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Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog

I’m pretty certain that I am about to write another super short post tonight. I’m so tired today. I couldn’t keep my eyes open all day. They kept closing, seemingly of their own volition all day today. I kept doing that nodding off and jolting back up again thing all day! My little man kept laughing at me. Boy it was good to come home! I didn’t realize how much I missed my family until I saw them all. It sure felt much longer than a week. Time is such a strange thing. It didn’t feel long while we were there until maybe the last night. Mom and I were both feeling super tired by then. We missed our own beds & pillows. We missed being able to eat our own food. And mostly we missed our families! And now, on that note, I’m going to read to my son!

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!        

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Zzzzzz….

After 6 days in a row getting laser treatments for my stupid Trigeminal Neuralgia 💆🏼, I hurt my back getting out of the rental car 🚘 at the Toronto Airport ✈️‼️🙍🏼😰. Seriously, I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. Really…

This is about to be my shortest post ever. We board our flight in about 20 minutes. It leaves at about 10:00 (Toronto time) 🕙and we get home at midnight (Edmonton time) 🕛. However, it will feel like 2:00AM 🕑 to mom and I (👵🏼 & 👩🏼).  I can hardly move because of my current back pain and we’re about to sit on an airplane ✈️ for 4 hours. So, I’m pretty sure that I won’t be writing when we get home!! Night night 💤💤!!

Yep. Not adding much else…about to finally lie down, in my own bed – yay!! It’s now 2:30, Edmonton time, which is about 4:30, Toronto time, yikes! I’m too tired to think…

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!       

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

How Long Must We Wait? We’re Hungry!!!

Today mom and I (👵🏼 &🙎🏼) finally did a bit of sight-seeing. [Okay, this has nothing to do with what I was about to say, but have you seen the newest IOS update? The emotions have been updated!! So, looks like there’s a new me 🙋🏼 complete with new expressions/poses – as you can see with the first emoticon I used to be me 🙎🏼!! Mom’s the same though👵🏼. Fun fun fun!!] Anyway, after my  appointment we drove to Port Credit (an odd name, right??).  We walked 👟by the  light house and by some neat shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful day ☀️and we went into a neat l👀king restaurant, with an upstairs patio, for lunch. There hasn’t been great weather since we’ve been here. Apparently we weren’t the only ones out taking advantage of the great weather. When we went inside they said that the patio was full and that there was a about a 40 minute ⏰wait (he was a bit rude about it – 👿). So, we sat inside instead. Well, we ordered a couple Strongbows 🍻 and put our food order in (nothing fancy, just a couple burgers 🍔) and our food took over an hour ⌛️to arrive!! Evidently we misunderstood Mr Rude-guy 👿. The 40 minute wait-time ⌚️was for the food, not to get a seat on the patio! Also, our waitress informed us that today was the first day of the year that their patio was open. It seemed that everyone who lived in the area had decided that they wanted to get outside and, from what we could see, this was not of the only patios opened! However, we were pleasantly surprised by how great the food was 🍴. Also, our waitress was quite sweet, just extremely busy and somewhat overwhelmed. The frustrating thing was that by the time we finished eating we weren’t left with much time to check out the neat shops 🌇. Not that I have much money 💵 to spend anyway. We were restrained by the time, because I had to get to a drug store before it closed. We ended up arriving too late to get my prescription 📝at Rexall, they had just closed the pharmacy as we arrived. Fortunately, we ended up finding a Shoppers that was open until 6:00, most had closed at 5:00. Since we decided to stay a couple extra nights, I didn’t have enough of my medications 💊 with me. To avoid having too many bottles, I only brought enough to last for the trip. Thankfully Dr Khan wrote me a prescription to cover what I needed.

Well, I know that wasn’t much of an exciting post, but I’m wiped and I’m going to get ready for bed now. 🌜😴💤 These laser treatments exhaust me. Last treatment’s tomorrow and then we fly ✈️home tomorrow night, assuming I can figure out where to go at the airport to drop our car 🚘 and get to the right gate…wish us luck!!

