Alas, unlike most introverts, I wanted someone to answer! But maybe they'll call me back soon.

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The appointment went okay. She's not a big fan of long term antidepressants, but she was a really good listenener, and that should help, I think.

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I hope you can find a psychiastrist you trust Zen.

Also sj I hope the therapist works out.

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Medical~ma for everyone, and hugs/hairpats/knowing looks for those who want them.

I'm having anxiety over taking Peanut down to the Exploratorium, which is just ridiculous. The walk isn't any longer than the walks we've taken down to the farmers market, the museum itself is kid-friendly by its nature, and she's in good health & spirits. It's just my brain being dumb because we've never been there before. STOP IT, BRAIN.

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Did I say -- I honestly can't remember -- his rheumatologist thinks that the intermittent discomfort Tim is having in his chest is not IN his lungs; he thinks it's costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum).

I hope that's what it is. Though I suspect I've got it going on right now (there's nothing else that seems to be causing it and I've been through the medical three ring circus this summer) and it's hella frustrating.

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Though I suspect I've got it going on right now

It seems to be the cartilage version of pleurisy. Like something inside your chest cavity but outside your lungs is all inflamed like crazy and will not un-inflame.

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Zen, it is absolutely reasonable to "interview and hire" a doctor whenever you have any choice in the matter. So is having a conversation with a doctor about the ways previous treatments and medications effected you (good AND ill), and what side effects you see as deal-breakers together with the expectation that you as a patient be treated as a person who has a brain rather than a subject with a collection of symptoms. Yeah, it would be a pain to have to go through this process again, but your health is worth the effort.

sj, if the new therapist doesn't love long-term anti-depressants, does that mean she is big on concrete skills and coping tools? The last therapist I saw was all into this Rogerian, just get 'em talking, doesn't really go anywhere with it, stuff that was not a good fit for me in the long term and I didn't know how to say it was not working for me. Either way, I hope you are able to work with this one and get what you need from her.

So much ~ma for Tim. May the doctors speedily and accurately learn what is going on with him, and be able to treat it skillfully. For you Steph, and for all here who are under strain, I bring this blessing from the Iona Community:

Deep peace of the running wave to you

Deep peace of the flowing air to you

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you

Deep peace of the shining stars to you

The last line is explicitly religious, so feel free to skip it, but for those to whom it has meaning -

Deep peace of the Son of peace to you

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Gah, medical stuff. I think all the moving shit and sleeping on a crappy bed have fucked up my left hip, but I don't have time for a doctor. I'm looking at a second floor apartment, and I'm hoping stairs won't aggravate things until my body gets used to a new bed and I can rest.

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I am alternating between periods of being calm and being a stressball. So much to do. And yet not that much to do immediately.

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Dana, we passed on a couple of houses because we didn't want the responsibility of a pool. Good luck finding the perfect place.

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