I had no pain relief from the epidural steroid injection. The next step is EMG and nerve conduction tests. They will be done by a physiatrist in Fort Wayne. Unfortunately, the earliest appointment is July 28th, over a month away. I am on the cancellation list so maybe I will get a call to come earlier. I hope so. Once we have the results from those tests I will meet with the orthopedic surgeon. His nurse practitioner who I have seen on 5 visits said the doctor is very conservative in recommending surgery. He doesn't want to do surgery just to see if it works, but he wants to be confident and convinced surgery will help. He has been doing spine surgeries over 25 years.
I made $37.50 at my garage sale. I only set up on Friday. I packed up the unsold stuff and took it to Goodwill Saturday. It was pleasant to sit in my rocking chair on my shady front porch. The 3 sellers on the north side of my street had sun. At least the humidity wasn't bad. My neighbor across the street asked if he could add 2 tools to my items. Fortunately, both sold Friday (total $55) since I told him I was just selling one day.
Late Friday afternoon I had a visual disturbance similar to what I experienced last October. I'm pretty sure these auras are ocular or silent migraines. The one in October happened during the church service. The background at church is changed often by digital means. On that Sunday there were black vertical "bars" with slats of yellow light. The aura of zigzag lines lasted about 20 minutes. Friday I was somewhat dehydrated (though I drank several glasses of water while outside) which I see can be a trigger. That time the zigzags were in circles moving across my vision field. It too lasted about 20 minutes. Looking back, I realize I had some of these auras while living in Texas. Sometimes I had a "blank spot" that blocked my ability to read. I never had a headache with the auras.
I had just had a thorough eye exam in September; otherwise I might have worried about retina damage or macular degeneration. If I were driving, I would have to pull over until the aura ended. So far it has been a weird experience but not dangerous. I will mention it to my primary care doctor at my next appointment because there is some correlation of people with migraines (even silent ones) being more at risk for stroke.
I looked online last night for a brand of blouse I bought through the Nordstrom trunk program. It fits well and I feel sure a similar blouse would be OK in that size. I found several web sites that sell that brand, even Zappos, but the patterns I liked were unavailable in my size. One hit was Nordstrom Rack (the discount arm). I am trying to decide whether to order the blouse. I didn't see anything I liked at Macy's, Penney's, or Kohl's. I don't really need another blouse, but after several years of wearing them, I get tired of what I have. I do keep my clothes a long time; I have several items that are 8-10 years old that I still wear.
Our public library posted on Facebook Thursday that they were shutting down early and would not reopen until Monday. The reason they gave was a shortage of staff. That word "shortage" is dominating our world right now.
My housecleaner gave me two weeks notice today. She is going to move back to Michigan. So now I will have to do some calling around to people who I know used a cleaner in the past. It is not a good time to lose my cleaner since with my back problems I have trouble cleaning. I understand her reasons for relocating, however, and wish her the best. She worked for us about 6 months.
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