Venting a Little and a New LO

So here’s my 1st rant for the day. You know the shots I’ve been getting for my migraines that cost upwards of $1,300? Well the insurance company has decided they aren’t going to cover them anymore. UGH! We finally find something that works pretty good for me (this procedure cut my migraine frequency in half!)… and the insurance company says, “No can do. You’re on your own now.” I am not a happy camper this day!

My second rant? Well since converting my blogger to the new (and improved???) google blogger – My customized template doesn’t work the way I want it to anymore. Poo! I hate when that happens. When I did recent upgrades to my personal website, the blogging component went haywire as well. So now blogs all over the place are just so screwed up! Ugh… change isn’t always so fab-dab-u-lous.

But I will survive! The computer WILL NOT win! It will not. It must not. I simply won’t let it! After all, it’s just a machine.

Stomping feet, rolling eyes, squealing out profanities, punching pillows….. okay, settling down now. Hissy fit over. Back to the drawing board and ready to set my sights on wading through all the paper work that’s necessary for yet another insurance appeal, and new blog templates. Not exactly what I had planned for my weekend. But hey – at least it’s another 3-dayer.

So — let’s move on to stuff that is much more fun! How about a new digi-LO? This one features the oldest DD with her DH. I’ve had this song title floating around in my brain all week long. Thought if I did something creative with it, I might be able to move onto other things. LOL.

The steel blue paper in the background is from Traci Murphy’s Uptown kit. I grabbed it up from SrapArtist I used a couple of swirly brushes from Obsidiandawn also. Grunged up the paper and swirls just a bit and changed a color photo to black and white.

Captured this little moment of affection when we were in Montana for Kev’s graduation a few years back. And now we’re preparing for Boo’s graduation this year. I can’t believe how quickly time flies!

 

Shots Didn’t Take

Here’s a little update on my migraine situation. As you already know, the neuroligist that I’ve had for several years finally convinced me to go with the Botox shots treatment. When I did, I had wonderful, wonderful results. We even accomplished the “less than 10-a-month” goal for the first time in over two and a half years! It’s been so fantastic having days and nights, and good health returned to me.

My Dr recently moved out of state and all his patients were transfered to a differnt neuroligist. This new doctor has been in practise many years and comes with a fantastic reputation. Although she has done Botox shot treatments for other ailments within her practise, she’s having to learn the injection methods for migraines now. She received her training directly from my usual neuroligist.

I met with the new doctor and developed a good repor immediately. Wahoo! That makes such a difference when it comes to ones healthcare! So she did the procedure this last time. Unfortunately the shots haven’t worked as well this go around. I’m assuming it’s because her method was slightly different than the neuroligist before her. I’ve been back to the old routine of more frequent headaches with higher severity and they are more difficult to manage… again.

But I’ve also changed the level on my hormone patch.  Since hormone fluxuations has always been one of my primary trickers, it could be the headaches have returned because of that too.

Ugh! Is my word for the day. I so hate when stuff like this happens! Because I can have the treatments only once every 3 months, I can’t go for the next set of shots until late November. I’m not looking forward to the holiday season this go around, because I know the pain free days will be hit-and-miss again this year.

Darn! — Just when I thought things were great!

 

Chronic Pain Update

I feel tons better these days than in the past year. The BOTOX shots for my migraines have made a world of difference. I have so much excitement and hope for each new day now. The daily headaches have been not so daily anymore. Hip, hip, horray!

As some readers know, I track my headaches, triggers, and the variety of treatments they try on this little ginny pig very closely. I’m so happy to report — my current charts indicate that over the course of the past 3 months I’ve had a 69% decrease in headaches! That’s amazing. The best improvements I’ve had in chronic pain relief in years! I’m not niave enough to think that this will last forever. But I sure am going to take advantage of it for as long as the treatment is available to me and it works!

In March I had 11 pain-free days. In April it was 16 and in May I had 17 Wahoo! That was the results of my first round of injections and the studies show that many times additional treaments result in higher improvement rates. I had my second round done at the beginning of June and I’m looking forward to experiencing even more pain-free days! The goal remains at 10 or fewer headaches in a month and I’m so close to meeting the goal that I’m getting my hopes up and really starting to believe the goal, that used to seem so far away, now might honestly be achievable! You just wait and see… one of these days I’m going to have 4 days in a row without a headache and when I do, you’ll be able to hear me shouting from the mountain tops… no matter where you live!

So what am I doing with all my wonderful time now? Well, I’m filling my days with actual productivity when I’m at work. (What a unique idea!) And I’m playing hard on my weekends and in the evenings, usually outside in my garden. I’m also enjoying the company of my family with going out to eat, having family outings, and talking IN THE LIGHT! Do you believe that? I’m not sleeping, puking, or crying in the dark near as many days now. Not being doped up on pain-killers and other drugs sure does a world of good for the emotions. My quality of life is so much better when I’m clear-headed, and able to think straight!

