Doctors visit update

I went to my Rheumatologist today. I spent about 5 minutes praying in the van before I went in, I prayed for strength to say what needed to be said and for God to make Dr. W actually listen to me. Guess what?! God is Good! I went in and it was WAY less stressful than the last few visits. We chit-chatted about kids, Halloween, dogs, children's TV shows.....oh...and me. He said he can tell I'm hurting. My blood work shows it too, apparently my numbers are up that show inflammation. So we talked about some options and decided on the following changes. My methotrexate is being increased. I told him that I feel better on it than I do when I am off of it, but I still don't feel good. He agreed. And he is still hopeful that it WILL do great things for me. Next, we discussed Savella, which is the new Fibromyalgia drug. I seriously can't tell that I am even on it.....so I am coming off of it and going to try Cymbalta next. A few more things were discussed and changed (can't throw all my dirty laundry out here) and then I got a cortisone shot in both hips. YAY. No, I am not a glutton for punishment and NO I don't like needles. But these shots help the pain in my hips A LOT. Totally worth the big, giant needles that they use. (Sorry Amy, that was for you! LOL)

So that's my good news for today. I go back in 3 months. Lets hope the increase in meds and the change in other meds will help.

I have to say Thank you to God......he answered some serious prayers for me today.

OK, I'm off to watch Glenn Beck on my DVR. I highly recommend everyone else do the same. Because some VERY scary stuff is going on in our Country and we all need to know about it.

Goodnight!

Take Your Best Shot - Book Review

Buy		Read

I spent last night reading a new book. It is written by a teenager, for teenagers but it also has plenty of insight and inspiration for adults. The title is "Take your Best Shot" and it was written by Austin Gutwein along with Todd Hillard. The way that this young man uses his own life, experiences, and his faith to touch others is amazing. After watching a short program about African Orphans, he was led to help raise money. He took his love of Basketball and used it to raise that money. First to help a few orphans, then he recruited more and more people until eventually they were able to build a school in Africa. The program he created is called Hoops of Hope and each year on World AIDS day, Austin along with thousands of other participants shoot hoops after receiving pledges for donations. The need for teamwork is stressed and Austin constantly reinforces that he is just a "regular" kid who could only have achieved this success with a great team of helpers and most importantly with God. God put a burden on his heart, and God supplied everything he needed to accomplish great things. I think that anyone reading this book will be touched and will HAVE to think about how they can help others. Whether they help at home or across the world, it doesn't matter.

I do believe that many teens today think more about themselves and less about helping others. Hopefully with books like this one, more and more teens will realize that they CAN and Should get out there and help in every way possible. Adults, me included, tend to think that teens aren't able to do big things and we don't give them the opportunities they need. But Austin tells them to go ahead and do it anyway. Don't listen to the negative, be positive and do positive things. I think Austin was blessed with an awesome gift. No, I think he was blessed with several gifts. He has a strong faith, strong will, he is a great "cheer-leader" because he encourages everyone and makes them feel like they can accomplish great things.

Is there a teen in your life? This book would make a great Birthday or Christmas present. To preview or buy this book.....click HERE.

I want to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing me with this book to review. They have a great program for bloggers who love to read. If you are interested, click HERE.

Weekend update

I had a nice big blog to post. It was all about our camping trip this weekend and how much fun we had. There were going to be pictures of Amish buggies, Trains, and the Chocolate factory. But Hubby hasnt loaded the pictures yet and I tried and failed miserably. So I will just list a quick recap sans pictures.



We arrived Friday, in the rain. Setting up camp in the cold rain is no fun. Saturday was rainy too. This was bad and good. Bad because we couldnt go to the Corn Maze but good because we went to the Wilbur Chocolate Factory Museum instead. (WIN!!) They give samples and sell all the yummy chocolate you could ever want. Sunday we went to the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum and spent the day looking at real trains and playing with toy trains. Monday we did some shopping, went to lunch and headed home.



