1 Sick Momma

Last week was not my week... it started out with a really bad tooth ache. Back in August of last year I went to teh dentist because I had a tooth ache. Unfortunatly he told me there was nothing wrong with my tooth and perhaps I ust had sensitive teeth.

So I swished with Lystorine, as someone suggested.
Then I swished with hydrodin peroxide as someone suggested.
Then I stopped using toothpaist with fluoride as someone suggested.
Then I tried using sensidine.
Finally we made our own toothpaste.

Nothing worked...

So I decided to get a second opinion. Monday I went to a new dentist. Although I really didn't like him, he said my tooth had a HUGE cavity! It was very close to the gum line, and went clear to the root of the tooth. Seems how it was my wisdom tooth he said he would not do a root canal on it, and even if he did it would have to be capped. So we agreed to let him remove it. HOWEVER he didn't take my pain mediation allergy seriously. An hour later, with torn up gums, a loose tooth, huge headache, and allergic reaction that left me being able to only see out of one eye... we left.

That afternoon I was contemplating what to do. I was seriously distraught. We went to the office of the oral surgeon that had done Josh's surgery last year. We asked them if he did wisdom teeth removal, and they said YES! I loved this guy (he let me help with Josh's surgery) *giddy*... he was even willing to do my tooth right then! I felt like crap from the allergic reaction but at least it would be over. So we got all the paperwork done and.... Concordia (our dental insurance) had an issue! We hadn't re-enrolled for 2011 so we were on there but they needed new signatures! AH!!!! This also meant our huge fiasco at Dr. Skinner's office would not be put on our credit card. :(

So we left.. in pain and frustrated. We called Concordia they said we had to give them 3 weeks to process the paperwork. So I rescheduled the surgery for March 3rd and resolved myself to being in pain until then. To make matters worse at this point part of the root of my tooth has been exposed during Dr. Skinner's attempt to remove it.

The next morning I woke up completely congested apparently I had caught a cold due to stress, super bummer. I was ready to just cry. I ate rice and chicken for dinner the night before and realized I was going to have to scrape rice out between the root and gum line. I was in tears as I took a tooth pick to it. During this whole thing my mother called, and asked how my morning was going... I could hardly even tell her how upset I was. The first words out of her mouth were "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME??" I'm looking at my sad self in the mirror thinking to myself "I don't know" and realizing how pathetic I really sounded. She said she would loan me the money to just go have it done, stop worrying about insurance. Dah! It never even dawned on me to find out how much it was to just have it done! So I called the oral surgeons office (Dr. Greg A. Roberts) and asked. They said it would cost $460.00 and they thought they'd have to put me out for it. I explained my pain mediation allergy and my desire to not have my heart stop during this procedure. The woman who was answering phones simply went back and got Dr. Roberts. He said he'd do it however I wanted him to.

So I called my mom back, and about 10 minutes after getting off the phone with her got a call from my grandmother she says "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?" I almost laughed but it hurt. I told her the story and she said "no don't have your mom do it she'll need the money back, put it on my Mastercard." LOL! I guess my family doesn't want my tooth to hurt! :)

So we arranged for me to go in that Thursday to get it taken care of. (The soonest he would be back in the office). I was relieved, and super nervous all of the sudden. You see I rarely go into a doctors office or hospital and leave with out suffering some tremendous side effect. My hearts stopping, not breathing, hives, sever rash, not being able to see out of one or both eye's, itching, not being able to feel my lips, face, hands, or feet, and the list goes on.

Thursday rolled around and with a cold, aching mouth, massive headache and short temper I entered the OS ready for battle. I explained my allergies, he asked if there was anything he could use to easy the side effects I told him the one thing I know I can handle and he clapped his hands together with joy "4cc's of what the lady wants" he informed his nurse. And, to work we went. An hour later with out being put out, with out loosing sight, braking into a  rash or having to be resuscitation we left one tooth short of when we entered. I was so happy we went to get sushi to celebrate!

