Well it has been quite a while since I posted a blog. I had such a rough time this past month, that it was best for me to keep quiet or else I would whine. First, it was the cold; then, the sessions with the electric needles; and once more, the regulation of the blood pressure. I believe we are starting back on track with the pressure, but the loopiness resulting from the cold and needles definitely set me back.
I have not retreated to my bed! No matter how tough things were, I continued my routine of two lessons a week. Slava has bene terrific. We are still making progress. If only I were not so loopy. Half way through the lesson, I begin to tire. Perhaps we are pushing a bit. I may decide to shorten the lessons to 45 minutes now that we are upping the energy and the technique. I have also done more and more in the gardens.
The weather has been iffy for outside work. We have had a lot of rain. But... every time it is not raining, I do a little more in the perennial beds or the vegetable garden. This morning, I actually enjoyed myself. I raked out the dirt in the latest bed creation and leveled the first completed isle. No pictures yet as the job is not completed. I lost total track of time and ignored my tight, electric side. I should say that I barely felt any pain, just weakness and some teeter-toddling as the ground is still very uneven since we are reconstructing it. The air was crisp and the sun was blue.
Yesterday, my dear friend Karin helped me with mulching one of the nine flower beds. That was quite a job. I really was not of much help as getting up and down makes me even loopier! It looks great. One down, eight to go. If the weather cooperates, we should be done by Thanksgiving as we only spread mulch once a week. There is much to do to prepare the beds.
This coming week, three more doctors are checking me out. Time to get a new prescription for my eyes. Seems like some of my loopiness could be resulting from a visual focus problem created by the stroke.
So far, it has been a good day.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Tomorrow is another day
This has been quite a week or more since I wrote. My cold settled in my head of all places. I already have too much going on up there. So for a few days my dizziness, my weakness, and my endurance took a hit.
I saw Dr Nakazawa. We had a rather lengthy introduction. His children and grandchildren attended McDonogh School, as did Darren, and I taught French and Spanish there until Darren's accident. His daughter teaches French at another one of our elite private schools. He declared that I was a most interesting case, and he could help me. There was a procedure to be done on the scalp, but he zeroed in on my sciatica which had not yet resurfaced in the past year or so. Now, that wasn't so complicated! I endured the electrical impulses attached to the needles for 20 minutes-not fun, but tolerable. Shortly after I left his office, my whole right side was tighter than before, covered with pins and needles (a feeling). I recovered gradually over the next few days and would try one more session.
Between the cold and Dr Nakasawa I was drunk and feeling so bad that I cancelled my dance lessons twice, did not dance all week.
By Yesterday, Tuesday morning, I was feeling a bit better than I had since my stroke. I could focus more, the right side was less tight, the gait was smoother, and I had very little loopiness. I had decided to forgo the natural blood pressure lowering meds after concluding they were as powerful as the pharmaceuticals. My vascular doc wanted me to stop all BP meds but I was not comfortable with this notion. I would gradually decrease them and observe since I was going back to Hopkins for the three-months check up in a few days. So things were looking up.
I went to the ballroom to dance on my own. I managed to get through my open routines in waltz and foxtrot. I did some chacha and samba. NO DIZZINESS! Man did I feel uplifted!!!! So I went and weeded one of my perennial beds for an hour and a half. Then, I decided perhaps I should be careful and not overdo it.
That afternoon I had booked my second session with Dr N. He narrowed down the area of acupuncture and intensified the juice when I told him I saw no improvement. I must say, he could be getting hard of hearing or maybe he has that male-ego attitude of having to be right. Then he left me for one hour plus. I could feel the electricity along my entire right side into my head. I have never had such a violent reaction even though this type of acupuncture was performed several years ago for the sciatica. It did not work then. What was I thinking? I was not a happy camper. He assured me a warm bath would ease the discomfort. It got worse. This morning I was in pain but I was going back to the neurology department today.
I dared to call Dr N this morning. He denied that his treatment had any influence on the way I felt! OK, I am cancelling my future appointment with him
So we went to Hopkins. The Drs were an hour late. I was pleasantly surprised by Dr Bahouth. She had seemed like a naysayer when I saw her during my stay in the hospital. She was compassionate. After examining me and talking about all of the side effects I had from the meds, she agreed with Dr Hoke (Neuropathy doc) and with Dr Ratchford that I did not need the BP meds at all. Dizziness is an indication that something is too much. NO KIDDING. I had been reluctant to go cold turkey as I do not want another episode.
She brought in another big Kahuna to meet me since I had recovered so well (in their words, not mine). He was shocked that I had stopped the Lipitor and gave me the lecture of my life. My GP has told me to when I developed terrible muscle pain. He suggested a much smaller dose of a different statins and suggested we could check my blood for the enzymes that degenerate muscles if the symptoms reoccurred. I agreed. And we are once more going to try Gabapentin in a syrup, designated for babies. This would ease my ever-present nerve pain.
I'll take one med at a time to see if I get a reaction. The statin is not going to help me feel better but it will increase my chances of not having another stroke over the next five years by 16%. If I do get a reaction, I will have to stop it. Now will the Gabapentin at a minute dose help?
So tomorrow is another day. I do hope my head is better for my lesson tomorrow morning as I am stopping the BP medication entirely.
I saw Dr Nakazawa. We had a rather lengthy introduction. His children and grandchildren attended McDonogh School, as did Darren, and I taught French and Spanish there until Darren's accident. His daughter teaches French at another one of our elite private schools. He declared that I was a most interesting case, and he could help me. There was a procedure to be done on the scalp, but he zeroed in on my sciatica which had not yet resurfaced in the past year or so. Now, that wasn't so complicated! I endured the electrical impulses attached to the needles for 20 minutes-not fun, but tolerable. Shortly after I left his office, my whole right side was tighter than before, covered with pins and needles (a feeling). I recovered gradually over the next few days and would try one more session.
