Life and Times of Leish

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  That’s me screaming because I have hives and have had them for about six days now, they come and go; but when they are here they make me want to SCREAM, and sometimes cry.  They are the most annoying and sometimes almost painful things I have experienced in my life — this is the first time I’ve ever had them.  They pop up all over my body, itch, burn, and they are some annoying little break-outs.  I took a vacation day today…and I’m glad that I did, I have one of the worst breakouts since they started…and it’s lasting all morning.  Now to decide to go to a doctor somewhere or just wait it out…taking a  dose pack of steroids and some benadryl — nothing helping today.  GRRR!!!

I have three weeks of school left for this semester…w00t!!!  This semester has taken FOREVER in my opinion, but the fun is just beginning for me really…I have another five semesters — two whole years to go before I walk across the stage in my cute little white outfit.  I may be on xanex and all kinds of fun drugs before that; but hey, I’ll be able to relate to my patients. :)  Luckily I have a good A&P lab partner that will be going through it with me, he’ll keep me focused and on the right path and mindset.  It’s amazing who God puts in our lives at just the right time.

I started this post sometime ago (11/19/10), and never got around to finishing it.  I found out what caused the hives (or at least I’m about 100% sure I know); Vit B-12.  I was taking a B Complex Vit and ran out, so when I purchased more I did a B sublinguil (a liquid that you shoot right under your tongue) — that’s what did me in folks.  Apparently there are others that are allergic, or have hive reactions to the stuff in the vitamin.  I then changed to a pill form and had another break-out…so no more b-12 till I see my Doctor and see if I still need it and if I can get an injectable shot.

We just wrapped up our annual Christmas at Our House dinner theater at church.  Nine straight nights!!  It was good, but we’re all glad that it’s over.  Things will possibly be low key and easy for awhile.  I have finals this week in college, then a month off.  Looking forward to some vegetation time — doing absolutly nothing.

That wraps this post up for now…take care cyber world.  ERM.

Wow, 2010 is flying by fasting than I can say whipper-snapper!!  Things are good here.  Last night was one of the worst nights so far with my meds, add to that the storm and a storm alarm radio going off every fifteen minutes (starting at 3:00), add to that a stuffy room-cannot breath-body ache feeling and my morning was da’ BOMB!! LOL.  I left my second place of employment about two hours earlier than normal, came home dopped up on some Naproxen and Suddafed, took a long hot shower and went back to bed…needless to say I feel better now.  And NOW I need to be tackling my A&P because I have a lecture exam tonight and I haven’t even looked at one of the chapters yet…and I took the weekend off (except for some time on Sunday) and did ‘me’ time — which was very nice.  Of course the me time came after cleaning house, doing laundry, and re-potting plants…but hey, who’s keeping track.

Christmas at Our House tickets set a record sell-out.  It took right at five minutes, no I did not stutter…FIVE minutes to completely sell out of 310 tickets for nine nights straight.  Not only was that a record, but we currently have 715 people on a waiting list.  This is craziness!!  This year is going to be cool…the title of the play is “O Holy Knight”, and it’s going to be set in medieval time setting with clothes and all.  Cannot wait to see it all!!

We have just short of two months until Christmas.  I’m not sure if Santa Claus is going to make it to town or not.  I really hope that the weather cooperates and it’s actually cool at Christmas…lately we’ve been having 80 degree weather at the end of October, a little crazy.  Last night we finally got rain, w00t!!  It was so dry and everyone’s ponds were drying up, not good for livestock.  It was a steady rain that we were getting at 5:30, good soaking the ground instead of pounding so hard it just all rolls to the ditches.

I need to run…school work is calling my name, hopefully I can pass my test tonight.

Later..ERM.

