Màiri Campbell ~ Seanachaidh
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Loving Life

2/12/2018

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​Today was a good day.

Anyone that suffers from a chronic illness knows that sometimes having a good day seems like it will never come. A good day can be something as simple as getting a few loads of laundry done, dishes and a lovely walk with my husband and our dogs.

Chronic illness can make one feel isolated, even with family and friends around. There are so many things that we miss. Family time, going out for any reason life can be difficult when there are things that you want to do and physically can’t.

It can be even more difficult when your chronic illness is one that is invisible. People look at you and see a person that as far as appearances go, you seem like there is nothing wrong with you. Not all forms of illness are visible; they do not manifest in an outward appearance that one can see.

Those of us with one or more of the many invisible illnesses that are out there sometimes wish that they were visible. We get told we are making things up, of faking pain to get attention. We are told to change our diet, exercise more, drink this, try whatever the newest fad is that has everyone talking.

We must try to explain to spouses, children, parents, friends why it is that we can’t do something that we would give anything to be able to do with them. We have to fight with doctors that don’t want to listen because they are the ones that went to school, so they know it all. Even though no two people are alike, and the same illness affects every individual in similar yet different manners.

Some learn to grit their teeth and fight through because life goes on and will not wait despite the agony one is enduring. Others have no choice but to maintain just enough that they are not curling into a ball of tears until the pain has passed. We don’t want this; we don’t want to say no, sorry I can’t do that today. We want good days when we have them; we cherish them.

My chronic illness has been controlling my life more than I would like to admit for the last few years. Controlling it to the point of it affecting my job, my writing, my entire life. Thankfully, over the last couple of months, that seems to be changing.

I know that I am one of the lucky ones. I have an amazing husband who is supportive and does his best to be understanding when I can’t do things. I have amazing friends that also get it, many of them sadly because they suffer from a chronic illness. I have a doctor that listens, who encourages questions and loves having a patient that is proactive in their care.

After a few trial and error issues with medications, my regular doctor and I agreed that we seemed to be onto something that will help me get my life back. A referral to a specialist was even set up and a new plan, expanding upon the one my GP and I started has been instituted.

I am happy to say that so far it seems to be working. I’m not saying it has been all fun and games so far, but at least it seems we are finally heading in the right direction. How do I know? Well for one I am feeling better, for another, I am writing again.

Today was a good day.
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Migraines

24/11/2018

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As many of you know, I have battled with having Chronic Migraine from a young age as many people do, especially women the ratio of women to men for migraines is something akin to 3:1. My migraines have gotten to the point of 16-19 attacks in a 30 day period, some of those days were single migraine days and others I would have two or three in one day.

I finally received a referral to see a headache specialist and that appointment just before Thanksgiving. The two medications that have seemed to be helping me the new doctor said to increase the dosage on them. So now the once daily med is BID or twice a day for those unfamiliar with medical terminology. The PRN, or as needed, medication dose doubled from 50 mg to 100 mg.

Yesterday had marked eight days, eight blessed days, where I had not suffered from a migraine. Let me tell you, having just one day without a migraine is a miracle in and of itself for those who suffer from Chronic Migraine. To have more than one day is like hitting the lottery for us.

So, I was sad when my sweet Tala alerted on me with a warning that a migraine was coming. That sweet girl of mine gives me a good heads up in time to take my meds before I’m feeling any of the effects a migraine can cause. Like a good little patient, I did as I was required and took the PRN medication and I took the new 100 mg dose.

Now, let me state right here and now I will try that dosage one more time, BUT if the side effect is the same, I will be contacting the doctor’s office about it. Once I was able, I did post in the chat group I am a part of on an application called Migraine Buddy. Side note, I love, and I mean love, this application! My doctors, including the specialist, are happy I am using it. One of the other ladies in the group stated that she had the same side effects that I did and she always has – not sure what I think of that.

The side effect from the 100 mg dose that has me leery of taking it again is that approximately twenty minutes after taking it I felt like I had fire ants crawling around under my scalp. It felt like the crown and back of my head were on fire at every single hair follicle and it would move about from location to location. That pain was worse than the actual migraine pain was! Sadly, the only slight relief I could find was to dig my fingers into my scalp or pull at my hair a bit. This, of course, caused it to transfer from that location on my scalp to another, it also lasted for at least an hour. However, that was not truly the end of it as my scalp was still so sensitive that even ten hours later it hurt to brush my hair.

I am truly on the fence about taking another dose at 100 mg because of the episode yesterday. I would love to hear things from any others that suffer from this horrid disease as well. If you are not comfortable discussing it in a comment below, I understand. I do highly recommend the app called Migraine Buddy though. It is FREE, who doesn’t like free right, it is amazing for how it helps you to track and log your headaches. It even has a feature for getting reports you can take into your doctor. I know it has greatly helped with moving my treatment forward.

I wish all of you a wonderful weekend and safe holiday season.
​
Blessed Be.
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Missing in Action

2/8/2015

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PictureBridhe, sleeping is what is supposed to be a flower bed.
I know that I’ve been MIA for a while now.  Sometimes life is just a bit overwhelming. My husband was in a car accident at the end of June, so my focus was on him and dealing with the insurance companies. July is also a busy month for Scottish Highland Games for us since we work most of them. I did tell my husband that I’m tired of running the clan tent at all the games. It just isn’t fun anymore; it is just more stress than what I want to deal with on such a consistent basis.

