Thankful Mom of Five, Adoptive Mom of Two Ukrainian Beauties and Bereaved Mom

          Today I am thankful that it is FRIDAY!!! We are going away for the weekend to celebrate Dan's birthday.  He wants to go camping so that is what we are doing. I try to do what each person wants for their birthday.  My painful leg is telling me to stay home but I am planning to go.  I'll just take pain meds with me and my medical marijuana. The Gabapentin makes me so sleepy and gives me a break from the pain for awhile. Plain old Tylenol also makes me sleepy!     I food shopped for Fri night barbecue and we will go out to dinner on Sat. night. I can't stand very long so I will buy a cake instead of baking one.  Matt and Frankie are going to go to dinner with us and have a campfire with us. Then Olivia, Olya, and Frankie will go back to Olya's apartment and they will sleep there.  Matt will go back to his apartment. There really isn't any extra room in the camper.  Dan (maybe a little from me) will have to pa...

         Today I am so thankful that I went in the hyperbaric chamber.  I feel a tiny bit better. Olivia said it looks like an adult incubator and she is correct!! That is the perfect way to describe it! I am still in a lot of pain but this is the first thing that I have had any relief using.  It was weird in the chamber.  Your ears feel like they do when you are flying and ascending into the sky.  I had to keep swallowing and yawning to pop my ears back.  The tech stays in the room the entire time.  I was in the capsule about an hour and a half.  It takes about 20 minutes to get it to the correct oxygen level and then it takes 10-15 minutes to decrease it at the end.  I wish I could sit up in it and read.  I watched TV but it was boring.  I wish I could have fallen asleep!        Later in the afternoon yesterday I went to acupuncture. The acupuncture doc was really sweet.  But I f...

   Today I am thankful that I went to see the hyperbaric chamber.  My friend Jill had told me about it. It really helped her sciatica!  I had called the day before and asked if I could just come in and look at it and they said yes.  When I was there today, my friend Jill was in the chamber.  I had no idea she would be there!! You can see outside of it because it is mostly glass on the top.  I am claustrophobic so I don't know how I'll do but I am willing to give anything a try at this point. I also saw my pain management doctor today.  I asked him about the hyperbaric chamber and he said it is a waste of money. I think there was a big story about Michael Jackson and a hyperbaric chamber yeas ago! I don't like the pain management doc, he is very rude.  I am looking for another doctor but it is usually months when you are asking for new patient. He asked me twice if I had any degree of relief from the shot and I said no.  He asked me ag...

         Today I am so thankful for my daughter Olivia.  I just feel so awful and am in so much pain.  When she came home from school, she heated up leftover Chinese food for me and served me.  I usually like to do everything myself but I am totally unable to do much right now.  It's hard to believe that a few months ago I was going to the gym 2-3 times weekly and walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I hated going to the gym but it gave me a purpose everyday. Now my purpose is to sleep on the family room couch after I get up and shower, etc in the morning. I have a cane upstairs and a walker downstairs.  Tomorrow I have an appointment with my pain management doctor.  I think I need to go get another opinion because I am failing, not improving at all. It's nice that Olivia is around now and then to help me!The former long-haired brunette is now a red headed young woman with shoulder length hair.  She looks so much older wi...

        Today I am thankful that Dan and I had dinner with Olivia and Frankie.  They went to the Renaissance Faire today.  They went with two other couples and had a lot of fun! I got up at 10:30 a m and went to the cemetery with Dan.  I took the marijuana drops when I got up, smallest dose of 2.5 ml, and felt so tired.  After the cemetery I fell asleep on the couch until 6 p m. Dan thinks I should stop the marijuana drops because all I do is sleep.  When I got up, we started talking about getting Chinese food for dinner.  Dan called Olivia and Frankie to pick it up on the way home.  It was all delicious(always about the food)  I HAVE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT FOOD SO MUCH! My scale says I have to shut my big mouth from eating too much!    We got to hear about all of their fun at the fair!  Since I am sort of  housebound due to my sciatica pain, I need to live my life vicariously through others!! They took cut...

         Today I am thankful that it was a lazy Sat.!  I didn't fall asleep until about 2 a m so I slept in until 10:30 a m.  The marijuana makes me feel like I haven't slept much. I am still in so much pain. I would like to nap all day long which is not very productive!! I was so hoping that the marijuana drops would be the answer for my pain.  It is not!!! It is just making me so hungry and so sleepy! I did absolutely nothing productive the entire day.  I remembered that I folded wash so I did do that one thing!            I wanted to burn more of the garden clippings and tree branches.  We still have 3 HUGE piles left to burn.  I just can't walk down the hill to do it today. I will try to burn on Sunday morning or afternoon.  I just do a small pile and add to it so that it doesn't get too big.            Dan and Olivia have been working on the GLAM ROOM!! The...

         Today I am thankful for medical marijuana. I have the same pain but I am able to sleep.  The medical marijuana makes me very sleepy.  My sciatica makes it difficult to sleep and I am up a lot during the night from the pain. I am hoping that the pain subsides a bit after being on the medical marijuana for a few days. I slept most of the day away which means I'll be up a lot more tonight. I also have to look into doing the hyperbaric chamber. Today all I did was sleep and eat and take the marijuana drops. Hopefully, my body will adjust to it. I have been eating more, I think it is the marijuana. I certainly do not need to gain any weight!!         I am in so much pain.  Nothing seems to be able to help me!