This song gets into my head every single Friday since I was in high school! It really stinks that now, after 20 years of having MS, I feel so far away from being ready to swing!!! But this is, “High school Jenny” before I knew that MS could even be a possibility for me!
Category: A Bit Of Randomness
This category is full of randomness that really doesn’t fit nicely into any of the categories having to do with my road to walking.
My Siblings
I’m really feeling it as the rain continues! It’s hard to find a comfortable spot sitting in my wheelchair! I am constantly adjusting it until my body will stop hurting for just a moment before it starts hurting again and readjustments are necessary! I am comforted by saying hey random picture from my photo album show up on my phone. I see it and it makes me smile. I smile because it’s proof that I had an able-bodied life not in pain!
A Great-Aunt?!
Well, my nephew had his first child today. A little girl! Her name is Riley. But this makes me a great-aunt?! I think that’s crazy because I have had two great-aunts in my life. But… they were old, they were my Dad‘s aunts!
but, I remember when my nephew was born! I was 13 years old. So I guess, it makes sense that my nephew who is going to be 25 in six days has a child. I am her dad‘s aunt and I can’t wait to meet her! 💜💜💜
Christmas in July
I usually do NOT watch Christmas movies in July because it is July! But, yesterday, I watched the second half of a Christmas movie I saw last year on the Hallmark channel and I saw a commercial for a Christmas in July ornament sale! They have Christmas ornaments for 2021! So, I watch the first half of another Christmas movie I saw last year but I really wasn’t watching it but rather shopping for ornaments! I just put every ornament I liked in my cart but then I viewed my cart:
I saw the total and I started to laugh! Am I seriously going to spend $241.87 in one season?! The answer is no, of course! But, I will keep the ornaments in my cart to look at again in November and will probably streamline my list of ornaments I want to buy. Amy list end up only buying two or three but it sure was fun to shop for them last night! I really could use 2420 points So maybe I should just purchase them all?! Actually, the sale is over today and I do not have $241.87 but I will have to see what still is available when I am ready to purchase!
#MyGirlL: Restless
One thing I have noticed since Leia had her phase 2 treatment, she sleeps all day! Apparently, this two days of shots she had is kicking her butt! But, in addition to sleeping all day, she is restless at night! My Mom told me that in the middle of the night last night, that she heard her rustling a little bit and woke up to find her sitting on her bed just staring into space My Mom got out of bed and rubbed her until she fell asleep. She pulled her legs out from under her body so she could lay flat and pet her until she fell asleep.
Now, she used to do the same thing for my Dad when he came home from dialysis and could not get comfortable laying in their bed. She knew that he needed to sleep and he would feel better so she would rub him until he did that. And since she has been here since Covid, she is of the same thing for me too! I know the power of her rubbing when your body is insanely uncomfortable!
Next week, my Mom will lower her dose of steroids and they will do a blood draw next month to see if she still has worms. If she does not, she can skip phase 3. My Mom says that she is pooping a lot and the vet said that that may be evidence that she is getting the worms out. I hope so because I would rather her go back to running around like a crazy head in the backyard but she can’t do that right now.
My CousinT, Shannon
I’ve known my cousinT, Shannon for all of my life! She’s not even really my cousin! Our mothers were best friends (s are!) in high school. Her mom was concerned that she would not be an aunt for a long time because she only had a younger brother. My mom told Shannon’s mom (my Aunt Linda) that she could be her kids’ aunt. I have tons of fond memories that involve my CousinT, Shannon. Hey
I have written about her often in my blog and I thought of her as I watched All Together Now last night. I reposted a post on Facebook from September 4, 2020 but because the link was so old, it did not show up. This is what prompted me to think specifically of my CousinT, Shannon:
My cousinT, Shannon and I would constantly sing at the top of our lungs whenever we were in the car together! Driving to 7-Eleven, going to the Handy-Dip, and driving to her boyfriend’s house (now, her husband). The best time I had with her was our road trip to Shippensburg Pennsylvania!!! She made the bEST mix for our drive!!! We sang the entire time!!!
Shannon also has long dark hair and she is the sweetest person I know but this song especially reminds me of her because she would sing it BEAUTIFULLY!!! In high school, she participated in tons of things in the performing arts department and she sang in the choir and was in tons of musicals! She is my FAVORITE singer!!!
I can clearly remember going to Meijer with her and with Sean in the backseat. He was still in a car seat and was about 18 months old. I think we were singing to RENT and once we finished the song, in the moment of silence between songs, he began clapping his hands and kicking his feet and yelled, “YAY!!!” I remember us both laughing at that!
