Monday check in

Well, its Monday again, tell us what you have going on for the week ahead. What about your weekend, how well did you survive it?????

Let us hear from you all.......

Susie

Very rough weekend for me, pain wise, sleep wise, massive unrelenting headaches....

Today I had my first official appointment with my new PMD. I went for the consult last month, today is our "official start date."

It went well. I like her approach...really hoping to turn things around here.

Feeling overwhelmed and inundated, but this zebra hasn't bucked me off yet.

Hanging in there...



M.


PS: I get to start PT up again tomorrow! Yay! I've been suffering from cabin fever and PT-withdrawal. It'll be a nice start to the year, getting my ducks in a row.

Doing okay. Finally got word from my doc (pcp manages my pain) that he finally found a pm in the area that would see me for a second opinion. I used to see a pm 4 or 5 yrs ago, but returned to my pcp after he ran out of ideas and essentially gave up on me.

Because of my worsening problems and the limitations on the meds that I can take, my pcp and I decided that it was time to return to a pm for a second opinion only (my pcp will continue to manage my pain, we just want someone to look over what we've been doing/my case and offer some advice/feedback).

The number of pm's in this area are limited, and there are none near where I go to school. I had tried calling around, but everyone I talked to refused to see me after reviewing the records/referral my pcp sent. They said that their docs had reviewed the paperwork and that they had nothing to offer & apparently didn't even want to bother trying. So my doc ending up having to call and speak with some of the pm docs himself. He finally found one who agreed to see me. I still need to make an appointment (actually still waiting on my pcp's office to get me the pm's phone number), and then it probably won't be till the spring that I can see him. But it is nice to know that there is someone out there who is willing to think outside of the box and not just label me a goner because my case is too unique & complicated. Probably nothing will come of the visit, but it is something positive to focus on, anyway. And every little thing helps.

Other than that, I ended up traveling 1/3 of the way across the country this weekend to pick up a puppy (flew out -- for only $10, thank you frequent flier miles, then drove back). This all happened very suddenly and was totally unplanned. I had been looking for a puppy or young rescue dog since my second dog died this fall (my current dog has been very, very depressed since my other dog died), but 3X now, my plans fell through. So when the opportunity came up to go see this puppy a few days ago, I took it.

Call me crazy, but it was worth it. She seems to be a great puppy so far (and very easy as far as puppies go), and my other dog has been SO happy since I brought her home. It is going to be a lot of work to handle this new puppy with school and my CP, but I'm looking at it as a positive thing. It is one more thing that is going to help keep me going and to focus on something other than my pain. And as I said, above, I could use all the help I can get. Plus, now that my other dog is happy again, that is one less thing for me to worry about. He had been so upset that I was very concerned that something was going to happen to him. And that dog is my best friend in the world. So if something happened to him, I don't know what I would do. He is one of the biggest reasons why I have been able to get as far as I have in life despite all my medical problems. It is amazing the difference that animals make in our lives and with our ability to deal with our pain.

Skeye

Susie -

I owe you - as usual, lol. Vickie, now why in the world would you think i would fall asleep?? :) Yep, you guessed right. My insomiia has been fierce lately....... it's all I can do to stay online w/out dozing off. I'm averaging about 3 hours of sleep a night. Actually seeing seeing my PCP at 9am in the morning to try to rfigure this out. I don't want to be on a sleeping med - but something has to give.

Let's just say I go a little Cocoa for Cocoa Puffs, lol - so not sure if it's hormones, or what the heck it is...... All I know is that I have to sleep more than 3 hours per night or I'm not gonna make it!

Anyway, thank you for doing the check in... I'm sorry to hear that others are struggling as well.... but I'm glad you got a new puppy, Skeye

--Tina