So, I have been constantly thinking about this and trying to make sense of it! Now, after 24 years of having MS, it’s necessary for me to have these outpatient procedures.
These outpatient procedures are usually early in the morning! That does NOT work out for me after 24 years of having MS.
The night before my procedure, I just don’t go to bed. I spend the evening reclined in my wheelchair. I will pray or listen to the Bible. If I lay in my bed, I’ve already relaxed way too much and I need to be alert!
My Mom took a picture of me when I was waiting for this last outpatient procedure/surgery. I am no longer 12 years old! At 43, an all nighter looks a little bit different!!!:
I got my haircut the day after this procedure, which I still don’t know what I was thinking, scheduling it like that, but I have forehead wrinkles now too.
My Mom has been listening to Carly Simon lately and she talked about this song and we listened to it as she put my compression socks on.
This song will always remind me of my aunt Rita!!! I remember when I must’ve been 24, no – I was 23 because I was student teaching when I was waiting in the living room of someone I used to know to get out of the shower. I was watching Baby Boom and they came downstairs. He asked me why I was watching a movie geared toward middle-aged women.
I completely ignored the sarcasm and simply told him, “It reminds me of my aunt Rita” as I changed the channel. So of course, we HAD TO watch that movie today (which I bought last year). My Mom got tired and decided to lay down for a nap just as this song was coming on, so I stopped the movie and we will watch it tomorrow.. Here is the song:
I e-checked in for my appointment next Friday. Its virtual. I have been going to see my neurologist for 24 years. Today was the first day that I ever was asked this question and it floored me. I have been feeling that too! I remember feeling it BEFORE I was diagnosed and standing in my dorm room at WMU. Here’s the question:
I do need to clarify that the electric sensation that I feel shoots down my arms and ends in my pinkies. It feels like my funnybone has just been hit. So it DEFINITELY does not feel good! I just think it’s crazy that I have JUST been asked this question and I’ve been seeing these people for 24 years?!
I had a little bit of difficulty filling my pillbox last night. So much so, I ordered this today:
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I am overlooking the fact that they allowed the days to be out of order and that kind of drives me nuts! I was already thinking one way about changing my pill box when I saw this picture which confirmed it:
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I already thought that I was old having to change my pill box. This picture confirmed it because of that man is old! Probably at least 20 or 30 years older than me!
But my pill box is feeling over-stuffed so ‘something’s gotta give’ and you have to do what you have to do. It really stinks that it makes me feel old and sick!!!
I was cleaning out my email boxes tonight and I got this one from the Rams:
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I would watch that Top 100 players every single year and I never saw him on the list! I texted this picture to both Sean and my friend Bert and told them, “You KNOW I will take that!!!
But I don’t even watch football anymore. That’s a statement that I never thought that I would make. But, 24 years in, I have optic neuritis in both eyes and it’s only getting worse. #MSsucks!!! 😒😒😒…
I am actually at a loss! My head is spinning! But I seem to just be handling things. For example, I woke up to a pretty big hospital bill! That obviously freaks me out! But I need to wait until after I took my Prilosec, waited 30 minutes, and then drank my nutrition shake (because I have gastritis now).
It’s only after I drink my nutrition shake that I can begin to make sense of the day. I called Henry Ford. I spoke to a woman named Amber. I told her that I had just updated my payment plan with Keith last week so what’s going on?!
Here’s the deal, I had an ultrasound in January. That’s when they found out that I have a calculus in my bladder. Then. In March, I had a urogram and with that charge, I made a payment plan to pay for that which was $200?! Then, I had my procedures in the end of June and that was a whole lot of money so I extended my payment plan with Keith.
Amber explained to me that he updated my payment plan based on my June 25 procedures. And the bill I received today was for my July 15 cystoscopy.
She updated my payment plan one more time. But thinking about it, I have a virtual appointment with my neurologist tomorrow. It’s my annual appointment and I have a whole lot of things to tell her about!!! I’m sure that she will read about all of it before I see her or as I am seeing her.
Then, I have an appointment with my optometrist on the 5th and then I see Dr. K on the 13th to discuss what’s going to happen with my bladder going forward. Amber told me to call when I get another email that tells me about another charge. So I will be getting one soon with both my virtual neurology appointment and my appointment with Dr. K at urology in August.
I just want to let everyone know that I will be paying Henry Ford for the next 14 months! I can’t believe all of this and it’s still hot as hell!!! I can’t wait until the ‘Ber months so then I can really think about this because heat is not helping at all on top of the fact of having MS for 24 years, things are getting serious now! And I think of that just like grandmother Willow talking about Kokoum:
Things are getting so serious now and I don’t know what to do!!! I will see my neurologist tomorrow while I’m seated in my living room.
After my Neurology appointment today, I thought about my upcoming optometrist appointment on Tuesday and then the following week, I see Dr. K. Then August is rounded off with haircuts.
I looked at my Mom and my eyes were a bit wide and I said, “This is so much!” I couldn’t get that whole sentence out before I began to cry! I cried yesterday and my Mom just gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. Tears seem to be coming that easy these days.
My heart began to race before Dr. Cerghet got on the phone call. She did write a whole lot of things as I told her about all of the appointments have had and my upcoming ones for the rest of the year.
She had my Mom hold my phone like she did last year so she could look at my eyes and my hands and finger dexterity. I told her about my failed colonoscopy, my calculus and cystoscopy, and the fact that I go to the dentist three times a year now.
This is so much and so much MORE because it’s hot! I still have two more appointments this month and then I am getting my windows replaced on the 28th. It’s been a long time coming, there is a sale and I FINALLY have the money to replace them!
it took me a while and I told/asked my Mom that I wondered how long the learning curve is?”
I was on Wednesday of my third supplement when I had to stop and put on a rosary because I feared that learning curve is pretty long! I needed to concentrate because it’s difficult placing a hexagonal piece into a slot. That’s what my pill box is now!
Did I mention that it’s difficult to control my hands now? Because it is.I got it done though. I kind of fell into a routine after a while. And I need to think about the order in which I put them into my box. The wafers I was most recently prescribed didn’t fit into the slot so I will just take those by themselves before I take my supplements?
This is my third pill box and everyone knows that three is a charm, but I wonder?
My Mom went to pick up the van because I have an optometrist appointment tomorrow. I really can’t believe that this is my life now! I say that all the time and it’s not like I want you to feel sorry for me, but I just can’t believe that it’s like this now.
I have four appointments in August. The first one was with my neurologist and that one was virtual so I didn’t have to go anywhere. Tomorrow I’m going to the optometrist, and next week, I am going to see my urologist to discuss my surgery. That’s crazy that I had surgery! It did take a while to recover, but I feel better now.
Lastly, we have haircuts on the 20th. Then I am done until September 17. I’m so excited because I felt a tinge of coolness when my Mom was washing my hair today (because I can’t do that anymore by myself… #MSsucks!!! 😒😒😒..) I looked at the forecast and Fall is coming and that excites me because then I will be able to think straight!!! At least, I think that we will be out of 90° weather now!
