ketamine days 1 and 2

So today and yesterday i got IV ketamine for my RSD/CRPS, and i still have one day left tomorrow. Yesterday i arrived, and they had me registered and all, but they had no official orders/script for my ketamine, so they had to call my doctor (one of his colleagues was covering the hospital those days, he was at a satellite office, and he faxed the orders. Then i had to wait for pharmacy to mix the ketamine. after my treatement, i was being transported in  wheelchair to the lobby and outside to my dad's car by a volunteer and they had dogs in the lobby everywhere. It must have been some kind of dog therapy session for the holidays. One big dog came right up to my wheelchair and let me pet him, he was so cute!

Yesterday i was so tired, i slept most of the day and night. This morning i slept for at least an hour or two of  my treatment, which normally i sleep 20 mins max of the treatment. I was just that tired. There were lots of people getting blood transfuisons today, and they are allowed to eat, and the lady next to me had a cheesteak sandwhich at 11:30 with fries that smelled so good, and i wanted to eat so badly. I didn't finish till 12:45 and then i didn't get into my dads car till 1:20 because transport took forever to get a wheelchair up for me. 

I'm very tired. My RSD pain is for sure less. Its at about between a 2/10 to a 6/10 usually at about a 4-5/10. 

really struggling

i'm really struggling tonight. I had a mental breakdown from pain and anxiety which led to more pain and anxiety! I just need to finish this semester so badly. I don't know why i put so much pressure on myself to do so well, i need to realize that I have RSD and i still almost always manage to outdo what i think i'm going to do. Yet that's still not good enough for me.

I cannot wait to get ketamine on Wednesday. I just have to hope that it is as effective as it was last time, giving me a months relief, even if it's just  few points on the pain scale relief.

Tomorrow night i have my night class final and then Tuesday i have my history and mainframe finals and then Thursday night i have a java takehome final due, but cause of ketamine i will have to have it done before then.

Pushing through the pain can sometimes be worth it

i woke up in a massive amount of pain this morning. Due to this, i slept until 10:00 AM. Luckily i didn't have class until 11. I ate a quick non-nutritious breakfast of candy because i didn't have time to get eggs from the cafeteria, and I have to eat something with my medicine to avoid getting sick. I didn't want to go to class, but i knew it was the last Monday of actual class, so i pushed myself to do so. I got to my java class. We were competing our individual robots in robocode. My individual robot was not as good as the robot I created for my team which made it to the top 2 of all the team robots (the top 1 was another from my team), but i figured i'd do my best. The first round, mine made 9th of 14th place in a smaller virtual arena. The second time we competed all of them was in a larger arena and I placed 2nd of 14. And then the next round of the top 7 from that 14, i got 7th. I was satisfied. I actually had fun in class. And it was a great distraction from the pain.

And, Wednesday is an optional make up day for that class, and he's not holding class that day. Plus, the final is apparently take home, so this will be the last time i will see my class.

Later today i have a meeting with a counselor at 1:00, then a tutor from 4-5, and then a night class where i have a quiz from 5:45-8:25. If i get through that night class, i will be estatic! It's not the content, but the timing, cause my pain always flares at night.

Tomorrow I have history class and my last mainframes class. Wednesday i have a tutoring appointment and then i'm heading home for a few days. Just have to get through the rest of today and tomorrow really, cause the tutoring appointment on Wednesday won't be bad.

