In November…

I know I always say that time goes too quickly, but man… November flew by! I can’t believe Christmas is so close, we’re close to next year’s holidays/birthdays/etc AND that the decade is almost over!? I really cannot believe any of it.

You may have noticed that blog content (as well as Pinterest, Twitter, AND Instagram content as well) was few and far this month, which I explain why later on in the post. However, I’ve missed creating and sharing SO much, and am more than ready to come back again and make 2020 the best year for The Small Adventurer yet! 🎉

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TIDBITS FROM THE MONTH:

♡ I’m going to be honest here: I was SUPER lazy this month. I was mostly either asleep, or watching a movie. I upped my medication a few more times, and it is working really well, but it also makes me super sleepy the next day. Daytime naps are now almost a guarantee for me, but it’s not just the medication to blame. I’ve had a sleeping disorder my entire life, which makes it impossible to get a decent sleep at night.

Daniel and I also don’t have a real sleeping OR eating schedule yet, which is something we hope to fix next year. I also started taking melatonin pills – as advised by my neurologist – to help avoid my lack of sleep affecting my seizures. I wasn’t expecting them to work at all, but they honestly knock me out! I’ve been falling asleep SO much faster than usual, plus I also haven’t been waking up countless times during the night like I used to, so that’s great. However, Daniel says I now snore slightly, so that sucks 😅

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♡ Since starting my most recent epilepsy medication, my seizures have slowed down significantly. At one point this year I went two weeks seizure free, which was a first for me. They eventually came back, so I upped my dosage. I then reached over a MONTH of being seizure free (also aura free, which is one of the worst parts of my epilepsy), but then they came back after Daniel and I went away for the weekend and our sleep schedule got REALLY messed up, which is why my doctor told me to take melatonin. I was so down after they came back this month, but between my neurologist, Daniel, and an old friend who is now a nurse who sent me a lot of nice messages after watching my Instagram Stories about my epilepsy, I feel a lot better now.

♡ Towards the start of the month, Daniel and I went to his older brother’s wedding. Daniel’s family live really far away so we don’t visit very often – in fact, I think this is only the third time in five years – and it was nice to see everyone again. The actual wedding was beautiful, too. Out of all of Daniel’s family, his brother is one of the ones I know the LEAST – and I only met his now-wife a couple of times – but the entire thing still made me super emotional. The only other wedding I’ve been to was in another language, so it was a first for me to get the full experience, and I really loved it. The “after party” was really fun too. Daniel and I don’t drink (well, *I* don’t, and we usually have to drive home, so he doesn’t either most of the time), and we were pleasantly surprised at how no one cared or tried to force us to drink, and we still had a great time around everyone else whilst they were getting very drunk 😅

IN NOVEMBER I:

In October…

Just like that, another month is GONE! If you remember the starting to last’s month’s recap, because I lost a lot of shifts, I wasn’t able to pay rent. Well, I didn’t make enough to pay it again this month, and I am losing a lot of shifts in November so I won’t be able to pay it on time in December either, which means it’s going to be a tight Christmas

Onto some good news, October contained quite a bit of medical things that went well but I’ll go into more detail below – and November will be similar too. I am slowly getting all the pieces in line to being able to get brain surgery for my epilepsy should I need and/or want it, which is a good thing, even though it sounds like it isn’t. Anyway, let’s get onto the month that was October!

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TIDBITS FROM THE MONTH:

♡ I ended up beating my record of seizure free days from last month. As of writing this, I am now four weeks and one day seizure free – and I’m not even on the “normal” dosage of my new medication yet! What that means is, I’ve increased how much I take every two weeks, and I’ve got one more to go. You have to start on a low amount of this medication as the side effects affect most people, I am pretty sure, and they’re super strange.

There’s been nights I’ve stumbled whilst walking, had slurred speech and sounded drunk, was so tired I fell asleep almost instantly, or had an energy boost. However, I had more nights where NOTHING happened, so I’m still taking the medication. My neurologist said it’s pretty much up to me, as I (and Daniel) will know if the side effects are too much to handle, but I’d definitely take these things over seizures.

