Meme from Blackbird

Two things for you today. First, since I cannot keep a good thing quiet, is the link to a fantastic recipe. It’s a chicken pot pie, and one of the best I’ve ever had.

Second is this meme – I stole it from Blackbird. Let me know if you do it – for some reason, I continue to enjoy doing these. I’d have thought the appeal would wane, but no!

This one is a one word challenge –

Cell phone? Red

Hair? Brown

Mother? Loving

Father? Musical

Favorite Food? Sweet

Dream last night? Wacky

Drink? Water

Dream/Goal? Music

Room you are in? Living

Hobby? Jewelry

Fear? Ferris

Where do you see yourself in 6 years? Mother

Something you are not? Athletic

Favorite Muffins? Cranberry

Wish list item? Shoes!

Where did you grow up? Ohio

What is the last thing you did? Iced

What are you wearing? Pajamas

Favorite TV Show? Office

Pets? None

Friends? Yes

Your life? Blessed

Your mood? Happy

Facebook? Yes

Favorite place to eat? Indian

Missing Someone? No

Your vehicle? Honda

What you aren’t wearing? Earrings

Favorite Store? Gap

Favorite Color? Blue

Last time you laughed? Minutes

Last time you cried? Sunday

Best friend? Spencer

Place you go to over and over? Library

A very strange day, indeed

Well yesterday was such a crazy day, I had to write about it. No pictures, you’ll thank me later.

I wanted to make some crystallized ginger. It is SO GOOD in ginger cookies, and it is also really expensive. So I was thrilled when I found this tutorial for making it at home!

I began peeling — this took a while, as I figured it would. During the peeling, I managed to peel off a little skin from my knuckle. Oops! But got a bandaid on that and stuck a fork into my ginger while I peeled it — keeping it further from my hands. This worked great. Finally it was all peeled, and time to cut up the ginger into smaller pieces. I had a few done when all of a sudden I cut part of my finger! It is my left ring finger and I cut part of my nail and some of my skin. My stomach sank and I started feeling nauseated. It started bleeding.

Iwent to get a rag and covered it, put pressure on the cut, yadda yadda. Now I started feeling dizzy. I was worried I was losing a lot of blood and decided I’d better call my husband – I didn’t know if it needed stitches, and couldn’t get a good look at the actual cut. I called my husband and he said he’d call some of our neighbors, because it would take him 1/2 and hour to get home. I hung up with him and was feeling really dizzy now. I knew I should sit down. On my way to doing that, I hit my head on the corner of the fridge and passed out. I came to in the dining room (no idea why or how I got there) and was feeling yucky. I had that cold sweat come over me, and I started out to the front room with my shoes (in case I needed to leave?), when I lay down and puked on the floor.

I can’t remember the last time I puked and DIDN’T puke in the toilet. So that was weird, and gross. A few minutes later Spencer called back to say that our neighbor was coming over. She’s a nurse. I told him I didn’t think my cut was that bad — didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore. I also told him (I think) that I passed out and threw up. He said he was coming as quickly as he could and that I just needed to let our neighbor (let’s call her C) in when she knocked.

C came in and got things taken care of. She looked at the cut and said it’d be fine – then wrapped it up in the rag again. I couldn’t believe the nonsense that this cut had caused, especially when it wasn’t even a bad cut. She got me up on my couch and laying down – gave me ice packs for my head. I was starting to feel better. Then she proceeded to clean up my puke. Yikes, I tried to tell her to leave it and my husband would clean it up when he got home. She said, ‘No, no, I’m a mom, this isn’t a big deal.’ What a sweet neighbor.

And so – I apparently don’t like to see my own blood. Learn something new everyday, right?

More on the pain clinic.

So again, I have taken kind of longer than is necessary to post about my pain clinic appointments. I have no idea why. I find the whole situation a little depressing. I am frustrated by these new limits; not being able to walk much without pain, stand long without pain, and chairs I used to find quite comfortable I can now get so much pain sitting in. Blah blah – on to the hope and the plans.

I went in last Friday to hear what my pain doctor, Dr. D., had in store. What his treatment plan was for me. I brought Spencer along, for two reasons. 1, so he could hear the whole thing straight from the horse’s mouth and 2, he could ask any questions right then. So Dr. D said that after talking with everyone (pharmacist, therapist, physical therapist), he thought that the headaches were even more of an issue than the back pain. Yes, I said. Well, he believes he can help and would like to work concurrently on the headaches while trying to improve my back. I have my doubts, but I’m game. Of course I spent more than a year at this clinic, trying to help my headaches. There was no improvement, but lots of exploration. Dr. D says he ‘does things differently’ — he would like to try some injections in different parts of my head. Actually sounds a lot like what I did with the last pain clinic doc, but we shall see.

So that’s something I hadn’t anticipated, and while I’m not at all looking forward to the injections (they are incredibly painful), who knows? It just might help.

The plan for my back is this; start out with physical therapy and possibly onto injections (more?!). The problem appears to be two-fold, there is the herniated disc and in the same region, problems with my facet joints. I’m still reading up about this and learning what they are, what is wrong with them, etc. But they are at least part of the problem. How big a part remains to be seen. There are more options (which we discussed) for after PT and injections — implants and other scary type things. Those are off in the future if we can’t find pain relief from the PT and/or injections.

Sorry if this is rambling and/or doesn’t make sense – I slept poorly (again) last night.

