Rainy Days And Man Food

We've been getting a lot of rain lately. Oh, it doesn't amount to much, just showers two or three times a day. Although yesterday, about 5pm I was out feeding the critters and it came a real downpour. It was raining so hard even Mr. I-Love-Playing-In-The-Water Toby decided to come into the shed with me and wait it out. It didn't last long, but was the faucet was sure wide open while it lasted.

Of course, the trouble with all this rainy weather is that however much we might need it, my body doesn't like it. I get all kinds of aches and pains and the blahs, and wonder if maybe, just maybe, there might be a stronger pain med out there that wouldn't make me sick.

So here I am, trying to be in a "super-work" mode, and my body won't cooperate.

For instance, we had our first "Crash Test Dummies" session Tuesday night, and we'll have the regular webinar tonight. Hope my brain doesn't explode from all the new information I keep trying to cram in it. (There will be NO smart aleck remarks along the lines of, "What brain?")

Anyway, the guys know I'm super busy right now and not feeling the best. So yesterday, I called up Jess and told him I was ready to take him up on his offer to bring food home if I wasn't feeling well. We discussed all the different fast food places he passes on his way home from work - Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds (he always throws that in just to get me going), Taco Bell, KFC, etc. You get the idea. I finally said, "You know what I usually order at all those places. Just stop wherever you want and bring something home."

Well, you won't believe what he brought home!
(Unless you already saw this on Facebook, ha!)

When he got here and hollered he was home, I went in to the kitchen and saw this HUGE RED BAG with RED LOBSTER on the side.

WOW!

Talk about a BIG surprise! He'd bought home my favorite coconut shrimp dinner, complete with their yummy bread, a salad and baked potato. And all the condiments of course!

He'd decided I needed a special treat instead of another fast food meal. The man did GOOD. He's probably picked up enough brownie points to last him for months! ;-)

We sat at the table and ate a real dinner, and my, was it nice. It was DELICIOUS. Red Lobster is positively one of my most favorite restaurants.

When Jess decides to cook, he really goes all out!

But that's not all! Nope, when Jonathan came home from work, he brought home a nice fresh thick crust pizza from Domino's. Yum! A midnight snack!

So I've got leftover pizza, and a salad and bread from Red Lobster, for some nice lunch food.

And Jonathan is off from work today, so tonight he's cooking supper. More man food!

Wow, this is really nice. I could get used to this!!!

De Pain, De Pain!

Anybody remember the old tv show, "Fantasy Island", with Ricardo Montalban? (Gotta love that guy; what an actor! He did such a good Khan.) If you remember the show, remember the little guy running around the island at the beginning of the show hollering, ‘De plane! De plane!” as all the guests get shuttled in for their fantasy filled island retreat. He’s running around in my head these days shouting “De pain, de pain!” but this ain’t no fantasy I’m living, and it ain’t no retreat.

Nope. This is real life. And anyone who has lived very long has met up with pain of some sort somewhere along the way. If not, they are either very lucky or living a very shallow life.

I should be doing all kinds of things right now. I need to get some snail mail done. I need to do laundry. I need to think about what all needs to be taken care of before we go on a trip next week and get that done too. I have all kinds of online work I could be doing.

But right now my body isn’t cooperating too well, and my brain isn’t focusing. Instead, there are thoughts and emotions swirling around in there like debris in a hurricane. Getting blown around, sometimes violently, sometimes a little calm in the eye of the storm, then right back to wildly whipping in the wind. It’s bad weather inside there folks.

I’m tired. Pain is fatiguing for one thing. But I suspect even if I were healthy, it would still be a battle right now to try to do everything I’m doing. I’m in transition. I’m trying to hang on. I’m looking and looking, trying to see that light at the end of the tunnel.

I know I’ve got more things to do than I can possibly get done. Too bad. They need done anyway. "Pare down your responsibilities," you say? Sounds like good advice, now just tell me what in Hades I can stop doing?

The farm chores? I’m hanging in there until such time as Jess can retire. Oh, he could retire now, but neither one of us are too eager to live on social security. Which brings up the internet work. The more I learn, the more there is to do. At some point I can outsource some of the work, but for now, it’s just me having to do it all.

Quitting just is not an option. This is the only way I can see of earning a living.

Now there are all kinds of ways to make money on the internet. And there are also many ways to lose your shirt to scammers or just not knowing or understanding what you are doing. Some ways of earning money fit my personality better than others and it’s taken time to figure out what those are. All of this takes time, both to learn how to do things and for a business to grow and make money. I am fitting more and more pieces together and feel the scales should tip in the next few months, maybe even weeks.

