These grow in front of my house in spring

Adventures in produce

I have found my favorite fruit. Golden Delicious apples. mmmmm. They are sweet, and the skin is so thin you can hardly tell there is a skin on it. It's too bad it's taken 53 years for me to try one!

My diet consists of about 75 % fruits and vegetables now. I get bored with the same old things...bananas, red delicious apples, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, carrots and all the usual produce. I have found a market, however, that sells all kinds of exotic fruits and veggies from all over the world.

I had my first persimmon the other day. It indeed lives up to its ancient nickname "food for the gods". Here is a persimmon:

A persimmon almost looks like the fruit version of the sand dollar. It's very sweet and very delectable, however it leaves a furry, orange coating on my tongue for some reason. And it's a weird mind game eating one for the first time because the brain is thinking "tomato" and then the tongue says "sweet like candy" and it takes a minute to process the incoming taste information.

I also love mangos, and kiwi fruits. I want to try a pomegranate (even though they look like more trouble than they are worth with all those seeds), and I would like to try a cactus pear, lychee, papaya, pomelo, and a kumquat. (I have always wanted to try a kumkuat since I was a kid and heard the Three Stooges saying it in one of their episodes.)

I also want to try some vegetables I never bothered to try because I was stuck in a veggie rut and not too adventurous. I have fallen in love with black-eyed peas of all things (those are legumes, though and not a vegetable). I am going to try rutabaga even though friends have warned me about it, I have never had rhubarb either. (Are those two vegetables or fruits?) I've probably eaten a lot of exotic vegetables in Chinese food and not even known what they are.

I am finding out that being on a diet doesn't have to be boring. It's actually kind of fun once you start exploring and trying new things.

This is getting to be our furniture

You know you are getting old when your furniture starts pooping out. After more than 20 years, our Flexsteel furniture is finally getting "saggy", to say the least. There is nowhere I can comfortably sit anymore in our whole entire house with this bad back. Our diningroom chairs are all solid oak, and hard. I do have a "wedge" to sit on, but that I can only sit on for a few minutes at a time. I have a $2,000 massage chair that reclines, but that isn't supposed to be used as a regular chair, though Jon does all the time...and it's getting saggy, too! I am afraid the rollers are going to break.

Our sofa and love seat still look like new, however sit on the couch and it feels as if your butt is going to touch the floor. And try getting up from there even with a good back! The love seat isn't as worn, but still "soft" and not much support anymore. So where do I go to watch television or a DVD? I go lay in my waterbed. We have the kind of waterbed mattress where you can adjust the firmness by adding or taking out water. I have it filled to semi-firm and that is comfy. BUT at the moment it's hard to get in and out of it...so when I plan to go lay down I make sure I go potty, get whatever I need and put it nearby so I don't have to get up and down, up and down.

I want one of those couches that are corner units with the recliners on each end. It would be nice if I can get my back better so I can go get a job to at least buy a new recliner for starters.

When people are married for 32 years, we need another shower...all of our stuff is getting so old!

Alone in snow

Artist unknown

That Strangest Video on the Internet

Dad's birthday gathering

Had a family gathering yesterday for Dad's 79th birthday. My sister, and her son and grandson were there, my youngest brother's wife and their two little kids, and my older younger brother and his wife and one of his sons were also there.

My great-nephew is 2, my youngest brother's kids are 2 and 4. The kids crack me up all the time. I think little kids are hilarious. My sister's grandson (my great-nephew) wanted cake so badly. She had told him that he was going to Papa's to have cake. Well, when they got there he had to wait...then had to eat a hot dog first before cake...then had to wait. Poor kid probably thought we were all lying to him about the cake because it got later and later and no cake appeared!

Finally, it was cake time and we all sang along with the little ones who sang
"Happy Birthday to Pa
Happy Birthday to Pa
Happy Birthday dear Pa...aaa
Happy Birthday to Pa!"

It was so cute.

