Author: Jen Rios

From !!! to a .

There are three possibilities for how I felt on my birthday. I think my first forty birthdays constituted: !!! but I think my 41st birthday was just a . I don’t mind that at all!

Having had an MS for 22 years it’s seriously no joke at all !!! I am still trying to wrap my head around all that has been entailed with my disease for the past couple years. it’s all quite overwhelming!

But, I think the biggest contributing factor to my birthday changing from !!! to a . Is daylight savings time!:

I don’t think this day has ever fallen on my birthday in the past 41 years?! I had posted before that I will be gypped by one hour because of daylight savings time! My birthday was low key and I didn’t mind at all!

However, no matter how low key it was, I still had to check out my Twitter profile and I found this early this morning before I went to sleep:

Sorry, Cheese!

My Mom is laying down and this song popped into my head and I had to post it here because I wanted to hear it. My cousin, Cheese, did not like this song at all! I loved it and I turned it up one notch and the time while she was sleeping in the passenger seat as I was driving us home on the way from Western and she said with her eyes closed, “I hear that!” Sorry, Cheese, I HAD to hear it again.

Kaleidoscope

I posted this meme on Facebook:


And of course, I added the hashtag about March being MS awareness month to my post but there are two songs I think about when I think of kaleidoscopes and here they are in no particular order:

And I kept yelling for this song during the show but they did not play it:

And just because tomorrow is my birthday and today is her husband‘s birthday and her birthday was eight days ago, who are these kids and I love this picture!!!:

#MyGirlL: “Shoot the Dog”

Once my Mom gets me out of bed, I usually do not talk for about two hours as my body is trying to wake up. So I just sit in my chair and take my vitamins while drinking my nutrition shake. I pray as I am doing this as well.

But this morning, before I started drinking my shake and even before I got my pills out of my pillbox, I said to my Mom, “Shoot the dog.” She did not give Leia her shot yesterday but I wanted her to give her the serum so that’s why I told her to, “Shoot the dog.”

I started drinking my shake and took my Goli as my Mom repeated to herself, “Pinch, pull, poke!” and her allergy serum is in her body! My Mom talked to the vet today and they still want to keep her on steroids for a month. Just one pill a day but look at how much better she is already!!!:

After my Mom administered the shot, she said to Leia, “Good girl!” And I added, “No, good girlS” and my Mom started to laugh and she called my aunt to tell her all about it.

A Long-Distance Relationship

Today is a recovery day for me after my sleep change from my nutritionist appointment and wheelchair tech visit and then the following day Leia went to the vet for my Mom to get trained on her shots that she’s getting now. My Mom will give it to her later today.

So, yesterday, I was talking with Sean and I had told him that Sarah, my nutritionist, broke up with me. Well, not really. And then I explained the terms of our new relationship to Sean.

Back in October 2021, Meira, my Speech Pathologist asked if I was losing weight without trying. I was glib and I told her that there’s always weight to lose! Because I have always been trying to do so for my entire life!!!

I had been seeing Meira virtually for about a year and she suggested that I see a nutritionist. And I started seeing Sarah at the end of last year. I have met with her three times and we have discussed my food intake.

She told me on Wednesday that because my weight is stable, she feels that I have a good grasp on what I eat. (which isn’t much but I am NOT faint) that we don’t need to schedule any follow up appointments. She told me to get bloodwork and a weight every six months and when I start losing weight again, she will meet with me again.

I told Sean that she can see my MyChart account for all the bloodwork and my weight. She told me to message her if my weight changes. When I told that to Sean, he he said, “Oh, she’s a stalker?!” I answered with a hesitant, “We-ell” and we both started laughing!

OH!!!

I am not sure if it is having MS for 22 years or the fact that I am turning 41 in three days but, I’m really not feeling it. It took 40 years but I think I am over the ‘birthday month.’ That is until today:

I forgot that I ordered these the week before my birthday month started! and these two flavors I had to try!!!

I even posted it on Facebook:

I saw these new flavors the week before ‘birthday month’ started. I ordered one of each because I wanted to try them out. I ordered a four pack because my Mom likes the chocolate chip cookies as well.

Because it is the second Thursday of March, and there are five weeks in March, I had to wait until today to try them. I actually told my Mom when I was halfway finished with my dinner that they were in the freezer.

I finished my dinner as they were thawing. I started with the brownie batter and I dug it a lot but then I took a bite of the mint chip ice cream… with the bite still in my mouth, I just said, “OH!!!”

I swallowed and finished the brownie batter because I wanted to savor the mint chip ice cream!!! I can’t wait until next Thursday!!! 😋😋😋

#MyGirlL: Answers

My Mom Just left to take Leia to the vet. She is getting her first round of allergy shots and then maybe we can get some answers! She has been on steroids for a long time! The vet prolonged her steroids as she was stepping down from them so she has been on one pill of steroids every day for a couple weeks now. I hope this works !!! 🤞🏽🤞🏽

34k

I had a virtual appointment with my nutritionist today. She says that since my weight is stable that we won’t set up another appointment until I start losing weight again without trying.

Just after my appointment, the wheelchair tech came over to bring Buy a new seat cushion. He had two cushions for me to try out. The first one is for the new chair that I am going to go get fitted for in May. I liked the feeling of the first cushion. It is a combination of gel and foam. It was even better than my current cushion and I’m excited for my new chair!

Just before he left, we reiterated what we are going to do for my new chair. I need to send a wheelchair prescription and that comes from my PCP and then Diane will schedule me and fit me for my new power chair. My chair will be five in July. That’s crazy that I have been in this chair for that long!!!

I am tired today because I woke up early for my virtual nutrition appointment. When I opened up my blog to write this post, I looked at the Saints stats and I have made it to 34,003 views!?!

34k it’s NOT a big deal but it is for me! Tomorrow, #MyGirlL it’s going to the vet for her new allergy shots. I hope that goes well for her and for us!!!