+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Amusing spam subject
Subject: part pepperoniContent: Stock market advice, which has nothing to do with pepperoni.
Result: Advice unfollowed.
Signature: davidh
+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Quick rant: Microsoft Automatic Reboot
I hate, hate, HATE the Windows Automatic Updates thing that reboots your computer without waiting for permission. Every computer I use, whether at work or at home, I have to disable this automatic thing because it keeps exiting running programs without saving the files first, but there's usually a long enough gap between times that I start using a new computer that I forget to disable this idiotic setting, so every single time I end up losing documents.If Microsoft were user-friendly, they would make their Office applications automatically save all loaded files (perhaps with different names, so if you're editing "example.xls" in Excel, it might save it as "Automatic Save of example.xls") when it gets the signal that Microsoft Automatic Updates is trying to reboot the computer. That would give them an edge over competitors' applications, which might simply stop and make you lose any unsaved changes. But no, I guess they figure they've already got enough of an edge just by being who they are, so they don't need to worry about their customers' lost productivity.
davidh
+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Back-dated Entries, Part III [June 2-16]
(This will be a bit sparser on the details)Friday, June 2
Josh and I got to Bloomington, with Mom taking her vehicle back from Peoria. We met at the hopsital, where Judy and my brothers each showed up for a time. Dad got admitted to the hospital, and they ran some tests. Josh and I slept in Dad's hospital room; Josh took the couch, and I slept in the recliner (which was better for my sleep apnea).
Saturday, June 3
More tests, including an MRI and a chemically-induced stress test.
Sunday, June 4
Dad had surgery to get a pacemaker put in.
Monday, June 5
Still in Bloomington, still out of work. Dad was released today. Josh and I returned home.
Tuesday, June 6
Still out of work. Got a call from $Boss that $Supervisor isn't happy with me being off work for so long (six work days as of today). Set up an appointment with a blood specialist (hematologist) for this Friday.
Wednesday, June 7
Still out of work. $Boss says that if $Client drops the contract with $Employer, $Employer has no other work for me. Not exactly "Go back to work or you're fired", but still quite ominous.
Thursday, June 8
Still out of work. Checked with my attorney to see if my employer is allowed to fire me due to illness. She said it depends on the wording of my contract. Need to find my copy of the contract to have her review it.
Friday, June 9
Saw the hematologist. He said that based on the bloodwork that had already been done, it didn't look like leukemia (one of the possibilities my regular doctor had mentioned), but said he'd run a test that would either confirm it or rule it out completely. Also, even though my liver enzymes were higher than the standard range, they were only a little higher (somewhere around 10% higher, rather than the 100-500% higher that could happen). He said that the readings looked like some sort of viral infection; mono had already been ruled out, but he ordered about eight or nine other tests to look for certain categories of virus, and certain specific viruses. And, just to cover the possibility of a bacterial infection instead of viral, he put me on Zithromax (the Z-Pak) for five days. I get the bloodwork results next Friday.
Saturday, June 10
I don't remember any specific events from this day, though I probably slept a whole lot.
Sunday, June 11
I went over to the Tremont Turkey Festival for a little while. I was going to leave around 5pm, but I got stuck behind the parade, so I just stayed for that. Got a good amount of candy tossed at me. Waved at Ray LaHood (local US Representative), got a WCIC bumper sticker (though I don't do bumper stickers, so I'm not sure where I'm going to place it). Fun, though tiring.
Monday, June 12
Went back into $Client today. Not because I actually feel well enough to work, but because I fear being unemployed. I told $Supervisor that I would be in when I could, but I may not be in all the time or every day. $Secretary at $Employer called, and said that I had used up all of my sick time and all of my vacation time over the past two weeks, and I still came up short, by about 30%. Eek.
Tuesday, June 13
Worked about a half-day today, IIRC.
Wednesday, June 14 to Thursday, June 15
Worked these days. Mom came over Wednesday evening and brought the dogs. She left for the airport in the morning, flying to Raleigh-Durham for my cousin's (her niece's) high school graduation.
Friday, June 16
Went back to the hematologist to get the results. He confirmed that it wasn't leukemia, nor was it hepatitis A, B, or C. The diagnosis was cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV is a relative to the Epstein-Barr virus. Quoting from Wikipedia:
For most healthy persons who acquire CMV after birth there are few symptoms and no long-term health consequences. Some persons with symptoms experience infectious mononucleosis, with prolonged fever, and a mild hepatitis. A very sore throat is also common. Once a person becomes infected, the virus latently persists in the body for the person's life. Recurrent disease rarely occurs unless the person's immune system is suppressed due to therapeutic drugs or disease. Therefore, for the vast majority of people, CMV infection is not a serious problem.
[...]
CMV should be suspected if a patient:
* Has symptoms of infectious mononucleosis but has negative test results for mononucleosis and Epstein Barr virus, or,
* Shows signs of hepatitis, but has negative test results for hepatitis A, B, and C.
(The preceding quote is licensed under the GFDL.)
In my case, I did not develop mono or have a sore threat, but I did have a prolonged fever (off and on) and a mild hepatitis (thus causing the liver enzymes to increase slightly beyond the normal levela). At last, I now know what's wrong!
The hematologist couldn't answer all of my questions about the virus, but he referred me to a specialist in infections disease, which I'll see in about two weeks.
(To be continued...)
davidh