Monday, October 13, 2008

An Old Lady on Chocolate

Yesterday was pretty not good. (Like… 3.45.) I missed morning church service.
:( Then mom drove me over to Auntie’s where I slept for a couple more hours before evening church. Then I was able to drag myself to church and sing and stand and sit. Yay.

Last night’s symptoms were really bad. I felt itchy inside and had weird swollen hives outside. My left pinky toe kept throbbing and then going numb… and then prickling as it woke back up and then starting the succession again. I was restless beyond measure, I couldn’t stay in one position for more than five or six minutes without something new throbbing.

I tried to get some relief with a warm bath—while it relaxed my muscles, it tortured my nerves, but at least it changed how I was perceiving pain. Couldn’t take a normal breath, of course. Maaajor pain in my legs and shoulders. Overheated and clammy; burning, then chilly, roasting, then chattering. I only ate a cup of cereal all day, plus two little “fruit leather bars”.

I finally fell asleep at 5:30 this morning and slept for exactly eight hours. I laughed. I’m wondering if I’ll eventually just cycle on through and have a normal-people sleep rotation. On the plus side, on the nights when I’ve haven’t tried to fight the insomnia, I’ve been getting tons of things done in the evening and not having the huge horrific nightmares at 3 and 4 a.m.

Very early this morning, I was able to do some homework, do my Bible study, do some digital developing for my last very overdue photo shoot, do some sketches, change my bed linens, tidy up a few things in my room, look up some song lyrics and write two “When I die” letters to friends that will really need to hear some things.

As much as I agree with you out there who are saying that I should get back to normal sleep routine and not sleep through the day… I still have to acknowledge the fact that this is the most work I’ve gotten done in two weeks.

Today, when I woke up at 1:30, Ariel and I trekked over to Auntie’s; Ariel to use their high-speed connection, and me to read in a new environment. As far as the days have gone, this one wasn’t bad. I read part of a book, I can type, I actually ate some food.

I am having serious trouble walking up and down stairs—I feel like such a little old lady. My OTHER pinky toe is now the one who is fading in and out of consciousness. I am getting very strange visual input today including spots, phantom glowing swirls, and blurriness. If the pattern holds, in a couple hours, I will reach the worst stage of the day, and then it will get much better around midnight.

I’ve also made quite a discovery: CHOCOLATE IS AMAZING.

Now, this isn’t news to most of you, I’m sure. But I don’t consume much caffeine, so I am surprised after I eat some chocolate and suddenly I can process information a little faster and feel a little happier to boot.

Hmm!

My appointment is tomorrow. A lot of things with school hinge on this, so I praying that it works out. We'll see. I'm not too worried about it, regardless. I know who holds tomorrow. ;o)

2 comments:

Karen said...

I love you Baby Girl. Sorry about the "you should really be sleeping at night, not during the day... your bed should be for night-time only" talk.

I understand that you need to sleep when you can get it. Of course, the pain and throbbing, itching, etc. is never clear to the outside observer and, yes, it would be ridiculous for you to be constantly reminding us of the things you are physically feeling. This blog is helping SO MUCH in that way. Thank you for keeping it up. I'm sure it's a downer sometimes... love you.

Lauren Burke said...

No harm, no foul.
I agree with you about the sleeping routine, and if I didn't have to consider schoolwork and other obligations, I'd experiment or force myself to comply. But. Life is what it is, and I still have to consider time-management even as I'm scraping under the couch cushions for some crumbs of sleep.