But, if I am going to say anything about my cousinT, Shannon, it is going to be that we went to DTE energy music theater to see Train. The first time, Maroon 5 opened for them and the second time we saw them at DTE, The Script and Gavin Degraw opened for them. They were excellent concerts and back when I could still sing and enjoy an outdoor concert. This is my ultimate, favorite picture of us and I have shared and so many times! I was still in my 20s then:
I love her so much!!!
Effortless
I reposted a blog post from July of 2019 on Facebook and Twitter. In it, I talked about the fact that I miss singing because I no longer can do that! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and last night, I looked at my Mon and told her that I couldn’t believe that I no longer have the ability to sing. Something that was so effortless is now impossible. I used to sing so effortlessly! I never thought that that would happen!
Right now, I am just wallowing in that fact. I absolutely love music and I can’t jam out anymore which makes me sad… all of these thoughts were prompted by this song. I wish I could still jam to it and belt it out:
This Gem OR “They’re Old!”
Sean came over and I was talking with him recently, I had my phone in my hand and I told him that when I scroll through my YouTube feed, (I scrolled through), and showed him my phone and told him that randomly I will get things like, “This gem!” I gave him my phone and he watched the video:
I’m not sure if he was just patronizing me because this is MY band but he watched it and was appreciative of the orchestra accompaniment which I really liked! When the video was finished, Sean looked at me and said, “They’re old!” I just took my phone from him, shook my head, and kind of smirked.
International Left-Handers Day 2021
Today is my day!!! Just a few videos that made me laugh! My niece, Natalie, and my nephew, Nathan, completely understand!!!
T-6 OR A Sad Commentary on Our Times
Okay, I had my MRI in the beginning of the week. It has taken me until today to process it enough to write about. Bear with me because it’s a little bit difficult and I may ramble a little.
So, my MRI was finished and my Mom had successfully let me know that there is, “No Espace” between us. The tech directed us to the elevators and told us what floor to get off on because we were in the basement. When the doors opened, my Mom stepped out of the elevator and looked down the hall to the left and then to the right. We were in another long hallway and I had no idea where we were.
My Mom took a few steps to the right and then told me that she knew where we were. I followed her for a couple turns and then I saw the chapel and I gasped.
I gasped because it became apparent to me why my Mom knew exactly where she was! My Dad spent so much time there! My brothers and I would refer to my Dad staying in the hospital as, “[Him] going to the spa” because he had so many short stays there.
I continue following my Mom and then we made another turn and were at the hallway between the west entrance and the main entrance. I looked at the floor and specifically the tiles. The tile work is 20 years old. I know it’s 20 years old because I had Sean when it was being completed.
I went to the emergency room downtown because I did not feel okay and when I called Saint Mary’s Hospital where I was supposed to have Sean, they told me since I was only 32 weeks pregnant that they were not equipped to care for me and the baby if necessary.
I was admitted to the hospital downtown early on November 1 and I had Sean on November 2, 2001. I stayed in the hospital with him for a few days and then I was discharged but he was not discharged until December 3rd.
My Mom would drop me off in the morning on her way to work at about 7:15 in the morning and my Dad would pick me up after his work at about 430. I would go home (to my parents’ house), eat dinner, and then go back up to the hospital with Sean‘s dad until about midnight. I spent the entire time rocking and glider in the NICU across from Sean‘s incubator. I was only allowed to hold him for 20 minutes a day. I never held Sean in the morning and kept the time for when his dad came up to the hospital. After a while, the nursing staff saw that I was so dedicated that they told me that I could hold Sean as long as I, “ kangaroo cared.” After they told me that, I would do that until I got hungry.
I utilized the west entrance when being dropped off or picked up because I still was not able to drive that soon after my C-section. I would see that hallway everyday and watched the man slowly and meticulously put the tiles down. He was still doing it when Sean left for the final time in December. I remember that when I would see him carefully putting each tile down I thought of a movie from my childhood:
I remember those little things fixing the tiles to the apartment entrance. They placed each tile one at a time like that man did 20 years ago at Henry Ford Hospital.
So, all of these memories were brought the forefront of my mind. I had my MRI on T -10 and today is T- 6. In six days, it will be 15 years since my Dad‘s death. I was quiet and quite contemplative on the ride home. When I got into my house, I took my sweatshirt off and saw the cotton ball and tape they put on my arm after they injected me with the dye for contrast for my MRI. I Took the tape off, saw my arm, and I started to cry.
Sean and I were recently talking about The fact that he always used to take my Dad‘s bandage off of him when he came home from dialysis. They would work together and my aDad would tell Sean to take off the bandage slowly. I was shocked that Sean remembered that Because he was so young back then!
When I awoke the next day this is what my arm looked like sis, which is a sad commentary on our times:
I thought of how many MRIs they give a day and they can’t even afford higher quality tape?! I have to go back to the hospital in a couple weeks for my Swallow test. I’m a little nervous about that one!