Archives for November 2017

And we like regular days around here.

I am apparently still in recuperation mode from the writing madness of last weekend and the general madness that was November. So yesterday I actually dealt with all the laundry, and ran, and taught quite a few students, and went to bed on time and slept like a log for more than eight hours. Whew.

Today brings more of the same, I hope, another run, shower, eating this year’s kale for lunch, recording a podcast episode, teaching very few students, including meeting a potential new student, then strength training I hope (we’re a bit out of the habit, and doing strength training at 6.30 when we’re really hungry and tired on a day when I was already out running is always a bit tricky – so far we managed it once since September), and early to bed.

I have been wanting to write about energy management for quite some time now but not today.

I hope to get back to writing the novel-in-progress tomorrow or so.

I am really looking forward to my fiber advent-calendar this year. It’s the first time I got one.

Well, the very good thing is that I’m done with doctor’s visits for the next two weeks. Also I apparently am not having a bad tooth but instead it’s infected gums. I am taking a foul-tasting salve and it’s already feeling better. Phew.

I managed to do most of my regular stuff around the dentist’s visit so that was good too.

I am having high hopes that things might slightly calm down for once. Yeah, I know. But my husband actually dealt with the amp that has been sitting opened and unrepaired in his studio for five weeks or so.

Today I want to run, teach quite a few students, practice piano for the first time in weeks, start planning the novel-in-progress a bit further, and maybe cast on a new pair of socks.

I think that will be enough for the day. Bonus points for a nap.

So first things first:

I won NaNoWriMo!

 

But that was in the afternoon. In the morning I went to have my thyroid looked at properly.

I had that procedure called a scintigraphy where they inject radioactive isotopes into a vein which then wander into your thyroid, and then you get kind of x-rayed (not quite the same) and they can see how your thyroid works.

The procedure was easy and fast, I only had to wait for ages for the doctor several times. Good thing I took a book to read.

He dismissed my talk about having an underactive thyroid with a quick, „Your TSH is fine so you don’t have that.“ Which I found interesting but it didn’t convince me. (TSH (that’s short for thyroid stimulating hormone) can be an indicator but there can be circumstances where TSH is within normal range, and thyroid hormones in your body are too low anyway, and there might even be cases where all your hormone levels are within normal range but your body has trouble utilizing the hormones swimming around in your bloodstream. At least that’s what I learned reading several books on the subject.)

So the nodules in my thyroid are ‚cold‘. Hot would have been better but I already thought that wasn’t it. Hot nodules would probably have meant hyperthyroidism (it doesn’t always, though), and my symptoms don’t match that. The good thing is that he thinks I don’t need surgery at the moment, it will be alright to just come back for another ultrasound in six months. That is very good.

I got a nice colorful picture of my radiating thyroid to take to my doctor, and will talk to her again about the whole thing. Probably in January or so.

I’m also thinking about finding a good endocrinologist because I’m thinking maybe someone who is specialized in hormones would be a good idea. The two doctors I’ve seen about my thyroid so far have both completely dismissed anything I told them about my other hormone problems, have looked at said TSH level and told me that should be enough.

Now the hormones in the body are actually interconnected. Having too much estrogen, or not enough progesterone (as I have for example), can influence your thyroid hormones as well. And the whole stress hormone-thing is also interconnected to all the other hormones in the body.

So, for the moment I’m very happy that I don’t have to have surgery this moment. I will also look into other things, and am ramping up my „healing thoughts“-visualization to cover all the bases.

I’m still really, really tired by the way.

Two weeks until my sleep test, then three to four weeks until I can see the ENT to talk about the sleep test, then waiting for a new appointment with my regular doctor, yeah, this will take no time at all.

Other than that there will be some grocery shopping today (I hope to squeeze it in between the dentist and teaching), then a medium amount of teaching, then strength training, then early to bed.

Wow, yesterday was pretty intense.

I was all full og self-doubt and thoughts that I’m not really a writer, and impostor-syndrome and everything. At the same time I had that goal of writing at least 10,000 words, and maybe even finish NaNo that day even though I needed 12,000 words to do that.

The morning did not go well, I procrastinated mightily, and only wrote 500 words when I had planned for 2,000 and was just about to throw out everything and stop writing altogether. And my poor husband had to listen to me going on and on and on about the drama in my mind.

