7/1/14. The post where I get twitchy.

7/1/14: slept all the way to 4:30 this morning.  By the end of the week, I should have this jet lag thing whipped.  Woke up with my foot feeling pretty good, back down to a 4.  Took our four-legged guest for an early morning walk and then rode my trainer for 10 minutes, for the first time since vacation.

I started Phase 2 of my "catch back up at work" plan today.  This is the phase where I start actually doing all the work that I prioritized yesterday.  I made some good progress.  With the 4th of July on Friday it will be a four day workweek, and I'm hoping to have things in good shape by then so I can enjoy the holiday.  I was also able to sneak in a mani/pedi, which I desperately needed after being a vagabond for three weeks.  In honor of the upcoming holiday, I chose Dining Al Frisco, a pretty shade of blue from the San Francisco collection, and Big Apple Red, a pretty shade of...well, you know...from the New York collection.  I look quite patriotic.

Here's a photo of the little guy who's visiting us this week.  

With dogs, just as with children, I love being the aunt.  It's impossible to say no to that face, so it's been a week full of walks and treats and snuggling.  I may not be allowed to watch him again in the future, but we sure have had a nice time.  One of his most interesting habits is his eating style.  He sneaks up to his food dish on tiptoes (imagine Fred Flintstone bowling), grabs a few pieces of food, and then runs across the room to set them down and eat them one at a time.  A pretty good way to stay in shape, now that I think about it.  Maybe I will start taking a bite of food and then getting up from the dinner table and walking across the room to chew and swallow it.  Then again...maybe I won't.  On a dog, it's cute and endearing.  On a human, it's just creepy.

I am still taking the Cymbalta and having pretty good success with it.  My nausea is almost completely gone, perhaps owing to the fact that my stomach has not been empty at any point during the last four weeks.  Sometimes I get a little dizzy if I get up or turn my head too fast, but that's a small price to pay for the relief I've gotten.  I've had one other side effect that appears to be increasing rather than subsiding - muscle twitches.  It is usually most pronounced at night right after I take the medicine or when I am really tired, but it can happen at any time of day and with any muscle, it appears.  

Tonight was a doozy.  My foot was starting to become really irritated, so I decided to sit down for awhile and watch a baseball game.  Suddenly, my arms, legs, and feet were twitching wildly.  Fortunately I was home alone at the time.  Except for the dog, who didn't seem to mind.  I guess when you regularly run across the room to chew each bite of your food, you can't judge.  

After about 15 minutes, it slowed down and eventually stopped.  It doesn't hurt - in fact, it is kind of interesting and makes me laugh.  But I suspect it may get old at some point.  I hope it will go away at some point, but even if it doesn't, I probably won't be taking the medicine forever.  Again, it is worth it as long as the medicine continues to work.  In the meantime, pay no attention to Twitchy Girl and her sidekick, OCD Dog.