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!      

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Lasers, Lasers And More Lasers!!

Today is our fifth day in Toronto. It’s starting to look like I’m going to need to create a non-profit business called something like ” The Help Heal Jenn Foundation”!! I can set up fundraisers and maybe a 5km run and other events to raise money to pay for my laser therapy – lol!!  I’m clearly joking. However, the costs do keep increasing. There are more and more costs going onto mom’s (👵) visa. I’m pretty sure that soon she and dad (👵 & 👴) will be able to travel around the world on the Aeroplan 💳 she’s collecting!!  It’s pretty crazy.

We brought the rental unit home, well not ‘home’ really, we brought it to our hotel. (Did I say this yesterday??) I’ve been asked for information and updates on the laser therapy treatments I’ve been receiving. They are really hard to explain! So, I’m going to give you a simple explanation…if I can!

There are four steps (kinds of lights) to the treatment:  The first is red light generated by 180 LEDs. The second step is an infrared band of LED’s, which penetrates deeper into the body.  (These first two steps, which are delivered by an array of 180 LED’s, are not actual lasers and can be used by the patient themselves. This is what we have rented.)The third step is the use of a red laser probe. Followed by the final step, a much more focused infrared probe, which can deliver more power and can go as deep as 22cm into the body.  These last two steps can only be performed by a trained technician in a controlled, clinical environment. Everyone in the room must wear dark, protective glasses (my mom 👵 has worn these dark glasses a lot this week!)  When they use the laser probe on my face, I have protective goggle-type things on. Similar to the ones that people wear for fake-and-baking (for those who choose to pay for cancer!)

The reason that all of this works is: “Light is absorbed by a variety of cellular components in the tissue being irradiated. In essence, light energy is transformed into biochemical energy resulting in the restoration of normal cellular function and morphology.” (Quoted from Meditech’s pamphlet about Low Intensity Laser Therapy.) Obviously this is a direct quote and doesn’t sound like a simple explanation at all!! For even more detailed information, go to http://www.bioflexlaser.com and/or see Dr Doidge’s book “The Brains Way Of Healing.” In the fourth chapter of his book he writes about Dr Khan and the laser therapy he utilizes. Actually, this is an amazing book (not just chapter 4) that I have only just began reading. This is where my mom (👵) found out about Low Intensity Intensity Laser Therapy.

Dr Doidge talks about how the brain can heal – duh!!! I just said the title of his book – lol!! And the word I’m about to write will change my life. Maybe not overnight, maybe not in a week or a month, but it will happen. It likely will not cure my Trigeminal Neuralgia, but with persistence, practice, exploration and the strong strong desire to take charge of my body and my pain, it will help. It will!

Neuroplasticity 

“Neuroplasticity is the property of the brain that enables it to change its own structure and functioning in response to activity and mental experience.” (From “The Brain’s Way of Healing”, by Norman Doidge, M.D.) The laser therapy is changing and healing my brain with light energy!!

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!     

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Driving Around Toronto 

Yes. It is me 👩. Awake at 9:00AM (7:00 Edmonton time) for the 4th day in a row!! To anyone who knows me really well, that’s quite a miracle!!  Woohoo!! Mom and I (👵 & 👩) are heading out to Cora’s. We decided that, even though we can get the complimentary breakfast, we want a change and, hopefully some fresh fruit 🍓🍌🍇. Hopefully we won’t get lost today. I’ve been driving the rental car 🚗 around Toronto. For the most part, we’ve been okay. It’s just that sometimes we get all turned around 🔃. And the stupid phone maps are always shifting around depending which way you’re facing 🔄. I know, logically, that it is always facing north, but every road is curvy, so it gets frustrating. I wish I had a regular paper map!! Old fashioned, I know, but it makes it easier if I could just look at it on paper, before we go. 📝📝. And, now, we’re off!  Maybe I’ll write more later. After my session! Bye for now!👋👋

I’m back 👩! Although, if you read this it will all be together anyway. I’m not 100% sure this post actually uploaded correctly this morning. Had my 3rd laser treatment today. I haven’t noticed a huge change yet 😞. But, Dr Khan 😷 is certain, without even a shred of doubt, that I will improve 😊. So, I’m staying positive and hopeful, which I’m sure will help. Our minds are powerful and hope keeps you moving forward 🙏. 

