Chronic Chick Talk

Its been pretty busy the last couple weeks, I just don’t know where to start this entry. Yesterday, I planted my seeds in my pots. I plant in pots because it’s too hard for me to plant in the ground. I planted tomatoes and green/purple peppers. I didn’t know there was such thing as purple peppers. I planted some seeds in Dixie cups to get them started. I’ve thought about planting some peas or beans in a pot, just not sure what kind I can grow this way.

Planting a garden can be a way to save on your grocery bill. In my area some stores are charging three dollars a pepper. It’s ridiculous when one package costs less then $2.00 for a whole pack of seeds. I will be glad to see the green/purple peppers, as they are one of my favorite fruits. Yes, I was shocked to find out that green peppers where called fruit on the seed pack. I plan on freezing the green peppers and tomatoes, if they last that long. Last year, I planted my seeds in plastic pots and they turned out okay, but I saw someone receive great results from these pots. I was given these great big wooden barrels and they even came with the soil in them. I look forward to updating my blog as my new fruit grows.

This past week seems like a whirlwind. Last weekend my daughter received her orange belt in tae kwon do. It was neat seeing all the different belts do steps to receive the next belt. She got an award for being the most improved in her school. This has been a lot of hard work for her. She’s been working for 7 months for this particular belt. She has her days she likes the tae kwon do and other days she cares less.

The weather has been crazy between the earthquake tremors and the temperatures falling back out. I will be glad when it stays at one temperature. We’ve been walking/wheeling mason my Maltese Poodle, to reduce his weight. The vet says he needs to loose some weight. It’s a struggle to take some of his weight off. He loves to eat. My daughter’s been walking him a couple times a day. We have to start out slow with him because of arthritis in his hips from a birthing injury or the mother attacking him. He was near dead when we bought him from a pet shop. We saved his life. Mason loves to bark, so were trying to curve the barking. He is a high strung half poodle. Darcy my other dog is doing well, she’s a high strung Shih Tzu, but she doesn’t bark as much.

I think this week has been pretty productive. It may be just me, but I think removing those energy saving bulbs has helped. I do still have the pain from living with the lupus and fibromylagia, but I am feeling a bit better.

Most people don’t want to be around a chronic complainer. You know the one that shows up at the family picnic. You see her coming and everyone starts disappearing, but wait you couldn’t get away from dear old Aunt Bertha. So you endure the conversation, wondering when she’ll ever quit whining about Uncle Harold’s snoring and Aunt Beth’s teeth. You sit there for the 30 minutes wondering when you will find your out.

While writing this it got me to thinking, where do I rank on the complainer score sheet? Yeah, it’s hard not to complain when life seems to suck when you’re in a lupus flare, and the pain never seems to end. You wake up and if its not one thing hurting it’s another new symptom.

I’m challenging myself not to complain as much about living with lupus and pain, even if it does suck. After all everyone one around me knows I have lupus. It’s not like you can’t figure out when I’m in pain. I’m not very good at hiding it, although I have tried to hide it. I won’t say that I will not complain about living with lupus by no means.

Here’s my thinking, if I don’t complain as much, maybe I won’t be constantly reminded of how much I hate lupus. Yeah, it’s given me some positives, but the negative ones outweigh the positive ones. (that’s another post-tba)

So I’m going to ask you to try this test:

Find yourself a pen and paper and write down all your complaints for the day.
Look at each one and think how you could possibly reduce the amount of complaining you do in a day. Is the complaint something you could fix? Is the complaint something you have been avoiding doing? (get it done, so you can check it off your list).

So, the next time you complain about something find something that you can compliment. You see the compliment is good for the receiver and for the giver. You both should come out feeling O’ so good.

Finding ways to de-stress my life has become important to me. I become overwhelmed pretty easy since living with lupus. The evening times are my anxiety prone times. In those few hours my daughter comes home, dogs are more active, homework helping, and fixing dinner and eating dinner.

