Category Archives: Health

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: October 6, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY October 6, 2015

Outside my window… sunny and brisk. We had two days of rain and it seems like fall-ish weather might be here. I’m giddy to not have temps in the 90’s in October.

I am thinking… about some things going on in my life.

I am thankful… for the neurology appointment yesterday where the neurologist handed me a prescription for Adderall for Daniel. I’d been hedging on medicating him to calm him down but he doesn’t have an off-switch and he’s getting a little too big to be bouncing off walls and out of control. Now to figure out how to get him to take it…

In the kitchen… making pesto quinoa again tonight.

I am wearing… burgundy long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

I am going… to San Jose for the weekend with Daniel. He has a long weekend and I thought it might be nice to go see my parents and have a coffee/church date with Rebecca, Daniel’s godmother.

I am wondering… what I’ll do with Daniel for the next two afternoons. Wednesday is a compact day as usual (he gets out at 12:25) but Thursday is also one which means I have to keep him occupied for an entire afternoon. IKEA may be involved.

I am reading… Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. If you deal with depression, anxiety, or self-injury in any form, you need to read the book. The off-the-wall stuff she does during her lucid moments is funny but she also writes some pretty accurate stuff on her normal life.

I am hoping… to get to work out in some form every day this week even if it’s just a walk with Daniel or kicking soccer balls at the park.

I am looking forward to… seeing my parents.

I am hearing… the washer, dryer, and various tools outside.

A Daniel story for today… Little boy was so tired when he climbed onto my bed at 11 p.m. on Saturday that he had forgotten his blankie. (This kid is Linus when it comes to blankies.) I went to his room, retrieved his mommy blankie and his Dodgers fleece (my mother-in-law’s creation — he also has a Giants fleece from me) and made him a little boy nest on Jon’s side of the bed because Jon wasn’t going to be home until super late and I figured Jon would probably do better in Daniel’s bed.

Around the house… machines doing, mother-in-law cooking, cat on the table. (My in-laws’ cats have very bad table manners.)

A favorite quote for today… “When depression sufferers fight, recover, and go into remission we seldom even know, simply because so many suffer in the dark … ashamed to admit something they see as a personal weakness … afraid that people will worry, and more afraid that they won’t. We find ourselves unable to do anything but cling to the couch and force ourselves to breathe.” — Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy

One of my favorite things… sleep. I’m not getting enough right now.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study tomorrow, date night and choir tomorrow, soccer practice with my kiddo on Thursday, and driving up to San Jose on Friday.

A peek into my day… A meme I sometimes feel like posting…

Apology to the tree.

Post Script…

We took Daniel to a pediatric neurologist yesterday to talk about ADHD meds for him. I think within 30 seconds of being in the room with him, the neurologist had made up his mind to prescribe them. 🙂 Anyway, I was handing him all of the neurology notes that were present in Daniel’s Medical Binder of Fun and he stopped in the middle of reading the genetic testing report from 4 1/2 years ago and looked at me. Apparently, there was one paragraph in there that contained information about genetic mutations on several chromosomes that are frequently found in kids with autism and developmental delays. In other words, kiddo was born this way and this is not the result of the MMR vaccine or aliens messing with his brain waves, or any of the other crackpot theories out there. So please, for the love of God, STOP BELIEVING MORONS LIKE JENNY McCARTHY WHO HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND OR OTHER PSEUDOSCIENTISTS!!!!

I would be willing to wager serious money that if you did genetic testing on all of the kids who “suddenly” had autism around the time of their first MMR vaccine, you would find similar results.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: 31 Days of Writing, the Pope Meeting with Kim Davis, and Cat Piles

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

31 Days of Writing. Because I obviously have nothing better to do with my life, I’m taking part in 31 Days of Writing. I happened to see the button on Bobbi’s blog and spontaneously decided to go for it. My topic: a month of gluten-free life. Keep checking the sticky post at the top of this blog every day this month for my ruminations on my experiment of giving up gluten.

— 2 —

It’s about freaking time! Fibromyalgia is now recognized as a legit diagnosis in ICD-10 codes for healthcare billing. It’s so nice that the medical community finally realizes that I’m not making all of this up and have a legit reason for how crappy I feel much of the time.

— 3 —

Why I do not stand with Planned Parenthood. 10 years ago, I would have been horrified that people were trying to defund Planned Parenthood. Now, I say, “do it.” Why is this? I wholeheartedly believe that if government funding was cut, Planned Parenthood could survive. All those services they claim to do that aren’t abortions are ones the community health clinics provide… for free. No Planned Parenthood site owns a mammogram machine so the claim that they do breast cancer screenings is pretty much shot there.

