TRAUMA WEBINAR

I participated in a webinar on Trauma and Sensory Strategies.  It was super interesting.  It talked about how when a person goes through trauma it will not just be the senses that you think that are effected.  A person who is assaulted on a street at night may be effected by dark streets and strangers walking up on them but they may also be effected by the smell of baking bread because there was a bakery on the block where they were assaulted and they remember the smell of baking bread.

Or a child who is beaten by there parent and then removed by child services, may remember the assault but also the feel of the blanket they owned that they liked but had to give up when they were taken away.  The feel of that blanket maybe the only thing they remember that was a good memory of their parents.  Getting that blanket as a present and how it felt.

It was an insightful webinar and makes you think of all sorts of things in your life that were sensory rather than our usual I see the present or I taste the food.

Until tomorrow...

DOG SITTER

This evening my new dog sitter came over to see how to take care of my fur babies.  I will be going on a short trip soon and my last dog sitter could not take care of the dogs this time.  She is going to a conference and is not available.  So I had to find another dog sitter.  This is not an easy task.  I was referred another person but she works nights and works a far way away.  It would have been a hardship getting back and forth to my home in time to feed them and let them out.  I was worried it would not work out.  I decided not to go on my trip.  Then my friend volunteered to take care of the pups so I could go.

Tonight I spent an hour showing her everything.  Dogs, bird, house.  The dogs took most of the time with Happi's medication regime.  She takes three medicines in the morning and four medications in the evening.  It is complicated and time consuming.  She gets very anxious and cries a lot.  She won't eat and then cry because she is hungry.  Yes, Happi is high-maintenance.

Lucky is high-maintenance in another way.  She is territorial.  Someone watching her needs to know not to ever try and pick her up, never take anything from her (except a toy), never take her food bowl away from her, never try to remove her from any furniture, and never touch her bottom.  To get her to give anything up (food bowl, furniture, pens, etc.) you need to give her a higher value treat.  She steals a pen from the table, you give her a cookie and she will give it up.  She is on the couch, you tell her to get off and give her praise.  If she won't get off, you give her a treat to get her off.  You DO NOT attempt to push her off.  And NEVER try to pick her up.  She can jump in your lap, which she will, but don't go up to her bed and attempt to pick her up.  A dog sitter's boyfriend almost got bit doing that.  She and I warned him.

Anyway I think she is prepped.  She has dogs so she knows most of the drill.

Until tomorrow...

EYE UPDATE

Since last week when I hurt my eye, my bottom eye lid has been twitching. It doesn’t hurt or even bother me. I don’t feel it but I see it when I look in the mirror. It looks weird. Like my lower lid has a heart beat.

Today I called my eye doctor’s office to see what is going on. Turns out the antibiotic drops are probably drying my eye out. When my eyes dry out I have had this twitching before on my upper lid. The Sjogrens disease makes my eyes so dry already and these drops are drying them out even more. Luckily I only need them for one more day then I am done.

Until tomorrow...

FOOD STORE

Have you ever gone to the food store with the intent to go food shopping? You have your food shopping list ready. You have your shopping bags in the car. But then you get the store parking lot and maybe there is no parking spots or it looks crowded. Or maybe you just decide you have no desire to go food shopping that day.

That is what happened to me today. Late in the afternoon I finally got myself together and got out the door. I drove to the food store. The parking lot was moderately full but there were spots but I drove in one entrance and drove out another. I had no desire to food shop. I went home and took a wonderful hot bath instead. Shopping can wait another day.

Until tomorrow...

HAIRCUT AND OLIVE GARDEN

Today I went to see my foster son.  We went to get him a haircut.  I found a place nearby to cut his hair on short notice.  It was a good haircut and he was happy.  After that we went to Olive Garden.  Since I became vegan I have avoided Olive Garden because I didn't think they would have anything for me to eat.  Turns out I was wrong.  I was able to eat the salad (no dressing), minestrone soup, bread sticks, and pasta with marinara.  I had the soup, salad and bread sticks all you can eat.  I didn't eat very much.

