At the risk of sharing too much information, I wanted to explain what my week has been like - in a comical way.
Half of my coping skills are to laugh and make fun of the uncomfortable. Like pretending I was attacked by am octopus that led to suction marks on my skin (they were from the alternative therapy of cupping).
This week has been a trying week medically. (Really, every day can get pretty tough, but this one seemed a little worse than usual).
It is a constant chain reaction of events, especially when there is stress involved.
So let's take a look at the lighter side of some frustrating moments.
This week:
• I had numbing cream on my back (Motion Medicine) to help dull the ache in my shoulder joints. When I went to lie down to go to sleep, my face went numb because I accidentally got the cream on my pillow. Oops.
• You know how when women go through childbirth they sometimes get tearing internally & externally during the process? Well that kind of tearing occurs cleaning up after the washroom or in the tub, during relations, and other standard run-of-the-mill chafing. That happened this week 3x already. Which I forgot when I decided to put bath salts in the tub for a bubble bath. Oops.
• I had a serious throat swell that required emergency care. But when I got to the healthcare facility, I still waited in line and made jokes. So until you got near me and could hear that I couldn't breathe, I looked completely healthy and normal and like I didn't belong there. Especially since we were joking around with each other standing in line. (I make jokes and laugh a lot when I am in crisis). I was standing in line waiting patiently when I couldn't breathe properly.... because there was a lineup and I couldn't tell if I was in the worst shape - so I followed the rules and waited. For the record, I was technically the patient requiring the most immediate attention. Oops.
• I didn't even realize it was a bad throat swell right away! I knew my throat felt off but I thought it was a cold. Then it wasn't until I wrote down the words "dentist appointment" in my medical book that I remembered that dental work is one of the number one most common triggers for HAE throat swells. Oops.
• I had to wait at home for my Cosentyx to be delivered yesterday (someone HAS to be home because the med needs to go directly into the fridge), but I also needed to get to Foothills to pick up more product for my injections. After a while I forgot about the Cosentyx. We were about one minute away from leaving the house when our awesome delivery guy showed up with my medication. Close one. Oops.
• I have been experiencing bladder symptoms this week... Tonight I finished doing all of the laundry. ALL OF IT (turns out the laundry couldn't wait, in my mind). But then, due to swelling or inflammation or both, let's just say that I wound up having to throw in more laundry - a robe, a blanket, and a sheet. Oops.
• I ate pineapple because I was really craving it and I am tired of avoiding fruits and veggies all the time. It was my decision knowing there would be pain. It is absolutely my own fault. Yet it's still painful. It was worth it, but damn, the next half an hour might be kinda crappy. Oops.
• I play a 'game' in the ER every time I am there to pass the time. The patients that are near me that are waiting, if I can hear them talking or bits and pieces of their conversations with the nurses, I try and silently diagnose them myself. So when I saw a woman walk in with a soft dark toque, large sunglasses, and always looking down, I immediately whispered to RJ that she had a bad migraine. So when I heard the nurse ask the patient if her "migraines are usually like this", I involuntarily smiled and did a fist pump. It may have looked really bad... I was only happy that my diagnosis was correct... Oops.
• After IV Berinert, swelling everywhere goes down and my engagement ring slipped right off my finger while I was brushing my hair. Oops.
• When I was opening a brand new tube of xylocaine cream to help with skin splitting, it shot out so quickly it got all over the bathroom mirror and my facecloth. Oops.
• I went to put some containers in our recycling bin in the garage and was too lazy to put shoes on (and I couldn't find my slippers). It has been 2 hours with reading socks on and my feet are still freezing - from 30 seconds in the cold garage. Oops.
• My throat is sore so I really want to have an apple cider... but it will put my bladder into high gear, and I really don't want to have to do any more laundry tonight. Lol.