I was browsing around the web for information on sciatica relief, and I stumbled across the profile of my cousin-law-in, Mike Kane - he's an anaesthesiologist (or anesthesiologist, if you're from the US). My cousin, Michelle, has been living in the US for eons, and married Mike in 2001 - if you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll remember that DH Russ & I attended their wedding in 2001 in Oregon. I still don't know exactly HOW I came across this - just clicking from one link to another, and before I knew it, there he was. You've gotta love the 'net! :)
Suri seems to be coming out of her shell ever so slightly. She's still hiding in her "safe" box, but Mum & I have managed to coax her to play with a toy mouse, and she seems much more animated than she was yesterday, so hopefully, I'll have more photos to share with you soon. I actually did take a few today, but the battery on my camera died & I'm waiting for it to charge before I upload them.
Well, my back is telling me it's time to get out of the front of the computer. Thanks for dropping by, and I'll see you again soon.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Our Newest Addition To The Family . . .
Meet Suri. She's a 4-month-old Bengal that DH Russ & I bought as a birthday present for my Mum. Mum's birthday isn't until next month, but one of the girls that Russ used to work with breeds Bengals, so that's why she got an early present. Mum loves her, and she IS adorable - her markings are gorgeous.
Mum & Russ picked her up a few hours ago, and she's still very scared. At the moment, she's hiding in a cat bag (which isn't pleasing our Tokinese, Tasha, as that's her bed) and hasn't ventured out to look around. That's also the reason that the only decent shot I've managed to capture of her so far is this one in the litter tray (at least the tray's clean!).
Hard to tell what her personality is like at the moment, but I guess over the coming days she'll come out of her shell a little more. Poor Patch has been hiding in the closet ever since we bought her home, so he hasn't seen her yet, and every time Tasha goes within 10 feet of her she spits and hisses and then races off. Oh well, I guess they'll all have to get used to each other eventually.
Over the coming days I hope to take some nicer photos to share with you, so make sure you stop by again soon to check them out. Hope you're having a nice weekend (and no, unfortunately STILL no beads from me. My back is still driving me nuts).
Mum & Russ picked her up a few hours ago, and she's still very scared. At the moment, she's hiding in a cat bag (which isn't pleasing our Tokinese, Tasha, as that's her bed) and hasn't ventured out to look around. That's also the reason that the only decent shot I've managed to capture of her so far is this one in the litter tray (at least the tray's clean!).
Hard to tell what her personality is like at the moment, but I guess over the coming days she'll come out of her shell a little more. Poor Patch has been hiding in the closet ever since we bought her home, so he hasn't seen her yet, and every time Tasha goes within 10 feet of her she spits and hisses and then races off. Oh well, I guess they'll all have to get used to each other eventually.
Over the coming days I hope to take some nicer photos to share with you, so make sure you stop by again soon to check them out. Hope you're having a nice weekend (and no, unfortunately STILL no beads from me. My back is still driving me nuts).
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Quick Update . . .
Unfortunately, no beads to offer you this week. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I had to concentrate on making three beads for my life coach/acupuncturist in preparation for my appointment tomorrow, and that was difficult enough with the back pain. I only managed to make one yesterday, but finished the other two today.
I'm hoping there may be a little good news on the back pain situation. I started using the Norspan patch on Wednesday, and although I'm nowhere near pain free, I do feel marginally better. At least I'm managing to sleep a little more soundly. I'm actually hoping that it isn't the patch that's making the difference and that maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to slowly recover. You wear the patch for a week, so I'm thinking on Wednesday, when it's time to change to the new patch, I may wait a few days and see if things have improved.
The only downside to the patch is this insane itchiness I started to develop this afternoon. I've had the patch on for 5 days now with no side effects, well, other than a very mild nagging headache, but this afternoon I started to develop this roving itchiness which is driving me a little batty. It's not localised to the area where I'm wearing the patch (ie. my left arm), but seems to occur anywhere - from the top of my head, to my face, my neck, my arms, etc, etc. However, I guess it's a small price to pay for a little relief from the back and leg pain.
