This is just a quick update. I went to the neurologist today. He does want to see how I do on Zonegran for (hopefully) three months. If nothing else, I'll be skinny - ha. No one's complaining about that. Of course we're hoping it works on my headache, not just kill my appetite. I got samples of Migranal nasal spray which is DHE so I won't have to do it injections - I'm hoping those give me a little relief on bad pain days in place of shots. Lots of hoping in this paragraph...blah. But my hope is in Jesus and none other. The dr. was very pleased with my thorough headache diaries and showed them off to the nurses (they 'oohed' and 'aahed' over them too) - gold star for me. He said if the Zonegran doesn't work his next plan is Botox. While I'm not excited about that idea, and not sure that's something I want to pursue, I appreciate his aggressive approach.
I didn't want headaches to take over my blog. Thank you for bearing with me. I do want to keep you updated on how it's going though, and I figure if you read my blog, you care about it. Thanks!
We've got our BigHouse of Blues event this weekend. It's our biggest fundraiser of the year. We have a live and silent auction. There will be food, football games playing on big screens, a DJ and a dance floor. And a hot chocolate bar that I'm especially excited about! I love things where there are lots of toppings to choose from. (That's how I spend like $5 a cup at those build-your-own frozen yogurt places.) If you're in town, we'll be at Greystone Mansion in Auburn from 6-10pm. Tickets are $10 at the door. All proceeds go to BigHouse. Even if you can't come, you can check out the items online www.bighouseofblues.com and email your highest bid for your favorite items at bids@ourbighouse.org and we'll have someone bid for you at the event.
You can also do your Christmas shopping through BigHouse this year! Our Gift of Giving program is a way you can donate to BigHouse in honor of a friend or family member and we will send them a gift (BigHouse backpack, t-shirt, or hoodie) along with a Christmas card that tells about how we help foster children. Check it out at our website: www.ourbighouse.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Thankful for November!
I'm going to try this again - I've been trying to write for several days but none of my words seemed right. We'll see if this makes the cut.
Thank goodness for November! I love October - I'm a huge fan of the colors and the weather was blissful, I have no complaints. I don't care too much for Halloween - I was in a hurry to pack up all the costumes in the BigHouse Clothes Closet and put away our Fall Festival stuff. Our House is actually in amazing shape right now. Well, considering the fact that there are two of us on staff and neither Micah nor I are self-proclaimed clean freaks. Thank goodness - we would get nothing accomplished otherwise! We did have someone volunteer to clean for us yesterday though and that was glorious. Anyway, so I had some of our volunteers put up the BigHouse Christmas tree today. Mainly because otherwise they won't get to enjoy it much since the college students will basically be gone after Thanksgiving. But I didn't get out the ornaments yet...that will be another day. Savor.. :)
Headaches - well, there haven't been any miraculous days like October 21st. Yeah, bummer, trust me - I know. I struggled with coping last week - either b/c of hormones or the medicine or the return of intense pain, I don't know. I started practicing meditation again for 45 minutes a day, and that seems to help. I go back to the neurologist on Tuesday, so I'll find out then what the next things to try will be. I'm guessing he'll want to keep me on Zonegran and see how I do at 400mg for at least a month. Currently my biggest concern is the loss of appetite I'm already having with it (at only half a dose). It's frighteningly similar to Topamax (*shudder*) but at least stuff doesn't taste weird (yet..?). I'm still hoping there's another miracle day in that bottle of pills. If so, it will be worth it. If not, I guess it was worth it anyway - it's not like I was expecting anything.
Thank goodness for November! I love October - I'm a huge fan of the colors and the weather was blissful, I have no complaints. I don't care too much for Halloween - I was in a hurry to pack up all the costumes in the BigHouse Clothes Closet and put away our Fall Festival stuff. Our House is actually in amazing shape right now. Well, considering the fact that there are two of us on staff and neither Micah nor I are self-proclaimed clean freaks. Thank goodness - we would get nothing accomplished otherwise! We did have someone volunteer to clean for us yesterday though and that was glorious. Anyway, so I had some of our volunteers put up the BigHouse Christmas tree today. Mainly because otherwise they won't get to enjoy it much since the college students will basically be gone after Thanksgiving. But I didn't get out the ornaments yet...that will be another day. Savor.. :)
Headaches - well, there haven't been any miraculous days like October 21st. Yeah, bummer, trust me - I know. I struggled with coping last week - either b/c of hormones or the medicine or the return of intense pain, I don't know. I started practicing meditation again for 45 minutes a day, and that seems to help. I go back to the neurologist on Tuesday, so I'll find out then what the next things to try will be. I'm guessing he'll want to keep me on Zonegran and see how I do at 400mg for at least a month. Currently my biggest concern is the loss of appetite I'm already having with it (at only half a dose). It's frighteningly similar to Topamax (*shudder*) but at least stuff doesn't taste weird (yet..?). I'm still hoping there's another miracle day in that bottle of pills. If so, it will be worth it. If not, I guess it was worth it anyway - it's not like I was expecting anything.