But again, it takes time. Time, it’s always a factor!

Maybe as much or even more than time itself is being able to USE the time. Being able to focus, to work without fatigue or pain clouding your brain.

But in the meantime, I am working as hard as I can. You can’t see the effects, unless you count the fact the animals haven’t keeled over and died from starvation, or we aren’t running around naked because I do eventually get around to washing clothes, or. . well, just don’t look at the house. There really is a limit to how much I can manage.

Time, time and money. One can always use more of both.

I’m spending money to go to the Fibro Clinic again. I need to be able to work longer hours. I need to banish the fatigue more often so I can get more work done and be able to exercise. I need to have my thyroid hormones regulated and other body functions put back to rights as much as possible. Until this happens, the fatigue prevents me from getting anyways near as much done as I would like or need to do. And it messes with my metabolism, making it nigh impossible to lose weight.

It’s all depressing too. I really don’t eat that much junk. Ice cream on Friday nights. I buy a big bar of dark chocolate as my main treat, and it usually lasts for two weeks. But the weight just keeps hanging on and I need to do something about that too. So it’s off to the Fibro/Fatigue Clinic, and hope they can help me get my body working as near optimum as possible.

Regular doctors can't take the time and/or don't have the specific knowledge to deal with the whole spectrum of problems that can be mixed in with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, not to mention an obscure problem like thoracic neuralgia. Insurance won't compensate them for the time they'd have to take with one patient to deal with it all and really understand and listen. Would government run health care be better? Not bloody likely. I have a friend in the UK who has fibromyalgia and can't get the health care she needs, and waits months to get in to see specialists.

No, I'm thinking it wouldn't matter. For such specialized health care, you're going to pay out of your pocket no matter what kind of health system is in place. But I need to function better, to be able to do more. So there we are.

Time and money. Never enough of both, ha!

I just have too many things in flux right now. I’m working on my health, I’m working on a new career, I’m working on just hanging on until I can get to the next level in so many different areas in my life. I’m looking forward to a housekeeper, and paying someone else to do the drudge work like directory submissions and other stuff needed to keep websites running and building traffic.

For now the guys are both working at their own full time jobs. (I think I’m working at 2 or 3.) But they are away from home, and I am here.

I hope I survive.

Let Me Off This Roller Coaster!

It's been a roller coaster of a week.

Last Saturday I went to a party. Then came the pain payback.

Wednesday I went to a funeral home to stand in line for two hours for visitation. Then came the pain payback.

Yesterday was crazy with thunderstorms, hail, and wind - never mind the tornadoes dancing around us. (At one point they said the sheriff spotted a tornado on Lincoln Road - which isn't very far from us, like about 2 miles at the closest point.)

Today's the payback. But it may not be all the activity and stress from yesterday causing the pain. It could be a coming weather change. It could be a combination of things.

To complicate matters even more, different things affect the different causes of pain. Physical activity, especially when doing a lot of back and forth motion like sweeping, really aggravates the nerve pain. Weather changes affect the fibromyalgia. Some things affect both.

There are just so many different things that can cause pain - the weather changing, stress, not enough sleep, not eating well, doing too much physical activity - that sometimes it's difficult to tell what's caused the pain problem.

I'm ready for some nice quiet time, a nothing-much-happening kind of week. And while I'm at it, I'll wish for fewer pain payback days!

Parties Are A Pain

I'm really not much of a party animal these days. but one of the older guys in Jess's Sunday School class just turned 90, and the family had a big birthday party for him yesterday. Now, this is a BIG family and well known in these parts. Also long time friends, so this was pretty much a command performance. Several family members asked if I was going to be there, so there I went.

I knew I'd pay for it before I went. That kind of activity always aggravates my pain levels. But other people don't understand this, so have hurt feelings if you don't live up to their expectations.

We didn't spend more than an hour at the actual party, but it was long enough to see several people I know. Being friendly folk, I got a lot of hugs. Along with hugs there are generally several pats on the back.

And that's where the problem starts.

I knew before we got home I was in trouble. I didn't feel too great yesterday evening. Then I woke up at 4am this morning with tears and moaning, and looked for more pain pills and finally got back to sleep after an hour or so.

I'm used to pain. It has to be REALLY bad to make me cry. The "I feel like beating my head against the wall just so I'll feel something else" kind of pain.

So today I am forcibly reminded why I do NOT go to church or any other gatherings if I can avoid it. It hurts. I knew I'd pay for going, but this is a much worse payback than even I expected.

Parties are a pain.

Banish Birthdays!

