Down

I've been feeling kind of down lately. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't been able to get out much or stress from other areas in my life. My knee is healing well, I got the stitches out yesterday. I've gotten some other strengthening exercises from the physio to do as well.

Milo went back to the vet. Both his back paws are infected. Just a few weeks after they had cleared up :/. We must seem like pretty awful puppy parents. I think it might be a new food allergy developing, we will likely have to re-test.

I worked with some femo clay. I'll post pictures once I paint it.

Post-op....continues...

I'm doing alright. I was able to get around the apartment today with out a problem. Other than kneeling, I still can't kneel. Or squat. My knee is still inflamed, but it isn't painful. A bit achey. My back is actually starting to hurt more than anything, not being able to squat or kneel means I need to bend my back more to pick up things. So i've been having some back spasms, which is no fun.

On a lighter note, i've almost finished up one of my big projects for the semester. Yay for botany! I'm still behind in my notes, but I figure i'll do an hour or two a day and I should be able to make it up.

Milo has injured his back paws again :/.

Dog Park Fun

Quiet day at home. Hip/back is still not awesome, but I was able to go for a good walk with Bran and Milo to the dog park. I love watching Milo run around and roll in the grass :) he made friends with a rather chatty dalmatian. We have my birthday high tea tomorrow with MiL and SiL.

Confusing, but OK

I've had a bit of an up and down day. Pain-wise i'm feeling just about back to my normal level of back pain (which is to say, annoying and not normal, but nor so horrific that I need to take narcotics). I'm not sure what helped in this...or if my body was just like 'eh, that was fun, back to normal now'. It's something i'll have to talk to my doctor about.

I was able to do my normal grocery shop with my lovely MiL, but I ended up getting an ocular migraine. It isn't so much fun having the world tip to either side and get fuzzy in patches. I only had a bit of a headache on the right side, it was more the visual disturbances. Not sure what triggered that. I've had more dairy than normal? My gut is telling me it's unhappy. I'm not sure why it's fine sometimes and unhappy other times. Crazy body.

So I was feeling unhappy at that point, but I was ok. The migraine subsided and Bran went out to see his friends and watch footy. I'm glad he wasn't watching it here ;). Nah, i'm happy he had his 'man time' out with his friends. I took this opportunity to mope around, watch an episode of glee, be more mopey, then finish a paining. There is something about painting, listing to music and singing like a scalded cat that is so cathartic XD. I now have another painting I can hang on our walls, started a new one, and felt much better for it. Then I cleaned the stove and watched a happy sappy movie.

So I end on a good note, feeling alright in body and mind. Milo is feeling much better too btw. His paw is still a bit pink but the inflammation is gone and the hair is growing back between his toes.

Puppy Paws

I had another day at home today. Milo really needed to go to the vet as his paw was not looking good. We did go (after wrapping his paw in a sock and a plastic baggie) and he is to take antibiotics for three weeks. Poor thing :(. But he was happy enough to get out for a walk and get two extra spoons of peanut butter (with pills secretly hidden inside). We've both been resting for the rest of the day. I took my hard won endone, while it help with the pain only a little it does also make me foggy brained (and thus think about the pain less). I'm up to the therapeutic dose of amitriptyline now, so i'll give it a week or two and see how we go.

Likely i'll stay home and rest for the rest of the week, which means i'll be missing class :(. Not my favourite thing, as these classes are quite important, but I need to do what is best for me and sitting on those horrible chairs for three hours a day isn't doing me any favours.

We also found out that our neighbours (yes, the ones we've had problems with) have sold their unit! Good for them :) hopefully they move to a nice house away from here. Though I wonder what the new owners are like.

Being Thankful

Today was a not-so-much-fun day. I woke up with horrible back/sciatic pain. Really the worst i've had since I hurt my back working. Just aching, shooting, deep pain. Luckily, I already had a GP appointment. She was really great with everything, she think Lyrica will be the thing to help but I want to get up to the therapeutic dose of amitriptyline before I try anything else. She gave me some endone to get me through the worst days, with warnings not to get too attached. Which I wont. Because I hate the cloudy head feeling I get on anything heavier than 1 panadeine forte.

After a loooong travel back and a arduously slow hobble back to the apartment, I open up my new bag of trick to find that the pharmacist forgot the endone. W.T.F. After a hissy fit, I call them and of course there is a process to go through since it is a restricted drug (being a stronger opiate). After some time and a few calls the pharmacist says that he can't see on the security tape whether they did or did not give it to me, but as they know me he will drop it off at my apartment tonight. Really? Tonight? Yup. Returns my faith in humanity :). Thank you nice pharmacist. About an hour later I get my endone hand delivered to my door with apologies.

