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Epidural etc updates…

  • Posted on October 28, 2015 at 9:06 am

On Day 5 after the epidural I was doing ok; not great, but ok, and still optimistic. On Day 6 I had physical therapy (pt) for the first time since having it done and it went downhill from there. Really. Yes, I know pt is THE thing that’s supposed to help, but it seems that it may actually have been hurting me. Figures. Even before I had the epidural, we’re pretty sure that we traced my setback to pt, although we couldn’t figure out what could possibly have caused it as all we had done that day was body mechanics- ensuring proper movement doing every day tasks. After the epidural, we actually did them again, and did squats. About 30 minutes later, the pain in one thigh was quite noticeable, and by that evening, it was as bad as it had been before the epidural, if not worse. We decided to suspend pt until my follow up with the spine specialist, and decided that if I am to continue, I see another therapist in town who may be better able to help me. She’s got more training in certain things and I’m just that special.

Had an MRI done of the neck and cervical spine which shows something which I’m pretty sure it did not show when I had the last one nine years ago. I should get out to pick up the report tomorrow (and my new glasses), and hopefully I will get an appointment scheduled with one of the doctor’s at the orthopaedics office. I’ve been seeing a PA but the epidural not lasting and the neck stuff makes everyone think we should step things up and see the MD. I can’t disagree.

Fall continues here in the Green Mountains. It’s started to get below freezing some nights. The basil on the deck is done. I’m going to try and cut the mint back and see if it will come back in the spring. Some mornings I wake up and see the frost on the grass and it’s beautiful, but it reminds me of what’s coming and I’m not quite ready for that yet. I’m so grateful we have an attached garage for the cars; I couldn’t imagine having to start deicing now and continue to do so through March or April. We change the clocks this coming weekend and I am NOT looking forward to that! I wish we could just do away with daylight savings time and all this back and forth nonsense.

Tomorrow I pick up my winter stock up from the butcher up the road. Some briskets, which I’ve discovered are easy and tasty to make (thanks, Mom!), boneless turkey breasts (that may be from monster birds if I heard him right!), and some burgers which we can do as long as we can get to the grill since they’re quick and easy. A couple of pork tenderloins. I’ve been getting chicken breasts from the supermarket of all places so I’ll pick up another family pack when they next go on sale. I think I forgot to get just plain ground beef. But I can get that whenever.

I’m trying to cook more. I made crab cakes last night and tomorrow we’re having mustard balsamic chicken over roasted veggies. On Thursday I’ll be making short ribs, possibly in the crock pot, but they’re for dinner on Friday night. I’m not sure what I’ll make for dinner Thursday if we don’t go out. Dinner on Saturday will depend on if we have guests. If we do, maybe early Thanksgiving. If we don’t, I don’t know yet.

How is it almost NOVEMBER?!?!!?!?!

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Fall in the Green Mountains

  • Posted on October 15, 2015 at 3:05 pm

This is one of the many reasons I love living in Vermont. Taken today from my driveway.

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Epidural, Day 5

  • Posted on October 12, 2015 at 5:03 pm

It’s now five days since I’ve gotten the epidural. I wish I could say that this has been a miracle for me and I’m pain free; alas, I cannot. However, it has been an improvement so I can’t say that the procedure was in vain. Which is good. I think I would have lost my mind (what’s left of it anyways) if I had gone through all that and not felt any better at all! So yes, it’s better. Not perfect, but better, and I will happily take that. Plus there’s still another week to go where I may/will see additional improvement as the medication continues to do its thing. I have hope back now, that this will continue to improve and I will get better. It was a little rough for the last couple of weeks (sorry, Husband!) when the pain kicked up and my ability to deal with it dropped. When the pain gets like that, particularly after several days, let alone weeks of it, my head begins to get foggy. I have memory holes. Not like long term memory holes (those are a different issue!) but short term, like forgetting to do something or buy something that we had talked about minutes earlier. At the farmers market I left TWO stands having paid and then forgotten to take my food. One I remembered and went right back for, the other totally escaped me until I got home and unpacked. It’s disconcerting- because you don’t know what else you may have forgotten!

