Well, a lot has happened since my last entry. I fired my doctor, when in August I finally got tired of her not listening to me, only reading my TSH test results and not listening to all my litany of continuing hypothyroid symptoms. She wanted to cut my medication, and she wouldn't listen to me about my obvious adrenal fatigue. So, I have been doing many hours of research and have decided to self-treat. In this upcoming year I will be ordering my own tests (yes, you can do this! You don't need a doctor to have lab tests!) to monitor my condition, ordering my own prescriptions from "various sources" ;-), and listening to the advice of some trusted people, moderators in a patient support group online who have helped literally thousands of people with my same situation. They have recovered from similar conditions to what I have, have done hundreds of hours of research, and since there are over 3500 people currently in the group, posting lab results all the time, they have read FAR more labs then most doctors. And, they are not trying to sell anything. They just want to help people who suffer with what they had. That makes me trust them even more.
My primary goal for the year is to GET BETTER. It may take longer than a year to get 100% better, but that's ok. I just want to make progress.
Right now I wake almost every morning achy all over, with my head feeling all foggy and fuzzy, headache, and feeling exhausted. I drag myself around all day and try to get maybe one or two things done. If I leave the house at all, for an errand or whatever, then that is pretty much all I am able to get done that day. When I get home I don't have energy for anything else. Things pile up around me, unfinished projects, unfolded laundry, housecleaning I wish I could do... but I just don't have energy for all of it. Sometimes, if I have tried to do too much, then later or the next day I will feel even worse, with nausea and actual pain in the adrenal area, on both sides of my lower back near the kidneys. I'm serious, this is not muscle or joint pain, it's deep inside... I am convinced this is actually my adrenals hurting due to the damage to them from many years of inadequately treated adrenal fatigue. When I did the questionnaire in the great book, "Adrenal Fatigue, the 21st Century Stress Syndrome" by Dr. James Wilson, it showed that I have level 4 Adrenal Fatigue, which is the most severe level, and running the risk of Addison's Disease (irreparably damaged adrenals, needing replacement hormones for life).
So, next year at this time, I want to be feeling BETTER than that.
In order to reach that goal, here are my sub-goals. According to my research, these are the things that will help the most.
I will go to bed by 10:30 every night.
I will AVOID refined sugars.
I will SEVERELY LIMIT all grains and starchy foods.
I will eat plenty of protein, healthy fats, and vegetables.
I will eat fruit as snacks.
I will listen to my body and rest when my body wants rest. I understand that at this stage of my health, strenuous exercise is actually very unhealthy for me.
I will stop beating myself up and setting unrealistic expectations. I am seriously ill and it is OK for me to take it easy and NOT be a perfect housekeeper.
I will do the tests recommended by the moderators of the Adrenal Fatigue and Hypothyroidism patient group. And I will follow their treatment protocol recommendations. I know they are not doctors, but after 20 years (off and on) of being ill, doctors have not helped me, so that's OK with me. I trust them more than doctors.
I will be faithful with taking my prescriptions and supplements on time, every single day.
I will faithfully take my temperature and chart the results each day, and will also be taking and recording my pulse and blood pressure, to help monitor my adrenal and thyroid condition, since after starting supplementation it is not possible to test, since the tests are inaccurate when taking hormones.
I will purposely seek out and find things which bring me joy and make me happy, and will find ways to incorporate those things in my daily life, since "a joyful heart is good like a medicine" as it says in Proverbs.
When I have energy, I will write, paint, or do other art projects. When I do not have energy for those things, I will read funny books or watch funny movies to make me laugh. I will not allow myself to fall into self-pity and depression.
Well I guess that's it for now... I am glad 2010 is over, and I am welcoming 2011 with open arms!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wow it's been a long time.
I wish I could say I've been busy and productive. I guess I have, some of the time. But life is still a big roller coaster, having some good days, and some bad days, sometimes the bad days outnumber the good, sometimes good outnumbers the bad. I am learning to safeguard my energy, and not attempt to do too much at a time, or in one day. Thank God, I am blessed with a loving, supportive, and patient husband, who just wants me to get well. He doesn't care if the rug is vacuumed, he doesn't care if he has to come home from work and make his own supper sometimes, he even helps with the dishes sometimes and cleans the toilets for me. If something really starts to bother him, he does it himself, and never puts pressure on me about it. He is amazing. It makes me cry just sitting here, thinking about how good he is to me.
