Sunday Blog 07032021

Sunday Blog 07032021

I am sitting in my kitchen while the floor guys work on my stairs and floors. The smell is awful. It is cold outside so I won’t open a window just yet. My shoulder is tingly this morning. I put heat on it and that settled it down some. Now it is back to tingly. I don’t know why it tingles and just in one spot. I wish I brought clothes down so I could take a shower. I won’t be able to go up to my room at least until tonight. Going to be another long day of sitting. I wanted to go to the grocery store today but I got my roller bag in my room. The porch is blocked off so I can’t get the reusable bags. Sucks. I won’t be able to go to the grocery store anyways as I don’t have jeans on. I just have my PJs. I don’t have access to my room because the stairs are still wet. I think the guys are done now. I can’t imagine it taking too long to put down another coat of poly.

I am going to try and write today. I am writing an essay I hope to be 1000 words about being in therapy for thirty years. I just hope I can stay on topic. I wish I had my notebook it would be easier to write. Then I could type it all up. I find that I write better that way than writing off the word document.

I am having a second cup of coffee because I am so tired. Yesterday I had two cups too, though I didn’t finish the second cup. I had to go downstairs for a sweatshirt because I can’t go upstairs to get mine. I am wearing my brother in law’s and it is nice and roomy. I also brought up a scarf as the window is behind me and bothers my neck. It is cold today. I have to open the windows and door to let the smell of the poly go out.

I am listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s One Night Lonely album. I was finally able to get it off of dropbox and put the music on my phone. It took several attempts for my stupid MP3 player to recognize it. I love this acoustic album. She always wanted one and I am glad she finally got it with all her great songs. There are 26 songs so it is about two hours and ten minutes or so long. It was a wonderful evening. I fell asleep the first time I heard it because it was so soothing and relaxing. I had to listen to it again. A few days after the concert the songs were available for purchase. I bought them right away. I love her music so much.

My sister made chicken cacciatore for dinner. It was really good. I had some soup before I went downstairs to eat so I am pretty full right now. My mother liked it. It was a good family meal. I feel so tired right now. I want to check on the floor to see if it is tacky or not so I can go upstairs to my room. I think it will be good in a couple of hours so I am trying to be patient. I did check and the floor and stairs aren’t tacky so I can go up them. Thank god. I need my bed. I am so tired from sitting in a chair all day. I got heat on my neck and shoulders right now. My neck pain is starting to act up again. I need to do my meds for the week and then lay down. I need to rest my neck as I have been sitting straight all day.

waking up in pain sucks!

Waking up in pain sucks!

I woke up around five this morning in pain. My right shoulder was killing me. I could barely move it, it was so painful. I took some pain meds and some Zanaflex and just waited for it to kick in before going back to sleep. I woke up an hour later having to use the bathroom. I postponed my med alarm to go off at 10 instead of 8 so I could sleep in a little. I still feel like shit. I just had coffee and something to eat.

I don’t know if my mother is coming home today. Doctor hasn’t called my sister yet or talked to my mother. She was in there because her blood pressure was unstable. Then her sugars dropped to the point they needed to give her glucagon. She has been on a sliding scale with her insulin since and her sugars have been more stable. I miss her being home even though it is stressful at times.

I finally was able to put some heat on my side where there are muscle knots. It felt better but then my neck started hurting me and it still continues to hurt. I will try to put heat on later in the day. I really haven’t been doing it the past few days because I have been lazy. I am not sure if I am going to go to the grocery store or not. I need to get Gatorade. I don’t plan on getting more than 10 bottles at a time because that is all I can handle. I do need to get some juice for my mother but that is all.

I feel like all the energy I ever had has been sucked out of me. I feel so lifeless. Everything feels so heavy, my legs and arms especially. I feel so blah and hopeless, like nothing is ever going to change. I have therapy tomorrow and am going to ask her what she meant by saying that I am “in my head”. I really am not looking forward to therapy. She can be such a bitch at times. She wants me to be more collaborative and I am trying. I just don’t think we will ever be on the same side of things. I get she has her experience in the field and knows what may help me. But I don’t think having groups is the answer for me. I am involved in two support groups that have helped me immensely on Facebook, one of which I am the admin for. I haven’t been able to find a mental illness/depression support group that isn’t all about suicide and its members writing how they want to die all the time and no one really supporting them or the members saying they are going to end their life, see ya later type of messages. It really gets me down and makes me feel so helpless because there are so many people suffering like that. I get it because I feel that way too.

