I SURVIVED! Sort of!

I SURVIVED!

After a horrible weekend due to the cold front, I felt really good on Monday.  I decided to take my little man Shane to the movies, then I had to go to a church council meeting, and finally I decided to go shopping.  I got home around 9:00 p.m. and was exhausted.

Tuesday I got up and cooked 2 turkeys, and made a double batch of my broccoli, rice and cheese casserole for our big family Thanksgiving/Family Reunion on Thursday.  I also did about 7 loads of laundry.  I still felt good, but my shoulders were a little sore.

Wednesday morning I went and picked up my mom around 8:15 so that we could go see the spine doctor (we both had appointments).  Doctor wants me to get an MRI and said I could go back to the chiropractor for now (yay me).  After our appointments my mom wanted to go to the mall to return some boots she had bought the day before.  We ended up getting makeovers (I got some makeup courtesy of my mom) and going to a late lunch.  After I dropped her off I headed to my nail appointment.  While I was there, my hubby called me and asked me to stop at the store and pick up some things we still needed for Thanksgiving.  I ended up getting home around 7:00 p.m. I was exhausted, a little more sore, but still moving.

Thursday 36 people (including my family) were crowded into my house for our first ever family reunion.  We hadn't all been together in over 13 years (see pictures on left sidebar).  My mom (the oldest sibling) called her other 3 siblings and told them that they needed to get all of their children and grandchildren to come down for Thanksgiving.  She didn't ask, she demanded!  My 89 year old grandfather was recently diagnosed with stage 4 skin cancer, and has decided he isn't going to get any treatments for it.  So my mom let everyone know that we may not have many more holidays with him.  So all 32 family members joined the 4 of us at my house for a wonderful day of love, laughter, and lots of memories.  I'm glad my body was still cooperating!

Friday and today I AM IN PAIN!!! My feet burn, my back is killing me, my shoulders feel like someone is stabbing me, and I have a monster headache!  The pain is worth the week I had.  I'm using the weekend to recuperate so that I'm work ready on Monday!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I know I did!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Feeling Better Until...

I called the orthopedist Monday to see if I could get an appointment.  After 4 weeks at the chiropractor I was starting to get new pains.  I went in with lower back pain and ended up with neck and middle back pains.  I was getting headaches every time he did an adjustment to my neck. 

My regular orthopedist couldn't fit me in until December 13th.  When I told the receptionist about my back and neck pain, she said they just added a new partner who was a spine specialist. I talked to his receptionist and was able to schedule an appointment for this coming Wednesday (thank goodness I'm on Thanksgiving break and don't have to take another day off).  She also told me to stop going to the chiropractor until they could determine if I had any other problems.

So after a week away from the chiropractor I was starting to feel better and was looking forward to a fun filled weekend until....

Yep a cold front moved into my desert city bringing rain, sleet, and temperatures in the 30s.  All week long we had weather in the 70s, and then Friday morning it got cold and windy.  By Friday afternoon it had dropped into the mid 40s.  Since yesterday it hasn't gotten above 37 degrees.  So of course everything hurts again.  Luckily by tomorrow this cold front will move out of the area, and things will warm up some. 

Hopefully things get better soon, I'm hosting Thanksgiving! My mom's entire family is coming into town (all 39 of us in my house).  Going to be a fun filled stress free week! NOT!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Cold Spots! Should I Be Worried?

Every once in a while I get this very weird cold sensation in my head.  I've had it on the top, the back, and the sides.  It feels like I have an ice pack on my head, you know the sensation, kind of cold and wet.  When I touch the spot that feels cold on the inside, I can't feel it on the outside.  It never last longer than a couple of minutes, and it doesn't cause any pain. 

It always happens at night, and always while I'm watching TV.  It doesn't matter if I'm sitting, lying on my side or lying on my stomach.  I can go weeks without it happening, and then it will happen every day for a couple of weeks.  I tried looking up information on the Internet, but there are too many sites to dig through and the information is not very helpful.

My question is, does anyone else ever have this happen to them?  Is this all in my head(literally), or should I be concerned?  Love to hear from you all!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Easily Bored!

I'm the type of person who gets easily bored with things.  I want my hair long, no I want it short, no I want it short with red highlights, no I want it layered with blond highlights, give me bangs (that was a mistake), wait I want it one length with purple highlights (what I currently have on my head).  I have had every one of those hair styles and then some. 

The same goes with my blog.  I want it purple (my favorite color), no I want it blue, wait the rain background is cool, no let's get the cool orange and pinkish splattery abstract background.  I like to change my blog around, and get ideas from other blogs.  The problem is dealing with the font.  I used to love playing with the different fonts and going all cutesy and fancy.  Then I realized that cutesy and fancy isn't always that easy to read for someone with fibro.

Back in September I posted about the fact that my vision is getting blurry.  This is becoming a daily problem, since I spend all day reading and writing with my 5th graders.  By the time I get home, my eyes are tired and my vision is super blurry.  I find that I am constantly hitting the zoom button on my computer in order to read some blogs (please do not be offended if you have cutesy fonts, this is not my intention).  It's made me more self conscious about my own blog. 