I am learning balance. Learning to not stress about cleaning up a mess, if I don't have the energy to do it right now. It's no big deal, I can do it later, it's not worth the stress. Because you see, stress is literally poison to me. My body is not capable right now, in it's weakened state, of responding appropriately to it. My adrenal reserves are exhausted. I found out that I don't actually have full-blown Addison's disease (at least not yet, though things were tending in that direction) but definitely do have low adrenal reserve and function.
Your adrenals are the storehouse for energy, so when you summon up some extra reserves of strength to accomplish a difficult task or deal with some kind of stress, you are using your adrenal hormones. I've also learned that drinking coffee or using other caffeinated products does not manufacture "energy" for you out of thin air, nor does the body burn caffeine as energy. Caffeine works by stimulating the adrenal glands to release more cortisol, adrenaline, and other adrenal hormones. So if your adrenal reserves are low, and your adrenal function is weak, then no amount of coffee will "pep you up" or "give you energy". Whenever people tell me that they are tired all the time and coffee doesn't "work" anymore, I always tell them that's a warning sign! They need to get their adrenal gland and thyroid checked out, and maybe at least take some herbal products or glandular supplements to help support those glands!
I am also learning balance where my doctor is concerned. My doctors are wonderful, I have been very blessed to find a medical practice where the head doctor is both an M.D. and N.D. in one, so has a much wider frame of reference from which to draw. All the doctors at this practice understand my condition and listen to me, and are willing to work with me to adjust my dosages and so forth. I'm happy to give them a plug for anyone living in the greater Seattle area, their website is www.naturopathic.com.
However, like anything else, I am learning that balance is needed! We cannot afford for me to continually be going in just to talk to the doctor or do minor tests every few weeks... so I frankly explained the situation to them and they have been very understanding. They will tell me now if a test is really vitally needed, or just something that would be handy to do sometime. Which supplements are essential, and which are extras. Also, they are letting me go longer in between appointments than most of their patients. This saves a LOT of money.
I think they are so willing to work with me in part due to the fact that I am kind of a new type of patient for them, but one I suspect they will be seeing more of in the future. They've told me several times that I am about their youngest patient. (I'm 30) They specialize in bio-identical hormone replacements, so right now the vast majority of their patients are menopausal or post-menopausal women who have probably had hormone problems for a long time, but then along came the change of life and made everything worse, and so after going to doctor after doctor with little to no improvement, they finally came to the Naturopathic doctors for help. All this stuff with special diets and staying off of certain foods and taking lots of supplements and all is very new and foreign to them, and understandably they need lots of encouragement and hand-holding. Plus, they probably have insurance covering most of the expenses. My doctors don't bill insurance themselves, since they want to do what is best for the patient, not what the insurance company will approve of. However, patients can submit the receipts to their insurance companies themselves, and thus many of the expenses will be covered. The insurance Hubby and I had wouldn't have covered any kind of alternative treatment anyway, so we dropped it and went to basically a catastrophic care only plan which is cheaper, and put as much money as possible in our own Health Savings Account, which we can then use to pay for my care... but there is a limit on how much we can put in the HSA in a year. Anyway, I'm no stranger to special diets and organic food and handfuls of supplements every day; and I've read up enough about my condition to speak to the doctors intelligently about it. They don't need to waste my time or money holding my hand and explaining everything to me down to every minute detail. So, after explaining where I'm coming from, I just go in about once a month and they just give me instructions on what I need to do, then leave it to me to do it, instead of needing to go in every two weeks or so for progress reports and basically counseling appointments.
My big goal for now is to get myself on a daily routine. Just so I don't drift around the house all day like a ghost and get nothing done. I think it would be comforting and healthier to have a regular meal schedule, for one thing. Cooking from scratch requires planning in advance, but often I don't even think of food until I'm suffering from low blood sugar and need to eat NOW! I need to work on that!
