Brenda's Brainstorm & Trevor, a T Man Production 2009 - 2022

Hi, it's Brenda, and I will be sharing this tale in my own words. Usually my storyteller, Trevor shares our tales, but I want to tell you the story behind Trevor. Trevor came into my life on November 30, 2010. It had been a very difficult day, so to see such a beautiful sight, even though it was a plush dog, was a great comfort. So a little background about how this all came about. I had decided that a golden retriever would be the choice for this plush dog. The next step was a name that would go with my current blog name; Brenda's Brainstorm, which was started in 2009. I decided that this dog would be telling my tales, so it had to click. Our blog was changed to Brenda's Brainstorm & Featuring Trevor's Tales. TT for short as that was part of his first dog collar, that my late mother made for him. It also had a purple ribbon, as that is the awareness color for meningioma, the type of brain tumor that I had. Since he was a storyteller with sharing tales, I ag

Hello my fellow readers, it's Trevor sharing another tale. This week has not been an easy one for Brenda. She experienced one of the worst attacks in her living with RA. As our readers know, Brenda has been living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for over twenty-five years. This disease is full of surprises and most of them are not pleasant, hence this tale. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune or inflammatory disease. Brenda has a form of both. Autoimmune, simply means that the body attacks itself and there is really nothing to fight back with. Brenda prefers to use the word attack over flare, as she is in a battle every day. Brenda woke up Monday morning not feeling that great, as her left upper leg was starting to hurt. She figured by the time she walked to work, it would be much better. She climbs the stairs whenever she can, to keep those muscles lubricated. She finds that drinking lots of water helps with this as well. Her barometer head was terrible this week as well. I

Hi Trevor here again, sharing another exciting tale that happened recently. Brenda was a guest on Brain Tumor Talk: Worldwide Radio show, for the second time, on Friday, October 7th. Rick Franzo who is the host and also a two time meningioma brain tumor survivor, asked her if she would like to be a guest and share about the book. A couple of weeks ago, the date was put in place, when she would be on. This was a wonderful opportunity for Brenda and she enjoyed it immensely. Rick makes it so easy to engage in a conversation, although Brenda was doing most of the talking. BOL He even said at one point, that half of the hour was gone. He even mentioned, good old Trevor here and that made my golden heart sing. BOL Rick and I were actually in the same video for Tumors Suck and that is how he and Brenda first got connected on social media. There were a lot of great things brought out, during that hour, that seemed to fly by. Brenda had a chance to shout-out to several people, who have

RA Blog Week Day#6 WILDCARD #2 Coping with Depression - How do you manage the inevitable lows of having RA? Do you view RA as being forever or do you look forward to remission? What are the best ways to cope with the depression associated with RA? Today I choose WILDCARD #2 on Coping with Depression. As I mentioned in my first blog post this week, in the beginning days of RA, I thought my life was over. I had to find my smile again. That required reaching down deep and finding that inner child who loved to laugh at the simply pleasures of life. As a child I used to love to watch "Our Gang or The Little Rascals"... I'll let you in on a little secret. I still do. This is a time, when I can escape from all all the pain or worry, that living with RA brings. RA is a nasty disease, but I have learned to realize that after all of these years, it will never have me. I can go and be that kid again enjoying "The Little Rascals." I also love to write and one of

RA Blog Week; Day #5: WILDCARD  #1- Advice column -What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten, or advice you can give about how to live well with chronic disease and pain. Today, I am going to share some of the advice that I have received. I have lived with RA for over twenty-five years, so I pretty much have heard it all. I am however, going to concentrate and share with you, something practical. I have always believed, that experience is our best teacher, as well as watching those who live by example. My late mother was a great one, in that regard. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting and working with one of the best patient advocates, who happens to also be my friend, Seth Ginsberg, who is the Co-founder and President of CreakyJoints. It was in April of 2012, when Seth came to North Dakota, and helped me, with my work advocacy day. We had a chance to spend some great quality time together. We talked about how it felt good to help others. I have since used his

RA Blog Week: Day #4 Today's writing prompt is; The pain of pain meds - Pain medication prescriptions are difficult to obtain and scary to use. What horror stories do you have because of new laws? Maybe you have been treated badly at the pharmacy or by family members?   I actually touched on this very subject with a blog post in April of 2014. My storyteller, Trevor had this to share. I will post the highlights from that blog. It was titled: A Tale of Tragedy... There has been much discussion on social media about the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. There has also been some heavy discussion on the use of narcotics. Here is the thing folks, if you live with chronic pain, Brenda believes in the right and passage, to be using these mediums. She would like to see legalization of marijuana in her state. Some of you are gasping I am sure. She doesn't want it to get high, so don't be so quick to judge, if you have not lived with chronic pain. She knows people wh

