Let's Make the Men Uncomfortable...

Hormones suck.

I was watching Hallmark's Christmas Open House Weekend or something of the like.  This is the first weekend that they start marathoning all the made-for-TV Christmas movies.  These are generally happy movies.  Christmas romances for those of you unfamiliar with the spectacular.

Now, I'm not sure, but I must be premenstrual, because I cried during both of the movies I watched.  One of them was a nice romance, I think.  I'm not going to lie, I don't even remember what the first one was about.  The second one was also a nice romance, however it had a sad twist to it.  Two characters lost loved ones in the past and the memories were cropping up in the present.  There, you now know the entire premise of the movie.

I was watching with my grandmother and I hate to cry in front of anyone.  So, I was hiding my tears in my hoodie and scratching my head to block my profile.

From that point on, everything seemed to upset me, even if just a little.
I cried for random little things and had to hide my face again.  I almost cried when I said goodbye and left my grandparents' house to go back to school.
I almost cried while driving, which is not a good thing to do.

I don't know if sitting on a heating pad for a sore back bakes and diffuses the hormones, but I'll never do that again.  My word.  It was awful.

So, sorry men.  We can't help it.  You'd be upset too if you had to suffer through this particular week.

I'm not going to go look up hormones and periods because honestly, I don't want to know.  It happens to me, and I just want it to be over with.  If you're curious, you can search it.

Just so you know, men, it isn't a picnic.  It does hurt, and in more places than you might think.  We can cramp.  Our breasts can get sore.  Sometimes our ovaries even hurt.  Backs ache. Not to mention we break out in acne.  And then we bleed for days on end.

Yes.  This is uncomfortable.  And believe me, I'm almost done.  Just one more thing.

Women, take care of your bodies.
Men, take care of your women.
And definitely don't get in our way the week before.

Heavy Lifting

So, it's been a while.  The diagram of the eye is in high demand, apparently.  Good for you!  You're looking into things.  The eye is a very important organ.  I think I can safely say that I would rather lose hearing versus sight.  Although I'd rather not lose anything,  to not be able to see a loved one ever again, to never be able to read words on paper would be devastating.  Take good care of your eyes everyone! Thank you for continued visits.

My back hurts.  A lot.  Nothing to write home about, I guess.  It isn't crazy pain... just the pain of experience. I work at a physically demanding job... in a library archives... moving huge boxes and ancient volumes of court records.  Sure, I lift with my legs, but they're barely three feet long.  I don't get a lot of leverage down there.

Exhaustion sets in after a few short hours and I just want the day to end.  It always does, of course.  I get a few hours of good eating and sleeping time--I'm big on eating, despite my small stature--and then another day starts.
Add this to my full-time student status and life is a whirlwind of exhaustion.

Thank my gorgeous stars, I graduate from both college and archives in December! Now for the real heavy lifting!  Time to find real work.  Wish me luck all.
Just a short post to get me back into the swing.  Have a great night all.  Back to the archives in the morning!

Shove a Sock on It

It has been forever since I posted and, honestly, I didn't have time.  But this little anecdote is something I felt like sharing.  I missed posting to my dear blog, and this was a fun, strange, little story that could be done quickly.  So, here it is:

My roommate and I discussed socks a while back.  Why?  Well, it's simple really.  She put her sock on in a certain way and I thought she looked like a doofus.  We then analyzed--for ten minutes, mind you--how we put on our own socks.

Her way: The Foot Never Leaves the Floor.

How she does it: Lift toes while heel remains on the floor.  Roll sock halfway up.  Put toes to the floor.  Lift heel.  Pull sock the rest of the way.  This is all done while standing up and bending her body in half.  If a chair is used, the foot still remains on the floor for the entire process.

This amazed me.

My way: Foot is Lifted and Dangled in the Air

How I do it: Hoist leg up in the air, bent at the knee.  Pull sock on completely in one swift motion.

See?  We both decided then, to try putting on our socks each other's way and needless to say, we couldn't do it.  Why is that?  Of course, the habit is hard to break, but it's curious how something so little could be so different and impossible to adjust to.

I couldn't believe how many steps she took just to put on a sock.  It was kind of ridiculous, but at the same time, fascinating.  We still make fun of each other for it once in a while.

How do you put your socks on?

I hope I get some responses on this one.

I will try to look into this in the future.  More posts to come soon.

