Flying Fairy Dust!!

I just sold 2 of my Etsy shop items from my B&M bead shop:

AND

Is anyone else this way - it feels so strange when your "babies" sell - especially that purple crazy lace agate pendant. I was so attached to it!

Both of these were Cold Connections pieces - and such a joy to create.

Bye, babies!

Fellow Etsy Seller Features me on her Blog

I was notified this morning by Adult Indulgences, an Etsy seller of custom spice blends, that she was featuring some of my designs on her blog, Etsy Sellers You Must See.

Take the time to check out her blog  - she has featured some very talented sellers there! And visit her shop, too!

Doing a little better

Surgery is scheduled 6/24 - lots of things to get settled before then.

The pain is a little better today - maybe the injection is finally kicking in. I need to go put some ice on my neck and arm, though.

Thanks to everyone who contacted me after my last post - it really is better today.

Really, KM.

And I let my best friend's husband go back home this morning - he was such a tremendous help to me - someone should open up a "Lend a Hubby" business - I think there is a market there!

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Another update, and then I just really never want to speak of this again. I never want to think of it again. Can't it just please be over?

I had a really, crappy, bad week last week, as any of my readers know, and lots of my Etsy forum friends have been staying in touch. Thanks, guys!

And life happens, you know - because small business owners have little choice but to keep the show running, and I am basically a one-woman show, so I had to be at the shop everyday last week, and I also had a day-long specialty class yesterday (Sunday) - so it was a hard week.

My best friend actually send her husband down here from North Georgia on Thursday after I had called her Wednesday night to just to vent - I had been keeping all of this to myself, and she was furious, and sent him to help me with driving, and lifting, and just ordinary stuff. And I just had no concept of how this could help me, until he had been here for a few days - you know, I have lived alone since I was 17!

But with John here, I was able to actually take my pain meds at near-normal doses - I say "near", because if I took the actual prescribed doses, I wouldn't have been able to run the shop. But he drives me back and forth to work (driving is one of the most painful things for me right now  - the only thing MORE painful is trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. And no amount of drug is helping with that!).

So, after all the rigmarole that I went through last week just to get my PMS on the phone, I had my appointment with him this morning. John and I arrived about 30 minutes early, and they took me right back. PMS was outstanding, and took a lot of time listening to me, and examined me, and told me I needed to get an appointment with the surgeon, because this was no longer a simple pain management issue (duh). I told him I had already called, and had an appointment at the end of June (first available, according to the surgeon's appt. desk). Well, PMS said, "I don't think so - can you see him this morning?" I said "sure, but are you going to be able to do something for my pain?" He said, "Oh yeah - we are going to do an injection right now, but while you are changing into your gown, I am going to run down and tell the surgeon to work you in this morning."

So I got my injection, and then went for some X-rays (again - no waiting), and then went to the surgeon's office (all of these places are in the same bldg) - and after waiting maybe 45 minutes, I was in talking with tall hot handsome surgeon (did I type that out loud???)

THHS wants to do surgery the day after tomorrow - but there are some things that we just can't reschedule and rearrange right now, so the surgery is currently scheduled for 6/24. He said that if I could wait that long, he certainly could....

I was on a bunch of pain drugs and sedatives while talking to THHS, but I know we discussed the fact that since I already had one disc done (one level above the currently ruptured one,) and already have all this hardware in my neck, and since my neck had done such a fantastic job of healing, with beautiful bone remodeling and regrowth, that basically it is going to be one gigantic pain in the ass, and much longer surgery, to fix the new problem, because he has to remove all this beautifully grown-over hardware. And naturally, I am going to lose even more mobility in my neck.

And the worst part of the day for me is that the Epidural Steroid Injection I got this morning hasn't made one dent in my pain, so I am still miserable. Took a lot of pain meds once I got home, and tried to nap, but can't get comfortable, so I just sit up and cry a little and feel pitiful.

And I guess I eventually have to send my friend's husband home, too - he has really been a life-saver!

