So cute!

Anyway, despite having some issues finding a free parking spot near the shops, we eventually managed to find one then headed over to the Irish Design Shop for noms.  They have amazing Irish treats there.  We decided to split a piece of Bailey’s cake, banana bread and some Whiskey cake.  We of course got their amazing coffee too.  I really love sweet stuff, and the two cakes were really rich and sweet.  I was able to eat my piece of Bailey’s cake and banana bread, but couldn’t eat the Whiskey one.  Wow, that never happens!  I was really hungry too.  Oh well, it was still really yummola.  After nomming, we spent the next few hours wandering from shop to shop.  We were a little creeped out by the mannequins in one of the stores:

Ugh!

We all left the town with something.  As usual, we also left with some treats from the bakery.  Jan and I always get Empire cookies, tarts and Jan gets Scotch pies and sausage roll thingies.  I love them but can’t eat pastry and meat together – it makes me physically ill.  Weird, eh?

What a great day!

Today’s symptoms: Felt really good today.  My fatigue didn’t sink in until later in the afternoon.  Actually, I was shocked with how long I lasted wandering around today.  Just dealing with a twitchy and shaky hand and a headache, but that’s about it!

They were very kind and provided me with a cheque to help pay for my travel there plus a donation towards MS!

The day after Exeter, I met up with a friend at the St. Catharines Airport and we flew out to a private strip out in Fort Erie.  A pilot who owns the land and runway has a monthly gathering of aviation folks.  I was asked if I wanted to partake.  Not too many people flew in but it was a great turn out of around 50 folks.

I decided to go back up and do some aerobatics for the crowd.  I had a volunteer go with me and he really enjoyed the flight.  I’m really looking forward to going back next month.

I really shouldn’t go more than a couple days without doing a blog because I lose track of when events happen.  I can’t quite remember when Jan and I went out to a few shops here in St. Catharines.  We were surprised to see one was closing, yet again.  Nothing seems to stay in there.  Anyway, I found a group of very white skinny people and decided to pose with them:

Good thing I was wearing clothes and had a full head, or else you probably wouldn’t have know which one I was.

Here’s another group of look-a-likes:

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room for little Abby.  I think she was sulking in the other room.

Back to airplanes, they had Airport Fest at the airport this weekend.  I watched the Herc fly over in the morning.  Here it is parked for the visitors:

I was lucky enough to fly in one back when I was in the Army.  Fortunately, even with the Herc there, Vyctor was still the best looking plane on the ramp:

And another shot of the Herc:

I’m not sure what night this was, but Boo and Pinky decided to be very naughty.  Little Boo was up on the stove:

I guess she didn’t clue into the fact that having her high beams on really gave away her position.

Pinky was soon to follow as she climbed up on the counter and into my back pack:

How can you get mad at faces like that?

So there is my week in a nutshell.  I’ll try not to be such a slacker from hence forth!

Today’s symptoms:  I got quite a bit of sleep this weekend and it helped a fair bit with how I’ve been feeling.  I’m having some shaking and twitching in my left arm and hand, but that’s about it MS symptom-wise. 

Needless to say, I was totally pooped today and had to leave work early.  It was completely worth it as yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in a while.

Today’s symptoms:  Very tired and fatigued, lots aches and pains and a bad headache.  I know most of this will be gone after a good sleep tonight.  At least I get to sleep in tomorrow as it’s my compressed day off.

I spent the whole day on my couch with the kitties – mostly Mya and Boo:

They’re such good friends.  I actually caught this little scene when I snapped a pic in the dark the other night:

Boo was caught sneaking in for a smooch from Mya.  I guess she didn’t mind her pink lips.  She wasn’t co-operating at all when I was trying to give her the bright pink pill for her rash, and she ended up wearing some of it:

Poor Mya!

Really hoping I feel much better tomorrow, as I have our Recreational Aircraft Association meeting at the Welland Airport that night.  On Tuesday, I’ll be heading to Exeter (west of Stratford) to give a presentation at their local COPA Chapter.  Also hoping for good weather so I can fly there rather than drive.

