If It's Not One Thing...

Then it's gotta be three others... I managed to make it through my daughter's graduation and dinner afterwards but by then she was done to a fare-thee-well and I was worse.  So I wasn't able to go to my son's Spring choral recital.  Fortunately my dad recorded it!   She graduated on the 21st.  I'm still recovering.  I still have the bruise on my left wrist/arm from where I went down the Ramp From Hell in my wheelchair.  I couldn't get my chair to slow down even trying to stop the wheels with my racing gloves on and regardless of what the idjet woman in the orange vest said to my son about how he should have helped me (yes, the one who didn't even hop up to help) he wouldn't have been able to stop me unless he'd been pushing me from the start and even then he'd have had a hard time!!  Like I said, Ramp From Hell.  All architects... wait, make that all architects AND building inspectors yada yada, should be required to spend a week... no wait, make that TWO WEEKS using crutches, then two weeks on a cane and then two weeks in a chair... all of them with various body parts in devices that don't allow them to have various levels of 'disability'.  And I hate to tell these people something but Gee Golly Whillikers!

Okay... falling asleep now!!  More latter!!

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.

Sleep Apnea & the House... meh

Dr. McGovern from Vanderbilt's Sleeping Disorder called me today.  My AHI is 8.5 so yep, I have mild Sleep Apnea.  wheeee!  The last sleep study I have a few years ago only showed I wasn't reaching Delta sleep.  So I now have an appointment for a titration study on May 5th.  It's so wonderful finding out that you stop breathing 7+ times an hour while you're sleeping.  But at least now I know why I don't feel rested when I wake up.  ::sigh::

Right now my ears hurt... again.  It's another thing that's been driving me nuts.  Along with my headaches being more and more and more... meh.  And I'm starting to agree with Dale that the house is being the House from Hell.  I mean, I've always had a wee bit of trouble with the fact that it's not all one level but I like the 24' above ground pool outside because it gives me a place to exercise in the late spring, summer & early fall.  I like the floors in the living room and the upper level bedroom because they're made from church pews.  But there are problems..

This is the worst of it.  The front bathroom.  There was no way to tell when we moved it.  No way I guess since he didn't say anything, for the inspector to catch it.  But the walls around the tub were done in regular drywall and NOT greenwall the way you're supposed to do with bathrooms.  The house needs painting.  The windows need sealing.  The gutters need replacing and we'd really like to replace the wood siding that's on the section that was added onto the brick.  It was the garage.  If we could afford to replace it with vinyl or something we wouldn't have to repaint it.  I don't even want to think about other things that might need to be done.  And in the realm of dreams would be redoing the master bed/bath.  Our closet is small and if I had a genie to give me whatever I wanted I'd change the bath into a walk-in closet, our current closet into a linen closet (we have none at the moment) and make a larger bathroom with a longer/deeper tub, a double sink & a higher toilet.  Then I'd enclose the patio area so the cats could roam 'outside' and maybe put a roof on in hopes I could heat the pool and use it in the winter.  While we're at it, maybe a hot tub!  ::grin::  Where's the lottery when you need it?  Not likely!  I just got turned down on my first appeal for SSD.  Which means I'll need to get a lawyer or I can hang it up.  And I can not work, no matter what they think I can do.  ::head:laptop::

Must... Not... Fall... Asleep... ... ... YET

You can't nap on the day of a sleep study.  You can not nap on the day of a sleep study.  You can not nap on the day of a sleep study.  If I just keep telling myself this maybe, just maybe I can keep from falling asleep.  Riiiiiight.  In other news, Jen stayed home with yet another Major Panic Attack, which I wonder if it may be connected to her cycle.  I noticed a pill pack on the kitchen floor & picked it up.  Errrrrm??  Full.  Ask the girlchild, "Uh.  Shouldn't you have started these already?"  "I thought I already had!!"  "Ummm, no.  Apparently not."  ::sigh::

[teens stop reading here... no, really]
Boychick managed to get a ride home from a fellow choir member who knows his sister.  (Okay, everyone can now expire in shock.)  I'm going to stop typing, which is sure to make my wrists/arms happy... or at least one can hope!!  Then I'll shut the laptop down, take a soaky bath and head up to Nashvegas.  Jen is hanging out at her dad's house this weekend.  He'll be busy but I have the feeling that she's planning on grabbing her step-mom & going out for shopping therapy anyway.  ::grin::  Which is fine by me, I can't afford it, Jen wants sandals with heels and I know that her step-mom has good taste in shoes.  Now if Jen would just stop having a frelling panic attack in the corner because she doesn't want to put her contacts in.  I'm not sure how to deal with it and it's driving me nuts right now because I can't.

It makes me feel worse which makes her feel worse which makes me.... gaaaaaaaaah!!  Whew.  Now she's calming down.  It's extremely frustrating.  Especially when she tells me that I'm mad when I'm not.  Sorry, but telling me I'm mad when I'm not mad is more likely to make me feel mad!  arrrrrrgh!!  It's like a double standard.  And the really weird thing is that I don't tell her how she feels.  ::sigh::  Okay, getting off of computer now.

Bipolar Countdown C

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