Put the Lime in the Coconut - Another Doctor - Jan 18, 2021

Put the lime in the coconut ... so many doctors, so little time, so many ideas!  Went to see a practice that specializes in PAIN this afternoon about the itching (hoping to get acupuncture and try that) - nope have to sign up and start physical therapy. Rats! another appointment to book, remember, and show up to!

The Coconut song kept playing in my head the whole time ...I guess because there's grain in there, there's gluten, so can't have that.  Hmmm ... let's devise a gluten-free party drink.

Play the Practical Magic "Coconut" video HERE.        

That's ok - my left foot is not working right and it's affecting my leg and so now I'm limping!  They want to try some PT on that and maybe talk me to an injection in my ankle, although they were saying it's probably a lower back issue (!) and let's do ANOTHER MRI - my 2nd so far this year and it's only Jan. 18.

It's hard to sew, paint, and do some of the things I would like to do because my hands are unsteady.  But I do like to read and look at decorating books. I have one out from the library by Carolyne Roehm called A Passion for Blue & White.  Gorgeous pictures of gorgeous rooms that calm my nerves. I'm also going through a blue and white decorating phase now so that's good. Color is everything to me. Right now this autoimmune disease is RED. I used to love red. Not so much now.

So, tomorrow at 7 am my friend Pam will take me for my first chemotherapy  - they call it Rituxan or Ritiximab - in an effort to deal with the inflammation. Anyway, it's like 5 hours long and they told me to pack a lunch!

Should go to bed now. More on how that goes later.

Coloring as Therapy - 1/6/2021

Blog#3

Jan 6, 2021 - a day that will not be forgotten

On a day of just chaos and craziness - the day Trumpsters stormed the U.S. Capitol today to try to keep their demagogue in power OR maybe they were just bored - I see some possible light to help me deal with my own chaos and crazy brought on by autoimmune and other problems.

I went to see my favorite mental therapist today, Gladys. I like Gladys. She's interested, involved, and thoughtful.  If she doesn't know the answer she says, "Let me look into this some more and ponder it."

With my health situation, labeled out loud as "complicated" by two prominent specialists, she said she wanted more time to think and research.  But!  She did have a plan for me to try.  

Coloring.

Well actually, coloring as therapy to calm me and not provide fire to my symptoms of allover itching, allover skin crawl, pain, temperature change, shaking hands, brain fog like London for crying out load, and sometimes despair caused by my autoimmune disease. The itching and skin crawl are the worst. They are what DROVE me to visit 7 different physicians for answers and relief.

But, Gladys is not just suggesting coloring to refocus and calm my mind.

Drawing.

Gladys suggested that I try "drawing" my itching and other symptoms when they start up for their worst part of the day - around 7 pm.

So, I'm going to do it ...!  I have a notebook here and I'm going to try to express in my scribbles what I feel, and note the time I start and stop, and whether that time it helped and how.

I may even try starting out drawing angrily and in anguish - the way I get sometimes in the evening, and then trying to transition to calm drawing and coloring. Maybe acknowledging my symptoms will help. Hold on -- I need to get up and turn off the fan, my hot flash has passed and now I'm freezing.

You know, like starting out with Thunderstruck by AC-DC and transitioning to Clair de Lune by French composer Claude Debussy ... 

I know you know BOTH these pieces. You've heard them if you can't recall them off the bat.  They are two of my favorites and I do believe music can be helpful as part of a "symptom-calming" routine.

Old "Clair" has been batting around in my drug-rattled brain ever since I saw Ocean's Eleven again on Monday night.  Clair de Lune is very peaceful, but sometimes it makes me cry. I can cry easily these days. I quit the antidepressants and Gladys approves. She says anyone who is fighting this hard with the nutrition angle and gets up everyday to still go to work (half days usually) doesn't need antidepressants. I'm glad.  I don't want to take anymore chemicals than I have to. They get all mixed up in there, make you extra tired and crazy, and they might just KILL YOU.

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Today's Meds update:  I put THE CREAM pretty much all over my body last night after my showers and you know what?  I haven't had to gobble Hydroxyzine all day and walk around like a zombie so much.  I haven't itched or "skin crawled" so much today. ('Course the day is not over.  It's only 7 pm.)

THE CREAM is Triamcinolone Acetonide 0.1% USP.  My Dermatologist prescribed it. Debbie-Bob gives it four stars. Check it out.

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Shout out!    Hey! Welcome home Sandor!  What? Like 76 straight days in the hospital, fighting to deal with your unique situation while trying to avoid getting COVID.  Congrats. Keep getting better.

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Well, I better go back to the TV to see what's happening with that disgusting attack on our Democracy!