THIS JOURNAL IS ON 394 FAVORITE JOURNAL LISTSHonor: 183 [ Give / Take ]
8 entries this month
Up early today...12:25 Nov 30 2023
Times Read: 150
Ugh. I am up early today. I had a crazy amount of energy yesterday and did a lot of things around the house. Unfortunately, I think I worked too late and got into bed before I had the opportunity to fully wind down. I was up 1000 times and woke up this morning before the alarm went off. I heard every tiny little noise in the house as I was supposed to be sleeping. I tried to go back to sleep for an hour this morning, but finally just gave up and got up. Hoping that today is productive as well.
14:07 Nov 29 2023
Times Read: 166
It has been a pretty good week! I have basically been migraine-free since Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had the beginning of one yesterday, so I took some medicine and was able to head it off before it got bad. I am not surprised that I started to get a headache yesterday as I was stressed. Mom went back to the urologist for her three-month bladder cancer check-up. The doctor said all looked good and there is no sign of cancer! Praise!
I got to hold my friend's baby child on Thanksgiving. He was two weeks old on Thanksgiving. He is so sweet and so precious. It still amazes me how he looks so big in pictures, but in reality, is so tiny. I think my friend is struggling so I have been trying to be extra supportive. Her mom and her husband are both judgmental and I can tell that she is scared. The baby is not pooping regularly and you can tell he is uncomfortable. She took him to the doctor yesterday and the pediatrician said that some babies will go up to seven days without pooping. :-0 I bet that is one uncomfortable child. Anyway, as soon as he is old enough, I am going to try to go take him for a walk or something once a week to give my friend a chance to nap or do something she needs to do for herself for a few hours. I think my mom is going to do the same. I figure he will poop on my watch so that might be helpful. LOL. I tend to always get gross duty.
I am supposed to go to the neurologist today, but I am thinking about rescheduling for next week. It is so hard to not take off from work and go to more than one out-of-office appointment a week.
I have been researching trying to find something that I can give Kopi to snack on in between meals. He doesn't always eat his canned food right away and his stomach is getting too empty. Unfortunately, it seems that most kitty snacks are high in carbs. I may ask the vet for any recommendations. I have these freeze-dried nuggets that are supposed to be mostly protein, but the ingredients list berries and vegetables which can be high in carbs. Of course, there is NO (or hardly any) nutritional information available, so I do not know the exact amount of carbohydrates per serving. I have emailed the company and hopefully, they can give me more information. Until then, I guess I will be back to begging Kopi to eat. Poor kitty.
I finished all of my Christmas shopping yesterday. That has been tricky. My debit card was set to expire in December and First Horizon (who acquired my bank) had not sent me a new one. I called them last week and they said they would send me one and that my current card would be good for 14 days. Ha! Try 3 days. So, I have had to put everything on my credit card which I will turn around and pay as soon as the new card comes... although I supposed I could just pay it with my bank account number. Anyway, I am glad to be done with shopping. I did it all online. The one thing I thought I was going to need to go to an actual store to obtain was on Aamzon's Black Friday sale. I was also able to get the docking station that I need to set up another monitor in my home office; it was $20 off which I could not resist. I wanted to get a screen filter for my monitors that blocks blue light, but they are around $55 a piece and I would need 4, 2 for home and 2 for the office. It might be worth the investment if it helped my head. I might start with one or two and see how well they work. My neuro also suggested a visor to block the fluorescent lights at the office, so I ordered one of those as well.
Anyway, that is it for updates from me. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
14:16 Nov 21 2023
Times Read: 195
When it rains it pours... that has been the theme of the year, so it makes perfect sense that it would continue into the end of November.
I had to put 4 new tires on my mom's car yesterday. We had noticed, over the weekend, that the tire pressure was low. I took it to get air in the tires before my mom had to go across town to get her haircut. Well, no luck. I couldn't get the rear left tire to retain air. Turns out it had a nail in it, but regardless, the tread was low and the front tires had dry rot... so it was 4 new tires. Thankfully, there was some type of sale where if you bought 3 tires you received the 4th one for free. So, that is what we did. I also decided that I needed to get the road hazard insurance for them because my mom (bless her heart) runs over things... like curbs. :-) Hopefully, we will never have to use that, but I figured it was worth it. I suffer from over-insuranceitis. But, I am always glad to have the insurance when I need it because I am not savvy enough to plan for these types of emergencies. So $1000 later, here we are.
