Monday, March 08, 2004
Tidbits...
Took Dan to the ER Friday night for an infected lymph node on the left side of his neck. It was pressing on nerves and muscle, causing pain to radiate down into his chest. Tonight, Dan's still hurting quite a bit. He's not had swollen lymph nodes before and now can appreciate when I get ear infections and/or bronchitis, which makes the nodes on BOTH sides swell up. He has promised to call his primary care doc in the morning. The ER doc gave him a lot of crap for not contacting his primary care last Wednesday, which is when this whole thing started. We were told to watch for fever and any worsening, neither of which has happened, BUT the swelling hasn't started going down yet. I've read enough about lymphoma in Sjogren's to know better than to ignore stuff like this.
The editors of the book sections of the newspapers I work for get all kinds of advance copies from publishers so they can be read and reviewed before the books hit the stores. The editors don't keep most of the stuff they read, so four times a year, these books are sold to the employees to raise money for scholarships. This quarter's sale was Wednesday and Thursday. I bought ten books for myself this time. One is called "Let Them Eat Prozac" by David Healy. It's about how the drug companies covered up evidence of their SSRI's causing patients to commit suicide. I was VERY impressed with it. It will come out in June. Another is called "The Etiquette of Illness" by Susan Halpern. It's for healthy people who don't know what to say around one who is chronically ill, and for the ill people who want to make others more comfortable around them. I'm happy I bought it because I could see it being useful in many situations, and the author (who had cancer) is very compassionate. It publishes next month. Let's see....the other stuff....oh, a huge coffee table book about how Cleopatra was depicted through the ages with some 400 photos of coins, statues, pottery, paintings, hieroglyphics, etc. Would retail for $90, but I got it for $10. Also, books about the Beatles, J.R.R. Tolkien, Katherine Hepburn, Shakespeare, and the art of writing. I'm such a geek.
I bought a Linkin Park CD. Best description would be heavy metal meets emo music. Very popular with teens, but I think they are teens with good taste.
Tonight, I made polenta pizza. I will have to adjust it next time....the recipe says seven minutes at 350 degrees, but that didn't even heat it all the way through, and I ended up nuking it. The leftovers will be good, though....what is it about Italian food that make it taste so much better the second time you heat it? Maybe that's just me.
Had a heck of a migraine for a few days last week from my new anti-inflammatory. Thought for awhile I would have to discontinue it, but awoke on Tuesday feeling much better. Haven't had any more problems, so I'll stick with it. The medication is helping.....gets rid of about half of the joint pain and stiffness.
Tuesday, I went to my primary care doc about the rash on my bad heel and elsewhere. She said it was dermatitis, probably aggravated by having to keep my open incision bandaged all the time (I'm still applying the Panafil daily). She prescribed a new cream for the rash. It's called Elidel, which sounds more like a Tolkien character than a medication, if you ask me. Anyway, she told me to put it on the rash twice a day, alternating with Benedryl cream. Took three days, but the itching finally did subside for the most part. The bumps haven't gone away yet, though, so I'll keep using the cream for awhile longer.
Started a new supplement on Thursday....pharmeceutical-grade fish oil. This is oil that has had the impurities removed from it. It is a natural anti-inflammatory. The idea is to complement the prescription medication rather than replace it. I am pleased to report that my pain level is greatly reduced, now down to about a 4 where it was 8-10 most of the time before I switched medications. I had to cut back a bit on the dose of the fish oil, though, as it was upsetting my digestion some.
So now my biggest remaining hurdle is the fatigue. It has decreased slightly since I started the fish oil, I think because my pain level is down. Stands to reason that hurting a lot would be tiring. I still need quite a lot of sleep, though, and wear out much faster than the average person. I hope that after I've been sleeping better for awhile (due to reduced pain), I will get more energy back. I would really love to stop being knocked on my butt by the sledgehammer of fatigue.
Finally got my holiday pix edited, but now I'm having trouble getting them on a web page due to some technical glitch. First I didn't have enough available web space, but I fixed that after doing some updates. Wonder if one of the updates changed something vital. You'd think I'd know more about this derned computer with all the time I spend on it. Rats.