I was bored with my blog and decided to change to fall colors.  This took some doing.  I had to make sure the colors weren't too bright, the font was easily read, and that it wouldn't hurt the eyes.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  I miss my fancy fonts, but at least it doesn't bother my eyes.  I hope everyone finds it eye appealing, if not leave me a comment on how I can make it better.  Hurry before I get bored again and change the whole thing!

Gentle Hugs,
Easily Bored Bonnie

Fibro Warrior of the Week! Yay!

I want to send a big hug and a big thank you to Julie at Counting My Spoons for making me her Fibro Warrior of the Week!

Thank You Julie!

Gentle Hugs to All,
Bonnie

Snap! Crackle! Pop! Redux!

I've been going to the chiropractor for almost 4 weeks now (3 times a week).  Four weeks of getting deep tissue massages, physical therapy, electrical stimulation, and my favorite adjustments.  My lower back is actually starting to feel a little better. 

The massage therapist is determined to get rid of all the knots in my neck, shoulders, and glutes by torturing me with deep tissue massages.  She hasn't been able to make a dent in the knots yet, and let me tell you she's not giving up.  It's 15 minutes of pure torture, and I walk out of the room light headed and feeling like she took a bat to my back.

I definitely look like this after a massage and adjustment!

The physical therapy part isn't bad.  They have me doing several stretches and exercises to help my back.  I don't mind the adjustment on my back, but the neck freaks me out every time.  I keep expecting for my head to come flying right off my shoulders.  Every time they adjust my neck I swear I see stars! After a session, I'm pretty much finished for the rest of the night.  I come home and just collapse!

They did a scan of my feet, and now I'm getting orthotics because apparently when I walk I don't put any weight on my big toes.  I'm actually having to learn how to walk all over again.  Apparently this is also a cause of my balance issues.  I thought I was just super clumsy!  Thank goodness my insurance is covering this, because the orthotics are expensive.

After looking at my x-rays, the doctor was amazed that the only part of my body I don't complain about pain is the part that has arthritis (vertebrae T11 and T12).  I guess I'm just lucky that way!

Photo Courtesy of www.yogaback.com

So I will continue to go get tortured 3 times a week, and wait for that magical day when I don't walk out of there feeling like I was mugged.  They say it's going to happen! Fingers crossed!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

I Tweaked My Sign!

I decided to tweak my drawing (still not an artist) and am really considering printing it out and making it a sign to put in my window! Let me know what you think!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

To Park or Not to Park! Now that is truly the question!

 

Living with a chronic illness is bad enough, but living with an invisible chronic illness is horrible beyond words.  

I recently got my permanent disabled parking plates for my vehicle.  I often feel guilty using them because of the looks people give me when I get out of my truck.  You know the look?  The "how dare you park there when you are obviously healthy" look.   The look that makes you want to start limping and dragging your leg as you walk.  The look that makes you want to explain why you dare to park in that sacred space. The look that makes you want to scream "I dare to park here because I hurt all over, my feet feel like they're on fire and I'm walking on glass, my lower back and neck feel like someone is stabbing me constantly, and my head feels like it's about to explode!"  

Yes I look normal! I don't look like I fall under the permanently disabled category! In fact there are days when I don't use the spaces provided, but I'm so happy they are there when I need them.  Please quit looking at me as if I'm doing something wrong.  

I think that the fact that the signs have a wheelchair on them doesn't help those of us with an invisible illness.  Most people see those signs and think only those in a wheelchair should be allowed to park there.  Even my plates have the wheelchair symbol on them.  I think if they changed the signs to something like this:

Warning! Pain All Over!

people might be more compassionate to those of us with an invisible illness.  I'm just saying! So for now I will try not to feel guilty when I use that space.  Maybe I'll print my drawing (I never claimed to be an artist), turn it into a magnetic sign, an put it on the back of my truck!  Think people will get the hint?

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Rude Awakenings!

photo courtesy of: http://ic.steadyhealth.com/leg_cramps_and_potassium.html

muchphoto courtesy of : http://diabetes.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-what-your-feet-say

There is nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night with a Charley Horse Leg Cramp.  I'm sure everyone has had a couple of these in their lifetimes right?  Well early this morning I was not woken up by a Charley Horse in my calf, I was woken up with Charley Horses in both calves and the toes of both feet.  Talk about rude awakenings!

For about 2 minutes (though it seemed like a lot longer) I tried to relax my muscles and not tense up.  I have learned from the past that stretching out my muscles only makes the cramps worse, and that the best thing I can do is to try breathing through the pain until the cramp subsides.  This is not always the easiest thing to do, but I always manage.

I have never had both legs cramp up at the same time, and I never in my life had my toes cramp up.  My toes were bent in some very weird positions.  If it hadn't hurt so much I might have found it amusing.  My legs and my toes are sore today, but at least they don't look funny anymore!  I'm guessing that I'm dehydrated and low on potassium, so lots of water and bananas for me today.  Only problem is, I can't eat bananas by themselves (the scent of the banana is too strong for me and makes me gag), so I guess I will have to sacrifice and have a banana split! Oh Darn!

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.baskinrobbinsmea.com/

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie