29 May 2006
Change of plans...
London is now a no go. We've had a change of plans. Our home is over 100 years old so it takes a lot of work to maintain it and we have decide that instead of spending $20,000 on business class we should have the windows in the back of the house redone and while we're at it maybe we will think about having the bathroom refitted. I'm thinking something in a enameled claw foot tub. Hmmm???
25 May 2006
I'm being tested
So I went in to get my eyes checked yesterday and ordered a new set of glasses. That all went well and I like they new frames I have picked out. I should get them in about two weeks. I promise to post a new picture when I get them. Now while I was having my eyes checked the doctor asks me "How long have you had that growth on the bottom of your eyelid?" I said funny you should ask seeing that I only recently noticed the growth about two weeks ago. Well it seems that upon investigation by the doctor he says that the growth is full of blood vessels and he thinks I should have an eye surgeon have a look. Bottom line is it may be a tiny skin cancer.
I am being tested. I have been tested before and I always seem to come out the other side albeit not totally unscathed but I do survive. So I will go see the surgeon on the 15 June and if it is a bit of cancer then we will do what we need to do to get rid if it. So many times before in my life it's just something else to deal with and deal with it I will.
I am being tested. I have been tested before and I always seem to come out the other side albeit not totally unscathed but I do survive. So I will go see the surgeon on the 15 June and if it is a bit of cancer then we will do what we need to do to get rid if it. So many times before in my life it's just something else to deal with and deal with it I will.
21 May 2006
This makes up for the last post...
This little video is cute and brings a little levity after my last post. Enjoy...
Take my feet...Please...
I have had trouble with peripheral neuropathy in my feet for some time thanks to that little virus called HIV. I also took a medication to fight the HIV back in the early 90's which also made the neuropathy worse. I finally stopped that medication and moved on to something a bit better and not so damaging. Unfortunately the damage has already been done.
Recently around this past Christmas and up to and continuing through now the neuropathy has been acting up and been almost completely out of control. The pain is sometime unbearable and has brought me to tears. I am extremely frustrated because after 20 years of being positive I have been through so much and miraculously I have survived some really bad times, I mean really bad! Here and now at this stage, I have found a regime (my regular medications after four different tries) that seems to be holding the virus at bay so I'm happy to take the 6 pills. My base immune system is in decent order and better than it has been in 20 years. Actually it has been better than it is now but I won't complain with a count of 700 when I used to be able not to get above 300.
We have tried three different additional treatments for the neuropathy. Including: Neurotin, Lyrica, and amytriptyline. Unfortunately none of these medications worked. They were never intended to cure the problem and as I understand it now from my recent visit to a specialist in Sydney, this is not a problem that can be fixed merely something that we will attempt to manage pain wise and something I will have to live with for the rest of my life. I can do that as long as the pain is managed. We are actually trying one more new medication called Lamictal which is an anti-convulsant. All of the medications that I tried previously were of the same ilk. They interrupt the nerve messages which at this point are being sent and received incorrectly, hence the pain, numbness and burning sensation all at various times or at once. I also apparently have lost some feeling in my feet as I am hitting my feet hard enough on things like furniture to cause bruising. The problem being is I'm not feeling it when I hit my feet. So I'm going to have to be a bit more careful and aware.
So where is this long and self-loathing post heading? Well I guess I just wanted to vent some frustration and by putting this on paper as it may make me feel a tiny bit better. It's just really a huge kick in the head after this many years but I will get past this as I have done before. The only other kicker is I have had to start on pain management again which involves the use of Oxycontin (percodan). Because it is so strong and not to mention highly addictive I'm not really pleased with this part. I have given up driving temporarily because of the pain medication. I know in my heart and realistically this will all come into line but at the end of the day I sometime wonder just how much I can take before I say enough already!
I'll be fine I have before and I will again. I have the best and most wonderful partner in the world and he is always there for me (love you Jimmy)... Ok, enough of this whining lets move on and thank you for listening....
Recently around this past Christmas and up to and continuing through now the neuropathy has been acting up and been almost completely out of control. The pain is sometime unbearable and has brought me to tears. I am extremely frustrated because after 20 years of being positive I have been through so much and miraculously I have survived some really bad times, I mean really bad! Here and now at this stage, I have found a regime (my regular medications after four different tries) that seems to be holding the virus at bay so I'm happy to take the 6 pills. My base immune system is in decent order and better than it has been in 20 years. Actually it has been better than it is now but I won't complain with a count of 700 when I used to be able not to get above 300.