Next year I’m not going to bother with a birthday. Oh, I know that 365 days from this past one I’ll be another year older; that’s just the way it is. But as for celebrating a birthday, well, forget it. What’s to celebrate? It’s just another day. Maybe a couple of people send an email or call with birthday wishes, and a couple of business’s send birthday cards, but mostly, it’s a non-event. So I repeat, why bother?

And this birthday was worse than most. I managed to do chores and clean the kitchen today, and that’s about all I managed. I slept more today than I usually do at nights. My head hurts. My stomach is queasy. The pain is bothering me. One way to escape is to sleep. Feeling depressed? Sleep will evade that as well.

It didn’t help that when I went out to do evening chores, 5 of the peafowl were out where they didn’t belong, and when I opened their gate to shoo them back in, guineas and roosters got in their pen as well. Then I had to chase them out while keeping the peacocks in. I ended up with some stinking muck splattered on me from their wild flapping around.

By the time Jess and Jonathan came home, I was in no shape to go out to eat. I told them to feel free to go on by themselves if they wanted to. I went to bed.

I could go on about the misdeeds and not-done-deeds of the day, but that's enough to give you the idea.

Happy Birthday? I don’t think so.

Rainy Days And Sleepless Nights

Yesterday we had a little rain. Today we had more. Yesterday the rain didn’t bother me. Last night was a different story with little sleep, and today was pretty much a total write-off.

Oh, I guess it wasn’t a total washout. I finished up a few bits of work here and there, and spent an hour for the second evening in a row on ustream.tv with a bunch of other people learning more about the “Green Button” project. The initial version was released to the membership, and now they’re working out the glitches. I will confess I haven’t done much with the new software yet, knowing it would have bugs – new software always does -- and being swamped with other stuff to do. But it's been illuminating to follow along and see what's being done, and hear what's in the works for the future.

Though not into the Green Button software yet, I have been using the first module that was put out a few weeks ago, called Article Marketing Automation. It is totally sweet. If the rest of this project lives up to this module, this will be quite a deal. And speaking of deals! Members get grandfathered into the new system at the old membership price. When it’s ready for the public, new members will be paying twice as much (or more!).

At any rate, I’m still plugging away getting stuff going, though days like today put me more behind.

Jess had software problems of his own today, and couldn’t get AGTEK to do what it was supposed to. Guess he’ll have to be calling tech support tomorrow to see if they can tell him what the problem is.

Well, the rain is gone, so maybe I can get some sleep tonight. Guess I'll go clean the kitchen, put some oatmeal in the slow cooker, then give it a try.

F.A.Q.

I get asked a lot of the same questions over and over about my health problems, which very few people really understand. Part of that is my own fault, because I try not to talk about it much. However, I've heard these a lot lately, so for anyone who might actually be interested, here’s a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” with my “usual” answer, and then a fuller, more realistic explanation.

Q: How’s your back pain?
A: About the same as always. Some good days, some not-so-good.

Explanation: The thing is, “back pain” is kind of misleading. When most people think of back pain, they’re thinking of lower back pain – such as compressed disks in the lower back causing pain. That is NOT my problem. I have thoracic neuralgia. It’s also been diagnosed as an uncommon form of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

Whatever you call it, the pain originates on the right side of my spine in the area near the bottom two ribs, and runs along those ribs to the front, ending at the sternum (breastbone). Those nerves went haywire and send pain signals for no discernable reason. This is turn causes a hypersensitivity of the skin on the right side of my back and chest of varying levels. Sometimes it feels akin to a sunburn when something touches my skin, sometimes it’s closer to a bad 2nd degree burn sort of feeling.


Q: “Is your chronic pain all better now?”
A. About the same as always.

Explanation: Please note the definition of chronic: “Of long duration, continuing.” or even “Relating to an illness or medical condition that is characterized by long duration or frequent recurrence.” If it’s chronic, it’s not going to get all better.


Q: Well, just what IS your problem then? What caused it?
A. Chronic pain and fibromyalgia, and the doctors don’t know.

Explanation: The chronic pain is caused by both the thoracic neuralgia and fibromyalgia at this point. The thoracic pain I described above, but will add that it also causes a sort of cascade effect sometimes, making muscles tighten up and spasm on my right side from my neck and jaw area down to my hip. The doctors did several tests but really don’t know what caused this problem.

However, the chronic thoracic pain is the most likely trigger for the fibromyalgia that followed. Fibromyalgia is defined as a “syndrome characterized by chronic pain, stiffness, and tenderness of muscles, tendons, and joints without detectable inflammation… and also causes undue fatigue.”

