Update your bookmarks :-) I’ve moved…

http://joanna-herlifeinanutshell.blogspot.com/

I just had been noticing more and more of my blog pals have been using blogger, and I think that it might have more options available that I’d like to try out.  Nothing against WordPress at all - I have really liked it, but am going to try out blogger :-)  I’m not deleting this page, in case for some reason I change my mind or something.  Who knows.

All of my blog entries have been moved over already, I just didn’t move any comments or anything.

So… yeah!  I really shouldn’t even be doing this right now, I SHOULD be working on a lesson plan for my education grad class.  That will be in a few mins… I’m bad.

 

Happy Birthday, country. Happy day off, friends!

I guess it’s only a day off if you’re currently working, which a lot of us “headache folk” aren’t doing too much of lately, hehe.  I have a little homework for my grad course that I just started to be working on now, so that’s always a good time.  Anyhoo, I saw fireworks LAST night (the 2nd), so for anyone who isn’t able to see any fireworks at all, here you go :

Enjoy :-)  Here’s to a day of celebration for the country, and hopefully a day of celebration of not too much pain.

 

sort of headache related?

a 4-legged friend of mine :-)  I had a bit of “dog therapy” this afternoon, and it was nice!

 

Meds losing their effectiveness?

I’m starting to wonder (worry?) if my troubles with my meds at all lately are due to the fact that I’ve been taking them for too long (the daily meds), and if my “rescue meds” (the ones that I take when the pain gets really bad) are starting to lessen their “rescue” effect because I’ve had to use them so much lately…

Has anyone had any experiences with meds that had been providing enough relief to keep taking them, all of a sudden stop giving as much relief as they previously had?

This is sort of random… I had a crazy day, and my head has been B-A-D. Woke up at 6:30 (after being able to sleep in a bit since my job ended mid-June!), left apartment at 7:30, hit the highway to connect to other busy roadways to get on public transit “trolley” in the “Big City” to get to my first 10am-1pm graduate course.  I made it with about 20 minutes to spare, but I thought I’d have even more time than that! Grr. Sat through class, head started hurting (randomly, of COURSE) during it, got back on “trolley” to get back to my car to get back on the highway to drive just over 2 HOURS to be with my family around 5:30 for dinner.

O to the Y is all I have to say about THAT.  Did my head bother me while I drove? Of course. It was a glorious drive.  My rescue med that I took when I got here didn’t touch it at all… I’m sure I could have taken something else, but it would have probably been the DHE shot, which hurts like the dickens… and that’s putting it nicely, folks.

…. ‘nite

 

Wow! Thank yous and Congratulations…

This post has a dual purpose… I’m still smiling

1st: I received an email from MyMigraineConnection.com informing me that my blog is one of 10 Top Site Award Recipients! Here is what their page with all the honored sites says:

“Our 2007 Top Site winners include small websites and individual blogs and were chosen based on their candid and informative content. In giving these awards, we hope to recognize the individuals and organizations who share our vision in providing comprehensive, interactive and vital information on living with head pain disorders. MyMigraineConnection and HealthCentral.com would like to congratulate our 2007 winners and sincerely thank them for producing high-quality, influential sites in the Migraine community!”

I never realized that my page would be recognized in this way I feel very honored, and thank the two sites and people involved for selecting my page.

2nd - The THANK YOUs go out to everyone who has visited my page and has given me words of encouragement. I also thank those whose headache pages that I visit regularly - the fact that we all do our best to keep up with our pages is helping so many people, and most importantly, ourselves. It really has helped me to deal with the emotional aspect of my “headache journey”. For that, I thank you.

The CONGRATULATIONS go out to everyone who also had their sites honored!

www.thedailyheadache.com

http://www.migrainecast.com

http://abimigraines.blogspot.com/index.html

http://www.migraineblog.com/

http://www.helpforheadaches.com/

http://www.migrainechickie.blogspot.com/

http://deborah-weatheringmigrainestorms.blogspot.com/

http://versilleus.blogspot.com/

http://migraineur.blogspot.com/

So, basically, you should make sure to visit these other GREAT headache/migraine blogs and sites. I am very new to the world of blogging, but have really enjoyed it so far, and plan to continue it as long as I need to. Hopefully, together as a headache and migraine community, we will all be able to post positive final entries on our pages someday soon.

And with that, I shall attempt to sleep after a long headache day. Joanna

 

“6 Weird Things” meme

Kerrie from “The Daily Headache” tagged me! I have to come up with 6 weird/random things about myself, and then tag 6 others to do the same. Here goes…

1. I have seen just about every episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I can also do “The Carlton Dance” from the show… that usually comes out only if I am drinking with friends.

