Friday, April 3, 2020
An overnight snowstorm blanketed Colorado Springs in beautiful, white fluffiness. I saw on the news, while I was still lying in bed, that the north side of town had gotten around six inches of snow. I was expecting to see about an inch of snow at my house when I got up. I was surprised to see a solid three, possibly four, inches of snow in my backyard. I am not going to ask my family to shovel my ramp because I will not be going for a walk until at least Sunday, when the temperature reaches at least 60 degrees again.
My seven-year-old, Mika, woke up in the middle of the night and played with the Paint program on my computer as the snow was falling. I once again came out of my room to find a cute message from Mika on my computer screen. It read, “ho, ho ho. Let it snow.” and Mika drew a little snowflake after the words. This morning Mika told me the note was not for me, so maybe I should punish her this time.
I am feeling a little better today. When I asked my significant other, Donald, if he had any ibuprofen yesterday, He told me his ibuprofen had expired and he had gotten rid of it. Donald told me he had some naproxen if I needed it. I dealt with the combination ear, throat, shoulder pain throughout the day. It only became extreme pain when I laid my wheelchair back for bootie breaks, or had lightheaded episodes, spasms, or burps.
I put on my high threshold for pain panties and waited until I was ready to go to bed to take the pain reliever. Getting in bed was as bad as I feared. Every movement caused crazy amounts of pain, but once I was stationary, the pain receded back to intense instead of unbearable. I fell asleep during the premier of Broke on CBS and woke up again a few minutes before 10:00 p.m. The naproxen was working! I was not in any pain at all. I fell back asleep, and when I woke up at 4:00 a.m. there was still not any pain.
Donald told me I could take two pills, and when my older daughter, Megan, read the instructions on the bottle, they said you could take two pills for your first dose and then one pill every 10 to 12 hours thereafter, but you are not to exceed three pills in a twenty-four hour period. Megan could see the pain on my face and asked if I wanted to take two pills. I do not like to take pain pills. I need to be hurting very badly to break down and take a pill. I told Megan one would be enough, and I was right.
The naproxen really does work for nearly twelve hours for me. I took the pill last night at a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. I started feeling the pain creeping in slowly at 6:30 a.m. this morning. The pain started becoming uncomfortable at 7:30 a.m. When Megan asked me if I wanted another pill this morning, I told her no. I made it through yesterday’s pain while sitting up and do not plan to take another pill until tonight. The pain is much less intense today, but I know it will be bad again when I am laying down. I wish I would stop burping until I am better, even my chest hurts a little when I burp.
When I was watching the local news this morning, they said our public transit was making changes to our service. I was thinking, “But I just checked the website yesterday, now I will need to do it again.” The reporter said the transit system was asking people to board from the back of the bus for the safety of the drivers, practice personal space as much as possible, and only take necessary trips. My first thought was that riders would still need to go to the front of the bus by the driver to pay, and then the reporter said bus rides will be free for the foreseeable future.
My piece of advice to you is to look for the perks in a crisis. When I go to my wound care appointment in two weeks, I can leave my bus pass in its holder and because I use a wheelchair, I still get to board the bus from the front. Four-wheel privilege strikes again!
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
An overnight snowstorm blanketed Colorado Springs in beautiful, white fluffiness. I saw on the news, while I was still lying in bed, that the north side of town had gotten around six inches of snow. I was expecting to see about an inch of snow at my house when I got up. I was surprised to see a solid three, possibly four, inches of snow in my backyard. I am not going to ask my family to shovel my ramp because I will not be going for a walk until at least Sunday, when the temperature reaches at least 60 degrees again.
My seven-year-old, Mika, woke up in the middle of the night and played with the Paint program on my computer as the snow was falling. I once again came out of my room to find a cute message from Mika on my computer screen. It read, “ho, ho ho. Let it snow.” and Mika drew a little snowflake after the words. This morning Mika told me the note was not for me, so maybe I should punish her this time.
I am feeling a little better today. When I asked my significant other, Donald, if he had any ibuprofen yesterday, He told me his ibuprofen had expired and he had gotten rid of it. Donald told me he had some naproxen if I needed it. I dealt with the combination ear, throat, shoulder pain throughout the day. It only became extreme pain when I laid my wheelchair back for bootie breaks, or had lightheaded episodes, spasms, or burps.
I put on my high threshold for pain panties and waited until I was ready to go to bed to take the pain reliever. Getting in bed was as bad as I feared. Every movement caused crazy amounts of pain, but once I was stationary, the pain receded back to intense instead of unbearable. I fell asleep during the premier of Broke on CBS and woke up again a few minutes before 10:00 p.m. The naproxen was working! I was not in any pain at all. I fell back asleep, and when I woke up at 4:00 a.m. there was still not any pain.
Donald told me I could take two pills, and when my older daughter, Megan, read the instructions on the bottle, they said you could take two pills for your first dose and then one pill every 10 to 12 hours thereafter, but you are not to exceed three pills in a twenty-four hour period. Megan could see the pain on my face and asked if I wanted to take two pills. I do not like to take pain pills. I need to be hurting very badly to break down and take a pill. I told Megan one would be enough, and I was right.
The naproxen really does work for nearly twelve hours for me. I took the pill last night at a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. I started feeling the pain creeping in slowly at 6:30 a.m. this morning. The pain started becoming uncomfortable at 7:30 a.m. When Megan asked me if I wanted another pill this morning, I told her no. I made it through yesterday’s pain while sitting up and do not plan to take another pill until tonight. The pain is much less intense today, but I know it will be bad again when I am laying down. I wish I would stop burping until I am better, even my chest hurts a little when I burp.
When I was watching the local news this morning, they said our public transit was making changes to our service. I was thinking, “But I just checked the website yesterday, now I will need to do it again.” The reporter said the transit system was asking people to board from the back of the bus for the safety of the drivers, practice personal space as much as possible, and only take necessary trips. My first thought was that riders would still need to go to the front of the bus by the driver to pay, and then the reporter said bus rides will be free for the foreseeable future.
My piece of advice to you is to look for the perks in a crisis. When I go to my wound care appointment in two weeks, I can leave my bus pass in its holder and because I use a wheelchair, I still get to board the bus from the front. Four-wheel privilege strikes again!
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.