Right now I am reading "Thyroid Power" by Richard Shames, M.D., and Karilee Shames, R.N., Ph.D. It is EXCELLENT, and I would VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. It's interesting, I'm almost to the end of the book and they are sharing, in addition to the primary strategies for strengthening your thyroid through nutrition and supplementation and so forth, as discussed in most of the book; various other alternative theories and ideas. I found it very interesting to read the part about the mind-body connection. I've heard this concept before, but not as it relates to the thyroid. Basically, this theory suggests that there is a specific part of who we are as an individual, our personality, which corresponds to each physical part; and that health problems in a specific part of our body means we need to work on some sort of problem or psychological "blockage" in the corresponding part of our mind or personality. Interesting theory. No idea if it's true or not. But I found it fascinating that supposedly the corresponding "part" to the Thyroid is the voice. The idea is that those with thyroid problems should work on finding their "voice" and expressing themselves more and better, and finding out what is blocking them from finding that voice. I find that fascinating since I've had so much trouble with writer's block. I've had this novel I've wanted to write for 18 years (I kid you not! I started working on it when I was 12!), but for some reason, whenever I get going on it, something seems to stop me. I can't seem to write on it for more than a couple days in a row, before I feel like I have to stop for a while. It's really kind of weird. It literally is like I am having trouble finding my voice. I guess I've always assumed that it's my perfectionism and fear of failure that is holding me back. Maybe it is. But maybe it's something deeper. Some kind of mental block that stops me. I'll have to pray about this and explore this idea more in the days ahead to see if God gives me any fresh insights into this matter.
I am learning balance. Learning to not stress about cleaning up a mess, if I don't have the energy to do it right now. It's no big deal, I can do it later, it's not worth the stress. Because you see, stress is literally poison to me. My body is not capable right now, in it's weakened state, of responding appropriately to it. My adrenal reserves are exhausted. I found out that I don't actually have full-blown Addison's disease (at least not yet, though things were tending in that direction) but definitely do have low adrenal reserve and function.
Your adrenals are the storehouse for energy, so when you summon up some extra reserves of strength to accomplish a difficult task or deal with some kind of stress, you are using your adrenal hormones. I've also learned that drinking coffee or using other caffeinated products does not manufacture "energy" for you out of thin air, nor does the body burn caffeine as energy. Caffeine works by stimulating the adrenal glands to release more cortisol, adrenaline, and other adrenal hormones. So if your adrenal reserves are low, and your adrenal function is weak, then no amount of coffee will "pep you up" or "give you energy". Whenever people tell me that they are tired all the time and coffee doesn't "work" anymore, I always tell them that's a warning sign! They need to get their adrenal gland and thyroid checked out, and maybe at least take some herbal products or glandular supplements to help support those glands!
I am also learning balance where my doctor is concerned. My doctors are wonderful, I have been very blessed to find a medical practice where the head doctor is both an M.D. and N.D. in one, so has a much wider frame of reference from which to draw. All the doctors at this practice understand my condition and listen to me, and are willing to work with me to adjust my dosages and so forth. I'm happy to give them a plug for anyone living in the greater Seattle area, their website is www.naturopathic.com.
However, like anything else, I am learning that balance is needed! We cannot afford for me to continually be going in just to talk to the doctor or do minor tests every few weeks... so I frankly explained the situation to them and they have been very understanding. They will tell me now if a test is really vitally needed, or just something that would be handy to do sometime. Which supplements are essential, and which are extras. Also, they are letting me go longer in between appointments than most of their patients. This saves a LOT of money.
I think they are so willing to work with me in part due to the fact that I am kind of a new type of patient for them, but one I suspect they will be seeing more of in the future. They've told me several times that I am about their youngest patient. (I'm 30) They specialize in bio-identical hormone replacements, so right now the vast majority of their patients are menopausal or post-menopausal women who have probably had hormone problems for a long time, but then along came the change of life and made everything worse, and so after going to doctor after doctor with little to no improvement, they finally came to the Naturopathic doctors for help. All this stuff with special diets and staying off of certain foods and taking lots of supplements and all is very new and foreign to them, and understandably they need lots of encouragement and hand-holding. Plus, they probably have insurance covering most of the expenses. My doctors don't bill insurance themselves, since they want to do what is best for the patient, not what the insurance company will approve of. However, patients can submit the receipts to their insurance companies themselves, and thus many of the expenses will be covered. The insurance Hubby and I had wouldn't have covered any kind of alternative treatment anyway, so we dropped it and went to basically a catastrophic care only plan which is cheaper, and put as much money as possible in our own Health Savings Account, which we can then use to pay for my care... but there is a limit on how much we can put in the HSA in a year. Anyway, I'm no stranger to special diets and organic food and handfuls of supplements every day; and I've read up enough about my condition to speak to the doctors intelligently about it. They don't need to waste my time or money holding my hand and explaining everything to me down to every minute detail. So, after explaining where I'm coming from, I just go in about once a month and they just give me instructions on what I need to do, then leave it to me to do it, instead of needing to go in every two weeks or so for progress reports and basically counseling appointments.
