Vlog Dos

Hey Hey

Here's the update via my second vlog. Hope you enjoy!!

Still not sure if I enjoy video or written updates better. What do y'all think?

Thanks for watching <3

~Cat

La Baja Medica

Hey Hey Everyone!!

      So update on my back situation, I went to the doctor today after a rough Monday (more on that below), and he's referring me to get rehabilitación (my guess, like physicial therapy), and no work until I finish it, 15 days minimum. With Christmas Break creeping up I get until after New Years to get better (YAY!)

   I'm really thankful that the doctor is giving me the time to recuperate, because getting home almost crawling/crying is not the business, not to mention feeling embarrassed you're the youngest one on staff side and you're limping around practically needing a cane. 

Monday, for example, in the morning I was fine, or at least as fine I can get in this condition. Monday also happens to be my longest day of work for the week, so even though I had just come back from a few days of bed rest, it still was too hard of a hit to my recovery process. So at the end of the day, after taking the second dose of medicine that I'm on, the effects of the medicine didn't really kick in when I needed them to. This left me in a lot of pain for my 40 minute commute via bus/metro/walking home. Given the pain that I was in, I guess I wasn't paying that much attention, and I fell off the bus. Yes, you read that that right, I fell off the bus. For as long as I can remember I've had bad ankles that roll all the time, and on Monday when I stepped off the bus my ankle rolled and there I fell. No worries though, I'm fine, at first glance so far it hasn't made my situation any worse, so I guess just another bad luck situation. So all I need to do tomorrow is call in to school and see about getting them the paper that says I'm supposed to rest at home and figure out how to get my paycheck then keep on keepin' on with the HEALING PROCESS. 

In other funny, semi-related news....

  Yesterday I played poker with my roommates and their friends being accommodated in a different chair that was more comfortable than the rest given my situation. I felt fine sitting there so I thought maybe everything was okay, but it was a BAD IDEA. I was in alot of pain last night and therefore couldn't sleep and went to bed at 9am after my morning dose of the medicine I'm taking. Well the mix of sleep deprivation/meds made me KNOCK OUT! Actually I would probably call it a coma, because I would think if I was knocked out I would have woken up by...3 maybe 4 pushing it. What time did I wake up, you ask? 6:30 PM! The only reason I woke up at this time was because my roommate came to my room to tell me I had some mail!

A very wonder blogger/auxiliar friend Jules decided to be wonderful in my time of need and send me a present from where my raices are from, EL SALVADOR!  

MUCHAS GRACIAS!

The M key-chain is to represent the new last name she's baptized me with (Murillo Maradiaga de Vega) because I have a very "apple-pie" name :) 

I'm also very grateful for this gift because my doctor's appointment was for 7:10, and if my roommate wouldn't have come come in to give me the envelope I probably would have still stayed in my pain induced coma and wouldn't have the peace of mind I have at the moment or be writing the blog now. Since I was all panicked and rushed over to the doctor, I didn't even realize until I was on my way home that I had put on my pants inside out. I just smiled to myself and went on my merry way....recovery soon to come!!

Just a little backwards
(Source)

Thanks to everyone who's been supportive of me and sending positive thoughts, and thanks for READING!

Until next time,

Cathy 

Little Things...

Hey Hey all,

 I've wanted to post this week, but I didn't want to leave my blog as a place only to complain. So instead of being a Negative Nancy (lol) I just took a mini hiatus (not long I know...). 

One of the needles from my injections...

So here's the story with my back. After all of my injections last week, by Sunday night/ Monday Morning I was about a 2.7 on the pain scale, and things were looking up. I went to work, taught my 1st period class, went to the English Department meeting, got my check, cashed it, and headed back to school for my four remaining classes.

After the first two I ended up in a very painful situation, and by the end of the day my pain had shot back up to a level 8. The bus/metro/short walk home instead of being 45 minutes was 2  hours because I had to stop every few steps for the pain. Close to my apartment I actually ended up running into my roommate and her whole family with their luggage on their way to a trip to Senegal (great first impression... -_-).

Tuesday, I tried to/had to (since it was a holiday) sleep it off, but I was still back up to a 7/8 range on pain. So Wednesday I took a taxi over to my doctor appointment, and he gave me some different meds. These have been working, it's still a slow but sure recovery process. 

So with all of this going on I'll finally get onto the GOOD thing that happened that inspired me to write this post (among other writing I've been doing). Today, I finally went grocery shopping. After a week of take-out/cups of milk or potato flakes for a meal/borrowing my roommates shampoo, I was able to go grocery shopping. That in itself was an interesting experience, figuring out what to buy/stock up on, but only enough that I could carry back without a problem. 

