elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
Thursday, June 7th, 2018 08:30 am
Yesterday's reorg had me staring at the note in which i keep track of corporate changes. I apparently started the note in July of 2014 when the effects of new executive leadership at where i work, "The Whale," had reached a crescendo. I realize i needed a time line. This has been incredibly helpful to me since then, and i've added as much detail as i could tracking back to when the merger of "The Minnow" and "The Whale" occurred in 2006. I find myself wanting to add some other dates.

And then i thought that, while a number of you have shared the journey with me, many of you missed some of these adventures. So i thought i'd share here.

Cut for length )
So, here we are.

Not all of that reflection was about "the elephant in the room," but part of what inspired this was for me to get a sense of how long this elephant has been hanging around as well as how long i was in the crisis that put me on antidepressants to begin with.

I think Christine has made a great deal of progress out of her crisis. Admittedly, after this much time, "crisis" is no longer really a good term. Some time back i did accept to myself that this is a long term condition. I do see improvement though, and i see her making great efforts to cope. The most hard thing, i think, is that she wakes with panic attacks more often than not. She has changed from a CPAP to the more fancy thing (heated! humidified! variable pressure!) which has a little bit of improvement, but the change didn't solve the issue.

There are things left out -- my time line of involvement in Quaker meetings stands out as something significant. My Dad's surgery is important because it came just before i my body seemed to hit middle age. There are a number of things about my health -- when did i do the diet exclusion test? When were various therapists? -- but i actually think those are in another file. My siblings' marriages, their children's birth, deaths of Christine's father and my grandfather -- those are important markers, too.

What this does, though, it take some events that have duration -- the process of coming out and how long before Christine had confirmation surgery, my work misery, her crisis -- and helps me see how my sense of duration is so skewed.

--== ∞ ==--

So if i keep journaling here for another eighteen years, i will have documented half my life on LiveJournal and its descendant DreamWidth. LJ was launched nineteen years ago. (I was actually blogging on geocities in 1999. No one read it, but i was writing there.)
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
Thursday, May 5th, 2011 09:04 pm
([livejournal.com profile] songquake, thanks for asking.)

This past Sunday we bought an "OfficeMax Crescenzo Microfiber Executive Chair" for Christine. She carried in my wire mesh baskets for my desk, and i lugged the chair up our stairs on our little dolly. She assembled it and has been at her desk since.

Well, not literally, but the extra cushioning makes a difference to how long she can sit. She's been out and about: we went out to eat for the first time on the Friday before Easter, she's been to mandolin lessons a couple of Fridays, out to lunch with friends (toting her extra cushion along), and we went to a mandolin concert on Saturday.


There is still surgery after-care, essentially rehab exercises, that she still must spend hours of each day doing. I believe, after the surgeon signs off, that the exercises will be shorter and less frequent, but i think she'll have to do them the rest of her life.

I asked her about her perception of her energy today: she says she tires out more quickly, but she feels her energy level is back. She had spoken about a feeling of lightness a week ago, and there really is a ... relaxedness? ... confidence? ... centeredness? that she didn't have so persistently before.

She's made me breakfast a couple of times and dinner, and she's taking out the trash and recycling, and putting up the silverware. (I have some mental block about putting up silverware. Go figure.) She took care of the taxes, too, the weekend before they were due. (Thank heavens for DC Emancipation day.) House care is pretty slack in some ways, but it had been for months before her surgery.

She's been working, too, even before she got the chair. We'd gotten a laptop lap desk which she'd been using.

She's still not to exercise -- going for our walks is right out -- and the motorcycle will be off limits for another month.

I've suggested she track her sleeping and napping this week, to get a baseline, and to compare as she begins adding more effort and activity back. Yet, in many ways, our life is back to normal. I still *assume* i'm responsible for cleaning up and making sure things happen, but she's taking care of more things.

We've always taken care of each other in lots of little ways. The way i've taken care of her hasn't felt much different after the first week when she was back. (And, given i was sick that week, it was pretty much a blur.)

I do want us to be able to get away to the redwoods to celebrate. Work is wiping me out though....
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
Thursday, April 21st, 2011 07:06 am
I'm sorry i'm not replying to the comments that are bolstering me these days. Yesterday, my sister and i shared our grief and then i slammed into the workday. As i mentioned, i was restless with low energy in the afternoon: honestly a fairly common state for me, except my energy was far too low to withstand the desires for nibbles and such. (I should take carrots today to work along with the usual bundle of snacks.)

