Misery and Mirth

GOOD BYE PHATTIE CAT

Today I had to put my deer sweet Phattie Cat to rest. She’d been slowly declining in health over the past few months. Over the weekend she lost most function of her lower half, including bladder and bowel control and was in obvious pain.

She wasn’t a young cat she was about 16-17 years old, that’s about 98-100 years old to a human. (Find your cats age @ http://www.catage.com). She lived longer than the average cat, had a good life and I had the honor and pleasure of being her companion for about 8 of those years. Through those years she brought me and many others great joy and amusement. She helped me through many tough times, I will deeply miss her.

She was buried by my father and I near a big old oak.  Last week when the weather had warmed up and she still could walk Phattie and I spent some time enjoying the sun and breeze and each others company under that tree. I felt it fitting to bury her there.

The Country Cat Hospital Veterinarian said Phattie appeared to have a spinal lesion or tumor that had been slowly growing that was why she was losing control of her lower body and that she was also in kidney failure. That even if she was a younger, healthy cat treating spinal problem like this would have been expensive and no guarantee that the cat would survive or gain any function back.

I know that I couldn’t have stopped this but I could have made her last few weeks more comfortable with pain meds or such.

I had taken Phattie to the Hamburg Veterinary Clinic in December for an abscessed tooth. It was the closest one to our house. I had asked that Veterinarian about Phattie’s problems walking and bloated abdomen. I’m angry that she just told me it was old age and only treated her for the tooth. Watching the Country Cat Vet perform today compared to the Hamburg Vet it’s obvious the Hamburg Vet didn’t even do a thorough exam!

The Hamburg Vets office was so attentive to the patients welfare and the owners concerns (Heavy Sarcasm). The receptionist told me to come back in a week, to updates shots and pull the tooth (which is an elective procedure) and would be a minimum of $300. ‘That is with a discount on the shots for having a surgical procedure performed’ she informed me. She tells me this After I had just explained to her that I was unemployed, disabled and had very little money.  I wanted to say “wake up &*%$# I make less per Month than you do in a week, I just spent my monthly grocery money brining in my cat today!”

Phattie never had a problem with her teeth after that initial infection was cured, she didn’t need a tooth extraction, her primary problems always were her spine and urinary system as was confirmed at today’s pre-mortem examination before she was laid to rest.

Even though it’s a little longer drive to Country Cat Hopsital I will gladly take that drive if my other cat ever needs care.  I will NEVER AGAIN go to the Hamburg clinic with there sub par medical care, and money hungry owner.

Parotid Cysts

For someone without Diabetes I am becoming somewhat of an “expert”. Each Class is 3 hrs long with a 10 min break in between and a quiz after each of the 2 sections, I’ve Aced all the Quiz’s so far. It amazes me that people aren’t getting the answers right. Each “students” is given there own easy to read booklets to follow along with as the instructor goes over the material on a power-point projection. Maybe ther are just dozing off which mmm yeh I’ve almost done.

After class we Dad and I picked up some groceries, he blew more money on Lotto and scratch tickets. he stopped at local shop bought Mom an Anniversary gift(April 1st), we had a quick lunch and off to my next appointment.

I saw Dr. Nemeth , My primary Physicain. She says my “jaw” problem is actually just my cystic parotid glands swelling up again and possibly even a cyst got stuck in the duct of the right parotid gland but seems to have worked out now. There’s not much they can do about it because the Parotids rest right under major facial nerves, it’s not worth risking facial paralysis to try and remove them.
She also took a look at my leg and said it does appear I bruised the bone and just to use warm compresses to speed the healing and hopefully help with the swelling in my foot. But if it doesn’t improve in a couple weeks I will push to go see Karen the physical therapist again.
She then wrote me prescriptions for the Nexium and Levothroid which I filled at the pharmacy.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Hmmm what’s been going on?
Monday March 19th my jaw started getting sore & now its fully swollen. It’s formed a big hard painful knot over the right jaw joint, the left is only slightly swollen and not so intensely painful. I MIGHT have recurring (TMJD) TemporoMandibular Joint Disorder, or could be my cystic parotid glands getting inflamed constantly but it hurts like hell and makes using my mouth difficult so no BJ’s for my bf.