For those of you who haven't visited Fibrohugs lately, it has a new look. Same addy, though. You can find it on my Links list. It has new forums for fibromyalgia, Sjogren's, friends and family, and chronic illness in general. I spent an inordinate amount of time this week getting the hang of the new boards. Was worth it, though.
Another weekend where I don't feel I accomplished much. Maybe I'll get a fire lit under my butt next weekend. Maybe.
Pain level: 4
Fatigue level: 7
The editors of the book sections of the newspapers I work for get all kinds of advance copies from publishers so they can be read and reviewed before the books hit the stores. The editors don't keep most of the stuff they read, so four times a year, these books are sold to the employees to raise money for scholarships. This quarter's sale was Wednesday and Thursday. I bought ten books for myself this time. One is called "Let Them Eat Prozac" by David Healy. It's about how the drug companies covered up evidence of their SSRI's causing patients to commit suicide. I was VERY impressed with it. It will come out in June. Another is called "The Etiquette of Illness" by Susan Halpern. It's for healthy people who don't know what to say around one who is chronically ill, and for the ill people who want to make others more comfortable around them. I'm happy I bought it because I could see it being useful in many situations, and the author (who had cancer) is very compassionate. It publishes next month. Let's see....the other stuff....oh, a huge coffee table book about how Cleopatra was depicted through the ages with some 400 photos of coins, statues, pottery, paintings, hieroglyphics, etc. Would retail for $90, but I got it for $10. Also, books about the Beatles, J.R.R. Tolkien, Katherine Hepburn, Shakespeare, and the art of writing. I'm such a geek.
I bought a Linkin Park CD. Best description would be heavy metal meets emo music. Very popular with teens, but I think they are teens with good taste.
Tonight, I made polenta pizza. I will have to adjust it next time....the recipe says seven minutes at 350 degrees, but that didn't even heat it all the way through, and I ended up nuking it. The leftovers will be good, though....what is it about Italian food that make it taste so much better the second time you heat it? Maybe that's just me.
Had a heck of a migraine for a few days last week from my new anti-inflammatory. Thought for awhile I would have to discontinue it, but awoke on Tuesday feeling much better. Haven't had any more problems, so I'll stick with it. The medication is helping.....gets rid of about half of the joint pain and stiffness.
Tuesday, I went to my primary care doc about the rash on my bad heel and elsewhere. She said it was dermatitis, probably aggravated by having to keep my open incision bandaged all the time (I'm still applying the Panafil daily). She prescribed a new cream for the rash. It's called Elidel, which sounds more like a Tolkien character than a medication, if you ask me. Anyway, she told me to put it on the rash twice a day, alternating with Benedryl cream. Took three days, but the itching finally did subside for the most part. The bumps haven't gone away yet, though, so I'll keep using the cream for awhile longer.
Started a new supplement on Thursday....pharmeceutical-grade fish oil. This is oil that has had the impurities removed from it. It is a natural anti-inflammatory. The idea is to complement the prescription medication rather than replace it. I am pleased to report that my pain level is greatly reduced, now down to about a 4 where it was 8-10 most of the time before I switched medications. I had to cut back a bit on the dose of the fish oil, though, as it was upsetting my digestion some.
So now my biggest remaining hurdle is the fatigue. It has decreased slightly since I started the fish oil, I think because my pain level is down. Stands to reason that hurting a lot would be tiring. I still need quite a lot of sleep, though, and wear out much faster than the average person. I hope that after I've been sleeping better for awhile (due to reduced pain), I will get more energy back. I would really love to stop being knocked on my butt by the sledgehammer of fatigue.
Finally got my holiday pix edited, but now I'm having trouble getting them on a web page due to some technical glitch. First I didn't have enough available web space, but I fixed that after doing some updates. Wonder if one of the updates changed something vital. You'd think I'd know more about this derned computer with all the time I spend on it. Rats.
For those of you who haven't visited Fibrohugs lately, it has a new look. Same addy, though. You can find it on my Links list. It has new forums for fibromyalgia, Sjogren's, friends and family, and chronic illness in general. I spent an inordinate amount of time this week getting the hang of the new boards. Was worth it, though.
Another weekend where I don't feel I accomplished much. Maybe I'll get a fire lit under my butt next weekend. Maybe.
Pain level: 4
Fatigue level: 7
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