One of the things i'm struggling with as "caretaker" is that i don't feel i'm taking care of Christine so much as having to take care of me. While we'd evolved the patterns of who does what over the years based on our different energy levels during the day and our different patterns of work, what i feel now is the awareness of how much time Christine gives me for myself. How could i possibly let myself whine? Every whine comes out as "i'm not having this done for me," it seems. One thing that is easier is that since i know i'm responsible for cleaning and clutter, there's less leaving things for someone else to get at some other time because i'm too busy. We both picked up after each other: now i do the picking up (after myself, mostly). I suppose the one way i do provide care is making sure she's stocked and supplies are out where she can see them. I don't want her running out of things while i'm away.

And now, the kitty litter, which i shoulda done yesterday. At least one box.
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Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 08:01 am
"Not enough time in the day," is my current feeling.

I do have more energy than i had last week. My doctor gave me a five day burst of prednisone to help with the itching, and has recommended Nexium as a H2 blocker that can be safely added to the H1 blockers like Claritin and Allegra. This morning i believe i'm feeling better.

Christine drove around yesterday and saw her surgeon: all is well. She's still keeping to a recline until Monday; gets decaf coffee on Sunday morning.

I've been mucking with twitter, and that's led me to reflect a bit on who knows about my Elaine Grey identity. I value the openness i can share things as Elaine Grey. It's not that i can't share them with my j-e- identity, but that in the many hats i wear, some of those roles demand discretion. As manager, as employee, as participant in different communities: i don't think it's dishonest to self censor. There's particularly a question of overlapping communities.

Christine's surgery, for example, is a place where i feel the need to self censor because of overlap. While there are people she trusts, there are also people on the edges of her interaction space who she doesn't: and with good reason. While we're out about her being transgendered, people who meet her accept her as female. (Some have recognized she's not cisgendered.) For folks who haven't really worked to understand cisgender privilege and other gender assumptions, the Surgery is a big deal. I've seen the cognitive challenge that happens when people who assume she's had gender confirmation surgery hear she hasn't. I recognize that while being out about this and challenging assumptions helps people along on working through issues of privilege, it isn't required that she has to do that work in every area of her life. It's right to allow her to choose her points of disclosure.

So partitioning is valuable. This is an easier case to point at than, say, me whining about workplace issues or my depression. But those, too are partitions.

In other news, spent time on the phone with Dad and L re my grandfather's situation. Need to call my Mom. My sister thanked me for my role as her therapist: i'm not sure that's a good thing, but i do think supporting them all as they more directly engage with the family drama is what i'm called to do.

I have a little nugget of mystery-feeling in my heart regarding this. I suspect it's pain over unrequited love for my grandfather that got packed up early in life. There's also emotional connections to my parents: visiting my mother's parents always triggered huge "I'm going to divorce you" fights between my parents on the return trips. I hid in books most of the time we visited. Pain and anger and nothing nice to say. I don't think i want to unwrap that.
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Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 08:06 am
Christine is doing beautifully. I think she's taking it easy, although she lifted plates above her head last night and moving the tray with her laptop, headphones, and mouse on it can't be light. She sees her surgeon today, so we'll know how well she's doing from his point of view.

She has a regular care regimen she has to follow for the area of the surgery: she's managing the discomfort and time consuming nature of that care fairly well.

Edward has been home for the night Sunday night and Monday night, and come in and out of the house as usual. It leads me to believe that Ms M's absence and perhaps some mistaken care of random orange cats contributed to Edward's long absence. (I've no news about Ms M's state. I've two folks in hospitals i should get flowers or cards to, i think.)

I do worry that Edward is unwilling to run the gauntlet of Mr M and Greycie Loo. Is he getting access to the litter box when he needs it? He has a few places that are clearly his safe place. He's not eating at his place at "the table" any more, but up on a stack of storage containers in a location with good defensive and observation features. He takes up on one of the higher cat towers in the morning, with a good view all the way down the hall to the deck, including his new feeding location. He has a bed by the sliding glass doors, easy access to the deck exit. I worry he's beseiged. He will come sleep at the contested best corner of the bed some nights.

I think he really like us even if the other cats hiss at him. It's so touching that he DOES come home.

I see the doctor in an hour about my itching.
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Thursday, April 7th, 2011 06:54 am
Christine is doing quite well: i need to remind myself that the reason she needs bed rest is not because something's wrong but because we're preventing something from going wrong. At this point i read a bit about complications with skin grafts as motivation to keep nagging her to stay in place and bring her whatever she wants or needs. I won't go to the office today, but i won't worry about going in next week.

