Dr Stanton Says "You must stretch & exercise!"

So Monday I had an appointment with Dr. Stanton.  He's kinda like Dr. Kuntz, just that he works with bones, not nerves or muscles.  Anyway, he said my leg pain was because of my back.  I have a slight bulge between 4 or 5?  What does that mean?  I know the pain is around the bootie, so it's there.  Anyway again, he said that I have to do my PT stretches & exercise on the recumbent bike.  I have to keep it up because if my leg gets worse, he said that he can give me a steroid at the point they give epidurals (it's called the same thing). The trick is that if I keep up with all the exercise, when I get the shot, it could work for good! No more pain! If I don't keep up the exercise, it will only work temporarily.  So, far this week I have done gym once & stretches once.  Tomorrow it's the gym.  But first...

At 10am my lawyer is calling to make last minute catch up before I my hearing on Tuesday.  1st thing: I haven't even met her yet. I have been working with her paralegals up to now. 2nd thing: The hearing is Tuesday! I thought it was Thursday.  My nervousness is now heightened.  **yay**

At noon, I am meeting Joanne at Taco Bell in Londonderry to return her scanner she so graciously let Garrick & I borrow for the race.  I promised all the details I could give her, that she didn't see on TV.

After I need to go to the gym.  Then later we are off to Doug's for Exalted.

Saturday is the Deerfield Fair.  I am going to be bad & bring a walking stick.  I know I am not supposed to rely of them, but last year I didn't last a long time at the fair.  I want to enjoy myself more than pain & fair food.

Oh, and this week... average time of falling asleep? er... around 3 or 4am.  I will make sure I am in bed by midnight.  Can't let this keep up!  Anyone else having problems sleeping?  er, wait... I asked that before didn't I. Oops.  Christy

And then there's NASCAR

Ok - Last Thursday I saw the Nurse Practitioner about my peeling fingers & the pain in my right leg.  Yeah, not that productive.  Fingers - yet another form of Eczema.  *yay*.  My leg, well...hmmm.. she said she knew it wasn't a clot, which I didn't even thing of!!, but she doesn't know for sure since....you guessed it... it could be because of my Fibromyalgia or Osteoarthritis!! Wow.  You know just because I have these things doesn't mean everything that is painful for me is because of these things!!  Does anyone out there have that same problem???

Saturday morning I woke up with a shearing pain above my right eye & temple.  I get these periodically.  The hurt like hell (the most painful thing I have ever felt) & none of the doctors I see seem to worry about them at all.  I took some Migraine pain meds & slept for hours.  I felt better after I got up.

Well Saturday afternoon & on was nice! We went up to Middleton, we being Garrick, myself & Jolene, and worked the garden.  I want the first frost!! Sounds weird, but we have Kale & Parsnips that can't be harvested until the first frost.  Also at that point, my Dad wants us to harvest all the tomatoes to ripen inside.  For those who are not in the know.. my fathers tomatoes have taken over the garden and YET only the cherry tomatoes & the yellow pear tomatoes are ripening.  After the garden we went to Keith & Brooke's cookout.  Their house is amazing! I wish Garrick & I can get one.  Unfortunately, I first have to get Social Security,  we need to clean up more of our bills & then save up the down payment before we can even start to look at land or houses.  We have decided we want to go green, you know solar energy & such.  That's the closest we are to a house....thinking about it.  Anyway, at the party was Steve & Karen, Jolene, & Cari & Jon.  And the reason I am boring all of you with this information is because I felt great during the party.  I never feel good at parties for some reason, but this time... I seemed... healthy!  THEN CAME SATURDAY OVERNIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING...

Sunday.... Have I mentioned that one of the side effects you can have with Fibromyalgia is IBS?  Do you know what that is?? If not, it is Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  i.e.  YUCK!  That was @ 11:30-2am.  We needed to get up at 6am for the race (Louden - New Hampshire Motor Speedway - NASCAR).  I had like only 3 hours of sleep with a waking up Migraine. So I took the meds on top of not much sleep.  The race was great.  No blowout, exciting until the end.  (Thanks Joanne for letting us use your scanner!!)  Funny thing though, I felt myself starting to nod off numerous times..IN THE MIDDLE OF A NASCAR RACE.. a very loud race.  What is up with that??  So with that... Tony Stewart won by the way... I am exhausted... need sleep NOW! Night all.  Christy 

Yeah.... it's that time again?