It was a great weekend. I seriously wish we could live in PA.



In other news.....I signed up to be a Scentsy consultant. Im very nervous about this because I am NOT the sales type and I am not pushy. But money is tight so I figured I would at least try. Anyone want to order some Scentsy products....please let me know.

Thursdays Nonsense

I wanted to spill the overload from my brain. Right now I have so much going on in there that I can not get anything accomplished. So maybe, just maybe if I dump the useless crap here, then I can move along with my day.
Thanks for tagging along on my little nonsense journey.....

-why does my laundry multiply when I am not looking? How can I be "almost caught up" and then have a mountain bigger than a small car staring back at me?

-Can you feed frozen waffles to you kid more than once a day? Does having Blueberry Waffles make them more "healthy"?

-Who gave my son the idea to "blow his nose" into NOTHING?!? Yeah, you read that right.....he just blew it.....and out it came, EVERYWHERE. ( Remember....I can handle anything EXCEPT Snot and loose teeth)

-How did I manage to NOT wreck the car when he did this? Thank you Jesus!

-Why is it that my family manages to always be the one in a million who's packages are lost by the post office? Seriously, this is twice in 3 months. What is going on over there??

-Has anyone started Christmas shopping yet? I am usually well on my way and I haven't even made a list yet. This alone can keep me up at night.

-C came for a visit last night. He doesn't do that very often now. No matter how much I beg or cry. Grumble, grumble.....teenagers and their busy lives. Ugh. (Love you C !!!)

-I have NO chocolate in the house. This is dangerous for everyone.

See, I told you it was all nonsense. But still....these thoughts were flying around in my head along with the real important stuff. Hopefully now I can get back to getting some things crossed off my To-do list. Hopefully!

Update....and making lemonade

I talked myself into fighting with the doctor today. I loaded the boys up in the van, drove 40 minutes and had a serious talk with myself, along with some prayers throw in too. I built up some fake courage and held my head high as I walked in the office. Only to be told that the doctor wasn't there. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? Then the receptionist told me that they "tried to contact me". Oh really? When? Get this! Back in September. NICE!

Anyway, I got a new appointment made for the 29th. Then I took the boys to the playground until Hubby finished work at 6. He was meeting us for dinner at a local restaurant. The boys were great. Dinner was great. So see, I took lemons and made lemonade.


P.S. Dear Cashier lady at the restaurant,
When someone mentions that they used to work there years ago. Asking them WHEN is OK. But then telling them "WOW....that WAS a LONG time ago" is NOT OK.

Maybe I should print this and take it with me

I have an appointment to see my Rheumatologist this afternoon. I don't want to go. Besides the normal "nobody likes going to the doctors" feeling, this is more. This is the dread of knowing that my doctor isn't always sympathetic to my situation. I don't even NEED sympathy. But EMPATHY would be awesome. Believe me. Trust me. Don't doubt what I tell you. Just because YOU think this "miracle" drug should be working miracles in my body.....does NOT mean it is. Yes, it is helping. But there are many degrees to helping. And your "miracle" treatment isn't very miraculous.
So I am dreading this visit. Because at the last visit he insisted that all I needed was more time on the treatment. Well, I gave it time. I swallow your little toxic pills. I do everything you tell me to do. But I am not where you said I would be.....Amazingly better. Nope. Not there.

So please, please listen to me. Listen to what Hubby told you. Let me go back on my old treatment. It worked better. In less time.

Sorry about whining....I just needed to vent a little....and try to work up the courage to NOT just give in and go "Uh huh" at whatever he says. Because I do revert back to a helpless 10 year old child around authority figures.

Winner!!!

Today is the day for me to pick a winner of the Sounds of Sleigh Bells Book. I went to Random.org and they gave me Number 1.
Amy said...
I love to read! I will read almost any genre. The Amish books are so good and easy to read! I hope I win!

So congrats Amy! You are going to LOVE this book!! Head over to Amy's blog and tell her Congrats!