♡ I got a surprise package from Queen Fine Foods that is pictured above, and I honestly teared up whilst opening it! Queen have always been my favourite brand (which you can tell by the fact that I ALWAYS use their products and rave about them in my food posts) and I love them even more now that I know how sweet the people working their are ☺️

This package came at a perfect time too, as I was having quite a rough day. Whilst I’ve already tried the icing flavour (which I actually really liked, despite not being a huge fan of ginger!), I am hoping to try the other products ASAP, and maybe writing review posts on them. If there’s a particular item you’re interested in and would like to know how good it is, et me know in the comments!

♡ As I mentioned in last month’s recap post, after a LOT of back and forth with the hospital, I finally had a scan booked for October, which went well. It was a PET Scan, so I had to get an injection, lie down in a dark room with my eyes open for 30 minutes, and then put in a machine for about 15 minutes. The injection had to go directly into my vein, which I was nervous about as I had never had one into a vein before, but I really couldn’t feel it at all!

It actually hurt so little, and happened so quickly, that I asked if that was all and the guy doing it said “yep, that’s the only prick of the day – besides me” which made Daniel and I laugh a LOT. You can tell when I find something really funny because I snort and it’s super embarrassing 😂 Daniel and I both turn to humour when things get tough, and even though neither of us were worried about this scan, that little joke really improved the day.

The worst part was actually being in the machine, which I expected. Although it wasn’t as bad as my MRI – which is a very LOUD machine that takes a lot longer than a PET scan, plus I was sick when I had that done – it still wasn’t very fun. The woman who got me set up (which, in this case, means strapped my legs and arms down, and taped my head down too) didn’t say anything about the test other than the fact that I wasn’t allowed to move – which I knew – so I was kind of freaking out when I heard all the noises the machine made.

I knew it would make SOME noises, but they were all so different, and at some points I could hear that stereotypical “things have gone wrong in the lab!” repetitive alarm sound, but once again, it was just the machine. Another thing I didn’t know was going to happen was being wheeled in and out of the machine constantly throughout the test as that did NOT happen during my MRI!

Anyway, I survived, and we had the results the next day. This test pointed to the same area that my MRI did, which is good news. From what I understand, I need all of the tests and scans I am going to have to all point to the same area before I can have brain surgery, as they need to be 100% sure of where the seizures are coming from before they go slicing into my brain 😅

In September…

September sure was a whirlwind month! If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen how badly it started off for me. I was SO down about not being able to see friends or family for my birthday, then I ended up losing SIX shifts at work and couldn’t pay my rent.

I also kept getting screwed around by a hospital regarding some tests I needed done, which I hope/think is all sorted out now. My health issues also sent me on quite a roller coaster this month. Regardless of all that though, September ended up being a really good month and one that I will definitely remember for a while!

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TIDBITS FROM THE MONTH:

♡ Despite not being able to see friends or family for my birthday due to low money and our hectic schedule, they all managed to come through for me and made me feel loved. Family members sent me cards and presents in the mail and one of my oldest friends sent me a $50 gift card to Riot Arts and Crafts in an email (with the sweetest message ever, which included the words “you are my inspiration”).

A follower on Instagram even sent me TWO packages of baking items and other adorable things because I had seemed so down. Plus, on the night of my actual birthday, Daniel and I ate our weight in junk food and watched Sailor Moon together for over 3 hours. It was all so perfect.

September was Sewing Month, so I thought I’d share these adorable
mini spools of thread that I turned into collar clips! How cute?! 🙊

♡ After getting told a while ago that I would need to go to a (brand new) hospital on the 19th and 20th to get some tests done regarding my epilepsy, I was then told a few days before them that they were cancelled due to a nation wide shortage on something they needed for the test.

As much as it sucked having taken the days off work, it was no one’s fault. I then got a message from them a few minutes after calling them to call them again, but it was an automated one and I figured they just hadn’t updated the information that I HAD indeed already called them.