A Little Bit of This and That

Well, first up is that I have confirmation on my ticket home to Canada! I have a copy of the e-ticket and the receipt, and I'm booked to go home August 31! I can't wait! I hadn't heard back from the travel agent since last week, but we had a school field trip on Thursday, and there was a holiday on Friday. Also, they only deal with walk in customers on Saturdays and aren't open on Sundays. Yesterday morning I called to find out what was going on and was told the agent had sent me an email. I, however, didn't get one. The lady I talked with said that payment for the ticket was due then and I told her I didn't know that. Thankfully I was able to get the money transferred after work, and Sarah gave her credit card info - so we're all set! One good thing about this - we get reimbursed for the airfare. The company we are working for pays for our flight back home so I'll be getting the money back, hopefully sometime soon.

We thought there was going to be a problem with the district supervisor. He was telling our coteachers that we couldn't leave before midnight on the 31st because our contract runs out that day. I promptly told my coteacher that that's not possible since our flight leaves at noon and the flights for that time are pretty well booked now. The only other solution would be to leave earlier in the week before the 31st (which is on a Sunday). I am starting school the first week of September, so waiting later is not an option for me. After explaining about having to pay a higher fare (if we went later) or leaving before the 31st, the supervisor finally agreed to let us leave on this flight.

We will fly from Incheon (the international airport in Seoul) to Tokyo to switch flights, then from Tokyo to Toronto, and finally from Toronto to home! I'm excited - I want to go now...

For the past ten days my shoulder/neck have been bothering me. It started out as a kink or something in my shoulder, just below my neck and seemed to progress worse for the next while. For a few days I could run my hand over my shoulder area and feel a bump where the muscle was tensed. That's gone, but the ache/pain still remained. It was difficult to get to sleep at night because no matter what way I would lay, I had some pain/aching.

Yesterday I had my coteacher take me to an accupuncturist to see if that would help. I had taken muscle relaxers, Advil, used heat and massaged the area and that would only help for short amounts of time. I figured nine days was long enough and the accupuncture was worth a shot. I had some for my lower back when I first got here last year so I knew what to expect.

My coteacher had talked to the doctor and said that if I didn't feel better after this session I might need another one or two, and if that didn't work then they might send me for an x-ray in case there is something else wrong. When I finished the session yesterday, my neck and shoulder seemed stiff but didn't hurt much at all. The doctor was in the elevator when I got in and she asked me how I was, so I told her. She said to come in again on Wednesday (which will now be tomorrow) before 6:00 because she's finished work then. So, I will go there again after work, and hopefully it will help.

I managed to sleep pretty good last night and only had minimal aching/pain when I went to bed - nothing that would make it difficult to get to sleep. Today, however, I have had some pain quite a bit and it seems like it might be muscle spasms. that's the only thing I can think it feels like. I'm going to make sure to let the doctor know tomorrow about this. Not sure if I should be taking anything (like a muscle relaxer or some Advil) so I don't want to, just in case. I just hope I'll be able to get to sleep tonight.

In other news, my dad has started his third round of chemo yesterday. He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in March and has undergone his radiation treatment and some chemo. He has one more round of chemo after this one, and that will come in July.

After the last two treatments of chemo, his heart seemed to beat irregularly...like his pulse wasn't regulated or something. He's been in the hospital since his last chemo treatment, so it must be a month now. They are trying to adjust the medications he is on to get a balance between the heart pill they've been giving him, and his blood pressure medication. Also, he hasn't been keeping food down again and they did an endoscopy last week and discovered the stent in his esophagus is blocked. Not sure if they are going to remove it and put a new one in or if they will just try to unblock this one, or what. I guess all we can do is wait and see.

Anyway, I'd appreciate if you'd keep my dad (and mom) in your prayers.

Well, off to surf the net and try to catch up on blog reading. God bless!