I finally have some pictures from my garden for you!

These are about a week old, and things have (finally) started to really explode! I’m really happy about the growth, it was most likely a result of the weeks of horrific storms we had.

Here we have the right hand side of our plot — beans on the very right side of this picture, and then in the middle is a walkway. On the left side of the picture are three tomato plants.

Here we’ve got the left side of the garden (it is small, about 5 by 6 feet). The right hand side is where we now have some smaller tomato plants. Along the back (top of the picture) you can see the potatoes, and on the left hand side we have tons of stuff. I’ll start at the top – we have green onions, then basil, parsley, oregano (in the pot), and then the zucchini and squash plants. In the front corner we have some borage. Mom recommended it to me and brought it, and says it attracts the bees!

Here is the back row, mostly just detail of the potatoes, but on the left you can really see the green onions. On the right is our biggest tomato plant, which has currently grown over the top of the cage. Wow, right?

And here is a great picture Muum took of the borage flower. Pretty, right?

And so some new garden pictures are in order – soon, I promise!

An update on me and my health: my migraines are the same. THANKFULLY I am sleeping through the night more and more often. Something must be right. Hallelujah. The same pill is helping with the constant low-grade nausea. So that is also really nice. Feeling like I can eat what I want to and not feeling like certain foods or any food is going to make me puke.

The spinal headache is lessening. I’m not entirely certain it was a spinal headache — I think it was more an irritation of the nerves down there that flared up the headache I have with my back pain (not my migraine, but a lower-grade headache across the back and sometimes top of my head). It really flared up, so that it was at times (when I was standing and sitting) worse than my migraine pain. So a confusing situation. But that is improving thankfully.

I think that’s about it! My husband and I are about to start out on an adventure — but that’s all I can say for now! Soon I will fill in the details. And I will pre-empt any pregnancy guesses, it is not *that* adventure!

I don’t know why I haven’t been blogging — I”ve had time to, just no desire. It seems that I too often have bad news to share instead of GOOD NEWS!

There is goodish news on the headache front – my appointment with Nearby Fantastic Headache Specialist (NFHP) finally came around. This was for a 2nd opinion. So at last I go to see her – I had only seen her once before, a couple of years ago. I loved our appointment, and felt good about going back to see her and work with her! However, her next available appointment was 6 months away. To me, that’s 3 months of wasted time.
Follow me on this really quick: it takes 3 months to have a real trial of a migraine prevention drug. So then the next 3 months until I could see her would be wasted. I realize this is assuming the prevention drug won’t work — but let’s be honest — more than 4 years so far of ‘not working’. So I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being realistic.

So this was the impetus for me heading to the Chicago clinic in the beginning – not being able to see my NFHP. Feeling like I needed better care than I was receiving. SO.

I finally got to meet with my NFHP and the appointment went really well — not only was she listening to me, she was asking questions and UNDERSTANDING. She has migraines as well. Hallelujah. Something that I really liked was that we’re getting (slowly) off the medicines that aren’t doing anything to help. She believes in doing one thing at a time – I also have found this is important. Otherwise, if something works (or makes something worse), you don’t know which med it was.

All this to say I feel more comfortable with her – my NFHP – than I did with my Chicago specialist. I’ll refrain from listing the things I didn’t like about my Chicago specialist. That’s another post in itself.

So that is the good news about the headaches – I feel better about seeing this doctor. The bad news is that I can’t remember the last time I slept through the night. This is the deal – every night – I get to sleep, this always takes a while. Then I wake up 4 or so hours later. After getting back to sleep, it’s touch and go. I’m waking up, I’m tossing and turning. All morning. Until I give up and get out of bed.

And so. Onto the other, New Problem.

The new problem is back pain. Since December, my back’s been hurting again. This is an old injury, again another post in itself (maybe this is why I didn’t want to blog, too many long stories?). But it’s been under control for NINE LONG YEARS with Pilates. I do Pilates mat exercises every morning, I was trained nine years ago on the reformer, etc. It was great.

After on and off physical therapy that wasn’t working, I was referred to an orthopaedic specialist. He took an Xray and then decided he wanted an MRI for more detail – an MRI shows nerves, muscles and bones whereas an Xray (obviouslys) only shows bones.

So the MRI comes back and showed what he thought we would find. I have a herniated disc – that means it’s bulging and the disc itself is torn. The disc fluid is leaking out and causing inflammation because the body’s antibodies are attacking the fluid.

Tomorrow I have a cortisone shot, and my physical therapy exercises and Pilates exercises have been adjusted accordingly. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Well friends, my husband has (finally) debuted his own blog! I’m pleased

You can find him at http://blog.spencerkellis.net/. Check out his new corner of the internet and enjoy the photo he links to in his newest entry. Awesome.

I’ve got my window shades open, and there’s always lots to see. My neighborhood is full of young families, couples, and kids! Tons of kids. Tons of cute kids, doing cute kid things.

But the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while is a little guy who’s riding a trike by my window (riding fast) in a Batman mask and cape. He is way into it.

It’s been long enough, right? I can’t find my camera, so no pictures.

But the main news is that my back is still giving me lots of trouble. It’s been more than a month now acting up. So I started going to physical therapy again, it’s not working nearly as well this time as it did in January.

My physical therapist recommended that I see an orthopaedic doctor – someone in the same building who specializes in backs. In the back. In any case, that guy is (of course) booked out till mid-June. Such a familiar and depressing dance. I told Spencer I felt like we were starting that same chronic HA thing over again. What’s funny is that this has been going on (with my back) for years before – 14 years or so. But for so long it’s been really well under control.And I don’t know why this pain is back, it’s frustrating to be doing all these physical therapy appointments and getting no where. Frustrating to have *another* major set of pain symptoms to deal with.