So, maybe next weekend I may be able to concentrate on some beads for you folks. I'm really trying very hard to stay positive. In the meantime, have a great week, and I'll see you again soon.
I'm hoping there may be a little good news on the back pain situation. I started using the Norspan patch on Wednesday, and although I'm nowhere near pain free, I do feel marginally better. At least I'm managing to sleep a little more soundly. I'm actually hoping that it isn't the patch that's making the difference and that maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to slowly recover. You wear the patch for a week, so I'm thinking on Wednesday, when it's time to change to the new patch, I may wait a few days and see if things have improved.
The only downside to the patch is this insane itchiness I started to develop this afternoon. I've had the patch on for 5 days now with no side effects, well, other than a very mild nagging headache, but this afternoon I started to develop this roving itchiness which is driving me a little batty. It's not localised to the area where I'm wearing the patch (ie. my left arm), but seems to occur anywhere - from the top of my head, to my face, my neck, my arms, etc, etc. However, I guess it's a small price to pay for a little relief from the back and leg pain.
So, maybe next weekend I may be able to concentrate on some beads for you folks. I'm really trying very hard to stay positive. In the meantime, have a great week, and I'll see you again soon.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Signs (and other stuff) . . .
I'm still processing my appointment with Nelson (the acupuncturist/Chinese medicine specialist I saw yesterday). The acupuncture itself doesn't seem to have really done all that much at the moment, but then again, I'm not all that surprised at that - I fully expected it to take more than one session. However, other 'stuff' that happened literally blew me away.
If you know anything about me, I've long been a believer in the universe providing, or "what you think about, you bring about". Nowadays, thanks to the movie The Secret, you may have heard about that theory - it's more commonly known as the Law of Attraction. Too much happened during the consultation for me to ignore it. I had lost my way lately, but after seeing Nelson, I am fully back on track. Apart from acupuncture, he's a life coach, so I've made the decision to commit to 12 months with him. I really need to explain far more about what happened - but I just don't have the time. Suffice to say, this is something I cannot ignore as random coincidence and/or chance. The universe has given me the unmistakable kick up the butt I've been asking for, and it's time for action. I'll keep you posted.
Other stuff. I've been spending loads of time lately adding to my DVD collection - in the past 2 weeks alone, I've purchased Seasons 1 & 2 of Extras, Seasons 1 & 2 of The Love Boat, the complete series of The X-Files, the complete series of Columbo, and the complete series of Due South (and I admit, I always had a crush on Paul Gross, the actor who played the Mountie, Benton Fraser). Next on my hit list is the complete series of V, Season 1 of Fantasy Island, and Season 4 of House. I'm really quite excited about watching these. I guess this goes a long way to explaining how easily I'm amused (or perhaps how dull my life really is).
As to beads, I'm not sure whether I'll get a chance to make anything for you guys this weekend. My first task on my road to taking accountability for my own life, is to make three beads for Nelson - I have to make one for his daughter, one for his wife, and one for his mother in preparation for my next appointment with him on Monday. Yeah, I know many of you probably don't understand this whole universe "thing", but it makes absolute sense to me.
And here's a little something I thought I'd add that sort of sums up how I have always looked at life - until recently, when I seem to have forgotten it. Have you seen the film Evan Almighty? I actually haven't, but someone once recommended a scene out of this movie to me, when I was moaning about no matter HOW much I seemed to be asking for the "good stuff", I seemed to be getting more "bad stuff" to contend with. This whole clip isn't from the movie, but it starts about 44 seconds into it, with Morgan Freeman ('God') explaining to Lauren Graham's character about how God delivers things in ways we least expect.
