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When I'm not here, you may find me wandering the pages below. (If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference!)

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Body: in sickness and in health

I won't lie; this body and I have had our issues with each other for many years. Body image -- sure. Physical and mental overextension -- comes with being a Type A kind of girl. I still struggle with these things, so they show up from time to time in my writing.

More recently, illness, pure but not simple, has added itself to the mix in a multi-system sort of way. And the challenges in figuring out exactly what's gone wrong are many. As problems have revealed themselves in the last few years, beginning with reactive hypoglycemia in late 2008, I've documented them here, partly to gain a little clarity on managing complex conditions but mostly to give voice to vulnerabilities I feel but don't normally share with anyone face to face. Better out than in, they say, right? (Oh yes, humor is one way I deal.)

The links below cover the different angles I've examined (and from which I've been examined) within that experience.

Travel: neither here nor there

When the person you're married to lives two time zones away, you log a fair number of frequent flier miles. And if you blog about commuter relationships, you log quite a few posts en route too.

Since we're no longer in separate places, I blog less often from airports. But we do travel -- together now! -- which is much more fun to write about. So in addition to thoughts on our years of commuting, the links below cover the places we've been as a pair and, in some cases, the adventures that have happened on the way.

Writing: the long and short of it

Why do I do it? Good question. Maybe it's not so much that I like to write but that I have to write, even when the words refuse to stick to the page. Believe me, I've tried doing other things like majoring in biochemistry (freshman fall, many semesters ago). Within a year, I'd switched to English with a concentration in creative writing and wasn't looking back.

After graduating, I taught English for a few years and then worked as an editor, which I still do freelance. In 2007, I applied and got into an MFA program at a place I like to call Little U. on the Prairie. I finished my degree in 2011 and have been balancing tutoring and writing on my own ever since.

The following links cover the writing I've done about writing: process, content, obstacles, you name it. It's not always pretty. But some part of me loves it, even when it's hard. And this is the result.

Heart: family and friends

I'd have a hard time explaining who I am without being able to talk about the family I grew up in as well as the people I've met beyond its bounds. But even with such context, it's not easy! In the simplest terms, I'm a first-generation Asian-American who has spent most of this life caught between cultures. That, of course, doesn't even begin to describe what I mean to, but there's my first stab at the heart of it all.

That's what this group of posts is reserved for -- heart. The essential parts of my life whose influences I carry with me, for better or worse. The links below cover what I've written as I've learned how these forces work within me, for me, against me, in spite of me. They anchor me even as they change me, and they keep life interesting.

Recommended reading

What do I do when there's too much on my mind and my words won't stick to the page? I escape into someone else's thoughts. Below is a collection of books and articles that have been sources of information, inspiration, and occasional insight for my own work.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Every kidney has a silver lining, the sequel

Yep, this little nuisance again.

You'd think I'd recognize a kidney stone after the first one, but no, this one presented itself quite differently. Referred pain? You got it (rather, I did).

So a good part of Friday found me waiting here (the hospital's walk-in imaging clinic):


Not exactly my first choice for where to spend all that time. But when the ultrasound didn't reveal anything amiss in my gallbladder (a good thing!), the GI folks had to refer me to somebody else (with a practice in the same medical facility, but an entirely separate registration/appointment process). That doctor, whom I got to see only on the luck of some other patient's cancellation, sent me back to the clinic for an x-ray, which revealed the real cause of all the trouble.

The doctor was very kind and hung around after his office had closed, just so he could interpret the x-ray for me (it was late in the day when he ordered the test, so there was no way the radiologist would have the official report to him in a timely fashion). He could have gone home and told me to wait for the results, to be delivered by phone after the long weekend, with orders to go to the ER if things got worse before then. But he didn't, and I'm thankful. Because of his kindness, I was able to go home with an answer and greater peace of mind. I'm still under orders to go to the ER if anything untoward occurs, but given the size and location of the stone, that's very unlikely.

Who knew I'd be glad to have a kidney stone instead of the alternative?

(Don't get me wrong; it still hurts. But given the choice, while alone, I'd rather deal with a problem I can treat from home as opposed to something that requires hospitalization, no matter how routine. Who would feed the kitty?)

I just hope I'm not in for a repeat of this in the future. Especially since it occurs without warning and in such misleading ways! Worst fear: that it happens while I'm on a plane. If I'd gone with D on Thursday instead of staying behind to work on my thesis, I'd have been somewhere over Texas during the nastier part of that afternoon. I suppose I should thank my writing obligations for preventing that ... ?