RA Blog Week: Day #3 Today's writing prompt is; Biologics can be scary - What did you think the first time you Googled your biologic medication? What advice would you give a person just diagnosed when it comes to biologic medications? I had to find a new PCP, as my previous one had passed away. I had this physician while in the early stages of my living with RA. I stopped going to my rheumatologist after he told me, that I was going to get worse and that I should consider going on disability. He never had good news for me and I figured my PCP at the time could manage my care, just as well. Turned out that he could and did. My very first visit with this new PCP the question was posed; "Have you ever considered taking Enbrel?"   I knew at the time that was impossible to even consider, because of the cost and would my current insurance even consider it? This physician had much more knowledge about the current treatments. We decided that using Gold would be the very last

RA Blog Week - Day #2 Today's writing prompt is; Active versus reactive patients - We usually start as naïve and trusting patients, then at some point we realize we must take an active part in our own medical decisions. Tell the story of your move to active patient or why you are not there as yet. As I shared yesterday, in the beginning of my RA journey, I was just trying to come to grips, with how I would continue to live with this devastating inflammatory disease. I did start researching. You have to realize in 1991, I had no home computer, so my only resource was basically the public library. I would pick up free copies of the magazine, "Arthritis Today" at the clinic where I was employed. The next year I did subscribe, after attending an all day seminar about arthritis. It was informative, but I looked around at the people sitting at the various tables and saw all the damage that this disease had done to them. I decided that from that moment on, I was going t

I remember that day, as if it were yesterday. Walking out of my rheumatologist's office, with the news, that I would have to live with the rest of my life. It was on a Wednesday morning and I was still in shock by having that reality, sink into my brain. You see, I was not actually told the words, "You have rheumatoid arthritis." I was told something more like, "This is going to take longer, than we thought." His nurse proceeded to hand me a bunch of pamphlets, with how I was supposed to live with this for the rest of my life. I had my answer right there. I had rheumatoid arthritis. I was thirty one years old at the time and thought my life was OVER. I was sole breadwinner, so how was I supposed to live and continue a full-time job? At this point, my RA was progressing quite rapidly. I need to back up here, approximately three years prior. I had been diagnosed with costochondritis, which is a painful condition involving the chest wall. I had been to numerous

Trevor here with some exciting news. My paws are all over the keyboard, as I am so happy, to share this with you. BOL On Thursday, September 8, 2016, the anniversary of Brenda's craniotomy or the day she celebrates as her *Craniversary* she became... wait for it!  Co-author of a book. She had known about the release date for about a month, so she had to keep it under her hat. What does that mean exactly? I'm a dog, so I bury bones. BOL Good old Trevor, being silly here. The book is titled; Grief Diaries: Living with a Brain Injury. It is #16 in the Grief Diaries Anthology Series. Brenda loves her play on words, so this is so sweet. Her promoting the book is going to be centered around the date it was released. It was also eight years ago on that same date, that she became a brain tumor survivor. I am so doggone proud of all of her accomplishments. I am sure her mother is looking down from Heaven, with pride. Brenda was pretty emotional that day. She does live with front

Hi, it's Trevor here with our monthly tale. This one is going to be unique. It will be broken down in two parts. I will share first and then Brenda will finish. The title for this particular post, came from a co-worker. Brenda thought it was a great time to use it. Brenda started this blog in 2009, almost one year, after having her brain tumor removed, or the correct name for this procedure, a craniotomy. One of the gifts she received from this whole experience, was being able to write. The original title for this blog was; Brenda's Brainstorm: (An Inspiration Out of the Blue). As you know, Brenda has been a brain tumor survivor, for almost eight years. She had a right frontal lobe meningioma which was found on an MRI on August 26, 2008. It turned out to be non-malignant. She no longer refers to it as benign, as the connotation is confusing. Benign doesn't necessarily mean harmless. Even though 90% of these types of brain tumors are benign, they are still many things th

