So many questions?

Thursday, June 18th: Get a call at 6:30pm from the nurse where my grandmother lives to inform me that she is unable/unwilling to get out of bed due to horrible leg pain. She is incontinent and has a call into the on-call doc to get her some pain meds. Come find out, this was going on since 9am that morning and why I wasn't called until 6:30 that evening is beyond me and had me LIVID! I had to go straight up there and pick up some pain meds on the way. She was sleeping and comfortable by the time I got there, which made me feel better, but still very upset that I wasn't notified earlier in the day. The nurse informed me that the doc would be coming in Friday to check on her and assess her condition and decide what to do. Got home late.

Friday, June 19th: I was up pretty early and went to be with my grandma and wait on the doc to visit. She didn't get over to see grandma until 12:30pm. In the meantime, I had to try and entertain my soon to be birthday girl, while tending to my grandmother. The doc was certain she had a fracture of the femur head and sent her right away to the ER for xrays and evaluation. In the meantime, I had to drop off my daughter at home, inform some family members, go to the store to get ingredients for her birthday dinner tomorrow and still needed to make her cheesecake. Long story short, no fractures, just severe osteoarthritis and probably sciatic nerve pain as well. Because she can no longer bare weight on her leg for transferring to the bed/toilet, etc. to her wheelchair, she'll need to be admitted to skilled nursing until she gets her strength back. I had a ton of paperwork to sign, had to transfer some clothes from her apartment to the skilled nursing unit (which is in the same building, thank goodness). Didn't get home until 8pm and had to make a cheesecake so it would be set up for little miss birthday girl the next day. Didn't get to bed until midnight and knew I had to get up and at 'em early next day. Talk about symptoms creeping in....oh boy! Oh and I forgot to mention, I agreed to watch my BFFs 6 month old dachshund/chihuahua for the week while they vacationed in Florida, which to say the least wasn't a great idea considering all that is going on. She's a cutie pie though, but EXTREMELY HIGH MAINTENANCE!

Saturday, June 20th...Birthday: Well, my now nine year old had a great day for her birthday. I made bacon for her that morning and then got 40 meatballs rolled, cooked and into the crockpot with marinara sauce. We went to the Indiana Art Museum and truly enjoyed looking at all the wonderful art. Afterwards, I finished up making her dinner and then company arrived. It was a nice small family birthday celebration. Despite all of the other chaos, it all worked out just fine.

The rest of the week: Monday was spent studying like a mad woman for finals, which I pulled off getting an A on both exams and finished the quarter up with a 97 in anatomy/physiology and a 98 in medical terminology. Tuesday was spent cleaning up dog urine in the morning, which I was not too happy about since she was outside for 25 minutes and then decided to come in and pee on my carpet. Afterwards, I was off to officially sign papers to fully admit my grandma into skilled nursing per her family physicians suggestion and orders. I was told I should have plenty of time to empty out her apartment. Wasn't an hour later I get a call saying the apartment had been sold and I had to have it empty by the 30th. So much for having plenty of time. Wednesday I took the kids to swim and then my daughter, sister in law and I went to Beef & Boards and saw Annie. It was a wonderful play and a wonderful all around day, but exhausting. Thursday, was catch up around the house and Cassie had friends over for most of the day.

Friday, Fingolimod 9 month check up: All went very well. My blood pressure was a little low and it took 4 sticks to draw blood, but for the most part things are going well, except.....my neurologist says I am in a mild flare. I kind of already knew this, but just kept hoping it was just the weather changes, stress, etc....

He believes the flare is currently attacking my spinal cord due to my current symptoms. I declined a round of IV steroids because I don't feel that bad and truly don't have time for them. I am going to try and wait it out.

Upcoming: Tomorrow will be spent taking a dog back home (woohoo, happy about that) going through my grandma's apartment and trying to figure out what can be transferred over to her nursing room (not too happy about that). All the rest will probably be donated. Have no idea what to do with her furniture, will probably donate that too. Sunday will be hopefully a nice day, but a busy one. Monday will be spent taking my grandmother to get a bone scan to try and figure out why she is in so much pain. Then on Tuesday I start back up my next quarter of school. I will also be taking on more hours at work starting the month of July. Cassie will be starting drama camp M-F 9a-12p for the entire month of July. Did I mention football camp starts then too? Like I said, welcome to my chaos and if it can happen, it will definitely happen to me.

Oh, one more thing......I fell again today, makes my 7th fall in the month of June alone. Gotta love Multiple Sclerosis, summer heat, tons of stress and drop foot!

Time Flies....

