Weekly Check In Oct 12-18, 2008
 

Hi Everyone..We had a great week of weather here in Rhode Island..Dry, and in the high 60's and low 70's..That is a bonus for this time of the year

I picked my friend John up from detox Monday evening, and I doubted that he was ready to leave after only four days in the facility..I think he signed himself out, but anyway, we went clamming on Thursday and Friday, and yesterday morning he was seen with someone who he shouldnt be hanging out with, so I have a feeling that he is off and running again..I could see he was depressed and struggling all week..I fear the worst, and one thing that Im really concerned about, is I have syringes here because I have a diabetic cat, and as I use the syringes, I put used ones in a ziplock bag, and in a drawer in the hutch..Then when I need new ones, I bring the bag of used syringes to the animal hospital, and they dispose of them..Well, I know where I put that bag of used syringes, and I looked for it last night because I need some new ones, and I cant find it..I tore those drawers in the hutch inside out, and they are not there..Theres always a possibility that I may have moved them for whatever reason, but I dont recall doing so..I hope he didnt take them, because he was a heroin addict..I hope I find them, cuz Im thinkin', this is not good

I got my airplane tickets this week, and a friend is going to drive me to Logan to catch my flight..My friends limo service was way too expensive..I now have to figure out what Im gonna do about getting back from the airport, when I get back home..Maybe the bus, as its really cheap..Hopefully, Harley and I will get to spend a day with Rosebud and her friend, sometime or other while Im out there..Ive been relieved of the planning of that event cuz Rosebud says "not to worry about the planning, cuz its clearly a job for two capable and clever women"..If I didnt know better, Id say this was a mutiny!! :D

I went out clamming by myself yesterday, and did well..I am on my way out the door to go again today..This is the first time Ive felt strong enough to go two days in a row and do all of the work by myself..It took a long time to get strong enough, but it sure does feel good not to be flat on my *** the following day

How was your week?

My week was.....
 

I had a good week, physical therapy helped my walking and balance quite a bit even though they did "nag" at me. Gotta keep doing those exercises .....but the recliner looks much better :wink: speaking of which my recliner started falling apart this week, I knew it was getting ready to from the noises it made. Its a electirc recliner/lift chair, It is just a chair now after I put a couple of wood screws in it to hold it together. I ordered a new one on wednesday...it will take 6 weeks to get it and I cant after all the exercises a little heat and massage would be ok. :) We got our first frost of the year Friday morning, the fields below the ridge our house is on were covered in white, pretty but I prefer warmer temp.\\

Have a good one......

Hello
 

Steve,

Sorry to hear about the stuff going on with your friend. I hope that your suspicions are wrong about the syringes.:( You are right, four days of rehab is just not enough. Hopefully, your friend will have a moment of clarity about the decisions that he is making and he will turn away from it.

I think you should just trust the girls to make the plans...they know what they're doing!:p Glad to hear that you are feeling so well this week. I hope it keeps up so that you have a great week this week.

Love,

Evonne

Dbiker,

I am glad to hear that the PT is helping you out. Sorry to hear about your chair, but it sounds like you are looking forward to getting a new one. It is always nice to have something to look forward to. The heat and massage feature sounds wonderful! I am on the other side of the state and it is cooling off here quite a bit. With it, I am experiencing more achiness. I am working on staying warm through this coming season.

Love,

Evonne



As you all know...last week was emotional for me, but I am feeling better this week. I went back to church this weekend and it was really great for my whole family. It was all about refocusing and worship...how appropriate!

This week is going to be busy for me. I have my interview at the hospital on Wednesday morning. I am very hopeful that that things will go well. Then, I have my State Certification Test this coming Saturday. I need to hit the books this week so I will not be online very much this coming week.

In addition to that, I am trying to talk my husband into letting me paint the inside of my house. We have been here for three years and the "hospital white" that my walls are painted is really getting annoying. I want to add some warm tones and do a little redecorating. It's kind of an issue because the money is tight, but we are going to be taking out a loan to do some debt consolidation here in the next month. The way I see it...there's no better time than now.:winky:

I hope that you all have a great week. I will keep you all posted on how my interview goes. Wish me an awesome interview....