Pity-party over!!!!

Some Good News, and Some Bonus Good News

Still am not feeling the best, and yesterday was another exceptionally bad day. I was not really the best representative of my bead store yesterday - it was all I could do to muster a "may I help you", and it was pretty much asking too much for me too actually get up and help anyone!  But today is another day!

I had spend (another) fairly sleepless night Tuesday night - lots of time for thinking. And so around 1 PM yesterday, I phoned the very nice nurse at the PMS office, and told her that I had "accepted in my heart" that the doctor was not going to return my phone calls, so could she please just give him a message. She reiterated, strongly. how "that is JUST not like him," but promised to relay the message.

So I asked her to tell him that I had made an appointment with the surgeon for a consultation, but the earliest the surgeon could see me was the end of June, so could the PMS please just write me enough Rx for the 2 pain meds he had me on, to tide me over until the end of June, and I would never bother him again.

She said she would call him right then and pass that on. Whatever, was my thought.

At 5:30 yesterday, the PMS called me, just as nice as he could be (he always HAS been very nice). And he explained in detail how the neglect to call me had happened, and admitted it was all his fault, and apologized, and then asked me a bunch of questions about my current status. He told me that he wanted to see me in his office first thing Monday Morning (he travels to other states on Wed/Thurs/Fri to see patients, as our town cannot support a full time PMS) so I realized that Monday was the first day he could see me. And he called in more pain meds, and he started me on a huge dose of oral prednisone, which now has me feeling like I could run the New York Marathon, if it weren't fore all the pain I still have.  So maybe things will start to improve. And he was extremely apologetic and empathetic, so I am OK with him now.

And on an unrelated note, first thing yesterday morning a super nice lady came into the shop and fell in love with this:

I fit her well, and she bought it, and turned to her daughter and said, "I deserve it"








So I am going to try to remember that this is a jewelry design blog, and not a bitch fest, and try to return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

And on a side note - a message to my friend Pam (and you know who you are):

Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel, and to visit Bailey.

It is nice to know that someone is reading!

Unlike those other blog awards, where you have to jump through hoops and pick on other unsuspecting souls, etc, just to accept them - this is free.

And don't get me wrong - I appreciate the blog awards that Bailey and I have received over the years, but we just don't have time for that hoopla, so we would feel like big fat cheaters if we just posted the awards.

Treasury

I made a treasury to honor some new friends:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=131673

It doesn't expire until tomorrow, so take a look if you can - it is already on page 1!

Here is a screenshot, in case it expires before you get a chance to see it:

 

More of the Same

My pain let up a bit yesterday, and I was able to run a few errands.

Unfortunately, it is worse today, and my Pain Management Specialist (good old PMS, as I call him) is not returning my calls. When I called his office yesterday, and relayed my concerns, the nurse went back and spoke to him, and came back and told me that he didn't see a need for me to come by the office, but that he would call me at 5PM, when he finished seeing patients.

Fine.

He never called.

So I called again this morning, and left another message. Heard nothing all day, so I called the nurse again at 4:45, and she told me that he had just finished seeing patients, and already had a list of 4 that he needed to call, and that she was SURE he would call me.

Of course, he hasn't called.

Now, it's personal. As far as I'm concerned. I mean, I can forgive a 24 hour delay in returning a call. But I am in misery, and have left 5 messages, and as far as I'm concerned, he is refusing to return my calls. And I am about > < far from posting his name here.

I called the surgeon this morning, and made an appointment for a consultation - the first available appointment is June 24. I just don't think I can make it 'til then.

Chronic Pain Sucks

I don't often use this blog to discuss personal issues. I am a pretty private person, and talking about myself is actually uncomfortable for me.


However.


I suffer from chronic pain. A lot of people do. And if you really want to see some interesting chronic pain numbers, look here.


