For the First Time Ever, I Have Warm Feelings Towards Walmart

Over the past 10 years, I’ve gotten pretty good at feeding Matthew. but a large part of that is being able to find the right products. Margarine has always been a hard one because most margarines have milk in them. The brand that we have used for years is Nucoa. It hasn’t been easy to find and over time, I have been able to find it at fewer and fewer stores. I had been driving across town to find it and usually purchased a couple dozen boxes at a time and stored them in the freezer. But about 6 or 7 months ago, Nucoa was no longer available at the place I had been buying it. So the search began. I checked all the stores, searched online, inquired about special ordering it, etc. Unfortunately, I had no success. There is one other brand of margarine that works for Matthew, but it is definitely not my preferred brand. It is $5 a box. When it melts it acts more like water than butter. And it doesn’t even taste buttery. But it was our only option so that is what we’ve been using and every time I buy a box, I have to ignore the sticker shock.

Even though I’ve checked all the stores, I always give the shelves a quick check when I’m shopping just in case of the miraculous appearance of a new, cheaper option. Today while I was at Walmart, I happened to see this:

It was our beloved margarine. And it was $1.67 a box. I was so grateful that I cried, right there in the dairy section of Walmart. And then I loaded up my cart. I asked for the dairy manager to express my supreme happiness about having Nucoa in the store and when I explained to him why it is such a big deal, he told me he’d keep it stocked and asked if there are other products that we need that they carry. In the past year, there have been several specialty items that have shown up that we can use, so I shared those with him and expressed my appreciation for having them in the store.

Walmart is definitely not my favorite place to shop. There are a variety of frustrations involved such as poorly stocked shelves, few options in terms of brands, very few Matthew safe store brand items, etc. But today, for probably the first time ever. I was happy in Walmart.

My life is full of tender mercies from the Lord and although I’m sure most people would not classify margarine as a blessing, for us this is definitely a tender mercy.

I’m Seeing the World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

Several posts ago I mentioned that I’ve been seeing a new doctor. The wife of one of Kev’s coworkers gave us the name of a neurologist who specializes in headaches. And she practices here in the valley. I’ve looked for such a specialist on a number of occasions over the years and was never able to find one, so this tidbit of info was a pretty propitious find. After a particularly rough headache week in February (a migraine that completely incapacitated me for two full days was only part of that week’s drama), I made an appointment.

The doctor asked me a million questions, some I expected (symptoms, family history of headaches, personal history of headaches, if I eat chocolate or drink caffeinated beverages, etc.) and some that surprised me (if I get carsick, if I can read in a moving vehicle). After a neurological exam and all the questions, she told me that I have chronic migraines. This was not news to me. I’ve know that for a good long while now. She also told me that I won the genetic lottery for headaches…not really the kind of lottery anyone wants to win, but there’s really not much I can do about it. I’ve been doing the headache think for so long that most of the lifestyle changes she could have recommended have been a part of my daily existence for a couple of decades now. She did, however, take the time to talk about sleep. I know that not sleeping enough triggers headaches for me, and she said that she could not overemphasize how important it is to get enough sleep. She also said that headache prone brains do not like change. Huh. Even my gray matter has OCD. Aren’t I the lucky one! (Be sure the read that last bit with the appropriate sarcasm.)

Right off the bat, she changed the dosage of my maintenance medication and took me off the rescue meds I was taking. Apparently one of the ones I was taking was pretty bad for causing rebound headaches. And the triptan I was taking (triptans are the class of drugs that treat migraines) was so short lasting that by the time my body metabolized it and I started to feel relief, it was already wearing off. She also prescribed some tinted lenses for my glasses to help with the light sensitivity bit.

Here’s a bit of background on the whole light issue. I’ve been getting headaches on grocery shopping day for years and I could not figure out why. About a year ago I happened to read somewhere that fluorescent lighting can trigger migraines. I mentioned it to Kev and he suggested I try wearing my sunglasses in the store to see if it made a difference. It did. I was able to considerably improve my odds of getting the shopping done without having a headache and over the past year, I’ve learned to recognize the earliest symptoms of the light triggered migraines and head them off with my sunglasses. So I was intrigued by the tinted lenses idea.

It took a few weeks to get the lenses made and longer than normal to get used to them (because they are filtering out light, when I’m in a particularly funky lighting situation I can see the light refracting and get a bit of the “pencil in a glass of water” effect when I move around), but I’ve already noticed an improvement. In the very worst of the stores-Walmart (which is only a small part of the reason I hate Walmart so much) and Joann’s (bad for me but good for my budget)-I still need to wear my sunglasses. I think the tint would need to be considerably darker to make everything hunky dory in those places. But in other stores I don’t seem to have any problems. And it seems to really help when I’m sitting at the computer. I had gotten to the point where I could only look at the computer screen for five or ten minutes before I started to feel a headache coming on and things are significantly better now. (Seriously, there is a really good reason why I’ve had such a hard time keeping up on my blog in the past year.)

So literally having a rosy outlook on life is helping. Changing up the meds seems to be helping as well. I’m not having a headache nearly every day anymore. Things aren’t as good as I’d like them to be, but I seem to be on an upward climb. Hopefully that will continue.

A Sigh of Relief

I went grocery shopping this morning.  The Walmart has been one big mass of hysteria ever since Thanksgiving.  But this morning it was calm, peaceful even.  The parking lot was nearly empty, there was no cart bashing in the aisles, I didn't even have to wait in line to check out.  I love the holidays just as much as the next person, but it is awfully nice to be able to buy cereal and garbage sacks without having to battle hoards of folks who started their Christmas shopping a week before Christmas.  It's not like the Walmart is ever one of my happy places, but it was a bit nicer this morning.

I Was Actually Happy When I Left the Walmart

I frequently shop at our local Walmart Supercenter.  In the past two and a half years that I have lived out here, I have never once come out of the Walmart having been able to purchase every item on my list.  In particular, a lot of the specialty food items we need to be able to cook for Matthew are unavailable at our Walmart. I have to get those things at Harmon's which has higher prices, but it's not like I have many options.  So why do I keep shopping the Walmart, you may ask?  Because it is close, prices are generally good, and they will price match any item from any store that has a printed ad.  That and the fact that there aren't a whole lot of choices out here yet.  So I go to Walmart weekly, knowing I'm probably going to get frustrated at least once while I'm there.

This morning was my weekly jaunt to the Walmart and when I left the store I was actually happy.  Want to know why?  For the fist time ever, my Walmart is carrying some of the specialty foods I regularly buy.  I found soy nut butter, egg replacer, nut and dairy free granola, and even the Matthew friendly chocolate chips!  I was stunned.  And amazed.  And I did a little happy dance in the store.  I'm sure Matthew would have happy danced to, but he was at preschool.  So although I still didn't find everything on my list, I think the chocolate chips made up for it.  And they were cheaper than they are at Harmon's.

So, Walmart actually has a check in the positive column for now.  Am I still hoping that someone will think it's a fabulous idea to build a Super Target in one of the big spaces around here left open for retail development?  Absolutely.  But at least for today, I came out of the Walmart with a smile on my face.