April 24, 2010 by kim.

The update is this. I will try to control my MS through diet and stress management. Primarily, cut the sugar that I had gone crazy with since Christmas, and try to relax.

Somehow I misunderstood my Dr. a couple of months ago and thought she told me I HAD to go on this certain drug that I had mentioned to some of you. She didn’t. She said if I WANTED to go on a drug, this would be the one that she would recommend. Way to listen, Kim. I have been completely stressed out about the thought of injecting myself once a week into my leg or arm muscle. As if the shot itself wasn’t going to be bad enough, the list of possible side effects associated with this particular drug are less than favorable:

*Flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, muscle aches, sweating, tiredness) – this is most common
*Depression
*Allergic reactions
*Drop in red or white blood cell levels
*Drop in cells that form blood clots
*Heart problems
*Changes in thyroid function
*Seizures
*Liver injury

Those are just the symptoms listed on the actual product website.

Other side effects I read about from people using the drug state that their flu-like symptoms last anywhere from a day to a week, they’ve had bladder infections, their bones ache, killer migraines, muscle spasms, etc. Yuck. Needless to say, I’m going to hold off as long as I can before I need to subject myself to any of that.

Thing is, the medicine seems to work for a lot of people. That’s great, but it’s just not something I want to try. At least not right now. I know, I know. You’ve seen the video, and you probably wonder why the hell I’m not on something to prevent that. You might even say, “How do you know unless you try it?” I’d prefer quality of life over weekly pain and feeling like I have the flu. Let me tell you, if there was a drug out there that would stop any exacerbations from happening, I would be on it. The MS drugs they have on the market don’t do that. They say that the drugs can push off flares by 30%, but – 30% of what? That number can mean more to one person than another. That isn’t a very high percentage, if you ask me.

There is an oral drug in the works and other promising research going on, so when those treatments come on the market I will look into them. Don’t worry. I’m working with a wonderful neurologist who is understanding and will help me if I get into any trouble. Trouble meaning, a flare I can’t handle. I can put up with quite a lot, though …

Plus, I’ve got my fantastic, caring, lovable husband to help me!

No worries!

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June 25, 2009 by kim.

I am SO SAD that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson BOTH died today. I know Farrah was sick, but Michael? That took me by surprise.

We also found out that our beautiful little car, Suzi, is totaled. Done for. Dead. Kaput. Drowned by the storm.

We were so depressed, we broke our moratorium on McDonald’s and grabbed some burgers and fries to ease our pain.

2001 – 2009

I’m off to drown my sorrows in a chocolate shake.

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June 19, 2009 by kim.

… it pours. And pours. And pours.

Today we had one of the heaviest rainstorms that Chris can remember. I say Chris only because I was at work and didn’t get to witness the torrential downpour firsthand.

It rained so hard that it flooded our street:

That’s our car in the back of the picture. Look how high the water was:

Chris took those pictures to show me how bad it was. When I got home, we decided to check out the car to see if there was any damage.

There was.

The floor of the car was flooded:

We just sat there, stunned. The water didn’t look like it came up that high in the pictures! What happened? We called our landlord (he lives downstairs) to see if he had a Shop-Vac we could use to get the water out. He did, and he helped us. However, even though half the Shop-Vac filled with water, the water in the car came seeping back. We had a much bigger problem on our hands.

We called our insurance company and they referred us to a body shop. Off we went. I decided to take a little video of the sloshing water in our car, which can be seen here:

The guy at the body shop took one look and knew that this was going to be a big job. We had to leave our car, and he called Hertz to get us a rental car to use until ours could be fixed:

We might not know until Monday whether or not we can take our little Suzi Suzuki home again.

Poor Suzi!

Posted in News, Nature, Observation, Annoyance | 3 Comments »