I'm having some sort of dermatitis flare, with itching everywhere. I'm hoping it dies back soon, but i might self medicate by taking a claritin on top of my allegra. Really, right now the main thing going on in my head is "ITCH. ITCH. ITCH."

I'm drinking keemun today, for the first time in ages. I took some black teas off my mother's hands during the Dec visit, as we agreed that we both needed to drink down our stashes. Part of our problem is that we had lots of tea we don't prefer: the good news is she prefers greens while i prefer black teas. We traded. The Malaysian tea is pretty agreeable, but the Red Label Lipton is an Indian tea and has more of something (tannins?) that disagrees with me. I drink my tea black and on an empty stomach: i can buffer the effect of Red Label with milk, when i remember.

But Keemum -- how i enjoy its mellow, earthy flavors! And it wonderfully doesn't quite affect my digestive system so harshly.

I know i got by a month with no caffeine, but yesterday's attempt to start the day with green tea didn't work. Does it have anything to do with the itchy flare? I doubt it.
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 06:48 am
A good night's sleep but i have awakened tired. Grumbly, i note i'm having a eczema flare on my hand (elbow! scalp! aiee, itching!). After my heartburn yesterday -- whether it was in sympathy with Christine's or not -- i'm skipping the black tea we have in the house for some old but delicate jasmine. Somehow, the Indian Red Label Lipton is far more acidic than the Kemun tea i prefer. Newly ordered tea should arrive today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, the caffeine hit isn't the same.

Edward and Mr M negotiated visiting rights to Christine this morning, but when i finally let Edward out, he was down the stairs as fast as his Honey Bear legs could carry him. Right now Greycie Loo is curled up between us in one of her trademark impossibly blissful poses.

Christine has slept well, and is still sleeping. We'll need to do breakfast soon: rice pudding -- Kheer made with CFBMF's guidance and saffron. (It turned out well, i think, but i guess i like more gelatinous custards. It tastes just fine, though, despite using a long grained jasmine rice.)

I think i'm going to go journal by hand.
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 08:12 pm
So Christine had a very rough night (including no one came with her sleeping pill, a computer started alarming in the vestibule of her room, apparently the nurse didn't come when she pressed the call button so she called the hospital operator for help, no sleep until 4 am), and by this morning she was texting her doctor to "Get me out of here, please!"

She's home now, and it's good for both of us. I feel a little flat of affect in some ways, and also like a terribly important thing has happened for us. I want to process details and particular moments, but mainly i need to process them with Christine, and she's a bit traumatized.

I'm holding witness for some things that happened today, and i want to hear how she experienced them.

A bit traumatized is probably an understatement: she spent a long time in a hospital after a head injury as a child ("WEAR A HELMET!" she shouts at bicyclists now). That was traumatic then, she knows her experience is a mix of old experience and new.

On the other hand, she makes jokes and plays with words. It's good she's home.

What i sent out by email )
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Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 07:11 am
News: somebody gave Christine solid food before she should get it. She's was in a great deal of discomfort last night. Growl. [Um, that's me growling at the person who flubbed, not her stomach.] She should be home today. I am so looking forward to it.

I scooped Edward up late last night and brought him in: he wanted out at the crack of dawn this morning. I feel like he likes us people but feels he's intruding on the others' territory. Three cats are enough. (But someone's been showing photos of a grey fluffy kitten-cat that needs a home....)

Family news: my mother is in Florida as care decisions are being made about her father. I don't know that any of us grandkids have much fondness for the man, but we do worry abut the distress this is causing my mother. She's projecting all her own insecurities all over, and her resentment with her father's wife is palpable. Both are in their mid 90s, but her father is weak and frail and his wife is still a vital woman. Mom has issues with women aging, period: her father's wife and my dad's mother are both bottle redheads, both "feisty" "spitfire" women. But really, their vitality seems like it's really normal: it was my mother's mother who was such a sweet delicate woman. Anyhow, my mother is churning with distress as she looks at her father's wife "dressed to the nines" and evaluates his two poorly fitting, stained pair of slacks. She's off to buy cleaning supplies, clothes for her father, and so on: taking care of him in a way his wife isn't.

My Dad fumes, because my Grandfather is retired Navy, with an easily calculable pension. They are financially well off, home and car paid for: they can afford help. Mom thinks they won't have help because it would "cramp her stepmther's style;" Dad thinks it's also my Grandfather's inability to spend a dime.