The largest reason that I fail to stand with Planned Parenthood is that I believe abortion is murder, pure and simple. I have friends who have had them and every one of them (and I’m talking a very diverse group of women that covers multiple ethnic groups and religions) regrets it. I’ve had people tell me that they believe in abortion in the event that the mother’s life is at risk and as someone who was in that situation 6 1/2 years ago, I want to smack those people upside the head. If the mother’s life is at risk, they do an emergency c-section to deliver the baby but they don’t intentionally kill it in the process. If it’s below 24 weeks gestation, it will probably live for only a few minutes but they still give the kid a chance at life.

One thing that causes me chills is the fact that when blood tests came back elevated for Down Syndrome, everyone jumped into action to get me a 3-D ultrasound as fast as possible so that they could do amnio and abort because, OMG, why should I be saddled with a kid with Down Syndrome? I made it very clear that I was in favor of the ultrasound but that I’d be keeping Daniel regardless of what they saw. Obviously, he doesn’t have Down Syndrome but he’s got a bunch of other things and I know there are people out there who would comment on how it’s too bad that I couldn’t abort him. Those people simultaneously enrage me and make me sad. It is insanely hard to have a kid with special needs like Daniel and yes, it has meant the death of some of the plans I’ve had for my life. Guess what? Those plans needed to die because my life is a far better place with Daniel in it.

— 4 —

Pope Francis and Kim Davis. The Vatican is not denying that the Pope met with Kim Davis while he was in the States last week and I’m thinking that someone brought her to DC, Washington, or Philly because he sure as heck did not go to some podunk place in Kentucky. I highly doubt he knew who she was and while he told her to keep on keeping on, I’m pretty sure it was because he was told on the spot about her “conscientious objecting” and it being a matter of “religious freedom”. (Both claims are loads of bull feces but none of it surprises me.) I find this piece from America Magazine as a good source for interpreting this alleged event.

And for the morons who are making this into the Pope supporting Kim Davis and going off about how this legitimizes her case, I have this to say to you:

Just stop talking.

— 5 —

More on Kim Davis. Someone told me that the Family Research Council gave her an award. Here’s the story. My thoughts on the matter: people do realize that this is the group that employed child molester and adulterer Josh Duggar as their spokesperson, right? I kind of doubt their qualifications to make decent judgements.

— 6 —

Why has nobody bought this for me?!?!?!?!? This game is like Jenga but has you stacking wooden cats instead of blocks. I think I seriously need this.

— 7 —

Because Simcha. Here’s another fabulous piece from Simcha Fisher on how your family is not your brand. Perfect people with perfect families are utterly boring. In fact, people documenting their perfect family meals and perfect family celebrations kind of make me suspect that the blogger is hiding something. I understand the need to put one’s best self forward (and there are a number of punches I pull on this blog) but people who try to make themselves look like “mother of the year” are people whose blogs I’m liable to skip over in the small amount of time I have to read blogs every day.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

31 Days of Gluten-Free Life: Smoothie Queen

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31 Days of Gluten-Free Life

So I actually started this whole experiment a few days early so I could ease into it and have some very basic meal planning done before I started everything in full today. I checked out some foods that I knew would probably be OK and I’ve also been looking at the guide I got on the subject from Prevention Magazine. One of the things that I’ve worked on leading up to today is breakfast. I’m allergic to eggs so a Denver omelet is out, not to mention all the peppers would irritate my stomach more than it already is. Then I realized that there was an easy choice: a smoothie.

Last week, I got some frozen smoothie mix from Target that had strawberries, bananas, and a dried yogurt packet in it. I was pretty happy with those results so I started experimenting on my own. After a few trials and errors as well as my mother-in-law pointing out that the blender has a smoothie setting, I found something that works for the most part. I use:

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup coconut-flavored Greek yogurt (I used Chobani.)
a handful of spinach
a handful or two of frozen fruit.

Layer it in the blender with the milk at the bottom, then the Greek yogurt, then the spinach, then the fruit. Blend until all is liquid. It makes a little more than a glass but I have no problem drinking the excess as well!

Kendra of Catholic All Year has a universal smoothie recipe that works, especially when making them for a family.