I’ve some how pinched or injured a spot on my belly about a week ago. I’ve had a nasty BULLA or blood blister form its not really painful but its GROSS and its not going away.

My left leg that I injured few weeks ago is still causing my leg and foot to swell and I have lump in the leg that’s causing a burning pain whenever it is touched so tomorrow afternoon I ‘m going to my primary to have the leg, jaw and blood blister checked out.

In the morning I have the 2nd of 3 boring classes. My doc signed me up for a diabetic nutrition-education program, though I Don’t have diabetes but have Hyperinsulimia/insulin resistance which can be a pre-diabetes condition if a person also have high blood sugar but I DON’T. My insulin level hasn’t been going down much with medication and i haven’t been losing weight like its supposed to do. So I guess she hopes the classes will help me lose weight? The Classes are boring because I Know pretty much everything they are teaching and more. One of my minor studies in college was nutrition and food science and I try and keep up on all latest nutrition,food science and medical info. so I know answers that the teachers don’t which annoys them quite a bit. People always make the assumption someone is fat/obese because they are ignorant about proper nutrition/proper eating. I don’t always eat as healthy as i should but I’m not fat from just gorging and binging. I do agree major portion of obese individuals do either eat too much or eat unhealthy food choices often times they even develop a chemical imbalance thats causes a “food addiction"but there is a small percentage of people who have weight issues because of Major medical problems And we take offense to someone just telling us to not eat so much.

I got Good news and Bad this afternoon. The good news after multiple submissions from both my Primary doctors office and my gastro doctors office my insurance finally is allowing me to go back on Nexium I’ve been on every other GERD drug and even the Prilosec has not been fully effective. Since the endoscopies of my throat and stomach shows I do have erosions I definitely need the Nexium because it is the only drug known and approved for healing and preventing this kind of gastric damage.

Bad news I was denied AGAIN for SSI. I was kind of pissed off looking over the denial and they didn’t even look at any of the tests I’ve had in the last 3 months! So I need to get copies of all the tests from last few months which I do ask every facility or specialist for and have NOT been getting. So I asked my primary doc office to make me copies about 2 weeks ago so hopefully they will have that done tomorrow. Then I need to make copies of EVERYTHING again and I’m gonna try and make an outline.
Then I go see my lawyer, we do an appeal and I send the complete organized outline, highlighted file so the so called medical claim reviewer won’t overlook, miss or Ignore any info.

Broken Stairs

Sunday Morning March 4th I returned home. I received results to my blood tests. My Insulin is still too high but has gone down some, sed rate and c-reactive protein are still high-both markers for active autoimmune illness. I had a slightly elevated liver enzyme, slightly low calcium and sodium. My choleterols and lipids are good again.

I was having a crushing headache again so I laid down and rested until 11-noonish. I then had lunch and went to the grocery store with Mom. I stayed out of basement all day, where my “bed room” resides because it’s quite cold and the stairs are hard to climb specially when not feeling well and the bottom ones where loose and unstable. Though Mom had been up and down the stairs numerous times doing laundry, my bro and elder sister where up and down because his computer is kept down here.

Around 10pm I decided to go downstairs to get on my computer and get ready for bed, just my luck as I got to the 2nd bottom stair it broke out from underneath me and I fell. I didn’t get majorly injured, just some scrapes and bruises but it was quite scary.

Monday march 6th I didn’t do much. I’m sore from my yesterdays fall and still intense feeling pressure and pain in my head.
I nthe morning I helped Dad put replace broken boards in the stairs didn’t do muc helse for the rest of the day.
Was bored and feeling a bit depressed. Just watched tv, read, slept. Watched a home video my sister Amber sent us of her and Aarons vaction in Florida this past Februaury. Was nice to see them.