Mom and I (👵&👩) are enjoying ourselves. I’m pretty tired after the treatments, which has helped to create a great deal of silliness and laughter 😜😜 (just in-case that hasn’t been obvious in my past few posts!! Lol!) We’ve also been watching Downton Abbey 📺, which my mom has been wanting to watch with me for some time now. So, I’m going to go now; that way we may get to watch two episodes before bed 💤💤. 

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!      

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

We Changed Our Flight ✈️ To Monday Night

I’m back 👩 and it’s even before 9:00PM!! That’s two nights in a row that I’m writing at a normal time. Yay me🎉!  We changed our flight ✈️ to Monday night. So we will be able to go to the clinic 🏥 for three extra sessions. Thankfully they are open both Saturday and Sunday.  Changing the flight was a bit of a pain…

Around 11:00 my mom 👵 called 📞 WestJet

The guy 👴 said, you booked through Airmiles 💳, or did you forget?

So she 👵 thanked him and then she called ☎️ Airmiles 💳

The automated system 💻 thanked her for her patience and her smiles 😃.

The system 💻 directed her call from line to line.

Finally asking if calling back 📞 within the hour ⌚️ would be fine.

Mom 👵 decided to wait until after to have her shower 🚿

But we waited and waited ⌛️, ever growing more dour 😠!

So she decided to have her shower 🚿 and no longer wait.

Of course that’s when her phone rang 📞, just like fate.

A little bit wet 💦,Mom 👵 then got on the phone,

To ask about changing the day we come home 🏠.

He put her on hold ☎️ and said he’d get things on track,

Then we waited and waited ⏳and he never came back!

So once again we made the same phone call 📱

Back 🔙 to the automated system 💻, we had to restart it all!!

Finally we got to the place where it says they’ll call 📞 you

And again we waited, there was nothing else we could do!

My appointment was lurking and we couldn’t be late ⏰

So mom 👵 got into the shower 🚿, we didn’t have time to wait!

And I bet you can guess 😏 what happened then…

Once she stepped into the shower 🚿they called ☎️back again‼️‼️

LOL!!

JKC

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!     

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

86 And Going Strong 

We just got back to the hotel after my first laser therapy treatment. I am feeling super tired. I was half asleep through the treatment. The doctor saw me first. He’s 86 years old and still works about 4 days a week! He talked to me about why I was there, we went over a bit of my history, my medications, and a quick physical exam. When he looked at my medications, he said, “oh, they’re throwing everything at you aren’t they!” There was a nice woman with him (not sure if she was a nurse or technician) and as he was asking me to do various things, like turning my head, moving my neck, etc., he was telling her to set this infrared to such-and-such and this other thing at something else. He listed all of these numbers and settings and she wrote nothing down, she was just nodding as he talked. However, when she took me to the room, she remembered everything he said and explained it to my mom and I. I guess that  different types and colours of light penetrate to different levels in your body (through the muscle, to the veins, bones, etc.) She was very very nice. Actually, the whole feel at the clinic is very comfortable and positive. It was just a nice atmosphere at the clinic. I almost fell asleep and I generally have a difficult time sleeping. The light pad things (obviously not a technical term!) were just laid against my skin on my neck and face and upper cervical spine.  They put dark, protective goggle things in my eyes (& my mom had to wear dark glasses. Then they laid the lights on me. They were warm, but not uncomfortable in any way. Every so often she moved them around. They also use a laser probe thing which they hold in certain spots and move around. These are more targeted and a stronger or higher intensity, so they go deeper into your body, sort-of…I’m not sure I’m explaining it 100% accurately. Please don’t quote me, I am most definitely not an expert!! All of these extra photons in my cells are supposed to almost energize the cells. This promotes healing and increase immune response. I don’t really feel like I’m explaining this very well.   Hmmm…It’s like sending microscopic energizer bunnies into my cells to get things moving again!!🐰🐇🐰🐇 

