Chronic Pain

Hello All You Grinders

It's Alreay Febuary, Can you believe it???

WE ARE NOT QUITE OUTA THE COLD SEASON YET, BUT LETS POSTA BUNCH, VISIT WITH GOOD FRIENDS AND PASS SUPPORT & LOVE ONTO ANYONE NEEDING IT.

If your already a member, just start where you left off. If your New, please jump right in, we are all happy you've decided to join us and Welcome you with Open, Understanding and Loving arms.

Have a Wonderful Month Grinders
Betty

Good Night Family

I hope you've all made it over here to February, 09. Hehe "What do you mean Adrian???"" LOL
these Admin privleges sure are handy, aren't they. LOL I'm still learning how & what I'm able to do things, but they are kind of handy. I just could not figure out how to remove the "This was moved here by Betty" notice to really try to act like I'm on the ball.
I really appreciate you reminding me honey, I'm only teasing you. hehe

It really was a very nice day here. I did my regular chores and took care of Helens needs, but did not run around and do housework. I told her this am that we were going to recognize the Lords day properly and just take it easy.

I spent most my day here in the bedroom online, whle laying in my zero gravity chair and boy did it help my nerve pain taht had really ramped up during our am routine, but once I was laying back in the chair, reading, watching the tube and computing away. I all just gradually calmed down and it's barely noticable right now and I stil have totake my bedtime meds. So I'm really feeling good tonight.

It's time for me to do my night reading and prayers, so I better get to it and then I'm off to sleep.

I hope you all find the Feburary grind and that you all had a nice day. They are all so few & far between these cold winter days, so I have to appreciate when I have one.

Good Night Family
I really hope that you all get some decent rest and those with high pain today, get some relief very soon. My prayers are with you all.
Gentle loving hugs
Betty

Moved Reply:

Good Super Bowl Sunday Morning everyone!

It is a snowy overcast morning here. Some of my joints are swollen and red and I feel sickly. It is just what I call my osteo arthritis flare up. I know Adrian and Betty have said to me that it sounds like a Fibro flare up. So far, my doctors all say it is just osteo arthritis. Who cares about the name anymore. I just accept that my joints will be very sore for 3 to 8 weeks, then it will go away again for an unkown period of time.

So, I will have a lazy day.....watch the golf, Austrailian open (tennis) if I can find it and the Super Bowl...........Lots of channel switching today. lol

Hope you all have a low pain day and some fun with friends and family.
Cyberhugs,
DS Deb

Moved Reply:

Good Morning gang

The sun is out and I actually slept pretty well last night. I was a little chilly, but got up and put matties Giants fuzzy blanket on me and then was in warm & cozy condition.

I woke up early around 5am and went back to sleep till my alarm went off. Sis slept in pretty well and her legs only bothered her a small amount, so that's good news too.

We don't have much of anything planned here, she & I don't really care for the game and none of my families teams are in it, so I'm not really interested, but of course my guys are both going to Super Bowel parties, but they are die hard foot ball fans. hehe

There is a "The Closer" marathon on TNT today, so I think I'm gonna go back into the bedroom and watch it, maybe try to catch someone to chat with or what ever comes up.

I hope you all slept well last night and have a very restful "Lords Day"

Love you all
Big Hugs
Betty

i am feeling a bit lopsided today .. hope i snap out of it .. thank goodness i have a session this morning .. my brain is fogged up .. my pain is a bit irritating , as i distract myself from thinking , i do my best not to overdo it out there ..

alas, i am fatigued .. all in a days work .. this too shall pass .. have not been so bad , acknowledging where i am at this point .. i guess i am doing okay ..

just didn't sleep a restful sleep .. haven't had one of those in a while .. teetering on boredom ??

perhaps .. on my way here i saw an article that peaked my interest from a Mr. Ashendend (?) , i beleive , in the bi-polar discussion group ..

It referred to PTSD , and how the Military is now giving out Purple Hearts to soldiers who have been dx'd with this ..

opinions of course were asked for by the community .. feelin qualified enough about "hidden" disabilities .. and having just been asessed with PTSD .. y'know me , i wrote a comment ..

i likend it to the APF , while their main focus is veterens , which in a way helps or benefits us .. i think ? .. maybe this recogniztion will also bring some to all of us who have a form of mental mysteries , i call it ..

i hope so, but as slow as it is for us with pain, being ordinary folk, i was skeptical as will these "Purple Heart" people get the help ?? and proper help at that ..

and like the APF, the process of the trickle down theory to the rest of us who did not nor do not serve in the military , how long ??

