Golly this sounds like Silverlady's adventures , last year? Year before?
The weather seems to be cooperating [not] as always. I for one, just want you to know I am thinking and praying for not only a safe trip but a GOOD medical experience! I know you probably won't be able to read this until later, but I don't think I'm alone as you go thru such travels asking yourself: WHY am I doing this? Someone, please remind me! Sending as many warm soft, cyber fuzzies as I can muster to you to help along the way - j

This is so very like my own experience. I am so amazed that we are so much alike. Seronegative Sjogren's. I so hope they get all her problems ironed out and find out what is really wrong with her. I for one believe she is seronegative for Sjogren's. Believe me when I say this disease can cause disaster in your life.

I'm praying for a safe journey for you Fanfaire. I hope you will at some point be able to correspond with us. I know you don't have a lap top and you are
at this moment I'm sure doing all kinds of nasty preps for the tests tomorrow. I wish you fortitude. It was so very hard and difficult to get thru. Prayers your way from me are coming.

But at the time we were struggling and spending all day in Mayo, we'd come out to get in the shuttle after dark and we watched Rochester come alive for Christmas. There was a light snow and lights. It felt like Christmas even tho we were so far from home. Another world so far away. Many many good wishes and hope for you.

Billye

Wow, thanks for these posts! I haven't left yet, but will Sunday morning. Silly me, I got all concerned about the Rochester forecast and forgot to check Sioux Falls, and sure enough, we're supposed to get six inches of snow tomorrow!

I start fasting Sunday night, a 12 hour one. I may have to do other fasts if they refer me to gastroenterology, which might be a practical thing to do considering my history of gastroparesis. I may have to do other digestive tests which I choose not to think about at this time.

I think if I'm up to it my husband and I will at some point do a driving tour of Rochester at night to look at holiday decor. That's one of our fave things to do in December, no matter where we are. And my husband is hoping there will be Christmas movies on cable.

You both have been through so much! I really appreciate your support. Actually, that goes for everyone here.

fanfaire

I am about 3 hours east of Rochester MN, it is wicked tonight, has been since 10am...the new 'winter hurricane', wind, snow, pellets and freezing rain is the new kind of 'blizzard' we get. (I am waiting for thunder...they said that may happen too). I prefer the old snow and wind kind of blizzard, to this new freezing rain kind (call me a gnome). I have never heard a house make these kinds of noises, and I have lived in the Great Lakes region my whole long life. I hope it improves tomorrow, I think it will. It seems to be moving faster than predicted and I think the ice will stay south of Rochester, which is good. Snow is drive-able...ice is not.

Good luck, stay safe, wish for the best.

I will be undergoing some very invasive diagnostics in the next 6 weeks and I am apprehensive. I understand the uncertainty and difficulty of it all.

I will be thinking of you and hoping you have a safe trip and that the clinic will help determine what is wrong and even better, what can be done to give you some relief.

I am a little jealous of the snowfalls you all are describing. I haven't really seen much snow in many years. Every Christmas seems to be missing something...

Have a safe journey and let us as soon as possible what you are able to find out. We will all be waiting anxiously to hear.

Cathie

All is quiet in the midwest, and I would think roads are clear by now. Our crews are usually very good at getting these messes cleaned up. I remember blizzards when I worked for the county as a nurse. I used to call the county crew to find out when they were going to plow a certain rural road, so I could follow them to my home from work. That was back in the early 80's when we still had huge blizzards that would shut us down for days, despite plows that had 12 foot high blades. I always liked it when they pulled out those huge plows. One year, I believe it was early 1978, a woman went into labor and they called one of those plows to get her to the hospital and it got stuck and she ended up delivering the baby in a farm house. It was kind of boring to stay home and yes, I had a child the following fall! A blizzard baby. There were quite a few born around late September, early October, who had their beginnings in the blizzard that year. We had no internet or computer games to keep us busy. Soap operas only kept you entertained for so long. Yep, those were the days.