Today’s symptoms: Physically – blah, emotionally – blah!  Feeling better now emotionally than this morning when I realized I couldn’t go on the trip to Trenton.  Physically, lots of pain all over and just feel all out poopy.  Really looking forward to a good night sleep, and not waking up before 3:00am!  Enough of that silliness!

We were greeted by a cute puppy after parking the plane:

There were a few other people in their large restaurant.  Jan and I both decided on the breakfast special for the day – yummy:

As usual, Jan looked over in disgust as I splattered the ketchup all over my plate.  Anyway, the food was great and we both cleaned our plates.

Weighing a little more, we headed back out to Vyctor to fly back to St. Catharines.  Passed some campers on the way:

We were also flanked by this jet:

I opened my window and yelled “I was here first – I have dibs.  Go away!”  Fortunately, he listened:

We had a bit of a tail wind, so the trip back way about fifteen minutes shorter.  It was a perfect day weather-wise.  Probably one of the clearest days (due to the low humidity) we’ve had in a long time.

Back home, Jan stuck around for a bit.  She trimmed my hair, which I don’t think I’ve done in almost a year.  Just call me Elizasplitends.  Then we did some cleaning around the apartment.  The cats didn’t help too much – just laid around looking cute:

As you can see, little Mya is getting her rash again.  She despises taking pills, so that’s not a fun chore each night.

I had to break down and put the air conditioner on for the third or fourth time the other day.  As soon as I tuck the curtains up on the window sill, out of the way of the air conditioner, all of the kitties have to go up there and knock them down:

Three little goobers – not sure where Pinky was.

One more picture.  Mya was standing on my arm with her front paws yesterday.  She was there for about twenty minutes.  Check out the cute little paw prints on my skin:

Today’s symptoms: Felt great!  I was tired in the afternoon, but always am after a flight.  It was a great day!  Still dealing with a sinus headache, but I’m sure it will linger until the internal swelling goes down.

After having a coffee at the airport, I headed out to do some errands.  I had a few returns to make, plus took advantage of the “Spend $50, get $25 off your next visit” at Petcetera.  One medium sized bag of Royal Canin Sphynx food is $59.99, so spending that $50 minimum was quite easy.

Back home, some nasty symptoms took hold, so it was nice to be home to rest and relax.  The kitties did the same – here’s Mya and Boo out on the balcony:

I phoned up Bose to ask if they had any suggestions about my headset.  Not only are their products amazing, but so is there customer service – wow!  The rep I spoke with was so nice and easy to speak with.  He knew what the problem was right away and immediately started working on the solution.  He sent out a new cable right away as well as a mailing label to send mine back with.  We even chatted about hockey and the joys of living in/near Detroit.  No wonder I love Bose so much!  Products cost a bit more but worth every single penny.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt great this morning.  Fatigue level is still more than tolerable this afternoon.  Started getting the MS Hug again, as well as extremely sensitive skin on my thighs – feels like they’re covered with acid.  Not pleasant at all.  Things will be better tomorrow.

I had a really interesting experience after this flight too.  A couple blogs ago, I mentioned how someone asked me about the new Wal-Mart at the Fairview Mall.  Well, a woman and her son were sitting in the observation area next to the Flying Club.  I went out to them and asked if she wanted to bring him over to see my plane up close.  I was shocked when she recognized me – I thought she looked a tad familiar.  It was the woman from the Timmies!  What are the odds???  They both came over to admire Vyctor.  I told her that I would be back out at the airport on Friday to do aerobatics over the field.  I gave her my card and said she could call any time.  Well, I got a call tonight and her father is bringing her son to the airport tomorrow to watch the aerobatics!  That’s so neat!  I hope my passenger tomorrow enjoys it too.

When I got to work today, a co-worker came up to me and gave me a gift.  I couldn’t believe it – how cute!