Wanna See a Kidney Stone?

As I mentioned earlier in "The Bean-Shaped Organ," my mother had kidney stones.  Here is the stone she managed to pass on her own.  It's a whopper.  No wonder she was in so much pain!

Band-Aids Please

It occurred to me last night that I used to love Band-Aids.  I don't know why or how, but somewhere in that infinite hour in which it took me to fall asleep this thought just popped into my head.  I used to want a bandage for everything.  I don't know why that was, but I needed one.  If I had a paper cut: Band-Aid.  If I scraped my knee: Band-Aid.  Sliver: Band-Aid.  The list goes on.

Of course, my mother never wanted to give me Band-Aids.  My injuries were never serious or life-threatening, therefore didn't warrant the use of a Band-Aid.

I thought they did.

I helped out in my little sister's preschool class over winter break.  One of her male classmates came into school at eight o-clock already decked out with six fingers full of bandages.  They were bright, colorful little strips that reminded me of litmus paper from my high school chemistry class.  Man, that kid was lucky.  He clearly didn't need those Band-Aids.  What could a three-year-old possibly do to his fingers that deserved all those bandages?

What's worse are the five minutes that followed him.  He began to play and have fun with clay and, of course, the bandages didn't hold up.  Or so he said.  As I watched him peel off each and every bandage and throw them in the garbage, I remember thinking: what a waste.  For one thing, there were no noticeable injuries.  For another, the Band-Aids were, in fact, plenty sticky and would have lasted for at least another half hour.

Maybe I was jealous.  I never got to wear that many bandages for no reason.  My mother didn't want to waste them.  Then, naturally, I grew up feeling weird putting on a Band-Aid, even when I needed it.  I felt like I was misusing them.  Even though my big-kid injuries would be gushing blood, I would always look at them and wonder if it would be okay to just air them out.

Okay, maybe not "gushing," but bleeding significantly.

Nonetheless, that kid was lucky.  His parents humored him and gave him bandages for every little thing. So did the preschool teacher, for that matter.  I think it was that same day, and this little boy claimed he needed a Band-Aid again.  The teacher humored him and put one on.  Then he said, "that's the wrong finger."  Well, the teacher wasn't upset, but she knew she had been tricked.  She put on a second bandage anyway.

I just stood there watching them.  Then, I thought to myself, what a wimp.  At three, I didn't need a bandage for anything.

The Bean-Shaped Organ

I’m pretty sure if I asked just anyone about their kidneys right now, they wouldn’t know what to say.  They’d have some vague idea about the functions and would probably say that they could donate one to someone who needed it.  Sure, sure.  That’s fine.  However, if I asked my mom about her kidneys, she wouldn’t talk about them, so much as the stones housed within them.  I’ll clarify that later.  First, let’s learn about the function of the kidney, because, honestly, I think we could all use a refresher course.

The kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood a day to sift out two quarts of waste products and extra water.  The wastes and extra water become urine, which flows to the bladder through tubes called ureters.  The bladder holds the urine until—well, you know about that.
If your kidneys fail, your body will fill with extra water and waste products in a condition called uremia.  When the kidneys completely fail, the patient must undergo dialysis or kidney transplantation.

For more information on kidneys and dialysis, click the link below.

So, there are the basics about kidneys.  Now where do the stones come in?

As it turns out, a kidney stone is a solid piece of material that forms in a kidney out of substances in the urine.  It might stay in the kidney or break loose and travel down the urinary tract.  A small stone may pass all the way through the body without causing too much pain.

A larger stone may get stuck, obviously.  And, well, that’s not good.  It can block the flow of urine and cause a lot of pain.

My poor mother had three kidney stones this week.  The pain started in her back, moved down and was excruciating at times.  A few doctor trips later, she now has one stone left and just wants to be over with it.  The pain has subsided and she also got a lovely prescription just in case it returned.

Drinking lots of water helps to flush out the substances that turn into stones.  Twelve full glasses a day is good.  Juice, lemon-lime soda, and ginger ale are good too.  You should limit coffee, tea and cola to one or two cups a day because the caffeine may cause you to lose fluid too quickly.

For more information on kidney stones, types and treatments, check out the link below.

In the future, I'm going to learn why the kidneys are considered a delicacy... yum.

Kidneys and Dialysis

Kidney Stones, Types and Treatments

Both Images found from the Kidneys and Dialysis link.