The Joy of Living

Hello all! Just back from giving my blog a rest. I just didn’t know what to write. Things have been going exceptionally well for me now. I am feeling better than I have felt in the last six years! I’ve lost twenty two pounds through the healthy for life diet and I haven’t had a headache since I got back from Charleston! Even my productivity at work has gone up. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year, in spite of the fact that I have a bit less money. I have the things that are most important: God, family and good, good friends and I feel as if I now have my health again too. God is so good and we have so much to be thankful for. 

Halloween went by without much ado. We just stayed in and stayed quite. It was very uneventful and peaceful. I hope Thanksgiving will be quite an occasion though. We want to have our boys over again. Hope they can make it. Tim started checking the adds for deals today. Obviously I am going to have to add a few things to the menu so that I’ll have something I can eat to. It will be a challenge. Can’t wait!

Ugh! This doctor prescribed diet is so killing me! It’s working, but I absolutely hate it! It’s all my fault really. The doctor asked me what two symptoms I’d like to deal with the most. I said “the weight and the edema”, so they put me on the three phase Healthy For Life Diet. I am finishing Phase one right now….no sugar, no carbs, no dairy! They gave me a list of foods I can eat, and if it is not on the list I can’t have it. It is primarily frsh veggies, fresh greens, fresh fruits, nuts, and a few meats. Only olive oil to cook in and a few spices. Thank goodness I can have Dukes mayo, or I would go crazy!!!!! Anyway…phase I ends on Monday and then my nurse mentor is going to send me the phase II info with the new foods I can add back. This is sooooo hard! I wan’t dairy so badly! Cheese or ice cream! Well…at least it is working. I have lost about 12 lbs. Hooray! The visit to the doctor turned out to be such a blessing. I feel better than I have felt in years!

You all just can’t imagine what I’ve just been through. I don’t know what made me look, but I went over to my kitchen window and looked out of it. What I saw when I did so terrified me! My wonderful neighbours were sprawled on the ground behind their car. He was stretched out first and his wife was stretched out behind him, clinging to his legs! I thought one of them must have been hurt, and very badly and I just knew I had to get out there to them. I yelled for Tim to turn off the TV and get help or come help and in the mean time I went flying down the stairs to the parking lot to see what happened and if I could help. I got almost to them when my neighbour rose up crouch and came running toward me telling me to “get back in the house and slam the door”, he was screaming for his wife to do the same. So we rushed them into our apt. from which they called the police. Turns out the man had had a gun and was holding them hostage while talking to someone on his cell phone. He was demanding that the person on the other end of the phone answer his question or he was going to “shoot the prisoners”! I think when he heard me coming out, Krissy barking and me saying to call the police, he said “the prisoners are free to go” and tat is when we ran to the apt. We called the cops who came out with  seven squad cards. The did catch the man. We all gave our statements. My neighbours were asked to go identify him first and then myself and another neighbour were taken to identify him. They sat us in a car with tinted windows and put the headlights on him. It was a pretty terrifying night. Pray for us and for our neighbours to be able to get over the trauma and to sleep without nightmares.

Hi all. I’ve been in Charleston seeing my doctor. My parents snatched me away to see him after hearing how desparate and upset I was at the last phone call.  I was there almost a full week. Three days were spent testing for allergies from 8 am to 5pm with an hour break for lunch. My arm looked like a pin cushion! Found out I am allergic to a lot of stuff….thanks to the Lyme Disease which got my body all out of whack. We also found out that my stomach does not produce enough hydrochloric acid to digest my food. Those were just the tip of the ice burg. I came home with a plan and a diet! I had to learn to give myself shots in the arm and the leg. I am already feeling so much better that it is positively amazing! We had about an hour or two while waiting for my appointment that first day, and so we ran around and did some sight seeing. I’ll post some pictures later if I get a chance.

I know it has been a while since I have written again. I have been rather preoccupied with the things that have been going on in our lives. First of all there have been the migraines for more than a month straight! It is hard to think, much less write, when day after day I am suffering excruciating pain that affects my vision, speech and balance. And believe it or not they are still continuing. I don’t know if it is the antibiotics I have been on, the Lyme Disease or something completely different. I am trying to figure out what to do about it as I speak.  Living from dose to dose of migraine Excedrin is no way to live!

Then there has been the recent car trouble that has been gettig me down. I’ve had to have the thing repaired multiple times. First there were the spark plugs and the connections, then the steering column, next what we thought was the transmission (praise God it turned out not to be) and now hoses and stuff that have developed dry rot! Ugh!!!!!!!! I’m just taking things step at a time.

No we watch with an anxious eye as Hannah comes barreling our way! We may have to go stay with the in-laws, but I am praying we won’t. This could be a very interesting weekend. Pray for our safety and for protection of our property. Its a little bit of an adrenaline rush.

I do have to say though that one thing that has been occupying my mind is a positive! I am so excited about McCain’s selection of a running mate! Sarah Palin is great!!!! I was going to vote for McCain anyway, because for me he is the lesser of two evils, but with Sarah on the ticket I am ready to throw in my vote! I think she is going to be great for our county!

I feel bad for not having written in awhile, but I haven’t written because I feel bad. This last flare up of the Lyme Disease has been a descent into hell….that is the only way I can describe it. I have had severe headache, which I believe to be migraines, every day for a month! My eyesight and my balance have been affected and my spine feels like it is throbbing. I am in the process of trying to get a doctor up here instead of SC so that I can  deal with it better. My attendance at work has been off and on and I have spent a lot of time in bed with cold packs and hot water bottles! Ugh.