5 comments:

French Fancy... said...

This is a part of the body that I am familiar with and I really do sympathise about the pain involved. Referred or in the predictable place, there is no getting away from the fact that it really does hurt.

You poor thing, CT - still, at least you have been diagnosed - now for the solutions...

Anonymous said...

So sorry that you're in pain but glad to hear it was diagnosed before the holiday. I know nothing about kidney stones but hope the pain is resolved soon.

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

FF -- that's exactly what I want to know; what solution is there to keep this from happening again? It seems one can only do so much, from what the doctor discussed with me, and the rest we have to leave up to our body's natural tendencies (read: can't change certain factors that are causing the problem). Sigh ...

Sherlock -- I hope you never have to find out about kidney stones from personal experience! I'm glad too to have gotten an answer before the long weekend. I guess knowing what to expect after the previous kidney incident has made this much less worrisome (though certainly no less annoying).

BigLittleWolf said...

Oh man, CT. How are you doing now? Yes, good thing you were home, and while terribly painful, at least you know what it is. Still, they're brutal. (Sending virtual hugs.)

Now, as to that silver lining, maybe it should be an Elsa Peretti silver kidney bean? :) OKAY. Just sayin' ...

Feel better soon.

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

Doing better, BLW; thanks for asking. As for the Elsa Peretti suggestion, I like the way you think ;)

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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Every kidney has a silver lining, the sequel

Yep, this little nuisance again.

You'd think I'd recognize a kidney stone after the first one, but no, this one presented itself quite differently. Referred pain? You got it (rather, I did).

So a good part of Friday found me waiting here (the hospital's walk-in imaging clinic):


Not exactly my first choice for where to spend all that time. But when the ultrasound didn't reveal anything amiss in my gallbladder (a good thing!), the GI folks had to refer me to somebody else (with a practice in the same medical facility, but an entirely separate registration/appointment process). That doctor, whom I got to see only on the luck of some other patient's cancellation, sent me back to the clinic for an x-ray, which revealed the real cause of all the trouble.

The doctor was very kind and hung around after his office had closed, just so he could interpret the x-ray for me (it was late in the day when he ordered the test, so there was no way the radiologist would have the official report to him in a timely fashion). He could have gone home and told me to wait for the results, to be delivered by phone after the long weekend, with orders to go to the ER if things got worse before then. But he didn't, and I'm thankful. Because of his kindness, I was able to go home with an answer and greater peace of mind. I'm still under orders to go to the ER if anything untoward occurs, but given the size and location of the stone, that's very unlikely.

Who knew I'd be glad to have a kidney stone instead of the alternative?

(Don't get me wrong; it still hurts. But given the choice, while alone, I'd rather deal with a problem I can treat from home as opposed to something that requires hospitalization, no matter how routine. Who would feed the kitty?)

I just hope I'm not in for a repeat of this in the future. Especially since it occurs without warning and in such misleading ways! Worst fear: that it happens while I'm on a plane. If I'd gone with D on Thursday instead of staying behind to work on my thesis, I'd have been somewhere over Texas during the nastier part of that afternoon. I suppose I should thank my writing obligations for preventing that ... ?

5 comments:

French Fancy... said...

This is a part of the body that I am familiar with and I really do sympathise about the pain involved. Referred or in the predictable place, there is no getting away from the fact that it really does hurt.

You poor thing, CT - still, at least you have been diagnosed - now for the solutions...

Anonymous said...

So sorry that you're in pain but glad to hear it was diagnosed before the holiday. I know nothing about kidney stones but hope the pain is resolved soon.

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

FF -- that's exactly what I want to know; what solution is there to keep this from happening again? It seems one can only do so much, from what the doctor discussed with me, and the rest we have to leave up to our body's natural tendencies (read: can't change certain factors that are causing the problem). Sigh ...

Sherlock -- I hope you never have to find out about kidney stones from personal experience! I'm glad too to have gotten an answer before the long weekend. I guess knowing what to expect after the previous kidney incident has made this much less worrisome (though certainly no less annoying).

BigLittleWolf said...

Oh man, CT. How are you doing now? Yes, good thing you were home, and while terribly painful, at least you know what it is. Still, they're brutal. (Sending virtual hugs.)

Now, as to that silver lining, maybe it should be an Elsa Peretti silver kidney bean? :) OKAY. Just sayin' ...

Feel better soon.

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

Doing better, BLW; thanks for asking. As for the Elsa Peretti suggestion, I like the way you think ;)