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.

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time out from vacation…

for another update on health.

This one is all about my back. Friday I saw my orthopaedic specialist (spell check says that should be Orthopedist) — this was my followup with him regarding the cortisone injection.

We discussed how it went, how badly it went afterward, and so then it was onward to the future. Basically he referred me back to my physical therapist. If you’re sitting there thinking, wait, isn’t that who referred you to the Orthopedist? you would be correct. But nonetheless, he says he thinks I will be best served by core strengthening exercises in neutral positions.

For the record, I was doing those before the pain started… in any case, I’ve been doing the revamped version since I got it. And somehow the pain is still here. Not only that, it is shooting down my legs more often and today even went down my arm! How’s that for a new trick.

I asked my ortho dr. about my concerns – trouble I was having walking/limping, and etc. He said better (for me) to walk correctly than comfortably (i.e. try not to limp even if it feels better) and that he didn’t have many suggestions beyond that. He recommended craniosacral therapy, but didn’t know much about it and could not recommend any providers. He said the PT could (she did). Still, doesn’t instill a lot of faith when this is your recommendation. You really think this is going to help? Hmmm…

So today I was back to the physical therapist. Thinking we were in for new exercises or something. No, she said we’ve basically taught you all you need, just keep challenging yourself to do better every week. She had the name of a craniosacro…ligist? and gave that to me. She also mentioned that going to the pain clinic was a good option.

When I got home from my Ortho appointment last friday, I could see where this was going, and just about came undone. It is looming before me — I’ve been through it once and so I can see the similarities all too well. This is becoming A Problem No One Knows How to Fix. I guess it’s been that all along, I had just hit on a kind of a solution myself for 9 years and had the audacity to think that was it.

So although I am less than impressed with what I’ve read about craniosacral therapy, I do know the people at the pain clinic well and have hopes that they could help me there.

The UNDONE feeling is just…that I don’t want more pain. If there’s one thing I don’t need, it’s more pain. Another situation to deal with, another group of symptoms to monitor, and all the while more pain. Of course everything now has to interact with migraine meds and chronic migraine needs. I woke up this morning wanting to throw plates against a brick wall and scream. I didn’t….but I still kinda feel like it.

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The mystery; revealed!

Actually, the mystery is pretty much gone. Assuming I am friends with you on facebook or you read my husband’s blog — you already know!

We went on a long vacation. That was the adventure.     We drove up to Oregon to visit my Grandparents — some other relatives were there as well. It was fantastic to see them, and we saw so many beautiful things. I will post a few things as frequently as I can to tell you about our trip!

Today I”ll tell you about the beginning — the trip to Oregon! We went north through Utah and then through Idaho. We stopped for the night at Baker City, Oregon. Which looked like a cute little town, but we didn’t spend time looking around.

Here we are, being welcomed to Idaho! Yay!

The drive was long. Idaho looked a lot like this:

I liked the hills, they reminded me of suede from a distance. This is fuzzy, I guess that’s what you get for taking pictures from the camera!

Here I am hanging out in the car, waiting to get going again.

Now we’re in Oregon! Lush and green, mountains. Just like I remembered it. Beautiful.

This is a dilapidated house we saw on the side of the road. As my parents used to say, a real fixer-upper. There were tons of cows and sheep and horses grazing .

So this was an amazing view, the picture really doesn’t do it justice. But the water you see in the foreground is a river, and then the bright spot is the sun behind fog. We should’ve stopped to take pictures – then Spencer would have a better picture of it!

By now we’ve arrived at our destination in Oregon and met up with family. Most of my immediate family as well as much of my paternal extended family. We went to a garden and the roses there was just amazing.

This is a teaser for the next day’s blogging, the beginning of my pictures at Shore Acres garden. It is right near the ocean, and is just amazing. In this picture I was actually trying to focus on the calla lilies –  it looks like I was focused on the decorative…thing. But no.

More to come!

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Garden pictures at last and updates!

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!

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