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!

School...

 Well, school has been... interesting. Seizures are definitely on an uptick. They went crazy during standardized testing. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has also been extra challenging. And, of course, there's this pandemic thing...

Oooooph...

 Wow, I have not been a good blogger...

The summer has been fairly eventful, health wise, but I haven't said anything. Sorry. 

I've been developing arthritis in my left knee, and now it's starting in the right one. I've been developing tendonitis in my right ankle, and then the left one started catching up. And my right shoulder has something going on. It feels like the pain from when I got my vaccinations, but that doesn't make any sense, does it?

At the moment, my nervous system is telling me that I have six broken toes. Four in my left foot, two in the right. That's not unusual. The weird part is that my nervous system is telling me that I have three unbroken toes in my left foot along with the four broken ones -- and only a total of three toes in the right one. When I look at them, it's two out of five 'broken' in the left and one out of five 'broken' in the right. I think I like those numbers better, so don't be surprised if I'm staring at my feet for the next while...