Baby

I knew that would get you attention.

Whheeee! Look at me. Tooling around on my new computer. Ok, so it's not just mine, but I'm on it now. It's been nicknamed The Beast by Mr. Mayhem. He was very surprised with the size of the tower. It's 21 inches tall, 22 inches long, and 9 inches wide. It's also not rectangular. It's a parallelagram. The cabinet is also silver, so Mayhem #2 calls it "Shiny Guy". The monitor is wide-screen so even I (aka The Blind Lady) can see it better. The keyboard and mouse are wireless. Are we hip and happen' or what? We still need to get a printer. One that will print all those pictures that are sitting in the computer.

Mr. Mayhem ordered it and had it shipped to work. He thought it would be in several boxes, but it was in one huge 74 lb. box that barely fit in the backseat. I was able to get him to eat dinner before he started unpacking it. While he opened the box, guess who got to go out in the rain to get a power strip for the new baby? He had showed it to the IT guys at work and they told him he better not call in sick tomorrow or they's know why. Mr. Mayhem seems to think he should get some paternity leave.

FOOT UPDATE

The foot hasn't improved any. I see another specialist next week. A physiatrist. I have noticed that I have been babying it so now I'm working harder to make sure I'm walking normally on it. The pain level is about a 12. I've also started hobbling up to the high school and volunteering to make copies again. I guess I need to figure out how to get on with my life. Next weekend I go with the band to Branson, Mo. Where's the wheelchair?

Empty nest practice

Mayhem #1 had offered to let Mayhem #2 come and spend a weekend with her earlier in the school year. We finally got around to it last weekend. I deposited Mayhem #2 and plenty of food that had absolutely no nutritional value at the dorm Friday. I believe they wolfed down the McDonald's food I picked up on the way into town and then they went ballroom dancing for the evening. I was so jealous. I had another 2 hour drive to get home. The rest of their weekend was less than productive, but they had a blast. Once again, Mayhem #2 cried when she got home because she missed her sister.

Mr. Mayhem and I didn't do anything exciting while we had the place to ourselves. We did a little puttering at the mall. Believe me...Puttering is about how fast I go. We went to Blockbuster and rented "Casino Royale" and "The Devil Wears Prada" and had a movie fest that afternoon. Then we had dinner at On the Border. Like I said, nothing exciting, but we told everyone at church that we thought we might like this empty nest syndrome.

The foot is still the same. Now my back has been hurting me for the last two weeks. I blame the pain doctor and his nerve block in my back. My podiatrist is starting my on Cymbalta. It is for depression, but it is also used for patients with diabetic neurapathy. At least he gave me some samples because I'm sure it's not on my formulary list.

Thanks for dropping by Lenise. I did get the comments fixed with a little help from Mr. Mayhem.

Put me down

Well, I’m not dead, but yesterday would’ve been a good day for it. I’ll try to catch you up with my craziness if you don’t mind a little emotional spew.

In Jan., my podiatrist sent me to another doctor for a second opinion after the MRI he ordered didn’t show any reason my foot should still be hurting. The other doctor said I had an 80 year-old foot based on the x-ray. He said the blood vessels had been wide open for some time and that had washed out my bone. He said I had a pain syndrome and sent me to a pain management doctor.

This doctor said he thought I had complex regional pain syndrome. For three weeks I’ve had nerve blocks. One in my back and two in my foot, to try to determine what nerves are causing the pain. This is a big deal because they have to set up an IV and knock me out, which means Mr. Mayhem has had to take off work to take care of me afterwards. I went in yesterday to find out what they had learned and what the course of treatment would be. I didn’t even get to see the doctor. I spoke with the assistant. She said that since the nerve block in my back didn’t help, I probably didn’t have the pain syndrome they thought and there wasn’t really any way to treat the nerves in my foot. I just lost it. I started crying and she went to consult with the doctor. They decided to do the nerve block in my foot again and see if that might reduce the inflammation of the nerve more. She told me to keep my chin up, and I told her that she had just taken away all the hope I had that something could be done. I have the block on Monday.

I had to take Mayhem #2 with me and she was most upset that I cried all the way home and kept crying. This pain is so frustrating. I struggle to walk normally. I use a cane when I go out away from the house. I don’t want to lose the use of the foot. I want to find some answers, but I don’t know where to look. My podiatrist asked if I wanted something for depression on the day that I got the MRI results and started crying on him. I laughed and said, "I’m already taking something!"