FREE SOS feature on your phone

October 4, 2018October 4, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 20 Comments

Recently, I had to start doing research on devices that would allow the user to activate a panic or sos button that would notify friends or family that they needed assistance. While I still have not found the exact device to suit my needs, I did stumble across some very useful information about a FREE feature included on ALL cell phones regardless of model or provider, without having to download an app or pay for a service.

If you are interested in hearing more, please keep reading!!!

Let me start by telling you what this feature does, or how it works after you do an initial setup and then I will post screenshots on how I set it up on my phone.

Once you have completed the initial setup, if you need to send an SOS message, you simply click your power button 3 times quickly. Doing so, enables the front and back cameras on your phone to take a picture. It also makes a 5 second audio recording, and sends all of this information including your GPS coordinates to a pre-selected contact.

Too good to be true? I thought so too. So of course I had to test it out numerous times to try to find a flaw. I’m happy to say that I couldn’t find any.

Each time I tested this, either myself or my contact received the message within 30 seconds. The camera does not use the flash, so their is no indication to an outside party that you have clicked an alert. The GPS coordinates were accurate to within 200 feet.

The steps I used to set this up on my phone are as follows:

Go under your settings tab
scroll down to privacy and emergency
turn on send sos messages
select a contact
on the final screen you have the option to attach pictures and/or audio

From what I can tell, this feature is available on all makes of phones regardless of your service provider. While each person I have talked to about this, has been able to set this up on their phone, FOR FREE, the steps were slightly different than the ones I used. If you are interested, Google… ” how to set up sos messaging on your phone”.

Let me know if you tried this, and any opinions or concerns you might have that I might not have thought of. I am very curious to know if it also works in other countries besides the US.

ADL and Toe Mice

September 16, 2018September 16, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 46 Comments

So Thursday’s post op visit with the surgeon didn’t quite go as expected. That isn’t to say I am disappointed with the results, it’s just that he said something I NEVER expected to hear….. EVER….

My friend Jeri picked me up and we, well she, drove to the doctor. My appointment was at 2:45, we where shown to a room at 3:45. (not bad as far as orthopedic visits go) I climb onto the table and the nurse begins asking me what my pain levels are. This is a trick question I am sure, because if I don’t walk on it and keep it elevated, my pain is pretty low on the scale. After I have been walking around a bit, or letting my foot hang down too long it climbs quickly. I told the truth…. kind of… I left out the part that I had been standing alot.

Do you want more pain pills?

I quickly answered, “NO!!!!!”, and pulled out the bottle of remaining pills that I had asking if she wanted them back. I can not stress enough, that I really don’t like the way the make me feel ( mood swings, maniac, nauseated etc.) and I NEED to be able to feel the pain to prevent me from overdoing things. I agreed to take Tylenol over the counter as needed. (in my opinion, advil is better at pain relief, but since I am a bleeder and it’s a blood thinner, I will stay away for now)

I took off the boot, the nurse removed the dressing, I took a quick picture, and then looked away. The doctor, and a student came in shortly after. As he pulled up a chair beside me to examine the stitches, he asked, “Did your father tell you what we found?”… I replied “um no, not really, he didn’t tell me that you FOUND anything, but what he did tell me was…… “So the doctor took off your big toe, reamed holes in your foot and then your toe, they put in a stud and then screwed your big toe back on”.” The doctor looked at the medical student and then back at me. He said, well “Yeah, that’s basically what we did”.

After seeing the horrified look on my face, he said, “No seriously though, let me tell you what we found.” “When I made the incision, two toe mice immediately popped out.”

ANOTHER Horrified look

“Toe Mites?”, I asked.

“No Toe Mice” he responded. and then continued, “It’s a medical term that we use to describe what we found.”

I really wish I had a picture of my face, because I can’t find the words to describe all of the things I was feeling at this point.