I had to reduce my stress level, so we started planning meals ahead of time. A lot of our recipes come from All Recipes. The site has a lot of simple recipes and an added plus is they are economical. Finding simple recipes is important while dealing with chronic illness. We plan our meals according to what is going on that day. If I have a doctor’s appointment it’s usually crock pot or eating out. On the days, my daughter has tae kwon do we either prepare meals ahead of time, or you guessed-crock pot. We put our menus on the refrigerator to remind us to pull out the meat.

Another thing, that’s helped me, is to only shop for 2 weeks of groceries. It takes less time to shop and takes less time to put things away. The putting away is my least favorite part of grocery shopping. I’m usually exhausted by the time we finish one shopping trip. I’ve had to teach myself not to over due things. It’s easier said then done.

The last thing, we do is avoid the rush hour shopping times. The busiest time here is early evening on weekdays and Saturday nights. During the day on Saturday’s is sudden death because everyone and there grandmother is out. In the evening on a Saturday night are the slowest times in my area.

All of the de-stressors have made my life easier. They have been a real life saver when dealing with a lupus and a teenager with ADHD.

I was tagged by Mel

The 10 reasons why I blog:

1. To increase awareness of lupus, and living with chronic illness.
2. To help others understand lupus from my point of view
3. To find some positive out of living with lupus
4. To speak my mind
5. To share tips and stuff with others
6. For networking and meeting great people
7. To continue to learn- it’s my own addiction, but a positive one.
8. I love to write and it brings out the best in me.
9. To inspire others
10. Just because I feel like it (lol) pheww.. The list is done- Yeah

I’m tagging- lupus family (jeff)

Life in autoimmue lane

Living with Fibromyalgia

A stellar Life

I came upon some interesting news reports and blogs about the effect of the energy saving bulbs and several medical conditions. People with lupus are reporting going into flares from the bulbs. I was shocked to find this out after spending the winter in my chair next to one of these bulbs. I quickly removed this bulb to see if it would help. I was thinking anything that would help, I’m willing to try. I’ve spent most of this past winter in one flare after another with the lupus.

Then I started to dig even deeper about the affects of these bulbs. They are shown to cause migraines, epilepsy seizures, dizziness, lupus and other autoimmune flares, and other medical conditions. I could go on about the affects of these bulbs.

Some people with lupus are photosensitive and have reactions to the sunlight so it only makes sense that we would be affected by these bulbs. Time will tell if I start having fewer flares together or the pain decreases because of these bulbs. Not everyone is affected the same way by these bulbs. But when you live with chronic pain you’d stand on your head if would decrease your level of pain.

Sources :

BBC News

Spectrum Alliance 

Corislupusupdates 

A Few Shots From A Chronic Chick 

This is a picture of my sunflower potted garden. I created the garden last spring/summer. The sunflowers were planted in pots so that I could have a garden. Being creative while living with lupus can be tough-But a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. This year will prove to be another struggle to have a garden, but time will show my creative side. Living Life with lupus the best way I know how.

They give lots of great  puppy dog  kisses. The black and white dog is a shih tzu named Darcy and The white dog is named Mason, whose a Maltese poodle. They have an extraspecial place in my heart. They both love me unconditional and can’t ask for two better doggies. More pictures to come.

 Mason is enjoying a snooze in his favorite bean bag chair, which he stole from my daughter.

 Darcy sleeping next to Mason in her beloved royal blue coat.

Today had been pretty good for me. Yesterday, my daughter had tae kwon do. She’s a yellow belt. She will test out to be an orange belt soon. Her instructor says she’s going to be a force to reckon with soon. She’s been working really hard to test out for her orange belt. I can’t wait to see her test out for her next belt. The instructor wants her to teach a class of pewees when she get older. That is such a high honor to do. I am more then proud of her. She’s going to spar (fight) in the next tournament. She didn’t spar at the last one. She wanted to just watch to know what to expect. She doesn’t like surprises in stuff like that. The tae kwon do has help with her ADHD. She’s able to focus better.

