Allergy testing done

Well thankfully that is over with. Wasn't too bad just the wait but I can't blame them really for that. Short handed and being given more patients than they had room for so were having to clean up rooms to have a place to put them. I really like the nurse there. She seems really familiar to me and is super nice. Has a southern thing going on. Lots of Oh Honey and Bless your heart. Very sweet lady. They did I think 110 on my back of the scratch test. They first number it and do it in sections for like 3 different types I think and then when she went to do the little needles I think it only took her up to 2 minutes at the very most to do them all. Had a rhythm going. Poke plunk poke plunk (plunking them into the box)

Hubby and I were bored so he took photos so I could see what it looked like while waiting. Most of these weren't as bad as I'd feared thankfully but again had a few that were bad enough to be pretty noticeable  (Cedar is on my side) 

Turns out I am very highly allergic to Cedar which is what I suspected and which is what likely caused my RAD (Reactive airway disease) to act up so badly and sent me into the ER and caused so much of a problem while they were pollinating. Thankfully they are pretty much done and I've been able to breathe pretty normal here lately. I am also on inhalers which help and take Zyrtec at night. Plus  now on the D3 which the dr. told me to go ahead and take all of them at once with a good sized meal. (I have to take a mega dose because of being so low) Then they moved on to the arm test and that was like 12 spots I think. Of course the usual suspects like Ragweed and weeds and all.

 H is the histamine which is something you are supposed to react to and my Weed was as high as that. RW is ragweed. 

Can't see the rashes very well due to lighting but you can see where some had started to go down. They did bleed a little. The only real discomfort was a couple of sensitive spots but mostly the itching. You can't touch them.

 I found out I do have some food allergies but not enough to stop me from eating those foods by themselves but interestingly they are the same foods that set of my IBS and that is likely why. So something to not eat too much of.  Anyway found some food allergies I would not have even guessed.  Today I am just sore all over my back. Tiny bit bruised on my arm where they did the salt water control spot. Otherwise I'd recommend it if you suffer allergies and would like to know what to avoid. I was told shots would be a good idea but not sure on two things. 1. Since I have lupus and RA they are not generally recommended for those people so I need to ask more about that and 2. I'd have to go in weekly for 5 years. Got to make sure that would be feasible for us. We really need a better vehicle. The one we are driving now needs repairs BAD. Our actual vehicle needs repairs as well. Sucks.
Anyway that is pretty much the news health wise other than my Mom has a bunch of questions for me to help her with when she goes in to the dr. here soon. Her nurses suspect Parkinsons. We'll see what we can find out. As for me I am just having to decide about the allergy shots (tempting due to the severity of my problems this last cedar fever season) or if there are alternatives I can use since I do have lupus and RA. Either way I feel like I can better understand what was going on now and can work on doing something about it. Sometimes people mistake my talking about my health issues as my being obsessed with them or I've been accused of being a hypochondriac. (I think I'll listen to the medical professionals who actually KNOW what is going on.) In actuality I do unfortunately have a host of health issues which can reflect off one another. I am simply looking for answers and ways to make things better. As I've said before I am not a person who likes being idle. I thrive on productivity in whatever way I can accomplish that.  In regards to my kids I have every hope that they do not have the health issues that I have. So far they are pretty healthy and I am grateful. I also put my health issues out there because I know when I was trying to learn more about them it sometimes helped to hear from others with the same problems to know how they dealt with them. It sometimes helps you to know you are not alone and that they CAN be dealt with that all is not lost. I like to explore the possibilities and not just focus on the "well this sucks" aspect of it all. So far I consider myself lucky. A lot of people with the lupus and such are on a ton of medications. I've been lucky enough NOT to be as of yet. I don't like long term medications. I will take them if necessary but only if I need them. I would rather manage through a healthier lifestyle (Something I want my kids to learn as well) when and where possible. 

It is hard enough to accept that somedays I just will not have the Oopmh to do what I want or need to. 


We've had a lot we've had to put off the last month so we are really behind on our goals but with the nicer weather and having a much better idea what was going on with my health..as well as having court and all behind us. We are in hopes that we can finally move forward and maybe play some catch up now. The kids all have their testing they have to do for end of the school year. (Only downside to the online schooling) So we are having to work around that as well it is the time of year for the yearly check ups and reviews on things. We are hoping to get something done before the weather heats up too much and we can SEE some progress. 