Monday March 12th, well I thought my incident on the stairs wouldn’t caused me problems but I was wrong. The injury has “reactivated” the lymphadema in my left leg, the foot and ankle have gotten all puffy and the skin stretched so much it hurts. Also the area on my shin that took the direct impact of my weight from the fall is extremly tender.  Even a slight pressure causes an intense pain. I don’t want to go back to the doctor but I know I need to have this checked out.

Check up and More Eye Bleeds

Monday Feb 26th I saw Dr. Nemeth, Because my eyes had mostly healed then hemorrhaged a lil again. She prescribed me some eye drops to help them heal faster. She was worried about my high blood pressure and upped my dose of Altace to twice a day. She wanted to give me a medicine for Pseudotumor Cerebri too but understood that Neurologist wanted a baseline cerebral-spinal fluid pressure before beginning treatment. But she said she was going to try and see if she could get me a lumbar puncture appointment sooner and she ordered a bunch of blood tests.

Tuesday I got my blood draw. Only 4 vials, but vein in my right hand collapse ½ way through the 1st vial, so they had to try again with my left hand, using 2 technicians. But they got the blood. My right hand really hurts where vein collapsed and has nasty puffy bruise.

Wednesday, already the eye bleeds are fading and looking much better.

Thursday was Rob’s birthday so I went down to see him that evening and spend the weekend. Thursday and Friday I was getting Nasty head/neck ache that literally felt like my head was exploding and I noticed new bleeds had formed in my eyes. This is really worrying me, if the pressure is bad enough to make my eyes bleed what’s it doing to my brain?

I spent the rest of the weekend trying to take it easy not get stressed, a lotta snuggle time and some shopping. A Party USA Store near Rob is going out of business, we checked it out and picked up few things; some cool gothic dragon pens, stickers, a stuff animal, a beginner bondage kit :OP.

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy & Sigmoidoscopy

Monday morning I saw my neurologist, Dr. Begum. She is concerned because my visual testing shows a decrease in my peripheral field. This is a sign that the excess intracranial pressure caused by the PseudoTumor Cerebri has caused stress/damage to my optic nerves. So I am schedule for a fluoroscope guided lumbar puncture at the end of March. This entails sticking a 7 inch needle into my spinal canal, hooking it up to a pressure gauge the reading is above 200 they will drain my cerebral spinal fluid until the pressure is around 200. Then I will be put on medication to try preventing excess production of the cerebral spinal fluid so that the pressure won’t become excessive again. If the medicine is unsuccessful the last resort is to put a cerebral shunt into my brain.

Monday evening my parents boarded a plane for Florida to take a little mid winter vacation. They are staying with Donna a friend of the family at her condo. My sister Amber with nephew Aaron will be driving from North Carolina to Florida to join them.
Donna has arranged for them to have breakfast with Mickey Mouse and maybe to visit the Disney Park too.

Today Thursday was an Unpleasant day for me.
After nearly 8 months without menstruation I begin a heavy painful period the morning I have to go to the hospital for an Esophagogastroduodenoscopy(EGD) and Sigmoidoscopy. Then starting the morning by giving myself an unwanted Enema the required preparation for a sigmoid procedure, ugh not lovely way to start a day.

I spent more time in the waiting room than actually having the procedures done.
So started with the usual hospital stuff, they took me to a small curtained room, asked me some medical questions, told me to strip & put on the notorious “airy” hospital gown and hop on the gurney. Then the tech returned, took my blood pressure, pulse and put in an IV. Curtis I believe was his name, he did excellent job with my IV. He got it in on the 1st try and it didn’t hurt to bad.
Then I was wheeled into the procedure room, a Xylocaine numbing solution was sprayed into my throat to reduce gagging and pain as the endoscope is passed down my throat, I had a circular hollow plastic guard placed in my mouth so I could not bite down and to protect my teeth and I was given Fentanyl and Versed into my IV to sedate me.
Last thing I remember the doctor saying was try to relax and resist the urge to gag.

