Simplicity 3628 view B in progress and signs of fall

My birthday is this week. I know some of y'all make birthday dresses. I'm making a birthday jacket. Oh, it has its issues but here's where it's at right now, without a lining, buttons, buttonholes, cuffs, running stitches:

The fabric is 100% cotton thin wale corduroy which goes against my "no wrinkle" rule but I just LOVE this color and decided when I started that I would live with the consequences. One of the problems is the thin fabric and that it's showing every seaming flaw. Ironing the seams seems to help a bit.

I think the main issue right now is that it may be too big but I'm not going to tweak it too much. Also the sleeves are the perfect length now. I guess I can do a small small small hem with the sleeves. But the larger problem is the chest. I think if I had cut the 12 instead of 14, it probably would have been perfect. I might shave off some of the bust from the princess seams like to do a small bust adjustment. But I don't want to tweak it too much and then it turns out to be too small. It feels perfect across the back.

Here it is on Emma, but Emma is much smaller than I am.


Now time for the other stuff and some signs of fall.

My new dishwasher, in bisque, was installed today. Doesn't it look like it's winking?


Halloween goodies that I have collected over the years:


My mom likes to decorate gourds for Halloween. Orange gourds are pumpkins, white gourds are ghosts. She gives them to everyone she meets, and even people she doesn't meet (like ALL of my coworkers. I wish I had taken a picture of that group of gourds!)


Apple cider donut with cinnamon and sugar from Terhune Orchards. They sell them 6 at a time; I have eaten one a day for the past three days and gave away the other 3 when I bought them:


Last batch of flowers from my favorite flower farmer at the Princeton Farmers Market:


The flower farmer was a recipient of one of the donuts; he gave me these ornamental peppers for free and thanked me for buying from him all season long:


I haven't talked about pain for a long time. My knees are doing great, better than they have for years. My back still flares about once a week, but it's mainly under control and I still look forward to my first back pain free day sometime in my near future. I haven't seen Len for 5 weeks and I don't have any appts booked with him. He had told me if I could get to 6 weeks, then I'd only have to go back when I need him, no more scheduling! So just one more week to go for that. I still see my acupuncturist every 3 weeks but that's more for stress relief now than pain relief. I still do the guided imagery CD at bedtime at least once a week and sometimes more frequently than that. I haven't gone back to the meditation class but I might. I think I feel better when I don't take all my supplements and so I'm going to try to figure out which ones I don't need to take anymore. I am able to go to the gym 3x a week. I think the toning class especially helps with my pain. I still stretch every night and most mornings.

Oh, I have finally gotten to the point where I can touch my toes again--it took 6 months of stretching with the yoga strap to get there! And 90 year old Judy at the gym doesn't even know she was my inspiration. One day I realized that, when we all lie on our backs and the instructor tells us to put one leg up into the air and pull it towards us, I was the only one who couldn't touch her toes. I was inches away. I realized that the oldest member of the class could do it too, and felt if she could do it, I should be able to do it too. Now I finally can!

Well, that's enough about that! Good night!

A different kind of back pain book

I'm somewhat of a back pain book connoisseur these days, and am making my way through the Princeton Public Library's back pain collection.

Up til now I've been reading books about how your degenerating, bulging, herniated discs and/or weak muscles are the cause of your chronic back pain, and if you'd only do these 6, 8, or 10 exercises once, twice, or three times every day for the rest of your life, you'd be fine, you big sissy!

But I recently took three books out of the library that (mostly) throws that out the window. Tonight, I want to discuss "Mind Over Back Pain" by John Sarno. It's a relatively slim volume first published in 1982, before the days of MRIs, and it's throws all conventional back pain wisdom out the window. He refutes it all, from the physical 'causes' (he does not believe disk issues or weak muscles to cause chronic back pain) to the typical things docs or others tell you should or shouldn't do, like sleeping on a firm bed, sitting a certain way, lifting objects in certain ways, etc. He talks about why anti-inflammatories don't work (because there is no inflammation) and how you just get stuck in a pain cycle (you have the pain--the doctor tells you your disks are degenerating or bulging--you imagine your back is falling apart--this incites fear--you have more pain)

John's basically saying that your chronic back pain is a physical manifestation of an emotional issue that you haven't dealt with. Once you deal with the emotional issue, your back pain will go away. Your emotional issue causes tension. Tension means less blood flow to a muscle. Less blood flow means lack of oxygen, waste products build up in the muscle, your muscle gets tighter, it starts clenching your nerves, you have pain). So then you go to a doc who scares you with all this medical terminology and gives you muscle relaxants, and you go home and get more tense thinking about it all and how you think your back is weak and fragile, and you have more pain, and you do less, and you have more pain, it never ends.

He also talks about back pain that moves around and varies with intensity can't have a structural cause.

He also talks about the placebo effect, even with believing in his book!

He talks about how it's widely accepted that ulcers are caused by stress--and says back, shoulder, and neck pain can be caused by stress too--it's just not widely accepted because docs keep preaching about structural causes of back pain.

He talks about how when you have treatments done to you (acu, massage, chiropractic) that it alleviates the pain but doesn't cure it--because you haven't dealt with the underlying emotional issue.

Basically, every piece of advice or wisdom I've received about back pain--he has something to say about it. Not surprisingly, he's a controversial figure in the medical world. Wikipedia mostly sums up it.

Oh, and he talks about the hundreds of patients he's cured, on average having had 8 years of chronic back pain. 8 years!

