Yesterday was a rough day. Last time I went to the chiropractor she suggested that the constant doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen could be masking swelling or symptoms. So yesterday I took my morning doses, but skipped my afternoon doses so I could be "med free" for my 3pm appointment. I was in so much pain I was literally shaking, and it didn't make a difference anyway. She didn't note anything different than she had before. In fact, she told me not to reschedule at all, and to only come back "as needed" but wanted me to rule out all other pain causes before coming back again.
I took ibuprofen on my way out of the office then, and it took me over 12 hours to finally get the pain back under some semblance of control (dull enough to fall asleep). I had planned to go "med free" to my next line up on appointments next week. I have a doozy of a day with physical therapy followed by an unltraound, followed by a meeting with my new primary doctor. I had hoped that going without meds on board would give a better view of what could be wrong so I could get some answers. But now I worry - if two hours without medication leaves me in agony for 12+ hours as I try to get a handle on it... What will happen if I try to go without medication for four hours?
My friends are encouraging me to go to the Mayo Clinic down in Rochester. They have more dedicated diagnostics and will be able to get to the bottom of this without dozens of follow ups and weeks of waiting between appointments. But then I can pretty well kiss a new house goodbye because we are already drowning in medical bills from the last three months of run around (and still have no answers). Sometimes, no matter how positive I try to be, it feels like whenever I start to get ahead, somehow I get dragged back down again. I really need to get this pain problem under control, and get some solid answers!
Today in the mail we got Peter Peppers. Those are the naughty looking ones that look like a male apendage... I figure they're a good addition to the naughty collection (Cow's Tit tomatoes, and Monkey Ass tomatoes). Yesterday I got some mixed grape seeds. I'm hoping those grow well here in our colder climate, but no guarantees. I'll try them anyway. I'm hoping for some permaculture varieties... Plant once and harvest year after year. I've added both to the Seed Stash list.
I'm also working on a second big group trade from another Facebook group I'm in. It looks right now like I will be sending 40-50 trades out. I'm sure I won't get that many back, but I think it's nice to get seeds out there, and if it means more people out there growing their own food (or planting milkweed to encourage pollinators), then I think it's worth it. Consider it some added holiday cheer. I have to have all of the seeds packaged up by tomorrow. I've got kids working on making homemade cards (a requirement for this particular trade), and I'm excited to see what I might get in return. Each participant posts their top 30 wish list, and then people send what they can to whom they can. I have been blessed with a large seed collection, so I will be sending to a lot of people. My wish list on the other hand is pretty specific, so I'm pretty sure my return will be limited at best. I also volunteered to be an "elf" for this group. That means if anyone doesn't get chosen, their name goes to the elves and the elves send them seeds - nobody get left out. As of right now I have 47 people on my send list. If none of them drop out, once I get some Elf requests, I could be sending 50 or more seed trades off! I guess my Christmas gift this year will be the money spent on postage. :)