A Good Week

This has been a good week!

To start with, this is my second blog post this year already! That's a good way to start!

Secondly, I went to work every day last week. Due to my illness and pain levels recently it's been rare when I could say that.

Thirdly, I actually went to the gym this week (today in fact) and did a full 60-minute step class!

Let's check out the weekly goals list and review:

Week Ending January 7, 2018

• get a gym membership - COMPLETED
• get a ROM membership for lunchtime walking - COMPLETED
• visit the gym at least twice
• participate in at least one group class at the gym - COMPLETED
• visit the ROM at least once
• work out at least three times
• get steps goals at least three times - COMPLETED
• weave in ends on Andrea's cowl - COMPLETED
• soak Andrea's cowl - COMPLETED
• block Andrea's cowl - COMPLETED
• go to work all four days - COMPLETED
• complete SBK up to June 2016
• complete HSKBK May 2017
• frog at least one project - COMPLETED
• put 5% of December and January received pays into my savings account (gross) - COMPLETED
• finish at least one WIP
• practice Spanish every day - COMPLETED
• complete clue #1 of the CK New Year's MKAL - COMPLETED

A few notes:

I only visited the gym once, but I am OK with that because I had to start somewhere. I almost didn't go today either, but I forced myself. This is where it needs to start!

This week getting back to work and staying at work all week was my main goal. Due to that being my main focus, and the severe cold this week, I didn't push myself to go out and visit the ROM on my lunch breaks. Hopefully this week!

I didn't work out three times this week, but I did work out twice! I am OK with that as well. One time at the gym, and one time on my elliptical in the basement.

For the steps goal I realize I didn't actually set a goal, so can't really say I met it. But! This week I hit over 2K twice, over 3K twice, and over 4K the other three days, so I am calling that a win! Today, thanks in a large part to the step class, I hit over 8K steps! They gave me a nice little badge for completing over 5K steps in a day. Working towards the 10K one!

That step class was a super awesome workout. I love how my Fitbit tracks everything and rewards me with cute little badges like the ones above. Below is the impact image from my class. Love it!

The bookkeeping goals have been a complete wash because I have been too exhausted and working on getting the right amounts of sleep. Fitbit helps me track that too!

I also didn't finish and WIPs, but that's because I have had to put them aside for a timed brioche test knit. I will go back to the WIPs after the test knit is completed and submitted.

Goals for this week!

Week Ending January 14, 2018

• visit the gym at least twice
• participate in at least one group class at the gym
• visit the ROM at least once
• work out at least three times
• get steps goals at least three times (5K or more)
• go to work all five days
• complete SBK up to June 2016
• complete HSKBK May 2017
• put 5% of received pays into my savings account (gross)
• practice Spanish every day
• pick up a new phone
• cut out gluten
• make a smoothie for breakfast at least two times this week

That's about it for this week! I hope to see everyone again next week for a new update.

New Year, New Hope, Take 3

This is starting to feel a little bit like a Star Wars trilogy, isn't it? I feel like I have said some of this a time or two before...

Well! Another year has come and gone. I haven't updated since my post after the last New Year check-in.

2017 has not been kind to me, and honestly, I have been too distracted by health and other issues to find time to blog too much. Of course, I am also starting to realize that this could be part of my problem. I need to force myself to do things, and in doing so, I will be positively affected in other ways.

So, let's hope things change this year! No...things WILL change this year!

A recent video from one of my favourite motivational speakers, Brian Tracy, said the first thing you should do in the new year is to review the previous year's goals. Let's look at my goals from 2017 and see how I did.

• Pour myself into my new job. - As much as I was able to due to health I did this. So I will mark this one as a success.
• Refocus on my education now that I have a job where I can actually use it. - Again, taking into consideration my health issues I feel I did ok with this. I completed one course and started a second, which I will finish early this year.
• Refocus on my health and weight now that I don't have this chronic illness wearing me down. - I tried. My body still hates me. New issues came up, possibly due to the treatments for my previous issues, and it's just been a long haul. Just had another surgery and hoping this is the year for this to finally go right.
• Refocus on cleaning and decluttering the home now that my illness is not dictating how to prioritize my life. - I am going to mark this as a win because even though I was sick, I took my sick leave time and actually did go through a lot of stuff and throw it out, give it away to family, or donate it to charity. I will keep moving forward with this in 2018.
• By less new yarn and use more stash yarn. - Yeah, this didn't happen. I used yarn purchases to cheer me up, most likely way more than I should have. This is a major focus for me this year as well.
• Complete more WIPs instead of starting new projects. - I did finish more projects this year than is typical for me, but only one of them was a WIP, the rest I actually started in 2016. So I will classify this as moving in a positive direction, but not quite what I was aiming for.
• More detailed crafting goals will be on the craft blog. My 2018 crafting goal post can be found here.
• Update the blogs more! - Even though it doesn't seem like it here, I did do more posts on my reading/review blog, Rants N Scribbles. I still need to get much better at this blogging thing.

