I don't often have to change the batteries in my stimulator's controller. The display is supposed to warn me when the batteries are getting close to the end of their lives. Well, last night it did not warn me. This is when the importance of keeping backup AAA batteries hit me.
It's been a crazy week. I've been overloaded at work because a coworker is on vacation. My birthday was last Friday so we went out to a winery Saturday to celebrate. Sunday my sister and I went on a little road trip so she could set up a big surprise for my parents. It's been insane and I've been spending more time on my leg as a result. So let me fill you in a bit here.
I'm still getting the hang on figuring out which SCS programs to use at any given time. I have figured out the most comfortable setting for when I'm trying to sleep, and I vary my work settings a little bit depending on how I'm feeling. However, when it comes to standing for long periods of time I still don't have it all figured out.
On Saturday my husband brought me to a cute little diner and to the winery that makes my favorite wine. We arrived and walked around the gift shop for a few minutes. Eventually one of the employees showed up in the tasting room and we paid to do a round of samples. It was supposed to be 6 samples but the guy was feeling generous and gave us 10-12. The whole time we were standing. When we arrived I set the SCS to a program I thought would be sufficient. It wasn't. By the time we got home my ankle was throbbing, but I made the best of it. We had a blast so it was well worth it to me.
On Sunday my sister and I drove about 2 hours from home. We walked about a half mile setting this Scavenger Hunt/Picnic thing up. After our parents arrived they decided they wanted to do some of the activities in the area, so that meant more walking. I adjusted the SCS a few times throughout the day. Again I was in a lot of pain by the time we got home.
Monday I went to work, came home, and made dinner. I must have adjusted my SCS at least 5 times in the process of making dinner. Not once did the remote tell me the batteries were getting low. Then all of a sudden I tried to turn my SCS down, since it was at a very high level, and the controller turned on, only to immediately shut back down.
I was freaking out. I wasn't entirely sure it was the batteries. There were no AAAs to be found anywhere in the apartment. It was too late to make a trip to the store for new batteries so I grabbed my "emergency shutoff switch" and turned it completely off. I could not sleep last night! Of course the first thing I did this morning was get some more batteries, and sure enough, that was the issue.
What did I learn from this? Probably nothing, but I'm going to try really hard to keep spare AAAs on hand at all times now.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
My poor kitty :-(
I don't mean to brag, but I have the best cat in the whole world. He's the sweetest thing you could ever meet. All he wants to do is to make more friends and find more people to love him. However, that having been said, he's had medical issues galore most of his life. I suppose that kind of makes him perfect for me, huh?
Last week he had a major problem. On Tuesday we brought him to the vet, thinking he had a Urinary Tract Infection. They sent him home with antibiotics, and all was good until Wednesday night. All of a sudden we knew it wasn't just a UTI. He spent all night at the Emergency Vet and my husband and I stayed up all night waiting for them to call and tell us he was okay.
Thursday we picked him up from there and transferred him to our local vet, where he stayed until Saturday morning. The husband and I didn't do much in the way of eating or sleeping until he came home. I missed him so much and was so worried about him. He's home now, and well on his way to recovery (YAY!!!), and we're still trying to catch up on all we missed.
How does this connect to my CRPs you may ask? Well, the lack of sleep, and the stress when he was gone, are killing me. I hadn't been doing well in the sleep department before this whole thing happened, but now I feel so far behind. With lack of sleep comes more pain. I have had the SCS turned up as high as I can handle it, but there's still pain.
The need for air conditioning lately hasn't helped. They have the temperature at the office set right around frozen snot and teeth chattering level. I have to keep my leg wrapped up loosely in a blanket and wear a sweater all day. When I hit the air outside, it's roughly the temperature of hell, so it's not a good contrast. I really do love summer, but it certainly has it's downfalls. Thankfully we've gone from hellishly hot to wonderfully mild today. Let's hope that sticks around.
Last week he had a major problem. On Tuesday we brought him to the vet, thinking he had a Urinary Tract Infection. They sent him home with antibiotics, and all was good until Wednesday night. All of a sudden we knew it wasn't just a UTI. He spent all night at the Emergency Vet and my husband and I stayed up all night waiting for them to call and tell us he was okay.
Thursday we picked him up from there and transferred him to our local vet, where he stayed until Saturday morning. The husband and I didn't do much in the way of eating or sleeping until he came home. I missed him so much and was so worried about him. He's home now, and well on his way to recovery (YAY!!!), and we're still trying to catch up on all we missed.
How does this connect to my CRPs you may ask? Well, the lack of sleep, and the stress when he was gone, are killing me. I hadn't been doing well in the sleep department before this whole thing happened, but now I feel so far behind. With lack of sleep comes more pain. I have had the SCS turned up as high as I can handle it, but there's still pain.
The need for air conditioning lately hasn't helped. They have the temperature at the office set right around frozen snot and teeth chattering level. I have to keep my leg wrapped up loosely in a blanket and wear a sweater all day. When I hit the air outside, it's roughly the temperature of hell, so it's not a good contrast. I really do love summer, but it certainly has it's downfalls. Thankfully we've gone from hellishly hot to wonderfully mild today. Let's hope that sticks around.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Summer fun
I meant to post this a while ago, but once again life grabbed me by the balls (ovaries?) and refused to let go. So, there are a lot of things to talk about. I'll try to keep it fairly brief.