For many years doctors wouldn’t concede it’s a real problem, but as more and more people have it, and more and more research has been done, unless they’re really out of touch, they have to admit it’s real, and “not all in your head.”


Q. Have you tried going to a pain doctor? (Medication, surgery, etc.)
A. Yes

Explanations:

On doctors - I went from regular doctors to neurologists to pain doctors, and it seems about everything in-between. Chiropractor, acupuncturist, gastroenterologist, neurosurgeon, cardiologist, physical therapist, even a Rolfing expert.

On Medicines: I’ve been on antidepressants, heart medications, pain meds, anti-seizure medications, and just about anything that has ever been tried to control chronic pain. Lyrica, Neurontin, Guaifenisen, Effexor, and the list goes on and on. I don't react well to most medications. The bottom line for me, just ME, on medications is this: NONE of them helped enough to make them worth the side effects.

On Surgery: I’ve had my gallbladder removed, a lumbar Laminectomy, nerve blocks, and tried a spinal nuerostimulator implant. No improvement with any of them, and some even left me worse than I started. It would take a lot to convince me to try anything else.

On etc.: I’ve also tried a TENS unit, lidocaine patches, direct injection of anesthetic type agents, massage of the surrounding areas (NOT where the thoracic neuralgia is!)… I can’t even remember it all.

The bottom line is this: If there’s something touted for chronic pain or fibromyalgia, I’ve probably tried it.

The one thing left for fibromyalgia, which I’m trying now, is a combination of therapies prescribed by The Fibromyalgia & Fatigue Center, addressing several problems that come with the fibromyalgia syndrome. I’m hoping this will help the pain caused by the fibromyalgia, so “all” that’s left to deal with is the original thoracic neuralgia.

And there you have it, answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions I hear about my health.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!

It’s an evening for family gatherings and special church services. I went with Jess to the Christmas Eve service at his church. It was a lovely service and I enjoyed it, but was forcibly reminded why I do NOT attend church on a regular basis any more.

Church people can be very friendly. Normally, that’s a good thing. But when you have thoracic neuralgia, and people persist on patting you on the back, it quickly becomes a BAD thing. These people mean well, they just don’t realize what pain they’re causing at that moment, and how it will precipitate pain for some time to come.

Then there’s the whole “stand up to sing” thing… sit down for a while, stand up again, sit, stand, sit… you get the idea. Difficult when your body doesn’t want to cooperate.

And last, but certainly not least, there’s the pews. Ah, yes, the pews. I thought maybe I had exaggerated in my mind how hard it is to sit in those pews. I figured it probably wasn’t as bad as I remembered. I was right about that. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered. It was worse.

I don’t know what it is about sitting in those pews. They do have some padding, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Before long the muscles in my right side start tightening up, from waist to neck, and there is no way to get comfortable. Having muscle spasms while sitting in church is NOT a good thing.

After only an hour in a church service, I’m down for the count. It started out great, but by the time it was over… well, it’s hard to concentrate on songs and sermons when the pain is clouding your mind.

I’m glad I was able to go, but it was a stark reminder I can’t do everything I would like to do, and the pain does impose some limitations. Still, I walked in and I was able to walk out. I came home to supper in the crock pot, and presents under the tree. I have family and friends that care about me, and a roof over my head. I have Christmas to remind me God sent his only son into the world, starting a chain of events that would end in a pathway for salvation.

All things considered, I’m very blessed.

Of rain & calendars & too much to do…

I know now why I felt so bad when I last wrote. It rained a couple of days this week, with 3 or 4 showers leaving over an inch of water in the rain gauge. The weatherman didn’t think we’d get any moisture, but my aches said differently.

Yes, the drawbacks of being a human barometer become painfully clear sometimes.

That meant there were a couple of days I had great difficulty doing much, so I’ve fallen even further behind on getting things done around here. Right now I’m pushing to get Ellie’s 2008 calendar done to give people time to get one ordered and delivered before the end of the year.

I’ve made a lot of progress the last couple of days, partly due to Photoshop Consultant Jonathan’s help. He took a Photoshop class not too long ago in college, and was able to give me some ideas and help in how to do some things.

My #1 discovery: “Layers are my friend.” Start with a background, add to it piece by piece, element by element, and craft the picture needed. My most recently completed work had around 24 layers -- some have more, some have less.

I’m not an expert by a long shot, but I think the pictures are turning out well and will make a nice calendar. It helps to have such a cute model!

I wanted to be done before leaving on Monday, but I’m not sure I’ll make it. I still need to do laundry and get packed up and ready for being gone a week. I need to go to the grocery store this weekend. I need to leave a “Chores List” for Jonathan, so he knows what needs done for the animals. I need to be sure there is enough food for turtle, cat and bird.