Work has been slow thus far this week. I wouldn't mind if it stayed that way. We will start preparing the food that we are taking to Thanksgiving tomorrow. We are making a pecan pie, a pumpkin pie, my mom's cranberry jello doodad, a green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes. I am glad we are not responsible for cooking the turkey or ham. :-)
I did hear from my manager yesterday that the firm is awarding discretionary Thanksgiving/Christmas bonuses this year. I was hoping that they would, but wasn't sure since it seems a little late this year. At least that will help offset the unexpected tire purchase.
13:48 Nov 17 2023
Times Read: 229
Well, good results at the neurologist. Apparently, my brain is normal... well, according to the results of the MRI, MRA, and EEG. So, that is great news. Unfortunately, we don't have an answer as to why I am having these headaches so frequently. Ugh, and the nausea. We are exploring a few potential diagnoses, so hopefully we will be able to get some answers. Until then, I suppose it is Triptan city for this girl. I hate the way the medicine makes me feel and am so sad that Nurtec is not working for these particular headaches. I have almost no side effects with the Nurtec.
Even though this week was packed with extra stuff for me to try to juggle, it has gone by really fast. I still cannot believe that next week is Thanksgiving. At least there are no doctor appointments for me, mom, or Kopi. That will be nice. It is also nice that the firm gives us Friday after Thanksgiving off. It will be like a mini vacation. I sure need one.
The day of reckoning14:57 Nov 15 2023
Times Read: 249
Well, the day of my neurologist appointment to discuss the results of my EEG, MRI, and MRA is finally here. 1:00 p.m. If you have a moment and can, please send up a prayer or a good wish at that time. As much as I tried to deny it, I am frightened. Oh well, not much I can do. I just have to accept whatever the results are and make a plan from there. There is not much need to worry about it, or so I am telling myself.
I did go to the Thanksgiving luncheon at the office yesterday. It was wonderful and so nice to be able to visit with people that I have not seen in several months. I really do like everyone on our team. The newest addition seems really nice as well. He is from Los Angeles, so I have a feeling that Birmingham, Alabama is a bit of a shock to his system. Hopefully, the conservatism and the summer heat will not drive him away. :-)
Hope you all have a good Wednesday. As an aside, I cannot believe it is November 15th already. Sheesh. This year, although it has been terrible, has flown by.
No, I am not pregnant...10:47 Nov 14 2023
Times Read: 265
I am up early today, kind of like old times. I have decided to drive into town today to go to the firm's Thanksgiving luncheon. I may even wear some makeup. Shocking! I am sure that my manager will be shocked to see my face in person; he is very understanding and has not given me a hard time for not going into the office in several months. I think he knows what a struggle this year has been. I think almost everyone knows I am at the limit of what I can handle and still stand upright.
Anyway, it feels good to be up early again. I almost have energy. What would that be like? I listened to a very interesting guided meditation last night. It caused enough thought and introspection that I think it would be best for a daytime meditation. I will definitely listen to it again when I have the proper time to consider the questions she poses in the meditation. I have also started doing yoga nidra before sleep and have found it to be helpful in relaxing both mind and body.
Also, coffee tastes good again. :-) I don't know why it was making me so nauseous. Then again, everything was making me nauseous. No, I am not pregnant. LOL. I have no uterus. :-)
Tonight we will be Kopi more fluids. I read that they can be given over the hip, subcutaneously, of course. I tried that last time and it went so much better. His little cat skin is not nearly as thick there and I was able to get the needle in the first time I tried. I am so glad. Sticking him so many times hurt my heart and made me almost phobic. I probably would have stopped but for the fact that I know he cannot get dehydrated. Poor kitty. However, I can tell that the fluids make him feel better; he has been almost playful which is quite the feat for an almost 19-year-old cat.