anyway, i am glad i read it , responded and yet it drained me .. okay, made me sad .. that as with the way the government is going , is it just smoke being blown ? or for real ?

oh well, i am beat , really .. as my meds sink in, maybe i will "snap ot of it!" .. heehee

later - a

quote:

Adrian
Posted Feb 2, 6:32 AM Hide Post
i am feeling a bit lopsided today .. hope i snap out of it .. thank goodness i have a session this morning .. my brain is fogged up .. my pain is a bit irritating , as i distract myself from thinking , i do my best not to overdo it out there ..

alas, i am fatigued .. all in a days work .. this too shall pass .. have not been so bad , acknowledging where i am at this point .. i guess i am doing okay ..

just didn't sleep a restful sleep .. haven't had one of those in a while .. teetering on boredom ??

perhaps .. on my way here i saw an article that peaked my interest from a Mr. Ashendend (?) , i beleive , in the bi-polar discussion group ..

It referred to PTSD , and how the Military is now giving out Purple Hearts to soldiers who have been dx'd with this ..

opinions of course were asked for by the community .. feelin qualified enough about "hidden" disabilities .. and having just been asessed with PTSD .. y'know me , i wrote a comment ..

i likend it to the APF , while their main focus is veterens , which in a way helps or benefits us .. i think ? .. maybe this recogniztion will also bring some to all of us who have a form of mental mysteries , i call it ..

i hope so, but as slow as it is for us with pain, being ordinary folk, i was skeptical as will these "Purple Heart" people get the help ?? and proper help at that ..

and like the APF, the process of the trickle down theory to the rest of us who did not nor do not serve in the military , how long ??

anyway, i am glad i read it , responded and yet it drained me .. okay, made me sad .. that as with the way the government is going , is it just smoke being blown ? or for real ?

oh well, i am beat , really .. as my meds sink in, maybe i will "snap ot of it!" .. heehee

later - a

1LIFE2LIVE


Posts: 818 | Location: Sunny California | Registered: 11-04-2007

Moved Reply:

Good Afternoon Friends

It's a pretty good day and going very smoothly. I miss you guys, but hope your all having a very relaxng day with Family and /or God.

I'm just hanging around and layin in my zero gravity chair in my bedroom at Helens. She's sleeping in her chair and we don't really have anything to do until I make her dinner. I even already have her jammies and bedtime stuff layed out, so I can lay right back down after I feed her and I'm just gonna have a can of chilie or something easy for supper myself.

Hugs Family
I hope your days is very restful & your enjoying what ever you are doing.
Betty

okay, okay .. what is going on .. lol .. i posted this a.m. .. it got put between moved posts .. i copied and posted again after chuck , mind you .. and again it posted between .. lol ... is this going to be one of those "testy" days ??

lol .. bye ... let's see where this ends up ...

Moved Reply:

hello my fellow pain friends....

sitting here watching the superbowl!!!! GO STEELERS!!!! wooooowhooooo..... those are my peeps. *lol*

well, you all were correct. saturday was a difficult day for me. i did some laundry, made some chocolate chip cookies, did some housewife stuff. paid for it dearly.

did get to go see "rent" last night. it was wonderful!!! that was my anniversary gift from david. it was very nice.

so, now i have lots of documentation to do. and i have to be up first thing in the morning to bring my car to the shop and pick up my rental. *sigh* never a dull moment.

ok, much love
d

Good morning everybody,
How are you doing on this first Monday of February? I can't stand that your groundhog says there's six more weeks of winter. I've had enough.

I'm feeling a bit better this morning. So far, only my joints are aching rather than my whole body. The inflammation yesterday seemed to hit every old injury I had including my tear in my shoulder. So I dragged out my old sling for the day. I'm trying to train my voice recognition system so that I don't have to type.

Betty, I'm glad you had a relaxing day yesterday at Helen's house. I'm interested in your zero gravity chair. Maybe you can take a picture sometime so that I could see it. I still haven't found a comfortable chair. Sometimes I use the beanbag chair, but mostly now I'm using the pullout bed in the living room. I have dreamt about sitting comfortably for almost 3 years. I'm glad that it helps you lower your pain. When I'm talking to the doctors about what position is comfortable for me. I always refer to an arrangement of pillows that gives me zero gravity.

Adrian, don't forget to do your Monday morning list of things to do.

Danielle, so sorry about your accident. It seems that you are able to move around okay, if you're making cookies and things but considering or a situation, I hope you will get checked out by your doctor at the slightest sign of any new pain. I was thinking about Kojak and wondering how much he weighs? How is his potty training coming along? I didn't recognize the mix of breed of dog that he is. Is there a dominant breed in the mix?

