Monday, November 24, 2008

Anime and the Vampire's Latest Results

As many of you know, Anime has been having health problems for over a year now. You can read about it here and here and even here. Her orthopedist, after determining that her knee is just fine, felt that further investigation was needed into why she has constant pain, why she's always so tired, and why minor infections knock her out health-wise. Much blood was again sacrificed to the vampires of the lab for spinning and culturing and whatever else it is they do for blood work. The results? Due to some items that showed up in her blood (in large concentrations) the thinking is now that she may have lupus or possibly rheumatoid arthritis, or something along the lines of an autoimmune disease.

A couple of rheumatology offices in our area flat out refused to see her because they don't take patients under the age of 16. What!? She'll be sixteen is a year! Another of the offices said to fax over her labs and they would review them before making the decision of whether or not to see her. If they don't we will be forced to drive 3 1/2 to 4 hours away to find a pediatric rheumatologist. No matter who sees her she will have to undergo more testing to determine what it is that's ailing her.

While I feel relieved that someone believes me when I say that something is wrong with her, I'm also tremendously worried and scared that something is really wrong with her! Of course I scurried home to research lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and various other autoimmune diseases that one would need a rheumatologist for. It knocked me silly to see that she hit almost all of the symptoms for lupus other than a couple that I don't know because she hasn't had those tests run yet. I'm not a doctor and I'm not diagnosing her but this is what the referring doctor thought might be the problem, and after reading what I've read, I'd have to side with him because so much of it fits. And that scares me. No matter what it is, it scares me. My baby, my first born that is so like me, more than likely has some disease that she will have to deal with for the rest of her life.

She's not scared. Too her it's just one more doctor we will have to go see and, KEWL! she will probably get to miss school to go for the appointment. She's like it to be in one of the cities farther away so that we could go shopping (oy! teenage girls!)

I hope that I am over-reacting to all of this, I really do. I want a healthy life for her. But my gut tells me that there's something wrong, a healthy teenager wouldn't be feeling the way she does, wouldn't have constant leg pain, be tired after sleeping for 12 - 14 hours at a time, run unexplained fevers, be scarily pale, have rashes that come and go, chest pain and trouble breathing when the chest X-ray shoes no pneumonia or bronchitis.

Keep your fingers crossed and send good vibes this way please, that we can get in to see the doctor here in town. Hope that we can get a definitive diagnosis when we do see someone so that she can start on some course of treatment and maybe she will start to feel more like a regular teen.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Flying By

Where has the time gone?!?!

The days have simply flown by this past week. Of course getting up at 4:30 am every morning and then being so exhausted that I'm ready to go to bed before the kids are, just might have something to do with it. I have worked the day shift this week, meaning I start at 6 AM. Can I just say . . . yuck. I am not a morning person. . . at least not that early of a morning person! On the bright side the job seems to be going well. I am officially out of orientation and will start on my own when my next shift rolls around on Tuesday. Crazily enough, I like it. (Seriously, I never thought I'd like a job that requires me to wipe the behinds of people other than my babies.)

I got off my butt this week and sent in my initial application for college, leaving the actual nursing school apps to be filled in and sent. The initial application is for the prerequisites that I need to take during spring semester. I must be a glutten for punishment schoolwise as I already have a bachelor's degree, and half of a master's degree, and am now heading back for another bachelor's degree. Or maybe I just want to be paying student loans until I die. Yeah, that must be it. :P

Today was spent painting 1/2 oft the upstairs and rocking out to the radio. The kiddos are off visiting grandparents and I will pick them up tomorrow. Last night I enjoyed 7 hours of having the house entirely to myself (unheard of around here!) and watched 8 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and bawled my eyes out while watching the latest episode of Ghost Whisperer. All in all it was quite lovely and refreshing.

I think Mr. Irony is questioning my sanity when he came home to find me dancing around the house, paintbrush in hand, singing the lyrics to Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne. Yo, I am a motherf***ing princess , ok?!

Now I have about 500 some blog posts to catch up on in my reader. What have you been up to?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Bits and Pieces

The last few days have been crazy busy around here. What I'd intended to be a peaceful day on Sunday was a busy day, visiting the cemetery with grandpa, the kids, and my mom, driving out to the old farms, combined with 3 hours of driving there and back. Monday was 9 hours of training for the new job, after which I was completely fried. Tuesday was parent-teacher conferences. I am, unfortunately, one of those parents that likes to touch base with each and every teacher (if possible) so that meant roughly 3 hours at the school(s). We also crammed in winter shopping (still need more mittens!). Yesterday was my first shift on the ward and today I head back in for another 3 hour training session followed by 7 hours on the ward.

I tried something new this morning. In an attempt to prevent a sinus infection I brought out a purchase from a while ago and actually used my neti pot. It's quite an odd feeling, having water run through your nostrils. I'm not sure how well it worked but it did show me that my nasal passages are getting blocked (yes, too much information). I'll use it consistently over the next few days and see how well it works to clear out the sinuses.

On the fun side I finally got my hands on a Wii Fit! Woohoo! Action, Actress, and I have all been using it for the past couple of days. I find that I enjoy it more than Pilates and I do actually work up a sweat. My favorites so far are the yoga and the balance activities. This morning I had the bright ( ha! pun coming) idea to use the Wii Fit in conjunction with my time under my sun light. (bright = sun LOL. I know, pretty lame). I was much less crabby when I was finished with both. Although the crabbiness stems from only having roughly 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night.

Hope you enjoy your day!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Two Days Too Much

Full days.

Too much at once.

Needed by those close.

Overwhelmed

Brain is fried.

Body is tired.

Sleep is beckoning.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

My Own Dia De Los Muertos

Did you know that Dia De Los Muertos officially runs both November 1st and 2nd? How fitting for my needs today. Today is the day that my beloved grandmother was born onto this earth. She has been gone for three birthdays now and I have tried to visit my grandfather on this day each year (I didn't make it last year). The date of her birth and the date of her death are burned into my brain and the years inked onto my body. On this day I have felt a need to be at her home and at her grave. How fitting it is, then, that the Day of the Dead extends into this day also?

So that is where I'll be today. The kids and I are making the trek to the home of my grandfather and from there I will make my way alone to her place of burial. Today is a bright beautiful autumn day, which makes it all that more peaceful for me.

A Day Late

If I was truly aspiring to NaBloPoMo I would be disqualified as it is now 12:08 am on November 2nd. This morning I had no inspiration for blogging and this evening it was extremely late before I could get to it.

I have started a new blog for my journey through Soul Coaching. If you're interested you will find a way to find it. I feel it is a bit more personal than Serving Up Life and thus am leaving it off of this blog.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!