Before I get to my life today I thought I 'd post a couple of interesting things about American Idol. Below is the pair of boys that became friends while waiting in line for a chance before the judges in Seattle. I think Simon made some people very angry when he compared the boy on the left to a "bush monkey" . Wayne and I both thought that was going a bit too far just for a laugh. You could tell it bothered the boy with the way he kept talking about what Simon said. The boy on the right went through school in special education so it was a huge step for him to try out for something like this. I think they both genuinely thought that had a good chance of going to Hollywood. I just read that they got to be on Jimmy Kimmel's (late night) show. I wish I had knwn that...it would have been fun to watch.

Does this guy look familiar to you? He was one of the contestants that made the cut for going to Hollywood from Seattle on American Idol. I can remember him having a very nice voice. Well, this show is so popular that it's become about as eventful as a presidential election. I say that because someone all ready dug up some dirt on this guy. He was arrested on a drunk driving charge in 2004 and then completed an alcohol diversion program and a $680 fine and it was wiped it off of his record. Then in December 2005 he was arrested again for a hit and run. Thomas says both incidents are the results of being young and dumb...we've all been through our times of being young and dumb. Reminds me of what Jesus said to the people when they were getting ready to stone a woman to death for adultry...(Becky's paraphrase) Anyone without sin can cast the first stone to which they all put their stones down and let the woman go.

News on to Becky's (me) medical saga....I went to the pain doctor Thursday morning for a pump refill and he wanted to put dye through the catheter that leads from the pump to the intrathecal space in the spine. He wanted to do that because he does it to every pump patient periodically and because the pain is so hard to get to get under control. The worst part of the test was laying on this skinny hard table while he did the procedure. I rarely lay on my back because it causes so much pain and usually starts muscle spasms. I appreciate that their staff and the doctor are very careful to keep everything sterile. Since the catheter leads directly to the spinal area they don't want to take any chances of an infection. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to lay there for 20 minutes but I tried to keep my mind busy with happy thoughts...things like holding Isabella when she is born in April...that will be so exciting and a beautiful beach and it worked pretty well for me this time.

The good news was that the dye looked perfect...no leaks and it was coming out right where it's supposed to come out in the intrathecal space in my spine. That is really good news and bad news. It's bad news because if it had been a leak that would have been why my pain is so intense. Good news is I don't have to have surgery to have it implanted agian.

The doctor increased my medication in the pump from 9 mgs a day to 10 mgs a day. He said next pump refill they will add bipuvicaine. Bipuvicaine is a local anesthetic that works similar to novacaine.

They gave me a bolus of 9 mgs of dilaudid in my pump to counteract the dye put in the catheter. A bolus is just a flow of exra medication in the pump to provide me with almost immediate relief. If the dilaudid was interrupted I am pretty sure I would be in serious withdrawals. The only problem is that the extra medicine made me SO sleepy. I slept all the way home and all night long. I sure felt good when I woke up Friday morning with added sleep and a little extra pain medicine in the pump.

Yesterday afternoon it just hit me all of a sudden that I was getting sick. I have a cold or virus or something like that. Lots of chest congestion, cough, runny nose, high fever and major body aches. Wayne is staying away from me like I have the plague or something. He has a big week this week as far as work goes and doesn't want to be sick for it.

I was thinking a couple of days ago how lucky I've been to keep from getting all the "bugs" going around. I forget how it came up but at the doctor's office the other day I told Wayne that it would be so nice if I could just change bodies with a well person for just one day. Only problem is that I wouldn't want to come back to this one

Well, the swelling is back this today and my feet and legs are as big as ever At times I think the swelling is from lack of movement because the fluid isn't getting pumped through . There could be a little truth to that but I don't think it's the main reason. There is just too much swelling for it to be that simple. I am still going to try to swim at the Holm Clinic when open their therapy pool and I think it might help some and even some help is better than none at all.

When I get this swelling bad like this my toes get real red and painful and it seems my clumsiness makes me stubb my toe on anything in sight. I feel like yelling out every time I do it:) I could never understand how a paraplegic or quadraplegic could have pain in the spine but yet be numb or have no feeling. Well, that is kind of how my toes are. They are numb but I have lots of nerve pain and there is nothing worse than nerve pain. But it's also the reason I stubb them all the time. Compared to someone who can't move their arms and legs or just their legs I have no reason to complain at all! (yet I still do...ha ha!!)

There are certain things that most people do without thinking that are very difficult when you cannot stand more than 2-3 minutes. One of those things for me is to go to the post office to get stamps or mail a box. Yesterday I listed some things for sale on ebay and wanted to see about how much it would cost to ship them so I could put the price with my listing. Anyway, when I was on the United States Post office site I noticed you could buy stamps and have free priority boxes sent to your house. I ordered 10 boxes for priority shipping (for selling on eBay) and 40 stamps. The only thing extra they charged me was $1.00 for shipping. I will get the stamps and boxes in 2-3 days. I was so thrilled to find this and save me having to go to the post office and stand there with intense back pain. Here is where you go to order your stamps. You can even pick out the stamps you want. Since I'm sending out valentines to the kids and grandkids I chose a stamp with a heart on it. You will see a tab towards the top of the page that says "Buy Stamps & Shop."