Not A Good Week Ahead

This coming week is going to be long, stressful, and sleep deprived. I don't know what I was thinking but I think the real answer is I wasn't thinking. This is my week:

• Saturday (today) - craft show where I will have a table all day
• Sunday: Lunch and dinner reservations with two different groups of people. Lunch at noon and an early dinner at 4 PM. 
• Monday: 930 PM MRI for my neck. I should be home by 11. I never stay up that late.
• Tuesday: Deep cleaning at the periodontist with novacaine. How fun! 
• Wednesday: The only good day because there is nothing on my calendar
• Thursday: Lunch plans with a friend. Sleep lab overnight to see if there is anything else wrong with me. This means another night of not enough sleep.
• Friday: Leave the sleep lab at 630 am and go directly to the gym.

What was I thinking? I don't know. I need to allow enough time for plenty of sleep each week. Monday morning I hope to sleep late. I also hope I can sleep in on Wednesday and Thursday since I will be up too late and do not expect enough sleep at the sleep lab.

My goals then for the week: focus on getting enough sleep and rest and pretend nothing will hurt. This is just a lot of poor planning on my part.

The Best Laid Plans

The best laid plans sometimes never take place. I have had a plan to take the best care of me as possible. This includes regular trips to the beach because that is the best place for any kind of healing. I mean the sun, the sea, the waves, (the hot life guards), and fresh air. What else does one need? I mean besides being able to go to the beach with out the preceding bathing suit shopping? (Bathing suit shopping is the only bad thing about going to the beach.

Back to my plan, I was going to go to the beach today. I even tried to talk a friend into going with me. I have a doctor appointment at 8:15 AM (What was I thinking when I made that appointment?) this morning and then I planned to go to the beach. Today will be a perfect beach day because the humidity is gone and there will be a nice breeze.

The problem is I am exhausted. If I didn't have a doctor appointment this morning I would have stayed in bed. I will have to be happy with a nap later today. Or I could suck it up and paint another wall in the living room (but that's not going to happen).

I didn't think I stayed up that late last night. And while I did wake up this morning at 4 and let one cat out and one cat in (my other job), I did go back to bed. Normally I would deal with my not that great night of sleep and go to the beach and then come home and take a nap. But today I think I'll just take a nap.

Strategizing

I think I am finally figuring out how to manage my own health. Call me slow but I am finally getting there. I try to be a good patient. I take my (huge pile of) pills every day and show up for appointments and all that. Sometimes I even try to take a step back and look at the gigantic huge big picture of my overall health.

I am trying to be even more proactive about my health. I know there are on going issues that I need to tackle - lose weight, keep eating healthy, and getting regular exercise. But I am also aware of many other issues that I need to work on. Primarily coping with the side effects of my medications and treatments. That's a big one.

I take methotrexate (MTX) for my rheumatoid. It is also a chemo drug but in lower doses it is used to treat RA and other ailments. One side effect is that it keeps my immune system so low that I keep getting sick. I have had at least two bad colds already this year that caused a week or more absence for work. I am also on two prescriptions for other side effects.

I decided I need to cut MTX out of my life so I talked to my rheumatologist last week about getting off of it. So for the next 8 weeks I am cutting back on it and increasing another prescription which has fewer side effects and shouldn't have as much effect on my immune system. We will see in 8 weeks if I have more RA problems. And if I don't get another bad cold.

I need to strategize (Is that a word? Spell check says not but I'm using it as it makes sense to me.) some more about my health.

I know losing weight would be a big help to me. But I can't exercise more so I guess I need to eat less. I have more upcoming doctor appointments and I have to do some thinking about changes that I might want to make.

The schedule juggle

Let me preface this all by saying I work part time with complete flexibility in my schedule and I can come and go as I please.

All I was trying to do yesterday was to schedule three fifteen minute appointments for a medical massage for my sore hamstring. The goal was one yesterday, one on Thursday, and one next Monday. The result was one yesterday, one tomorrow (Wednesday) and one October 12. To be fair, I will be out of town for a few days which complicates the matter. And the tech who does the massages only works Monday through Thursday.

I couldn't go Thursday because I already have to work and have two appointments in the afternoon. Tomorrow worked but I had to reschedule a different appointment and move it to today so I could fit it in. Next week the only times he had were ones when I wasn't available.

That is just this week. My schedule is not what we call empty and relaxing with a part time work schedule. I am always running around some place. Today is work, farmer's market, Dr appointment, and hair cut. I will leave at 730 am and return around 530.

Then sometimes when I am having a 'bad spell' (doesn't that sound antiquated or something), I just ditch everything and hibernate. That is what I did on Sunday. After our party Saturday, I woke up with bags under my eyes....

My body doesn't tolerate the schedule juggle and ensuing long, full days, any better than my calendar does. And every little change is complicated for both.