dahlia in my garden: Rio Fuego in Coleus leaves

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Life is an Experiment in My Haunted Apartment

When I think about it, it seems like my apartment is haunted at Halloween - and pretty much most of the year!

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel like death warmed over. Struggling out from under the covers is like a digging out from a grave and becoming a zombie, just human enough to barely walk around but not much functioning between the ears. I’m definitely like this when I don’t get enough sleep due to my pain, which happens far too often.

I can be a witch when frustration over pain and my limitations become overwhelming. I even have a black cat for my familiar, my mischievious little Jaspurr! (and you can read about him and the lesson he teaches all of us HERE) Not only do I feel like an old hag, but I can get snarly and short-tempered. I’m not proud of it, but we all have our days of acting out. 

“Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. 
We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, 
to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.” 
~David Cronenberg 

I usually feel cold, particularly in the wintertime, and am always wrapped up like a mummy in layers of clothes and my ever-present bathrobe. I am actually in there, somewhere! With my foot and hip problems, I can be quite clumsy as I shuffle around the apartment in my slippers. 

My joints ache so much I think my skeleton is trying to get out of my body and run away. Unfortunately, it’s stuck where it is and I can’t run away from my aches either.

I may be part werewolf when I howl and whine at times when I’m really in a bad way and need to let it out. I know that the snuffling and snorting from my allergies surely fits here!

I think I must be Frankenstein’s monster. It’s like my body parts have been assembled willy-nilly from different donors and don’t really fit properly together. Given my forgetfulness and other nutty issues, I’m certain that mad scientist has given me the brain of Abby Normal

Most often I am a ghost. I haunt my apartment and rarely leave my comfortable environs. My family and friends do get some rare sightings of me as I flit in and then out of events - was she really here or just a figment of our imagination? I’m especially ghostlike when I cancel plans with people when I’m in too much pain to go anywhere; they are probably wondering if I truly exist since it happens so often!

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could just chant an incantation or wave a magic wand and be well? Or if all we needed to be healed is to drink a bubbling potion or steaming witch’s brew (minus the bat’s wings, grave dust, and zombie toenails!) There’s no spell book, no step-by-step guide, no simple list which tells you how to keep your body functioning perfectly and what you can do to overcome physical problems when they happen. 

All we can do is keep trying new things as they come along and be open-minded. We’ve got to be willing to follow through with treatments or therapies which might be time-consuming, uncomfortable, expensive, or inconvenient. We must be determined when a treatment fails to work for us to pick ourselves up and push on to the next one.

So here’s my message this Halloween weekend: Life is an Experiment! It’s all about trying this or doing that, whether we are talking about health or relationships or just life in general.

So when you look around your own haunted house, determine whether you have shut away into the dungeon any part of your life which needs to be moved to the laboratory and experimented with again. Don't be afraid to take a scary risk because there could be an unexpected transformation for the better - one which lasts far beyond the full moon and into the bright and hopeful light of day.

~* Happy Halloween! *~

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #35

Tuesday-Newsday time! Today I’ve got info on Chronic Pain, Weather & Chronic Pain, Pain Rx, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / Fibromyalgia. The last item is under the banner of Managing Your Chronic Pain. Written by Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar, the post is called, “Healing Your Chronic Pain And Finding Relief (Part 1).”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition as they appear in the news, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS
Your Help Needed: Please fill out the “Coping with Pain Survey”
Help us gather more information that will allow American Pain Foundation (APF) to better serve you and provide information that is targeted to meet your needs. We are interested in your pain treatment. Please complete this survey by October 30, 2011:  APF October 2011 Survey: Coping Techniques


*WEATHER & CHRONIC PAIN
MediClim is a health warning system that takes into account a multitude of weather parameters known to affect health, such as humidity, barometric pressure and temperature. It can warn people when they are most susceptible to health flare-ups related to weather issues. Subscribers receive emails alertsif specific weather conditions are due in their area may cause them a problem. Click on the headline to check out MediClim.



