It's Tuesday Random

Because I don't have enough on any one topic for a single post.

1. I broke down and watered my lawn last night, even though that meant staying up past 10 pm. (They are asking us to only use the sprinklers after 9 pm or before 6 am). I figured in the long run it would be more expensive (and even less environmentally-friendly) to have to replace the entire lawn (And no, I don't live in a neighborhood where people would look kindly upon my replacing my lawn with gravel and xerophytic plants).

The lawn looked a lot better this morning so I guess it didn't die. Hopefully this drought will break - well, this week doesn't look good, next week doesn't look good, but it has to break SOMETIME, doesn't it?

2. I felt considerably better last night, and into this morning, after taking the loratadine. I guess the moral of the story is that I cannot go off the stuff during allergy season. It's not the physical symptoms I have so much trouble with - sneezing and coughing and all that, you can totally excuse with "I have allergies." But what I don't realize - until I get rid of it - is that the allergies ALSO make me kind of fatigued and "meh" and borderline dysphoric. I think I described it once before as being like having a grey fuzz over the entire world - like everything is not quite RIGHT, somehow. Oh, I can still function - I can still do what I need to do - but I don't feel like myself. So I guess I'll have to continue to take the stuff at least until the grass pollen dies down (amazing that anything is still MAKING pollen in this drought).

3. I'm trying not to think about the fact that my brother is going in for sinus surgery today. He has a long history of sinus infections and breathing difficulties; finally a new doctor he went to concluded that a badly deviated septum was a contributing factor (and that he also had a benign cyst in one sinus). I'd be less concerned except - and I never got the full story on this - but apparently when he had some wrist surgery nearly 20 years ago now, there was some kind of complication with the anesthetic. (All I know is that in an argument with someone, he made the comment of, "Well, during [that surgery] I NEARLY DIED." He's not given to hyperbole, so...I don't know). Maybe they use different anesthetics for nasal surgery? I know years and years and years ago when I had a broken nose set (sledding accident), they used an IV (sodium pentothol, and to this day I don't know if it's that or the codeine shot they gave me "for the pain" (without asking me if I needed it, thank you very much) that made me vomit for three straight days afterward.)

I will say the people I know who have had the septum surgery to fix breathing difficulties say that after a miserable recovery, it was worth it.

(However, given my own experience with having the broken nose set - I would never, ever have facial surgery for purely cosmetic reasons. For functional reasons, yes, if I couldn't function normally without it. But not just for prettification, the recovery wouldn't be worth it to me.

I also have a slightly deviated septum; some years back, trying to trace down why *I* was getting so many sinus infections (before it was determined I had bad pollen and mold allergies that, untreated, were bringing on the infections), my doctor did an x-ray and determined I had a deviated septum. She sent me to an ENT surgeon for a consult. He looked at me, looked at the x-rays, and said, "Do you have any problems breathing?" I said no, I really didn't (it was true). His response was: "Don't get the surgery unless you are having problems. The recovery is miserable enough that you'd hate me for doing it, if you didn't need to see some kind of improvement." I thought that was pretty honest for a doctor who would make full-freight (I was still young enough to be on my dad's good insurance) off of a surgery. But I suppose he had had the experience of people coming back disappointed)

My mom has promised me that she will call once she knows he's safely out of surgery. (It's scheduled for noon. Which I suppose means he had to fast all night and into today, ugh.)

4. I might also feel better today because I got a big chunk of data analysis done yesterday afternoon and am ready to start fleshing out a SFD (acronym for something Anne Lamott suggests doing in her book, Bird by Bird) of the Results of the paper. Also I realized I have a week more than I thought to work on stuff than I thought I did before the summer ends.

5. I knit a bunch more on the "Tea Time" sock last night. Hopefully, soon, I'll have something I feel is photographable. (Maybe once I get the heel flap done...the leg pattern continues down the heel flap.)