Ball ready to start rolling

 rainbow I tried to add on here before

 smoke out by the hospital when I was leaving

Well after a long bout of constantly being sick I may be on the edge of being able to get back to good health. I wound up seeing an allergist which actually is helping more than anything else at the moment. I've spent about 3 weeks unable to get a good breath and incredibly ill. Very frustrated too as I've said before I hate being unable to be as active as I'd like. I am so tired constantly right now and feel like no matter what I do I can't get enough rest etc. Well so far I've found out I am dangerously vitamin D deficient. Soooo working on that. Have to take mega doses of that to bring it back up. Partly due to the fact that I am lactose intolerant (though I will still divulge in a bit of ice cream every now and then knowing the consequences) and I will use lactaid milk when I need to use milk for anything other than cooking. Stuff is expensive though. My youngest has to have it as well. Also due to the fact that I've been getting serious allergy reactions when I go outside I've had to stay indoors mostly (well plus it has been cold and I don't do cold) anyway so hopefully I can get that brought back up. It can cause some serious health issues such as rickets, breathing problems, weakened bones, etc. Plus a drop in immune system which I had to begin with so essentially right now I have no immune system. On the good side of it though I should start to feel a lot better as my levels increase. Will be checking back in to see how they are doing since it is something that has to be watched. On another note I am going to be doing allergy testing which should also help once I know what all to avoid and such. I may be needing allergy shots (am hoping that I don't and it is just things I can avoid that I am allergic to....well I can hope anyway) because if I need the allergy shots this means going in every week for 5 years. Blah. Though it may help just to know for sure what all I am allergic to. I hate health issues. We've had a lot of things we've had to put off here lately and I basically feel like we've lost a month. I want to move on with our lives. I don't want to just talk about it or dream about it I want to DO it.  Hopefully this next month will be much more productive. We've jumped a couple of hurdles so that should help. Really just waiting to see what is going to happen with the testing and if I need the shots because we'll have to keep that in mind. Always something. Anyway here is to hoping for better health and better progress. 

health issue hold ups

Well I was going to upload a pic with this but google is having issues with that so maybe I can add one later. In any case back in Feb I started having some breathing issues. Especially right around when I had court so I had assumed either I had caught cold or I was just feeling panicky. (court went well though so no reason to feel panicky just glad to have that over with) Anyway. Later it kept getting worse. Tight chest, feeling like I wasn't getting enough air but no real reason why. I'd had some sinus problems but it is spring and the cedar pollen count is high so that is no real surprise. Well then I had set up a drs appt to go talk to the dr. about it because it was just getting worse and it wasn't a day or so later that it got so bad that I called in I could not get a good breath walking even a few steps made me weak and dizzy my chest hurt really bad. They told me to go in to ER immediately so I did. Which is saying a lot I HATE ER. The wait is usually atrocious. Plus while I am sitting there I hear some guy come in and the nurse going OMG is that all over your body? and took him straight back while another nurse was reassuring someone she wipes everything down with alchohol LOL I didn't even turn around. I was just concentrating on breathing and my fingers by this point were blue. I get back and the male sure asked for my history and he knew right off about Sjogren's and Lupus . Which was a pleasant surprise not being discounted for it (I usually get the oh you have lupus that explains everything you are meant to suffer type response when um not everything is lupus) anyway the guy was really nice and reminded me a lot of my brother. I was sent back for X-ray and they decided I had upper respiratory and bronchitis (later my dr. when I went in for a follow up decided it didn't sound so much like bronchitis) anyway by the time I left I was still very weak but my color had returned to my fingers and such and I wasn't struggling so much. Went in to my regular dr and was not really doing much better had several dizzy spells, numbness in my arms, couldn't do crap. It was getting really frustrating because there are so many things I needed to be doing. Plus during this time frame my glasses had gotten destroyed (the scratch coat started coming up on them) and I had to get this other taken care of before I went in to the eye dr. My regular dr. gave me a shot of antibiotic and told me to take mucinex and zyrtec which I did and it helped a little. Went in and got my eyes checked and decided to order my glasses from zinni optical which I am waiting on mine to arrive. I got 2 pair for half of what I spent normally on regular glasses. Heck not even half. Lets put it this way cheaper than what I'd spend on lenses ALONE for one pair and I got scratch coat for free and anti-reflective. Anyway....so not long after that the dr. had told me to come back in if I were not getting any better and I wasn't. The day before I could call to set up with her again I nearly wound up in ER again with blue-ish fingers and racing heartbeat even though my BP and all was actually very good. Turns out it seems my asthma may be getting worse due to the cedar pollen. I was put back on advair (which I start tonight) and given a rescue inhaler and a shot of steroid which I apparently had a reaction to. My entire body itched horribly. I haven't slept in like 3 nights so I am seriously hoping to sleep tonight as the next two days will be busy for us. I am also in high hopes that the daily inhaler combined with my zyrtec will help tremendously. The zyrtec is all ready helping. I'd noticed that just being outside for a day would leave me in this state which was becoming very frustrating and irritating. We did decide though that with the discovery of the online glasses for much cheaper (seriously check them out if you wear glasses they have rave reviews) anyway we told my 2nd oldest we would get her a back up pair for her too from there when we can because she usually needs them. You can upload a photo and try your glasses on and it is realistic looking. Something I've always had a problem with when picking out glasses. I couldn't truly see what I looked like in them til after I got the finished product because for the most part I am blind....though on a good note apparently my eyes surprisingly have gotten a bit better. (surprise even to the dr. especially since right now I am wearing a 15-20 year old pair with bifocals and I don't even need bifocals anymore NOR was I wearing the in my pair that got destroyed that were a couple years old) Anyway I am off for tonight but that is what has been going on in our end of the world. 

