A Special Thank You

I am sending a special thank you to all that kept Darlene in their thoughts and prayers. Tuesday they ran the scope and had her on the operating table for three hours. They found that she had stones blocking the bile ducts of her pancreas. She later passed the stones and the pain was relieved with that. They want to put in stints, but will be delaying that procedure for 2 weeks. They decided she had gone through enough with the three hour procedure they had already put her though. She was supposed to be released to go home today, but her temperature spiked last night. I don't think she got to go home as planned because of that. We haven't called to check on her yet today. I will keep you posted on her progress.
The past couple of days have been busy ones for us. With the gas prices what they are, we try to consolidate our trips off the mountain to cover more than just one or two needed runs to town. Tuesday's road trip included picking up the tax forms from 'Our People". That didn't turn out as badly as I thought it would. Tuesday also included my yearly vision check up. Good news was that the diabetes hasn't done any damage to my eyes as yet and so far my eyes are otherwise disease free. Bad news was that I do have some cataract growth and my vision has worsened to the point that I can't really get away with using the cheap reading glasses anymore. It had rained all day and after coming home, a heavy fog set in, only adding to the gloominess the rain had already caused. We had a light meal for supper and as I was clearing the dishes I caught a glimpse of something moving in the yard. When I looked out the window, there they were, three deer grazing on the grass and weeds. I am posting a couple of the pictures below. J.D. has a couple more posted on his blog.

This was such a treat for us. The first couple of years that we lived here this was a daily stopping point for a number of deer that inhabits the woods around us. Someone got the bright idea that they needed to come in and do some clear cutting of the woods. With all of the noise from the saws, heavy equipment and trucks loading the lumber and buzzing up and down the road..... the deer stopped coming.

They had passed through on several occasions when we had snow on the ground. I was excited just to see their tracks in the snow.

It was no comparison to this though. This sweet little thing was no more than three yards from where J.D. and I stood looking out of the window at it. It showed no fear of us. It just smiled for the camera and went on munching on the grass.

As it usually proves to be...... When you find something that seems to be too good to be true, you will eventually find out that you are right. As wonderful as it is to have a high speed connection, we have discovered the down side of being hooked up to a satellite. When that huge storm rolled in Tuesday evening we lost our signal and lost our Internet connection as well. Today is the first we have been able to get an uninterrupted signal. Just the same, I think the good points out weigh the bad when it comes to comparing dial up to what we have now.

Yesterday was another road trip off the mountain. I had my appointment at the Pain Management Clinic and was also scheduled to have my Dreaded Mammogram. The Doctor that I saw thinks that I really need to be seeing a Rheumotologist for the Polymyalgia Rheumatica mainly because the treatment will include Methotrexate and he was honest enough to say that he would be uncomfortable writing an Rx for that drug because he has no clue what the proper dosages would be. As for the Fibromyalgia he is referring me to a Fibromyalgia Clinic. It is fairly new to our area and he said that every one that he has referred there have come back singing their praises. My understanding is that they work up individualized treatment for each patient that includes several different methods of treatment. He said that is he were to treat me for it, all he could really do is throw pills at me and that he didn't really want to do that when this clinic was available. I left the Pain management Clinic with hope that eventually I will be able to get a handle on this pain and live pretty close to a normal life again. To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to the probability of taking more pills to control my pain. All that is left now is the wait.

Speaking of pain.......... after eating lunch we went back to the hospital for my Mammogram. I ended up leaving the house yesterday morning without my lab order from my family Doctor. I found that these people are determined when it comes to reaching their daily quota of torture. No lab order...No problem...!! Thanks to today's technology, all it takes is a quick phone call and the order is faxed to the hospital and I am good to go. They took me to a nicely furnished sitting room with a Victorian flair to it. Very cozy and relaxing. I was given all of three minutes to enjoy the comforts of this little room before I am taken to a little closet and told to strip from the waist up and to put one of those hospital gowns on with the opening to the front. Well, I am here to tell you that "one size" does NOT fit all. I suppose that if every woman that is told to wear one of those particular gowns is a magical size "2", then yes, one size would fit all. There were five gowns stacked in that room and I tried them all and they all fit the same. Trust me when I say..... I am no where near size "2". In fact, I think the last time I wore a size "2" was when I was in training pants. I sucked in everything I could suck in, holding the gown as tightly closed as I could and hurried to the Torture Chamber. When I arrived, I found a very kind looking lab technician waiting for me. I commented on how it is humiliating enough to have to go through these mammograms, but then they add insult to injury with Mammo Wear that is designed to fit a toddler. She opened a drawer and pulled out a cape of sorts and told me to try this on for size. She commented that she didn't know why they didn't put different sizes of gowns in the changing rooms. Well the cape made all the difference in the world. It didn't make the whole Mammogram experience any less painful, but it did give me back a little bit of my dignity while at the same time letting my imagination put me in Super hero status that would allow me to endure all things mammogram related.

Have a blessed day!

~Jo

Once Upon A Time......

Once upon a time in Cyberland there existed a blog that went by the name of 'Moodscapes'. The hand that penned this blog belong to (ME!) and I was delighted with the outlet I had created for expressing myself. No matter what the mood, I could express it there and for the most part everyone respected my feelings and my thought process.

I have a condition that many people suffer from, called fibromyalgia. What a dream come true when the FDA approved a drug that would take care of the pain that fibromyalgia brought nearly everyday. Lyrica was the name of this drug. Memory takes me back to thinking how musical the name sounds. Music for most people is a source of relaxation so therefore it is a fitting name.

Oh, the first few weeks of taking this new drug was wonderful. Although there was still a certain amount of pain it was very bearable in comparison to the pre-Lyrica days. After reading the side effects flyer that came with the Lyrica, things looked even more promising because the worse thing listed was dizziness. No big deal. After all some had accused me in my younger days as living in a permanent state of 'Dizzy".

As the days marched on, I started having fleeting bouts of depression. Well, it is the season for depressions for one thing and depression rides in a side car with fibromyalgia for the other. Therefore not much thought was given to the depression.

However on one bright sunny morning, my world exploded on me. I don't even recall now what sparked it. I do recall thought, that not a soul was safe from my mouth and verbal ravings. Anyone that dared get in my path heard ranting and raving from me that I am sure they never in their wildest dreams thought would come out of my mouth. I hurt several loved ones that day and I will forever pray for their forgiveness. I also clicked delete on Moodscapes, as well as my Grandparents blog.

During one lucid moment I knew this was all terribly wrong. I went online to check out the side effects of this miracle drug more thoroughly. I found a web site that not only lists the common side effects (these are the ones we get as a print out with the medication) but it also listed the uncommon side effects. I could not believe what I was seeing. In the uncommon side effects (effecting 1 in 1,000) was a list of every strange behavior I had experienced over the past few weeks. At that moment, I decided I had to get that garbage out of my system. So I just stopped taking every drug that was prescribed to me. (special note: not recommended) I was very fortunate that I didn't suffer any ill effects from doing that.

All I was concerned with was purging my system of these chemicals and becoming a human being again. I am happy to report that it seems to be working.

As a result 'Moodscapes' is just a memory and I now attach my thoughts and memories to 'Bits and Pieces'. It is very important that when given a new drug, especially one that is praised as a miracle drug of sorts, that you check out as much information on it as possible. Although Lyrica is working for many people and making a huge difference in their lives, it doesn't work for everyone. I am proof of that. I would prefer to deal with the pain of fibromyalgia than to live through another nightmare like the one 'WE' experienced.

.............. And they all lived happily ever after.

Now you know the rest of the story.