Friday, October 21, 2011
The One You've Been Waiting For
Oh dear friends...the post I've been longing to write for so many months...my head feels GOOD today! I actually can't tell you how anxious I've been to write this post today b/c I promised that the day I didn't have a headache you would hear about it! Now, I'm quite positive that the headache is still there but on a scale of one to ten (with my general levels being 4-6 with bad days being 7-10) - today is much more of .5 or a 1. Here's the story:
On Tuesday I started a new medicine called Zonegran. It's an anti-seizure medicine (the last two preventatives I tried were also in that class of medications but didn't help my head obviously and I couldn't deal with the side effects). I actually only decided to try Zonegran as a last ditch effort before I go back to the neurologist in three weeks. He had written me a prescription for it at my last appointment in July, but since I'd had such bad luck with all the others he said I could wait and fill it only if I wanted to. And since last week I had to use two DHE shots (a very bad week!) I decided I might as well give the preventative a chance to start working. And that way if I ran into any side effects I could let him know at my next appointment.
I've started at a quarter of the dose he is aiming towards. The idea is to titrate up slowly to avoid negative side effects (yes, please!!). If this medicine is the reason I've had such low pain yesterday and today (yep - yesterday was good too, I just felt so much better today I couldn't believe it!), then that bodes very well for me b/c I still have a lot of room to grow with it. In fact if I continue to do well I'm going to call before I increase the dose at all.
I don't know if I can explain to you how I felt this morning when I realized that I'd been awake for a good five minutes before even thinking about my head. And then after I'd been up for awhile and still felt good... I actually cried. A lot. I couldn't stop. I was afraid it would make my head start hurting but I was so very thankful and relieved. I had talked to Julie about wanting to do something - go to Six Flags, the beach, SOMETHING! Something fun and celebratory and exciting... A little while later I texted her back and said, "I can't stop crying. This may be how I spend my good feeling day..washing Jesus' feet with my tears. He deserves it. :)"
It's so true! Even if it doesn't last. Even if today was just a precious gift and tomorrow is awful and the medicine isn't what I hoped, all this time I've had today has been great. And I want you to know! I want EVERYONE to know! That I've had a really great day! At least until 2 PM!
I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me. Psalm 13:6
On Tuesday I started a new medicine called Zonegran. It's an anti-seizure medicine (the last two preventatives I tried were also in that class of medications but didn't help my head obviously and I couldn't deal with the side effects). I actually only decided to try Zonegran as a last ditch effort before I go back to the neurologist in three weeks. He had written me a prescription for it at my last appointment in July, but since I'd had such bad luck with all the others he said I could wait and fill it only if I wanted to. And since last week I had to use two DHE shots (a very bad week!) I decided I might as well give the preventative a chance to start working. And that way if I ran into any side effects I could let him know at my next appointment.
I've started at a quarter of the dose he is aiming towards. The idea is to titrate up slowly to avoid negative side effects (yes, please!!). If this medicine is the reason I've had such low pain yesterday and today (yep - yesterday was good too, I just felt so much better today I couldn't believe it!), then that bodes very well for me b/c I still have a lot of room to grow with it. In fact if I continue to do well I'm going to call before I increase the dose at all.
I don't know if I can explain to you how I felt this morning when I realized that I'd been awake for a good five minutes before even thinking about my head. And then after I'd been up for awhile and still felt good... I actually cried. A lot. I couldn't stop. I was afraid it would make my head start hurting but I was so very thankful and relieved. I had talked to Julie about wanting to do something - go to Six Flags, the beach, SOMETHING! Something fun and celebratory and exciting... A little while later I texted her back and said, "I can't stop crying. This may be how I spend my good feeling day..washing Jesus' feet with my tears. He deserves it. :)"
It's so true! Even if it doesn't last. Even if today was just a precious gift and tomorrow is awful and the medicine isn't what I hoped, all this time I've had today has been great. And I want you to know! I want EVERYONE to know! That I've had a really great day! At least until 2 PM!
I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me. Psalm 13:6
Monday, October 10, 2011
Perspective
This is my response to the "We Are the 99%" campaign. It's not meant to be political, just thought-provoking. I'm not saying that Americans aren't facing difficult economic times, but let's not forget to look at the world around us too. I am blessed. I am called to live generously. If you have a need, please let me know. 1 Timothy 6:8 - "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content."Monday, September 26, 2011
The Best Things About September
In chronological order:
- Taking 10 BigHouse families and 10 BH volunteers to the beach for Labor Day.