Yup – it’s a Mickey pilot teapot.  That was so thoughtful of her.  I love the people I work with.

For only the second time this year, I rode my folding bike to work today.  It’s so convenient as it fits nicely under my desk:

There’s always a few dorks that laugh at me, but most people think it’s kinda neat.  It folds out to normal height, just with small wheels.  Geesh, what’s the big deal?

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good fatigue-wise today.  It wasn’t bad at all.  My sinus headache was really bad though.  I can’t believe how long it’s taking to heal since the sinus and septum surgery.  Hopefully it was worth it in the end.

That should make her happy for a few months.

The get together at the airport was really nice.  I kinda embarrassed myself at the end of the night though.  One of the employees was telling me about the baby Killdeers up on the roof.  Even though I was wearing a skirt, I didn’t hesitate to climb up onto the roof, checking first that there was no one behind me!  They were so cute.  We only saw two, but he said there are four.  Check out these little cuties (popcorn on legs):

I love their little spindle-shanks:

The embarrassing part is when I was driving back home, and passed a bunch of adult Killdeers just past the hangars.  They were all upset because one was hit by a car and dead in the middle of the road.  I called the Flying Club and asked if they had a shovel.  Started crying at that point – I’m so sensitive when it comes to animals.  I feel so bad because he came running out, thinking it was the Club cat that was hit!  I felt horrible.  He brought a shovel and dug a hole in the gravel, as I picked up the bird with my bare hands and brought it over.  I’m such a dork – he must think I’m a complete loser!  Oh well, I drove him back to the Flying Club, used about half a bottle of hand sanitizer and headed home.

A flight instructor I met up with last night wanted to go for an aerobatic flight with me.  We met back at the airport this morning.  The clouds were rolling in but there was a nice clearing just north of the airport.  He loved the aerobatics and was surprised at how forceful I have to be with the controls.  It was a great flight and I’m glad the landing was decent, considering his career!

Back home, I decided to try and get through my big stack of aviation magazines and newspapers.  I was a little shocked when I turned the page of my COPA magazine and saw my ugly mug:

Once the nausea passed, I got up and prepared the kitchen sink for a few kitty baths.  I took video of Boo getting dried off and meowing quite loudly, also of Mya’s bath.  She screams like she’s being killed.  You can see the videos on my Video Page, scroll down to the bottom.

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good today!  Just a little weary from my flight, but  plan on chillin for the rest of the day.  My sinus headache is kinda bad today, but I can tell I’m still swollen inside from the surgery.

We bought a few essentials at Costco, then wandered around the mall for a bit.  Only a few sections of Wal-Mart are open at this point, so we didn’t spend too much time there.

I’m still a tad weak, so we didn’t make it a full day of shopping.  We sorted our loot back at my apartment, then Jan headed home.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing and trying to teach myself a few moves with my new kamas and nunchuk.  Just as Boo was resting next to my Sai during my last post, here she is next to the new weapons.  She must be a ninja kitty:

From practicing today, I’m bruised, battered, calloused and blistered, but I’m surprised that I’m kinda catching on!  It’s a fun little hobby.

Today’s symptoms:  Still rather weak, but better than yesterday and quite a bit better than Tuesday.  I’m really looking forward to feeling even better tomorrow.  Hopefully the weather is decent this weekend so I can go for a flight, since I’ve grounded myself this week to recover from all of my flights last week.  Life is awesome!

Today was one of the worst days I’ve had in a while.  The fatigue was unreal, pains all over the place, a really bad headache, painful spasms in my right leg (with no warning – how rude!), poor balance and my vision started to blur in the afternoon.  I feel absolutely miserable and I’m having a really hard time faking feeling good and being cheerful.  I didn’t want to be around people or even talk to anyone today.  Probably would have been good to stay home today, but I still would have felt like this plus got more behind on my work.  It was really hard not to be totally bummed about this stupid illness today – it’s hard to imagine that it’s always going to be like this, if not worse.  They really need to get crack-a-lackin on a cure!

