Creeping up on the end of March...

What does April Fools Day hold..?
Could it be that all of this has just been a big April Fools joke and on April 1st it will all just go away..?
HAH...I wish.
Oh well, I can wish right..

Anyway, springtime is in the air. I can't wait for the warmer weather to get here. I am so sick and tired of being cooped up in this godforsaken house..
I need some fresh air.

So, not too much new going on...I have a follow up with my Pain doc on May 3rd. It's time now to readdress my pain meds. I have had some very prevalent issues with my meds not doing what they should be doing as far as helping with the pain...so, I know I must have hit a threshold with my meds and have grown used to the dosage I'm on.
I have had some of the weirdest sensations, and more issues with my pain bothering me than I have ever had before.
I just don't know right now though, if I want to try another type of med or just see about increasing the dosage of what I'm currently taking.

Now, on another issue...I have become fully aware of the effects of TM on me and how bad the fatigue can be sometimes....
Since my wife has had that damn Reclast infusion and has had this allergic reaction to it, she has been almost bed ridden because it hurts her so bad to get up and walk around. Her hips, knees and feet are most affected...so what this means is that I am doing my best to take care of things for her. Doing some cleaning around the house and bringing dinner up to her and drinks and so on...I make many multiple trips up and down the stairs during the day. It's not that I'm complaining about that, I'll do whatever I need to do to take care of her, especially after all she did for me in my early days of TM..
But I just want to do anything and everything I can to take care of her because I have some sense of the amount of pain she is in.
With that being said, by the end of the evening, I am whooped. I'm also having sleep issues myself because of the fact that since I get so tired and wore out during the day, that my legs and my pain are now bothering me more than they had before so it wakes me up during the night....Typically, I awake now usually between 2 to 4 a.m. every morning...so I get up and go downstairs and sometimes fall asleep on the couch for an hour or two...
I even tried to keep myself awake later at night...staying busy messing around on the computer until 10:30p.m. or so, thinking that it will make me sleep in later...but no bananas...it doesn't work.
So, with all that said, things have been pretty challenging lately.
I just want Lizzie to feel better...I've learned to live with my issues...I just don't like to see her in pain like this.

Well...that's about all for now...I'll be posting again in a couple of weeks...
So, for a little music to finish things off today...
Some Van "The Man" Morrison with one of his greatest tunes ever....TB Sheets.


Enjoy...

Till Next Time......

February 17th Neuro follow up

I had my six month follow up with my neurologist yesterday...it was a pretty uneventful followup as most things are pretty much status quo from before, but I did have to talk to him about some new issues that have popped up since the last time I saw him.
I mentioned to him the fact that I've been having ringing in my ears for a long, long time but it didn't start until after TM hit. This was something that has been there for a long time but I had forgotten to tell my doc about before.
He said that it is fairly common in this type of situation...which I guess on one hand, was relieving to know, but then on the other hand, he didn't offer any solutions to help get rid of it. He basically said that since I have the ringing, it is something that comes with the territory...
So, this ringing is something that I've obviously lives with for the last couple of years but if I could get rid of it, I would love that. I think maybe I'm going to start researching on my own, ways to get rid of this and maybe eventually follow up with my family doc if I don't have any success.

The next thing has been the goofy sensations on the bottom of my feet...like my socks are all bunched up under my feet and between my toes. Again, my doc says that it is common to have these sensations. Unfortunately there isn't much he can do about it.

Then there is the cold left foot and leg. It's almost always cold and I've taken to wearing thermal socks to try and help keep my feet warm. That has helped some but not completely.
Doc attributes this to the fact that my internal thermostat is out of whack...and it is worse now in the winter time with the cold weather...
I can use a heating pad to help warm it up and just hope that when the spring and summer come, that the issue goes away. But then of course it will probably come back next winter...

