Still trying to relearn how to type/write with this hand so this is taking forever to write. Posting after this one will be sporadic for awhile.
Sluggy
Just an average Gal, older mom, trying to live a simple life & what happens along the way.
Still trying to relearn how to type/write with this hand so this is taking forever to write. Posting after this one will be sporadic for awhile.
Sluggy
I survived the procedure. Even though it was non-invasive they still consider this a surgery since it messes with your brain.
Two days out I feel like an alien is controlling my right hand and it's taken quite awhile to go back and fix all the typos in these last three sentences so this post will be short.
It was an intense experience and not something that I'm looking forward to repeating. Having my head shaved wasn't a big deal to me but when they injected anesthetic and began screwing those 4 pins into my skull to hold the halo frame I about freaked out! Even with a dose of fentanyl I could hear and feel them screwing these into my skull. Talk about creepy!
Once they put me in the hybrid MRI machine and began the process of mapping out where to zap my brain it was another 3 hours(including a follow up regular MRI afterwards).
With each "zapping" I got nauseas so they pulled me out and put Zofran into my I.V. line. I am not prone to being nauseas but I did get very queasy with this treatment
We got to the hospital at 6:00 am and left for home at 1 pm-ish. I was wiped out.
Yesterday was had to go to Walmart and Aldi. I need to use my sister in-law's walker as I find my gait is off and I lean to the right when I try to walk. Trying to write or type is difficult for now too.
One side effect that seems to be pretty rare(figures I would get that one)is that food and drink tastes different. If you blindfolded me and fed me something, I'd have a hard time telling you with any accuracy what it was in my mouth.
The neurosurgeon was sure I'd get headaches from the procedure since my skull was NOT on the thick side but borderline on the thin side. Never got a headache though. But I got a nice burn on my skin where they focused all the ultrasound waves.
They zapped me four separate times after mapping out where the placement should be. Each session I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole since your laying in a white tunnel so it's fairly disorienting to begin with. This procedure heats your head up to 55 degrees Celsius and I could sure feel that too.
That's the left side of my head since the mirror makes it look like the right.
I'm on a steroid pack and just OTC pain meds.
This Focused Ultrasound doesn't cure Essential Tremor. It's just a way to ameliorate the symptoms that is non-invasive, unlike Deep Brain Stimulation where they cut you open, implanting a pacemaker like device in your chest with electric leads up into your brain.
They don't know what causes ET nor do they have a cure. They use anti-seizure drugs as a first defense but DBS and FUS are the only other options. It's an autosomal inherited chromosome disorder and if you have a parent with it you have a 50/50 chance of getting it.
So now, like a toddler, I have to relearn how to walk properly and learn to eat, write, etc. with my "new" hand, which so far, an alien is controlling. It will take time to relearn and stabilize,
Here is my "Before" and "After" treatment paper.
If anyone wants more information about my experience just contact me.
SluggyTechnically this isn't an invasive surgery, it's a procedure, but they call it a surgery. The risks and side effects are still there but all in all this is a fairly safe surgery.
I am on Day 5 of being off my tremor medication so I can't really type out a long post...well, I could but it would take hours. ;-) There have been a few hiccups since I got to Virginia but I'll blog about all that once I can get on the computer again.
So I'll leave you with these videos of people's journey through this condition and the procedure. I wish I could find a video of a woman patient but I can't.
And yes, they will be shaving my head. From the webinars I've attended this seems to be a big stumbling block for women and why some shy away from this treatment. Bald and women don't mix very well in our society.
I go in early Friday morning for the procedure. Please keep good thoughts for the outcome for me. 8-)
Sluggy
It's been a hell of a two weeks.
Two weeks ago on Tuesday, when I did that pick up order at CVS I blogged about my left leg started feeling funny. This was less than a week when I was suppose to fly up to Virginia. The whole leg was achy and the calf hurt, then the thigh hurt and whatever was going on seemed to move around.