On a bright note, no matter how rotten I feel, I still have the cutest cats EVER!  Check out little Boo all snuggled up to my Sai:

Weapons were always my favourite part of martial arts (I took Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing, with a bit of Judo).  I actually just ordered a couple more weapons to start learning.  Jan received them in the mail today, so they aren’t in my paws just yet.  I’ll post pics in my next blog.

More cute kitties – I’ve never seen three of them up on the cable receiver:

Here’s another pic of Boo, clearly in spaz-mode:

We had quite a storm last night.  I put my iPhone into fast-camera mode and took over 300 pictures.  I caught one lousy lightening bolt:

Sorry this was a somewhat negative blog, but I guess that’s life sometimes.  Tomorrow will be better.

Today’s symptoms: Blah – I won’t relist the symptoms from the first paragraph. I normally don’t like time to rush by, but I can’t wait for this day to be over and to crawl into bed.

Yum-o.  My friend didn’t believe me when I said I was going to clear my plate, but I did.  I only had some oatmeal around 10:00 that morning, then did an aerobatic flight in the early afternoon.  Thought I would save lots o’room for my dinner noms, and I’m sure glad I did.  Great food and I’ll definitely go back.  Speaking of the flight that day, I flew over the Wise Guys golf tournament again this year.

I was told everyone really enjoyed the show, performed by Vyctor.

I passed this neat little design on the way back to the airport:

Back at the airport, I noticed these little yellow finchy/oriole type dudes in a puddle under a plane:

So cute.

Ok, back to today.  Jan and I went over to the PEN Centre after doing my living room windows.  We of course stopped at Timmy’s for our usual coffee and bagel/muffin.  I was on the hunt for a few more skirts while Jan was looking for summer shoes.  Hello, you would think she would have started the search a couple months ago when the weather started getting hot.  Oh well, better late than never.  I ended up buying one soon into our search.  We then decided to go into a store I normally never go into.  I don’t know why, since I do not have any chemical sensitivities that I’m aware of, but walking into this store almost kills me.  Within a minute of being in it, my nose and eyes start watering, I get a headache and I get a little wheezy.  Weird, eh?  I tried holding my breath, while quickly running from rack to rack.  Unfortunately, I did find a skirt I wanted to try on.  Things were watering at this point and the garcon in the change room was looking at me a little funny.  As soon as I tried it on and decided that I would buy it, I ran out of the change room, threw the skirt at Jan and ran out of the store.  She rang it through and was laughing at me while I was standing out in the hall.  I feel bad that I was able to find what I was looking for, but Jan didn’t find any shoes.

Once we left the PEN, I dropped my folding bike up off at the bike shop where I had the tire repaired last month.  Something seems to have gone amiss, because the tire went flat again the day after it was fixed (and I didn’t even ride it).  So, the bike shop folks told me to bring it back and they would fix it again for no cost.  Great service, eh?

Back home, I just chilled for the rest of the afternoon.  I think everything I’ve been doing for the last couple weeks has really taken a bit of a toll on my wussy body.  Just one more flight to do tomorrow, then the Flying Club event on Saturday (Saturday – see, I got it right this time!), and that’s it for my plans.  I think I’m going to tone down the flying a bit next week, since it’s doing a number on my physically and financially.

While chillin’ on my couch today, I started drooling as the smell of BBQ came wafting into my apartment.  Oh, it smelled so good.  Turns out they were having an event at Community Care next door.  I was going to put on a red shirt and run down there for some noms, but was too tired:

While I was craving BBQ, Mya and Pinky decided that they were craving water.  Of course, they can’t drink out of the nice, new fountain I just bought them.  Instead, I had to turn on the faucet in the bathroom.  Dorks:

Little did they know, they would be in the kitchen sink soon.  Well, at least three of them.  Abby, Boo and Pinky were all due for a bath (Mya doesn’t seem to get as oily).  Abby was up first and only gave a couple little whimpers.  Here she is looking like a purrito while getting dried off:

The other two kitties weren’t quite as pleasant.  As usual, Pinky growled through the whole experience and Boo screamed like she was being murdered.  At least they don’t hold a grudge.

