Friday, June 2, 2006 3:23 am  <|>
<248> Balancing Out: So some time has passed and actually I wrote an entry in between now and the post that has been showing as current until tonight, or should I say, this morning. So, for anyone interested in the full catch up on all that has gone on, I highly recommend reading the post before this one that also just got posted tonight. Sorry for the lack of posts in general, but once you read that this one to follow I think you might understand. That being said...

Things are still fair from straightened out, but they are going along as best they can be for now I suppose. I've been working at Rubenstein again - yes the company I left after two years only to take that NJ job for 3 weeks before getting sick. They had wanted me to stay on as a consultant anyway and ended up calling in between my little trips of recovery, so it seemed they still needed me pretty badly. So it worked out for the both of us for now. They are getting me who they can't seem to replace - which is obviously a good thing for me because I can use the time there. But not only that, they are being out of the way helpful to me. I'm able to come in when I want and work the hours that I want - as much or as little. Of course I try to make myself available if they need me for a specific time or project, but in general I've just been going in 2-3 times per week in the afternoons to help out with whatever they need and help catch up with what wasn't getting job within my job when I wasn't there. So I have to say for now that that situation is working out really well.

Dan, unfortunately, has still had no luck in getting a regular job. He was able to help a few friends here and there on a couple day long jobs that had some extra money in and right now he's working on something that hopefully will pan out to be a good job option, but we'll have to wait and see. I feel bad that this all has to weigh on him so much. I mean of course in whatever situation he would still need a job, but right now more than ever it would have been so helpful if his other job hadn't let him go earlier than they said they were going to. If they hadn't gone back on what they said originally, he would just now be in need of looking for a job. And since my getting sick combined with his sudden letting go threw off any plans of getting a new job lined up before the old one ended, it's quite soured the job search now though that's not to say there has been a lack of trying. It's just hard to get a job when you have a certain set of skills and need to be paid at least what you were worth at a previous job or somewhat close to it. Summer is fast approaching and in a few weeks a new set of grads will be out and about looking for jobs themselves. That worries me a little bit, though I'd like to think what Dan will do and what many of them would be looking for doesn't overlap too much. There is another opportunity Dan just found out about tonight which could work out pretty well, but it's too early to tell just yet.

As for me otherwise, I'm still going to dialysis 3 times per week. I got an intentional infection after getting out of the hospital which wouldn't go anyway with the first medicine they gave me and when the second medical they gave me did work, as soon as I stopped taking it the infection came back so I'm back on those antibiotics again and feeling ok where that is concerned. I'm a little worried about when this round of medical is over though - which is fast approaching, so we'll see. Dialysis is still tough on me. I'm still rarely putting on any fluid, so when I go it's just to cycle the blood and clean the waste products from it (from food) which I know I need. They also end up giving me all kinds of supplements like potassium, which for normal dialysis patients, something like potassium is something they need to watch very carefully... something they have to avoid as much as possible. For me - they tell me to eat as many foods with it as I can AND they give me 4 kilos of it in liquid form during each dialysis treatment. What this means is that my kidney is still working. It's still clearing fluids and it's still clearing a lot - though I know not all - from my blood. So I still wonder why they won't better monitor the function of the kidney itself. Oh, and when I got the infection I had to stop taking my antirejection meds - which vby this time they would have had me do anyway. So by that it stands to reason that my kidney slowly would reject even if it wanted to work otherwise because it has no meds to keep it from doing so. This is only partly true because one med I take, that I've taken since I was 14 actually, is also considered an antirejection drug, but I cannot just go off of that because I've been on it for so long. Maybe that is working by itself to help this kidney keep working. Who knows? But I'd really like it if I could know the exact function of my kidney, even if it is under the 10% working it needs to be for you not to need dialysis. It would just be nice to know something for a change.

I'm sitting here in the dark, typing this tonight (this morning) for a couple of reasons. One, it's just about time I got this post up. I had even completely forgotten that I had the post before this one to post since March because at the time when I went to post it I remember having some FTP trouble with my server and I've just been so busy that I hadn't had a chance to really go back to it since with posting in mind. And I just really needed to update about my life since really so much is going on and as is usually the case, the more of interest going on, the less time I have to post about it. Of course, I don't know who even still comes and reads this since my posts have been so few and far between lately. But that's ok, I like knowing this is here and some of you do too, so that's enough for me to keep doing it. Another reason I'm here doing this at this particular time is because well I worked all day, then had a Hinge meeting, then went to a friend's house because another friend is home from Germany after living there for over a year, and then I had to finish my second draft of a paper for school. I had done all of that, closed everything up and laid down to go to sleep and of course I couldn't - as usual many things started pouring through my mind. I don't have trouble going to sleep too much, but tonight just felt like the right time and since I was already up at a nice blog posting hour I though, why not?

I can't say for sure if you should get used to it just yet. I want to be writing more. It's helpful on a number of levels. Most of my time lately has fallen into the following: sleeping, dialysis, working, wedding planning/meeting, and school work. I am pretty busy lately, especially with the wedding planning because it's quite close now - June 24th - and there has been plenty to do - and plenty still remains. We have most of the major stuff out of the way now I think, but I still have enough to keep me busy until the big day and then some. After this weekend it's really going to start moving into motion too I think and start getting even busier possibly... or maybe it'll go the other way - who knows... but I'm not really stressing over it for the most part. Sometimes the planning is a little overwhelming, but that is pretty much always the case so I've heard. We're excited it's almost here. It's almost here! :)

So I think that's all I have in me for updates tonight. I'm sure there is more to say, but it will have to be said another time. Until then, all the best to everyone.