the mellow tigger's musings

I'm still reading Dreamwidth entries, but I'm just not writing much lately. My brain has been filled with other things instead.

Like cracking a molar again. It's the same one as back in 2022, but I lost an even bigger chunk of it this time. I managed to snag a coveted emergency dental appointment on Tuesday morning, where they put a temporary cover on it. They need me to complete a regular dental exam first (in late April, the nearest available date they could offer) before deciding if this tooth is healthy enough for a crown or if it should be extracted. The dentist told me emphatically, "Keep wearing your mouth guard," because it will help protect what remains of my teeth from the grinding during my sleep. She was kind to offer a referral to have the annoying tori bone (developed due to lifelong grinding of teeth) cut out of my head, but I declined for now. It's good that's an option, and I could never afford it if I lacked health insurance, but that's a lot of physical pain that I would like to avoid as long as I can. Although... this fancy new water-plus-laser method sounds very interesting.

Plus, you know, there's everything in the news. My employer is trying to figure out how Trump breaking government services and education funding is going to impact us. The university president released this statement that skillfully avoids naming Trump or Republicans, just referring to "Washington, D.C." instead. Two days later, of course, they announce that there will be campus closures. The loss of tuition money won't affect my team for many years, if at all. The loss of research money seems a much more immediate problem for the university. They're having a discussion about that issue on Friday.

While I was at the dentist, my blood pressure would not come down to a safe level. I'll probably have to talk to my general doctor about that eventually.

I just wanted you to know that I appreciate all of you continuing to post at Dreamwidth. I'm reading your words, really I am.

I wear my FloMask Pro mask every time I'm around other people. Today, I found a failure mode for this mask. For all I know, it affects every N95 mask type, but who knows for sure. I was outside on another far-below-freezing day in Minneapolis, catching the bus to go to/from physical therapy at the hospital. My exhales caused the mask filter to freeze up, making it difficult to breathe through it. Fine, I thought, since it will thaw when I'm in the bus or building. It did thaw, but the filter never regained permeability.

When I started exercising during therapy and breathing heavily, the filter "blew out", breaking the seal. When I got home, I reseated the filter and locked it in, but the same thing happened again after being outdoors waiting for the micro-route bus to take me to the grocery store. I ended up manually holding the filter in place for inhales, then letting the dislodged edge flap loose for exhales.

Better than nothing, but not great. I'm calling this a potential exposure day. When I got home, I sprayed my nose with an iodine post-exposure spray. From now on, I guess I need to carry a replacement filter with me, so I can put in a working filter when I arrive at my destination when traveling in very cold weather outdoors.

Physical therapy is still mostly going good. The neuropathy is still worse than usual in my left foot/leg, but it's hurting less. I called attention to the one single exercise that still is the hardest for me to do and with little-to-no improvement after 2 weeks. We'll see if he has something new for me to try next week.

I forgot to mention it last week, but we passed Minnesota's annual virtue signaling spectacle again. We call it "Give To The Max" day. I forgot about it entirely until I saw it on the evening news last week. I just hastily copied my donation chart from last year and used the same pattern of giving this year.

I encourage donating time if you can (and money if you can't) to the charities that matter most to you. I expect the needs to increase again, since that trend isn't changing. Locally, there was increased need last year and again this year.

I just got back from my first physical therapy session at the hospital. The therapist was brilliant, showing me the suspected cause of my left leg troubles in a way that was very easy to understand. There's a nerve that wraps around a vein in the back of the leg near the surface. It's at the same spot where I have my troubles.

They gave me some exercises to "floss" that nerve and improve lubrication in that area. I'm supposed to see them for therapy sessions for a few weeks on Thursday afternoons. I easily walked (very slight limp) the 2-3 blocks from my house to the bus stop and back, so this schedule is reasonable.

After Saturday, I start my new work week. My new schedule is Sun-Thu 10am-7pm Eastern. I'll already have to start using sick time on Thursdays in my new schedule, so I can go to physical therapy sessions. Which is fine. I've probably maxed out my accrued time anyway.