Much Overdue Update; My New Equipment

Remember the $6 Million Dollar Man?  I feel like him today with all my new prosthesis and what not.

This is my CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) machine.  It forces air down through my nose to keep my airways open, used to help reduce sleep apnea.  My neurologist believe my difficulty sleeping is the cause of my exhaustion.  

I am still learning how to use it, it's pretty uncomfortable to wear.

Yay!  New Ankle-Foot Orthotics.  My pain doctor believes that the my pain is caused by the way I walk.  She sent me back to physical therapy and prescribed new orthotics and a TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation ) machine.  These new AFOs are hinged at the ankle, allowing me to move my foot like the TABs.  That flexibility in the ankle is pretty weird, I am having to relearn how to walk.  Aside from the new aches from unused muscles, I am taking to them pretty fast.  

The TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation ) machine applies electric stimulation to my nerves in pain spots.  I don't know why it works, but it does.  The electric shocks take a bit of getting used to, but using an hour a day has caused the pain in my hips to practically disappear.

Georgia-Land

We have made it to Statesboro after visiting with my sister in Kentucky and then a long and gorgeous drive into the South.  I still feel pretty disoriented, but it is getting better.  Little things like getting a library card, Internet access and meeting my new neurologist, Dr. Patel (another transplant, I think) help.

Monday's Blahs

I cancelled last Monday's physical therapy appointment because I was not feeling well.  Exhaustion from a busy weekend, four hours a day driving, then whirlwind visiting with my family coupled with only a few hours sleep the night before left me with a couple of painful cold sores and the sniffles.  There is also a buzzing sound in my ears and objects seem to sport a lightly radiating gloriole  around them.

I hope they won't charge  for the missed appointment.  Which askes the question, am I really too ill to go or am I playing hookey?  I feel guilty about choosing to stay home.  In my heart, I should have gone and just been sick.  It will be my fault if I will have to pay for this out of my own pocket.  I should never have gotten sick.  It is my own fault.  I should have...

My Gratitude List

I have been feeling a little gunky emotionally lately.  New tough time of year, I guess.  I have been so busy thinking about what happened last year that I am scaring myself.

People used to comment on how, during the worst of it,  I was keeping my spirits up, that I had an optimistic attitude, and I was relying on God to see me though the bad days and bad moments.  To my thinking that was because I was making the choices to do those things.  I didn't want to get lost in fear and despair.  It was like a big hole in the road that I could either go into or go around.

On Anniversaries

 I still have no idea how to understand this change. I still cannot properly describe what it means to have been a person who knew she could do anything and to discover she can do so little. But right now that doesn't matter. I am still alive. -Missy Y. (formerly A Case of You)


My first anniversary of the onset of my chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy is just days away and I am all abuzz with excitement.  The symptoms appeared at the beginning of March, but I went into the hospital on March 19th; I am not sure which date will earn the badge of being the most significant.  That is not quite sarcasm.  Perhaps June First would be a better date; that is when Dr. Boughaba correctly diagnosed my chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (and the date I began to improve). I don't really believe that the actual dates mean anything.  They are more like convenient markers that can measure the distance I am getting away from the horrid events of 2010.