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Ladies and gentlemen, The President of the United States...
“One lesson is that we tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is ... just going to take a long period of time to—for the ideology that is hopeful, and that’s an ideology of freedom, to overcome an ideology of hate.... We’ll succeed, unless we quit.”
WHAT?!?
I didn't vote for this moron.
Read the article this was taken from Here: In the Shadow of Ho Chi Minh
I'm still struggling with the idea that I've got a disorder that probably won't ever go away. It took me a long time to come to terms with rhinitis; and that I'd have to be on meds for that for the rest of my life. But, now I've got this condition, it's just past the one year mark and I'm finally starting to get answers to what it is exactly that I've got.
Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC). Officially, diagnosed and on meds; and continuing to be confirmed. I guess I was hoping someone would say that I didn't have it. Here are a few facts for those of you who might be interested in knowing what's actually going on with me...
Simply put, there is too much cerebrospinal fluid in your head, and there's no place for this fluid to go. (this is me...) The much larger second group develops pseudotumor cerebri and a direct cause cannot be found. The doctors have no idea what causes the primary idiopathic PTC. The disease is frequently chronic in this group and needs long-term treatment.
The common symptoms are
*Headache, dizziness and impaired vision. Headache is often worse on awakening, and can be intensified by coughing, laughing, bending over, crying, and increased physical activity.
*Impaired vision shows up in several ways. It can be visual blurring, brief moments of dimming or loss of vision called transient visual obscurations (this is actually what caused me to go into the doctor to get diagnosed), small specks appearing or vision distortions (items moving up or down).
Blindness can occur.
Other symptoms affecting PTC patients include: shoulder/arm pain, neck pain, memory problems, awkward coordination, muscle weakness, fatigue, back pain, and depression.
Possible symptoms include dizziness, hearing loss, ringing in the ears or noises within the head called tinnitus.
Regarding headaches: a study showed 92% of patients interviewed had headaches; 93% of those with headaches said it was the most severe headache they had ever experienced. The head pain was described as a pulsing headache that kept increasing in intensity. Another description was a "pressure" headache, resembling a percolator. Seventy four percent of those with headaches had it on a daily basis. Can also experience neck stiffness or nausea.
HELL YES! Not only do I get to suffer from headaches (non treatable so far by the way) but I also get to have nasty pain in my neck and back and get dizzy at random. Those are just the ones that have been happening lately. I can't tell you how much this sucks.
Apparently PTC only effect about 12,000 in the US; so YAY ME I picked out a nice rare one. Which means, the cure for something like this is pretty much not anywhere near anyone's mind or microscopes, at least not for a while.
The worst part of this is that I look totally healthy. So, when I complain about anything I get eye rolls, irritation and disbelief. Not to mention noone can tell me why I got diagnosed with this except that maybe I was a little overweight for a short period of time in my life and I'm a woman. Fabulous! Migraines were at least something I could manage; but it's no wonder the migraine meds never worked for me. lol
And now for some good news! PTC can last for months or for years. It can go into remission. For those in remission, PTC can re-occur 5% to 10% of the time. So, keep your fingers crossed for me. It's been a year, and it hasn't gotten any worse, but not any better either. I have my moments of total fear of going blind, but I'm slowly getting used to the idea that I won't ever be completely healthy.
Hooray for great genes!
So, I've been here in Virginia for 4 months. FOUR! When I moved here, I moved here on the good faith that my old boss, Kerry Longworth, would send me MY drill, that she had been using (since she didn't have one) since I started working for her as a nail tech in September of 2005. She promised to get it serviced, since she had been using it on a regular basis for almost a year, and I agreed that was fine with me as long as she sent it to me as soon as she was done getting it serviced. Just to note at this point, this drill is a nail tech drill that I paid $500 for. It's top of the line, a very nice drill.