A LOT of this book resonated with me. Let's see: Ibuprofen and Aleeve never really do much for my back pain, which matches the "no inflammation" statement. My back pain alternates from side to side. It varies in intensity a lot. The orthopedic doc actually said that even though I have a bulging disk, my back is actually healthy and that he doesn't know what the cause of my pain is. I know my emotional issues. Acupuncture and chiropractic have helped a lot, but they haven't eliminated my pain.

So I think the book took up residence in my subconscious. Part of his book was about how people say "don't sleep on your stomach". Sleeping on my stomach is my favorite sleeping position. In Feb 2009, the doc at the urgent care place said I should never sleep on my stomach, ever. In the book, John says it really doesn't matter. Sleep on your stomach if you'd like. Well, Sunday night I fell asleep on my back. Monday morning, I woke up and was shocked to find I was on my stomach--for the first time in 13 months. And my back pain was really light! Two nights in a row, I've had intense dreams about my emotional issues. Interesting. He also talked about how people start becoming overly conservative with physical movement, in fear of damaging their back more. He says, go out and do the activities you like doing, ramp up to them. That's what I've been doing with the gym, and if anything, I feel sore after the gym but not in more pain. Sometimes the pain is even less. So we'll see how it goes.

Tonight I had yoga with my acupuncturist. She gave me a lot of good tips for doing supported yoga.

Ok, upcoming posts: the other unconventional back pain books, my trip to Austin/San Antonio, your questions answered, and the pattern giveaway. Stay tuned.

Many moving parts

Gosh, today was one of those days with many moving parts.

• Went to a 1 hr seminar on positive workplace communication, which was a real riot (thought of you, Antoinette!)
  
• Went to a lunchtime acupuncture session. Felt very calm afterward. Everyone wanted to talk to me. Was my calm a magnet?
• Today was my second day of wearing my brown corduroy jacket I made. My coworker said she is proud to know someone who can make garments like that. Wow!
• I started working on my performance evaluation and other tasks
  
• I took a walk after I got home. Snow piles still persist even with this 50 degree weather
• I did a new (to me) yoga video, Yoga for Back Care with Rodney Yee. This DVD is a gem as far as I'm concerned, for the relaxation poses alone. They are done with a gigantic bolster pillow and while I don't have one of them, I improvised and wow, that makes a difference! My back pain switched sides while doing the video and is a lot less. He also has a segment on how to sit in a chair which is excellent. I'm definitely trying his tips at work tmw. Plus he is doing his yoga next to the ocean on the island of Maui, such nice scenery.
  
• My order from lucysfabrics.com arrived today!!!

My twin stretch needles and ballpoint needle assortment and elastic button looping arrived. Lucy's included a whole slew of surprise swatches! I loove that anchor sweatshirt fabric. Might have to buy it and make a hoodie from it.


Here is some of the fabric I ordered, 2 are double knit, one is fleece and one is a ribbed knit. Really, I need to stop buying the cheapy knit fabric at Jo-Ann's and buy this nicer fabric. Yes, it costs more but the garments will definitely last longer and double knit is a dream to sew with! I never sweat with double knit, whereas other knits leave me anxious.



I asked for turquoise double knit in their comments box on the order form. You can read the response. If you know of a source for double knit turquoise fabric that's NOT the 100% polyester kind, please kindly direct me...


I have received some comments and questions lately on the blog. I'll have to make a special posting to respond sometime soon. :)
Good night!

A bouquet and other stuff

25 stems of spray roses from the local Stop and Shop before I unwrapped them...and my funky red and white striped shirt from the consignment shop. I wear it as one of my layers under the many flannel sleep shirts I make. Don't they both make you smile?

Twin needle update: Jo-Ann's had stretch needles, ballpoint needles, universal needles and twin needles....but no stretch twin needles or ballpoint twin needles. But lucysfabrics.com came through! If you like knit fabrics and their accessories, Lucy's is fantastic. Check out their notions and trims and stretch lace. Lots of drool-worthy stuff there. I used a coupon code from Sewing Pattern Review's Merchants Page for 10% off, which helped.

Back pain update: Tmw will be the one year anniversary for my lower left back pain. So my back pain is a lot better and very tolerable, but it's not going away, either. It's plateaued in the last few weeks. I also noticed that in my gym class, when we do stretching on our backs, and the instructor says to pull our toes or grab our ankles or whatnot, I'm the only person who can't do it. I mean, even the 90 year old in our class can do it, and my hand is still inches away from my foot. So it got me thinking that the residual back pain might be related to my tight muscles. I stretch quite a lot, I feel, but I could always do more.

Yoga: This lead me back to yoga. I haven't done yoga for years. And the yoga classes at my gym aren't really convenient. So I rented two yoga DVDs from the library, specifically for back pain. While the one was relatively a dud, the other was great. Lots of hamstring stretches--I can feel the difference after doing the DVD. I also realized just how tight my hips are as well, through that and exercises from yet another back pain book (I have read sooo many books on back pain). And I forgot how great the restorative poses are too--there is one lying on the back my calves resting on a chair. It takes all the pressure off the lower back. Just lie there and breathe deeply. Feels amazing. So far I think it is making a difference in my pain, especially immediately following the yoga session.

I also have this theory that the side my back pain is on is related to the side I slept on the night before. I've been trying to sleep on my back to see if it makes a difference, but I wake up and really want to roll on my side.