I need to, I need to! The list goes on and on, and I’ll have to pare it down to only the things most absolutely necessary.

I always seem to have more to do than time and energy to do it!

A Little Down & Out

I’ve been doing a little of this and that today – working on the calendar, doing some laundry, cleaning the kitchen, critter chores, answering some email – but I’m not moving very fast. I’m tired, tired, tired, and a little down and out.

The muscles in my back are misbehaving, hovering on the edge of spasm. Maybe it’s from being hunched over my desktop computer, peering into the screen, doing the fine detail work on pictures for the calendar. I wish I knew more about ergonomics. I’m sure I could improve upon my computer set-up and make it a more comfortable working area.

Maybe it’s ironing – that kind of back and forth motion always irritates the thoracic neuralgia. Maybe it’s… oh, who knows? It doesn’t really make much difference I guess.

I also got emails today from a couple of people I haven’t heard from in a long time. Nice people, but another sad reminder of how times have changed.

Let’s face it, when times are going well, you know a lot of people and think you have a lot of friends. It’s not until things change, and you have an illness, economic downturn, or some other problem, that you find out how many friends you really have. And it’s generally a whole lot less than you expected. Support you thought you could count on, well, all of a sudden it just isn’t there.

There’s a whole lot more fair-weather friends in the world than the real deal.

Thankfully, I’ve also got some great friends. Maybe it sounds corny, but I’m taking about the kind of friends who listen to you when you’re just having a bad day, to helping you through a divorce, kids in trouble, chronic illness, or whatever setback life deals out. They rejoice with you in good times, but also stick around when things go bad. They’re the ones who are still there when you need a true friend.

My thanks to those of you who are the real deal – you know who you are!

The Human Barometer

It’s tough being a human barometer. Actually, it’s not 100% certain I’ll have pain when it’s going to rain, but if it’s a major storm… oh yeah.

Last night we had severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings. During the day I was feeling decent, but as the evening wore on and the storm got closer and closer, the pain got more and more intense.

Ouch.

I guess this is a common problem with fibromyalgia. Charting the weather is even part of the Fibro Handbook Diary that I'm supposed to be filling out.

We need rain, but there’s a price to pay – gotta live with the rain pain!

Resting up a little...

I sent the guys off to visit The Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville. It’s full of… duh! Planes! I’m not keenly interested, but they both expressed interest in it.

Of course, the main reason I suggested they go and leave me here was to give me a chance for some extra rest. I didn’t sleep well last night. Not in the bed. Not on the couch in the basement. Not on the couch in the living room.

So the fatigue and pain have hit me kind of hard today.

I’m also starting to wonder if there’s not a “chemical sensitivities” component to my problem. There were a number of questions on the form I filled out for the Fibro Clinic about it.

So I wonder… I did much better on the cruise than I imagined I would. The crew was composed of total neat freaks, with someone cleaning all the time. The ship was kept spotless – even the outside!

At home, there’s dust, closets full of things including vet meds (I detest the smell of the liquid Vitamin B complex), and there’s also a basement crammed full of all kinds of stuff, including unprocessed wool.

Here, there’s a sign right on the fridge stating they spray the house monthly for pests, so there’s bound to be a chemical residue. And a different environment is bound to have different stuff I’m not used to. Plus it’s an old house, sitting in the woods, so think dampness and mold.

I also have two cousins who have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Disorder. I have no idea if there's a genetic predisposition to this. I'm only starting to consider it as another possibility and haven't done any research.

But considering chemical sensitivities as a possibility, it’s one more reason to get back to work on the house and CLEAR IT OUT as much as possible!!! It’s a daunting task when you can only work short periods at a time, and there are so many other things that also need done.

For instance, I’m going to have to work hard on changing my diet as part of the program from the Fibro Clinic, which means more and different food preparations. I need to start an exercise program that includes some stretches and walking. And there’s always dirty dishes, laundry and just the day to day stuff of living.

I need more hours in the day I’m up to working! To get those, I need to do all of those other things I’ve mentioned. To be able to do that, I need to be working more every day. To be able to do that...

And so it goes, round and round! I can but try, and hope to make progress.

I'm just not normal...

Yeah, yeah, I can hear all the snickering. You’re all thinking, “So tell us something we didn’t know already!”

So okay, I will.

Of course, you already knew today was my first appointment at the Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Clinic. I couldn’t have breakfast or take my two thyroid medications because they needed to draw blood for lab work. They didn’t waste any time getting to it either. As soon as I filled out the usual insurance paperwork, the phlebotomist ushered me into her domain. There were no mirrors in the room, and I know the reason why –galactic class vampires work there!