*PAIN Rx



*CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME and FIBROMYALGIA 



*MANAGING YOUR CHRONIC PAIN
By Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar from the site: ‘The Therapist Within’

Saturday, October 22, 2011

When you're "Feline" it's impossible - you've gotta do more than "scratch" the surface

Halloween is coming and my impish black cat, Jaspurr, is busy getting into mischief as usual. Watching him play makes me think of last spring when we noticed there was something wrong with him. In the journey we took to help him get better, he taught me how facing the “impossible” is often not what we expect - and pushing past it might just be the best thing for us. 

If you’ve ever been told by a doctor that you’ll have to do a treatment or therapy which sounds too hard, too complex, too overwhelming... then you need to read Jaspurr’s story. Who would think that a cat has an important lesson to teach all of us chronic pain/illness patients?

This is my rascally Jaspurr - with his amazingly flexible tail.

When we were first married 19 years ago, we adopted two Abyssinian cats and one of them developed severe asthma. It was a difficult road to diagnosis and finding the right treatment, but eventually we got it under control with a combination of medications, including steroids. This sweet cat lived a great life but developed pancreatic cancer and died within seven days. The vet speculated the high dose steroids very likely contributed to his getting cancer. 

About a year later, we adopted a pair of shelter kitties. A few months later we began to hear that familiar cough. What were the odds the next cat we’d get would also have asthma? My sweet little black cat was indeed diagnosed, but the vet made a treatment suggestion we didn’t expect. Instead of the same pills we used to treat our last cat, she said there was a new option. Humans with asthma use inhalers; the vet said a company had developed inhalers for cats called AeroKat (they also make inhalers for dogs and horses!). She explained that using inhaled steroids is better for the cat because the side effects are not as extreme and it doesn’t stay in the tissues. It also can give immediate relief during an attack unlike a pill.

We visited the AeroKat website to learn how the system works. After reading about it and watching demonstration videos on YouTube I told my husband, “This is IMPOSSIBLE! There is *no way* Jaspurr will allow us to hold a mask over his face and then stay still to breath in the medication!” 

As we discussed the issue, we kept coming back to how our first cat had died of cancer and how we wanted the best treatment possible for Jaspurr. Sure it seemed to be better, but would he accept it? We decided it was best for the cat so we’d give it a try even though we never thought it would work.

The first time we tried it, Jaspurr scratched up my hubby's legs and ran under the bed. We almost threw in the towel, but then I found a really helpful Yahoo group for people who were using the AeroKat system called FAIM: Feline Asthma Inhaled Medication Users Group. They offered advice on how to get Jaspurr used to the mask before using the inhaler. Using some of their tips and devising a few of my own as I flew by the seat of my pants, I gradually got the cat used to it by enticing him with treats he was crazy for and holding the mask over his face - at first for just one second and then longer as he relaxed and got used to it. It took about three weeks of training, 4 sessions a day, sticking to the same exact sequence with a struggling, unwilling cat. But at last - success!

Cuddling together:  Jaspurr gets a kiss from our other cat, Cruiser.

I truly believed Jaspurr would never accept the AeroKat. I was wrong. I was more than wrong! He became so willing and eager that we decided to make our own YouTube video showing how we trained him and demonstrating the AeroKat system (You can watch our video HERE). But even further beyond the “impossible” - the company which makes AeroKat liked our video so much they asked if they could use Jaspurr as the demonstration cat on their website!

Boy, did Jaspurr teach us all a lesson!

If your doctor prescribes a difficult therapy, a complex medicine regimen, or any kind of treatment which seems to be *impossible* to incorporate into your life... think of my Jaspurr. Don’t be so quick to dismiss it and try to ‘scratch’ beneath the surface. Is this treatment or medication the best thing for you? Will it improve your health and make it possible for you to have a better life? If so, then you owe it to yourself to give it an honest try and commit fully to following through. 