So on Wednesday we went to Urgent Care as I had had a PE in that leg's ankle back in 2012, over 12 years ago so I didn't want to take a chance.
At Urgent Care they only had an x-ray machine so told me to go to the ER as they had the ultrasound machine. Great.
So the next day, after lunch, as I was still hoping it was nothing and would go away, we trotted up to the ER. Got triaged and of course my problem was not urgent(to them)so we sat for hours(they had just brought car accident victims in from a wreck we passed on the interstate)until they finally called me back.
Got the leg ultrasound and it showed no blood clot(thank goodness). Then they did an x-ray of my thigh and hip as that is where the pain was presenting at that time. No broken bones so they sent me home with Naproxen(aka Aleve)and was told to stay off the leg for a day or so.
Friday I was bopping around the house, packing and such and while standing next to the bed my leg knee gave way on me and I fell. Didn't hurt myself and was able to use the bed to pull myself to my feet. Put ice on the knee and rested.
Later that evening, after dinner, the knee gave way again and I went crashing to the floor in the kitchen.
Hubs and I tried for almost an hour to figure out how to get me up but I was so tired I told him to call the fire department and I pulled a Linda(sorry Linda! 8-))and they came and picked me up. Hubs says I just wanted to hunky hotties paying attention to me-not in that way! lol
On Saturday I was oh so careful about moving around all day(lots of sitting and icing as it became clear that the knee was the issue, not other parts of my leg)but then I had to take a shower before bed as I'd be flying the next day.
I usually enter the shower with my left leg first, while holding onto the bar and then raise my right(TKR)leg into the shower. Well, that was the wrong call. I should have used the right leg to enter the shower first and would have been facing away from the showerhead. The right leg gave out on me and I went down, mostly landing in the shower. But my right leg, right where I had the 24 stitches and the fight with Sissie's collapsing stool on Christmas Eve scraped over the metal track where the glass shower door attaches. I looked down and you could see the first layer of skin peeling right off.
Hubs and I cleaned me up after my shower, applied antibiotic ointment and gauze pads with medical tape where needed.
Early the next morning he drove me to DFW airport 3+ hours away and I got a wheelchair ride to the gate and Hubs drove 3+ hours home.
Being as I had special assistance on my plane ticket I was suppose to board first but the wheelchair pusher in the airport dumped into a seat by the gate and I had to get the gate agent's attention that I needed a chair to get through the jet gangway to the plane's door.
She kept calling for a wheelchair but it almost didn't arrive. Meanwhile all the other passengers boarded the plane.
Finally got a chair and got wheeled to the plane's door. The flight attendant asked me what my seat assignment was as I gingerly made my way into the plane's galley with my cane. He asked to see my electronic boarding pass on my phone so I took it from my pants pocket to show him. He looked down the aisle and said someone was already in that seat! WTF is wrong with people? Don't answer that, it's rhetorical.
So the flight attendant had to get that idiot to move while I muttered how stupid is someone they can't count flight rows. 8-(
I finally got to the row and I had a window seat so had to wait for the two people next to me to more into the aisle so I could try to slide over into my seat. As I slid I must have opened up a blood blister on my left arm(not related to the fall of Saturday)and after getting settled I looked down and saw I had blood all over my light grey pants. ugh. Then I saw my arm. Not having any facial tissue with me I asked loudly if anyone had a Kleenex with no response. The guy sitting on the aisle went and got some cocktail napkins from a flight attendant for me. Bless him.
After staunching that wound I went to get my phone out of my pocket so I could watch something as it was a 3 hour flight and my phone was gone!! I know it was on the plane as I had it out to show the flight attendant my seat assignment in the galley area. Maybe when I went to slip it back into my pocket I missed and it landed somewhere in the aisle before I got to my row. I looked all around me on the floor and asked the two guys if it was in their seats(dropped as I slid over to the window)but that wasn't the case. When the beverage cart came to us I asked the flight attendant who had removed the idiot passenger from my seat to be on the lookout if anyone finds a phone as mine was missing. No one found it.