Meanwhile, i'm OK. I'm going to throw money at my laundry.

I'm delighted to know i will be tippity tapping in bed with Christine beside me tonight.
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Monday, April 4th, 2011 06:08 am
Central time zone work day for me.

Haven't seen Edward. Worry.

Tired.

Christine was in good spirits yesterday. They took her off the morphine yesterday at 2 pm. Maybe she gets food today? We're not really clear about discharge tomorrow.
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Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 08:03 am
Christine is resting well. I think she dozed a great deal of yesterday. This is good, i joked about how she needs to rest because so many cells are meeting new cells: Hi there, looks like you might want to hook up to these capillaries. There's a ganglia over there who wouldn't mind hanging out with your ganglia.

Are there ganglia in skin grafts? Anyhow, the amount of tissue knitting involved is significant, and i'm glad she's much easier at resting than i am.

I played dungeons and housework yesterday. On a chart of 1-20 i list all the things that could stand doing, weighting by leaving gaps. So, i might list Important Thing in slot 11 and then leave all the slots to 16 empty, so odds are one in four i'll roll the Important Thing on the twenty sided die. Laundry, rice pudding, and major kitchen action happened. When i rolled "Peoplesoft" which is work financial paper work, the kitchen got EVEN CLEANER. I headed up to the hospital around 5, dressed up in satin shirt, silk skirt, and pearls: a movie date i joked with Christine. We watched Appaloosa, a really good Western, especially after catching the American Experience documentary on Wyatt Earp in the past week or so.

I'm off to hang out with some friends over coffee and then go to Meeting. I think i'll come home for a few more rounds of Dungeons & Housework before going to hang out with Christine in the evening.

The cats behaved last night, with Mr M on the bedroom hassock, Edward at my feet, Greycie Loo in the middle between me and a pillow. This morning Edward slipped when he leapt off the deck: i heard branches break his fall. He *seemed* fine when i caught up with him. Didn't cry out as i tried pushing all his bones. *WORRY* But what to do, he clearly wanted to be on his morning way.
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Friday, April 1st, 2011 06:44 am
Friday at 4-something am: "[Christine] played the word "FUNNY" scoring 15 points. It's now your turn."


Later, when i played my move in a game we play with her sister: "[Christine] played the word "CHEEPS" scoring 68 points. It's now [sister]'s turn."

[sister] - 75 (8 tiles in hand)
[me] - 70 (8 tiles in hand)
[Christine] - 133 (8 tiles in hand)

In the chat she notes: "ON PAIN MEDS, TOO :-)"
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011 11:25 pm
I'm home now after some time with Christine. She was pretty tired and uncomfortable as she came out of recovery, but she's got medications to help her be comfortable. Everyone at Sequoia has been quite pleasant and supportive.

I really wish she could have more than the few ice chips she's allowed.

Edward's nowhere to be seen: i figure he's loving the warm night and is out gallivanting.

Off to sleep, resting in the support of so many who love us. Thank you for the care.
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011 08:00 pm
I just spoke with [the surgeon] and am happy to report all has gone smoothly. Christine's spending some hours in post op, now, and i should see her in about two hours.

p 318 of Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011 04:22 pm
We made it to the hospital in good time and with no incidents. Christine was in good spirits as she was admitted. We spent time talking and laughing, and the the surgeon came up and checked in with us - but we still had a long wait for the operating room. It was a late start.

I've been to lunch with Lenore and had a very sunny walk out on the Baylands of Redwood Shores.



I'm now in the surgery waiting room on the second floor of Sequoia. The status screen says her surgery started at 13:28, which means it took a nice long while from when they rolled her out of the prep space just around 12:45 to actually have the surgery start.

The volunteer checked in with me a few minutes ago: i knew the surgery could be 5-6 hours, the volunteer said the nurse said it could to 7 hours. Then there are two hours of recovery... so it will be a while before i see her again.

Everything is fine so far. I'm going to head down to the cafeteria, i think and then be back up in the waiting room at 6:30.
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011 06:16 am
The evening was lovely and warm last night. I unfolded the deck chairs and hung up the pendant lantern, and Christine and i sat on the deck chatting under the stars for a while. I'm hoping to exercise out there more while she's recovering, maybe with her sitting and chatting with me. That would be lovely.

Waking up this morning is a bit of a challenge. We left windows open overnight.

