January: Amish Lancaster Trip (Day Two: Thursday)

Woke up at 4:00 am to Alice coming upstairs and licking my face out of a deep sleep. Yucky. 

I decided to get up and use the bathroom right quick. It was nearly 10 hours since my last pain pill & with all the activity the day before I was feeling every ounce of it. I slept like a log otherwise, so that contributed to my pain. Oh the stiffness. But my pain medicine & Gabapentin was downstairs in my purse that I forgot. 

So, I went downstairs. I felt like I spent two hours as a novice at a gym. I hurt in places that never existed. So I took my morning meds & a pain pill. Generally, I have found spending all day in bed makes it worse. For one thing, my joints need movement & my muscle needs stretched. I'd LOVE to try an epidural in my SI joint where the rheumatoid damage is worse & where the spinal stenosis is bad. But with the nightmare that our healthcare has become we are eating expired food from food pantries half the time just to pay $800 a month for 2 people for a $6000 deductible plan. Never in my life have I seen it this bad. 

Anyways! Sorry about that. So I got up at 4:30 and helped entertain Alice with the laser light as David fed the horses & got ready for work.  

After he was gone I filled a bucket with Mr. Clean Lemon & a rag & cleared off the table & counter from breakfast. Then I got my wet Mr. Clean washcloth & wiped the table, countertops, cabinets, gas appliances, & bathroom surfaces down. Thought about sweeping the floor, but chose not to. Washed some clothes. I will dry those out later. 

So, I did my part in keeping mildly active & useful all in one. The strong medicines make me very drowsy, so now I'm cuddled under a sheet, a baby blue blanket, and a cute multi-colored quilt. 

I do have permission to stay in bed and rest after a physically & emotionally traumatic day (half-sarcasm) at Atlanta & Philadelphia's airports. (Why is my plane always at the end of the terminals?) Not to mention 30th Street Train Station in Philadelphia. And people. They make me want to cry. Standing in line after line with so many people ahead of me. 

But on a lighter note, I feel wonderful after talking to my 11-year-old last night. He sounded so happy. Ah. Music to my ears. And the snow. Something about the air when it snows. Almost feels... Cleaner? I don't know. 

Ok, I'm going to nap a little. The pain pills have overruled my eyelids. 

Be On The Lookout!!!

I have something very exciting coming up. Actualy, a few very exciting things. First, I am going to be visiting my Lancaster County, PA once again the end of this month. My stomach has butterflies already, it's going to be a tough month to contain the excitement! Ticket is already purchased and my Amish home is waiting for me. And Alice is going to get fixed this month before she goes into heat again. Last time was when I was there in September. And they say it's every 6 months for dogs. So we have to beat her to it!!! LOL

Next, I am getting back into a hobby that I totally enjoyed when I was in college. Back then it was candle making. This time I am going to completely be committed to melts. You know, the highly fragranced wax that you put in a warmer and it makes your whole house smell good? I made them years ago as well, but people weren't as familiar with them at the time. Now it seems Good Housekeeping and Glade has a melts line on the shelves. So people are starting to get it.

I believe I have found a good company that I want to work with pretty exclusively. I had to research the wax I wanted to use and then compare prices and shipping. The company that came out ahead on price and customer satisfaction just happened to be close by here! So even better. No shipping costs. Just a quick drive over to pick up my order.

I've decided to start with 10 scents. I think that's reasonable. Since it's winter I chose some spicy scents, some all year clean scents, spa scents, and a masculine scent. Depending on whether I can sell these and make money for another set I think I'll add a "Spring Line" that will have light floral scents for people to enjoy as it begins to warm up outside :-) I'm also a sucker for simple scents. Like orange. Just something refreshing about that. And lemon. You gotta have lemon in the kitchen. And clean cotton in the bathroom. Of course. Yes. Yes.

My only debate right now is do I do 6-piece clamshells? Or do I do a 1 oz cup with a lid? So all you have to do is plop the hardened wax in the warmer. No mess.

Writing a Book!