His other thoughts about my headaches were…not impressive. My husband mentioned he seemed a little overconfident. I think that’s supposed to inspire confidence, but sometimes doctors actually make me feel less confident about their capacity to help. Also, the winking? What the heck. Ok, so his thoughts were that my medicines were that they were ‘random’ and that there were some that aren’t doing anything and we should discontinue some. Wellllll, subject the first, I feel like maybe he’s forgotten that he’s jumping into a 5 year ongoing situation. This isn’t new, and the reason the meds seem random are that they’ve been added by different doctors – most of them treat symptoms of the problem (nausea, sleep and pain) and not the problem itself BECAUSE we have tried so many preventative meds without success. The few that I’m on now actually help me. I just got off half a dozen meds that weren’t helping me. Pfft. I’m sure we’ll have more discussion on that later.
So then this last Tuesday I went to my first PT appointment. I like my physical therapist, she’s nice and she realizes that I have some idea of what’s going on. I have dealt with the back pain for a long time, and I feel like she understands the importance of my symptoms as well as my limitations. That said, we had our first session and she taught me a few very gentle stretches. I mean gentle, easy. I’m supposed to do them three times a day. After I got home from my PT session, my neck and upper back was hurting. Also, the headache across the back of my head (tension HA that goes with my back hurting) was worse. But I figured that maybe I just needed to keep at it and things would improve. This turned out to be wishful thinking, and a day and a half into it, I was still dealing with this extra pain. No relief; extra pain. Soooo I called and left a message for her Thursday, she hasn’t returned it yet. I decided on my own to discontinue the stretches and hope the extra pain would at least go away in time for my *next* appointment, this coming Tuesday. My neck still hurts quite a bit.

That’s it! That’s my update!

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On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, have you seen the Droid (phone) commercials? I’ve only seen a few hundred. They are pretty good, as far as cell phone commercials go. I was going to put a video in,  but I can’t find one that includes the section I’m talking about. At the VERY very end, in tiny print at the bottom of the screen, it says that Droid is trademarked by Lucasfilms. Lucas trademarked the WORD droid. That is pure awesomeness. Do you think that means they are getting royalties from the sales of the Droid?

Wow.

I’m totally impressed by that.

Vacation coverage continues!

Welcome back! This is in Shore Acres park on the Oregon Coast. Here was my favorite part of the park, there were calla lilies growing around this pond. These are my favorite flower, I used them for my wedding. So graceful!

In that same pond was this lovely set of sculptures. Ibis? I don’t know. But they are lovely.

And in the same pond (sorry) were these amazing water lilies – so PINK!

Now, it’s kind of hard to see her, but my Muum is seriously checking out this tree, trying to discern its name. But from this angle, I thought it looked an awful lot like she was holding it up. She didn’t even know I took it – oh snap!

Here is the coast at the Shore Acres park – beautiful. There were sea lions, but I didn’t want any pictures of them.

And here’s another view. Beautiful.

This was at a grocery store in Oregon. I was a little…taken aback? By this blatant generic take on Dr. Pepper.

Apparently Safeway’s. Whaaaat? More coverage to come. 

I promise to return to the vacation footage shortly…

but this happened yesterday and I really think you should see it. Especially if you could use a laugh.

Thoughts on Chocolate – or, more accurately, a life without.

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?

long overdue update

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!

A meme from my MIL

I have so little news these days – just trying to ride out the headaches. I did make my appointment for the headache clinic in Chicago – for March 5th. I’m going all in one day again. It seems like traveling is really hard on my migraines (not surprising), and so getting it all over with in one day is better than having two miserable days in a row.  

I’m in emails with my doctor (@ the headache clinic) to find out whether we’ll stay at this higher level of Tegretol and Baclofen. I had some blood tests recently – so we shall see!

It is also worth mentioning that the phlebotomist who took my blood got it in ONE STICK. This is like a miracle. It was pleasant. Onto the meme!

Four, Four, Four, Four…

A) Four places that I go to over and over

Smith’s (grocery store), church, the library, and Sam’s Club (my pharmacy!)

Let me know in the comments if you join in!   

tales of tomatoes i have known…

well due to a auspicious comment left by my muum, i came to realize that my tiny orange tomatoes were actually ripe! what great news! the only thing is, their size left a little to be desired. when i say tiny….well, have a look for yourself:

luckily, they were delicious. also fortunate is the fact that i have a few more still on the plant – they are green, but soon will be ripe! and a little bigger.

then, just a few days later i bought some tomatoes at the store. i was cutting them up for some sauteed vegetables, when look who was looking back at me!?! this evil little grin –

reminded me of caryn’s happy bell pepper. er, that would be ‘The Placid Pepper of Eternal Happiness’. she’s a writer, after all. when she writes a blog entry, it sounds good!

Pain — has an Element of Blank — By Emily Dickinson

Pain — has an Element of Blank
It cannot recollect
When it begun — or if there were
A time when it was not –

It has no Future — but itself –
Its Infinite contain
Its Past — enlightened to perceive
New Periods — of Pain.

the nausea seems to have passed! thank goodness! it wasn’t taking it at night that helped, because unfortunately for me, the effexor is an extended release. so i was nauseous no matter when i took it. BUT my body slowly got used to it. and now i am much improved. if we could just do something about this pounding pain in my temple… 

the moving in is coming along, slowly but surely. i disappeared for a little while there — we were at a family reunion (spencer’s family) up in sundance. ooh, it is gorgeous up there! so pretty. did i take any pictures? no. but when my dear husband posts some, i’ll link to them for you. the reunion was good, but it was a little disconcerting to come back to an apartment full of boxes. so much work yet to do! today i did the first set of laundry and grocery shopping since we’ve been in the new place. seems crazy to be bringing more things INTO the house!

on a parting note, my husband posted this photoblog entry the other week — he calls it ‘Waiting’. love it! i promise i’m not angry, just bored. and i’m sure i didn’t realize he was taking my picture.