“Cmon doc, PLEASE tell me the truth, I am gullible as hell and completely disgusted that I have mice?!?!?!? My next step is to cry and I promise you don’t want that”.

He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “let me explain.” “First of all young lady, I can not believe that you were able to walk at all with the amount of damage in your foot. You had absolutely zero cartilage in your first metatarsal joint.” He pounded his fists together to demonstrate the bones hitting each other as I walked. He went on to explain that because I continued walking the bones starting splitting and breaking off into fragments (or mice). This had been happening for so long that the bones had turned into smooth marbles and kept chipping away more bone. The combination of those conditions, my unsteady gait, and whatever I was doing to compensate in my walking caused another break.

WOW that’s a lot of information. Crazy as hell too, but a lot to absorb.

As I tried to process what he was saying, he re-wrapped my foot in gauze and an ace wrap before sticking it back in the boot. While he says the incision is healing nicely, I am stuck with the stitches for another week still, but I am released to begin ADL in moderation.

ADL- Activities of Daily Living

Should be simple enough right? But for me it wasn’t….please take a minute to watch this video to understand why, especially if you don’t know me very well.

So this is what Jeri and I were doing BEFORE we saw the doctor. I get that I can’t use my right foot, so I thought we could just throw the ball and knock the beehive down. I didn’t realize that to get any “air” with the ball I would have to push off with……you guessed it, My foot….holy mother of……………………………

I was ready to give up, but Jeri was having fun, so I played video ographer…..

Anyway, I’m not sure that this is considered an activity of daily living, but since I do dumb shit like this all the time, I asked for further clarification. More specifically….

I am allowed to….

1. stand/or walk for no more than 5 minutes at a time. to be followed by a minimum of 1/2 hour break AND ONLY WITH THE BOOT ON

2. Take the boot off except for when walking or sleeping

3. I can resume sexual activities, so long as my toes don’t curl during orgasm (yes this was discussed)

I am not allowed to

Curl my toes
get the stitches wet
put any weight on my foot without the boot
specifically throw a ball at a bee hive
mow my lawn
go grocery shopping without a scooter
drive 😦

I will call that progress……though not as much as I hoped

Another surgery?!?!?

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 27 Comments

Hopefully the last one this year…..smh

I haven’t seen the surgeon to follow up about my foot surgery yet, so I’m not sure that I’m “done” there yet, but I FINALLY have surgery scheduled for Botox in my bladder on Friday.

The last time I had this surgery was February 9th of this year, and since it only helps relieve symptoms for about 4 months, let’s say I am WAY OVERDUE.

If you’re interested in reading more, the link to that post is here….

You’re getting Botox where?

Both the surgery and “recovery” for this one will be a piece of cake, to be honest the scheduling of it is the most difficult part. I also hope that doctors are able to come up with some other “treatment” soon because I suspect my body will develop an intolerance or tolerance for it. (you know when a treatment just stops working?) and having to carry or wear a bag of pee just plain sucks. (yes even though I have officially given it a name, it still sucks). So YAH surgery?!??!

While I’ve got you here though, (I hope you’re still reading). Can I tell you about my foot? AGAIN?!?!?

First the “technical stuff”

Today marks one week post op. I see the surgeon again on Thursday. I have FINALLY been able to put weight on it (with the Boot on) AND can tolerate the pain without pills!

I have even been able to walk to the bathroom as long as I have the “even up” on my other shoe to help realign me, stand up straight? I’m not sure how to explain it, but it makes my shoulders straight when standing and takes pressure off my right hip. Win win

Since I can get to the bathroom easier now, I was able to take the foley out. First time I am ever grateful for having such a small house. (10 steps in one direction from my computer to the bathroom and 15 steps to my bedroom in the other direction).

