I've been joking about having gained a little weight recently, calling it the freshman fifteen, since I'm in my freshman year as an MBA candidate.

Secretly I was afraid it was more than fifteen pounds, but this morning we had to get weighed and measured and all for biometric screenings, part of my company's healthcare initiatives for 2008 and beyond.

I was relatively pleased to learn that I've only gained five pounds. And considering what time of the month it is, that might just be water retention.

However, even if I haven't gained much, I haven't lost anything, either. So, back to that, then.

Literally, I mean.

Apparently the discomfort had affected my right hip, to the point that when the chiro first examined me, my right leg appeared slightly shorter than the other. We're all even Steven now.

He poked here, prodded there, pressed in other places, did two great cracking maneuvers and two small ones, showed me how to make a lumbar support from a rolled towel (or baby blankie, as the case may be) and today is the first day I've been able to rise easily from my task chair at work and stand up straight, without pain.

I did feel like a colossal idiot when I realized that, after a $250 deductible, I could have then had a prenatal massage EVERY WEEK OF MY PREGNANCIES. This is why one should read one's health insurance policy VERY CAREFULLY. Because oh, how nice that would have been. I had a few, but not nearly enough. ::is a bonehead::

But now I can have them! Practically every other week, if I want. And I'll appreciate them just as much.

Perhaps more, what with the stress of actual children, and work, and school.

A week ago, after Pop Phooey collapsed, I said right away he should go to the doctor.

He didn't come around to that opinion til the weekend, but got in right away on Monday (thanks, VA!) and is now being treated for bronchitis and is on the mend.

I've been having lumbar pain for what, three weeks now? To the point where I sometimes have to lie down under my desk with my feet elevated until the pain abates. I've been limping around the office like Igor every time I stand up from my chair. Which is a swanky Aeron - it's supposed to be a good chair, dammit.

I finally called the health center. They are handling the dirty work of calling my insurance company and figuring out what's covered and what my copay will be for massage and chiropractic treatment. The copays will be charged to my HSA account, so no cash outlay.

It's all very handy.

Now I just need it to be back-y.

I hope they can see me tomorrow.

Or later today, even.

My accounting exam is not yet finished.

This is due in large part to the appointment I had at 3 PM for a contact lens check. It was supposed to take 15 minutes, tops (plus 20 minutes of round-trip walking).*

They didn't even call me in for 45 minutes.

WTF?

I nearly fell asleep in the waiting room.

And once I got the lenses, the right one was hinky and wouldn't stay properly oriented in my eye.

By the time we tried two other ones (neither of which is my actual prescription, just close), my eye was irritated again.

Which was the problem I went to see them about in the first place. Nearly two months ago.

I'm tempted to just get those new frames I covet, and forget the whole contact thing.

But with my astigmatism, contacts correct my vision better than glasses.

Anyway, I'm staying late at work in the hopes of making a little more headway on part two of the exam, since the block of time I'd set aside to work on it got chewed up by eye doc mishegoss.

* Also? This exam is hard! There have been a few questions that take just a minute or two to answer, but most are multi-parters that take 20 minutes. Sigh.

Saw Dr. Who Day today. I have officially lost 30 pounds since #2.

That's the good news. The bad news is that I still have more to lose.

But at least the needle's going the right way on the scale.

Well, it'd be a needle if it weren't a digital scale.

The other bad news is that my BP is a smidge higher we'd like. The bottom number's okay, but the upper one is 9 points above where it should be. So she prescribed a diuretic (after two pregnancies, I'm certainly used to having to pee a lot, though that's supposed to be a transitory side effect), and I'm to go back in a month and have my BP checked again, and they'll do bloodwork. My cholesterol and triglycerides and all have always been in a healthy range despite my weight, but I'm not as young as I used to be. Best to keep an eye on these things.

Hopefully, any issues will be resolved in time with continued weight loss.