Today’s symptoms:  Very weak, especially when I first got up.  It got a little better during the day.  Still having a bit of that MS hug symptom.  Other than that, just the normal headache and a few aches and pains here and there.

Yesterday, I was informed that I had made a grievous error in my previous blog.  I indicated that the social event at the Flying Club was on Friday, when it’s acutally on Saturday.  The “informer” indicated that due to the enormity of my miscommunication to my bloggers, he may never forgive me.  Also, I ruined everything – EVERYTHING!  They’re considering cancelling the event and even shutting down the Flying Club.  I’m such a failure.  *** lowers head in shame ***

Despite it being the hottest day of the year (around 35 degrees), I’m too cheap to put on my air conditioner.  Actually, with my apartment windows shut, the curtains closed, fans going and the dehumidifier on all day, it’s not too bad in here.  I’m still conscious, anyways.  After having my dinner noms, I decided to refill my month supply of meds and supplements.  Fortunately, I had two kitties to help:

I’m really looking forward to my flight over the Wise Guys golf tourney tomorrow.  Hopefully the weather is a tad cooler.  I don’t think I could have flown in today’s heat – it was like a kick in the face as soon as you walked outside.

Today’s symptoms:  Unfortunately, today was a fairly bad day.  Tons of pain all over, experienced the MS Hug, and lots o’ fatigue.  Can’t wait to wake up tomorrow feeling much better!

Thought I would try taking a few other iCute photos.  iMya:

iBoo:

And iPinky:

Not bad, iEh?

Today’s symptoms:  I’ve been out quite a bit more than usual, so I’m much more fatigued today than “normal.”  Looks like it’s going to be a busy week with flights Monday, Wednesday and Friday, plus a social event at the airport on Friday.  Looking forward to it all, though.  Just need to chill for the rest of the night and get some iStrength back. 

I had another pilot fly with me since I was still a little gimpy from my sprained ankle.  We headed out just after 1:30.  The weather was decent, although storms were a’brewing to the North.  Since the weather was good, there was a great turnout of bikers:

You typically have to book a hotel room years in advance.  Thus, many folks camp out, as you can see in the top of this pic:

There were quite a few boaters and a float plane off the shore too:

After flying over Port Dover a couple times, I decided I needed to visit the little Pilot’s room, so we headed up to Brantford Airport.  Unfortunately, they were repaving the entire apron, so I was unable to take the bathroom break I needed.  Fortunately, I made it back to St. Catharines without an accident.

I wasn’t the only one enjoying yesterday’s nice weather.  I let the kids out on the balcony and Pinky went into full blown spaz-mode:

All four of them were out there tonight.  I’ve never seen any of them up on the air conditioner before – rather cute:

I was able to go flying again today.  I took a female pilot-in-training for an aerobatic flight.  She had a blast!  I’m taking someone else up on Monday morning, then I have two charity golf tournaments to fly over later in the week.  I’m sure they’re really getting sick of my mug at the Flying Club….

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling pretty good!  Still dealing with the sinus headache, but it’s getting a tad better each day.  My sprained ankle is much better today and a nice shade of blue!  No major MS symptoms to report – just a few aches and pains in my left leg.

I’m such a dork.

Jan and I went out to Burlington for my Tysabri infusion this morning.  I finally decided to have the blood work which will let me know if I’m positive for the antibody that causes Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), which is a fatal brain infection associated with us Tysabri folks.  Frankly, I really don’t want to know if I’m positive.  I already agreed to start this medication knowing I had a 1/1000 risk of getting PML.  I think that’s what the odds are if you’re positive for the antibody.  I’m not going off the medication regardless, so what’s the point of knowing?  All it means is that I’ll have to get an MRI every 6-12 months if positive.  Oh well.  Whatever happens, happens!  Back to the infusion – I have some good news and some bad news.  The bad is that I won’t be seeing the nurse who usually does my infusion.  She’s so nice and we get along great.  The good news is that they are starting an infusion clinic in St. Catharines!  Yea!  No more almost hour drive up to Burlington.  It’s only about 5 minutes from my apartment, so it’s perfect.  My infusion next month will be here at the new clinic.

