The Living is Easy er Crazy

The strangest thing has occurred. Having lived nearly all my life with painful lesions in my mouth, sometimes as many as 10-20 a week, I have been almost lesion-free for the past 3-4 weeks. In June, I had a couple small ones, then...nothing. I rarely notice when I have them anymore. I only keep track of them for my doctor's benefit. (She has asked me to.)

So it was sort of odd to realize that I hadn't had any of significance these past few weeks. Well, until today. This morning when I got up, I noticed I had inflammation on my upper and lower gums, but no lesions. Hmmm. Then, when I was at the gym, I started getting an awful earache, which usually indicates a lesion inside my throat. I started feeling yucky, exhausted, and just plain awful.
Sure enough, with my handy dandy flashlight shining brightly, I saw the mother of all lesions in my throat, surrounded by little baby lesions. Oh aren't they cute? The position of the lesion just on the other side of my ear, explained the awful earache. This reminded me of several years ago, before I ever heard of Behcet's. I had a horrible headache (over 1 week in duration) and a wretched earache. I was in screaming pain and decided to go see the doctor. I had lesions on the roof of my mouth at the time. The doctor looked in my ears and said "You have shingles in your head." I think I was a little skeptical. I had never heard of such a thing. Almost a year later to the day, it happened almost exactly the same way! Again, I went to the doctor. Again the same diagnosis. Huh?

A couple of years after that, a neurologist said "Uh, I am thinking what you had was a migraine." (after he heard all the symptoms of light and noise sensitivity, etc)

NOW I know that I will almost ALWAYS get a migraine when I get a lesion on the roof of my mouth. I honestly don't know what is cause and effect. Migraine or lesion first? I dunno.

Well, back to the shingles. I decided to look it up. Gotta love the internet. It really IS a "thing".
I got this off a British site (nhs.uk)

Ramsay Hunt syndrome

Ramsay Hunt syndrome is a complication that can occur if shingles affects certain nerves in your head. In America, Ramsay Hunt syndrome is estimated to affect 5 in 100,000 people every year and it may affect a similar number of people in the UK.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome can cause:

• earache 
• hearing loss 
• dizziness
• vertigo (the sensation that you or the environment around you is moving or spinning)
• tinnitus (the perception of noise in one ear, both ears, or inside your head, where the noise comes from inside your body rather than from an outside source) 
• a rash around the ear
• loss of taste
• paralysis (weakness) of your face, known as Bell's palsy

Ramsay Hunt syndrome is usually treated with the following medications:

• antiviral medication (medication to treat viruses)
• corticosteroids (medication that contains steroids)

The earlier treatment is started, the better the outcome. Around three-quarters of people given antiviral medication within 72 hours (three days) of the start of their symptoms usually make a complete recovery. If treatment is delayed, half of those treated will recover completely. 
You may be more likely to have some permanent facial palsy (paralysis) if:

• your face was completely paralysed before you started treatment
• you are over 50 years of age

Around 1 in 20 people with Ramsay Hunt syndrome may experience some degree of permanent hearing loss.
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 Migraines as described by Mayo Clinic:
Attack
When untreated, a migraine usually lasts from four to 72 hours, but the frequency with which headaches occur varies from person to person. You may have migraines several times a month or much less often. During a migraine, you may experience the following symptoms:

• Pain on one side or both sides of your head
• Pain that has a pulsating, throbbing quality
• Sensitivity to light, sounds and sometimes smells
• Nausea and vomiting
• Blurred vision
• Lightheadedness, sometimes followed by fainting

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 Certainly they share similarities!
Back to me. Okay I can see why they might diagnose it as such.
But, it has been shown that Behcet's patients can often have headaches/migraines/ other neuro/vascular disturbances ranging from mild to OMG I'M GONNA DIE. (Sorta kinda kidding about that last one.)
So anyway, the jury is still out. No one really knows what causes headaches/migraines in Behcet patients specifically. They are discussing the possibility of doing MRIs during a headache to see what is really happening. Of course, this seems hard to predict, therefore making it hard to SCHEDULE an MRI. I mean, I have a hard time scheduling a neurology appointment, let alone an MRI. Last time I tried to schedule a neurology appointment, it was a four month wait. TO MAKE THE APPOINTMENT. That's right, I could not make an appointment for 4 months, then they estimated another 2-3 months after that to get an appointment. Shameful. Shameful. Shameful.

So, I am tired of talking about the crappy medical professions lack of specialists.
Let's talk something fun.