31 Days of Gluten-Free Life: Landing Page

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31 Days of Gluten-Free

As usual, I tend to find out about things like Write 31 Days at the last minute and hop on the bandwagon, adding yet another thing to my nightly to-do list for that time between when I get Daniel to sleep and when I can finally go to bed. This time, however, I had a topic around which I could build it, so this monthly challenge actually *benefits* me.

For those not in the know, I have IBS and have had ulcers in the past. In late July, I started getting really sharp stomach pain and we thought that it might be another ulcer. Add on my diminished appetite and the increasing number of foods that just make me feel nauseated and we had a distinct possibility. Well… after nasty and invasive tests (endoscopy/colonoscopy), we learned that my digestive tract is fine with no ulcers and I’ve tested negative for celiac disease both in my bloodwork and in the biopsy. So what exactly is going on? After doing extensive research (also known as “Ask Facebook”), I decided to try going gluten-free for a month to see if it made any difference with my stomach. The whole 31 Days of Writing thing came along at the right time because now I have an excuse to be whiny and let people know how this is all going for me! Aren’t you lucky people? 😉

I’ll put a link to each day’s post on this page so please check back for new content. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy my musings!

Day 01: Smoothie Queen
Day 02: Pesto Quinoa
Day 03: It’s My Blog and I’ll Whine If I Want To
Day 04: Rice Pasta with Cheddar
Day 05: Coffee Klatch
Day 06: Snacking
Day 07: Eating Out
Day 08: On the Road
Day 09: Verdict on Road Food
Day 10: Uff Da!
Day 11: Craving Bread
Day 12: Attempting to Make Smart Decisions
Day 13: In Back of the Bread
Day 14: “Company Food” I Need to Learn to Make
Day 15: Interesting Find
Day 16: Reflecting (and Whining) At the Halfway Point
Day 17: Tetelestai

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 27, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 27, 2015

Outside my window… dusk. It was in the 90’s today. I’m looking forward to seeing the blood moon tonight.

I am thinking… about what needs to happen this week.

I am thankful… that the first time I’ve lectored in 5+ years went well. (The ELCA church I attended in West Covina didn’t put me on their rotation in 2010 and Jon’s last parish also never did, probably because of it involving Daniel running loose or the ushers having to deal with him.) I got a lot of compliments on it, which is totally *NOT* the point of doing it but still was nice.

In the kitchen… gluten-free mac n’ cheese for me and a smoothie as dessert. I need to pick up some more spinach tomorrow for them as I have a feeling I’ll be having a lot of them in October.

I am wearing… dark blue-green shirt (yay Old Navy fitted tees!) and black capris.

I am going… to be reading the transcript of the Pope’s speech at the World Meeting of Families when I’m done with this. I’ve been reading transcripts of all the Pope’s addresses this week because I don’t have a TV and I can’t be online most of the time that Daniel is home.

I am wondering… about what the *REAL* reason is for John Boehner resigning. I’ve heard everything from the Pope’s address of Congress being a Nunc Dimittus call for him to him trying to end on a high note because his position as Speaker of the House is in jeopardy. Maybe a combination of both?

I am reading… Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. I finished Post Traumatic Church Syndrome by Reba Riley and really enjoyed it. It ended up being the deciding factor in me spending October gluten-free.

I am hoping… to get a call back about my biopsy results from the endoscopy/colonoscopy this week.

I am looking forward to… the weather cooling down. I hate heat and am so completely *OVER* temps in the 90’s. It’s freaking autumn already!

I am hearing… whatever my father-in-law is watching through our two bedroom doors.

A Daniel story for today… the little monster kept stealing my sun hat and trying to wear it with his soccer uniform yesterday.

Around the house… my mother-in-law is cleaning the kitchen and making biscuits while I put Daniel to bed.

A favorite quote for today… “When I went on my first antidepressant it had the side effect of making me fixated on suicide (which is sort of the opposite of what you want). It’s a rare side effect so I switched to something else that did work. Lots of concerned friends and family felt that the first medication failure was a clear sign that drugs were not the answer; if they were I would have been fixed. Clearly I wasn’t as sick as I said I was if the medication didn’t work for me. And that sort of makes sense, because when you have cancer the doctor gives you the best medicine and if it doesn’t shrink the tumor immediately then it’s a pretty clear sign that you were just faking it for attention. I mean, cancer is a serious, often fatal disease we’ve spent billions of dollars studying and treating so obviously a patient would never have to try multiple drugs, surgeries, treatments, etc., to find what will work specifically for them. And once the cancer sufferer is in remission they’re set for life because once they’ve learned how not to have cancer they should be good. And if they let themselves get cancer again they can just do whatever they did last time. Once you find the right cancer medication you’re pretty much immune from that disease forever. And if you get it again it’s probably just a reaction to too much gluten or not praying correctly. Right?” — Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy

