Under the weather today + books

I am feeling really under the weather today. I went to bed last night right after I put Tristyn to bed, around 8:15, and slept all night. I was hoping to wake up feeling better but I’m actually feeling worse today. My throat really hurts and I have no energy at all.

I woke up to Tristyn climbing in bed with me, he said he didn’t feel good this morning and he was really shaky and couldn’t walk. I check his temp and he definitely felt warm. I called the attendance line and let them know he won’t be at school today. He’s really congested and sneezing and blah feeling. I also texted his teacher and she said strep throat is going around the classroom. Great. I’m sure that’s what I probably have. I checked my throat out in the bathroom and it’s red and it looks like I’m getting white sores in a few places. Fuck. Not happy. I can’t go to urgent care or the doctor because I have the kids home sick and I’m not going to expose them to any more germs. They have been sick non-stop for months now, enough is enough.

I finished my book, “The Year of the Witching” by Alexis Henderson this morning. I really wanted to start the series “Legendborn” by Tracy Deonn so I stroll over to zLibrary to download my next book and to my shock and surprise it has a big banner on the screen saying that the domain has been seized by the FBI. Looks like I’ll be going to the actual library again and reading physical books instead of ebooks on my kindle. I still have kindle unlimited and there are still a ton of books to read there. I have to admit, I’ve missed the library but downloading onto my kindle and not having to leave the house was easier. So I downloaded the series “Fae Rising” by Miranda Lyn on kindle unlimited and I’ll read those while I wait for the Legendborn series to be ready at the library, I put a hold on both books.

My #100DaysofCode challenge is going to be hard today, feeling as bad as I am, but I’m going to try and push through it. Habits don’t get made when you don’t try to accomplish them consistently regardless of how you feel or how sick you are. The same goes for Motherhood..still gotta Mom no matter how sick or unwell you are. Good thing they are being such well-behaved little people. They are good kids.

EDIT: Ok, so I had to get to the bottom of this zlibrary shit. The FBI blocked the domain but the database still lives. You can access it via telegram bot or TOR. You’ll have to do the searching yourself.

The Handmaid’s Tale

This show causes me to have all the emotions within an hour. It’s also not been predictable whatsoever. I’m hanging on my seat, I’m sucked in and extremely engaged. Usually, when I watch TV or shows or whatever, I’m doing a secondary task, like gaming or crocheting. Not with this show. I’m glued to every scene thirsty for what happens next. It can also be quite triggering. It’s the one and the only reason I even subscribe to Hulu.

The storyline from rotten tomatoes:

Based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, this series is set in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what used to be part of the United States. Gilead is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state, and is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude. One of these women, Offred, is determined to survive the terrifying world she lives in, and find the daughter that was taken from her.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_handmaids_tale

I am feeling pretty under the weather today. I woke up with a cold sweat and I have a really sore throat, I can feel it inflamed up to the back of my throat. I have developed a dry cough as well and I’m really achy today. I had to cancel my physical therapy today because those wonderful people certainly don’t need these germs. My hot coffee feels soothing to my throat. Zahkya had a fever yesterday and she really struggled to sleep last night but she doesn’t say anything hurts. She acts like she’s feeling better today, far from the wreck she was last night. I have a feeling I’m getting whatever she has. I’ve lucked out this past year. I’ve worn my mask in public almost every time I’m out and I’ve managed to dodge the kids being sick with various things over the past 2-3 months, but something got a hold of me this time. I just hope it doesn’t develop into anything worse than it is today because I have a lot of responsibilities that have to get done every day whether I’m sick or not. #momlife

Wild for a smile is top-notch

Going to the dentist isn’t fun. For someone who’s had extensive dental work done, I’m terrified of going to the dentist. It’s been nothing but a painful and uncomfortable experience. This is why I haven’t been back to the dentist since having my kiddos. I’m well past time for doing so. My kids, thankfully, are starting out their dentist memories differently than mine. I found a company in town called Wild for a Smile a few years back and they are top-notch.

They are patient, they are personable and they make the whole dentist experience fun. Tristyn so far has escaped getting any major dental work done and he just goes in for cleanings. Zahkya on the other hand has had two cavities they have had to fill. The first one from start to finish took about 10 seconds. The second one, which was today, took a little longer because it was one of her back teeth. They have a TV above the kids where they can watch whatever they want on Disney + and they use different words for their instruments. Instead of a drill, they call it tickling the tooth. They call filling a cavity, getting out the sugar bugs. It’s so aged appropriate and it’s not intimating at all. Today they had to give Zahkya some laughing gas and a shot to numb her tooth but they told her it was putting her tooth to sleep. She felt no pain at all which was shocking since she has some sensory issues with her mouth. We were in and out of there in 30 minutes and at the end, they give a token to her so she could pick a prize while I paid and checked out. Easy as can be. I’m so thankful for little things like this.

