Meet The Anti-'s

I could open a pharmacy in my spare time.

Anti...biotic, convulsant*, depression, anxiety, side effect, insomnia, pregnancy, psychosis, hormone imbalance, a different side effect.

Poor Surly Teenager.  She is being pilled to death.

*no, she doesn't have convulsions.  In addition to treating Epilepsy, that class of pills is also used as a mood stabilizer for bipolar.

Rainy Days & Mondays

always get me down.

It is even worse when it's a rainy Monday. It's a real
stay-in-bed-all-day-and-nap-and-read-a-book kind of day.

Only we have no electricity (or didn't when I left the house), so
reading would have to be by flashlight, which tends to give me a
headache.

And its kind of muggy out, but we have no air conditioning (see no
electricity mentioned above) to cool things off.

And Haylie freaks out when it is thundery, so that would make it kind
of hard to nap, having to listen to the whining and the non-stop
PANTING and PACING that she does. And don't even get me started on
the little puddles of drool she drips everywhere when she is panting.

Plus there is that whole pesky job thing. As much as I don't like to
go to work, I do like getting a paycheck.

But other than that, yep, it's a real
stay-in-bed-all-day-and-nap-and-read-a-book kind of day.

Still Not Doing Anything Half Way

When she decides to go out of whack, she really goes.

Surly Teenager has to have blood drawn to check levels for one of her new meds.  They did a complete work up on the last draw.  I got the call with the results Friday afternoon.

At least this one I was half prepared for.  Nearly everyone on my side of the family has hypothyroidism.  I have been taking pills for it since the late '90's, my sister about 5 years before that, and my mom since sometime in the, what?, late 80's or so.  And then there is also my mom's sister and both her kid's.  

So I assumed that eventually Lazy and Surly would have it too.  Just not so soon.

Her TSH level was at 13.6.  Normal is a debated scale, but generally 0.3 - 4 is considered good.

They are going to retest on Monday just to be sure it was not a lab error.  But I went ahead and broke the news to Surly Teenager on the way home Friday.

She just rolled her eyes, sighed and said resignedly, "Another pill."

Well.

The short version:

Surly Teenager has been diagnosed with and is being treated for
Bipolar Disorder. She is currently attending an outpatient program at
a facility that offers her academics in addition to the therapy and
medical attention she needs while they try to find the right
combination of medicines, and the right dosages.

Patience was never her strong point, so the whole "it takes time"
thing isn't sitting too well with her. She wants to feel "normal"
again RIGHT NOW.

I don't blame her. I can't imagine what it was like, or currently is
like, inside her head. I want her back (as close as possible) to her
normal surly-self. While she is trying to get stablized she is very
subdued; a mere shadow of her former self with nary a surly moment in
sight.

It is very disconcerting.

She's Not Sick

I was informed by Surly Teenager that she is NOT sick.

She threw up because she had a headache and was nauseated.  

Not because she was sick.

Next

Surly Teenager was barfing last night.  

Poor thing. 

She should be exempt, it hasn't been that long since she had mono and strep.

Here We Go

Hubby's got it now.

He better not give it back to me!

hmmm

It's in my driveway!

Big yellow bulldozer, beeping as it backs up is in my driveway and going back and forth and now it is in the front yard!

I hope Surly Teenager gets home soon.  I'm dying to know what is going on out there.

Somethings going on out there

I have been laying on the couch watching tv/reading/resting all afternoon.

I have seen a giant yellow bulldozer go past the living room window at least a half dozen times.

I wonder what is happening to our street?

Of course I don't wonder quite enough to actually get up off the couch and look out the window.

Surly Teenager will be home soon.  She'll tell me.

It Lives

I woke up yesterday around 6pm and I felt a million times better.

Surly Teenager fixed me a dinner of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, and I was able to stay up for the rest of the evening.

I took today off just to make sure, and so far so good.  I got up at 7am and have not napped once.  Later, I plan on attempting to wash the dishes that nobody else has done.  Luckily Hubby and Surly Teenager ate out last night so there aren't too many piled in the sink. 

It's amazing what sleeping for a day and a half can do for you.