A warning about future political posts And Stiffness in my neck, but no migraines!

Deciding to write a new post is truly overwhelming. There is all that blank space to fill. Still, onwards!

Today is September 28, 2016. A lot is going on here in the States as we move toward the election, but, as arrogant as that sounds, I will leave that and talk about me. That is what the blog was intended for after all. I will warn you that I am very political and there will likely be a political post at least once a week, likely more often. I will put a warning at the top that the post will be political. (note to self: go back and put a warning on the first one.)

I will discuss politics on here because I believe the future of the country as well as our allies is worth discussing. However, other than this one, I will keep the two completely separate. If you decide to follow along on my journey back to health, you won't miss any of that journey by skipping the political posts. You will, however, lose the chance to know me better since politics is very much a part of who I am.

Now back to my health. First the goodness and it is very good news. I have not had a migraine since the ablation on Friday morning. I went into the ablation with a migraine, a 7+ on the pain scale and my vision was badly impaired. When I came out, the migraine  pain was gone and the only vision problem I had was a bit of blurriness from the anesthetic. None of the migraine symptoms have returned.

The less thrilling news is that my neck is still extremely painful. I have to consciously hold it it up and it hurts a great deal when I do that. Last night, I found I couldn't raise my head off of my chest at all. I called the doctor's answering service and he called me back. He had me relax all my muscles and raise my head with my hand. I was able to do that, so he said it was most likely muscle spasm, he called in a muscle relaxant. I took that and went to bed.

The doctor was in the car when he called me back. As we were talking I heard this little voice, "I thought we were going to the park, Daddy!" I hope I was the only interruption to the little guy's play date with Daddy.

I admit, I was hoping to be farther along by now and not in so much pain. Still, I'll trade neck pain and stiffness for constant migraines in a minute.

Toby Helping Me Blog

**Political** Looking forward to the holidays, but dreading the annual fake "War on Christmas"

Today is Monday, September 26, 2016. For those that celebrate, that's three months until Christmas, for those that don't celebrate that's three months until everything in the U.S.A., except Asian restaurants and casinos, close down for no apparent reason.

What I'm dreading is the whole "War on Christmas" Insanity. Stores are already starting to decorate for christmas. I don't know who they think is conducting this war on christmas. The Easter Bunny? I mean you've got to admit he doesn't get nearly the play time that the fat guy does.

"The average American will spend $700 on holiday gifts and goodies this year, totaling more than $465 billion." Diane Sawyer, ABC

Unless those billions are being spent on surface-to-air missiles to shoot Santa out of the sky, I'm pretty sure Christmas is safe.

That is coming from an atheist who *loves* Christmas, both Santa and Baby Jesus. I own a Christmas tree, more decorations than will fit on it, more lights than I can fit outside and a couple of creches. One was my mother's it is plastic and bought at a "5 and dime" their first Christmas together. Last I remember, there was one sheep left in it and nothing else.

Asking people not to put up religious displays on public property is not an attack on Christmas or Christianity. Allowing them to be there while other religions are denied the same right is an attack on our Constitution. if you want to live somewhere where one religion rules the entire nation, try Iran or Saudi Arabia.  

I saw the oddest thing a few years ago. I was waiting in line at J.C.Penneys a couple of days before Thanksgiving. The fact that our cashier is working in sales during the holiday season is, I'm pretty sure, a violation of the Geneva Conventions in and of itself. Still, she's doing fine and the line is moving quickly. Then she hands an older woman her package and says with the required smile which is probably another Geneva violation, "Happy Holidays!" The customer/hellspawn snatches the bag and says in very deliberate syllables,  "Mer. Ry. Christ. Mas."  Then stormed off. The cashier just stood there in shock until the guy in front of me, who was next in line said, "Odd, she's not celebrating Thanksgiving or New Years." The cashier started giggling.

I just don't get it. This idea that your opinion of yourself and your beliefs can be validated or in this case invalidated by a total stranger just doing her job. It's not the cashier's job to pat you on the head and confirm you're a good Christian and Christmas is the only true holiday.

Day after Ablation, Pain med babbling

Today is Saturday, September 24, 2016. I didn't post yesterday because I was pretty loopy after my the stuff they gave me during the procedure.

I had my ablation yesterday. I went into the procedure with a migraine, came out without one. Haven't had one since. I have gone several days without a migraine on occasion, so it's not time to pop the bubbly, but I'm hopeful.

My neck is really sore and stiff, but I was warned about that, it's not that bad and much better than a migraine!

My husband is across the state, doing a cache machine in Yakima. My son got "keep an eye on mom" duties. So far, that hasn't really entailed much.

