Pdoc, Sleeping & Cats...

So today I went to see my pdoc.  Dr. Baron is cool.  He specializes in pain patients which kicks since in addition to my ever so lovely bipolar & PTSD I've got chronic myofasical pain (last pain-free day was Oct '87) & fibromyalgia lalala yada yada yada.  I got rid of the osteoarthritis in my knees when I got bionic knees in 2010 but now I've got the joy of arthritis in my other joints.  wheeeee!  The weather right now is rainy rainy righty wristy going crazy.  I'm totally right-sided, even though I'm slightly ambidextrous, and that's where I have tons of fun stuff going on.  I double dislocated my right ankle a few years ago and it hasn't been right (no pun intended) ever since.  I was in a cast for some time but the swelling hasn't ever gone down.  I'm constantly straining it.  And because I have to compensate for it... well, you get the picture.  Where was I?

Oh yeah.  Dr. Baron.  He asked how I was.  HA!  I just lost my first appeal for SSD.  SSD seems to think I'm perfectly capable of working.  Well, I went to Nashvegas to see Dr. Baron today.  I didn't have anyone who could take me.  This means I won't be able to leave my house for two days.  Right now my pain level is at an 8.  With the percocet.  I'm depressed, anxious, in pain, and living on the edge.  On Thursday night I get to have a titration study because the sleep study found that contrary to the last sleep study I had a couple of years ago, now I have sleep apnea.  Wheeeeee!  Hello, you stop breathing at least 7 times an hour while you sleep.  Oh?  Really?  Okay.  That sounds like fun.

So, what was I talking about?  Oh yeah.  Dr. Baron.  He's upping one of my meds & gave me something prn for anxiety.  This is good.  I spent the weekend nursing the 'baby' of the house Audrey.  She's 10 months old and had a fever of 105.8 which was 106 when the vet met us at his office on Saturday.  He said it was a good thing we'd taken her in because we'd probably have lost her if we'd waited until Monday.  I trust my gut.  So, even though my husband thinks "oh we can just do it ourselves and save the money" my gut says go with the lawyer for the second SSD appeal.  I'm not in any shape to do it.  But Audrey got better very quickly and by yesterday was back to playing with her hair bands and making me laugh.  Laughter is good.  It helps.

I had four cats hanging around with me this afternoon once I got home.  I haven't had fewer than two on the bed with me.  They know what kind of shape mom is in and they want to make me feel better.  Cats help me cope.  I'm just trying to figure out who's going to clean their litterboxes when the kids graduate college.  ::rueful grin::

Audrey & Star managed to talk Jennifer & Corwyn into fixing me dinner.

Two Things...

First, my 'baby' Star isn't feeling well.  I took him to the vet yesterday for an emergency visit because his eye was looking bad.  The vet gave him some drops & told me to call if he started getting worse over the weekend.  So, of course, last night he got out (he's an indoor/outdoor cat, which I'd tried to avoid when we moved here in '05 to no avail) and returned with a wet head with two sores.  ::head:laptop::  Since it's Easter and he seems to be feeling okay otherwise I may wait until tomorrow morning to take him back into our vet.

I'd also like to share one of my favorite books on fibromyalgia & chronic myofasical pain.  A friend of ours recommended it to me and I found a copy on eBay.  It's called Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual (Second Edition) by Devin Starlanyl & Mary Ellen Copeland. (ISBN 1-57224-238-8).  It's got good sections on trigger points, comorbid disorders and so on.

Okay, gotta run.

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