I no longer have to stay in bed

Keeping my foot elevated is still important though. I was even able to get the wheelchair out of my house by myself. I went for a “different” kind of walk the other day, more of a roll? While I wasn’t able to take my “normal” walk, I did make it around the entire block in the wheelchair, using my arms for a portion and my left leg for the other. It felt great to be moving again. I know it will still be a long time before I am able to really walk again, it was freeing to know that I can “get out” by myself…and it’s a hell of a workout to help shed the pounds from all the ice cream Jeri delivered.

Thing One and Thing Two

Although Thing 2 and her boyfriend have been helping tremendously, (Ice pack and coffee deliveries right to my bed) it’s refreshing to be able to do it myself. Thing 1 and her husband stopped by to check in too. She is 5 months now and the baby bump is really there now!!!!!! As I have said before, I’m only a LITTLE excited!!!!!! Yah grandbabies!!!!!!

While having so much time to ponder, what I would like to be called, I think I am going to hope for Mammy, but I will write more about that later. I do know for a fact that GRANNY just isn’t going to cut it. I can’t hear the name without thinking of Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies….. While I do have her spunk, it’s just NOT gonna happen.

Several of you have commented the you are sorry that I am going through so much, and I really appreciate it, but please don’t feel sorry. I have amazing friends (you included) and family, and have never felt so loved. Even Einstein has delivered food and….shhhh cigarettes :(. I will pick up that battle again, just not today.

Thank you all for reading and commenting. I am sorry that I have missed so much going on in your lives, I will remedy that today.

Laughter is the BEST Medicine

September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 23 Comments

Yesterday I let pain and confusion cloud and take over my judgment and mood. I was so focused on what I couldn’t do that I forgot to use all the powerful tools I have at my disposal…..the biggest of which is the ability to laugh at myself.

I want to share some things with you that I hope will make you laugh, smile, or at the very least shake your head.

I wrote before about all the prep work you should do before surgery, While I was getting groceries …….. a woman walked up to me and said, “Excuse me ma’am. I hate to tell you this, but your boots don’t match.” She was right. I have no fashion sense. It made me laugh. Thank you random friendly stranger. 🙂

I was also racing around to make sure my house was clean, nothing to impede my movements in a wheelchair, etc. I lost my balance, tripped, or something and came down hard ON MY GOOD leg….smh

When I was trying to pull myself up (very difficult with the stupid boot on) I again lost my balance and hit my eye on the counter giving myself a black eye. I swear you can’t make this shit up!!!! I can only imagine what I looked like when I walked into the surgery center.

After surgery, when my dad was telling me what the doctor said and did, he told me and I quote, “So the doctor took off your big toe, reamed holes in your foot and then your toe, they put in a stud and then screwed your big toe back on”. I was horrified, but I believed him. That is SO NOT what they did!!!!! The sad thing is, when I was explaining to a couple of friends what the surgery was for, I told them exactly what my dad had said. If they were laughing at me they didn’t let it show…..SMH….. I hope my father remembers he will be having his other shoulder replaced next year and karma is a bitch! 😛

Before I continue, I THINK this is what they DID do to my foot. Again, I won’t really know for sure until I follow up on Thursday. I will try to take a picture also, but I have a tendency to pass out or get sick when I see or feel pain.

Ok so now let’s talk about hindsight being 20/20. Before surgery, I wrote about “practicing” for recovery. I went through my entire house with the wheelchair making sure it fight everywhere I would need to go. I FORGOT that I would have a leg support on the right side of the wheelchair which adds almost 3 feet to your turning radius. DOH!

This has come in handy though for getting my dogs to move out of the way. Poor things haven’t left my side since surgery.

There was also this ONE time, I forgot the catheter bag was hanging under the wheelchair when I was trying to transfer back to my bed. I only forgot ONE time, and I don’t know if I will ever find it funny, but I don’t mind if you do.

I’d like to share a couple more pictures, but first I need to thank everyone for all your thoughts, well wishes, moral support and encouragement, and a special thanks to my dear friend Jeri for the 4 containers of ice cream you delivered!!!!!!!