Patience

Is a virtue but something I am somewhat lacking in at the moment. I am chomping at the bit wanting to go and work on a long term project we have going (something we aren't saying much about at this time) Something that would put us in a better place in many ways. The only thing is apparently we are supposed to wait a bit or have something else we need to be doing because the weather hasn't been cooperating (though I can't complain because we do need the rain so just going to have to wait til things are dryer) Then I was having health issues with not much of an idea what was actually going on. Apparently I had an upper respiratory infection along with bronchitis which for me is something that seems to happen about this time of year though usually not this bad. Been waking up feeling like I was drowning and having trouble breathing in general though I didn't feel like I was congested just felt like I wasn't getting enough air. Thought I was having anxiety attacks but turned out it wasn't that really other than the lack of air was causing me to feel anxious. I apparently have it pretty bad and am supposed to be resting a lot. Something that is made worse in people with Lupus/Sjogren's. The nurse guy who was there actually knew right off what I was talking about when I told him I had Sjogren's when he was taking medical history down. One of those things that usually they just look at you like "huh?" but his wife had it and he said he totally understood. My immune system is pretty much nil right now which it has been for about the past year due to stress of all sorts. So tired of it. That is something I also hope will improve when we get this project progressing and finished. Anyway for the time being though have to be patient (maybe that is my lesson in this?) and wait and try to rest and get better as I am actually so weak that the littlest things make me very out of breath and dizzy. I HATE being idle. I've never been this weak...well okay not in a long long time. I will feel okay in between but it doesn't take much so I can't push it. I am back on my diet though as well while trying to make sure I get what I need. I go in to the dr. for a follow up soon and we'll see how things are then. Don't want it to turn into Pneumonia or something I can't fight off. Anyway tired of the hold ups but must endure through them because it would only make it take longer if I didn't. I am feeling very artistic right now as well so maybe that is something I need to be working on. There is always plenty to do. May not be the things I want to be doing right now but still ...   My mind is freer than my body right now. I guess I am needing to find some balance. There is a new life waiting but just need to be patient. I am feeling like I want to crank the music up and dive into my drawing for awhile. Maybe I will get to do that soon enough.  That is another thing that will bloom I believe when this project is more progressed. There will be so much more opportunity as far as that goes. I hate being so vague but unfortunately it is necessary at this point in time. 
On a totally unrelated note I really need new headphones. My kids have been using mine when at this computer and my son especially is a bit rough on them (very fidgety and sometimes would pull the cord when he was wheeling the chair around) so now It is very touchy as to whether I get music in both ears or not. Now he is using his own headphones (which he could have done the whole time) and so does my 2nd oldest and I am stuck with my semi-functioning ones. :/ Think we need cordless but right now would be happy with ones that work. 
Anyway the future is bright but we have to work for it. Have patience. 
*also look for me to go photo crazy when things start blooming around here :)