Acupuncture: At acupuncture tonight, I described this all to Karen. So she did my first-ever treatment on my stomach. She put the needles directly into my back (which she had only done once before, when I pulled my rib). There were needles that went into my feet, the backs of my knees, my hamstrings, piriformis, the area of my SI joint (and now I know where the SI joint really is!), and into my shoulders. I could feel fluttering/twitching in my calves. She put heat on my knees and lower back. It felt like lying on a beach in the warm sun (not that I really ever did that). My back doesn't feel much different, but my knees feel amazing. No pain at all walking up the stairs tonight. And I also have that sort-of loopy post-acupuncture feeling that I haven't felt for a while. I think I will sleep well tonight!

Have a grrreat night everyone!!

Not my facebook...

I have Flickr photos. I have a blog. That's enough for me currently, though twitter might happen. and I might start freecycling too.

So 24 hours ago, someone signed up for facebook and used my email address??? Their last name is the same as mine; their first name is Kate.

And now I'm getting all these "facebook friend requests"???? I thought I'd do nothing and just let it sort itself out. So far, it hasn't.

Had acupuncture tonight. New weird place to feel the twitching: the front of my right shin. Most painful needle: outside of my left ankle. Karen said that's my lower back. Their space has been renovated. It's pretty cool. The music is now piped through the office via a computer, and I could hear all the Windows system noises (like the "you can't do that" "no, not that" and "shutting down for the night".) She also has these heat-lamp type devices now, so I had one over my knees, one over my feet, and the mylar wrap over my torso. I felt like take out food at MickyD's or something. I feel better though. :)

It's only Wednesday but I'm already looking forward to the weekend: sewing and cookie baking. And more cleaning out of the den/sewing area! BIG pattern giveaway coming soon!

Randomly random stuff

1. Looking for a new time waster? Check out the Chiquita banana sticker generator.
2. My Christmas tree finally smells like Christmas now. It must have been really fresh when I bought it.
   
3. I didn't do any sewing today. I'm kind of shocked at myself, but it was a long week and I had a very lazy day today.
4. At acupuncture this week, Karen put a needle in the top of my head. and one between the eyes. for mental clarity.
5. I went to the Princeton Environmental Film Festival and watched the pilot episode of "Garbage Moguls", which features TerraCycle, a local company that upcycles trash. It was filmed like a reality show and was hysterical. It's supposed to be on the National Geographic Channel in the next few months, possibly renamed as "Trashformers". Highly recommended viewing.
6. I entered the asterisk shirt as-is to the SPR refashion contest. Thanks everyone for your comments about it! It saved me some effort to not add the turquoise arm bands when you are all correct that the shirt is fine as-is (I really had to restrain myself, though). The shirt made its debut at the gym on Wednesday. I think it will serve me well. :)
   

Deer in Princeton

Here's a deer in Palmer Square. I thought it was cute.


It's hard to tell it's a deer from the front, though.

It's in front of a store called Spruce. Ha! On Monday Nov 30, I came home from work instead of going to the gym because my cold was in full force. On Rt 27 a deer was standing in the oncoming lane. I hit the brakes because I didn't know if it was going to run into my lane. Thankfully it stayed put as I sort of slid past it in the rain. That's the closest I've ever been to an alive deer on the road.

So I want to go on the record as saying that when I told my acupuncturist about my jaw issues, she put a bunch of needles in me in some new places, including one on each side of my jaw. Then when I was lying on the table, I realized that I was salivating as if warm, cooked food was in the room. That continued during the entire treatment. Wild.

I made an appt to see my acupuncturist's primary care physician for Jan 12. I'm excited to have a physical and find out if I am overdosing or deficient in any vitamins, and just what the general state of my blood chemistry is. He's a DO so I take that to be a plus. A friend of mine has also been to this same doc, and said he is great.

Last night I went to the freebie spine class. It was a bit too long and I already knew most of it, but my coworker volunteered me to serve as the "model" for the exercises. That was great because my back was flaring and it felt good to lie down. The therapist had me do a pelvic tilt and a bridge for the demo, and then she showed me how to do a pelvic tilt where you start to go into the bridge vertebra by vertebra, and that felt really really good. I have incorporated that into my routine. She also showed me how to do a standing pelvic tilt. Oh, and I when I got onto the table, she said I did a perfect "log roll". I had no idea that the way I get into bed is called a log roll--I use my arms to get down onto my side while getting my legs up onto the bed, then roll onto my back, and the reverse to get out of bed.

Oh, and I abandoned thecarrot.com and have been keeping a spreadsheet of 55 different items for about 6 weeks now to see if I can find any patterns for my pain. I really don't see patterns. My back is not flaring like it had been. It flared yesterday because I walked with my marathon-runner coworker to Nassau St. I should have asked her to slow down. I went to the gym tonight and it's feeling better. Keeping it moving is a good thing. My knees didn't hurt at all during gym class, not once. But when I came home, the right knee hurt for the first time in ages walking down stairs. I'm icing both of them now.

Update on LED solar lights: They stay lit til at least 10:30pm and who knows how much longer than that, if there was full sun that day. On rainy days, they don't last as long (definitely out by 9pm, and who knows when they actually went out...) Anyway, they make me smile when I come home! Mom bought me more LED solar lights which arrived today, so in a few days both trees in front of my house will be dually covered. :)
Good night!

Oh go on now

Feels like it's been ages since I've blogged!

On one hand, I've been feeling more normal than I have since January when all the back pain started. I went back to the gym and I feel sore but don't feel much pain. I now know the difference between muscle soreness and pain. Wild. I have learned so much this year. My rib injury seems to be subsiding quite nicely.

