truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (horse: fd-milo)
Sarah/Katherine ([personal profile] truepenny) wrote2011-05-17 06:55 pm

the 5 things of which a post are made

1. The tow truck guy, bless his tattooed heart, figured out what's causing the Saab's psychosis before I had to pay him to tow it to the service guys.

2. It's the ignition switch. Now we wait to find out whether the service guys can rebuild it or whether we have to get a new one . . . on which there is no ETA. I love my 1997 Saab, but there are drawbacks.

3. Speaking of drawbacks, my insurance company voted no on the Lyrica prescription. I need to find time to call my doctor's office and find out what we do about round 2.

4. On the other hand, the acupuncture is working. I took a walk with [livejournal.com profile] mirrorthaw yesterday after my appointment and had to double-take twice. Once because my ankle didn't hurt and once later because my thigh muscles weren't stringed-instrument-tense. It didn't last, but boy it was nice while it was there.

5. And finally, today I had the odd experience of consciously witnessing myself have a breakthrough. I've been struggling for most of a year, since before I broke my ankle, with cantering. (Yet another thing fantasy writers don't think about.) I fell off the first time I tried cantering off the lunge line--actually it was three hundred and sixty-three days ago, May 19, I just went and looked--and since then I've been struggling both to learn how to canter and to stop being afraid of it. (The huge hiatus because of the ankle did not help.) But today we were working off the lunge line, and I asked my teacher if we could try cantering. Not because I thought I ought to, but because I wanted to. She was delighted.

Milo and I cantered. I didn't fall off and I wasn't terrified I was going to (although I do need to quit trying to grip the stirrups with my toes). It was splendid.
heresluck: (gardening: vegetables)

[personal profile] heresluck 2011-05-18 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
Bummer about the car and the Lyrica, but HURRAH for acupuncture and cantering! (And, you know, Not Falling Off.)
ext_48468: (wolf)

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_eljefe_/ 2011-05-18 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
What model Saab? The 900 switch is more expensive ($279 eek!) and the 9000 is only $79. Most vendors don't have them in stock, but only a couple days delay from the supplier. Check out rockauto.com

[identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] themadfish.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Back when I used to ride I'd love cantering, because for me it felt a lot smoother. In some ways, it was still scary just because of the speed you're going, but at the same time it's exhilarating. Glad you could experience that.

[identity profile] difrancis.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Lyrica made me sick, sadly. Too bad the Gabapentin wouldn't work. Will the company be willing to subsidize your prescription? Can you lobby the insurance company, explain the issue?

[identity profile] cassandraterra.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry about the car troubles, cars make me go grrr when they fail. But damn we do love them.

I hope something positive can come about with your new meds. There has to be a way! I'm glad the acupuncture is working!

Oh, I remember the first time I cantered. I was so scared! It was made all the more harder by me being in an ENGLISH saddle for the first time. I stayed on. I did. I'm glad you had a great time!
pameladean: (Default)

[personal profile] pameladean 2011-05-18 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, cantering, hooray! You rock so hard! (I am terrified of horses and never intend to ride one, but I find your riding posts completely fascinating.)

P.

[identity profile] lyonesse.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
yay cantering!

good luck with lyrica. it's a metabolite of gabapentin, so if that used to work and stopped, you may be on the right track with trying something further down that line.

another (possibly cheaper) thought is to go with other gaba-ergic meds (benzodiazepines which are gaba-a agonists, or baclofen which is a gaba-b agonist). both are old and available as generics. none are fashionable at the moment. (i'm a neuroscientist, i keep track of these things...)

[identity profile] pixel39.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay cantering!! I used to try and wrap my toes around the stirrups too. ;-)

One of the horses I rode really liked to gallop, which I will grant feels a lot less like you're going to get catapulted off (horsapulted?) but once she started it was really hard to convince her that no, we are CANTERING and please would you cut it out with the galloping now?