Hello everyone,

I've been keeping myself busy with work and school stuff. It sure has been pretty out there with the fall colors. I went canoing with my brother yesterday and the water was like glass and like a painting with the trees reflecting off the surface. He was catching fish and I was enjoying the scenery. :)

Physically things could be better. I went to the Sleep Doc for the follow-up on my sleep study. He put me on Klonipin for the PLM/RSD, but the medication made me ill. The 0.5mg was too much for me and I tried 1/2 pill that worked for a bit, but that was not enough and the whole 0.5mg made my eyeballs twitch! I ended up discussing this with my neurologist on Friday. She's a good sport because that was her day off and was nice enough to call me again later in the day to see how I was doing. I feel bad bothering her at home like that. So needless to say, I'm off the Klonipin and now wait for it to titrate out of my system.

I saw her today and she noticed that I'm slowing down more physically. I've noticed it myself as things take me longer to do. Mentally I'm slower too which I hate. I find myself forgetting how to spell, getting words mixed up and forgetting whole thoughts a paragraph later. This is fun when trying to write papers and IT proposals.

I've also had nasty bouts of nausea from the Sinemet. I seem to have an absorption problem now. This is frustrating because I find that I am going off more often with dystonia in my feet and hands getting worse. My left hand cramps up terribly at night and sometimes during the day. I've actually bruised my hand.

The feet get me at night and I end up with a Parcopa for that which helps. The dyskinesias seem to be happening now too about mid-point in the dose. Not all the time, but enough to be annoying. No one else has noticed them so far which is good. I've been able to hide them from view when it happens. She prescribed so Lodisyn for the nausea. She says this is pure Carbodopa to help carry more of the Levodopa past the BBB.

Overall I've been sore as well. My bicep muscles feel like I've been punched with them worse first thing in the morning, but just slightly sore the rest of the day as the Sinemet works its way through my system.

The piano playing on the otherhand has been wonderful. Whatever Sinemet I am taking is making my hands work like wonders on most days. I can't complain here. Now if it will work for the rest of the body... I'd feel a lot better!

What is it with the eyesight? My brand new glasses don't seem to work as well anymore. My double vision is worse and now the overall eyesight has dropped down a notch again so everything is blurred glasses and all. I can't wear them while playing the piano because they are multifocals. They make my head spin if I move my eyes around too much. So when I'm playing, the glasses go on to read something and they go off when I play. I need them for ornaments and fingering because the numbers and symbols can be pretty small on some scores - about the size of an ant footprint as I've said to some people.

Anyway...

Steve, I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Hopefully he'll return. The four days in rehab are not enough as you know. I hope he didn't take the syringes on you.

DBiker, good luck with your PT. I'm glad you're feeling better. We too have had some frost up here. The fields have gone from green to yellow and the lillypads have shrunk down to little fragments in the ponds. The autmn in New England is as pretty as it is in the Northwest. The smell of spice in the air from the leaves is a reminder sadly that colder weather is coming.

Evonne, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. :) I've been interviewing too for a new job. Things are tight in the IT world, but the interviews are going well. At one place that liked me, but the higher-up manager wanted to bring on board a temporary worker that was there for months instead. The HR person told me to reapply again for another opening when they show up on the web. I have two other places that will get back to me and hopefully soon.

And this is the way it goes, we continue to trudge along trying to be normal, yet fighting every day to be normal.

I hope everyone has a great week.

John

Its good to hear you are doing better this week!..Good luck with your interview, and dont let pd stop you from persuing your dreams..I have seen some parkies accomplish some amazing things

As for my friend..I dont know what to make of it..I havent found the syringes, and if I put them somewhere other than where I remember leaving them, then no doubt I will find them when Im not looking for them..I talked to him yesterday, and he just called me a little while ago, and he sounds ok, but very depressed..I can imagine how disappointed he must feel after being clean and sober for 15 years, and screwing up..He inspired and helped alot of people during that 15 years, and now he is struggling to help himself..I just keep encouraging, and keep praying

Steve,

That's all you can do is keep him inspired and encourged. He's going through some tough times and needs a lot of help. There must have been some kind of trigger that put him into this mind frame to want to start back again on the dope. It's a sad place to be unfortunately because it ruins so many lives and not just that of the user.

Best of luck to you and your friend.

John

To all Canadians....
 

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes it is turkey day in Canada, and tomorrow we get to vote for which turkey we want to run our country... Whoopee ding! I'm voting for the Green party. They pretty much guarantee you a green yard in the spring (at least that's my understanding of what their party platform is:confused: Thats better than the guys who are running the country currently.

Steve: did you get your anti anxiety flying drugs yet?? Looking forward to seeing you again.

No....Im just gonna white knuckle it..Ive been so excited about going, that I havent given much thought about the actual flight..I'll be ok..I think :eek: :D