Even though it doesn’t hurt to look at the computer screen quit as often — I’m still not spending too much time around here. This time, because I’d rather be out and about, moving along, and really engaging in life!

 

Headache Update

Since I had my shots my headaches have been less chronic and less painful! They are much more managable. So far this month the number of pain-filled days have been cut by almost 50%. I’ve had none that spun out of control, and the others that I’ve had went away quicker after taking my triptans.

It’s been super great. I’m so thrilled that we have found something that offers this much relief for me!

 

Migraine Shots Update

The BOTOX came in at the pharmacy (no charge to me) Yippy! And I had the injections yesterday afternoon! (No news on insurance approval for that part yet.) Now, we wait again. But unlike most the other meds they have had me on over the years, I won’t have to wait the usual 6-8 weeks before evaluating the success. We’ll probably see results much earlier. Doc says I may see improvement in the very first week. It will be at it’s peak by the 3rd week. So hopefully by my birthday I’ll have more headache free days and much fewer moments in the darkness with tears. Wahoo!

Here’s my current 12-month progress chart… I’m not so sure progress is the right word. I should say here are some YUCKY Headache charts.

You can click on the picture to get a larger view of the graphs. Red Star days are those without a headache. Rarely do they end up being one day after the next. As you can see our goal all along as been for my body to grant me with 10 or fewer migraines a month. So if the BOTOX does the trick — I’ll have my life given back to me!

But I’ll take what I can get. No lie, I’ll be happy if I can get even 5 days IN A ROW free of pain. I will gladly pay $1,500 to experience that! I haven’t had more than 3 days in a row, pain free, in almost 2 years. Just to see what it’s like again would be a most precious birthday gift! And a very welcomed repreave!

 

Newest info on my Migraine shots

I mentioned to you earlier in the month that we were trying to make arrangements for me to have Botox shots while I was in the D.C. area. Hoping this would help relieve a big portion of my headache pain. Well that didn’t work out. So now we are trying to have the Botox ordered from base pharmacy and then me take it to my downtown doctor for the injections.

Still don’t know if insurance will cover it this way or not. If pharmacy doesn’t play along it will cost us $1,500 – $1,800 for the procedure. And if it works for me, then we’ll repeat every 3 months or so. If pharmacy plays, it lowers the cost substantially.

Either way, we’ve decided to go forward with the procudure. Must know if this is going to help. If it doesn’t we’ve taken another 1 step back. But if it does… that’s two steps forward! We’re sure hoping we’ll move forward this time!!!!

I’ll let you know more as we know it.

 

This that and the other

Hey there folks. I’ve been busy working and staying healthy. Or at least trying.
We celebrated our youngest DD’s birthday last night with a gift exchange and cake at the house. Tonight we’ll be going out to eat dinner at a local Mexican place she’s picked out. I believe one of her girlfriends is planning on joining us. It should be fun

DD has had a sore throat and a cough for a couple of days, but she has tomorrow off from school. So we are hoping that over the three day weekend she can get rid of that thing. I know there’s been a bug going around work too. It’s not a big deal. Just a bummer that she got it the week of celebrating her 17th.

For Christmas she got a new PS2, since the last one pooped out on us. And so for her B-day she got a new-fangled game chair that hooks into the PS2 player and/or her stereo. It’s got this sub-woofer speaker system thing in it, so while she’s playing her games or listening to music it’s playing through the chair. Weird! But DH thoughts she’d love it. He was right! She thinks it’s pretty cool.

I had a chance to talk with some Missouri dwellers this week. I yapped with DD for a little while last night. She’s doing some personal introspective work and looking at job/career choices. Getting a little ansy to move forward and not work two jobs at once. I know that can be a tough thing to do. So many hours is rough on the body. I’ll be glad when she can go back to just 40 hours again too. Hang in there my Bug!
DSS and I talked for a long time one night this week. That was the first time we’d done that in quit a spell. Yes – it was good to hear her voice and chatter for a bit. Sounds like her new car is really neat. And when she gets used to where all the new buttons are, I’m sure she’ll enjoy it even more. LOL Congrats on the new ride, sis! Tell your DS that I’ll try to remember to write in print next time I send something your way.

I have a TDY coming up soon that will put me in the Washington D.C. area. I’m hoping that while I’m up that way I can get a series of BOTOX shots that is supposed to help relieve me of my headaches. The logistics are not all ironed out though. So I’m not real sure that’s going to happen. Because the treatment isn’t covered by my insurance (yet), to have them locally at this point is cost prohibitive — over $1K. We just aren’t that financial fluid at this time. Especially because if they work (which would be a first for me) then the treatment is repeated about every 3 months. It’s actually less expensive for me to pay for the plane fair to Washington D.C., stay at the base, and receive the free shots in the headache clinic there that the DoD runs — than it is for me to have them locally. So that’s the plan of action at this point.

