Fingers and Toes

Head, shoulder, knees, and toes. These kids don't have ears so I don't know why they think they are putting their hands by their heads at that part.

On Monday, when I saw Dr. M the neurologist, he documented the numbness in my left foot and lower leg. I thought it might have spread a tiny bit, but there hasn't been any substantial change. Now, that might sound like a good thing, but there is a small issue. It hasn't gone away.

Generally, a relapse or exacerbation occurs when a new (or recurring) symptom happens for more than 48 hours. I have numbness come and go, come and go, so I just figured this is the same--it just happened to come when I had this appointment.

I get numbness in my fingers sometimes and rarely think too much about it. This morning, my husband Mick and I needed to pull the pork he had smoked. We use "medical" gloves that aren't coated but they also aren't heat resistant. When we were done, I thought I burnt my fingers. But underneath it, I thought they might actually be numb. Since I burnt them, I probably won't be able to tell for a couple days.

When I have an exacerbation, I'm supposed to call my neurologist, Dr. G. I have not called yet. I'm not sure if I'm waiting for it to get worse or if I'm waiting for it to get better or I'm just ignoring it. But I think I'm in denial. A weird sort of denial. I've told my husband. I'm telling you. But I haven't picked up the phone yet. Maybe this will snap me out of it.

*****

I hate complain about my back. So many people have back pain, and I've been dealing with it for so long you would think that I wouldn't even notice anymore. Well, some of it from my back injuries is like that. But late last week, I had a pain in my right side, and a kind of dull ache started in my back. I actually had trouble sleeping because I got the hiccups, I think from breathing shallow from the pain.

Often, my back pain will subside somewhat after sleeping, but the next day was the same. And the next. It might be less today, but it's still there. I can't wait to be tortured by my chiropractor, it hurt so much, and now it doesn't seem so urgent.

We went bowling this morning, and I bowled left handed part of the time and right handed part of the time so I wouldn't make it any worse. We went to our house for lunch. Then the girls went for pedicures and I got a broken massage chair. Boo. We played Mario Smash Brothers on the Wii back at my house. After the girls left, I decided to do a little Wii Fit. I'm not sure when the last time was that I checked in but it said I'm 143 now and I lost 51.1 pounds. Hot damn, that's awesome!

I did about a half an hour of various things but spent the most time on yoga. The stretches killed, but afterwards, I did feel that my back pain was less. We'll see. I should really get back to doing that on a regular basis. But...housework, garden, dogs, agility, life...