I love this particular quote so much because it *VERY* accurately illustrates the crappy logic people like me get from people who think that we can just magically snap out of our depression by focusing on the happy things in our lives. (For those new to this blog, I live with both depression and an anxiety disorder. I’m also a recovering self-injurer.) As Jenny has blogged many times, “depression lies” and no number of thoughts of happy things in our lives can move us past the sheer gloom and pain we feel. The cancer analogy is pretty close to home for me because I live with my father-in-law who is fighting cancer.

One of my favorite things… air-conditioning. I couldn’t survive down here without it.

A few plans for the rest of the week: walks, core work, probably some weights to make me LBD-ready for the fall fundraiser at church, Bible study on Wednesday, PT on Thursday, soccer practice for Daniel on Thursday, date night at some point, and Daniel’s soccer game on Saturday.

A peek into my day… The kiddo and I on Saturday.

Daniel and I at half-time on Saturday.

Post Script…

To the morons obsessing over various iotas of the Pope’s visit:

You do realize that flipping out over him not outright mentioning abortion in various speeches or having conniptions over Mo Rocca lectoring at Madison Square Gardens or any of the other crises I’m hearing about makes you look like fruitcakes, right? Nobody in my world believes that the Pope failing to mention the word “abortion” means that the prohibition against it has been dropped from Catholic social teaching. As for the Mo Rocca thing, you’re in a pretty select group of people if you know what I’m even talking about and can cite chapter and verse of Scrpture and the Catechism as to why this is a BFD.

If you want to evangelize the world, try being people who who show love instead of people who make me want to run screaming away from the banks of the Tiber where I’m sitting.

Snuggles,
Jen

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: Gluten-Free, Soccer Moms, and Morons Taking Selfies

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Soccer mom. Daniel had his first VIP soccer practice with AYSO tonight. We only made it through about 35 minutes until he melted down and wanted to be “all done” but hey… it’s a start. Since I’m now officially a soccer mom, I’ll be starting a GoFundMe to pay off my current car and buy a minivan. Any recommendations? [/sarcasm]

— 2 —

Gluten-free take #1. My doctor hasn’t gotten back to me with my biopsy results yet from last week but I’m planning to go completely gluten-free in October to see if it helps me at all. A complicating factor is that I’m allergic to eggs and that limits what I can eat even more, which is the reason I haven’t tried going gluten-free before now. (There’s also the “my-bloodwork-did-not-show-celiac-disease-and-I-do-not-do-fad-diets” thing but that would be snarky.) If you are gluten-free and have any recipe suggestions or possible substitutions, leave them to me in the comments.

— 3 —

Gluten-free take #2. I grabbed some “rice pasta and cheese” from Trader Joe’s to see if it was any good… and it was fabulous! It tastes like the cheap $1 mac n’ cheese from Kraft that contains all the yellow dyes banned outside the USA but without the evil dyes or the gluten. Yay!

— 4 —

Fibro flare. I’ve been dealing with a fibro flare since Sunday and this has meant that I’ve been spending mornings sleeping because I’m fighting insomnia at night. It’s impeding my ability to get things done so I’d appreciate prayers that it goes the duck away. Please and thank you!

— 5 —

Because we *TOTALLY* need more cat memes! This is one of the better Kim Davis memes I’ve seen recently:

Schrodinger's cat meets Kim Davis

— 6 —

I shouldn’t laugh but… I read an article today which claims that more people have died from selfies this year than from shark attacks. I am totally unsurprised that there are people stupid enough to take selfies while running with the bulls and doing other dangerous things that require one’s full attention. This one, however, takes the cake. (I’m guessing he’s probably at Loma Linda University Medical Center given where he’s from and the fact that “Venom ER” doctor Sean Bush is there.)

— 7 —

Prerequisite baseball take. Jon had the time of his life at the Dodgers game last week while my experience was kind of “meh”. We were pretty high up so the players on the field were like little action figures and I felt pretty disconnected from everything that was going on. (The other downside: the Dodgers won.) The bus ride to and from the church was an experience in claustrophobia for me and that probably didn’t help.