I cannot believe next week is Thanksgiving. My friend that literally just squeezed out an 8 pound human child has invited us for Thanksgiving. I cannot believe she is even considering hosting company having just given birth. I think we are going to go. It will be nice to meet her baby child and also we can take some food and hopefully help her out. Her mom is super demanding so that is probably why she thinks she needs to host a Thanksgiving supper.
Well, that is all that is new here. Hope you all have a terrific Tuesday. Yay for alliteration. :-)
13:13 Nov 09 2023
Times Read: 300
Today is the first day in a long time where I am starting to feel like myself again. I do not know what the change was unless it was removing one of the medicines I take every evening to help me fall asleep and stay asleep. Whatever the cause, I am glad to have a modicum of energy. Let's hope it lasts past 10:00 a.m. LOL.
I also have not had a bad headache in several days (knock on wood). I have to go to the tattoo place this afternoon and get my daith piercing earring removed so that I can get another MRA tomorrow. For the life of me, I could not figure out how to get the damned earring open. It also doesn't help that it is in a tiny space on the side of my head. My mom couldn't even figure it out. AND we even tried jewelry pliers! Oh well, c'est la vie right? I hopefully won't have to wait in the waiting room at the MRI place for another 2 hours. That was just ridiculous. At least they had the Hallmark channel on and I was perfectly timed to watch almost a whole Christmas movie. LOL. Another thing that was ridiculous about the whole ordeal, was that I had a ridiculous $253 co-pay. I probably need to call my insurance company about that because I thought that I met my $1000 deductible when I had that stupid tongue surgery in July. There is probably some sort of secondary deductible for x-rays and imaging. Anything to make the rich richer.
As a part of Kopi's current treatment, we are supposed to be giving him fluids (lactated ringers) every other day for a few weeks. He was inexplicably dehydrated (not terribly dehydrated) at his last vet visit. This is shocking to me because of the amount of water he drinks on a daily basis - more than any cat I have ever had. Anyway, last evening was our first attempt. Let me state, that I have given plenty of fluids to cats over the years of raising Ocicats. Kopi was not easy. When I tried to stick him, he jumped into the air and pulled the needle out. This happened several times before I was finally able to get it in his scruff securely. I will say that I am glad the old boy still has that much spunk left in him. He didn't try to bite us; he just tried to run away. He was so wiggly during the time that the 150 ml of fluids was going into him, that I think about half of it ended up on the blanket he was sitting on. Oh well, not awful for a first attempt and there are things that I will do differently when I try again on Friday. Anyway, after giving him the fluids he seemed to feel better and still seemed to be almost playful this morning. I am hopeful that all of this treatment will help him. I am not ready to lose him.
Well, off I go. Work awaits. Boring work today, but still work which I am super grateful for.
Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday.
00:19 Nov 08 2023
Times Read: 330
I finally appear to be getting some relief from these horrible headaches after 4 weeks of a headache every day. I have had an EEG, a MRI, and a MRA. We get the results early next week. I also really like the new neurologist. He seems very proactive.
Kopi is doing better. He had a diabetes scare, but when we did a recheck a few days later, his blood glucose was within the normal range. He is on a no-carbohydrate diet, however, for the time being. He also seems to have regained his balance and is not falling off of things anymore. Thank God. I was worried he'd hurt himself, especially after his surgery.
Mom seems to be doing better as well. She has another cystoscopy after Thanksgiving to make sure that all of the cancer is gone and that it has not returned.
That's about all I have as far as updates. I haven't felt much like being online.
REAL VAMPIRES LOVE VAMPIRE RAVE
Vampire Rave is a member of
Page generated in 0.1162 seconds.
COMMENTS
-
CuRsEdToDaRkNeSs
18:11 Nov 30 2023
I hate when that happens! It's absolutely maddening! Maybe you will have time for a nap today if you get tired mid way through. :)
Vampirewitch39
20:21 Nov 30 2023
Don't over do! I did at Thanksgiving, day after. Back paid for it.