I've been toying with the concept of writing a book. Non-fiction. Something people can read and learn from. Maybe it can read like any other book, rather than a reference book where you simply look up information. But I want to add something extra in this book. I plan to online interview people about particular subjects as it pertains to them and add relevant clips to my book. I'm hoping maybe 5-10 people will be enough. Just depends :-)

If this works out I will at least give them a free copy of the book as a "Thank you".

Well, I plan to include updates here on my blog as I continue working on my book.

I appreciate any and all encouragement! Thanks! :-)

A Recommended Read!

I am familiar with this particular author, as I have purchased another creation of hers Speaking Amish. That book teaches you the basics of learning the Pennsylvania Dutch language. 

Now, she has come out with a new book, Lydia's Bonnet:

Order now! Special pre-order price! 

Lydia's Bonnet is the true story of a little Amish girl growing up with her four brothers in Lancaster County, PA. She has lots of friends at school, but one day her friends get her into trouble. And a certain blue bonnet is in the middle of it all. 

34 pages of big, beautiful photographs. 11 x 8 1/2. Paperback. Regular price $8.95. Now only $7.50 plus shipping! 

http://www.speakingamish.com/buy-books/

I have already jumped on this special offer & I encourage everyone else to do the same! I will update once I receive it & do a review once I am done with it. :-)

What day is it?!

I lost count of which day it is on SmartMix, but I'm still moving right along. I believe it's day 10. 

We just had a time change, which I think is a bonehead idea, and it's bound to throw me off. It did last night. I was so ready for bed. 

Tried to honor the Sabbath better yesterday. Normally I'm a mess cleaning house. I'm excited that Friday I swept the front porch, sidewalks, & driveway of dirt & leaves. I have an electric leaf lower, but I chose to do it manually, like a real woman :-) 

And Saturday I took my son Trick-Or-Treating like a nice mommy. He was something from Star Wars. I never got a good front shot, but lots from the back or side. So he was basically "The Black Thing" in all my pictures lol

So that was him. We did things a little different this year so there were more houses and fewer people. I get fussy when a lot of people are around acting completely ignorant. So I only got fussy once. We were waiting in line for cotton candy for Colin & they shut it down early. Just aggravated me. Happens every year. Grrrrrrr. 

But last Wednesday I made it to see my doctor. I was a little annoyed that the fee structure changed. It used to be $75 for new patients & $55 for established patients. Now it's $75 to see the dr and $55 to see the nurse practitioner. We aren't going there. So I paid it and waited. Gain 1.5 lbs. Oh well. 

My visit was very constructive with the doctor. He wants me in pain management for the rheumatoid arthritis. Until then he gave me some Norco's which have been a life saver until I can get in to get more long-term treatment, like cortisone shots in my joints. I do not want to do 1 Norco every 4 hrs of my life sort of thing. I want it when I really need it. If I don't need it for 2 days, I'm not taking it. I'm afraid of addiction. 

But anyways, the pills have allowed me to work outside on my house, clean inside more, walk my kid on Halloween & have those memories. This morning I am sore. It's been raining non-stop for 2 days. It's soaked. So I'm about to take some pills and take a nap. Trying to balance activity & rest. With the pills, starting my walking again sounds fantastic. But the rain. Grrrr!

Today & tomorrow I need to focus on packing for my trip. I'm flying out of Atlanta here at 8:30 am. It's a 2 hr flight. 1 hr in Philly. 1 hr Amtrak to Lancaster & 30 min to the Amish house I'm staying in. So I'll have about 3 hours to play with Alice the mutt till work time is over. I'm excited, nervous, worried. My dr made sure he prescribed enough pain medicine  for all the fast walking I need to do. I'll be good and relaxed for the plane ride though. I'm flying on Southwest Airlines, which is my preferred airline. I use their RapidPoints program & this is my free flight. Yay!!!

Thought I'd go to Michaels last night in Conyers to pick up a cross stitch project. I am SO frustrated. Their projects went from an entire row to a 5x7 area of cheesy 8th grader type projects. I wasn't pleased. Walmart doesn't carry any anymore that I could see. Hobby Lobby was respectfully closed. So forget it. I'll listen to podcasts. Only problem is that my ears pop the whole time so the ear buds are annoying. I'm grabbing a window seat. Hopefully we fly over bad weather or something exciting. Just please, not the drunk lady & the dude needing sedating from last time. I got contact drunk from the smell of her 10, yes 10, little vodka bottles. They need to limit it to 3. Seriously. 

