You will never hear me complain about the amplified pain that is brought on by hugs. Never!! I may get snarky about them in a humous way, but I will not complain!! I had such a great time this last weekend with some absolutely amazing Bronco Nuts!! I will willingly pay, for as long as it takes, for these zapping skin flares and vibrating tuning forks that I call "bones" to subside. On Saturday, and with my fave sidekicks, ColoAngel and Fave Hubs, we journeyed to Denver for Nut Summit 2013 and I wasn't anxious about the pain that I knew would come because I was with them. 2 years ago the only thing that we, The Nuts, knew that we had in common was our love for the Denver Broncos, and now we're as close as we can get without being biologically related. Boy howdy did I get hugged that night ... and I loved every minute of it!! I got hugs from all over Colorado, Washington state, a double whammy from NY, and I got a Bear hug from Wyoming!! I finally got to comiserate with the Princess, harass the Fader, and not feel like a giant among the women. With Houdini as our batender, there was way too much fun to be had by all!! My only regret was not being able to go to the Broncos/Redskins game the next day. Hey, I'm a Spoonie and I can't do it all. I don't have to like it, but I do have to accept it.
I knew that I'd need a distraction this week so I had shows and movies lined up and food cooked and frozen for later consumption. I thought I had escaped the worst of the blood detox so I only prepared for the RSD pain ... I was wrong and I am screwd ... momentarily. These last 2 days I have gone through most of my stash of post-treatment-puke-bags and I can only wear sweats that have elastic around the waist because I'm so weak that I'm just not quick enough to get to the bathroom and get my sweats untied in time. This truly sux!! Only 1 more week ... 1 more week ... holy crap I hafta make it 1 more week. I have absolutely no clue where I'm going to get the strength and spoons to survive 1 more week. I'm pooped!! (literally) ... I'm exhausted ... I'm in pain ... I'm nauseous ... I can't stay asleep for more than 2 hours ... I haven't showered since before the Nut Summit on Saturday because I'm afraid of how the water will feel ... I'm a w-r-e-c-k, wreck!!
But I'm still blessed and happy!! I have wonderful memories of wonderful people, my best friend keeps making me giggle, my dog won't leave my side, and my folks have returned from KS so now I don't have to go to the store for more toilet paper and ginger ale. I can get thru anything RSD throws at me as long as have my dog and my people and faith!!!!!
And now I shall resume my position in the big, brown, comfy chair with Kiva draped around my shoulders like a boa and await delivery from My Mom!!!
Raising Awareness for RSD (and Ziggi's)
The Power of Orange
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
General Jenn vs Toxic Blood
Soooo ... Maybe things are a little worse than I've been letting on recently. Yes, I'm down to 115lbs; yes, I throw more nausea pills down my gullet daily than I do pots of coffee; yes, I'm not remotely comfortable unless I have a heating pad draped across my belly and set to Medium-High; yes, every time I eat, no matter how much I eat, my whole torso is in agonizing pain for hours afterward; yes, my multiple mini burps have turned into ripping belches that leave all Booger fans awestruck; and yes, all of this added ick has made my RSD pain somewhat worse. When my regular doc recommended that I go see a Gasteroenterologist, I freaked out. That is the one specialty that scares me beyond belief. Luckily I am biologically related to an MD who is "...a master classical homeopath as well as a cutting edge integrative and anti-aging doctor. Equally at home with Chinese medicine theory as well as modern bio-identical hormone therapy..." or so says his website. To me, he's just my brilliant 1st cousin, The MD, and he suggested that I go see a friend of his in Denver that could help me get to the root of the problem to irradicate it instead of just treating the individual symptoms.
Well ... I took my first real dip in the Eastern Medicine pool today and I can honestly say that I am both releived and terrified. I am releived that My Mom went with me and we both already adore this doctor. She explained things to us in ways that we could understand and she and I have the same warped sense of humor. There was nothing about her presense, words, or mannerisms that made me (or My Mom) feel uneasy or made either of us question her motives. The woman even told me, in her cute Indian accented voice, that she would hold my hand through this whole ordeal. Are you kidding me? What doctor does that? The terrifying part is knkowing that I've already detoxed off of alcohol, pain killers, and valium, and that SUCKED!!! I had fully planned on never reliving those 1st 90 days ever ever again!! But ... her plan definitely beats the alternative!!!
