Oh, Hello New Year!

It's been so long since I've last crafted a post.
Hello, online diary. Long time no see.

I've decided to pick up blogging again because my stress last year was almost unbearable, and creative expression often helps with that. 

It's 12:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, and Calgary is a bit of a mess right now. It's so cold out, and it's been snowing a fair bit. There have been lots of car accidents (Calgary traffic in winter driving conditions = March of the Idiots, narrated by emergency crew sirens rather than Morgan Freeman). 

I absolutely hate the cold, and despite being born and raised in Calgary, these harsh winters are always a surprise to me. Each year when it snows I'm like: what is this shit...? 
I find that my chronic pain also worsens when it's bitter cold like this. Along with my internal pelvic disorder, called Endometiosis, I have a form of Fibromyalgia, called Allodynia. The tightening of my muscles and constant firing of my nerves causes regular pain, but when I'm clenched up in the dead of winter the pain gets worse. On top of it all I have a nasty cold and really I just want to crawl back into bed and sleep hibernate. 

me, drinking something warm and glaring at the blizzard outside.

I am so happy to announce that I had an awesome Christmas break. I even quit my job at the pet shop! Yes it's true! I really did!

And the thing is, I really enjoyed not having anything to do. I even noticed a slight reduction in pain! Though- shamefully- I gained a bunch of weight over the holiday and I'm less than pleased about that. 

Now that I'm back at school, I'm quite happy that I don't have work to worry about. Unfortunately this means that I'm broke until I find a new job, as Christmas was way too harsh on my bank account... whoops. 

But here's the thing.... do I find a new job??? My next job will be at a vet clinic, I'm hellbent determined on that. But this semester (my last semester, I might add) I'm required to do a month-long internship. WTF. They require us to do a minimum of 35hrs per week for one month in order to graduate. My working classmates and I are livid. What are we expected to do- quit our jobs and take out a loan so we can drag our feet through a month-long unpaid internship? Christ. 

I'm really stuck. I want to work but I also don't want to drown in stress and have to quit in March. I guess I'll hold off.... maybe... 

On a different topic, in October I mentioned my pain was worsening but my doc had some potential solutions for me. Well, let me tell you, my pain is worsening alright. Doc figures that the endometriosis has spread to my ureter and/or bladder, thus explaining why I've been peeing blood. Doc thinks it's time for me to have another surgery- but of course there's a catch. He's not doing ops anymore. So he's referred me to a specialist in Calgary to do my op. Great- but the referral could take a year to go through. A year. Then I would have to go on a waiting list for surgery. 

My reaction to Canadian Health Care.

I'll keep my imaginary readers posted on this. Yay blogging!

-The Silly Mallard