After the infusion, Jan and I were going to go shopping but I certainly couldn’t hobble around.  She came back to my place and we played with the kids.  Yesterday, they were all out on the balcony watching a moth:

I heard some crunching and sneezing, plus no longer noticed the big moth when I went back out.  I’m going to assume one of the weirdos caught it.  Yuck.

Anyway, went to see the doctor who did my sinus surgery.  He said I’m still really swollen plus I have some scar tissue that he wants to chop away at.  Since I was way too squirmy today, he said I should come back in a couple months.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be squirmy that day too, so good luck to him!

I’ll be flying over Port Dover for the Friday 13th massive motorcycle gathering.  They are estimating about 150,000 people tomorrow, so it should be a good show.  Since I won’t be able to control my rudder pedals and brakes, I’m having another pilot go with me so he can do the taxiing (steering on the ground is done via the rudder pedals) and to help me with the rudders while taking off and landing.  He’s never been over the bikers on Friday the 13th, so I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it.  At least the nice flight will be a little payback for utilizing his feet!

Today’s symptoms: A little more fatigued than usual today.  Since my infusion, I’m very achy and my skin feels super-sensitive.  I’ll rest well tonight and be great for my flight tomorrow!

Jan and I met up this morning for our usual Sunday visit.  After she toddled back home, I headed to the airport.  Our Recreational Aircraft Association meeting is tomorrow, and I offered to take up members for an aerobatic flight.  I have a few people that would really love the experience.  Since I just had my sinus surgery a couple weeks ago, I was a little nervous about doing aerobatics (slightly fearful my head would explode).  Thus, I did a little test flight today to see how it would feel.  Fortunately, it didn’t cause my noggin to hurt any more than it already does.  Yea!

On the way home from the airport today, I hit Pet Valu.  I just spent almost $100 on kitty litter last week, and today was another $100 on food.  Also, their water fountain was really starting to leak, so I had to buy a new one.  Ugh.  Once back home, I set it up for the leery kitties:

I took these pictures about half an hour ago and Pinky is still sitting over there.  She’s so weird.

Also today, I had to give my friend downstairs her key back.  It was really nice kittysitting Big Head:

Such a sweety.  I’m sure he’s glad mommy is home.

Speaking of sweet, I’m laying on the couch with my laptop across my lap.  As you can see, I’m not alone:

Today’s symptoms:  Still dealing with a bad headache, but at least it’s not getting any worse.  Just a few MS aches and pains today, but nothing to write home about!  Life is good!

At the PEN, we waited in a rather long line to exchange my receiver.  Yawn-fest.  We then went to Shopper’s Drug Mart to get my passport photo taken.  It turned out looking like a Jim Henson creation gone horribly wrong.  Oh well.  The good part about being at Shopper’s was that my Aunt’s favourite person was there.  I off course got my picture taken with him.  True love:

Next, down the hall to the passport office.  It used to be right across the street from my office, which was quite convenient.  Mind you, parking-wise, having it at the PEN Centre is way more convenient for everyone.  Once that chore was over, we drove out to the airport so I could drop off some tarts for the Flying Club and put my log books in my plane.  As usually, the folks at the Flying Club were very appreciative of the noms!  On to Home Depot next so we could by a replacement garage door opener for Jan, as she seems to have misplaced hers.

