Froggylicious

It's begining to look a lot like Lockdown... and life doesn't change the much. But more rain. More leaves!

Giant Stick Season!!!

It's that part of fall. Where the beautiful leaves are collecting in gutters (or leaf vaccums when we're lucky to watch). And the rain is minimal deterrent for that necessary "walk outside"...

 Also we're in lockdown again. 

Which doesn't mean a whole lot different for us, except we're more careful about visits from Gramma Pam, and apparently we might have to investigate bidets ASAP because everyone's going wild on the TP again (you know you can still go to the grocery store in lockdown, right Washington???). 

Lots of big news outside our little bubble, but the biggest news for us is that we've welcomed a new creature into our menagerie. Meet Froggy:

We kind of preemptively flouted the coming covid restrictions to go to a house where Allan's bff and little brother bff lived in order to pick up their kitty.

As of today, we would all have had to stay home for 14 days before meeting up indoors. And the boys go to preschool so that would have been a little harder all in all. So... as long as nobody runs into covid, I'd say it was a lucky last minute playdate (with only minimal cringing thinking abouts kids and germs). And then ... we stole their beloved cat.

 They were originally trying to rehome Froggy because she had a hard time with the dog, but then they just gave that dog away so I feel a little guilty about stealing their cat after all. But what's done is done. Allan is in love. 

Immediately upon arrival, Froggy ran down into the closet in Andrew's work study and refused to come out even to eat for a day and a  half. I finally put some food down in the closet and we begrudgingly moved her litterbox and water nearby (not our permanent solution we hope).

 She's started venturing into the room. When Andrew went downstairs to check on her Sunday night, she came out feeling snuggly. Wanting snuggles and also wanting to sleep, he thought to carry her up to the bedroom with us, which was not a hit in her world. Not huge in mine either...

I woke up at 2:30 a.m. to a yeowling cat. Totally disoriented, it took me a while to realize that it wasn't Allan screaming in misery. At that point I figured Froggy had wandered up to complain to us and piled on the attention until finally it became clear that she was kind of pissed about not being in the study and just wanted the map back to her home. She went back down and back to bed, I assume. I, naturally, did not. Meanwhile Andrew did (because he's way better at falling back asleep than me), but he didn't stay asleep too long at a time as I thrashed and moaned my way to wake up time.

Next morning Froggy and I made amends so much I almost forgot to make coffee. I wish she'd come out of the study, but that's her safe space so far. This morning she got as far as the stairs, when she heard me upstairs and wanted to beckon me down. Allan has been sneaking in during work breaks (or really Andrew works and we take a break for him) to say hi. 

Allan's been really good so far, giving Froggy space and letting her be where she neds to be. Then forgetting about her, because so far, not a very interactive cat experience. But they had a bonding moment this morning and it was incredibly sweet. 

And life carries on.

For preschool, they've started doing "yoga" with various themes. This week it's turkey. Last week it was dinosaur. Of course Allan's been a goober about it, but I join in. (only to be attacked by a rabid five year old of course).

Playgrounds were open again (I think they might be closed again due to surging covid and reimposition of heavier lockdown limits) and occasionally, the weather has been nice enough to visit them. Of course having not been to a playground for a while, it's a little awkward. Especially with the social distancing requirements. Last time Allan was at a playground there were these two little monkey children who would magical manifest at the slide she wanted to go down every single time she saw an opening. There was dismay and chagrin and the occasional bid for connection. 

We have  had to impose a stricter "must wear underwear or pants" rule... Because... well... Allan is full on Lindsay Lohan left to her own devices. She may never visit a playground again, allowed or not. 

In other adventures, Allan went to her grandma's last weekend so that her parents could have a wild weekend culimating in somebody sticking a tube down Mama Bunny's throat (oh my! But I liked it... or at least the sedative they gave me in order to do it). 

My esophagus and stomach were thoroughly inspected, biopsied and... pretty much confirmed as "normal" to "mildly irritable." 'Nothing surprising there. Which is good, ultimately. The last endoscopy did no biopsies and occured after several months on acid suppresors, so this feels more reassuring. 

But enough about Adella's wonk GI system... 

Though it is a lovely GI tract...

Let's talk more about ADELLA'S WONK brain!

I have a new neurologist!

As a catch-y'all-up. This ain't my first time at the neuro rodeo. To this point I've had 3 MRIs: brain, cervical, and lumbar. I've also had 2 EMGs and a nerve conduction study. Those are basically putting electricity into the skin via needles to measure various nerve signals. And a variety of PT in between. Basically a fun Saturday evening, as long as you have the right safe word. 

Thus far, not much to say for these, except in the lumbar region (slipped disk and absolutely classic path for irritated nerve in the "L5 area"). And a slow nerve by my elbow maybe. But the last neuro thought I just as easily could have bonked my funny bone earlier in the day. 

The exam was thorough. Not without ambiguity. 

He asked if I'd had problems with balance recently. I had to stop and think, because most of the time that I'm walking, I'm staring at my phone and a 40 pound rugby champion is head butting me in some unpredictable direction. I hemmed and hawed until he clarified "do you have to put a hand to the wall to hold yourself up in the shower?" Which... no. The gremlin usually stays out of the shower. 

He then asked if anyone else had noticed weakness or clumsiness or spacial reasoning issues. And for a minute I thought... OMG, that time I banged up Andrew's car twice in a month was actually due to some kind of insidious neurological condition? But no. Because my car has always had mystery dings and I've twice needed body work on my car for that kind of run in with inanimate objects/other cars in the last 15 years. So, clumsier than what, is up for debate. 

I did get a ton of blood taken and so far I don't have diabetes (still, phew), blood cancer, or a variety of nutritional deficiencies. 

But I do have an elevated amount of b6 in my blood.

Turns out an excess of B6 can actually be a really big problem and is a common enough issues that neurologists often test for it straight out. In sufficient amounts, B6 can start to eat away at the nerves and cause all variety of neuropathies. Ataxia, reduced sensation, tingling, twitching, pain, autonomic anarchy and worse. Mine is high, but not super high. I don't think it's probably the one true medical problem as much as yet another weird thing I have to keep track of.

So... that's fun.

The large fiber nerves may or may not be involved. But at this point, it's being called small fiber neuropathy (basically things feeling weird in various ways). And most of the treatments for that are the same as the treatments for fibromyalgia, so the question of diagnosis seems less crucial at this point. A handful of anti-depressants, some anti-seizure medications, and alpha lipoic acid are popular. I'll learn more about those and which weird profile of side effects I might want to swap for my current symptoms next week. But ooooooh fun! Cymbalta (and SSRNI) is also used to reduce any variety of muscular pain and sometimes is used for IBS and GERD for visceral hypersensitivity. So... definitely a possible thing to add on for any number of issues. Or maybe just something to bring more weird medication side effects. We'll see!!

Whatever else, we'll have a cat to see it all through... for now. I hope HOPE I'm just allergic to her litter. I'm about 99% sure I am, since it's perfumed enough to bother me. But well... we'll see.