October is already well on it’s way, and we’re already on our way to Christmas at Our House and other fall activities.  My life is a little crazy right now.  I went online the other day and did a ‘degree audit’ and realized that I was nine classes away from where I thought I was.  NINE CLASSES!!!  That means that I get to double up and take a ton of classes between now and when the program starts in August 2011.  So, I signed up for three classes for the winter session that starts in December.  That will get three of the classes and eight of the credits out of the way…I may be totally crazy by the end of the month, and have absolutely no LIFE for a month, but I will be closer to my goal — or where I thought I was before I did the career audit last week.  That means I have six classes left!!  GO ME!! :)

We had a crazy man come in the other day.  He was a little hyped from all the stuff he received from the ER…he was telling me what he needed/wanted and what exactly it was used for.  Education over the counter…that’s what I’m getting–OTC education.  I’ll know my medications for school that’s for sure. :-)

I turned down the opportunity to be in CAOH, a coveted opportunity for all who are in the church.  An opportunity to shine on stage and have everyone tell you what a great job you did.  The opportunity to have a part in the play, that you get to do to the best of your ability, and it’s YOU that do it…not someone else, you’re known for the job YOU did.  But I had to regretfully turn it down, it didn’t mesh with my school schedule very well, and it wasn’t right for me to take the part knowing that my classes would interfere with practices and then CAOH would interfere with my classes the week before finals.  It would be all around better deal since I declined.  They are having some pretty cool outfits this year too…oh well, I will have a degree someday. :)

Had the opportunity to meet up with a friend in Cape yesterday.  We spent the day eating, perusing junk/antique shops, and talking.  Found out that she could possibly have breast cancer…that’s not supposed to happen to us.  We’re to young.  She finds out for sure this coming Friday (10/15/10) if it’s benine or malignant and what process to go through to remove the cyst.  Life throws us crazy curve balls, sometimes we still get a hit and sometimes we get struck out for a bit and have to sit on the bench.  We just have to be willing to get up and bat again when it’s our turn.  I thought I had it bad being diagnosed with MS.  At least I know this disease, I know the outcomes, I can monitor it…granted it could be doing some crazy things to the inside of me without me feeling it right now…but I still know the outcomes and I can take medicine to help prevent it.  With cancer it’s just either-or.  You can’t make the decision to exercise to prolong the health, or to eat healthy, or to stay on meds that retard the process of the disease.  It has the say in what happens.  It’s unfair!!!

Today is 10/10/10.  How cool is that.  Of course this happened in October 10, 1910 too…but I wasn’t here to see that…and every year decade before that when the year was whole numbers that matched a month (1-12).  Celebrate the day!!  Next year we’ll celebrate 11/11/11. :)  Here’s to life, love, and the future!!!

ERM

If you read below you see that I balanced my checkbook the other day, well as is sometimes apt to happen the numbers in the register weren’t looking so well.  I had some bills that were due in order to keep my ‘agreements’ with the different businesses; so I knew that checks had to be sent.  Well, I have a balance in my head of what I ‘need’ in order to be out of debt with everyone (except for my house payment), and to be honest I’ve prayed for that amount to miraculously to show up in my mailbox or some random stranger to walk up and hand me a check.  On Wednesday of last week, my grandpa (not some random stranger) came up to me and handed me some money…was it the ‘balance’ that I’ve been praying for, no, but it was what I needed to be able to pay my bills that were due at that time and not overdraw my account.  God knows what we need, it may not be exactly what we ‘want’, but He will supply our ‘needs’ and keep us going.  He’s pretty awesome like that. :)

I started this post last Wednesday night…before church, and then I shut it down and headed off to worship because I was running late.  Tonight I needed to remind myself how good God is so I opened my computer and completed the story about what I ‘need’ and not what I wanted.  Why?  Because as I laid in bed and tried to sleep my mind was being attacked by thoughts of a situation that happened well over a year ago now, and memories were flooding in that were causing me to go down paths in my mind that are pretty detrimental to a persons psych.  God knew what I needed to happen then, just as He knew what I needed last week…He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves of that.

Today I was talking to a friend of mine, and she was talking about how she just found out that I have MS and was asking how I was doing and discussing the fact that satan is doing all that he can to come against us; and she mentioned that fact that I hadn’t had an opportunity to live my life yet.  I’m thirty-three years old.  I have a BA in Christian Education; I’ve traveled to three other continents; been to seven countries other than the US; and have traveled the US pretty extensively.  Am I married – no, do I have children – no (and I have no clue if I can even have children, or will be able to); but I think I have lived a pretty good life.  I have a great family, I am currently working on my second degree (going for nursing this time), and I have some life experiences that are both good and bad — I’ve had the opportunity to love, gain and lose friendships and love, and to go through with the knowledge that I am loved unconditionally by God and He gives me free will to make mistakes that I learn from (and sometimes that I think I need to learn from time and time again — which doesn’t make things easier)…and He extends his mercy and grace to me when I stumble and fall.  And if He never heals me, I know that He’s a healer because He’s done it in the past and He continues to heal people even today…but He’s still God and He LOVES me — regardless.