During the "downtimes" (when kids are not home and we are not traveling) we enjoy watching movies on TV. Or at the theater. Wherever. So here's a funny story.
DH and I were planted in front of the TV watching a movie on Netflix. If you are familiar with it, it is "streamed" to you, like having a DVD, but there is no DVD, it is digitally sent to you. (Oh I love techno anything) ANYWAY. DH was trying to fast forward a movie and he was freaking out because it was going backwards. So he pushes the BACK button and it starts to fast forward. Oh this was so crazy!!!! Then Boom Badda Bing! He realizes the remote was upside down. Best. Day. Ever. I was looking around to see if we were being pranked.
Speaking of being pranked, it is nothing new. For you old-timers, you remember "Candid Camera" . Now that was pranking before pranking was a word!

PS: We are spitting distance to 8000 page views. Thanks, you rock.

Having a Blast-O-Rama

Life has lots of Fireworks!

Oh it is hot. This is an understatement. I cannot for the life of me figure out why temperatures past 80 were invented. Yeah, yeah. I know some people really thrive on the higher temps (DH among them) but I start wilting at approximately 75. We live in an area that is slightly humid usually, along with the heat. Rarely is it super humid, but it can get uncomfortable. Last week, my daughter and family in Ohio was experiencing 80% humidity. I think this qualifies as a "wet heat".

We went to visit another daughter in Reno: It started creeping up to the high nineties, with very low humidity. This is the "dry heat" that people brag about when you whine about the heat, as if this makes it any better. To my way of thinking, it does not excuse the temperature. But one thing is certain, it is aptly named: It quite often brings out the "temper" in some people.

Girl fight at a Starbucks: Made me giggle.

People getting snippy: I'm sure they are nice in the reasonable weather.

Horns honking. Tempers flaring. Road rage.

Then the really sad part of hot weather: People dying, or getting ill. Drownings. Near drownings.

So, I'm not sure there is a lot of good things about heat: Wet or dry, it's all the same to me. (Although I must admit, having lived on the East coast during hot humid weather, it is pretty awful.)

But this is not all about whining. We took a road trip and had a blast.
 Observations:
Casinos are fun to people watch in: People sitting quietly while winning thousands. I would be screaming and jumping up and down if I won like $5. Buffets: The woman who got three pieces of lettuce and 4 large scoops of dressing. The Crab Leg Station: It's like a feeding frenzy at Sea World.
How high can you stack food before it topples?

Museums are awesome. I love historical things. I especially like photos and clothing from real people. It's also fun to see that fashion has about four looks that are recycled over and over.

Visiting with family. Got to see two kids on this trip and their significant others and the other's families. I love the visiting part. Meeting new babies that have been born recently. Seeing your grown-up kids' new environments, work/school/houses. Love it. It makes you so proud to see your kids as responsible adults.


Saw my first black bear! He came bouncing up to the road up ahead of us, took a look and decided it was not a good idea to cross in front of out large vehicle.
(Why didn't the bear cross the road? Cause he was a chicken!)

Good thing he didn't run in front of us: He looked like a teen-age sized bear, and I think we would have won that match. We had fun thinking about what he told his buddies upon running back:
"Oh you should have seen this big metal box crossing my path! They got scared of me, coz they kept running!"

Spent a lovely couple of days in a Nat'l Park.
Score:
Mosquitoes: 500 hits, 3 deaths
Us: 3 kills, 500 welts
Met people from all over the world. Nice people, annoying people, smokers. UGH. Why don't they ban cigs from every public place?  Ahh, breathe in nature! And the smell of YUCH.

Older couple sat next to us on veranda, the beautiful lake in front of us. They were not talking. She was looking at her tablet and fiddling. He was looking at the lake. She spoke up.
"We can get the cruise for $13,000 but it's the last day."
"Oh, is that the Groupon one?"
"No, it's the cheapcruises.com one."
"Oh, okay." He pulls out credit card.
REALLY? My eyes bug out. Zowie. Where are they going to? Mars? LOL

Headed from there to the coast. (I think we were dragging our feet coming home) and it was unusually hot there too. But we did get to go on several hikes on day two as the weather calmed down a bit to "normal". It is also where there was a girl-fight in Starbucks.

Older woman sitting on right hand side of small table in comfy cushy chair, writing letters in her lap. Coffee cup on table.
Younger woman sits on left with her cold coffee placed on table.
OW nastily says: "You can't do that, you'll spill on my stuff."
YW:" I have a lid on it." Voice getting sharp and loud.
OW: Pouting.
YW: Glaring.
OW: pushes YW's cup away
YW: puts it back.
Me: Giggling, taking in the drama. This is WAY better than TV.
Drama continues for a few more moments. Man steps in to offer his two cents. (Bad idea)
YW: Loudly and shrilly: "I am 48 years old, I can do what I want!!!!"
Cushy chair opens up across the way. Neither moves. Both sit in silence hating each other. I think I would have moved. Hard to enjoy one's drink when you are choking on hate.

So what do these things have in common? Well, I thought my life had drama at times. But after watching and observing different situations, I am now thinking we are a bit boring. And I like it. A LOT.

Happy Fourth of July!