Meds, a Mirror Box, and Martha Stewart

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything. I was having a pretty bad time with the pain for several weeks. Therefore, not much happened and we ended up not going to the Desert Park. I have a couple pictures of random things I will be posting soon. So, now I will explain the title.

Meds
I went to see a pain specialist here on Tuesday. Travis is out of the country, so my friend Pauline took me. Although I didn't think he had a ton of new ideas, he did suggest going off of two of my meds and weaning off of a third. In addition, he suggested I change the way I take two other meds to better help with the pain that I have mostly in the evening and at night and my lack of sleep that effects me most nights. It has only been a couple of days, but things seem to be getting better. I am really happy to be getting off some of the meds and really happy that these changes seem to be helping.

Mirror Box
One idea that the pain specialist did have was for me to go back to physical therapy and more specifically use a mirror box. Apparently, you put your bad limb in the box and your good limb reflects in the mirror. It somehow helps to retrain your brain because your brain interprets the reflection in the mirror as your bad limb. The pain specialist and the base doctor seem to be really excited about this treatment. I am really excited because it is non-invasive and is shown to work on people with my condition. I will put a link on my blog if anyone wants more information about this treatment. They also want me to start exercising anything I can without hurting my ankle and thought that working out in a pool would be a good idea for me. Hopefully I will be able to start all these things as soon as Travis returns next week.

Martha Stewart
I was directed to the Martha Stewart site by my mom and I am so glad I went there. I have been feeling a bit sad about being away from everyone for Christmas and not having many decorations because of our rapid departure from the states. I was so pleased to find a variety of crafts that can be made from just paper that I have around the house. I particularly liked the paper plate angels!! Any of you with kids might want to check it out for Christmas crafts you can do with your kids for very little if any money. I hope you all enjoy!!

I will be seeing the base doctor next week Thursday and will probably schedule my PT appointments from there. Please keep me in your prayers that the mirror box therapy will work and I will finally be able to have my life back.