After that we picked up the girls, and headed home to make dinner. I felt better... so I was happy about that. I was just really tried... but that's expected. I cleaned house, made dinner, and then went to bed. The next day I went to work and then Josh and I went out with one of his good friends Mark. I got Green Mussels for dinner, and I guess one of them was bad. When I woke up the next morning I puked, up everything I had eaten all week! I couldn't go more then 3 minutes with out running to the bathroom, best part was, I had to go to work. I spent my entire day sweating, running to the bathroom, puking, and shaking. I slipped and busted my lip on the door way... it was just fantastic.

Josh came to my work and brought me some stuff to help settle my stomach the best you can for good poisoning. And pineapple to help work it all out. Pineapple kills the bacteria that causes most strains of food poisoning. As does certain hot peppers.

Sunday I woke up feeling quite a bit better, but only today did I feel 100% again! Happy Valentines to me was that I wasn't tired, itchy, I can see out of both eye's (and in color even), my stomach is holding food again (good food at that) and I can happily say I feel better. :)

Dairy Free For 30 Days!

Alright so everyone knows I'm crazy about learning holistic medication. I have always read reviews about how horrible Dairy can be for the human body. The recommended maximum amount per day is 3 servings. Most american's eat somewhere between 7 and 9 servings per day. Don't thing you eat that much? Try keeping track tomorrow. Cheese, milk, mayo, sour cream, yogurt, most chocolates, and other items with dairy baked in.

Due to the information I read I decided to do the 30 day Dairy free challenge. The challenge is not for weight loss, or for any other reason then to recognize how much you eat and what it does to your body. It is said that people who don't eat dairy have a higher IQ, run faster and have more endurance. Most singer's will not drink milk or eat dairy before a performance, same with athletes. So if they understand the negative impact it has on your life, perhaps there's more here then a research study by a holistic medication enthusiast.

If you try to just go one day with out dairy you'll realize how much you consume. I really had no idea how much dairy I ate... Until about 48 hours ago. I gave up all Dairy! Nothing with dairy in it. It has been harder ... WAY harder then I thought it was going to be. I go to eat something and read the ingredients, and realize I can't Even though it was canned and didn't require refrigeration, or was a drink I had no idea had dairy in it at all.

My 30 days ends November 5th... wish me luck! I can't even have milk with my dairy free pumpkin pie :) I have however, done a lot of work to get lintel bean butter (regular butter 100 calories per TBLS; lintel bean butter 6 calories per TBLS), Vegetable Cheese (regular cheese 120 calories per serving; Vegetable cheese 30 calories per serving); Dairy free sour cream (made with soy. Regular sour cream 160 per 2 TBLS, soy sour cream 45 calories per 2 TBLS); Soy milk (regular 2% milk 260 calories per serving 1 cup, soy milk 90 calories pers serving 1 cup)... and the list goes on. So I am still cooking, baking, and loving life, I just can't eat anything that is pre-mixed. Today i went to eat pizza and realized I can't do that. Then I was going to eat some craft mac, and realized I couldn't do that either. Mashed potatoes NOPE made with powdered milk... gr! So tomorrow i'm taking home made spaghetti with me to work.

Update on Amino Acid Builders

This is my last post here - as I am studying to become a full time herbalist I am starting a blog that is dedicated to my research there. But I will give those of you who were interested a short update.

The amino acid builders are helping! The subject (a friend) who had been taking them after a great deal of research has lost almost 15lbs in two weeks, with out doing ANYTHING it was a simple case of her body not being able to process these though foods. (and the fact we don't eat much of the foods these come from in America.)

The other subject taking them is working out again, says she feels much better. She isn't as stressed and feels like she's nicer to those around her. She has also lost weight, eats less, no longer craves sweets, and isn't getting mood swings. She is more stable though out the day, more able to focus and feels like she's getting things accomplished.

So there's the short of it. It's been a little less then two weeks (two weeks on Tuesday). So let's hope they both continue to feel better. I am also going to start taking them, as they should help maintain a healthy brain function. There's no harm in taking them as they don't conflict with medications (except for anti-depressants, or strong narcotics, uppers and downers) so please don't take these if you are taking any of the above. Or if you would like to try them talk to you nutritionist before hand.

