Month: May 2022

My Morning Puzzlin’ Routine

So, we had to change my morning routine because of my feet. Remember that my body does not heal quickly. So, she cleans them at night and tends to them and then she has to put my socks back on because my body can’t handle NOT having compression on them for very long. And then, in the morning, she tends to them some more. It’s completely a process that’s killing us both! My Mom more so! We have figured it out to where I do not wake her up in the middle of the night but it’s quite involved at night before I go to sleep and in the morning as well!

I had messaged my neurologist’s office in MyChart a few days before regarding a prescription for new compression socks. And she had just sent over a prescription yesterday morning. The nurse suggested a different medical supply place that was close to my house. But when my Mom called there, they do NOT carry the brand of socks that I wear.

i’ve said before that I am NOT a guinea pig and this far into my disease, I have figured out what works for me and what does NOT! It has taken an extremely long time to figure that out and LOTS of trial and error.

So, my Mom called the place I normally get my socks from and we emailed the prescription there. We will be picking them up when we are getting our teeth cleaned because we will have rented a van. As she was on the phone handling all of this business, because it’s way too early in the morning for me to talk on the phone, I completed two puzzles instead. I just want to say that they were free and I did them for my Mom!

I chose the one on the right because that is my Mom‘s favorite color and I liked the flowers but she did not like that puzzle but I completed it anyway! I chose this one because she loves shredded wheat and I think that’s disgusting! We both laughed when I showed her my completed puzzle!:


This morning, she was talking to my aunt Linda and I just let her talk because she knows what she’s doing and I just have to sit there. I completed two other puzzles as she was tending to my feet and getting me ready to get out of bed:

My Mom has asked me how many puzzles I have completed and I have no idea but it relaxes me and distracts me from my pain enough to make the day bearable.

“Retro”

Yesterday, I reposted a post from three years ago when Sean realized that I had my cartilage pierced and I had six holes in my ears in addition to that. He had never noticed that before I guess but I have had it for his whole life! I have been watching Burnt These days and I noticed just yesterday that Helene has one too!:

That was my one rebellion in my lifetime because not that long after t pierced my ear, I got pregnant and then I was a mom. Now, I look at it as, “Retro.” And, I took this picture off of my TV yesterday but who doesn’t love seeing that face?! You’re welcome!

Notable Puzzlin’ Tune #9

I was puzzlin’ last night and this song came on as I was completing this puzzle:


it was free! I do love Gerber daisies though! When this song came on, I was taken back to my last classroom adjacent to the cafeteria where I would hear the gym class playing music all the time! I remember one time in the beginning of the year, Mr. Curl, the PE teacher, was explaining his class and it was a pretty good explanation and because I didn’t have a class first hour, I opened the door to hear him better and he was doing jumping jacks the entire time he was talking!!! I cannot tell he was exerting himself at all! I was quite impressed with that and I told him. When I heard this song, I was reminded of that exchange:

“Tender-Footed”

My Mom said this to me the first night that she had to tend to the problems that I am having with my feet. I’m trying to remember how long that has been and I am not sure but she has been washing my feet and putting medicine on at night for a while! I remember the first night she started doing this, when she was finished and turn the light off, she told me that I was, “Tender-footed” when I asked her why this was happening.

When she said that as she turned the light off, it reminded me of the schoolmate I had for my 12 years of education at St. Alphonsus. We weren’t close friends but we played basketball together and has all of the same classes. We went to Catholic school so we were tracked. We were on the Honors track. I remember when we were in grade school that she said some thing about girls being, “Tender-headed.” I didn’t know what that meant and she said when they really freak out when your hair is brushed. She said, you know like when you were a little girl.

No, I do NOT know what that is because my Mom just brushed my hair however she wanted and I just dealt with it but that’s a topic for another discussion.