There are many, many causes for chronic pain. Mine is due to a ruptured disc in my neck



The last few weeks have been pretty miserable for me. I see a pain management specialist (let's call him PMS), taking his prescribed meds regularly, and having occasional epidural steroid injections (ESI). (MY chronic pain stems from a ruptured cervical disc.) I had another ruptured cervical disc surgical fused in 11/08, but this second one herniated just a few weeks after that surgery, and started to bother me about a year ago. The surgeon and the pain management physician both felt it was in my best interest to try to treat the newly herniated disc medically (meaning "nonsurgically") at the time, rather than hitting me with a second major neck surgery so soon after the first.



Anyway, I had been doing fairly well with the prescribed meds and injections until about 3 weeks ago, and something changed (we don't know what, except that the fragmented and herniated disc fragments are now impinging much more on my cervical nerve roots than they had been.) My PMS saw me immediately (bless him!), gave me another ESI, and prescribed some much stronger narcotics, plus a powerful muscle relaxer, in addition to my usual pain management prescription.



The ESI worked for 8 days. And I woke up this morning right back where I was 9 days ago - just absolutely unable to get into a comfortable position due to the pain in my neck and left arm. I have taken all the prescribed narcotics and muscle relaxers that I can (OK - I have taken more than I should have). Up until about 30 minutes ago, I was too loopy to put coherent thoughts together, but these meds have a paradoxical effect on me - rather than making me groggy, or letting me sleep, they make me agitated and hyper - so I can't sleep off the pain - I just kind of walk around the house, or toss and turn on the bed, until they finally take a little edge of the pain, which is where I am now. And I apologize if this post is nonsensical - I am very much MUI (Mentally Under the Influence) from these drugs, and having a really difficult time concentrating. I have some moist heat packs on my neck and shoulder, and decided to sit here and blurt out personal stuff, which is so unlike me, and probably totally not interesting to anyone who is still reading this.



But if you ARE still reading, here is a real gift for you, at least that's how I felt about it.



My friend Pam Brisse posted this on her blog, and I just wish everyone in world could read it. It is so well-written, and offers great perspective on what it is like to live with chronic pain.

[And Pam's blog is a nice read, too - and look at her gorgeous blog banner, while you are over there!]

When I woke up this morning I felt like I had no spoons. After finally getting out of bed (the need to pee overtook the need to stay in bed) and taking some drugs, and writhing around until they started to kick in, I felt like I had 1 spoon - and I used that to feed Bailey. I now feel like I have 4 or 5 spoons, and my heating pads are starting to cool down, so I need to get up to go microwave them again.



I want to give a huge shout out to this microwaveable heating pad that I splurged on about 3 months ago at Bed Bath & Beyond: The Original Bed Buddy Body Wrap. Over the years, I have bought probably 20 different kinds of microwaveable heat wraps, but this Bed Buddy Wrap is the best. EVER. It has a velcro tab that lets you wrap it around your neck, or your shoulder, or a knee, thigh, or whatever, and it will stay there. No kidding - all my other ones fall off or shift if I turn my head or lean forward - I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about. And it holds the heat a long time. And this is a huge plus as far as I'm concerned: it is unscented! All the other ones I have either have lavender, or some kind of herb, or rice - and you heat them up and wrap them around your neck and are smothered in smell. I know that the manufacturers of these wraps consider that to be "aromatherapy", and relaxing, and a big selling point. But when you have allergies, or (like me) fragrance-induced migraines, no thanks. So I am loving my Bed Buddy.

And the Bed Buddy Wrap is available on Amazon, too. I have provided a link over on the right there -------------------------------------------------------------->
to a lot of my recent favorite finds on Amazon.

Good grief, I am really rambling.

Evidently, it is NOT just me

I continue to receive spammy comments, and so does Bailey.

Mousing over the comments (without clicking! Never click!!) shows that they link to a sordid array of porny sites.

Obviously, I do not, and will not, be moderating these comments through - they just get rejected.

But my research shows that this is a known Blogger issue, and that Blogger doesn't care. Freedom of Speech, and all.