I can’t believe it, but I still did very well on my yearly evaluation at work! I don’t know how it is possible, but I am so glad! I’d write more but I can’t think straight at all.

Today started out very badly….woke up with another enormous headache…I’ve been having them ever since I started the new round of antibiotics. Still, I decided to try to go to work. I showered and got completely ready. When the time came to leave I couldn’t find my security badge! I looked in all the logical places and most of the illogical ones too. I went into an absolute panic state. Between the Lyme Disease and the antibiotics I am an emotional mess anyway. Tim went down to the dumpster and actually dug through the trash to be sure I hadn’t thrown it away….I absolutely love that man. He loves me so well! Not just with words but with his actions. Anyway, it wasn’t there. I called my  mother in near hysterics for some prayer. I guess its just a comfort thing left over from childhood to want your momma when things are going badly. She told me I needed to just calm down and rest and then prayed for me. I decided to just call in to work and take the day because I had made the migraine twice as bad with the stress and later started having vision problems. Finally, when we had looked everywhere we knew to look I decided to go lie down on the bed and deal with the headache and would look again later. As I lay there I decided to do some praying myself. I just told God that I needed Him to help me calm down and I needed Him to show me where that thing was, because surely He knew. I began to pray softly in the Spirit, and then all of the sudden I had this picture in my minds eye of the apron I wear when I eat food to protect my clothing. I chuckled to myself thinking that was an awfully weird idea to think that my lanyard would be there! I hang the aprons on the side of the refrigerator between it and the wall in a space just  a few inches wide. I couldn’t imagine why it would be there! But having had prior experience with impressions from the Holy Spirit, I knew I should check it out (He has shown me where other people’s missing things were too. People clear across the country to whom I was talking on the phone. They would look where I said and find the missing item! It wasn’t me but the Holy Spirit!) What do you know! There it was! I don’t remember putting it there. Maybe it got caught in the apron and when I took the apron off, it went with it. I don’t know. I just know that God is so good to me and that from now on I need to pray first not after.

Most of the rest of the day was a complete washout. I lay down to try and get rid of the excruciating headache pain, emailed the doc about whether to continue the antibiotics and turned on the crock pot.

Tim and I had promised to take a meal to our dear friends who have just adopted a baby and are not only in the adjustment phase but are also both sick with walking pneumonia. Thank God for slow cookers. I just turned it on and let the chili cook till Tim came home. We ran the food over, visited just briefly with one of the most adorable babies in the world and his fine parents, and then left them so they could get a good nights sleep. Now here I sit at the end of the day. Feeling the headache trying to resurface and praying that I can make it to work tomorrow so I at least get a couple days worth of paycheck. Its nice to see God’s hand at work though even in the rough times and to know that no matter how hard things get, “His strength is made perfect in my weakness”.  Have a wonderful day tomorrow you all!

Today was a very relaxing day. I started off feeling pretty bad again this morning and missed church. I hate missing church! But the more doses of the antibiotics I get in me the better I feel. I watched Charles Stanley on TV, read my Bible and just rested. Next week I hope to be back at KPC for early Sunday service.

I’ve been reading a really iteresting book of Tim’s…the autobiography of Tom Landry. I never would have thought I could enjoy a book on a sports figure, but I had told Tim I would read through the books on our shelves so we could decide which to keep and which to pitch. I thought I should even give the “boy books” a fare shake. I am glad I did! It is a fascinating story and I’m even learning something about football!

Tonight we we out for a nice walk. It finally getting cooler in the evenings and it was quite nice. There are a lot of cats in our neighborhood, and it was funny to see them staring down from their perches on the balconies of the second floor apartments; the dark ones hidden in the shadows. Anyway..it was the first time I’d felt like taking our evening walk in a good while. It was a very pleasant way to end the day.

I am so upset. My doctor left his practice without telling me. Here I am in the midst of a full blown Lyme Disease attack with no one to turn to! Supposedly my case has been turned over to the Dr. that works with him (with whom I started) but I have been unable to reach him. My fevers and night sweats continue to increase. I have virtually lost my appetite altogether. I don’t even want popcorn! For those who know me….that is a very scary thing! I am weak as a kitten. I am not able to think clearly and I have broken out in odd little bumps everywhere. I am just so miserable and caught between knowing I need to stay home and recover and knowing that every day I miss puts considerably more stress on our little house hold financially! Already this month I have had major car repairs (about 685 dollars worth!) and bills from a medical crisis (torn calf muscle). Add to that two  missed days of work….possibly another tomorrow….and it spells financial disaster! It is so easy to tell others to trust God and so hard to do it yourself, especially when your hormones and body are a mess due to sickness! I feel so overwhelmed! Pray for me! I know God will make a way, but right now I can be rational about it….probably cause I am so sick.

Woke up earlier than I wanted to today. Had a lot to do. Before the day started though, Tim made me a little breakfast thing of ham and eggs in between English muffines…yum!

We went to my in-laws today to celebrate their anniversary and ours. We got Chinese take-out and took it to their home to eat. Mom’s health won’t let her get out to actually go to the restaurant. The food was good but we didn’t stay too long. We had to pick up my car before the auto shop closed.

Expensive repairs! Had to get a new tire, spark plugs and wires replaced, oil and filter changed and a knock sensor replaced! Ugh! But God will supply. Just once I’d like to have a car that doesn’t require frequent repairs.

This evening Tim and I went and picked out some movies at Blockbuster for a lazy weekend. We got Jumpers, which we watched tonight….interesting. We also got “The Bucket List”, recommended by my Mom and Dad, and Bill. Should be nice for just relaxing after church tomorrow.