Finally!

My son-in-law came over Saturday and fixed my water heater, furnace, bed and computer and a few other things.  I feel more human than I have in a long time.  I'm so thankful for Dan.  He also brought Hennessy and Brendyn.  They helped me carry stuff to the recycling bin.  I took them to Imagination Station to play. It is a huge play structure and they love it.  It was a beautiful, warm day and I enjoyed myself, also. 

Summer, Part III

Just about everything in my house has problems.  Can't get my laptop to link up correctly with the wireless router......bought it last April.  I have toxic mold in my office because of a roof leak several years ago.  I can't afford to fix that although if I ever sell, I will have to have something done.  The air conditioner died.  The furnace makes a horrible metal-on-metal sound when it kicks on and when it kicks off.  It's so loud I have to turn the volume on the TV high enough to wake the whole neighborhood.  And now.....just a few days ago, my water heater quite working.  I've been having cold "spit baths"  and my hair is just plain dirty.  I am in total overwhelm....as usual.  And I'm continually thinking "What's next?".  Oh....I forgot one thing....I lost my cell phone.  That whole thing was a nightmare.  Actually a guy at Sprint went out of his way to help me.  I didn't have my phone insured and there lies the problem.  Just try to get a new phone while you are still on contract......just glad I have one after losing mine 2 months ago.  Oops.....forgot another one.  I have a bed like a sleep number.  My side won't hold the air.  I wake up every morning like a pretzel.  Yes, I know.....sleep on the other side.  I tried and it didn't work.  So every night before I go to bed, I pump it up......that's a fun 3-4 minutes.  Sometimes on the week-end, I will get up early, pump up the bed and go back to sleep.

On a positive note, I am getting some help on Saturday with a few things.  Until then, I will keep having cold "baths" and pumping up my bed.  I know the furnace, air conditioner (I'll worry about it next August) and ceiling won't get fixed, but a nice hot shower and good nights sleep will do wonders for my attitude which sucks right now.

Summer, Part II

Another bad things about my summer was my health.  I had a constant flare for about 3 months.  Every day was a struggle.  It wasn't so much the pain, but mostly it was the fatigue.  I was just dead tired every day.  Sleep was elusive.  I had quite a few vacation days where I did things with the grandchildren.  I felt terrible that I felt bad....know what I mean?  I tried to keep up with the kids and to keep smiling.  I failed at the State Fair.  I got cranky....how on earth could I be cranky to the kids?  That day I did hurt.  My right hip and lower back really hurt along with my right upper back that usually causes problems.  I used my Zynex.  It's like a TENS unit, but it's not.  The Zynex uses a higher frequency and goes deeper into the muscle than TENS.  It's a good thing.  It's portable and I often take it with me when I travel. 

I'm feeling somewhat better.  The pain is mostly totally tolerable.  I'm still having an issue with fatigue, but it's better than it was.  I'm still not sleeping as well as I should be.  My goodness, I take a handful of pills every bedtime.  One of them would knock anyone out in a few minutes and keep them asleep all night.  Oh, yeah, this is one of the reasons fibro sucks.

One thing I've learned over the years is to be consistent about taking my pain meds.  If I forget for even a half hour, it's hard to get it back in control.  I have a wristwatch with 3 alarms.  Works like a charm!

Enough about my health.  I get tired of talking about it, but if someone asks, I tell them.  Of course, I say I'm doing great when I talk to someone who doesn't know me very well. 

Summer, Part 1

This has been a terrible summer....one I hope to never have again. Rather than talk about everything in one post, I will cover each subject one at a time.

The most devasting was the death of my sister, Deana Long. Deana is 9 years older than I. I don't think she liked having a baby sister....she did get stuck babysitting more than I'm sure she ever wanted to. We've had a rough relationship, but in all that time, I truly loved her. Her first cancer diagnosis was about 1990....breast. Having weathered that, she did well until about 2 years ago. Again she was diagnosed with cancer, but this time it was uterine. I am convinced the chemo for her breast cancer caused the uterine cancer. She had surgery and chemo and chemo and chemo. I tried to visit as often as I could, but as you all know, the world gets in your way. But several times I did go and stay 2 days. During one of our long talks, we found out why our relationship had some rough spots. Our mother lied and kept secrets. Her lies contibuted to Amy's death. With her lies and secrets, she created bad feelings among all of the 4 siblings. Do I sound a bit angry? You bet. I made a vow a long time ago to never treat my children or grandchildren the way I and my grandchildren were treated. Anyway, I felt like Deana and I resolved some major issues. (My older brother, Jim, just refuses to hear anything about Mom and our relationships) I received a call from Deana's husband that I'd better get up there. I rushed up there on Sat, Sept 24 and she was in a coma. I stayed 3 days crying and sobbing and talking with her. I didn't want to leave Monday evening, but I did. She passed into the glory of Heaven about 24 hours later. Her funeral was Friday, Oct 1 and I felt strangely at peace. She was suffering so much that I didn't want her to live another hour and now she is PERFECT! Praise God that He takes care of us.