Not so much...

The houses on Jameson that were way nice.....not so much!!! Trick photography is the only explanation :-)

Zumba...

I did zumba class this morning. It was a blast. My left back is hurting soooo bad but it was soooo worth it! I just can't imagine how jaw issues can cause this much radiated pain. But I joined a facebook page for TMJ sufferers. A lot of people describe the same pain I have. Well, going to go put my feet up for 45 min before Aidan gets out. Maybe that will help my neck & back ease up. Then I am going to look at 2 houses on Jameson--they are way nice.

Continued

Did yoga this morning. Could feel the pain in my shoulder & arm trying to come back. I modified several poses to help that. It is 3:30 pm and my upper left back is killing me, along with the "corner" of my left neck & shoulder. I am trying to keep my muscles relaxed, including my jaw. Isn't that an oxymoron or something? I am concentrating on relaxing neck & jaw. I can do biceps & triceps, but no shoulder or trap work. Oh well, I'll just keep trying. But I am not giving up exercising again. The pm medicine seems to help relax muscle spams, but not during the day yet. Maybe I will get there. I am only getting around to icing my jaw twice a day so far. i will work on that. I want to start a food and exercise journal. If I can't add some sort of gadget, I will just do another blog attached to this one. That way I can see why I am not losing weight like I think I should be. Off to get ready for roller skating again! yay :-)

Today is the day

I am officially starting the treatment today. He told me to give it a week. So, if at least some small improvements aren't seen, guess I'll have to call and go back. Pray it does begin to work. I am comtemplating a TMJ LMT. I know she will give me some relief, I just worry how temporary. I don't want to spend the money to go very often. Once a month is ideal. I don't know. I'll just pray, watch, and see!

okay....

Okay, just when I have the next 7 days planned, God laughs and reminds me I don't really get that much of a say so! After the doctor's visit, I got the virus Alek had. Two days down, with no easter shopping done, didn't get to start my jaw medicine, and I think I kicked the pain up a notch by puking for 10 hours! I could only open 1/2 way w/out pain--then violent puking--not good. Not to mention Dr. said I could start exercising again, so I went Wed afternoon. I was majorly sore while I was puking and running fever. I feel so old. I can't seem to bounce back as quickly anymore. I just showered and I feel like I jogged a mile! Well, going to try to finish my day in one piece. God blessed me with wonerful friends and neighbors, Darlene & Felisha, who helped me with my boys this week. Thank you girls! Wouldn't know what to do w/out ya!

Doctor visit

Well, doctor confirmed my TMJ problems today. Whew! Going to try some things and if no improvment in about a week, I have to go back. Not too excited about the mush diet, but am willing to do anything at this point! He also cleared my to slowly begin exercising again. So I guess I will start hitting the gym with Stacey again.

I am disappointed I didn't have time to visit Nano or Grandma while I was in Dumas, but I had to get back by 3:00. I wonder if we have any soccer games on Easter weekend. Hmmm, better check the schedule. Jeremy committed us to Salsa on Saturday, i don't think he realized it was Easter eve. Maybe we can get out of it, and go next time.

TMJ

My left arm can finally move! yay. The pain and numbness has finally improved. The nerve pills helpd alot. Now that the overwhelming fear of that mysterious ailment has improved, I have my jaw to contend with. I had no idea jaw problems could lead to so much pain in my neck, shoulder, and back. The headaches are a given. But the swelling on my left side is glaringly obvious every day now. So is the misalignment. It used to not be so noticeable. The clicking has gotten worse. I can't eat somedays without total pain, and my left ear feels like a have a bad ear infection every day. Thankfully, I know I am not alone. I got online and found some TMJ pages on facebook. I can't describe the relief when I started reading other's symptoms and they were very close to mine. I was starting feel crazy. On the other hand, it seems there is not much agreement in the medical or dental community on how to treat varying TMJ problems and not much seems to work.

I have quit exercising, and doing a lot of things I enjoy because the pain gets so bad. I don't know if my frozen shoulder, arm pain and numbness were the result of the TMJ problems, but now that I have a little relief from that, I see some light at the end of the tunnel. I am going back to the Dr. tomorrow to see what he thinks about my jaw. I will keep doing acupuncture treatments because it just help soooo much with so many things. I hope I get the okay to start back doing some physical activity. I just go for a walk, and my upper back and shoulder blades start to burn. And I mean a fierce burning pain, where i have to stop and bend over for a few minutes to be able to keep walking. Simple housework and cooking/baking (which I love to do) does the same thing, and I am sad I wont be able to work in my yard w/out the crippling pain coming on.

I keep surfing, reading, waiting, praying, to stumble across that miracle piece of information that will change everyting! My body feels so very weak and tired, and i hate it, hate it, hate it.

Roller Skating

Tessa & Taylor had their birthday party at the Skateplex Saturday. I had never been. I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty nice and clean. I got brave enought to put on some skates, and it was just like riding a bike. It all came right back to me! I had a blast. It was Alek & Aidan's first time. I think that is something we will try to make a regular bad-weather afternoon activity when we can. And it is good exercise. My mom & Dad skated, too. There were pretty cute! Uncle Keegan finally got brave enough, and Keita took JJ out on the rink for a while. Aunt Carrie fell, and hurt her arm pretty badly. Family is such a blessing, even when they aren't, ya know? So I looked around at everyone having fun, and thanked God for everyone, just the way they are. God blessed me with a spectacular family.

Cougar Bash

I volunteered to help with the Bash this year. I haven't helped the past two years because we have been having major back surgeries in '07 & '08. I was a bit uneasy about making my game booth. They kept telling me to do it like last year's. Just like last year. Well, that doesn't help me any. I am a visual person. Show me what you want, and I can do it. Needless to say, I had some insecurities about what I came up with. I don't do instant creativity. I require a lot of stress, second-guessing myself, and comparison with others before I can create!

So I walk in the gym Friday to set up my area, and this is next to me, complete with belly dancing music and authentic bellydancing belt, videos, and morroccan food in a crockpot. Am I being punked?

(Julie's setup was really cool--fortunately for me she was the exception, not the rule!)

Because here was the set up for my area:
Complete with handmade foam eggrolls and 2 Wok's! (woo hoo, exciting) It turned out okay. The kids thought my race was really fun once they started watching. They actually waited in line to do the "eggroll wok" race. LOL
Hand use was not allowed. They had to get the eggroll with their chin, race down & drop them in a wok. The first one to get all 4 eggrolls in their wok won the race.

They kinda resemble large turds, huh!?

My good friend from high school, Christy,whom I just retouched with on Facebook, helped me figure out how to make the "eggrolls". I ended up using small bubble wrap for the filling. It made them bounce out of the wok, which made the game more fun, actually. The I rolled brown felt, then brown foam over that, and hot glued them together. There were "hula hawaii", "walk like an egyptian" booths that were funny to watch, too.