Botox Injections #1

Yesterday I experienced a procedure like none other. I had botox. I have gotten a few funny looks when I have mentioned that as I do not have wrinkles in my face. What I do have though are headaches that are debilitating, exhausting and painful. You might wonder what botox and headaches have in common (so did I), but it turns out that they can work quite nicely with one another. I met with my neuromuscular doctor a few months back and he had suggested trying botox as a way of relieving some of my headache symptoms. Apparently this is something that could be done. Who knew??

I will be the first to say that it was by no means a comfortable experience. In fact, it was rather painful. How someone chooses to do this voluntarily for cosmetic reasons continues to baffel me, but to each his own. The reasoning for getting botox injections is that it is supposed to "numb" or "paralyze" my neck muscles, so that they can sort of relax. Beyond that explanation I am a little foggy on the exact reasoning, but I am short on options, so I decided to give it a go. The trigger points in my neck were injected with this botox and the hope is that these painful trigger points will eventually go away.
Yesterday's experience felt more like hot hot water running into my skull, accompanied by a lot of poking and crunching in my neck muscles. Not pleasant on any scale. I had 3 injections done yesterday and I will have a few more at the end of May - this time in the front of my neck and then hopefully after that I will be good to go for 3 months before I may need some more. We're taking this in steps and if it's not working we will explore new treatment options.

Yesterday I was quite drowsy and sore. I have very little ability to hold up my head right now (thank goodness for laptops and lots and lots of pillows) as my muscles are "numb", but I am told my strength will return and the pain will go away in a few days. Today I made the mistake of maybe overdoing it at work (I still worked on 4 clients - oops) and am now feeling the effects of that. I will know better for next time that I need to take the day off of work. I am still quite sore today. Driving hurts and I feel like I have been beaten across the back of my head. The doctor warned me that I may have some substantial bruising that will appear in the next few days, but I would much more deal with an ugly, bruised neck rather then a headache. I don't know if my head feels any different today - I can't say that I have headache, but I'm feeling a lot of other pain, so it could just be masked.

The rest of today and tomorrow will be somewhat low key as I gear up for heading out to Vancouver/Abbotsford on Thursday. Thank you for all of those people who prayed for me yesterday. Your prayers are very much appreciated. I am hoping and praying very hard that this will work and that relief will be had.

Day Trippin

Yesterday was all about goodness in every form. Somewhere around 9am, Sabrina, Gavin, Kristen and myself headed out of Winnipeg, Starbucks in hand, and made our way out to the town of Winkler.

Gavin heading out in style.

Kristy, Graham and Norah have been missed in the last few weeks (Graham is out there doing is Family Medicine rotation) so we decided that if Kristy and Norah couldn't come to us, we would make our way out to them.

It was a day of good conversation, Poutine lunches and cute kids. It was neat to see where Graham and Kristy have been living for the past few weeks and it was wonderful to catch up and hear about the happenings in each other's lives.

Storytime with Auntie Kara

delicious poutine lunch with coke.

Cuddles with Auntie Kristen

The Friesen Girls

It was a perfect day spent with some very lovely people. Hopefully our next get together will be in Winnipeg and Aimee can join us.

Mmmm Goodness

It has been drawn to my attention that Earth day is in just a few days - Wednesday to be exact. I will be the first to admit that I am not as Earth conscious as I would like to be or probably should be. This morning Bailey and I walked over to Starbucks for a venti caramel macchiato and when I was in there, I noticed a sign by the register saying that if you go in with a reusable mug on Wednesday, Earth Day, Starbucks will fill up your cup with their Pike Roast coffee for FREE!!! How awesome is that???? No doubt on Wednesday I will be making use of that deal. Just thought those Starbucks lovers out there might like to know that. 

It's been a long week filled with many awful headaches. I took 2 days off from work due to the intense amount of pain, but in a week I am due for my first botox injection for the pain, so I am hoping that will help. Despite these headaches that I seem to be plagued with, I have been able to enjoy some goodness in my weekend so far. Friday night the girls that I coached at MBCI had a bingo bowl fundraiser for their club volleyball team. The constant blinking bright lights did very little good for my head (I felt like I was about to seizure), but the concept of bingo bowling was awesome. We had a lot of fun. 

Saturday night after church, I headed straight home to nurse my ailing head with some wine and Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great movie and if you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it. 

My parents are both gone for the weekend, so it has been absolutely delightful to have a somewhat empty house. Both my brothers are home, but let's be honest, they are rarely here. I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed the quiet of a house pretty much by myself. Bailey and I have kept each other in good company. We have ventured out on many many walks as I am now the sole and primary dog walker while the parents are gone. It's been nice. Like I said earlier, this morning when all is still very much quiet outside on a Sunday, Bailey and I made our way over to Starbucks for some early morning goodness. The quiet and peacefulness of the outside first thing in the morning is absolutely delightful - perhaps it might become part of our regular sunday routine and quite possibly worth the lack of sleeping in. 

