Happy Monday :0)

It's FINALLY here.....not Monday, heck that rolls around once a week. FALL is here to stay! Te days have been crisper and the nights down right cold. We actually put our winter quilt on the bed yesterday. After Fall dancing in and out all month, it's finally settled in for the season.

I'm just about finished with my grandaughters quilt. Just putting the decorative buttons on and it will be finished. Since I had extra material I went ahead and made a pillowcase to match the quilt. I'll snap a few pictures when it's all done.

Another week begins. This will be my last quiet week until the holidays. Seems I have multiple apppointments every week from now until the week before Thanksgiving, then they start all over again on November 30th. Have no idea how that happened. The only appointment I'm actually looking forward to is my opthamologist. I hope my Optic Neuritis is gone. My eyes changed so much after the bout I had in April that I need a new pair of glasses. We held off for 6 months to see if the vision would come back. It hadn't and then I had this last bout. Fortunately, the vision changes with this last bout reversed after a month. However, the changes since April have not. After almost 7 months doesn't look like the right eye will be improving. My opthamologist says the damage is done. Oh well, no use bemoaning things I can't change.

Everyone have a happy Monday and make the week a good one!!!

Can I get off now?

I often visualize MS as a Carousel. Not one of those brightly colored kiddie-go-rounds but a dark menacing one. One that you would see in your nightmares. The horses are all grey and dark, their mouths open in a mancing manor.  The riders are all stapped on. Unable to free themselves and get off the ride that spins out of control. Pretty dark huh? Well, so is MS at times. (However, believe it or not my mood is actuallly pretty good today. Reflective, but good).

Often the frustrations I feel related to MS are self induced. Mostly from trying to figure out how to second guess and "beat" MS. I so hate having a new numbness or other symptom pop up and wonder if this is the beginning of yet another exacerbation. Oh, to have a life where you didn't need to be focused on every wierd thing your body does and to be able to simple blame "old age" for everything that ailes you.

I'd like to remember what its like just to have ONE day when everyone in my life isn't worried about how I'm feeling or doing. When I wasn't worrried about how I'll be doing tomorrow. So, today I find myself asking the question. Can I get off the carousel just one time, for one day?

Announcement

Finally! I can announce a project which I have been excited and very proud to be a part of. Several months ago I was chosen along with four other bloggers (Jen, Bill, Lisa and Julie) to blog and video blog for a new MS web site. It went live this morning. Please check it out: http://www.howifightms.info/  Let me know what you think!

What happened to Fall???

There I was, enjoying the brisk days of early fall when suddenly Summer returned. Now I'm "enjoying" warm days in the upper 70's! (For me there is no such thing as "enjoying" temps above 70 as I'm incredibly heat intolerant).  Now, I'm back to only being outdoors in the early morning and during the evening. I feel like a vampire! Even my garden is confused. My Day Lilies are blooming again and even my husbands tomato plant has new blooms!

At least I have my blogging and crafts to keep my mind busy. I'm working on drawing the quilting design on my granddaughters quilt. I figure it will take me another day or two to finish that step. Then on to the quilting! I hope to have the entire blanket done before Thanksgiving. A lot depends on how my eyes do with the optic neuritis, but as always I'm optimistic!  Once this quilt is completed all my Christmas gifts are done. (phew).

Here's a thought. Maybe we'll just skip Fall this year and go straight into Winter?

Stress Relief

As promised above are pictures of my current quilting project.  The top picture is a work in progress I have all of the top pieced together.  Now I'll actually start on the quilting part.  I'm hoping to have it done in time to send off as a Christmas gift for my granddaughter, Rachel.  The bottom quilts is completed and is it the Christmas gift for my grandson, Kyler. Quilting, card makingand of course, photography  are my MS and life stress relievers. I think it's so important to have hobbies that you can do to help relieve your stress.  Although photography is the one thing that I can do even during an exacerbation.  When optic neuritis flares, I just put on autofocus.  Quilting and card making can be a challenge during an exacerbation.  If my hands don't work, I can't do the fine details of card making and about of optic neuritis pretty well takes care of the safety of sewing.

I went to see the Ophthalmologist and Neurologist on Wednesday. I still have optic neuritis in the right eye so instead of doing another round of IV steroids he put me on steroid eyedrops for the next month.  The neurologist has decided to take a wait and see stand we went from discussing Tysabri in April to "let's just monitor you and I'll see you in December". Geesh. Talk about going from one extreme to another. So, I"ll just use my machine, my eye drops and wait. Gotta love MS.

Thank God for animals

I am so glad I have animals. It doesn't matter how badly I feel how Pissy my mood my animals always seem to be able to make me smile.  If it isn't Maggie chasing her tail or creeping through the house playing jungle Kitty stalking everything in sight it's Petunia so very excited to see me and content to merely sit at my feet when I don't have the energy to play, Today's weather is cold with rain in the forecast. I have the fireplace going and Petunia snuggles on her bed in front of it.  While Maggie surveys her domain from atop a barstool. Just being in the same room with them, brings me a sense of peace.  The unconditional love that they show makes the world right.  I wish everyone, myself included, showed such unconditional love and tolerance towards one another.

 I'm feeling a bit better today I was actually able to get some sleep last night.  It's amazing how quickly sleep deprivation makes us feel terrible.  The jitteriness from the steroids seems to be gone thank goodness.  I'm still dealing with some stomach upset but hopefully that will be gone tomorrow just in time for me to see the ophthalmologist and neurologist again.  I'm just hoping the ophthalmologist sees an improvement in the optic neuritis and they don't want me to do another round of steroids.  I just don't think I have it in me to do it again.  Not that quickly.  I have no idea why part of my post is underlined it doesn't mean anything and I don't remember putting it there but I can't figure out how to remove it either.  Well I'm off to enjoy a cup of tea before Bible study starts this afternoon.  Hope everyone has a great day.