My big goal for now is to get myself on a daily routine. Just so I don't drift around the house all day like a ghost and get nothing done. I think it would be comforting and healthier to have a regular meal schedule, for one thing. Cooking from scratch requires planning in advance, but often I don't even think of food until I'm suffering from low blood sugar and need to eat NOW! I need to work on that!
Right now I am reading "Thyroid Power" by Richard Shames, M.D., and Karilee Shames, R.N., Ph.D. It is EXCELLENT, and I would VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. It's interesting, I'm almost to the end of the book and they are sharing, in addition to the primary strategies for strengthening your thyroid through nutrition and supplementation and so forth, as discussed in most of the book; various other alternative theories and ideas. I found it very interesting to read the part about the mind-body connection. I've heard this concept before, but not as it relates to the thyroid. Basically, this theory suggests that there is a specific part of who we are as an individual, our personality, which corresponds to each physical part; and that health problems in a specific part of our body means we need to work on some sort of problem or psychological "blockage" in the corresponding part of our mind or personality. Interesting theory. No idea if it's true or not. But I found it fascinating that supposedly the corresponding "part" to the Thyroid is the voice. The idea is that those with thyroid problems should work on finding their "voice" and expressing themselves more and better, and finding out what is blocking them from finding that voice. I find that fascinating since I've had so much trouble with writer's block. I've had this novel I've wanted to write for 18 years (I kid you not! I started working on it when I was 12!), but for some reason, whenever I get going on it, something seems to stop me. I can't seem to write on it for more than a couple days in a row, before I feel like I have to stop for a while. It's really kind of weird. It literally is like I am having trouble finding my voice. I guess I've always assumed that it's my perfectionism and fear of failure that is holding me back. Maybe it is. But maybe it's something deeper. Some kind of mental block that stops me. I'll have to pray about this and explore this idea more in the days ahead to see if God gives me any fresh insights into this matter.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Spring is Coming!
We have had an unusual amount of sun this week, for the Pacific Northwest. The grass is green, there are patches of blue showing between the clouds, and the promise of new life is in the air. In more ways than one. I feel like the winter of my illness and depression is drawing to a close too, and I am filled with hope and getting stronger. I am sure that this year will be my best ever. There is even hope on the infertility front. With my health getting so much stronger, and a friend's recommendation of an affordable doctor who does reversal micro-surgery, perhaps we will be able to have biological children after all! We want to adopt too, I think adoption is such a special way for children to become part of a family, and there are so many children out there who need good families. We would like to have about 6 children, but I don't think I could be pregnant that many times, with my delicate constitution... but you never know!
I still have good days and bad days, of course, but the addition of a tiny amount of bio-identical hormones on top of the Ambrotose, glandular supplements, high-quality vitamins and herbals, and allergy elimination diet with anti-inflammation and detox shakes, has made a world of difference. Slowly but surely, the good days are outnumbering the bad days, and I am starting to have energy again and be able to get up earlier! I'm in the middle of a new-year reorganization and de-junking project, sorting through all my files and boxes of papers "to be filed", and taking load after load of stuff to donate to the thrift store. I'm making plans for the new year, dreaming up ideas for my face painting business, and planning another business to work on next year during the face painting off-season in the late fall, winter, and early spring. I want to set up an in-home studio and record Audio books! Life is good! And soon, Tim will be done with this big project and will be able to work from home more again! That will be wonderful. Well, I'd better go get busy on my filing...
I still have good days and bad days, of course, but the addition of a tiny amount of bio-identical hormones on top of the Ambrotose, glandular supplements, high-quality vitamins and herbals, and allergy elimination diet with anti-inflammation and detox shakes, has made a world of difference. Slowly but surely, the good days are outnumbering the bad days, and I am starting to have energy again and be able to get up earlier! I'm in the middle of a new-year reorganization and de-junking project, sorting through all my files and boxes of papers "to be filed", and taking load after load of stuff to donate to the thrift store. I'm making plans for the new year, dreaming up ideas for my face painting business, and planning another business to work on next year during the face painting off-season in the late fall, winter, and early spring. I want to set up an in-home studio and record Audio books! Life is good! And soon, Tim will be done with this big project and will be able to work from home more again! That will be wonderful. Well, I'd better go get busy on my filing...