Possibly, probably more posting today. I can't get over the fact that Christine's surgery is scheduled for the Transgender Day of Visibility, partly because having gender confirmation surgery is not the apex of her narrative and really gets too much unfortunate attention in cisfolk's understanding of the experience. So, her surgery, which is something she's kind of keeping as less than visible, is on the day of visibility.

I should eat while she's showering. She's a much nicer person without food than i am.

If folks have advice about how to return to a solid food diet after a days off, i'm all accepting of advice and stories. Can i feed her cake and custard pies on her return? I bet custards would be good.... Rice puddings?
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 06:56 am
I loved reading [staff profile] denise's post on technical debt this morning, and filed it in my work (ever)notebook. Meanwhile, i'm watching http://downrightnow.com/livejournal#refresh to see when LJ returns.

I am in a flare of discomfort,Read more... ) Cause is gone: just need to heal.

Today Christine and i are both home. She's resting off the academic quarter, the work, the conference yesterday. Indeed, i think she's looking forward to her week clear of commitments.

I wonder if she's going to like hospital beds as much as hotel beds.

I have a meeting in ten minutes. Yipes.
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Friday, March 25th, 2011 08:35 am
This time next week i suspect i will be pretty frustrated as i wait for the 12:30 beginning of visiting hours. Do spouses have to follow visiting hour rules? Grr.

Anyhow, i've written two letters to different communities about the coming adventure for Christine and i. As i'm intentionally writing for an audience, these are a hopefully more complete in sharing details, more so than i am in the reflections i record here.

Y'all are part of my support network, so i'm sharing these more detailed messages with you.

Read more... )
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Thursday, March 24th, 2011 06:41 am
Yesterday was obsessive day.

First, i got frustrated with the great huge lump of twitter accounts i follow. I resorted them in my RSS reader so that they would flow in with other prioritized reading clusters. This means i can read at one time tweets from folks i really know (that includes DW/LJ connections) and then later read the folks i've met in different interest circles.

Then, i decided that i really needed to be tracking my state again. A few years ago i filled out a grid to track health trends, which gave me confidence to know how long a canker flare was and some other details.designing a new tracking system )

Armed with this Google Docs form, i'm able to fill out the form on-line from laptops or phone.

I spent HOURS intensely working on this little project, which reminded me to track "obsessive engagement" events. I'm rather satisfied by the outcome, and pleased that i had previous tracking forms easily available to transfer to the new format. It meant being significantly distracted from work again, like Monday afternoon when i was obsessively focussed on what the day of Christine's surgery would be like.

I became very aware of a tension in my sense of satisfaction as i was not doing "what i should do" and was obsessively engaged: the engagement was rewarding, better than addictive chips or surfing the web or so many other things. It was ENERGIZING in many ways. I could plow on despite a headache. What i'm identifying as "obsessive engagement" is good in so many ways.

Yet it's countered by the stack of Things I Need to Do: Evaluate whether certain machines are needed or not, file for airfare refund, file for flex expenditure refund, some phone calls for Oversight.

Is this procrastination at work? Some sort of recovery process?

I'm hoping my tracking is helpful as i both frame our experience of Christine's surgery and, in a month or so, withdraw from Prozac. I think the Prozac helped me create the space to reframe my understanding about my work environment: i hope going off is not an issue. I believe the canker flare was really due to the iron deficiency, so i don't expect a flare when i go off. However, "stress" is a "cause" of so many of my complaints, that loosing the prozac's shield from being overwhelmed may cause stress.
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Monday, March 21st, 2011 02:33 pm
Spent much of this afternoon drafting a series of emails to share with our surgery support list over the days near the surgery and studying the hospital map and amenities. The drafts are in a place where i can copy them off the 'net from my cell phone and have prompts so i remember to include the "right news" at the right time.

This will, of course, allow me to focus on working as i hang out in the waiting room, instead of orienting myself to the hospital environment, which is one of my usual false planning economies. At least i discovered that we should have the free valet parking the morning i arrive with Christine. The valet parking ends at 6 pm, which is several hours before i'll leave. I'm not quite sure how that will work, but i expect i'll go out to lunch that day and will not use the valet parking on my return. I even found a yummy sounding sushi restaurant near Whipple and El Camino in Redwood City: HIGUMA.


....aaaand now i've wasted an hour learning all sorts of IRC-like powers i can use in Skype chats.

Did i set up new versions in JIRA, did i rearrange them in the agile relationship place. Nooooo.