Lastly, there is the bad leg cramps that I've been having...for about the last 4 months now. They come out of nowhere and there is no rhyme or reason as to which leg cramps up...one time it will be one leg, and the next time it will be the other leg. The cramps are so painful that they bring me to tears and they take a good five minutes or more to get them to go away...
I thought maybe at first that I needed to stretch more, so I've started stretching my legs, but that hasn't helped the situation.
Doc gave me three possibilities here...One is that possibly since I quit taking Zanaflex for the spasms, this is causing the cramping now. Then he said that possibly my electrolites and potassium were low...and this one I know for a fact isn't the case, because I drink a 32oz. PowerAde drink every day...and I have almost ever since the beginning of when TM hit...The last option is that the MS Contin that I'm on for pain could be causing the cramps, as muscle cramping is a side effect of opiods.
So, I'm going to keep track of these cramps..as it is, they only come around about every 2 - 3 weeks...and if things get worse then I may just have to consider changing my pain meds...
Who knows...We'll see.

So, it's been two years and nine months now...and new things are still popping up. Unbelievable..!!

Let's finish this post off with a bit of music...
Something from the great Leon Russell...a cover he did of the old Danny O'Keefe song, Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues...
Leon does this song justice...but that goes without saying..


Till Next Time......

January is down the tubes....

Today is the last day of the month, January....the coldest month of the year..so says the weatherman. He better be right...dammit..!!

So, I'm updating today because I had a doctor's appointment today and I had one last week also. Today was my appointment with my Migraine/Pain doc and last week was my follow up with the Gastro Doc from my EGD/Colonoscopy.

So, last weeks appointment followup..it went fine. Colonoscopy was normal, although the doc told me he had removed a polyp, which he had already mentioned to me. But during the followup he told me that the polyp was of the type that possibly could have become cancerous..(really..?) so he removed it and now all is fine..

EGD was also normal but he did find some extensive irritation in my lower esophagus and upper stomach and he said that it looked like it had been there for quite awhile. Doc had already mentioned this to me before but again, during the followup he was going into way more detail about things...So, with this irritation being as it was, he had put me on Nexium, which I've been taking since November when I had the procedures done.
Now, oddly and strangely enough, ever since then, I've not had one of my "episodes"...one of my episodes that starts out with the frequent urination, the sleepiness, the diarrhea, the vomiting, the headache and stretches out for 4 to 5 days of hell....not being able to eat anything...losing 15 to 20 lbs of weight, becoming dehydrated....The episodes that had been diagnosed as "Migraines"....
During my followup with my gastro doc, he explained to me that the irritation that I had very possibly could have been causing all of those symptoms..(why once a month like they were, he wasn't sure) but that irritation was causing excessive stomach acids and was acting like an infection and possibly causing all that was going on...The reason that I had the irritation was possibly caused by excessive stress, possibly the TM or some other thing,,,but ever since I started on the Nexium, I have not had one "episode"...not even a small one...

So today, I go to my Migraine/Pain doc and I tell him all of this...and of course he is happy for me because he knows I was extremely bummed before not being able to get rid of those episodes and not being able to even plan anything as simple as a friggen dinner date with my wife, because I never knew when one was going to hit...
I never said anything to him about the episodes not being Migraines but I wonder how he felt about it....because he was always certain that they were...
I always told my other doctors that I felt that they weren't Migraines...I think I've even posted that in here before a few times....
but regardless, whether they are or were Migraines or not....as long as things continue as they are....it's now been two months without an episode and I am knocking on wood, praying to God, crossing my fingers,arms,legs....etc..that this is what was wrong..
and if so...Thank You Dr. Fahmy for listening to me and understanding and doing my EGD and colonoscopy and Thank You Dr. Brewster for recommending me to get the EGD and colonoscopy done.

And, on that note....since these episodes seem to have been stress related...it is amazing to me what stress can do, even when you have no idea that you are stressed about anything...

So next on the agenda, I get to see my Neuro on Feb. 17th...and chat with him about some of the issues that have been bugging me.....we'll see what he has to say...

and now for some good music....some hot blues for a cold winter day...
The Late, great Paul Kossoff, he was the guitarist from the band, Free (All Right Now)
This is Paul on guitar and the great blue eyed soulsman Frankie Miller singing...
Here's Frankie's song...I Know Why The Sun Don't Shine


Till Next Time......