So that's that. Moving forward I am going to make more detailed plans to achieve goals. This is going to include weekly, monthly, yearly, and lifetime goals. I have started a separate page to help track them. If you are actually interested, you can find that page here. I am hoping this keeps me more motivated to check in, and then blog as I go.

I am going to leave this at that for now. Perhaps if I break up my posts a little more instead of posting walls of text I will be more likely to blog more often.

My next post will focus on the detailed goals for 2018 and a brief look at the plans I have.

I hope everyone had a very happy New Year!

New Year, New Hope, Take 2

Well! Another year has come and gone. I haven't updated since my post after the last New Year check-in. That's honestly because 2016 has been horrid and I really didn't want to give it too much-added attention.

Let's hope things change this year!

A brief update from 2016:

• The Visanne continued to work, for the most part, for several months.
• The headaches eventually went away,
• Around March the pain started getting unbearable again.
• Tax season was very hard on me between my pain levels, trying to work, and dealing with my boss.
• By the end of May, I couldn't take it any longer.
• June 1st my boss and I agreed for me to go on sick leave until after surgery and recovery.
• Original surgery was scheduled for June 21st but was delayed to July 12th due to operating room scheduling issues.
• July 12th surgery was completed. It was a long surgery, but the Dr. Grace Lui was confident. The uterus was removed to cure adenomyosis and endometriosis was found and excised. The bladder was connected to the uterus and was detached. A great deal of scar tissue and adhesions were found and removed.
• I took the full 8 weeks to recover. It was a long process, but I didn't want to do anything to risk recovery.
• Upon attempting to return to work my boss tried to lay me off.
• After discussions with a lawyer and my boss, I was able to return to work,
• Due to the instability of my job (that I had worked at for 10 years) I began searching for a new job.
• On November 15th finally had a new roof put on our house and garage.
• On November 22nd I accepted a new job that I believe will be much more suitable and satisfying.
• On November 23rd I gave my boss 1 month's notice.
• On December 5th my Callistos was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy. Heartbroken.
• On December 7th our furnace died.
• On December 8th we had to have a brand new furnace installed.
• On December 23rd I worked my last day. We had lunch at the CN tower as part of our Christmas / Farewell lunch.

So yeah! Fun year! /sarcasm

Some goals for 2017:

• Pour myself into my new job.
• Refocus on my education now that I have a job where I can actually use it.
• Refocus on my health and weight now that I don't have this chronic illness wearing me down.
• Refocus on cleaning and decluttering the home now that my illness is not dictating how to prioritize my life.
• By less new yarn and use more stash yarn.
• Complete more WIPs instead of starting new projects.
• More detailed crafting goals will be on the craft blog.
• Update the blogs more!

Let's have a great 2017 everyone!

New Year, New Hope

Happy New Year everyone!

I haven't posted in a while, but to be honest there really hasn't been much to post about.

I basically spent the entirety of 2015 sick and in pain. Not really something one would want to reflect on.

The last post I made indicated I had started Lupron. Well here is a little update...

The first month on Lupron was hell. I was a mess. I forgot things. The pain was still there, and I was a hormonal mess.

The second month was a blessing. The only good month I had all year. The pain was pretty much gone all the time. I had trouble sleeping, I had hot flashes, I was hormonal, and I forgot things, but not having the pain let me forgive everything else.

The third month the pain came back. On top of that I started having horrible bones pains. My teeth hurt. My fingers hurt. My wrists hurt. My knees and ankles hurt. I felt old and fragile and like every step I took was going to snap my toes and ankles. I didn't want to do anything. It was the worst feeling ever.

I refused a fourth month. I will forever refuse it moving forward. I have now read how many woman respond very badly to this medication. I do not recommend it to anyone. If you are thinking about trying I suggest you do a lot of research first.

During that time I was finally given my MRI. It showed signs of Adenomyosis, but no signs of Endometriosis. It turns out that the thickness of my uterus is more than four times the normal thickness. When I asked the doctor what now she said that because I was on the Lurpron, that shrinks the Endometriosis, that it was possible they would not see it. I almost lost my mind. What the heck was the point of doing the MRI while I was on Lupron then?

