Well, I got up and aquacized leisurely for about an hour. A woman, apparently lonely for an ear, talked my ear off for half of the time, and I finally had to excuse myself to get home. I know I do it, too, but this complete stranger told me a lot of intimate details about her life I didn't necessarily want to know. What further annoyed me is that she was stupid about herself.

She went on about how she was tired and her back has been bothering her and she's put on weight and her mother has apnea and I asked,"Why don't you get checked for apnea? It runs in families, you know." She had a lot of excuses for why she didn't and I thought to myself how glad I was that I don't make those kinds of excuses. I get seen. And with my weight, no more excuses. I'm going to do what I have to get healthy. I'm putting aside everything for it. I want to live to see my kids grow up.

My mom does that -- makes excuses for why she doesn't seek immediate medical help for serious shit and my brother and I -- we're both of the mind that you go see a damned doctor if you're not better.

After my workout, I promptly crawled into bed exhausted, slept for 2.5 hours until Russell woke me up and told me he needed me to get the chicken grain out of the car. I looked at the time, groaned, and crawled out of bed feeling like something the cat dragged in and regurgitated a few times and I felt logier than hell all day. I started to think about the pool stranger with her unattended health issues and called my doctor and said,"I still feel like crap, I want to get seen."

The doc said they wouldn't increase my thyroid meds without bloodwork, so they ordered the bloodwork. I also confided that I had had facial swelling and really bad edema -- not the garden variety stuff that I usually get in the summer; my exact words were "My face looks like a blowfish in the mornings and it only gets marginally better over the course of the day and moves to my ankles." To which the PA said,"You always have summer edema." "Yeah, but this is way worse. My ankles slopped over my sandals last night, despite the fact that my sugars were fine." Then, add to that that I always feel like I have a lump in my throat and I think something serious is going on. I told her that my muscles have been sore, too.

I also griped about my weight. The PA said,"Well, that's been an ongoing issue." I said,"Well, I couldn't do much about it when I was oxygen deprived and I can't do much about it if I can barely get out of my chair and I *WANT* to do something about it. I took a two hour nap after working out this morning and I had to PRY myself out of bed afterwards!"

Facial edema is a symptom of hypothyroidism. It may be unrelated, but dude. Blow. Fish. Because of apparent throat swelling shit, I am concerned it's not the usual thyroid issue, but something more icky. Big fun. Because I am breathing through my nose all night on the CPAP, it's not from the swollen tonsils either.

The PA and my doc had exchanged notes and had decided to change my diabetic meds from actos (side effects include edema) to glucophage (side effects include weight loss -- score!). If my sugars get unruly, I am to increase it.

My sugars haven't been the problem, particularly. My exhaustion is.

I want to do stuff with my kids, but with about one good day a week, that's not likely to happen soon. I did managed to get my room picked up and a bunch of trash out this morning, and convinced Genny to clean her room. I took the kids to McD's playland to eat and play. I did the crossword puzzle. I didn't play air hockey with Russell, but did a crossword and gave him money and convinced him to ask another kid about his age to play him. I always win and I feel bad that and I was damned tired. I'd rather he had someone to play at his level and the whole idea of trying to keep track of Genny, the puck, and not being a grumpy snot was overwhelming. After the doctor appointment, I swam today with the kids this afternoon for about 20 minutes and wow, if I'm not wiped again.

This blows. And not fish either.