I'm so thankful to have people on my side, believing that i'm telling the truth. I'm so thankful to have people looking out for me :).

Milo, on the other hand, still had a sore paw. We are going to the vet tomorrow.

Puppies and Cakes

Milo's paw continues to look bad :( we are doing salt water soaks. If it's not looking at least a bit better tomorrow i'll bring him to the vet (who is luckily just down the road!). Now it's time for Downton Abbey :).

P.S. I made cupcakes :D I used this recipe that I found from Down to Earth. I also halved the sugar and used cream cheese frosting left over from valentines day (kept in the freezer). They came out quite lovely!

Rough Stuff

It's been a rough day. I woke up thinking I heard Milo whimpering, so of course I sat straight up (scaring him in the process) hurting my back. He was fine, it was actually a bird calling that I heard. But here I was in a lot of pain.

Thankfully I already had an appointment with the osteopath, so after spending most of the day laying on the couch in horrible pain and doing the 20 minute (usually 10) walk down to their office I was offered some relief. Relief in the form of more pain as the osteopath pushed against knots in my back and manipulated bits and bobs, but goodness did it help! I feel about 70% better than I did this morning. Still not awesome, I wouldn't go for a long walk, but I might be able to manage grocery shopping tomorrow.

Milo has been licking one of his feet again. Just his back left, so I don't think it's an allergic reaction, but it's worrying none the less :( poor thing is a bit OCD about it. He is back to wearing a sock.

Upping amitriptyline to 60 mg.

Coconut Flour Muffins

Spent most of the day studying and doing a few house chores. Also brought Milo to the vet for his vaccines.

Now for something more interesting; I made some GF coconut flour muffins! The recipe I used is from Heavenly Homemakers. Mine didn't end up looking quite as lovely, but they are yummy! They may be a bit sweet and a bit oily though, so next time I make them i'll play with the recipe a bit. I was quite surprised at how much the coconut flour soaked up, also that it wasn't too eggy. I did use my lovely new electric beaters, so it came together in a flash :D I found that you would probably have to do a lot of mixing to get all the lumps out, so that something to keep in mind.

MiLs and AiLs

Tired.

Went out shopping with MiL and Aunt in law today. It was lovely to see Sue again (AiL). Later on we took Milo to the park. It's nice watching him run around like a mad hatter :D but there were lots and lots of mosquitos and I don't really feel like getting ross river virus, so we ended up walking home as soon as he started to take breaks. I need to make lots of cinnamon rolls, both for boxing day and as Bran wants to bring some in to work on christmas eve (he is working during the day). Pain is a bit better today, right foot was angry at points though. Still tired. Mtx is not so much fun to go back on.

Neighbours

*big sigh* So our neighbour complained about our dog. Now we have a witten warning from the body corporate. For goodness sake >.<. Milo is a good dog! He barked at your cat! Well, I don't blame her for being mad really, what I feel bad about is that someone who thinks ill of us is sharing a wall. Now i'm going to feel anxious every time I come home. Is she outside with her little fluff ball? Did Milo bark while I was gone (he wont, we remedied that the first week thank-you-very-much-complaining-neighbour)? Is she thinking mean little thoughts about my poor dog? How am I supposed to greet her? Eye contact? Do I want to be the bigger person and not complain about her dog barking and being off leash?

Yes I do. I wont complain about her to the body corporate manager. I wont even send a follow up e-mail. I'll just let it be and wait until she moves out (they are fixing up the apartment to sell). And maybe play my music slightly louder and bang more pots around when I cook ;) never said I was perfect.

BTW, passion flower extract is really helping as a panic attack remedy. Greatly helped calm my nerves before my psychology demonstration and just then as I was about to start throwing things at said shared wall. I may take a bit more before bed so that I can actually sleep and no obsess over negative people.

STRESS

Oh. My. Goodness. It's been a very stressful last few days. My anxiety has been increasing anyway as I have final exams coming up, my family hasn't contacted me, as well as dealing with the ever ongoing pain and problems that come along with PsA and fibro. Now i'm having problems with my neighbour. I wont go into too much detail, our dog scared her cat and that caused some upset. I can understand that, I just hate knowing that someone who shares a wall with us is mad. Plus I know Milo didn't mean any harm :( he just hasn't met a cat....but it also puts a stop on our plan to adopt a cat until we know Milo will calm down.

Anyway, it's all caused too much stress and I was really starting to break down. My naturopath gave me another herbal tablet and a vial of passion flower extract to help deal with anxiety, i'm very thankful for that as i've been able to function much better for the past day and a half than I have for the previous week! Which is good, as I have a very busy week of meeting with my GP, rheumatologist, and osteopath. I met with my OT already today to deal with my wrist brace hurting my thumb, as well as class and getting blood drawn for my monthly tests.