Then little J got his cake. :)

Dad doesn't seem at all 79-years-old. He still scoots around like a young man of 60! He's had his share of medical problems, but like the energizer bunny and keeps going and going and going! He is always busy with something, which is why he probably is still able to get around so well. As the saying goes, "move it or lose it."

Dad got a lot of cool presents. I was "coveting" a collection of stand-up comic DVDs my mom got him. He also got a shirt, some sexy-smelling men's cologne, some candy, a gift card, a dvd of A River Runs Through It (great flick) and other goodies.

It was nice to see everyone again. I hadn't been over to see anyone since my brother's birthday back at the beginning of October.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Maybe we need to call these people?
<<<<<<<<<<


Yes, the hot tub is leaking again, and it seems to be coming from underneath the damn thing again. It's a slow leak at the moment, so he just keeps adding water to it every day to keep it going while I am trying to get through this back problem, or until I have surgery, if need be. If I have to have surgery then there are several reasons for not going in a hot tub, one being that I won't be able to get in and out of the darn thing. I can only get in and out of it now with hubby's help, but it feels so good when I am in there.

Anyways, it will need to be drained, stood on end again so he can get underneath and burrow through the blown-in insulation (never get a hot tub with blown-in insulation...it really makes a horrible mess no matter who would have to get at the pipes and parts. There is no other way but to burrow into it.

I hope it holds out for awhile till my back gets better. Then I can go without it for awhile.

Black Friday and I am not going anywhere today

well...except to physical therapy, and I am so feeling like canceling that. It's not doing any good anyway. Today, traffic is going to be insane around Chicagoland. The roads are going to be full of crazy people in mad shopping mode. I don't understand what could possibly be so important to buy to wait in line all night long for it, in your pajamas! Yes, pajamas. That's what the Chicago Tribune is reporting. People lined up all night long outside of stores, some WITH THEIR CHILDREN, and IN THEIR PAJAMAS. It's insane. What could anyone possible desire that much? The greed in this country is out of control. Even when we are told the economy is bad, just look around. People complain they have no money, and everything is so expensive, and gas prices are so high, and yet the malls are jammed, Mini-malls and strip malls are being built everywhere. And they are all busy.

I can't think of a single thing that I would want to buy so badly that I would stay up all night, and camp out in the freezing cold for. Not one thing do I desire that much. There isn't anything that I would want so badly to stand in line for more than ten minutes for. If I can't get what is on my shopping list, I will just get something else. What is it that makes people think they MUST give exactly what their kids want?

Even when our kids were little, and they wanted the popular toy that was advertised, if we couldn't find it shopping in a normal way, they got something else and were just as happy with it. We always told them that Santa would try but his elves could only make so many so he might bring something else that is cool. They were okay with that, and it taught them that you just don't get every stinkin thing you wish for. Life isn't like that.

AND you should be happy for what you already have. Most people aren't. They throw stuff away when they are bored with it. Or they stockpile things they never use and don't give it away to someone else who might want it.
We are a society of greed. I miss the simpler times when kids were happy with a couple of neat toys and books. When I was little we would ask Santa for a doll, or car, or books, etc. Nowdays kids want full computer systems, stereo systems, and iPods, ALL IN ONE CHRISTMAS. AND THEY GET IT.

And we wonder what is wrong with the world.

Happy Pig-out and Football Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers! (I am up to an average of 53 a day and almost to the 40,000 visitor mark!)

We had originally planned to go to my parents' place, but plans got changed and we are staying home. It's probably for the best. For one, it's hard for me to ride in a car for any distance right now, and secondly, I can't eat all that traditional Thanksgiving food.

I am going to try to make a good Thanksgiving dinner that I can eat. We are having broiled chicken breasts, plain baked sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs (my husband and son hate these so I am making only two of them for me), Pepperidge Farm stuffing (which I will only be able to eat a small amount of since it's so full of salt), seasoned green beans, corn medley, and dinner rolls. I will also make a pumpkin pie (of which I can only have a sliver, with fat free Cool Whip), and hubby bought his Oreo Chocolate Cream Pie which he and my son can eat. I might have a bite.

