I think I've mentioned that my weekends actually stretch from Friday to Monday. I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Friday my parents, my sister, my daughter, and I went to see Hop. It was actually rather cute. I wasn't thrilled about seeing it, but am glad I went. It was a pretty good movie. Not nearly as good as Tangled, however. After the movie, we went to dinner. I am gald my dad drove because I was wasted. I don't know why, but I am tired all of the time now. It may be a side affect of the medicine. It may be because I haven't been sleeping well. It may be both. Either way, I would not have been able to make it. We had a chinese buffet for dinner. I was also hurting, but not too badly.
On Saturday, my dad went golfing. I decided to approach my mom and ask her if she wanted to go to lunch. I thought it would be a good opportunity. We hardly do anything together even though we live in the same house. It feels like she spends more time with her other children (I am the eldest of 4) than she does with me or her granddaughter. She said yes, which made me happy. We decided on The Breakfast Club, where I have never been. While we waited for our tables, mom asked me all kinds of questions about my condition, if I knew of any research, what treatments are out there, what the plan is for my treatment, how I've been feeling and coping, and on and on and on. I was shocked. I answered her, of course. But she acted interested. I texted my fiance, who was working at the baseball game (he works for Fox Sports some weekends on top of his full time job and owning his own business). He was shocked as well. This from the mother who doesn't seem to care and says it is just in my head. The mother who says if I lose weight it will suddenly cure this disorder. She actually listened, asked questions, and paid attention to my responses. Maybe she will be understanding and supportive in this long process.
Later Saturday, I took my daughter swimming. Big Mistake. But I had promised her. So, while we were in the 92-degree therapy pool, another child through a rubber ball (like used in dodgeball) and hit me right in the right ear. I thought I was going to pass out. I spent the next fifteen minutes crying. It hurt so bad. And it wasn't pretty crying. It was deep, wrenching sobs that wracked my whole body. But it hurt. So bad. Not that I haven't really stopped hurting, but it had receeded. Now it was back and worse. And I wanted to curl up and die. Of all the places to hit me, it had to be on that side right at the trigger spot. And these balls aren't small... or thrown softly. Saturday night, my fiance took me to see a concert. Colbie Caillat. Nice, soft music. She's such a great artist. But I still cried during most of it. Residual pain maybe? Or could the noise of the concert actually cause a reaction? I haven't heard too much about noise triggering pain. After the concert, I fell asleep fast.
Sunday I went to the Junior Miss show with Jarod and Savannah. I did mention he films them, right? We left at 10am (shortly after I woke up and showered) and got home around 9:30pm. I read until I fell asleep. Nothing much. Several episodes of shooting pains. Elevation changes suck big time. Perhaps it's the pressure changes that mess it all up.
Today, Monday, I stayed home most of the day and did homework. I have 6 stories to read, edit, and write 1-2 page single-spaced peer reviews. I have 6 poems to critique, but don't have to write anything about them. I have 8 short stories in a book to read. I have to write a 3 page journal response to the stories in the book- due at midnight tonight. Thank goodness the journal response is double spaced. So far, I have read 4 of the 6 stories and written 1 of the 6 reviews. I have read the poems but have not critiqued them (written on them). I read the stories in the book, wrote the journal, and submitted it. So, I am doing well. Just need to write on the poems, finish reading, and write up my other 5 reviews. I plan to write 1 more tonight, 2 at lunch tomorrow, and the last 2 during dinner tomorrow. Plenty of time. I also have to review a poetry reading I went to and write 2 poetry-book reviews. I've read the poetry books, just need to write about them. Do you think added stress can add to symptoms?
I also wonder how pain journals work. How do you write them? What do you record? Do you record every episode? Do you write once a day? Once every couple of weeks? How do you record intensity? I mean, it doesn't work if you compare them to one another all the time. How would an outside person, such as a nuerologist, know how to rate the pain? I'm so confused about them but to nervous to write on the forums yet. I don't want to sound stupid. Or write something a million others have written. I like the blog style postings.
Can you tell I'm an English-Creative Writing major? I write poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.