Right now I feel exhausted. (I guess it can make you tired.) So, I’m going to have a little nap before we run out to get food. I go back tomorrow and Friday for more sessions. He was funny. He wants me to do 5 days in a row, especially since I am just starting with laser therapy. The way he said it is what was funny. He just stated this, more like a fact, not a question. He said, ” stay until Monday.” My mom said that we have flights booked that we can’t get out of. He just said, “that’s okay. I’ll just write a note for you stating that you have to stay for medical reasons.” I’m pretty sure that we’d have to pay anyway. We didn’t get insurance for the flights, not to mention hotel and food costs! And, my hubby works on Monday!  The good news is that they have units that can be rented. But…it always feels like, at the end of the day it’s cost…money, money, money!! These units are just the red and infrared lights, not the laser probe things. It’s something like $350/month, with a $350 deposit that you get back when you return the unit. We have to figure out what we’re going to do. If  for some reason the airline lets us change our flight, I may be needing one of my beautiful friends, who is reading this right now, to watch my little man on Monday. Highly unlikely though, it’ll probably cost too much!! It just feels like we came all the way here and we came to get treatment from the guy who came up with this type of therapy and now we may not be able to follow through with it in the way he recommends. Huh…

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!     

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Live From Toronto

Hello everybody!!🙋 Here I am again. Coming directly to you Live From Toronto!!! Woohoo!!👏👏👏

👊Throw ya hands up, ✋put ’em in the air, 🎸rock it with me like you just don’t care🎶!! 👊Throw ya hands up, ✋get ’em up high, 🎸rock it with me and we’ll go all night🎶!! 👏👏👏 Thank-you, Thank-you! 💋 Please hold the applause!!👏👏👏

Ah’ Huh…and this, ladies and gentlemen, is my brain on exhaustion (and I guess I do have a ton of medications, 💊so I could have said this is my brain on exhaustion and drugs 💉…). Either way, I’m sure you get the idea. I’m super tired right now 😴. This is my current state; eyes close, head droops, body leans forward and then there’s the sudden jerk back up and “I’m awake! I’m awake!” (in my head), force eyes open,…and repeat! So I apologize for the quality and/or lack thereof in tonight’s post!

My first appointment with Dr Kahn isn’t until tomorrow, so after what felt like a very short night with only about 5 hours of sleep, we (my mom and I – 👵& 👩) had a long day. Even though we didn’t get into bed until about 2:00AM and it took me some time to fall asleep, which usually happens to me when I’m staying in a hotel, we had to be up by at least 8:30 ⏰.  The free breakfast is taken away at 9:30 and that was one of the reasons we stayed here, also needed coffee ☕️! After breakfast, I had a nice shower 🚿. It was a good one with decent water pressure. I just hate those ones that feel like they’re drizzling down on you. You know the ones I mean. You might as well be washing your hair with your 4 year olds cheap, barely working, dollar-store water guns 🔫 … and, no, I’m not talking about the newer super-soaker type ones!  Then we picked up our rental car 🚘 and got some running around done. We went to The Bay thinking it was attached to a mall, only to realize it wasn’t connected to the mall.  This turned out okay because we discovered that they had the Easter Lindt chocolates on sale 🍫for 50% off! I mean, who could walk away from that kind of deal right??! It was clearly meant to be! We also went to Rexall, Walmart, and Best Buy and picked up some much needed “supplies”: dry mouth spray – $15 (I need this because my medications give me such a dry, pasty mouth that I feel like I have to peel my tongue off of the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t bring the one from home because the bottle’s bigger than the allowed liquids on an airplane ✈️), an ice pack – $11 (I couldn’t bring mine on the plane because it is also considered to be a “liquid” – however I’m going to try to bring this one home and I’ll just play dumb if they question me – lol✈️), pain-relief spray – $6 (for my back & shoulder that hurt because of the tension on my right-hand-side where I always have pain, from constantly tensing up and being in the same awkward position while holding my ice-pack), Neuragen – $27 (this is a homeopathic essential-oil mix that is supposed to help with pain relief for nerve pain and FYI, I just love the smell!), a heating pad – $28 (also for my back/shoulder pain and I forgot mine at home 😪), an iPad case 📲 – $20 (I’d been using the one with the blue-tooth keyboard, but I found that I don’t actually use the key board all that often and that case makes my iPad Air feel heavy and clunky. So I didn’t bring that case with me, but wanted just a basic, light and slim case on it instead.), food/water/drinks 🍻(to bring into the hotel, pretty self explanatory), BP’s, 🍕 (had either a late lunch or early dinner) and last but not least, and this is integral to have, wine 🍷(another self explanatory one!!)

