So, we're on a month with the new drug now...

This is going to be just a quick update. It's almost 10 PM here and I have to get up tomorrow for faire. It sounds silly because I get up at the same time every day, but on days I have to go somewhere (like faire), I don't go back to bed. I just stay awake.

So... this is a month, according to my drug-addled mathematics when I eye The Jousters calendar on my wall. And, I think it's going pretty well.

I still feel a bit woozy if I take the new pill on an empty stomach, so I usually have a granola bar or a piece of fruit when I take it in the morning on faire days. (on non-faire days, I take it when I eat breakfast). Also, at night, after I take all my nightly pain meds, I have trouble remembering what I say or do the next morning. It isn't like I'm stumbling around like some goofy amnesiac patient. I'm fine to the outside world (but not drive-able, not at all), but the next morning, I have trouble with details. People have been cool about reminding me... or they're totally fucking with me. Either way, one of us is having fun... I think. Hopefully it's me.

 I gotta say, though, I think it's working. Aside from a mild day or two, I've felt a lot better. My muscles still have that "day-old workout pain" in them, but only if I exert them (like lifting the big-ass jug of laundry detergent off that stupidly high shelf in the laundry room). I feel pretty good under normal circumstances. I notice the numbness in my foot now, though. My last three toes on my left foot are numb. But they're not totally numb, just the skin. When I wiggle my toes or touch them, I don't feel anything. But if I apply pressure, I can feel that sensation under the initial numbness. I have had a few bouts of "hot spot" pain (that's the intense pain in one location, usually my hip muscle). But hey... small price, right?

Oh, that numbness is caused by peripheral neuropathy. That's a disorder some folks get when they have fibro or some other stupid-as-fuck disease like this. Some people just get it, without that stupid-as-fuck disease... but basically, it's a nerve thing that causes numbness and pain in the hands and feet.

I've been taking a lot less Vicodin lately, which is good. But, a few days ago, I think I went through some withdrawal issues. I had a headache for two days and felt sort of blah. I also think I had a flareup because for those two days, I was brain-dead exhausted. Not sleepy... but that kick-you-in-the-face exhausted. But, since the new medicine is doing what it's supposed to, I've not had as much overall pain.

So, I guess this is "so far, so good" when it comes to the new drug. (if you don't remember, it's a low dose of Effexor. I was a bit concerned because it's an antidepressant and I'm not depressed). I am definitely enjoying the "less pain" part. Not enjoying the "slightly carsick" thing that comes along with it. But hey, that's a small price to pay. And the whole point was to take less pain medicine. I remain hopeful that it'll continue to get better.

Now, this is when I go nuts and share a shit-ton of photos from the first three weeks at Bristol. But like I said, it's almost 10 PM here and I have to go to bed soon. (Oh, that's another thing- this drug makes me sleep like a dead person. So that's a good thing). Instead of packing this post with photos, I'm just going to post the links to the albums on Flickr. This year, I decided to break down the faire photos by each week instead of getting a single album full of three thousand photos.

Oh, I just remembered... I have some non-faire photos to share. Today, I took a bunch of macro shots of bees in my back garden. So I'll throw those up for you to enjoy. After the faire photo links.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

And here are the bumblebee shots... Enjoy.

I handled it like a PRO!

I've had a few reasonable days since I had that needle jammed into my foot. I mean, no more or no less pain. Nothing to report, really, just normal stuff. The bottom of my foot still has that stone-bruise feel to it and upon standing first thing in the morning, I still want to scrape out the inside of my foot, but that feeling goes away after I drag my leg behind me to the other room. (I'm going to wait a full week before I decide if this whole event was a fail or not).

So, today, after turning off my "Good morning, time to get up alarm", followed about ten minutes later by my "Hey, you better get up" alarm and then my "GET OUT OF BED!" alarm and the "WAKE THE FUCK UP! GO TAKE YOUR PILLS" alarm, I decided I should probably get up... and I turned to roll my body into the sitting-up position only to be met with the searingly white-hot lava pain of a flareup in my left hip. Great. I finally get done favoring my left foot only to have my left hip decide to be a hot spot.

The weird thing about this flareup/hot-spot pain is that it only seems to cause me blindingly tearful pain when I move. If I don't move- and I mean at all- it doesn't hurt. But the moment I try to shift my gravitational pull in any minuscule amount, the muscles in that hip scream out in terror like they just saw a thousand spiders all at the same time. I audibly groaned as I stood up. I turned slightly and gorilla-walked along the edge of my bed.

What? You don't know what gorilla-walking is? Of course you do. You know how gorillas walk, hunched over, using their hands (in a fist) on the ground. Well, I do that in the mornings, using my bed. I walk sideways like that because, duh, the bed.

When I stood in the bathroom and put on my giant "I shoot RAW" T-shirt, my hip didn't hurt. But the second I shifted my weight to put my too-big yoga pants on, that white-hot pain seared through my hip. And it is the entire hip- from where my actual waist begins to the top of my leg where the hip gives way into the thigh.

So, quite obviously, I'm going to take it easy. I have to- according to the experts who say: "Take it easy during a flareup. Take it easy the day after a flareup. Take it easy if you feel like a flareup is coming on. Take it easy on those days when you feel good because you might trigger a flareup." I drag my body through my morning routine and I even take a morning nap.

That's all I've been doing today- taking it easy. I decided to take on this day, using the tools that I know will work in making me feel better- because (you'll love this), my new doctor didn't give me the usual annual refills on my pain meds. I called in my refill like always only to realize there was no refill on this one (there should be 12 months worth of refills).

So, after I had lunch, I decided to tackle this hot spot pain with a liberal helping of ice cream. I followed that mid-afternoon ice cream with a several hour session of sitting on the loveseat, covered in Chis, and watching whatever there was on cable because I left the Blu-ray player remote on the shelf above the TV. I tried to remain as still as possible, but as with anything that has a gravitational pull, I had to move a little bit, now and then. And each movement was met with that fiery agony radiating from my left hip. Using a cane is useless because I'm not having trouble supporting myself on this leg, I'm having trouble when I try to move this leg. You'd be surprised how important moving joints are to the act of walking.

Several hours after sitting on the loveseat, covered in Chis (and at one point, a German Shepherd), I had to get up. It was pure agony, but I got to my feet. I walked as slowly as I could without actually standing still and fed the dogs and fixed myself some dinner. I decided to go easy and for comfort food. (by the way, Erik, Enchilada Surprise and sour cream- DELICIOUS. Guacamole test is pending). And along the way, I put on my wicked-cool Wonder Woman crush cap.

None of this worked on the pain. I took a nap, then after the ice cream but before the dinner, I took a short nap (sitting up on the loveseat, covered in Chis, watching "Payback" on cable- good movie, by the way).  I looked fabulous, I ate delicious food, and I had warm and soft animals who care that I can't feed them if I die to look after me. And none of it worked.

I was "taking it easy" and it didn't do any damn good at all. I mean, I enjoyed mid-afternoon ice cream and the luxurious cheese-covered and sour-cream-topped dinner was fabulous, but I can't continue this type of routine every single day. I'm already the size of a smart car, if I kept that up every day, I'd be the size of one of those tiny houses.

The worst part of it is that as soon as I finish typing this, I'm going to need to get up and get something to drink. I'm already done with the water I brought in here a couple hours ago. Maybe if I keep typing, I won't have to get up so soon. I mean, I am a little thirsty and this water is almost gone, but if I keep adding words to this blog post, I won't have to get up right away. I should just keep type-type-typing away... That makes total sense, doesn't it? Go on, answer me, I'll wait...