twitch

My left eyelid is twitching. This has been happening fairly frequently for most of the past week. (It's been happening almost all year!) It doesn't hurt. It doesn't block my vision. It's still pretty unnerving.

I sometimes feel a general muscle twitch, a sort of shiver, at the end of an absence seizure. This is different. Partly because it's so local, partly because I'm aware of the whole thing. It doesn't feel like winking, or like any way I *can* move my face on purpose. It's really weird. It feels like the way muscles twitch in response to a tens unit, not like moving on purpose.

The physical therapist used a tens unit on my shoulder. I'm not sure if it helped. I could feel it twitching while it was happening, across the big muscles of my shoulder and neck. Then a week of eyelid twitching on the same side. Could it be a cause? Or does electrostim twitching not work that way at all? I realize some people have physical twitches just because of anxiety or exhaustion, and the last few weeks have certainly been anxious and exhausting for me...this is just a new thing for my body, so I'm confused about it.

south of the Red Line

I work south of Boston. When I drive between work and my apartment, I take route 2 and I-95, because traffic on I-93 is horrible (and because I always get lost when I try to get on I-93. My GPS has changed this to "I almost always get lost when I try to get on I-93," which is an improvement, I suppose.) It gets more complicated when I have an appointment in Central Square. It seemed so convenient that my various health care providers have offices in Central Square, or Davis. Right near the Red Line! And appointments at 5 or 6, or sometimes the physical therapist can even see me as late as 6:30. So I can go after work, and not need to use vacation time.

It even seemed like a good idea when I tried it on December 27, sneaking out of work at 4:00 to clear off my car and drive to Cambridge in the snow. I drove up I-93, as that looks like the most efficient route from Canton to Central Square. Last week, it wasn't snowing, so I expected the drive to be easier. I did not anticipate how much heavier the traffic would be on I-93. Nor how many police cars would be stopped with their flashers on. And I *really* did not anticipate how difficult it would be to park in Central Square. I ended up just driving around Central Square for more than an hour. It was awful.

What I'd like to do next time I have to leave work early for an appointment is to drive only as far as the Red Line, park at someplace like Quincy, and take the subway to Cambridge. This is where I run up against my limited knowledge of the world south of Boston, and need to ask for help. I don't want to spend more time than absolutely necessary on I-93. I don't want to get through a traffic jam to reach the MBTA parking garage at 5:00 and find it full, with no legal place to park. Should I go to Braintree? Quincy Center? North Quincy?

Special bonus question 1: Are any of those places I can leave my car overnight? It would make my life easier if I could just take the bus home after my appointment (or walk! do you know how much walking I haven't been doing since I took this horrible job?) and then take the T back to the parking garage early in the morning and only have to do half a drive to work. Needing to take the T back to the garage later in the evening to get the car and drive home...that's icky, but at least it would be after rush hour, without time pressure.

Special bonus question 2: Most of my appointments in town are near the Red Line. For the one in the Fenway, under worse time pressure than the others, is there a more efficient way to get there?