Hi, it's Trevor once again, sharing our monthly tale. This time is going to be a bit different. We warn our readers, that it may be a bit raw, as honesty can sometimes cause some people to become uncomfortable. That's okay, because we all need to be awakened at times. Brenda has been going through some tough struggles as of late. As you know she has lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for over twenty-five years and is almost an eight-year brain tumor survivor. That is a lot to deal with. Imagine, dealing with most of that on your own? Brenda does and it is difficult at times. We are not saying anything here to make anyone feel bad. We are simply bringing out some facts here. Brenda has not been feeling that great. Our weather has been hot this week. Her fingers are so swollen and she pretty much has been hurting all over. She continues to do her walking to and from work, all five days. I am so proud of her. Yes, she walks in that hot weather too. Her fatigue is out of co

Hi, it's Trevor to bring you another tale of Brenda's life. This time, is going to be about her recent experience as a juror. She was summoned to report to her county district courthouse on June 2, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. She had to call in the night before, to make sure that the trial was still scheduled. She found out that it was and where she would need to report the following morning. So on the morning of June 2, 2016, she arrived at the courthouse in plenty of time, as she did not want to be late. This was a new experience for Brenda. She had been summoned for jury duty before, but the cases had always settled out of court. She was a bit apprehensive, as this was completely out of her realm of comfort. When she arrived, the first thing she had to do was to have her purse scanned. No buzzers went off, so she was free to go upstairs to the 3rd floor. Brenda told me that one of the great things about this was, that the weather was perfect, as she walked the mile to the courth

Hi, Trevor here once again, to bring you our monthly blog post. It has been a busy month for Brenda, as she has been spreading awareness for arthritis and brain tumors. It has now been twenty-five years, since she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). but she believes she has lived with it much longer. She is almost an eight-year brain tumor survivor. She is already making plans for her next Craniversary, a word that is used instead of anniversary, as she had a craniotomy. I think if I would have had one of those, I would celebrate too. BOL Arthritis is the #1 cause of disability in the United States. Brenda has defied the odds, as she is still working full-time after twenty-five years. She will be celebrating twenty-eight years of being employed with the clinic, next Thursday. That is pretty pawsome in my book. BOL She has been writing a great deal, as she has contributed to two books in the Grief Diaries Anthology Series. I don't like to brag, but she is also work

Hi, it's Trevor once again, bringing you another tale. We have really tried to share one a month and so far this year, it has happened. This time is going to be about something that Brenda struggles with and that is isolation. When you live with a chronic illness or in Brenda's case, more than one challenge, it can be especially hard for some to understand. Brenda wants to be social and have fun. There are some things that limit her activities. One is the fact that she struggles with benign positional vertigo (BPV) attacks, of which she never knows when one may occur. She hasn't been in an airplane in over five years, as her last experience is when the plane started to take off, her head began to feel funny and she became very sick. It was so bad that they wanted her to go to the ER, but Brenda fought it and rested. It gets better after she has had a chance to rest. Not everyone gets this and it is tiring for her to have to explain it over and over. She would love to

Hi, it's Trevor here again, sharing another tale. This time is going to be a bit different. Brenda has been going through some real rough or in my world, ruff challenges, BOL as of late. Brenda is just recovering from yet another bout of shingles. This makes her fourth time. If you are not aware what shingles are, here is a little information for you. If you had chickenpox as a child, as Brenda did, the shingles virus is already inside of you. It lies dormant for years and usually when you become an adult, 1 in 3 persons, will be attacked by this virus. As we have shared with you before, her first time was the worst. She now knows what to watch for. It still doesn't make it any easier to deal with. They can really get on your nerves, so has a lot of other things with Brenda lately. She has been isolating herself, except to go to her job or other errands that may have to be attended to. She really has had less energy, since this all occurred. It's hard enough living with

Hi, it's Trevor here on National Love Your Pet Day, sharing another tale with you. This time, we are going to explore manners. What are they exactly? In a nutshell, please and thank you, being the pivotal ones. We want to share, that there is a lot more than meets the eye, when it comes to manners. Brenda wants to bring out that how we conduct ourselves is as important, than what we tell others. Actions speak louder than words. Brenda has encountered some situations that are distressing at best. We know that sometimes, we are never going to receive that thank you, for something we did. In the case of an all expense paid weekend, I would have certainly got down on all four paws and thanked her. BOL Brenda realizes that ship has sailed or sunk, however you want to look at it. She has chosen to move forward. We do want to share though, that you are never too old to possess manners. When Brenda was a child and she would receive a gift from her maternal grandfather and aunts, sh