Showing posts with label Pay it Forward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pay it Forward. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pay It Forward Packages Finally Mailed!

I finally got the packages out for the winners of my round of the "Pay It Forward" Challenge. I know you all thought that they never were getting mailed!

I had a rheumatologist appointment on Monday and have begun a new medication. I also have 2 other medications to try if this first one doesn't work out. Hopefully one of them helps me to feel more like me and better able to live life instead of sitting on the sidelines. These are some major medications that we are trying out so I am hoping for no side effects or allergic reactions!! So far the biggest thing I have noticed with the first medication (Lyrica) is that my pulse is a lot higher than usual and that I am very sleepy plus it makes me feel a little off or slow with my thinking. Hopefully these issues will lessen as my body acclimates to the medication.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

It Has Been Forever... Again

Sorry, I just can't seem to get into the swing of blogging on a consistent basis lately. Hopefully I can figure that out again very soon!!

My Rheumatologist appointment from the 3rd was canceled and has been rescheduled for the 10th. I am going to really push the doctor on the pain levels I am experiencing. I am hoping for different medication that actually will help with the pain and exhaustion. I also am hoping that she will consider at least talking about disability because my body just can't take the only work that I can find locally. If she isn't willing to listen and attempt to help me manage my pain or recommend a different doctor that can help me live my life more fully then I am going to have to just start calling and calling in hopes of finding someone who can help me. I am too young to have this much pain and to be this exhausted all the time.

Work has been intense and horrible to sum it up. The cafe shifts are killing me. I can't seem to get the help that I need from the other people working and end up doing way too much for my body to handle because the work needs to get done.

I applied for and interviewed for another position. The interview was this morning. It was for a desk type position. I found out this afternoon that I did not get it and that they selected another applicant. I guess that means that wasn't the answer to getting out of my current physically taxing job. I am hopeful that something else will pop up soon!!

I still need to get the "Pay It Forward" challenge boxes out!! I am still missing one address and will work on getting that so that I can complete my round of this amazingly wonderful challenge.

I am not going to promise that I will be around on a more regular basis because I just don't know that I will be. I also don't want to post daily just to post especially if all I am doing is boo hooing about my pain and other issues. I hope that you all do keep dropping by and I do promise to do better about posting... At least a little better!!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I'm Back

I'm back! Hopefully for good although I will not promise to post every day. Life is just too crazy and difficult for me to know how I will feel and what I will be up to doing from day to day. Especially since I am attempting to go back to work on a part time basis working 2 or 3 days a week up at the cafe again. Working is very hard on my body, but I know that I need to do something and other than the intermittent on-line freelance work I pick up and this is my only other option.

On the Challenge Front - I finally contacted the winners of my round of the "Pay It Forward Challenge". I am so sorry that it took me so long to get around to doing that. I plan on picking up a few more goodies for the boxes when I hopefully go to town with my DH tomorrow.

On the Company Front - Having my parents here was great and I was sad to have them leave last week. It is nice having the house emptier and less stress though. No matter how much you love having company and seeing those you love it is at times difficult, especially for me with the health issues. I want to go and do and be able to just enjoy but my body doesn't always or even often want to cooperate. I still push through most of the time but then I suffer for it in the end by being totally down for the count for a few days.

On the Health Front - The medication that I have been taking for helping me get restorative sleep which should help me to have less pain and to feel less tired all the time doesn't seem to be working like it should anymore already. I have upped the dosage like the Rheumatologist suggested and all that seems to do is make me sleep harder - to the point that I don't even hear the alarm clock - but still I wake up exhausted and in continuous pain. I see the doctor again on August 3rd but considering that she doesn't want to listen to me I don't have high hopes for the visit. I have been spending some time searching on-line for how other people are dealing with their Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. I know that I am doing some of the right things already by eliminating dairy and wheat from my diet. However, I think I need to do some other things as well such as reducing refined sugar, increasing fruits and vegetables to 10 or more servings a day, greatly reducing preservatives and additives, incorporating probiotics such as lactobacillus acidopphilus and lactobacillus bifidus through supplementation, increasing leafy green vegetables, and more... Some people with these conditions find that they have a problem with vitamins B12, K, and D, zinc, magnesium, and biotin being too low. They also seem to have problems with calcium and iron inerfering with the others being too low. So I need to try to find a balance with these vitamins and nutrients and see if that helps with my symptoms.

