Kaylie Story of the Day

I was laying in bed nursing a headache and Kaylie goes nonchalantly strutting through my room, carrying a book and wearing only her underwear.

"Hi, Mom" she says as she walks by the bed on the way into my bathroom.
"Hi, Naked" I answer
"What?!?", she responds, "we are going to have a shower." (Therefore I am supposed to accept it as perfectly normal that she is trotting through my room mostly naked)

She goes in the bathroom and closes the door.

A number of minutes pass. Suddenly the bathroom door whips open and there is Kaylie, now standing there totally naked. "Mom! This spiders book is really scary!"

She started telling me about a picture of a tarantula or something, but I couldn't hear. I was cracking up too hard. Did I mention it hurts to laugh when you have a migraine?

This may not be as funny to you as it was to me; I can't say you had to be there, because that would be inappropriate, but trust me, it was great.

Tomato, tomahtoe; meclomen, meclizine

Ok, I know oy with the poodles already and all that - but if I can go on for just one more day - can I just tell y'all about today??

Here is how it begins: I decide on the way to work that since I am running a little late, I am just going to be mostly late and stop at Starbucks, check out this whole ordering decaf situation and, actually most importantly, get a muffin, as I had a doctor appointment right during lunch and knew I was going to need something to tide me over. I made this decision while driving to work in the rain. I stuck stubbornly to this decision even when the heavens opened up and it started pouring just as I approached Starbucks. Milliseconds after opening the car door, I was wet, and worse, my sandal-clad feet were wet. Ick. Even more challenging was getting back into the car muffin and decaf iced Americano in hand. I was very soaked, and the muffin bag barely made it. But I made a decaf Starbucks run - and in the pouring rain no less! What a suburban warrior I am!

The big news of the day ended up coming at the office of our good friend, Dr. Simchak. I had a one week follow-up appointment from last Tuesday. (a miracle given that when I tried to schedule a 4 week follow-up as I left they told me his first available was Nov 4, if that gives you any idea of his calendar) I learned many moons ago to bring a book when coming to see Dr. Simchak - due to his popularity, one often has to wait to see him, and seeing as I had been squeezed in, I made sure I had one today. Good thing, as it took almost 2 hours to be seen. But I made great progress on my book! I think everyone should have forced relaxation placed upon them every so often like that. The only problem is that it is kind of stressful at the same time because you are thinking about where you should be. Anyway, big revelation - he asks how I did on the Meclomen, the anti-inflammatory, last week. "Meclomen? I thought it was Meclizine. It was an anti-histamine and I don't know how I did, I was too tired." ACK! I WAS TAKING THE WRONG MEDICINE!!! So for 4 days I was dutifully taking this medicine every 8 hours and going to work, driving, etc all while being so tired I could barely function all in the name of getting rid of a headache and it wasn't even the right med!! Can you believe it??

So I confessed to Dr. Simchak I was bad-mouthing him because I thought he was giving me what was basically sleeping pills and taking me off caffeine all in one fell swoop. (You know I did wonder why he did not warn me I would be tired, that was out of character; also strange that he would tell me to take Lunesta last week to make sure I slept - that was definitely not necessary. I need to do a better job of getting the names of these medicines and not just blindly trusting the pharmicists to read the chicken scratch on the prescription slip. "It's an M word" doesn't cut it.) And we have made some changes to my other meds and now I am happily and merrily back on my way.

PS - Jim just called Kaylie into the other room, and she goes in there and says (starting off very sweetly), "Well, I'm not trying to be rude, but what is it now??!!!" (the last part in frustration) - which I know is totally inappropriate (as Jim quickly pointed out) - but I still find very funny. You had to be there, I guess. I know, just blow the dust off my Worst Mom in the World Trophy and hand it to me...

De-caf Day 6

Thanks to LeDena and Jennifer for the comments on the decaf life. I learned many moons ago I am not alone in headache-land and I am always encouraged when I find others who frequent the land. Of course when they are super-women like LeDena and Jennifer, I feel like such a slacker! Anyway, the best part was hearing from 2 young, vibrant women who are caffeine-free. Were I to think rationally, I would of course have to know the c-f club was not solely composed of early-bird special patrons at Denny's, but to hear first-hand was very reassuring. I am working up to ordering something decaf at Starbucks so I can use up the balance on my gift card. If people can order no-fat, low foam, soy, no whip, etc etc lattes, then surely I can go in and order something and just make it a decaf. Right?