This is actually what happened in my consultation with Nelson on Monday. He said to me, "I never really got 'it' - this whole concept of praying and/or asking for the universe to deliver the good things, and instead all I seemed to get was more of the difficult things to deal with, until I saw this movie". Before he could tell me the name of the movie he was referring to, I said to him, "Let me guess, you're talking about Morgan Freeman's explanation in Evan Almighty about why things happen the way they do?". And he said, "Exactly!".
In reality, this whole clip, although related to Jesus, is my view on God/Yahweh/Buddha/Allah/the Universe (substitute your own particular religious deity) answering 'prayer'. If you're not into organised religion, then please don't let that deter you from watching this. I was raised a Catholic, but I am not a fan of organised religion. Each to their own, but organised religion just doesn't ring true to me.. elements of it sound logical, but on the whole, most of it leaves me cold.
Okay.. that's it outta me for one day. Thanks for dropping by.. catch you again soon.
If you know anything about me, I've long been a believer in the universe providing, or "what you think about, you bring about". Nowadays, thanks to the movie The Secret, you may have heard about that theory - it's more commonly known as the Law of Attraction. Too much happened during the consultation for me to ignore it. I had lost my way lately, but after seeing Nelson, I am fully back on track. Apart from acupuncture, he's a life coach, so I've made the decision to commit to 12 months with him. I really need to explain far more about what happened - but I just don't have the time. Suffice to say, this is something I cannot ignore as random coincidence and/or chance. The universe has given me the unmistakable kick up the butt I've been asking for, and it's time for action. I'll keep you posted.
Other stuff. I've been spending loads of time lately adding to my DVD collection - in the past 2 weeks alone, I've purchased Seasons 1 & 2 of Extras, Seasons 1 & 2 of The Love Boat, the complete series of The X-Files, the complete series of Columbo, and the complete series of Due South (and I admit, I always had a crush on Paul Gross, the actor who played the Mountie, Benton Fraser). Next on my hit list is the complete series of V, Season 1 of Fantasy Island, and Season 4 of House. I'm really quite excited about watching these. I guess this goes a long way to explaining how easily I'm amused (or perhaps how dull my life really is).
As to beads, I'm not sure whether I'll get a chance to make anything for you guys this weekend. My first task on my road to taking accountability for my own life, is to make three beads for Nelson - I have to make one for his daughter, one for his wife, and one for his mother in preparation for my next appointment with him on Monday. Yeah, I know many of you probably don't understand this whole universe "thing", but it makes absolute sense to me.
And here's a little something I thought I'd add that sort of sums up how I have always looked at life - until recently, when I seem to have forgotten it. Have you seen the film Evan Almighty? I actually haven't, but someone once recommended a scene out of this movie to me, when I was moaning about no matter HOW much I seemed to be asking for the "good stuff", I seemed to be getting more "bad stuff" to contend with. This whole clip isn't from the movie, but it starts about 44 seconds into it, with Morgan Freeman ('God') explaining to Lauren Graham's character about how God delivers things in ways we least expect.
This is actually what happened in my consultation with Nelson on Monday. He said to me, "I never really got 'it' - this whole concept of praying and/or asking for the universe to deliver the good things, and instead all I seemed to get was more of the difficult things to deal with, until I saw this movie". Before he could tell me the name of the movie he was referring to, I said to him, "Let me guess, you're talking about Morgan Freeman's explanation in Evan Almighty about why things happen the way they do?". And he said, "Exactly!".
In reality, this whole clip, although related to Jesus, is my view on God/Yahweh/Buddha/Allah/the Universe (substitute your own particular religious deity) answering 'prayer'. If you're not into organised religion, then please don't let that deter you from watching this. I was raised a Catholic, but I am not a fan of organised religion. Each to their own, but organised religion just doesn't ring true to me.. elements of it sound logical, but on the whole, most of it leaves me cold.
Okay.. that's it outta me for one day. Thanks for dropping by.. catch you again soon.
Friday, 11 July 2008
I've Given In . .
