Thursday, July 31, 2008

Thursday the 31st of July..

and where did the month go..???? Tomorrow is the 1st of August and I have been dealing with this TM thing now for 2 1/2 months...not a long time but it seems like forever already.. I can remember very vividly the night that this TM came on..as a matter of fact, the details still flash through my mind about every day but the time in between seems like a blur sometimes..I know that I have been doing my PT and I know I have accomplished some things as far as recovery goes..but the days just seem to run together...I wish I didn't have this fatigue issue to deal with..I want so bad just to get outside for awhile..to be able to walk around normally..even pick weeds out of the flowers.. but I can't, the heat and humidity just exhaust me.

I did PT today...got my insurance issue taken care of so that is good. My therapist had me walk on the treadmill today to see how that went.. well, I did 3 1/2 minutes with the treadmill set at 1 mph and I was sweating like a fool and was exhausted. It felt good to work up that sweat but it just boggles my mind that something as simple as a little walk on the treadmill is so hard to do.
One good thing today, my therapist got my additional PT approved and I also start water therapy next Wednesday at 1:30. WooHoo.. I am so anxious for that to start.. I know it will probably be hard but I am so looking forward to it.
Till next time..

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Well, There really wasn't

much to update on until today. I had PT yesterday and my insurance only had me authorized for PT up through yesterday (60 days) so my therapist has gotten me approved for more.
I waited until today to update because I had my follow up at the wound center for my bed sore today. I got the all clear..!! WooHoo. I am glad of that and now I can pursue the water therapy. I spoke with my therapist today and she submitted the request for more therapy and upped my number of sessions to three a week so that I can continue my two current ones and also have one day a week of water therapy.
I sure hope I can get that going soon.
Otherwise, not much new...I've had a bit of leg pain the last couple of days but nothing to terrible..the pain meds seem to be doing what their supposed to do for the most part. Only other thing is this blasted heat and humidity. Pretty much saps all of my energy.
That's all for now folks..
Until next time...

Friday, July 25, 2008

Friday evening

and I wasn't sure if I wanted to update or not... nothing really new.. went to PT yesterday..it went well as it has been lately..it still wears me out but that is the point anyway.. My therapist is having me work more on walking with a cane which I like.. I can't wait to get rid of the friggen walker permanently.
I haven't tried the fiber and enema thing yet... I have some reservations about that in which I won't go into detail here.. I'll save everyone the gory details.. :-)

Well, I'll cut this update short and maybe do another one this weekend..

Until next time...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

It's Wednesday

and here's an update...
I did have my appt. yesterday with the gastroenterologist and all that really came out of that is the suggestion to include more fiber in my diet and then to use an enema every morning. The fiber to bind me up more and then of course the enema to clean me out. My wife is going to be getting me the stuff here in the next couple of days and then we'll see how that goes. The only other thing they said is that I maybe should have a colonoscopy, which could be a bit of a challenge with me because of the bowel issue. They suggested the colonoscopy because I am turning 50 and I guess that is the magic number to check for colon problems. That won't happen for a couple of months though.
So, no magic cure all for retraining the sphincter..oh well.

When I went in to the hospital on Monday for my PT..the therapists told me that they had another patient in the in-patient physical therapy wing with TM. I guess it is a guy but they didn't know much else about him other than his symptoms came on similar to mine. I'm going to see if I can talk to him and see how he is doing.

The weather here was beautiful today so my wife took me for a walk in my wheelchair and I held my dog's leash. It was so nice to get out but I noticed that as I was out in the sun..and it was only about 68 degrees today, but I was sweating like all get out.. Man, it's something how the heat gets to me. The sun felt so good and there was a nice breeze blowing but I just can't stand the heat at all.
Oh well....until next time...

Monday, July 21, 2008

It's Monday

and I just finished PT. It went well today...did some practicing with the cane. That didn't go too bad but after the second trip down the hallway I was pretty winded. My therapist brought to my attention that when I walk with the cane the rest of my body is stiff as a board. She said that I need to relax when I walk. I'm going to have to work on that..I am so wobbly when I walk because I have no balance at all.
Otherwise..the weekend went well..I believe I have finally fallen into a good sleep pattern, so I have been getting some decent sleep the last few days.
I have been staying ahead of my pain by taking my pain meds on a schedule and I also think I might have a little handle on the depression, it seems that the Effexor may have started taking effect. The biggest thing right now is that between the Effexor, the Vicodon and the MS Contin I am always tired...
Otherwise things seems to be moving forward... This is good.
Until next time.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Had a good night

last night. I had ordered one of the blow up wound cushions for the bed. It arrived yesterday and I got it on the bed. It allowed me to sleep on my back and is very comfortable.
So, I slept well last night..yay..
Went to PT today..had my re-eval to see how much progress I've made so far.. well.. to my surprise..I have gained more in my left leg than I realized and not as much in my right leg as I thought I would have. Oh well..I know what I have to work on. They also gave me a foot and leg support to wear when I'm walking.. It keeps my toes from dropping when I lift my foot. I like using it..it makes walking easier. I will be using it from now on even during PT. This may help me progress a little better. Also while at PT today...I got to try walking with a cane.. It was pretty cool..I was quite shaky but after a short walk down the hallway I started getting the hang of it. They are going to continue working on me using the cane which is great..I want to get rid of that damn walker..
So, till next time...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Short post

today. Awake early again this morning..5:00am. I was having friggen leg pain again..I could not get comfortable at all..I even resorted to flipping over on my stomach for awhile..just to try and change positions with my legs. It helped somewhat but even now at noon my legs are still bothering me a bit. I don't what's up now.
Again with waking up early I am feeling so exhausted. I did manage to take a shower but was sweating by the time I was done.
Arrrrgggghhhh.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Weekend

went well as far as sleep goes. The new meds seem to be working so far. Yesterday was rather odd though, I woke up at 5:00am to go to the bathroom and when I came back to bed I didn't go back to sleep. So, since I was still awake I got in the shower about 7:00am after watching some of the morning news. I had PT yesterday and since I was feeling rather good I really worked myself. I also did some new exercises which I like and my therapist told me that I have met the short term goals that they had set up for me, so I was glad of that. By the end of my PT session I was so tired that when my wife got me home I did go back to sleep and the rest of the day I was exhausted.