(As always this is from my personal experience and can not replace the advice of your professionally trained and certified health care provider. This is a journal and meant to be read for entertainment, not in place of professional health care.)

My new blog of medical findings will be up this week...

Worried

Perhaps I worry too much but it seems I have a lot of reasons to worry as of late. My family has been going though some very rough times. I have a sister who has now run away 4 times in the last 2 weeks. Night after night of looking for her, and watching my parents slowly loose their minds as once again the police call and let us know they have found her she's in Juvi and we need to come pick her up.

She had been up at the University of Utah mental hospital for a few weeks, they have informed us she is unlikely to ever be able to live a normal life. More and more is coming out about her problems, but the hardest part of all is that we are finding out her problems have caused other people in my family to have their own problems. It's like a dominos effect, living with someone who is not mentally stable for so long as caused others to become mentally unstable.

I do not believe in western medicinal practices, and by my strong convictions against it other members of my family have slowly started to wain against it. My mother asked me to track down some very unusual hydrogen bond amino acids and after hours and hours of reassure I have found them! Even more exciting they are working!

The ones that I have thus far found make a very interesting connection: Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Tryptophan, and Histidine are all ones that have to do with mental disorders. If you are lacking even one of these then you can start to develop things like depression, and weight gain for no apparent reason start to appear. If you are lacking in two things like autism, personality disorders, can occur, lack three ans SERIOUS mental disorders like bi-polar disease, manic depression, retardation, personality disorders etc, can occurs! Even more interesting these are the only 4 amino acids to form a particular hydrogen bond... and even more interesting, these amino acids occur in foods you would expect one to eat. But here's something interesting you can synthesize all 4 though chocolate!

So here's the brake down, your body either isn't getting enough of these 4 amino acids (which incidentally are considered non-essential), OR you are not able to brake them down properly (due to a lack of vitamin D) so you crave chocolate which actually acts just like a drug on your brain, because it is a synthetic version as far as your brain is naturally makes. Thus your brain slowly stops braking down regular foods for the necessary amino acids to make things like adrenalin (weight loss and energy), seritonin (happiness, mood swings), affects Thyroid function (weight gain, illness, sluggishness, mood, etc), and other caffeine (energy). So you crave chocolate more and more, and your brain makes less and less of it's own chemicals. Meaning you gain weight, go further into depression (due to lack of Seritonin), eventually become infertile (Due largely to thyroid function), develop mental disorders (due to a lack of chemicals), and even retardation.

The problem is that the medication you would receive from a doctor is another (stronger) synthetic version of what you are getting in chocolate. So although you may loose weight your brain is actually damaged even further. Think of it this way, Ridilian (used for children who have issues caused by a lack of 2 of these chemicals) is prescription grade cocaine, and most anti depressants are made from MDMA the same thing that drug dealers use to make Ecstacy.

Thus I have tracked down the pure form of these amino acids the children (and other members of my family) with in just 2 days have been able to start producing their own again! Let's just say the last two days have been some of the most amazing of my life. I have seem my mother go from flat out denying she's depressed to the woman I knew 12 years ago. And, my little sister actually wants to know if we can do craft projects instead of how she can get away with killing a kitten. Sad but true.

It's truly a blessed day when you realize that a hobby a passion is helping save your family. And, even more good news I have been asked by several friends to help them come up with a supplement plan (just as I have done for my little sister who is now down 6 sizes in just 4 months with no other changes!) to help them with personal issues they've had (mostly weight gain, but also alleviating pregnancy symptoms, and other families with children who have mental disorders).

I hope to be finishing my Holistic Med. degree with in a few years. This is truly a calling in my eye's to be able to help those who want to find a different path though life, one free of chemical dependancy.

Josh's 90 Day Heart Echo Test

Josh's Heart Echo test was today, and he passed with flying colors. They said his heart was back to 100% (or perhaps 100% for the first time in his life). The doctor said there is no reason for him to have to come back, and that he would write a full (and positive) review for the military personal.