Well, the sciatica and back pain have finally beaten me down. I'm not sure how many more nights I can bear waking up around 2.00 am with that searing/cramping/burning pain down the back of my left thigh & calf. An undisturbed sleep has become but a faint memory, and if I have to continue on like this much longer, I swear to God I'm likely to do myself in.
As I have an aversion to seeing doctors unless I'm more or less bleeding from every orifice, my best friend, Yvonne, recommended a local acupuncturist. He's apparently marvellous and specialises in relief from sciatica, so with that in mind, I booked in to see him next Monday at 9.00 am. I admit I'm a little skeptical as to whether he will really help me all that much, but at this point in time, I'm willing to give it a go. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it works.
In other news, it was DH Russ' 53rd birthday on Monday, and Mum & I decided to go halves in a GPS for him. So, after searching around online, we decided on one and placed the order on 23 June for $389. I have purchased lots of products from this particular company and their service has always been fantastic - the items have nearly always arrived within 2 days of placing the order, leaving us with plenty of time before his birthday on 7 July. I received an email from the company (along with a post office tracking number) on 2 July saying the item had been shipped that day. Okay, so that's longer than the usual 2 days, but still left plenty of time for it to arrive in time for his birthday.
So Monday (his birthday) arrives and still no sign of the GPS. I tried the post office website, entered the tracking number, and it tells me it was delivered on 4 July - of course, it hadn't been. So after much to-ing and fro-ing with the post office, and the company I purchased it from, they told me it had been delivered, but they would investigate further. GRRRR.
Eventually the company emails me to apologise - not only it not been delivered (yeah, thanks I already knew that), but it appears it hadn't even been shipped AT ALL - the item was now out of stock. They finally issued me with a refund in the form of a cheque which I'm still awaiting to arrive (and I have to wonder WHY a cheque, when I paid via credit card - obviously a vain attempt at hoping I'd use the credit on some other item on their site - yeah, fat chance of that).
Anyway, we managed to track down another website that had the exact same GPS in stock - this time for only $355. Brilliant we think - we'll order it through them! I placed the order yesterday and thought "Oh well, it might be a belated birthday present, but at least he's finally going to receive it".
So I woke up this morning to find an email from THIS company to say that they too no longer have the item in stock, but "not to worry, as they haven't debited my credit card". I immediately logged into my bank account to find that they HAVE debited my card. SIGH. And after more to-ing and fro-ing with THIS company, they tell me that yes, it shows as debited, but they haven't actually processed it and my credit card company will actually delete the charge in the coming days.
So now I'm out approximately $750 for a GPS that should have cost me half of that, with no sign of either company refunding me at this point in time. Russ ended up finding another website and ordering it (3rd time lucky perhaps?) and using HIS credit card. Maybe he'll have better luck. If I ever receive the refunds, I'll pay it off his credit card.
Here I was thinking the internet was supposed to make life easier. I'm glad I don't run my business like these morons - I can only imagine how many happy customers *I'd* have if I offered beads for sale, accepted payment for them, only to tell the buyer that "Heck, I'm sorry but the beads are no longer in stock". Some birthday it was for him.
And on to beads.. I really hope to fire up the torch this weekend, so stay tuned. Assuming my back doesn't play up too much (ha!), I may actually have new beads to offer you soon.
Have a great weekend.
As I have an aversion to seeing doctors unless I'm more or less bleeding from every orifice, my best friend, Yvonne, recommended a local acupuncturist. He's apparently marvellous and specialises in relief from sciatica, so with that in mind, I booked in to see him next Monday at 9.00 am. I admit I'm a little skeptical as to whether he will really help me all that much, but at this point in time, I'm willing to give it a go. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it works.
