MR

If I am not writing a lot, I am still lurking. I have a lot going on right now. My mom is in the hospital, and she is very ill. They tried to send her home Friday, and she had to go back 3 hours later because the pain and the swelling in her stomach were so severe. She is doing better today.

The second is I am having trouble with my left arm. The cat bite has healed, thank goodness, but I have had an ongoing problem with the upper part of my arm for months now. It has gotten worse in the last week, so much so I am scared to death.

I was at church yesterday and went to lift the tiny plastic cup for communion and my arm froze. I could not move my hand and the other hand was holding the tray. Now looking back it was a comical sight. I am sitting there, I have my left hand holding the little cup, frozen in movement just above the tray, the right hand is holding the tray, and my mother in law is holding the other side of the tray. I cannot let go of the tray with my good hand because if I do I will drop it on her. My face turns bright red because of the pain, and my sister thinks I am having a heart attack and she signals a nurse friend on the other isle. I am trying to tell them it is just my arm without causing a scene. Finally I ask my mother in law in a whisper to take the tray and after she does I removed the cup from my left arm, took communion, and placed it back in the container. I then lowered my left arm with my right.

My arm is hurting from my neck to my shoulder to my elbow. My hand is tingling, and feels weird when I touch it. I can type only if I keep my elbow close to my side. The tingling is now going down my left side of my body. I know it must be nerve damage of some sort.

This is the hand I draw with. This is my lively hood I am talking about. I am scared out of my mind if I loose the ability to use my left. I have already been practicing drawing and writing with my right just in case.

I am going back to the doctor today, and they have done tests on my nerves and muscles and we are waiting for results. But this keeps getting worse. I cannot sleep well at night.
Please keep good thoughts my way.

I am sorry there will be a delay on the caricatures. Cannot be helped right now.

Ginger, your mom is in my prayers hope she will be better soon.As for you get to the ER if you are still having the problems.It can be a number of things.You are always in my prayers.But sending you major prayers for you.If and when you can let us know how you & your mom are doing hun.

Babyblue wrote:Ginger, your mom is in my prayers hope she will be better soon.As for you get to the ER if you are still having the problems.It can be a number of things.You are always in my prayers.But sending you major prayers for you.If and when you can let us know how you & your mom are doing hun.

Thanks BB! I am going to go see the doctor today, not much we can do till results are in on the nerve tests. Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers for my mom. She is so tired of being ill. I will let you know what the doctor finds out. I hate to go to the ER unless it is life or death, they have enough to deal with and my doctor is already doing what he can, they don't know my medical history and he does. All they could do is treat the symptoms and send me home.

Sorry to hear about these struggles. I pray they will soon cease.

artist4perry wrote:

Babyblue wrote:Ginger, your mom is in my prayers hope she will be better soon.As for you get to the ER if you are still having the problems.It can be a number of things.You are always in my prayers.But sending you major prayers for you.If and when you can let us know how you & your mom are doing hun.

Thanks BB! I am going to go see the doctor today, not much we can do till results are in on the nerve tests. Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers for my mom. She is so tired of being ill. I will let you know what the doctor finds out. I hate to go to the ER unless it is life or death, they have enough to deal with and my doctor is already doing what he can, they don't know my medical history and he does. All they could do is treat the symptoms and send me home.

That is what friends are for. Please let us know how your mom is doing.I lose my mom last Oct 30th...its a long story.We all need our moms thats for sure.Yes hope the Dr will be able to help you.Will try and check in tonight to see how it went for you today. Perry prayers going your way my friend.

Absolutely ...

Thanks to you all. Just called for an appointment, my doc is not in so I have to go see another one. I want my doc but the other will have to do today, the pain is too much to wait. Crap, why do they always seem to be out of pocket when you need them the most.

I will pray that well health and happiness return for you and your Mother Ginger.

Thoughts going out to you, and hope your mom is doing better soon. Ginger, it almost sounds like you have something called 'frozen shoulder'. I had that, it has to do with inflamation in the joint/rotator cuff but I couldn't even raise my arm to curl or brush my hair for a couple weeks, very awkward trying to do your hair with only one arm up. Do you sleep with you arm up above your head when you sleep. I really have to watch that now......I use to sleep with it straight up under my pillow and it must pinch something to cause the inflamation in my rotator cuff. I've had it happen twice in my life, like almost 20 years apart, to the same right shoulder/upper arm, quite painful. Let me know what it ends up being......

Praying and hoping for recovering of you and your mother...

Bets wishes for both of you!

