Well, the pattern continues - the
duration between these blog updates continues to get longer. Sorry
about that. I do have things I could post, I just have been lazy and
do not want to take the time, SORRY. Lets start with a “body”
parts update. First up, hands: they are good at about 80% normal, the
Neurontin med does make them numb and shaky (more than I would like)
so that is why I am only giving them a 80%. Feet: we are in the 50%
of normal range. I think the meds are helping but really I have not
been testing them much as I have developed a new issue. Currently, I
am experiencing spats of excruciating pain in the bones of my legs
(mostly my left). The doctor said this is not uncommon as one comes
off long-term high-dose steroids. Oh! and this might be a good point
to let you all know that I am officially off all steroids (yea!). The
over-all pain is not constant but can flare up to an 8 or 9 on the
pain scale. It has been going on for about 7 days now and I could
expect another 2 weeks before this gets under control. The real
bummer is that I had been cleared to drive by Dr. S as long as I was
not on any mood-altering medicines. Well...I am back to taking pain
pills very 4 hours or so for the bone pain, which as you guess
eliminates me from driving AGAIN. Back to body parts- last time I
posted, I told you that I felt I caught something as I was having a
bad cough and low-grade fevers. Well, it turns out I had (and still
have) para influenza 3 (the common cold to a normal person) and it
has wiped me out. I can't get my batteries charged to what I had just
a few weeks before; everything is a challenge and requires some real
thought as to- do I really need to do that or get this? Karen has
really had to stepup and do even more as I am using up my energy
attempting to go to or “do” office work. I need to keep my job
you know and it has been a long time since I have contributed to the
team. So I am making a bit of a special effort to get in the office
and get things done. You know what, this is getting to be a long blog
so let me just end the “body part” update and say that everything
else is status quo.
I do have one last item to share with
you - a bit of a funny! You see, in dealing with the almost constant
coughing, I have been trying everything. We even got a prescription
for cough syrup with codeine in it to help the cough. Anyway, as you
can imagine, I have been going through my fair share of cough drops
and have used several different kinds over the past several weeks. So
I was quite stunned the other day when I came upon this foreshadowing
cough drop wrapper. Now, I have to put this in some context. At the
time I found and read this little message, I had a 100+ fever, a bit
of diarrhea and bone aches going on while simultaneously trying to
show a good face as we were visiting friends. So you can image my
surprise when a wrapper told me “You've Survived Tougher”. I do
not know if it is irony or, really, what to call it but right then I
did not need or want a cough drop wrapper telling me this was not
so bad. I quickly shared the little insight I had just been given
from the wrapper to the group around me and we all laughed. Which
quickly changed my mood. We ended up reading all the sayings from
each wrapper for the remainder of the night. In the end, (with the
help of meds) the night turned out great and we continued to read
each and every wrapper looking for one better, but none fit like that
first one.
Wow – how about you all weigh in –
raise your hand if you think I have survived tougher???!!! :)