In other news, it was DH Russ' 53rd birthday on Monday, and Mum & I decided to go halves in a GPS for him. So, after searching around online, we decided on one and placed the order on 23 June for $389. I have purchased lots of products from this particular company and their service has always been fantastic - the items have nearly always arrived within 2 days of placing the order, leaving us with plenty of time before his birthday on 7 July. I received an email from the company (along with a post office tracking number) on 2 July saying the item had been shipped that day. Okay, so that's longer than the usual 2 days, but still left plenty of time for it to arrive in time for his birthday.
So Monday (his birthday) arrives and still no sign of the GPS. I tried the post office website, entered the tracking number, and it tells me it was delivered on 4 July - of course, it hadn't been. So after much to-ing and fro-ing with the post office, and the company I purchased it from, they told me it had been delivered, but they would investigate further. GRRRR.
Eventually the company emails me to apologise - not only it not been delivered (yeah, thanks I already knew that), but it appears it hadn't even been shipped AT ALL - the item was now out of stock. They finally issued me with a refund in the form of a cheque which I'm still awaiting to arrive (and I have to wonder WHY a cheque, when I paid via credit card - obviously a vain attempt at hoping I'd use the credit on some other item on their site - yeah, fat chance of that).
Anyway, we managed to track down another website that had the exact same GPS in stock - this time for only $355. Brilliant we think - we'll order it through them! I placed the order yesterday and thought "Oh well, it might be a belated birthday present, but at least he's finally going to receive it".
So I woke up this morning to find an email from THIS company to say that they too no longer have the item in stock, but "not to worry, as they haven't debited my credit card". I immediately logged into my bank account to find that they HAVE debited my card. SIGH. And after more to-ing and fro-ing with THIS company, they tell me that yes, it shows as debited, but they haven't actually processed it and my credit card company will actually delete the charge in the coming days.
So now I'm out approximately $750 for a GPS that should have cost me half of that, with no sign of either company refunding me at this point in time. Russ ended up finding another website and ordering it (3rd time lucky perhaps?) and using HIS credit card. Maybe he'll have better luck. If I ever receive the refunds, I'll pay it off his credit card.
Here I was thinking the internet was supposed to make life easier. I'm glad I don't run my business like these morons - I can only imagine how many happy customers *I'd* have if I offered beads for sale, accepted payment for them, only to tell the buyer that "Heck, I'm sorry but the beads are no longer in stock". Some birthday it was for him.
And on to beads.. I really hope to fire up the torch this weekend, so stay tuned. Assuming my back doesn't play up too much (ha!), I may actually have new beads to offer you soon.
Have a great weekend.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
New Beads. . .
Edited Monday 7 July: These sold with BIN - sorry if you missed out! More beads coming soon (I hope!).
Its only taken a month and a half, but I finally have a new set of beads up on FeeBay ... oops ... eBay. Click here to take a peek. I've also added a Buy It Now price on this set, for those of you who don't like auctions.
Not sure now when I'll have another set of beads to offer you. I hope to fire up the torch again next weekend, but as its taken me 3 weeks, from start to finish, to make these, who knows when I'll next have beads for sale? If this back pain would let up, it would make life easier, alas, that doesn't seem to be happening at the moment.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by, hope you like the beads, and I'll catch you again soon.
Its only taken a month and a half, but I finally have a new set of beads up on FeeBay ... oops ... eBay. Click here to take a peek. I've also added a Buy It Now price on this set, for those of you who don't like auctions.
Not sure now when I'll have another set of beads to offer you. I hope to fire up the torch again next weekend, but as its taken me 3 weeks, from start to finish, to make these, who knows when I'll next have beads for sale? If this back pain would let up, it would make life easier, alas, that doesn't seem to be happening at the moment.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by, hope you like the beads, and I'll catch you again soon.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
The Irony of It All . . .
Getting sick of me complaining about my back? Yeah, well if so, spare a thought for me - I have to live with it.
