Recent Ebay Sales - 4/14/2014

I had a pretty good week on ebay. Here are some of my recent ebay sales: 

1. Anthropologie "Saturday Sunday" brand dress, sold for $35. 

2. Ralph Lauren (black label) linen suit, sold for $60. 

3. Joseph Ribkoff blue & white striped dress, sold for $40. 

4. BCBG silk floral dress, sold for $50. 

5. Men's Lululemon shorts, sold for $35. 

6. Jams World men's floral shorts, sold for $20. 

7. Flax linen skirt, sold for $29. 

8. Burberry's older label top, sold for $22.50. This was part of a lot I purchased back in September and took 8 months to sell. I'm glad to see it go.

9. Franccesca Bellini red cocktail dress, sold for $25 to a buyer in France. 

10. Tianello printed top, sold for $32. This label seems to have a good following on ebay.

11. BCBG silk blend mini dress, sold for $35. 

12. Brokedown viscose printed scarf, sold for $20. And this adorable elephant ring holder, sold for $9. I purchased the March "Must Have" PopSugar box for $35 last month. The scarf & ring holder came from this box. I also listed an adorable necklace from the box for $15. 

By listing these three items, the rest of the items were basically free! I got a face serum moisturizer, a small fitness ball and two snacks for free.

My thrift finds (that I am keeping!)

Yesterday I went thrifting. I am still having trouble with my knee and it was my first real outing. 

I found a bunch of stuff for ebay. And a few things for me! About 95% of my closet is thrifted. I regularly go through and sell my personal items when I find more. 

Here are four items I am keeping from yesterday's Goodwill trip:

1. This adorable skirt which has no labels. I'm sure it was a cheaper brand but it fits me really well and I can wear it with a t-shirt & ballet shoes (my summer wardrobe). I paid $1.99.

2. Yet another skirt. This one is a full circle skirt and was handmade in a heavier barkcloth. I am going to twirl everywhere I go. It makes me so happy. $1.99.

3. Talbots red sweater for next winter. I plan on cleaning this and putting it away for next year. I love these open draping sweaters. $3.99.

4. A yellow purse from a cheap brand. It is a cross body and is the perfect bright shade. I only own ONE purse in black right now and I plan on switching to this one for the summer. I have a lot of coral & aqua in my summer wardrobe and love the look of yellow with those colors. $3.99. 

Gap watercolor stripe t-shirt: thrifted
Ann Taylor aqua capri pants: thrifted

Updates

We have been home for one week. Here are a few things that have happened in the last week:

-My father-in-law went into the hospital. We got home from the Calmare treatments in NJ on Friday evening. We went up to visit my FIL on Saturday morning and he was having trouble breathing. He had fluid in the lungs. 

-My father-in-law was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. A company dropped off oxygen tanks that night. He is having nurses come in a few times a week for awhile. 

-I have rested. The doctor said to rest for a week after arriving home. I have caught up on Netflix. Bo-ring!

-I had to turn down my dream job. This one breaks my heart even as I type it. There is just no way I would be able to be on my feet for any amount of time at this point. 

-The pain in my knee has been less but it is still there. As long as I am off my leg it is bearable. Today I tried to thrift and it was not good. I have a doctor appointment next week. The next step should be a spinal stimulator but I am not sure I want to do that just yet.

I wish I took photos to make this blog a bit more interesting but I haven't. Sorry about that.

Top Ebay Sales - 4/7/14

We were away for two weeks and I ended all my listings before we left. I started them back up so they would end the day after we got back which was Saturday. 

Here are a few things that sold this weekend: 

1. A wedding dress! I found this at Goodwill for $100 and it sold for $375 plus shipping. Wedding dresses normally don't do well but this one was a Maggie Sottero and was new with tags. Maggie discontinued this style in 2011 and so it was fairly current.

2. Carole Little rayon skirt, sold for $52. The rayon was made in Germany which is desirable for some reason. 

3. Levi's black corduroy pants, sold for $46. They are off to France. I paid just $2 for them at TJ Maxx last month. 

4. Relativity spring jacket, sold for $25. 

5. Chris McLaughlin lace dress, sold for $20. 

6. Chico's colorful skirt, sold for $20.

7. Eddie Bauer down vest, sold for $26 to a buyer in Norway. I purchased this vest for $2 at Goodwill and wore it a few times. 

