Monday, October 22, 2007

Arm, arm, hip, thigh, belly, belly, thigh, hip

That's my little chant so I can remember where I'm supposed to do my Copaxone injections. It's fairly easy to tell where my last injection was, thanks to the quarter-sized itchy hive. I'm back into doing the injections as easily as if I'd never stopped, but every night when I shoot up, I worry about my friend Julphia. She's so young for MS, and it's hitting her hard, and none of the standard therapies (Avonex, Betaseron, Copaxone) seem to be helping her. I haven't heard from her in a while, and I worry. If any of my half-dozen readers can send some good thoughts her way, I'd appreciate it.

Somehow, I managed to strain a muscle in my neck, and today has been sheer agony. Thanks to the surgery, ibuprofen and aspirin are forever on my forbidden list, so I've been alternating heat and cold and tonight I took a bath with a Marathon bubble bar, and used Wiccy afterwards. Sadly, it's impossible to give yourself a really thorough neck rub. Mom helped by telling me she had the exact same thing happen, and it lasted four days even with lots of ibuprofen. Thanks Mom, love you too.

I've been at Hyphenated Corp. for ten weeks now, and I'm getting into the swing of things. I still screw up, but I haven't yet made the same mistake twice, and I'm writing down every new thing I learn. One of these days, I'll take my scribbled pile of notes and type them up in Word so I can stop trying to decipher my own handwriting.

On the home front, with all due respect to the Bard of Avon, what Hell really hath no fury like is a dog whose bed, which he finally got smelling just right, is taken away, washed, and put back together smelling like lavender. And you haven't ever really been cussed out until you've been cussed out in German Shepherd.

12 comments:

the queen said...

Shhh...if your friend can hang on 2 more years, I think there'll be a pill she can take. I havent said anything, but I go to the entry interview for the FTY720 trial on Thursday. I'll do what I can to get it approved.

Becs said...

Re: neck ache. Take a tennis ball that has not been chewed and slobbered on by the pups. Put the tennis ball on the floor. Lie on the floor with your neck on the tennis ball. Roll around on it and make sure you get those shoulder blades too.

Jammies said...

I'll add in some good thoughts for you on Thursday, your Maj.

Becs, a tennis ball that hasn't been slobbered on? What is this rare treasure of which you speak?

I'll try it, though. Living alone means never having to explain why you look silly. ;)

Anonymous said...

May I recommend the Hitachi magic wand, which really can be used on your neck instead of you know where for you know what.

Jammies said...

Zayrina, I was wondering about adapting one of my *ahem* wands for that use when I remembered that somewhere, inna box, I have a foot massager thingie my ex got for me with several different attachments (magnets for arthritis, pumice for heels, such like). If I can find it, I may see if that'll pound the muscles into submission. If anyone asks why I would do such a thing, I will simply explain that my friend AskaNurse said it was a good idea. :)

Canuck Girl said...

Just get Jay and Sherri to come visit. Not only will you get to see good friends, but you can also get a wonderful massage from Jay.

Jay said...

Dear God, Heather,

It is bad enough that my wife trades me off as a 'rent-a-husband' (without the fringe benefits), now you're pawning me off!

That's all women want me for... handiman chores, cooking and massage!

Anonymous said...

Arm, arm, hip, thigh, belly, belly, thigh, hip sounds so much like the MS version of the Macarena. Maybe that's how you hurt you neck.

I hope you were able to adapt your foot massager into a neck massager. Your spotted brain is likely misaligned and a little vibrating will rattle it back into place and set you straight.

Murphy Jacobs said...

Jay, you know Canuck is just trying to get us closer to the Great White North!

Jammies said...

Zayrina, I haven't found the box with the foot massager--I may have tossed it in my frantic pre-JammiesFest2007 cleanup. And there isn't a dance, it's just a chant. Very solemn, like a monk with MS.

Jay, darling, you know I love you for your brain.

Anonymous said...

This is very late, but here's what I like to do for a neck ache:

Boil a pot of water. Place damp washcloths in the top layer of your bamboo steamer, cover with lid, and place on top of the boiling pot.

Within a few minutes, you'll have a nice rotating supply of very hot washcloths to loosen tweaked neck muscles.

If you don't have a bamboo steamer, you may have to improvise. But this does work for me.

Romantic Heretic said...

Sending positive vibes to your friend, Jammies.

And neck loosening ones to you. *kiss*

Glad to hear the job's going well and the pups are their usual spoiled selves.