I was watching a bit of the Macy's parade and it's sure not like when I was a kid. It's all Broadway advertisement now, and watching bits of acts from the Broadway musicals. I like watching the bands, and seeing the floats and balloons, but now it's so boring with the musical productions. Yawn. I put on the parade from Chicago and that moves so slowly and has so many boring entries that it's hard to even pay attention to it.

It's snowing right now. Coming down very softly. It's the first snow of the year and we are supposed to get three inches by tonight. It's very weird to see that my snapdragons are still in full bloom into late November with snow falling on them. I have never seen that happen before. The flowers are confused this year since it had been so unusually warm this season, so far.

Jon is watching The Man Who Knew Too Much starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. They don't make movies like they used to. The old movies are best.

Going to go make my two deviled eggs now and watch some more parade stuff. Even if they are lame now, it doesn't seem like Thanksgiving unless I watch at least some of the parade.

Hope you all have a real nice holiday with friends and family.

Merry Thanksgivoween is right!

I couldn't believe it when I went to Kohl's at the beginning of November and Christmas music was playing. Halloween is barely over and Thanksgiving was still three weeks away and Jingle Bells and "haul out the holly" were playing in not only Kohl's, but also Target, Walgreen's and Jewel! The Christmas cards and decorations are all on display right after Halloween, and Thanksgiving cards and stuff were shoved off to a corner next to all the Christmas crap.

And we wonder why time seems to be flying by.

I really hate lawn inflatables. They are really a lazy attempt at lawn decorations. These things are ugly and obnoxious. For the past two years, our neighbors have put out an inflatable snowman and while I am in bed at night, I can hear the motor running that keeps it pumped up. They let it go very late into the night. Due to everyone working to pay for the mansion-sized houses they barely live in, they resort to these grotesque-looking monstrosities that just reflect how society has gotten just too damn busy for anything anymore.

Personally, we have never decorated the outside of our house. If I am going to put up lights and stuff, I want it inside where I can enjoy it. I am not into house decorating contests, or anything like that. I keep it simple. A tree, a few red bows and some silver garland. We always get a nice centerpiece from Jon's company, and we get cards from family and friends to hang on a wall. None of my decorations are inflatable and never will be.

Making snowcones

Thought this one was funny.

This is going to be my hubby when he retires.

Even now, on his days off, he plans thing for "us" to do, and makes lists of those things which are pretty much like a flow chart of "ifs" and "thens". I can just imagine what it will be like with him home 24-7!

Medication can cause this to happen

My poor Mom got stuck in the bathtub not too long ago. I think it was Claritin-D that did it (correct me if I am wrong, Mom). She was real sick and congested, but she is also 70-years-old and doctors should be more careful when prescribing stuff to older people. When she was in the bathroom, she got dizzy and fell backwards into the tub and my Dad wasn't home to help her. I forget now how she managed to get out, if she was there till my father got home or what. I will have to ask her and update this. But the Herman comic made me think of that happening to her.

My new medicine is making me googy. Sometimes the room feels like it is spinning when I stand up and I am only on two pills a day now, and have to go up to three pills a day on Wednesday. My doctor and pharmacist assured me that these feelings will go away as I adjust to the medicine, but I need to drive myself to therapy and back. I will have to drink a lot of coffee and sake the side roads there. No major streets and only go there and back. It would be nice if I had a chauffer!

More drugs

I went to the doctor on Thursday for a check-up of how things are going, and he put me on a new medication called Gabapentin to help with chronic pain. It's not good to be taking Vicodin and Darvocet on a regular basis, and since I have conditions that cause constant chronic pain, my Rheumatologist and he conferred that I need something else. I had to look this up before filling the prescription because after the Skelaxin fiasco I didn't want to end up back in an emergency situation again from taking some stupid medicine. I read up on it, did my research then went to the pharmacy and made the pharmacist look it all up again, including looking up the possible interactions between it and the stuff I am already on. He assured me that there should be no problem and side effects were very infrequent.