- University of Alabama Crimson Tide football. Roll Tide. 4-0
- Winning Chick-Fil-A for a year as one of the First 100 at the restaurant opening in Five Points (Birmingham).
- Alabama roadtrip to see friends in Montgomery, Clanton, and Birmingham.
- Record-setting BigHouse Kids' Night Out with 58 kids and 25 volunteers.
- Bowling with Heather and Adam in Opelika.
- Watching football with Micah and Blake and family.
- Surprise visit from Mom and Dad on their way back from their romantic get-away weekend beach trip (their words, not mine. They have an amazing marriage.).
- Beautiful weather!
- Julie and Will's wedding weekend. Exhausting but so wonderful and perfect.
- Tie-dye party with Heather and Adam (I love having them an hour away!).
- Courageous movie comes out on the 30th!
You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:4
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
August - where have you gone?
This month has absolutely flown by. Let's see if I can hit the highlights -
BigHouse - we've adjusted to life without our interns and Joe. I'm working 9-5, Monday-Thursday. We've got students and volunteers lined up to come throughout the week to help us though, which is nice. We're not doing the After-School Program this fall - we're reevaluating our programs to offer things that more families can take advantage of, so we'll be doing more Kids' Night Out events. We're also running for another Pepsi grant in September to hopefully start a Clothes Closet in Shelby County. We won a $10K grant in July to provide 500 care packages for kids entering care in 20 AL counties. We'll be putting those together in October.
Weddings - Heather and Adam got married this weekend. It was the most beautiful, pleasant late summer day in Tuscaloosa that I think I've ever experienced! They were planning to go to Boston for their honeymoon, but Hurricane Irene interfered so they drove to Disney World instead. It's Adam's first time at Disney - I hope they have a blast!
Julie is getting married on Sept. 24th and moving to Mississippi. So sad for me! But I am extremely happy for them both! I found a black dress for her wedding (I'm a bridesmaid) at Ross for $16. That's a record for me. It is SO cute too. I'm excited.
Headaches - I finished the research study in Tuscaloosa two weeks ago. I'm so glad that I did it. I think the meditation helps a lot with stress and anxiety which is a huge contributor and/or effect of my headache pain. August was mostly a very easy month. I pretty much stopped keeping a headache diary, so I've only noted 3 red days this month (which is the best of the whole 8 months I've had a headache). I did shots on all of those days - not fun. Especially last night..I tried a new med Sumavel which is the needless injection of sumatriptan (same drug as Imitrex). I was still very anxious about the shot (so, no better than regular injections), it hurt and bled, and left a big bruise on my leg. But worst of all it made my headache WORSE instead of better, made me nauseous, and all the muscles in my head/neck/jaw felt tense. No thank you. So I ended up taking one of my pain meds that doesn't do anything for my head but does make me sleepy. BLAH on headaches!
Oh! I got a library card! It only took me a YEAR. Opelika is very stingy with their reading materials apparently. Anyway, I've quite enjoyed reading several books and watching some movies (those come in handy on bad headache days).
I'm headed out to run with Micah. Gotta get back on track with this "best shape of my life" business. We're aiming for a race in December. We were doing awesome until my headaches took over at the end of February. So I'm hoping I'll be able to get in a couple runs a week with her and show my head who's boss. :)
BigHouse - we've adjusted to life without our interns and Joe. I'm working 9-5, Monday-Thursday. We've got students and volunteers lined up to come throughout the week to help us though, which is nice. We're not doing the After-School Program this fall - we're reevaluating our programs to offer things that more families can take advantage of, so we'll be doing more Kids' Night Out events. We're also running for another Pepsi grant in September to hopefully start a Clothes Closet in Shelby County. We won a $10K grant in July to provide 500 care packages for kids entering care in 20 AL counties. We'll be putting those together in October.
Weddings - Heather and Adam got married this weekend. It was the most beautiful, pleasant late summer day in Tuscaloosa that I think I've ever experienced! They were planning to go to Boston for their honeymoon, but Hurricane Irene interfered so they drove to Disney World instead. It's Adam's first time at Disney - I hope they have a blast!
Julie is getting married on Sept. 24th and moving to Mississippi. So sad for me! But I am extremely happy for them both! I found a black dress for her wedding (I'm a bridesmaid) at Ross for $16. That's a record for me. It is SO cute too. I'm excited.