Just before I left, I needed to liquidate a few items. Namely my washer and dryer (my new apartment had one) and a couple of nail tables that I had purchased at a garage sale earlier that year. I sold her both the washer and dryer and 2 nail tables (with fans that worked and outlets and everything) for $150 total. She's going through a divorce, and I needed to get rid of them, so I figured it was a fair deal all the way around. We decided that she'd trade me product (high end skin care and makeup she sells in her salon) for the items. Sure, no problem, sounded great to me.
It took me a bit to get settled in here, but I finally got settled in and got around to calling her about getting me my products and drill. Roughly a month after arriving and moving in. She claimed that I had never told her what I needed so she hadn't ordered it. I promptly corrected that problem and she said she'd get it ordered. 3 weeks later, she finally gets SOME of my product in, because apparently she's no organized enough (that's the nice way to put it) to remember the 3 things I ordered from her. I told her to forget about sending it, and I would have my grandma pick it up from her.
At this point, she's had my drill for 2 months, and agrees to give my product to a friend who's in town. So, I've got PART of my payment for the washer and dryer and nail tables, not all, but PART. Then, she says she doesn't have my drill at the salon because she's "found a guy to service it" and so she gave it to him. Mind you, she has no business card, phone number, name for the guy or name of the business. Uh huh. So, my friend comes home with a sample product (yes, it's used, it's not even new product!!!!!) and no drill. Great.
So, I call her, and she promises to send me a new product "as soon as it gets in." She's already ordered it, and it's on the way, and she's gonna send it to me as soon as it gets in; along with the other product she ordered me that she "forgot" to give to my friend when she was in picking up the other product. ARGH!!!! 3 Weeks later, still no product. I call, and now she's avoiding my calls.
"Oh, she's with a client, I'll have her call you back." Bullshit. Then, one night she calls me at 1am! Wakes me up, and then tells me she's sorry, she'll call me back the next day. The next day, no call. So I call her back, and get the same avoidance.
I've gotten every excuse from her...."She left work because of her divorce, she has to deal with Shawn (her soon to be ex)"....."She took the rest of the week off because her grandma died."....."Her mom has been getting threatened."......"I've lost 3 people close to me in the last 2 weeks!" OH MY GOD!!!!
If this shit was taken care of when she said she'd take care of it, we wouldn't have to go through it just after someone "died" or "while she's having marital problems" or whatever the fuck her excuse happens to be today!
FINALLY after leaving messages and getting no response, I sent her a text message. No response. So, I text her again. I figure if I can't get through to her with messages and voice mail, I'll inundate her with text messages. The last one was particularly nasty. That got a response....
"I'm not avoiding you. I called and told you to call the next day. You wait almost two weeks. Don't get nasty with me. The world doesn't revolve around you."
Ok....Another text comes through...
"I have had 3 friends and family die in the last 3 weeks. Two dying, and my mom's life threatened on top of everything else. It's at a service guy...But I will get it and send it done or not."
Keep in mind it's (at this point) been at this "service guy" for 2 months now! Here's my response...
"No you told me you would call ME back since you waited til 1am my time to call me remember? I call bullshit it's even being serviced!! It's been 4 months, I told you to send it any way 2 months ago, and you said no. Remember? The world does not revolve around you and your divorce! Grow up, be an adult, and take care of what you promised 4 months ago!!"
Finally, she tells me that it has nothing to do with her divorce, bla bla bla, and then I tell her to put herself in my shoes. The last message I got from her said "I'm sorry, I'll send it to you." I'll believe it when I see it. Not to mention, I've got to basically just write off the product that she still owes me. If I was still in Washington I'd walk my ass down there and make her give me the name of the guy and I'd go get it myself.
My personal theory is that she never found a guy; she probably lost it when she moved into her new condo. Either way, she can send me a check or my drill. I'm fucking tired of playing games. And I'm fucking tired of people treating me like I'm stupid just because I'm nice. Fuck this shit, I'm done being nice for a while, it must be time for super bitch to appear. (((at least I didn't have to physically yell)))
