Thursday, April 06, 2006
Sneaking in between crashes.....
Still haven't had a chance to get the Mac in the shop. I can get it to run for brief periods of time before it freezes up and refuses to restart. This has been a real pain in the butt as we've been trying to print out resumes for Dan, update medical information for my doctors and other important things, and sometimes it takes several hours and restart attempts to accomplish something that should only take minutes. I have also been bummed about not being able to post here. I use this forum as a means to exercise my brain and to keep from feeling overwhelmed. And lately, there's plenty to overwhelm me. We were gonna have the computer looked at on Saturday, but my family is having a birthday party for my dad, so I guess it will have to wait until I don't know when.
Last Sunday, Dan and I went to a union meeting. The union is trying to stop the agency from laying off, but there is some disagreement about whether filing an injunction is a good idea. I think they should try. I mean, if they don't try, Dan will lose his job, and if they try and fail, Dan will still lose his job, so I'm all for it just in case they actually succeed. Part of the problem is that the union has a shitty lawyer and they haven't found a good replacement yet. There are several grievances on the table involving past layoffs and the agency moving work to another department, and none of those have been resolved either, so the odds of Dan's job getting saved in the next month aren't good. But the agency miscalculated how many employees were in an other department (not the one all the work is being diverted to) and have laid off fewer in that area than they thought and more in Dan's area than they thought, so there is a small chance the agency will agree to revised numbers. If that happens, Dan will be spared, at least probably until mid-summer. The agency and the union reps are having a meeting tomorrow to hash this out, and then the reps will let us know what happened at a special meeting next Sunday.
On Monday, I went to the osteopath. Apparently, my SI joint is finally staying in place, which is great, but I still have a considerable amount of stiffness in my hips and other muscles despite this and exercise, which is a puzzle and frustrating. So there's not much else the osteopath can do. I think he feels bad because he was hoping I'd be able to walk better than I do. I am to see him in a few weeks to make sure the joint doesn't slip again. I will continue with the physical therapy for one to two months, so I still may see more improvement with the muscles, but I know not to expect miracles.
Tuesday, I went back to the sleep specialist. He wants me to try a muscle relaxant, Baclofen, at bedtime to see if it will stop me from twitching in my sleep. It may make me drowsy, so I will take it in place of Lunesta at first (don't want to sedate myself into a coma, heh heh). I've had bad luck with muscle relaxants so far. Flexeril made me a zombie no matter how small the dose, and Zanaflex actually made my twitching WORSE. I do take Skelaxin sometimes, but it upsets my stomach and doesn't affect the periodic limb movement disorder at all. I will give the Baclofen a try, though, as I figure it can't be worse than Flexeril, Zanaflex or Klonopin.
Dan and I came home from the sleep specialist appointment to find Chip limping. He looked like he was avoiding his left back leg. Fearing that his hip was dislocating, we called the vet and were told to bring Chip in right away. Naturally, once he set foot in the vet's office, he was so excited to see her that he stopped limping. But she checked him over anyway. He didn't have anything obvious in the way of a new injury, so we asked her to take some x-rays because it had been three years since the previous ones used to diagnose his hip dysplasia. I guess when they got Chip on the table, he did start to act like he was in pain then, poor thing. When the x-ray was done, the vet showed it to us alongside the one from three years ago. It was awful! I have no training in reading x-rays, but even I could see the jagged bone spurs that had formed on his hips and the erosion of the socket. The difference between the two films was pretty obvious. I think if that were me, I'd be doing a lot worse than limping! We went back in the exam room and discussed what to do. We decided that the anti-inflammatories were probably not strong enough. The vet said that Ultram, a non-narcotic pain med also prescribed for people, might work better. She said that at this point, it's a matter of quality of life. While we probably can't get rid of all of Chip's pain without doping him up too much, we can at least get rid of enough of it to allow him to get around all right. I suspect that Chip will not get to have a full life span of a springer spaniel. But I hope he can still have a few more good years. We started him on the Ultram on Tuesday night, and he has stopped limping and appears to feel better. I just wish I could get rid of ALL of his pain.
Yesterday, I still hadn't heard anything from my long-term disability insurance company as to whether they had approved my claim or not, and they were overdue on their reservation of rights payment to me for March, so I called them. Naturally, the benefits specialist said they had cut me a check that morning. She did the same thing last month, waiting until I called to pay me. I guess it's better than not getting paid at all. Anyway, they got the neuropsych exam report on March 22 and some other information on March 31st (they didn't bother telling me what it was about), so they still want a few more weeks to make their decision. Tards.
Went to the rheumatologist today. He never got the reports of the tests the long-term disability insurance company had me do, so I'm going to have to call and request that they be sent. Um, did I mention the LTD guys were tards? Anyway, I told the doc about Social Security's denial, my adventures with meds, and my reactions to the functional capacity exam (still recovering) and the neuropsych. Told him I might be moving and asked if there were any rheumatologists in Sioux Falls. He said there were, but they were so backlogged that it takes six months to get an appointment with them! Ack! He said I should make an appointment as soon as I am sure that I am moving.
Speaking of maybe moving, Dan is going to Sioux Falls next week. He'll be gone from April 11-17 so he can job hunt. His parents are paying for the plane ticket. I will attempt to hold down the fort at home. It's always rough on me when Dan's out of town because I have to drive myself everywhere, do my own errands and do more around the house. But if Dan gets a job in South Dakota before our house sells, he'll go out there ahead of me and I'll have to deal with realtors and movers and maybe hiring someone to clean plus a billion other things all by myself, so I guess I should practice being responsible now.