Then I was groggily aware I was in the recovery room with my sister, Anne and brother in law,Les and the doctor said they saw small erosions in my esophagus and stomach but myintestines look ok, but they took biopsies of all tissues for testing just to make sure. They sent my bro in law for the car while my sis helped me get dressed. Then I was put in a wheel chair and taken to the car. I remember on the ride home being talked to and responding but have no recollection of what the conversation was about. When I got home I went to bed and slept for quite a few hours.

When I got up late in the afternoon I was still feeling ok, and thought oh that wasn’t so bad but a few hours later the Fentanyl began to wear off. My throat is raw and sore, my lower abdomen and back REALLY hurt and I got a nasty headache. I took some pain meds but I still feel very crappy. I’m going back to bed.

Friday Morning I look in the Mirror and see my eyes are 1/3 way filled with blood!!! I guess combination of high blood pressure, pseudo tumor cerebri and violent gagging from having tube cam down my throat caused blood capilaries in my eyes to rupture and leak. Its more itchy and irritaed than painful, feels like I got sand in my eyes that won’t rinse out.

Hope I never have to do those tests again!!

Valentine’s Day Surprise & Other Stuff

The “Mental Test” I had to endure On Feb. 13th for SS was a joke, I don’t even know if the man was a certified psychiatrist or psychologist. He met me in conference room of a hotel and just read off questions from a questionnaire. How can you diagnose if someone has depression or any disorder from 30 min questionnaire, in a strange place with a person they likely don’t trust and not gonna open up to. Just bullshit and they know it all part of the game to disqualify an applicant.  

Wednesday Feb.14th was Valentines Day. Rob and I went to OUT BACK steak house. Right after our dessert was served he got down on one knee, presented me with lovely ring of ½ ct blue marquise diamond surrounded by ½ ct of small white diamonds and asked me to Marry Him.   I of course said yes. There was flurry of hugging and kissing and me crying a lil.

Thursday I went to The Clark Eye Center for the results of my tests from a few weeks ago, I do appear to have some loss in peripheral vision, which is a result of the PseudoTumor Cerebi. The PTC gets worse with steroids so when the Orthopedic gave me the steroid shot in my hip the week before my eye exam of course the intracranial pressure was much worse and causing all kinds of problems. So Eye doc told me to go see my neurologist, I told him yes I see her Monday and told me to come back in 6 months to get all kinds testing done again. Oh joy.  

Friday I had my CPAP delivered right to my home. They had me try on few different nose masks; the petite one fit me best. This machine might even be more fancy than one used on me from sleep study. I haven’t used it yet because I need to get a bed side table that can fit it.

Rob took week vacation and spent it out here with me, this Saturday we have to go back and tell his family that we are engaged.

“TOTALLY COMMITED”

Tuesday February 6th I see my attorney again to have him look over the SS paper work before I mail any of it. Spent more time in the waiting room than with him, he seemed annoyed, “Yes I know it all had to be mailed back to SS office but you said you wanted to see EVERYTHING SS office sent me before I signed or returned it. 

Thursday Feb 8th met with pulmonologist to review results of the 2nd sleep study. He prescribed me a CPAP sleep mask and some hypertension medicine, because my blood pressure has been dangerously high for the last 9 months or so.  If you have good insurance you can pick up your mask within 24 hours but going to take a week for me to find out if my insurance will even let me have it.  SO need start meds and hopefully start using mask then come back for check up in few months.

Today Friday Feb 9th I saw my brother perform at The Williamston Theatre, Mid-Michigan’s newest professional theatre company.  He is performing FULLY COMMITTED until March 26th.
“Sam, a young hopeful actor from the Midwest, who works at the dizzyingly busy reservations line of New York’s trendiest restaurant.  As the demands for tables get more desperate, so does Sam!  To save his career, he must fend off the barrage of bribes, threats and sweet talk while juggling his phones, his co-workers and his life!  With a single actor playing every role in the show, this non-stop comedy is a one-man tour-de-force.”
His performance was hysterical and the dizzying pace at which he acts out all the characters voices, mannerism and such is amazing.