Ellie, I was so happy to hear that you were able to go out to a restaurant with your friend on Saturday, with no ill effect's. The stimulator really seems to be helping. I'm so glad for you. Sorry your team didn't win yesterday in the Super Bowl, but it was a really good game. Mind you, that fumble that resulted in a touchdown by Pittsburgh seems to have been the deciding factor. Oh well, it's only a game!

Chuck, I keep hearing about the miserable weather in Kentucky. I can commiserate. Did you lose electricity with the ice storms? I'm glad you had a short getaway visiting your sister. We chronic pain people really do have a tough time getting through the winter.

DebO, I hope the weather has settled down a little bit in Victoria. You guys really had a rough start to the winter. How long is it now until you see your special doctor? Have the side effects of Neurontin, settled down a bit? Or have you stopped it completely? I can't remember, did you try Lyrica? I hope I can catch up with you on IMs sometime soon.

There were two good things that happened yesterday. Well, one of them......Maybe isn't so good for my granddaughter. LOL I. received an instant message from my son Dave yesterday morning, saying that Grace wanted to talk to me. I was quite surprised, because Grace normally is wiggling and squirming to not talk to me. So I called him using the web cam. Grace was so cute. She said just a minute Nana and disappeared for a second. She came back with a picture of her fish, held it up to the camera on the computer and didn't say a word. So naturally I said, what a nice picture of your fish. Still, she didn't say anything. So I say grace, I can't see you because the picture is right in front of the camera. Can you put it down a little bit, please. So then her dad prompted her and said tell Nana what you want to say. In the sweetie pie said, my fish died this morning. It was the sweetest discussion that we had afterwords, about sadness, and the good times, and lots of other things. I'm so happy that I have the web cam and can share these special moments with Grace.

The second good thing that happened yesterday, was I received a call back from an inquiry I made to a company called international healthcare providers Inc.. I found them on the web when I was searching for the correct webpage to apply for financial assistance for out of country health services. It was an amazing call. I won't go into all the details, but what this very small company provides is an interface between the patient and receiving medical center, and any doctors, forms that might need to be filled out, lodging, that might be needed, flights, hotels, from beginning to end of an out of country surgery. More than that, she [Kelly] had not only visited the laser spine Institute in Tampa, but had scrubbed in to observe a surgery. I was so excited to find someone who had actually been there. She was very honest and straightforward and would not give a 100% approval for the procedure. When I questioned her about this, I found out that she had sent 15 patients with chronic back pain to LSI. Of the 15, two of them did not improve or said it was worse. I thought to myself, that actually is a pretty good result. I further questioned her about the two who were not successful. It turns out, one of them had a second surgery at LSI, at their expense, and it was successful. The other man, it turns out, was a very difficult man to satisfy about any thing. For instance, if Kelly did not return his calls within 10 minutes he would be angry. I asked her if she thought he had a realistic expectation, prior to surgery, about the outcome of surgery. She said it was very difficult to know, because she felt that maybe he wasn't always upfront with her. As well, Kelly, arranged a conference call with LSI, the patient, the surgeon, and herself to discuss what options were available to possibly improve the patient's situation. When it came time for the conference call, the patient didn't turn up, so Kelly said she really doesn't know how to process this man. Again, I asked, without disclosing the patient's privileged information, do you think his surgery was a failure? She hummed and hawed, then eventually he said that this man was so angry that he was trying to ruin your reputation. That seems to be the real reason, that Kelly is now saying she has reservations about LSI.

So, what I took from this conversation was that all of the 15 patients who had the laser back surgery, there was only one in the end, that didn't have a good or very good outcome. When you think of conventional back surgery, and the success or failure rate of it, this is a pretty good result. I was impressed with Kelly's knowledge of chronic pain, her first-hand knowledge of LSI's medical center and the caring way that she spoke to me about my condition. She offered to contact one of the doctors at LSI, on my behalf, to ask him to review my MRIs and possibly call me, to allow me to ask him any questions that I have. I have to tell you I was happily surprised and grateful. We discussed other things too, such as applying to Medicare for reimbursement of funds. Etc. etc. we agreed, that I would forward her, the e-mail I sent last week to my contact at LSI. We'll see what happens, but it really was good to speak to someone who would actually be an to the LSI facilities.

Peppi, Mark, and anyone else I missed in today's posting, I hope everything is going well for you.

