A Mixed Bag

Christmas vs. Boxing Day

Okay, so I had a really nice Christmas. The morning was spent hanging with the dogs. Then late morning through the evening, I went to a friend's house for spaghetti and watching a great Netflix show -- God's Favorite Idiot. Very minimal seizing, minimal pain, a great physical day. Good food, good company all day.

Then came the 26th. Ugh. I woke up with a full migraine. None of my four limbs were obeying commands. Pain levels were high everywhere. Equilibrium was off; I'm not sure how much of that was because the legs weren't working, but it was off even when sitting. It took 25 minutes just to get out of bed, down the stairs, and letting the dogs out. That is usually 5-7 minutes. I gave up after about an hour, and went back to bed. 90 minutes later, I was in a bit better shape, but still what I'd call bad. Now it's 10 at night. The limbs are behaving. The migraine is minimal. The pain levels are within reason almost everywhere. That's all been gradual, throughout the day. 

I guess I'm glad the 25th was the good day. 

Just a Little Something...

Okay, so this is more about Mr. B than Fibro -- whatever.

I had a Grand Mal last night. As you know, that happens. It was a short one, only about 4-5 minutes. I was on the couch in the movie room. All three dogs were there. Buddy slept through it. Linus sat next to me, not budging. Mr. B's normal reaction is to get as far away as possible and look the other direction. For some reason last night, he decided that he should be helping me. He came to the opposite side of me from Linus. He put his paw on my left thigh. Linus and I were both looking at him like, what the heck? But he wouldn't leave. He kept staring at my face with his paw on my leg. As much as my leg tried to jiggle him off, he did not give up. As soon as I started slowing down, Linus would normally climb on top of me overall, but with Mr. B still holding my left thigh, Linus put a paw on my right thigh and rested his head on my chest. Although I don't think it helped as much as if Linus had done his usual, it was still kind of cool that Mr. B tried to help... and that Linus was okay with that.

That's all I got.

My Bad...

Yeah, sorry about that. I've thought about posting many times, but never get further than that.

There have been MANY reasons to post since the last one, but I'll just mention a few.

The weight loss has continued to be good news. Several days have been 191. Generally, I'm at 192. Those numbers have been consistent since late September. I'm perfectly pleased with that range. 

Seizures are probably the biggest news. It's not that they are new, just that they are more frequent and more inconvenient. I had a day at school where I'd already had seven or eight before first period was over. Our periods are 55 minutes long. Three of those were medium strength. That's all way over the norm. The big thing to deal with here was my second period lesson plans -- showing a video of a Carnival parade from Rio. Gee, I wonder if 50 minutes of flashing lights and Latin dance music might be bad for someone with a seizure disorder. No, I don't wonder that at all. Luckily I had the foresight part way through first period to let my Assistant Principal know of my concerns, and she covered my class for about 15 minutes of the film in the middle. I went in to visit with one of my best friends at school (this happened to be her planning period). After about a minute, she informed me that she and I were going for a walk, as the tremors she was witnessing made it clear my body did not want to be still. Lousy day, but I felt so taken care of.

Two weeks ago I was out walking Linus when I realized a major one was coming on. We were at the local shopping center, so we made it to the far corner of the parking lot. I sat down on the curb, and Linus sat right next to me. I started shaking violently enough that I couldn't help but lie down. Linus did not budge. I can only guess it was 6-7 minutes in that I started slowing down. Linus delicately climbed on top of me, all 100+ pounds of him. I managed to get one arm around him, and that was enough to give me purchase. My body began easing out of it, and I was able to sit back up in just a few minutes. We were walking again maybe a minute later. That is incredibly fast for the strength of the main event. Again, I felt so incredibly taken care of.

Moral of the story? I'm not alone. Sometimes I have to reach out; other times I don't even have to do that much. Either way, somebody will have my back, convulsing or not.

But On the Lighter Side...

I went over the 200 pounds mark over 8 years ago, and feared I'd never get back under it. Two summers ago I came close, dropping from my all-time high of 224 down to 201, but I could not push it any lower. This spring I was at 218. Twice this week I weighed in at 200.5, my lowest in forever. 

As of this morning, 199! I realize that I may be somewhere in the 200 range again tomorrow, but that's okay, because I know I CAN be under 200, and will be a day or two later. I'm trying for 195 so I can be less concerned about the wobble range, but I'm still pretty thrilled wobbling on BOTH sides of 200. 

This winter, I suspect I'll be back over 210. However, if I can keep the winter's worst numbers dropping, then I can keep the summer's best numbers dropping as well, right?

 Phew...

Ain't Life Grand...

 Not what I'm talking about.

Had a Grand Mal seizure last weekend. Man, I hate those. I still don't lose consciousness, so that's a plus. And it was at home -- I REALLY hate when those happen in public. But I hate them any time, any place. But I did luck out. I was on the couch already. I stayed there. 

And the really good part? Yeah, I actually mean that. The good part was that Linus did his thing again. Buddy didn't seem to notice, and Mr. B got as far from me as he could, his usual reaction. But Linus sat about two feet from me, watching, until I started to slow down. Then he climbed on me. This is such an incredible gift he gives me. It allows me to gain purchase to something, which in turn allows me to regain control of my body so much faster. He's never been trained to do this, but has done it every time I've had a GM at home. I have no idea why, but I'm so grateful for it!

That's all. But I guess I was sort of talking about how aspects of life can be grand after all...

  

Reasonable, or Unreasonable?

Okay, so my least favorite type of seizure to have is a Grand Mal. Duh. Totally reasonable.

My second least favorite is the ones I call fiddle-head ferns. It's where my right arm curls up into a tight knot. Painful, and very difficult to hide from people. I think that is a reasonable choice for second.

Here's the quandary: does my choice for third least favorite make sense? Background -- most of my seizures either start with the right arm or the right leg. Fairly often those stay isolated on the right side, or perhaps they bring in the left leg. They can start in the left leg as well, although this happens much less frequently. 

My third least favorite, you ask? It's when my left arm seizes. Other than the Grand Mals, the left arm almost always gets a break. We must be talking over 99% of the time out of the non-GMs. But every once in a while the left arm seizes, all by itself. And not only does it hurt, it perturbs me off big time. Why? Because that's not supposed to happen! Never mind that seizures aren't supposed to happen. That one really frustrates and angers me. Is that a reasonable or unreasonable justification for it being #3 on my list?

Or is it simply unreasonable of me to have such a list in the first place?

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

 Well, it wasn't really THAT bad...

Monday, while teaching, I had a minor seizure, mostly the right leg and arm. 

But here's the thing: it lasted for almost an hour. The longest I've experienced before (not counting the diagnostic exams) were in the 20 minute range. I'm supposed to time the long ones, which is always a little tricky since I don't know they are going to be long when they start. This one was a little easier in that respect. I was showing a 58 minute compilation film of floats from Carnival in Rio. I started seizing somewhere in the first minute or two. I stopped seizing about a minute before the film ended. 

It never turned Grand Mal. It only spread to the left leg for a few minutes, twice total. Honestly, I don't think anyone noticed it. But it went on for so long. And I was still sore from it Tuesday morning. 

Here's hoping never again.

My Bad...

Yeah, I've been a bad boy. I really haven't had anything to post. Seizures are still seizures. Neural misconnects are still misconnecting. Pain still hurts. Chronic fatigue is still a syndrome. And there's still a pandemic. 

But in other news... um... yeah, that's all pretty much the same too. 

I found some ramen that has a miso based soup! There we go!