Yesterday my youngest daughter had another bad day with her head hurting severe and vomiting. We received a phone call in the middle of the morning to come and get her from the parking lot at her husband’s work. Upon arriving where she was, we saw that she was physically not able to drive or stand up. Her dad and husband assisted her to her dad’s truck. Since we only have the pickup truck to ride in, it is hard to seat 3 people in there. I ended up driving their car back to my house, since my son in law can not drive due to epilepsy. My daughter insisted that we go to my house and not to the emergency room.

Immediately upon coming in the house, my daughter laid down on the couch and ask for several blankets because she was freezing. I thought ut oh she has the flu. She said she had to go to work that afternoon and I told her I didn’t think it was wise. She did sleep for approximately 3 hours. When she woke up and tried to sit up, she grabbed for her head and started crying. I told her I was taking her to the emergency room and again she said no she had to go to work. She has a huge stubborn streak in her. She eventually went to work, however she gave me her cell phone so she could reach me if she had to. She stayed at work for a little over 1 1/2 hours before calling me to come get her. She asked me to take her to the emergency room immediately getting into the car.

The ER staff took her back immediately to a room because she was vomiting and could hardly stand up. The RN started an IV and put fluid in my daughter’s arm plus another medication for pain in the IV. My daughter started feeling the effects of the medications. It seem to relieve the headache very quickly and my daughter was smiling and laughing where she had been in tears coming into the ER.
The ER physician diagnosed my daughter with a spinal headache from having the spinal tap. He prescribed percocet and phenergan.

Update:
My daughter told me today was better this morning after sleeping “like a rock” she said. Though she still has a headache but no where like yesterday. I knew the medications the ER physician prescribed would knock her out. Praying today over all has been a better day for her.

I recently won a contest held by Connie in her blog, Brain Foggles for 2 samples of Vaseline Intensive Rescue Clinical Therapy Skin Protectant Body Lotions. I love this new product that I won. Due to the fact, I live in cold climate and have diabetes, I have extremely dry skin. This lotion is amazing in the few days that I have been using it. My skin feels so silky soft and non greasy, since this lotion has over 15% glycerin making it the most moisturizing.

Thanks Connie I am so glad I won this fabulous product.

First about my youngest daughter, the doctors received the results from all the test. The pseudotumor celebri is treatable for her two ways. She has to lose weight. Already in one week, she has lost 6 pounds. She eating Slim Fast Breakfast bars and fruit and reasonable portion meals. She even bought Healthy Choice frozen meals to take to work with her for her dinnertime break. She is feeling better about losing some weight. The neurologist and the ophthalmologist agreed to place my youngest daughter on medication, Diamox, since the CSF pressure is elevated but not excessive for her to have to have surgery at this time. The only bad part at the moment is the cost of the prescription at the local chain pharmacy is $101 for 30 pills. She and her husband didn’t like having to come to us to borrow the money. I also looked the internet for the cost. I was amazed at finding the cost of $47.22 for 90 pills. Getting my daughter to trust to buy prescriptions online is hard. I showed her the websites and showing the bottle with the pharmaceutical label on it to convince her that it is the same. We are not sure how long she will have to take this medication. If it is long term, then we will definitely have to keep the cost down. If the pain and headache persist though, they may have no choice but to put a stunt in her head.

I went for my checkup on my diabetes and my mammogram results on Tuesday with my doctor. After talking to the doctor and the nurse that is the diabetes specialist about my yo-yoing blood sugars especially when I am stressed out, they gave me some advice. I am going to have to continue to write down all my blood sugar reading in the log book and bring it each time to my appointments. Also to keep writing down in my food journal all I am consuming. By doing these 2 methods of controlling my diabetes, I will start to feel better and have more energy. The doctor and nurse informed me they made a mistake telling to have surgery on the cyst at this time. The cyst is not cancerous, though the doctor still wants me to have another ultrasound around July 14 to see if the cyst has grown any.

I feel that both my daughter and myself not having to have surgery at this time is a blessing. Many people were praying for us both.

Yesterday, my youngest daughter had to have more test. I know it was a Saturday, but due to the fact the neurologist is going out of town for a month; these tests were vitally important to be done immediately. She had her MRI on Friday. She had her lab work done Saturday morning and then an appointment with the neurologist at 5:45 PM. He decided to do a spinal tap on my daughter. Ended up poking her 5 times and still did not get the spinal fluid he needed for a test to check the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels that bathes the brain and the spinal cord. She has to wait till Monday to go back for him to try again. She asked me to go with her.

With my daughter also being in college and exams are soon, she is afraid of missing any more class time with all of these appointments. Some of the classes are online. If she had a wireless router, she would be able to connect on her new wireless laptop with her class and not miss any information given out. She is so afraid of failing her courses. She does not want to lose her scholarships. She and her husband can not afford to pay for her to complete her degree without the scholarship money. They still have to get his brain surgery done soon also. This is so much for a young newly married couple to handle.

