Last week had treatments on Monday morning and Friday afternoon. Amy and I drove out Santa Monica Blvd. and down the California Incline to PCH. We had lunch at Gladstones and continued through Malibu to the Gordons' beach house on the Silver Strand in Oxnard, where we spent the rest of our 25th anniversary week.
Corin, Katie, and Garrett came out Wednesday for the anniversary itself and stayed overnight. Wild game of Triominos, in which I was thoroughly trounced. I redeemed myself by dominating the Texas Hold'em.
Corin and Katie both made original art projects for anniversary gifts. Definitely mutants! I can't draw a straight line with a T-square.
Read Alex Bledsoe's The Sword-Edged Blonde at the beach and started Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. PPZ and Anonymous Rex are on hold while I read Vonnegut.
Did a phone interview from the beach with a writer from the LA Times. Big article on depression due in this Sunday's paper. Dr. Cook thought that I would be able to articulate my experiences with depression.
Lunch with Jim on Tuesday went well. Hoping to return to work in the next week or so.
Final taper session today, #35. Week-long booster series are possible in the event of a relapse. Good to know.
Corin and I went to (500) Days of Summer this evening. Good movie, albeit somewhat sad watching someone's life swirl into oblivion. Nice to see him rally and have another shot at happiness.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Board games and zombies
Played Rail Baron with Corin, Katie, and Garrett Wednesday night. Started reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this morning. Wish I could read the original in a side-by-side mode for comparison. Through the first 50 pages or so, it's a hoot.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
... and now the taper
Finished my 30th TMS session on Tuesday and had my first session of a tapering period today. Thursday is a private holiday with another treatment scheduled for Friday.
Finished A Salty Piece of Land. When I went to check the cut of Mr. Darcy's zombie-fighting waistcoat, I was unable to locate the inestimable Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Instead I settled into Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock's Last Ride, the umpteenth, and final, installment of the Warlock in Spite of Himself series, and quite possibly the end of the related Warlock Wandering series.
PPZ has been located and is queued up for reading next.
Finished A Salty Piece of Land. When I went to check the cut of Mr. Darcy's zombie-fighting waistcoat, I was unable to locate the inestimable Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Instead I settled into Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock's Last Ride, the umpteenth, and final, installment of the Warlock in Spite of Himself series, and quite possibly the end of the related Warlock Wandering series.
PPZ has been located and is queued up for reading next.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Catching up some more
Summer Nationals have wrapped up in Dallas and ALA is winding down in Chicago. It feels very strange not to have been to either one.
Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land. Probably finish it tonight.
Tomorrow marks the 30th treatment session of my TMS adventure. There will be a handful of follow on treatments to taper off rather than simply stop abruptly. Still haven't experienced any untoward side effects from the treatments -- knock on wood.
Bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this weekend. Looking forward to seeing how the narrative has been spliced together/spiced up.
Saw Brüno Saturday night. Katie and Garrett invited Amy and me along to the show. Amy watched most of the movie through her fingers. She was mesmerized and horrified, in roughly equal parts. It was appallingly funny and well deserving of its R rating. The Hangover retains its place as the absolute laugh out loud funniest movie of the summer, but Brüno far surpassesYear One in the funny sweepstakes.
Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land. Probably finish it tonight.
Tomorrow marks the 30th treatment session of my TMS adventure. There will be a handful of follow on treatments to taper off rather than simply stop abruptly. Still haven't experienced any untoward side effects from the treatments -- knock on wood.
Bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this weekend. Looking forward to seeing how the narrative has been spliced together/spiced up.
Saw Brüno Saturday night. Katie and Garrett invited Amy and me along to the show. Amy watched most of the movie through her fingers. She was mesmerized and horrified, in roughly equal parts. It was appallingly funny and well deserving of its R rating. The Hangover retains its place as the absolute laugh out loud funniest movie of the summer, but Brüno far surpassesYear One in the funny sweepstakes.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Catching up on the last week
Finished American Gods on Thursday night. Stayed up past midnight to finish it. I don't know how many years it has been since I was sufficiently hooked on a book to pull a marathon reading session to completion.
Long, lazy weekend. Amy and I saw The Proposal. Rated funny, in contrast to Year One -- amusing; The Hangover -- hilarious.
Katie and Garrett were in Dallas for the (fencing) Summer Nationals. First time I haven't been at SN since 2002, before Corin first started competing. Refereed 2006-2008. Hope to be back on the North America's Cup circuit refereeing in the new season.
Corin went to Big Bear with friends.
Had homework -- depression mood inventory -- on Tuesday night, after my 25th session. I had started with a score of 39 (high end of moderately depressed). Indicator has been falling throughout the course of the TMS treatment. This week -- 16! A score of 10 or less would be considered remission. Dr. Cook is delighted. I'm pretty happy about it, too.
No side effects to report. No scalp tenderness. No headaches (STILL!). No need for Tylenol or other meds to keep headaches at bay.
Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land currently.
Started Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex during the weekend but didn't really get traction. Still hopeful, though. Copies of Casual Rex and Hot and Sweaty Rex, further adventures of Garcia's velociraptor Sam Spade, have been on the bookshelf for a few years. Corin read and enjoyed the novels.
On Monday it became official, I'm getting older. Went to the ophthalmologist. I'm a little near-sighted in my left eye, a slight regression from my LASIK 14 years ago. My right eye is slightly far-sighted. I'm not ready to start propping menus up on the far side of the table to read them, but I'm probably due for driving glasses. Somehow, although TMS is a veritable cure-all, it doesn't seem likely to address this situation.
Long, lazy weekend. Amy and I saw The Proposal. Rated funny, in contrast to Year One -- amusing; The Hangover -- hilarious.
Katie and Garrett were in Dallas for the (fencing) Summer Nationals. First time I haven't been at SN since 2002, before Corin first started competing. Refereed 2006-2008. Hope to be back on the North America's Cup circuit refereeing in the new season.
Corin went to Big Bear with friends.
Had homework -- depression mood inventory -- on Tuesday night, after my 25th session. I had started with a score of 39 (high end of moderately depressed). Indicator has been falling throughout the course of the TMS treatment. This week -- 16! A score of 10 or less would be considered remission. Dr. Cook is delighted. I'm pretty happy about it, too.
No side effects to report. No scalp tenderness. No headaches (STILL!). No need for Tylenol or other meds to keep headaches at bay.
Reading Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land currently.
Started Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex during the weekend but didn't really get traction. Still hopeful, though. Copies of Casual Rex and Hot and Sweaty Rex, further adventures of Garcia's velociraptor Sam Spade, have been on the bookshelf for a few years. Corin read and enjoyed the novels.
On Monday it became official, I'm getting older. Went to the ophthalmologist. I'm a little near-sighted in my left eye, a slight regression from my LASIK 14 years ago. My right eye is slightly far-sighted. I'm not ready to start propping menus up on the far side of the table to read them, but I'm probably due for driving glasses. Somehow, although TMS is a veritable cure-all, it doesn't seem likely to address this situation.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
TMS @ UCLA Day 22
An intern sat in on the TMS session. I learned a fair amount about the various positioning adjustments made to replicate the initial measurements to locate my motor strip and frontal cortex.
Reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Always enjoy a good yarn invoking mythic gods mucking about in the modern world.
Reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Always enjoy a good yarn invoking mythic gods mucking about in the modern world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)