Author: Jen Rios

Sweater Weather

So here’s the thing, I have figured out that having MS for 22 years breaks the temperature gauge in my body! I realized it was broken last winter and my Mom is having a crazy time living in this house with me!!!

Yesterday was my oldest brother’s birthday, and therefore it was six months to the day until my birthday! we are exactly 9 1/2 years to the day apart! I have just been wearing a T-shirt and shorts in the house but yesterday I noticed that my body started feeling weird!

It wasn’t until about 3 o’clock in the morning when I realized that it’s the weather change that’s making my body feel so wonky! When my Mom got me out of bed this morning, I told her I would like a sweatshirt.

I’ve been wearing my Michigan sweatshirt most of the day, I took it off for about a half hour, because I got a little warm but now I know it is completely sweater weather!!!

So, I started wearing a sweatshirt on September 13 and I wonder when the hats are going to make an appearance! I am prepared so I have both my indoor and outdoor hats ready to go! I almost forgot, how comfortable wearing a sweatshirt is!!!

Deal with It!

Today, I woke up and my Mom was taking Leia for a walk up to CVS. I had just awakened, so I didn’t want to move at all. My Mom asked me if I wanted her to unplug my bed because it gets pretty loud in the morning! I told her not yet because I wanted the freedom of movement in case I wanted to adjust the bed.

The tech is not coming out until next Tuesday to address the motor at my feet. Today was the first full day that we have had heat. My body cannot handle this weather change at all!!! at least I’m over the nose bleeds now..,

I’m pretty startled at how I am feeling right now but I was thinking it’s the fact that I am staring down the barrel of 23 years and that’s kind of tripping me out a little bit… Or A LOT! I never would have thought that MS would get this bad!!! But this is where I am right now, and I just have to deal with it! 😒😒😒…

Tax Day 2022

So, I absolutely love my bed! It works the best for me and my needs at this point! My Parents got it for me. We went and picked it out on April 8, 2022 and it was delivered on tax day 2022. I found that out yesterday as I overheard my Mom talking about it.

Let me ‘splain ya:

The motor that controls the vibration in my feet is broken. When I say it is broken, I mean that it’s a dull vibration all of the time. That’s not good, and I have only had my bed for less than a year and a half!

When my bed was purchased, we got a 10 year warranty from the store. I discovered that that was happening two days before my Mom called the store yesterday. So I figured that I was going to get a new bed. as it has only been a little over a year so it would be replaced. At least that’s what the salesman told us…

That turned out to be erroneous information that we just found out yesterday after my Mom was on the phone for a long time! Technicians from the store would not come out without paying for service! What was the warranty for?!

My Mom was on the phone so long yesterday, but she actually was able to speak with the Tempur-pedic people. They saw that I have a warranty and they are coming out on the 19th.

The woman my Mom spoke to from Tempur-pedic was named Priscilla and she told us where the actual Tempur-pedic stores are to purchase a bed. They are at 12 Oaks and Somerset! But I don’t need to buy a new bed, I will just need to get it serviced directly from Tempur-pedic. We need to call the store we bought the bed from to find out what the warranty is for?!

“Not That One; the Bad One”

So, I told my Mom about what I said about Happiness for Beginners and compared it to that Capital Cities song. she looked at me and said, “Not that one; the bad one.”

When she told me that, I started to laugh because I knew what song she was talking about and I guess this song in this movie sounds similar. I will put all three songs in this post so you guys can hear the similarities for yourself:

Happiness for Beginners song:

The first song that I thought sounded like this song that I heard well I was in the middle of teaching:

But then my Mom told me that that wasn’t the song she was thinking of and this is this song, so I put it on here (the clean version) and I was still teaching one. The song came out as well:

I Don’t Know!!!

When Happiness for Beginners started, my Mom asked me who sang the song that was playing when it began. That song sounded familiar, but I could not place it. I decided just to look at her and say, “I don’t know!”

I didn’t know this song but the song she was talking about was, “Safe and Sound” by Capital Cities. That song came out when I was in the middle of teaching middle school! My kids, loved that song! I think I even posted that song on my blog years ago. It came out as a single in 2011 and on the album I’m 2013.

I was teaching Reading then, so I had smaller class sizes and I paid more attention to pop culture back then. But now, I am homebound, so I don’t have any pop-culture references anymore. But, I just looked up what song was playing in the beginning of Happiness for Beginners:

And since I put that song in here, I’m going to put the Capital Cities song in as well so you can hear the similarity that me and my Mom heard! Great minds think alike!:

A Headache

Last night, after I had dinner and I had just brushed my teeth, I started to get a headache. I NEVER get headaches and my Mom said that. I just told her that I am glad it’s not in my eye, that’s where that usually happens!

It was an ache on the right side of my head, like the crown of my head, and then it slowly went toward the back of my head behind my ear. I only have experienced headaches when I had sugar withdrawal when I first started doing the South Beach Diet.

I got transferred into bed, and once I was situated, I pressed the heel of my right hand to my right eyeball. “Never mind,” I told my Mom. The ache was FULLY inside my right eyeball!

Once I was fully covered, and my room was dark, I started to feel nauseous a little bit. I was a little bit concerned because I remember my brother would get migraines and he would throw up and I really didn’t want to do that. I was neatly tucked into my bed!

Luckily, when I awoke, I found that I did NOT throw up, so it was NOT a migraine. I really never experienced a headache as a normal symptom before, but I am now!

#MyGirlL: Scaredy Baby!

My Mom took Leia out tonight when it was raining pretty hard outside! My Mom took her in her raincoat and my Mom had an umbrella.

My Mom told me there was a loud crack of thunder and Leia crouched down and jumped back because she’s never seen or been in that before!

My Mom and I both laughed about it,and she showed me what lad did! What a scaredy baby!!! We love her so much!!!

THIS Change of Season…

I told my Mom this afternoon that I am closer to having had MS for 23 years then I am from having it for 22 years. My able-bodied self is such a distant memory but right now, I am faced with the changing of the seasons. That has progressively gotten worse, but I think THIS change of season he’s kind of proving to be a little too much… Let me ‘splain ya:

Last Tuesday night, it was too cold, so I had to turn the heat on. My nose was cold and I was hiccuping! I finally fell asleep when it got warmer and then Wednesday morning, I sat up in my bed, and was trying to orient myself to being awake. I was looking down at my phone to text my Mom that I just sat up. It takes me about 30 minutes to wake up.

I sent that text and I could feel my nose was starting to run so I put my phone down and reached over to grab a roll of toilet paper. That’s on the table to my left. I thought that I was a little bit slow and grabbing the toilet paper, but what I thought was snot hit my lip! I was totally grossed out and then I got some tissue. When I wiped my lip, it wasn’t snot, it was blood!!!

When I saw that, I started freaking out a little bit and started sopping it up. I didn’t want to blow my nose because I wasn’t sure if it was done bleeding and I didn’t want to irritate it!

I woke up Thursday morning to a lessened bloody nose and on Friday I didn’t bleed at all. But what concerns me now is the fact that it is warm today:

I’m keeping the air on all night and all day tomorrow because it’s going to be a hot one and in the back of my mind, I just wonder if I’m going to have to deal with more nose bleeds when I turn the heat on for real, for real.