Finally, Some Pictures!
I got my disk space issue straightened out, so here are the pictures I owe you. It’s gonna be a LOOONG post, so get comfortable!
To start off with, here is a quilt that I made for my nephew Caden’s second birthday. In September. Goodness, gracious, I’m behind!
Here’s my sister and me in September. She visited me for a weekend amist her very aggressive schedule in California, and we had a fantastic time! At least I did. =)
Here’s Zamba, circa September. I thought I had pictures of her Dramatic Escape from the Car during our fall colors shoot, but alas, I thought wrong. Here you are:
Our fall colors shoot:
Jake and Kate’s birthday/anniversary celebration! (The last day of September.)
My in-laws came to visit earlier this month! I don’t have too many pictures of them, but I did take some of the dogs at Mud Lake. Here they are …
Then, we went to the Grand Canyon with them. It was pretty, but EXTREMELY windy, and the wind makes a noise that I find exhausting. After a while, I walked on ahead to the Hopi House and hung out in the quiet. Then we enjoyed a *delicious* National Park Lunch (NPL) at a hole-in-the-wall place where our waiter was … oblivious.
And then we drove to Vegas. We stopped at Choride, AZ en route and took a look at their crazy decorations:
We went to the Pinball Hall of Fame, which is tucked away in a elbow of a strip mall:
I went to Dr. Smith, my neurologist in Denver, at the beginning of October. That sucked. This neurologist is the most bland doctor I’ve ever met. “Why are you here?” he asked when I first got taken back to the exam room.
“Because I called to get a refill prescription sent to my mail order pharmacy and your secretary said that you’d write the script IF you could see me.” He nodded. Said nothing — not an “Oh, right,” not a “Well, thank you for driving all this way!”. Nothing.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m still really tired,” I responded.
“Yes, a lot of my patients complain about that. I don’t know why. Sorry.”
Now, if he’d said, ‘I don’t know what it is about the brain that makes stroke victims so exhausted,’ I’d be fine with that. However, he didn’t even admit that my tiredness was REAL.
Later on, I told him that I’d gotten a teaching job, and it was going well, but I was running into problems with my handwriting. He looked skeptical. “Want me to show you?” I asked, anticipating his next question.
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy …”
“OK,” he said. “Hmm …” I held my breath. I’d already done this demonstration for him on my last visit. He’d said something like, “Hmm, that does get small.” This time, however, he said, “Parkinson’s patients have similar problems, and sometimes medications help them … maybe I could write you a script for some of those. This type of penmanship problem is called ‘microphasia’. I don’t know if the medicines will help you, but we could try them …”
“Sure!” I said excitedly. I already found out all the rest of the information from my friends in med school, but I didn’t know about the medications. So I’ve now got a prescription for Sinemet, which I hope will help. The rest of the appointment was useless. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, “Why didn’t he give me this medication the LAST time I showed him my handwriting?” Doctors can be so DUMB. Sigh.
“What side effects can I expect?” I asked.
“Well, let me look up the drugs you’re currently on and check for interactions.” He checked. “You’re fine,” he said. Excellent!
I started the Sinemet right before going to Las Vegas. I immediately noticed a bit of naseua, but it wasn’t making me puke. I googled “Sinemet side effects”, and of course naseua is listed — it’s listed on every drug in existence. However, what you really need to pay attention to is what PERCENTAGE of people complaining of naseua, because if somebody mentions it — even if they’ve got the stomach flu or something like that — they write it down. I didn’t bother to check.
I switched to taking the Sinemet at night and my nausea went away. Unfortunately, it’s an “on-off drug”, meaning that the half life is very short. If you take it at night, the only benefit you get is AT NIGHT. It is therefore pointless to do this.
The last day we were there, I decided to ramp up my dosage, as directed. I had leftovers for breakfast and downed the medicine. Half an hour later, I wasn’t feeling so hot. 35 minutes later, I was cursing myself for taking the stupid stuff. 40 minutes later, I was hunched over the bathroom sink, puking up everything I’d eaten. =(
I googled Sinemet nausea. The first five (maybe more) links are testimonials from people who get violently ill from taking it. “Major side effects include nausea, vomiting, and uncontrolled, spontaneous movements.” Check on the first two, and spontaneous movements? Well, I don’t want those …
Oh yes, back to my Vegas story: So I’d puked up all my breakfast, and for lunch I had a bowl of Cheerios. (I feared losing all of my cookies again, and figured it’d be best to go small and bland.) Unfortunately, food has become very important to me since my strokes. Around 3pm, I was ready for dinner. When I say “ready for dinner”, I mean READY. FOR. DINNER. I was *exhausted* and fading. I went to the mall and had arranged to meet Ben at 5:30 for the Wynn Buffet, which he had a comp for. I hung on until 4:30 until I couldn’t take it anymore — if I got any tireder, I’d fall down in the Gap or something — and interrupted Ben’s poker game.
