There's Something in the Chinese Food...

Ick. I know several people in our area that like Won Won Wok. I wanted to give it a chance, I love good chinese food, but after two tries it is getting a negative vote from my household. First off, they haven't gotten our orders right either time. We specifically ask for fried rice, but both times we get plain white rice instead. That wouldn't be so bad if after our second trip we got hit with food poisoning. I just started doing work for LaborReady last week and I've now missed three days. The first was the worst, and now my digestive system is just trying to recover. It seems like we've just been unlucky, but all it takes is one bad experience to lose customers.

There's Something in the Water...

So I have been experiencing, um, intestinal problems since before Easter. It has been a real problem, I've never experienced anything like it for so long. I went to a real bland, simple diet to mitigate a lot of the discomfort, but it was getting really old after a couple of days. Three weeks went by and my mom suggested probiotics. So I went to the local health food store and picked some up. It helped within a day or two. I've been eating regularly since, but my troubles have lingered. But Am wasn't being affected so I didn't know what it could be. At least until this last week. Am has been experiencing similar issues and the austere diet has been hard on her.

But we just found out that there is now a water contamination issue in our city. Surely our problems are unrelated, they would have caught the problem a lot sooner if it was, right? Well, in talking to some people to find out more, it sounds like people all over our town have been having these same problems for weeks. How does something like this happen? How does a problem like this go unchecked for so long? At least we know now, and we will boil our drinking and cooking water, and hopefully the problem will subside.

A Recent Development

In the last month and a half or so, I've developed a new stress response: migraines. I've never had to deal with them before, and I wish things could go back to the way they were before. I can deal with uneasy stomach and cold sores. These migraines occur on Thursdays and sometimes Tuesdays, which coincides with my typography class and class critiques. I've found that high doses of caffeine help mitigate the pain, but then I'm hopped up on this stimulant. So on days that I need to be at my best, I'm in pain or I'm jittery. I've never had a problem with an occasional Coke, especially of the vanilla variety, but I've never been a caffeine addict either. I don't particularly like how it makes me feel. I tend to crash off any high I might get pretty fast. And now I worry that if this trend continues, I'll get used to having caffeine in my system and it won't work as well on the headaches. Is there anything out there besides caffeine, and absolute quiet and darkness, that you've found that helps with migraines?

Another 48 Hours

OK, less than that even. Am went through the Temple for the first time last night. There are so many teeny little things to do, but everything is still coming together. I'm glad we changed our minds to go down to Cedar City. We both need the rest, and driving out to, and then up the Oregon Coast and back would have been so draining. It's funny though, when people at school ask where we are going and I say Cedar City, they initially give me a funny look. Like, why we would we go there of all places? But when I explain it to them, they realize it's not a bad idea at all. And better than most people do. At least we'll be sane when we get back. However, I'll have a stack of work to catch up when we get back. At least Am has another week off from teaching.

The Resurrection

This post was begun before the strike of Christmas Eve, I swear!

Yesterday, I spent the day participating in the funeral services of my mother's business partner.  I know that he had health problems that severely limited his way of life and capacity for certain kinds of work near the end of his life.  Which it sounds like was really hard for him, since he was such a hard worker.

The services were good.  His best friend growing up spoke, as did a friend that he mentored for several years.   A recurring theme of the services and in conversations throughout the day was about the work he would be able to accomplish on the other side.  And then the work he would be able to do upon the resurrection.  No more physical limitations, infinite capacity for activity.  No more health problems.

I am grateful for my relative health, but I know that eventually something will start to go wrong.  How reassuring it is to know that a time will come for perfection.  That illness and ailment will fall away.

Update

We never ended up taking Joe to the vet, it took a couple of days for him to recover though. He was up and moving around the next day, but he seemed to never be comfortable and not as responsive to certain stimuli as usual. He didn't "talk" much either. He usually has these little yips and growls that he uses to communicate. We think maybe his vocal cords were injured in the fall. He was on his leash when he jumped out the window, so when the leash went taut it may have bruised the vocal cords. So for a few days he was very subdued. But it seems that he has made a full recovery. He is just a yippy and active as he ever was. We're glad to have our 'old' Joe back.