Day In The Life...

I live in Florida and we just had a hurricane go through, Irma. Luckily I am in the panhandle so all we got was a tropical storm in our area. Some wind, some rain, and a dent in the van where a branch fell on it from the tree. Weather definitely effects chronic pain conditions and I am no exception to that. For the last couple days I have had lots of muscle spams, sciatica, tingling/numbness, shooting pain, and a higher pain level over all. A bad few days so far.

Since this is Chronic Pain Awareness Month (September) I thought this would be a good day to do one of those "Day in the life..." type posts. I think it will be a good idea to give people information on what it is truly like to have a bad day with a chronic pain condition. This is how it effects me, but I figure it will at least give people a rough idea of how it might be effecting someone in their lives and hopefully it will promote understanding.

So lets start with over night, sleeping. (Sleep? What's that?!? LOL) Due to the increased pain and severe muscle spasms I was not able to try to sleep until 2AM. I had a hard time getting comfortable enough to try and fall asleep because when I shifted position the muscles in my back (just under my shoulder blades all the way down to mid thigh on both legs) tightened up and started to spasm. This causes extremely sharp and intense bolts and waves of pain to shoot through the entire area. When it first starts it is extremely intense and takes my breath away. I then have to mentally remind myself to breathe, slowly and calmly. Somewhere around 3AM or so I dozed off. I woke up a few times due to pain and spasms but managed to go back to sleep until 4:30AM. I've been awake since then (it is now 9AM). I have been alternating between applying heat and ice to the affected areas (alternating; 20 minutes on/20 minutes off/switch to the other/repeat). Neither helps tremendously but when it is like this I'll take what I can get. I am having to shift position every 3 to 5 minutes (instead of my normal 8 to 10 minutes) to try and stave off another episode of spasming. This is not very effective since I still get the spasms and sciatica, it just isn't as intense. I am currently sitting at an 8 on the pain scale of 0 to 10. I took my morning medications at 7AM. Right now I am watching vlogs on youtube.

To get breakfast I had to think of something to eat that would require minimal movement and preparation as standing and walking are very painful for me. With the sciatica going on it is also dangerous as my legs can give out without warning and falling to the floor is not a good thing. I decided to make toast because it required the least amount of standing, bending, and reaching for things.

It is now 11AM and I am still in bed shifting position and alternating heat and ice every 20 minutes. I've also done some very gentle stretching to ease muscle stiffness. I am having to shift between sitting and laying down every 5 to 10 minutes. I can go 10 minutes laying on my right side, but only 5 minutes sitting up. Every 5 minutes sitting up I have to shift around and change which way I am leaning (left, right, forward, back against pillows). My left side is the worst and I can't lay on it at all. This is very annoying shifting around all the time. I'm still at a level 8 on the pain scale but am grateful that it is not getting stronger and am hoping it stays this way (I don't think it will as I have to pick my husband up from work this afternoon). I keep thinking of my mother telling me, as a child, when I was restless "Do you have ants in your pants?" and it makes me giggle.

It is now 6PM. I slept from 11:30AM or so until 2:15PM. Was a restless sleep and I woke up a few times with the muscle spasms. Back to alternating heat and ice. At 4:30 or so I went and picked my husband up from work, which hurt a lot, but it felt nice to get out of the house and into the sunshine. Came home and ate dinner which my daughter had cooked. Now, while alternating heat and ice I am going to do a stitching hangout to chat with friends and stitch for distraction. Sometimes it helps distract from the pain but even if that doesn't happen, it always lifts my mood to be chatting with friends.

It is now 9:47PM and just got off the stitching hangout. Made good progress on my project which can be seen on my stitching blog. I continued to alternate heat and ice during the hangout, shifting positions as needed as well as getting up to walk around and stretch my muscles out. My pain has been pretty steady at an 8 all day, but I am grateful that it didn't go higher or hit a pain crisis (level 10). I really didn't want to be curled up in bed and crying from the pain.

Now I will continue with the heat and ice while I watch some stuff on Youtube or Netflix/Hulu until I am sleepy, then I will try to sleep. I don't know how much sleep I will get but am hoping I get more than a couple hours. Lack of adequate sleep does not do good things for my pain, it also makes it harder to mentally deal with the pain.

That's pretty much my day today. My hope in sharing this is to help people understand what it is like during a bad day. As well as to show that being home a lot due to pain is not the fun, relaxing day off that people think it is.

Video Blogs on YouTube

Thanks to it being more difficult for me to sit up for long periods of time, I decided to start doing video blogs (Vlogs) on You Tube. I did a group of videos that basically give my history of chronic pain and how I got to where I am today. Since that story has already been told on this blog in the post 30 Years Of Chronic pain, I won't include that videos here. However, I will post other videos to the blog for people to watch if they want to.

