Intense Itching

I read an article today, well most of it. It’s only ben about a decade since I experienced this in the workforce. I know now that it was nerve damage and it was NOT razor burn.

I experienced this working. I was teaching Reading them so it was probably 2014 or 15 when it started to happen:

My under arms would itch!!! intensely!!! At first, I would just try to scratch under my arm with that hand so to not bring so much attention to it.

What it eventually turned into was me scratching both armpits at the same time with the hand that is on that side. And then I would cross my arms and scratch the opposite armpit!

My eyes would get really big and I would just exclaim, “My armpits itch!!!” Or, “Razor burn!” I would also tell my students that I took a shower that morning, so it was olay.

That was before I knew to rub and not scratch because the next morning was so brutal to apply deodorant!!! I would comment in my MS group years later to tell people to, “Rub vigorously and not scratch because that will break the skin!

I thought that I was being helpful, but what I did not realize is that itching was a sign of nerve damage! I was so much sicker back then, than I realized!

I realize now that I worked for too long because I was wearing chronically ill wardrobe three years before I was injured and then when I was, I needed a second knee surgery and subsequently had to stop teaching altogether.

#ItSucksToSuck!!!
#MSsucks!!! 😒😒😒…

“Motor Oil”

I had a chocolate nutrition shake today because I drank all of the coffee ones! That was gross, but I did it! I have 12 vanilla ones until I get paid, but I am ordering chocolate from Amazon because vanilla is not available. Strawberry is too expensive now so I’m just going with only chocolate. Let me ’splain ya why I don’t drink coffee:

My Parents didn’t drink coffee so I didn’t grow up around it. My Mom started drinking it in her 50s. My grandparents drank coffee and that smelled gross to me as a child. They had brown coffee mugs that I remember when I was a kid!

I bought a Keurig for my house when Sean was 17? Maybe 16? He was a coffee drinker and I could NOT stand the smell of coffee brewing in my house so I got a Keurig so it only smells for a little bit!

I couldn’t stand the smell of coffee in my house because my summer of working at 7-11 before college scarred me way too much!

Brewing 40 pots of coffee when you are hung over the morning after a graduation party is disgusting and something you will never forget!!! I haven’t!!!

So, when I started working, I thought to start drinking coffee because that’s a stereotypical teacher thing to do?! Right?!

I did not realize how different people brew coffee until I watched it. I used to go early to work and get stuff ready by making copies in the teachers lounge.

I watched everyone at one point making coffee and some were good at it and others or not. My favorite memory of my time teaching is when Ms. Harden asked me who made the coffee. I told her that Rick did. He was our school leader.

What she said next, made me laugh and I and told Sean about!!! He uses that statement now while he’s making his own coffee!!!

When I told her that Mr. Guerra made it, she kind of laughed out loud and said, “Motor oil!!!”

I don’t think that mocha latte nutrition shake tasted like motor oil, but it didn’t taste good. I’m glad I’m back to vanilla now. That tastes good to me. It is easier for me. to drink my nutrition first thing in the day.

Creamy Chocolate Fudge

I had a chocolate shake today. I only have two more of them until it’s all Sweet Vanilla Bean.

This is an example of how similar it looks to the Iced Mocha Café flavor:

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No wonder my Mom gave me the coffee one. They look the same! But having the coffee one first made the chocolate one not taste so terrible so now for January, I am going to order two chocolate 12 packs. And one 12 pack of Strawberries and Cream because I want to try that out. I know that I will handle it if I don’t like it!

I’m just going with the changes (and there are SO MANY changes) and I need the nutrition so…

Iced Mocha Cafe

I think that I have been pretty much homebound since I got my power chair in July 2018. It’s only now that I realize that I am completely homebound.

it’s taking A LOT to get used to.

I first started seeing a nutritionist in November 2023. I think that we had very productive conversations! She told me how life was going to be now that I am chair bound completely.

I needed to adjust my eating. It wasn’t too much of an adjustment because eating has not been, “Easy or enjoyable” for me since the summer of 2019. She first wanted me to stop drinking Adkins shakes.

I have been on a diet pretty much for all of Sean’s life! It was difficult for me to eat in the morning so I would just drink my nutrition.

Sarah, my nutritionist, told me that I needed more calories. I decided to switch and she suggested Orgain because it doesn’t have dairy. I told her that I’m lactose ‘not a good idea.’

I got the chocolate Orgain nutrition shakes in January 2023. When I first tried it, it was disgusting! Sean asked me what I was going to do, and I simply said, “Drink this for the next 11 days. And then I will order the vanilla ones and hopefully they taste better.”

The vanilla ones tasted pretty good and Sean says they taste like ‘melted ice cream.’ I’ve been getting those since February 2023. I get them on Amazon.

Well, Amazon doesn’t offer them right now, they didn’t offer them in December either so I got two variety packs.

I did not realize that the variety was iced mocha Café, Sweet Vanilla Bean, and Creamy Chocolate Fudge. I thought it was Neapolitan so there would be Strawberries and Cream in that pack as well. I told my Mom to give me a chocolate one first because they’re gross, but she handed me an iced mocha café one.

I am NOT a coffee drinker!!! But just like I told Sean, I would have to drink eight iced mocha café shakes this time. I only have two more and it has been brutal!

The first time I drank it, I completely felt caffeinated so I’ve been drinking them every other day. Tomorrow it’s chocolate.

I do have to eat one of my bite-size Twix that Sean got me for part of my present on Christmas. Coffee breath is really gross!!! I force myself too have that little piece of chocolate so I don’t taste it anymore.

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New in Town

I can’t get over how much of a hard time I am having right now?!!!! We watched New in Town and we hadn’t seen it in a couple years so it was really funny!:

I hope that I feel better tomorrow so I can write about the Iced mocha café nutrition shake that I have to drink tomorrow?! It’s disgusting, but I need the protein!!!:

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It’s Like That Now

So, my eyes have been a thing for a while, which makes me nervous. I read an article from one of my MS emails. The author talked about embracing the ‘grayness’ of MS.

She spoke about her nighttime eye mask, which she loves. That fact, peaked my interest because my eyes have been itching and burning in the morning.

I ordered a cheaper version from Amazon and I liked the reason she’s wearing it. I got mine just before Thanksgiving. I did not start wearing it till the few days after getting it but now it is completely molded to my face.

My Mom took this picture of me the other day after she used the massage gun on my feet.Just so you know, I’m sleeping:

It’s like that now. And now my Mom has started putting Neosporin on my nose and cheeks because my face is chapped because of this cold weather and I blow my nose so much during the day.

I thought to make a joke about me being a welder or Yzma:

but I can’t joke about this. It’s getting serious now. I’m seeing a podiatrist on the 20th.

*I’m also wearing my mouth guard and my dentist. Dr. Kassem did not like that I slept with my mouth open. She told me that it’s not good for my gums. My hygienist, Sarah told me that I go to the dentist three times a year now to check on my gums. I saw her in December and I’m seeing her again in April. I told her that my dentist appointment is the one appointment where I DON’T get bad news.