Wordless Wednesday: August 18th, 2021
categories: personal; word count: 0 words
Author Archive
Nerve blocks and me: a thing that is not working.
categories: personal; word count: 293 words
I got my first nerve block on the left side of my head at the occipital nerve for migraines.
One day I will be able to spell that. Getting back to what I wanted to write about, though…
It seems that these hit and they miss. For some people they work amazingly well and they only need them every four to six months or so. Other people need them like… every two weeks if their insurance approves it, but they help. And for other people, they do not work for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes the nerve gets nicked and that causes problems. Other times, the nerve block intermittently does not work. And then sometimes the nerve block just plain does not work at all. On the worst side of my head, I feel like I am between it intermittently not working and it completely not working. I put myself back on prednisone since that has a history of helping with migraines, particularly migraine clusters, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do… and it made things bearable. I seem to be someone for whom these do not work, although I am going to give them the requisite week to see if things turn around and my migraines become more bearable. If that does not work on either side, I will discuss giving them more often with my pain management clinic to see if that makes them “stick”, and if that does not work, I will ask about excising the nerves. X-rays that I have had done have confirmed that they are the problem, especially the right one.
There are still some things that can be done to help ease my migraines. I am willing to explore all of them.
Music Monday: August 16th, 2021
categories: music; word count: 24 words
Have I told you that this is one of my favorite songs in the world? Now I am going to. You have been told.
I know I mentioned some of this already, but still.
categories: television shows; word count: 405 words
Based on Genevieve Padalecki’s Instagram stories, we’ve come to learn that she caught COVID-19.
Her husband and her spent the better part of how long jetsetting maskless in Italy, though? They behaved as though there was absolutely no pandemic going on. We also know that Jared himself has not been wearing a mask when he should have been, when he was in close contact with various fans of his work, and to a point in Texas of all places where the Delta variant is absolutely raging. As much as I wish Gen well and hope that she does not spread it to her husband or other members of their family, such as their children who are all too young to be vaccinated, I feel like a lot of this could have been avoided if they had waited to go to Italy until the pandemic was well and truly over, or even if they had consistently worn masks, especially while in Italy. I feel like a lot of things that could have been avoided — or, at the very least, mitigated — by adhering to advice given from reputable agencies and following proper safety protocols, but the ball seemed to be dropped on absolutely all ends. It really does seem like some people think that getting vaccinated (and being in comparatively good health) will completely prevent you from coming down with COVID-19, and this is definitely not the case, especially with the Delta variant as contagious as it is. It seems to be virulent, too.
As someone for whom COVID-19 infection could potentially be tragic, reading about all of this from the vantage point that I have has been incredibly frustrating, to say the least. I avoid crowds. I shop online when I can, migraines from extended electronic use being damned since COVID-19 infection would be a lot worse for me. I wear a face mask as needed. My oldest son consistently wears a face mask now as needed, and my youngest son has made progress keeping one on his face for longer periods. We all use hand sanitizer as needed, and we don’t take trips outside of the house unless we have to. Have so many people really forgotten that we are in the midst of a pandemic, or is it only the chronically ill and/or disabled people and their families who remember? Because given recent events in general, I would really, really like to know…