I have been trying not to stress eat the last few days. I really have not been very hungry lately. I have to remind myself to test my blood sugar. My hands are staying so cold with the new lower levels I have been keeping. I am proud of myself with this, but not when I stress eat. I just need to find which foods I can grab quick that are low glycemic. Proud of how much I have been riding my recumbent bike this week. I need to start a log of my time and distance rode, calories burned and pulse. It has been hard the last few days logging my food intake for my diet. I’m just trying to keep myself sane going through all of this stress.

Today, our pastor had what I believe is a low blood sugar. His wife was ill and did not attend church. She ended up having to drive into town and pick up the pastor. With all the illnesses he has had over the past three years, he has been blessed to be alive. I know the Lord will continue to watch over him as he goes through this next phase of illness and bring him back to the church. His daughter preached a spirit lead message to us as I know how much she loves her dad and was concerned about him.

Today I went with my youngest daughter to her eye specialist appointment. I was not sure what to expect. I have been praying that this was only a small matter. I have been trying to not have a panic attack.

The nurse came in and ask a lot of questions to my daughter. She carefully documented all of my daughter’s responses. She then stated the doctor would be in a few minutes. The doctor came in shortly and immediately went to my daughter and doing numerous test on her eyes. I never got to see the doctor’s face. The doctor stepped out of the room and my daughter told me that the doctor had a few too many Botox treatments. I laughed and this helped relieve the tension of my worrying about my daughter. When the doctor stepped back into the room, I saw what she meant. The doctor stated that my daughter had “Pseudotumor Cerebri”. When I heard the word tumor in the middle of that long name, my mind was freaking out. They gave us a sheet about what it is, etc.

The following is excerpts from American Academy of Ophthalmology Fact Sheet:

What is pseudotumor cerebri?
Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) is a condition in which high cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure inside your head can cause problems with vision and headache.

In PTC, the flow of CSF (a clear fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord) is blocked from flowing back out of the head as it should, leading to high pressure within the CSF inside your head. This pressure results in swelling of the optic disc at the back of the eye, which can damage (sometimes permanently) the optic nerve, causing vision loss. High pressure may also cause damage to the nerves that move the eyes, resulting in double vision.

What causes pseudotumor cerebri?

This condition seems to occur more often in overweight young women, a hormonal influence is suspected…..In some cases, antibiotic or steroid use may be associated with pseudotumor. High doses of vitamin A may also lead to increased CSF pressure.

What are symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri?

Most common symptoms of high CSF pressure inside the head are headache and visual loss. The headache may be located anywhere. Symptoms include:

The only symptom that my daughter did not experience was the rushing noises in the ears. Since she was experiencing so many others, the doctor ordered the additional test.

My daughter is ready to walk into our regular physician and tell him what she thinks of him and saying it only just a headache or migraine. She has been suffering for over a month now. My daughter is scared and knows she has to lose weight. She does not want to lose her eye sight. As a mother I feel helpless right now, but I have to keep her encouraged that this is treatable as the specialist stated.

Yesterday, I felt like I was on a roller coaster mood. I over slept and had to rush to get to our chiropractor appointments. Not taking my blood sugar reading first thing makes it hard to know how much bedtime insulin shot units should be. After the appointment, we decided to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things that were on sale. As soon as we entered the store, we came face to face with the woman who car that a family member’s truck rolled into and made a small dent. I ask her if she got my message on her answering machine about needing more estimates. Her one estimate of $1600 is outrageous for a small dent. She told us the estimate was to have the whole fender fixed and repainted. I asked her how much was it for just the dent to be fixed which did not cause any paint to come off. She could not give me a straight answer. We gave her the name and direction of another place for her to get an estimate. I want 3 estimates. I may have to contact our insurance company if this matter does not get under control.

We both did not feel good after confronting her. It is not that we do not want to take care of the problem, just not more than damages the truck did. Her trying to take advantage of the situation is making me sick. I advised my family member from now on, call the police and get a police report. Then the police would have known she was drunk and driving under the influence.

Started stress eating as soon as I came home from the store. I know this is a disaster to my diabetes. I had bought myself some sugar free cookies. Though they are not caloric free, some brands are low glycemic. When I looked at the back of the package after I had eaten about 6 cookies and realized that 3 cookies are 130 calories. I had just consumed 260 calories.

I received the dreaded phone call concerning my mammogram results. I was given the choice of surgery or waiting 6 months and having another ultrasound to see if the cyst has grown. I am so unsure which path to take. I have to go to the doctor this next week concerning my diabetes, so I will have to talk further with him concerning surgery or waiting.