Honestly, i'm tired and really in pain from my wrist, elbow, hips, feet, jaw and ankle. But my back is feeling mostly better! It's nice knowing I have some people on my health care team who are doing their best to help.

Osteopath and Ocular Migraines

Time for an update. I'm off the low carb thing, I started getting ocular migraines and losing weight is just not worth hallucinating.

My R wrist and elbow have been acting up the past few days. I can still use them, but since seeing the OT they have just been grumpy. My jaw is also back to being painful. I'm trying to figure out of maybe there was some trigger that caused it. Sugar maybe? Too much gluten? I'm too tired to try to cut anything else out of my diet right now. Though i'm likely to go visit a Naturopath that focusses for on allergies and diet soon, as suggested by my Osteopath. Speaking of osteopath, she's quite nice. A bit more hard edged than my lovely naturopath, but in a good way. Though she did give me the "sexual abuse is linked to obesity is linked to fibromyalgia" speech. I know that it is their job as a holistic practitioner, but how many times do I need to be told i'm fat? *sigh* But her manipulations have definitely been helping my hip/knee pain and tightness. Not as much the second time around but I can still notice a distinct difference.

She also brought up the anti-TNF meds, which was interesting. My rheumy doesn't want me going on them though as he feels the pain I experience is all fibro because my blood tests are fine. Except from my understanding fibro pain is more in the muscles, and while I do get pain in my muscles a lot of my pain is in the joints. I'm going to have to see my rheumy again soon as I got my MRI results, though i'm dragging my feet :P.

Aaanyway, other than that my energy levels haven't been bad. I went on a crazy 20 minute cleaning spree and got the kitchen and bathroom clean (mostly, the floor is Bran's job ;) ). Still getting good results from the naturopathic medicine as far as my back pain goes. We're going to take Milo to the dog park for the first time in a while, poor thing. He'll be happy that he gets to run around.

Low Carb and High Fees

Low carbing continues. It's pretty neat in a way, because it's forcing me to utilise some flours i've never used before in order to create low carb options for breading and baked goods. I'm using quinoa flour currently, we all know how good quinoa is and now I can make brownies out of it! ;) Haha, I did have a day off yesterday where I ate chips and a sugary drink (and a piece of banana bread <3) but i'm back on it today! It isn't going bad, though I do not see this as a long term option for me.

In other news i've been reminded again that I owe most of this semesters fees >.>. I do know I owe it, and we are working out a solution, but i'd rather not get the harassing calls. I have spoken with people in the office, I wonder if there is a lack of communication...hm.

I've been feeling a bit better recently as well. Still getting fatigued, but physically i've been not as sore. I'm saying it's from the new naturopathic meds. So i'm going to try and fit in more walking with Milo :) we had a nice half our walk today around a nearby park, and other than him getting some prickles in his paws (poor baby :( he needs little doggy boots!) it was quite good! Though my ankles are not very happy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Cupcakes in the PM

So, sometimes I write about cupcakes. This is one of those times. I so enjoy those little cup-sized cakes, with their pretty swirly frosting and tender crumb. Have I mentioned I recently got a little cake decorating set? Only four piping tips and some bags, but it made me happy to be able to make my cupcakes look pretty :D. Currently I have some cooling, just waiting for a devine fudgey chocolate frosting to be swirled on top. It makes my day to have a delicious cupcake.

In other news, I stayed home today in order to look after Milo. 'Why are you looking after your dog and skipping class?' you may ask. Thats because he has separation anxiety and will bark and howl and cry when left alone. We've found that using a citronella spray collar works (once he knows it's on, he pretty much settles down and sleeps or chews his toys). Rarely do we actually come home to him having been sprayed by it. But that is also the main reason we are looking to get a cat. We think if he has another animal in his "pack" who is home to keep him company, he wont get as anxious when Bran and I leave. Now we've run into a problem though. We need body corporate approval before we can adopt a kitty. Actually getting approval wont be hard, our neighbours have three cats and a little dog and another couple down the way have at least a cat, it's just having to wait possibly a month before we can get Mr.Pepper. Hopefully they will hold Pepper for us :/.

Now it's time to frost the yummy cupcakes and go to bed, goodnight all.

COLD!

My goodness, this is more of a note to myself than anything; cold is PAINFUL! The temperature dropped today quite drastically as well as being a little bit drizzly and I can feel it in my joints. Fingers, wrists, elbows and feet are not happy campers. My back is perpetually sore, but the other joints definitely weren't this bad yesterday. I look a panadeine forte this morning and it didn't put a dent in it >.>. Meh.

