It's Been a Hard Day's .....

... week.  And I've been working .... like a dog.

Which brings up the question .... how does a dog work?  I've personally never seen a dog do much more than eat, play and sleep.  And sleep some more.
Hmmmmm ......

So I haven't been working like that, but I have been hurting .... like an old dog, maybe.
It's not been fun.
And it hasn't given me much to blog about.  Thus .... I haven't.
I spent the first two days of this week mostly on my bed.  The pain was almost crippling.
It's so strange that I've gone from a reasonably healthy blogger, to one who walks around like she's about 120 years old.
Every joint in my body hurts.
As do the bottom of my feet.
And one day, it started to get the best of me.

How does someone live with this much, or more, pain ..... day in, day out.  Twenty four - seven?
Depression reared its ugly head that evening.
It was pretty difficult to fight it off, but I did manage to keep it at arm's length.
And that was exhausting.

That night I decided to try using my pain meds for this joint pain.
I took a few last week but it didn't help.  So I stopped taking them.  Then I thought that maybe I should try taking it regularly, every 4 hours, and see if that helped.  So I took one that night and then went to bed.
About an hour later I woke up .... and realized that I wasn't feeling that excruciating pain in my toes, feet and hands.
And I thanked God .... for 30 minutes of feeling better.
I needed that.

The next morning (yesterday) I took a pill before I got out of bed.  And then took them every 4 hours.
And it was a really good day.
Not pain-free, by any stretch of the imagination.
But oh, so much better than the previous days.
Thank.
God.

Today was the same.  I seem to be staying on top of the pain .... I can certainly tell when the fourth hour is about to end .... my body seems to be like a Timex watch.  It keeps time very well (and yes, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking ..... those of you who thought that are SO old!).

Tomorrow I'm flying to Destin to hang out with a couple of friends and celebrate my birthday (ugh). (not "ugh" on Destin or "ugh" on my friends ...."ugh" on my birthday!)
I'm looking forward to sitting on the beach.
And reading.
Lots and lots of reading.  Hopefully.
Lots of reading, lots of talking, lots of laughing .... but not lots of pain.
Please.
God.

So, if you would pray for me, Peeps, I'd appreciate it.
I don't seem to do well when experiencing a lot of pain.
I'm not sure that anyone does, but I know I certainly don't.
I've been told by a few doctors that I have an incredibly high tolerance for pain.
But I feel like I'm a huge baby when I hurt this much.

And while you're praying for me, would you please pray for my friend, Susan ..... whose dad died this evening, after suffering a stoke several days ago.  Please pray for her and her entire family .... for peace, comfort, strength and love to fill each of them and surround them.

Thanks, Peeps.  Once again.
As always, I'm glad you're here.

And happy Saturday.
:)

Another Day .....

.... to sit and swell.
Oh the fun we're having over here.
Don't be jealous.

Actually, the foot looks a bit better this morning, so YAY for that.
Here's what it looked like last night .... after keeping it up almost the entire day!

Can you tell that the left foot looks a wee bit different from the right foot?
The major thing (at least to me), other that the fact that my feet feel like they are so tight they're going to explode at any minute .... is the loss of my left ankle.  It has indeed turned into a cankle   or kankle (not sure of the spelling).
This picture was taken late last night ..... it had looked much worse during the day.

Hopefully I will swell less today.

My doctor is on vacation so I didn't take the time to call her office for her/their opinion of my ripping off the hormone patch and throwing it viciously into a trash can.

That was after dealing with the feet swelling every day since I put it on.
And after dealing with acne every day after I put it on.
And not being able to remember somethings only seconds after they happened (really, really scary)
Falling asleep at the drop of a hat, especially while texting or writing on the computer.
But this was the biggest BECAUSE for ripping it off ......  it made me gain almost 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks.
Nuh uh.  I do not think so.  Not on this body.
Evah!

And now, to get your minds off of my worrisome bloated Kankle feet, here is some entertainment. From me.
You are welcome.

This is Oliver:

And so is this:

I adopted Oliver last Fall.  We knew who the mother was.  We had no idea who the dad might be (yes,meaning Oliver's mom is a wee bit trampy.   Poor little guy).
I have since come to believe that I know exactly what his dad was .......
a sloth.
Yep.  Oliver is half-sloth.
Or he just pretends to be.

And this is Jack:

Kitten on Krack?! from J. Eggers on Vimeo.


This is Jack. Cap'n Jack, if you please (and are feeling formal). He is the result of a friend being untrustworthy. Said friend, after being rebuffed by my kitten-loving self a few times, decided to have Circle at HER house this week. I did not know this until the day before. And I instantly knew why! She knew that I have ..... and I'm not too proud to admit this, .... I have .... an addiction. To kittens. Alcoholics can't/shouldn't walk into bars, I can't/shouldn't walk into pet stores. Or into the homes of scheming friends.
Hello. My name is Janine. I'm a kittenaholic.
sssssssssssooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb!!!!!
But ain't he cute????!!! Oliver does not agree. Not whole heartedly anyway.