I did one the other day about safety with medications. I also did a written post on this blog for the same topic, so I don't think I need to link that video. However, today I started a series of videos on judgements. Since people with chronic illness and / or chronic pain are judged in many different areas, I have chosen to do this topic as a series of videos. For the first one I chose the topic of how chronically ill people and people who suffer from chronic pain are judged for their diagnoses such as being told that illness doesn't exist, it's all in your head, you don't look sick and more. I hope the video is educational and of value to people who watch it.

I also made a request of viewers and I wish to make the same request of my blog readers also. So here is the video explaining my request.

Thank you everyone!

New Commenting System

On other blogs I have seen comment sections that allow people to post a response to a specific comment. The replies are indented and show up underneath the comment they are responding to. This allows people to have a conversation with each other and receive replies directly linked to their comment. On Rosemary's blog Seeking Equilibrium, I have greatly enjoyed the system she is using for comments on her blog. So I went ahead and followed the link to the website for Intense Debate, the company (I guess it's a company) that provides the program/coding for the comments. I signed up and followed their installation instructions.

I was surprised at how easy it was to install. I then tested it (hence the two comments at the bottom of this post LOL) and it works great! 

I wanted to do this because I can't always sit up for long periods of time and thus am unable to reply via email to all the comments even when I want to. As a result my response emails can go out days (or sometimes weeks) after the original comment was made. I feel bad about that and wanted a better way.

With this program installed on my blogs I can now comment directly to people in a faster yet still personal (to each individual person's comment) way.  When you make a comment on the blog there is an option to "subscribe" to the comments and you will receive an email update about further responses. You can select "all comments", "none" or just "replies". By selecting replies you will be notified when anyone replies directly to your comment. This notification will be helpful in letting you know that someone (either myself or someone else) has posted to you so that you can view the reply and choose whether or not to respond to it. Selecting none is self-explanatory and selecting "all comments" means you will be notified of every comment posted after your own, even if they were not in reply to your statement. 

I hope you enjoy this new system. Thank you again for reading my babblings, I do appreciate it a great deal!

Another Painful Night

Tonight is not a good night for me. As usual my period has increased my pain and even though I have spent the last 45 minutes laying in the dark trying to sleep, I just can't. The pain is keeping me awake. I wish it wasn't because I want to sleep, I am tired. Oh well.

So far this week has been pretty good. I've been able to do household chores every day, which makes me feel good. I've also been able to stitch every day, which is really nice, especially since I am once again enjoying the process of stitching as much as I used to. It really is nice to have my emotions back and my ability to enjoy things as well.

I packed up all my old D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) books, box sets, maps, and everything. My friend came today to pick them up. Since I do not play D&D anymore and I needed the shelf space, I decided it was time to get rid of all my gaming stuff. Since my friend still plays regularly, I offered them all to him. He lived with us for a few years but he moved out 18 months or so ago. So when he came over today to pick up the boxes of stuff we got to talking. Poor guy ended up staying for 3 hours (or maybe 4, not sure which) but he seemed to enjoy the conversation. We talked about the campaign he is currently playing in and some of the funny things his character has done. We talked about his apartment, old games I used to run (as the dungeon master, the one who writes or sets up a prewritten adventure), WOW and lots of other stuff. It was great! I really enjoyed the visit, it was a blast. Though I think I talked his ears off. LOL

On old friend of mine sent me an email today that made me laugh. It is a list of jokes that only people from the Boston area of MA would completely understand. I got all but 3 of them and found myself nodding while I was laughing because so much of it is very true, hysterical but true. For your amusement here is the list.
ENJOY!