Just one more thing that's going right this year! WOO HOO... here's to a better start to this year than last. :)

Also we are still waiting on paperwork from the medical office on base to get Josh any new orders, keep your finger's crossed for us, that we get orders by February 1st.

Two of Three

The first two surgeries are over and both went well. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Josh is feeling great and we have a wonderful 12 days planned before he goes in for the heart surgery. We are hoping all goes well there and by the end of next year he'll be able to return to active duty!

Thanks again!

Heart Surgery October 13th

For everyone who has been keeping up on our medical melo-drama continuing from February 25th when Josh has a grand-mal seizure WE FINALLY HAVE A VERDICT!
Here's a run down of exactly what happened (as told my the Cardiovascular group of Dr. Sworenson): Ever child is born with a small hole between the upper two chambers of the heart, it is small and seals between birth and 2 years of age. This hole alleviates pressure on the lungs while the lungs and heart are forming, and is actually a very good thing for an unborn fetus and a brand new baby. However 1 in 5 adults end up with the hole not sealing correctly and either popping back open or never sealing entirely in the first place. This small hole in Josh's case allowed a blood clot to pass from the Oxygen poor side of his hear to the Oxygen rich side of his heart and straight to his brain! When the blood clot bounced against his brain it caused a neural missfire and thus the seizure. (The doctor told us he's very lucky it was such a small clot otherwise he could have had a complete stroke or aneurysm and died on the spot.)

So on October 13th the dr. is going to insert a catheter through an artery into Josh's heart with a small "umbrella" on the end. This "umbrella" as they call it looks like a yo-yo it has two wire mesh cages that clamp together, and close that hole. The entire procedure takes about 1 hour, and if all goes well Josh will spend one night in the hospital for observation and come on October 14th. The only restrictions afterwards are no lifting/pulling/pushing 50lbs for the first 30 days, no strenuous exercise for the first 30 days, and he has to take Aspin for the first 6 months to prevent blood clots from forming on that "umbrella" while heart tissue grows over the top of it.
After 3 months he will go back to the hospital and get an ultrasound on his heart to make sure the tissue is growing over the "umbrella" and that all is well. Assuming no bubbles are being allowed to pass from one side of the heart to the other, he's done!

So all in all we are very glad to have a diagnosis, to be looking at only a few more doctors appointments to get this entire mess over with, and we are excited to be able to take something back to the military saying "it's fixed"!!!

Few odd and interesting facts about this ASD closure procedure:

-50% of people who suffer from migraine have this defect in their heart.
-This defect can cause, spacy spells, migraine, dizzy spells, fainting, seizures, strokes and sudden death.
-The ASD defect is as common as 1 in every 5 adults.
-Almost 85 to 90% of people who die from an aneurysm or stoke have this ASD defect.

(I uploaded a picture of the "umbrella" as it is exiting the catheter, and closing the ASD defect)

Heart Echo

Josh went in for his heart echo today - and for the first time since February 25th we have some anwers! Not that the answers are what we hoped for but they are answers!
We found out that there is a hole in between the upper left and right chambers in the heart.

Apparently it’s a natural hole that all children are born with, however a few weeks after birth it seals shut (for most people). This small hole is [possibly] responsible for Josh's headaches, dizzy spells, shortness of breath (from time to time), sudden and unprovoked fatigue and also his spacey spells (which are being considered silent seizures), and even *drum roll* his seizure in February. Here's why (in short); natural blood clots that form in your legs travel to the heart and are normally broken up, however because of this hole the blood clot can travel to the brain causing a some small amount of damage on the surface of the brain and seizures, headaches, even aneurysms and strokes. From what we were told today it is likely we will have more specific and detailed MRI(s ) to find out the extend of the damage (if any) that was done to his brain during the seizure. Before we go that far however, we are going to do some series of test to measure the exact size of the hole and make sure that a blood clot could have even passed though.

The usual treatment for a hole in the heart, is to have it surgically repaired, however if the cardiologist does not feel the hole is big enough to conceivably fit a blood clot though they may leave it. We were informed that people who do have the surgery often quit having headaches and other side effects. A single blood clot or air bubble that would normally not be an issue in the human body can cause catastrophic problems if allowed to pass to the brain.