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Waking up after a long hibernation
I feel so good today! I seriously do feel like I've woken up after a long hibernation. Like I'm getting out of a funk. I feel like I'm bursting with energy, and there are so many thing I want to do that I don't know what to do first! The funny thing is I didn't feel this good when I woke up... but today was the first day of taking my female hormone adjustment meds. Bio-identical oral progesterone and calcium d-glucarate to lower my too-high estrogen. And all afternoon I've felt like the old me, only more so! So much energy! And the sun came out too, and I went for a nice walk down to Starbucks. I decided to work on memorizing Proverbs 3, and worked on the first two verses as I walked. Wow! This gives me hope that when the Dr. figures out my case and gets me on appropriate supplementation ALL the time, I'll feel better than ever before! I'll be able to live a productive life and get things done and not just be a hermit who hides out at home all day! Yay!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
grieving for what will never be.
OK, I'm sobbing right now. I don't know why I picked now to start blogging again, after over a month of silence... I guess I just need some extra help in processing some stuff. Writing out my feelings always helps me feel better.
I've been ravenously researching adoption lately. For hours at a time, some days. Because I've learned that due to a number of factors, it is very unlikely that Tim and I will ever be able to have biological children of our own. It would take a lot of very expensive medical intervention to even try. For a long time (ever since we got married, in fact) I've been kind of in denial about that. I thought we'd just save up and find a way. But the fact is, even if I was able to get pregnant, it would almost definitely be a difficult and high-risk pregnancy, with a high chance of losing the baby, due to my numerous lifelong hormonal problems.
I'm finally coming around to face reality on that topic. It helped when I ran some tests for my naturopath and discovered I'm not even ovulating right now. That was a cold wake up call.
But I'm grieving a lot. I'm grieving the loss of what will never be. The child we most likely can never have, who has my eyes and Tim's curly hair. Who will inherit some of our little quirks and peculiarities. Who carries some of our family traits. Who has my artistic bent, and Tim's passion for Truth. I'm grieving for that child, shedding a lot of tears lately. Tim has been so good and understanding to me. I feel like I see little children and babies and pregnant women everywhere I look. Every time I go to the store, I see all the little children in the shopping carts, and I love them. My heart aches with how much I love them... and how much I want one of my own. Sometimes I have to look away because my eyes start to fill with tears.
But my love for the children in the shopping carts also gives me hope. I can love, fiercely and passionately as a mother should, a child who is not biologically my own. I really don't care what my future children will look like. I love all the shopping cart children, no matter their hair or skin color. I think all of them are so precious and adorable and kind of wish I could take one home. But I know those children already have parents who love them. But I also know that somewhere out there, someday, will be a child just as precious, who doesn't have a family to care for him or her. And someday, when we're ready, after I've finished grieving for what cannot be and have moved on in my heart, God will bring that child into our lives.
I've been ravenously researching adoption lately. For hours at a time, some days. Because I've learned that due to a number of factors, it is very unlikely that Tim and I will ever be able to have biological children of our own. It would take a lot of very expensive medical intervention to even try. For a long time (ever since we got married, in fact) I've been kind of in denial about that. I thought we'd just save up and find a way. But the fact is, even if I was able to get pregnant, it would almost definitely be a difficult and high-risk pregnancy, with a high chance of losing the baby, due to my numerous lifelong hormonal problems.
I'm finally coming around to face reality on that topic. It helped when I ran some tests for my naturopath and discovered I'm not even ovulating right now. That was a cold wake up call.
But I'm grieving a lot. I'm grieving the loss of what will never be. The child we most likely can never have, who has my eyes and Tim's curly hair. Who will inherit some of our little quirks and peculiarities. Who carries some of our family traits. Who has my artistic bent, and Tim's passion for Truth. I'm grieving for that child, shedding a lot of tears lately. Tim has been so good and understanding to me. I feel like I see little children and babies and pregnant women everywhere I look. Every time I go to the store, I see all the little children in the shopping carts, and I love them. My heart aches with how much I love them... and how much I want one of my own. Sometimes I have to look away because my eyes start to fill with tears.
