Its a New Day

Yesterday I had another 2 treatments. I was actually feeling pretty good when I started out (about a 7) and had the first treatment with no crying (amazing!!!). I went downstairs for my 'sleep' and then came back up for my second session. Dr. B asked if I'd had a good rest and I said "I didn't think I really slept, but when I looked at the clock it was already 8:30 so I guess I did sleep". He just smiled as he put in the needles for the 2nd treatment and said (very straight faced) "I could tell... you still have pillow marks on your face". Usually by the time I get back to the office after my second treatment I'm pretty worn out. I usually work with the lights off and just quietly go about my work (as if I ever make much noise in the office). Rudy and the little girls came by for a visit and I was being 'teased' about something when Hans said very gently, 'Rudy, take it easy on Jennifer - she had her treatments today and she doesn...

This morning I had my re-assessment at The Migraine Clinic. Basically Dr. B. took my pulse in a few different places before the treatment. Because I was having 2 in 1 day, he waited until after the 2nd treatment to finish the re-assessment. This week has been a particularily difficult one. It could be the ups and downs of the weather and/or the anxiety of getting calendars and envelopes and enrollment packs put together and out in the mail (the calendars came in this morning but I still don't have envelopes so I'm at a bit of in impass) so that they get to the prisons by christmas, or that I don't have my tongue sticking in my cheek at the right angle... whatever the reason it has been bad. So when Dr. B. asked me how bad I was this morning, it was all I could do to keep the tears at bay. (what is it about him that makes me cry?!?). I went in with a migraine. It was about a 8.5 (so I can still function) but it was getting worse. I was climbing to a 9.5 by the time my treatm...

This morning I asked if Dr. B would do a re-assessment - just for my peace of mind to see if there was any change from his point of view. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not but he said that as he was driving in this morning he was thinking about me and how I must be feeling like we're just going in circles with no real results. Well, we have to wait till after next week's first appointment and then he can do a re-assessment (something about having to wait a certain amount of treatment times) so we'll see next week what happens. The only strange dream I had this time was that people were sitting in the room where I was resting and complaining that if they went to Princess Margaret they get coffee & snacks and other free stuff while they have to wait and nicer chairs. I defended Judy (the secretary) and said it wasn't her job to provide coffee or anything else and that the chairs were comfy. Weird.

My treatments were pretty uneventful this week. Tuesday was a really not good day and Dr. B was teasing me about being able to take more pain (which I was so NOT able to laugh at) so I did what I always seem to do there - I cried. By the time he came back I was 'under control' and applogized and told him that I am usually quite cheerful. Thursday when I went he, he was teasing me again and I said I could take it this morning and he said he could tell. Not that it was a great day - I ended up going home right afterwards and back to bed - but I didn't cry. And that's a good thing :) Next week we're going to do 2 treatments on Thursday mornings (and not go at all on Tuesday mornings). This is simply to cut down driving time and cost of gas. I'll only have 1 morning to get up at the crack of dawn and drive out to Georgetown (and with winter coming this is also a good thing). I'll have my first appointment at 6:30 and then have to wait till 9 for my second so I c...

It is starting to feel like life is an old record skipping (yes... I remember what records are) and I'm just waiting for the needle to get it moving onto the rest of the song. After the dinners for work, I know that without a doubt I will be in bed a few days. They are long days filled with lots of work (and smiling) and even though I did get a rest both days, by the end of the day I was toast... burnt toast. Maybe I have the wrong mindset going in, but on Tuesday I didn't really expect anything. The needles all hurt, but I didn't expect that I would feel better, if anything just worse. It became a SUPER long day going to Toronto in the evening with the Oosterhof's to pick up Hettie from the airport and then needing to have a heart to heart with dear Rachel afterwards. By the time I got home I was beyond burnt toast. I had gone to see my family doc about something else that day as well. She called me in the office (which made me a bit concerened because the nurse called...

So last week was visit 7 & 8. Tuesday was pretty uneventful, but Thursday was a different story. I talked to Dr. B about where the needles are placed and that sometimes they really hurt and sometimes I felt nothing and how on Thursday's I've been pretty good till about 9pm and then I get whacked with a doozie of a migraine and spend most of the next 3 days in bed. Apparently, some times we are more sensative to things than others, but it shouldn't affect if the needles hurt or not or the outcome. He just said, "Don't have a headache this weekend"... why didn't I think of that... By the time I left on Thursday it was not good. I was really trying very hard not to cry in the office. I managed to hold on till I got into my car and then cried the whole way back to the office. My head was just pounding with pain and I just had to cry. I made it to the office and managed to stay for 45 minutes before I had to go home. I just couldn't handle the pounding ...

Well, after treatment #4 - and a very long day, I went to Kelley's to play games (I didn't come in last... but I didn't win either :)), and by the time I did get home the lovely migraine that had been stopped earlier in the day came with a vengence. The nice thing was that I was able to get lots of work done during the day. Friday was also a bit of a right off, but thankfully Saturday was a good day (that will have it's own post). Sunday and most of Monday were also mostly spent in bed. So, Tuesday morning I woke up feeling - well, ok - it wasn't great but it wasn't terrible. By the time I got to Georgetown I was feeling pretty good. That didn't last long. I'm still not sure what caused it, but whether it was some anxiety over going to prison later on in the morning, or where the needles were placed (they all seemed to hurt), but shortly after the needles were put in my right arm started shaking. This is not an unusual phemomenon. Sometimes, when a reall...

Bright and early (well actually dark and early) this morning I headed off to Georgetown for my 4th appointment at the Migraine Clinic. The drive is nice with not too many people on the road yet and certainly no traffic my way there or back. Brandan is there and always cheerful (he MUST be a morning person) and Judy (his receptionist) is also there bright eyed and bushy tailed. After signing in I go into the room and Brandan starts sticking needles in my head and hands. After 20 minutes of breathing and waiting he comes back in to take them out. This morning he put one in my right hand (it is usually the left) and said 'This one is going to hurt a bit". Well... he wasn't kidding, but I figured I can deal with it for a few minutes. Then I started to get a migraine. When he came back in the room he asked me where it was and then proceeded to put a needle in my left hand, quite far down and wiggle it around while applying pressure to my pinky. That hurt. A lot. I've never ...

This morning... very early, before the darkness of the night sky had lifted (that would be 4:30am) I woke up to the startling sound of the alarm. I had been dreaming that Michael Card would be coming as a speaker to Camp Tamarak, but some how it was going to be between him and Hulk Hogan. It was really one of those strange dreams that you don't mind waking up from... So why was I up so early? This morning I had my first appointment for 6:30 at The Migraine Clinic in Georgetown - just over an hour's drive away. After a few navigational snaffu's (I suppose the GPS didn't like being up so early either and it told me to take the HWY 6 North exit, then do a U-turn and get back on the 401 the way I came from) I managed to find 83 Mill Street. It was dark there. Very dark. There were 2 men jogging and 1 lone light on inside the building up on the 3rd floor. So I entered cautiously - not even sure if the doors would be open and went upstairs. Judy, the very sweet and way to per...