After lunch I decided not to let that throw me off. Just every time I was thinking about the thing that was making me upset I would just think about my novel instead. And not in a „This is all crap, I’m not a writer!“-kind of way but instead in a, „Okay, so what will be happening next?“.kind of way.

I set my little timer, and I started writing. The words flowed about as freely as molasses uphill when it’s freezing. But I persevered, and I wrote on. And after 25 minutes I took a little break. And then I started again. And I forbid myself to think about anything else but what I wanted to write, and the thing I want to knit next. (Oh, I forgot to tell, yesterday I finished the sweater I was knitting. It only need blocking.)

And I was pretty sure I couldn’t manage to write 10,000 words that day but I was set on trying anyway. And I went on with writing for a long stretch, and taking a short break. And sometimes the breaks turned a little longer, and then I started bribing myself with chocolate, and around five pm I had a massive headache, and so at 5.30 I decided to take a longer break for dinner.

I made pizza pane from the leftover pizza dough from Friday (I made twice the amount I needed by mistake), and the boy and I watched Star Trek TNG, the episode where the Borg attack earth and Ryker is captain of the Enterprise for a short while – excellent – and then I went back to writing.

I almost managed to finish the 50K but after 10,949 words I was really exhausted and it was time for bed, and my wrists were hurting and my head was aching so I called it a day.

Less than 2,000 words left I think I might be able to manage that today even though I have this big doctor’s appointment today for my scintigraphy. I had been freaking out about that one as well because that will show what kind of nodules I have in my thyroid, and that will determine whether I will need surgery or not.

But I’m practicing more mind control, and am telling myself that my thyroid is not changing because it gets looked at, this is just showing me what is so that I can make better informed decisions. And yes, I don’t quite know what to expect but then that’s okay, I don’t need to be an expert on this, that’s what the doctors and nurses are for.

So I’m looking forward to riding a train to Herrsching and the Ammersee today after breakfast, and then I’ll see.

Afterwards there will be a medium amount of students, and I’m hoping for some writing time as well, and tonight I want to go to bed early and sleep like a log until the next morning.

But I did it! I wrote 10,000 words in a day for the first time ever! And I don’t feel like not writing a single word ever again! This is awesome!

Yesterday was not quite as productive as I had hoped. On the other hand 5,300 words is nothing to sneeze at.

My 11K run went very well. It’s funny how I can barely manage 5K on an ordinary day, and then I try for more tha double that and things feel about the same.

Lunch was a little late because my husband had to deal with all kinds of things in the garden. While I was running the weather turned cold and wet, and there will be snow soon. (But then there should have been snow a while ago, and it never materialized. Right now it’s cold enough for it, though.)

Then I called a friend on the phone for her birthday and we kept talking for an hour, and then I had a hard time buckling down and doing my words. Which is why I fell short.

Over the course of the day my mother-in-law had been worrying about her very high blood pressure (she keeps taking more pills and it won’t go down) and in the evening she called a doctor so that kept me up late.

Which is why I slept in today again, and am having a late start to the day.

I’m still aiming for 10,000 words today but it will be really hard. Maybe if I do nothing but write all day.

Oh, and I found that my desk chair is really uncomfortable in the long run and makes my hip hurt when I sit in it for too long. The ktichen bench which is all wood and far from ergonomic is apparently better for my joints.

Huh.

So back to the word mines. Have a happy Sunday.

Yesterday I managed to do everything I wanted to. For once. I started writing in the morning, after breakfast, I cleaned the house, I made pizza using a new dough recipe (not quite sure on that one, will experiment further), I even did the dishes before teaching which I often don’t manage on Fridays.

I wrote some more between students so that I got my 2,000 words in before dinner, then I made pancake soup while hanging up laundry with the boy’s help, we watched Star Trek TNG and „How I Met Your Mother“, then I wrote some more, and only went to bed a little late.

The plan for today is to write like the wind, and spend the morning running 11 kilometers. Since I haven’t run a lot these past weeks I feel like I can’t really do that, and I also am thinking that after the run I might be so exhausted that I can’t write anymore but that’s just silly. I was fine doing my long runs in the past, and while I might not reach 10,000 words today I will certainly come close.

Seems I do love a challenge. Huh.

And I keep thinking how cool it would be to reach the 50,000 words by tomorrow.

I am at 31,939 at the moment, by the way.