On a lighter note, we are looking to get a cat! Milo has been lonely and things didn't work out with the dog minder, so we thought a little sibling would help with his anxiety. We've found a lovely cat who apparently enjoys playing with dogs so we are hopeful that we will be able to adopt him :) (his name is Pepper and he is a very handsome short haired black kitteh).

Update (yes, really)

Goodness, it's been over a month since i've entertained my two readers with my oh-so-interesting rambling!

Thats because we don't have internet at the apartment >.> but as the roof is being repaired, we are back with my MiL.

So here is an update in a nutshell:

-Did on the job training
-Had three shifts
-Had an incident on the third shift which resulted in me hurting my back
-Went on workers comp.
-Went into full on fibro flair
-Still figuring things out job wise, but it's quite possible I wont be able to return to that job :(

-Started back at Uni
-Going well.

-Started Cymbalta
-Hate Cymbalta
-Going off Cymbalta
-Starting to get withdrawal symptoms already, and i've only decreased the dose.
-If I still need something for anxiety, i'll try a naturopathic medicine. I'm tired of all these pills...

-Milo was doing really well with barking and doggy daycare
-Milo got a tummy bug :(
-Milo was fine
-Milo's tummy bug returned with vengeance
-Milo lost a lot of weight do to tummy bug :(
-We had to be very careful what he ate, while trying to get his weight up.
-Milo is doing much better :) weight is back up and he's happy

I haven't been able to go to any meet ups or hang out with anyone due to all this random stuff that keeps popping up. I've also been tired, not quite exhausted, but easily fatigued.

On a lighter note, i've finally started losing weight again! I believe this is due to both getting off some of the meds that cause weight gain and bringing a very healthy lunch with me to school. Plus I just haven't been able to handle as much crap.

As far as joints go, they haven't been too bad. My jaw on the right side had been painful off and on for about three weeks, but really it doesn't hurt me to have to eat oatmeal instead of chips ;). My R ankle is bothersome, also for about three weeks. Thats a bit more concerning, but there isn't really anything that can be done. My walking stick has been getting a work out! BTW, after speaking with my lovely counsellor, I have decided to refer to my walking stick as my Happy Stick from now on.

Update

It's been a looong week. I don't have internet other than on my phone, which is why I haven't been updating. So here is a quick recap;

-Moved in to the apartment, the move went well.
-Bran is on vacation, we got everything unpacked quickly.
-Milo is having some anxiety problems, barking and annoying neighbours.
-We forgot our washing machine hose at Everton Park. Oops..
-Very low on money >.> oops..
-I got the job! Yay!
-School starts on the 30th, still need to figure out classes >.>
-Need a bike.
-Started cymbalta, vertigo attacks went away within ours, now on 60 mg a day.

That's it in a nut shell. It's going to be a busy few weeks of training, on the job training, and starting back at school. We also found out we'll have to move out in a month for the roofers to replace the roof >.> thats a bit bothersome...oh well.

Hope everything is going well in blog land :)

Moving, Meds, and Milo

I may or may not have been looking at Lolcats for the last hour or so >.>...

Bran, Milo, and I are all cuddle up on the couch. Bran is watching his footy, Milo is sleeping, and i'm looking at lolcats and typing.

We had a somewhat busy day. The lot of us headed over to the apartment to do some unpacking and cleaning up for the big move next weekend. I still have some bits and bobs to pack, but most of our small things are over already thanks to Sarah's help (my MiL). Milo is starting to get more used to it and i'm sure once his bed is there he'll be happy enough.

Other than that I had a bad cognitive day yesterday. I ended up going to bed around 7:30 and sleeping for about 12 hours >.>. I am feeling mostly better today thankfully, though I did nap after we had a long walk to find the dog park in Northgate.

I'm still struggling a bit with figuring out what fibromyalgia means. I've looked up some studies, medicines, and whatnot but I think i'll just have to have a chat with my GP about it. She's been great with explaining things and helping to find the right mix of meds. I'm not sure if going on another medicine is the right thing, but I don't want to be talking the tramadol all the time. It lessens the pain a bit, but I know it's only covering up the symptoms (and making my brain foggier) and not actually helping.

Tomorrow is a relaxing day. Maybe grocery shopping though I can do that on monday and safe us a trip.

Milo has been doing much better on salmon, brown rice, and greens. He's just about entirely healed up though he had dropped weight :/. We're upping his salmon this weeks and trying out lamb to see if he can handle it.

I'm Boring

Quiet day at home with the pup.

I did make rice and beans, and stuffed peppers using said rice and beans. They turned out quite well.

Milo is still unhappy, and his muzzle is looking quite red :/. Maybe I should try a different food? hm

Wrists were sore today, otherwise not so bad.

Now I sleep.