Back to the story:

in high school, she braided my hair. During Physics class. She braided mine and our friend Kelly‘s hair. That is awful for me to say but that’s what we did but we all were getting excellent grades so that was no problem. I kept my hair in braids for about a week. I even had them during the Senior dance at school:

Kellu still had her hair braided but I had taken it out. I sent this picture to Sean not too long ago because it’s a total 90s picture because you can see the pager in my pocket. I thought my hair was braided for this one as well but I guess that’s a different dance. I know I wanted to share this picture but I wanted to research a few things before I explained myself.

That was me in high school. I remember having a conversation at Barwis with my trainer, Phil, and I told him that in high school I was, “Chub Rock City” and he didn’t know what that meant. I had to explain it to him. I just said that’s what my brothers used to call me when I was a kid.

So, because I wanted to share that picture that I thought my hair was braided in, I had to post an unflattering picture of myself so I wanted to get the answers. I texted my brother this:

And I’ll just leave some of the responses I got here:



So I had to embarrass myself to let you all know that that’s what I was called in my childhood just to be able to post this picture because I thought my hair was braided but when I find the picture of my hair also braided, I will be a Chubb rock!

But then that also lends itself into things that I’m dealing with right now. I have been drinking both my breakfast and lunches for a long time. I don’t remember when I started but my dinner menu is even smaller now. Because I have the first two levels of dysarthria, chewing is a problem for me. It’s too difficult!

My Mom doesn’t really understand why I am so uncomfortable with all the weight that I am steadily losing. I just got a script for new compression socks because my current ones are too big so they are not offering enough compression to feel good. But, when I have been called “chub rock” for so long growing up, of course it feels that way!

I just got the script and we figured out that we are going to get our teeth cleaned on the 16th so we rented a van so that day we can drive to the place to get fitted for my new socks. So my legs will be feeling crazy for a while still.

And Then It Rains…

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel today because my feet are getting better but they still don’t feel good at all! I was thinking in my mind about what I was going to write about today. I even did familial research.

(I texted to my brothers).

I think our family group text chain is silly and we are all in our 40s which makes it even more silly! But not the group chat with my Mom, just with us siblings and I imagine that my brothers group chat is even more whatever…

I was going to push through because I’m not feeling well but then it rains… I hope to feel well enough to write tomorrow… My brothers are a hoot!!!

How Did I Miss This One?!

I was playing solitaire tonight and I was listening to music. This song came on and I had to stop playing solitaire and look at the lyrics. Then I played this song a second time. How did I miss this one?! I love her! She sings my walking song!:

I completed a Google search and this song came out in 2013. So much of my life was different back then! I was still working, still driving, and still in a manual wheelchair. But back in 2013, I think my abilities had just begun to slip…

I went down the rabbit hole of information about her in my Google search and I saw this that made me smile. She’s Catholic just like me:

I no longer go to mass in person but I think this is my new favorite song even though it is so old but… so am I now!:

I wish I could still sing! But at this point, for me, there is NOTHING beautiful about having MS.

May 2022 Faves

A day late but…

So, eI’ve been in the funk with the problems I’ve been having with my feet and I’m trying to get myself out of it. This song allows me to focus because I remember that girl and I really do miss her!!!:

But then I started listening to my, “Daddy Mix” and I just…

His birthday is coming at the end of the month and he would be 71. I’ve been really listening to these two specific songs I think that will always evoke emotion from me:

May 1.

This is a memorable day for me! Even more so now because I live in my memories because my current state is kind of difficult. I will always remember these dates for the rest of my life. On May 1, 2001, I found out that I was pregnant with Sean. I had him seven months later and he stayed 31 days in the NICU.

But then, and May 1, 2005, that’s when my favorite picture of Sean and me was taken:

I clearly remember that day and I wanted to re-create that picture at Sean‘s high school graduation but that didn’t happen because I did not attend his high school’s abridged commencement ceremony because Cove it was reaching back then and I am immuno compromised. This was The picture we got to take the day of his graduation:

Somewhat of a modified re-creation but everything in my life is modified now…