After that my current specialist pretty much gave up on me and didn't know what else to do. She kept me on the Micronor add back to at lease keep my cycles as regular and light as possible, but that was pretty much it. I went back to being in pain and misery and missing way too much work. I asked for a referral to a pain clinic, which she agreed to, but the pain clinic did not accept the referral as they don't treat my type of pain. I broke down in tears in the doctor's office when I was given that news.

Thanks to Nancy's Nook Endometriosis Discussion and Education group on Facebook I discovered a list of specialists that specifically deal with the Endometriosis and Adenomyosis that they believed I was suffering from. I asked my specialist for a referral to one of those specialists, and since she knew one of them very well she agreed. I had to wait almost 8 months to see her, but I finally saw her on December 17th.

She was amazing. She was warm and friendly and sat and listened as I explained every little detail. Then she did the one thing no other doctor had done to date, she actually physically examined me. It didn't take long, she knew exactly what she was looking for. I felt such relief just finally to be in the hands of a doctor who obviously knew what she was dealing with, She prescribed me a new medication that she had success with and scheduled me for an ultrasound with a technician she has trained to look for very specific things. I will do that in late January or early February. We also scheduled a surgery date for the end of June in case nothing else works out (since the wait times up here are so long). It was such a great experience, just to be heard, and not to be looked at like you are crazy.

The good news is she is thinking right now that it might just be the Adenomyosis that is bothering me, and not Endometriosis at all. She said she didn't feel any of the telltale nodules etc. that she is used to. That is good news because Adenomyosis is completely contained inside the uterus. That means a hysterectomy will cure it. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one! But even is I do have Endometriosis she is skilled to remove it while she is in there, there is just no guarantee that it might not grow back at some point.

The new medication that she is trying me on (Visanne) is actually working pretty well. I get about 50% or less of the typical pain I have been dealing with, which is really nice. I rarely have to take the stronger pain killers anymore. I do get a headache almost every day, but I can treat that with an Advil and move on. Compared to the pain I am used to this is almost like being well. I still have weird side effects like mood swings, trouble sleeping, some minor body aching and bone pain, but nothing like what I had on Lupron, and something I am just going to live with t avoid the pain as much as possible. 

Very much looking forward to seeing how this year goes, especially with a pending surgery that will hopefully put this Humpty Dumpty back together again...

Endometriosis

On Monday, March 30th, 2015, I felt my world start to crumble around me a little more.

After going through multiple different tests, and seeing multiple doctors and specialists, a new, tentative diagnosis was proclaimed.

My current specialist, who also happens to be a fertility specialist, diagnosed me with endometriosis based on medical history and current symptoms. Although it hasn't been confirmed by laparoscopy, she believes it is the most likely culprit of all my years of pain and suffering. In a way I guess it makes sense, but I also tried to find ways to fight against the diagnosis.

Why had it not been seen in any of my previous surgeries in 2010? Apparently it can be missed...especially if you only have a small patch that is bothering you. But it can spread, which is why it might be worse now.

I am still holding on to the hope that they are wrong. That once they do this MRI I am waiting for that they will find something else. Something they can fix. Endometriosis can't really be fixed. There is no cure. There are treatments, but they are not fun.

Take for example my current treatment plan.

I am currently on monthly Lupron injections to reduce the amount of estrogen my body produces since that is what angers the endometriosis tissue in my body. This basically places me in a chemically induced menopause. Nice right? I get add back hormone therapy with Estrace and Mirconor to help combat the nasty side effects like hot flashes, mood swings and bone density loss.

It takes 2-3 weeks for the good effects to kick in, but oh have I already been introduced to the bad side effects!

I am having trouble sleeping...a lot of trouble sleeping. I am hot, cranky, and of course I am just thinking about all sorts of non-wonderful things so that doesn't help either. Add to that this weird burning achy pain I am having in my upper right leg and the hot flashes and you can kind of imagine maybe what it is like. Last night I tired having some Sweet Dreams tea together with an Advil to relieve the leg pain a bit before bed. It worked a little. I was able to fall asleep at least, but I did keep waking up intermittently throughout the night.

I have also noticed the mood swings. I snap much more easily now, which is never good. And of course, the pain hasn't changed yet because it's only been a week. I am trying to be strong and give it a chance, but I am really miserable right now. It's very hard to focus at work, and of course this is our busy season.

Hopefully I get an appointment for my MRI soon and they either find something that they can treat, or at least the endometriosis shows up enough to make them want to go in and excise this. Because this right now is insanity...