On the way home, I got the brilliant idea to go out for dinner, as I was having a huge-o hankering for fish and chips.  We went to The Heritage, which is a couple blocks from my apartment.  Here is the before picture of my noms:

And the after noms pic:

I couldn’t believe I couldn’t clean my plate.  I think my stomach shrank a bit from not eating too much since the surgery.  I guess that’s why one of my nick names is Celery Stick.

Back at the apartment, Jan headed for home and I went to my co-worker’s apartment to pick up her key.  She is going to be away this weekend and I am babysitting her kitty, which I have befittingly renamed Big Head:

He has a goliath, but insanely cute noggin.

Man, that was a very busy day.  Je suis pooped!

Today’s symptoms:  Still experiencing a really bad sinus headache.  The MS pains were still there today, but not as bad as yesterday.  My balance was wonky too, but I’m sure that was due to the heat.

Yup, the pictures suck.  Actually, I checked my camera when I got home and I may have inadvertently changed the setting.  I tried it again on some fireworks the next night, just outside of my apartment – still bad pics.  Oh well!  It was a fun flight, so it was worth it.

I had my first day back to work since my surgery.  I cried a little when my alarm went off this morning.  My headache started within about an hour of being at work (I start at 7:15) and progressively got worse.  I really didn’t think I would make it till 4:45 – it felt like I was run over.  I developed some pretty intense pains in my bones by the afternoon too.  Regardless, I made it through the whole day and got quite a bit done.  I’m a little behind after taking a week off, but I’ll be caught up by the end of the week.

Little Mya took a nap while leaning on me last night.  How cute is this:

I’ve never seen a cat sleeping sitting up like that.  Weird.

Someone had to be taken away via ambulance this weekend, just across the street.  I usually put on my emergency services scanner (iPhone app) when I hear sirens nearby, but I missed it on this one.  Geesh, talk about nosey!

Yup, crappy pictures of fireworks, the cutest cat EVER and a few emergency vehicles.  That’s the extent of my excitement over the last few days.  Sad, eh?

Today’s symptoms:  Very bad headache that I’m still dealing with now, plus some pretty intense MS pains.  My balance is a tad wonky too.  I’ve decided I’m going to feel much better tomorrow!

I’ve been thoroughly entertained by my whack-job cats over the past week.  I just took some pics of this little brawl between Boo and Pinky.  Mya appears to be the ref.  “Pinky, what are you doing?”

Looking back at her target and getting ready to pounce:

“Guys, knock it off and grow up!”

Dorks:

Whenever I go out on the balcony and tap on the glass, Abby jumps up on the ledge (inside) and meows like crazy.  She’s so weird:

I guess I shouldn’t be calling them weird, considering what I did the other day.  I decided to make a pot of coffee.  I was so excited when I heard the machine shut off.  I bounded into the kitchen, only to see this:

Yes, I forgot to add coffee to the machine.  Duh!

After all of Boo’s craziness, she collapsed into a cute, sleeping heap, next to me on the couch.  Really doesn’t look too comfy:

I don’t know what I would have done without them during my recovery.  They certainly kept me company and entertained!

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling pretty good today!  It’s the first day I have not had any blood on my face when I woke up!  Things seem to be healing really well after my sinus and septum surgery last week. 

I’ve learned that frozen veggies rather than ice cubes feel much better on the face, as they’re not quite so sharp.  As you can see, I painted my nails during my hours of boredom.  Here’s a better view of the funky Mosaic Top Coat (Avon):

Gee, looks like I was a little sloppy on my middle finger.  Oh well.

At least I’m a little more awake today so I’ve been doing a bit of reading.  I also phoned the surgeon’s office to book my follow-up appointment.  The first date and time she offered me was perfect – during the afternoon of my day off.  I have my Tysabri infusion that morning.  I hope he doesn’t stick that big camera thing up my sore schnozzola again!  I’ll just tell him to use his imagination instead.

My kitties are still keeping me company, which has been very comforting.  Makes it a little hard to view my computer while it’s on my lap though:

Today’s symptoms:  Not really feeling any MS symptoms today.  Not sure how much of my headache is from the surgery, and how much MS.  I’m assuming it’s mostly from the surgery though.  Fatigue level is a little better today.  Tomorrow will be even better!