It’s breathtakingly beautiful up here in the Green Mountains of Vermont! We’re finally truly able to appreciate the beauty of the change of the season. Last year was nowhere near as colorful as this, plus we were just settling in AND dealing with the insanity at the other house AND I was still commuting weekly. I don’t really remember last October. This year is oh so very different. We feel settled now. in the house and in the area. Jobs, not so much, but we’ll get to that. Now that I’m starting to feel better I may actually be able to look in more earnest than I have been. I may have said this before; it’s hard to look for a job or think about a job when you can’t think about working an 8-hour day doing ANYTHING without fear and wanting to cry. Now that I’m starting to feel better, I may be able to do this. First things to do- 1) figure out what help I still need from other people; 2) figure out what it really is that I want to do! Yeah, that little thing.

So now it’s 5 pm and this is the first time today that the pain had picked up to more than just a dull ache. I’m good with that. Considering by this time a week ago I was already running out of spoons and brain-power, that’s a good thing. To be fair, I’ve done a whole lot today- changed the bed linens, run three loads of laundry, pulled everything out of the truck so we could pick up my new chair, and sorted through and labelled 9 of the giant Tupperware tubs we have still in the basement from the move. My winter project is to go through them all and have a solid idea of what is where, and clear out and donate what we can.  Now I just have to make dinner and then I can collapse. Then we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

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Epidural, Day 2

  • Posted on October 9, 2015 at 5:10 pm

Today is the second day since I had the epidural done. Yesterday was a GOOD day, better than I have been in months, pain-wise. Today is a little bit less so, but to be fair I’ve also done a whole lot more today than yesterday (like a full grocery shopping and a mess of other errands). Plus it’s damp and raining out, which always makes me ache more. I’ll still say it’s a little better than it has been so I’m grateful for that. I was supposed to get a follow up call from the doctors office today which doesn’t seem to have happened. Not a big deal since I’m feeling fine. I hate that I have to wait up to two weeks to know how this is going to work for me and even then there’s no way to tell how long it will last!  But I managed to get all the errands done without skipping anything but the post office which was in the other direction and not urgent. And I’m making dinner! I’ve already prepped the vegetables to roast, and am going to do baked chicken breasts with a maple mustard sauce.

 

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Restaurant Update

  • Posted on October 9, 2015 at 4:58 pm

We’ve obviously had to try all new restaurants and make all new friends. Our preferred haunt is The Dorset Inn. It is the oldest continuously operating inn in America, I believe. We have been there more times than I can count, for every meal as well as some of their holiday and special dinners. They are just fantastic in every regard. There is the casual tavern and fancier main dining room, both with the same menu. Their summer lobster special was outstanding. Their sister property is the Barrows House. We like sitting outside there in the summer but alas, I think they have already closed that up for the season. Mio Bistro is also wonderfully local and fresh, though we haven’t been back often enough since their renovation. I think part of the draw for us was being able to sit at the bar and talk to Leo the chef/owner as he cooked, and the renovation took that away. These are the ones that are in Dorset, the town 20 minutes from us.

In Manchester there are many more options, and still some we have not tried, or gotten back to enough. I think now with tourist season coming to an end, we’ll be more inclined to try new places. We finally got to both The Perfect Wife and her tavern The Other Woman. We just received birthday coupon cards from them so that will certainly get us to the Wife to celebrate! Brasserie L’Oustau is where we go when the Husband gets his foie gras craving. Yeah, I know. It’s a bit at odds with the local/sustainable/etc that we generally have in VT but what can you do, we all have our vices. We had a wonderful meal at Bistro Henry, which left us asking why we hadn’t eaten there sooner. I wanted to love Depot Bistro at Depot 62 but I liked it very much. Not sure there’s enough variety on the menu for the Husband. I’ve had several good meals at Thai Basil. And the biggest surprise is really excellent sushi at Sushi Boat; they have a very limited menu with few cooked items but everything, especially the eel, has been outstanding. We have been to most of the restaurants at the Equinox Hotel. The Marsh Tavern is a stand-out and one of our go to places for lunch.