If I could learn to relax like my dogs, I’m sure life would be so much simpler. Lol Work is still continuing at the Happy Place property.  The old fridge that was in the trailer has been removed, and the small apartment style fridge has been set up in that hole. I found a free full sized fridge for us to have there; it isn’t the prettiest thing to look at but the inside is clean, and it works. The septic line had to be dug up and replaced as one of the prior owners had buried the flexible hose line. The flexible hoses should never be buried, this one had been and it was breaking down due to that, and no protection for it from the gravel or people walking in that area. I managed to offset some of the cost by digging up that line and disposing of it. Now, we have a proper septic line, and hopefully not many more things like this will crop up for us. I also found some wonderful plates, bowls, serving platters and two large bowls one sale. The most expensive piece was $12 as it was all clearance items and then 50% off the last marked price.

Trying to get any writing done has been difficult not just due to the activities listed above but the cluster migraines that I’ve been having. For those of my readers that don’t know what having a migraine is like, I truly hope that you never learn it. I’ve tried so many different medications it is disturbing, and worse yet is the fact that they all only work so many times for me before I have to switch it up again. Recently my dizzy spells have been getting worse. I’ve always had low blood pressure, and the last few times I’ve been at the doctor’s office he’s asked inquired if anything has changed. Normally a person’s blood pressure is at least slightly elevated when they go to see the doctor. We all know that stress will cause it to rise at least a bit. I’m lucky if mine is 100/56 when I’ve gone to the doctor the last few times.

With only one set of highland games left for us to work this summer, I am hoping that things will level out and I can settle back to a routine for writing again. I just need to get the migraines back under control once again. That and figuring out a way to not be depressed when my husband gets sent out of town for weeks at a time related to work would also be helpful.

I hope that everyone has been well and that the following week finds you all safe and happy.

Blessed Be.


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The pattern on the dinnerware that I found.
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The pathway is now marked with stepping stones, inside the lot.
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The pathway on the outside of the fencing for the lot.
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Tala in her happy spot at the Happy Place.
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Found a sort of sidewalk area under all the dirt and pine needs.
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Getting Busy with Cleaning up

14/6/2015

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A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled Busy Time is Summer Time. I shared images of the property my husband, and I were getting not too far from home but would be a nice little getaway area.
This last Friday my husband and I went up and started some initial clean up. It looked worse when we got there as the weeds had gotten taller. And for those of you that read that post I'm sure you remember how bad the roof was looking due to tree branches. Well, I'm happy to say it is looking much better with just a bit of work; and thanks to some friends that were there we had access to a ladder thus access to the roof. And yes, by us I mean my husband for going up on the roof. lol

The little area around the building, the fire pit and the roof are looking so much better than what it had been. There is still a ton of work to be done but there is already a very noticeable difference, and that makes me very happy.
I will be going up with my little vacuum as it has attachments for both carpeting and the linoleum floors. Trying to sweep things up was just a waste of time so I will not be trying that again there.

I also found a beautiful piece of art buried under weeds next to a tree. It is now cleaned up and next to the totem post. I also got the moss all cleaned off of the three little cement mushrooms. I took a little gargoyle up that I found, someone at some point had painted on him, this will be corrected as soon as I have the time.
I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and that your summer vacation is starting off nicely.
Blessed Be Everyone.

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You can really see the fire pit now. Yes, the Foxglove plant was left there on purpose. The honeybees were loving it and I am for helping them not hindering them.
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Looking out and across the road. This is the area I'm going to put stepping stones for a little path into our place.
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The little mushrooms and the gargoyle that needs to be repainted.
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He had me toss him up a broom so he could sweep the leave and such off the roof.
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Looking better all the time.
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My husband is amazing!
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You can see the ground now instead of just weeds. lol
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From the outside looking in for what will be the stepping stone pathway.
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You can already tell that my husband has cleaned off part of the roof in this image.
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Trimming up of some of the branches. Ones we had thought were broken off and just laying up there are actually still attached to the trees!
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Life, Gardening and Writing

31/5/2015

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PictureBlack Walnut start
     This last week has been crazy busy with work, school, getting papers filled out for the property at the lake and trying to get plants repotted. It feels like there has been very little time to write anything.
     Thankfully that is not the case. I had some new characters start chattering away at me, and I have over 2,200 words written for a new story. I have the feeling it is going to be a few different new stories that will be listed as adult content.
     I have managed to get new fencing up with the help of my wonderful husband in the backyard. The new set up will make it much easier for me to get to all my plants for repotting, watering and weeding. It has also opened up a new little area for the dogs to play in. Looking over my mint plants I’ve so far managed to get a start from the lemon mint and will be getting starts from the pineapple, Kentucky and the chocolate mints. The other four plants are still too small to try and get starts from without doing potential harm to the entire plant.
     I will be getting starts off of my sage and oregano plants as well as taking quite a few strawberry plants and pansies up to the lake once the area is ready for planting. We should be signing this Friday and since the Bellingham Highland Games are that same weekend I won’t start going up to work on the weeding until the week of the 8th. I found a great buy at Target, some little solar garden lights that were only a dollar each.
     I have managed to replant a small Black Walnut tree and what I think is a plum tree. Only time will tell for sure and then once I know they are doing well enough I will have to find someone that wants them and will continue to care for them while they are little.
     Our radishes are going crazy, and our carrots are finally starting to really show themselves. And the little cherry tomato plant that I rescued is doing just grand. I read an article about getting starts off of your tomato plants and I’m going to be trying it. I’ll keep you all posted on that event.
     As always I’ve added some photos to this post.
     Blessed Be Everyone.


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Plum tree
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Carrots 1
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Carrots 2
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Tomato plant
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Radishes
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Garden lights
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    Màiri Campbell lives in WA with her husband and their three dogs

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