Killing Ducks

Stress-wise, this week could, quite possibly, suck, so I've taken some steps to help relieve some of the stress before it has a chance to bite me in the butt.  Some stress will be inevitable but I will handle it to the best of my ability … and with the help and support of my Team and my family.  Tomorrow my dad undergoes surgery.  My sister and her family drove in on Saturday and last night we had our Sunday-Funday Family Night that we usually only get to do during their summer vacation.  Eight adult bodies and 2 Munchkins gathered around the folks’ dinning room table for grilled chicken, pasta with pesto, green beans … and ... “Birday Partay,” as my nephew calls it, and “Kek,”(cake) as my niece calls it!!  (From Jan. 23-Feb. 23 our fam celebrates 5 birthdays, and for the 1st time in a long time, we were able to celebrate them all together.)  It was a great, and much needed, night of “decompression” for all of us!!

Looming high above, however, is …ugh … stress!!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … Stress sucks but it sucks even more when you’ve got a chronic pain disease like RSD.  But … I have already been pro-active on getting my own ducks in a row so that I can kill 'em and focus on my family this week.  Kiva will be spending a few days with Unca D and Auntie C so that I don’t have to worry about whether or not she’s eating, getting outside at the appropriate moments, and staying out of the trash (you haven‘t experienced 'gross' until you come home after a long day to coffee grounds, cig butts and ashes, Kleenexes, q-tips, and “other things” strewn through house.)  I know she will be well loved and attended to and I cannot begin to tell you all what a relief that already is to me.  (the one problem is that Miss Kiva had better not be expecting those 2 mile walks that she gets with them when she gets back to me … it’s friggin winter!!  Helloooooo!!!)  I will miss her for a couple days, but my spoons need to be spent on humans this week and my Team is going to have his hands full holding together a sick, stressed, flaring girlfriend and working his day job. (don't worry, I've already warned him!! ;) )

I re-enabled my antibiotic regimen, knowing full well that I get sickER at hospitals.  Hey, it's what happens when you have no immune system and you're surrounded by sick people!!  I’ve been fighting this “no-such-thing-as-just-a-cold” for a couple of weeks and, knowing my luck, this would be the week for it to cut me off at my knees.  I have an appointment with my regular doctor today so that I can get on whatever other meds I need to be on to ward this off, prevent other ‘illnesses,’ and treat what’s already settled in my chest <hack hack cough cough wheeze>.  I have also placed a call in to my anesthesiologist for a refill on my Ketamine nasal spray.  It’s better to have it and not need it than to not have it and desperately need it!!  (Especially since there is only 1 pharmacy in a 25 mile radius that can mix my low dosage.)  I wanted to have my house cleaned before tomorrow but that is not a spoon I’m willing to take away from my family.  I will get it picked up a bit, but I choose to not manhandle the vacuum as well as not doing the repetitive motions of dusting furniture and wiping down the bathroom.  My iPhone, now that it’s dry (it went for a swim in the toilet over the weekend), is fully loaded with the music, apps, and videos that can help distract and entertain the Munchkins and myself.  I’ll stay at the Oasis since it’s closer to where the surgery will be, less travel time = less stress and discomfort.  My Go-Bag is refilled and packed and will stay in the car all week unless it is needed.  I even made sure that I had extra Benadryl in there for stress-induced hives … those date back to my pre-RSD years, but hives have become uber-brutal, pain-wise, in the post years!!

These are the types of things that I have become aware of over the years, in dealing with RSD, family, stress, ... and waiting.  I’m sure I’ll find something to kick myself over tomorrow when I end up missing it, but my dog and my pain (the 2 most important things) are already taken care of.

I have faith that this week go as smoothly as possible and that my family will do what we do best, form an unbreakable barrier of love and support.  I also have faith that my doctors will do whatever they can for me today, and that I will keep all of my pain manageable.  If I’m not able to blog tomorrow, please know that I will thinking of my RSD family as well and wishing you all minimal pain and maximal smiles!!