L 7

My Lil' Corner of Town

Our small town reminds me of  "Mayberry".  Five years, Twenty years, Thirty years go by and not much changes. The area of the town where I spend most of my time has a local corner store/restaurant which is the hotspot where the "locals" congregate daily for breakfast and lunch (we joke that if the town was completely snowed tunnels would be dug so  the locals could all get there for breakfast).  There are  also banks, a jewelry store, a barbershop, our local "Macy's" (aka Goodwill), a coffee shop, a discount store, and a laundry mat... You know pretty much everyone you see on a first name basis in this town.  There are so many "good" and caring people in this community that look out for one another.  If there is someone "NEW" in the town they literally stick out.  Like I said it is kinda like Mayberry. 

The Window

There are many men and women  in this community that I have really grown fond of that are true staples in the community!  They are the people that really make a difference, if you don't see them out and about you miss them, they have made an impact in the town, and/or we me,  you just know them because they would do anything for you.  Many of these men and women have become friends and like family with us at the store and my family as well (I am sure others in this community).

The end of 2017 we lost one of our town's staples.  I am so fortunate to have been able call him my friend.   So many knew him and knew he was quite the character but unfortunately some who passed him by never got  the pleasure to really know him.  If you knew him, you knew that he told you like it was, he wouldn't hesitate to tell you if he didn't like something.  He didn't like attention on him.  He didn't pull any punches. A stubborn man was he (lol).

I loved to see him every day and sometimes numerous times a day.  He would come over to tell us the days lunch specials and tease me by saying something like, "Baby Girl, today's special it is your favorite... Meat Loaf!"  (you see he knows I don't like meatloaf, or shepards pie, or ribs, well anything like that, so he would love to mess with me).    This man would also come in and hang out with us if he saw from his apartment window "a shady character" lurking outside our store (he had a direct view of our store, the bank, and barber shop from his window so he would keep an eye out for all "his girls".  He got the nickname at the restaurant as "The Sheriff" so that kinda stuck as well). He would pop in our store from time to time  and surprise us with our favorite chocolates or bring us drinks.

Last year on for my birthday, he went out of his way to SURPRISE ME with a lemon meringue pie.  He had it specially made for me because he knew it was one of my favorites.  When he walked up to  the store to pick it up, it wasn't ready!  Well that didn't go well for the ladies at the bakery... Granted, I got my lemon meringue pie with a funny story with it.  Haha!!!

I wonder how many knew that when no one was watching (in the mornings or near dark) he would water the flowers in the town square's flower beds (I know we all sign up to water them in the summer but I am sure there are times they are forgotten or they may still dry out from heat so he helped keep them alive) and the banks flowers, he would wash my store's windows (sometimes the bank and barbershop's as well),  he would sweep the sidewalks, if it snowed sometimes cleared the snow (and he really wasn't in the best of health to do so), and he also go help out at the little store/restaurant I spoke of above?  I am sure there are more things I am missing that he did without being asked being rather stealthy about it because he didn't want any recognition.

As I have been leaving or  entering the store each morning and evening, I look up at his apartment window (as I always do) ready to wave and then realize he isn't there.  I keep waiting each day for him to come in the door but he doesn't... It is just not the same with out him!

Laughs...

I will miss our jokes.  Believe it or not he liked to joke around just as much as we did.  The best was secretly  "tagging" his back  with post-it notes that said things like "The Jewel Box Girls are the Best" and he would leave and come back later after going across the street and then to the barbershop.  He would come back (after we were busted by the Barbershop Girls)  shaking his finger and of course I got the blame because I was the first to post these on his back and the rest of the girls got in on it. But he loved it! 

I will miss his stories of  "his girlfriend" or him watering the cigarette receptacles outside to prevent people from pulling used "butts" out, re-lighting, and smoking them. Oh how he would laugh! 

Last spring he went home with me to help Jason off the porch roof.  Jason called me from his cell phone because he couldn't get down...  Well of course I couldn't go help him down by myself, I needed back up. We all laughed about this "unfortunate event" for months.  

Stories..

I will miss his stories of his life in Panama while in the service and how much he loved it there.  How the  nickname "Square" or L 7 (the L and 7 together  looks like a square) came about and it wasn't because he sat in the square all the time; it was because of a brick hitting his "flat head". Over the last few years there were many stories of his family and just friends...  He knew how to make us all laugh.    

Last year when we surprised him with the "town" celebrating his birthday week.  He played all "cool" but you could see the joy in his face and the extra bounce in his step.  He was proud.  It made it so worth it for all who participated!

These are just some of the memories of this man, a man I know this community will never forget and neither will I.  In the short amount of time that we knew him, he made a huge impact in my life.  Not only was he a friend, he basically became like family to us at the store and to my kids... 

He will forever be missed! 

We all love ya L7.

It has been some time since I have written a blog post.  Life has been rather hectic lately. There have been so many topics that have been running through my brain lately, but this topic has literally been smacking my head daily.