Aral has also performed at many various plays in theatres across Southern Michigan. The major ones being: The Meadow Brook Theatre, Michigan’s largest non-profit producing professional theatre; The Purple Rose Theatre Company, not-for-profit professional theatre, which serves the Midwestern culture by producing plays about people from the Midwest(founded actor Jeff Daniels); The Performance Network, Ann Arbor’s only resident professional theatre company, affiliated with the Actor’s Equity Association of professional Actors; The Boars Head Theater, Founded in 1966, Mid-Michigan’s 1st professional resident theater and the state’s longest continually running professional theater and The Ann Arbor Civic Theatre which is a community theatre.
He has had many positive performance reviews in Michigan papers, was recently interveiwed by WKAR (Public Broadcasting for Mid-Michigan), He also has won some awards for his performances, I will look them up later, edit them in. Right now I am too tired.

Even if I wasn’t his sister I still would say he is very talented and gifted actor and he is much loved by drama groupies from all of these theatres :OP

February Updates

Well no more physical therapy. But I’ve had people commenting that I definitely don’t look as swollen anymore so that’s Great. I wish insurance would allow me a few occasional monthly visits with Karen, my physical therapist so she could work on other health and emotional issues and make sure lymphadema doesn’t return but they don’t cover “maintenance”.  So only way I could see her again is to get set up with another 2 weeks of lymphadema therapy or therapy for something else that is part of her field.

Oh talking emotional issues, it seems my SS claim must have some weight to it. 1st the case worker called me on Monday January 29th? And told me she was sending me a form about my appeal that I MUST sign. When I received it in the mail the next day and read it I was pretty sure it was bunch of fancy wording to make me slip up and sign away my rights to an appeal. So I took it to the lawyer that Wednesday and he agreed, he called the case worker told them that I was not signing the paperwork that he had made sure all the appropriate forms were filed and in their possession.

So Thursday I got a letter telling me I have to go for a “Mental Test” I have to call to confirm the appointment AND sign and send in the appointment confirmation form. I called in immediately; of course they never answer the phone so I left detailed voice mail confirming the appointment. This was not my case workers mail box it was for the man who I believe is the “medical” reviewer that actually makes the decision on my case.
I am holding off on sending in the written confirmation until my attorney checks it. He said not to send anything in without him looking it over 1st.

Then Friday I get sent “daily activities questionnaire, big packet asking you to explain every detail of what you do every day/week. I think only thing doesn’t ask you directly is how many times you take a $#@! In a day, but that’s probably supposed to be in the essay part. 

Saturday February 3rd around 9:30 pm until Sunday 3pm I was having my second sleep study done. The over night part was with the CPAP mask, to test if the device would decrease my sleep apnea. This time I actually fell asleep in about 4o minutes without medicine and stayed asleep long enough to go into REM sleep. Last time after hour they gave me pill twice because I couldn’t fall asleep and kept waking up, so I had practically no REM activity. In the morning they told I had only 10 apnea events instead of 128 from last time. But I have to say its not easy sleeping with something strapped to your head and face.

For the day study the removed most the gear; positional sensor, breathing monitor, leg movement sensor wires, finger pulse monitor. Day study is just to monitor brain waves to see how quickly you go into REM sleep, because if you go into REM on each nap that is a sign of narcolepsy. The 1st 2 naps I did without the CPAP mask, and she said I would go into REM sleep but jolt awake , since I no longer had my apnea monitoring equipment on she was unsure if was waking because of apnea so she asked me to put the CPAP on for the 3rd nap. Since it too me 40+ minutes to fall asleep with CPAP last time and nap time is only 60 or less I didn’t fall asleep. For 4th nap the tech said she fell asleep without the CPAP and said I didn’t have to wear it but she also told me if I went into REM I’d have to stay another 2 hours and do additional 5th nap. So I told her I wanted to wear it and didn’t fall asleep, Hehehe. Tech said they are advising my Primary physician that I get a CPAP and use it every night. I know I need it and I’d feel better in the morning from not suffocating in me sleep but its going to take time to get used to.