My mini black panther has taken it upon himself to check on me every few minutes. In his little cat brain, "checking on mom" means tromping across my laptop while I'm trying to type.

I would love to get another baby mini black panther, but I'm guessing I've used up all my pity points over the last year. I have two other kitties, a long-haired elderly lady who is part Main Coon Cat and a gray long haired cat that I have no idea what she is other than spoiled rotten.

Yes, I know I'm babbling. It's the pain meds. Also, the fact that I don't have a migraine.

I've already downloaded apps to help me get my strength back and I'm going through different apps to decide which app is most appropriate for cleaning a house that hasn't had much done to it other than dishes and laundry since I got sick. So far they're all, here's how to clean more efficiently so you have more time for you. I can't find one that says, "Oh, you can stand up for more than five minutes, and lean over and now you need help figuring out how to catch up with everything without wearing out given you haven't the strength to do anything until now." Do they have an app for that?

Day Before Ablation, Worrying About Everything I Need To Do to catch up.

Today is September 22, 2016. By this time tomorrow, the ablation should be over. I'm supposed to take the weekend off, but I think I'll spend it plotting. If the ablation works, I have so much to do.

I have let the house go. I will need to fix that. I'm thinking of finding some kind of "Spring Cleaning" app to work off.

I have let myself go. I need to work on my eating. Frozen waffles with syrup every morning isn't the best way to start a diabetic's morning. I need to start testing my blood every morning and keeping track of my numbers. Another app, I'm guessing.

I need to start exercising. I was up to three miles walking per day before I got sick. i want to work up to five. I have a fitness band to keep track. I have  membership in a gym. Hopefully, once I can walk five miles I'll reactivate the membership and start working on my upper body strength.

I need to plan for the holidays. I'd like to cook Thanksgiving at Dad's. I can't wait for Halloween and I need to start planning for Christmas.

I can't believe how much I've let go. Between the migraines and the depression, it was all I could do to survive from day to day.

Last Day of Summer, Two Days Until Ablation

It's September 21, 2016. It's the last day of  a summer that I missed almost completely. I went geocaching a couple of times. Maybe next week when I'm recovering from the ablation and, hopefully, not having any migraines, I will explain more about our geocaching obsession. I went to a picnic. I took a day and went out to Port Angeles for a two hour ride on the Lady Washington. A tall ship used in the making of Pirates of the Caribbean. That was pretty much it for the summer.

It's fitting that tomorrow is the first day of autumn. The day before I get the ablation which will, hopefully, end my migraines. As the earth begins to settle in to sleep for the winter, I will begin to wake up.The chill is already beginning to show in the air. Here in the Pacific Northwest, on the west side of the Cascades, it rarely gets truly cold. Still, I think about hats and gloves as I will brave the weather to work my way back up to walking three miles a day.

Two more days of brutal migraines. two more days of not being able to drive myself, two more days of waking up in the middle of the night in terror because that's when the migraine happened to start and it takes a few moments to calm the fight or flight instinct.

I am preparing, first I got my nails done:

I will wait until after the procedure to schedule my hair cut. I have slowly been collecting blouses that aren't t-shirts with sayings on them. I have jewelry, maybe when my hands don't shake, I can put it on.

9/23/2016  7:30 am PDT - Overlake Hospital, Bellevue, WA
then maybe I can breathe again.

Introduction and Explanation

It's Tuesday September 20, 2016. September, 2015, I fell down the stairs in my house and I have had migraines nearly everyday since then. I have had all sorts of treatments. Muscle relaxants, medicines that are supposed to stop migraines before they start, antidepressants and, of course, narcotics.

Some of these have little effect, some take the edge off for a while, most do nothing at all. Some are addicting and my husband puts them away and only gives them when I ask.

Before I got sick, I was walking my dog three miles a day. Now I can't lean over to mop the kitchen floor because I will trigger another migraine.

Migraines are not bad headaches. They can rarely be treated with over the counter medication. I hear someone say that they woke up with a migraine, but they had to get something done at work, so they went anyway. I comment on this to my therapist and she says, "They don't have a true migraine.  Migraines are debilitating." I'm not suggesting people in that situation don't have very painful headaches.

I have tried chiropractic, physical therapy and Botox.

I went to a doctor who injected numbing agent into my neck and the pain in my neck as well as the migraines temporarily stopped. He did this twice to confirm he was in the correct space.

This Friday, he will go in with a needle which he will heat up until he puts the nerves out of order. If all goes well, the year of debilitating migraines will be a thing of the past. Now I just have to get my strength back. That's what this blog is about. getting my life back.