8. Laura Ashley floral cotton romper, sold for $35. 

9. Levi's blue men's pants, sold for $20. These were purchased at TJ Maxx for $1 last month. Woo-hoo!

10. White House Black Market silk dress, sold for $35. 

11. Vintage set of pillowcases, sold for $10. One of my thrifts had a fill-a-bag sale months ago. I threw these on top since I had just a bit of room left. They didn't bring a ton but they paid for the entire bag.

And a quick note about my knee. I had pain last night but this morning it did feel somewhat better. My husband ran into one of my old doctors (now partially retired) at the hospital last night while he was visiting his father. The doctor sat down with my husband for over an hour and talked about RSD. He did his doctorate on a similar subject. The doctor took my husband's email and they swapped cell phone numbers. The doctor gave him a script for a pain patch and promised to call after doing some research. I am going to try the Lidocaine patch later today.

Day 10 & Final Thoughts About Calmare

Feel free to read about my Calmare experience HERE. 

I had the 10th and final Calmare treatment yesterday. The machine feels amazing. I love the buzzing that is sent throughout my leg. Amazing! 

After the last treatment we drove home 5 1/2 hours. We stopped along the way to let me walk around since the vibrations of the car still aren't the best. However, it was MUCH smoother than two weeks ago. 

Two week ago I was taking 4+ pain pills. I am down to just 1 lesser pain pill a day at this point and hope to stop taking those today. Two weeks ago I couldn't stand being in a car even if we were driving a mile. Today I didn't give it a second thought when we went to visit my father-in-law. 

Would I recommend Calmare to other RSD patients? Absolutely. There is a reason people are coming from the UK, Europe and all over the US to see this doctor.

Do I think I am 100% fixed? Nope. But the pain level has gone down quite a bit. My leg muscles will need to be built back up. The leg with RSD measures 2" smaller than my other "regular" leg. I have lost all muscle tone in the RSD leg since I haven't been using it in awhile. 

On my doctor's Facebook page I found this blog which I found helpful: LINK 
Here is another link to a success story: LINK

The 10 treatments cost $2500 plus any traveling & hotel. I am going to submit all the paperwork to my insurance and see if I get reimbursed. But even if I don't, I am really glad I tried Calmare. 
 

RSD Treatment - Calmare - Day 8 & 9

Feel free to catch up HERE if you haven't been following my (boring) saga of the Calmere treatments.

The treatments are going well. 70-80% of people with RSD are helped with Calmere. It is hard to say if I will be in that percentage just yet. 

I feel great when I am all hooked up to the machine. The machine creates a wonderful buzzing through my leg which allows my brain to be distracted and not feel pain. I want to take this machine home and have it on my leg permanently. It is much better than a TENs machine. 

Calmare treatment machine

I feel great after the treatment but honestly it doesn't always last for very long. My overall pain is down from a level 9 to about a 5. I am taking less pain medicine. I am very thankful for both of these things. 

However, I am a bit hesitant to say that it works just yet. I still cannot function well with a level 5 pain. Some days I have felt real relief. Some days (like this morning - ouch!) have been rough. 


Although we have been in NJ for the last 12 days, we haven't done much. I am doing a lot of sitting in bed trying to rest. 

However, we did visit a supermarket yesterday for 'fun'. My hubby has been running in and picking up groceries along the way since our hotel thankfully has a microwave & mini fridge. Yesterday I went in and saw how HUGE the store is. We don't have stores like this by us. Look at the bakery!

And my pick was a chocolate cake doughnut with LOTS of sugar! 

I now realize why people take selfies in the bathroom mirror - the lighting is great! ;) This was at the doctor's yesterday. 

Sorry about the blurriness. My phone's camera is pretty awful. 

Other things we have done in NJ include eating pizza in the hotel, going to a thrift store and taking a 5-minute "walk" around Anthropologie. I wanted to buy something as a souvenir but wasn't willing to spend $20 for a small kitchen towel. Yikes. 