I do have to say that I fixed coffee this afternoon for a client and it was all I could do not to help myself to a cup. I mean a whole pot, just to give the client a cup! I hate to see the rest go to waste! Typically I would fix myself a big ole' mug and enjoy a late afternoon treat, but today, not so much. It was very tempting - like being on some diet or something. Fortunately my boss - great guy and coffee enjoy-er - saved the day and took a cup so I did not have to feel like the rest was going to waste and it took some of the temptation away. That and then I had to leave for the day. When in doubt separation will always help avoid temptation, eh?

Oh, and I am feeling guilty about calling Dr. Simchak evil. He is, of course, not evil at all. He is a lifesaver. Now that I am done taking the evil sleepy drugs and they have worn off I can think much more clearly. Still tired, but not beat-down dead tired - yee hah!! Tomorrow I go see the good Dr. and we shall see what the next step is. More to come!!!! Stay tuned, it is always an adventure!!

Caffeine-free blahs

My neurologist is a lovely man named Dr. Simchak. He is one of my heroes, as he has made it his life's calling to rid me of headaches. (not just me of course, but I like to think so sometimes) You can even Google him. On his group's website it says he "has a special interest in headache management, speaking frequently on this subject". Of course, it also says he enjoys house pets and wildlife. :) Anyway... he is great and seems to really care about his patients and their quality of life.

Until this week. My new name for Dr. Simchak is Evil Lord Darth Simchak (with-all-due-respect). He has forbidden me from caffeine intake. If you know me, that should be enough said, but of course, I am not going to leave it at that.

Here is the story: Ever since being released from the hospital I have been fighting pretty bad headaches. So I go to see Dr. You-Know-Who on Tuesday and after an update on my recent travails, he says "We are going to put you on Meclizine for 3 days to try to break up the headache. It is really important that you drink lots of water. And no caffeine". WAIT. Stop the presses. WHAT?!?! "No caffeine?" I innocently ask. "No caffeine for 3 days or no caffeine ever?" (We have covered this topic before and my understanding was to just try to be reasonable - so this was news.) He says: "Well I usually tell my chronic headache patients no caffeine". Chronic headache patient=Tricia. Unhappy headache patient=Tricia.

So I whined a bit and he did not feel sorry for me and sent me on my way. WHAT HE FAILED TO TELL ME was he was sending me off on my merry little way with an antihistimine that was going to turn me into a vertical version of myself asleep while at the same time taking away my beloved coffee and all of the fun coffee beverage variations. Yes, the Meclizine is Antivert, which is some antihistimine that one of my other doctors told me patients sometimes take as a sleeping pill. And now you know why Dr. Simchak is now Evil Lord Simchak. I must have been mean to him once or something.

It has been a long week of dealing with being amazingly tired, to the point I cannot even tell you how tired I have been; combined with adjusting to not being able to have caffeine. Many moons ago, I started teaching myself to drink caffeine-free Diet Coke, so I am hip to that, but it becomes very difficult when I leave the comfort of my home to find a beverage to drink. After good ole H2O, there are very few low-cal caffeine-free options out there in the out-to-eat marketplace. And, ironically, I went out 3 times this week. Grr. And I miss my coffee. I think decaf is totally pointless (although I am sure I will quickly come around), so I get to work and - no coffee. That has been the first thing I have done when I got to work for the past year and now..... zip. BLAH!!! My Starbucks card still has $$$ left on it! And the list goes on and on..

I am having big trouble adjusting to this whole no caffeine thing. Not from the physical side, but from the lifestyle and pyschological side. Today is Saturday and I got up and usually would have made a pot of coffee and curled up on the couch and drank my java and it was very annoying to not be able to do that today. (This is why I think I will end up caving and going decaf unless I just end up adjusting quickly) Has anyone else gone through this and has any tips/insight?

Hospital I and II

WOW, do I have quite the story for you - and let me warn you, like many of my stories, it is going to be long!