Have you ever noticed that today, in this age, we can talk about anything.  We can talk about sex, drugs, etc... but there is one topic no one likes to talk about.  Do you know what it is?  If you are female you know all right!  Luckily, thanks to modern medicine, I only have to deal with that 4 times a year.  Unluckily for me it affects or effects, whatever, my Migraines, my Fibromyalgia, and my Osteoarthritis... all at once!  Yay! **scream**  Only a couple more days until I am back on.... CAN'T WAIT!

Other news, I saw my friend Joanne today!  It was great to see her!!  Because I'm stuck home most of the time, I don't get to see many people.  Not that I don't enjoy who I do see, it's just that I can count them on my fingers...and maybe a couple of toes.  It's just like adding another one of the toes! :)  Anyway, she looked great!  She's letting Garrick & I borrow her scanner for the race on Sunday.  Without one, after a while it just looks like cars going around in circles (no jokes guys).

Tomorrow I have an appointment to check out some problems that I don't think are linked to my aliments.  I have fingers that are peeling (eww) & my right leg gets pains from hip to ankle.  I thought it might be my knee with radiating pain, but when I take the pain pill for the arthritis, the knee feels better but the rest of the leg still hurts.  We will see what she says.

Sleep!

Okay, last couple of days, I have been sleeping pretty good.  In fact, maybe too much sleep.  **figures**  But I make fun.  I have been feeling pretty good the last couple of days.  Yesterday I had my latest MRI.  This one was of my lower back (& maybe my middle back??) at Exeter Hospital.  They are really nice there.  My Mom is right though, it is kind of like being in a white coffin.  I just closed my eyes & enjoyed the tunes of Frank Sinatra.  Last night we had dinner at Gordo's, really good burritos.  We then finished grocery shopping (what I didn't get to in the afternoon).

Last night my osteoarthritis started up in my hip.  The pain in my lower back hurt too.  But this morning, after I woke with the pain, I took something and woke up... jeez... maybe around 12-1pm?  Been tired ever since.  This evening I didn't go with Garrick to Doug's because my legs were starting to bother me & I kept falling asleep anyway.

Tomorrow is the final try-out for the Variety Show.  I will be there to help Woody.  I need to make brownies before going there.  Later on Jolene will be joining us.  Crossing fingers that tomorrow goes well.  :)

Why?

Yesterday Jolene came over.  Because the night before I didn't sleep well, she didn't come over until 12.  We went to the gym, but I could only do 45 minutes because my legs started to hurt.  As the day continued... the day got worse. 

That night I was hoping to go to "Craft Night" at our friend Kris' house.  Unfortunately my head started to hurt @ 2ish... maybe 3pm.  I took something hoping that it would stop hurting by time to leave, but by 6:30pm, not only did I have a full-blown Migraine, but my back started to hurt. 

My back.  **sigh**  Because it only seems to hurt later at night, I kept forgetting to call in the prescription for it.  Last night, I didn't sleep.  In fact this morning, I only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep.  Although, I will say that I was laying down in bed resting, so I'm not exactly a zombie right now.  I laid there listening to "Things You Missed In History Class", and I'm almost caught up with those. 

Last night was awful.  **really really awful**  I filled the prescription today, so I was able to help Woody out with try-outs.  No one came, by the way.  (He said they usually all come on the last try-out, which will be Saturday.)

Well, I will need to take another pain pill before I go to bed.  I realized I didn't do my stretches today.  I'll either do them tomorrow and/or just go to the gym after Garrick gets out of work.  Night all.

Bad Start, Good Finish

This morning I woke up with one of my killer Migraines.  I was really concerned because today we had Garrick's brother Gavin's birthday dinner, & I didn't want to miss yet another of his family's get togethers.  I took one of my strongest combos for it & it knocked me out for the rest of the morning.

I woke when my lunch alarm went off at 12:30.  While Garrick was cooking lunch I did my best to clean myself up & get dressed.  I was really groggy, but I did make it to Gavin's dinner.  We all hung out outside late this afternoon while the guys worked on getting the steaks cooked & it was really nice out.  Not hot, with a cool breeze.  I made it through dinner okay, and after cake & opening of birthday cards, we left for home.

