Some concerned people discouraged me from taking the 2 hour drive to the beach by myself. Then I realized, I drive at least 1 hour to my doctor at home in Kansas and then turn around and come right back. That's 2+ hours and I do it in worse condition than I was Friday. So, I decided to go. I have felt significantly better after removing my picc line too.
We stayed in my friend's beach house. It was a nice visit with my friend and her family and it gave the kids a few days to play on the beach. The weather was beautiful. We clammed, harvested mussels, played board games and shopped in my favorite store still open 20 years later, Trash and Treasure. I even bought some trrrrrrrrreasure! (You thought I was going to say trash!)
I'll post some pics below of my favorite finds which are antique carved wood bookends and an old Bible. The Bible is like new, not written in, with indent tab pages, a dictionary and commentary inside, illustrations and art, and many other cool resources. It is still tightly leather bound, no bent pages, etc. I don't really have my own Bible. I just use one of the many we have. When I got this Bible home, I found inside a silk bookmark embroidered with pink thread "GN." My initials are NG.
I also got a handmade antique bone handle knife steel, a cool antique galvanized metal scoop, an embroidered little doily I liked and an old school type heavy pencil sharpener for the kids (tired of China destroying all of our pencils). The Bible and bookends are the favorites though.
The drive up was fine. The drive back was ok except when I was suddenly overwhelmed with the ever familiar crushing fatigue. I was seeing things as I drove. All the "wake up" tricks didn't work. My brain was checking out and would startle at the sound of rumble strips. This reminds me of narcolepsy because my eyes are open but my brain shuts off and my body even does those "going to sleep now" twitches like it is going to sleep without me. So, I pulled over at a state park and I slept in the car in the Tillamook National Forest for 30-40 mins to recharge. Tom played iPad and Hannah napped to. Good thing we weren't on any time schedule. My kids have become highly adaptable with me being sick. They didn't even say a word about it.
I've been dreading today's treatment since Thursday. More neural therapy, then IV's. I don't know if I can take the neural therapy if it's in my stomach again. Needles, even 40-50 of them, are fine with me- just not in my stomach! These aren't acupuncture needles folks- they are big fat ones because they have to draw up procaine, (like lidocaine or novocaine) which is thick and viscous and requires a nice large sized needle. Ow. I am not a wimp about needles, but this one made me cry about 25 needles in. I'm trying to steel my nerves now.....
Praise: This week should be my worse most debilitated week of the month. Usually the week before and during my monthly cycle, I am at my very worst. In the middle of that time, I'm sometimes in bed 15-18 hours total each day. It has been this way and getting worse for so long, it's predictable like clockwork. I honestly don't feel wonderful now, but my low has raised up quite a bit. My pain level is very high like it normally is during this time, but I have more energy and I am out of bed and sleep actually refreshes me. That's something to be thankful for! Usually the overwhelming fatigue like I had on the drive home yesterday happens off and on all day and I won't wake up for 3-5 hours when I nap. Even after all that sleep, I won't feel refreshed at all. Those 30-40 minutes refreshed me enough to safely drive back like it should have. This is a big improvement for me.
Pray for pain management today during my treatment. I have to give this enough tries to see if it helps my nervous system. The ultimate goal with this is "re-setting" damaged nerves that are causing chronic pain and stimulating the autonomic nervous system to repair/reset. Our bodies are electrical and can short circuit with pain, disease and injury and create unhealthy/abnormal electrical patterns. I suspect this is true because I've been known to make electrical things malfunction when I'm nearby. I burn through watch batteries in 6 weeks. When we used to use a modem for our internet, it would malfunction and crash when I came near it, over and over again. I had to stand back or someone would lose their internet connection. Jim probably remembers all the weird things better than me. We made the connection ages ago that there was something electrically "off" about me. Jim would say it is my magnetic personality or my electrifying beauty. Ha! Anyway, anesthetic is injected into nerves to numb the nerve for 30 minutes. When it recovers, often it resets to normal instead of the odd pattern it had began firing in as a result of some part of this illness. I have a lot of nervous system problems- tremors, twitching, jerking, pain, heart rhythm irregularities, blood pressure and pulse irregularities, etc, etc... Since nerves are responsible for the function of everything, the symptom relief possibilities are endless. This won't cure me, but it can help with relief, possibly reduce pain medication needs and contribute to healing. No pain no gain with this one though...
Thanks everyone.
Isaiah 40:28-29
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
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