So, I started taking one pill at bedtime for three days, then this morning I started taking one in the morning and then will take one at bedtime for three days, then will add one in the middle of the day for a total of three pills a day every day after that. This is one of those medications that cannot be discontinued suddenly, so if I want to come off of it, it has to be tapered backwards, three a day, to two a day for three days and one a day for three days...then off.

This drug makes me drowsy. Taking it at bedtime is no problem since I am going to sleep anyway, but hopefully I will get used to it because after taking the one this morning I have been incredibly sleepy all day. So far, it hasn't helped with pain, but the doctor says, and the website information says that it may take a few weeks to start working. If it does work, I may not need to take pain medication at all anymore.

I don't know how it will work for the bulging disc pain. It might help take the edge off but don't know how the heck it will get rid of the pain that is in my ass and running down my leg. That, hopefully therapy will take care of in time since my regular doctor says to avoid surgery at all costs right now.

The doctor says I should wear medical tags, so ordered a set yesterday. Yes, a set. I needed multiple tags to fit all my medical warnings and drugs. Difficult intubation, all the meds I am allergic to, that I have Lupus, RA & asthma, all the medications I am on now, etc. If I put all this info on one tag it would be the size of a license plate!

Another thing I am doing that would be good for all people to do who have medical problems and a long and complicated history is to buy a USB card that can be directly plugged into any computer. On this card I am putting all my medical information, surgeries, procedures, conditions, and all medical and emergency information. That way we don't have to remember everything each and every time we go to an emergency room or doctor's office. They can just plug it in, and download it...print it out, whatever.

Back to the pill thing, I am not looking forward to getting off the Prednisone in two weeks because I know that things will probably start to flare up really bad again like they did before, BUT I will not miss the hot flashes and sweating I get from it. I have never sweated so much in all my life! I sweat through my pajamas sometimes twice a night. It is highly unpleasant.

Brian Regan - Emergency Room Part 1 & 2

This guy is hilarious!
Part 1


Part 2

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow . . .

Over the years I have often started a hobby, only to get bored with it and start something else. There are only a few things I have been consistent with and that is pen-palling, journal writing, and Blogging. Otherwise, I go from hobby, to hobby, to hobby . . . then back to the first hobby, then to another . . . back to another, and it goes on and on. I love to draw and paint when I get started, but usually I am too damn lazy to get out the paper and art supplies. Then there is all the clean-up to deal with and so I usually talk myself out of even starting something. I love books, and when I was going to college for my B.A. in English I did a lot of reading and read a ton of books. The same thing when I went back for my Masters. I read so many books, and could read rather fast. I could read several books in the same time period, switching from one to another. But now, it's a miracle if I can get through two pages before nodding off to sleep, even if the book is quite interesting.

Jon and I are the same in this way. With him it's not just hobbies, but projects that need to be done. He will start a project and never finish it. Like building our house 20 years ago. The fireplace still isn't finished in the family room. it has a base, the insert where the gas logs are, and the glass door enclosures, so it works, but it has no brick on the sides and no mantel. Just the exhaust pipe going out through the wall. He also has the garage half-painted. The basement is half finished. The ceiling tiles down there to finish the drop ceilings are all in boxes. Floor tiles for the basement are in boxes and the floor is half done. The two-level deck still doesn't have stairs down to the yard. Only the livingroom and basement family room shutters are on the house.
I could go on, but you get the idea.

One thing I don't put off though, is everyday stuff that needs to be done. Like cleaning, laundry, picking crap up and putting it away, paying bills, checking on stuff, making phone calls to friends, etc. But with hubby, it's "later". I say, "honey will you change the lightbulbs on the garage lights?" and he says "later" or "tomorrow". It's like that for lots of things. I joke that his theme song should be the "Tomorrow" song from ANNIE.

