Creative Solutions

Hello dear reader.

With as many diagnosis as I have, it’s often difficult to know which illness is causing what problem. For example, let’s look at the back pain I’m dealing with right now. It’s located in the top half of my back. I’ve had to be on oxygen for several days. When I take it off I drop into the high 60’s or low 70’s. That’s a COPD flare up or even pneumonia, either of which could be causing my back pain. It could also be the scoliosis causing it, or all the driving I did last week.

Scoliosis, COPD, fibromyalgia, and Chiari can all increase my headache. COPD and fibromyalgia can cause my extreme exhaustion, or it could simply be a result of pushing myself so hard last week.

Why does it even matter? If the back pain is coming from my lungs, soaking in a hot, Epson salt bath can make it worse. Humidity makes it harder to breathe. If something else is causing it, a hot bath can help a lot. So how do I know what to do?

I’ve learned to be creative. In this case, I’m sitting on a heating pad. If that helps I’ll know it’s not my lungs and will go take a bath. If it doesn’t I’ll know it’s from my lungs.

I’m certain many of you face similar dilemmas. What are some of the ways you’ve come up with to handle them?

I think it’s wonderful when we can learn from each other. Each of our experiences can help someone else. Isn’t that what it’s all about? I’m looking forward to some of your ideas.

Until next time…

Father’s Day Nightmare

Hello dear reader.

I normally keep my political positions to myself, but I just can’t stay silent about the horror that is going on right now. I’m talking about the immigrant children who have been separated from their parents. I don’t know where to begin saying how many ways this is wrong. I’m appalled that something like this is happening in this country.

These people are being charged with a crime for trying to find a safer life for themselves and their children. They’re being incarcerated for this. Some have tried to come into the country illegally out of desperation, but many have followed the law to ask for asylum. For this they’re labled criminals. Their children are being taken because they can’t be incarcerated because of a crime their parents committed. Instead they are taken forcefully from the parents and incarcerated in a different facility. This is insane!

These children are being psychologically damaged in ways most of them will never recover from. What’s happening to them constitutes nothing short of torture. I can’t overstate the cruelty of this. Why is it happening? It’s happening as a political tool. Think about that for a moment, let it sink in. Children are being tortured and permanently damaged so our so-called president can get his way. Permanent damage

I’m ashamed that this is being allowed to happen. Many articles I’ve read are seeking lawyers to help these poor children, which I’m not. I want to help these poor children and the only way I can think of to do that is to speak out against this. I don’t have a huge following, but I’m using the small platform I have to do that. I wish with my whole broken heart that I could do more.

So today, on father’s day, hold your children close to you and say a prayer for the fathers who’ve been stripped of their children for the crime of trying to give them a safe life. Say a prayer for the roughly 2,000 children who have no idea what they’ve done wrong to cause them to be removed from their parents and jailed. Say a prayer for them as they sit in a detention center wondering if they’ll ever see their parents again. Please.

Heartbreaking,

If you’re in a position to do more than say a prayer, then do more. That’s what I’m trying to do here.

Until next time…

Breaking news!!

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/20/trump-order-immigrant-families-together-separated/

Thank God!!!

Headache from hell

Hello dear reader.

Today is day 3 of a mind numbing headache. I got about two hours of sleep last night because of it, so along with this insane pain I’m exhausted. I’m going to try to write a post that makes sense, but I can’t promise anything.

I need to do something to distract my mind from how horrible I feel. That itself is a challenge. Reading hurts…too much light. Watching TV… same thing. Writing… hurts like hell but I’m doing it anyway. Pain meds? I can’t take them again for five more hours. Muscle relaxers… not helping at all.

So why am I writing when it hurts to do it? I’m writing out of desperation. I’m hoping one of the wonderful people who read my blog (I hit 150 followers yesterday 👏) has an idea for how can I distract my mind from the pain when I need to be laying down in a dark, quiet room?

I’m having trouble communicating because of the pain. But I can do a better job writing than speaking. When I write I have the chance to think about everything I want to say and how to say it. If I say it wrong, I can go back, delete it, and try again.

I know this isn’t a very cheerful post, but it’s my truth right now and you, dear reader, deserve nothing less than complete honesty.

I’m seriously open to any ideas. There’s a comment box at the end of this post. Please feel free to use it.

Until next time…