We’ve been here and there and more often than not have found some great food. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to start writing more regularly and will have better information and updates.

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Update, new beginnings, etc, etc…

  • Posted on October 8, 2015 at 6:35 pm

We’ve passed our one year anniversary here in the house! In some ways it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year and in some ways it’s hard to believe it’s ONLY been a year. Every day we are still grateful and amazed at the beauty in which we are lucky enough to live. Yesterday we had a flock of 30 wild turkeys come wandering through the yard. It was pretty awesome to watch! The sunsets here are magical, swaths of colors that you can hardly believe are real. It’s part of why I can’t/don’t paint. I can’t even come close to capturing the depths and beauty of the colors I see! That’s why I like the camera; sometimes you get lucky enough to capture a good shot that comes close to the reality. Sometimes.

Part of the reason I haven’t posted anything in ages is because I have been dealing with sciatica since February which makes it hard to sit or think straight. Apparently I have been in worse shape for the last month than I thought, but I suppose it explains why I feel like I’ve not accomplished a thing. It certainly explains why I haven’t been able to look for a job, really, let alone find one. But yesterday I had an epidural injection, so steroids and anti inflammatory directly into the spine. Fortunately I was able to put my headphones on and with the help of Xanax and a good playlist, I was able to space myself out long enough for them to do this and not get freaked. And I walked out under my own power to where the Husband of Wonderfulness was waiting for me. How we just wait and see how well and how long this works. I have no expectations; so any relief will be appreciated. After more than seven months of this daily pain, I’m grateful for any help.

Remarkably, even with the sciatica, we’ve made it out to a whole bunch of events this summer. Most recently the Weston Antique Show and Manchester Arts and Crafts Fair. We’ve also been to the Scottish Festival/Highland Games, a Native American Pow Wow and the Southern VT Arts and Crafts Show. We’ve done tourist things like the Ben and Jerry’s Factory tour as well as the Bennington Battle Monument. We’ve become familiar with a lot of local booze and hard cider. The farmer’s market has become a weekly staple in our lives (I haven’t bought eggs from the supermarket since we’ve been up here!). Yes, we’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere so quickly running out for something is not so quick. The nearest general store is 12 minutes each way and they close at 8 pm. 8 pm!!  There is a 24-hour supermarket 20 minutes away, but you have to cross state lines to get there. So we have to plan more than we used to with what there is in the house. I grew herbs on the deck this summer- a first for me! We had an amazing mojito mint plant that completely took over its pot and at one point threatened to take over the deck. We had two different kinds of basil- a green one that grew incredibly well and bushy and a purple one that was just lovely and then started to flower! I also had a citronella geranium. I don’t know how much it helped with the bugs when we were out there but it was nicer than the candles were.

So where am I? I’m still looking for a job, which hopefully I will be able to get back to in earnest next week. It’s hard to think about a job when you can’t think about sitting, or doing anything else for that matter, for eight hours. And I couldn’t even fathom looking for something ELSE to do, when I can’t walk or stand up for more than 30 minutes at a clip. Now, maybe now, I will be able to get my head back in the game and get this done. I need a job before I start to lose what’s left of my sanity.

Health-wise? Other than the sciatica, we are pretty much at a plateau, and I’ll take that. My physical therapist is going for her yoga teacher certification, so we are starting to add yoga poses to my PT exercises, which is great. I still haven’t made it to a class yet, but hope to get clearance in 3 weeks when I follow up with the spine specialist if not sooner.

And that, as they say, is that. I’m waiting for the Husband to come back from a drink with our neighbor and then we’ll likely go out for dinner. It’s Columbus Day weekend, the busiest weekend of the year, so I doubt we’re going to get out to dinner at all this weekend with all the tourists around. We’ll go leaf peeping and just plan to eat at home. We live in everyone else’s vacation spot! Hopefully I’ll start posting more from here on in. At least that’s the plan in my head.

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