100 Days of Code

I really wanted to do the 100DaysOfCode challenge years ago and I never did because the kids were still little and I didn’t think I’d be able to commit to coding every single day. Fast forward to the present time and my thoughts were the same as 2 years ago. Will I really have enough time to code for a minimum of 1 hour a day and document it? You know, there’s never going to be a perfect time. Life is busy, whether you have kids, battling chronic illness, battling chronic pain, battling a rare bone disease, battling chronic fatigue, etc. Struggles are going to happen no matter what in life. It’s how you deal with those struggles that is important. If I have too much on my plate any given day, then that’s how it is and I’ll try to make up for what didn’t get done the day before. Life goes on, time doesn’t stop. I’m learning to give myself grace. I get into the bad habit of waiting until the right time and as I get older, the right time never comes so I might as well do whatever I can now while I’m still able to do it.

I’ve done a lot of work over at FreeCodeCamp the past few days and I’m pretty proud of what all I’ve accomplished. Today I got homebrew reinstalled on my MacBook Pro so that I can start exploring other blogging platforms. I’m hoping to get off WordPress eventually and use another blogging platform because WordPress has been a problem child and it’s not one I’m very happy with. It’s caused my dear friend, Cam, a lot of headaches and since she hosts my site for me I want to make things as easy as possible. Plus I’m ready to try out new things.

A few platforms I’m looking at are Hugo and Pelican. I have my python install all up to date today so as soon as I get a little uninterrupted time I’m going to drive in and install those.

For now, I’m going to go relax. I overdid it in physical therapy today and my body and bones are not happy with me. I have a full day tomorrow too, Zahkya has a dentist appointment first thing in the morning after I drop Tristyn off at school and I’ll be picking Tristyn up early from school to take him to his doctor’s appointment. I think I’m going to hit the hay early tonight because this Mama is tired.

No ER trip last night

I got Zahkya to sleep pretty easily and for the first hour and a half of her being deep in slumber, I didn’t hear her cough a single time. Tristyn still had two more assignments of homework to do so I worked with him and got that done and I got him to bed. I told Seth goodnight as I was walking straight to bed myself. About 20 minutes after me being in bed, Zahkya starts coughing. So my anxiety shot up and I sat there and listened to her. I meant to give her a breathing treatment right before bed and I forgot to so I was sitting there contemplating whether or not I should wake her up. I decided not to but I did get her sitting up a bit more with the extra pillow I brought in and I put a homemade version of Vicks on her chest. She woke me up at 5:15 wanting her iPad just like any normal morning. No bad incidents at all throughout the night. I even slept in my clothes because I wanted to be ready and dressed if I had to take her to the ER. Those steroids she gets at urgent care really really help. Last time they worked for 2 whole nights so I hope tonight is also uneventful. She’s really coughing in the daytime, and it’s a wet cough, so I hope this isn’t turning into pneumonia or something.

I had to get gas before taking Tristyn to school this morning. I feel like it was darker out than usual at 6:50 am. Maybe the sun is feeling as lazy as me today. I did manage to get the trash out this morning too. I have a lot to do today, I need to clean up the kitchen, get everyone’s laundry going and fold the laundry that’s been sitting in the dryer for two days. I have to vacuum and I haven’t mopped in 2 weeks so that has to be done this week no matter what. I also have to figure out what I’m making for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll make breakfast for dinner, so sausage and potatoes. I forgot to get coffee creamer when I got groceries yesterday so I’m either going without it or I’ll just drink it black. Maybe I’ll make some tea instead.

I really hate croup

It’s been such a rollercoaster with Zahkya and her croup. The day after she got the IV steroid she was hyper and super emotional and she had meltdowns like a 2-year-old; however, for the most part, she was doing ok, almost like she had just a bad cold. So all the behavioral changes, although hard, it was worth it to have her feeling better. She did have fevers the next two nights after the steroids and she acted more herself yesterday than the previous days. I know she was excited about Halloween and she was a trouper and trick-or-treated almost as long as Tristyn did but she pooped out and lost her energy and even asked to go to bed last night.

Last night was the worst night yet. She couldn’t get comfortable and had several occasions where she had a hard time breathing. Then she had another episode where she couldn’t get enough air and her lips were starting to turn blue. It’s a scary time for a Mom, to see your kid suffering and screaming for help as you scramble for breathing treatments and inhalers, and anything that would help her get oxygen. The breathing treatments worked however but not as well as the other night. Her breathing the rest of the night was loud and I ended up staying awake with her because she was too scared to go back to sleep. Poor thing has been up since 2:30 this morning. I tried giving her a nap today but as soon as she laid down her coughing fits would be too much and her breathing started getting irritated again and she finally gave up on sleeping even with how tired she was. So I decided to take her back to urgent care today. They gave her more steroids but told us if she has another one of those scary episodes at night to take her to the ER right away. I’m hoping the steroids do the job and give us a few days more so she can get over this virus. I really hate croup. It’s so scary.