Now we get more ice. We still get snow storms but they do not reach those proportions. The news channels makes them seem worse than they are.

Ice is far more fearsome.

Also back in the early 80's, a -60 was recorded not far from here, and that was actual temperature. We had one year when it was ranging from -20 to
-30 plus windchills in the -80 range. I lost headlights driving to my night shift job in that. Every one was driving around with a headlight out. I think the cold just cracked them. We don't get this kind of weather anymore. I guess that is fine for us, but it makes me wonder about climate change. It is noticably warmer and we have over the last few years gotten much less precipitation. Those old Great Lakes are not as full as they used to be.

One thing that has not changed is we only get one third of the possible days of sun. That is not a fun thing. Winter is dark AND dreary.

I have a question about weather, and how it impacts my body.

Yesterday was the worst pain day of my life. And I'm 60 and I'm telling you, I wanted to punch my own head yesterday. I don't take any pain meds, because I've been able to go about my daily life (with degenerative joint disease and diabetic neuropathy) and deal with the pain.

I used to use a cane (15 years ago), because I was so overweight, my knees could not support me. But I lost all the weight. I exercised. But I still have the degenerative joint disease. I never goes away. As the doctor once tried to drum it into my brain. "Melody, you have degenerative joint disease", hence the word degenerative. You might slow it down, but your joints will degenerate.

Then I got neuropathy. I do the Methyl B-12 thing and honestly, I don't even notice the PN.

Except for yesterday. Yesterday, (the weather went nuts, and went from the 40's to 26) and it snowed during the night.

I have no idea what the heck happened to my body but even my teeth hurt. EVERYTHING HURT. My shoulder, my left wrist, my right knee, and my teeth. And my feet buzzed.

Imagine, having your right wrist throbbing, your knee throbbing and one or two teeth throbbing (all at the same time). Makes no sense. All in sync with each other.

I took 3 (200) ibuprofen, and all that did was give me an upset tummy. I don't have any other type of meds in the house and I have to be forced to even take the ibuprofen. I don't take pain meds. I deal with it. I only get pain when it's cold or humid.

Let's say it was August, and it was 95 degrees outside with no humidity. I would not have anything throbbing, my teeth would be fine, my wrist would be fine, my knee would be fine. Everything would be fine.

But let the weather go from 40's to 20's in the space of a few hours, and my whole body goes through this metamorphasis, well, I don't know how else to explain it.

I have a friend who is 57 years old. Want to know what she told me last night. "My teeth hurt". She said: "I know if my whole mouth hurts, it's my allergies, it's just not a toothache." She takes a pain pill and when the temperature evens out, she's fine.

What the heck does the weather have to with my knee, wrist and teeth aching at the same time.

Oh, the pain in the front of my mouth went away today. Now it's my right knee and the teeth on the left side of my mouth. Some days, (and this is a good one), when my right knee throbs (this is the bad knee), well the back of my mouth (where I don't have any teeth at all), well it acts like I have a tooth ache. And it's only when the weather is nuts.

I'm perfect fine during the summer months.

This thing with the back teeth started to happen 12 years ago. I went to the dentist screaming "Pull out this tooth". He took an x-ray and said "there's nothing wrong with this tooth, I'm not pulling out any healthy tooth. So that tooth is still there, and god forbid the weather goes nuts, the tooth throbs.

One dentist said 'It's inflammation". So what do I have?? Inflammation of the right knee, the wrist, the back of my teeth, (all at the same time???).

Yesterday, I wanted to punch somebody. But last night I was fine. Went to bed (didn't take anything). Slept just fine.

Early today, it started to snow, I went out to make a wash. The snow changed to rain, (which means it was humid), and all of a sudden, my right wrist and right knee (and a bit with the tooth), well everything throbbed.

Right now, I'm just having a bit of a problem with a wrist. But nothing else is throbbing.

Is this what becoming 60 years old and having degenerative joint disease does to a person's body. The WHOLE body goes nuts????.

I won't take ibuprofen unless I HAVE TO!!! I know what it does to the liver.

