Hi Rydia! (a new friend, yea!)

Well, almost five months out from the fibroid treatment (no cutting, just lots of ultrasound) and my waistline has gotten smaller and I've dropped a few pounds without trying. I'm not skinny yet, but I don't feel like I'm a few months pregnant anymore, so it must have worked. I've also stopped my birth control after 20+ years (yep, it's that time, I'm a little early) and am trying to cope with all the fun things like hot flashes on my own as the hormone treatments will all make the fibroids grow back. I should have stopped the bc pills years ago, but the fear of migraines scared me.

I've also began taking thyroid medicine (despite all of my borderline TSH tests) and my energy level is much higher, though I still have the other exciting side effects of fibromyalgia and MS to deal with, but I've actually gotten up the energy to go skating around my neighborhood a few times (then the rain and cold returned). For anything you ever wanted to know about thyroid problems check out www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

But the extra energy is coming in handy with the holidays almost here. The thought of Christmas just exhausts me, I always want to just jump from Halloween to mid-January. Too many family birthdays (including mine), too much money, too much guilt, too much traffic :-) But I do like eggnog and good fruitcake ( www.collinstreet.com/ ) so I press on ;-)

Hello to Jessi and thank you for your kind words, I'm slowly but surely getting past the fibroid problem, and somewhere along the way I've lost about 5 pounds without doing anything to earn it. It makes me very happy to step on the scale and see the numbers starting with 14 instead of 15. I'm very short so five pounds means an entire belt loop hole to me, (yea!).

Been fighting the sinus infection from hell for over a week now, I'm allergic to antihistamines so my cures are pretty limited (and I've got no health insurance so I have to be creative). It might be an actual cold, I had jury duty last week and was around a bunch of people (I got to serve for the first time ever, I usually don't get picked because I have a law enforcement friendly background - big excitement, we made a guy pay for his speeding ticket). Mild fever, coughing, sore throat, congestion, swollen glands and both ears aching. I've been gargling with peroxide and salt water, using my neti pot twice a day, putting peroxide and then Similisan earache oil in my ears (which have been stuffy, crackling and hurting - I'm trying to avoid the 'make the world stop spinning' phase that usually comes with my bi-annual sinus infections).

I'm so tired of coughing, I have a small stash of Tessalon perles, Keflex and Albuterol, so hopefully I'll be back to my normal sneezy, itchy year-round allergy self soon. And I have an entire drawer full of homeopathic remedies that seem to help some without making me break out in hives. I broke down and went to Walmart tonight in search of something for the sore throat pain, and bought some Chloraseptic spray. It worked for awhile, but bleecchhhh!!!! (And it made my fricking tongue go numb, I think I may have had an allergic reaction to it also) I must have looked crazy, sitting on the floor in the cough & cold aisle at midnight looking over all of the throat lozenges one by one (don't like menthol, don't like cherry, don't like sugar-free, at least the Chloraseptic is orange flavored...). I know the zinc drops will cure you quicker, but they leave the nastiest metallic taste in my mouth and it seems to last all day. Actually the least offensive and most effective home remedy I've tried is just gargling with straight peroxide mixed with some water. Seriously, peroxide will kill anything (just don't swallow it). Apple cider vinegar is also supposed to be a good home remedy, but double yuck. The tastiest home cold remedy I know of comes from my parents - honey, water, lemon and a little bourbon ;-) I picked up some lemon juice at Walmart tonight also, in case it's needed...

My husband has been sick this week also, but of course Mr. 'perfect genes' was only sick for about three days and now expects me to be bouncing back already also. But he could take all of the OTC remedies that make me break out in hives (I really miss being able to take Nyquil, especially the old version that was like 50 proof). But between us, I'd rather be sick than have to deal with him feeling bad, because he makes both of us miserable. So I'm very glad this week is almost over...

I've been going through a lot of health issues this summer and it was so nice to receive two new friend invitations this week.

I had a pretty major treatment for uterine fibroids last month and have been feeling sort of sorry for myself because it's taking me longer than I'd expected to feel better, but I know I'm slowly but surely getting there. I have my one month checkup this afternoon and I'm hoping the doctor can see the improvements that I'm feeling also. My mobility (and my center of gravity and my dancing) had become pretty badly impaired with the growth of several pretty large fibroids over the last year, but hopefully they'll continue getting smaller and I will feel better with each day and I can get back to a more normal life. And not have to worry about things like having to plan my bathroom breaks when I'm running errands :-(

So thank you to Surya & Angela for cheering me up and for the friend invites. And for reminding me of all the things I want to do, write, etc. I have photos to take, DVDs to review, and hopefully soon, 'real' dance classes to start :-)

Despite the fact that I have been neglecting my Tribe page lately (see one reason why in the next entry), I got my first friend invitation from Marisela, a pro dancer and teacher here in Houston (thank you!). I've been trying to work up my nerve (and health and energy ;-) to take some real dance lessons at Sirrom Studio and she has many nice things to say about them so maybe this will be my push to finally go.

I'm very bad about attending anything socially on a regular basis, and my health has been acting up a lot this spring, but I'd really love to take lessons from a non-DVD teacher (though I love my DVDs!).