Deb wrote:Thoughts going out to you, and hope your mom is doing better soon. Ginger, it almost sounds like you have something called 'frozen shoulder'. I had that, it has to do with inflamation in the joint/rotator cuff but I couldn't even raise my arm to curl or brush my hair for a couple weeks, very awkward trying to do your hair with only one arm up. Do you sleep with you arm up above your head when you sleep. I really have to watch that now......I use to sleep with it straight up under my pillow and it must pinch something to cause the inflamation in my rotator cuff. I've had it happen twice in my life, like almost 20 years apart, to the same right shoulder/upper arm, quite painful. Let me know what it ends up being......

Thank you. I don't know if that is it. I don't sleep with my arm up, that I know of, but that could be it.

I had to change my doctors appointment because I got a job interview with an elementary school here in town that I have always wanted to teach at.

The sad thing is if I get the job I will have to say goodbye to all my kids I teach now. This is harder than you will ever know. It sounds pretty promising and it will mean more money in our pockets every month. Almost 600 dollars more each month. So for my family I don't know how I can pass it up. It is really sad because I had to call my Superintendent and tell him they were wanting me, and they wanted to talk to him. He sang my praises they said.

The saddest thing is he talked to me on the phone first. He said Mrs. Grahn we want you here this fall, we need you. I almost cried. I really wish it were not a financial option to go. I would stay if money were no object, but I have an old car and it is a long way, and gas prices are not getting any lower.

I rescheduled the doctors visit for tomorrow. Tomorrow my regular doc will be in anyway, and I would feel better using him.

Thanks for all the well wishes.

Prayers sent

Thanks Glenn.

Please also keep fingers crossed for the job in my town. I like the ages I teach, but love little ones. I would love to teach K-6 again~!

Sending prayers to you and your mom.

Please make sure you check back to let us know how your doing.

artist4perry wrote:Thanks Glenn.

Please also keep fingers crossed for the job in my town. I like the ages I teach, but love little ones. I would love to teach K-6 again~!

That is super news Ginger, sad you have to leave the kids.But i understand about the more money part.I will be praying for you to get better.Parying for your wonderful sweet mom.And also for both jobs. Hope your Dr can help you tomorrow .Praying that you can get some rest and sleep tonight.Take care hun we all love you.

Ginger good luck on the job. Sending prayers for your mom. Hope that she is getting better with each passing day. Prayers to you and I hope that everything goes well with the doctor. It's never easy when your in pain and have something you've never experienced before medical wise. Do keep us updated on you and your mom. Don't worry about the caricatures just get you well and your mom well.

So sorry to hear of these struggles, Ginger. I'll be hoping for the best for you, and hope you both can make it down this way again soon.

Rip Rokken wrote:So sorry to hear of these struggles, Ginger. I'll be hoping for the best for you, and hope you both can make it down this way again soon.

Thanks my friend. So much on my plate and I know many of you have much going on in your own lives.

We might be coming near you sooner than you know. I am going to enter some work at the Arkansas Arts Council. I will probably hand deliver my work.........prevents damage and insures it gets in before the show deadline.
Possibly in July?

We are also eyeballing the Journey show in Memphis. Depends on a few things first.

Miss you Rip!

prayers to you and your mom

Ginger,hope all is well today with you the job & your mom.Check in when you can hon.


Still saying prayers

Here is an update.

Mom is doing a little better, they took all the tubes out.

I GOT THE JOB! I AM WORKING IN MY OWN TOWN AND IT IS K-6! LITTLE ONES WHO WILL LIKE ART! Truth be told even though this is the right move for my family financially I will miss my students and coworkers very much. We were like a family.

I prayed on it and I left it up to God to guide me in the right way to go. I guess the answer was clear, I had an interview on Monday, and by Tuesday at 8:00am I had a call that I was hired.

As for my arm, not so good news. My doctor is sending me to an Orthopedic surgeon to look at my arm. He told me their is a good chance I will have to have surgery. We know there is a blockage to the bundle of nerves in my elbow. Possibly on top of this is a bulging disc in my neck. I am going for an MRI next week to find that out.

I am really scared about my arm. I don't want to lose the control of my hand.

Thanks for the kind words and prayers. There are amazing folks on MR. So many of you are such wonderful people to know. I wish I could meet you all and give you a hug. I had fun meeting RIP and hope someday that I have the distinct pleasure of meeting more of you.

That's great news about your mom, and about the job. Your arm... well.. it could be worse, I suppose. Of course as an art teacher and artist - anything with arms or hands is a concern. Will definitely keep thoughts for you, ma'am.

artist4perry wrote:Here is an update.

Mom is doing a little better, they took all the tubes out.

I GOT THE JOB! I AM WORKING IN MY OWN TOWN AND IT IS K-6! LITTLE ONES WHO WILL LIKE ART! Truth be told even though this is the right move for my family financially I will miss my students and coworkers very much. We were like a family.