But I can't be too hard on him. I am just as much as a procrastinator in a lot of ways as he is.
I also beat myself up for it all the time, because time is going by so fast, and someday there will be no more time to do the things I want to do in my mind. It will be too late to write that novel, or paint that picture, etc. Like the Nike slogan says, we should "Just Do It" and do it now and stop waiting for tomorrow.

Oh my aching back!

This is one of the most frustrating things a person can have...back pain. I went to therapy yesterday and they basically could do nothing except electrical stimulation, and a huge moist heat pack on my right butt cheek. My muscles were hard as a rock and movement is still quite limited. I went in the hot tub last night and that helps while I am in there. The buoyancy of the water just takes all the pressure off. I wish I could sleep in the hot tub, as everything relaxes in the hot, steamy water. I don't even have to have the jets on to feel relief.

BUT when I lift myself out of the water, and gravity takes over, it all compresses again and the pain comes back. I alternate between heat and ice, heat and ice. I am not supposed to try any exercises for a few days until I can get the pain under control. I am so sick of things hurting. I try not to take pain meds because of all the other crap I am taking, and so am taking only about 1/3 of the amount prescribed. I don't need liver problems on top of everything else. But the thing about that is more pain to try to deal with as naturally as I can...which usually means less movement, which leads to more stiffness. There is a chain reaction to everything. Take more meds, more medical side effects, take less...more pain and physical side effects. It's like a Catch-22.

I think we figured out why I am having back problems again despite my being on a diet, losing more than 50 pounds this year, and taking better care of myself. One thing is the gallbladder/adhesion removal surgery. It weakened abdominal muscles that I need to support my back better. Then also the gout in the feet which is making me walk funny, which affects the ankles, then the hips, and alignment of the spine. That throws everything off.

I will keep on keepin' on...keep trying to get things fixed and maybe someday I can get all this crap straightened out and feel good again.

At least I'm not this forgetful . . . yet anyway

I've paid for items at the grocery store and started to walk off without a bag, and have left a case of Pepsi on the bottom of a grocery cart after loading groceries into my van, but I have never forgotten that I had driven somewhere...this guy has to have Alzheimer's or something.

Man forgets car at gas station

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man forgot his car after filling it up at a petrol station, police said Friday.

"He just forgot about it and walked off home," said a spokesman for police in the western city of Wuppertal.

After the car had sat blocking the pump for about an hour, a woman working at the petrol station became suspicious and alerted authorities.

Officers contacted the 63-year-old from Remscheid, who came straight back to fetch the vehicle. He had paid to fill up the car before walking off.

Bulging disc

Things just keep getting better! (sarcasm) I went to my back doctor today and from my symptoms and x-rays, he is pretty certain that I have a bulging disc again (maybe herniated). I had this problem back in 2004 and had surgery to remove half of a herniated disc. How did it happen back then? I merely leaned over to put something into a clothes hamper. This time it was cleaning the basement and picking up a bag of trash. X-rays also show degeneration of some of the vertebrae and scar tissue from the old surgery. What fun.

So, am going to start physical therapy on Monday at a new place, and will be going THREE times a week, instead of the two I was doing at the other place. If no better in two weeks, I have to go have an MRI and then meet with him again to go over the results and other options, which he is pretty sure will be surgery again to repair or remove the herniated disc. So, I hope that therapy can help this time. The pain is only down into my butt cheek and upper thigh this time, whereas last time it shot all the way down my leg into my foot. BUT he says the Prednisone may be masking the seriousness of the problem, and since I will be weaning off of that before I am finished with therapy, we will see how it goes.

I hope that the year 2008 is better than 2007 has been!

Need new clothes!

With all the weight I have been losing, NOTHING FITS! Grrrr!!! I feel bad on one hand because clothes like my fairly new off-white pantsuit fall off of me. None of the clothes I have bought in the last two years fits. My black pants don't fit, khaki's don't fit. I know it's a good problem to have, but I just don't have the money to replace this stuff all at one time and so keep wearing the same stuff over and over again. (Not that I really go anywhere lately.) Usually I have to use a safety pin or add a belt, which looks ridiculous with some things because my seat of my pants are "bunchy" then. If I could go out and work, then I could buy more stuff at once, but with the health problems, that isn't going to happen anytime soon. So will have to be patient and get things as I can.