For about 2 months I’ve started having more problems with migraines at 1st it was light related, if really sunny, bright fluorescent lights or flashing lights are the worst I get pain in eyes and head, nausea, blurry/distorted vision and dizziness. Now for about a week (?), if I try to read or concentrate on task like knifty knitter for even just 30 minutes I start getting one too. I know that since the steroid shot I’ve felt the cerebral/neuro problems get worse so I don’t know if this is what made it worse and/or it’s because of vision changes and needed new glasses.

For at least a week now I’ve started developing a rash that has gotten really worse in last 3 days. I don’t know if this is associated with the increase in migraine activity or just an allergy to clothes detergent, though I’ve never had that problem before that I can remember or maybe autoimmune related. The rash is pale pink & red, small bumps and blotched that feel rough and itch like crazy. I’ll have to make an appointment with my Primary Doctor see what she thinks.

Nothing Too Exciting

Nothing too exciting was going on this past weekend. Friday and Saturday I was with Rob again. We did some running around checking out re-sale shops and discount stores.

We picked up some used books on home repair. There’s a lot that needs fixing around here. I picked up some low sugar/ sugar free beverage mixes and snacks I need to get back to stricter dieting. Also I got a handheld body fat analyzer; it’s a more accurate way to monitor my fat loss than just by weight. Those height-weight charts can be quite off; they are very outdated and don’t take into account if a woman has a higher than average muscle mass.

Sunday we celebrate my eldest sisters birthday, her birthday is actually tomorrow (Tuesday). It was a small celebration neither our brother nor our youngest sister attended. We had the usual stuff, cake and presents. I bought Anne Dragonology book and the dragon beanie babies Scorch & Magic. 

Today, Monday was more physical therapy with Karen. We discussed what paperwork and $#%@ I need to do to try and get the insurance to pay for me to have my own neuromuscular acupuncture device, other wise it’s around $500. That’s not something I can afford on my own. She said my legs look great hardly a trace of Lymphedema in them and to keep doing the exercises. They aren’t hard to do but it’s hard to remember to do them 5 times a day. I’m averaging 3 times a day but do 2-3 times the recommended repetitions to make up for it.

More Therapy & Optic Nerve Check

Monday Jan 22, I don’t even remember much, I rested a lot. Tried to remember to do the exercises the therapist gave me. I was feeling very drained, exhausted and flu like. My sinuses were bothering me. Did antibiotics not work and I still had the “BUG” or was this something new?

Tuesday and Wednesday I returned to Karen my therapist again, she did more massage and acupuncture. Besides the points for lymph system she did some for menstrual pain. Its been 25 weeks since I had a period the hyperinsulimia/insulin resistance is preventing my body from completely having a menstrual cycle but I am still going through the hormonal fluctuations and this time REALLY BAD cramping.

She also used a new technique on me EFT.
EFT is based on a new discovery that has provided thousands with relief from pain, diseases and emotional issues. Simply stated, it is an emotional version of acupuncture except needles aren’t necessary. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian points on your body by tapping on them with your fingertips.

Seems kind of weird but it all actually works, I feel better physically and emotionally. The swelling in my feet is completely gone; I’m not having tightness and fluid pressure in my chest and I feel calmer.

Also on Wednesday I was at the Opthamologist office to re-test my peripheral vision field to check that the pseudotumor cerebi has not damaged my optic nerves. They gave me bad neck and headache; 20 minutes of stretching my neck to fit my chin on the machine because it doesn’t adjust well for short people and my face held in the vice so I’d not move, air blowing in my eyes and I’m trying not to tear up so that I can’t see the lil flashy lights and hit the button.    I’m glad i only have to do it every 6 months. I don’t get the results until mid Februaruy when I actually see the Eye Doctor.

Weekend Drama

For the time being Rob has Friday & Saturdays off, so I was with him on the 19th and 20th. Friday we went to the trade center and to an indoor flea market. I saw a lot of stuff I’d love to have in a home someday. I loved colored glass and semi precious, stones the flea market had quite a few vendors selling those things and some pretty jewelry.

