On February 3rd I had an appointment with my psychiatrist. I told him the combination of Seroquel and Wellbutrin was not working. He discontinued Wellbutrin and prescribed a drug I'd never taken before, Cymbalta. My sleep improved immediately - or maybe some of that was due to relief that Mom was out of the hospital at last. As the days passed and Mom became adjusted to living at Maryhaven, I began to feel better and better. I started housecleaning and working on filing, and was amazed and delighted that my back didn't hurt from it. I bought some office supplies at Staples and when I found the box-bottom hanging files were not of good quality, I actually took them back for a refund. I know that sounds like nothing, but for me, it was big. Usually I'd rather chew rocks than return a purchase - especially in person.
By the end of my second week on Cymbalta I was working hard on a design for one of my garden beds - a job that a month or so earlier had been beyong my powers. By March 5th I had finished the first design and was forging ahead with another. I planned to tear out the two beds completely, moving some plants, discarding others, and planting hundreds of new plants.
Mom made slow but steady progress with her physical therapy. I visited her every morning before going to work (still working shortened hours), staying home on the weekends because other family and friends visited her then. My journal records some days when I didn't feel well, but mostly it is very upbeat, reporting one task finished after another. I started working on restoring my free graphics website - a job that had been waiting literally for years. I began watching programs like Clean Sweep, Mission Organization and Neat and taking their messages to heart. I set up an "action file" for incoming mail - though I have to confess I've had only limited success with that.
I placed garden plant orders knowing where each plant was going to go. I wound up ordering over 600 plants - and there weren't more than 25 that didn't have definite planned placement in the yard. I made detailed lists of things to clean up and completed them. I unpacked plant shipments as quickly as possible after they arrived. In mid-April I began digging up existing plants and potting them. A week later, planting began. I had help with this, but did a great deal myself. My leg muscles protested, but my back behaved itself.
On the 6th of May I developed a plan for filing. I couldn't do anything with it at the time, because all my free time was focused on the garden. My plans, as it turned out, weren't perfect, but I was able to adjust them as we went along.
Mom continued to improve day by day. She was able to walk with minimal assistance and with a walker, as well as walking for short distances with no help. With my brother's help we arranged to have a home care person ready to move in when Mom was released from Maryhaven.
Altogether I had four months and a week alone in the house. During that time I'd given away a lot of clutter, cleaned up a lot more, designed and begun planting two complete gardens, emptied three or four boxes of accumulated papers, come up with a filing plan, made a good start on putting my graphics website back together, and done it all without significant physical pain. Yet there was no sign of hypomania. For my conditions - bipolar depression and fibromyalgia - the combination of Seroquel and Cymbalta was proving to be excellent.
It was going to be strange to have not only Mom but a caregiver in the house as well, after such a long time alone.
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