The short version is that, except for a brief, painful, 24 hours hours, I have been in the hospital since the Sunday after the 4th of July. (So the 6th?) I got out on Friday the 18th. So I spent almost 2 full weeks IN THE HOSPITAL!!!

Let me show you my lovely view...

And my constant companion....

I know - you are totally jealous. I did get really pretty flowers, though.

As much as I enjoy them, I would not recommend going through all that just to get them.

Here is the story, if you are interested: I had been struggling with a severe migraine for days and it was not going away, nothing was helping. By Sunday (the 6th) I was in a terrible state and called my neurologist 3 times (with 2 different drug "cocktails") before he finally told me to just go to the ER and get an IV. Well, go to the ER we did, but none of the meds they gave me helped. (Despite the boast from the ER nurse that they could clear almost any migraine in one shot, maybe two) Oh, and they gave me this medicine that I always have a reaction to, even though I told them I knew I was going to have a reaction. ("agitation" they call it - it is more like some kind of Jack Nicholson thing). After many moons and many meds in the ER, they raised the white flag and decided to admit me. Now at the risk of giving you TMI, I must also tell you that it was also determined at this time that I had a UTI. Sorry, but it is vital to the story.

So I stayed in the hospital from Sunday through Thursday, getting rid of my migraine. Each day was just one more day, one more day. The doctor, of course, wants to make sure that you are fully migraine free when you leave, so it takes awhile. By the time I left Thursday, including the time at home I had been in bed quite some time. So I did not really think about my back being a little sore.

Thursday evening I got home, sent a couple I AM HOME emails, showered, and collapsed back into bed because by then my back was really sore. And then things just went downhill from there. The pain in my lower back got worse and worse AND to compound matters, that "Greensleeves" Snickers commercial and one of the songs from Singin' in the Rain were playing over and over in my mind in this crazy way. It was like this - pain, feverish, probably slightly delusional - all night Thursday night and all day Friday. I did not leave the bedroom. So I ate nothing and drank very very little.

At some point Friday night Jim comes in the bedroom feels my forehead and tells me I am burning up, takes my temp and it is 102. Then he tells me I am going to have to go to the ER. It was like in the movie Speed where they go to the airport to drive in circles and the tourist guy says "but I've already seen the airport". I was in no shape to go, but knew he was right. The worst part was we could not find my glasses and I did not even feel well enough to put in contacts and I could not see a thing.

So we went to the ER and apparently it was packed. All I know is they told me there was no room in the inn and so I laid down on a bench. Jim says we spent over an hour in the waiting room. Oi vey! I feel worse for him than me. We got back to the ER room, finally got some lovely morphine for my back and learned that my potassium level was dangerously low. Apparently in one day I had severly dehydrated myself despite getting bags o' fluid the entire time I was in the hosptial round 1.

The potassium level in and of itself was bad enough that they has to re-admit me and that is when my life turned into Groundhog Day. Come to find out the UTI (see, told you it was important) had turned into quite the kidney infection and the infection was in my blood and everything. So for a few more days I felt really puny, then finally started feeling better. Ahhh. Then, just when it was time to go, my white blood cell count went up and I got to stay, yes, one more day at my home away from home, St. Vincent Hospital.

Told you it was going to be long, and believe it or not, there is much much more I could tell you (like just how much of a "hard stick" I am, etc), but that sums it up. I am home and I am blessed and I am feeling better. Thank you for your prayers and concern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Homebody

When and how did I get to be such a homebody? I am going to be one of those old ladies who is afraid to go outside when I get old and never leaves my house. I will be "the old lady who lives on the corner who hasn't been outside since 2013" - and I won't even care that people exaggerate.

My inertia-ness is stronger as I get older, I guess. Once I am home and comfy, I have no desire to leave. We took the girls to a Fever game last night and I was dreading the thought of getting ready and going out - I just wanted to stay home and curl up and finish my book. But the actual act of going to the game and walking around downtown and showing the girls around was fun and I was disappointed it was so late and we had to go home.

I have really let friendships lag because of allowing this stoginess to take over. That and never knowing when I will have a migraine, so I am fearful of planning ahead.

So, dear friends, much love from the crazy lady on the corner and, just think, you can say you knew me when.