It's Been a Pretty Good Week!

Had an unbelievably great night last night! I think I woke up once for a few seconds between midnight and 6:00am then went right back to sleep. Next thing I knew it was getting light out and I was thrilled. I took my early morning pills then comfortably went back to sleep for a few more hours. What the heck?!

Analyzing yesterday hoping to duplicate a good night's sleep:

• Did some PT which felt good. I've added squeezing a squishy ball as a part of my PT for my hands. I feel like my hands are getting a little weak and sometimes shaky if I'm trying to do something fine. I haven't been doing a lot of normal things that use regular hand muscles, like grasping a knife to chop an onion, or washing my hair, grasping the steering wheel to drive the car, grocery shopping, or folding laundry, etc. Thus, squishy ball.
• Went for my first short walk in at least a week. Having not walked much the last over the last week could be contributing to not sleeping very well at night, but I had a little bit of a scary incident recently which made me stop on the walking for a few days. Breanne and I were on our way out the back door for a short walk. I always have a walking stick in one hand and firmly hold the hand of the person I'm walking with (Michael or Breanne). When we get to our turnaround point we switch hands, as they always keep me away from the street side of the sidewalk. But as we do so, they never let go of me. There's always a firm point of contact, so I'm never afraid of tipping over. Anyway, when I had the incident we hadn't even made it from our door to the gate (about five feet) before I suddenly panicked, froze up and needed to head back to the couch for fear of...anxiety? Fear of falling? Legs giving out? I just didn't know, couldn't describe it. Some kind of sudden uncertainty, for sure. They helped me to the couch, both sat with me, and let me cry about it without pressing for answers or trying to figure it out. So, back to some walking yesterday and today.
• Took one CBN lozenge before bed.
• Oh, and I allowed myself a short nap yesterday. I try to avoid those at all costs since the steroid pill I take in the morning seems to really affect my sleep at night. I remember back in my pregnancy days, allowing myself a nap during the day helped me to sleep better at night, even though it seems counter intuitive. It can be hard to figure yourself out when you're a weirdo. 

I know that even if I do exactly all the same things, the night's sleep could still turn out to be totally different. Trying anyway.

This week has been slowly getting better and better. I seem to be getting less agitated over the tiniest things, agitation which may be induced by the steroid. They told me to watch out for that. My pain levels have gotten very comfortable-- What a thrill! The break has been just heavenly. Apparently all your prayers for my physical comfort are working, so thank you for that--Go Team! I hope this break lasts for a while before things change themselves up again.

This morning, lying in bed dozing/not dozing/looking out the window at the trees, I felt a twinge of a sensation I haven't felt in a long time. Boredom! Usually I spend most of my waking hours lying there trying to find a comfy position, or watching something on TV to distract me from my discomfort or unpleasant thought stream. Fascinating. Kind of felt normal there for a minute.

Later today we did go out for a short walk. Walking feels strange lately. It's kind of like I don't know where I am in gravity or how heavy I am, or what the weight of each step is, as though I feel kind of floaty. Hm.

Sleep well, all.