Fall came a visiting yesterday..and is going to stay for a long weekend. 40 F or 4 C. The snow is melting:)
Forty degrees in December is something to celebrate in Minnesota. I sat out in the yard in my shirt sleeves with no coat.
We had a busy day yesterday. We left before daylight for a long drive. To a Trigeminal Neuralgia Support Group Meeting. Far Guy felt like he learned some things and his feelings toward Doctors, medication and the frustrations of TN were validated. I kept telling him he was not nuts and I was sure that other people shared his feelings..and they do.
No one within the group has had the Steroid Injections in their face..nor had they heard of the procedure. They made lots of painful looking faces when Far Guy described the procedure. The long needle and the pain he endures during the procedure.
Far Guy’s last injection was on September 20 and it did nothing. Or at least that is what Far Guy says. I think it did something, it kept the painful zaps at bay but not the everyday pain. He is scheduled for another injection soon…he has had it with the zaps..which lately have brought him to his knees and unable to speak.. it is time. Perhaps this is the injection that will keep the pain at bay for six months or more..other people that we know are pain free..so why not him?
The guest speaker at the meeting was a Neurologist, she seemed to have different opinions than our Neurologist. She refers most of her patients to the Mayo Clinic..and most end up having some kind of “procedure” which may take the pain away for awhile..but many report that their pain is back. One lady there said that she has been pain free since starting her one tablet of Tegretol a day and that the rest of us were scaring her. One poor fellow is bilateral..he has TN on both sides of his face and has had it for 16 years. Another fellow had a “procedure” at U of MN that made half of his face numb..so he cannot tell if he is drooling or his nose in running. He seemed happy to be numb..he was the only one who saw the same Doctor H. that we saw at the University of Minnesota several years ago..the Dr. H. that told us “Anything we do to you would probably make you worse.”
And so it goes. We were happy that the weather cooperated to make it an easy traveling day. After the meeting Far Guy dropped me off at Menards and waited for me whilst I ran in and purchased a gift that our local Menards was out of. Five minutes..in and out which included waiting in line..speed shopping at it’s best. Twenty- three shopping days left..one package down and who knows how many to go:)