The rest of the day, I was just a basket case and more stress eating. I was at the point, I didn’t care what I ate or how much. My bedtime blood sugar reading was 468. I knew I was going to pay the price in the morning with a high blood sugar, even though I took 41 units of Lantus. I haven’t lost the weight in the past 3 weeks like I had hoped. Leptovox was recommended by a lady that I go to church with. Will have to consult my doctor about taking this type of medication to lost weight.

Till I talk to my doctor about the results, I know there is nothing I can do and worrying is not going to help. I have not told my two daughters, when I will tell them is just a matter of time.

With having Lower Lumbar Stenosis (LSS), I have been experiencing more pain lately. I have to be careful when I carry anything over 10 pounds. The other day, I could hardly stand more than 10 minutes at a time. The excruciating pain I felt in my lower back brought tears to my eyes. I knew it was time to go back to the chiropractor. To avoid surgery for the past two years till last September, I went faithfully to my chiropractor. Trying to save money by having extra payments to pay each month, I cut out a few extra expenses. One was going to the chiropractor, because my back was feeling so much better from maintaining it. Well, now I am paying for it with the excruciating pain by neglecting my treatments.

I am having to take additional medication for the pain and it does affect my blood sugar levels. I know if I lost weight more quickly maybe by taking diet pills, my back would not hurt as much. I have been riding my recumbent bike once a day for the past three days straight. When I step on the scales, I am wishing the pounds would magically disappear. I know that I didn’t gain all this weight overnight. It will take some time to get down to my long term goal weight of 130 and maintain it.

Being more accountable for the health and care to my body.

My elderly mom just called me to tell me that my oldest brother fell last night and broke his left arm just below the shoulder. He said he tripped over his big feet when he went to turn around in his bedroom. He is 6′4″ tall and does have long feet. The doctors are not putting on a cast till some of the swelling goes down. Since my brother is in his 60s and being a diabetic, the doctors are being extra careful with him. Diabetics do not heal quickly. I pray my brother does not get arthritis in that area after it heals. I experience pain in my leg from my break last year.

Seems like the year 2009 is starting off with the worst breaks about a lot of things. Telling old Satan to leave me and my family alone.

Do you ever have a day where you feel good about yourself? Today was one of those days. I have been working all day on different groups, forums and communities I belong to. Scheduling time to keep up with all I have joined or deciding which groups to drop. I need to keep my work time manageable each day and still have personal time.

With the cold winter months keeping me indoors more, it is giving me a chance to work on organizing my office, desk and computer. When I look around and see the accomplishments I have made in the last few weeks, it amazes me more. I have a tendency to be a big procrastinator.

I am even getting on my recumbent bike at least every other day. I rode for almost 20 minutes last night before my leg started to cramp. Each time I am exercising longer I am helping my leg and knee get more mobility. This is also an extra incentive to lose weight. I am still struggling with getting on track with the diet though. I love food. There are not many foods I do not like. Whenever a fresh baked loaf of whole wheat bread is made, I can not resist a big slice with butter on it while it is still warm. I have a big bag of apples in the refrigerator I had planned to bake an apple pie made with Splenda. If I only could just eat one slice a day I would be fine, but I have trouble resisting sweets.

I am happy with my blood sugars today being between 94 and 118. I even splurged and ate some Murray Sugar Free Shortbread cookies as a treat. By writing down my blood sugar readings is making me more accountable.

Today, we received a phone call from a woman that has an estimate from when the family member’s truck rolled downhill from a gas station across a road and dented this woman’s car. I mentioned in previous post about freak accidents. The truck was not hurt in that incident, but a dent was put on her rear quarter panel. No police report was made due to she had been drinking and lived only two blocks from the area. My family member was worried about having to pay a fine for not having his vehicle under control.

When I went to see her car and take photos, I noticed that she had white paint scraped on side of her car and her car is gray. She tried to say his truck did some additional damage and it was clear that his truck could not have done it, because his truck is black and so is the bumper that dented her quarter panel. She had a rust hole and another one that had been filled with bonding material and white paint sprayed on it. I mentioned this to the women. Now she is getting estimates to do her whole quarter panel and have it totally repainted. I don’t feel we should have to pay for the whole quarter panel to be redone, when the only thing that was caused by the truck was a small dent that can be popped back out. I am starting to feel we are being taken advantage of in this situation.

I have been stress eating again today since the phone call. I know this is not good for my diabetes or my diet. I have been working extra hard this past week, writing down most of the time what I eat and my blood sugar readings. Have skipped a few lunchtime readings when I have been out to appointments. Worrying about our finances and how are we going to pay to fix this woman’s car, I have to leave in God’s hands. I do feel guilty when I stress eat, because I don’t always choose the right foods to eat. I have to forgive myself and go on with the next day doing better.