She pricked the pinky finger of my left hand and made 2 blots on one slide and 1 blot on another. The 1st one was to test my blood type ... I'm an O. The 2nd one she put under a microscope and recorded my "active" blood onto a dvd that she played for us. My white blood cells do not look like octopii, I'm told this is a bad thing. The deposits of plaque in my blood have yellow and green spots on them signifying that bile is seeping into my bloodstream instead of getting flushed out. Since I had my gall bladder removed in 1999, my body has continued to make gall stones. Since there is no organ to hold them all anymore, billions of them float freely (in particle form) through my veins and ateries. My white blood cells were not attacking and devouring the plaque. I was only showing 1-2 nuclei per cell as opposed to the 4-5 nuclei of a healthy person. Add to that the disruption of blood flow caused by RSD and you get the grand total of ... <dun dun nuh> Toxic Blood ... but here's the thing ... Eastern Medicine doesn't get all wrapped up in the name of the diagnosis, she just explained it to me as "toxic blood." (It was such a releif to not hear the term GastroParesis!!) So now I have to detox my blood using herbs, supplements, oils (ew castor oil), and specific enzymes for my blood type. She told me that wasn't going to sugar coat what was about to happen to me. "You'll think you're dying." She told me what happened to her when she did a similar detox (her blood type is A and she is a cancer survivor) and she told me that she ran she ran a temp of 103*-104* for almost a week. <insert my panicked face here> And then she told me that soon as her fever broke, she felt physically stronger than she had in years. She is now 3 years passed her Western Medicine Expiration Date and that woman has earned my trust as well as my respect!!
So now I detoxify my blood and I focus on rebuilding healthy cells for the next 3 weeks. I have to get my body to excrete bile like it's supposed to and not the way to which it's become accustomed. I get to up the amount of Epsom salt baths I take every week, and I get to have faith. My flair for fighting the good fights and bad flares, my strong support system, the 2 new additions to my medical dream team, a positive attitude, and the sheer deisre to appropriately fill out a pair of jeans again without the added padding of fleece lined leggings underneath are what's going to keep me moving forward in this battle with my head held high. Fighting on........
Well ... I took my first real dip in the Eastern Medicine pool today and I can honestly say that I am both releived and terrified. I am releived that My Mom went with me and we both already adore this doctor. She explained things to us in ways that we could understand and she and I have the same warped sense of humor. There was nothing about her presense, words, or mannerisms that made me (or My Mom) feel uneasy or made either of us question her motives. The woman even told me, in her cute Indian accented voice, that she would hold my hand through this whole ordeal. Are you kidding me? What doctor does that? The terrifying part is knkowing that I've already detoxed off of alcohol, pain killers, and valium, and that SUCKED!!! I had fully planned on never reliving those 1st 90 days ever ever again!! But ... her plan definitely beats the alternative!!!
She pricked the pinky finger of my left hand and made 2 blots on one slide and 1 blot on another. The 1st one was to test my blood type ... I'm an O. The 2nd one she put under a microscope and recorded my "active" blood onto a dvd that she played for us. My white blood cells do not look like octopii, I'm told this is a bad thing. The deposits of plaque in my blood have yellow and green spots on them signifying that bile is seeping into my bloodstream instead of getting flushed out. Since I had my gall bladder removed in 1999, my body has continued to make gall stones. Since there is no organ to hold them all anymore, billions of them float freely (in particle form) through my veins and ateries. My white blood cells were not attacking and devouring the plaque. I was only showing 1-2 nuclei per cell as opposed to the 4-5 nuclei of a healthy person. Add to that the disruption of blood flow caused by RSD and you get the grand total of ... <dun dun nuh> Toxic Blood ... but here's the thing ... Eastern Medicine doesn't get all wrapped up in the name of the diagnosis, she just explained it to me as "toxic blood." (It was such a releif to not hear the term GastroParesis!!) So now I have to detox my blood using herbs, supplements, oils (ew castor oil), and specific enzymes for my blood type. She told me that wasn't going to sugar coat what was about to happen to me. "You'll think you're dying." She told me what happened to her when she did a similar detox (her blood type is A and she is a cancer survivor) and she told me that she ran she ran a temp of 103*-104* for almost a week. <insert my panicked face here> And then she told me that soon as her fever broke, she felt physically stronger than she had in years. She is now 3 years passed her Western Medicine Expiration Date and that woman has earned my trust as well as my respect!!
So now I detoxify my blood and I focus on rebuilding healthy cells for the next 3 weeks. I have to get my body to excrete bile like it's supposed to and not the way to which it's become accustomed. I get to up the amount of Epsom salt baths I take every week, and I get to have faith. My flair for fighting the good fights and bad flares, my strong support system, the 2 new additions to my medical dream team, a positive attitude, and the sheer deisre to appropriately fill out a pair of jeans again without the added padding of fleece lined leggings underneath are what's going to keep me moving forward in this battle with my head held high. Fighting on........
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