This is Jack's brother.  At the moment his name is Bully.  He's the runt of the litter and yet he has complete control of the others.  He's very bossy.
And Napoleon-ish.

And no, I don't own him.  I just thought he was cute.  They're all cute.  There's another male who looks like Jack and a grey striped female.  They're around 8 weeks old.

This is Jack the night I brought him home.  As soon as we got in the car he started clawing and crying and crying and clawing, so I just put him in my purse (not knowing what else to do).  He immediately closed his mouth and fell asleep:

 I guess we all like our boundaries and security within them.  :)


Jack, at play.  Always at play.
Or at war.  Or asleep.
Yep, that's about it.

He loves coming between my computer and me.  Most cats do.  Oliver does.  They don't want me to read a newspaper, either.  I wonder if they're worried that I'll read something horrible concerning their careless,  irresponsible , cat-about-town sperm donors.  Men!!!

And here he is .... in one of his favorite activities:

And this would be the other ...... biting my toes.
Yes.  He is weird.

Stayed home today until around 4:00 when the Sons and I went to see the last installment of the "X Men" series.  It was good.

Now we are home
And my foot ..... looks/feels the same.
Soooo attractive.
Ya know .... for a single woman who might want to not look deformed.
I haven't noticed that swollen kankles attract the opposite sex.

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Tuesday, Peeps.
:)

So It's Tuesday ....

UPDATE:  So if you've noticed that I tend to post more often when I'm feeling good (and really bored) then you might notice that I haven't written anything today ..... on here or on Facebook.  Not a terrific day, pain-wise.  I keep waking up around 6:30 .... in pain.  Lots of it.  This morning it was worse than usual .... with both my shoulder and hip.  So it's been a very quiet day.  It's not unexpected to have bumps in the road, but still ..... it's frustrating and disappointing.
But I'm going to Circle tonight .... all drugged up.  And no,  I'm not driving.  A couple of my lovely friends offered to pick me up (they may not have realized that that's exactly what they may have to do .... literally!).  I'd like to just stay home, quietly suffering in my room .... but where's the fun in that?!  I know they'll make me feel better and I'll be very glad that I went.  Maybe not in the morning, but some time after that I'll still be glad.  :)
And I'm still optimistic.  And hoping that tomorrow will start off better than today did.
:)



.... which means that it's really Wednesday in most places on earth.

Things are going well.
So well, in fact that I find myself waiting for the proverbial "other shoe" to drop.
It hasn't yet .... and so I am choosing to look forward.  If it falls .... it falls.  I have learned that there is nothing I can do .... if it does.

I stayed home today and tried to stay on the quiet side.
I am happy to report that I was able to take my first full-blown shower today.
It was heavenly.

A good friend stopped by to bring the sons and me some dinner.  Thank you so much, D.  We loved it!

I've taken the pain meds today on an "as needed" basis.  Which is less than every 4 hours.
I'm happy to report that the "as needed" basis has worked today.
Who knows if it will work tomorrow?  But I'm optimistic.

I did manage to do some dishes today, as well as clean out the office .... and my bedroom.  And folded laundry.
I'm happy with the results.

The Daughters are coming home Thursday night.  Well, one of them is.  I think the other one will arrive Friday morning ..... before we have to leave for the airport ....I hope.

I think that my shoulder will be OK for the trip, as long as I remember to not drag a heavy piece of luggage behind me ..... or put a heavy carry-on into the bin above my seat.

Actually, it's not the shoulder that's giving me problems today.  It's my hip.  Again.  Yes .... again.
Most of you know that my left hip has bothered me since my surgery in February of 2009.  But now, at this moment in time ..... it's my right hip that is causing the problems.  And I'm not sure why.
I remember putting things in my suitcase, on the last day of our cruise, and standing up to realize that my right hip was in agony.  It was like I popped it out of place or something.
And ever since then, it's been a huge pain in the a**.
Huge.
Freakingly huge.

So I'm guessing that once we get past this shoulder issue, I'll bring up the "hip issue".
Damn.
Getting old totally sucks.
I may have to punch Jim in the jaw when I see him
 in Heaven.
For leaving me here to get older and older while he just hangs out in Heaven and has a great time.
Sigh ......

That's all for today, Peeps.
I'm glad that some of you, including "W', are pleased that I am updating m blog every day, sometimes 3 time a day.
It's good to know that you derive some sort of satisfaction from my boredom.

Happy Tuesday/Wednesday  Peeps.