That evening we hung out with Melissa who is stressing because she is still being stalked by some crazy guy, his grandmother, police and her have told him to leave her alone but he won’t. He keeps calling and has shown up at her work multiple times. She was told to go get a Personal Protection Order (PPO) but she has to drive into Detroit to a court house which is not far from her but still scary to go alone. I don’t know why she doesn’t ask her “best” friend Dawn to go with her since Dawn uses Melissa as free day care and child transport service. Dawn lives just down the street and they have known each other since they were children. You’d think she’d be eager to help her “best” friend.
Anyway…

Saturday Rob and I visited Amy and her family. The visit started off very nice it was just her and her 2 children. They were being pretty well behaved, nice conversation and interaction. Then her husband, Pat comes home, practically walks in the door swearing at her over not having his black jeans dry yet, he wanted those pair to match his black biker get up to wear to the monster truck rally that night. His attitude sets off chain reaction, 4 year old son starts mimicking his father and being verbally abusive to his mother. Just very unpleasant. Then Pat noticed I had brought over presents for his whole family (including his mother in law, the house they live in is hers). So he reciprocated by burning me a CD of Conway Twitty even though I am not a fan, I still accepted because I didn’t want to insult him. Then Rob and I quietly and quickly exited as they all got themselves ready to go to the Monster Truck Rally.

Rob and I had dinner at UNO’s an Italian grill. I had BBQ steak tips very yummy, Rob had a steak and fries. He also ordered some kind of Brownie dessert was sucky I took two bites but didn’t like it and it was too rich it was making my tummy hurt.

Sunday I was supposed to have my make up Sleep study for the one that got canceled last week when the tech got ill. Well it seems whole weekend while I was gone they had tried to contact me, but I didn’t listen to the answering machine I just asked the fam if I had messages. The one from Saturday just said please something like we are trying to get a hold of you see you Sunday, so my Mom thought it was just a confirmation call. NOPE, I showed up and was sent home AGAIN. It seems they needed more referral/medical approval, so waiting on that to reschedule.

Lymphadema Therapy & Orthopedic Torture

Today I had my evaluation at the Physical therapy center at St. Joseph Mercy hospital, Ann Arbor. I am now set up to get treatment every weekday for 2 weeks with the Lymphadema clinic. The therapist I am seeing is Karen Jones, she is fabulous. While she was interviewing me and getting my medical history she also was doing pressure point massage on me she also did something called ETPS Neuromechanical Acupuncture, I immediately felt a difference. She also has given me “home work” I have to do set of mini exercises 4+ times a day that will help the lymph system to flow properly again.
I left there feeling good, I FELT GOOD! I’m looking forward to my next session.

‘ETPS stands for Electro Therapeutic Point Stimulation, a non-invasive therapy that applies concentrated, low frequency, DC stimulation to special combinations of acupuncture points, triggers points, and contracted motor bands. By integrating Eastern and Western approaches, and applying this specialized form of acupuncture stimulation, you get a really nice approach to pain management that helps a lot of people find relief.’

Then I saw the orthopedic. Over half an hour of being x-ray and forced to contort and hold uncomfortable positions made my back and legs ach. Then waiting almost an hour for the doc to tell me most my pain issues are from Autoimmune not arthritis, WELL DUH! He said I did have minor arthritis and bursitis of the right hip. I guess he felt he needed to do something so he decided to give me a steroid shot into my hip. Which I didn’t really want, but I was so wore out and falling asleep from being on exam bed for an hour that I just acted like a rag doll shook my head yes and let him roll me over and poke me. (Oooh, that sounds dirty )

Now I really regret it, my hip hurts WORSE, I keep having hot flashes and cold sweats and I have a migraine.  Lovely when the “cure” is worse than the original problem.

Ice Storm & Power Out

Monday January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was also a major Ice storm, power outage day. Around 5am our power started going out and we didn’t get it fully back until 6pm.  News says some people still don’t have power so I guess we’re lucky.