Anyway, it’s pretty likely that the Dodgers are going to take the division unless the Giants can pull a serious miracle. (The magic number is “4” so the Dodgers have to win 4 or the Giants lose 4 and it’s close to the end of the season.)

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 20, 2015

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 20, 2015

Outside my window… dark and down to 87F right now from a high of 102F earlier. I hate southern California heat!

I am thinking… about my plans to go gluten-free for a month once I can get some meal plans together. I’ve been resisting it because all of my bloodwork has come back showing that I do not have celiac disease and that I am not gluten-intolerant; but it’s the one thing I haven’t cut out of my diet so I’m willing to try it. (I’m also not one to jump on the fad diet train so I have very intentionally not pursued it until now.)

I am thankful… that Daniel heads back to school tomorrow. 100F temperatures mean we’re stuck inside and he was acting out because he was booooooooooored!

In the kitchen… ramen and roast beef. A throw-together thing.

I am wearing… charcoal v-neck and navy/white striped pj bottoms.

I am going… to do some Core tomorrow morning. Everything last week has thrown me off of my routine.

I am wondering… how to explain my position regarding Planned Parenthood to my friends on both sides of the issue because OMG TEH DRAMA!!!!!!

I am reading… I finished The Alpine Xanadu by Mary Daheim and have shelved The Complete Father Brown Mysteries by Chesterton in favor of Post Traumatic Church Syndrome by Reba Riley which was loaned to me by a woman in my Bible Study who has emotional scars from her Conservative Baptist upbringing.

I am hoping… the weather cools down significantly soon and that we get all of the forcasted rain — California needs it BADLY!

I am looking forward to… Bible study on Wednesday morning and choir practice on Wednesday night.

I am hearing… the A/C.

A Daniel story for today… he went to church this morning wearing his “Grandpa Jim” hat which is a copy of a hat that he tried to “appropriate” from my dad when we were in San Jose last month.

Daniel with his Grandpa Jim hat

Around the house… quiet. Loving it.

A favorite quote for today… This is a long one:

As I heard Bernie Sanders crying out to the religious leaders at Liberty University, in his hoarse voice, with his wild hair – this Jew – and he proclaimed justice over us, he called us to account, for being complicit with those who are wealthy and those who are powerful, and for abandoning the poor, the least of these, who Jesus said he had come to bring good news to. And in that moment something occurred to me. As I saw Bernie Sanders up there, as I watched him, I realized Bernie Sanders for president is good news for the poor. Bernie Sanders for president is Good News for the poor. Bernie Sanders is gospel for the poor. And Jesus said “I have come to bring gospel” – good news – “to the poor.”

And lightning hit my heart at that moment. And I realized that we are evangelical Christians. We believe the Bible. We believe in Jesus. We absolutely shun those who would attempt to find nuance and twisted and tortured interpretations of scripture that they would use to master all other broader interpretations, to find some kind of big message that they want to flout. We absolutely scorn such things, and yet somehow we commit to the mental gymnastics necessary that allows us to abandon the least of these, to abandon the poor, to abandon the immigrants, to abandon those who are in prison.

I listened to Bernie Sanders as he said he wanted to welcome the immigrants and give them dignity, as he said he wanted to care for the sick children and mothers and fathers who do not have health care, as he said he wanted to decrease the amount of human beings who are corralled like cattle in the prisons, as he said he wanted to do justice for those who have nothing and live homeless. And I remembered the words of Jesus who warned his disciples that there will be judgement, and on that day he will look to his friends, and he will say “Blessed are you for you cared for me, for I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was in prison and you came to visit me, I was homeless and you gave me shelter.” And his disciples said, “When did we do any of those things for you?” And he said, “If you have done it for the least of these, you have done it for me.”

Those words echoed in my heart as I listened to that crazy, hoarse-voiced, wild-haired Jew standing in front of the religous leaders of the Evangelical Movement, calling us to account, as a Jew once did before, telling us that he intends to care for the least of these, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to care for the sick, to set the prisoners free.
— An evangelical pastor responding to Bernie Sanders’ speech at Liberty University

One of my favorite things… praying Compline at night.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study on Wednesday, helping to count money for the Pride Stride at Daniel’s school on Thursday morning, and maybe helping to fold bulletins on Friday.

A peek into my day… André Rieu conducting the Johann Strauss Orchestra playing “I Will Follow Him”. I love watching him play and conduct because his face is so expressive and you can tell that he loves what he is doing.

Hosted by The Simple Woman.