Nutrition

So as I always seem to mention, I'm on a mission to treat my symptoms in ways without popping me with pills, because I've tried that and it didn't work. I had an appointment with a nutritionist today first off to become over all healthier, and second to try to help my "chronic nausea". It was a wonderful appointment. She was very nice. I started by telling her why I was seeing her and what I wanted out of it, then she asked me a whole bunch of questions about what I eat, what food is in my dorm room, what I drink and so on. I learned some interesting facts. I've never considered myself healthy, and with my co-morbidity of a thyroid disorder I've always struggled with things related to diet. Even with my medicines for thyroid stabilizing my numbers, thyroid can still affect how you digest food, hunger, things like that. I don't know a lot about thyroid, I just now I've had it messed up for a long time.
So here are somethings I learned or ideas I got.

• Drinks: cutting pop is an no brainer, with all the sugar. I've known I need to drink more water, but one thing she also suggested is iced tea. This could help my nausea by eliminating the carbonation. She also said something interesting, don't use a straw. When drinking using a stray you inhale air as well which upsets your stomach. I did not know this and I almost always drink out of a straw! Also stay away from juices, it doesn't help enough to out weigh the cons.
• I need to get back on my multi-vitamin, another no brainer. Another thing she suggested is Valerian Root. Although used mainly for sleep it can also help with digestion. She also stated the papaya pills I was taking couldn't hurt and thought it was a good idea. It is also a dietary supplement, but it has enzymes in it which help balance the acids in your stomach. She also suggested just getting a roll or Tums or Rolaids and try taking one three times a day to see if it helps.
• Foods: with my nausea I very rarely feel like eating breakfast! After hearing some of the foods I like to eat she suggested trying to get down a low fat string cheese stick and maybe even peanut butter and (whole-grain if desired) crackers like you get from the gas station. For lunch turkey wraps are good, but when I am short on money or time even at Wendey's switching the cheeseburger to a grilled chicken sandwich, and instead of fries sticking to my baked potato, only use the light sour cream and not the butter. When eating burgers staying away from mayonnaise, sliced cheese alone is 100 calories, and other unexpected fat adders such as bacon, mushrooms, and other gross things you can get. 
• Last with food is trying to get as many fruits and veggies as possible, which I love all fruits and veggies, so that isn't that bad. She also said try to stick to things filled with water such as chicken noodle soup, or broth like soups. Many studies prove we eat the same quantity of food each day. So if we fill that with water we don't eat as many calories.

She also mentioned that as a student check ups are only $5. She gave me a pocket book that has all the foods in it, what you should eat, and a recorder to keep track of everything. She has people who come back every two weeks and she'll go through their log with them and help them. So it's a personal diet trainer for only $10 a month. Getting healthy and hopefully getting a better immune system, seems like a small price to pay. She also had great suggestions like checking out our work out center for water aerobics or something in the water so I could exercise improving my immune system without putting stress on my joints or body. She was very helpful. I suggest anyone who is struggling with food, chronic illness, or just wants to get healthier make an appointment. Just one can really help. I finally felt a medical personal actually sat down and tried to help me as an individual and as a whole person! That is an amazing feeling.
Hope you liked today's blog and learned something new!
Callie

Forever

     I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post! I've been busy with getting back on track with classes and trying to get everything straight or at least my head above water. One thing I've learned this week is to utilize your resources. I got a new phone on Sunday. My phone died, I got a G1 to replace it. It's called a google phone and it's by T-Mobile. I LOVE IT! About a week ago I got on google calendars and put in every class, and then scheduled my practice, homework, sleep, rest, appointments, tests, everything around it! Alex helped me of course. I now can upload this calendar to my phone and it's on my home screen. All I do is click on it and it tells me where I am suppose to be at that time. It is color coordinated and I can set reminders. This is a great tool, and if you have a g-mail account I recommend you playing around with your calendar. I also have a note keeper on there and I made a list of everything I need to do, short and long term so I can start working on it. I still haven't made a pain chart, but I'm racking my brain.

This Sunday I went with my amazing mother to a Lupus Foundation of America- Oklahoma Chapter: Support Group Leader meeting. We talked about running a group, up coming events for advocacy, and ways to grow your group! I'm pretty excited and can't wait to start putting these things into place. I also can't wait to join in on the state wide advocacy to stand up for chronic illnesses!

Overall, I'm doing ok. I'm looking more positive, but I'm still stumped about how I'll exactly go about making it through college. Guess I'm waiting to be smacked in the face with it.

