This startled me a little bit because I thought I had more chapstick in the tube than I actually do. I usually use this entire tube for the entire month of January and halfway through February. I usually finish the tube just before Valentine’s Day but this year, BEFORE Valentine’s Day?! Maybe it will be even before February?!
I need to do some thinking about this because I need to leave the house on Friday for a dermatology appointment (I have a new mole) I don’t know that I will finish this ‘bag-o-chapstick’ by then, so I think I will just use Vanilla Bean when I leave the house just for that one day.
My Mom and I have been reading about chapstick, and the fact that I might be addicted. I just laugh about it! I’m trying to find concrete evidence as to why I put on chapstick so much, but I also read that people just like to feel the softness on their lips. I think that’s what’s going on with me!
My body hurts all of the time, so I apply chapstick, and then I can rub my lips together for a little bit of solace, I think. But I have been noticing a new development with my chapstick in the past couple of weeks.
I have written before about the fact that my hands are just ‘for show’ now. It’s getting so difficult to control my hands at all! I was having difficulty putting the cap back on my chapstick after applying it. So what was happening is that I would miss putting the chapstick cap directly on the chapstick, so I was denting chapstick.
To avoid applying uneven chapstick on my lips, I have opted to rotate the chapstick all the way down into the tube before I put the cap back on. Because I no longer have hand-eye coordination, and I kind of don’t like spreading uneven chapstick on my lips! I’ve only been doing it for a couple days and that seems to be working. I think I have only a little over a third of chapstick in the tube for Mint Cocoa. The next one will be Vanilla Bean.
Tomorrow I have a virtual appointment with my Speech Pathologist. I’m interested to see what she says about my speech and the fact that I no longer watch football anymore. She has kept me on her caseload because MS is progressive. I’m trying to remember when I was released from speech services last year, but I had to wait until this year so I my appointment count can start over.
I discovered my first canker sore on January 12. We treated it and it went away. We have already spoken to our dentist and my naturopath.
Well, guess who discovered another canker sore today! It’s me! I am officially a Gutter-mouth! I actually tried to take a picture of it. It’s in the center of my lower lip. I was able to get a picture and I texted it to my Mom.
My Mom was actually napping but I woke her up so we could put medicine on it so it stopped burning. It didn’t hurt again when she applied it to my lip. I don’t think that I like this new development.!!!
I overheard this a few days ago. Sean came by for dinner a couple days ago. My Mom asked Sean if he likes Key lime pie. My mom‘s former coworker gifted us one. I thought that I like key lime pie! But then I overheard Sean say, “ I like Key lime pie in yogurt form.” And I thought about that statement for a moment. I texted him this today:
It took me to hear that to realize, I fed him, Key lime pie yogurt, all of the time! I started giving that to him probably when he was a little over a year old. And when we moved out on our own, I was always 100% responsible for what he ate!
here are the full size images of what I texted him (forgive me for the duplicate picture):
As a single mom, I took FULL advantage of all of the Kroger sales the 10 for $10 whenever Yoplait yogurt was on sale, I bought up a bunch! I would also buy brownie mixes when they were 10 for $10 as well! It kind of weirds me out that I have had such an influence on Sean‘s pallet but I guess that makes sense! I AM his mom!!!
Today is January 18. That means, it is my first fuddy-puddy changing of the guard.
Let me ‘splain ya:
Last January, I was able to purchase a pack of two of my extra firm therapy Putty:
I started using therapy putty at the suggestion from my MS Friends group on Facebook. I asked them questions all the time because people in that group have had MS longer than I have at times. They steered me toward an electric toothbrush to avoid bleeding gums and I got the suggestion for therapy putty, because my hand strength was decreasing rapidly!
I must say that I am quite surprised at the disease progression in me. I have never had MS this long so I’m not quite sure what to do! Last January 18, I was able to purchase from Amazon and I purchased it again in December for this year. I threw the container out yesterday because I had been using it for six months.
It’s usually hard as a rock for the first week but this year it’s a little bit different and I’m scratching my head about that. When I opened the container today this is what I saw:
So, I had to use my nubby nails to peel it away from the sides of the container:
And once it was all released from the sides, I had to Into the corner of it to be able to pull it out:
It’s my routine to listen to an audio rosary while I squeeze this putty passing it from hand to hand also while I raise my arms in a V and pass it from hand to hand as well. I think that it’s crazy that if I don’t move my arms daily like this, they feel really heavy an and that kind of hurts a little bit.d so I don’t like how that feels.