I have bought a couple of new pair of jeans, and a couple of tops...new underwear and bras over the past month and a half. I shouldn't complain . . . Jon needs new pants and clothes because his clothes are OLD! I will have to just get things as I can, little by little and eventually build my wardrobe back up again. I have a lot of clothes already, and most are nice, but I will never be able to wear them again, and they will probably end up going to Goodwill. But I am NOT getting fat again just to fit into them.

I mentioned before that I did get a Danskin outfit today to wear to physical therapy. It's a clingy outfit and it's been over a decade since I could wear anything remotely clingy. It feels so good to be thin again. I have been losing a couple pounds a week, still. I do hope that when I reach my goal weight that I will stop and level out. I don't want to look anorexic, and Lupus does make some people lose too much weight.

Laundry brain fart

I must be getting senile. I did a really dumb thing yesterday and put a cream-colored bedroom rug in with a blue kitchen rug and guess what? Yep...it bled and my cream rug turned purple-gray. I am so pissed at myself. I didn't wash the one on the other side of the bed because it wasn't dirty, but this one was because it's more walked on. So, I had to go replace the rug...like we have money to re-buy stuff...NOT. But I had a Kohl's cash coupon for $10 and so got $10 off the stuff I bought today.

I also bought a new knit sweat-suit for physical therapy so I don't have to keep wearing capris in cold weather. I only had capri sweat pants that are 15 years old. This is a nice Danskin outfit and is a regular large instead of the Women's sizes I used to have to buy (nice way of saying "fat" sizes). The pants are black with a sky blue stripe down the side of the legs, and the shirt is sky blue. Pretty spiffy.

If you are in a bad mood, these will get you out of it...

Laughing Babies

Mary as Leeloo

Halloween is our daughter, Mary's favorite holiday. This year she dressed as Leeloo from the movie "The Fifth Element" and she did a really clever job with conduit tape from Home Depot! (Only she was a wee bit more conservative about showing skin than the character in the film.) She always thinks up a cool costume.And here below is Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in the movie:

Physical therapy "tricks"

I started physical therapy sessions for my lower back problem last week, and am about ready to quit already. For one thing, I haven't even seen my back doctor yet (because they didn't have an opening till November 8th and said if it is that bad to go to the emergency room. Doctors today seem to just want to slough you off to the ER for every little thing so no wonder it takes forever to be seen and treated in the ER if everyone is being referred there as if it is some kind of clinic for even non-emergency things.

I was in pretty much pain, and after going though this before, I want to prevent another big blow-up. So, I went to see my regular doctor who got me started on pain medicine and a muscle relaxer. That's a story I haven't written about yet...the "adverse effect" of Skelaxin that sent me back to the doctor the day after taking ONE pill in the morning. My heart was pounding and I was trembling as if I had had a shot of epinepherine for asthma that I used to get as a kid! My blood pressure went up and up for a few hours after taking that crap, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I called and they said to go to the ER. I said no...I am not going to get stuck in ER with a bad back on one of those damn gurneys. So the doctor said to get someone to bring me over to the office. Jon rushed home and took me over there, and the doctor did an EKG which showed "squiggly" lines between beats, and so he sent me over to the hospital for a cardiac enzyme test and another EKG and had a cardiologist look at me. The diagnosis..."adverse drug reaction"...no DUH! I asked if they could give me something to flush the crap out of me, and they said no...it would have to "work itself out" and just don't take any more of it. I went home, and the doctor called to check on me later, and by them my blood pressure was down and only slightly elevated...the next morning I was back to 120/80. It was as high as 191/101 when I was at the doctor's office! So...be careful of muscle relaxers, they don't always "relax" you.

