Off to see the Wizard…

…wherein the Wizard is my rheumetologist.  If I only had working joints…  Anyway.  I went down to see my rheumy today.  He is pleased at my current state in comparison to where I was last year.  I suppose that is true–I have less pain in the everything, but I’m still in significant amounts of pain in my back, and pain in my hips, knees, and hands.  He’s also pleased that I’m still very active, or basically that I haven’t gone into hiding because of the pain.  (Yeah, no, that’s not an option for me.  I’m taking 19 units, working with my 2nd graders 2-3 half days a week, working on the Mayan dictionary project, and will soon be my professor’s research assistant.)  What I do need is pain management so that I can keep doing all of these things!

So we have totally switched up my medications.

Still on:
Lidoderm patches
Ambien
Voltaren Gel

Now on:
Tylenol with Codeine
Skelaxin
Savella

No longer on:
Flexeril
Tramadol
Cymbalta

I still don’t think my rheumy understands that even though I am still doing all the things I’m doing, I’m still in pain.  But I don’t want to go on and on with this.

So after my appointment I raced over to the elementary school for an afternoon with my second graders.  A long, draining afternoon with my second graders.  Second grade isn’t for me.  Fourth grade and fifth grade, yes.  Second, no thank you.

And now I’m sitting on my couch, blogging, reading blogs, watching Disney channel, and knitting my mitts.  NOT reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, not sending out mass emails I ought to, not painting the shirt I promised to have done early summer, etc., etc.

I’m going out to visit my mother tomorrow (my laundry needs to be done) and really ought to get caught up on reading.  Blah.  (Confession: I don’t do assigned reading from textbooks.  I will read all the articles and websites you want.  But I don’t read out of textbooks.  I haven’t.  Since fifth grade, I have not read textbooks.  I remember it well…)  And get some assignments started…

Well this blog is chaotic, fragmented, and practically incoherent.  I’m going to log off now.