[Azalysa]

Petunia - THANK YOU for the links to those websites you offered on pat's recent post. It is another "coincidence" that really isn't.

I've been having a really bad time lately with medication side-effects, so severe I've been restricted to only very local driving. Some of them are scrambled speech, or difficulty getting a word out, slight loss of balance (causing me to keep bumping into things) and concentration issues.

I had an emergency pdoc appointment yesterday due to the above. My mother is a "nightowl" but I needed her to drive me to pdoc. Mother lives about 25 miles from me so she didn't have hardly any sleep. The pdoc works 25 miles the other direction. So to begin the day we both had to get up very early and drive on a very busy expressway downtown.

pdoc appointment was good, but that in itself was a modicum of stress.

We returned back to where I live and had lunch at a restaurant, THEN went shopping for a new bed. (It is a specialty bed shop whose factory is here in town. I have seen/heard their TV/radio commercials for YEARS and lately researched everything on their website and knew what I wanted going in.

Which was a good thing.

On the website they call their beds "Good, better, best" - I liked that - says exactly what they are. Then we got to the store and the salesman used "Classic, Regency and Orthopedic." Oy! I knew I was in trouble.

I told him I was looking for a twin size and I already knew from the website I wanted the "better" model. Instead of honing in on what I already knew I wanted and knew the price, etc, this guy gave us a "recitation" of every bed size, mattress, configuration of all the beds in the store.

After we left the store, Mother said her head was spinning. I'm glad I already knew what I wanted going in!! It was taking literally every ounce of energy I had to just not bump into anything and think carefully and try to talk slowly so I didn't do the scrambled speech thing. I had NO energy left if I'd had to make a decision!! I feel like I'm acting the way it must feel to have a stroke.

Later that evening we got into the first argument we've had in years that ended with both of us crying. (Think: 2 toddlers who haven't had their naps.) I was saying how hard the bed shopping was and she said "Oh, yes, my head was spinning." I said, "Ok, my head was spinning too ~and~ I had to really concentrate on walking, talking, thinking, etc. She was so stunned because while we were in the store she thought "Ok, Aza understands all this stuff" and said I didn't look like anything was wrong with me. She's my main support/caretaker in my illness and is good at spotting the signs.

So, this morning reading those links reinforced what I told my mother. (And I feel validated as I could have written that entire piece.)

My thanks again, Petunia!

You are very welcome!

i'm mailing the print out to my oldest. then i'm going to quiz her on the content.