Headaches - I finished the research study in Tuscaloosa two weeks ago. I'm so glad that I did it. I think the meditation helps a lot with stress and anxiety which is a huge contributor and/or effect of my headache pain. August was mostly a very easy month. I pretty much stopped keeping a headache diary, so I've only noted 3 red days this month (which is the best of the whole 8 months I've had a headache). I did shots on all of those days - not fun. Especially last night..I tried a new med Sumavel which is the needless injection of sumatriptan (same drug as Imitrex). I was still very anxious about the shot (so, no better than regular injections), it hurt and bled, and left a big bruise on my leg. But worst of all it made my headache WORSE instead of better, made me nauseous, and all the muscles in my head/neck/jaw felt tense. No thank you. So I ended up taking one of my pain meds that doesn't do anything for my head but does make me sleepy. BLAH on headaches!
Oh! I got a library card! It only took me a YEAR. Opelika is very stingy with their reading materials apparently. Anyway, I've quite enjoyed reading several books and watching some movies (those come in handy on bad headache days).
I'm headed out to run with Micah. Gotta get back on track with this "best shape of my life" business. We're aiming for a race in December. We were doing awesome until my headaches took over at the end of February. So I'm hoping I'll be able to get in a couple runs a week with her and show my head who's boss. :)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Beach
I heart red flag waves. Oh my. I went to Orange Beach this weekend with Julie, her brother Tim, and her fiance Will. We had such a great time. Julie has this great vacation philosophy that everyone does what their heart desires. Turn the music up loud while you have a dance party in the shower? Sure! Eat breakfast on the balcony? Yes! Ride the waves on inner tubes? Absolutely! Stay inside and watch old movies when the sun is too much? No problem. Eat Lucky Charms and Oreos like you're five? Who wouldn't? Take naps, spend time with Jesus, play games, watch the water, eat whenever you're hungry, fill up your cup a hundred times a day with the cool ice from the wet bar....yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes! No pressure, no schedule, no regrets.
Friday afternoon we went to the beach and got knocked around by big waves - laughing so hard at ourselves and the amount of sand we accumulated in our swimsuits, hair, ears, etc. We collapsed on our beach blanket and took goofy pictures. I said, "I think the beach cures my headache!" I felt so good. We thanked God for answering our prayers for pain-free days on vacation. Sunday was difficult and I tried a new "rescue" med - Treximet. It's for migraines and apparently works like a charm for those, but since my headache isn't migraine, it doesn't know good when it sees it I guess! So that was a let down, but it didn't stop anyone else from going out to enjoy the water, and I was able to play board games later and be the photographer's assistant for Julie and Will's engagement pictures on the beach, and I was completely content with that.
One of the best things about the condo where we stayed was having access to the owner's closet!! The condo belongs to Will's aunt and uncle so we had the keys to the indoor and outdoor closets where they keep extra toys and supplies like beach chairs, floats, kites, a football, paper towels, dish detergent, salt, ramen noodles, board games, plastic wrap... It was so convenient! Every time we thought of something we needed someone would say, "Check the owner's closet!". It made me think of prayer...you can go through life as a guest, enjoying what there is, but struggling with what you don't have or didn't know ahead of time, OR you can go through life with Christ, who has given us the keys to the Owner's closet of life through prayer. "...ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you," Jesus says in John 15:7. What a gift! What a privilege!
Friday afternoon we went to the beach and got knocked around by big waves - laughing so hard at ourselves and the amount of sand we accumulated in our swimsuits, hair, ears, etc. We collapsed on our beach blanket and took goofy pictures. I said, "I think the beach cures my headache!" I felt so good. We thanked God for answering our prayers for pain-free days on vacation. Sunday was difficult and I tried a new "rescue" med - Treximet. It's for migraines and apparently works like a charm for those, but since my headache isn't migraine, it doesn't know good when it sees it I guess! So that was a let down, but it didn't stop anyone else from going out to enjoy the water, and I was able to play board games later and be the photographer's assistant for Julie and Will's engagement pictures on the beach, and I was completely content with that.
One of the best things about the condo where we stayed was having access to the owner's closet!! The condo belongs to Will's aunt and uncle so we had the keys to the indoor and outdoor closets where they keep extra toys and supplies like beach chairs, floats, kites, a football, paper towels, dish detergent, salt, ramen noodles, board games, plastic wrap... It was so convenient! Every time we thought of something we needed someone would say, "Check the owner's closet!". It made me think of prayer...you can go through life as a guest, enjoying what there is, but struggling with what you don't have or didn't know ahead of time, OR you can go through life with Christ, who has given us the keys to the Owner's closet of life through prayer. "...ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you," Jesus says in John 15:7. What a gift! What a privilege!
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