So! That's that. I'll try to update Wednesday while traveling. Hopefully I'll post pictures of how I live Amish in Lancaster. Be back next Wednesday! Miss my boys already :-(

Day 1: Zija SmartMix

Well, I received my SmartMix today. I'm excited to get back on it. I know last time, despite my skepticism, it worked nicely. I have Type 1 diabetes and it did well to quickly bring down my blood sugars. I had increased energy within the week. And that made my mood happier. 

I think my status as a distributer had expired so I'm not doing this for sales. I'm doing this because I want people to see how it worked for ME. It could work better or worse for them. With experience as an RN I've been trained to see things objectively. But I also hope for the best.

My biggest concerns: Pain, joint inflammation, blood sugar, and the exhaustion coming from all of those combined. 

I thought I might mention, I decided to buy some of that stuff from V8. The healthy green blend. I've always lived traditional V8 since I was a kid. I know veggies are good for you. I've always been interested in "juicing" but haven't tried it. I suppose this stuff is supposed to mimic that idea. 

I read reviews online talking about it's blend of spinach, yellow carrots, etc. Green apple & pineapple has been added to make the taste better. Honestly, the sludge at the bottom has me hoping for "nutrition". I couldn't believe how many bad reviews it got for taste! I was a little worried I wasted $4. 

So, I chilled it and poured a little in a glass. "Just suck it up" I told myself. Took a deep breath and drank... And drank... And drank. This stuff was good! Those reviewers were crazy. I don't like my juices (orange, apple, grape) straight usually. I serve them over heavy shaved ice and add a third of water to my glass. Even the "No added sugar" types. I could possibly do that with this, but it's not bad. They don't add sugar to this stuff. The pineapple is sweet enough. It's a very light & pleasant blend. It's a good veggie drink. If you like pineapple and green apple, I HIGHLY recommend the V8 Healthy Green. 

Of course, because this isn't pure juicing, you don't get the good fiber that comes with it. I'd be interested in one day buying a juicer and copycatting this mixture. Absolutely delicious! :-)

I do not have any disclaimers because I have nothing to gain from this honest post. I do not work for V8 and I'm not part of any promotions. So that's my non-disclaimer disclaimer lol

It's been too long!

I know I haven't posted in awhile and I apologize. I started a new job back in July and it was full time. I had to get out of nursing for awhile. I won't get into the reasons, but it was mostly a family decision. Plus my last employer... well, I don't believe in burning bridges.

So I did some work for a company recently. I thought it was a dream come true. Everything was done at home, my breaks coincided with my son returning from school. But it's amazing how boring sitting at a desk on a computer can be. I mean it's fine if you can get up enough and stretch, but I ended up with back to back constant calls. It was great when I was in my month of training. But that month of "training" was so different than what I would be taking calls on. It was basically "learn as you go". But when you frequently have an irate person on the phone (which I frequently did) and you have no clue what you're supposed to be doing, it gets very stressful. And I did realize getting out of nursing would mean a HUGE pay cut. Like 75%. So they pay was terrible and I still missed nursing.

Then I started having alot of issues with swelling. It was so bad I could only waddle. I couldn't bend my ankles. I hear it's a common side effect that comes with taking Gabapentin. But that eventually went away because I couldn't imagine a world without Gabapentin. (I will also talk later about my recent experiences with Gabapentin). Good thing about this job is the insurance. I've had to go without insurance, which was catastrophic with serious chronic conditions. Not having a doctors care was bad.