Between the cold and Dr Nakasawa I was drunk and feeling so bad that I cancelled my dance lessons twice, did not dance all week.
By Yesterday, Tuesday morning, I was feeling a bit better than I had since my stroke. I could focus more, the right side was less tight, the gait was smoother, and I had very little loopiness. I had decided to forgo the natural blood pressure lowering meds after concluding they were as powerful as the pharmaceuticals. My vascular doc wanted me to stop all BP meds but I was not comfortable with this notion. I would gradually decrease them and observe since I was going back to Hopkins for the three-months check up in a few days. So things were looking up.
I went to the ballroom to dance on my own. I managed to get through my open routines in waltz and foxtrot. I did some chacha and samba. NO DIZZINESS! Man did I feel uplifted!!!! So I went and weeded one of my perennial beds for an hour and a half. Then, I decided perhaps I should be careful and not overdo it.
That afternoon I had booked my second session with Dr N. He narrowed down the area of acupuncture and intensified the juice when I told him I saw no improvement. I must say, he could be getting hard of hearing or maybe he has that male-ego attitude of having to be right. Then he left me for one hour plus. I could feel the electricity along my entire right side into my head. I have never had such a violent reaction even though this type of acupuncture was performed several years ago for the sciatica. It did not work then. What was I thinking? I was not a happy camper. He assured me a warm bath would ease the discomfort. It got worse. This morning I was in pain but I was going back to the neurology department today.
I dared to call Dr N this morning. He denied that his treatment had any influence on the way I felt! OK, I am cancelling my future appointment with him
So we went to Hopkins. The Drs were an hour late. I was pleasantly surprised by Dr Bahouth. She had seemed like a naysayer when I saw her during my stay in the hospital. She was compassionate. After examining me and talking about all of the side effects I had from the meds, she agreed with Dr Hoke (Neuropathy doc) and with Dr Ratchford that I did not need the BP meds at all. Dizziness is an indication that something is too much. NO KIDDING. I had been reluctant to go cold turkey as I do not want another episode.
She brought in another big Kahuna to meet me since I had recovered so well (in their words, not mine). He was shocked that I had stopped the Lipitor and gave me the lecture of my life. My GP has told me to when I developed terrible muscle pain. He suggested a much smaller dose of a different statins and suggested we could check my blood for the enzymes that degenerate muscles if the symptoms reoccurred. I agreed. And we are once more going to try Gabapentin in a syrup, designated for babies. This would ease my ever-present nerve pain.
I'll take one med at a time to see if I get a reaction. The statin is not going to help me feel better but it will increase my chances of not having another stroke over the next five years by 16%. If I do get a reaction, I will have to stop it. Now will the Gabapentin at a minute dose help?
So tomorrow is another day. I do hope my head is better for my lesson tomorrow morning as I am stopping the BP medication entirely.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
A small set back
This week has not been my finest. I came down with a cold. I never tolerated one before but now... It has settled into my head and rendered me loopier than ever. I basically sat around or spent whatever energy I had to disinfect the surfaces of the house so as not to pass the cold on to others. I brought out the big gun, Clorox.
This evening I feel a bit chirpier. I actually took some photos of all of our projects and managed to weed a little. Still I am not back to my old new self. My Right side feels as tight as ever. It really hurts but I'm hanging in there as tomorrow I see a new doctor. Yes, I keep trying.
Sunday, we attended a dinner party where I saw an old friend, Dr Earl Wilkinson.Earl is very progressive in his thinking, an otolaryngologist qualified in acupuncture. He had just invited Dr Nakasawa to speak to the Howard Co Medical society about acupuncture. Dr Nakasawa just returned from Japan where he received the highest award. Earl suggested I give him a call. You bet I did! And tomorrow I will meet with him for two hours. In the meanwhile, I keep reading books about the brain and the latest studies.
I promised some pictures of the work in the garden.
Here is the new reduced garden. The fence has been moved. Now we are beginning to reset the beds. First, we do the perimeter.
Peter lined all of the pressure-treated 6x6s with cement block set on their sides to minimize chemical leakage into the beds. I have already transplanted some of my herbs, as you can barely see.
All of the old beds were constructed out of cement blocks. The surplus ones from the old garden have dismantled and saved by Darren. Here is a stack of them.
This evening I feel a bit chirpier. I actually took some photos of all of our projects and managed to weed a little. Still I am not back to my old new self. My Right side feels as tight as ever. It really hurts but I'm hanging in there as tomorrow I see a new doctor. Yes, I keep trying.
Sunday, we attended a dinner party where I saw an old friend, Dr Earl Wilkinson.Earl is very progressive in his thinking, an otolaryngologist qualified in acupuncture. He had just invited Dr Nakasawa to speak to the Howard Co Medical society about acupuncture. Dr Nakasawa just returned from Japan where he received the highest award. Earl suggested I give him a call. You bet I did! And tomorrow I will meet with him for two hours. In the meanwhile, I keep reading books about the brain and the latest studies.
I promised some pictures of the work in the garden.
Here is a picture of the remaining old beds. The blocks will be removed . Once the perimeter is completely lined with the blocks, we will redo the center beds. The beds will be raised a bit more, using two decking boards. We are using Trex to ensure durability. Yes, our produce will be pricey!
I failed to mention that we are making the beds level from side to side, all being in terraced form since the garden is on a hillside. As a result, Darren and Peter have removed several hundred wheelbarrows of dirt. All I did was crack the whip. I did transplant the herbs with help. I am beginning to wield a shovel.
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