He knows what I NEED, even if it’s not what I want.  He’s good like that!

ERM

School started this week.  I am taking 8 credit hours, but only two classes.  I have a Computer Literacy class and Anatomy & Physiology.  I think A & P may kick my butt, I have to know all gazillion bones that are in my head by next Thursday, on top of reading two chapters, doing some exercises in my lab book, and working full time. :)  Life is great!!  It will be worth it when I’m done…I just won’t have a life until then.

This week at work was a little crazy…for the first two days of the week, I was acting as three people.  Myself, the girl that usually helps me, and the girl that was hired to do Oxygen.  One was on vacation and one as doing continuing education classes.  Then I was also playing cashier and working the front.  It was a very busy two days!!  I survived and was able to finally get to my own stuff on Wed, when the O2 girl came back.  On Wednesday I had to send two people to the ER…I was demonstrating how to operate Glucometers (blood sugar testers); and one guy tested at 491/499 and the next lady tested at 504…the average reading should be between 80-120, the highest 140 after eating.  Some people range around 200 if they are sever diabetic…but with readings this high are bad.

The lady was like…’yeah, I need to stop by blah, blah, blah’; I was like, um, no you need to go now and I will call and let them know you’re on your way.  She goes — ‘Wow, that’s service’.  But I let her drive herself…w/ 504 bs reading.  When I called the ER about 15 min later and asked if she had made it, when the answer was no the nurse on the line freaked a little when I told her what was going on.  Needless to say, I got to go to the post office by way of the alley and ER parking lot verifying that our customer had made it.  Needless to say we need to make a POA of what to do when things like this happen!! :)

I went to the bank today.  When I was leaving I saw a car at the stop sign where the driver had their door open and their foot out ‘walking’ their car through the intersection.  I thought first of the Flintstones, then I felt bad that the person’s care was only half working and he had to walk it through the intersection.  By the time I got to the intersection he had walked the car out of the way.

I went to the dr with my friend today, she was scheduled for an ultrasound (or sonogram); and I got to see the baby.  He was looking right at us when the wand was placed on her belly.  Then I got to see the heart beat…all the separate chambers could be seen, and it was pumping away.  VERY COOL!!

Today was very full (clean house, , and I’m ready for bed.  Work tomorrow.

Take care cyberworld!!  ERM

The month of July was very full for me.  I did a semester worth of Human Development in four weeks, came away with an A…so I guess it was worth it.  My great grandmother passed away on July 12, at the age of 97.  In other aspects of my life it feels like there were two steps forward and on step backward.  Sometimes I feel like I have no friends…if it weren’t for my cousin who feels sorry for me I wouldn’t be invited anywhere…she was gone for two weeks, life was boring.  There’s a young girl in our church who barely graduated from high school, had her life mapped out for college in STL she’s now staying home for a guy — who may be tired of her in a month or so, yet her life has forever altered because of this one decision.  Love is a crazy thing…you cannot help your heart loves, and sometimes it overlooks many things about people that should be glaring warning signals…but it’s love. :)

Tribute to Eva Maria Gentry (12/23/12-7/12/10).

She was an awesome lady, she headed a family of seventy-seven members (and growing).  When we were little her gum of choice was juicy fruit, she would give it to us in church with the promise that we wouldn’t ‘chomp’ it.  She made ‘red-hot’ pears, the best breakfast ever, and would sit and just chat.  The most important thing is that I know she prayed for me, every day.  I am in the process of going to school to be a nurse, in one of the last opportunities I had to talk with her I mentioned school and she asked what I was going for.  When I told her I was going to be a nurse, or was trying, she just looked up at me with that calm look and said “You’ll do good”.  It’s kinda weird that she’s no longer with us…she’s just always ‘been’.  We knew that Granny was there, but I know that she is better now and she has obtained the reward she looked for daily.  She went home to be with her maker and redeemer.  R.I.P. Granny…love you!!

