#WeekendCoffeeShare (May 15, 2021)

Hi everyone on this partly cloudy but thankfully not too rainy Saturday! Today I’m once again joining in with #WeekendCoffeeShare. I just had my afternoon coffee for today, but there’s probably still some left. Or you can grab a cup of tea or a soft drink. Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.

If we were having coffee, I’d share that this week has been rather eventful. It started out with my psychiatrist’s appointment on Monday. Like I said, I was overcome with disbelief at how seriously the psychiatrist and my nurse practitioner took me.

Over the entire week, I’ve had a lot of emotional and visual flashbacks related to my trauma. I’ve also experienced some form of near-psychotic-like symptoms where I confused the past with the present. My inner life feels like a rollercoaster ride of dissociation, anxiety, paranoia and more. I really hope that I can start the topiramate soon and that it will help. I did try to take my PRN quetiapine a few times, but it hardly really helped.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my mother-in-law visited me on Tuesday. We went for an hour’s long walk and got fried fish at the marketplace near my neighborhood supermarket on the way back. Unfortunately, it started to rain just when we’d finished our fish, before we were back to the care facility. Thankfully, the rain wasn’t too heavy.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that, despite not meeting my step goal of 10K for several days so far, I’m still on track for this week. The reason is the fact that, early in the week, I surpassed my goal. I even got in 17K steps on Wednesday.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my sister had her birthday on Thursday. I sent her a present (a book) already last week, but she wouldn’t open it till her actual birthday. My mother posted a picture on my sister’s FB of the card she’d sent announcing my sister’s birth. It showed me as a toddler and my sister as a newborn. My sister commented with a recent picture of my niece in which she looks just like me in the card, saying that toddler (leaving it to interpretation whether she meant me or my niece) is more beautiful.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’m seriously considering buying Apple Airpods Pro. I really want in-ear earplugs so that I can listen to soundscapes or soothing music when going to sleep. I also badly want them to have noise-canceling functionality.

Unfortunately though, I haven’t had the announcement from the benefits authority of my getting my annual vacation allowance, which should be in my bank account later this month. I had originally planned to buy the Airpods (and maybe an Apple Watch too) for that money. However, with the Braille display expense scare last week, I’m a little more careful now.

If we were having coffee, I’d share about the online magazine on cerebral palsy I found out about earlier this week. CP Netherlands created it and it’s lovely. I read in it, among other things, about a radio news reader who has CP.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d tell you that my AFO broke sometime today. I have no idea how it happened, but my staff saw it when I wanted to put it on this afternoon. Ugh, I hate it when my adaptive equipment breaks down.

How have you been?

18 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare (May 15, 2021)

  1. I’m so glad your psychiatrist’s appointment was so good, but it’s really concerning that you’ve been so unwell lately. I hope things will change once you can start Topiramate and once it kicks in. Also I hope you won’t have to deal with any of the yucky side effects it can have. I tried it briefly for migraines last year and it really slowed my brain down, at least some areas of it, ughhhh.
    It’s lovely that you could spend some quality time with your mother-in-law. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Hi Astrid.
    It sounds like a mixed week for you. Family and hopeful directions with that medication and how your new team is engaging; it all sounds wonderful.

    But that darn AFO. . . Maybe it just can’t take all the walking you get in.
    I don’t know what to make of your flashbacks but it does not sound at all pleasant. I hope you new team helps figure that all out and give you some peace.

    Stay strong my friend. speaking as someone who has read your coffee shares for about 3 years now, you really do sound better than when we first met for coffee.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much for complimenting me on how I’ve improved over the years. That means a lot. As for my AFO, I don’t really wear it on long walks yet, so I’m doubtful that would be the problem.

      Like

  3. Thanks for the coffee! I really hope the topiramate works for you and helps you feel more settled.
    Lovely to hear that you enjoyed a walk with your mother-in-law too. The fish sounds so good!
    I hope you have a wonderful week, keep being awesome! x

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I tried topiramate, but couldn’t tolerate it. I have Bipolar Disorder 1 with psychosis, anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, ADHD, and Borderline Personality Disorder among a few more things. I take an antidepressant and an antipsychotic medicine plus my anxiety med. I have a hard time with medications. We might have to change my current cocktail, but I dread that big time because it is so awful going through a bunch of meds and their resulting side effects. And I haven’t found any of the newer meds to be ones I can tolerate so I am on older drugs. They work and I am grateful for their help. I hope we don’t have to change right now. This reminds me, I have to contact my psychiatrist and let her know I am out of the hospital finally.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m so very sorry you don’t tolerate many meds very well. My current medication cocktail includes my second-ever antipsychotic and my first-ever antidepressant. The dose has needed upping several times, but other than that, I’m lucky so far. I really hope topiramate will be tolerable for me too as well as effective.

      Liked by 1 person

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