Once in line for the cash register I was behind 3 people. The first was a girl who wanted to pay with her card but was under the 12 euro minimum, so she went to go get things to make her purchase enough...wait wait wait...good thing I wasn't in a hurry, especially since I knew it was going to take me a while to put the stuff on the register/bag my own stuff. The second lady passed through at a normal pace, and the third, the old man in front of me wanted to pay for his 2 bottles of vodka with his envelope of pennies. Again...wait, wait, wait, but I didn't mind (the cashier sure as hell did though, lol). So it's finally my turn put my things up, and a bag of noodles just rips open all over the floor (can't get rid of this bad luck!). 

Other than the pasta, I slowly but surely bagged my groceries and hobbled on home. When I got there and put my food away. I couldn't help but feel emotional. I mean I was so happy/proud of myself for doing what I just did, GROCERY SHOPPING! It's funny what kind of simple things we take for granted, but not having been able to do it myself (and the stubborn independent person I am insisted I do so...), finally being able to complete it just meant so much. Progress. 

Granted, I sat and watched half of El Clasico (Madrid v. Barcelona soccer game) after and the pain came rushing back to me, but I'm sticking with this minor victory amongst the things that have been against me lately. (My keychain that says my name that I've had since 8th grade fell to pieces in my hands as I was getting ready for school Monday). So I'll take my one win for now...let's pray December has more victories in store....

Online Food Ordering

So...with the my whole back thing, and roomies/buddies gone for the weekend. I didn't have very many options for dinner tonight. 

I could either make a bowl of hungry jack mashed potatoes (which I already had for lunch), make some pasta (which would have taken longer than I am comfortable standing at the moment), or get delivery. 

I'll take door number 3, please.

With a quick google search I ended up on just-eat.es, which is essentially like Grubhub order online, and get food delivered to your door. After looking through my options, and seeing when things were open, how much was the minimum order/delivery fees. I went with a hamburger meal from an Italian/Argentine restaurant (the irony, I know). An hour later I was happily eating my mini meal for 8 euros delivered to my door. 

This quick exchange, reminds me of not one of my best moments lol. 

Last year right before final exams, I was a big mess, boys were dumb, I had gotten the flu, sprained my ankle/knee at work, and the biggest assignments of my life were due. Again I was in the same predicament about food, and went with ordering and pasta and salad from Dominos.

So given the state that I was in I can tell you I was definitely not lookin' fine. The delivery guy came to door,  and gave me my order, the slip I had to sign for the purchase, and a gaze like whoa. He wasn't bad looking just like 5'4, and I my friends am 5'11 (refuse to believe I'm over 6 feet lol). So I went on to eat my food, and finish agonizing over my personal life and professional life if I didn't get my capstone paper done. 

Like an hour later there's another knock at the door, and it's the delivery guy. He comes back with the excuse saying he didn't remember if he brought me ranch for my salad, and then asked to use the restoom. I know, I know this is the big red flag, no don't ever let a stranger in your home, but alas I did. I think at the moment I thought the awkwardness of saying no, was worse than my personal safety (as I said, not one of my best moments)

So he comes out of the restoom, stands right in my living room, and just stares at me. Then here is the exchange we had:

Him- Can I tell you something?

Me- Umm...sure...

Him- You are very beautiful.

Me- Umm...Thank you.

(He still just stands there staring no movement, awkward silence)

Me- Algo mas? (anything else?)

Him- Oh you speak Spanish where are you from...

(A few more quick exchanges, now in Spanish and him telling me more how HERMOSA I am...and me telling him that I am awfully busy with lots of work to do)

Him- Can I give you a kiss here (points to his cheek)

Me- Okay, can you please leave?

And he leaves in peace...

I know, I know...stupid Cathy... I felt so guilty afterward thinking of what could have happened, what could have happened to my roommates because of my stupidity, but I guess I handled the situation the way I did because at the moment I thought, if I'm mean to him, he might snap, just go with it and ease him out...which is what I did. Totally got creeped out by every dominos car I saw whenever I waited for the bus for the next few weeks going to school.

Well there you have it folks another one of my (mis)adventures, I figured a good laugh was in order. I know most of you probably think I'm crazy for ordering online again after that lol but a girl with no paper and only plastic has only so many options...and no crazies tonight.

December's Reader Spotlight is up! Go check it out.

Hasta Pronto!

~Cat

Your Bad Luck Is Impressive (two point oh)

So when I wrote yesterday's post, this was not the title I had in mind for my next update, but keep reading and you'll see why it was inevitable.

