PT-LawMom

Thanks to all of you who participated. The winner is Cindi Hoppes, the brave mother who ventures out in public with her superhero son in one of his many costumes. Cindi, please e-mail me at ptlawmom at gmail dot com with your address and I’ll get it out to you today.

The New York Times has an article today on why lawyers and doctors are more miserable than ever. It cites the global economy as one reason behind attorneys’ misery because they are now expected to be on call 24/7 for their foreign clients. For doctors, they’re impacted by tons of paperwork and constant pressure to cut costs. Applications to medical school are way down because, apparently, Gen Y expects more instant gratification and aren’t willing to go through so many years of hell to get there. The article finishes by talking about how great it is to be an investment banker. If only my math skills were better than a fifth grader’s.

I’ve been in a lot of pain over the past week, getting worse every day to the point where it hurts to drive or feel sheets/clothes rubbing against my skin. I seem to be on a cycle of medication working for 4 weeks and then stopping suddenly. They last increased my medication dosage in early December and it started wearing off last Tuesday. I took some painkillers last night so I could sleep and am still on some today.

Fortunately my visit with the Head of Neurology today went well. He took me seriously and was very friendly and knowledgeable. He is sending me to another local neurologist who is apparently world famous and deals only with neuropathies. They made me an appointment for next Monday morning for a nerve biopsy to see where and how bad the small fiber damage is. I’ll have to take the day off after the biopsy, but hopefully it will yield enough results that I won’t end up using all my sick leave again this year! This man uses a variety of innovative treatments, including more natural/homeopathic remedies along with more traditional medications. That makes me happy and I just hope he’s as good as he sounds.

Today’s neurologist also suggested that some of this may be restless limb syndrome (it’s not just in your legs) because of my severe anemia. He took me off the Neurontin and has switched me to Topamax (more fun side effects to come). The good thing is that whereas the Neurontin can cause some weight gain, the Topamax is well-known for weight loss. Won’t complain about that! Hopefully the side effects won’t be too hard to handle. I’m starting off slow and ramping up. At least I don’t have to start classes until next week.

Obviously I should have listened to those of you who suggested talking to the dean before exams. Today I asked the neurologist to give me a note. I spoke with the dean and then faxed the neurologist the name, address and info needed so that I can get some accommodation to help me this semester. I’m not sure what that will entail, but at least they will know I’m having some difficulty. The dean said that they can offer me a slower-paced program, but I’m not sure how much slower I could go (I only take two classes a semester!) so we’ll just see what happens. Once the doctor sends the note to the campus disability department and they vet it, the dean and I will sit down and talk about options.

Think you do badly; you do better than you thought. Think you do well, you bomb. I totally got a bad grade on my second final. DAMN DRUGS!!! This neurologist better have some solution for me today that doesn’t involve another semester of Vicodin and other mind-altering drugs. My study partner says she thinks they just throw the papers and then drop letters on top of each pile of papers and go with that.

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup** is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s MILS Roundup will be hosted by Butterflyfish.

The MILS are taking time to consider things this week.

At Starting to Melt, she’s evaluating the future.

Butterflyfish and 2L Wannabe are both thinking about their identities (at least they were — where did that post go, B?)

New Duck is showing her true colors

Mommy on the Floor is making some tough choices

Dakota’s reviewing life through Meme

Kim at Merits of the Case is getting back to normal

Kim at Diary of a Law School Mom is reevaluating her schedule… again (damn law schools!)

LagLiv continues to ride the rollercoaster, as does Proto Attorney

At Magic Cookie, she’s still studying!

Peanut Butter Burrito is reveling in her super-smart hubbie’s great success!

If you’d like to have your blog added to the MILS blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at their respective sites.

**Hat tip to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst

I’m so bummed. I picked our immigration attorney to handle the appeal of Chapin’s citizenship denial. She seemed good, has many years experience and has been chair of several local bar committees. But we’re having major problems with her. She said she was going to file a large brief and ended up filing only five pages, promising a second supplemental brief after that. She said she was going to tell us when we got close to our $5,000 retainer… and then charged us $4,700 just for the small brief (even though I had sent her several cases to save on research charges and transcribed a two-hour interview tape to also save money). Finally, I would think it should be standard practice to send copies of filings to clients, but despite multiple (10?) requests, we have yet to receive anything. She finally promised to send copies on the 4th of December, but we have yet to receive anything. She replied today, finally, and said that she mailed the documents personally on the 5th of December and is shocked that we haven’t received them. Mind you, she filed these documents in early October. When we first met with her she told us that once we file a notice of her appearance, withdrawing would mess everything up because she would have not notify the USCIS of the change in attorneys. This is really upsetting because a) that $5,000 was a lot of money for us and b) obviously we’re worried about upsetting things by switching attorneys at this point.

Her e-mail today suggests we come in for an appointment. Oh yes, because that way she can charge us $180/hour while she talks and talks and TALKS (she tends to go on and on). Chapin will be so pissed when he wakes up and I tell him.

I didn’t bomb! As devastated as I was, I didn’t do as badly as I thought. My study partner got a her grade and called me to see what I received. I hadn’t even checked! Amazingly enough, even though she was much more prepared than I was, I got a better grade. I know it’s not stellar, but I feel really relieved… and a bit concerned about what this means for my other class. If I thought I bombed and I actually did okay, then does that mean the converse will happen in the class where I thought I did well? I’m keeping everything crossed for a higher grade in my other class. This whole grade thing really does seem like a crapshoot!

I just received a Swiffer Vac in the mail to try today and there was a free copy of Shrek the Third in the box! We already own a copy so I thought, why not have a little giveaway? Leave me a comment about something you love to do with your child that you never thought you would enjoy or do and I’ll pick a winner early next week.

Last week’s roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School. I’m posting a week late because I was on vacation, but I will be posting #27 tomorrow.

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. The next MILS Roundup will be back here tomorrow.

Right before Christmas, I received a package of Dawn Direct Foam in the mail to try in place of my normal dish soap. Lazy girl that I am, I don’t really handwash dishes very often. But this box arrived the night I was doing my big cookie bake and needed to wash dishes between batches. I have to say that I was really impressed with it! You put one pump of foam onto a sponge and they claim it cleans a whole sink of dishes. I found that to be almost true. I probably used 2-3 pumps to get a huge bowl, some cookie trays, beaters, etc., clean. I liked the smell and was impressed with how quickly/easily the soap rinsed off. I usually use Palmolive and have to rinse a lot to clean all of the soap off. This was a lot quicker and I think I will probably purchase it when this trial bottle runs out (in about three months because, as I said, I RARELY wash dishes by hand).