This child has always loved books, she will sit and read chapter after chapter book. She even keeps one in her backpack that she reads on the bus. The greatest thing is at her school they earn tickets for good behavior and her teacher has let them turn in 20 tickets for a book. Mainly ones her kids no longer reads. Well she brought in Aimee’s favorite books which are fairy books and she is almost done with both of them she got last month. She is always surprising us with what she is able to accomplish!

This past week I had a headache every day for a week, then I had a migraine that lasted 3 days and landed me in the ER. Yep first time in the ER ever for a migraine, that wasn’t a fun 9hrs of my life. But we did get it down to a headache at least and no more migraine for now. Hoping to get it completely gone within the next 3 weeks so I can enjoy our cruise that is coming up fast! I will enjoy my cruise, heck I have a date night planned on it and I can’t wait for that! It’s our first date “night considering all of our dates lately have been for lunch only (haha).

That’s been my life this past month All in all I love my stim since I am pain free and finally off medications that made me exhausted and not always able to think straight.

I still have to wear the soft neck brace for 2 more weeks and then get my auto adjust turned on on my stimulator. Then 2 more weeks of just wearing it at bed time. After that I should be able to drive again (8weeks), but still take it easy! Tom has been a great Mr. mom taking care of Aimee and doing things around the house since I can’t do anything to help. Granted those that know me know that it’s killing me to just sit around and not do something around my house! I can’t wait to just to laundry again, haha!!

But luckily I have 3 cats to keep me company right now while I’m recovering. They are all very sweet, loving and big on energy! Two of them are more like dogs than cats since they always want to follow you and see what you are doing, kind of funny! The tabby cats are brothers and were adopted last June. They have come a long way personality wise compared to when we adopted them! Our newest addition, Pandora, is slowly coming out of her shell and showing us more and more what she is truly like. We don’t know her history or how old she is. She is a Ragdoll, loves playing with the boys, and chasing all the toys up and down the hall! We are all thankful we were able to adopt these 3 cats since they fit in perfectly with our family and complete our family!  

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I am in love with my stimulator since I finally have no pain in my hands/arms for the first time since the trial back in October. I’m getting used to what level I like when I’m in different positions. The worst of all of it is just the pain from the incision sites. I have one mid back more to the right side and then one just above the waist line. The waist line is the worst for me since when you sit your skin moves and the battery for the stim is placed there. It’s not big, but in no way tiny. So it takes a lot to sit or lay down and once I’m down I’m down for a while. Walking feels great since that means nothing is touching and moving the skin on my back side. I’m in a soft neck brace so I don’t move my head and make the stimulator move. The stimulator runs along my spine up near my neck, hooked up to a wire that is run down my back connected to the battery controller near my waist line.

If I were to move my head my stimulator could move out of the placement spot that truly targets my pain and we’d have to head back to get it readjusted. So I plan to truly follow the rules of no bending, twisting, raising arms above my head, lifting anything, or moving my head. 2 weeks I get my staples out and go over any new rules. I also get my stimulator rep there to go over my controller with me and help adjust anything that is needed on it. Another 2 weeks from that I get the fun new features of this stimulator. I was lucky and got the newest stimulator from this company and am so happy I was able to! I’ll explain more on that once I get that part turned on in 4 weeks and can play with it. But for now I’m pain free and looking forward to down grading my medications in 2 weeks!

We all have those hopes for the future and mine all came crashing down 3 years ago. I had to create a new future plan and I had no clue what that was since I was still learning what CRPS was other than horrible pain. Since May 4 years ago I have been trying to learn what I can about CRPS, things constantly change and doctors find new things that work around the world. I gave up on college since I couldn’t get through a course without stress and sending me spinning out of control into a ton of pain needing another nerve block to help control. Also the fact that my memory is horrible due to my condition and all of my medications. I still don’t know what my new path is other than family and my cats. My cats are my comfort especially on days I have the worst pain. Yoga has been part of my new path to help control stress and exercise in a way I don’t have to hurt my arms while trying to get some exercise. I love my gentle yoga classes and will miss them for now while I recover from surgery.

So 1/20/2012 I go in to get my spinal cord stimulator permanently placed and then 6-8 weeks recovery process. The stimulator is a thin wire basically placed next to the spine and in my case starts up by my neck going down, with the battery pack being placed in the area a belt would be worn. I have one of the best doctors in the area doing my procedure.

Looking forward to having “Hope” back tomorrow since during my trial I was at 100% pain relief. Will update on progress once I’m able to get online again comfortably.