an all nighter in the ER

well i pulled pretty much an allnighter in the ER. I went to my night class took a test, and then we had a lecture afterwards. During the lecture, i felt my RSD pain, but also in a fog. I felt like i was on an other planet mentally. It wasn't fatigue, or distraction, or boredom with the material. It felt like i had taken some kind of narcotic/sedating drug, but I hadn't. Then i walked back from the library (Where my class was) to my dorm, and was out of breath for some reason. I still felt weird and kept feeling weirder. I started feeling weaker and having tingling and numbness. I knew something wasn't right and it was beyond my normal RSD Pain. I know i desrcibe my RSD as burning, but this pain truley felt like fire and had no achy quality to it. I was to nasueauted to take my perocet. I called public safety at a bit past 12 AM and they took me in the ambulance, of course public safety made them also pick up another girl in another dorm who was stable, but had a fever  and a probable stomach flu instead of making her wait for them to take me and come back. (The paramedic kept apologizing to me, she said she would make the girl wait, but public safety didn't want them to do so). Now i'm exposed to those germs, lovely. My doctor was pretty nice, she asked me if i had color changes and sensitivity to touch and about my RSD (i said no to color changes and yes to sensitivity to touch and explained that i rarely get color changes with my RSD). For an ER doc she knew a decent amount about RSD. She then asked if i wanted anything for pain and i said yes. I Wasn't going to ask, cause i didn't want them to think im drug seeking, but i'm glad she asked. They took some blood work, but did not start an IV. My potassium came back low, so i took two huge potassium pills, and she gave me the perocet cause i was feeling less nauseuous. Then cause i didn't have an iv, the nurse injected tourdael into my arm for pain, the shot hurt more after cause it burns for ten minutes than it did during the actual needle part. It did help. Then i got discharged at 5:39 AM. I didn't sleep cause this old lady kept yelling NURSE HELP! and then she would stop and id fall back asleep and then she would start again.  

Of course now my friend texts me and has tickets to ROck oF Ages Broadway tonight, and i've been dying to see a broadway show latley, and i want to see that show again too! But oh well. Poor timing. 

A November Update

School has been stressful lately. Been struggling with my java class. It stinks cause its my major, so it makes me feel very hopeless. This has of course led my RSD pain levels to escalate. I started a new medicine two weeks ago that was originally for Alzheimers called Namenda. That was a Friday. Then that Monday i had  a small panic attack about a java assignment and then that night i started having excruiating pain. That whole week i could barely go to class and missed most my classes because of the pain. I could barely walk. That lasted until Friday night when i increased per the nurse practicioner the namenda. Then i was fine for a day and the pain returned. Its very hard to deal with school and this pain.
Tomorrow i have to head back to school. Its going to be a rough journey back.

A Long Awaited Update During a Storm

Sorry i haven't been posting. I've been very busy with school and such. I also update my tumblr much more frequently which is http://purpleviolin91.tumblr.com/.

Right now Long Island and really most of the North East is in the middle of Hurricane Sandy. This storm has really spiked my RSD/CRPS. Last night i was in agony. I went out to grab breakfast this morning and it wasn't too bad walking there, but walking back was worse because though the rain's not too hard, the wind had picked up and was blowing the rain all over. Luckily classes are cancelled for today and tomorrow. I'm one of 50 students staying in my dorm for the storm, the rest went home.

My pain has been bad in general, but I have been coping. I'm having a fundraiser for RSD at my school starting Thursday November 1st. I'm having a jar at the HillWood Commons information desk and a jar at the Learning Support student lounge to collect money for the RSDSA. I'm also having an online page at first giving at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/marymccabe/rsdawarenessmonthliupost2012 for those that don't go to my school and wish to donate. I have a facebook event page as well to remind people https://www.facebook.com/events/430548006992403/.

Ketamine Day 4 Update

I would have posted sooner, aka yesterday, but i spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening sleeping. I was exhausted. Anyways, yesterday was my fourth and final day of ketamine. I arrived with a  headache, so one of the nurses asked the doctor that was there (mine was still on vacation, so it was one of his colleagues), if i could have something in my IV for the headache. I was given and NSAID called Touradel (Spelling)?. It did help my headache.

The night before i was up till 1 AM not able to sleep due to various reasons, mainly cause of my naps. So i was exhausted that morning so i did sleep for about 45 minutes of the treatment. I did have some leg cramping, but it went away on it's own.

Now that I'm finished ketamine, my pain level is at about a 5-7 out of ten with ten being the worst. Before, it would rarely dip below a 9. Hopefully, this relief will last.

i was very tired, but here is my final photo from treatment!

On the way home from treatment, my dad and I stopped for Slurpees at 7-11 which was yummy. Then i had mashed potatoes for lunch, and then i went to Shop Rite with my dad to pick out cereal to take with me to school. I move into school tomorrow (Sunday). By then i was exhausted. I'm pretty much finished packing though! That's all for now!