I prayed on it and I left it up to God to guide me in the right way to go. I guess the answer was clear, I had an interview on Monday, and by Tuesday at 8:00am I had a call that I was hired.

As for my arm, not so good news. My doctor is sending me to an Orthopedic surgeon to look at my arm. He told me their is a good chance I will have to have surgery. We know there is a blockage to the bundle of nerves in my elbow. Possibly on top of this is a bulging disc in my neck. I am going for an MRI next week to find that out.

I am really scared about my arm. I don't want to lose the control of my hand.

Thanks for the kind words and prayers. There are amazing folks on MR. So many of you are such wonderful people to know. I wish I could meet you all and give you a hug. I had fun meeting RIP and hope someday that I have the distinct pleasure of meeting more of you.

My wife has a herniated disk in her neck and will have surgery as soon as insurance comes back and approves this type. There are two types of surgery for this:
1. What I call "old school" - they go in and remove the bad disk and replace that void with either a piece of bone from your hip or a cadaver bone. Then they join the two neck bones together with a plate. Much longer recovery time.
2. They remove the bad disk and replace it with an artificial disk. Much less recovery time but insurance sometimes doesn't cover it because it's a newer procedure.

She's already had two separate steroid injections into the spine and they didn't help. She has constant numbing and tingling in both hands and has excruciating constant pain in her neck and shoulders. I can't wait for surgery to be scheduled so she can have some relief.

Hey! Mom is home now! She is sore but much better! Thanks for the well wishes.

Deb wrote:Thoughts going out to you, and hope your mom is doing better soon. Ginger, it almost sounds like you have something called 'frozen shoulder'. I had that, it has to do with inflamation in the joint/rotator cuff but I couldn't even raise my arm to curl or brush my hair for a couple weeks, very awkward trying to do your hair with only one arm up. Do you sleep with you arm up above your head when you sleep. I really have to watch that now......I use to sleep with it straight up under my pillow and it must pinch something to cause the inflamation in my rotator cuff. I've had it happen twice in my life, like almost 20 years apart, to the same right shoulder/upper arm, quite painful. Let me know what it ends up being......

I second that. I had that happen to me. I couldn't lift my arm for several months. Hugs.....

scarygirl wrote:

Deb wrote:Thoughts going out to you, and hope your mom is doing better soon. Ginger, it almost sounds like you have something called 'frozen shoulder'. I had that, it has to do with inflamation in the joint/rotator cuff but I couldn't even raise my arm to curl or brush my hair for a couple weeks, very awkward trying to do your hair with only one arm up. Do you sleep with you arm up above your head when you sleep. I really have to watch that now......I use to sleep with it straight up under my pillow and it must pinch something to cause the inflamation in my rotator cuff. I've had it happen twice in my life, like almost 20 years apart, to the same right shoulder/upper arm, quite painful. Let me know what it ends up being......

I second that. I had that happen to me. I couldn't lift my arm for several months. Hugs.....

I can imagine that hurt quite a lot! They did find blockage to the nerves in my elbow. We will know more hopefully next week.

A4P, you beautiful soul, I am mustering every ounce of positivity and goodness from the very depths of my soul and sending it your way.

(So don't expect a lot, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

artist4perry wrote:

scarygirl wrote:

Deb wrote:Thoughts going out to you, and hope your mom is doing better soon. Ginger, it almost sounds like you have something called 'frozen shoulder'. I had that, it has to do with inflamation in the joint/rotator cuff but I couldn't even raise my arm to curl or brush my hair for a couple weeks, very awkward trying to do your hair with only one arm up. Do you sleep with you arm up above your head when you sleep. I really have to watch that now......I use to sleep with it straight up under my pillow and it must pinch something to cause the inflamation in my rotator cuff. I've had it happen twice in my life, like almost 20 years apart, to the same right shoulder/upper arm, quite painful. Let me know what it ends up being......

I second that. I had that happen to me. I couldn't lift my arm for several months. Hugs.....

I can imagine that hurt quite a lot! They did find blockage to the nerves in my elbow. We will know more hopefully next week.

I am double jointed in my shoulders. I have to be careful when I lift weights because I have no sense of how far back is too far.. When I was younger, don't try this at home kids, I could rotate my shoulders all the way around. It is very useful if you are a world famous gymnast. Not so much when you're not. I used to make my mom so mad. She always said, stop it, one of these days your arms will get stuck like that. Turns out she was right!

Gideon wrote:A4P, you beautiful soul, I am mustering every ounce of positivity and goodness from the very depths of my soul and sending it your way.

(So don't expect a lot, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

Thanks Gideon and scarygirl!