My Chronic Migraines 

Most of you have had headaches at times in your life, many of you have had a migraine before, and some of you suffer with them.  For me, I am pretty sure could deal if it was just a headache; I feel as if I have a fairly high pain tolerance, it is ALL the symptoms that come with the MIGRAINE & the frequency that is so frustrating. 

Most who are around me may not realize that I suffer with chronic migraines because I force myself to function in the everyday world.   Some weeks consist of daily migraines, while others I may have just two or three.  There is no rhyme or reason as to why I get them or how many I will get in a week.  I have had migraines since I was a kid but the last two years they have been relentless.

For me, almost every day for the past two years I wake up in what I call a brain fog, because either I am at the start of my next migraine or my body is trying to recover from the last one.   With the brain fog, I have an extremely hard time concentrating and focusing, sometimes I even feel so exhausted.  My speech even suffers at times, I feel like I am slurring my words.  There are times Jason or my girls are talking to me, I hear them &  see them mouthing the words but nothing is registering and if it does register there is a high probability I will forget what they said a few moments later.  (Those who are close to me, know that I am normally not forgetful, so this is very unlike me.  Ex. I normally can remember almost every detail of what happened 15 years ago.)  There are days that my head feels like someone is stabbing it and days that I may not have an actual “headache” but my vision is disturbed with auras and sometimes I have tunnel vision; then the nausea sets in, the dizziness and vertigo symptoms.   Sometimes I lose my vision, see flashes of light, have the auras, have high pitched ringing in my ears, and sounds are magnified for the day, sometimes just minutes, or hours depending on how the medications I am on decide to work that day.  Most of the time when I have a migraine I do have the combination of the headache and the vision but not all the time.  Then on top of it all too much stimuli makes the migraines worse.

The one thing that does seem to help is a cool, dark, quiet room where I can sleep it off.  Unfortunately, I have so many that I just can’t sleep my life away; I have a family and a job.  So, I put a smile on my face and push myself through each day.  Most of the time I can disguise it well; but this is exhausting.  There are only a handful of people that can tell when I am having one of my “episodes”.   When my migraine is over my body feels like Jell-O and I am wiped-out.  Maybe if I could go to that cool, dark, quiet room and sleep it would help but that isn’t an option. 

As many of you know, I love to run.  If I don't run, I do feel worse so there are times I have to force myself through my run.  Just the pounding of the pavement makes me even more nauseous at times.  There are times on the straight stretches I have to close my eyes to keep from losing my cookies.  But lately, I have been so weak that even getting out to run has been hard.   

 Did you know you don’t have to have a headache for it to be a migraine, just all the other migraine symptoms? 

My Triggers

I know of three triggers of mine but then there are days that I wake-up with a migraine and I am unsure what triggered it.

 Lights. My first trigger certain types of lights.  Florescent lighting is the worst; I can see the constant “flashing”.  Really bright LED lights.  Certain headlights.  

 Smells.  Certain perfumes, colognes, cleaning products,  certain candle scents, essential    oils, or anything that has a strong scent will automatically trigger a migraine. 

 Weather.  I am finding that my head is tending to be pretty good at predicting a big weather pattern change.

Things I have tried

I have tried elimination of foods hoping to maybe find a trigger without success.  As well as over the counter drugs, physical therapy, and ENT for my vertigo.  I have been doing Botox injections for almost a year now.  The Botox has not helped me in the fact that it has lessened the amount of migraines, but it has helped with the intensity of the pain associated with them.  I feel like a walking pharmacy with all the medications I take to prevent an attack or when one hits. Some of the meds I have to be “selective” when I am going to take because I can only take so many times each month; so I have to decide which is my worse day.   Many of the meds that I take just help ease the symptoms and they don’t cure the symptoms.

Cefaly or Sprint TMS

A few weeks back my neurologist sent me to see another neurologist to review everything we have been doing for the last two years.  There were hopes that there may be something she was missing or another medication that might work, or something else that we could be doing to help reduce the occurrence.  I met with this neurologist for about an hour and a half.  She did an exam and reviewed all my records and I am back to square one.   She agrees with everything that has been done so far.  Although she did suggest a Cefaly unit or a Spring TMS unit,  I am doing  research on both.  Cefaly is a onetime purchase but the electrodes are extra an extra fee and will frequently need replaced. The Spring TMS is a monthly fee.  But which is better?  Does one work better than the other?  I am so confused…     

Why am I writing all this? 

 I am frustrated… I am obviously not only one out there with chronic migraines with these crazy symptoms and maybe we can help each other.  I am hoping that maybe this will help people understand why I might seem “out to lunch” at times.  Maybe someone reading this will say, “Have you tried …?”   Maybe this will remind others to be sparing when using perfumes, colognes, essential oils because there are people who unfortunately have reactions to them.  

So if you have any ideas, suggestions, or maybe have tried the Cefaly or Spring TMS units I would like to hear your input.