A gorgeous Italian calfskin tote I found for $5 at the thrift! It smells amazing.

RSD Treatment - Calmare - Day 6 & 7

If you are new to my blog and want to read more regarding the Calmare RSD treatment, please catch up HERE.

I had "off" this weekend. The Calmare treatment is a series of 10 treatments over two weeks. My doctor's office is only open Monday through Friday. 

Monday (yesterday) I went back with a pain level of a 4 on Advil which is much lower than my pain level of a 9 on prescription pain pills. We asked the doctor if it was okay to try walking around the grocery store and he said to try it and see how I felt.

We went to Wal-Mart yesterday and I walked around for about 20 minutes. NO motorized cart. It was quite encouraging. 

I had soreness and a bit of pain after getting back to the hotel but it was still better than I have experienced in the past. 

This morning I went for my 7th Calmere treatment. One thing I really like is that my doctor stays with me while the treatment is going on. He can change the level of the electricity/shock or change the location of the pads. Today we talked about Ireland since we had both been there. 

I have three more days of treatments. 

Once we travel back home, I will need to take it easy for atleast a week. Even after that I won't be able to jump back into my life. 

I will continue to update this blog and let you know how the last three treatments go. 

RSD Treatment - Calmare - Day 4 & 5

For those that want to "catch up", here are two of my earlier blogs about this treatment. Day 1 LINK and Day 2 & 3 LINK.

Today I finished up my fifth treatment. Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. I know that only God can heal but I do believe the treatments are helping. 

I now have the weekend "off" since the doctor only has office hours Monday through Friday. I am half way through my treatments. 

The doctor said to rest which is exactly what I will do. There are about a billion stores down here including some of my favorites: Goodwill, TJ Maxx and Target. But I will sit in my hotel room and rest. The doctor told me specifically not to walk around Target to look for dancing dresses. He may know me a bit too well at this point in our relationship ;)

Ramen noodles in bed while watching Family Feud.
Recognize the bowl Mom?

We have been using our microwave to eat in the hotel room which is a challenge but it saves me going out and saves money. Pizza, baked potatoes, ramen and rotisserie chicken are making it a bit easier to stay in bed. Yum!

I am going to be completely honest in case someone is reading this that has RSD or knows someone with RSD. 

I was taking a pain pill about three times as strong as Percocet and I was taking them about 4 times a day.

Today I have taken 2 1/2 Percocet. That is a major difference and I am truly thankful for this decrease. My hope for this weekend is to continue to decrease my medicine. 

Thank you all for following my journey as I try to put this RSD into remission. With Calmere, I will most likely need booster treatments. Everyone responds differently but the doctor said that I will most likely need 2-3 treatments in about 3 to 6 months. Then the length of time increases between the boosters until I won't need them at all. 

My doctor was one of the first in the US to get the machine and he has had it for about 3 years. It is used on US military bases, at the Mayo clinic, at Hopkins University and a few other prestigious doctor's offices. 


Please feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. I am not getting paid or compensated at all to give my opinions about this treatment.

RSD treatment - CALMARE - Day 2 & 3

So for those that don't know, I have been diagnosed with a condition called RSD. No one really knows how you get it. It could be from an injury, shingles, surgeries, etc. Unfortunately I have had all three within the last two years - two injuries, shingles and 3 surgeries. It left me with this nerve condition. Basically my nerves tell my brain that there is pain in my knee but there is really nothing physically wrong with it. 

My husband and I traveled to New Jersey where there is a doctor who specializes in treating RSD patients. There are about 10 doctors in the US that use Calmare therapy. People travel from all over the United States and abroad to see this doctor. He has a woman traveling from Switzerland next week who has RSD. It is a really painful condition. 

Day 1 went well. The treatment doesn't hurt at all. It is completely non-invasive and has no side effects. There are no drugs to take. It is FDA approved and some insurances are starting to pay for it. The cost is $2500 for 10 sessions. This sounds like a lot of money. But when you consider the surgeries, medication, injections, doctor's appointments, etc. it isn't that bad. 