Birthday Girl: My baby girl turns nine on Saturday. I can't believe she will be nine! Time sure does fly by. We are just having a family party. The menu will be meatballs in marinara sauce with rotini on the side, or make meatball sub sandwiches. (Have all the good Italian cheeses to go with it as well, yum!). Instead of a regular cake like most people, she has chosen a chocolate, chocolate chip cheesecake instead. I will be very busy on Friday making a ton of meatballs and a cheesecake. And just how do you put candles into a cheesecake without messing it up? Oh well, her birthday.

Father's Day: My father has been gone five years now, so this day is sad for me since I can no longer celebrate my father. All of my grandfather's are passed away as well, so that leaves all the attention to my father in law. He is a wonderful man! Plus my husband needs to be recognized for being a wonderful father to our two children. We don't have grand plans for this day since we'll just be celebrating a birthday the day before.

Final Exams: Monday are finals for my two classes. I am absolutely terrified! I have done so well in both classes, but fear the final in one, anatomy/physiology. I have retained a ton of information in Medical Terminology course, but for some reason I cannot retain much in anatomy/physiology. It hasn't helped that we have had such drastic weather changes, which in turn screws with my MS. I am literally exhausted all the time. Makes it very difficult to study when you can't stay awake and your mind is constantly wondering all the time. I swear I think I have ADD. I cannot concentrate at all right now. Of course, it also doesn't help that I have two children that need my constant attention and refereeing all the time.

Unemployment: My husband still has not found a job. This is by far the most discouraging and stressful thing we have been through in our almost fourteen years of marriage. It has been six months now. He is over qualified for most of the positions he is applying for, therefore, he can't get a break. I know the companies are afraid of hiring someone with all his experience out of fear that if a better paying job comes along they'll lose him, which wouldn't happen, especially if he enjoyed the job. Please pray that he finds a job that he likes soon, it is getting very tough in all aspects.

Fingolimod: I have been on this drug almost nine months now and have my nine month visit next Friday. I can't say that I am feeling 100%, but I can say that without a doubt I would be in worse shape MS wise without it. With all the stresses in my life, which MS doesn't like at all, I'd be on an IV drip of steroids as we speak. I can feel the pot a boiling and it is as though I have an attack coming on, but so far it is just simmering and I hope to keep it that way. I can deal with the increasing of old symptoms, but just no new stuff.

Well, hope everyone is doing well. I'll update next week after my appointment with the neurologist and study staff. Be well!

Oh Boy!

What a week already! We have had crazy weather. One day it is almost 90 degrees and so humid you can barely breathe, the next day it is 58 degrees, damp and rainy. Today it is a cool breeze, finally some sunshine, but only 63 outside and it is June 4th in Indiana. It is no wonder my Multiple Sclerosis is going haywire on me.

I have been dragging all week and when I say dragging, I literally mean......DRAGGING! It has been a while since I have had problems being able to pick up my right foot/leg, but this week it is turned inward and dragging, which makes it hard for walking. I "could" get one of those hideous drop foot braces (see picture below, so you can get the full effect) that just really pull your outfit together, but I'd prefer not to have a leg/foot brace tan line this summer, not to mention I can't wear an open toe shoe with one of those super sexy braces either. While washing up dishes yesterday afternoon, I was leaning up against the counter and almost fell because I started sliding sideways against the counter top and didn't even realize it until I was practically leaning to one side. What's up with that? I can place that one in my odd things that happen to a person with MS file.

Last night while in class, I lost my balance and fell into the table behind me. Not a hard fall, but one that freaked the last six people left in class out. I just hit the table with my elbow and came down with such grace to my knees and then into a squatting position. Took me a little while to get up, but I did, without any assistance......taking my bow....thank you very much! On the bright side, got a 100% on my test that night...woohoo!

Well, now onto the stupid prescription sunglasses....AGAIN! I picked up yet another pair and they just didn't seem like the ones I initially ordered. A lot bigger than the ones I remember and I mean A LOT BIGGER! I put them on and felt like I had on those enormously large clown glasses without all the make up , nice colorful outfit and wig. I thought, okay, I'll give them a try and pretend like I'm in Hollywood. One day while driving, one of the lenses pops out and of course scares the crap out of me. I thought, "you've gotta be kidding me!" I have been back three times already to get sunglasses and the place can't seem to get them right. So, today, I go back again and say, "I think I have given up on trying to get a decent pair of prescription sunglasses from your company and would just like to trade them in for regular frames/lenses with clip-on sunglasses". Something that should be super simple, turned into a forty-five minute wait and come find out they'll need to specially order my lenses due to my prescription. I just looked at the newly put in charge manager and said, "Of course you will, story of my life!" You know what that means......yet ANOTHER trip back to the eyeglass place.

One of these days, I will have some sort of simplicity, until then, I'll keep on blogging about my ongoing chaos.