Life certainly got back to normal soon as we got home.
Alot of swings and roundabouts.
Ranch life is still in winter mode. Horses are still coming in at night. Not so much weather but lions this time of year. Altho they are shedding their winter coats 2 months too early as summer wont really hit till June. Even all my hundreds of flowers are shooting up all over mega early as we still have frosts and snow dumps due . Next will be the hummingbirds showing up ... (Apr 28th first one appeared!)
We get warm temps for days then next day drops down 40 degrees and then snow, frosts and freezing fog
Ok, inhales deeply, stretches out hands and fingers ... let's get to it (strike a pose there's nothing to it ...)
I started a new drug while in Vegas. I saw Neuro#1 before I left.
This visit was for a test to illuminate or discover the low pressure readings I have - blood / heart / pulse with my face pain.
I had spinal tap / lumbar punch - removing 35cc of spinal fluid to see if the pain went again for 6hrs (This happened at the mayo last year and we wanted to test it was the case and link it to Alan's theory of low blood pressure / pressure headaches and removing liquid eased off the pressure in brain) Sadly not to be. The pain returned after 20 mins and grew stronger on way home
A few days later we did a phone consult and lets try this drug - new on the market for ABTN - Atypical Bilateral Trigeminal Neuralgia. No generic and very expensive and med ins won't cover it as there's no generic version yet till 2026!
( Neuro #1 still thinks I have ABTN and the reason all the other neurologists / surgeons didn't want to help was because they didn't know how or were too afraid to try a double brain surgery on the nerves each side)
Started on a low dose of 100mg the first week (Vegas) and I felt great, lively, on a high being there, facepain was subsiding and no collapsing with fatigue or pain) Got home and increase the dose to 200mg , that was ok, same with facepain levels going down but guts starting to block. Did 2 weeks at 200mg, guts bunging up more.
Then suddenly I felt nauseous, dizzy, so lethargic - felt like i was falling asleep doing things - driving, horses, washing up etc. I felt so ill. Alan quickly did some more research on this drug and main side effect was low sodium ! I was having a Hyponatremia attack . Geez - so aswell as my Hypokalemia (low potassium) triggered more by laxatives, I now have this too! WTH. So marmite and gluten free toast daily and splitting the dose into 2 - every 12hrs I'm now on 600mg, I've had 2 Hyponatremia attacks so far (forgot marmite one day), my guts are constantly constipated , bloated and painful and on daily laxatives and weight gain Literally a huge step backwards after going gluten free and getting off laxatives and loosing weight ! BUT the facepain is subsiding - typical - first drug to actually show signs of working too but the cons are outweighing the pros!
I saw my Neuro on 28th and 1am that morning I had a thought about the bloating, severe constipation and could this pill really do this much. The only new thing in my regular daily diet is Marmite. So I typed in my most common search words for the past 9 months - "Is *....* "Gluten Free?" and the answer took me back - Noooooooooo - Marmite has Gluten in it !
So bang went my rehearsed spiel with the Neuro of giving me a drug that causes IBS-C symptoms again and here's the reciept for my especially made couture dress! So after discussions of the Hyonatremia / constipation, I was coming off Marmite for 2 weeks (which really sucks as just bought 4 jars of it and I'm the only one who likes it!) and onto sodium tablets ( thankyou amazon as no store in FoCo had any and made sure they're Gluten Free) and took the dose down from 600mg to 400mg and see if that is what's causing this and there's also good talk about me going back to my main food source - pink grapefruits - as I stopped those 3 weeks ago because of the supposed reaction to the drug but we saw and I felt no difference so once the gluten is out of me, we're doing one change at a time - I should be able to go back to grapefruit
So that's how that sits now
Alan is rushed off his feet with work / reports / drill programs / planning permits and sitting in front of a desk trying to organize 8 projects and dealing with ignorant people who don't have a clue and ignore everything he is recommending and doing. So definitely stressed to the max again - he's off to Colorado Springs tomorrow and then Vancouver next week
We hired our first official employee this month too - starting May 1 - Jay! He will be doing what he did before as a coretech and going wherever depending on the project. But he is semi back under our wing as he was let go from where he was - he did not want to go to Tuscon for 4yrs and his medical problems would have made it extremely difficult. After an injury at work, he has been having severe back and thigh problems and in and out of Dr G's / Xrays / MRI's and under the wing of the place that did my spinal fusion . He has a congenital narrowing of the spinal canal, disc bulges on L3 and L4 which is flattening the ventrical thecal sac and moderate bilateral neural foraminal narrowing . He has had his first cortisone injection , which may have helped. He has follow up consult on the 9th May Then to top it all, the Avalanche we gave him for his birthday needed $6G worth of repairs - after years of thousands of dollars being thrown at it but this time it was time to call it quits. He needed a new vehicle but noway he could afford one as the interest rate would be a killer due to his low credit score, So Alan bought a 2nd hand Ram pickup from our friends at Dodge with 56k on the clock and Jay now pays us back - when the vehicle is working then Rockhead covers the payments / insurance etc So he has a sweet deal there and a new vehicle with added 2yrs bumper to bumper
Until the projects start up (snow delaying most) then Rockhead will be doing ranch maintenance and repairs by Jay - deck - fencelines etc etc
Horses :: The big puppies are doing really well, there's finally some small shoots of grass and grazing happening so they are all heads down! . They're starting to loose their winter coats and I'm still bringing them in at night for a few more weeks as we're still due snow dumps till the end of May and the Lions hunt more too.
