One step forward, five steps back

It's been a crap month. Those cramps that nearly kept me from completing my belt test are back, hard. At least three days a week. I've been to the doctor, I've been to the ER, and we may have some idea what is wrong. Right now, I'm waiting for my insurance to kick in (around Oct. 27), and then I will be able to go to the appropriate specialist for a diagnosis.

The symptoms point toward a pituitary adenoma, which is a comforting term for tumor. If it is a tumor, however, it is extremely unlikely it is any kind of cancer. This particular kind is fairly common, and excretes excess prolactin (the hormone responsible for causing lactation after pregnancy). This throws the body's entire hormonal balance out whack, causing symptoms like bone crunching pain in the pelvis (like cramps, but with a chainsaw instead of a hammer), random breakouts, random lactation (yeah, I know, gross and weird), and headaches. The pain medicine is getting me through the days right now, but I can't wait to get a diagnosis and move on with my life. I can't work out, because it makes the pain worse. I am trying to make it to kung fu each week, but even that is taxing. Also, I agreed to return to the handbell choir at my church, and while I love to ring, standing in one spot for a little more than an hour kills me. Doesn't help it's on the day when the cramps are usually the worst.

But! There is good news. Si fu called me last weekend to make sure I wasn't dropping out of class (awful cramps and G's bday party caused me to miss an unheard of 3 weeks), and ask if I would be interested in taking over the business side of Cras~Tao Kungfu,in exchange for a little off my monthly fee. I agreed without hesitation. He is incredibly busy, and I am more than happy to help out with something I am so passionate about. I will be handling all the paperwork, marketing, payments, etc. This week alone, I managed to knock out a new and improved contract, a system for tracking attendance and payments, and a student profile sheet. I also put to together this:

This is my first real attempt at graphic design, and I'm fairly proud of it. Si fu was also surprisingly impressed, and immediately agreed to make it the school logo. I need to do some cleaning up for it to be resized for large print applications, but for now, it works for school paperwork and should be sufficient for patches and stickers.

I'm working on a nasty head cold, and was at church to ring bells at 7:45, so I was in no shape to perform at class today. Instead, I helped wrangle another student's son (from now on, we'll call him Squish), and assisted in teaching class. I observed, offered pointers for cleaning up moves, and occasionally got up and demonstrated when necessary. It was actually nice to be able to work with the white belts and focus on them, not on my own forms. Si fu wants me to instruct eventually, and I think is already starting to groom me. Makes me happy.