Never say “it’s impossible”

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #34

The subjects today are Chronic Pain News, Chronic Pain & the Law, Pain Rx, Lupus, and Burn Pain. The final subject is Coping with Chronic Pain and the piece is from the Creaky Joints website. It’s written by Dr. Laurie Ferguson and is titled, “Resilience.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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*CHRONIC PAIN NEWS




*CHRONIC PAIN & THE LAW

Step-Therapy Fails for Fibromyalgia Patients - podcast episode 
The National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA) is calling for an end to Step-Therapy or Fail First as insufficient treatment options which needlessly prolong the suffering of fibromyalgia and all chronic pain patients. This subjects was discussed NFMCPA’s newly launched bi-weekly online radio program. You can hear the 15 minute podcast by going HERE 

Fail First legislation is popping up in different states across the U.S. I’ve written two blog post about it this year. You can read them by clicking below:


Good News! California Pain Management Legislation Passes
Thanx to letters, email and phone calls from chronic pain patients, AB 507 has passed both houses in California and been signed by Governor Brown. AB 507 addresses the removal of obsolete or inconsistent language in California’s pain management policy. To find out how this bill improves pain management policy, you can read the complete text of the bill HERE


*PAIN Rx
*AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
*BURN PAIN
*COPING WITH CHRONIC PAIN

by Dr. Laurie Ferguson from Creaky Joints

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Living Picture

This week I took a class on vertical gardening. For the project we used tiny succulent cuttings which we arranged in unique plant boxes (cement board bottom, redwood framing, and wire mesh). Once the plants have rooted, hopefully in a few weeks, I will be able to hang the box on a wall in my garden to display.  

And once again, I found myself contemplating a gardening metaphor for our lives! Seems like they blossom up at me nearly every time I’m working with plants. Here’s what I noticed this time:

As I sat and looked at the empty plant box, filled with soil and waiting, I looked at the cuttings and tried to decide where to start. In my head, I wanted to get really creative and lay out the plants in an obvious pattern like a diamond shape or a heart. I decided to go with a diamond, so I selected a bunch of tiny, gray, perfectly round succulents and laid them out as that shape on the wire grid. With the basic outline in place, it looked great! I started adding in more cuttings, trying to keep to the design and match up everything perfectly. But I didn’t have enough of the same plants to continue the pattern and they weren’t different enough from the rest to make my design obviously stand out. As I filled in the blank areas, my pattern began to gradually disappear. 

I was so disappointed... at first. However, when I was about half-finished I began to notice how amazing it looked. The succulents were blending from one to the next with their subtle differences a wonderful patchwork of texture and color; and it was created simply by mixing up the cuttings and placing them tip to tip.

This is my succulent 'Living Picture'. I sure hope all those cuttings will take root!


Most of us try to keep our lives in constant pattern, setting things up so they’ll always be the same way, the same time, the same everything! As a species, we dislike change and tend toward a comfortable sameness of order. As I worked on my project, each single succulent cutting began to represent a part of my life that I’m always trying to force into place. When we are looking up close at the individual puzzle pieces of our life's schedule: health care, relationships, pain needs, employment, etc... it’s hard to see how we might be pushing too hard to make them fit in a perceived to be perfect way. Stepping back and taking a moment to examine the overall ‘picture’ might reveal how we are fighting against the grain, and possibly to our detriment. 

When I relaxed and just let the succulent cuttings slide in where there was an open spot relative to their size, my feelings of tension and stress began to ease. I realized my over-focused effort to keep to a pattern was never going to be exactly what I planned, but that the result would still be enjoyable. In fact, in surrendering my control, it turned out for the better!

If you are feeling stressed, stop and take a serious look at how you have the patterns set up in your life. Are you forcing yourself to maintain a level of activity beyond your endurance? Are you trying to put certain life ‘puzzle pieces’ which should have less priority closer to the center than they should be? Are you respecting your pain needs and allowing time to care for your body and emotions?

Step back and evaluate your own ‘living picture’. Maybe the tension and worry you’re feeling is telling you something. It might be time to rearrange those puzzle pieces of your life. Let go of your tight control and allow them to fall into place - it may be that a better and healthier pattern will evolve on its own.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #33

Today for Tuesday-Newsday our subjects are *Chronic Pain, *Pain Rx, *Migraine/Headache, and *Back/Spine Pain. The final subject is *Acknowledging Your Condition and the blog post by Lisa Copen is entitled, “If it walks like a duck, then... Words have power when it comes to chronic illness."

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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*CHRONIC PAIN



*PAIN Rx
*MIGRAINE / HEADACHE
*BACK / SPINE PAIN

*ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR CONDITION
by Lisa Copen