Human Development.  WOW!!  Four weeks of intense reading and studying and I pulled an A out of the class.  Then a friend who took it at the same time tells me that she only read chapter one and she made a B in the class.  I felt like kicking her in the shins.  I put a lot of time into that class, and she took the test and quizzes and made a B without opening the book.  Makes me want to say GRRR!!!  Oh well…it’s over and I know a lot about development.  We’re born, we grow, and we die — see my money was well spent. :)

Sometimes I wonder if I really have friends or not.  I had a friend once, and I found out that sometimes friends aren’t what they are cracked up to be.  So therefore I put walls up around myself and question everyone’s motive, what they say, my own motives and how I react.   I know that I shouldn’t let things affect me, and I should be able to move on and open up and just ‘be’.  Way harder than what you would think.  Done with that spill…now to move on :)

A friend of mine came down a couple of weekends ago (the weekend after my grandmother passed away) and we traveled around SE Missouri and Northern Arkansas just chatting and taking pics of barber shops.  It was a nice way to spend the day.  We went into this little history museum in Pocahontas and there was a Dalton Calculator there, what was cool about this is that a week before I received an email from an aunt of mine that explained that our family was part of the group that a) was members of the Dalton Gang — the notorious bank/train robbers and b) that created the Dalton calculator.  I was like, cool beans…this is what I was telling you about (I had just shared the story with him while we were driving south).

About the girl who is putting her life on hold for a guy.  My train of thought may be the reason why I’m still single…but I pretty much think that she’s an igit.  Yes, you read that correctly an IGIT…otherwise known as an idiot.  Anyone that would put their lives on hold for a guy or girl are crazy.  Who’s to say that they are going to be together two months down the road.  There is a considerable age gap between them…and they may be madly in love; but what’s to say that if the something happens to the guy next month and he’s no longer around this girl’s life is totally altered and she’s not going to have anything to fall back on.  She’s not going to have an experience outside of this little world that we live in.  I cannot understand their thinking process.  Again…that may be why I’m still single; but I would rather be single and have seen the world and have an education.

I start back to school in about two weeks.  I’m going to have to start collecting cans.  Between all my doctor bills, tuition, school books, and house bills…I’m starting to see a very dark hole called debt.  I really need to get some student loans going.  I was going to try and stay away from them until I actually went into the program, but I may need some money next semester…if not this semester.  It will all work out, just have to keep believing that.  My MS has been acting kinda crazy this week.  My legs are feeling a little funky and one night this week I had the sever flu like symptoms that go along with the Rebif.  I exercised three times this week and I’m starting some exercises off of Spark People, I want to try and keep as much muscle tone and stuff as possible…I may not make it to be a nurse, but with the help of God things will work out.  I will just have to get my Masters and teach about it instead of actually working in the field…though I still crave to work with the Red Cross.

Well…this about wraps it up for me.  I’m staying at my grandmother’s the past two weeks since Seneatha has been out of town.  Time to head south.  Here’s to the month of July <clink, clink> and to the month of August that we are staring in the face!!

ERM

Yeah, I currently have laundry to fold but who wants to do that when I can sit and type for awhile and ignore the laundry while I watch Sabrina and catch up with you (the reader). :)

This past weekend we did a “Girls Night Out” with the 8-12 year olds at our church…it was crazy fun.  We rented some rooms at a motel, let them swim, do manicures/pedicures, facials, eat pizza, pillow fights, and stay up as long as they want.  Which means I went to bed around 11:30 — it was a long day which started at 5:30 am.  The girls I think ended up going out around 12:30 or so.  It was a lot of fun!!

I came home and met a nurse lady from St. Louis that did an hour and 1/2 session on how to give myself a shot.  I thought I was going to go CRAZY!!  It’s a basic self injecting mechanism that you place on your skin, push a button, and wow the shots over.  Then she went into a round of stories of ‘in case’ scenarios…just ‘in case’ I forgot to remove the cap.  It was almost as if I was a two year old — though she had just said that I could have a three year old do it if I was to break both my arms; it took her another 45 minutes to show me how to do it.  Finally she left; and had to walk away because apparently she had someone drive her down and drop her off…hopefully she caught the right ride. :)

I have an aunt country…not just a colony…a whole country living in my door frame.  I came home Sat to a pile of my door frame sitting in my kitchen floor with ants everywhere.  I pulled out the Torro, and they went WILD!!  So the exterminator is coming this week…and I get to replace the door jam.  The joys of being a homeowner.  But luckily I have a Dad who can help me out with that. :)

Sunday dawned bright, sunny, and hot.  Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there.  We went to church, celebrated the Super Dads!!  We honored the Father of Faith (Bro. Bob Adams) and the father who had the most family members there (Bo Barlow); he had 19 members there.  It was a great service.

