Craig Ferguson

Or, as I like to call it, “Do NOT mess about with Mother Nature”.

Mistletoe

I have been alone too much for too long. Yes, it causes me to withdraw. Plus, I was pretty sick for a while with the whole asthma, pleurisy thing. Getting better, still taking tons of med every day. I have to take them with food, so it seems all I do is eat all day long. I think I’m depressed, as being alone all of the time will do that, and I don’t have a lot to say or comment on lately. So boring blog, boring blogger. Sorry about that.

Edit: So I didn’t like the brown. Back to the more cheerful theme. 🙂

One Crazy Fact You Must Know When You Hear That The Poor ‘Just Need To Work Harder’ | MoveOn.Org.

Legalise Love: LGBT Rights Are Human Rights – Diversity and Inclusion.

My father used to say pretty much the same thing.

John Barrowman discusses Kaleidoscope's campaign on Channel 5 News.

I know I haven’t posted in a while, didn’t have anything to say, I guess. Kind of discouraged with the state of the world, and just can’t get fired up about it lately. I’m better illness-wise, so that’s a good thing. I will say that cutting back on the Prednisone is making my legs hurt more again. Not loving that. I just wanted to post this link today. Was going to post the vid, which is great, but the rest on the page are too, so here is the link:

Where’s Matt?

EDIT

Seriously, how can anyone NOT be depressed about the state of things, when there is the information here to be considered:

Think Progress

I’ve been doing quite well recently. Tired, but more active and getting things done. Until Sunday. Before I went to bed, pain reared it’s ugly visage. I decided to tough it out and hope it was gone Monday morning. Not. Full body pain. Toes, fingers, you name it, it hurt. Including the pleurisy pain, which was quite bad. Took pain meds, helped, but not much. Had a minor meltdown yesterday evening. Now that I’ve been relatively pain-free and remembering who I was before I got sick, and BEING who I was before I got sick, in terms of being able to function, I was devastated to think that the brief respite was over, because I’d only cut the prednisone back by 2 1/2 mg. I cannot face going back to being in pain all the time. I had sublimated how horrible it was until it was gone. Last night I took two vicodin, not much help. All night I kept waking myself up moaning and groaning. Set the clock for 11 because I had to be up for homemaker. 11:15 I was laying in bed, moaning and groaning and trying to convince myself to move and turn off the alarm, when it suddenly hit me. I was supposed to be taking 3 1/2 prednisone pills, and I had been taking 1 1/2 for a few days. My ‘first of the day’ pill is 1 1/2, and apparently my brain got stuck on that dosage. Who’s an idiot? I’m an idiot, that’s who. But since I now seem to have enough pills for my own drugstore, I guess getting confused isn’t that hard. Anyway, took 3 1/2 prednisone and 2 vicodin and pain is almost, not quite, but almost gone. Relief, relief, relief. I was really not happy being in pain again. Especially debilitating, unable to function pain. I wrote a big number 3 on the prednisone bottle so I don’t forget again. I have the half pills in another bottle, so that’s not an issue. Do I feel like a moron? Yes, but on the other hand, it is understandable that I would make such an error. My brain is pretty fractured at the best of times. Focusing R NOT Us.

I guess this means, though, that it is really only the prednisone that is working on the pain. It’s not the extra thyroid meds, or any of the other pills I am taking. Kind of makes me wonder what will happen when I have to get off the prednisone for good. Can’t worry about what hasn’t happened yet, though. Who knows? Maybe given enough time, the prednisone will get rid of whatever causes the body pain and I’ll be fine. I can dream, can’t I? 🙂

Proof is here:

Results

and I hate country music, but they put this out there, and it is just too good to miss.

Found here:  http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/06/turkish-pine-in-the-white-mountains-of-crete.html

But this is what caught my eye:

Neat.  A new monster.  I like it.  And this was on my dashboard:

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. Somerset Maugham“

The best tag line for a blog I’ve ever come across:

“Everyday life of unremarkable people in non-heroic time at unnoticed country.”

From here:

What We Eat in Ukraine

It’s a really good thing. I got a lot done today, including moving some shelving and refiguring the five bazillion wires a computer and it’s periferals need to operate.  I am actually tired from working, not from being ill.  I am amazed at the difference in me.  I still have some pain from the pleursy or whatever it is, but all the fibro stuff is just gone.  I can sleep at night and get up in the morning around 9am usually.  It’s been a long time since my sleep schedule was actually any kind of regular.  I don’t know what is actually going on with me, but I am definitely NOT complaining.  It’s a good thing. 

when you mix religion and politics, and it is so very wrong:

‘For Going Against God’s Will’ Catholic Hospital Denies Gay Man HIV Meds

46% Of Americans Believe Man Was Created By God 10,000 Years Ago Or Less The New Civil Rights Movement.

