What to write...

Since both sisters are going to be writing more I feel the need to join them, but where to begin? I have not been to the pool since I last wrote. It was just too traumatic, both for me AND for the ones who had to watch! I still have 5 visits left on my card, though, so I have to use them. Maybe in February.

For some reason I just thought of my last visit with the pain doctor. He actually made me take a drug test! I've been taking the same medication for about 4 years and have never asked for more, or for something different except for when the migraines began. That time I had to call him and beg for something because I was on day 2 of a miserable pain I could not get rid of. He called in Imitrex and referred me back to the neurologist I saw a few years ago, who diagnosed me with migraines.

Anyway, I guess because I have joked about 'medicinal marijuana' for so long, I sort of panicked when I heard I had to do a drug test. My first thought was 'WOW, I'm SO GLAD I haven't smoked pot lately!' For those of you who know me now I must confess that I smoked a big fat one a time or two in my youth. Not often, but yes I did burn one every how and then. But I have not touched the stuff in 23 (?) years, which made my thoughts at the pain doctor's office odd. I suppose I've joked about pot for pain so much I almost was worried that I might not pass the drug test. Now how silly is that? Even if it was legalized in the state of Georgia I don't think I would do it, simply because I think the action of smoking it would make me want to smoke cigarettes again. That is something I NEVER want to do again.

I quit smoking on October 11, 2001. Yes, this was one month after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I, like most of the world, was so stunned by everything that was happening and my lack of ability to control it that I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was glued to the tv for days, watching the planes crash into the World Trade Center buildings over and over and I began having panic attacks. So I decided to quit smoking. I'd been smoking since high school (you do the math) and it was very hard to quit, but I had my last smoke at 10:30pm on that night in October. I have not touched another one since. Not a single time, which is probably good for my pocket since cigarettes cost nearly $5 a pack now (they cost almost $2 a pack when I quit). I smoke LOTS in my dreams. Not sure why. I'm just glad I quit in real life. When my pain is really bad, though, I do sometimes wonder if smoking marijuana might just do the trick. Shocking, huh?