So my second round of semi bad luck started last Saturday. I started having horrible cramps in my stomach and wanted to throw up, but couldn't. My roommates had just finished coming down with a stomach virus, so that's what I figured it was. So pretty much all weekend I was just living on water. (Sidenote- also during this weekend we (my friend Natasha and I) were invited to an 80s style birthday party at a bar, and let's just say our interpretation of the 80s and everyone else's were not eye to eye)

Monday rolled around, and I wasn't feeling that much better, but at work you have to get a doctor's note to justify your absence, and at that point I really didn't want to go to the doctor, so I toughed it out at school. Tuesday, however, was a different story. I couldn't handle the stomach cramps and nausea anymore, so I called in sick and went searching for my nearest doctor in the big book of doctors my insurance gave me.

I finally found one that was open on tuesdays, and called for an appt, but the lady said that appointments weren't necessary, just show up between 6:30 and 7:30pm when they're open. So I was good to go, just stickin' to my water diet, and got all ready to by the time 6:00 came around. My roommate Musta accompanied me to the doctor. We went to the address that was published in the book, room 2D. Right when we go there under the doorbell was a sign that said NO ES MEDICO, we rang the doorbell anyway. Got a grumpy guy talking through the door saying this isn't a doctor's office and he didn't know where they had moved to. I tried calling the same office from inside the building, but no reception, and once we got outside, the lady confirmed it was the same address but they were at 1D. So Musta and I went back inside signed in and the receptionist told us who I was after and there we waited, I was the 6th person -_- (well I probably would have been higher on the list if we would have had the address right).

So I get inside with the doctor, sit down and he asks me "de que sociedad vienes?" (literal translation- what society do you come from?) So I stare at him with a blank face, and he repeats the same thing, again exchange a blank face because I have no idea what he means (umm...western society??) and then he sees my big book of doctors in my purse and says oh you're from mapfre... (conclusion- Spanish translation- What insurance are you with?) So from there he took all of my info, asked me my symptoms, wrote me a prescription, and I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

That was it...

Your doctor, doesn't matter what you have, they'll prescribe you Ibuprofen.

So this may come off as... "hey I'm American so I deluxe treatment with everything" kind of thinking... but I was really surprised, he didn't take any of my vitals, just asked what my symptoms were and took my word for it..i mean I could have had the plague and he could have prevented it, but without checking me now we'll never know lol!!!

So by Friday I was all better, had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at my place with my other auxiliar peeps (no pictures unfortunately...waiting on my friends to post some so I can steal them :P). After dinner we put on some music and were having a grand old time. At some point either busted myself busting a move or SOMETHING and my back started hurting. At first, I dismissed it as just being sore from the chairs we ate on, but as the night progressed I just got worse and worse, and as much as I wanted to tough it out and keep partying, I went to bed at 2am (yes I know I'm a lame spanish party goer).

The next morning, I was a million times worse, and after googling my symptoms it came down to hey I pinched my Sciatic nerve. I stayed in bed all weekend only moving for painful trips to the restroom, hoping that a weekend full of rest I would be ready by Monday to hobble off to work, but come Monday my body was still not having it. So I called in sick, forced myself to take a shower finally and gave the urgent care number to my roommate to call (because I wasn't gonna chance another "sociedad" incident) and figure out if I had to suffer to go get a taxi, an ambulance would come, or a doctor would come to the house. 

So the doctor came to our house, she was very nice, asked my my symptoms, and proved my google research right. So she gave me shot in my back with some anti-inflamatory medicine, and prescribed me a gel of the same medicine, and 6 more injections to be put on by a nurse once a day. 

So that's where I'm at now, getting the nurse to come was it's own ordeal, but now on a scale of 1-10 my pain is about a 7.8, which is still bad, but it's definitely progress I finally made my own dinner tonight. This definitely was not the ideal week to be out sick, since it's pay day and when the rent is due, and all that jazz. Not to mention also my appointment with the attorney to see if I can get my deposit back. Luckily I have made a few gems of friends while being here so rent is covered until I can go get paid on Monday, and we'll see about rescheduling that appointment. 

A tiny ray of sunlight, the doctor that came to see me said that she wanted to better her English, so for those who know me as the networking person I am, I busted out my card, and told her to contact me, and we could work something out. I mean I definitely believe that everything happens for a reason, I just hope I didn't have to go through this pain for an extra 15 euro a week lol. 

So thanks for sticking with me this far. I really appreciate all of the support I've gotten from everyone while this dark cloud had been on my tail. Also a reminder it's already DECEMBER (What?!) Which also means first to comment gets to be this month's Reader's Spotlight.

Until next time---hopefully with good news...,

~Cathy