Around 9am I got my knitter out and was working away by candle and sun light, by 11 it was getting pretty chilly we’d called at least twice to electric company but they were so over whelmed they weren’t even answering the phones. Around this time my sister called a friend in Canton and found out they still had power. So she gathered up her hubby and daughter to go reside there for the day.

Around 3pm Mom and I decided to go out, Dad iwas having a Gout attack so he didn’t want to come along. We picked up some fire wood and a few groceries from Meijer . Then we had Dinner at Red Robin and ordered a take out meal for Dad.

When we got home the power came on for about 15-20 minutes. When it went out again Mom lit the fire place to warm up the room. About an hour later the power came back on again. I resumed my knitting.

A few hour later my sis and her fam returned and resumed there places on there computers. Except my sis internet was some how not functioning, even though I think rest of ours had been restored. I wasn’t on my computer much I was finishing up the scarf I was amazed that I could whip one out in 2 days.

But this Tuesday morning when I tried to start on the next one for Rob’s other niece I realized I had over done it. My hands are all stiff, cramped, sore and arthritic today. So I only just started the 2nd one and had to quit. But I am really sore in all my joints today it probably has to do with the frigid weather and I have not been taking my pain meds on regular schedule. I was trying to see if I really needed then. ( Yes I do.) I just don’t like having to rely on these pain medication. After missing 2 days I’m in so much pain I can’t function, hurts to stand, sit or lie down. Between the sleep apnea and pain I’ve not slept much at all in the last few days, so I need to keep taking them.

WEEKEND FUN

Rob actually had a weekend off!  So Thursday evening, Jan 11th Mom and I drove down and kidnapped him.  Friday I had made these plans for things to do and get done, but none of it happened. Rob just wanted to spend his day off relaxing and being together. 

That evening I was schedule to go for my sleep study, but when I got there I was told the overnight Technician was ill.  So I had to quickly reschedule while the tech from the previous shift pushed me out the door and locked up so she could go home.

This made Rob very happy because it meant more time together and it meant we could leave a lot earlier on our road trip the next day.

Saturday Mom, Rob and I drove out to Monroe, MI to CRAFTS 2000 .This is a huge Mega craft store. I had gift certificate from Christmas I wanted to use and they have great prices. I’ve been there twice with Rob and bought quite a bit of jewelry & beading supplies. This time I bought more jewelry supply and some yarn. I got a Knifty Knitter for my birthday and had yet to use it.  I was trying to hit the bead and yarn areas and then do a quick tour of the rest of the store (which still takes hours) but Rob dragged me back to the “DEEP DISCOUNT” corner of the store, stuff like;$2 hoodies, $0.50 t-shirts, a box 30 votivecandles for $6 and a corner off section with about 20-30 bins. At 1st glance it looked like assorted junk but there was a cashier and “guard” in this are handing out big plastic grocery bags saying fill the bag no matter how much $5.  We went around once just looking through all the bins to see if it was worth it, then went back around 2nd time and stuffed the bag to like 15 lbs. There was about 6 bins that were jewelry hardware stuff, also picked up some candles and other odd and end items. Rob paid for the bag and had to carry it because it was too heavy for me.  I also spent $35 ($25 gift certificate and $10 cash) on alotta glass beads, some yarn and candy. They had prepackaged Sugar Free Jelly Belly’s and Gummy Bears for less than $2 (only $1.50 for regular ones). The Sugar Free ones cost almost $4 at our local grocery store. So I bought some Sugar Free for me and regular for Rob.

Afterwards we drove Rob back home, He had to work early Sunday morning, though he would have much preferred to come back with us. It was a very fun trip, it’s gonna take me forever to sort out the “junk” bag. 

Sunday Jan 14th I found the Provo Craft website the producers of the Knifty Knitter, they have a web clip showing how to use the Knitter, since it doesn’t come with much instruction. Now I seem to have got the hang of it and got about half a scarf done. It’s made from furry/ textured yarn and I’m trying to make stripes. I’m using 2 yarns one that is multi pinks and one that is multi blues. This scarf is for Rob’s younger niece.