Can You Hear Me Now?

You can tell I’m home because I’m lacking in the updates department again.

I’ve still got vertigo. It’s not as bad as it was, but it is still there. Add to that a cold that won’t go away and the fact I’m on Week Four of my period, I haven’t exactly been enjoying my time at home just yet. I went to the doctor on Monday and he sent me for a blood test to check my hormone levels, but I haven’t heard anything, which leads me to believe they came back “normal”, as they always have. (I called, and was told if there was a problem they would call me for another appointment). Well, you don’t skip periods and then get it 3 times in one month and then get it for a month straight if things are NORMAL. I’m on a supplement from my Naturopath/chiropractor that will hopefully help level out whatever is going on with my hormones. He’s also helped the vertigo, thank goodness. The MD said it was probably an inner ear thing and I’m surprised he didn’t prescribe antibiotics for an infection, but he said it just needs to leave my body naturally. So time combined with neck/head massages should do it. And the cold. And the bleeding.

Oh, I’m supposed to get an ultrasound to see about fibroids (which I’m pretty sure I don’t have, from what I’ve read about them) but I need to talk to my home care nurse about that. The woman at the appointment place said they have no clinics with Lifts (I can’t exactly hop up on their exam tables, and you’d think they’d have dealt with that before?) and she didn’t know how they would deal with someone who has bladder issues. I told her “I can’t even hold 4 SIPS of water, never mind 4 CUPS, for two hours!” As if they’ve never seen people with MS or incontinence, or something like that? Geez. I’ll probably have to go to a hospital to get one, but I’ll talk to Gail first.

Exciting news! I’ve got an appointment at a private clinic in Vancouver to be checked for CCSVI at the end of April. It is a shame I have to leave my province and pay out of pocket to get it done, but at least there is a place in this country where they do the proper testing. Dr. Simka, the doctor from Poland who is very familiar with Zamboni’s protocols and has performed many Liberation Procedures, was just there this past week testing MS patients and training doctors at the clinic to test using the proper protocols. Between now and then, they should know even more. There is new stuff coming out every day about this! It is very exciting. I just get very angry and frustrated with most of the media, neurologists, MS Societies and clinics that send out the fear mongering and call it “controversial” and don’t want to get this testing/treatment moving. Did you know Big Pharma made about 8.3 billion off MS drugs last year, and plan to make another 11.8 billion annually by 2011? Yeah. They don’t want to see MS go to vascular surgeons for a non-drug treatment. Don’t get me started on the amount of MS neuros with financial interests in Big Pharma and the big wigs working at Pharma who recently held high up positions at MS Societies and in MS research. Sigh. I’m not linking to stuff here because I’m too lazy, but you can look it all up easily enough. I’ve been spending a lot of time online looking into all of this, and it makes me sick to my stomach. But there are clinics opening every week that offer the treatment, so hopefully by the time I’m tested there will be even more, and closer. Although a trip to Australia would be nice.

We are starting a CCSVI Group here in Calgary. Not sure what our goals are yet, except that we want to see testing and treatment available HERE and raise awareness, but our first meeting to discuss all of this is Monday, March 15. If you are in Calgary and want to attend, sign up at Meetup.com.

Of course, that was written yesterday because I’m SO SLOW at this. I don’t expect the Liberation Procedure to give me the use of my right hand back, by the way, but I’ve read (from people who have had it done) it can help progressive MSers with fatigue, stiffness, spasms, bladder issues and stuff like that. Any relief would be worth it for me, AND no more progression.

My kitties are 4 years old today! At least, I decided their birthday is March 7 after I got them and counted backwards. Their previous owners didn’t even know, if you can believe it. And their birthday is celebrated by Hollywood coming together for a big party! Hehe. I’ve got red carpet stuff going on the TV in the background and my dad will be here soon to watch the big show. I’m going to PVR it because I may want to actually listen to some parts, and I can’t do that when my dad is here! (Too much talking, activity, and “what did he just say?”)

I think my period finally stopped. It’s been almost 24 hours, so I am hopeful.

Big mess up with home care today. My regular girl (I’ll call her Nettie) was here last night and said she would see me today, a little later than usual because she had a church thing. Then this morning I received a call from Mary, who told me she was scheduled to come. I insisted that Nettie was already set to come, so please don’t bother. About an hour later she showed up anyway, insisting the office told her to come. So I called the office, and they told me Nettie had booked off for today and tomorrow, and that Mary was coming again tomorrow, and some strange lady I don’t know is coming tonight. I was all, I just saw Nettie last night and she was coming, so WTF? Also, Mary isn’t trained in the Range of Motion. They said they would get a supervisor out the next day. So Mary helps me with the personal care and afterwards I said “see you tomorrow”, and she was all, What? I have school tomorrow, and I’m all, WTF. Then Nettie walks in. ARGH! The bottom line is home care screwed up again. Nettie is back to my regular schedule tomorrow but she lost out tonight because of their mess up.

I have, I think, 6 regular caregivers. Nettie 5 mornings/week and 3 evenings, Nia 4 evenings, Gerta 1 morning, Grace 1 morning, Mabe once/week for shopping help, and Traci once every two weeks for homemaking. Which I hope will change soon, because she is terrible, talks too much instead of working, and is super slow. So, six people when things go right. I BEGGED for Grace, she was my favourite pre-care facility, I used to get her every second weekend. So when she was sent here as a fill-in one Friday morning, I begged her to make room in her schedule to make me a regular.

Well, I’m off to watch Oscar stuff. I will be organized soon with my camera to get kitty pics when this vertigo stops and I don’t have such a hard time focusing and getting on with my days!