I was surprised about Olive Garden.  I always assumed I would only be able to eat the salad.

The painter had to come by and clean some paint drippings off the neighbor's deck railing.  Despite me checking it when the painters were done, there were some paint markings on the railing.  It might have been some animal like a cat that walked through the paint and jumped on the railing.  Or maybe a leaf with some paint on it fluttered across the railing.  It is now fixed and the neighbor's realtor is happy again.  

Until tomorrow...

ALARM

Today the alarm company came and did some work.  I added some sensors to my windows that are more easily accessible.  I had him restick the sensor that the painter's tore off.  He did some other stuff and now the system works more smoothly.

He was a really nice guy and was super helpful.

Until tomorrow...

JULY FOURTH

I decided not to do anything on July 4th.  No party or barbecue.  I had things to do around the house and I wanted to get them done.  Laundry, clean the grill, and pick up around the house.  Then as a bonus Happi threw up on my bed so I had to clean that up and wash my comforter. 

Now that I had a clean grill I decided to grill myself a vegan burger, cauliflower and brocolini.  It was a delicious meal. 

Until tomorrow...

POST EYE ER VISIT

I woke up this morning and my eye was puffy. Not puffy enough to head to a doctor or the ER. I called both my primary doctor and my eye doctor.

My eye doctor's office called back and the doctor is on vacation. The opthalmologist said the same thing as the ER doctor: come in if it gets worse.

I put my drops in but I had to go on a long drive and I am not sure if that effected my eye or not. I did clear the drive with the ER doctor who said it would be okay.

Tonight my eye feels horrible. It feels like it has been scratched. I have not touched it.

Here is a sample of what I think a part of flew into my eye.

Let's see how I feel tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

DOCTOR I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY EYE

Today I was at my clients and we were talking about this time last year. Well this time last year, on July 4th, was when I stepped back and fell and got a concussion in front of all my party attendees. Great fun! We were saying how I had three things happen this year so I was done: concussion, car accident and fall where I fractured my wrist and tore my rotator cuff.  I was good for another year!

I guess I jinxed myself or something. At 5:15pm I took Happi outside to pee and something flew into my eye. I hurt. No, it really hurt. Like a knife in my eye. When my eye was open it didn’t hurt but if I blinked, oh boy, that HURT.

I came inside and tried to get it out and rinse it out. I was careful not to rub it. No luck. I called my eye doctor but they were closed. The answering service attempted to get a hold of the doctor to no avail. So off to the emergency room I go (at the doctor’s office insistence).

My hospital had an upgrade recently so I was getting to see the new ER. Swanky! There are two rooms just for eye and ear injuries. Makes you wonder how many eye and ear injuries there have to be to get there own examine rooms.

It was in and out very quickly. 2 hours. They looked in my eye and saw a foreign body in my eye immediately. The doctor came in, numbed me and “did it the old fashioned way” by tilting my head back and using a q-tip to swipe it out.  He said I will have a small cut where it was (imbedded) for a few days but I will be fine. He gave me some antibiotic drops to use three times a day.

Guess what it was? Plant matter. Something from a tree or something. My tree is sending out little seedlings right now so it could have been a small piece of that. It was very breezy.

Anyway it hasn’t effected my vision just my blinking ability. I’m sure I will be 100% in a day or two.

Until tomorrow...

ORENCIA IS APPROVED

Well, it can be done!  I got a letter today stating that The-insurance-company-who-will-not-be-named has reconsidered and approved my appeal for Orencia.Orencia is a RA drug that is not a biologic like Enbrel.  I can not take Enbrel because I got meningitis while on Enbrel.  While I was researching my appreal, I found articles written about other people on biologic medicines who also got meningitis.  There was also another article that clearly stated that once a person got meningitis on a biologic, the person should never go back on that same type of biologic because the risk is too great.

Now I just have to wait for the doctor to send the prescription to the pharmacy and Voila!  I will be on Orencia.  I just have to see what the co-pay for this drug is going to be.  But today I celebrate.

Until tomorrow...