These are NOT my feet, but you get the drift.Prednisone, the miracle drug. Besides the pain being back, there are more side-effects than bone-thinning. I saw my primary on Friday (more about that later) and I had gained eleven pounds since last visit. What? Whatty what what??? I don’t eat a lot, I’ve been losing weight, and my jeans have started falling off when I walk. LOL But my legs were and are swollen and it turns out that I gained eleven pounds of retained-water. And bruising. Side-effects of prednisone. My feet were so swollen my toes were in pain from my shoes. Which I’m lucky I could get on, I guess. I don’t wear shoes unless I am going out. Taking the new drug from the rheumatologist, which has issues of its own, but it will allow me to get off the prednisone by cutting back 2 and 1/2 mg every two weeks. Meanwhile, I am back to not being able to Get Things Done, which is not making me happy at all. Walking hurts.

I googled and could find no solution to the swelling except getting off the med, which has to take time or it can kill you. Oh, joy. Working on my own solution, I sometimes like to read in bed with my feet and legs up against the wall. Hey, it’s comfortable. But the pain means I can’t really lie flat comfortably, so I propped myself up on four pillows and then put my huge green exercise ball on the bed and put my feet up on it. Oh, wow, am I brilliant or what? So comfortable, and I can roll the ball back and forth with my legs and Gertrude got over being scared to death after the first half hour and now will sit right next to that big green thing on the bed. “Like where did that come from, and what the heck is it? Oh, well. She’s not freaking, so I guess it’s okay.” She’s shedding…again. Cat hair everywhere.

So my visit to my primary was the last. He was only filling in til the other doctor comes back from maternity leave. Too bad, cause I really like him. He’s done more for me in a handful of visits than my last doctor did in four years. I’m almost a real person again, thanks to him. I was so going to keep him, and I told him so, which made him laugh. I used to have a friend whose mother kept a list of all the people who had ‘wronged’ her, and how. I have a list in my head of people I am keeping. The UPS guy is on it (I get a lot of stuff from Amazon), because he’s friendly and funny, among others. It’s a good thing. 🙂

So that’s the latest on the saga of Jean’s strangely peculiar life. Does anyone actually read this? Does no one have anything to say or are you unable to comment? Inquiring minds and all. You know. 🙂

I think that if we had brains, we wouldn’t allow these things to happen anyway. As a species, we are sadly lacking in common sense.
UPDATE: A new quote: “On top of all the other reasons the right hates Obama, there is also the fact that he is smarter than they are and he knows exactly what they are up to.” John Cole, from here: Balloon Juice

Yesterday it all came back. The pain, the difficult breathing, all of it. Even my feet hurt. Took three aspirin and that helped, but not much. Awake til 5am because I just could not sleep. Much better today, however. Good, because today I saw the rheumatologist. Two hours. Part of that was the nurse asking me ten thousand questions, then waiting while the doctor read my files from my primary care doctor, then more than an hour of the doctor checking me over and asking me ten thousand more questions. Good doctor. Very good doctor. Turns out I do have pleursy, I might not have fibromyalgia, even though I’ve been tested several times and had all the tender points every time, but prednisone does not work on fibro, and I do not have any fibro pain since I’ve been on it. Weird. Of course, this means I could actually have one of the things they supposedly eliminated when I was first diagnosed fourteen years ago. Whatever. I feel better than I have felt in years. No pain, except the pleursy thing that is fine today, I can walk better, I can do things, I can pick up a chair and carry it instead of dragging it to where I want it. But, I now have more blood tests…they took five tubes today, and I am having an ultrasound of my heart. Back to the primary care Friday, back to the rheumatologist in a month. Also got a new med, because he wants me off the prednisone, since it causes bone thinning and other unpleasant side effects. But man, I want to stay pain-free. I want to keep feeling human. It’s been too long. Wait and see, don’t anticipate, take it as it comes. Works for me.

Today my chest hurts a bit, and the breathing difficulty is back as well. Neither really bad, but there. It’s a damp, foggy, icky day. Maybe that contributes? Still Getting Things Done, which makes me soooo happy. I haven’t had this much energy for longer than a day, or even just for a day, in a very long time, so I am using it. Moved a bookshelf, moved the table and set up the tv, etc., in the corner. The table has to go, which makes me sad, cause I love it, and its’ little chairs, too. But this is a SMALL apartment, with one 12 x 15 main room which has to serve as living and dining, since there is a galley kitchen, not an eat-in kitchen. So minimizing is the way to go. Get rid of things. I can do that.