I'll try to get back into posting. Thank you as always for following.

Born to Blog

       I once wrote in blog for a class I'm taking, "I'm a blogger, I blog here, I blog on my support group site(now it's here), I write on facebook, I text my friends, I have a twitter, and even a tumblr (I never get on that one)."  I started with xanga. Oh, the good old days of 8th graders posting about how horrible their lives are and how it's the end of the world because some boy didn't look at them. I didn't know in the 8th grade the dumb boy I talked about would be my fiance, nor did I know my life or struggles would be what they are today. I'm here to do what I guess I was born to do, blog about my thoughts so I can hopefully make sense what's in my head.

     I've been thinking a lot lately about my health vs. school. In my life these are two forces that choose to reside as mortal enemy's. It is difficult to know the balance and I'm still striving for that exact pin point where these two can co-exist. I just did my "advising" today. I mentioned my health issues so I want to take my hours easy. She was very nice and encouraging, it was a little helpful. I have been pretty worried lately about school. I can't take a semester off because my scholarships would go, my loan would start to build interest, and I'm not sure how some people would react. There are only two solution to fixing the problem, change school or my health. I can try as I may, but my health has a mind of it's own and will not change magically overnight. This is a challenging situation that I think I will constantly have to review and asses. As of right now... I'm working at trying to get my health under control. I'm also thinking of my options if a music education degree can't work for me, this way I won't feel trapped and I think this will help calm me, even if I never use these alternate options. I will continue on the MUED program in hopes I can follow my passion. I will try to pace my hours, put some fun back in my life, rest when I can, and try my best to remember all my blessings. I still can move around for the most part without pain, I am in college, I have an amazing fiance to help me through this, a very supportive family, a best friend to help me clear my head and listen to anything no matter how stupid, a passion for music, a gift for my passion, and a future ahead of me that is promising even if it doesn't turn out exactly as planned.

Midnight Madness

Where to begin? Let's start with, I'm ok.

     Last night around 9:00pm I started having problems breathing again. I took my inhaler and after an hour it still wasn't working. I took a hot shower hoping the steam would help loosen my air ways. It was what I remembered an asthma attack being like, I could feel the rattling and it felt like something heavy was on my chest. After my shower I still couldn't breathe so Alex took me to the ER for a breathing treatment. After taking my vitals they quickly got me in a bed. They got me hooked up and I sat and waited for the medicine to take affect. About ten minutes in I lifted my arms to move my blankets (I was severely cold) and my thumbs were numb, it hurt to try to open my hands. I told the doctor after my treatment that I was breathing better but there was still pressure on my chest and my thumbs were numb. She ordered and EKG, x-rays, and blood work to test for blood clots. After the EKG and the x-ray I was back in my room. Asthma medicine makes you shaky and I was really cold, but my face was burning up. I couldn't stop shivering and it was hurting my back from shaking so much. I started feeling nauseous and I asked to got to the bathroom, needless to say, you aren't allowed to get out of bed if you're dizzy. The nurses were come and go, not that often either. Alex kept cold paper towels on me to try to keep me from passing out. Finally a nurse came and gave me a heated blanket, wet wash cloth and told me to smell an alcohol pad. Promptly she left again. Eventually I started getting better ( I believe purely with the help of Alex). The nurse came in and checked me out and told me to wait for a wheel chair. The doctor came in to explain the EKG was great, the blood clot test was negative, and she felt safe discharging me because there was not immediate threat. She said rest would help and I would sleep better at home. She said that it started as an asthma attack, but due to stress and anxiety of not being able to breathe she thinks it turned into a panic attack. She didn't want to diagnose me with anything but wants me to follow up with my doctor within 3 days. We left the hospital and finally got home around 2:30 in the morning. When we got back I was trying to think of reasons I would have a panic attack. I wasn't exactly thinking of anything in particular before it happened. I started talking to Alex about worries with college and my health and not too long after I starting getting hot again. Alex got wet paper towels again and knowing it was a possible panic attack I got a paper bag to breathe into. This seemed to help. If nothing else concentrating on the rhythm of the bad going in and out helped me control my breathing. I have no idea when I eventually got to sleep. Poor Alex was up most the night and when he finally slept it was on the floor because he didn't want to leave me. He is one amazing person!
      Needless to say, I am ok. I feel so stupid for it being something as simple as worry. Thinking about it, I should be able to calm myself down and work through these problems, but I just get sick thinking about it, I can't control it. Alex and I are going to work on a plan. A plan to stay healthy and stay in college. This I think will just take time and effort. It was one long night and it will be quite a journey to find answers to make me better. I will get through this, I will find the answers, and I will not let these things, or my illness run my life. Thanks for reading and your support.