I'm now at the point where I'm barely getting any sleep. I'm not too bad during the day. Sure, I have back pain 24/7, and a constant stinging-type sciatic pain down the back of my left thigh & calf, and sitting at my desk for 9 hours a day in my job certainly isn't helping the situation any, but it's probably a 6/10 in severity. I can deal with that.
What I can't deal with is the pain in bed at night. On a pain scale out of 10, this is an 11. When I go to bed, I'm not too bad, however, when I wake up around 3.30 am, that's when the real fun starts. No matter which position I'm lying in (and I'm naturally a side sleeper), I wake in absolute agony and simply cannot get back to sleep. I try flat on my back, I try sleeping on my stomach, I try the left side & then the right side and then repeat the cycle endlessly with no relief whatsoever. I always thought I had a high pain tolerance, but I admit, the sciatica is beating me down. The burning/stinging/throbbing pain radiating from my back, deep into my butt, down my thigh and into my calf is finding me about >>>THIS<<< close to finding a cliff and throwing myself off.
Apart from not being able to sleep, the one part of the day I loathe more than any other is getting out of bed. I know I mentioned it in an earlier post, but seriously, it's truly the single most horrendous pain I've ever experienced. If I do manage to get back to sleep after waking around 3.30 am, then I've been finding myself waking around 7.00 am and lying in bed for a good 40 minutes terrified at the prospect of having to get OUT of bed. When I finally work up enough courage to actually roll/stumble/fall/hobble out of bed, I can't even sit on the edge of the bed without feeling like my leg is going to explode with the pain.
And you want to know what the irony of this situation is? Well, I'll tell you. You know I'm a medical transcriptionist, and the two areas of medicine I'm most proficient in transcribing are - psychiatry & orthopaedics. And the irony in that you may well ask? The only medication I take regularly, apart from anti-inflammatories at the moment, is an anti-depressant, and the condition that is going to drive me insane is back pain/sciatica - basically an orthopaedic condition.
It's just as well I don't transcribe oncology on a regular basis.
I'm now at the point where I'm barely getting any sleep. I'm not too bad during the day. Sure, I have back pain 24/7, and a constant stinging-type sciatic pain down the back of my left thigh & calf, and sitting at my desk for 9 hours a day in my job certainly isn't helping the situation any, but it's probably a 6/10 in severity. I can deal with that.
What I can't deal with is the pain in bed at night. On a pain scale out of 10, this is an 11. When I go to bed, I'm not too bad, however, when I wake up around 3.30 am, that's when the real fun starts. No matter which position I'm lying in (and I'm naturally a side sleeper), I wake in absolute agony and simply cannot get back to sleep. I try flat on my back, I try sleeping on my stomach, I try the left side & then the right side and then repeat the cycle endlessly with no relief whatsoever. I always thought I had a high pain tolerance, but I admit, the sciatica is beating me down. The burning/stinging/throbbing pain radiating from my back, deep into my butt, down my thigh and into my calf is finding me about >>>THIS<<< close to finding a cliff and throwing myself off.
Apart from not being able to sleep, the one part of the day I loathe more than any other is getting out of bed. I know I mentioned it in an earlier post, but seriously, it's truly the single most horrendous pain I've ever experienced. If I do manage to get back to sleep after waking around 3.30 am, then I've been finding myself waking around 7.00 am and lying in bed for a good 40 minutes terrified at the prospect of having to get OUT of bed. When I finally work up enough courage to actually roll/stumble/fall/hobble out of bed, I can't even sit on the edge of the bed without feeling like my leg is going to explode with the pain.
And you want to know what the irony of this situation is? Well, I'll tell you. You know I'm a medical transcriptionist, and the two areas of medicine I'm most proficient in transcribing are - psychiatry & orthopaedics. And the irony in that you may well ask? The only medication I take regularly, apart from anti-inflammatories at the moment, is an anti-depressant, and the condition that is going to drive me insane is back pain/sciatica - basically an orthopaedic condition.
It's just as well I don't transcribe oncology on a regular basis.
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