Imagine that, am I healing like a normal person?

On the other hand, I've been more tired than ever. Falling asleep by 10:30 every night or earlier. Wild. No insomnia here. I fall asleep so quickly. But I also wake up at 5 or 6-something (turn on my heating pad) and then sort-of fall back to sleep and then get up around 7am.

Finally wrote my SPR of Simplicity 2558. Woo!

Thought I'd feature a few more birthday cards:


Love these cupcake cards with the glitter:


Had acupuncture tonight. I wore my pink fleece hat for the treatment so I wouldn't feel too cold afterward, and it worked quite nicely. Karen thinks I had my "freezing spell" last week because my body was too overstimulated from having chiropractic and acupuncture treatments in the same day along with my rib injury. She thinks my body just "freaked out".

My work puzzles keep coming. Pretty interesting. I love puzzles. Especially when I figure them out. They're not figured out quite yet, but I'm getting there.

Feeling nostalgic for Hawaii. It's getting close to the time Pete and I visited Oahu, Maui, and Kauai last year. Don't I look a lot younger??? All this pain has aged me...




We had pix taken of us at work, kind of like school pictures, for use in a new dept website. I don't know when the website will be up, but the pictures were really interesting to look at.

Anti-glare glasses are definitely worth the expense, generally for computer wear but also for photo shoots. I remember the photographer saying that my glasses were great for photographing. Now I can really see why, compared to those with regular glasses.

Sometimes I think I look a lot like my grandmother, and other times I think I look like my dad.

You know, Christmas is coming up. Crazy. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I'm about 2/3 done. I cut my list again this year. That's a whole other post.

Pulled pork

So when you google for "pulled rib", a lot of recipes for pulled pork ribs come up near the end of the first page of search results. Not that I'm a big rib eater, but I'm not eating ribs for a long, long time.

Last night was painful. Rolling over was painful. Getting out of bed this morning was painful. Pain pain pain. But somehow, by the middle of the day, I realized I was breathing without pain. Eating isn't too difficult. Transitioning from sitting to standing and vice versa, not so bad. Driving is a bit tiring by the end of my commute. I'm afraid of lying down, though. My goal for tonight is that when I lie down, that will be it for the night. No getting in and out of bed. No trying to roll over a lot. The heat is cranked up so I don't get a chill and tense up.

The pain is feeling like it's travelling the same sort of path like my lumbar pain back in January--only it's an accelerated path. Maybe Len and Karen are right and I'll be mostly out of the woods tmw.

Karen told me last night to call her today, so I called this morning and we chatted. At that point I was still in heaps of pain, but she still seemed adamant that I was going to feel better. She said that by seeing Len and her both yesterday, that now a lot of energy was flowing to that spot and it could be overactive. Don't I have such a nice acupuncturist???

My boss said I could go home if I wanted, but since I could still think, I wanted to be at work doing things, instead of home thinking about my pain. I have a little presentation I'm giving tmw morning. I leave a little early to see Len.

Definitely going to bed early tonight!!! Feeling sleepy. It's only 7:12pm. Jeesh.

Pulled rib

Now I have something new to obsessively google about.

My mid back pain was pretty bad this morning. Getting out of bed was painful, changing the heating settings in my car hurt, just plain breathing hurt. Getting food and water up to my mouth hurt until I figured out that I had to prop my elbows up on the desk!!

Fortunately Len was able to see me this morning at 10:30. He thinks I pulled my rib--from sewing on Saturday! Jeesh. After several painful moves and presses, he was optimistic for my recovery. He thinks I will feel a lot better in 48 hours. He says it's a totally separate injury compared to my lumbar pain. It's not my back, it's my rib! It's a different injury and that is great!! I said, but this pain feels a lot like my lumbar pain felt back in January, especially the "getting worse with time" aspect of it. He said this is acute, not chronic, at least not yet. At one point he told me I will get better and somehow that sent me over the edge and I cried. Len, his wife, and the next patient could hear it, but I couldn't stop myself.

Karen worked me in her schedule for some acupuncture tonight at 5. She had me get into a position, on my side, involving a lot of pillows, which was actually really comfortable once I was in the position. I didn't feel any pain at all in that position, not even lumbar pain. Really wild. But the pillow is stuffed with buckwheat, so my left ear really hurt and my left shoulder was hurting after lying for about 30 minutes on my left side, just from the pressure. Karen said it should be easier for me tonight to be in that position in my own bed since the pillow and bed are softer than the table and buckwheat pillow at the acu office. She also put some needles in my back for the first time ever, and she only put needles in my right foot. She felt all around my back and said she can see the damaged area. I asked, "What does it look like?" and she said when she presses on it, that area turns red and the other areas don't. Anyway, after it was over, I was freezing, and started shivering, and my back tensed up and the rib area started hurting. Gah!! The pain! But once I was in the car I blasted the heat.

Len recommended ice and ibuprofen. At work I took my knee ice pack, covered it with a kitchen towel I keep at work for my ice packs, and then thought about how I was going to hold this ice pack to my back in the right spot. So I shoved it under my bra strap and it did the trick!!!

Pete's handmade birthday card arrived today--I'll post it on my birthday. It's really awesome!

