Snapshots

It's a snow day! We rarely have them here...we get plenty of snow but hardly any cancellations. Snowfall is expected to continue all day long. Dan's working from home, Carson's still sleeping in, and I don't have any more appointments until next week but I do work tomorrow. It's nice to spend a day at home. We all need it. There’s a Christmas party tonight for Dan’s work, and it includes spouses.

Yesterday I drove to the hospital early in the morning in an ice storm. I'm becoming a regular there, and I'm visiting parts of the hospital I've never seen before. This time it was for a pulmonary function test (asthma) that left me exhausted and gave me a hoarse voice and sore throat. I came home and slept.

I'm still doing all the uncomfortable things for my health, and I passed two other procedures this week. One long term issue has resolved itself, yay, so I don't need that surgery either. There’s a different surgery I might still choose for other related issues. It's not been my favorite week of grueling procedures and tests, but I'm getting more answers.

I've been so preoccupied with doctor and hospital appointments, travel to Hawaii, working in the middle school library here and there, a baby shower for a friend, a ward Christmas party (I did nothing but attend this year, so nice), putting together 65 Christmas gifts for the ladies at church, and watching an indoor soccer game. Now Christmas is sneaking up on me. I finally got around to decorating last night. I still need to shop for gifts and figure all that out fast.

I bought a crossword puzzle book in the airport on the way to Hawaii, and we've been working our way through it ever since. So what if it’s the easy version? It’s still challenging enough.

Every morning since August, I've eaten the same breakfast. I really like it. One package of these plain steel cut oats with a little honey and milk added after it's cooked, and a small bowl of this plain yogurt with lots and lots of blueberries added in.

I've slowly switched to better products over the past few years. I've been buying this Raw Sugar hand soap for a while in the coconut mango scent, but now I can actually smell it and it's so good! There's a whole world of smells and tastes I'm discovering. I don't even have names for some of the simple, normal smells I've encountered because they're so foreign to me. I keep checking with the people around me to ask what I'm smelling.

Thanks to a lot of strong medicines, I feel completely healthy at the moment. I breathe well, no cough, no wheezing, no congestion, no allergy-like symptoms, I can smell and taste, no migraines, no GERD, no insomnia (I'm finally sleeping soundly every night!), no constant fatigue, no heavy fog of sickness and pain hanging over me, my head and thoughts feel clear, I'm hopeful and optimistic and happier, my stress feels minimal, my trials and burdens feel more manageable though I don’t like them, and my extra weight from this turbulent year of sickness and medicine is coming off as my body gets healthier.

I have quite an extensive routine of potions and medicines twice a day to control my sinus health and asthma. I’m lessening all triggers of inflammation the best I can. I’m waiting to hear if insurance will cover shots to fix me going forward so I can get out of the cycle of sickness and inflammation building and getting worse until only steroids will calm it again. Past necessary steroid use has already damaged my eyes with early, fast-growing cataracts, and I don’t want the next level of damage from further use.

Enough about me. This isn’t the “Just Writing About Me” blog. Our kids are all finishing their busy semesters with final exams and essays this week. They’ve had some hard classes. Some of our adult kids have even told me they plan to drop out and come live at home forever. This weekend we drive to the airport to pick everyone up. We’ll all be home for Christmas for the first time in 5 years. My heart is full, my health great at this moment. I’m looking forward to Christmas break together.