This was last week caught on neighbors wildlife cam
Then once June arrives or decent May weather its back into the roundpen and arena for 3 of them and work off the winter chunkiness
Barney is doing good, as always - altho he is being henpecked by JakJak and is petrified of him or scared to retaliate as one swipe from Barney and JakJak is in trouble and Barney seems to know this I think!
Oscar is doing ok - he's having some coughing and stomach issues but mobility wise he's doing so much better since the huge operation to remove the fat masses
Sadly on my birthday, we had to say goodbye to Cookie, really suddenly - one minute at 7am she's bouncing around getting 2nd breakfast from the corrals and 3hrs later she was gone. Without being too graphic. I had just finished a call with my dad, went to the bathroom came back and the front room floor looks like a crime scene. After finding out which dog and where from I called the vet saying I was rushing in with her and called and woke Jay to come over and watch everyone. After some tests Shawn found where it was coming from, her bladder and wanted to get a urine sample quickly I said no, dont waste time , do the ultra sound asap while waiting on the bloodwork. 10 minutes later Shawn came back out and said sadly this would be the same kind of visit I had with Mac. Cookie was fading rapidly. She had a tumor taking up 75% of her bladder (hence the crime scene), there was petechial hemorrhaging on her spleen plus small masses and also surrounding organs were starting to hemorrhage. Her bloodwork came back and her auto immune had gone severe and she had 0% platelets. Alan was away till that night and we got him on speakerphone and it was time to do the right thing and not let her suffer anymore. She had fought for 8 more years since she nearly died the first time with her auto immune (platelets destroying the blood cells) but now she had to rest . I didnt want the 20 minutes of special time with her, asked Shawn to prep her with the IV port and bring her into the soft room with me and stop the suffering. A few minutes later in she plodded , wagging her tail , a few kisses and plonked herself next to me (I was sitting on the floor) , she laid her head on my leg and closed her eyes as I stroked her face and muzzle and talking to her . She was gone in seconds and Shawn hadn't even inserted the drug.
I got Cookie back yesterday (29th) and her ashes are next to Muppet and Mac - Mac has her puppies around her. (ok enough on this as I've made myself cry again)
JakJak ( aka MLM) is as looney as ever - he has got to be the most charismatic cat I have ever known. He talks all the time. back and forth we will go - I have no clue what the conversations are about but they are very expressive!
He has his ritual games that we must play at certain times of the day - first is the morning opening garage door and play hide and seek tag around the jeep. Then Alan drinks his first coffee, lifts the recliner so the throw becomes a canopy. JakJak underneath and Alan does the attack fingers game. He has to sit with me while I make the horses porridge, He yowls and cries so loud if I leave the house to do the horses, town, corral cleanup. There's the last game of the day when I take puppies out for last wee of the night (not any wee time before - I've tried) He runs up, watches dogs go out then goes to the table near the door and hides behind the legs and its attack my feet game from one leg to another. Then there's the feed me treats my human game.. after any looney session (attacking feet and ankles as we walk around and he lies in wait) he'll then go sit on my sofa reclined section and watch me till I sit down with him - well more stare with impatience - then he'll look me in the eye (which he does all the time - he looks at you not through you like most cats) then from my eyes to the treat jar back to eyes, then to my hand willing said hand to move to the jar! He begs!
Grandkids - woohoo. So excited. Their flights are booked - Mid July Beastie arrives solo for 2 weeks or so, then beginning of August Sophie is bringing Diaval (I wont be using their real names but nicknames online) My first time finally of meeting Diaval too. And much needed Nana Magic time to really help him. So Beastie is already writing and planning the 4 lists - her time with Nana - Diaval's time with Nana - Nana's time with both and then Nana going to their house
But there's only one thing on her mind - finally after 2+yrs - she has the go ahead and is getting her desperately wanted Undercut like Nana used to have ! She wants this video-ed / photographed and then a big reveal
Then mid August I take them both back, stay a night or 2 then back to Denver and Dan'Ana arrive and will meet me at the airport and will stay for 2 weeks... Then my Dad is coming over from Oz (hopefully) ... Fawlty Towers eat yer heart out. I'm either going to be Cybil or end up as Manuel at this rate !
Plants All the bulbs I planted in the fall are all starting to sprout and grow. Alot now , especially in the mass grave area under gym / uest bathroom and guest bedroom. I have more bulbs arriving next week or so - my Gladioli bulbs, which I am planting all around and under the MTR sign
So I'll be yardening next week, sorting out the bouldery and also may start organizing my Pet Semetary properly too (Stephen King Spelling naturally) Silago and Akasha are already there and alot of fish !
And now as all my flowers are rowing we have thick freezing fog, snow dumps and ice everywhere! Hope they can make it through this till June and stay alive!
So busy times ahead with yardening, horses, Farty Towels, medical, Rockhead plus watching the animal shelter very closely too at the moment - not for another cat - no way JakJak would even let another cat breathe in his house - my pack is missing one and incomplete plus the boys and I miss her badly
But till then, its hunker down inside next to the fire as the snow falls and the thick freezing fog envelopes the ranch
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