Prednisone

So many things I want to write about only as usual, I'm too tired. What a wasted evening. I did buy a cd today by IL Divo, which I might pop into the cd player and listen to it in bed tonight. That should help to chase away these blues. Yeah I know I should be downloading this stuff on to the mp3 on my phone, but I'm old school and still enjoy listening to the radio and cd's.

Spoke with the doctor this afternoon about all the tripping I've been doing lately. One thing about him is he's very quick to call back when I leave a message, unlike all the service technicians I've had to deal with these past few weeks. After talking for awhile he said he would call in a prescription to the pharmacy for Prednisone, an anti inflammatory drug I took years ago for asthma. Not too thrilled about taking it as it can cause weight gain and insomnia, two things I'm already struggling with. It sure would be great to have some drugs that didn't cause side effects .
My son was nice and went to the laundromat today to do a couple of loads . That should last us till Monday, when the service guy says he will show up . Not holding my breathe for this wahser nonsense to be resolved.
A guy at work was commenting on how technology is the road to ruin Have to agree. It's handy and yet a pain in the ***( insert where you want the pain) .
Must be the weather getting to me. Every year I find winter less appealing and get fed up with it earlier.

3 Forward 2 Back

Had my visit with the doctor this morning. Things are stable right now, although he did say a couple of times that I was an anomaly and something about my leaky blood brain barrier. My EVP tests are slightly below normal, there is protein in my spinal fluid, no change in my MRI, and I have the same proteins in my blood. He said that he didn't think I needed any heavy drugs like interferons. I told him that honestly I wouldn't be interested in doing that anyway and he seemed relieved . I don't know maybe some patients insist on it.
The strategy for now will be to monitor things , treat individual symptoms, and see how it goes.
He also said he would send another letter to my employer about allowing me to tele work, due to my continuing problem with fatigue.

I left feeling not too bad and walked the 15 minutes back to work taking a short cut through the mall, to get out of the cold and wind. Decided to treat myself to a new sweater that was 50 % off. The stores already have pretty deep discounts on things . The mall was busy but I notice people are shopping mostly in the cheaper stores. The dollar store was doing booming business.


Then I get into the office just in time to hear the latest news. The government is proposing to freeze our wages, roll back our current increases, and take away our right to strike.

I made a joke that it was just like working at Wal Mart.

Drugs, Fall , and Elections

Here's a statue in the park next to city hall commemorating Ukrainian Immigrants. I didn't bother to take a picture of city hall, because it's so damn ugly.

I try to imagine what it would be like to pack up and leave my home for another country. Where would I go ? Now a days we get many immigrants from South Asia . Last week a couple of South Asian guys starting working at my office and I'm glad. We need to spice up that stale white bread place.
And it sure was stale today. The same old tired excuses . Won't bother to say why . I'll be so glad when I can go back to not really knowing my manager and not caring. It will just be some person I have to endure at the occasional meeting and make nice with at the Christmas lunch .

It's a cool 10C tonight. The weather all week has been fall like: cold mornings , warm afternoons, and cold nights. I don't mind except it's hard to know what to wear. It feels strange to ditch the cotton summer clothes , put on a jacket, and shoes with socks. I have to admit I was getting fed up with wearing sandals .My feet really take a beating by the end of the summer.

I've decided that tomorrow I'm going to up the Amantadine dose, taking another pill at lunch in addition to the morning one. I don't really want to, yet I'm noticing that the effect wears off by midday, so I could use an extra boost. I'm still not convinced it's the right thing to do but I feel I have no choice. I can't handle being the zombie woman anymore.

I'm disappointed that the election campaigns in Canada and the U.S. are becoming all about personality attacks . I'm so sick of hearing why the other guy is bad and I shouldn't vote for him. Why should I vote for you ?
I added Zach's blog to my hobbies list. He mentioned it on a postcard from Malaysia.
Check it out and help him decide if he should take the job with the airline.

Escape from Reality

Just when I think things are getting better Mother Nature comes along with a minor set back . That's all I'm going to say about it. I think the drugs are starting to kick in which helps.

I have retreated into the world of the Sims2 .
No MS there.

Amantadine

Starting my drugs tomorrow morning. Amantadine. Funny thing is I already have a bottle of these pills. The last doctor I had prescribed them. I didn't trust him which made me suspicious of anything he recommended. How can you trust a doctor who makes you sit around waiting for an hour and then when you finally do see him he barely has five minutes to spend with you ? And of those five minuted is busy shuffling through your file because he can't remember you.

My new doctor spends lots of time talking to me and even phones ! OK doc I trust you so I'll try this stuff. The side effects are mild at least, except I'm not thrilled about possible insomnia or constipation. I already have enough trouble sleeping.

Yes, if I could have one wish it would be to sleep through the night. I'm not greedy, six hours would do me fine.

Question: How many new blogs are started every day ? 7,000, 30,000 120,00 ?
Answer tomorrow.

The Doctor Calls

My neurologist called today. The good news is, no new lesions according to the latest MRI.
The bad news is, I have to have the EVP tests done again as the old ones are defiantly lost. Don't really mind those tests, lying around have electric current run through me. I actually like it on my feet. It's like a super massage. I'm just annoyed that it's duplication caused by ineptitude.

After telling the doctor how much time I've taken off work ,he convinced me to at least try a medication for the fatigue. I'll be starting that on the weekend to see how it goes. I know it sounds silly, but I feel like I'm caving in. When I commented that a drug will just mask the symptoms, he said sometimes masking is good. Regardless, I can't go on this way and am at least willing to give it a try. Then like a silly ass, I started crying telling him about other symptoms that I don't really want to mention here. He was very re assuring and I did feel better afterwards.

If anybody out there takes drugs for fatigue I would welcome your comments.

Other health news: Hamilton General Hospital has received a federal grant for a heart research centre. Read about it here. Seems our sort of Prime Minsiter, smells an election coming and is handing out candy. Ha! trying to make out like he cares about healthcare. If he and his conservative buddies had their way the whole system would be privatized. It's only because most Canadians flip out when you even suggest taking away their universal health care system that he stays quiet now on that issue . The only reason he's still in power(minority gov.) is the other parties are so pathetic right now. I vote Green. I figure they can't do worse than the rest so why not give them a try.

I got 6/8 on the health quiz this week. Wow ! 50% of pregnancies are unwanted. I thought it was much less.

Proteus

Proteus, an amphibian who lives in the waters of caves in Slovenia . To me it looks like a plant when it sends out a new shoot. Thanks to Roman for sending me that postcard.

I may as well be a Proteus with all the rain we're getting. At least I timed my errands right this evening and got back home ten minutes before another storm. Ha! for once I didn't get soaked.
I'm a real space cadet every time I go out now. Forgot to mail my postcards tonight and Saturday instead of my shopping list I brought along a list of tips for my Sims game (the juices for those of you who know the game) Naturally I forgot half the stuff I wanted to buy.

Read an article in the health news about a drug company that wants to promote a drug used to treat glaucoma as an eye lash grower. Apparently one of the side effects of Bimatoprost, is long thick lashes.
"We are pleased with the results of our clinical program and believe this innovative program, if approved, could meet a significant and unmet demand in the medical aesthetic marketplace," Scott Whitcup, Allergan's executive vice-president of research and development, said in the release.
Yeah I just bet you are. What you really mean is you will create demand for a drug for something people don't really need.

That's it for now. Didn't accomplish much today ,which causes twinges of guilt.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find local strawberries at the Farmer's Market.