First clue - she started out by asking if I’d drank any water today, and immediately handed me a bottle of water “because we’re going to need to take a lot of blood.” The little alarm bells started to ring, because I get light-headed and queasy if they draw more than a couple of vials at the doctor’s office, but I figured I was tough enough to handle it. (Pride goeth before a fall?)

I started sipping water and she started sipping blood…. uh, looking for a vein. That was the first obstacle of the day, finding said vein. She finally located one and delivered the “You’re gonna feel a big pinch” line. She filled up a vial, then switched tubes and filled another, and another, and another, until I finally got brave enough to ask her just how many vials she was going to draw.

She says, “Do you REALLY want to know?”
I said, “Yeah, how many?”
She says, “TWENTY.”
I said, “How many have you got?
She says, “Fifteen.”
I said, “You’d better hurry up, cause I’m going under.”
She yells for a nurse to get in there FAST.

Now if you’ve never fainted, let me say here that’s it’s NOTHING like the delicate swoon you see in old movies, where the heroine puts her hand to her forehead, sighs, and slowly and gracefully collapses to the floor.

No, a real faint, at least the kind I experience, is not such a benign experience. The light-headedness, buzzing in your ears, nausea, and feeling of sliding under and blacking out – it’s NOT a delicate event. It’s a nasty, hope you don’t ever repeat it, kind of experience.

I have no memory of them drawing the last three vials of blood. The next thing I do remember is my vision starting to clear a little, and this nurse peering in my face and saying, “Ah good, she’s back.”

No, I’m not normal. I have hard to find veins, and I faint if you try to drain me dry of blood.

At this point the nurses informed Jess, like or not buddy, you’re going to go in that room and stay with your wife! I guess the idea was if I had any more problems he could holler for help.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long until the doctor came in. She did the “tender points” test for fibromyalgia, and drafted Jess as her assistant to write down the results. Wow! Turns out I hurt in places I hadn’t even realized hurt!

She explained the various facets of fibromyalgia. At one point she was talking about the mitochondria and how they helped make energy, and I nodded my head and said, “Yeah, the Krebs Cycle.” Her eyebrows went up and she said, “Yes! That’s it all right.” Hey, I had biology!

She asked good questions, she explained things but didn’t talk down to me, she checked for physical findings, and then she really amazed me when she talked about some supplements she wanted me to try, and told me to just start one at a time, with a few days between to see how I reacted to each one before trying the next.

Oh my word! Amazing! A doctor with enough sense to realize if you give someone a whole bunch of new meds at once, and they have a reaction, you won’t know WHICH med is causing the problem. Impressive!!!

Next was getting some IV therapy. There we go again, hunting for the elusive vein. After a lot of “ouch, ouch, ouch,” the IV was finally in place and the young lady said, “There, the worst is over.”

Well, not exactly. For the next couple of hours my arm ached and my body twitched and shook all over. I seriously considered telling them to pull the IV, but kept thinking I’d hang in just a while longer. I managed to last until it was all in.

Turns out there was lidocaine in the IV, and 5% or so of people have an adverse reaction to lidocaine.

I’m one of them.
Like I said, I’m not normal.

It was a long day, much longer than I’d anticipated. Before I was through, there was another needle for a shot in the hip, and the need for a couple of doses of Immodium. And I listened to a lot of talk from other people there for IV therapy. Between what they had to say and what the doctor told me, I’m afraid things will likely get worse before they get better. The bottom line is I have to tough it out for a while, and just hope that in the long run, it will indeed get better.

Oh, and to survive all the “not normal” reactions while I’m at it.

Here we are in Marietta

Georgia, that is! Having grown up close to Marietta, Ohio, that’s obviously the first place I think of when someone says “Marietta.” But tonight we are indeed in Marietta, GEORGIA.

Why? After a long hiatus where I didn’t bother to try to do anything new for the pain problems – being totally sick of nothing helping, I decided to give it another shot, and at least try to do something for the fibromyalgia.

This clinic interests me because it has more of an unconventional approach. They say, “Our treatment approach begins with testing for hormonal imbalances, immune deficiencies, thyroid and adrenal dysfunction, and underlying mitochondrial dysfunction. We treat the underlying causes of your condition rather than just masking your symptoms with medications.”

I guess if nothing they do helps, it’ll just be another waste of time and money, which has pretty much been the usual. If it helps at all, that’ll be a first!

It should be interesting.

I got a postcard from Dallas today...