Relaxed the rest of the day…and here we are…after watching ‘Old Dogs’ and laughing my head off — good movie — I’m ignoring my laundry and catching you up on my life.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day…week…month.  Life is good right now…though somewhat complicated because of ‘self’.  Following are some links I read off the Drudge Report today:

Obama Praises Two Father Families

The World sees Obama as incompetent

It’s scary where our country is going, hopefully we’re ready when it reaches the end.

ERM

So much has happened since my last entry, you would think that I lived a million lives, but it’s been like a month or so.  First off, I’m out of school for a month…w00t!!  I ended up making straight A’s, which I was happy about, I apparently ended up figuring out how to be sociable and I pulled an A out of that class.  Of course it took sequestering myself into a lot of study time, alone and without interruptions or distractions…but hey, the point is that I pulled it off.  I signed up for another online course in July then A & P and Computer Literacy in the fall; as we trudge along toward our goal.  I was going to go through the summer and start the program this fall, but ‘life’ happened and things are not totally on hold but have been put into first gear and we’re going a little slower.  But it’s still happening and that’s what matters!!

I went to St. Louis on May 11-12.  I went up for a doctors appointment, and was able to hit the town with my friend Ethan; we went to the Cafe Ventana (awesome), the downtown sculpture park…it was a great night even the horrendous mother of all thunderstorms that occurred couldn’t take away from the fun.  Caught lunch with Mel on Wednesday after the doctors appointment…it was great to catch up, even if only for an hour.  I went to the Advanced Medical something 0r another building for an appoint (part of Barnes Jewish)…the people there were amazing.  They were all very nice, helpful, and my wait time was not bad at all.  I know that at some point they will probably have some wait time (and I was prepared with my Sociology book and some other homework); but I didn’t even get to do any of it.  The doctor (Dr. Luethardt) was great…the only downfall was that he did not give me the news I wanted.  He told me that my spine was that of a healthy 33 yr old, the fluid and all the bones were good.  Bleh!  No surgery (which is good, but bad); and if I want physical therapy in the future he will write me a scrip…yes, I want to be able to go in for a massage three times a week and let my insurance pay for it for ‘therapy’. :)  Anyway…I go back to another doctor this Thursday…and I really hope that he has no news either.  I’ll just be a healthy 33 year old with a numb left arm/hand.  I can live with that!!

Pictures from STL Trip!!

I got my bills from my foray into the medical world.  They are oh so lovely!!  I have insurance, but it has a $2500 deductible…so I think I’m going to start picking up cans!  Medical bills and school bills do not compute very well (one of the reasons things have been kicked into lower gear).  I’ve decided that I’m going to go have about twenty children…then the government will help pay for things.  As of right now, they don’t help out single white females who work and own a home…for some reason that equation does not compute for free funds.  Oh well, my dad helps me out when he can…which I appreciate, he’s my government funds!! :)

I had a flat tire the other night.  It was great.  I could tell my car was running kinda weird, but there was no distinct ‘hey I have a flat’ feeling.  I let go of the wheel and it stayed in the road, didn’t jerk, or veer off in any direction.  I came up to a church and decided I would check it out, so I pulled over.  I definitely had a flat.  It was about 1:00 am; so I called my friends house I had just left to inform them I wouldn’t be a little late letting them know I had made it home, because I had to change the flat tire.  Luckily that was some basic info my dad made me learn!  I proceeded to empty my trunk out onto the church parking lot and got down to business!!  Put my lovely do-nut on and was on my way in about 2o minutes.  Then Saturday, I got to spend some quality time at the tire shop to get some tires on my car…gotta love male orientated businesses.  I felt like I needed to spit a couple of times and wipe my nose on my shirttail…or better yet just hold one side and blow it out! :)  At least they had a girly magazine to read — better homes and gardens.

Sunday (May 23) was Pentecost Sunday…it was some awesome church.  God is so good to me!!

I’m going to wrap it up here…I could go on and on still, but I think I’ll give those two people that read this a break. :)

Later..ERM