The machine has ten wires attached. At the end of each wire is a pad. 

I have RSD in my left knee and so five pads are attached to your spine and five to your foot. Basically the doctor wants to get on either side of the pain. The pads send electricity or shocks through the area. It is helping to train my brain and reset the nerves. The machine is like a TENs unit (for those that have tried that) but it has about 20 algorithms. This means there are a bunch of patterns to the shocks going through your body. Some are strong and short, others are longer and dull. 

Your brain is very smart. It gets use to things very quickly which is why I have had to up my pain medicine over the last few months. My brain and body got use to it and so I need something stronger. But with a bunch of patterns, your brain doesn't have time to get use to them.

Yesterday I woke up with the worst pain yet. Sometimes your nerves get temporarily worse before they get better. The doctor compared it to working out a new muscle. Your muscle becomes sore before it becomes stronger. The same is true with nerves. 

Except I didn't realize this. I walked in on Day 2 (yesterday) thinking I was done with this treatment. Pain makes me a bit crazy. It is hard to think through it sometimes. 

I ran into another patient coming out and she said she experienced the same thing. She is 18 and has had RSD for 4 years! Her dad drove her 10 hours to get to this doctor. She came in a wheelchair and is now completely walking - within two weeks of treatment. 

Day 2 went well and I woke up with slightly less pain this morning. Day 3 (today) went very well. I downgraded myself from a very strong pain pill to a slightly less strong pain pill. Ha. I was walking without a cane for a bit today. 

The treatment lasts about 40 minutes. Most people feel itchy and sleepy afterward. 

People respond differently to the treatment. It takes about 3-5 sessions to feel less pain. The 2-week treatment plan will last anywhere from a few months to a couple years before I will need a 'booster' treatment. 

I will continue to update my blog. Ebay and basically everything else is on hold right now. Please feel free to ask any questions. I realize there are a lot of people out there who are hurting.

RSD Treatment in NJ

Yesterday after church we drove to New Jersey. There is an RSD specialist who does a treatment called Calmare. There are 10 doctors in the United States that do this treatment and it was recently FDA cleared for RSD patients. 

We will be here 13 days and so we got a hotel fairly close to the treatment. The hotel was about a third of the price of other hotels in the area and so we were surprised when it turned out to be fairly nice. Plus there is free parking, free wi-fi and free breakfast with waffles. Yum!

We brought our own pillows, blankets, a hamper, hangers and a TON of other stuff and set up the hotel room last night. 

Today is my first treatment. I will be there for about 2 hours. I am trying not to get my hopes up too high honestly but a lot of people say they feel better after the first treatment. 

I will update this post later today and let you know how it went. 

UPDATE:

Five pads were attached to my lower back and another five were attached to my foot. The wires from those 10 were attached to a special Scrambler Machine. The doctor wanted to get on both sides of my pain in my knee. After speaking with the doctor about my condition and verifying I have RSD, I was given my first treatment. Each treatment is 40-60 minutes and I will be going M-F for this week and next. 

While hooked up to the machine, it sent electrical shocks through my leg. I had feeling in places that there was no pad which was amazing to me. There were about 20 different currents/shocks and all 20 felt different. The machine would cycle through them. Some were intense and short, others were dull and long. None were painful. 

While being hooked up to the machine, my pain was covered by these shocks. The doctor was really good. Within two tries of rearranging the pads he found the exact spot of my most intense pain. I have felt that pain for over two years. 

After being hooked to the machine I felt wonderful. I had a level 8 or 9 when I went in (I didn't take my pain meds this morning) and was at a 2 or 3 afterward. The doctor said that wouldn't last and the pain would be back and not to be discouraged. He was right of course. 

Usually someone responds to the treatment on a more long-term basis by treatment 5-7 which means I may start to feel some lasting relief by the weekend. 

There is a slight possibility of my insurance reimbursing us for this treatment which would be wonderful. The office manager spoke to us about that as well. 

Everyone was extremely nice. We found out my doctor loves Oreos and so we plan on stopped before the treatment tomorrow and picking some up. 

Thank you for your prayers.