The only other thing this weekend was that I had a minor bowel accident on Saturday after dinner. I noticed alot of rumbling in my stomach and the next thing I knew I had some very "wet gas" and I got up and got into the bathroom as quick as I could and had very loose bowels.

Now, today for some reason I am still very tired. I had good sleep last night. I woke up at 8:00am to go to the bathroom and I am just feeling really run down. I don't know if it is maybe just my body still catching up from waking so early yesterday and the exertion of PT. Oh well, that's it for now. I'm gonna try to go back to sleep for awhile..
Until next time..

Friday, July 11, 2008

Okay...here is an update of my meds and other stuff

As I mentioned the doc changed some of my meds.. He took me off of the Amiltriptyline that I was taking for Depression/nerve pain/sleep because I don't feel it was working for sleep or the depression.. I have been sleeping crappy and still feeling in a crappy mood. He now has me on Effexor for the depression..we'll see how that goes. For sleep he prescribed Ambien but I'm only to take that if I have a real problem sleeping..because for pain he also prescribed MS Contin (a type of morphine).
Well, last night at bedtime..I took the Effexor and the MS Contin....and talk about sleep.... whew.. I'm still groggy and it's 11:00am and that is without taking the Ambien. The only weird thing though...I woke up at about 3:00am to go to the bathroom (bowel movement). When I went back to bed...I was right back out and I don't remember having much pain at all during the night.
So, with these new meds we'll see how things are after a week or two. Hopefully we have found a combination of meds that finally work.. I'm starting to accumulate bottles of unfinished meds that the doc took me off of. Oh well..
Let's see how the weekend goes..
Until next time..

Thursday, July 10, 2008

latest update

on things.
Follow up appointment yesterday at my Neurologist..went over all the things that have occurred in the last three weeks..ie: still not sleeping very well (last night I slept great but the night before was terrible..there seems to be no rhyme nor reason), swelling mainly in the left leg and ankle, suppositories he prescribed for my bowels not working, still having spasms and pain, bad mood/depression still there.
So, doc set up an appointment for me today to have an ultrasound done on my legs just to make sure that I didn't have any blood clots that might be causing the swelling..ultrasound came back fine..I just have to stay off the salt, keep my legs elevated and he is also probably going to have me take some water pills for awhile to see if that helps with the swelling.
For the bowel situation I am going to see a gastroenterologist to make sure there aren't any other problems. Otherwise, this is just something I apparently will have to live with as a side effect of having TM.
For the spasms and pain I am having a change of all the meds I have been taking..I don't remember all of them at this moment as I haven't gotten the prescriptions filled yet..as soon as I get them I'll update what I am taking and whether they work or not. Same situation with the meds I was taking for depression and sleep.
So, everything is still a work in progress until we can get some of the meds figured out for what is going to work.
Oh well.. until next time..

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

5 days

since my last post.
My wife and I went up to Erie, PA for a few days to (a)visit my mom (b)be there on her birthday on the 5th (c)get away from here (home) for a few days to clear my head a bit.
The trip succeeded in all those things.. My moms place is wonderful...the house is a beautiful log cabin home situated on about 4 acres of wooded land with wild turkeys, raccoons, possums, deer, bear, fox and many types of birds..it is so peaceful and relaxing. The weather was nice and the temperature was nice so we spent almost all of our awake time out in the back breezeway. The worst part of the trip was that we went on a little shopping trip that I thought I was up to. I found that I could lean on/push a shopping cart and get along pretty well. My wife and I went to K-Mart looking for some new slippers for me and I overdid it.. I got really tired and started sweating and was very weak. My wife said I was all red. The other thing I noticed was that with the humidity and being outside it totally sapped my strength and also it made my feet swell. So, it was back to the house we went.
We arrived back here in Canton yesterday..the trip back went well..although I was pretty uncomfortable in the car on the way..but it is only about a two hour drive so no real biggie.

I had my followup appointment today at the wound center..that went well..the doc seemed very pleased with how well my bedsore has healed. It still has a little ways to go but overall it is good considering that just two weeks ago it was an open sore. I go back in three weeks for another followup.
Tomorrow is a telephone interview with Social Security for disability and I also have my followup with my Neurologist. Tomorrow I ask the doc about talking to a psychologist.. while I was in Erie I had plenty of things to distract me and it was also a nice change...but since being back here..I'm feeling my mental "attitude" coming back.. I gotta do something......
I hope everyone had a great 4th..mine was nice..

Update tomorrow..

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Well

the last couple of days have been .."weird" I haven't been in the best of moods...yesterday I had my dad on my mind.. he passed 17 years ago yesterday..
My wife told me that I have "changed" I got up and grabbed my walker and said to her "Yeah, I know I've changed" and picked up my walker to show her..
I think the stress of me having this TM is getting to the both of us..
Anyway, PT went well today. Came home and took a little nap and felt pretty good afterward.
We are going up to Erie for the weekend to see my mom and celebrate her birthday tomorrow. That should be nice...the change of scenery will really be nice and we may try to go watch some fireworks over the bay if I'm not too tired.
So, happy 4th everyone...