We have tried three different additional treatments for the neuropathy. Including: Neurotin, Lyrica, and amytriptyline. Unfortunately none of these medications worked. They were never intended to cure the problem and as I understand it now from my recent visit to a specialist in Sydney, this is not a problem that can be fixed merely something that we will attempt to manage pain wise and something I will have to live with for the rest of my life. I can do that as long as the pain is managed. We are actually trying one more new medication called Lamictal which is an anti-convulsant. All of the medications that I tried previously were of the same ilk. They interrupt the nerve messages which at this point are being sent and received incorrectly, hence the pain, numbness and burning sensation all at various times or at once. I also apparently have lost some feeling in my feet as I am hitting my feet hard enough on things like furniture to cause bruising. The problem being is I'm not feeling it when I hit my feet. So I'm going to have to be a bit more careful and aware.
So where is this long and self-loathing post heading? Well I guess I just wanted to vent some frustration and by putting this on paper as it may make me feel a tiny bit better. It's just really a huge kick in the head after this many years but I will get past this as I have done before. The only other kicker is I have had to start on pain management again which involves the use of Oxycontin (percodan). Because it is so strong and not to mention highly addictive I'm not really pleased with this part. I have given up driving temporarily because of the pain medication. I know in my heart and realistically this will all come into line but at the end of the day I sometime wonder just how much I can take before I say enough already!
I'll be fine I have before and I will again. I have the best and most wonderful partner in the world and he is always there for me (love you Jimmy)... Ok, enough of this whining lets move on and thank you for listening....
14 May 2006
London calling...
I've never been to Europe and to be honest I never really had any desire to go. A recent discussion with my husband reference his impending 40th birthday in January elicited a conversation as to what he wants to do to celebrate. We originally discussed going to Banff in Canada but we don't ski and spending two weeks watching the snow fall, albeit pretty, could get boring. We also don't want to tackle the states again right now considering the experience we had on our recent last trip. Neither of us are interested in visiting Asia or Africa. James wants to go to South America but I don't. So we were basically stuck with Europe.
We have pretty well decided to go to the UK for two weeks at the end of the year. It looks like we will be leaving on the 29th December and will be in London for New Years and then will spend the next few days there until James birthday on the 2nd. We are having the travel agent look into the flights and accommodations. The trip looks to include Scotland and Wales and possibly a stop over in Bangkok or Hong Kong depending what airline we take as we won't be flying United again after the last disaster we experienced with them.
Anyway, this is all in the preliminary stages of planning but I needed something to write about and this is it. I'll keep you posted as the plans become more solid.
We have pretty well decided to go to the UK for two weeks at the end of the year. It looks like we will be leaving on the 29th December and will be in London for New Years and then will spend the next few days there until James birthday on the 2nd. We are having the travel agent look into the flights and accommodations. The trip looks to include Scotland and Wales and possibly a stop over in Bangkok or Hong Kong depending what airline we take as we won't be flying United again after the last disaster we experienced with them.
Anyway, this is all in the preliminary stages of planning but I needed something to write about and this is it. I'll keep you posted as the plans become more solid.
12 May 2006
Four things...
Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
- busboy
- retail manager
- restaurant manager
- Health promotion officer
Four films I could watch over and over:
- Auntie Mame
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- Happy
- Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Four Places I have lived:
Four TV shows I LOVE to watch:
- The Golden Girls
- Friends
- Will and Grace
- Discovery Channel (Travel)
Four places I have been on vacation:
Four places I’d like to go on vacation
Four websites I visit often:
Four of my favourite foods:
- Meat loaf
- Enchiladas
- Peanut butter pie
- Chicken Caesar Salad
Four places I would rather be right now:
- In bed
- Shopping
- With my husband
- On vacation
9 May 2006
Who would have thought???
One of the blogs I read regularly had this to say:
For better or worse, it's the 25th Anniversary of AIDS. Not that it wasn't around longer than that obviously, but in 1981 AIDS was first officially recognized when the Centers for Disease Control called a press conference and reported the first cases of a rare pneumonia and a skin cancer among gay men. Neither disease was unknown, but the combination of the two implied a new syndrome. Read more at Proceed at your own risk‚…
6 May 2006
God I'm slow...
Finally a week later I have the pictures of our trip to Cradle Mountain posted to flickr. So take a look. They are over in the side panel. Just click on any picture and it will take you to the other 94. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them.
3 May 2006
What can I say?
Well we made it back from our trip to Cradle Mountain. I will post some pictures hopefully tonight and probably to Flickr. I will have to first say Cradle Mountain was absolutely awesome! However, if I had known that it was going to take us 7 hours to walk/hike over sometimes almost impassable terrain and that we would walk a total of 12.5 kilometers, not to mention that my peripheral neuropathy went beserk and James almost plummeted to his death falling through a snow covered crevasse; I would have to say we had a wonderful time all up. I mean what can I say? Anyway, as mentioned pictures are on there way.
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