The other bit of news here, is that josh will NOT be allowed to stay in the military if he has open heart surgery. (Or most other heart treatments.)

Keep in touch we'll let everyone know what's going on as we know! If you pray say a prayer for Josh, its good we got an answer but it's not the easiest one to get!

Full Medical Update :)

We left on Sunday afternoon to head up to Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco; we hit up the San Francisco Zoo and walked around enjoying the AMAZING sites for several hours. You could actually reach out and touch many of the animals if they dared get close enough to you or you them, and other's were kept in large reserves where they could run and wonder in an almost natural setting. Of the entire zoo's I've been to this was by far my favorite! We are going to the San Diego Zoo in a few weeks. I can't wait.

Okay now to the update you tuned in for....

At 9am Josh had his second EEG, which yielded the same results as the previous one. Which was basically NOTHING. According to the Doctor we spoke with this morning "An E.E.G. is much like fishing, if you go fishing and don't catch anything you cannot assume then that there is no fish" apparently an E.E.G. will only show epilepsy is you have seizure like tendencies while in the E.E.G.

The conclusion?

In a sum she said we have 3 options.

1- She [the doctor] prescribed an anti seizure medication and said for Josh to dose himself up on it. She said if the day dreaming and possible seizures (silent) stop. Then we assume its epilepsy and he continues to take the medication for the rest of his life. He could possibly drive again if no more seizures are reported for at least 6 months (or depending on Utah law 2 years).

2- We send him to San Antonio for a month long E.E.G. study where they could connect electrode to his head and he wears a computer for a month while going about limited daily activities. To see if they can find evidence of epilepsy.

3- We do nothing, which carries its own risks. She said that if it is epilepsy and he is indeed been miss-diagnosed with A.D.D. the seizures will eventually cause permanent damage to his brain that could lead to permanent memory loss or sudden epileptic death. (Which they believe is when your brain accidently tells your heart to shut down during a seizure).

So those are our current choices. The doctor highly recommended taking the medication and following up in a month to see if there is improvement. If Josh does not want the medication then we are going to make a log of any space(y) times he has or anytime he starts to day dream.

Keep in mind here the medications they can prescribe have a high amount of side effects. Including memory loss, inability to concentrate, depression (about half the people who take these meds end up on depression medications or in some sort of rehab), extreme mood swings, bi-polar disorder, violent tendencies, lack of appetite (some), or sever weight gain (others), numbness in the extremities (to and extreme of severe burns and injuries, dizziness, tiredness, and in some cases death due to allergic reaction (which they did a short survey to make sure he wasn't at risk for).

The other news we got was that this doctor has put into motion a medical bored. She said to not expect to be medically discharged but they will DNIF Josh's flight status (translation: he will never be allowed to fly again). There are still many jobs he SHOULD be able to do in the Air Force so there's a chance he will either become a ground linguist or go back to his old job in Maintenance. IF he goes back to maintenance we are considering going back active duty until he retires.

Well that was ridiculously long but in short: until proved otherwise the diagnosis is Seizures (epilepsy, which is defined as a tendency to have seizures), and we are looking at anywhere from a 1 year to a 4 year wait for the medical board to come back with a decision.

The Medical Update - for those of you following.