“Hi, love. Can we go to the buffet now? I’m starving!”
“Oh, hello! No, sorry. I’m playing poker.”
“But I’m starving. Please?”
“No. Besides, we need my parents.” I left the poker room and ran into them not 50 yards from the entrance. I dragged them back to Ben.
“Here you go. Can we please go now?”
“No.” I was practically in tears. How could he not understand that I. NEEDED. TO. EAT? Now!!!! This wasn’t me being whiney; I really needed sustainance!
“I’m sorry that I didn’t eat much for lunch. But –”
“Go get a milkshake or something.” Fine. I was too tired to argue, and I don’t mean that figuratively; I was literally too tired. I went to the ice cream shop and bought myself a $7 milkshake. It tasted OK, but I practically chugged it. It almost felt like I was eating energy. Calories? Bring ‘em on! Halfway through the drink, my knees stopped wobbling, and I headed back through the casino to Ben.
“Oh, you got a milkshake!” he exclaimed.
“Yep.”
“Is it good?”
“Yep,” I lied through slurps. “For 7 dollars, it better be!”
“Excellent.”
“Are you almost done?” I asked hopefully. My milkshake was helping, but I needed … crab legs. All-you-can-eat crab legs. At the BUFFET.
“No, I’m sorry,” he replied. I rolled my eyes.
“Would you like to go look at the koi pond?” Mom offered. “It’s not too far away.”
I looked at Ben. He was concentrating on the poker game. “OK,” I answered miserably. We walked off in search of fish. We found them, and then we found a quiet couch. We sat there until 5:25pm. I apologized for being so tired, and explained why food was so important, but I left out the vomiting part. I don’t really know why, except that I didn’t want sympathy; I just wanted a trip to the buffet.
We walked up to the poker room right at 5:30. Ben cashed out, and we went on to a DELICIOUS visit to the buffet. Crab legs, roast beast, shrimp … OMG, it was SO good. Then it was on to the frog. More about that in a minute.
I called Dr. Smith when I got home. I explained the nausea and vomiting to him. “Yes, that’s common,” he said. What the $#*@??? He KNEW that this was common and he didn’t TELL me? When I ASKED him? Specifically? I think it’s time to see a new neurologist. I’m grateful to Dr. Smith for recommending the TCD and finding my PFO, but all the times I’ve visited him, he’s seemed shocked that I’m tired, and now the ‘forgetting’ the side effects of the Sinemet? I don’t trust him. =P
I’ve stopped the medicine. I’ll take the bad handwriting.
Anyway. Did I mention that I hate Vegas? It’s so noisy. There is nothing culturally redeeming about the city … except for the singing frog. We went to the first showing, after a noisy but filling dinner at the Wynn Buffet. I think Mom and Dad wanted to see the lights on Freemont Street instead, but Ben (bless his heart!) said, “Well, I’ve seen the frog before, and it’s spectacular. Let’s just watch him instead.” So we waited until he came out and enjoyed his stunning rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” It was less than breathtaking.
Dad looked disappointed, but refrained from asking to go to Freemont Street again. Thank goodness. I was ready to go home and go to bed!
Our friends Molly and Gustavo Joseph tied the knot two weekends ago! They got married up in Estes Park and had AMAZING weather. Three weekends ago, it was cold and rainy; for their wedding, the sun was shining, the air was warm, and all the trees were changing. Congratulations to a beautiful bride and an awesome groom!
(I didn’t get a good picture of all of the bridesmaids. My apologies!)
Fast forward to two days ago. Ben took me to get a pumpkin! Here are some pictures of our journey, which began with a car ride.
(OK, so this one isn’t from the car. It’s actually from a walk we took last week; it’s to try to show the breeder Zamba’s form. So sue me!)
Zamba was fascinated with Ben’s juice box. Any time she sees liquid or a liquid container, she thinks, “OMG! Watur!” and tries to take a drink. Nalgenes at the park are a common target. She even took a stab at a bottle of motor oil in the back of Mike’s, our dogsitter’s, truck, while we were in Vegas. Apparantly, she drained it but got most of it on her fur — and the backseat of Mike’s truck. He bathed her and said that the shampoo got most of it out. Sometimes you embarrass me, Zamba.
The pumpkin place that Ben took me to was AWESOME. It was acres and acres of pumpkins, and you just drive up and pick the one you want! We found one. Pictures of it to come soon.
That’s it! Take care, all you nosy people! =)
