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It looks like this weekend will be a ‘recovering weekend.’ I have some extra time to recover though, for November, I am foregoing getting my haircut to get my chair taken care of. And then, the following day, I have a mammogram and I am getting an my Covid booster.

Well, I did it today and it didn’t even rain like it did last year! We went to the Cider mill! I have been thinking about this since last year and I did hear the hallelujah chorus when eating the doughnut and having cider! I am exhausted, and I will write about it tomorrow, but it was delicious!!

It was ‘go time’ today and I got everything done. Yay. But man, it was so much more difficult!!! I am still trying to wrap my head around it right now. All I know is of October 28, 2023, I woke up with my hips burning, both of them! That was the day that I started using wedges every night to save my hips.

I realized then that my disease was progressing but I am not sure that I know how to handle what happened today at my doctor appointment and my subsequent haircut. My Mom had to put my coat on for me completely. Like I was a child. It was really cold for me today and I wore my winter coat and hat.

But, tomorrow, after my knee x-ray, we are going to the Cider Mill!!! I have been looking forward to this since last year and it WON’T rain tomorrow like last year…

I woke up this morning, knowing that I was going to pillage today. I got so concerned when I cried multiple times while getting ready today. It was the ugly face crying that I was doing. I felt it. But then it started raining so hard for about 10 minutes. So that explains it! That’s why I was crying! Disease progression ain’t no joke and that’s what’s going on right now. ‘Go time’ is on Wednesday.

My Mom asked me a couple days ago how many times I put my chapstick on. I shrugged and told her that I didn’t know. A lot.

So, I counted how many times I put it on during the day. The answer is 12. I smear chapstick on my lips 12 times a day! But each application, I have to smear it on three times on each slip. So I guess it’s a lot!!!

It took me over an hour to pillage today. I’m going back to my naturopath on October 16th. For the past three months that I’ve gone to see Dr. Clark, he changes my supplements each time. He’s probably going to do that on the 16th as well.

Today was the second time I used my Pumpkin Spice chapstick this Fall. I think I am most comfortable in the Fall. It will get too cold too soon, and that will be unfortunate!

I have been listening to this song a lot and my mom does not understand why but I’m feeling kind of melancholic as my disease progresses and the weather gets colder… here are my tunes of choice:

I absolutely love the lyric, “Tug at my seams”:

Melancholy or not it is October 1 and I have a movie to watch!!!:

I pillaged today like I do every Saturday:

It takes me over an hour to pillage each week now. It is tiring. Beyond tiring when yesterday was ‘go time’ which in this case, that’s what happened. but it’s done and I go back to see Dr. Clark on October 16. He probably will change my supplements again!

I’m really NOT digging this disease progression but I saw the pain clinic yesterday and I am getting a new tens unit and that makes me happy! This doctor wants me to get another x-ray because I haven’t had an x-ray since 2019. I will call the lab on Monday and I think that I can go in before we go to the Cidermill on October 17th.

But I remember the last x-ray I got at Henry Ford, it was in the emergency room downtown, and the doctor could not believe that I had a hardware in my knee! I told him that I had ACL reconstruction in 2000 and they are ‘metal buttons.’ It was strange to tell that to a doctor I must tell you!

I think that I am a little bit overwhelmed. I feel accomplished though, but this was difficult! I told myself that I needed to make three appointments for next year. I called yesterday and made my Internist appointment. And then today I made two specialist appointments. One for a procedure and the other one for a consult. My procedure is in January and my consult is in March. I am getting my teeth cleaned in February. That is one month too early. Actually two months.

I think that I am a bit overwhelmed because this seems to be getting more and more each year. I am seeing Dr. Clark on the 16th. That’s new as well! In February, he told me my nutrition was good and then things started changing and I am seeing him every month now. My supplements change each month.

I have told my Mom that I have never had MS this long and it’s ALL new to me! So, I spent the past couple days, making appointments and getting my teeth cleaned. Maybe that’s what’s bothering me! I have been getting cleanings every six months from my entire life but now I am sick so I need to go every four months. I never saw this coming to this extent!!!

It’s just overwhelming! But I did see on the Hallmark Channel, a double feature! Two of my favorite movies! I turned it on after I went to church from last Sunday and A Country Wedding was just starting and then it went right into October Kiss. I was hoping for a triple play and I was waiting to see Harvest Moon but that didn’t come on and I stopped watching TV and took my contacts out. Now I am listening to music and trying to decompress.

My Mom and I got our teeth cleaned today at the same dentist office I have been going to since I was seven. I also had my braces through this office. They were a orthodontist back then as well! Sean even goes there as well. He was three when he started going there. I remember that I asked Dr. Fox one time when Sean was getting his teeth cleaned if he needed braces and he just said, “Yes.”

Sean was probably six or seven at the time, and I told him, “It looks like I’m going to have to spend as much money as my Dad did!” Because I have known my dentist for so long, said, “Oh, you don’t want to spend that much money!” Three of my older brothers, and I had braces through that office.

I have had my hygienist, Kristin for a number of years. She had worked at Dr. Fox‘s office previously and then came back. I took x-rays today and she told me that my teeth are beautiful. Dr. Kassem said the same thing. Teeth are very important to me, and I liked hearing that!

After my x-rays but before Dr. Kassem came in, Kristen let me know that there was some tartar on the right side of my lower jaw in the back. There is also tartar on the bottom front teeth as well. She asked if I was still using an electric toothbrush, and I said yes. She said. She saidthat she knows that I am trying, but she suggested that I come to the dentist every four months from here on out.

Hearing that startled me beyond anything!!! I told her that it is becoming a little more difficult to floss now. Sarah came in and took my chart to write down our return date for our next cleaning. I talked about the four-month thing with my Mom after I came out of the room with Kristin because my Mom was already finished.

After my Mon got me locked into the van, and we were driving away, she told me that my Dad got cleanings every four months. I was totally shocked, and I told her that I have never known that for my entire life! She told me that she used to take medication before each cleaning, and I told her that I vaguely remembered that, but I did not know that he was going every four months! I guess that just proves that I’m sick now. Like I haven’t been for the past 23 years but that’s kind of hurts a little bit…

As I am sitting in my chair in my house, am thinking about all of this. Kristin told me that my insurance only pays for two cleanings and an x-ray each year. I would need to pay out-of-pocket for my third cleaning. She said that it is not an exam and you don’t need x-rays so it will only be $105 out of pocket.

I talked to Sean tonight about it and he said that I probably should go because having problems with my gums, which Kristin said were a little bit Inflamed is not some thing that I should mess around given my current health situation.

I think I will call and make an appointment for January I guess… I have an appointment with the pain clinic for my knee and after that, I am getting my flu shot in the same building and then that’s it for September! I also have a Visual Field Test on October 1! So much stuff!!! #MSsucks!!! 😒😒😒…