Spring is in the air...????

Well, supposedly it's springtime.... It's warmed up ever so slightly.....instead of being in the low 20's.....it's in the high 20's. We have a winter storm watch in effect starting tonight....supposed to get about 3 inches of snow....or so. I'm pretty sick and tired of this weather.....My pain level has been making me crazy....I have cabin fever....I am frustrated with just about everything.... I have been having my "nightmares" that I used to have a long time ago.....I started out having them and I started going in for therapy and I was on meds......and after about a year, they gradually went away... I haven't had one in close to 2 years I think.....but now they have started back up. Not every night like they used to be....now I get one, about twice a month. I still don't like the fact that they are back, even though they aren't as frequent. I had been going in to my VA doc and my family doc and over the last year or so, my blood pressure has been higher than normal....Now, I know that part of it can be due to the pain....but my blood pressure seems that it's higher than it should be, regardless. So, the last time I went in to my family doc, I spoke to her about it.....We basically came to the conclusion that what I'm going to try to start doing, is to loose some weight. Since my TM onset, I've gained a good 30lbs or more....and I know that's not good for the blood pressure. So.....I am going to start working diligently on losing some weight. I've been wanting to do that anyway. I don't have too many clothes that fit me very well anymore....So...I am going to work on dropping a good 30lbs or more. On top of the blood pressure.....I also had blood work done and over the last year, my testosterone level has dropped significantly. My doc says that a drop in the testosterone level like that can affect a few things....one of them is my blood pressure....and another is my fatigue. I've had no energy lately...and I know that my sleeping habits definitely have an affect on my fatigue and energy...and there isn't much I can do about my sleep habits seeing that those are determined on my TM and how bad my legs ache during the middle of night, which ends up waking me up between 2 and 3 am. It's no fun getting up that early except for the fact, that the house is nice and quiet. No noise from anyone else... I take the dogs out to potty....I make some coffee and take a pain pill....and then settle down on the couch and find something entertaining to watch. The dogs go back to sleep....I drink my coffee.....I usually fall back to sleep for a half an hour or so.... So, anyway I know I can get testosterone injections at the VA....so I will probably be calling them in the next couple of days and see about setting up an appointment to go in and get started on that. I have an appointment with my family doc tomorrow so I'll let her know what I have planned. Otherwise.....I saw my pain neuro in February and we made the decision to switch me back to MS Contin and Vicodin and took me off that Oxycodone. The MS Contin and Vicodin do seem to help a little bit better.....although he did raise the strength of the Vicodin. The pain just drives me nuts sometimes.....It seems that I used to be able to deal with the pain better than I am now...and I don't know if I am just letting wear on me or what...but I get some bad episodes at times... One interesting thing that's happened in the last couple of weeks....is that I got an email from the folks at the United Spinal Association.... I've been a member of them for quite awhile.....they are an organization that works on activism for folks with spinal cord injuries. Each year in June they have what they call....the Roll On Capitol Hill. They bring in member representatives from just about all the states, to Washington D.C. The first day they have keynote speakers that go over some of the programs and so on, that the government is working on, regarding disabled folks... The second day, they tr to arrange each of us members to have some one on one time with our own State Representatives, to talk to them about any things that may be of concern to us. So, this sounds like it might be an interesting venture for me to get involved in.... I am going to hit up my state reps to see about getting them to sponsor a bill to take to the House of Representatives and try to get a National Transverse Myelitis Awareness Day. If we can get a National day passed, we won't have to worry about working on this state by state, like I've been doing it. So.....I guess that's about the majority of things that have been going on..... I'll post again once I start getting the Testosterone shots and also working on loosing the weight..... For my music post this time......Something from The Troggs...They were most known for their hit song "Wild Thing".....but I'm going to post one of their other hits...."Love Is All Around".....this is a tribute to Reg Presley...he was their vocalist and just passed away last month.... Till Next Time......