Yesterday's Oil Paint Fiasco

For the most part, I'm sleeping better now that I can wear a "soft" collar at night. It's so much more comfortable, but.. There's always a "but" to things like this.

The soft collar doesn't hold my neck in a rigid position, so I've been waking with muscle cramps on both sides of my neck and muscle cramps and burning in a "V" shape from the base of my skull, across both shoulders, and down the middle of my back. I'm not sure exactly what is causing this most unpleasant adverse reaction.

Now that my fingers are mostly working again, I've been dabbling with oil paints. There's a small local festival held in August of each year, and I'd love to set up a booth with some of my paintings, in the hopes of selling a few.

That seems like a great idea, but my fingers are only m-o-s-t-l-y working. Yesterday I managed to get bright red oil paint all over my clothes. My favorite neon green sweatshirt now has red blotches all over the front and up both sleeves, as does my favorite T-shirt.

Perhaps it was just because I didn't feel well yesterday. I'm hoping that was the cause. So far, the painting is looking okay, so my fumble-fingers didn't ruin it. Probably because I've begun working with the palette knife again, rather than using brushes.

We'll see how that goes today. I'm not quite as achy, but I will be taking a muscle relaxer before sitting down in front of my easel. Yesterday's painting fiasco was done in spurts of 15 minutes here and another 15 minutes there because I could not sit for very long. I couldn't stand for very long either.

Surgery Update

I'm healing well, although the neck brace is still my constant companion. My neurosurgeon has authorized me to wear a "soft" collar at night. New plugs between repaired vertebrae "look good" and new bone is beginning to grow around them. On March 11th, 19 (!) days from now, my driving privileges should be reinstated.

My energy level is low, although I'm thinking that's more due to Fibromyalgia than surgery. Naps are necessary if I'm to have a clear head all day. The searing, burning, pain that begins at the middle of my back and radiates down my flank and over both hips is back. I did so hope that would remain gone...

I'm learning that nap time is when Fibro Fog kicks in. Whether that's at 9:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon, accepting it is a much better response than fighting it.

Only one major happening while I've been re-learning to use my hands and fingers; evidently I've been "over-compensating" by sending manual overrides to my hand's poorly-functioning auto-response system long enough that it became habit. I'm re-training to consciously shut that off because squeezing a paper cup of hot coffee too hard causes the lid to pop off and bathe my lap in it. Very uncomfortable. Not a happening I wish to repeat.

I am still opting to limit the use of sharp knives in the kitchen. This is fear related. It will take time to become comfortable with them again.

Typing is still difficult. That finger "auto-response" we who have typed at 75+ wpm since our teen years and take for granted is something I miss greatly. My fingers move all right, just not to the right keys. I spend much time deleting extra fumble-fingered letters. Worse is finding and fixing the missed letters. However, my editing skills have improved because of this, so maybe that's not a bad thing after all.

Our home is finally clean again. Scrubbed clean. It takes tackling one room at a time and being happy with that rather than pissing and moaning that another room is badly in need of vacuuming and dusting, or mopping and waxing. Vacuuming has to be good enough because steam cleaning the carpets is out of the question. One room takes most of a day, even if it wasn't so bad to begin with.

My life is good, for the most part. I'm fortunate to have a wonderful husband who will pitch in even after working a 12-hour day to help me, just because he knows it bugs me to be surrounded by chaos. He even picks up after himself. He's a keeper. Good thing, too, because I'm too tired to train another one.

Now, if only I could train son's walrus-sized attention-whore dog to lay around somewhere other than the only opening out of my office - and to clean up after herself...

I've been AWOL

I've been AWOL from blogging and social media for the past week and a half while I catch up on housework, update my website and store, and gear up for next week's writing deadlines.

My paints and canvasses are spread out all over the "art corner" in the guest room - ready for me to get busy getting ready for the Obetz Zucchini Festival in August. I'm hoping to have 50 oil paintings and other artwork available in my booth. We'll see how that goes... Nope. It's on my goal list, so it will happen.

Today is my 2 month post-surgery checkup. If my Very Cool Dude neurosurgeon doesn't reinstate my driving privileges, he will be reduced to just "neurosurgeon". UGH! I so badly want to go somewhere by myself. Almost anywhere. Note that I said "almost". Hubby and son have been wonderful about getting me out of the house, but...

I've dropped 11 pounds since surgery. Not so easy to do while in a neck brace 24/7, but it's getting done. Keeping a food/calorie/fat diary is the ticket for me. Once it's in black and white I can't lie to myself about how much I ingest. It's so much easier these days, now that foods are pre-packaged and calorically categorized for us. Yep. Those preservatives and fat substitutes are just yummy. Great for our innards, too. Uh-huh.

I ache to make bread from honest-to-goodness quality, natural, whole, substances. Problem is, I don't know how to make less than 5 loaves at a time. I use molasses to help cut the fat, but it adds calories. The kneading part might be a bit tricky too.

Maybe I'll wait a couple of weeks before testing those new parts in my neck.

An Evil Mix

All those foods marked with "points" at daughter's house went bad. They were without power for 8 days following the snow/ice storm that hit Louisville on the 27th. Good thing they had an un-rented rental house that still had power! Daughter and 5 grandkidlets slept on the floor and cooked in a hauled-in microwave. Daughter said those 8 days were tougher on her than the 22 months she spent getting her MBA.

Schools and day care were closed, meaning she missed a week of work too. It would have helped her greatly if I'd been able to drive to Louisville to watch the g'kidlets. However, I have not been cleared by my neurosurgeon to drive. Or to lift.

And we still don't have that great-granddaughter... SIL is supposed to fly home from Seattle on Sunday, but I'm thinking he'll change that flight if Evelyn refuses to join us in the outside world before then. He's been taking looooong walks with Toshie, hoping to induce labor.

I've lost 5 pounds, as of this morning! Not bad for 11 days! Getting inventive with foods is helping. Eating a small apple before supper helps greatly! Only 70 calories, no fat. Taking Hoodia and Acai are also helping - I think. I've also added cranberry capsules to my supplement diet.

However, this morning I awoke to a locked-up and aching right hip. After compensating by shifting weight as I limped to the kitchen, the left hip started aching. It hasn't locked up - yet. Kind husband brought my cane in from the car.

Osteoarthritis, chronic bursitis, and Fibromyalgia are an evil mix of afflictions.