Ok, not really.  I just didn’t want y’all to see me with the dorky hair net hat thingie on.

I have to admit – the nurses there were all so nice!  It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that I was joking around the whole time, even when I got up on the operating table.  One of the nurses in the operating room saw me come in and said “Here comes the comedian!”

I think the surgery was only 45 minutes or so.  As usual, when I came out of the anesthetic, I shook like crazy.  The nurse brought me freshly heated blankets and that seemed to do the trick.  The thing I found frustrating when I came to was the fact that I couldn’t swallow.  I guess my throat was still a tad frozen.  I kept coughing and clearing my throat to try and get the feeling back.  It took quite some time before I could swallow again.  Before being taken down to the day surgery recovery room, Betty, who brought my mother and I up to the fifth floor, walked into the room.  I yelled “Hi Betty!” and gave her a big wave.  She came over and asked how I was doing.  I was great, since I was still drugged.  They brought me down to the fourth floor.  Soon after parking my bed, a nurse was walking in my direction and caught her toe on a medical cart.  Ugh!  I yelled “Oh no!” as she went down to the ground.  It was horrible to watch.  I don’t think she was hurt though.  Soon after, another nurse walked in at the opposite end of the room.  Someone said “Heather is here” so I yelled “Hello Heather!” and waved.  I’m such a whack job.  My nurse asked me about my pain and I said it was about a 7 out of 10.  She got me a couple Arrowroot crackers to go with the Tylenol 3.  They were delicious, as I was SO hungry.  About thirty minutes later she asked what my pain level was and I said 3.7 – yes, I tend to be a little too accurate sometimes.  I told the nurse that I really needed to use the washroom, so she helped me and my IV bag off of the bed.  I can’t believe I did this – I know I wasn’t supposed to bend over.  However, in public washrooms, I always hover.  This caused me to be bent over and the blood just came flying out of my schnoz.  After finishing, I opened the bathroom door and said “Cleanup in aisle 8!”  I felt really bad as I made a pretty big mess.  The nurse brought me back over to the bed and I rested for another twenty minutes or so before she phoned me mother to come get me.  My nurse was so nice and kind – I told her if I had any money, I would give her a tip.  My mother met us at the back of the hospital and we drove the five minutes back to my apartment.

Back home, everything was fine for the first few hours.  Then the drugs and freezing wore off.  Ouch!  Mind you, the pain in my head wasn’t as bad as the worse sinus headaches I’ve ever had.  There was just a fair amount of pressure and the inside of my nose felt beat up, like someone opened a can of whoopass on it!  My mother and I just sat and watched TV.  She helped me make a massive bowl of cereal while she heated her pizza.  I was really surprised that I wasn’t nauseous at all.  The only thing I didn’t expect was the pain in my teeth.  Mind you, I’ve heard many people say that sinus infections causes pain in their teeth.

I probably shouldn’t have taken those three Tylenol 3′s throughout the day, as the caffeine in them kept me up most of the night.  Well, plus the fact that I had to lay on my back at a 30 degree angle (not overly comfortable).  Jan and I watched a few episodes of Will & Grace in the morning, then she headed back home.  I was so appreciative for her being there for me – thanks Jan!

I’ve spent the last three days just resting and trying to deal with the pain and discomfort.  I think it’s a bit better today!  Fortunately, my little goobers have been keeping me company:

You can see Pinky’s little ear at the top of the photo.

Abby was licking her paw….

…then fell asleep:

She’s so cute!

My face is a tad swollen.  Ice packs seem to help a bit.  No bruising, at least.

I think I’ll attempt to get caught up on my emails tomorrow.  I haven’t been able to yet as I keep falling asleep.  Not getting too much reading done either.

Today’s symptoms: Sore, achy, tired, blah….Not too sure how many MS symptoms I’m experiencing though.