Well, it has taken me almost two hours to get this typed because I kept losing the internet connection and had to save it as a draft seven times. So I can't guarantee when I will get to post again.
Guess I will go downstairs and listen to Johnny Cash on my five-disc music CD player, which I have had for 15 years and has never failed to work. Hmph.
Last Sunday, Dan and I went to a union meeting. The union is trying to stop the agency from laying off, but there is some disagreement about whether filing an injunction is a good idea. I think they should try. I mean, if they don't try, Dan will lose his job, and if they try and fail, Dan will still lose his job, so I'm all for it just in case they actually succeed. Part of the problem is that the union has a shitty lawyer and they haven't found a good replacement yet. There are several grievances on the table involving past layoffs and the agency moving work to another department, and none of those have been resolved either, so the odds of Dan's job getting saved in the next month aren't good. But the agency miscalculated how many employees were in an other department (not the one all the work is being diverted to) and have laid off fewer in that area than they thought and more in Dan's area than they thought, so there is a small chance the agency will agree to revised numbers. If that happens, Dan will be spared, at least probably until mid-summer. The agency and the union reps are having a meeting tomorrow to hash this out, and then the reps will let us know what happened at a special meeting next Sunday.
On Monday, I went to the osteopath. Apparently, my SI joint is finally staying in place, which is great, but I still have a considerable amount of stiffness in my hips and other muscles despite this and exercise, which is a puzzle and frustrating. So there's not much else the osteopath can do. I think he feels bad because he was hoping I'd be able to walk better than I do. I am to see him in a few weeks to make sure the joint doesn't slip again. I will continue with the physical therapy for one to two months, so I still may see more improvement with the muscles, but I know not to expect miracles.
Tuesday, I went back to the sleep specialist. He wants me to try a muscle relaxant, Baclofen, at bedtime to see if it will stop me from twitching in my sleep. It may make me drowsy, so I will take it in place of Lunesta at first (don't want to sedate myself into a coma, heh heh). I've had bad luck with muscle relaxants so far. Flexeril made me a zombie no matter how small the dose, and Zanaflex actually made my twitching WORSE. I do take Skelaxin sometimes, but it upsets my stomach and doesn't affect the periodic limb movement disorder at all. I will give the Baclofen a try, though, as I figure it can't be worse than Flexeril, Zanaflex or Klonopin.
Dan and I came home from the sleep specialist appointment to find Chip limping. He looked like he was avoiding his left back leg. Fearing that his hip was dislocating, we called the vet and were told to bring Chip in right away. Naturally, once he set foot in the vet's office, he was so excited to see her that he stopped limping. But she checked him over anyway. He didn't have anything obvious in the way of a new injury, so we asked her to take some x-rays because it had been three years since the previous ones used to diagnose his hip dysplasia. I guess when they got Chip on the table, he did start to act like he was in pain then, poor thing. When the x-ray was done, the vet showed it to us alongside the one from three years ago. It was awful! I have no training in reading x-rays, but even I could see the jagged bone spurs that had formed on his hips and the erosion of the socket. The difference between the two films was pretty obvious. I think if that were me, I'd be doing a lot worse than limping! We went back in the exam room and discussed what to do. We decided that the anti-inflammatories were probably not strong enough. The vet said that Ultram, a non-narcotic pain med also prescribed for people, might work better. She said that at this point, it's a matter of quality of life. While we probably can't get rid of all of Chip's pain without doping him up too much, we can at least get rid of enough of it to allow him to get around all right. I suspect that Chip will not get to have a full life span of a springer spaniel. But I hope he can still have a few more good years. We started him on the Ultram on Tuesday night, and he has stopped limping and appears to feel better. I just wish I could get rid of ALL of his pain.
Yesterday, I still hadn't heard anything from my long-term disability insurance company as to whether they had approved my claim or not, and they were overdue on their reservation of rights payment to me for March, so I called them. Naturally, the benefits specialist said they had cut me a check that morning. She did the same thing last month, waiting until I called to pay me. I guess it's better than not getting paid at all. Anyway, they got the neuropsych exam report on March 22 and some other information on March 31st (they didn't bother telling me what it was about), so they still want a few more weeks to make their decision. Tards.
Went to the rheumatologist today. He never got the reports of the tests the long-term disability insurance company had me do, so I'm going to have to call and request that they be sent. Um, did I mention the LTD guys were tards? Anyway, I told the doc about Social Security's denial, my adventures with meds, and my reactions to the functional capacity exam (still recovering) and the neuropsych. Told him I might be moving and asked if there were any rheumatologists in Sioux Falls. He said there were, but they were so backlogged that it takes six months to get an appointment with them! Ack! He said I should make an appointment as soon as I am sure that I am moving.
Speaking of maybe moving, Dan is going to Sioux Falls next week. He'll be gone from April 11-17 so he can job hunt. His parents are paying for the plane ticket. I will attempt to hold down the fort at home. It's always rough on me when Dan's out of town because I have to drive myself everywhere, do my own errands and do more around the house. But if Dan gets a job in South Dakota before our house sells, he'll go out there ahead of me and I'll have to deal with realtors and movers and maybe hiring someone to clean plus a billion other things all by myself, so I guess I should practice being responsible now.
Well, it has taken me almost two hours to get this typed because I kept losing the internet connection and had to save it as a draft seven times. So I can't guarantee when I will get to post again.
Guess I will go downstairs and listen to Johnny Cash on my five-disc music CD player, which I have had for 15 years and has never failed to work. Hmph.
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