2. As a child, I had a goldfish (named “Goldie”, of course) that a friend gave me - she had won it at a fair and her parents wouldn’t let her keep it. The fish lived for 8 years, but it had some sort of tumor-looking thing on its side. She is currently buried in my parents’ backyard, with a little painted brick marking where she is. Goldie was a trooper!

3. My mom and I secretly nicknamed one of the doctors at my headache office “McDreamy” (as in, Grey’s Anatomy) because we thought he was very cute. I didn’t want to have a spinal tap, but finally when I was in the hospital last summer (as an inpatient for my headaches) the doctors decided to do one to rule out more “headache things”… I didn’t mind the fact that it was him who was doing the tap. He’s not even in that practice anymore. Tear!

4. Ever since I was little, and I’ve had to get any kind of shot (allergies, etc.), I always feel like I have to watch the nurse administer the shot. I have to know when the needle is going in, because I have an irrational fear that if I don’t, I may jerk my arm as a reaction to the shock of the pain and there could be a problem with the needle… like I said, irrational fear. This, however, is not the case for having blood drawn… I have to look away while that is happening. Go figure!

5. I can wiggle my ears. Plain and simple.    [EDIT: I wanted to add that the only others in my family who share this trait are my cousin Julia, and my paternal grandfather was able to do it as well!]

6. Peanut Butter + Jelly + Cream Cheese = Delicious. For real. When I was in elementary school, an elderly babysitter that we had knew that my brother and I liked pb&j sandwiches, and also cream cheese & jelly sandwiches. She said that if we liked both, why not mix them together? Soo good. Use any jelly you want.

I didn’t promise that I wasn’t weird…

So, now I get to tag people! If you’ve been tagged for this before, my bad! Have fun! -http://migrainechickie.blogspot.com/ - http://paininthebrain.wordpress.com/ - haha i think these are the only other people on my blog list who haven’t been tagged by Kerrie… oh well !

 

Back to School, Back to School (soon…eek!)

For about 5 weeks, starting the 1st week of July, I am going to re-enter the classroom. I will be a student for the first time since May 2006 (I took a “distance learning” course with some of my coworkers this year but it was all on our own, no teacher, no class). I’m still in the midst of taking my teacher licensure tests, and so once those are passed, I will be fully licensed to teach. I would prefer, however, to get my Masters before teaching, and with all the headache junk, I have had trouble passing the tests (which has in turn delayed my graduate school time). So, I’m going to be taking “Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum” for non-degree Graduate credit at a college in my area - and it’s a school that I wouldn’t mind going to for my Masters. The class is even included within their MAT (Masters of Teaching) program, as it typically is at a lot of schools.

I’m just hoping that it’s not too intense, work-wise. I know that my doctors always talk about the summers as a good time to try new things with my medications, but I essentially lost most of my summer last year because of that. I spent the bulk of the summer on the couch in front of the TV, crying to my mother. I was even at my beach house at that time, and I barely saw the beach. Pathetic. I basically don’t want that again, even though I obviously want to find things that will help me feel better… it’s something that us “headache people” seem to fight with daily. Soo frustrating.

Luckily, the course is 2 days per week, and it’s only from 10-1. I tend to feel better in the earlier part of the day, so hopefully that will help. I’m just hoping I can get all the work done in time!

I’m starting to feel a buildup of pain, so I should probably sign off. Feels like a good ole night tonight… ugh.

 

For anyone with a credit card/bank account (ie. you!)

So, right after you read this, you should check your bank statements and/or your credit card statements. Really, you should. That was my credit card, above, that I just an hour ago had to cut up because someone decided that it would be cool to charge $13 to “test out” my credit card, and then “go for the gold” by charging $766. I don’t know what the 2nd amount was even for, since it was through Google - I’m waiting for them to get back to me.  The 1st purchase was for a Queens of the Stone Age CD. I mean, come on. The person didn’t even TRY to order me something that I would like!  I do have the CD, though. I figure I’ll try to sell it online, make a few bucks off of it, hehe. 

But in all seriousness, I am lucky that my bank is on the job and cancelled my card, and is taking care of the charges. Things you can do:

- Check your bank statement/credit card bill regularly! Do it online, don’t just wait for the paper statement!

- Have your bank and credit card phone number programmed into your cell phone - the numbers for the “I lost my card/My card was stolen” line. They will hook you up, I promise. It worked today.

So… yeah. Be careful out there! It was pretty scary when I logged into my account and saw the PENDING charges… not so wonderful of an afternoon, especially when my head has been wavering!