Oh so much to say

Leaves and needles

I had acupuncture tonight. I told Karen how my acne has come back with a vengeance this past week. She ran down a list of possible causes, and one was "eating more chocolate than usual". I guess I have eaten a lot of chocolate lately, plus Sunday night I had Starbucks hot chocolate, then couldn't get to sleep!! She said Starbucks HC is made with dark choc, which has more caffeine than regular choc. I also told her about my night headaches, which she thinks are hormone related. So she put in needles for my hip/back, knees, kidneys and hormones. The needle that hurt the most was near my right ankle--and continued to hurt for the entire treatment! She said that one is related to kidney function, which she thinks is connected to my acne. She said the good thing about having acne is that you don't really wrinkle because of all the "activity". Interesting. Anyway, I could feel the fluttering even at the top of my head tonight, and some in my right knee. I haven't felt the fluttering in my back in a long time.

So. I don't want to jinx myself but my knees have been doing really really great since Friday, and that was even with it raining all weekend. I'm so proud of them! Except for Sunday my back is doing pretty well too. Originally my goal was to be rid of daily back pain by June 30, then by Labor Day, then my birthday. Well, I'm sneaking up on my birthday and I don't know if the pain will be completely gone by then. Maybe Thanksgiving???

I really want to start up my pain journal again (to find the trends for when my knees hurt or my back flares), but it's so boring. I was thinking, if there was a form I could fill out online each night, that might make it more interesting for me.
I googled but didn't find anything. Maybe that's my money making idea!! Or maybe I should just create my own Survey Monkey survey and take it myself each night? Hmmm. I really don't want to do an Excel spreadsheet, but maybe I have to.

After acu I went to Greene St Consignment shop and bought 2 jackets for work. and a pair of shoes. That store is amazing. It doesn't smell nor look like a consignment shop; instead, it looks like a boutique. I was looking at my receipt later, and it turns out that the 2 jackets were consigned by the same person. Obviously we have the same taste! And it made me wonder who that other person is and what else do they wear...

Have you seen Adrienne's sleeveless jacket? I was thinking about making it this past weekend! I definitely want to make it after seeing her version!!! I want to make mine in pink like hers, hmmm.

For my birthday I'm thinking of having PF Chang's for dinner, then going to see M. Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. And having Thomas Sweet ice cream for dessert. Or something.

What is tipping them off??

Thanks for your comments on my last post re: the mystery Simplicity shirt.

Antoinette, thanks for your guess! I checked it out, but it's not the right shirt. Thanks too for your Kreativ Blogger award. :)

Lsaspacey, great idea, it's actually pretty similar to Simplicity 2892 view A, but in knit fabric, and with plain short sleeves instead of elastic ones, and without a pleat on the CF seam.
This is the Butterick disaster pattern, according to SPRers. The shirt I'm thinking of doesn't have nearly so many pleats. Even though the Butterick drawing looks like the shirt is fairly fitted, the SPR reviews are saying that it's a gigantic tent.

Trust me, next time I like something I see in the SPR gallery, I'm favoriting it!!

I wore the aqua Simplicity 3835 shirt today to work. Immediately one coworker eyed it over and said, "Did you make that?" Another said, "That's a cute shirt. I love how when Project Runway returns, you get back to sewing again." Hmmmm...interesting observation, though there really isn't a correlation between the two. Even my acupuncturist said, "Did you make that shirt?" As always, I wonder, does it look home sewn??? What is tipping them off??

The sleeves fit really perfectly this time! I wasn't aware of them. They are great now! I could imagine lengthening the sleeves to make them 3/4 length, any more than that and the ties would wind up in everything (like your meal while eating, in the sink while washing hands, etc).

I love the fabric too. While there are a lot of great cotton prints, they get all wrinkly. I don't like my clothes looking wrinkled. This fabric was in the linen-look section. It's poly-something. Maybe poly-linen? Could that be right? Even though the sleeve ties are right below the elbow, they don't look crinkled at all, after a day of wearing. I'm definitely going to buy more of that fabric with my birthday money!! There's a New Look pink shirt (6831 view E, but with a knot instead of a bow, and probably without contrast bands) with my name on it!!

I know I'm getting better because some people are starting to annoy me again. How funny is that?

I think I'm going to sleep well tonight. I can feel the acupunture coma starting to set in...

Soaring

Today Pete got 2 of the 3 vaccinations he needs for immigration. (One of those two is a 2-parter, so he goes back in a month to get the second part. The third is not available in the UK.) He didn't have to get them now, but by getting them now they are free as part of their health care system! The tetanus one hurts he says. I will feel his pain when I go for a physical by the end of the year. It's time for me to get another tetanus shot, so I'll get it at the physical.

Speaking of needles, at acupuncture tonight, Karen tried to put a needle between my eyebrows for "mental clarity" but it apparently wouldn't stay in. She said for some people the needle slides right in and for others it won't stay. It did feel like there was a needle in my right calf in the back, but there wasn't! I'm still amazed at acu. Since I'm getting better, now I'm going every other week to acu and every third week to chiro.

Pete told me he wants to have pix of us jumping in our wedding attire. I've seen those shots before. Then I saw the front page of the paper yesterday and it made me laugh. Like this, love??



I think an animal damaged my lawn chairs, because if a person were to vandalize them, I think they would have been vandalized across the seat too:



I am sad since I just bought these chairs this summer to replace my other chairs that were falling apart. But I'm grateful the damage wasn't worse.

New doctor, new theory

There's a thunderstorm going on now--love it!!