Once we got home, I'm not sure how I did it, but I did get my hour of stretches (PT) done this evening.  After that I had my glass of water.  I know after you work out you are suppose to drink some water, but I have no idea how much.  So, I basically fill a tall cup we have & drink that.  Hopefully that is what is needed. 

Right now I am absolutely exhausted, so I will be off to bed shortly.  Tomorrow Jolene is coming over.

Sleep so Sweet?

Well it's been hard to get a decent night's sleep.  Since the last post, I have gotten 1 good night's sleep, and the rest.... well I got some sleep during mornings... afternoons.

I had an appointment with Dr. Stanton Friday, he is a bone/pain specialist (or something like that.  We are now wondering if my back pain is truly a disc bulge, it might be more pain stemming from either arthritis or my Fibromyalgia.  On Thursday I will be getting a MRI on my whole back.  Then on the morning of the 26th, I see Dr. Stanton again to go over it. 

As of right now, no more PT.  But he wants me to work through the pain **AND MIGRAINES** and keep up with the gym & my stretches.  I had plans to do the stretches today, but I woke up this morning, well really I didn't wake up this morning.  I had one of the morning that sleep is too strong for me to fight.  It's absolutely horrible. You can't do anything & just keeping your eyes open is a struggle.  I have never heard of anyone, other than other Fibromyalgia sufferers, that have this problem.  This meant that I couldn't get to help with the try-outs for the Variety Show this morning.  I had Jolene come anyway & bring cupcakes for it.  After, she came by and hung-out with me.  That was great, we haven't done that in quite awhile.  Anyway, I didn't get to my stretches.  I will do them Sunday (I guess that is technically today) & make Jolene go to the gym with me on Monday.  She is going to hang out with me all day Monday. 

Has anyone reading this, ever have the sleeping problem??  Let me know.  It would be nice to feel somewhat normal...

Well, it was a really good book!

So the plan was to make sure I got a good nights sleep last night.  Well.....
I was reading Jim Butcher's "Ghost Story" (the latest in the Dresden series) & well, I was almost done & it was soooo good! Thus, I didn't finish the book until @ 3am.  At 4am the alarm clock goes off for Garrick to get up for work, so I stayed up the extra hour playing Mahjong on my cell phone.  I attempted to go to sleep after the alarm.  Unfortunately I didn't fall asleep until @ 5:30am.  But, the good news is except for stiff joints, I'm actually feeling pretty good today.  Granted I didn't wake up until @ 11-12pm.

I got stuff done though! I know, I amazed myself as well.  I kept up with the dishes! Take that fruit flies!  Garrick made dinner tonight, but I actually got the cupcakes done.  Well not the frosting, I plan to let them cool over night & then frost tomorrow.  Hopefully.

Except for having to take a pain pill for my back pain (bulged disk).

It Gets Better

Well today I felt much better.  Had alittle problem with my legs this morning, another syptom (or is it side effect??) is Restless Legs.  By lunch I was feeling better though.  I got some stuff actually done around the apartment **shock & amazement**  Still haven't gotten to those cupcakes, but I did make dinner!  First time in a little while.  We had Parma Rosa Chicken:

Knorr 3-Step Parma Rosa Chicken
4 Chicken, boneless

½ t Italian Seasoning

1 T Oil

1 pkg Knorr Parma Rosa Pasta Sauce Mix
1¼ C Milk
1 T Butter
4 Slices Swiss Cheese
Sprinkle chicken with Italian seasoning.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken & brown, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes.  Place chicken in a 11”x17” glass baking dish.  In same skillet prepare pasta sauce according to package directions with milk & butter.  Pour ½ of sauce over chicken; top with cheese & remaining sauce.  Cover & bake in 375 F oven for 10 minutes or until chick is tender & cheese melts.  Serve over brown rice.

Hopefully I will be able to sleep well tonight.  Good night everyone.