I spent that 3 hours getting all worked up over the phone(it was my only means of communicating with my brother after I landed)and planned to ask a flight attendant to call my phone so we would hear where it was on the plane and it that didn't work, to refuse to leave the plane after landing if no one turned my phone in. It was an awful feeling to be alone, injured and having no phone. I sat there as everyone else behind us on the plane disembarked. Someone stopped and asked me if I wanted to get up and I said the flight attendant had put my cane in the overhead compartment and I couldn't reach it, so they got that down for me. I half stood up and looked at my seat and damned if I wasn't sitting on my own phone that entire time and never felt it! LOLZ I was so relieved. 8-)))
So I got a wheelchair right at the jet bridge over to the baggage claim area where my sister in-law was sitting and waiting for me.
I have never been so glad to see a friendly face. 8-)
More later.
I have been off my tremor meds since Sunday in preparation for my Focused Ultrasound procedure this Friday so typing is a bit dicey and laborious for me at this point. I might have to finish this up over the weekend.
Sluggy
There are very few Frugal wins over the past week.
* I flew up to VA by myself a week ago last Sunday. The ticket was pretty cheap after using airline miles. Hubs is driving up to get me when I am done.
* I am staying with my brother and sister in-law while here and he is driving me to places I need to go instead of staying at a hotel and renting a car.
* I grabbed a few things at Kroger this week down in Virginia and at Walmart. Got some deals and finished the Weekend Warrior Bonus on Ibotta.
Sluggy
Sorry this post is 6 days late. I've got a lot going on right now so consider yourself lucky I am even doing this much! lolz
Sluggy
4I know I am nuts to get back on the CVS merry-go-round...........but I did.
Here is what I got.......
The toothbrush was $1.55.4
The Crest was $1.55
The Chiggerex was $4.66
One of the Cover Girl palettes was $1.96.**They were out of the other Cover Girl palettes I ordered so cancelled that one so I had to buy a different one in the store when I went to pick up my order.
The 2 Tom's of Main toothpaste, one was $2.25 and the other was $2.67.
All this totaled $14.64 after using my $2.02 in ECBs.
I earned back $5 for the 2 Crest/Oral-B items, $2 for the Tom's of Maine and $5 for the Chiggerex.
I told the manager I had to get another eye pallet for the ECB reward so she said she would force print me the $6 ECB in case something went wrong with buying one in a separate transaction. The eye palette bought in store cost me .53¢ and another $6 ECB printed out.
Which is good because for some reason I can't link my Ibotta account to my CVS account so I was unable to get $4.00 back on Ibotta for those two Tom's of Maine. 8-(
I then bought 2 Clairol Touch-up Hair Colors. I had a BOGO paper coupons which glitched with the CVS digital BOGO Q so both of those were free(just tax). And I earned $6 in ECBs for buying those.
Now I have $28 in ECBs and .45¢ in 2% back in rewards. .16¢ in those 2% rewards expire 7/24 but all the ECBs don't expire until 8/9 so I've got some time to either use them on stuff for my brother and sister in-law while in VA or roll them into more ECBs and use those later when I get back to LA for more items to take to the food bank.
As for all I got on this trip-I'll be selling the hair color locally, keeping the Chiggerex and the rest will go to the food bank(except the eye make-up, those will go into a giveaway box).
What deals did you find at the drug stores this week?
Sluggy
There are very few Frugal wins over the past week.
* I grabbed a few things at Walmart and CVS this week. I blogged about the Walmart stuff so here is the CVS haul....
2 x Tom's of Maine toothpasteThis all, after coupons and my whole $2.01 in ECBs came to $15.92
I got back $28 in ECBs and ,45¢ in percentage back ECBs for all this. I should get another $4 in Ibotta rewards for the Tom's of Maine toothpaste but I may have goofed that up as I can't get my CVS account linked to Ibotta like it has to be to credit you an online order. sigh
I am not thrilled I am back on the CVS merry-go-round but if they expire before I come home I can buy some toothpaste or something for my brother and his wife up in VA. ;-)
Most of the above will be headed for the food bank or sold too.(Might be a good idea to keep the Chiggerex though. lol)
Sluggy
I went back to Walmart on Wednesday and bought a few things to hit my $5 Midweek Bonus.