I do this for an entire rosary 17 minutes, and then when I am finished, this is what it looks like:
It’s so bulky because this is the first time that I’m using it, so I just press it down with my fingers and my thumbs to be able to close the container. I am concerned though, because it’s firm, but not as firm as it was last year and I know that’s not because my hand muscles are getting stronger but maybe manufacturing has become suspect as of late. Either way, I will use this until June 18 and that’s when I will throw this one away that I am currently using.
Yesterday I thought of a song that I hadn’t heard in a very long time so I had to play it and I was immediately taken back to my second apartment and test driving my black Malibu back when I could still drive with my feet:
I listened to this song on Apple Music because if I just listen to it on YouTube, it starts to cut out this late at night. Naturally, it went into a similar song and that one’s my jam too!!!! Tal?!!!!:
Today was day one of ‘go time,’ but this month, I won’t go back to the dermatologist until next Friday. So, it’s go time, but not really! I restart speech services next Tuesday. I see her virtually. It’s a little bit unreal how difficult it is to speak?! As I was sitting in my salon to get my haircut, and my eyebrows waxed, the theme kind of continued, and I heard this song and it reminded me of my teaching days:
I’m not sure that I heard the one that has Jay Z in it, but I know Alicia Keys was in it and I just kinda liked how it was all a theme back when I was more able-bodied…
So, I found out that I had a canker sore on the 12th. It’s the 16th and it’s still NOT healing having MS for 23 years, it makes sure that any ailment I get it lingers. I think that it may be weirding my Mom out a little bit that the medicine does not bother me at all when she puts it on the canker sore. Having MS as long as I’ve had it, this canker sore does not compare at all but it’s NOT fun at all!!!
Well, this evening, my Mom and I watched the live action, TheLittleMermaid:
As per usual, I was once again late to the party! I knew what to expect, because Facebook friends had written reviews when the movie first came out. My Mom asked me if I was going to eat dinner while I was watching the movie because I normally don’t watch new movies while I am eating dinner because I have to concentrate on both things but I can’t concentrate doing them both together.
I assured her that I KNOW the movie! I can’t count the number of times we would sing songs from this movie with both Shannon and Natalie growing up!!! Overall, both my Mom and I liked the movie but I must say that it did not hold the candle to the animated release in 1989 because that movie is my jam!!! 41 year old Jen cannot belt the songs out but she still knows all of the words!!!
I Pillaged today like I do every Saturday but time between pillaging seems to be getting shorter.
I fill my pill box so I can take my pills three times a day. But I can’t believe that it’s already time to do it again!
At this point, I take 20 pills a day. Each time I am filling my pill box, I think back to the time where I had that evaluation to prove that I’m disabled. I had no idea why they were having me stick those quarters on that little tissue but they did. It seems like that’s what I do when I feel my pill box.
I stacked those quarters slowly at that appointment, and likewise, I fill my pillbox, just as slowly. But there are some new developments, Just like I no longer can take the plastic off of a box of gum, I cannot the plastic off of the pill bottle when I first open it. My Mom does that for me now. At this point I can still get the foil off by just shoving my index finger into the bottle so then I can peel the foil soff slowly.
So yesterday, I should have had my Mom look at my mouth earlier! I just thought that I would have to deal with this new development. It kind of hurt! But late last night, before we went to bed, my Mom looked in my mouth:
Seriously?!.. Seriously? I remember that would get canker sores when I was in middle school and had braces but I am an adult now! What gives?!
I googled what causes canker sores, and this is what I found:
I thought about it and I got my mouthguard from my dentist and I’ve been wearing it for over a decade so I know it fits properly! I do bite the insides of my cheeks though… but then I read a little bit further:
I read that and it all made sense to me! I have had a lag in my immune system for at least 23 years but probably before that as well. As for my diet, it is so restricted at this point that I don’t eat anything that could cause irritations.
I really can’t believe this because I am somewhat OCD about my dental hygiene! I learned at the cleaning, just after I turned 30 that I needed to floss my teeth daily. I think it was October 2022 where I started using an electric toothbrush because using a manual toothbrush, my gums were bleeding.
I had a virtual appointment today with my PCP and I told her about my canker sore and she ordered Magic Mouth (a medicated rinse) for me and it’s waiting at my pharmacy right now. My Mom drove to the 24 hour Walgreens to get me Ambesol last night. She took our ferocious dog with her last night for protection! My Mom laughs at that, but I tell her that if it came down to it, Leia would be more than ferocious to protect my Mom!!!
