Monday I had my phone call with the psychologist. My test results were actually pretty good, as in they don’t show indications of ADHD. However, the delayed recognition portion of the auditory input testing showed moderately severe impairment, which he attributes to my narcolepsy. He said if he was younger (he’s in his 70s, I think), he’d write a paper on it because my pattern of misses was so unusual. That’s actually a paper I’d be interested in reading. Too bad he won’t be writing it.
He did say that I don’t have a memory storage problem, I have a memory retrieval problem. Which actually makes a lot of sense. There’s stuff hidden in my brain, and I know it’s there, I just can’t always access it when I need to. Probably still related to the narcolepsy.
Afterwards I worked on prepping campfire mugs. I bought some new tools last week that really sped up the process: a multi-edge edger (below) and a tabletop skiver (much quicker than the hand held skivers I’ve been using). Definitely worth the money just in time saved- especially the edger- and I should have bought them a long time ago.
Tuesday I got a phone call from the billing department of our doctor’s office first thing in the morning that tipped us off that our insurance company was saying we didn’t have coverage. We’d called after Jeremy reenlisted, and they’d said we were good to go, so that was a very unpleasant surprise. Jeremy immediately called Tricare and spent the next hour trying to find out what was going on.
Thankfully, it ended in our favor, other than having to pay 3 months of insurance premiums at one time (I really need to get better at tracking automated charges, since I missed that the charges weren’t there). They had records of the calls Jeremy had made and their responses, they just hadn’t gotten all the info they needed (despite telling us we were good to go) and they hadn’t called us to get that info- they just canceled our coverage. Since it was their screw-up, they’re back-dating our coverage, so we shouldn’t be on the hook for anything besides our co-pays. Though we do need to call everybody we’ve seen since the beginning of the year, and make sure they resubmit their bills. Because we have nothing better to do with our time. It could be worse, though, so really, not much to complain about.
Insomnia Monday night left me exhausted Tuesday morning. Sunshine did her piano lesson online while I took River to the oral surgeon for his frenectomy. We had to wait around for 45 minutes, but once they took him back, it was less than half an hour from then to us driving away in the car. It was just a quick snip of the muscle that connects the upper lip to the upper gum, but he did have to go under general anesthesia.
When we got home, I took a short nap-ish. I’m not sure if I actually slept, but I did get some rest, which helped me not feel so crappy. After then I did more work on campfire mugs and bucket pieces.
Despite feeling a bit off from the anesthesia, River insisted on participating in karate class that evening, though he had to sit down the last 5 or so minutes because he was not feeling good. I’d planned on him just sitting and watching, but he insisted. We had sparring practice, but just with our hands and feet, no helmets this time. We’ll see how Friday goes when we fully gear up.
Wednesday I had a followup with my primary care provider after my eval. We went over my results and got a prescription for the meds he’d recommended. I also got a prescription for the mild yeast infection I’ve been ignoring for the last two months (which realistically, has probably contributed to me feeling crummy lately).
On the way home I picked up my prescriptions from the grocery store and my new booth banner, with updated artwork, because OCD, from the printer.
After my accountability call I tried to work, but only managed to send some emails. I sent some requests for testimonials to add to my sales page and followed up with the homestead supply company I talked to at the convention in August. They finally reached out and are interested in carrying some of my products Sept- Jan to test things out. I never reached out because of my health issues, so I’m glad they did. We’re in the process of scheduling a call to discuss things.
By dinner time though, I was not feeling great. I’d popped my pills when I picked up my prescriptions and was fully feeling the effects. Headache, fatigue, dizziness, general feeling of crappiness. Honestly, I think some of it was the anti fungal, though I’m sure some of it was the new brain meds. I laid down while Jeremy made dinner, then barely made it through dinner before I had to lay down again. Unfortunately, once in bed, insomnia hit (a possible side-effect of the meds, as are the other symptoms I mentioned earlier) and it took a lot longer than I wanted to fall asleep. Interestingly, when I checked my sleep tracker in the morning, it looks like the meds might have suppressed some of my REM, as I spent less time in REM than I usually do. According to some brief research I did, this can be a side effect. I’m curious to see if it continues and if it has a positive effect on how I feel when I wake up in the morning.
Thursday I still wasn’t feeling great, but I did feel better than when I went to bed. I went to the chiropractor, then home to get some work done. Around noon I noticed I was feeling less crummy and the symptoms I’d been experiencing were a lot less significant. I decided to try taking the meds at night (something I’d discussed with my doc at my appt) to see if I can reverse things- tired at night and awake during the day.
By the end of the day I had a pile of campfire mugs ready to be stitched and snaps installed in Pocket Pals, though I had to order more snaps and hopefully they’ll arrive before we leave. I also prepped the Pocket Pal kits: needles with a piece of washi tape on each so they don’t get lost and threads cut to length and loosely tied together so they don’t get tangled. I also have my bucket handles cut to length, stitch holes punched, and the handles and tags oiled.
Friday I took my meds before bed, which went better, though I could feel when it kicked in and it was still affecting me in the morning. It wasn’t as bad as on Wednesday and Thursday, tho. I still spent very little time in REM and not much time in deep sleep.
It was a sluggish day and I felt woozy if I stood or sat for too long, so I laid down most of the day. This is not what I needed to be doing on the business side of things, but that’s the way life goes with chronic illness and new meds.
I did manage to go to karate where we wore full sparring gear. I was fine until we started actual sparring and breathing hard, and that’s when the claustrophobia/panic hit. It was better than the last time we used full sparring gear, but still there, unfortunately.
Saturday my REM and deep sleep were back to normal. I finally got a decent amount of sleep, too, which has been a long time coming. I felt a little sluggish, but overall I was feeling a lot better.
It rained during the night, but we woke up to snow and it snowed off and on throughout the day.
I took my last dose of meds Saturday night. I’ve still been super tired during the day and my nighttime routine is off. I considered trying to tough it out, but I was worried about the daytime sleepiness being an issue while driving to and from the convention. And the side effects of being dizzy, nauseous, constipated, etc weren’t inducing my to stick with it.
Weekly Mileage
| total | 0.0 miles | 0.0 hours | |
2022 totals
| 7.0 outside hours |
| 14.38 miles |