Then I start having a real upset stomach. I would lay in bed experimenting with what I could or couldn't tolerate. It was mostly water, Sprite, and mashed potatoes. I literally lived on that for weeks. But I was still throwing that up. Then it became just Sprite and water. Then just water. Then, even water burned my stomach. And trying to deal with irate customers, or simply a company that lacked good management and communication skills was too much for me. I'd be on the phone with someone and ready to throw up any second. I was too weak to even sit at a computer at home all day. Breaks meant laying in bed in agony for 15 minutes twice a day, lunch was an hour of crawling in to bed with bad abdominal pain, and alot of crying. I told my boss and went to the ER 3 times with severe dehydration. I provided documentation to my boss and she put me on a Leave of Absence. The CT scans showed stones in my appendix. Not sure if that's what it was. But the dr said my appendix wasn't infected so he wasn't going to do surgery or antibiotics. But I'm loaded with Zofran, Bentyl, and another medication. Not to mention Toradol for the pain too.

But the CT scan also showed rheumatoid arthritis in my left sacroiliac joint in my left hip. It's ironic because I always had pain on that side that I thought was sciatica. But I'm not sure if SI joint arthritis can irritate the sciatic nerve causing pain.

Anyways, so I found a new doctor! And he's a doll baby. He's at Covington One Medical on 278 here. It's urgent care/primary care. He spent a good 30+ minutes on me. I told him about the RA find and he said it doesn't just show up in one joint, so he was skeptical. Then he checked many of my joints. Sure enough, he said I had arthritis in all my joints. OMG! What the heck? I had no clue. Yeah I'm achey alot, but I figured I was just being a cry baby.

So now we have type 1 diabetes with no insulin production capabilities. I have rheumatoid arthritis. And I also have a hormone or chemical that is attacking my thyroid. All are autoimmune diseases. Why am I being flooded with autoimmune diseases? Is it possible lupus is the cause? I guess I have to have an antibody test to see if it is lupus. It would explain ALOT. But I don't want lupus.

So what about the neuropathy and gabapentin? Well I went from 300 mg twice a day to 600 mg three times a day, now to 800 mg four times a day. Not on narcotics or anything. Next step would be Lyrica, which is similar, but different than gabapentin. I don't believe there's a generic for it, but there are alot of coupons and patient assistance programs available if I qualify. More tests are needed because the doctor I met in the same practice yesterday thinks it could also be something involving my spine and wants to do xrays. But I have to do things a little at a time. My pathetic insurance, BCBS PPO has a $2600 deductable. No way I'll meet that. So I still pay high premiums and they pay nothing. Basically it's as good as catastrophic only insurance. And it was the better of the two that this employer offers. The other was Kaiser and doesn't work well in this area. Plus it had a higher deductable.

I have never in my life seen health care become SO bad. If this is the effect Obama has on health care he just proved he's a failure. I'm SO upset.

But some good news. I have dealt with blood pressures that are sky high since I had pre-eclampsia with my younger son. It was supposed to go away after he was delivered, but it never did. I've been on bp meds off and on for 11 years. Dr. Stewart started me on Coreg twice a day. Yesterday at my follow up I was not 200/120 like Ive seen in the past. I was 118/80!!!!! I'm so happy!!! My heart no longer beats twice a second at rest. (120 beats a minute) I am now in the 90's. We're getting there!!!!! And he added Zocor for cholesterol for heart health. I don't know what my cholesterol is. But we are working to protect my heart and brain by preventing heart attack and stroke. Liver enzymes a little high, but not dangerous. No kidney damage despite having diabetes for 15 years or so. Which is amazing. Last a1c was 13.6. That's astronomical. Suicidal. So still working on that. Trying to find ways to afford insulin.

I do have anxiety issues that I've dealt with since losing my brother to suicide 10 years ago. I have an unrealistic fear of something bad happening to someone I love. Phone calls scare me because that's how I learned of my brothers death. I will not talk on the phone more than I have to. My oldest son wants to be a police officer. Even his job now has put his life at risk. So that might create unreasonable worry on my part. So I take a strong anti-anxiety benzodiazepine. Now they want to ease me off of it and replace it with an anti-depressant that also works on anxiety. I'm skeptical because I don't like this class of drugs. I've taken a few that left me shaking and throwing up. Bad drugs.

So, really all I want is diabetes in control, no blood pressure issues, no arthritis, no pain, no worry. It's depressing all this stuff is happening. It's insane! And right now there's no end in sight for the pain. It's day and night.