Have a low pain Monday, no blues allowed, LOL.
Gentle cyber hugs to all,
DS Deb

Moved Reply:

Happy Anniversary Danielle .. How exciting, a play or the movie Rent ?? It doesn't matter, sounds like a good time .. glad you are hanging there with your pain .. it is good to hear you happy ..

So, Betsy Boopers ? Where is the February Grind , girl ???

Go Steelers !! no , Go Cardinals ! Oh dear, I can't pick a team .. I am a Giants fan heehee !!

Moved Reply:

Night time greets all,
Not too much going on today.
Bobbi and I went to my sis's house this afternoon
and had dinner and fellowship, always good to visit with sis.
My daughter took Heidi to the park but, I wasn't able to go this time around. Nothin to drastic.
We're back to the cold/snowy/rain mode for the next couple days ought to be interesting.
Good night all
Chuck

Good Monday Morning Friends

It's a nice clear morning here, a little chilly, but not bad at all. I had a really pretty good nights sleep and am just amazed at how well my resting in my chair yesterday went.

We don't have very much to do here today either. I'm just gonna run the dish washer and wash one load of clothes. I already made our beds and picked up, so I'm gonna take another easy day, as tomorrow we have a pretty busy one.

Nurse at 11am, hair apts at 2:30pm and I'm baby sitting one of Honeys puppies from her last litter again, so his mommy is bringing Chester by at 4pm tomorrow.

Debbie called this am and she wants to come back on thursday, I was going to stay till Friday, so I could leave enough days to recover after my procedure on Tuesday, but she says to go ahead and do all the recovery days I want. I decided not to argue and told her that I also would be gone on the last weekend of this month to Seattle. She has to go back to court with her ex and needs the money, so I said fine and I'm just gonna go with it.
I repeated again, that I'm here 12 days a month and she's here the remainder, so she still gets the same amount of days. It will be better for me as I'm having such troubles with this nerve and I really hope it will be much better controlled once I recover from the procedure.

Well, I'll be back and around all day, so I'm gonna go bathe and get dressed friends and then I'll be back to see if anyone had something else to say.

Hugs & have a GREAT! Day
Betty

Hi friends,

Ah yes, welcome to February everybody!
I hope you are all having a lovely day, despite pain, despite weather. You guys are always in my thoughts and I am grateful for our interaction with one another and our support for each other.

Well, my son is at the army recruiter’s office right now, at this moment. I have mixed feelings about this of course: pride, sadness, concern, etc. He will be ok, I keep telling myself. I told him not to let them shave his hair off until we got plenty of pictures. He has gorgeous, curly, dark brown hair. It will be a shame to shave it. Sigh... It is what he wants and what will lead him to his eventual goal of being a cop. So, that is the deal. He is legally an adult, able to make his own decisions. But, to his mama, he is still my kid. Thus, I’m a bit wistful today.

Pain is just annoying, you know? I’m just plain sick of it. I knew going into this whole stimulator thing that it wouldn’t likely take away 100% of my pain. I knew that. Yet, as I cut down on my meds, the pain definitely creeps up to unacceptable and intolerable levels, even with the stimulator. I know I need to experiment with it more. Deb suggested I turn it off for a bit and see if that helped. It did help a portion of the pain. So we will see if that is what I need to do from time to time. I’m just tired of having to worry about being in pain. It is just one of those days, I guess, where I feel like my life is not what it “should” be. Do you guys have those days? I have all these ideas: I “should” be working. I “should” be exercising. I “should” be able to have enough stamina to go shopping without collapsing in a heap for 3 hours upon returning home. Grrrr.... It is a rough day. I’ll get through it. It helps so much to talk it out (thanks again, Deb, you are the best!) And to write it out here. It makes a difference to express these feelings to people who truly understand the issues.

Well, on the good side, my younger son is feeling better and went back to school today, after missing 4 days last week. He is on antibiotics, no one else has caught it, and he is on the upswing. So that is a happy.

I’ll be back later, to talk to you all individually. In the meantime, thanks for “listening” to my grumbles. I value each of you and you are all wonderful, understanding people.

Love ya!
ellie

Hey guys

I don't know what happened to our new February forums. I moved posts last time and they did not get all jumbled up like this, but I figure that it's because I tried being a smarty pants to Adrian and the good lord always likes to humble me when I do that. LOL
I think thaat it's ok for now, but let me know if you notice any morre jumbling of our posts and I'll try to figure out what the deal is. LOL

I can't promise you that I know how to fix them, but hey, I'll wing it and pretend I can figure it out anyway. LOL

Sorry for being a smarty pants, I should of known this would happen
good Day friends
Betty