Bear Lunch

There's Bear Lunch today downtown at 12:30pm. Due to threat of rain, it's gonna be inside at One Market foodcourt.

(We'll be off getting Steve some surgery and won't be attendance.)

Steve update

ozdachs just brought me and Steve home from the hospital. (Thanks for the much-needed ride!)

Steve's surgery seemed to go okay. That's what they said anyhow. Steve was up and about when they brought me back to see him within an hour of the procedure. His arm is bandaged up, but it's more mobile than I thought it would be immediately after surgery.

We got home, and soon afterwards I see that his (my) shirt is covered with blood. Fuck. I get him on a towel on the bed. I called the doctor, and he said to just put more gauze on the wound. How much should I charge? The bleeding seems to have stopped.

I would like some of the drugs they gave Steve. He's in a good mood. :-)

Oh, and we got home to find a get-well card for Steve from a friend. Nice!

Then there was my doctor appointment

I saw my doctor around 9am today. Naturally, the cough that I've had for over a month subsided for the most part over the past two days. The rib spasm things still are happening. He didn't hear or feel anything. He thinks it's probably damage from coughing so much. He gave me a prescription to get a chest xray.

My blood numbers were mostly okay. T-cells were at 503, about the same as last time. Viral load still undetectable. Last time, my triglycerides were nearly 700. Now they're down to 303. Cholesterol last time was 230. This time it was 178. (The doctor said that the better numbers might just be from being sick.) My blood sugar was high. I go in for a glucose exam next week to rule out diabetes. As far as last month's passing out 4 times, he was pretty sure it was just from the cough. He had Holly do an EKG. Holly mentioned that she might have to shave me. Um, NO. Luckily, it worked fine, chesthair and all. The results were similar to one I had done a few years ago. I'm also having me go in for a treadmill test in a couple of weeks.

The doctor asked about my job. I responded that I'm still jobhunting. The look on my face must have been telling. He asked if I had considered doing anything about it. I answer no, but was thinking you mean, besides suicide? He suggested taking Wellbrutin. After seeing me despondent so much lately, Steve also had suggested I take something. I'll give it a shot.

The doctor also gave me the phone number to get public assistance for my HIV meds. I forget that having no money qualifies me for stuff.

Job search update

After I got Steve checked in for surgery today, I rushed over to another Starbucks jobfair. Even though the person at the last one said "they loved me," I received no callback from the hiring manager for a 2nd interview. Today's was okay. The girl seemed impressed. She mentioned that Starbucks is hiring more people because they are adding "warming sandwiches" to the breakfast menu. ("Think Egg McMuffins," she said.) I guess they've done that to good success in Seattle already. Same deal as last time. She'll pass my application off to a manager at one of the hiring stores (9th & Irving, most likely).

This afternoon I got a phonecall from Norma, my boss at my externship site. She was calling to see if I was ready for a new job. I explained that I'm still looking for work. She was perplexed. Knowing how good I am, she couldn't believe I wasn't working. She's looking for a medical assistant, but her job opening requires 6 months experience. She figured I'd have experience by now. She waited 5 months to the day after I left her, so at least I've been on her mind. She said that she'd see if they'd let her resubmit the job req and leave off the 6 months experience requirement. She sounded as disappointed as me, but that's not possible.

My Bloody Valentine

Steve's bleeding continued after all. I changed the gauze every hour for a few hours. I was running out of gauze. The oncall doctor suggested using yet more gauze, but using an ACE-like bandage around it for a bit more pressure.

Unable to leave Steve alone, I called up Witten to babysit. OMG, thank god for a good friend. He watched Steve while I walked to Walgreens. I was stressed, and I got a few blocks away before realizing I had forgotten my wallet. D'oh.

I got lots more gauze, bandaging, and I picked up Steve's prescription while dropping off my own.

The latest gauze change seems to have done the trick.

I got Steve fed, and he seems happy watching TV, but he's not happy that I won't play him Scrabble tonight. ;-)