Sunday, May 29, 2011

Welcoming Summer but not the heat

This holiday weekend has been decent! Saturday morning, I actually took some time for myself and got my hair washed and cut. I must have looked stressed cause I swear the hairdresser gave me some extra massaging time. Ahhh it felt so nice! After my hair cut I ran home to give Vince his pain pills, which I forgot before leaving, and then went back out to have lunch with my friends. As always they asked how the hubby is doing. They kind of already know the answer by now, but it's nice they ask. It shows they care. I gave the same answer I normally give people nowadays: "eh, hanging in there" and I shrug with a half smile. What else can I say? So back to our great weekend, when I got home, we went grocery shopping and Vince felt pretty good! Must be that 90 degree weather we have had. I hate the heat but I am liking it more and more nowadays. Today, we both woke up fairly early and headed to the movies. We are such old people. We don't like crowds and can't afford much in the way of movie tickets so we prefer Saturday or Sunday mornings. Plus, Vince has a few favorite spots to sit in the theatre. Less of a chance to get kicked by the person behind us and more of a chance to get an end seat in the front half of the theatre. I must add at this point that AMC theatres only have coke products, no pepsi. Vince and I both hate diet coke. We are diet pepsi fans, so we have decided that when we go to a movie, he is allowed to treat himself to a nice regular coke and take an extra bolus for it. So we did just that. Turns out he did good because by the time he got done with his movie snacks and soda, he was running 80! During the movie, I asked Vince if he wanted to go shopping afterwards and we decided we would as long as he feels up to it. Guess what?! He did! Shopping at target and walmart two days in a row! It has been great! Pain not the best but definitely not the worst! His CGM was beeping through both stores as he was on the verge of going low, but who can complain about a low after all that junk food! Go Vince for estimating correctly!
One other thing Vince has decided to try is slowly weaning himself down on the one type of medication he has been on; Lyrica. Now before anyone slaps our hands for self dosing, I must say that I am extremely strict 99% of the time in following doctors orders. However, Vince has been prescribed this medication by three doctors over the past 5 years, all prescribing different doses. He is beginning to see which of his many medications are helping and which ones may not be. Since Lyrica has some very strong side effects, such as drowsiness (or zombiness as we call it) and weight gain, he feels he rather not take it if it's not helping. Also, the fact that his current dose is actually more than the manufacture recommended, is also adding to his decision. So together we thought about how he has been weaned on to the medication in the past and we decide to slowly wean him back down. When I say slowly, I mean it. Like over the next few weeks. You may ask why we are not consulting the doctor on this decision. Well, we will, but just a little after the fact. You see, when Vince's doctors see him in so much pain, all they want to do is shove medication at him. Yes, 95% of it is needed, but he is just to the point with all this that he feels he has seen enough doctors and gotten enough opinions that it's time he has a say in the treatment. Heck, we feel like we know more than them sometimes at this point, even though we know at the end of the day we don't. But yes, that is the plan, so we will see how it goes. Needless to say, if there is any change in his pain, then he will simply wean back up to his current dose.
I think that sums up our weekend! One more day of relaxation!

3 comments:

  1. glad you got away together and had a good time. also glad you had time away for yourself. dont forget to take care of you too xx.

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  2. Love that you got out for the hair appt. and for lunch with the girls AND...Vince having a great weekend to boot!? This is fabulous news. I whole-heartedly agree that in some of these situations the patient knows their body better than the MDs. Good luck with the wean and let us know how it goes.

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  3. YAY! for the Sandy time! that's the best news I have heard from you, Sandy. if anyone deserves a few extra minutes of head massage -- it is you!

    As for the meds, I think you and Vince probably do know his situation better than the docs - do what you think is right -- you will know if going off of it is right (or not)

    Its great that you had a good weekend - Happy dance for you and for Vince....

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