Sometimes in life, it would be nice to just have the same old – same old – no excitement. As I sit at Mayo today for my appts, I miss the days of once-a-year medical tests. The ups and downs of bloodwork are hard to keep up with. If you know what I am talking about, you know the anxiety of opening the new message as results come in. They never seem stable. The highs when you see they are finally normal and the lows when things are just all over the place. Today I am waiting for some more results before my scan and they are wonky so far at least my liver is holding.
At the beginning of my diagnosis, my brother told me to think of them as data points. Data that tells the doctors how to help – are the meds working? The meds can’t cure me. It is not like taking an antibiotic and you are better. You hope that they can keep the disease asleep without hurting your other systems. Putting your immune system to sleep is obviously tricky during COVID but also trying to balance all the other systems thus the ups and downs of the bloodwork. When you look at them as helpers, the anxiety drops a little – making you feel like maybe you can make it.
This week has been rainy, to say the least, and I have wanted to post some of my good recipes and projects but my energy has been low. I took a few pictures that I wanted to share through my off week. They make me laugh and they keep me going. Sometimes you just have to look at life and smile even if upside down..
Tallulah, the cat is my bedmaking helper where she helps me spread out the sheets in between the kicks and the jumps of her attacks. She loves the chance to run through the sheets. Meadow is working on not creating as much laundry but that is slow going. We have been washing quite a bit at least 4 loads a day. The girls are doing well but missing my constant treats. They run down the ramp from the coop if I come out before the door shuts at dark. They surely have me trained as I feel guilty if I don’t have any treats.
Life is a blessing – one we get to be a part of – to find ways to appreciate it. From finding moments of gratitude for the ones around your or the love of our beautiful planet, there is so much to appreciate. Happiness is not comparing your life to others because I am going to tell you that you can always find someone who has it better.
I have to remind myself to take moments to breathe – enjoy the sweetness of nature and hold the ones that walk this road with you. My goal is to get back to work on projects and enjoy what I am doing. The animals and plants right now help me smile. My cucumber experiment from the tower looks to have failed but the others are trying hard.
Keep going, get up, and face the day – you don’t know what magic awakes if you keep your head down. I sometimes think that my yelling bluejay is screaming as he approaches the feeder. Reach for the Sun. I love this picture. It was right before the big COVID lockdown.
Time to head upstairs! Time for my prayers and knowing that I got this!
Bitsy's Backyard 
Bitsy Following your progress & your day by day life.
This last posting was waiting for results of tests at the Mayo Clinic.
What helps your exhaustion? I love your pets & your honesty.
What is specific name of your auto immune liver disease?
Any support groups through Mayo? – looks like your animals
& garden & family are helping you. Keep sharing Love from Lucy Stackler
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Hi! So great to hear from you. I have an Autoimmune Liver Disease where my immune system decided that my liver was foreign and tried to get rid of it. It is definitely a journey and hoping to help others along the way and enjoy the world around me. I hope you all are well.
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Bitsy, I feel so much for you dealing with this. Our youngest, Mathew has ankylosing spondylitis which is also an autoimmune disease. His started out attacking his hips and it has gradually started up his back. They are checking him now for heart problems that can be associated with it. There are a host of problems associated with it. He is on a biweekly biologic which brings it’s own set of side effects. He suffers pain more days than not and if he flares, it’s bad. He also is always fatigued. We have all learned to live day by day appreciating them as gifts. It also brought to my attention front and center that God didn’t promise us we would not have troubles, but he did promise to be with us as we traverse them. As strange as it sounds, we go nowhere by accident in this journey of life and along the way we have experienced people and things that have provided us with just what we needed when we needed it be it a word of encouragement, a new doctor, or an understanding employer. I hope we in turn have been there for others too. He’s been tested for Covid multiple times so far and all negative to date. He’s been vaccinated, but we are unsure how much protection that would provide him with now. It’s scary. I’m glad you conquered it so far. I have you in my prayers. If you need to talk, I’m here.
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Thank you Terry. I have your family and Matthew in my prayers. The autoimmune diseases are so cryptic and so much needs to be learned. I agree so much with everything that you said and know that this journey is powerful and has meaning. I hope Matthew can stay away from Covid. The antibodies were helpful and I just went with it. It is all scary and we just have to believe we can do it. If y’all need anything please let us know. We should catch up soon. Love to all!
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