Hello Seattle
Mr. Pennington and I had a great time in Seattle.
We had some excellent food, especially pastry. W-O-W.
We went up the Seattle Space Needle and leaned against the glass at the top. Scary!
At Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts & Coffee we tasted every donut that looked interesting. I also got the Ovaltine Latte, which I do not recommend. That was just too much.
We toured the Chihuly Museum. Chihuly reminds me of Monet: undeniably pretty, monotonous, emotionally unchallenging. Yawn.
At the Public Market, we walked by the original Starbucks. There was a long line to get it. No thanks.
Inside, I had an OMG Yellow Peach. It was OMG.
The fish mongers tossed a fish to each other which made us tourists crazy with glee.
We took the Argosy Harbor Cruise. The guide was a high school teacher on summer break, who made what I think were attempts at jokes over a too-loud speaker system, rather than calmly imparting interesting information about the sites. Bad amateur comedy. Yuck. We put in earplugs and had a drink.
We had the same problem on the Big Bus Tour in Chicago. If you have to heckle your captive audience for not laughing, the problem is not the audience. Talking even louder into the PA system, laughing harder at your “jokes” are not the solution. No, that story of the king size bucket of ribs your mom bought you on on your 21st birthday did not enhance my appreciation for the great city of Chicago. It was nauseating.
In a souvenir shop, I found the perfect nightshirt to complete my sexy sleeping ensemble.
DON’T WAKE THE BEAR
I sleep with plantar fasciitis splints on right and left foot, propped up on a leg elevator, tucked under a 15 pound weighted blanket, a TMJ night guard for my jaw, and my smooth EDS hair twirled and tucked in a satin scrunchy atop my head so it looks perfect when I awaken.
I daintily place my head on a pillowcase made of silk, just like a princess. Then I pull my spine and neck into a very gentle stretch, so those angry, overfiring muscle fibers calm down. My discs, bones and nerves heal as I sleep. I am assuming that is what happened because the long-term arthritis in my neck and stenosis in my low back healed, which was an unbelievable surprise. I learned to do this from the best book ever written on taking care of your spine.
I take a few deep breaths. I fall asleep in 2.5 seconds. I don’t move for hours.
Click on image to purchase.
My prosthodontist (a dentist who takes difficult cases, message me if you want his name) made my TMJ splint. Jaw surgery was definitely not necessary, even though many dentists have told me to get it. Surgeries are lucrative for surgeons, and I have plenty of skeletal deformities which makes me irresistible. I have been offered many joint and bone surgeries, starting from way back when I was an undiagnosed teenager in too much joint pain to function. So far, I have passed on all of them.
Most doctors do not understand EDS and make very poor recommendations. Doctors who do understand EDS acknowledge how this or that surgery would fail on me or make me more unstable. I would only do a surgery if it made sense.
I manage my structural problems with posture and exercise. These days, the Facebook support groups are so big you can find others with your issues, find out what they did, and if it helped in the long run. It is so much easier to make informed decisions now.
It is human nature to be unobservant, to want to think something has helped you when it has not, especially when you are desperately ill, but I am sure you already know this. Get a lot of information before making decisions that cannot be undone. Be ruthlessly honest about the state of your own health and move on from what is not helping you.
About My Insomnia
I am one of those severely insomniac EDSers, and didn’t that completely ruin my life. Those C shots make me able to sleep. When Dr. Plance was giving me them once every couple of weeks, I became able to sleep. I had a long stretch of months of sleeping 11 hours a night in those days, catching up on the years of sleep deprivation. I did not reach a point of feeling rested until we did the C shots frequently. During those years of sporadic C shots, I became able to show up to physical therapy, I just couldn’t benefit from the exercise. It was like that. Sporadic C made me better, but not well enough to function. Evidently, I need a lot injected C to adequately compensate for my genetic malfunction.
I am very careful about drugs I take and how they affect sleep. Many drugs frequently suggested for Ehlers-Danlos issues interfere with REM sleep and cause more brain fog. Those are important conversations to have with a doctor, pharmacist or Google Scholar. Maybe that choice is worth it, maybe not, maybe there is a better option. You can only know if you ask.
My favorite nighttime drug is naltrexone. I started low dosing it, which was fantastic, but now I high dose it because PTSD is my biggest problem. I take 50 mg before bed. Stimulating that internal opiate system is really something. I will write more about that another time.
We visited church, as always, when we travel. Mr. Pennington is a devotee.
Church of Apple
My cousin Hank Pennington took us on a long hike to Snoqualmie Falls. So beautiful! Woof!
Hank was stand-offish, a serious hiker and difficult to get to know. I tried hard to win him over with my charm, just like I work doctors. Suddenly, when no one was looking, he jumped up and gave me a big slurpy kiss, which was okay because we are only in-laws, not blood relatives.
After the hike, Hank curled up on my lap and fell asleep.
😘😘😘😘😘 Hank!