Since the DoD is paying for my plane ticket up that way for the TDY anyway, it’s a good time for me to give this treatment a test run. But first we have to arrange for a medical referral and hope that a doc at the clinic will accept me as a patient and then do the procedure during the time that I’m there. Ugh — that may not be possible as we have only a short window of time before I leave for the TDY. Maybe this will help. Maybe it won’t. But so far, nothing else has. So it’s worth a try.
Speaking of migraines and daily headaches. If you are dealing with such things yourself or dealing with chronic pain of any type — there’s a couple of books I’d recommend you get your hands on and peruse your way through. Managing Pain Before it Manages You and The Chronic Pain Control Workbook are two good publications for learning how to cope with chronic pain and minimize it’s impact on your daily living.

I’ve read approximately a kazillion books about chronic headaches and more specifically migraine disease. I found that Terri Robert’s new book on the subject is an excellent read. If you live with migraines, or interact with anyone who does I highly recommend you go over this one cover to cover. It’s called Living Well With Migraine Disease and Headaches — What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You… That You Need to Know If you are interested in my thoughts on any of the headache books I’ve read, just drop me a line or leave a message here. I’d be happy to share my opinion.

As for me — December was the best month I’ve had in over a year. I had 13 headache-free days. Wahoo!!!! A record has been set! Merry Christmas to me. Maybe a gift because I had been such a good little girl all year. (I will be accepting no comments from the peanut gallery at this time.) LOL
I still have hope that one of these days my doc and I can reach the goal of less than 10 headaches a month. Wouldn’t that be just fab?! Oh Yeah!!!!
Have a super day everyone! Kisses and Hugs from Wyoming!

 

Short Lived Weekend

The weekend was too short. I needed about 5 more days off. LOL Saturday morning I took DD into town for an all-day debate tournament. She didn’t debate this time, because their school was hosting it. So her job was to help with all the details and coordination. Then I spent a long while wading through the dollar store looking for fun projects to alter. The afternoon wasn’t as good because I spent the day with a migraine that spun out of control. That’s the second one this month that I couldn’t get a handle on. And I had a spinner last month too. Ugh! — I hate when that happens. California Mom also called with an update on DH’s sister. Seems the cancer is getting the best of her these days. She’s in the hospital on oxygen again. Please send healing thoughts her way.

Sunday was much better. It was a red-star day as far as migraines go. An unusual, but VERY WELCOMED headache-free day! I was able to finally get all our holiday decorations put back in storage again. It seems such a big chore to get everything boxed up and tucked away. But it’s fun too, to have the decorations out during the season. So it’s always well worth the effort. How about you all? Did you get your decorations put away yet? I managed to get the laundry washed/dried/and put away too. I did some website updates and watched a few clips of home movies — from way back when Lacy was a puppy. So all in all it was a rather productive day.

Next on my to-do list is to finish writing a ton of Thank You notes that I’ve just barely got started on. I’m hoping to finish those up tonight. I’ve got a couple of Circle Journals sitting on my work bench that I need to complete. I did get them started. But a few more finishing touches are in order before they get mailed back out. They are due to the postman by the 15th. I’d like to get them in the mail early if I can. I already signed up for several swaps this month and I want to make sure I don’t over-tax myself with projects.

I’m having fun with my AW journey thus far.

When you get time, drop me a note and let me know what’s happening on your side of the globe. Keep in touch.

 

New Years Day

Well the first day of the new year really sucked! I spent it all day in pain. I had a migraine headache that spun out of control. So when I woke up this morning and the headache had finally gone away I decided to make this the first day of my new year instead of yesterday. If the Rose Bowl parade can be held off until the 2nd, I figured I could wait and start my new year a day late also. LOL

Today was much, much better! After we all watched the parade, DH and I spent the day reviewing home video as we transfered many of our VHS clips to DVD. DD joined us for much of the day. We all enjoyed the walk down memory lane! It was so much fun watching all the changes in our children as they celebrated each birthday, Easter, Christmas, and just watching them grow up through our video movies. As they grew up, I noticed I grew outward. Maybe a diet is in order.

It was fun too watching our house being built and all the work we did in finishing the basement. And of course watching our 4-legged critters from their puppy years gave us some giggles too.I did make a couple of resolutions for 2006. It’s not like me to make New Year resolutions because I’m not very good at following through with them all the way. I mean – I have been known to give it a good start and even accomplish some of those goals. But after I fizzled out on a couple, I pretty much quit doing it.

This year I thought I’d give it another try. So I have two resolutions. One is to get more organized and symplify many areas of my life. The other is to complete “The Artists Way” workshop I mentioned in my last blog posting. It’s a 12-week workshop that may take me longer than that to accomplish. But I’m determined to get all the way through it just the same.

I hope everyone’s New Year celebration was cheerful and fun! I’ll chat back at you soon.