This picture is from this morning, and although, it looks kind of gross, the swelling has gone down tremendously from the first couple days, and I do have faith that there are better days ahead. BABY STEPS!!! literally with my GIANT boot.

Chris and Tom commented earlier about signing my cast. I am not that technologically oriented to figure out how, but if you can feel free…. It’s a great reminder that I am not alone 🙂

My best friend Gary virtually signed my cast from my wrist surgery a couple years ago.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!!!!

Post op update

September 7, 2018September 7, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 44 Comments

So many of you know that I had surgery on Tuesday, but I don’t know if I have ever explained the history to why I needed the surgery, or what the surgery was for.

Two years ago, I broke the first metatarsal in my right foot. I was in a walking boot for a total of 6 months off and on. During the treatment, I had cortisone shots, physical therapy, and was diagnosed with Osteopenia. I had custom orthotics made for my shoes etc. For the last two years, the pain has always been there, but it has been bearable. When I would over do it, the doc would advise me to wear the boot for a couple of weeks or use my wheelchair , do R.I.C.E. therapy, and take some drugs.

About a month? ago when I started walking on a daily basis, my pain got worse and worse. My foot began to be black and blue on a daily basis. I went to see the doctor and was advised that I had gout, I DIDN’T. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. In the doctor’s defense, I WALKED into the office, granted I was limping from the pain, but I did walk. Maybe he thought, if I was in that much pain, I wouldn’t have been able to walk? Whatever the case, he sent me home with an order for RICE therapy again (REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION) and another RX to try.

The pain got so bad I ended up at immediate care where they finally did xrays and determined that not only had I broken my foot again, but I also had severe arthritis. I had surgery on Tuesday. The short story is that they cleaned up the arthritis, and have inserted a plate and screws to fuse the bones together. I was sent home bandaged and in a CAM boot to my knee.

Here’s the part where I get really angry

Before surgery I was told that after surgery I would be placed in a non removable, non weight bearing cast until I followed up with the doctor to have the stitches removed. I planned for that. What I DIDN’T plan on was all the conflicting information.

I came home in a CAM (walking boot) with verbal instructions to stay in bed with my foot elevated above my heart for 3 days, applying ice 15 mins on 15 off for the same amount of time. After 3 days, I could spend some time out of bed, but was still supposed to stay off of it and keep it elevated as much as possible. The boot was not to come off until my first post op appointment next week.

The surgery center called the following day to see how I was doing and how often I was bearing light weight on my foot. Had I taken the boot off to do ankle circles etc?

HUH?!?!?!

I was told NOT to take it off?!??!?!?

My parents, who had stayed the night with me after surgery reiterated that the doctor said the boot does not come off under any circumstances and absolutely NO weight on it.

I found the written instructions from the surgery center which give me a third set of instructions and all of them are conflicting.

I’ve called the surgeons office and can only get a nurse on the phone. Her instructions are to bear weight on my foot as tolerated. ( walk to the bathroom with the CAM boot on, but don’t get the mail, cook dinner etc.)

Here’s another problem…. I can’t bear ANY weight on my foot. The pain is excruciating! How do you define as tolerated? Is MS making me feel pain that isn’t there?

After I got home from surgery, my father told me that the doctor said he could not believe that I was able to walk at all with such a bad break, or that I had been able to tolerate the pain for as long as I had. I don’t think I have a high pain tolerance, I think it has to do with just doing what you need to do, something I have had years of practice doing because of living with MS. I know that MS screws with the way my brain interprets pain.

I don’t want to do more damage, or screw up the surgery. I don’t know who to listen to. I don’t trust my own ability to make decisions because of the pain pills, and I’m very emotional……not to mention bored out of my mind.

I don’t expect anyone to give me answers or fix this for me, I just needed to get it off my chest, and did want to let everyone know that I did survive surgery and really appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.

I am going to go with the thought that even the doctors don’t know, after all they are just practicing. ARGH…..