This morning I went to a physiatrist--a doc who specializes in non-surgical treatment of spine and joint issues. He thinks my back pain is related to the disc--disc is bulging, there's inflammation, that makes the muscles all tight. When Len does his active release technique, it loosens the tight muscles. But then the pain returns because the underlying inflammation is still there. He said since I am seeing improvement, he thinks the disc is healing and the inflammation is reducing and the muscles are relaxing. He is encouraging me to get the disc injection--he thinks it will cure my pain, it will be one shot, by the time the injection wears off, the issue will have resolved itself. 2 shots, max. He said while he respects the ortho, he disagrees with his analysis, unless I presented differently to the ortho than I presented to him. He scheduled the injection for Sept 11. He said I can always cancel it and we can talk about my knees more then if I don't have the back injection. He said he does 12 injections a day. He said for 24 hours after the injection, there could be a very bad flareup, but that happens to 1 in 500 patients, and is followed by the relief.

As for my knees, he thinks it's a meniscus tear, and he ordered x-rays. He also said my right knee pushes out to the right and that could cause some pain and that it's common in women (my acu then later explained it's because women's hips are wider than their knees, which puts stress on the knee in a whole different way than in men). He said PT and the injection combined will help. He doesn't think the knees will ever heal on their own, and after 5 years of right knee pain, and a year plus of left knee pain, I agree. So I get my x-rays tmw morning bright and early at 8am and we'll go from there.

Oh, and the office building he's in is like being in a greenhouse--it's amazing! And he asked if I want coffee or tea. and he typed my history into a computer. And he said I have been bounced around a lot, and that my story is pretty unusual. and he encouraged me to get a primary care physician. All of the books he's authored or co-authored were in his waiting room.

I saw the acupuncutrist tonight and Pete came into the room with me for the needle insertion. He didn't get squeamish or anything about the needles. Karen said maybe it is time for me to get the injection.

Sigh!!

Flashback: Simplicity 3833, a retro dress, visa news, etc

Day 4 of "wear a dress to work every day" week. Today's dress was also sewn in the summer of 2007. It's Simplicity 3833, a "retro" pattern. The fabric is brown with turquoise flowers. It's some kind of rayon. Here's what it looked like when I wore it today:


I neeeeeed a haircut!! I had also just come back from walking, and it's humid, so my hair was extra pouffy.



Back:


Here's when it had sleeves back in March 2007 (but they were too tight and the dress was also pulling across the upper back because the sleeves were too tight). I think this photo is also the best for seeing the pattern in the fabric:


I laugh; my caption says I would remove the sleeves "tomorrow". Which was actually May 2007:


I made this dress in red, also in 2007, and I wore that dress on Monday this week (though I did not take a picture of me wearing that dress on Monday). Here it is from 2007:



Pete received a letter from the American consulate in London, with instructions on applying for his part of the visa. Now our lawyer is making it sound like he could be denied entrance to the US when he visits on Aug 8 because they may think he will not return to the UK since we are mid-visa process. The reality is, anyone who comes to visit the US can be denied entrance for any reason at all. We are doing this the right way and I really don't see why he would be denied entrance just because we are in the middle of the visa process. I mean, we paid a lawyer to do this so why would we abandon the process now?

I had acupuncture tonight. Felt lots of fluttering in my legs and even some on my scalp (which was new to me). She put needles around my collarbone this time, which was brand new. They didn't hurt at all. I had some needles that hurt around my knees. And I learned that she's an occupational therapist during the mornings, not a PT like I previously thought. I felt a little lightheaded afterward, but then I went to Lucy's Kitchen to pick up some chow and I ran into a classmate of mine from the gym. She was asking if I moved to England or defected to a different gym. So we caught up a bit. I recognized her right away. Apparently she saw me before I saw her and thought to herself, that she knew me from somewhere, then had a flash of me in a pirate cupcake shirt and then she knew who I was. She said she always liked reading my gym shirts.



Andy sent me some great links about pain, pain management, a pain journal pdf, etc. I'll post that stuff with my next post.

I'm taking tomorrow off and meeting up with a friend for lunch. Then I hope to go to the boardwalk for a nice walk. I also hope to remember to bring my camera!!!

Chronically challenged?

This was quite a week, with a medical appt every day.
I saw the orthopedic doc on Thurs.

• He said that he could "make up a story that would sound really good," but honestly, he doesn't know the source of my pain.
  
• Now that it's been more than 6 months of daily pain, he said it's chronic back pain and that I need to learn what triggers the flare-ups and avoid doing those things.
  
• Keep going to the chiro until the chiro discharges me (um, I don't think they do that?) and the acu.
  
• Keep doing the back exercises from the therapist.
  
• I asked about supplements. He said studies show glucosamine is effective for osteoarthritis in knees. He said I could try it for 3 months and see if I feel any differently.
• I asked about vitamin D--he said unless I'm deficient, I don't need to take it. Said I should have a blood test at my primary care to determine that.
• I asked about Magnesium. He said he didn't know what that was for. According to the bottle, it helps nerve and muscle function. Acu recommended it. He just said "ok".
• He said because the pain oscillates from side to side, he doesn't think it's the SI joint.
• He said again that my spine is healthy.
• He said walking is the best exercise, and that he thinks I can use free weights again for my arms, as long as I watch my stance.
• He asked if I feel like I'm improving, and I said I am, with pain at a 1, 2 or 3 most days. He said that I seem more upbeat than my last visit.
  
• Then he said, "Be in good health", shook my hand and said good bye.
  