So I just put ice on whatever is throbbing and I wait for the weather to normalize. Once it stays a certain temperature, I'm just fine.

I can't wait for the spring to come back.

But these 40 degree changing to 26 degree days are absolutely going to do me in.

I wish I was 30 again.

melody

Hi Melody:

I can tell a couple or so days ahead of time when the weather is going to change. I remember hearing, when I was young, old people saying they could feel the weather in their bones. Cold weather, humid, barometer going up or down! It all affects me. Some of us are weather sensitive. I am older than you are but it happens at all ages I guess.

Does a heating pad help you? It does me. But we all are different.

Shirley H.

Heathing Pad!!!

Shirley: Yesterday, I wanted to commit murder, and anything else I could get away with. I never even thought of a heating pad because the heating pad would have had to be the size of my body. And anyway, doesn't heat, well, isn't heat BAD for inflammation?? I thought ice is the way to go.

Last night, during all the throbbing (teeth, knee, left shoulder, etc.) my temple started to throb. Now I never get headaches, NEVER!! Well, last night I got a headache. I put the ice pack on the right side of my head (I was on the phone with my friend and she was telling me about how her teeth hurt!!! Our teeth always hurt at the same time.

Oh, 10 minutes ago, the teeth on the left upper side of my head started to hurt. Went away in a few minutes. I'm fine right now.

Makes no sense. Right now. Nothing hurts. I just ate a salad.

I'm beginning to think I'm losing my mind. I mean, I hate the holidays, but really?? is my mind betraying my body??? Is my mind so unhappy, that I'm developing major flare-ups all over my body???

And it's only with the weather. I swear to god, if it was 99 degrees outside, I could walk 20 blocks and be just fine. I DO NOT LIKE COLD WEATHER, SNOW, HUMIDITY, RAIN, WHATEVER.

I need Arizona, or the Sahara Desert!!!

Mel

The low pressure systems that dominate the upper tier states in winter are brutal. The barometric pressure drops and it does have an effect on pain. There is even a weather based pain index on TV now and then. I am not sure if it is on the weather channel or not...can't remember.

They do make a 'heated throw' that costs about $30. There are also heated mattress pads. I have one of those and a heating pad. You have to be careful with neuropathy, as you may not feel the heat and people with neuropathy can get burned due to that.

Nothing gets rid of the pain from the weather systems. Living in a place live Colorado front range or New Mexico area, where it is sunny, not too hot, seems like a good place to be. Some PNers don't sweat to heat....I think Florida or hurricane prone area would be bad, as hurricanes are huge low pressure systems. I feel quite good when I visit Colorado, any time of year, but I stay at around 5,000-6000ft. Around 8,000 I get goofy and over 10,000 I am downright unreliable. My first clue of something wrong autonomically was probably when I fainted or something without any advance warning, at 6,000 ft in the Black Hills. One minute I was talking the next I was on the ground. That fast. No warning. One bad thing about Colorado, I never end up staying long enough to get my body fluids balanced....always drinking and voiding! I would love to spend a month out there. I wish I could adapt to altitude for once and see how it really feels.

Think dry but not too dry (if your eyes dry out as mine do, or you itch like I do....it has to not be 'too dry'. Think warm, but not too hot, as your body, if you get AN doesn't sense heat and your sudomoter (sweat gland innervation) could be shot, as is mine.

I likely won't move, as that takes money and huge changes that are not easy to make at this age. We moved 100 miles south recently, back to our 'old' town where my kids were all born and spent most of their school years, and even that move was incredibly hard. The only way I would move would be if one of my kids lived right near me, and they assist me. Otherwise....I am staying put, despite the crummy winter weather.

Summer here is wonderful. We are only a few weeks away from solstice, and the light will start to increase again.

I only wish I was as resilient and adaptable as the young woman in the link I submitted on courage and resilence. Alas, I am 25 years older than she, and can't match her in courage, reslience, enthusiasm....never the less she is an inspiration.