I’m still hoping that this is all going to get wrapped up soon. That this will just have been a quick detour on my path. My path back towards normal life – and away from migraines!

On the migraine front, I’m seeing the Utah headache specialist on Monday for the first time in about a year. I liked her a lot, but her schedule is insanely busy. She said come back in 3 months! And I went out to schedule and she was booked 6 months out. So I wanted to see her for a 2nd opinion on how things are going w/me and my doc in Chicago. I’ll also see if she can fit me in any better – if she could fit me in for 3 month intervals.

Blech.

In other news, Spencer got his Master’s degree! That was fun, when I find my camera, I’ll put up some pictures (maybe just one picture?) of the festivities. He is still on his way towards a PhD, but this was a great chance to celebrate his accomplishments thus far. His parents flew in to celebrate, so that was really great. We got to spend time with the majority of Spencer’s family, and then had a joint picnic with both our families after the convocation! What a beautiful life we have.

I’m featured today on the Pain-Blog Carnival at the How to Cope with Pain blog!

Check it out, lots of other great articles as well!

You guys had a lot of good ideas for non-chocolate ice creams!I’m going to for sure look for some cake batter ice cream. Sounds delicious. I have a childhood hangup about sherbet. Not appealing.

This tooth ordeal has just been dragging on and on. Don’t know why. But the post is done, and I’m going to go in on the 27th to have the crown ’seated’. I’ve been able to chew on both sides of my mouth for a couple of days now. So THAT’S always nice.

In additional news, I have that sick feeling. BAH! Just in time for super fun family visits! Just keep your fingers crossed for me so that I can banish the sick.

Truly, I can do without chocolate. As far as something to not be able to eat, it could be much worse. For 1, my ‘reaction’ is a worse migraine. When I was normal, it would trigger a migraine. This isn’t an allergy or life threatening.
And so, it seems an awful lot like whining to even complain, doesn’t it?
Let us continue anyway.
I would much rather not be able to eat chocolate than other things — what if I was unable to eat dairy, wheat, EGGS! These kinds of things are not only great, but they are IN EVERYTHING!

And so avoidance is much easier – are these chocolate cookies? Yes or no. Honestly, I could live the rest of my life without chocolate. There are so many other delicious flavors, I will miss it — but not too much.

Here is my problem — ice cream.
I love ice cream more than I should. It’s ridiculous, really. But I love ice cream, nonetheless. My favorite flavor before all this was Moose Tracks. Delicious. Fudge swirls and mini peanut butter cups. What could be better? Nothing, I tell you. *le sigh*

But even without Moose Tracks, life goes on. What the problem is, is that ice cream makers put chocolate chips or fudge swirls into EVERYTHING and ANY flavor! This leaves me with the choices like vanilla (bean please, no french) and strawberry. Really, I could use better options.

So my question to you is this: what is your favorite ice cream flavor that does NOT have any chocolate in it?

So I had a long post written out with this title. And then Firefox, that trickster, crashed and lost all of it. Somehow. The draft page lied to me until the very end, telling me it had ‘autosaved’ my document. That must be code for ‘ignored’ because once Firefox came to, there was only the draft title left. It was blank. Argh.

That leaves me to recreate somewhat; the itching is improved. I still am itchier in general than normal, it is getting better all the time. Thankfully, if and when the itch gets too bad, I can just take some Benadryl and I’m over it.

On another sad front, I need a root canal. This is of course a long story of its own, starting with insane pain at 3 a.m. It ended at the dentists’ office and a week long struggle with insurance. So I have an appointment for April 7th and until then….I try to eat soft foods, and when the pain returns, I can take some ibuprofen. It is distinctly an unwelcome development, not only because of the pain, but also for the nonsense of me and dental work.

I’m one of those people who have bad teeth. It seems no matter what I do, my teeth are determined to deteriorate. Maybe if I cut sugar entirely from my diet? I have my doubts. I have prescription toothpaste and take *such* good care of my teeth. So it’s frustrating that every time I go to the dentist I have cavities. This time, I need a root canal and a crown! This is the most major work I’ve had to have done. And it’s unfortunately that I certainly have more of it in my future.

But onto more pleasant topics. Like the fact that my doctor’s office FINALLY sent through the prior auth paperwork on the Pristiq today, so my pharmacy was able to fill the prescription! Enjoyable. I’m going to try and take it in the morning because taking it at night (for some reason) has been making me wake up during the night a lot. So I’m hopeful that taking it in the morning I’ll be able to sleep more soundly!

So this week has been normal in all respects but one: I hae been itchy. Very itchy. I have had over 100 mosquito bites on my back (at once) and this is worse. It’s been mostly on my stomach, but sometimes the itchiness will hit on my neck, shoulders, back, arms… you get the idea.

I’ll get to itching, and I wish I had sandpaper instead of just my fingernails.

So that is the itching, and it appears to be a side effect (or mild allergic reaction) to one of my medicines. Good heavens, it has been ridiculous. I have talked to my doctor in Chicago, as well as my pharmacist and a few nurses in Chicago. The truth is no one knows what is causing it, and there is no rash. Good grief, as though I needed another mystery? No thank you.

It’s been going on all week. Thankfully it’s not like the pain (which is still all the time), but it comes on in the late afternoon and gets the worst at nighttime. Benadryl helps once I can’t take it anymore.
It’s more a matter of figuring this thing out. It’s not good, and we don’t know (yet) why this has been happening.