I don’t even know anyone in Dallas any more, and here I got a postcard. However, it was more a business thing, an appointment reminder from the corporate office for the Fibromyalgia & Fatigue Centers.

Apparently, all the reminders are sent from there, no matter which clinic location the appointment is for. I’m actually going to the center close to Atlanta, Georgia. My appointment is this coming Tuesday. I finally finished the final draft of he 24-page questionnaire today, so I got it finished with a little time to spare.

I’ve thought about doing this for some time, but just not sure it would be worth the time and money. I’m hoping they can at least alleviate some of the fibromyalgia pain, cutting down on the pain levels, which should make it easier to deal with the thoracic neuralgia chronic pain.

Too many doctors have told me they know exactly how to fix the problem, only to do nothing or they actually made it worse. So I’ve been reluctant to try again, but maybe…

I’m afraid to hope.

Strategy for Life

If you have a problem like chronic pain, you can’t get by with just living “off the cuff” day by day, floating along without any planning. Life requires a strategy, and it’s especially important if you’re getting ready for something special like a trip.

Needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of planning lately, figuring out the best strategy to get ready for my trip to Alaska. I’ve trying to get everything finished in enough time to have a bit of a rest before I leave on Saturday. I don’t want to be totally worn out before I even get started traveling.

Saturday morning! That’s less than 3 days away folks!

I’ve got stuff packed, with just some last minute additions needed. I have a list I’ll re-check Friday evening to make sure I’ve got everything in there.

I've spent time figuring out the best number and kind of suitcases to take, and tried to figure out the best clothes to put in them, while planning for every contingency I can. I've thought about how I'm going to manage luggage at the airports, and on the way to the motel and ship.

Since I’m traveling by myself, I don’t have the luxury of a second person to tote extra carry-on luggage or pull along a big suitcase. My nine days worth of clothes,, toiletries, laptop and photography equipment have to fit in something I can manage.

It’s not going to be easy.

And as I originally expected, there is no straight flight between Seattle and Nashville. The itinerary I received from the tour company showed only the departure time from Seattle, and then the arrival in Nashville, making it look like there was a straight flight. However, when I called today for the 72-hour-ahead-of-time confirmation, it turns out that the flight does indeed have an hour layover in Memphis. It’s just that I continue on in the same plane in the same seat, and the tour company didn't bother to note that extra stop.

I haven't even left, and there are changes in plans.

I can only hope my weeks of preparation will pay off. I’ve tried to check things out and come up with a strategy for each situation. I know there will be glitches here and there, and I need to be flexible, but it helps relieve stress to at least have a notion of what to do for each segment of the trip.

Yes, I have a plan. Now if the pain levels and life in general will just cooperate!

Doctor, Doctor!

Most of the time after I’ve been to the doctor, I say to myself, “Why did I bother?” I’ve usually got a pretty good idea what the diagnosis is before I go, but I can’t do my own medical tests to be certain, and I can’t prescribe pharmaceuticals. So sometimes there’s not much choice; I have to go to the doctor.

After waiting a long time in the well-named WAITING ROOM, I went to an examining room and waited some more, then saw the doctor, then waited some more for the nurse to come and do an EKG, then waited some more for the doctor to look at the EKG and come back in to give me the diagnosis.

Thankfully, the EKG was normal. (See, sometimes I’m normal!)

That left my original self-diagnosis of costal chondritis. The doctor decided to prescribe some medication to help the chest wall pain and inflammation. When I got out of the office and looked at the prescription, I just laughed.

Seriously, it was a joke.

The doctor prescribed Naprosyn 500mg, 1 tablet twice daily. Naprosyn is Naproxin is Aleve. The only difference is that Aleve only has 220mg per tablet.

Here’s the thing -- I already chunk down 3 Aleve at a time on a regular basis. Unless my math skills totally fail me, that’s 660mg, which is more than the 500mg tablet the doctor prescribed. So if that much Aleve isn’t relieving the pain, why bother with the prescribed Naprosyn?

My answer is… I’m not.

If I’d went to the doctor with the idea of getting pain relief, it would have been a total waste of time, effort and money. However, I’ve been that route so many times, I didn’t delude myself thinking there was any chance of that. No, my goal was to make sure there wasn’t any heart problem.

So, mission accomplished, and that’s about as good as it gets.

Updates, lots of updates!

There are so many things going on here it’s hard to keep up!! You know – life happening!

On the COMPUTER front…
I got the special shipping box for the laptop last Thursday, and mailed it out the next day. Laptop Rescue is located in Maryland, so hopefully they’ve got the package by now, and I’ll be hearing something from them soon on the “repairability” of my ailing laptop – is it fixable, or do we total it like a wrecked car???