I’ve been up with her every night since Friday and I’m running on empty. I have nothing in the tank. I am struggling to function and I realized that I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday morning. I gotta make dinner tonight and I just don’t think I have it in me but I can’t let everyone starve.

Medical Emergency with Zahkya last night

I tell you what, I’m about over all this sickness. Last night was completely uneventful when I put Zahkya to bed last night. She wasn’t sick and didn’t even have the sniffles. But she sure woke up in terrible shape around 2 am with the worse barking croup cough. She was crying and coughing and she couldn’t catch her breath so I turned on the light and her lips were blue/purple and she was screaming, “I need air I need air!!”

I checked her oxygen levels and they were at 82% so I got the rescue inhaler and gave her two puffs of that, went and woke Seth up and told him to bring the nebulizer, and gave her a breathing treatment with albuterol. By the end of that her oxygen was back up to 94% but she still sounded terrible so I rushed her to urgent care and they confirmed the croup diagnosis. They gave her an IV steroid called Dexamethasone, only they gave it to her orally (they reassured me it was safe) and within 5 minutes after that, she got really hyper and was bouncing off the walls.

Fast forward to this afternoon and she’s still bouncing off the walls and you wouldn’t believe she was as sick as she was last night. I’m about ready to pass out. No naps for this Mom tho.

Another Trip to urgent care

Poor Tristyn. He was up all night last night coughing again with this crud. I kept him home (again) from school today because he got so little sleep and he feels terrible. A few weeks ago I was in urgent care with him and they gave him steroids and an antibiotic. His sickness seemed to go away during those 10 days of taking the antibiotic but the 11th day all this crud came back, but this time, with a vengeance. So they are going to use a stronger antibiotic this time and more steroids. He’s trying to get some rest in his room right now. I feel so bad for him because he is just miserable.

I woke up with a really bad headache this morning so I’m still trying to get over that. I took several Advil along with a Sudafed this morning to try and curb it but it’s just not wanting to go away. My neck has been super stiff lately and I’m sure that’s contributing to it. I really need to get in and get my spine fixed before it gets to a point where they won’t be able to fix it. I can’t even imagine what’s going on in there but the pain has never been worse. I know the cold weather and my osteoarthritis has a lot to do with it and I have so many slipped/bulging/bone-on-bone discs it’s just a mess. Gotta fix it even with everything else going on. I’d rather be proactive than not.

How is dieting going?

Let’s be honest. I only have so much self-discipline. I would probably do better if I didn’t have 3 other mouths to feed. Sometimes those mouths want food that isn’t good for me: however, it’s food that I love and I can’t resist. That’s what happened this weekend. I asked my family to help me by keeping said junk food away from me and not to offer it to me. Most of the junk is gone from the house already but I’m a sucker for the Mexican pizzas at Taco Bell and it’s a weakness. The same goes for chips and some other fast food, like Carl’s Jr’s Santa Fe chicken sandwich with green chili in it. I’ve said no to that stuff more than I haven’t this last week but I didn’t have the best weekend. So I’m back on the wagon again. It wasn’t a huge fall, but I did get up to 2k calories both days of the weekend.

Gotta pick myself up and do better. Simple as that. I just have to do better. I need to experiment with some of the recipes in the book my doctor gave me. Most don’t sound good and a lot of it has broccoli in it which I hate most of the time but my taste buds are already changing so there is hope I’ll learn how to like certain things.

Freecodecamp.org curriculum has changed

I visited FreeCodeCamp.org the other day as I do from time to time because I really really miss coding. I noticed that all the work I had done previously was now in a legacy section and a new curriculum was up. I was a little let down at first because I worked really hard the past few years to get through the first part and I was one project away from completing my certificate. I haven’t really worked on anything in the past few years due to lack of time specifically lack of uninterruptible time due to kids and marriage and everything that goes along with maintaining a household.

My feeling of panic having done all that work only to start over turned into relief. It’s been years since I’ve done any work so I’m back to being rusty with my code and picking up a project that isn’t fresh in your mind is one of the reasons I couldn’t go back and just pick up where I left off. If I start now, again, then by the time both kids are in school I’ll have more uninterruptible time to really focus on getting my projects done.

This is good, this is a good thing. Change is hard sometimes but how you handle it makes all the difference. I’m learning to handle change much better than I ever have and I’ve realized that attitude and outlook are everything. I don’t get so stuck anymore and I paddle my way through a lot of situations that used to cripple me. Maybe I’m healing in more ways than I think.

Day 1 on FreeCodeCamp, again. How exciting.