The husband and I went to see the Blues Travelers in concert a few weeks ago. They were amazing (of course they were. They're always amazing). We went with another couple. We got there a few minutes early, and took our places up front and center- standing only. We stood there for about an hour before my husband noticed me fidgeting. This is a sure sign that I'm in pain and need to find a seat immediately. I was going to ignore it because I didn't want to ruin anyone's night (I know, I know, but I like to accommodate people), but my husband told the other couple we were finding seats and directed me toward the section of open bleachers. I found me a good husband :)
When we sat down the woman we were with said she was grateful we found seats because she had to sit down. She explained that she has a chronic pain condition, and had reached that same point that I had reached. From that point until the end of the night we discussed the trials and tribulations of dealing with chronic pain. It was nice to have someone to talk to that really understood my pain, and she was right there in front of me! We had a blast.
I paid for it the next day, but the concert was well worth it.
I had a cousin that graduated in June. We went to her party and had a great time hanging out with my family. One of my cousins and I have a long-standing feud where we try to do mean things like push each other in pools and stuff. I pushed him in a pool once years ago and he's never really made me pay for it... at least not yet. I fully expect to be thrown into a pool any time he's around. He could easily pick me up and throw me.
So, I was joking around with him and he was picking on me at the party. Finally I got annoyed enough to try and get him to stop. I ran up to him and tackled him to the ground. That was all well and good- until he took me down by the bad ankle. I'm grateful he was properly trained to perform that move, because I would have been in a much worse situation had he not been, but it HURT! I know I deserved it, and I don't blame him in the slightest for doing it, but it took at least a week for me to be able to put weight on it again. UGH! What can I say? It's the summer!
The husband and I went to see the Blues Travelers in concert a few weeks ago. They were amazing (of course they were. They're always amazing). We went with another couple. We got there a few minutes early, and took our places up front and center- standing only. We stood there for about an hour before my husband noticed me fidgeting. This is a sure sign that I'm in pain and need to find a seat immediately. I was going to ignore it because I didn't want to ruin anyone's night (I know, I know, but I like to accommodate people), but my husband told the other couple we were finding seats and directed me toward the section of open bleachers. I found me a good husband :)
When we sat down the woman we were with said she was grateful we found seats because she had to sit down. She explained that she has a chronic pain condition, and had reached that same point that I had reached. From that point until the end of the night we discussed the trials and tribulations of dealing with chronic pain. It was nice to have someone to talk to that really understood my pain, and she was right there in front of me! We had a blast.
I paid for it the next day, but the concert was well worth it.
I had a cousin that graduated in June. We went to her party and had a great time hanging out with my family. One of my cousins and I have a long-standing feud where we try to do mean things like push each other in pools and stuff. I pushed him in a pool once years ago and he's never really made me pay for it... at least not yet. I fully expect to be thrown into a pool any time he's around. He could easily pick me up and throw me.
So, I was joking around with him and he was picking on me at the party. Finally I got annoyed enough to try and get him to stop. I ran up to him and tackled him to the ground. That was all well and good- until he took me down by the bad ankle. I'm grateful he was properly trained to perform that move, because I would have been in a much worse situation had he not been, but it HURT! I know I deserved it, and I don't blame him in the slightest for doing it, but it took at least a week for me to be able to put weight on it again. UGH! What can I say? It's the summer!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Showers and Baths
Allow me to begin this post with a triuh about me I'm not sure I've ever shared here. I am a dummy. I do things sometimes, knowing they're a bad idea, and end up hurting myself.
Monday, February 14 started out in this way. I got into the shower, the one we've jury-rigged with shampoo bottles to hold down the curtain so you're not wearing it the whole time you're in there, and began my routine. As I reached for the soap I had a moment of clarity and knew what was about to happen. Unfortunately for me I was powerless to stop it.
One of those shampoo bottles jumped right off the side of the tub and dropped right on to the top of my foot. I swear, it jumped. I did not knock it over and I did not drop it (okay, I may have knocked it over a bit). Immediately the pain coursing through my body made me want to vomit. I looked down and noticed my foot was already swelling and turning black and blue. That's always a good sign, right?
That's when my shower became a bath :( I couldn't stand on the foot anymore so I sat down to complete my shower. I went to work that day and came home to look at my foot. The black and blue was gone, replaced by a deep reddish purple. The swelling remained.
At this point we'll fast forward a week and a half. I'm still stuck in the bath because I can't stand on that foot and I'd rather not fall over doing the one legged hop all through my shower. The swelling has gone down some and the black and blue have returned.
So now I ask why did I reach for the soap in the way I did? I knew that was going to cause problems, as it usually does, so why did I do it? Oh that's right, I'm a dummy.
It was 2 degrees out there today, before windchill. The pain today is incedible. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say it's easily a 9. I'm popping the Aleve and staying off it as much as possible.
Monday, February 14 started out in this way. I got into the shower, the one we've jury-rigged with shampoo bottles to hold down the curtain so you're not wearing it the whole time you're in there, and began my routine. As I reached for the soap I had a moment of clarity and knew what was about to happen. Unfortunately for me I was powerless to stop it.
One of those shampoo bottles jumped right off the side of the tub and dropped right on to the top of my foot. I swear, it jumped. I did not knock it over and I did not drop it (okay, I may have knocked it over a bit). Immediately the pain coursing through my body made me want to vomit. I looked down and noticed my foot was already swelling and turning black and blue. That's always a good sign, right?
That's when my shower became a bath :( I couldn't stand on the foot anymore so I sat down to complete my shower. I went to work that day and came home to look at my foot. The black and blue was gone, replaced by a deep reddish purple. The swelling remained.
At this point we'll fast forward a week and a half. I'm still stuck in the bath because I can't stand on that foot and I'd rather not fall over doing the one legged hop all through my shower. The swelling has gone down some and the black and blue have returned.
So now I ask why did I reach for the soap in the way I did? I knew that was going to cause problems, as it usually does, so why did I do it? Oh that's right, I'm a dummy.
It was 2 degrees out there today, before windchill. The pain today is incedible. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say it's easily a 9. I'm popping the Aleve and staying off it as much as possible.
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