What a Crappy Weekend:

Okay.  Saturday morning was okay, health wise.  I picked up my sister Kathy & niece Jenna, and we went to the farmers market in Portsmouth, NH.  It was a nice drive (beautiful weather).  Got the white corn, peaches & beets I was looking for.  After, we went down to Prescott Park & Pierce Island so Kathy can see the changes to this town we lived in so many years ago.  It was while walking the gardens at Prescott Park when I started feeling really, really tired.  I mean sleepy tired.  What's up with that? After dropping them off at their apartment in Lee, I ran an errand to Walmart in Epping.  Again, really tired.  By the time I made it to the pharmacy in Raymond, I was chit-chatting with Jim, the Pharmacist, and he said that if I'm on time-release medications, that could cause it.  I also knew that I sometimes had this happen with my Fibromyalgia before, even though I haven't found that symptom anywhere online.  (I only have found "fatigue" - not like that's vague).

So I get home &... well....sleep.  That evening we go to Doug's to game (Dresden) & by 9pm... I was ready to leave.  My legs & arms are sore to the point of pain.  I'm sweating (another symptom not found online) and starting to get a little bit of a headache.  Afraid my headache would turn into a migraine I had the game stop @ 10pm.

Didn't sleep well that night... Eventually slept during the day.  I ended up not able to go with my husband, Garrick, to his Mom's birthday dinner.  **I HATE MISSING FAMILY EVENTS LIKE THIS!**  And I didn't fall asleep again until this morning at 5:30am.  **WTF??**  I slept some this morning as well.. We had to cancel going to my parents house to work on the garden we are doing with them.  My parents understood though, my Mom is going through the same thing I am.  She also has Fibromyalgia, & our doctor, Dr. Kunz, has speculated that I inherited it from her.

So now, I am feeling alot better. I'm sitting cross-legged without pain.  My osteoarthritis is not inflamed anymore (this happens when I have a bad FMS attack).  Right now I have a bit of a headache.  Hopefully I will be okay for cards at our friends, Dave & Kristin.

Anyone out there have issues like these??  Or is it just me?

Fibromyalgia Day has begun **grunt**.
Woke up so sore this morning.  My whole body feels like I need a huge stretch, but it doesn't help.  I HATE WHEN IT FEELS LIKE THIS!  I ended up canceling my PT this morning because I couldn't unroll (well more felt like this than actual) my body.  Looks like it will be bananas & lots of water today (sometimes helps).

I have found myself with a weird addiction.  There is this website (I have the Android app) for "How Stuff Works".  In there is a show called "Stuff You Missed in History Class".  I have been listening to the pod casts for a few days... nearly all during the day.  They are really interesting (if you are history buffs).  But I ask, is this really a bad addiction?

I have a few errands/chores I needed to get done today. 
1.  Laundry.  Well this isn't happening today.  There is no way I will be walking up & down that flight of stairs feeling like I do, that would easily cause my Osteoarthritis to flare in my hip & knee.  Besides, my neighbor is using the machines & he tends to hog them on Fridays. (More power to him). 
2.  Bake cupcakes for our gaming groups tonight & tomorrow night.  That will be a maybe.  It depends if I can get my crap together to go to the store & buy cups for them.  I didn't realize the ones we had were for minis only.  The cupcakes could be made for tomorrow night only, technically.  It's not like they are expecting them.
3.  Catch up on TV shows on Hulu & such on the computer. (We only have limited cable).  This should be easy enough.  Hey! Looks like I will get one thing done today!

A Cricket to Start the Day

Well today started odd.  Somehow a cricket got into the apartment & dispite the cats attempt to get it... well it found a place they couldn't get to him.  Have you ever had a cricket inside your home?  WOW they are LOUD!  So I started the day fishing out the cricket as I do with the cats toys periodically... with a yardstick!  Boy did it not expect that, he was a big bugger and he was hopping all over the place.  But we caught him!!  yay.

Today was a Migraine day.  My head hurt pretty much all day.  As I would have to tell the nurse when asked: about a 6-7 on the chart from 1-10.  Is there any other adults out there that wish we could use the smiley chart for kids instead of the 1-10?  Much meds later, I was able to get to the gym & do my 1 hour repentance on the recumbent bike.  It did make my head throb a bit more, but they say that it helps headaches in the long run.  *pause*  I'll let you know if I ever find anything truth to that.

Other than that, not much exciting today.  Sad since this is my first blog. *shrug* Time for bed, I guess.