1. Any Red Sox World Series win was, and will always be, one of  the greatest moments in your life.
2.  The guy driving in front of you is going 70 mph and you're    swearing at him for going too slow.      
3.  When ordering a tonic, you mean a Coke.        
4. You went to Canobie Lake Park as a kid.       
5. You actually enjoy driving around rotaries.        
6. You do not recognize the letter 'R' as a part of the English  language.         
7. Your social security number starts with a zero.        
8. You can actually find your way around the streets of Boston.  
9. You know what a 'regular' coffee is. 
10. You keep an ice scraper in your car year-round.  
11. You can tell the difference between a Revere accent and a Dorchester accent. 
12. Springfield is located 'way out west.' 
13. You almost feel disappointed if someone doesn't flip you the bird when you cut them off or steal their parking space. 
14. You know how to pronounce the names of towns like Worcester, Billerica, Gloucester, Peabody and Haverhill. 
15. Anyone you don't know is a potential idiot until proven otherwise.  
16. Paranoia sets in if you can't see a Dunkin Donuts or CVS Pharmacy within eyeshot at all times. 
17. You have driven to New Hampshire on a Sunday just to buy alcohol.  
18. You know how to pronounce Yastrzemski.  
19. You know there's a trophy at the end of the Bean Pot.  
20. You order iced coffee in January.  
21. You know that the Purple Line will take you anywhere.  
22. You love scorpion bowls.  
23. You know what they sell at a Packie. 
24. Sorry Manny, but number 24 means DEWEY EVANS.  
25. You know what First Night is.  
26. You know at least one guy named Sean, Pat, Whitey, Red, Bud or Seamus. Bonus: You know how to pronounce Seamus. 
27. McLobster=McCrap  
28. You know at least 2 cops in your town because they were your high school drinking buddies. 
29. You know there are 6 New England states, but that Connecticut really doesn't count.
30. You give incomprehensible directions to tourists, feel bad when they drive off, but then say to yourself ,'Ah, screw them.' 
31. You know at least one bar where you can get something to drink after last call.  
32. You hate the Kennedys, but you vote for them anyway.  
33. You know holding onto the railing when riding the Green Line is not optional.  
34. The numbers '78 and '86 make you cringe.  
35. You think the rest of the country owes you for Thanksgiving and Independence Day. (...and they DO).  
36. You have never actually been to 'Cheers.'  
37. The words ' WICKED' and 'GOOD' go together.  
38. You' ve been to Fenway Park.  
39. You've gone to at least one party at U Mass.  
40. You know what a Frappe is.  
41. You know who Frank Averuch is.  
42. ADVANCED: You know Frank Averuch was once Bozo the Clown  
43. You can complete the following: 'Lynn, Lynn ......'  
44. You get pissed off when a restaurant serves clam chowder, and it turns out to be friggin' Snows. 
45. You actually know how to merge from six lanes of traffic down to one.  
46. The TV weatherman is damn good if he's right 25% of the time.  
47. You never go to Cape Cod,' you go 'down the Cape '.  
48. You think that Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon are more evil than Whitey Bulger.  
49. You know who Whitey Bulger is.  
50. You went to the Swan Boats, House of Seven Gables, or Plymouth Plantation on a field trip in elementary school. 
51. Bobby Orr is loved as much as Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and Ted Williams.  
52. You remember Major Mudd.  
53. You know what candlepin bowling is.  
54. You can drive from the mountains to the ocean all in one day.  
55. You know Scullay Square once stood where Government Center is.  
56. When you were a kid, Rex Trailer was the coolest guy around. Speaking of which.... You can still hum the song from the end of Boom Town 
57. Calling Carrabba's an 'Italian' restaurant is sacrilege.
58. You still have your old Flexible Flyer somewhere in your parents' attic.  
59. You know that the Mass Pike is some sort of strange weather dividing line.  
60. The only time you've been on the Freedom Trail is when relatives are in town. 
61. The Big Dig tunnel disaster wasn't a surprise.  
62. You call guys you've just met 'Chief' or 'Boss.'  
63. 4:15pm and pitch black out means only 3 more shopping days until Christmas.  
64. You know more than one person with the last name Murphy.  
65. You refer to Savin Hill as 'Stab 'n Kill.'  
66. You've never eaten at Durgin Park, but recommend it to tourists.  
67. You can't look at the zip code 02134 without singing it.  
68. You voted for a Republican Mormon as Governor just to screw with the rest of the country. 
69. 11 pm? Drunk? It means one thing: Kowloons!  
70. 2 am? Drunk? It means one thing: Kelly's Roast Beef! The one on Revere Beach not the one on Route 1. 
71. 5 am? Drunk? It means one thing: You wish you had a blanket in your back seat.  
72. You know that P-Town isn't the name of a new rap group.  
73. People you don't like are all 'Bastids.'  
74. You've called something 'wicked pissa' or 'ballsy'.
75. You'll always get razzed for Dukakis.  
76. Saturday afternoons meant Creature Double Feature with Dale Dorman.  
77. After school or Sunday mornings meant the Three Stooges on Channel 38.  
78. You've slammed on your brakes to deter a tailgater.  
79. No, you don't trust the Gorton's Fisherman.  
80. You think Aerosmith is the greatest rock band of all time.  
81. Your town has at least 6 pizza and roast beef shops.  
82. You know at least three Tony's, one Vinnie and a Frankie.  
83. 20 degrees is downright balmy as long as there's no wind- then it gets wicked cold.
84. You were very sad when saying goodbye to the Boston Garden.  
85. Thanksgiving means family, turkey, High School football, and the long version of Alice's Restaurant. 
86. You know the guy who founded the Boston Pops was named Athah Feedlah. 
87. You know what the Combat Zone is.  
88. You actually drive 45 minutes to New Hampshire to save $5 in sales tax. 
89. You've pulled out of a side street and used your car to block oncoming traffic so you can make a left. 
90. You've been to Hampton Beach on a Saturday night.  
91. Playing street hockey, basketball or football was a daily after school ritual.  
92. Hearing an old lady shout 'Numbah 96 for Sioux City !' means it's time for steak. 
93. You remember Jordan Marsh, Filene's, Grants, Bradlees, Caldor, Zayres, Woolworth's Riche's or Ann & Hope. 
94. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Massachusetts.