I hope that all of you are doing well and are enjoying the summer!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

OMGosh Crazy Life

Things here have been insanely busy! I haven't forgotten about the Pay It Forward Challenge and have been finding treasures to put into the boxes in the little bit of spare time I have had lately. I will contact the winners and get the boxes out as soon as I get some time to do it.

My family and friends are here and have been for a week or so already. We did get the laminate flooring in but still haven't had the time to get all the trim and such put back. Work is crazy with 3 days a week up at the cafe. I barely have time to breathe let alone blog or have any me time!!

It looks like the month of June is going to be a bust on blogging and all that kind of thing, but July things should get back to more of a normal schedule with all of my company going home.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Pay It Forward!

Yesterday when I stopped into the post office to pick up the mail after a long day of cooking up at the cafe, I was pleasantly surprised to see a package!! The package was from Sherri of the blog My Life in the Fishbowl and was filled with the goodies she sent to me for being selected as a winner in her round of the Pay It Forward challenge.

I couldn't wait to get home and open up my package!! Inside I found a wonderful Starbucks gift card (how did she know how much I love a yummy coffee beverage!?), a cute photo album, a lovely notepad, a flowered nail file (I always seem to lose these so getting one was wonderful!), flower shaped post-it notes, cucumber melon antibacterial deep cleaning hand gel (this will come in so handy working up at the cafe), and lastly a very sweet note from Sherri! Even though we only know each other from the vast blogosphere I feel like our friendship is beyond the boundaries of the internet.

Now it's my turn to Pay It Forward. Please know that to play along with this game you do not need to go to grand levels for the goodies in the packages. The real point of this is to simply let others know that they are appreciated and to help them feel inspired as they blog.

On to the rules: To enter, leave me a comment saying you are interested in being a participant in the Pay It Forward challenge. The entry must include either an email or a blog address to reach you at if you are a winner. To help keep shipping costs down this challenge is only open to U.S. addresses.
I will accept posts/entries to the challenge until Midnight on Thursday, June 4th. On Friday, June 5th I will post the 3 winners of this round of the Pay It Forward challenge! I better get my brain in gear and figure out what goodies will be in my boxes to ship off!

In other news:

Suzy is doing a little better today. I am getting her to eat a few bites of food a few times during the day and she seems to be feeling better with less pain. However, she seems to still be having some lingering issues unrelated to the colitis from how the vet techs handled her. I think that she might have had a small brain bleed or mild stroke from the stress and such of their treatment. But slowly she is starting to become the sweet girl again that we left behind when we went on vacation. It is going to be a long road and probably have more than a few bumps in it, but I believe that we will come out the other side of this journey.

I worked 2 days in a row up at the cafe and know now that at this point 2 days in a row is my limit. My body just is not capable of more than that due to my illness. I also have been trying out the second medication to help me reach that restful stage of sleep and I think that the first medication is better at the job for me. I see the Rheumatologist again on Tuesday, June 2nd and hopefully we will move forward with some other treatment options in addition to the medication to help with sleep. I still have a lot of pain and muscle burning. The brain fog episodes are a little less frequent but I still am having them especially when I am working or exerting myself. Right now my schedule for the month of June is to be the cook up at the cafe on Wednesdays and Thursdays but the other cook doesn't want to work 5 days straight per week as it is just too much for her to do. So my schedule might be changing to help out more up at the cafe.

We are hoping to get some major work done on the laminate floor laying on Saturday and the repair man is scheduled to come to fix our satillite internet too. Hopefully they do fix it and we stop having all the problems which have been going on for the past 2 weeks or so. If things are fixed then I should be able to post on my blogs more regularly again!!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! Don't forget to enter my round of the Pay It Forward challenge!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Laundry & Packing

Been working on laundry and packing for 2 days now... So not fun! I will definitely need the vacation to recover from all the work of getting ready to go! LOL

Actually with everything planned, I bet that I need a vacation after the vacation to recover from all the fun!

We are going to Florida to celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary! Wow! That is a lot of years to be together! There is a day of flats fishing and a day of grouper fishing planned as well as a trip to Webster for the big flea market. Then there is the Mother's Day/Anniversary dinner out on Sunday plus church of course. Basically from the time we get there until at least Thursday there is stuff planned for each day. Hopefully Friday and Saturday we can relax a little before flying home on Sunday.

Also I won the privilege of participating in the Pay it Forward game going on in the blogosphere. So look for a post about how to win a chance to play too soon :)