But my love for the children in the shopping carts also gives me hope. I can love, fiercely and passionately as a mother should, a child who is not biologically my own. I really don't care what my future children will look like. I love all the shopping cart children, no matter their hair or skin color. I think all of them are so precious and adorable and kind of wish I could take one home. But I know those children already have parents who love them. But I also know that somewhere out there, someday, will be a child just as precious, who doesn't have a family to care for him or her. And someday, when we're ready, after I've finished grieving for what cannot be and have moved on in my heart, God will bring that child into our lives.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Forget the day number thing. I've missed enough days that it feels kind of dumb.
Well, I found out why I've been so tired. I have Mono, AND Addison's Disease, AND Hypothyroidism. Triple whammy. And, it's not healthy to push myself to exercise when dealing with this level of exhaustion and illness. So I'm temporarily postponing the 100 days of exercise thing. I'll try to keep up with the blogging, but I'm not promising anything. Basically I need to give myself license to rest and just rebuild and focus on getting better. Dr. Doug Leber (a friend of a friend) diagnosed me using electro-dermal scanning, which has been proven to be very accurate and is widely used in Germany and Europe, but (naturally) is not widely recognized here in the States. And Dr. Leber is only in town for a short visit, then he's heading home to Texas. And my local N.D. is insisting on doing all her own tests, so it will be early December before I get an action plan from her. Which is kind of scary because having Addison's means my adrenal glands are not working. They're dead or dying. And the adrenals are very important, they control blood sugar, mineral balance in the blood, energy and how the body responds to stress, and more. I need to be on adrenal hormone replacement. Most Addisonians need to be on adrenal hormone replacement for life. If I get in a stressful or emergency type situation when I'm not on hormone replacement, I'm at risk for having an Addisonian Crisis, which can lead to coma or even death as my body can't depend on cortisol and/or adrenaline from the adrenals, to deal with the crisis. And the mono and other problems I'm dealing with are already a further stress on the adrenals. Lord, help me to have patience! It's hard to believe I have to wait at least another month and a half before getting the medication I need. Well, maybe we'll be able to find a way around this. There has to be some way of making this doctor see the urgency of the situation. We did send off a blood spot and saliva test that we ordered independently, before we saw the doctor. Maybe when we get the results of that back, it if it's clear enough that my cortisol levels are dangerously low, the doctor will agree to start me on some kind of replacement, even before she gets the results of her tests back and figures out a grand master plan of treatment.
Well, I found out why I've been so tired. I have Mono, AND Addison's Disease, AND Hypothyroidism. Triple whammy. And, it's not healthy to push myself to exercise when dealing with this level of exhaustion and illness. So I'm temporarily postponing the 100 days of exercise thing. I'll try to keep up with the blogging, but I'm not promising anything. Basically I need to give myself license to rest and just rebuild and focus on getting better. Dr. Doug Leber (a friend of a friend) diagnosed me using electro-dermal scanning, which has been proven to be very accurate and is widely used in Germany and Europe, but (naturally) is not widely recognized here in the States. And Dr. Leber is only in town for a short visit, then he's heading home to Texas. And my local N.D. is insisting on doing all her own tests, so it will be early December before I get an action plan from her. Which is kind of scary because having Addison's means my adrenal glands are not working. They're dead or dying. And the adrenals are very important, they control blood sugar, mineral balance in the blood, energy and how the body responds to stress, and more. I need to be on adrenal hormone replacement. Most Addisonians need to be on adrenal hormone replacement for life. If I get in a stressful or emergency type situation when I'm not on hormone replacement, I'm at risk for having an Addisonian Crisis, which can lead to coma or even death as my body can't depend on cortisol and/or adrenaline from the adrenals, to deal with the crisis. And the mono and other problems I'm dealing with are already a further stress on the adrenals. Lord, help me to have patience! It's hard to believe I have to wait at least another month and a half before getting the medication I need. Well, maybe we'll be able to find a way around this. There has to be some way of making this doctor see the urgency of the situation. We did send off a blood spot and saliva test that we ordered independently, before we saw the doctor. Maybe when we get the results of that back, it if it's clear enough that my cortisol levels are dangerously low, the doctor will agree to start me on some kind of replacement, even before she gets the results of her tests back and figures out a grand master plan of treatment.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Crazy Day!