I was able to fix my dog’s shirt today by putting some Velcro on it. It’s nice to feel better today. Each day is a gift from God and I’m happy for that. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I’ll take what I can get. I watched the show Deadliest Catch on TLC. Those guys and an occasional gal are awesome. I can’t imagine being out in the middle of no where without any land in sight.

 I had the pleasure of interviewing Wick Davis of the Lupus Foundation of America.

What motivates you to continue to drive to the Lupus Foundation of America through all that Washington DC traffic?

Wick Davis Says:  First let me just say that people outside of the DC area have absolutely NO IDEA how awful the traffic is here. It is like nothing I have ever seen, and I’ve lived all over the country. It’s even awful on the weekends. I always chuckle when friends of mine from out of state complain about the traffic where they live. They have no idea. None! That said, my commute into DC isn’t too bad. I either take the bus, which is great, because I can sit and read, or relax, for an hour or so. I’m not sitting in traffic, wishing I was somewhere else. Or, if I don’t take the bus, I catch a ride with a coworker and her husband. Either way, I’m saving on gas, wear ‘n tear on my car … and most importantly, I’m saving my sanity!

What is your job at the Lupus Foundation of America?

Wick Davis Says:  My title is Director, Online Content & Community. So what does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things. I am responsible for all things pertaining to the lupus.org Website. Everything from creating new content when needed, to updating existing content, to maintaining the navigation on the Website; to ensuring the Website’s links are working, to making sure everything is spelled and punctuated correctly. Basically, my role is to make sure that users of our Website have a positive experience. I am also responsible for the Lupus Now magazine Website  and the World Lupus Day Website .

I host the monthly LFA Web chats. I am responsible for some writing content for, and the distribution of, our enewsletters. I write the LFA blog, “On the Road to a Cure,” . I am responsible for the LFA presence in Face book, and to a lesser extent, MySpace. I make sure that LFA PSAs (public service announcements) get posted to YouTube. I monitor the new LFA message boards. And since I have overall knowledge of all of these things, I try to make sure they’re all connected, and that people are aware of these great resources. For example, if we post a new PSA to You Tube, I write about it in the blog, and post it to both Face book and MySpace. Lots of cross promotion! I have to say … the one thing I really enjoy about my job at the LFA (and that I enjoyed while I was at the ADA) is the fact that I get to help people every day. Whether it’s providing timely and accurate information via the Website, or monitoring the LFA message boards, or hosting a Webchat, or writing the LFA blog … I enjoy all of that. I find it personally rewarding.

Does working at the Lupus Foundation of America have a personal connection to you?
Wick Davis Says:  Actually, it does not. Prior to my joining the LFA, I worked at the American Diabetes Association for almost 6 ½ years. A good friend of mine knew I was looking to make a career change and he had seen a position advertised on the lupus Website. He passed along the job posting to me and the rest, as they say, is history. However, after joining the LFA, I came to find out that a good friend of mine in Amsterdam has lupus. So she was excited that I was working for the LFA.

This is the first of many recipes specially made for those with chronic illness, and those that have no patience with cooking. I consider myself in both categories. Cooking isn’t my cup of tea, even though I’ve been told I can cook.

1 dozen eggs
10 dill pickles or tablespoon pickle relish
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sugar (omit if using pickle relish)
Dash of worchester
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Paprika
1 teaspoon mustard of choice

Boil the eggs with plenty of salt for easy peeling.
Slice each egg in half and remove yolk. Break up egg yolks in medium size bowl. Chop up pickles/pickle relish in a food processor or finely chop them. Add mayonnaise, mustard, worchester, salt, pepper, and chopped pickles. You can add extra mayonnaise to taste. Mix up well. Spoon the egg mixture into each egg half. Then garnish with paprika