Tonight I saw the acu. It is really neat to feel all the fluttering/twitching/warm spots/pain spots. Tonight most twitching was in my right leg. I told her what happened this week. She said it's a good sign that I recovered so quickly from my back spasm. Oh, and there was one needle she put in my foot that made me say "OW" out loud--totally involuntary!! She said some of her patients yell with every needle. During the 35 minutes I was on the table, I started to fall asleep. When I came home, I slept for about an hour or so. The lotion that smells so good is Alba--I might buy some this weekend.

On Wed the chiro said if I hadn't had my flare-up, he would have reduced my visits to 1x a week. This coming week I will see him 2x, then I will start to see him 1x a week, unless I have another flare-up.

Tonight I cut out a very simple dress. It's basically to practice making the next dress I want to make, the one to wear to Christine's wedding. I'm worried that this practice dress is too small and will wrinkle too easily. But I am going to make it cute!!

Be in good health. I'm healing. My body knows how to heal itself. There's nothing wrong with me.

Good night!

Good news

It's getting late, so here's a list:

1. My part of the visa application has been approved! So in 2-3 months, Pete will receive the paperwork to do his part of the app.

2. I told Len (chiro) this morning that "I'm seeing the ortho on the 16th to discuss..." Len cut me off and said "to discuss how great you're doing!" (I was going to say, "to discuss the possibility of the cortisone injection".) I think I should stick with the chiro and the acu for another month and reassess then. The injection would have to go through the muscle to get to my SI joint and I'm figuring, that's gonna be painful. Things are starting to look up with my back. Pain is sometimes a 1, usually a 3, or a 2.

3. Saw Karen (acu) tonight.

• She loooved the fact that I brought my summer bathrobe with me (no, it's not one that I made, but is rather one I've owned for a while with short sleeves and knee-length, great for acu!). I loooved the fact that I wasn't wearing a scratchy non-environmentally friendly paper gown.
• She stuck a needle in my right knee that was incredibly painful, and one in my left ankle that was somewhat painful.
  
• I think there's some slight bruising on my foot from one of her needles.
• I had the needles for half an hour!
• I felt a LOT of fluttering in my right calf & my abdomen.
• I felt some very pointed pain at one needle in my right calf and sometimes in the right knee.
• I felt warm spots all along my forearms.
• I was in a different room this time that had no windows. It was pretty wonderful with the lights out.
  
• For a few minutes here and there, I didn't feel any back pain at all!!
• It felt like pain was lifting out of my right knee cap.
• Karen revealed that she goes to the same ortho I go to!
• I felt really groggy afterwards and ready for sleep!
• I told Karen how I say "There's nothing wrong with me". She said that's great, and also offered these suggestions: "I'm healing." "My body knows how to heal itself."
• She said I'm really in tune with my body which is great for acu but bad for pain because when I'm in pain, I really really feel it.
• The lotion she put on my legs tonight smells like plumeria! Oh Hawaii, how I miss thy state!!
  

4. I've been waking up before my alarm every morning this week!

5. I've been taking my dietary supplements. So far, so good.

6. Answers to quizzes:

• Yes! It's a wooden cow on the wall!
  
• Love: brown! Like: gray! Hate: pink!! but that's mostly for the way they were constructed or problems I had during construction. I'll write a post about that later. One day I may love the pink one. Despite construction issues.

Good night!

Acupuncture part deux; rare NJ rainbow!

I'm still feeling pretty good. Had another meeting today on a different unsupportive chair; back was not screaming. Things are definitely looking up. Pain was like a 1/2. Knee pain has returned a little. Of course, this morning I did not help it by accidentally whacking my right knee on the corner of the bathroom vanity countertop. I mean, I actually saw the vanity countertop LIFT UP--that is how much force my knee apparently has in upward motion (or how poorly the vanity is held together--you choose). My "boo boo" (as my acupucturist called it) has turned blue/red, is raised and is the size of a quarter. And it sort of hurts. Of course I used my ice packs.

Had my second acu session. Note to self: don't move my leg once acupuncturist has inserted all needles!!! I wanted to show her where the tick bite was--after she inserted the needles--oh, that was painful! She said the muscle grips on to the needle when the leg is moved. I got the message. It was a dumb move (heh) on my part.

Anyway, I think she had about 10-15 needles per side inserted in my feet, calves, knees, hips, arms and one in each ear. This time she played music accompanied by bells ringing instead of birds chirping. It was great. I could feel various muscles fluttering or twitching, which she said is the energy moving through my body. This time I had a warm spot on my forearm, away from any needle. I was able to do my deep yoga breathing without any pain. She then rubbed the lotion on my legs afterwards. I paid up for both visits and made another appt for next Wednesday. I told her that I like her approach and how I didn't have to fill out forms and how she treated me like a human. She said her approach is to be treated as she would like to be treated. She said she started treatments 8 years ago and for her first 5 patients she had them fill out forms, then she abandoned that. She said she gets a clearer picture of what is going on when she asks questions and listens.

I wanted to go walking in Princeton afterward but it started raining! It seems to rain for at least part opf every day, but I don't mind. So I went for a walk around my neighborhood when it started to clear.

A rare NJ rainbow:


As the sun sets on another day:


Best cloud pic for today:


Blurry stream photo:


I have been doing the stretch Len told me to do. I like it a lot because I'm not crawling around on the floor like for the therapist stretches. It involves a staircase, so I can do them here or at work. Turns out a lot of people use the staircase at work...

Oh, and my dad bought a book called "Hacking Your Roomba". Sounds like fun for programmer types!!

Good night!!!

