the program I just switched to using the phone app, plus adding a couple of standard programs). She suggested that I come back in a month for final check in before deciding if I am going to keep them, and I countered that given how far away I live, I would be ok with skipping that visit. She said, ok, I will give you a month to decide you want to see me, if so, call us and book time with me, If you don't call before the end of that time I will assume that everything is good, and we will send you the bill for the new hearing aids (I think she said they will cost me 500 SEK each).
The big advantage for us living in town this week is that Keldor has been able to stay after work each day and make progress on my new helmet. He finished the construction today, all that remains is padding and strapping it. He has built it with a very open pattern, inspired by the Vendel period Valsgärde helmet, and he designed it so that I will be able to wear my hearing aids in there, without any part of the helmet coming into contact with them (I will use my old ones for this--they may not be as good as my current ones, but they will be way, way better than wearing my old helmet without any hearing aids at all, and then if something goes wrong and they are somehow damaged by a freak accident, it won't cost me my new ones).
So now we have one more work day, then we will head home for Friday evening and Saturday during the day. We will return to town for the Shire annual meeting on Sunday, and probably stay to help out a friend with projects on Monday.
We have till Thursday to have practiced enough with my new helmet that I have it well calibrated so I can fight in Nordmark Coronet on the weekend. We will drive down Thursday evening/night, sleep at his brothers house, and then do the last bit of drive on Friday during the day. It should be a good event, and I hope I get enough thesis writing done between now and the drive that I can enjoy the weekend without feeling like "I should be working".
We also brought my new work recliner and lap-keyboard desk thingie, my computer, and a second monitor. As a result, I have worked quite happily here. I am loving the new set up (though it is, of course, better with the even bigger external monitor at home), But having good posture while I work matters, and that is easy to achieve in a recliner, and with the keyboard on my lap, and my mouse or computer pen and tablet on the shelf we attached to the armrest of the recliner my shoulder doesn't hurt when working, because it is neither too high nor too low for my body. As a result I have created lots of figures for my thesis, worked out the figure number scheme for all of chapter 5 section 3 (the laser-ablation ICP-MS trace element composition maps which form the backbone of the thesis), and created the correctly labeled figure pages for all of them, ready to drop the images into. I have also written all of the figure captions for the figures that exist, and some other text that ties into all the above. Bringing the thesis itself to 21,368 words, plus 1,515 words in the figure captions.
Monday's appointment was for an x-ray which I hope wasn't really needed. Back in December I noticed a little bony lump on the top of my right foot (the light hit it just right whilst I was doing yoga, so I saw it, and then poked at it to determine that it really is a lump). It isn't in any way uncomfortable or painful, and I might not have ever noticed it if I hadn't been looking at my feet just then. But one isn't meant to have a lump just there, so, this being a country with medical care available for everyone, I called the local health clinic to ask for an appointment. I made it clear when I called that since it didn't hurt or cause problems they didn't need to try to find time to see me before Christmas, but if they could put me on the list I would appreciate it. As a result I went in to see them on 1 February, and the medical student who first saw me did all of the interview questions (yes, I am healthy, no it doesn't cause me any problems, but what is it, and should I be concerned?). He called in the actual doctor to have a look, and her first reaction was "if it doesn't cause a problem, it is probably nothing to worry about".
Then she pointed out the calluses on the sides of my big toe, and said that they can be a symptom of my toes shifting their position into bad alignment, and that one can buy corrective things to help straighten them back into place, and if left unchecked it can cause your shoes to no longer fit and become uncomfortable, at which point they recommend surgery to scrape away the excess bone that develops along the side of the joint at the base of the big toe, and she showed me the scar from her surgery for just that problem. My big toes haven't yet shifted out of position so much that they interfere with comfort wearing my sandals or my winter boots, but it does explain the calluses that had started to form on the inner edge of my big toes, which had never been there before about a year or two ago. I had been trying to eliminate those calluses by wearing five toe socks and trying to make a point of flexing my toes wide whenever I think about it. Perhaps strengthen my feet muscles will also solve the symptom she pointed out, especially as now I am more aware of it. If not, I can try one of the thingies to encourage them to go back to better alignment.
While I was talking to both the docs I remembered that my right foot had been x-rayed in october of 2021 (when I hurt my toes falling from an acroyoga balance and landing wrong), and wondered if the x-rays happened to show the part of my foot that has the lump? They couldn't look it up, as the x-rays were taken when I still lived in Norrbotten county, and the local health centers in Västerbotton county can't access my on-line health records from Norrbotten, so they asked me to call Norrbotten and request a copy of the Xrays. I did, and was given the choice being snail-mailed either a paper printout (at no cost), or a USB thumb drive (for 200 SEK, but which would have better resolution than the printout). I asked "how about email", and they said "we don't email medical records" (which I think is stupid, but they didn't make that rule, which is likely a side effect of GDPR).so I asked for the usb version.
In the meantime I got a call to the xray clinic in Skellefteå, which surprised me, since I thought we had only discussed obtaining a copy of the old xray to see if the lump existed already in 2021 and I just didn't notice. So I called the local health clinic, and the nurse said, yes, the doc really does want a new xray too.
Therefore I went in on Monday morning for that. I told the xray technician that I had the usb with the old xrays if they want to compare, but it turns out that while the local health clinics can't access my heath records across county lines, the xray departments of the hospital can access my old xrays across county lines. I guess that the doc will get back to me later about the results, and if either or both of the old and new xrays show the lump. But I just stuck a reminder on the calendar for mid April to call and ask if they haven't gotten back to me before then. (Given that I want to finish this thesis during March, April sounded like a good time to return to this question.)
My other appointment was with the hearing clinic at the hospital, to see how I like the new hearing aids they gave me a month ago and do they need any adjusting before we decide that they are keepers? I love them. They work much better than my last pair, and it is much easier to hear (the loudest loud setting is actually too loud for comfort for most things, so I mostly don't use it, unless I am trying to hear something quite quiet). They also connect directly to my telephone, and way faster than the external bluetooth adapter I needed for the last hearing aids. I had her make a minor change (turn down the volume when the hearing aids announces the name of the program I just switched to using the phone app, plus adding a couple of standard programs). She suggested that I come back in a month for final check in before deciding if I am going to keep them, and I countered that given how far away I live, I would be ok with skipping that visit. She said, ok, I will give you a month to decide you want to see me, if so, call us and book time with me, If you don't call before the end of that time I will assume that everything is good, and we will send you the bill for the new hearing aids (I think she said they will cost me 500 SEK each).
The big advantage for us living in town this week is that Keldor has been able to stay after work each day and make progress on my new helmet. He finished the construction today, all that remains is padding and strapping it. He has built it with a very open pattern, inspired by the Vendel period Valsgärde helmet, and he designed it so that I will be able to wear my hearing aids in there, without any part of the helmet coming into contact with them (I will use my old ones for this--they may not be as good as my current ones, but they will be way, way better than wearing my old helmet without any hearing aids at all, and then if something goes wrong and they are somehow damaged by a freak accident, it won't cost me my new ones).
So now we have one more work day, then we will head home for Friday evening and Saturday during the day. We will return to town for the Shire annual meeting on Sunday, and probably stay to help out a friend with projects on Monday.
We have till Thursday to have practiced enough with my new helmet that I have it well calibrated so I can fight in Nordmark Coronet on the weekend. We will drive down Thursday evening/night, sleep at his brothers house, and then do the last bit of drive on Friday during the day. It should be a good event, and I hope I get enough thesis writing done between now and the drive that I can enjoy the weekend without feeling like "I should be working".