Back to PT...I hate going there. I had to go back in 2004 when I had a ruptured disc, and had several weeks of it and finally I quit before completely finishing because they started having me do all sorts of circus tricks like sitting on balls like ones in the photo above, and standing on one foot and then climbing steps, leaning on walls, walking on speedy treadmills, and a variety of potential opportunities for me to injure myself worse, or in other ways!

The recent round of therapy is weird. The therapist said it appears I may have another bulging disc problem, but won't know till I go see the 'REAL back doctor on the 8th and have an MRI. For now, they started me on some exercises that are supposed to gently manipulate the disc back into position. It's a new method called the McKenzie method. The little "tricks" involved are questionable to me. A few actually do help, but some make matters worse. And some of the things they want me to do, I just refuse. Like SQUATTING and coming back up to a standing position again. I told them that I was NOT going to do that one...for one thing, squatting is bad for my feet...and my gouty toes and ankle...and secondly, I had knee surgery also in 2004 and squatting with that knee is not a good idea. I had told them of all these things BEFORE starting therapy, but that just shows how much these people who are in charge of caring for you really read or listen to what you tell them.

The last time I went to PT, I couldn't even walk that well, and she tells me to do ten minutes on a treadmill. I think that was because she was busy with another patient and she wanted to give me something to keep me busy while I waited. I told her I wasn't doing the treadmill. (This was also the day after the severe Skelaxin reaction) and so she put me in a chair with a heat pack for ten minutes. I was right, she just wanted to kill some time and make it look like she was keeping my scheduled therapy time.

She later had me go through my usual wall exercises, which do help a bit, BUT then she told me to get on a table and lay on my stomach. I know that laying on your stomach is NOT a good position for a lower back problem...and THEN she tells me to do half push-ups and I did one and thought I was going to blow a disc in my upper spine. She said that was just my muscles that weren't used to working so hard. I told her no...I know where the pain is coming from...my spine. It happens sometimes if I lift something too heavy, or bend funny, or twist to look over my shoulder when driving. I told her I was not doing any more "on-my-stomach" tricks." I bet they hate me.

I am tempted to just cancel this week's circus trick sessions and wait to see what the back doc says on Thursday. I don't trust these people.

More pills

Well. I just started on a new medicine yesterday, this one is called Allopurinol to bring down uric acid levels and to prevent gout attacks.

I did a lot, a lot of research on this one before starting it and talked to several pharmacists, and my rheumatologist and my attending physician a couple of times before I cautiously took my first dose.

The chance of side effects are small, about 3 % or less for a severe skin rash and a less than 1 % of life-threatening adverse reactions. I had to make sure that the benefits outweighed the risks. My research and talking with the pharmacists and doctors showed me that yes, the benefits do outweigh the risks in my case since my uric acid levels are so high, and the gout pain will not stay away. The gout would only evolve into "tophi gout" where one gets big lumps on hands, feet, ears and even internal organs and these "tophi" deposits ooze a white, chalky substance that is pretty gross. I don't have that yet, nor do I ever want it. But women more often than men develop tophi in about 3-10 years after the onset of gout attacks.

The most common side effect of the drug is triggering acute gout attacks in the first few weeks after starting the drug. I was hoping to avoid this, but yesterday afternoon I started feeling tingling in my toe joints which worsened as the evening wore on, and when I took off my socks when getting ready for bed I found I had two BRIGHT RED and sore toe joints. :( Today, after my second dose, the pain is worsening. I am told that I have to just get through it, because once the uric acid levels lower, the gout attacks will lessen and eventually go away.

It also makes me sleepy. That is a normal side effect and that should go away in time, also. I hope I can come off of this once my uric acid levels normalize because it makes me nervous being on something that is so potentially toxic. (Poodles, I know you are on strong stuff, too. Doesn't it make you nervous?)

Anyway, I am checking around online for some liver health information about maintaining a healthy liver during drug therapy. Any of my readers have any recommendations or know of foods and natural things that can help?