Day 41
Today on the way home from church, I was starting to stress a little because I had a gig at 2 and with one thing and another, it was already 1:20 and the gig is about a 15 minute drive away! So I was looking at about 15 minutes to throw my kit in the car and change clothes, before heading to the gig! We stopped for gas... and after Tim filled up my car, it would not start up again. It just died! (he suspects spark plugs or something like that). Grr. And we only have one car. We had to walk the remaining four blocks home, then I had to totally re-pack my kit so that it would all fit in a backpack, so my husband could take me to my gig on his motorcycle! It was rather crazy. I had never had to use such a small kit before! I had to call them and explain the situation and let them know I'd be about 15 minutes late. I managed to fit all the important stuff, somehow.
It was a very fun birthday party, very chaotic but a good time. Freezing cold but sunny, out in a park. I got to try out several faces I hadn't done before, including the full-face Spongebob someone posted on the online face painting forum (facepainthq@googlegroups.com) a while ago! I didn't have a picture of it, but I remembered it. I hate doing the Spongebob cheek art, so when a boy asked for the cheek art version, I suggested the full face and he went for it! He and everyone else loved it, though it is such a face-transforming design (with the big eyes and wide smile and all) that several people said it was kind of scary looking... and the other kids started calling him "SpongeBob CreepyPants"! He loved it. I also did several masks and eye designs and fun stuff... but not one butterfly, princess, Spiderman, or batman!
It was a great time. I ended up having to stay late to finish everyone, and I was just going to count it as my fault for taking my time and making the faces really nice and elaborate... but the family insisted on paying me for an extra half hour. I agreed because the uncle really wanted to pay, as a way of chipping in for the birthday gift for his niece! He even drove to the bank to get cash for me!
It was a very fun time, very memorable especially since the birthday girl was one of my most faithful customers all summer at the farmer's market, and she's been talking all summer about how much she wanted me to come to her party!
Here's two pictures...
One of SpongeBob CreepyPants (he slobbered a little and messed up his lips... but you get the idea)
and my very first skull ever, painted at the farmer's market last week. I suggested a more "girly" skull, but nope, she wanted to go for scary. I wasn't entirely happy with it and will change it a bit next time (i.e. eye sockets not quite so round, and make the cracks more subtle), but she was delighted.
I love this business!
Today on the way home from church, I was starting to stress a little because I had a gig at 2 and with one thing and another, it was already 1:20 and the gig is about a 15 minute drive away! So I was looking at about 15 minutes to throw my kit in the car and change clothes, before heading to the gig! We stopped for gas... and after Tim filled up my car, it would not start up again. It just died! (he suspects spark plugs or something like that). Grr. And we only have one car. We had to walk the remaining four blocks home, then I had to totally re-pack my kit so that it would all fit in a backpack, so my husband could take me to my gig on his motorcycle! It was rather crazy. I had never had to use such a small kit before! I had to call them and explain the situation and let them know I'd be about 15 minutes late. I managed to fit all the important stuff, somehow.
It was a very fun birthday party, very chaotic but a good time. Freezing cold but sunny, out in a park. I got to try out several faces I hadn't done before, including the full-face Spongebob someone posted on the online face painting forum (facepainthq@googlegroups.com) a while ago! I didn't have a picture of it, but I remembered it. I hate doing the Spongebob cheek art, so when a boy asked for the cheek art version, I suggested the full face and he went for it! He and everyone else loved it, though it is such a face-transforming design (with the big eyes and wide smile and all) that several people said it was kind of scary looking... and the other kids started calling him "SpongeBob CreepyPants"! He loved it. I also did several masks and eye designs and fun stuff... but not one butterfly, princess, Spiderman, or batman!
It was a great time. I ended up having to stay late to finish everyone, and I was just going to count it as my fault for taking my time and making the faces really nice and elaborate... but the family insisted on paying me for an extra half hour. I agreed because the uncle really wanted to pay, as a way of chipping in for the birthday gift for his niece! He even drove to the bank to get cash for me!
It was a very fun time, very memorable especially since the birthday girl was one of my most faithful customers all summer at the farmer's market, and she's been talking all summer about how much she wanted me to come to her party!
Here's two pictures...
One of SpongeBob CreepyPants (he slobbered a little and messed up his lips... but you get the idea)
and my very first skull ever, painted at the farmer's market last week. I suggested a more "girly" skull, but nope, she wanted to go for scary. I wasn't entirely happy with it and will change it a bit next time (i.e. eye sockets not quite so round, and make the cracks more subtle), but she was delighted.
I love this business!
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