My teef are good!

I felt so crappy yesterday I didn't do much of anything past noon. Mom, bless her heart, came over to get us through dinner. The kids were tickled pink when they heard G'ma was coming to make us egg sandwiches. I have to admit, her egg sandwiches are the best!
Today was as crazy as the come. Cheeto had a meeting at 8am. I had therapy at 8:15am. Kelson had a dentist appointment at 10am. I had two shops to do this afternoon and then we were going to try a new restaurant that is around the corner from us. It was crazy! At therapy this morning, Lindsey was just more puzzled that the past few days were worse not better. She did some deep heat ultrasound therapy. She also noticed that I have signs of scoliosis. Great! Let's add something else to all my ailments. She gave me this machine-like thing called a TENS Unit. It stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. She said that chronic pain or acute pain can be treated many ways. Since, drugs and surgery has done nothing, she wanted to try the nerve stimulation. Basically it sends electrical pulses through the skin to the cutaneous (surface) and afferent (deep) nerves to help control pain. This is what the book says how it works: There are 2 major theories as to how electrical stimulation relieves pain. According to the "gate control theory," pain and non-pain impulses are sent to the brain from the nervous system. These pulses travel through the cutaneous nerves to the deeper afferent nerves and then to the spinal cord and brain. Along the path are many areas referred to as "gates." These gates control which impulses are allowed to continue to the brain. The gates prevent the brain from receiving too much information too quickly. Since the same nerve cannot carry a pain impulse simultaneously, the stronger, non-pain impulse from the TENS devise "controls the gate." According to the 2nd theory, TENS stimulation encourages the body to produce natural pain killers called endorphins. These chemicals interact with receptors, blocking the perception of pain. This is similar to the way the pharmaceutical drug morphine works, but without the side effects associated with morphine. No matter which theory is applied, TENS has been proven useful in pain management. I think at this point we are trying anything. If I can find a way to at least control the pain, that would be great. It's just another triad and error device, hopefully getting us one step closer to resolving the problem. Today was rough. I even had a pancreatic attack this afternoon. I haven't had one of those in almost 9 months. Why now? I have no idea. Thankfully it only lasted about an hour. After that... I would take my mystery pain over that any day!
Kelson was a champ at the dentist. Not sure if you remember what happened last time. Well, you can go back and read what happened. (Read the Rat Race.) Well, Kelson gagged only once and just asked for a drink. He did great. I was so proud. Analise sat and watched from my lap the entire time. Kelson was given a cavity free checkup. He was glad. He told the hygienist, "That is good because my daddy has 14 of them!" (Cheeto went last week and did in fact have 14 little cavities in between his teeth. It's going to take him 3-4 visits to get them all taken care of. WOW! is all I have to say!) At the end of the visit, when Kelson was getting his new toothbrush and such, Analise saw a princess toothbrush that caught her eye. It was a bigger brush but the hygienist talked her into getting a little one with an elephant. She has since called it her "Horton" brush. The kids have been seeing the previews for the movie and are very excited to go see it. G'ma said she wanted to take them to see the movie sometime next week while Cade is out for spring break. We got back around 11:00am. The kid were screaming that they were starving so I fed them an hour early, which meant that quiet time came early too. HIPPEE! I took some pain killers and chose to lie down myself. The doctors told me to take darvocet instead of all the ibuprofen, said it will be easier on my stomach and liver. I don't feel like it works as well, but it works enough. We went shopping and then to dinner at Beef O' Brady's. It's a family sports pub. It was a lot like HAMS but with less noise. It was good food. Tuesdays kids eat free. I think we will be going there more often. The owner is also a big Steelers fan. Cheeto met him tonight. I think Cheeto will be watching some football over there this fall. Cade and Kelson loved looking for the Steelers and Panthers stuff on the walls. There were plasma televisions about 3 feet apart down each wall and down the center of the room. It would be impossible not see one. It's nice that it's right around the corner. It's in the same shopping center as Mexico #6.
I think that has brought us up to date. I am now sitting here with only one child. Kristi wanted to "borrow" Analise for a achievement girls activity. She wanted to have Analise to help the girls learn some babysitting skills. Kelson wanted to go so badly that Kristi said sure. Kristi took them and van. Cade and I have been here for the past couple of hours alone. It has been so quiet. I think Cade enjoyed being the only child home. He read me stories and we just chatted. That was nice! He is now in bed and I'm just waiting for my babies to come home. It's not like I'm nervous, but I'm still edgy until they are home safe in theirs beds. All mom's out there know the feeling. Well, until another day!

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
Analise: While she was picking out her tooth brush she was telling the hygienist, "my teef good! No see my teef!" She was so nervous that this lady was going to do to her what she had done to Kelson. She wanted the toothbrush and that was it. No strings attached! Silly girl- both Kelson and I had to giggle at her!