The parents are due home in a few hours and the brothers are emerging from their slumber and the sun that was shining so warmly on me is quickly making its way behind the clouds so it might be time for some relaxation on the couch, another cup of coffee and a good movie. Today is going to be a day of relaxing and gearing up for a busy week. Enjoy your Sunday and whatever it may hold!

He has Risen Indeed!

Easter has come and gone and it is a joy to be able celebrate and say that Christ has Risen! 

It has been a neat Lent/Easter experience for me. I feel as though I have encountered the presence of Jesus in some neat and unexpected ways. Jesus is good. I blogged a little while back about part of my lent journey. To say the least, it was an interesting one - some moments good and others not quite so good. 

Starting lent I had these ideas of how I wanted God to teach me (the key words being that I HAD ideas of HOW I wanted God to teach me). I wanted God to teach me to relinquish control in some specific areas of my life - primarily in the area of my marital status and babies. I wanted to feel free to enjoy life in the stage where I am at. I wanted to be content in my relationship with Jesus and wanted Jesus to be enough for me right now rather then thinking that a husband and a baby was going to be enough. 

Well, life took a little bit of a different turn for me over the course of the lent season. I was shaken to the core - life appeared very bleak some days. God took every security and comfort that I had and threw them out the window. All that was left was me and Jesus. I had no choice but to look to him as I was incapable of relying on myself. In some ways I felt lifeless and looking back, perhaps I needed to "die" in some respects in order for me to realize that when all is taken away, the only thing I can really count on is Jesus and his love for me.

In my brokenness Jesus has been slowly molding and refining me into a new person. The joys in my life are slowly being added. I am far from the person that I desire to be, but there is progress being made. I have found new life - new life in myself but more importantly, new life in Christ. There were moments in my lenten journey where I was discouraged about the fact that I hadn't learned what I wanted to learn over the course of lent, but the truth is, I have learned so much more then I could have ever imagined. 

I am currently in a bible study where we are reading through the books of the bible with a book entitled, "How to Read the Bible for all its Worth". It's a phenomenal book. At the moment we have just finished Leviticus and Numbers. Prior to reading these books of the bible, I must admit that I was dreading the dryness and lack of interesting stories that these particular books hold. I suppose you could say that I was putting God in a box again. As I was doing my readings over the past 3 weeks I had some little "a-ha" moments . Me and the Israelites are not so different sometimes. Both of us relentless and stubborn, but I have been in awe at the bigness of God and his constant pursuit of the Israelites as his people. The grace that he offers them often made me say to myself, "God, what are you thinking? They don't deserve you", but I guess I don't deserve the grace God extends to me either. I found it fitting to read these books over the Easter season. 

Easter has come and gone, but I hope that I can continue to allow Jesus to be sufficient for me and that I would continue to be open to his leading and speaking in my life. I have experienced new life this Easter. 

He has Risen Indeed!

The Cotton Cupcake Shoppe

My friend Amber has started a new business venture that makes the sweetest baby clothes and accessories. It is moments like these where it's probably a good thing that I don't have any kids of my own because I would probably buy far more then I should.

That being said, check out her new website and the cute outfits she has.

More Cake Goodness

On Friday we celebrated Aimee's 25th birthday. It was a low key celebration - perfect after a long week of sickness from some people and just plain old tiredness from others. The evening consisted of game playing (Scattagories to be exact), lots of junk food eating and good conversation. I was in charge of the cake. I worked most of the week on this cake. I had to do it in smaller stages due to time and my work schedule, but I finally finished it at 11pm on Thursday night. I didn't end up being completely what I had envisioned, but I think it turned out ok regardless. I think with my initial vision I bit off a little more then I could chew. I guess it's something to aspire to.
Sadly, no one took pictures from Friday night's party - we must have been too caught up in the fun that we forgot or just too comfortable on the couch to get up and get our cameras. Here are some of the pictures I took of the cake though.

Unhealthy Goodness

To some, this plate represents artery, clogging awfulness. But to others, this plate represents delightful, cheesy, gravy smothered goodness.

Kristy and I belong in the latter category. Over the last year Kristy and I have enjoyed many of these lunches. I guess you could call it our comfort food. Kristy & Graham are going to Winkler for 5 weeks and in that time I am very much going to miss our poutine lunches, so this past Wednesday we had lunch and it was great! I'm so glad you share in my love for poutine Kristy! Maybe we'll have to bring poutine out to Winkler :)

BIRTHDAY WISHES

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!

Aimee,

I hope you have a wonderful day spent celebrating and spoiling YOU! I hope that there are a bunch of little things in today that let you know that you are loved. You are a wonderful and lovely friend and I am so blessed to have you in my life. I appreciate all the times we hang out, whether it be just laying low and watching movies or going out on the town and Backstreet Boys concerts. I love it all. I adore how much you love life and how you make the most of it. Your ice melting smile always makes me smile right along with you. Thank you. I pray that this next year of life is full of adventure (as I'm sure it will be with a new baby and all :) and that you would continue to seek Jesus in the everyday and that his presence really becomes known to you. Love you tons!!

Kara