Monday, February 14, 2011

Potential

I begin this post by apologizing to my Yankee friends still in the depths of winter.

Today, it's 70 deg and sunny. Just as soon as this post is written, I will be back out in it. I drug all of my potted plants out of the laundry room and screened porch and into the backyard today. Many thrived well. They like the fluorescent light they've been exposed to, and they've mostly avoided the frost.




Some look pretty rough...




But there's new growth!




The Periwinkle at the base of the Live Oak is sprouting nicely




And I found these tiny flowers in a neighbor's yard while chasing Missy today



I'm considering leaving my plants in the back yard since I'd see and enjoy them so much more than on the front porch. The front needs something - maybe just some small hedges.


So... Potential. Will this get deep? Depends on how much time I get here. :)
As of today, no plant, regardless of appearance, is declared dead. Even the brownest twigs still have a "bounce" when twisted - they don't snap like dead limbs do.

And I am also declaring that I am not dead either. I am growing (on the inside only I hope), I am learning, I am aware and absorbing all I can. The sunlight really does make me *bloom*. I let that get away from me last year. I'm not sure why, but I let spring go by without enjoying it and went straight into summer, which was just too darn hot. I will continue to reach out and connect where I can. I am feeling much better than I was last year. Perhaps that's the difference - no pain this year.

I'm full of potential and I am going to recognize and celebrate and stretch it.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

February?

How did the month of January go by so quickly? I still have Christmas lights hanging outside, and the decorations are still waiting to go in the attic. We've had unseasonably warm days and ridiculously cold days. Today is too cold for me. Our little house just can't warm up.

The boy continues to grow at a ridiculous rate. He will pass me up soon. My shoes are too small for him! He had a bad round of the flu. Not that any flu is good, he was just very sick for several days. So was his dad. I take many more supplements than they are willing to take so I was only sick for 3 days and considered it a bad cold. But they were both much sicker than I. They are taking their D3 vitamins now! Poor Greg still can't hear from fluid in his ears - he ended up at the doctor's office with an infection.

Speaking of supplements, I started going to the chiropractor in December. Well, to go back a bit further I had been in pain all over for several months. Joint pain, bone pain, headaches, and uveitis. In August my eye doctor recommended I see a rheumatologist. I pretty much blew that off because of the cost. Then Greg had a kidney stone in September for which he had to have lithotripsy, so our deductible was met. I had uveitis flares in October and November so I made an appointment w/the rheumatologist - in mid-December. By Thanksgiving I was just miserable with pain. Getting out of bed was painful. Rolling over in bed was painful. It took a long time each day for me to be able to move around from the stiffness. I was ready for medication. Nothing I was doing was helping.

I figured it wouldn't hurt anything, so I finally called for a chiropractic appointment. I got in that day and saw him 4 times that first week. He sees the supplements I'm taking and asks about how much fish oil I was taking. At the time, I was taking 2 capsules a day, if I remembered. He said to start taking much more - like 8 or 10 a day, for inflammation. That was cheap and safe enough to try, so I began taking 3 capsules 3 times a day. Within 2 weeks of supplements and adjustments I was 80% - 90% better. I did a little research and found that ginger is also good for treating inflammation so I began taking that 3 caps/3x daily as well.

Two months into it, I have no joint pain and very very little pain in my right leg (this was excruciating for a long while). I'm now seeing the chiropractor every 2 weeks and still pain free. If I feel a twinge of pain coming on, I take more fish oil instead of a pain reliever. I had a uveitis flare for about a week in January, but it didn't last as long or hurt as constantly as in the past. Oh, and I've lost 10 pounds too. Yes, I am moving a bit more because of the lack of pain and maybe I'm not snacking so much (since I know that processed foods make inflammation worse), but I've not done enough of either to explain 10 pounds. I wonder if the inflammation in my body was actually adding weight, or if perhaps the fish oils are changing my metabolism. I'm not finding any info referring to either. I'm not really concerned about the cause, just curious. :)

As for the rheumatologist, I have a follow-up apointment in March, 12 weeks after the initial appointment. I had 7 vials of blood drawn and over a dozen x-rays that day and I've not been contacted about any results. That leaves me to believe that this doctor thinks 12 weeks is an acceptable waiting time for test results. Not my idea of a good doctor, not even a decent one. So I'll be contacting his nurse to get my lab results and cancelling my follow-up. I think God planned for me to see both doctors while I financially was able. I've seen the difference in how I am treated and know I do not need the drugs I was originally going to the rheumatologist to get.