Bad Body!! No Biscuit!!

So I got the bionic knees which got rid of the osteoarthritis in my knees.  This is good, right?  Right.  But I've kept on taking the glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM because it helps with my pain.  Which turns out to be a Good Thing because now it seems that I'm starting to get osteo/arthritis in my elbows.  Oh boy.  I'm soooo excited!  Doc Jones didn't feel any crunchy noises in my wrists like she did in my elbows but that doesn't make my wrists hurt any less.  And of course I still have the lovely lovely stinging whenever I do too much.  At least I've been able to connect the tingling with Doing Too Much.  Now if I just knew why doing too much caused tingling.  Fibro?  Something else??  Anyone?  Beuller?  Anyone??

I'm still trying to figure out a way to type on my laptop without killing my wrists.  Right now I have it tilted on my legs, since my legs are propped up.  My right wrist is going, "Woman??  Wooooman??  What the heck do you think you're doing??"  Okay, it's 1800, I can take more pain meds.  Whoopdedoo.  I've been going through my collection of wrist braces again to no avail.  bleh.  Have you ever had one of those days when you want to start chopping off limbs??  If it weren't for that darn ole' phantom pain.  ::narrows eyes at phantom pain::  Poohbears!  And all of the cats have deserted me except Thomas who loves to take over my spot on the bed whenever I get up.  Mean ole' Thomas.  He's my oldest Tim*.  The funny thing is how much younger he looks than his littermate Zaphoid.  They're both 14.

"Ha!!  I have control of the bed!" - Thomas
"I will control the bed with my red & green lazer eyes" - Zapoid

One of my ChairCat designs.  This one isn't in the shop.  I have to limit what's in there.  I really need to take some time at some point and fix some stuff that's in the shop because I know that the graphics are off on some of the products.  meh.  Having to go in by hand over and over and over and and and can be ever so fun some days!  And SSD wonders why I don't have a day job.  ::rueful grin::  Seriously, that's why I only work on it about... um.... a couple of times a month maybe??

*Tim - a cat who has been broken & is no longer a Tom

To Sleep, Perchance to Delta Wave??

Last month I went to Vandy's Sleep Clinic and actually managed to get into the sleep study that night.  There was just one itsy bitsy teeny tiny problem.  My nurse got sick so I wasn't able to do the study.  meh.  Anyway, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting, wondering when someone was going to get in touch with me about rescheduling.  Yeah, yeah... I kept meaning to call up and ask them about it.  There are just two problems with that.  First, I have to remember to do it.  Second, I have to actually do it.  Oh yeah, there's number three... I have to actually remember to do as well as have the energy to do it and not get side-tracked and... what was it again??  Oh yeah, don't get into so much pain that I can't find the phone number.

Admittedly I did try yesterday!!  No, really I did!   I called up the phone number and everything everything!!  But then the Twilight Zone intervened.  Seriously, the Planet is in Retrograde.  I called at 1100.  Mind you, Vanderbilt Clinics are normally open from 0800 to 1600.  SoooOOOooo, if you call at 1100 you shouldn't be getting a voice saying, "This office is now closed.  Our normal business hours are... If this is an emergency..."  Uh??  ::twilight zone music::  Engage brain.  Engage brain.  Okay, worked this morning and I did the smart thing and went onto My Health.  Vandy has this cool feature where you can check out your test results, appointments, message your doc la la la la la.  YES!  I got onto My Health where I proceeded to:

1) message the sleep doc to say, "Yo!  I still need to have a sleep study done!"
     This resulted in a phone call about an hour later from someone going, 'OMG!!  What happened?!?  I can't believe we didn't contact you immediately!" Who proceeded to schedule me for tomorrow night.   I love Vandy.  Seriously, this woman must have apologized to me about five or six times for the office not calling me Right Away to reschedule.

2) message the gastroenterologist to say, "Ummm, I haven't heard about the biopsies... are we copocetic there??"  Seriously, I'm sure we are or they would have called but with the Planet in Retrograde...

3) sent an UberMessage to my neurologist telling her that Golly Gee Whiz I really wouldn't rather wait until July to see you cus'
     a) my headaches aren't getting any better... wheee!
     b) I'm tingling when I become more active; first it was just my arms, then from the waist up & now it's heaing into the hips & legs... wheeeee!  Doncha just love electrical stinging from the inside out??  ::grin::
     c) My pcp, Doc Jones (all hail Doc Jones, for whom I drive 45 miles just to see... she's just That Darn Good™!) had a gazillion vials of blood drawn... okay, maybe it wasn't a gazillion... it just felt like that!  She's looking for rheumatoid factor, immunoassay IgA la la la which will be interesting to see since my Darling Daughter's gastroenterologist had two blood tests done which ended up with her having another test done at Doc Jones' office (she's a Family Practitioner, Jen'll be 18 in August), which got sent to an oncologist who wants her referred to an immunologist at Vandy (see a pattern here?) because he thinks Jen might have IgA deficiency.  Wheeeee!


Now it's time to collapse in exhaustion.  Take five million more meds... oh wait!  I did that one already.  But things can't be too awful bad because there aren't any cats in the room.  You see, there's a reason this blog is called Coping With Cats.  The cats help me cope with a lot of the stuff.  They purr and cuddle and let other people know when I'm in really really really bad shape.  They also let me know when I need to get off the computer.  ::grin::  Like... uh... now!!  But first I'll put up a note on LJ.  Welcome.  Please feel free to comment, boost the signal, and join the ride.

"Mmmmmm.  See, if you scritch me you'll feel better."

-Lady Audrey Nova StarWatcher