Part Deux: Can this shirt be saved?

I'm feeling so much better, I can't even begin to describe it. When I feel new pain (like it switches from left to right, or my knee hurts) I think "There's nothing wrong with me." It's something I came up with on the drive back to work post-Len on Monday. It seems to be helping. We had a one hour meeting this afternoon in these really awful conference room chairs and my back was NOT screaming like it was as little as a month ago. Pain level is a 1/2/3.

I have acupuncture tmw night, 5pm, be there or be square!!

Ok, so last night I posted more ebay stuff.
Tonight I worked on the shirt.
I snuggled up to my seam ripper and ripped out the shoulders, then redid the pleats and sewed the seam from the inside and that combo seemed to resolve bumpiness issues. I am not going to topstitch it. It's not really necessary and may create lumpiness.



Then I sewed down the sides but it was too tight around the hips, so I did a minimal seam allowance starting after the waist downward, which makes it look better in the front, but the back has weird fabric pooling above my derriere when it's supposed to be all loose and flow-y.

Then I remembered that I cut the tunic length instead of the shirt length so I will either:
A. make side slits
B. if that looks weird, then I will cut the tunic down to shirt length, which should eliminate that problem.

Then I sewed the right side arm hole (fold and fold under again and sew) and it's all wavy. To fix that, I will rip it out and use single fold bias tape instead, clipping it as I go.



Also, I didn't like how the cowl was draping. I tried sewing that down and that looks ugly, so I will rip that out.

Time spent tonight: 1.5 hours, plus 2 on Sun night = 3.5 hours thus far. Maybe I will work on it more tmw night. I'm feeling hopeful for it!!

Tmw is July 1. Holy cow. Time is just speeding by. Crazy!

Acupuncture ahoy! and a surprise on my leg.

Last night, George Michael songs were stuck in my head. And then I found out, today is his birthday. He's 46.

I had acupuncture today for the first time! Very interesting experience. I went with a co-worker's recommendation to visit Karen. From the moment I saw her, I knew I would like her: tall, thin, cute haircut, graying hair, leaf necklace, cute shirt. She saw me right away--no waiting in a waiting room. She took my medical history in a way no one else has: she asked questions and I talked. No forms where I check off where I'm hurting on a crude drawing of a human, no pain meters, no insurance info, no checking off family history. Unlike all other doctors, she was actually empathetic and acknowledged the pain I'm in. She said all the right things. I only had to sign one form.

She knows my orthopedist Jeff. She knows my chiropractor Len. She said Len is not a traditional chiropractor. She said he's more like a physical therapist because he does soft tissue work (officially called Active Release Technique) and less back cracking (her words). She said she likes the ortho and the chiro. And she said that acupuncture and chiropracty go hand in hand.

She showed me the acupuncture needles (they are really really thin, reminding me of beading needles because of their flexibility) and told me what she would do, and she agreed she could treat both knees and the back all at once. Then I put on a gown. She did this neat trick where she had me take a deep breath and then asked me forcefully blow out the air---so as I was pushing the air out, she stuck me. Loved that as it was a great distraction and reminded me of yoga breathing. The feet are the most sensitive body part, she said, but for me the worst one was a needle she put in my left calf that really really hurt--I yelped out loud. She said that was a great sign--that was for my lower back and the fact that I reacted means this will work--she said that area is blocked and this will release it. She put some needles around my knees and some in my thighs near my hips, and some in my arms and one in each ear. While she was doing that, one knuckle on my hand (not near any needle) started feeling really warm. She said that was also for my lower back--another great sign.
She didn't actually put any needles in my lower back. She said it's already irritated, why irritate it further (a-ha!). Instead, she said something about releasing the blockages through my body first. Then she put a crinkly mylar-type blanket on me for warmth, turned out the lights, turned on the soothing music with bird sounds, and let me lie there for 20 minutes. It was kind of wild. I could feel my lower left back tingling. Sometimes it does that at night on its own. Then I was trying to take deep breaths but it was hurting to breathe too deeply (that also used to happen a while ago). The knuckle started to feel increasingly warm.

Then she came back in and took all the needles out, and massaged my legs with lotion and gave me some water. She told me what supplements to take (sometime else I will write them out, but it was glucosamine for joints, magnesium for muscle spasms, and something else...it's all on a paper downstairs.) She talked about the energy flowing through my body, blocked areas, and other things I didn't understand, but hey, I'll roll with it.

She said tonight I should have a long hot shower. She said I could feel sore because the muscles will release lactic acid, so I should drink a lot of water. and I should massage my legs. She did not assume I wanted to come back! I said I want to come back on Wednesday. She only takes cash or checks (she rents this room in some other acupuncturist's office) and said I could pay next time since I didn't have enough cash nor a checkbook on me. Wow, alternative medicine is wild. (With Len too, they didn't want me to pay my copay the first visit--just wait for a few visits and then pay the co-pay.) She also asked about my coworker and said I should say hello.

Then it was a fantastic warm summer evening in Princeton. I walked around. I entered shops with stairs and my knees didn't hurt again!

I came home and ate dinner outside. I had changed into a dress. I started looking at my legs--could I see where the needles had been? I saw this area that looked like it could be blood?

No.

It was a tick. A tiny little tick. The kind that carries Lyme's disease. Stuck onto my leg!!!

I googled "how to remove a tick". Followed the directions. Seems like it's already dead. I washed down the area with soap and water.

It's always something. But at least I'm not in bad pain unlike yesterday. I'm in good spirits.