I just want some pain relief!

My physical therapist came to see me today, along with the senior territory manager of the company I get my TENS unit through.  They brought me a new unit, called an Electrotherapy System (I'm still going to call it a TENS unit or system since it's shorter!) to see if it would help me since the TENS unit I had used stopped doing the trick after two weeks.  When the lady put the new, much larger electrodes on my body, I was thrilled at how much better they adhered to my skin and when she turned the unit on, I liked what I felt.  This system has a very intense setting for the first half hour, yet I didn't think it would be too much for me as I had been dealing with my old TENS unit on the maximum strength for up to 16 hours per day.  After half an hour, I can set it to work as a regular TENS unit for the rest of the day and evening, except this one goes up much higher in its intensity.  Ahh, finally I would get relief!  Or so I thought.


Along with this new system, I was given two sets of rechargeable batteries and charger and was told both sets of batteries were fully charged.  So imagine my surprise when my TENS stopped working less than three hours into using it!  I figured the batteries had not been completely charged so I switched the batteries and proceeded to put the used ones on the charger.  Not even two hours later, the new ones quit on me.  What the hell?  Frustrated, I put a pair of regular AA batteries in the unit and they DIED after less than four hours.  Ohh my goodness!  This system uses so much more power than my last one that there is no way in hell I will be able to use it all day long as I need to do!  I will definitely be calling the territory manager to let her know my utter surprise and disappointment in this system as I need it to work the entire day.  Why can't it have a power cord?  That would be wonderful as I'm sitting next to an outlet most of my waking hours and this would save much time on switching batteries over and over again.  All I can say is I'm frustrated out of my mind and dying for some relief.

I had a very unsettling incident yesterday as Dorraine and I returned to my home with Emmi Sue after her blood sugar veterinarian check.  Dorraine brought her in, so the only thing I was carrying was my purse, but as soon as I walked into my house, my body suddenly became extremely weak.  The weather was a lovely 75°degrees and breezy, so it had nothing to do with excessive heat, but my body suddenly bent forward and my legs had almost no strength.  I walked a few steps to the kitchen counter, where the sink is located, and leaned my backside against it as Dorraine looked at me with the strangest expression.  I must have had the oddest look on my face as I told her I couldn't move.  I was stuck in that position and was honestly very frightened.  I finally managed to ask her to pass me my cane, which I have rarely used inside my home, so I could try to walk over to the computer chair.  I don't even want to know how horrible I looked as I dragged both legs those few feet to my chair.  What would I do if this lasted?  Today was Dorraine's day off and I would be alone all day.  I knew I could call my parents but they worry too much as it is and didn't want to cause them extra distress but they would, eventually, need to know this had happened, which I shared with Mom earlier today.  And yes, I do plan on getting a Lifeline unit for my home as soon as I get a phone line.  The state will actually pay for Lifeline (or MedicAlert, I'm not sure which one) and I will take care of the line itself.

I'm scheduled to see my friendly neighborhood chiropractor tomorrow (ok, technically today!) but I'm sure I will end up cancelling as we are expecting another scorcher.  The temperature was near 100°today and is expected to be even hotter tomorrow and I can't imagine what the heat will do to my body.  I'm afraid of having another reaction as I did just yesterday and it wasn't even because of the heat! Ugh, summer is the worst time of the year for me and I can't wait until fall although winter is damn horrible, too.  There's really no good time of the year where I live, which explains why I rarely leave my home.