Angela's Blog

Hi.

How are ya? I'm doing really well. I've had really awesome but fleeting successes lately. Some of my pins and needles have been taking random hiatus' that have been wonderful but unfortunately temporary. Most of the goodness has been pretty centrally located to my left arm. And this afternoon it was grand. The whole top of my arm from wrist to elbow felt like the pins and needles weren't totally gone but greatly reduced. But now in the PM it is all back to "normal". The pins and needles are back just as they have been. But the spot on the back of my left hand has been holding strong sans pins and needles for days now. I don't know what is working on them but whatever it is I'll take it. I think the two primary culprits are probably either the HBOT or the Chinese herbs. Can you believe it? I am actually a believer in Chinese herbs. I would have totally brushed them off as voodoo before the accident, but now they are making huge differences for me. That's wholly what I attribute having my sense of smell back to. So they might still be voodoo but they're voodoo that works! Although I won't for a minute tell you the taste doesn't bother me. Like eating big spoonfuls of dirt mixed with something dead or dying twice a day. Heck, they must work for people to be willing to suffer the horrendous flavor.

Anyways, I also took another step on the back to work adventure this week. I met with my DVR (division of vocational rehab) lady at UW and we made a plan for how we are going to try achieve job retention for me. How she is going to be my resource if I run into any unexpected challenges, how we plan on tackling those kinds of issues, and how we plan on providing my boss with an okay and acceptable forum to tell on me if I'm sucking wind at work in a productive way. It was good to make the plan and sort of outline how all that is going to work when I get to go back. Unfortunately I'm no closer on the paperwork front. The forms are still in doctor purgatory right now. I'm trying to get a response from my doc about whether she's even working on them but I'm pretty sure she's buried in junk to do with too big a patient load. Hopefully I'll hear back from her soon.

Another fun thing is my homework for my cognitive group this week. We have to prepare a 5 minute talk and then give it next week. I think I'm going to talk about my work, what I do, why I love science, etc. and then tie it together with, of course, food. I'm going to focus on the nerdy science behind caramel corn and then share some corn with the group. Should be a good (and tasty) time. And I have a bunch of fun type contraptions from my work that I can bring in and do a little show and tell. And I'm pretty certain that nobody else will pick this topic. There's not many ultra-nerds out there. Especially after a brain injury.

That's what I got for now.

Bye.

Ang