I pre-ordered the book Suicidal thoughts workbook by Kathryn Gordon, PhD. I don’t know when it will come out so I just tweeted her. I would love to see if this book helps. Maybe I can get my therapist to get it as well. I’ve been struggling past few days with my suicidal thoughts. I still feel like things would be better if I were dead.

state of my nation

State of my nation

I don’t usually talk about politics on my blog but the events of Jan 6th is not sitting with me. I want to see those that perpetrated it punished and get the hell out of office. I want 45 to never be able to hold office again and for him to be impeached a second time. Trouble is, his supporters in the Senate refuse to do what they took an oath to do, uphold the Constitution under foreign and domestic threats. These same hypocrits say they stand for the Constitution but they don’t show it. If those senators don’t get expelled from office who is to say history won’t repeat itself and we have a Hitler America. I am terrified of this. I know there are militia groups that probably have more arms than the National Guard and are as trained to use them. All for white supremacy. It is sickening. It is wrong. Every person that invaded the Capitol that day should have gotten arrested rather than sent home, only to get arrested after the fact. Now we can’t find the fucker that put bombs in the RNC and DNC offices. I have no doubt there was collusion among the police to allow this to happen. I am sad for my nation.

I had PT yesterday and it causes some spasms to occur in my chest. We were working on my rib muscles and they got flared up. I didn’t like it. Both sides were hurting me so today I am not going to do the exercises. I will do some but not all of them. I need to give my body a break. My neck is really hurting me today. I put heat on like I am supposed to. I haven’t taken any Zanaflex today. I just don’t want to be sleepy all day.

Trying to see if my niece can go to the pharmacy to pick up my meds. I don’t feel like going out today. I am still trying to get enough energy to clear off my bed, which I still haven’t done. I am getting so damn frustrated with myself because I get so tired I just lay down and sleep rather than clear it off so I can change the sheets. I also need to put on the new foam topper which need to sit at least 12 hours or so before I can use my bed. I don’t know what my problem is other than dreading doing the clearing. When I start doing it, it doesn’t take me long. I usually do a little at a time so it isn’t overwhelming.

I feel pretty depressed. I know that is why I cannot change my sheets. I am too weighed down. I feel like I am bobbing in the ocean. I see my therapist tomorrow. I also have PT in the morning. I hope PT can stop the pain in my neck and around my ear. I know it is because the muscles are so fricken tight. I need to shower today. I am starting to smell again because I have been sweating so much. The heat has been going on because it is so cold and I have been really hot. If I had top surgery I would go around the house topless. I can’t wait till I am able to do this.

Follow up to previous blog about trauma and therapy

Follow up to previous blog about trauma and therapy

I sent the blog I wrote yesterday to my therapist and she read it before our session today. We talked about it and she explained why she is often “pushy” and one sided in her decision makings. We also talked about ways she could be more collaborative in therapy and more validating. It was a good session. We talked about meeting twice a week for a while and she was open to this.

I have been tired all day. I haven’t been able to nap though. I had two cups of coffee to try and get going. I wanted to change my sheets today but I ran out of gas. My neck hurt too much today to do anything. My ankle was also bothering me so I had a fair amount of pain. There were times when the pain got so bad I wanted to end things right then and there. I thought about sending my therapist a text about it but I never did. She wouldn’t like it. My jaw has been hurting me most of the day. I have been having trouble opening my mouth and my teeth hurt on the top row. I really need to see a dentist to find out what is wrong but I think it is because I am clenching my teeth that is causing me pain. I am under so much stress and tension in my upper body. I know it has to do with trauma and not feeling safe in my own home right now. Too much stuff is happening and it is making me so anxious and hypervigilant. Plus this week is an anniversary week so I am dealing with memories of my past. These memories aren’t intrusive, they are just there and sometimes with the leg pain, causes me to react with PTSD symptoms.

I have a lot of trauma growing up and it is why I have been so tense lately. It centers around my mother and sister. One is old and the other is fairly new. Getting used to living with my middle sister again hasn’t been easy. We fight a lot of the time and often I can’t stand to be around her because she is so quick to anger. She is not physically violent, thank god but she says hurtful things and that is hard to accept. My mother just violates privacy a lot of the time. I still am not over the childhood abuse she did to me. I’ve never talked about it because I am scared to. I think I have the right therapist to help me talk about it though.

Twenty years ago this week I was diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome. I had lost function of my legs due to a disc fragment compressing my nerves. I had to have a back operation to get rid of the fragment. I had to relearn to walk, which was tough. It took more than a week for me to move my toes again and gradually feeling and sensation came back. Strength took a little while longer. Then two weeks later I developed a staph infection and became really weak. I was really sick and it was difficult to walk at that point. I couldn’t go as far as I did before. It took a long time for me to recover. All the while I wasn’t working so had financial worries. I had to file for bankruptcy and that gave me some financial freedom for a while. It took me a few years to get back up to 40 hours a week. It took a lot out of me.

Tomorrow I have PT virtually because there is going to be a snow storm. I am not going out in it. I don’t care. It is going to suck because virtual PT is not ideal but there are exercises that can be done at least. Just sucks because I really would love for the PT to massage my neck again.