Well, that’s a boring, glorified schedule of events…sorry it was on my mind. Now I really really need to sleep. I’m falling asleep as I write!!

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!   

 Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Hello Toronto…ahhhh quiet

Got a notification today and I’ve officially made 100 posts!!! Woohoo!! Haven’t missed a day since January 1st!!!

We just arrived at our hotel in Toronto. It was a safe and quiet flight. I watched the movie The Foxcatcher, I think that’s what it was. It cost me $6, but I figured it would pass the time and make the flight go by faster, which it did. We were with the wind, so we arrived a bit earlier than expected. I think my mom and I must have looked lost, because a guy came up to us and asked if we needed a cab. I think it was one of those new services where it’s not a big name taxi company, but a person with his own vehicle. I don’t know for sure, but I think he scammed us because we were looking tired and lost, so just went with him. Yes, not smart or particularly safe. We aren’t far from the airport, but we paid $50 for the taxi, which was likely too much!  But, we are here and checked into the hotel. It’s nice and quiet. A basic hotel room, it’s clean and cosy and I’m going to go to bed soon. Once I unpack a few things. So, today’s post is short. I have to run to find an ice machine. I couldn’t bring my ice-packs because they had too much liquid 😪😪.

Short and sweet post tonight. I did intend to write while in the air, but I couldn’t get to my iPad and I realized that I couldn’t open the site on my phone (daaa…no wifi Jenn!) and I don’t have the ap on my phone. So, this is all we get for today. At least it’s not all the negative bla bla bla’s I’ve been writing all week! Feeling hopeful ❌😘❌‼️

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!     

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!

Sleep Sleep Sleep…NOW!!!!

So, I had started a post when we were on our way home from my parent’s house. Huh…it’s gone, even though I carefully saved it. Frustrating!! I hope everyone had a great Easter and that you were treated well by the Easter bunny. I wish you a happy Easter and happy family visits. That sounds a bit weird. But, I’m tired now and I already took all of my night time meds, so I’m even more sleepy. This may win the prize as the most shortest post to date! Since I can’t find all of the other post, I will be having a very very short post tonight. 

I intended to have everything packed and ready to go before bed tonight, but that obviously isn’t happening!  I really have too much to do tomorrow and it will be a long day. I need a good night sleep!  

So for such a short post, but I need sleep. Really really badly. Last night in my beautiful bed for the week. So, hopefully a restful night tonight. I am praying for a good bed in the hotel. A bed I get to myself for 5 nights. It likely won’t be as nice as my bed here, but, it will be all to myself !!!!  Yay! I love my family to bits, but I cannot deny that I am looking forward to a quiet, week of R&R, plus, of course, laser treatments. That’s really all we have planned. We’re not really going as tourists!! 

💤💤💤💤night night💤💤💤💤

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!     

Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!