Besides I also had to pick up a pair of clogs for Hubs as his have worn out.
Total.......$10.92
I earned back....
* $11.94 Ibotta
* $3.00 SwagBucks
* $1.50 Checkout 51
$16.44 earned back so a $5.52 moneymaker. Add this lot to Monday's lot($1.54 OOP)and we get a $3.98 moneymaker for the week.
That's all I got for today. I am 19 items away from the big $10 Fireworks Bonus so probably won't finish that one before the weekend is over.
I somehow jacked up my leg the last few days and we sat in the ER for hours last night but they found nothing(no blood clots or broken bones)so I am going to do a lot of laying in bed(if I can straighten my leg out)and taking Naproxen like the ER doc said to do. I hope to gosh this resolves or gets better before I fly out and then have to lay flat on a Cat Scan bed, etc. next week. ouch
Sluggy
I hit up Walmart on Monday and did some rebate shopping well before Beryl hit and reeked havoc here.
It wasn't a very large shop but it turned out well.
1 x Hemp Protein Powder $7.82
1 x Skyy Vodka $14.98
2 x Old Spice Gentlemen's Body Wash $25.94
2 X Old Spice Total Body Deodorant $16.00
2 x U Kotex liners $6.96
6 x Cesar wet dog food $5.88
Total was $77.58
I used a free $25 Walmart gift card making this $52.58 OOP
I got back....
*$32.00 from Ibotta
*$3.00 from Swag Bucks
*$3.00 from Shopmium
*$13.04 from Shop Kicks
Total rebates came to $51.05 so I am $1.54 OOP after I get back all that.
The Kotex is headed to the Food Bank...maybe the Hemp Powder as I really don't make pancakes or baked goods anymore. The dog food is for our puppies. The Old Spice items will be sold locally. The vodka is for making my own vanilla if I can remember where I put those Vanilla Bean Pods I have. ;-)
Sluggy
We finally got power back and Beryl has left town. I can't say I was sad to see her go either. Like clockwork, as soon as it started raining heavily, our power went out, as well as our internet. We had to go out to eat as there was no power here around dinner time. Poor me, I didn't have to cook. ;-)
I am so over this place. I am scaring Hubs because I said maybe I won't come back after going to Virginia and having this operation. Ok, he knows I'll come back(eventually)because living with my brother long term would be even worse. lol Joking, we get along fine.
I'm in packing mode now and counting down the days until I leave.....
Sluggy
Sluggy
Just a post about what I have noticed around here lately.
It's a tropical flowering plant and I've counted 5 "shoots" so there are 5 plants in there and it seems to spread/propagate too.
They are building a house near us in a fallow field. The resident vultures roost at the back of this field on an old chain link dog kennel. This shot was taken a little over a week ago on the way home from taking the dogs to their vet appointment a week ago Friday. The workmen had done the groundwork and poured the concrete pad the previous week and it looks like they have made major strides with the framing rather quickly.
And speaking of vultures....I went out back on Tuesday morning and looked up and saw 40+ vultures circling overhead. I tried to take a photo but you really can't see them in this. Maybe if you enlarge it you can see tiny specks of black which would be the vultures. I was amazed at how many where up there.
We've had the handyman here the end of last week. We've gotten 2 doors inside and the glass shower door fixed and they used extra siding left under the house to patch the siding on the house with holes in it. rah! They removed the shitty old holey skirting on the house(our nekkid house pictured above)and we are suppose to get delivery of the new skirting on Monday so they can install it. Well, there is Somebody called Beryl wanting to cause problems here with torrential rains on Monday so the skirting can't be installed and Beryl will flood under the house so then we'll have to wait for that to all dry up before the work can be finished. sigh
So what's going on in your world?
Sluggy