On the HEALTH front…
I’ve got an appointment with my doctor this Thursday to check out what’s going on with the chest pain. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but it's a different kind of pain than I'm used to, and you know how it is when you have pain in the left side of your chest – got to be sure it’s not a heart problem!

On the TRAVELING front….
Alaska bound in September: Great American Tours sent me my cruise confirmation paperwork, along with a big navy blue tote bag with bright gold straps. And guess what? Their name is emblazoned across the side of the bag. Big surprise, huh?

Then I got a box from the Group Leader in West Virginia, and she sent me a second tote bag! Guess I can balance it out and carry one on each side.

My plane reservations are made so I arrive in Seattle on Saturday, and I have a motel reservation for Saturday night. I have Sunday morning to check out the Space Needle & Sci-Fi Museum, but need to be on board ship by 3pm. I’ll probably be ready to call it quits by then anyway!

The only thing left is to check out transportation between places in Seattle.

Dad and I are booked for two shore excursions on this trip. One is in Juneau, a "Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest." The other is in Skagway, a ride on a train up to "White Pass Summit." I hope I can keep up on this trip and the pain levels stay low for a change!

Smoky Mountains bound in October: We have reservations the second week in October in Pigeon Forge. Jonathan is tagging along on this trip. I’m not sure what all we’ll see while we’re there, but the area is geared to tourists, so there’s no shortage of stuff to do.

I took this picture on our trip to the Smoky Mountains last year.

Canadians inbound October/November: Richard, Chrystie & Ellie are coming to visit for a few days. They’re arriving on Halloween so we have plans to take Ellie trick-or-treating. We have a plethora of costumes I’ve been collecting for months to have for our little calendar girl’s modeling sessions, so we figure we could take turns taking her, change costumes between turns, and who’s gonna know she went round to the same houses half a dozen times??? Oh okay, so maybe once will be enough…

The above picture of our little angel is from last year's modeling sessions. I can't wait to see what cute pictures we get this year!

Florida bound in November: We’re headed for Sanford, a town near Orlando, Florida. No, we’re not going to Disney World, it’s King Family time for Thanksgiving. We’re going to visit the Sanford clan (Jess’s daughter Debra & her family). Jess’s oldest son, Randy (aka The Phantom Son – long story), is also coming down for a visit, so it ought to be a great family time.

Jess with the Sanfords at Emily's graduation earlier this year.

And December?? So far there are no plans for traveling, and I rather hope it stays that way. I think we’ll be ready for a rest by then!

There you have it – we're certainly staying busy in our part of the world!

Life’s happening!!!

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week Coming Up Soon!

If you have a chronic illness, you really should check out Rest Ministries. They have a lot of great resources you don't want to miss.

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week information is one of them. Here's a bit of information about this important week!
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Do you live with an invisible illness?

You aren't alone. National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 11-17, 2006 gives you a chance to feel "normal."

The statistics about illness are staggering:
+ Nearly 1 in 2 Americans has a chronic condition
+ 96% of illness is invisible. 60% of the ill are ages 18-60
+ The divorce rate is over 75% for the chronically ill
+ 70% of suicides have uncontrollable physical pain as a factor

Sponsored by HopeKeepers Magazine, This week's theme is ---
"My illness is invisible but my hope shines through!"

It's a designated time in which people who live with chronic illness, those that love them, and organizations are encouraged to educate the general public, churches, healthcare professionals and government officials about the impact of living with a chronic illness that is not visually apparent. Join us for this grassroots campaign to help spread the word that those with illness may look great, but are hurting and need compassion.

http://www.invisibleillness.com

A Change in Pain

We’ve had some much needed rain here, and for that I’m grateful. What I do NOT like is the pain that always accompanies the rain.

Having chronic pain from thoracic neuralgia, plus fibromyalgia, I’m accustomed to having various types of pain. However, when it’s “rain pain”, it’s usually a generalized ache, a kind of blah getting-the-flu kind of feeling, with really achy bones & muscles.

Last night was different.

The pain was in the left side of my chest, instead of the usual right side, and it was intense. For a while there, I was afraid I was having a heart attack. I came [this] close to asking someone to take me to the Emergency Room.

But the pain was worse when ribs were pressed, and upon taking deep breaths and various other clues that led me to believe the problem is intercostal chondritis. I had a bad episode many years ago. It can also be a sort of “side effect” with fibromyalgia. The cause is apparently unknown (so what’s new?).

What I do know is I really don’t need a new kind of pain.