Charts and Things

     Alex and I have ventured back to Norman. We faced a blizzard to get here! It was in the 70's on Friday and Saturday we woke up to 3 inches of snow and it snowed most of the day. Today the snow is melting, and tomorrow it's suppose to be back in the 60's. Oh, Oklahoma weather.
     School is tomorrow, I don't feel like I'm quite ready to go back, but I don't have a time machine so we'll see. I've decided to try to focus more on my health. I know I say it daily it seems like, but I am trying to find ways to make me the optimum patient. One idea I've found is I'm starting a "journal". I am going to make a form of a chart with categories nausea, pain, and fatigue. Each morning and night I will rate each one of these on a scale of 1 to 10 (like they use in the hospital, 1=  fine to 10= take me to the ER now.) My mother used this scale on me when I was little. I have a heart condition, SVT, supraventriculartacticardia. I learned that word when I was 7. I've always been a special kid when it came to health. Basically my heart would hurt, and my heart rate could easily shoot over 200 beats per minute. I think this chart with a familiar scale will help my doctors quickly see what I've been experiencing. I will see what I can make up, and maybe I'll post it later. I hope this has helped you come up with something that can help you express your aches and pains easier, ultimately getting you better care!

1 to 2 Rule

      Today was yet another family day. I've been going since 9 this morning and just got home. We all loaded up in two cars and headed two hours north to visit my great uncle. He's been sick lately so we all got together. I was with my nephew most the day again today. I love his laugh, and sadly enough his ornery smile. I know it's years away but my mother instincts are screaming at me! He was playing with their new puppy. They would run and they would chase each other. On the way home we stopped by a small town that has been bought out and evacuated due to lead poisoning. There is a lot of abandoned houses and buildings so we looked through some. My sister is a photographer and she wanted to take some pictures. She's the artist behind my photos. She could make a rock look gorgeous. (sales bit- photographybykelci.com, she's amazing and you can find her on facebook, photographybykelci.) On the way home we listened to a very tired baby try to fight of sleep. Before today I was still a little sore from Tuesday. I plan on resting the rest of this spring break! I'm home, I'm going to eat, then slip into my PJ's and lay in bed. I might watch a movie, then I'm out for the night. I need to rest up! This was suppose to be a break. We leave back for Norman tomorrow, and it is all too soon. I could use another week of spring break. I think my mom summed it up the best.
One day of play, two+ day's to recover.

Imelda

     Yesterday was a girls day. I went with my mother, aunt, and sister, oh and we dragged the two year old nephew too, shopping out of town. We squeezed in my tiny car and headed south almost an hour in hopes of a better selection of shoes and food. (If you don't know me, they call me Imelda. I. Love. Shoes.) We spent the majority of the day walking around shopping our money away and eating to our hearts content.  About half way through my mother and I both started to slow down, she has Lupus as well as Fibro, be we hung in there till the end. Chasing after a two year old was the joy of my day. He is the cutest thing. He loves girls already. Every time he saw one he'd ignore everyone and just stare. I'd ask if he thought they were pretty. He would quickly respond "uh-huh." Oh, it's so cute to see him finally talking. At Applebees I kept him entertained most of the time with me making faces and him trying to mimic them. Two year olds can't cross their eyes as easily. And when in doubt, I fed him Nana's M&M's. Chocolate fixes everything!
    Today? Oh, boy. I hurt. I can see my mom hide her grimaces, though she is way tougher than any human being alive and can take any amount of pain. We have matching limps, which might sound endearing, but it's not. The point of this blog though, is to tell you, it's worth it. Despite the pain, flares, and repercussions hearing him laugh, seeing him talk, being an aunt, getting some cute things, being a teenager, being a daughter, a sister, a fighter, it's all worth it. Despite how healthy and good you feel, it's nothing without a life. I'm not saying ignore your symptoms! You still need to pace. But at some point, when pacing means no social life, it is worth some aches and pains.
Yesterdays perks
1. A really cute teaching purse/briefcase
2. Three pairs of shoes, all teaching approved
3. Good food
4. Family time
5. Memories that will last me a life time, that overpower the feelings and memories of pain.