4/4/24

Thursday, April 4, 2024

 Lights out and on the BL at 10, awake at 1:30, lights on and let Lilly out at 1:50.  35° and windy enough to see the little flower stalks on the pachysandra being buffeted.  High of 41° with some snow expected in the morning.  The wind is NNW at 15 mph, 12-20/32.  3,2" of snowfall in the last 24 hours with another 0.6" expected today.  Sunrise at 6:27 at 81°, sunset at 7:22 at 279°, 12+55.  Solar noon at 12:54, altitude 53°.

Pain, etc.  I had both shoulder pain and wrist/hand pain when I got up.  The support glove from the VA doesn't diminish the nighttime pain so I removed it and massaged the palm of my hand, which helps.  Yesterday I used the massage gun on my shoulder which seemed to help so I'll use it again today.

I haven't succeeded in 'learning to live with' the chronic pain yet, despite acupuncture, hypnotherapy, 'healing touch', and mindfulness attempts.  The last several days, including the entire visit by Sarah and Christian, I have been in a bit of a funk, a bit seized up with the pains, including hips and back.  I received the normal question about wanting a wheelchair from the check-in clerk at the VA yesterday and gave my normal negative reply, wondering though when I would be saying 'yes, please.'  I've used the airport wheelchair service on my last two air trips, i.e., to Sarah's wedding in 2016 and to visit Kitty in 2021.  I suppose it's a matter of time before I use it at Zablocki, along with the Valet Parking service.  Geri has been kindly doing my job of kitchen clean-up recently which I very much appreciate but resist as more evidence of my recent (?) enfeeblement.  My cognitive/executive function decline is becoming ever clearer to me and is evident (along with the funk) in the most recent journal (non)entries.

I'm grateful that the bladder fulguration on 3/5 has rid me of the CPP I had been dealing with since October 2022.  All that pain and discomfort and its effect on mobility seem to have been due to the lesions in my bladder, making me regret not having requested a cystoscopy earlier.  I've started taking daily misoprostol again in the hope that it will delay the reoccurrence of the lesions and will have another cystoscopy in a couple of months to check on the aftermath of the last fulguration.  The next one will be like the last one, i.e., without unanesthetized fulguration.  It is still a mystery to me how some undergo fulguration without anesthesia while the VA urologists are so ready to schedule me for the full OR treatment on my request.

Replicating Kitty's insomnia.