For those of you following the medical saga, here is the most recent update. We went to see Major Castro on base today, he is in charge of determining rather or not Josh needs to be reviewed by a medical board. And, when or if Josh can be taken off a medical hold and sent back to class, allowed to drive, off of restrictions etc. He basis his decision on the specialist opinions, what he can determine himself, as well as the military regulations. He asked a lot of questions all the other doctors we have been to have not asked. A lot of history, and trying to get to know Josh and how this has effected him. He gave him a list of objects to remember and then continued talking. Though out the interview he would ask him what the object were to test his memory and concentration. He also asked questions about class, our wedding, his childhood etc. To see if long term and short term memory were working correctly. In addition he asked a lot of questions about Josh's personality and how it's changed sense his "seizure". He finally determined he wasn't ready to send Josh back to school when he's having a hard time remembering simple facts etc. The major said that sending him to school right now would be like throwing him into the lions den (essentially). Asking him to retain a lot of new information, and punishing him if he didn't. He also said with Josh's frequent headaches and dizzy spells he didn't feel like it would be a good idea for him to be on overload from school, homework, and just being there all day everyday. Basically it boiled down to: if this was stressed induced, then lets not stress you out until you've actually recovered, and its apparent you haven't. In addition he recommended we go see the neurologist again this next week and take her the additional information we discussed today. Once she has all the information he wants her to make a recommendation as to rather or not Josh should return to school and how long recovery may take; or if this could be a lasting change. After we see her (hopefully Tuesday) we will go let him know her recommendation, and if it is in the favor of staying and going back to school; then we will schedule a flight physical and if everything goes well there... then he goes back to class and we just try to keep all the stress outside class to a minimum. If for some reason the flight physical comes back negative (rather it be due to the neurologist recommendation or the actual physical), then Josh will call the guard base back home and ask them if they have a ground position available or if he needs to switch languages. Either way Major Castro was much more upbeat and positive about the whole thing than anyone else we've talked to recently. It was quite a breath of fresh air! I am happy, and relieved at the prospect of this whole thing blowing over. (Of course it won't completely blow over until Josh gets cleared to drive again, but if that is the only restriction... life will be good again!)

Medical Update Continued

The appointment with the neurologist was yesterday morning. I can't say it was wonderful news, but it defiantly wasn't the worst case scenario. The neurologist said that the EEG and MRI were clean, however, she said that a seizure this large is usually not a one time occurrence. She pointed out the distinct possibility that this was a "stress" seizure, and said that there is a 70% possibility that once it has happened it will happen again with in 6 months. Thus for the next 6 months, Josh can not drive, or operate heavy equipment; should not fly, lift more than 10lbs, or be on his feet for more than 10 minutes at a time (if at all possible). She (the doctor) also said, that there is a good possibility that Josh has "silent" seizures on a regular basis, and that because he was diagnosed ADD no one put any stock into them until now. She said that when he spaces out, for even just a few seconds, and then does not remember anything that happened in the minutes prior that those are not ADD those are very likely seizures, that are simply too small to put any stock into unless you are aware of what is happening. She told us to watch for them and if he continues to have them to write down how he felt etc. Other than that, we have an appointment with a Major on base this Friday to start the process of determining rather or not we will stay in the Air Force. Or rather his restrictions will keep him on the Non-Deployable status he is currently on. IF this is the case we will begin the paperwork to have him medically discharged and most likely be moving back to Utah for him to finish his degree, and eventually work towards opening our own business. And that's your update!

Medical Update

Josh is feeling much better, so long as he's not doing any strenuous activities, or is up for too long. His DOB Flight Chief called because they wanted him to check in for accountability, and they agreed he could work a part time day, tutoring people who have not yet started the korean course, in what they can expect when they start class.
He does have orders from the doctor to not stand for more than 10 minutes, to not lift more than 10lbs while standing, including our baby :( he can't drive, he can't operate any machinery, and he is not to be left alone. But his chief is working with him, and did send him home (I had to go get him) when he started to feel dizzy. But, josh is glad to have the option to go in and work half days, where he can sit down and interact with people. He goes stir crazy in this house.
So Tuesday we are meeting with the neurologist, and on Friday we are meeting with the Master over the medical team on base. Hopefully they will be able to give us an idea of what is going on, on Tuesday. And, Friday will determine rather Josh is eligible to stay in the military, go back to class, rather he needs to cross-train etc.
While at the dr. office yesterday they did tell us that its very possible they will order another slew of tests on Tuesday, including cardio test, as they now think it could also be a heart murmur. So we are hopeful to know more this next week, and I'm so thankful he's not still blacking out every time he stands up.

On a brighter note, evie is sitting, and loves her walker. She's also starting to teeth. :) Cute baby girl!