One Word Meme

This sounded fun, so I thought I'd do it.

The only rule is:
You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.
Not as easy as you might think…
1. Yourself: hurting
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend husband: playing
3. Your hair: upswept
4. Your mother: wonderful
5. Your dog: n/a (no dog)
5a: Your Cat: outside
6. Your favourite item: stitching
7. Your dream last night: scary
8. Your favourite drink: water
9. Your dream car: Mustang
10. The room you are in: Living room
12. Your fear: alone
13. What you want to be in 10 years: Healthy
14. Who you hung out with last night: DH
15. What you’re not: uncaring
16. Muffin: blueberry
17. One of your wish list items: fabrics
18. Time: evening
19. The last thing you did: ate
20. What you are wearing: pajamas
21. Your favourite weather: Autumn
22. Your favourite book: It
23. The last thing you ate: sandwich
24. Your life: Good
25. Your mood: down
26. Your best friend(S): wonderful
27. What are you thinking about right now? pain
28. Your car: Mustang!
29. What are you doing at the moment?: Blogging
30. Your summer: hot
31. Your relationship status: Married
32. What is on your TV?: Elmo
33. What is the weather like?: overcast
34. When is the last time you laughed?: today

Not surprised and Busy Day!

I thought this was hilarious. I know I have an odd name and it is very rare. I've never been able to find anything with my name already on it. You know like cups, pencils, key chains or stuff like that. Occasionally I can find my nickname, but not my real first name. I came across a link to "How many of me" are there and out of curiosity I clicked the link and put my name in. Apparently there is only 1 person in the USA that has my full name (first and last) and I'll bet that single person is myself. LOL There are supposedly 1545 or so who have my first name, and 47,728 who have my last name. I found it very funny that there is no one else in the USA with my full name. I wasn't surprised either as I am quite used to having an unusual name LOL

HowManyOfMe.com

There are or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I'm still giggling over this. LOL


Well today has been a busy day. Right now my pain is at a 9 and I will be taking a nap after I finish this entry. Lets see I did lots of laundry, washed , dried, folded and put away. This included 3 blankets (2 queen size and 1 twin size), 1 lap blanket, and 6 sheets (5 queen size, 1 twin and 1 crib size). I emptied all the small trash baskets and replaced their bags (wal-mart bags come in handy for these LOL) and Bridgette insisted on helping me carry the larger bag I dumped them all into around to each trash can then out to the trash can outside. I took in all of Bridgette's new pants, shorts, skirts etc as we had to buy size 4T for her height, yet she is so skinny she fits in a 3T. So I took all the bottoms in a little bit. I went over all my son's math work and found that he hadn't done the things he told me he had done, so today has been a math marathon for him to make him do everything he skipped. I did some picking up in the kitchen and my bedroom.


A few days ago I went back on the cross stitch forum that I loved so much. When my depression got really bad after my adopted father's funeral last summer, I withdrew from everything. No boards, email lists, or blog entries. Now that I have been doing so well in keeping up with my email lists, facebook and blogs I decided it was time to add that posting board back in. I really like the people on the board, they are so friendly, supportive and just wonderful. I was a bit nervous as to how they would react to my having been gone for so long, but no one seemed angry. Instead they were all very warm and happy to see me back again! They were very understanding of my depression and how it affected me. I am really glad!


Ok time to go lay down, sitting here hurts too much.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

I came accross this on another stitcher's blog. It looked interesting and fun so I thought I'd give it a shot. For more information on this topic and how to join click here.

FOR TODAY (Feb. 27, 2010)


Outside my window...are trees covered in Spanish Moss

I am thinking...about trying to get some sleep

I am thankful for...my husband and children

From the kitchen...comes food!

I am wearing...my pajamas

I am creating...this blog entry

I am going...to bed (I hope)

I am reading...The Stand by Stephen King

I am hoping...today will be a good pain day

I am hearing...silence

Around the house...lots of books

One of my favorite things...cross stitch

A few plans for the rest of the week: relax

Here is picture for thought I am sharing....

To see other Daybook entries click here.

This was created by The Simple Woman and more information can be found at The Simple Woman's Daybook blog.