Dear Blog,

I went to PT twice per week now and it has been fun. I did the foot pedal and I went less than fifty steps so I don't think that is very good but I have swelling and pain in my leg so I guess I can't be surprised. I got this vestibular treatment which was to just roll me around to get the crystals to do something and I hope it works truly but it is hard for me to take it seriously because I do more rolling when I am asleep. NO disrespect intended but I am a skeptic here. I was sick to my stomach and dizzy afterwards so maybe I should be more of a believer LOL. I have both inner ear and brain problems so it is going to take a long time. I also saw my doc and he says I am going to recover because folks with this stroke do. Then he said but sometimes not. I don't think he is a very good fortune teller although his ties falsely advertise his abilities. Everyone is still encouraging at this point under a year and I do hope all this will make it so. I want to walk and drive again but it is discouraging that I am still having problems but now they are complicated with swelling. I have had them check my heart and so far there is nothing wrong there but the doc wants some blood work to check something. My guess and hope is medication is doing it and he just wants to rule it out. My swelling is making it hard to even stand up and it is increasing my pain. My feet could explode any minute.

I had a situation with the insurance co and the gaba which can't just be stopped according to bottle. They needed a preauth on the refill so they did an emergency override and got me a weeks worth and then they still didn't get the preauth so the pharmacy gave me 3 days supply and then still not a preauth and I got 2 days supply. So all this time there is some prob with the dose that changed and the insurance case manager tells me that they will preauth for 600 mg 3 times per day but not 900 mg 3x per day. So the doc had prescribed 300 mg capsules and told me to take no more than 3 but I could take 1 or 2 depending on my drowsiness and pain. He said play with the dose and see if I prefer more at night or more in the morning but not to exceed 900 mg at one time and not more than 2700 max per day but start out low and see what works for me. So I did that until the preauth was needed for the refill. I wrote that correctly a PRE auth for a refill. There was not an preauth because the dose was just the 300 3x per day and that didn't help me enough at night and in the afternoons. So I was trying to get my rx and my insurance case person kept saying the doc could write it for less and it would go through easy while I kept saying the reason for the way the doc prescribed it and it was like talking Greek to a turtle and anyway the doc office and pharm and ins were all pointing fingers to another to fax this and do this and I was having a nervous because I was on brink of not having pain relief not to mention not taking it on time was a worry.

So I go to PCP and tell him my problem with the gaba and neuro doc and he scoffs and says I'll electronically send in for an 800 mg tablet of gaba for 3x per day. Before I left the doc office I got notified it was ready at my pharmacy and insurance had covered it! Ok did the faeries work overtime or did one tablet of it make the difference over taking 3 capsules of a lower dose maybe? I asked the pharm and they didn't know why but we all just clapped when I went in and picked it up. Ok so why didn't the neuro or the case person at the insurance know that this would pass muster and the other one wouldn't and why didnt someone suggest it before? Ok so now my PCP just earned a whole lot of trust from me and he is my hero for now anyway. I can cut the tablets in half if I don't want the full 800 and they are scored and I have a pill cutter. It isn't the best but hey it got covered and I have an entire month supply too. Oh and the insurance person told me that my neuro said that he changed his mind and wanted me to do the lesser dose and that I could go to pain management if it didn't work for me. I called out this insurance person saying that was no where near the conversation I had with the neuro and it sounded just like what the insurance had been saying but why they want me to go to pain management is nice but why when the docs both told me that pain management at this point is the pills I am on and they are working. I worried maybe the dose was higher than normal so that was the problem but then they went through at only 300 mg less per day. Oh and I wrote notes during the visit with the neuro and wrote his directions and medication instructions down so everytime they kept saying maybe I misunderstood, Oh and I am so tied of being treated like I lost my mind rather than my balance, then I said I wrote notes and had another person in the room. And they kept telling me to be patient because preauths take time. Weeks apparently.

But then suddenly it was over all fixed just like that thank heaven, why does it need to be such a farce to begin with.

So maybe I will have some peace and quiet and can focus on the therapy for the next few weeks. I may have all my meds authorized for now.

PT room makes me sick. The room is huge and busy and I feel weird in it. She brought me some peppermint oil to smell and said it stops the nausea. Well it smells wonderful and it worked for some reason whatever. I get it every session. I need to buy some soon for at home. I don't know too much about essential oils but this works for me. Makes me think of peppermint candy. Wonder why it works LOL maybe distracts me but PT said it works and there is evidence and maybe so but I am a skeptic looking at placebo effect. Wonder if some other nice smell would work like some perfume and not even a essential oil. I am ever the skeptic lol. But the PT wants so much to help that I just accept it and enjoy it and wow it works so who am I to really care as long as it helps and it is not harmful. I really like pt very much and I enjoy seeing the others in there working hard and making progress. I am in a good hospital facility same as if I had been inpatient so it was worth the wait and finally I am here but I am a bit skeptical that I am getting oil and head shaking LOL when I wanted more scientific stuff and I guess I need to realize this is the scientific stuff silly me. Who knew. I need to take holistic healing more seriously. I am learning.