BOTOX FOR PAIN

I finally received the botox injections today that I have been waiting on for over a month now. As most of my blogger friends know, I stay in chronic pain. I started seeing a new neurologist, Dr. Marden, over a month ago. She wanted to start botox injections on me to try and help me with my cervical dystonia (constant muscle spasms and tightness). I have been waiting a long time to get back in for my next appointment and get started because the doctor's office was trying to get my insurance straightened out as to what they would or wouldn't cover. I don't even know how many injections she gave me, but I know it was a lot! She injected the back of my neck, and put several in the right side of my head because the pain travels into my temple and behind my eye, and a few other areas in my shoulders. It will take a few days before I'll be able to start feeling the effect and know if it's going to help, and two weeks before I get the full effect. In the meantime I'll be praying for a miracle!

POTTERY WHEEL LESSONS

This past Monday I had my first pottery wheel lesson! I have been thinking about taking it for a very long time, but no one aound here offers it. I was sitting in "Massage Envy" a couple of weeks ago waiting to be called back for my massage and picked up our local Wiregrass Magazine to browse through it. Near the back of the magazine there it was! Pottery Wheel lessons offered by Ms. Lynn Koning of Pinkard, Al. I was so excited! After I left, I called the number and spoke with her about beginning lessons. She teaches out of her home and also at The Cultural Arts Center here in town. I chose to take lessons at her home because they don't actually use the wheel at The Arts Center, and that's the part I was most excited about.
It was a lot of fun! They were thoroughly impressed at how well I did with it being my first time to ever be on the wheel. The teacher and student kept bragging on me and said I was "a natural". They said the the other girls were going to be jealous of my work. Haha! The class last for 4 weeks. Next week I will probably trim up my pieces after they have become leather hard. After that I will learn to fire it in the kiln and glaze it. I can't wait to learn the entire process, but I'm pretty sure my favorite part is still going to be using the pottery wheel itself. What new experiences have you tried lately?

~Free Pancakes~

I was sent an email today from IHOP stating that they are serving free pancakes tomorrow!! On Feb. 28th each customer that comes in between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. will receive a free short stack which consists of 3 buttermilk pancakes. The email states that it is at participating locations and they are asking that customers consider leaving a donation that will go to help Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Enjoy!

Space

Guest written by our friend Mason Abbott
I have been learning all this interesting stuff about space and space exploration in my science class in college. I really can not believe that right now we are totally shutting down the space program. I think it is such an interesting thing to learn about. I would love to be an astronaut and explore space. I think it is crazy all of the missions that astronauts have done that people don't even know about. When they went to the moon, everyone was all excited about it and watching it on TV. After that people kind of lost interest, but they kept exploring space. I mean we have sent so many satellites into space to explore for us. I don't even know how satellites work. I was trying to research it and just ended up going to satellitetvriversideca.com! Then I got totally sidetracked and started reading about my favorite TV series and the upcoming episodes! I am thinking that maybe I didn't really grow out of my attention deficit disorder! Ha Ha! Maybe I need to look into that!

A New Start

I think I'm ready for school to start back. The kids start back this Thursday. They are fussing and fighting, and driving me crazy! It's a new year and I'm ready to get it started. It's time to get this drain tube out of my back so I can get in the gym. I probably won't be able to do much at first, but I at least can get on the treadmill and get a good start until I'm feeling better. Once the kids are back in school that forces me to be up early and get back on track with errands and other things that need to be taken care of. Otherwise the kids and I stay up late and then get up late the next morning especially since I just had surgery right before Christmas. I know I can't really do anything anyway if I do get up earlier so it has just given me more of an excuse to not be very organized or on any type of schedule. That can be nice for a short period of time but after awhile all the things I need to do start piling up and weighing heavily on my mind.
I see the doctor for a follow up appointment tomorrow and hopefully my drain tube will be removed. Then either the end of this week or next week I will start my tutoring sessions back up as a representative of A to Z In Home Tutoring. I took a short break from it due to the holidays and my surgery. The next two things on my to do list is to sign my 16 yr. old up for Lifeguard training at the recreation center and also to get him signed up to take the ACT test as soon as possible. So beginning next week things will begin getting back to normal.

Post Surgery

As most of you know, I had surgery on December 21, the Wednesday before Christmas 2011. I decided to go with a doctor who is a plastic surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Walding. He is a bit young but kind, down to earth, and thorough. I felt good about my decision. My surgery was scheduled for right before Christmas and I have 3 children, so decided to go ahead and let my children open their Christmas presents, and to also celebrate my middle son's birthday, which is on the 23rd of December. We enjoyed a nice, fun birthday dinner at Beef O Brady's. I said a couple of prayers and then left it in God's  hands to look over my children while I was in surgery at Flowers Hospital and to look over me during surgery. For anyone who missed my 2nd surgery, it was very bad! There were complications and the doctor, Dr. Champ Baker Jr. with Houghston Clinic treated me incredibly bad! So I was very very nervous to have another surgery. To my surprise, everything went very smoothly. Everyone was great. The hospital staff was wonderful. Dr. Walding made sure I was given something for nausea before my surgery and afterwards because I get sick from the anesthesia. He removed a lipoma, as I had suspected, and also removed 2 cysts of old blood and dead tissue that was probably a result of the 2nd surgery I had, an under scapula arthoscopic bursectomy. He checked the muscle further up to make sure there was nothing else there that shouldn't be. I would like for the right side of my neck to be checked for any lipomas as well (since that is one of the main spots my pain has been this entire time) just to put my mind at rest, but I don't know if that was a possibility at the time. The dr. says lets give it 6 weeks and see how I am doing. One of the very prominent lumps I could feel going across one side of my back turned out to be a consistently spastic muscle. My follow up appointment was Tuesday of this week. I had hoped to have the drain tube that is in my back removed but it is still putting out a lot of blood/fluids and the dr. wasn't quite ready to remove so I go back Tues. of next week. Hopefully it will be taken out then. The incision runs completely across the right side of my back, but if it helps at all then it was worth it!

An Early Christmas

This past Saturday the kids and I decided to go ahead and open our Christmas presents. I thought this would be a good idea since I'm having surgery this Wednesday. This will be my 3rd surgery concerning my chronic neck and shoulder pain within the last 1 1/2 yrs. I wanted to make sure that just in case anything does happen to me during surgery that my children's last memories be of us all celebrating Christmas together, and not of depressed sad feelings every year there after that Christmas rolls around. The boys all got to open a lot of presents and had a good time. The only thing we're saving for later is my youngest son's "Santa Claus" surprises, which we plan to do Christmas morning. Hopefully I won't be feeling too bad by then.
My middle son's birthday is this Friday also so we are going to celebrate that a little early too. Tomorrow night we plan on going to Beef O Brady's (his choice) to eat and wish him a happy 15th birthday. I will feel much better knowing everything has been taken care of and my children are happy and settled before I head in to surgery. Then all I will have left to focus on come Wed. is me. I pray that I've made the right decision and that I will finally get some relief. I feel good about it.
Merry Christmas!!!